I found and adapted a recipe for vegetarian kofta from here, substituting the mung beans with yellow split peas and tofu.
I have to say that I have always found vegan versions of non-vegan recipes bizarre, to say the least. But when one's love is committed to harming no living thing for the sake of their own appetite or comfort it's worth going a bit Linda McCartney on the kofta. I'm going to try making nut-roast next.
This is what I did:
to make the kofta you will need
0.75 cup dried yellow split peas; soaked and then cooked until soft
0.75 finely crumbled firm tofu
1 onion, diced
about half a teaspoon each ground cumin and ginger
1 teaspoon ground coriander
half a teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
salt and pepper
2 carrots, grated and squeezed dry
1 tablespoon of flour
I cooked the split peas until they were soft and then mashed them up a bit. I cooked the onion until transparent in a little oil, then added the spices, waited for the aroma to rise before mixing the onion/spice mixture with the split peas, crumbled tofu, flour, salt and pepper, and carrots. It's important to squeeze the carrots dry once you have grated them otherwise the mixture will be too wet.
Then I made a 'ginger and coriander gravy'.
an onion, diced
a tomato, diced
fried gently in a little oil, with salt and pepper, 1/2 tsp Turmeric & a fresh green chili, finely chopped
to which I added, when nicely soft:
3 Brown cardamom pods
2 Cloves
1/4 tsp Black Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Fennel Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Coriander Seeds
dry roasted and finely ground in a mortar
and then: 5-6 Inch Fresh Ginger and 2 Garlic Cloves (chopped finely)
...and, when it's all smelling nice, adding water to cover and about half a tin of coconut milk.
This was left to gently simmer while I rolled the kofta mix into ping-pong sized balls and placed them on trays lined with greaseproof paper. They were baked in a moderate oven (note: my oven tends toward hot) for about 20 minutes, and were turned once during cooking (you could, of course, fry them, which is the usual way).
The kofta was then added to the gravy and simmered for a further 20 minutes. I added fresh peas about 10 minutes in and fresh coriander leaves just before serving. Enough for four people, or two people twice, or for six people who aren't that hungry.
In retrospect, I would use silken tofu for the kofta next time, and try thickening the sauce with a paste of cashew nuts, omitting the coconut milk.
kofta, vegan style
museli - it's poppin'
this is my museli. I've been working on the combination for a few weeks and it just gets better and better.
2 x handfuls almonds
2 x handfuls hazelnuts
1 cup mixed hulled sunflower, pumpkin & sesame seeds
1/3 cup flaked dried coconut
pinch of salt
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup cooking oil
3 x cups mixed rolled oats, rye, barley, triticale
put nuts into a food processor in small batches and process briefly to break them up a bit. Combine with seeds, coconut & salt in a large bowl, add honey and oil, stir to combine well. Gradually add rolled oats etc and stir well to coat everything in the oil and honey mixture.
Spread the mixture to a depth of about 2 cm on trays lined with baking paper and place in a preheated 140 - 160 C oven. Cook for about 20 minutes until very lightly browned, stirring every ten minutes or so. When you take it out of the oven it will be soft and sticky, but as it cools it becomes crispily good.
Mixed in chopped dried apricots, or nectarines or apples to taste, if you like.
that's about enough for about 2 weeks of breakfasts
Frühling
Sautee mushrooms in olive oil with salt, pepper and thyme. Turn off heat, but whilst pan is still warm add crumbled fetta, diced tomato, grated beetroot, radiccio cut into ribbons and lots of lemon juice.
Polenta made with a pinch of chilli flakes to make it less, sort of... pudgy. Then piled with mushrooms and onions sauteed with thyme and sage, poached eggs and a truckload of parsley.
Two meals
Cooking with Saskia in Flinders - roasted fennel, roasted pumpkin with onions, rosemary and garlic cloves, and steamed aspragus with avocado and lemon. Some earthiness and some freshness for the transition into Summer.
