Soda Bread Farls

I really used to miss Soda Bread, another staple Northern Irish food.  Soda bread is available in most English supermarkets, but it's always the brown/wholemeal sort, and not the delicious bread of my childhood.  Soda farls (farl refers to the shape of the bread) were briefly available in my local supermarket, but were discontinued, so I was at a loss - until I found out how incredibly quick and easy they are to make!  And it can be made in advance in batches, as it freezes really well.

Soda bread is delicious when it's cut through the middle and grilled or toasted - buttered and topped with bacon and brown sauce, or sausage and a fried egg... or my personal favourite, corned beef and melted cheddar (I can hear the discomfort of Ulster folk as I write that, but I love it!).  It's also a vital ingredient to be fried up in an Ulster Fry.

Ingredients

300g Plain Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
250ml Milk
2 tsp Lemon Juice

Method

1. Stir the lemon juice into the milk, and leave to sit for about 10 minutes.  This allows the milk to curdle slightly, forming a buttermilk.  (You may just use buttermilk instead, but my local shops don't seem to have it).

2. Mix together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.

3. Make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture and add the milk mixture.

4.  Get in with your hands and mix the ingredients to form a fairly dry dough.  If your dough is sticky, add some more flour a spoon at a time.  If it becomes too dry (and starts cracking), add a splash of milk.

5. Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and turn out the dough.  Shape it into a circle about 1cm thick.  This is thinner than you expect, but remember your dough is going to puff up a bit when cooked.  Cut your circle into quarters with a knife.

6.  Heat a frying pan to a low to medium heat.  Sprinkle some flour in to the pan (the pan needs to be totally dry), then place your farls on top.  Now LEAVE IT ALONE for around 8-10 minutes until the underside is nicely coloured.

7.  Turn the farls over and cook for another 8-10 minutes on the other side.  Remove from the heat and allow the farls to cool completely before either freezing them or cooking with them.

Fried Cauliflower Rice

I was never convinced by the idea of cauliflower 'rice'.  And to be honest, when I first tried it, it was rank, tasteless mush, and a poor replacement for real rice.  But I persevered with it because I was trying to reduce carbs in my diet, and this was an easy alternative. This is my way of improving it, making it something I wanted to eat!  I use frozen peas, sweetcorn and onions for convenience, but you can use pretty much any vegetable you like - mushrooms, peppers, leeks, spring onions - anything you can chop finely.  You can use this in place of any savoury rice dish, like with a curry or chilli.  Or, I like to add some chopped cooked ham, bacon or chicken and have it as a meal in its own right.

Ingredients

1 whole large cauliflower, broken down into florets
100g peas
100g sweetcorn
100g chopped onions
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbps sunflower oil (you can make this without oil if you like)
1-2 eggs (optional)
Pinch of black pepper

Method

1. Either grate the raw cauliflower, or pulse the florets in a food processor until it is in small, rice-like pieces.

2. In a wok or frying pan, heat up the sunflower oil (if using) on a high heat.  Add the onions, peas and sweetcorn and cook for around 5 minutes until the onions are soft, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the cauliflower and black pepper to the pan, then pour over the soy sauce and stir until the soy sauce has coloured all the cauliflower evenly (it will be a light brown colour), and the vegetables are evenly spread.

4.  Cook for a further 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the cauliflower is cooked.  Don't cook for too long or the cauliflower will go a bit mushy, which while it tastes OK, isn't the texture of fried rice that we're looking for.

5.  If you are using eggs, beat them first, then drizzle over the 'rice' just before the end of cooking.  Stir the egg through quickly, and they should form tiny pieces of cooked omelette, similar in size to sweetcorn kernels.  The eggs only take a very short time to cook in these small chunks - no more than a minute.