Chai Malai Cake and Brick Lane Cookbook

I made this delicious Chai Malai Cake on one of those when I wished I could go back to bed and start all over.  

Its started off whilst making this cake.  Whilst bashing my cardamom I broke the mortar! How does that even happen (it was a cheap one), then I could not find my proper granite pestle and mortar gifted to me by my mother years ago.  No doubt stuck at the back of a kitchen cupboard!

Then I crack eggs for the whites, except a yolk falls in. I manage to scoop it out before it spreads. 

Sugar goes all over the floor.  I brush it up, don't want an army of ants in the kitchen (not that its ever happened to me in my new home).

The hand whisk throws up the self-raising flour into my face like dust...

Like I said, it was one of those days that I wished I could to go back to bed and start over again, but I persevered and this was the delicious and pretty result.

I don't eat much in the way of South Asian sweets and desserts, but the one that I do really like and indulge in when the opportunity arises is Ras Malai.   So I was completely sold when I saw Dina Begum's Chai Malai Cake.  It's a light masala spiced cake with a rasmalai inspired frosting with cardamom and rose.  I have something to admit though. I am not that partial to cardamom and regular readers will note its lack of absence in recipes on my blog.  The reason I have avoided this green pod with highly flavoured and scented seeds is rooted in my childhood.  My mother always made spiced chai at home, and when we had guests she would go mad and include extra cardamom.  Cardamom was also thrown in most recipes, sweet rice and even savoury rice.  I found cardamom overpowering for my palette and have avoided it with a vengeance in my adulthood.  I had momentarily considered omitting it from the Chai Malai Cake recipe, but upon gathering the ingredients, I decided to put my childhood prejudices aside and stick to the recipe.  I am glad I did.  The cardamom was delicate and nothing like the chai tea my mother used to make.    

The Chai Malai Cake was a triumph enhanced with rose petals. It was everything Dina promised it would be...Yum! 

The recipe, if you haven't guessed it comes from Dina Begum's Brick Lane Cookbook: Food From Everywhere. The cookbook also includes contributions from street food traders and restaurants including The Boiler House, Beigel Shop and Kahala a not for profit community café. The cookbook is a snapshot of the ethnically diverse cuisine found in  the East End of London. If you want to make the Chai Malai Cake you can also find the here. 

By the way, I have been to Brick Lane - see here - but it was mostly about the graffiti art. However, I look forward to going back again and checking out some of the culinary contributors to the cookbook.

Marrow Curry with Black Chickpeas

Everybody seems to be going crazy for black chickpeas which surprises me.  Black chickpeas are a staple in many South Asian homes.  Black chickpeas are known as kala channa or kala cholay.   

I've never featured black chickpeas on my blog for two reasons.  My family, either my mother or sister in laws make it for me when I go over and its not that often, so its hearty humble vegetarian food for my belly and secondly,  I find its time consuming to soak the black chickpeas overnight and then cook it slowly - when its mostly me eating them, as D is not that keen on them.  It is worth cooking from scratch  though as the flavour is completely different to the traditional chickpea.  Black chickpeas are more nutty.  So it was interesting to try some black chickpeas that come ready cooked in a tin. I've a few original black chickpea recipe ideas up my head, but this time I wanted to keep it simple and true to my heritage and decided to make a South Asian style vegetable curry.  

You can use any vegetable you like, but as I have marrows coming from the garden like nobodys business and its in season, I have decided to use it for this reason.  

I have made both vegetarian and vegan Marrow Curry with Chickpeas, but this one is studded with black chickpeas. Please don't worry too much if you can't find black chickpeas where you are, just substitute it with the traditional variety.

Buttery Marrow and Fenugreek Curry

The first of many homegrown marrows and because the accepted stereotype of South Asian girls is that 'we' all make a mean curry, I thought I would not disappoint. But the truth is, everyone these days claims to make an awesome 'curry'.  I am honestly not one of those people. 

I have made a vegan Marrow Curry with Chickpeas in this past, but this one is rich and buttery, that even my mother would approve. 

I love fenugreek and when I saw it being sold at the market, I could not resist its distinct fragrant.  I am pleased I picked it up as it enhanced the plainness of the marrow curry. 