One of those, I don't feel like cooking on my own for just myself, so I will make the fastest fresh meal possible, dinners. Garlic and green beans fried gently in olive oil, then mushrooms added, then loads of chopped parsley and chives, quinoa, salt, pepper and the juice of a whole lemon. Goodness.
anarchist organic
Inspired by the Foodmaiden I've started fetching a $10 vegie box from the food co-op at Jura Anarchist Bookshop. So close to home, and marks a big shift in my cooking habits - needing to use what's there rather than trooping out to buy what i feel like. This first box smelt sweet as the springshine...
two salads
It felt like a spring kind of thing to do - the combination of broad-beans, almonds and preserved red peppers.
about 2 x cups fresh broad beans
2 x cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt & pepper
a handful of blanched almonds, split in half
white wine
2 x tabs mint, finely chopped
a handful of parsley leaves
1 x red capsicum, roasted & cut into thin strips
salad
cider vinegar
pod your broad beans & set aside. Finely chop the garlic and cook gently in olive oil with the almonds until both are lightly browned. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add broad beans, stir to coat with oil, add a glass of white wine & cover. Steam broad beans until cooked to desired consistency. Stir through mint and parsley. Dress salad leaves with cider vinegar and salt and stir through broad bean mixture and capsicum.
I served this with pumpkin and onion roasted with sumac and thyme; and brown rice mixed with fried shallots.
This is a winter salad I have been meaning to post.
WINTER SALAD
1 large carrot
sesame or vegetable oil (for baking)
salt
1teas. fennel seeds
1teas coriander seeds
½ teas. cummin
½ bulb fennel, cut into 1cm cubes
½ green chili, finely chopped
1 cup cooked chickpeas
cider vinegar
cos lettuce
olive oil
Roast your large carrot: parboil in salted water, cut lengthways in 2, then into manageable pieces, place in a baking dish and toss in oil, place in a hot oven.
Roast spices in a dry pan, grind into a fine powder.
Combine fennel, chickpeas, chilli, salt and spices in a large bowl with cider vinegar and set aside.
When carrot is well roasted, cut into 1cm pieces. Mix with chickpeas and fennel. Leave the whole lot aside for the flavours to develop.
When ready to serve, toss through a few cos lettuce leaves, sliced into ribbons or torn into pieces; dress with olive oil.
listening
Just thought that I would post a few of the food related things that I have been listening to over the last few weeks -
I would recommend listening to the podcasts "Our food, our future" from BBC radio 4. I think that they're only up on the site for 4 weeks, so link here and download now. They're a really interesting overview of the current anxiety around food supplies and climate change. Listen if your feeling brave and strong. The last program is particularly interesting in it's reporting of current research into growing meat in laboratories.
This also caught my attention, from the Science Show on the 16th of August:
Robyn Williams: I must say that having had my poor cat die a few weeks ago there are now telltale signs in the food that you leave out. You can see those gnaw marks, but no other signs. Would that be a black rat, do you think?
Ken Aplin: Almost certainly a black rat, yes. Black rats are the champion, and I think they're actually much more intelligent than the lab rat. It's a species that we know very little about. For example, Pest Animal CRC that's been operating in Australia for a number of years doesn't even have the black rat on its list of target animals, even though it's probably one of our most widespread and damaging pests at the household level.
Robyn Williams: And you say nearly every household in the whole country?
Ken Aplin: I would think so. I think I could find a black rat in just about every house, given a small incentive.
Robyn Williams: What about turning a disadvantage into an advantage, my life's motto in fact. With all those bodies, couldn't you turn it into some sort of industry? Has it been done?
Ken Aplin: It has been done on a huge scale but in limited areas. It depends on people's willingness to handle the animals, and particularly to consume them. In the southern part of Vietnam there's a rat meat industry where rats are harvested out of rice fields on a huge scale; 10,000 tonnes a year of rat meat is collected, taken through to the big cities where it's processed in various ways and then sold in various products, some of which tourists are probably familiar with...I shouldn't be saying this, should I, I'll probably end up...
Robyn Williams: What do you mean? Street food that I might pick up somewhere could contain Rattus rattus?
Ken Aplin: There is one well known street in Ho Chi Minh City that specialises in rats on their menu, so you can go there and buy things that are clearly labelled as rat products. I've eaten rats in many different places. I prefer rat meat to most other meats. It's a fine meat, and they're very clean animals, despite their reputation for being filthy. Having now observed them much more closely than I could ever do before, I appreciate how hygienic and clean they actually are.
Robyn Williams: What do you like about the flavour?
