Well the summer is over and there certainly have been a few 'happenings' going on at Rattle Gill headquarters! We've had stunning weddings to attend, a holiday to Skye (saw the northern lights...no BIG deal!!!), a couple of new specials (recipes further down the page), a Nomination for best walkers cafe from TGO magazine (click here to vote for us!!), The scaffolding is down and no they didn't end up painting polka dots on it... We decide to stick with white!!! We have celebrated moving into our third year here...Happy Birthday to us!! And a change to our staffing...Ben has decided to go further down the valley to work...you'll see him in the mornings with a smile on his face riding his bike to Chesters by the river... He is missed, but does pop his head in to say Hi and get a big squeeze from Claire!
I promised a friend from Head to the Hills that I would share a recipe of our last special on here for him to try at home...we had a chickpea and Mango curry, with rotis and an aubergine chutney on the side.....it is a delicious curry...so here it is Pete!!
Mango and chickpea curry.
- Soak 250g dried chickpeas overnight. The following morning change the water and boil them up until tender.
- Using a food processor finely mince 2 onions, 4 garlic cloves, 1 Red chilli and a 5cm chunk of ginger. Fry these with some vegetable oil until lightly browned.
- Next job is to dry fry the spices: 1tbsp coriander seeds, 1tbsp cumin seeds, half tbsp mustard seeds, half tbsp curry powder, half tbsp turmeric, half tsp cinnamon. When they become fragrant in the pan, put them in your food processor and whose them up into your spice blend.
- Add the spice mix to the onions and gently fry for another 5 minutes.
- Add 2 cans of chopped tomatoes to the onion/spice mix and simmer for 10 minutes, the sauce will thicken.
- Add the boiled chickpeas, 500g frozen mango, 2tbsp mango chutney, 250g fresh spinach and approx 300ml water. Simmer for 30 minutes and stir. If you would like the curry to be thicker add less water.
It really is worth making the spice blend as the depth of flavour is tremendous in this curry. We served it with Rotis, but it would also work with Naan breads. Good luck having a go!
We've also been reading more about Gluten free cakes. We always have at least one on offer but wanted to expand our Gluten free cake options! Our chocolate brownie is Gluten free which always goes down well and recently we've got a few more cakes that are delicious... an Apple and Almond , a rhubarb and apple along with a berry and polenta .... I am still working on the timings for them, but will share the recipes once they are perfected!!
Oooooo whats this...a new business card for the Rattle Gill??!! Finally says Robin from Howhead barn!!! He has been asking for them for months!!! Available at the Rattle Gill counter!!
The sun is shining out there...got to crack on with enjoying it....and remember...if you fancy helping us win the TGO Walkers cafe of the year award...click here to vote...Please and Thankyou!!
A little holiday snap from Syke...thats right...stunning weather and views worthy of a photo!! See you soon Rattlers.... Claire and Alec xx