Mint Chutney

So a week after the BBC Radio 1Xtra's Academy workshops, I think I'm finally back down to Earth (and lectures).  I loved spending two days having the opportunity to both learn tips from those in the social media, blogging radio and other industries as well as network with other young people.  I exchanged social media details with two girls called Vanessa and Saphire, who are both trying to get their music (both originals and covers) out into the world.  The workshops also gave me plenty of inspiration for blogging and led me to my decision to change the name of my blog to Rainbow Sunshine Blogs.  The reasons behind this change are that I'm wanting to blog more than just about food (for example, on Monday, I posted about the 1Xtra event, and I did the travel series in August), and I'm wanting to post more often and limiting myself to a Friday just won't cut it anymore because so much is always happening.  Fridays will always be about food though.

This evening, I'm heading to the Bradford Playhouse for the 24 hour show.  A 24 hour show is a musical where before the night before the show, only the production team know what the musical will be.  Participants arrive on the Friday night with sleeping bags, food, etc. (but no caffeine is allowed) for 24 hours, and are told what musical they will be performing on the Saturday night.  During the 24 hours, all auditions, rehearsals and set-designing and building take place.  Last year, we did The Rocky Horror Show, which was brilliant.

For this week, I'm going to share another of the recipes from the card I picked up at the UBU Green Thursdays stall 2 weeks ago, and this one if for mint chutney.  The recipe originally called for natural yoghurt, but as usual, you can use dairy-free yoghurt to make the recipe vegan-friendly!

Ingredients

3 tablespoons mint leaves, about 10g
1 teaspoon caster sugar
150g tub of low-fat dairy-free natural yoghurt
a squeeze of lime or lemon

Instructions

1. Blend the mint leaves, sugar and yoghurt with some freshly-ground black pepper until well-blended.
2. Add the lime or lemon juice before serving.

Moroccan Mint Tea

On Wednesday afternoon this week, the Cycling 4 All team at university teamed up with local businesses and a few groups within the university itself to deliver the Food Festival, a 3 hour lunch to celebrate food, Fairtrade fortnight, locally-sourced products, and home-grown foods.  There was a banana cake baking competition, the Sustrans smoothie bike, Jamie's Ministry of Food, and other stalls, as well as a quiz where you had to guess which items could be Fairtrade and which could not.  Did you know that you can have Fairtrade gold?  I found a recipe card for the following Moroccan mint tea at a stall for Food on Campus, which is an initiative run by the university to encourage students and staff to plant, grow and harvest their own fruits, vegetables and herbs.

Ingredients (to serve 6)

10 sprigs fresh mint, plus extra to decorate
3 teaspoons green tea
3 tablespoons sugar (or more to taste)
4 cups water

Instructions

1. Boil the water and pour a small amount in the teapot, swishing it around to warm the pot.
2. Combine the mint and green tea and sugar in the teapot, then fill it with the rest of the hot water.
3. Let the tea brew for three minutes.
4. Set out glasses for the tea, preferable tumblers to match the style of the glasses used in Morocco.
5. Fill just one glass with the tea, then pour it back into the pot.  Repeat this action to help to dissolve the tea and distribute the sugar.
6. Pour the tea.  Aim to have a foam on the surface of the tea by pouring with the teapot a high distance above the glasses.  If you do not have at least a little foam on the top of the first glass, then pour it back into the teapot and try again until the tea starts to foam up nicely.
7. Decorate with the remaining sprigs of mint.