Ken Aplin: It's a distinctive flavour, it's a mild meat, but particularly barbequed and served up with a good Vietnamese beer, it can't be beaten.
Robyn Williams: Very low in cholesterol, I'd imagine.
gojiberrieberandie
james and liv invited me to make drinks for the launch of their much awaited EVERGREEN publication issue 001 so we decided to make this delicious mixture of goji berry infused brandy infused for 2 weeks with one split vanilla pod and a little sugar syrup to round it out.
heartening thrilling detoxifying
i think people liked it
what's in that pie?
I made this pie on the occasion of a visit to our friend Helen's new place. Mysterious. And vegan. And, I have to say, the combination of chocolate, nuts and apples is redolent of the sensible picnics supplied in children's adventure stories. Ripping! What oh! Enjoy.
pastry: 8oz flour, pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 tablespoons sugar; 2oz vegan margarine, dry white wine.
Sift dry ingredients together twice. Rub the margarine into the dry ingredients. Add a glass of white wine, and mix with a spatula or with your hands until it forms lumps. Bring the pastry together by kneading briefly, add more wine if it seems too dry.
Rest pastry for half an hour.
Make filling: Roast 120 grams hazelnuts in a moderate oven until they are golden. Rub hazelnuts vigorously in a tea-towel to loosen skins and, when cool, place in a blender with an equal amount of dark cooking chocolate broken into large pieces.
Process the chocolate and hazelnuts just enough to break the nuts up a bit and round off the corners of the chocolate pieces.
Peel 4 large, crisp & sweet apples (I used pink lady apples) and slice into 8 wedges each.
Roll out a little more than half of the pastry to the size of your pie plate (mine is about 25 cm, I think). Place on pie plate, sprinkle with semolina or bread crumbs and a desert-spoon of sugar. Cover with a layer of apple wedges, sprinkle with chocolate and nut mixture. Repeat until you have used all the apple, and hazelnuts and chocolate.
Cover with the other half of the pastry, and seal edges together in a decorative manner. Cut vents in the top of the pie.
Cook your pie in a moderate oven for around half an hour or until nicely browned on top.
For vegan occasions, serve with vanilla soy ice-[cream]. Otherwise with cream, un-whipped.
The addition of a sprinkling of brandy to the filling, or perhaps lightly braising the apples in white wine (or maybe butter/margarine and brandy) before they go in to the pie, may be a welcome addition.
genius
I just wanted to note that whoever came up with the lunchtime special at Dench Bakery in North Fitzroy last Sunday was an ABSOLUTE GENIUS -
half serve of Minestrone with a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich on the side
even the thought of that will keep me warm throughout winter
lentils & thistles
Bracing for the winter months and vowing to try out more new cook-ups, but Sunday dinner was a happy, whoever was in the fridge affair...
* puy lentils slow cooked with carrot, zucchini, lots of good dried oregano, mint & topped with Dodoni feta and olives
** baked pumpkin and cauliflower (my new favourite thing, baked cauliflower)
*** thistle greens gleaned on an excursion to the ever interesting Rockdale (prime op-shopping, burek and continental vegetables). Greens boiled and dressed with oil, lemon, garlic, s&p thanks to combined tips from Spiros & the grocer. Quite silky ~ delicious!
**** radish & cucumber for some crunch, dressed with oil, lemon, sherry vinegar & the last shakes of dulse.
breathing new life into a timeless classic
well, by the time it was done it was hardly Cauliflower Cheese anymore.
I have fondness for cauliflower - curried, or baked, or steamed and dressed - but never raw, never underdone ... cauliflower has a subtlety and delicacy of flavor that requires thoughtful treatment.
I have a horror of bechamel sauce, that smothering white gloop that tastes of nothing, so that was the first thing to go. I must have absorbed the information that anchovies and chili married well with cauliflower from the indomitable Jane Grigson, and was guided by the memory of a friend from primary school's mother in some kind of ankle length tapestry dress serving up cauliflower cheese as a Sunday afternoon treat ... a moment that was surprising, and enlightening, a window onto the lifestyle of sophisticated and bohemian people who ate vegetables as a main course.
I divided my cauliflower into manly sized florets and blanched it in boiling salted water, drain, but not too carefully - the water that clings to the cooked vegetable will help to steam it when it is baked later on.
