FLORENCIA Clifford suggests a flavoursome snack to keep us going through January.

January is here with its cold brief days and long nights. We are still in mid winter and despite our dreams of spring and snowdrops starting to sprout out the frozen ground it is cold and will be for months. Fact.

Yet we are all thinking of dieting and cutting things out, adopting and adapting our eating habits in an attempt to feel lighter after the season’s festivity indulgences.

The foods from the tropics become the suggested choice and I struggle with this. I believe that one of the main reasons that people feel low in January is that we do not realise that our body’s chi (energy) still requires winter fuel and that eating a balanced diet whilst cutting things like red meats, alcohol, sugars and dairy could make an improvement in the way we feel and look without having to starve ourselves.

One of the most vital things for me when I do cut things out of my diet, like bread or cheese, is to have an alternative when the pangs of hunger make me raid the fridge, and having something ready at hand is a good ally not to succumb to the things I am trying not to eat.

Good handfuls of toasted seeds, nuts, carrot sticks and hummus. But sometimes I need the protein kick and hard-boiled quail eggs are a perfect snack, full of flavour, they store high quantities of vitamins A and B1, they are high in protein and a good source of calcium and potassium.

My friend Carlie, who is a brilliant cook makes this delicious dip for quail eggs which I have tried to recreate in this recipe. You can keep hard boiled eggs in the fridge for up to three days.

Happy New Year!


QUAIL EGGS WITH CUMIN SALT

Ingredients
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp of flaky sea salt, like Maldon
one pinch of Demerara sugar
12 quail eggs

Heat a skillet over a medium-low heat and toast the seeds for a few minutes until the aromas are released and the seeds are warm and toasted (don’t over do it).

Toast the salt a little bit too, for a minute or so, and place both ingredients and the sugar in a pestle and mortar and grind.

You can use a spice grinder, but you will miss out on the pleasure of grinding the textures and inhaling the delicious fragrance of the cumin.

Place the quail eggs in a small pan of boiling water and simmer for no more than a minute and a half. Drain the eggs and run under cold water.

You can keep the eggs unpeeled in an airtight container in the fridge and the cumin salt in a jar, ready to be eaten whenever you want.

Florencia Clifford is a zen cook and the author of Feeding Orchids To The Slugs: Tales Of The Zen Kitchen. For more, visit feedingorchidstotheslugs.wordpress.com