Recipes of the week: Flower Power

Flowers in your food? Yup. Talk about too pretty to eat!

ROSE AND CARDAMOM OATS
Ingredients
½ cup oats
1 cup almond milk or milk of choice
2-3 tsp rose water
½ tsp cardamom powder
1-2 tsp honey
½ tbsp coconut
Dried rose petals and sliced pistachio, to garnish
Method
Mix all ingredients together and leave overnight in the fridge.
To serve, sprinkle with pistachios and dried rose petals, and serve with Turkish delight.


ROSE CROISSANTS
Ingredients
6 croissants
1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp rose syrup
3 tsp water
Dried rose petals and sliced pistachio, to decorate
Method
Mix the icing sugar, rose syrup and water together and mix well.
Drizzle over the croissants.
If the first coat is too thin, do a second coating.
Sprinkle rose petals and pistachio over to decorate.
Leave to set for a few minutes before serving.

EDIBLE FLOWER AND MESCLUN SALAD
Ingredients
1 pack of mixed salad leaves or mesclun
2 radish bulbs, finely sliced
1 yellow plum or 1 fig, cut into big slices
A few blueberries
Edible flowers
For the dressing:
½ tbsp orange juice
½ tbsp of fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp honey (orange blossom)
¼ cup oil
1 tsp freshly chopped basil
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
Salt and pepper
Method
Place all the ingredients for the dressing into a jar. Seal and shake well to combine.
Place the washed salad leaves into a bowl. Place the sliced radish over them, along with the plum or fig.
Sprinkle over the blueberries. Add the edible flowers.

SPICED HIBISCUS CHICKEN
Ingredients
½ cup of dried hibiscus flowers
1 cup of water
2 tbsp sugar
1 kg chicken, skin on
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
2 full tsps ground ginger and garlic paste
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp black pepper
Salt
1 red onion, cut into wedges
Method
Boil the hibiscus flowers with the water and sugar till it's thick and reduced to a molasses-like thickness (about 3 tbsp).
Marinate chicken with the cooled hibiscus sauce and the rest of the ingredients.
Place chicken into an oven tray and bake in a preheated oven with foil at 220°C for about 35-40 minutes. Reserve the marinade.
Just before the chicken is completely cooked, remove the foil and baste with the remaining marinade.
Grill for a few minutes until the chicken is golden
and crisp.
Serve with pomegranate couscous and onion wedges.

SAFFRON AND ORANGE BLOSSOM LABNEH
Ingredients
400g labneh
3 tsp orange blossom water
2 tbsp honey
1 ½ tsp cardamom
A pinch of saffron, lightly roasted
Date syrup or honey
Walnuts, chopped
Dates, chopped
Method
Mix the labneh with all ingredients except for the date syrup, nuts and a few chopped dates for decorating.
Keep in the fridge overnight or for a few hours to infuse. Before serving, add date syrup or more honey.
Top with nuts and reserved chopped dates.

ROSE LASSI
Ingredients
250 gm yoghurt
½ cup milk or buttermilk
3 tbsp rose syrup
¼ tsp cardamom
Sliced pista
A pinch of Himalayan pink salt
Ice cubes and fresh rose petals, optional
Method
Add everything except pista to a blender and combine well.
Add fresh rose petals to the mixture (optional).
Pour into glasses and sprinkle sliced pista over; top with a dried rosebud. Serve cold.

• Food and Dining