In a large pan, I gently cooked some anchovy fillets, garlic and fresh red chili in a generous amount of olive oil and butter. When the garlic was looking like it may turn golden, I turned the cauliflower gently in this mixture, making sure everything was well coated.
I arranged the cauliflower in a baking dish, added a little milk, gave it a shake, then distributed a reasonable quantity of grated parmesan and breadcrumbs over the top. It went into a hot oven for 10 minutes, then the temperature was reduced to medium, and it cooked for a further 20 minutes, until golden with plenty of crunchy bits.
Exceptionally good end of the working week food, served with a cos and herb salad and a beer.
PIE FLOATER!
Travelling far? Then eat something from yr hometown before you go
This is my farewell meal for Josh 
Pea Soup
500g Split Green Peas - rinse and drain then left soaking for 24 hourss
1 Lemon
Ginger
Garlic
I whole leek - sliced and sauteed with the garlic and ginger
Tamari/Soy Sauce
Wine Vinegar
Ground Pepper
Cup Of BonSoy
Half a Litre of Water
No need to use exact measurements - cook to taste - sautee leek,ginger and garlic, throw in split peas and water, boil then simmer till soft, add lemon, pepper, soy sauce, bonsoy and blend - bring back to heat and simmer till serving
We used La Panellas vegan pies on High st but you can also get meat ones or bake your own
Float the pie - stab with yr thumb and cover in Tomato Sauce
I was trying to think of different ways of cooking tempeh today because i always tend to fry them with soy and it becomes a little unexciting especially when you have to work through a whole slab of tempeh by yourself. So i tried baking them and it turned out really well. the mixture is: mustard, curry powder, salt, honey/agave mixed together and then dip tempeh strips into them and put them in the oven and turn when they start to brown. i also poured some hot water into the bowl with the remaining mixture and used a brush to apply the rest to the other side when it got dry. Also red cabbage and beetroot salad - yum!!
probably my favourite meal to share,
scone
I recently had a hankering for scones.
The thing that is appealing about the scone is it's basic-ness, immediacy and connotation of hospitality.
My favorite bit of scone wisdom is from a friend of my parents who lives in rural Queensland - she once told me that you should start making your batch of scones when you see your visitors' car in the distance. The scones I've always made have been wholemeal, due to beginning my baking life in the late '70s. I think that it was the first thing that I was able to make myself.
My other piece of scone apocrypha is from a chef who claims their grandmother as champion scone maker in the A.C.T. She used only plain flour, cream & soda water. Doesn't that immediately conjure up images of a pale yellow kitchen with red laminex bench tops?
This is my recent variation.
- Light the oven and turn it to the highest setting. Grease and flour a flat baking tray.
- Juice half an orange and marinate a handful of currants in the juice.
- Sift together 2 cups of wholemeal flour, a pinch of salt and 4 teaspoons of baking powder. Sift the flour again.
- Rub in 60g or two tablespoons of butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Lift the flour way up as you do this (it makes the scones lighter).
- Drain the orange juice from the currants into your measuring cup, add the currants to the flour mixture. Stir to distribute currants well.
- Top up the orange juice with milk to make one cup of liquid. Add approximately half to the flour and mix with a knife or a spatula. Keep adding liquid and mixing until you have a slightly sticky dough that holds together in a casual kind of way.
- Turn out onto a well floured bench top and bring the mixture together with your hands. Pat it into a evenly thick flat shape that's around 3cm deep.
- Cut out rounds with a glass or squares with a knife. Arrange close together on the baking sheet and brush the tops with remaining liquid.
- Place in oven and turn temperature down to 220C - they should take 12 minutes. Turn the baking sheet once during cooking.
- Once cooked, tip the scones onto a clean tea towel and bundle them up until ready to serve.
I'm fond of a cheese scone - use grated parmesan, finely chopped spring onion & parsley, and a generous pinch of paprika or cayenne. These are good with a glass of medium sherry.
Plain scones would be good to serve with that plum jam I made a while ago.
For Ian Brackenbury Channell
In spite of my present interest in gastronomical economy, brought on by the morbidly high cost of quality foodstuffs due to this alien heat, I sometimes feel the need to break the misery of the market and cheer myself up with a small treat now and then (even if it is a little meretricious – if only you could see what I really feed upon.)