I am sharing this with The Veg Hog  who is hosting #EatYourGreens Vegetarian and Vegan Blog challenge this month, please do join in there is plenty of time.   For those of you who have not participated before, please Follow this link on how to join in.   

Vegetarian Quorn 'Chicken' Vindaloo

I actually started writing this blog post when it was day four of snow.  It was when we had the extraordinary weather starting with a blast of cold from Siberia which was dubbed as 'The Beast from the East' then followed quickly by blizzards, strong winds, drifting snow and a storm.  This was then followed by a rare phenomenon of freezing rain.   The snow outside our front door was just over 3 foot high. I think this may be the worse I have seen it in my adult life and made more difficult because we live in the valleys.    Then we saw more snow this weekend which left us stuck at home as the roads were treacherous to drive on.  And apparently  that is not the end, as I have heard that Easter weekend welcomes a a cold Arctic blast from Scandinavia. I cannot wait for Spring to properly start. 

All I can say is Thank goodness for having dried goods and some stuff in our little freezer.  

This is not a sponsored blog post

Vindaloo is traditionally made with pork, but this version is substituted the chicken breasts with Quorn 'chicken' fillets .  In fact, I think its better to make this dish a day in advance, as the Quorn fillets became succulent by absorbing  and taking on some of the flavours from the sauce. 

The flavours in this vegetarian Vindaloo were interesting, and why would it not be with spices like star anise, cinnamon stick, black peppercorns and then white wine vinegar for piquancy.  It was also hot, but its not a volatile vindaloo - still  I have to confess the older I am becoming, my tolerance of chili is dwindling. Would it be terrible of me to admit, that my desire of chocolate is almost non existent, but that is another topic.

Disclaimer*: I have been using Quorn products well before blogs became PR and  monetary commodities.  This is not sponsored blog post, I have not been given this product free or paid by Quorn in any way.  
Adapted from this recipe.

Vegan Sweet Potato and Kidney Beans Seekh Kebabs

Promise this vegan Sweet Potato and Kidney Beans Seekh Kebabs are is my last sweet potato recipe for the month.

Seekh should not be confused with 'Sikhs'.  Sikhs are the disciples of God who following the teachings and writings of the Ten Sikh Gurus.  Seekhs are skewers, albeit wooden skewers around which the minced meat or mashed vegetables and or beans are moulded around to resemble a sausage like shape and then grilled or given the full smoky charred Barbecue treatment.

These red brick coloured Seekh kebabs were a little on the mushy side like old fashioned veggie sausages, but they were perfectly spiced which made them more enjoyable. 

I am sharing these Sweet Potato and Kidney Bean Seekh Kebabs with  Healthy Vegan Fridays hosted by Rock My Vegan Socks and V Nutrition and Confessions of a Mother Runner and Whisk and Two Wands for Meatless Monday.

Enjoy this song by Praiz featuring Chidinma Ekile called 'Sweet Potato'.  Its sweet.

Sweet Potato and Kidney Beans Seekh Kebabs
Makes 8 skewers
Ingredients
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon oil

Fresh India Sweet Potato Vindaloo

This Sweet Potato Vindaloo is the second recipe I cooked from the cookbook Fresh India: Quick, easy and Delicious Vegetarian Recipes For Every Day by Meera Sodha which I was gifted at Christmas.   

When I think of Vindaloo, I wrongly and stereotypically think of old classic Bollywood movies with Catholic Indian characters called De Sueza or D'Silva living near a beach or a fishing village in or near Goa, India.  Vindaloo came to India via the Portuguese and was known as carne de vinho d'alhos (meat marinated in wine and garlic). I don't ever recall any of the movie characters ever making or eating a variation of vindaloo, but I sort of romanticised it in my mind growing up and tried to make sense of the popularity of the burning hot Vindaloo in the UK.  I still don't understand it, but what I do know is that I miss those old fashion Bollywood movies.  I find Bollywood movies to be just a long pop video and am very selective of those I watch.  those I watch are often recommended by family and close friends.  

