How To | Do Boxing Day Properly

There are many reasons why we think Boxing Day is the best day of Christmas.
Here are just a few…

Traditionally, Boxing Day was a day for heading out, and you might well feel drawn to the idea of escaping the house after spending Christmas Day cooped up. If you don’t fancy a traditional panto (oh yes you do!) or a football match, you could join thousands of others and have a wild swim, or simply a good long walk.

But the great thing about Boxing Day is that there’s no expectation. It must be one of the only days of the year when it also feels acceptable to spend six hours doing a jigsaw and eating Chocolate Brazils. If you have a child in your life (and even if you don’t), on Boxing Day nobody will look askance at you dedicating all the daylight hours to building a 4,000-piece Lego Hogwarts School. Or starting and actually finishing an entire game of Monopoly. Or holding a table tennis championship that lasts four hours and ends with sweeping smashed Denby off the kitchen floor.

The more pointless your activity, the better. It’s a day for pottering, messing, being silly and shirking responsibilities and we would like more of that in our lives.

This blog is taken from our feature ‘For the Love of Boxing Day’ from our December issue by
Iona Bower. You can read more about why she loves Boxing Day best of all on page 86.

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More things to do on Boxing Day…

Ways with leftovers…

Recipe | Brussels Sprout Bhajias

This simple recipe will see off the rest of the sprouts on for a Post-Big Day Buffet

Makes 16

2 tsp cumin seeds, bashed
2 tsp mustard seeds, bashed
1 tsp turmeric
225g gram flour
1 tsp flaked sea salt
270ml water
1 onion, finely sliced
2 green chillies, deseeded and thinly sliced
Thumb of ginger, grated
300g Brussels sprouts, halved and shredded
Vegetable oil, for deep -frying

1 Mix together the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric, gram flour and salt. Pour in the water and whisk into a batter. Stir in the onion, chilli, ginger and sprouts until well coated.

2 Half fill a saucepan with oil and heat until bubbling. With a tablespoon, drop balls of batter into the oil and fry for 4-5 mins , until golden. Drain on paper towel and keep warm in a low oven.

These Brussels Bhajias are part of our menu for a post-Christmas turkey buffet, with an Indian flavour. You can find the rest of the recipes, including Carrot & Parsnip Pakora, Turkey Makhani and Cranberry Chutney, starting on page 36 of the December issue.

More from our December issue…

More ideas for leftover festive food…

Recipe: Christmas chocolates fridge cake

Turn all those stray chocolates into one big guest-pleasing after dinner choc treat

Makes 25 small cake squares

200g dark chocolate
200g milk chocolate
90g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
10 digestive biscuits
30g macadamia nuts
30g dried cranberries 
A couple of handfuls of Christmas chocolates

1. Line a small metal tray with cling film. In a bowl set over a pot of boiling water, so that the base sits just above the water, melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup.

2. Put the digestive biscuits into a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin to break them up a little, then put them into the chocolate, along with the academia nuts and dried cranberries. 

3. When all is nicely combined, tip it onto the tray and spread it out, then push the chocolates into the surface - you want to work quickly so that the molten chocolate is still hot enough to melt them just slightly.

4. Leave to set for a couple of hours in the fridge, slice into small squares and serve.

Turn to page 38 of December's The Simple Things for more of our Boxing Day menu - buy, download or subscribe now. January issue available, too.