I first came across this recipe when I was living at Albion St but never could make it due to the scarcity of some of the ingredients at the time. I am not sure of its origins but strongly suspect that the Golden Bough would point the finger at Bel-tein hence my posting at this time of year. Some friends will know of my fondness for this recipe, and some of them will murmur the word cholesterol under their breaths – but like many another I cannot pay any attention to that for this is a good recipe to know of and has an air of barbaric luxury to it.
THE COLLOSSAL EGG
1 sheeps bladder
1 bulls bladder
48 eggs separated into whites and yolks.
Put into a sheep bladder 48 egg yolks and sew shut. Submerge in boiling water until yolks have set as a semi firm sphere. Peel bladder and place yolk ball aside.
Place some whites in a rounded bowl slightly smaller than the bulls bladder and double boil. Remove when set, and place cooked whites inside the bulls bladder. Sit the yolk upon this biscuit of whites and fill the bladder with the remaining egg white. Sew shut and submerge in boiling water until whites have set. Peel and serve in a large wooden bowl of straw.
For the first time in a long time , i set out to cook something not knowing exactly what i wanted to make - only that it had to incorporate brown rice sweet potato and broccoli. While the rice was boiling, i changed my mind too many times and what resulted from a rough plan of porridge, and then to soup was an accidental risotto. Just boil brown rice with sweet potato for a while then add broccoli and chickpeas, then add a spoon full of white miso, dash of soy, pepper and sambal. Garnish with sesame seeds, spring onions and parsley. LEKKER!
Also you may have noticed my use of the same bowel in several photos. That is because all the plates and bowels in the house have pink rainbow swirls on them and this is the only one which doesn't.
'Japanese'
Sometimes I cook these meals which I call Japanese, and there are indeed many Japanese ingredients involved, but somehow they are so Australian, too.
The Norwegians used to ask me what typical Australian food is, and other than things like damper, vegemite and anzac biscuits, this is the kind of food I think of, with origins in any number of cuisines, but full of freshness...
Kangaroo fillets cut into strips and marinated in mirin, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil and tamari, then braised with onion; avocado with lemon; blanched green beans; pickled ginger; carrot and cucumber salad.
with strong flavours
a curious recipe, worth perfecting by juggling the amounts of each ingredient ... this version is modeled on one I learnt from Elena when I worked at Yelza.
for one or two people:
pasta: either linguine or bavette
salt
olive oil
4 - 6 anchovy fillets, cut small
2 cloves garlic
half a red onion, finely diced, soaked in red wine for a half to one hour
a handful of pine-nuts, toasted
a handful of currants
finely chopped parsley
parmesan cheese, shaved or grated
put the pasta on to cook in salted water.
Over lowish heat, cook the anchovies and garlic in olive oil until garlic starts to colour. Add onions and red wine, sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Add currants. When red wine has reduced (to a kind of syrupy consistency), add pine-nuts and half the parsley. Set aside until the pasta is done. Return to heat, add drained pasta, remaining parsley, half of the parmesan, oil to lubricate, if needed. Fold all ingredients through pasta thoroughly. Serve with additional parmesan to garnish, if needed.
the dish is called (in Italian) 'pasta i sapori forti' - pasta with strong flavours. The combination is a subtle and nourishing thing.
bats love mangoes
My neighbour Elizabeth dressing her mango trees to try and thwart the bats, who are visiting nightly. I love this garden! The view from my kitchen window & she grows so many interesting things down there. I scored all this green fruit in the anti-bat efforts, which have ripened up beautifully on the sill
Some food i've been eating lately.
grilled salmon soaked in dressing made from soy sauce, mirin, ginger, and a sugar alternative, i use agave, white wine or vinegar or white wine vinegar. i'm also really obsessed with sweet potato at the moment. They are best wrapped in foil and roasted in the oven until they are soft in the middle - it reminds me eating them from street venders in china
I don't really eat out much here because everything is so super expensive. but occasionally i splurge. This was really nice - pumpernickel bagel with goats cheese, honey, walnuts and thyme. what a combination!
I bought this one jar of cashew paste and i just use it in everything as a butter or cream replacement. I made this dish with Tempeh, mushrooms, spinach - it was really delicious.