Vindaloo is traditionally made with pork.  I like spiced food but not ridiculously hot either, so the appeal to make a vegetarian or vegan version of it never occurred to me.  There re a few Sweet Potato Vindaloo recipes around, as well as a popular variation of Two Potato Vindaloo by Ottolenghi, but I am trusting Meera Sodha's Sweet Potato Vindaloo version as the flavours may be more authentic.  

Meera Sodha's Cauliflower Korma

For a person of South Asian heritage who is not that bad in the kitchen, I still have quite a few South Asian Indian cookbooks on my shelf as cuisine from the Indian sub continent is wide, vast and diverse, just like its people.  

Most of the Indian cookbooks I have come from Madhur Jaffrey, Reza Mahammad, but I also have some by Dala Tarla and lesser known cooks in this part of the UK Viji Varadarajan.  I also have all the cookbooks by the beautiful Vicki Bhogul who has just made a comeback with the republication of Cooking Like Mummiji.  A couple of years back I was super excited by the publication of Prashad cookbook. However I only have a handful of Gujrati Indian Vegetarian Cookbooks.  The one I flick through quite often is Hansa's Indian Vegetarian Cookbook (2001) by Hansa Daghi who combines her Gujarit home cooking with touches of her East African upbringing.  

However, its my newest cookbook that I want to put in the spotlight.  My husband got me Fresh India: Quick, easy and Delicious Vegetarian Recipes For Every Day by Meera Sodha for Christmas.   This Cauliflower Korma with Blackened Raisins (Gobhi Korma) was the first recipe that I bookmarked from the cookbook.  

I have to say Meera Sodha's Cauliflower Korma as you may know it, its very different. There is no coconut or coconut milk in the recipe , but there are nuts not what we often see cashew nuts but ground almonds that act as both thickener and give it that rich creaminess.   It made for a change and I like change.

Aloo Tikki Bagel

It been an extremely busy week at work, so my blog post this evening will be short.  My evening dinner today is Pizza, don't diss me - its homemade pizza!  Check out my Instagram for the photograph, I promise you it will be very different from other pizzas you've seen.

Right now though, I am sharing a fusion snack of Aloo Tikki Bagel.  I am constantly amazed at how much i eat is accidentally vegan.  Aloo Tikki is a South Asian snack made from spicy oniony mashed potatoes (aloo) that is shaped into cutlets or burger shapes, then coated in a spicy blend of chickpea batter and deep fried.  It important to eat it whilst it is still hot as that is when it is at its most deliciousness.  

You can eat the Aloo Tikki as you wish, we and I mean my siblings would often stuff it in roti aka chappati slathered in tomato sauce, it had to be a red sauce to temper the spices, then rolled up like burrito and munched on.  These days I tend to either stuff it in a burger bread bun or a bagel; and my siblings children in a tortilla wrap.

Like my Samosa Soup recipe: a combination of Dal and Samosa, Aloo Tikki is another firm favourite comfort food and not one I indulge in that often as it requires deep frying, but when I do, I ravish it within minutes.

This blog post is part of Vegan Month of Food.  The theme is memories and traditions. I am also sharing this with Soups, Salads and Sammies and this is kind of a sandwich hosted by Kahakai Kitchen;  

Vegan Indian Pasta, Indian Gnocchi, Indian Dumplings

When I say Indian, its more Indian style as I wish to embrace the diversity of all the countries in the Indian Sub-Continent - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even the Maldives as they all embrace this way of cooking.  This is also in part to show respect to the many 'Indian' restaurateurs and take-aways  across Europe and the United Kingdom where the owners and workers are often of  Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage. 

I make Curried Red Lentil Dal all the time, its part of my South Asian heritage, however I made this particular version of Pigeon Pea Soup from Prashad's cookbook a couple of weeks back.   It does just look like a simple bowl of Red Dal, but its rather deceptive in appearance because once you take slurp of this soup you are hit first by the heady perfumed herbyness and then Boom - you taste the amazing spices - its really quite something special for some thing could easily be described as a peasant dish.  

Prashad's Curried Lentils with Indian Pasta actually reminded me of my Dal with Chilli - Coriander Gnocchi that I made many years ago, perhaps somewhere in the back of my psyche this is the reason I wanted to make it and see how it compared.  

