Celebrate Valentine’s Day at home with these three meal ideas
Social-distancing regulations aside, spending Valentine’s Day indoors with your loved one has always had some great perks.
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It comes without the stress of finding a table reservation at your favourite restaurant or without the high cost of booking a weekend away.
Overall, staying in can be less expensive and a more romantic experience – if that’s what you’re looking for.
Whether you’re celebrating with a partner, your family or friends, adding some décor and colour-coordinated outfits to the occasion is always a great plan.
We can all agree, however, that a celebration is never complete without the perfect meal to pair it with. This is according to Kershnee Kallee, marketing manager at Jungle, who said Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating love, so why not enjoy something delicious that is sure to warm your heart.
In preparation of Valentine’s Day, Kallee shared three of her favourite recipes which are tasty and contain some ingredients that are good for the heart too.
Kick the day off with breakfast in bed
Nothing says “you mean the world to me” like breakfast in bed. Start your day right with a delicious breakfast.
Some may choose to go with a full English breakfast, while others may be a bit creative with some heart-shaped breakfast bakes.
Whatever you decide, make it special.
Not sure what to make?
Try these berry granola waffles using Jungle Mixed Berries Muesli.
Ingredients
• ½ cup Golden Cloud self-raising flour
• 5ml natural sweetener (of your choice)
• 5ml baking powder
• 2.5ml vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 125ml buttermilk
• ½ cup Jungle Mixed Berries Muesli
Toppings
• 125ml Greek yoghurt, to serve
• 250ml fresh blueberries and sliced strawberries to serve
• Powdered sugar for dusting
• Honey to drizzle.
Method
1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the waffle ingredients.
2. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
3. Spoon heaped tablespoons of batter into a pre-heated waffle maker.
4. Cook until golden.
5. Repeat until all the batter is used.
6. Dust lightly with powdered sugar.
7. Serve the waffles warm with Greek yoghurt and mixed berries.
8. Drizzle with extra honey as desired.
Perfect for later in the day
While at home, you may want to cook something for lunch or dinner to keep the celebrations going. So go ahead and spoil your loved one with homemade curry meatballs made with Jungle Oats, packed with the goodness of oats.
Ingredients
• 2 onions, sliced
• 125ml boiling water
• 25ml oil
• 25ml All Gold apricot jam
• 25ml vinegar
• 25ml curry powder (or more, according to taste)
• 10ml salt
• 75ml Jungle Oats
• 500g beef mince
• 1 egg, whisked
• 5ml turmeric
• 15ml cornflour
• 250ml boiling water
• Serves 4-6
Method
1. Cook onions in 125ml boiling water in a large pan until soft.
2. Add oil and fry onions lightly.
3. Add apricot jam, vinegar and curry powder and boil for a further three minutes.
4. Mix salt, Jungle Oats and egg. Mix with the mince and half the onion mixture.
5. Dissolve the cornflour, turmeric and salt in 250ml boiling water. Add to the remainder of the onion mixture in the pan.
6. Cook until sauce starts to thicken.
7. Shape the mince into balls and add to the remaining hot sauce in the pan.
8. Cook over low heat for approximately 30 minutes until meatballs are done.
End your day on a sweet note
Valentine’s Day must be one of the sweetest days of the year, usually filled with chocolates, cakes and other types of store-bought pastries and desserts.
This year, we say spend more time with your loved ones and ditch the shops while you create your own sweet treat at home.
Try out foodie fantisserie Aa’isha Kolia’s chocolate and salted caramel tart.
Ingredients
• ½ cup of Jungle Taystee Wheat
• 1 packet of Choc-kits biscuits
• 2 heaped tbsp Golden Cloud flour
• 2 tbsp coconut
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 65g melted butter
• ¾ cup of salted caramel, homemade or store-bought
Filling
• 240g Beacon milk chocolate
• 80g Beacon dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp butter
• ¾ cup heavy cream, heated
Method
1. For the base, dry toast Taystee Wheat in a pan until golden.
2. Set aside to cool.
3. Process Choc-kits biscuits into fine crumbs.
4. Add biscuits, flour, coconut, egg yolk, vanilla essence and melted butter to Taystee Wheat.
5. Mix well and press into a well-greased fluted tart pan.
6. Bake crust at 180°C for 12 minutes.
7. Cool completely before removing the tart shell from the pan.
8. Spread the caramel evenly at the bottom of the tart shell (you may need to adjust the caramel before you do this with hot water and a good pinch of sea salt).
9. Chill for 20 minutes.
10. For the filling, melt chocolate and butter together.
11. Whisk in cream until smooth and glossy.
12. Spread chocolate evenly over caramel and chill tart for at least four hours before serving.