Since i've been in Amsterdam, i've started to realise how many australian products i eat and use on a regular basis. The other day i went to the Noordermarkt which is an organic market that sells the MOST amazing bread and cheese and nuts, and fresh produce. I saw that one of the stalls, the had bonsoy, and i've come to the conclusion that it really is still the most unbeatable soymilk in the world i think. The other one is teatree oil, i still use that all the time. and of course, macadamia nuts. There's this brand of ice cream here with chains of stores in several locations called 'Australian', it's homemade ice cream, but i have a feeling it is only a holland phenomenon.
LITTLE BIT OF EARTH
i start with either of two methods
01. make a sort of dashi broth with water, tamari, mirin, ginger (whole if i'm being lazy or grated), 2 or 3 whole shiitake mushrooms and a 2 inch stick of kombu. after simmering for some time i add a little bit of ume vinegar (to add a pungent element) then add vegetables
02. if i feel like something a little bit richer, i like to fry soaked and drained finely sliced shiitake mushrooms and ginger (sometimes half an onion) in a little bit of toasted sesame oil, then add other ingredients to make broth + vegetables
++ the vegetables i usually like in miso soup are jap pumpkin, radish (whole or cut in half) or daikon, carrot, corn (cut with cob... cob adds heaps of sweet flavour to the stock, i sometimes add a cob if i have one to the stock anyway), wakame and lately just before serving i add finely chopped kale
++ i add the miso paste (i prefer either barley or rice miso from spiral) to each bowl and add enough hot stock to it to mix through then add the soup and stir through. its good not to boil miso as this kills the good stuff (acidophulus etc.)
++ i like to serve with a few drops of sesame oil, finely sliced spring onions and as i haven't had any kombu or wakame lately, a sprinkle of dulse flakes.
++ if i have used kombu i like to take it out of the stock and cut a few thin slices to add to each serve. i do someting similar to the shiitake mushrooms if i have used them whole in the stock.
++ also you can make the stock without vegetables and keep and use to make fresh batches of soup daily
fragrant/hot/sweet
I made this for Sunday dinner, having in mind something that I have eaten before at a Southern Indian restaurant.
I made a spice mixture with about two dessertspoons of coriander seeds, one of cumin, and about half that again of fennel seeds, roasted in a dry pan and then ground in a mortar and pestle. I mixed this with maybe a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a little less of ground cloves.
In a food processor a reduced half an onion and a piece of fresh ginger about the length of my thumb to a paste, which I mixed with the spice mixture, some turmeric and ground black pepper.
I sliced up the other half of the onion, and fried it slowly in some vegetable oil with a whole dried chilli cut in half. When the onion was browned nicely, I added the spice paste and cooked it until it smelt nicely. I added chickpeas (well soaked and boiled) and some potatoes, cut into large cubes. When everything was nicely combined, I added water, not quite enough to cover, and a generous pinch of salt. Once it had come to the boil, I covered it, and reduced the heat to as low as possible.
When the potato was soft, I added about a dessertspoon of pomegranate concentrate. This last ingredient wasn’t really authentic to South Indian cuisine, but I guess if you wanted authenticity, you could use tamarind, if that’s what they use in Southern India. So I guess my version was a kind of Indian/Persian/general middle eastern one. I was surprised with the result, it was like the dish that I have eaten before at the restaurant – but with more heat, and I think all the more enjoyable that I had made it myself. Making the spice mixture, I felt like a blind man, finding his way by smell.
I imagine you could make a raita to go with this – with grated cucumber, mint or coriander. But it went fine with plain yoghurt, and plain Basmati rice.
Such successes are incentive to eat out at better and better Indian restaurants, to find more dishes to replicate.
mallung meal
DHAL with RADISH GREENS MALLUNG, TOMATO + ONION SALAD & LIME PICKLE on BURGHUL
[leftovers for lunch today ~ even better than last night. Save for the mallung, which was amaaazing freshly made]
DHAL
--onion fried with the usual spices [bay & curry leaves, mustard seeds, garam masala, turmeric, cardamon, cumin, coriander]
--stir in a cup or so of lentils + garlic & chilli + pepper
--two veg... i had cauliflower & zucchini
--bit of stock then water
--cook til melted together nicely
--season along the way with splashes of mirin + tamari
MALLUNG
he.marli's recipe from the 'pickings' comment OR with a bare pantry i got away with:
--oil flavoured/fried with a whole garlic clove (fine chopped onion is better)
-- add fine sliced radish greenery (or anything else green, or cabbage)
--fry together with a few tablespoons dessicated coconut, turmeric, dried chilli, big pinch of salt & lemon juice to moisten.