So the verdict?!  I have to admit hands down, that Prashad's Curried Dal was far more better, in fact far more superior in taste than mine.  It had more depth of flavour from the infusion of different spices and the tempering  made a huge difference too as an enhancer. 

Normally I would serve an Indian style bowl of Dal  with chappati or roti, but was inspired further to try the accompanying Indian pasta from Prashad's cookbook which I must admit I have adapted just a little.  What's appealing about this Indian Pasta is that you don't even need a pasta machine to make it, just a good old fashioned rolling pin.  

The Indian pasta made a wonderful chewy textual change from chappati or naan bread.  If you do choose to have a go at making this, roll the dough out as thin as you can.  You will need a palette knife to remove them from the surface. I am sharing this with Inheritance Recipes hosted by Pebble Soup and Coffee n Vanilla;and  No Croutons Required hosted by Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen and Tinned Tomatoes. 

Whole Roasted Tandoori Cauliflower

The way fruit leathers are dominating blogosphere, so are Saabut Gobhi aka Whole Cauliflower often baked.  Its a dish my parents would make for me and D when we visited them from Scotland.  They would make themselves tandoori roast chicken, and we would have tandoori cauliflower.  I never thought anything of it, until recently when we were invited to a house-warming party and I was reminded of it Saabut Gobhi once again.  Traditionally it is cooked slowly in rich spicy tomato sauce, but now you will find different variations: with za'atar, miso paste, Sriracha and so on. 

Truth is I was never enthused when my family presented me with this Whole Roasted Tandoori Cauliflower dish, I never liked the look of this brain shaped vegetable, the smell or the taste.  I guess this is the reason I have never featured this dish on my blog, but saying that over the years and it is well-documented on my blog, I have come to appreciate this white vegetable and its versatility.

Anyway Saabut Gobhi is a Mughal specialist and often served with a main meal, in addition to other curry dishes.  

Vegan Southern Indian Black Pepper Curry

About a week or so ago, I featured a Vegan 'Beef' Soy Chunks and Green Papaya Curry on my blog.  I thought I'd continue cooking with the soy chunks imitating meat today.  So here is a Black Pepper  Soya Chunk Curry.   

Now and again in a curry style dish, I do like to alternate the fiery heat of red chilli powder for warmth of black pepper.   One of my favourite black pepper dishes, must be this Malaysian Black Pepper Tofu curry from Rasa Malysia.  Oh the memories of eating that dish is really making my mouth water.  I might just have to pick up some tofu in the next few days.

Vegan Butter Bean Curry

Well if you liked my Red Kidney Bean Curry, then I already know you are going to love my Vegan Butter Bean Curry. 

Butter Beans are also known as lima beans.  These butter beans were dried, so I soaked them overnight and cooked them the following day until tender.  I don't like using tinned butter beans, not because I am a snob as I'm quite content with tinned chickpeas.  Its just that I have often found that once decanted, drained and rinsed - the tinned butter beans are mushed in the brine and horrid to look at, let alone eat - Yuk!  So if you do decided to make this, all this is way of saying, please please do not substitute this recipe with tinned, soaking your butter beans here is really worth the effort.

Vegan Red Kidney Bean Curry

I do enjoy eating chickpeas in whatever cooked form, whether they be roasted, as a dip such as hummus or in a curry.  Next to chickpeas, I think butter beans would be top on my legume list, kidney beans would come thereafter.  I tend to cook with kidneys beans in chilli pots, veggie burgers, soups, bean salads and more recently these Sunny Caribbean Vegetable Patty Pies.

I have to admit, its been a long while since I've made this Red Kidney Bean curry.  To be honest I cannot remember the last time, maybe when I was a student. 

Vegan Carrot, Potato and Peas Curry

September the 1st marks the start of Vegan Month of Food also fondly referred to as Vegan MoFo in blogosphere.

This is my first year of participating in Vegan MoFo, and I have decided to kick-start with a relatively simple and thrifty Anglo-Indian curry  that I have veganized by replacing the ghee or butter with vegetable oil.  

Spicy Scrambled Eggs

When my husband is away, I like to indulge by eating this 'Spicy Scrambled Egg Curry' known as Mirchi Anda ka Salan.  I know its not the prettiest, but for me its can certainly be one of the tastiest and one of my guilty food pleasures!  If you want you can also call it 'Indian Scrambled Eggs', I appreciate I have used the descriptive 'spicy' a lot in my blog header recipes.

The reason I indulge in it when my husband is away is because for some reason he doesn't like it.  I find this awfully strange as he really likes his eggs: whether it fried eggs, boiled eggs, omelette's or just plain scrambled eggs.  But to make this even more confusing, I actually don't like traditional omelette's or scrambled eggs, but I do like eggs scrambled in this manner - spiced up.  Saying that, I do have to be in the mood for it though as its not exactly healthy, but it is relatively speedy.  I often wonder what it is about this that D doesn't like?  I think it might be the smell of turmeric that puts him off, its too 'curry powder' like and cooking aromas linger in the air for a day or two; or maybe its the way the spicy scrambled eggs looks like on the plate like scrambled brains.  I can understand that as there are times when I don't find it particularly appealing.

Anyway, its relatively quick to make, perhaps that the reason we had it most weekends as children either for breakfast; or as homely 'fast food' when there was little else in the house to eat. 

Its best enjoyed with a roti aka chapatti, but that would have been to time consuming for me, so I made do with some store bought pitta bread. There are lots of versions of this recipe, but this one is mine. And if you want to be an absolute slob about it, don't even serve it in a plate. I dare you to eat is straight from the frying pan.  If nothing else, there will be one less dish to wash.  I am linking this to the Penny Worthy Project because this dish is also good to make on a budget, therefore making it a thrifty brunch.
Spicy Scrambled Eggs
Serves 1 or 2 if you want to share
Ingredients
80g salted butter
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 - 2 green chillies, sliced
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
Salt to taste
1 - 2 eggs
1 generous tablespoon of coriander, roughly chopped
Method
Melt the butter in a wide frying pan, add the onions, green chillies and spices and cook until he onions have softened and turned a golden colour.  Keep stirring it to prevent from sticking.  When the onions are soft, break in the egg(s) and whisk in eggs, so evenly coated with the heavily spiced fried onions.  Stir in the coriander and serve immediately.

Crispy Okra Fries

Okra or green lady fingers as my Dad would often call them in order to make them appeal to me and my siblings curiosity; and in the hope that we would enjoy eating them as an exotic vegetable.  It didn't work, the gelatinous texture always deterred us.  However we were always in awe at its enchanting name 'green lady fingers' to us sounded like 'Green Goddess'.  Just imagine if they had been purple - 'the purple lady'.  Purple okra does exist, I remember last year fellow blogger, little black fox mentioning them and the possibility that she may be growing some this year, I wonder if she ever did. 

In the past I've shared one okra recipe that I could stomach eating.  Here is another one that I think you may also approve of.

Crisp Okra translated and known in the South Asian community as Akri Bhindi or Kurkuri Bhindi.  Imagine tempura and french fries combined, well I can only describe this as okra fries.

In order to elevate this recipe further, you do need to have a well stored spice cupboard as this relies on ingredients that are not often found in some peoples kitchen.  The two that I am referring to here are Garam masala and chaat masala.  Garam Masala is a blend of aromatic warm spices that includes coriander, cumin and cloves.  Garam Masala is often used as a flavouring in South Asian dishes sprinkled on dals, stirred into natural yoghurt or here as an additional seasoning.  Chaat masala is also a spice blend.  It traditionally consists of dried mango powder (amchoor), black salt (kala namak), coriander, cumin, dried ginger, black pepper, asafoetida, salt and chili powder. This spice combination produces a sweet and sour taste, reminisce of tamarind but in powder form. It is used to flavour a number of South Asian fast food dishes found at melas and fairground attractions, such as Aloo Chaat, dahi puri,and golgappay.  Its also great just scattered over sliced fruit like oranges, apples and pears.  I find that there is something quite addictive about chaat masala - In the past, I would often found myself dipping my fingers into the container.  I know, I know its a bad habit - that's why I don't do it anymore, not particularly hygienic.

I am not expecting you to go out and buy spices to make your own garam masala or chaat masala as there are plenty of supermarkets that now sell the spices ready made.  I hope you can find some.  If not, you can still make this recipe without, it will still be fine - just not as spicy.

You can enjoy the crispy okra fries simply as light nibbles, but I wanted to make more of a meal of it so made some spicy tomato sauce and served it with plain Basmati rice.

Crisp Okra Fries
Serves 4
Ingredients
260g fresh okra
Optional: 4 red chilli peppers
1 small onion
1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon Garam masala or chaat masala 

60g chickpea flour
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Method
Cut the okra, chilli and onion into think julienne strips.  Add all the spices and flour and mix well to coat all the vegetables, you may need a teaspoon of water to combine.
Heat the oil and then fry the okra mixture until crisp and browned.  Drain and serve immediately; or stirred into the spiced tomato sauce.

For the spicy tomato sauce
Ingredients
8 tomatoes, roughly chopped or 1 x 400ml tin of tomatoes
2 - 4 long red chillies
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped
2 teaspoon of ground cumin
½ teaspoon of turmeric
2 teaspoons of paprika
2 teaspoons of garam masala
Salt to taste
6 tablespoons of sunflower oil
Optional: Handful of fresh coriander, minced
Method
In a food processor, blend the tomatoes, chilli, ginger and spices to a smooth puree. Season with salt to taste. Then in a wide pan, heat the oil. Add the blended sauce to the pan and fry over high heat for a few minutes. Then lower the heat and simmer for 35 – 40 minutes, about halfway through the process add about 200ml water to loosen the sauce.
When sauce is ready, gently add the crisp okra fries and heat together for a few minutes.  Garnish with optional coriander.

Ochre okra in masala

The Okra has many wonderful names, bhindi, bamia, gumbo and lady fingers.
But the thought of eating them, does not excite everyone including me. Although rather elegant on the outside, once pierced or sliced you note the texture, rather slimy like snot. And this itself is completely off putting. For them to pass my mouth, they have to be completely transformed. This dish is known as Masala Bhindi is one way I have come to eat okra.
Here they are sliced - I know some people will disapprove of me cutting them this way, as they like to keep okra whole when cooking. But okra cooked whole for me retains what I dislike about okra - its viscous glue like texture. Upon cutting you will see the tiny white seeds and the slimy texture will ooze out a little and touch your fingers. But don’t worry so much, let me assure you upon cooking the okra this way, the okras glutinous juice thickens sauce and completely leaves the okra rather silky and rather tasty.

I also think it looks rather pretty like this: a bowl of spiced green stars. Now that’s a good way to get your little ones to try them, just go easy on the spices.
Well to make this dry okra salan (curry) was not my idea. A couple of days ago, we went into KRK Continental Grocers, (a Pakistani owned grocery store) just near my old University to pick up some spices. D then saw these long green elongated lady fingers tempting him. He looked at me and said ‘I wouldn’t mind having some okra this week’. I know we’ve just missed the okra season and its not locally grown either, but its not often he makes these requests, so of course we did. Sometimes, you got to treat yourself, that’s of course if you see okra as a treat and D obviously does.

Traditionally you would eat it with a roti aka chapatti, but I think tortilla wraps work just as well. I know as I've eaten it that way.

Okra Salan or Masal Bhindi
Serves 4
Ingredients
150g full fat butter or ghee
2 medium onions, minced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 inch of ginger, grated or minced
1 teaspoon of salt or to taste
1 teaspoon chilli powder or to taste
½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
Optional: 2 fresh chillies, sliced
4 fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped or 1 x 400g tin tomatoes, chopped
250g – 300g okra, topped, tailed and sliced
Method
In a large wide pan, melt butter then add the minced onions and garlic and cook until transparent, add the spices, ginger and the optional fresh chillies and cook until the fat of the butter separates, by this I mean comes to the surface. Add the tomatoes and cook until well integrated (mash in if you wish). Be patient and allow the butter to come to the surface again. When this happens, then add in the okra. Stir in, let the okra simmer on high heat in the buttery tomato sauce for a couple of minutes, before turning the heat down and allowing the vegetables to cook through (about 20 - 25 minutes). During this cooking process, stir from time to time to stop the vegetables from sticking to the pan. The butter will clarify (rise to the surface) for a final time, this for me is an indication that the dish is nearly ready. Make sure the vegetables are tender and serve immediately as a dry salan. Eat this dish warm and quick, as its not particularly nice cold. Serve with rice, roti, chapatti or tortilla wraps.

Green Bean Salan

This salan (sauce base) known popularly as a 'curry' is so in my head that I don't use a recipe. I am so used to throwing in amounts of spices that I don't measure. It's one of those dishes, once you got the salan (sauce base) right, you can throw any vegetable to it. Check out my cauliflower salan for which I neglected to give a recipe too. This time though, I thought it would be unfair to show you an image of it whilst it was still cooking away and not give you something that would amount to a recipe. It's not the authentic way of cooking South Asian food, as I have changed it over the years to fit in with my personal style of cooking and working lifestyle, so I don't want anyone writing to me and complaining. This is the way I do it and it works well for me when I want a kick of spice in the form of South Asian food flavours. It is so much better than the common Indian take-away food. Honestly it is!
Oh I am full of excuses today. I have not given you a picture of what the final dish looked like either for two reason: first one who wants to look at limpy green beans - the above picture looks far more appealing don't you think? No, I guess you right, it is kinda garish in it's colours, anyway, the second reason was once cooked these limpy cooked green beans were consumed pretty quick. This is a dry salan, so we ate this with some naan bread.
Green Bean Salan
Serves 4
Ingredients
150g full fat butter or ghee
2 large onions, minced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 inch of ginger, grated or minced
1 teaspoon of salt or to taste
1 teaspoon chilli powder or to taste
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
2 fresh chillies, sliced
4 fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped
Vegetable of choice: I used about 250g green beans, topped and tailed
Method
In a large wide pan, melt butter then add the minced onions, garlic and ginger and cook until transparent, add the spices and the fresh chillies and cook until the fat of the butter comes to the surface. Add the tomatoes and cook until well integrated. Then add your chosen vegetable, stir and turn heat down until the vegetables are well cooked. Keep stirring to stop the vegetables from sticking to the pan, when vegetables are cooked you can either just serve it as a dry salan; or add 150ml - 250ml water to the pot, bring to the boil, let it simmer until the flavours have infused into the water. Serve with rice.

Gold Beetroot and coriander pakoras

Today I decided to cook the Detroit 2 and Golden beetroot picked from the plot last weekend (see below). I had already picked and jarred the Detroit 2 red beetroot, so earlier on I was thinking about how to use up the golden beetroot, and yes, more deep frying and more pakoras came to mind. Well why not, I don't do it that often, honest! But before I give you the recipe for these lovely golden beetroot pakoras. Let me tell you a little bit about this root vegetable.

Beetroot has edible leafy tops which contain beta carotene, calcium and iron, which is great in salads or cooked simply like spinach or Swiss chard.

These days however, only the root is eaten - it can be grated raw, boiled, pickled in vinegar, roasted or baked in foil. Cooking beetroot can also be a bit of a pain, most people tend to boil them, but I think boiling beetroot introduced a wateriness to the texture, so I would recommend to reader to roast them, which guards all their juiciness. Then allow it to cool, before peeling the skin off gently.

Beetroot apparently has one of the highest sugar contents of any vegetable. What is unusual about the beetroot is the taste and texture of the cooked vegetable remains quite close to the raw, which is not good for someone like me. Well you see I am not a big fan of eating beetroots, as I find the flavour quite strong and earthy, but my husband D likes them, hence the reason me growing them at the plot. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned that there were many other varieties, not just in size and flavours but also in colours. For example, when you cut into a chioggia betroot it has alternating red and white rings inside of it. There is also white devoy, bulls blood, moulin rouge and burpees golden, which is what I am using for this dish. This golden beetroot is not so strong in flavour as the common dark purple variety that are available in most supermarkets. So you can imagine, I really liked these pakoras.

Also did you know that these days, many bakers are using Beetroot juice as a natural alternative to red food colouring. Have you heard of Red Velvet cake?!
I am submitting this recipe into this weeks Weekend Herb Blogging #198. This weeks host is Rachel from The Crispy Cook. The weekly food blog event showcases information and recipes about herbs, vegetables, fruits and other plant ingredients. Weekend Herb Blogging was first initiated by Kalyn's Kitchen in Utah, and is now organized by Haalo in Sydney, Australia, Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once.
If you like the the look of these morsels, please do come back for my red beetroot kofta which I will be making later.
Gold Beetroot and coriander pakoras
You will need a deep fat fryer for this recipe
Ingredients
200g cooked beetroot, peeled and coarsely grated
2 spring onions, finely chopped including greens
60g feta cheese, crumbled (can be omitted for vegans)
2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander (or mint)
salt and pepper to taste
80g fresh breadcrumbs
60g gram or plain flour
Method
Mix the beetroot, spring onions, feta and herbs together. Season, then mix in the breadcrumbs to combine. Cover and refirgerate for about an hour.
In your hand tightly shape the mixture into golf size balls, adding a little flour to bind the mixture. Heat the oil and fry in batches until golden on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Warning: please note the fresh coriander will splutter a little when you deep fry it, so just be careful. Inspired by a recipe from Maria Elias The Modern Vegetarian

Courgette pakoras in a spicy tomato sauce

I spent a few hours at the allotment today, not good news I'm afraid, my san manzano plum tomatoes have all got blight, so no home-made tomato sauce for me. D spent a couple of hours in the greenhouse pulling them out. Whilst did a little bit more harvesting: a bag full of colourful green beans, some round squash and two rather sad looking courgettes, one of which I turned into the dish below. I think the courgette plan is done for sure now, so either tomorrow or next weekend, I am planning to pull them out of the squash bed.

Anyway onto food. This is something I grew up eating, but I came across an easier version of the spicy tomato sauce in Nadine Abensurs The Cranks Bible who acknowledges Julie Sahni for the recipe. Last year, I must have made this dish about four times, because I had such a glut of courgettes. This year, only once and I thoroughly enjoyed the dish. Normally these little vegetable pakoras would contain either potatoes, grated carrots or cubes of aubergines, but this one has courgettes. You can eat the courgette pakoras just as is, a delicious moreish deep fried snack. For a vegetarian version, you could stir in some Greek yogurt to the sauce, but add this towards the end and do not boil the sauce, just allow it to simmer for a few minutes.
Courgette pakoras in a spicy tomato sauce
You will needs a deep fat fryer for this recipe.
Serves 6
Ingredients
For the courgette pakoras
700 – 750g courgettes, grated
1 medium onion, finely sliced
100g chickpea flour
1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
2 – 4 green chillies, finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped coriander
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
For the spicy tomato sauce
8 tomatoes, roughly chopped or in the winter 1 x 400ml tin of tomatoes
4 green chillies
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped
2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
2 teaspoons of paprika
2 teaspoons of garam masala
6 tablespoons of sunflower oil
Coriander
Salt to taste
Method
For the courgette pakoras
Squeeze the grated courgettes of its excess liquid. Then place all the pakora ingredients in a large bowl an mix well with your hands.
Heat the oil for deep frying. Then drop a large tablespoons worth into the oil, turn them carefully so that they are golden all over, which will take about 4 minutes. Remove and drain on layers of kitchen towel to absorb excess oil. Keep doing this until all the batter is used.

For the spicy tomato sauce
In a food processor, blend the tomatoes, chilli, ginger and spices to a smooth puree. Season with salt to taste. Then in a wide pan, heat the oil. Add the blended sauce to the pan and fry over high heat for a few minutes. Then lower the heat and simmer for 35 – 40 minutes, about halfway through the process add about 200ml water to loosen the sauce. When sauce is ready, gently add the pakoras and heat together for a few minutes. Garnish with coriander and serve with naan bread, plain boiled rice or potato wedges.

Recipe adapted from Nadine Abensurs The Cranks Bible: A Timeless Collection of Vegetarian Recipes