--done when greens are cooked... not long
TOMATO & ONION
--fine sliced onion + tomato + juice of a lemon + a little oil + S & P
--mix it with your hands
eaten on coarsish BURGHUL cooked absorption method with a little stock ~pearl barley is even nicer. Both lighter than rice.
with my favourite head-clearing LIME PICKLE ~ Fern's is the best!
the beautiful bean
I found fresh borlotti beans at the grocer's this morning. I never fail to be enchanted by their mottled pink and white pods, and the delicate white, green, pale pink and maroon beans. I cooked these in lightly salted boiling water, and then incorporated them into a salad with tomatoes, parsley stalks, parsley, red onion, mint, bread, olive oil and lemon juice. This is good with sausages. Pork and fennel sausages work well. Sausages and beans are meant to go together.
chickpea soba noodles
who knew chickpeas and buckwheat noodles would go so well together!
onions
garlic
carrots
mushrooms
spinach
mirin
water
vegetable broth/ stock
chickpeas
soba noodles
white miso paste
to be added in that order roughly.
1 2 3 GO
WHITE RICE/PAN FRIED MUSHROOMS with LEMON THYME/CUCUMBER, SNOW PEA and AVOCADO SALAD/PERSIAN KALE/CHICKPEAS with HARISSA and PUMPKIN/OVEN ROASTED TOMATOES and BASIL/ROASTED POTATOES
last week renee and i decided to make a meal together. we shoppped separately but then cooked in the kitchen together, consulting each other but not really with any grand plans. like those rare times when you have a potluck (rarely lucky) and everyone by some collecitve consciounsce brings just the right amount of each course and the flavours seem to sing together (more or less), we syncopated. the meal evolved effortlessly and flavoursomly.
WHITE RICE
a japanese friend of mine taught me how to cook rice, slightly more involved than most methods but worth every grain filled morsel
meth
++ rinse thoroughly 2cups of white rice (i like short grain) until it runs clear (the white suff that runs out is apparently talc...)
++ soak for 20-30mins, then drain
++ bring 2cups of water to a boil in a pot with a well fitted lid and add the rice placing the lid back on
++ bring back to the boil, then immediately turn flame down to lowest possible flutter and place a flame tamer under your pot if you have one (really useful for dispersing the heat evenly on low flames)
++ cook for 20mins (without ever removing lid) then bring flame up to full again for 20 seconds (slighlty toasting the bottom layer of the rice) then remove from heat
++ leave for 5 more minutes then remove lid and fluff rice up to release the steam
quick snack options with freshly cooked rice (white or brown)
++ toasted seeds (pumpkin/sunflower/sesame) + umeboshi + flaxseed oil (stoney creek farm is my favourite) + dulse flakes or fresh parsley
late night pickings
Even a bolting, forgotten garden is a blessing in busy times...
Prize radish + rocket-cos-mizuna.
Interested in tips on how to use the radish greenery? So lush & folic.
Ceramic cuts
Rory brought back this ceramic knife from Japan. The blade is made of zirconium oxide which the Kyocera website tells me is second in hardness to diamonds. The knife is really light but has a good central balance, it cuts exceptionally, and although the handle is ugly slate toned plastic it is entirely ergonomic and comfortable. The range is also produced with a black blade, but the white is super attractive - slightly iridescent with the calcareous quality of a cuttlefish bone.
Schweetums
This is what's classified in Norway as something light to finish off a meal (of mutton ribs, mashed swede and boiled potatoes):
A slab of cream thickened with lime juice. Garnish.
BTW, Sonsa's on Smith Street have the most amazing pomegranates at the moment.
Drunken ostentatious dessert at bourgie rooftop expat bar in Kuala Lumpur:
And the best kind of dessert, or breakfast for that matter - Matthew's aunt's mulberry tree:
