World Vegan Day: Burmese Yellow Split Pea Samosa Soup

Oh can it be true? Yes indeed!  Two of my favourite dishes on one big bowl: South Asian style spicy Dal and deep fried triangles of delicious Samosa.

Today it is World Vegan Day and the start of Vegan Mofo.   I have no set theme for the month of November, so I will probably follow some of the Vegan Mofo themes and prompts. The theme today is what is your favourite food?  I am of South Asian heritage and very fond of my Dals and deep fried snacks including the pakora aka onion bhaji.  I consider both these dishes to be comfort food in my eyes, so you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across the recipe a few years back. 

Inspired by a Burmese Samusa Thouk they had at San Francisco's Burma Superstar  in 2007, the food blogger NCJay went back home and re-created a version.  And guess what Samusa Thouk is still featured today at the Burma Superstar restaurant.   Burma Superstar assert that it remains one of their most popular soups for vegetarians and meat eaters alike.  Well I don't think I will be travelling from Wales, United Kingdom to San Francisco anytime soon, so I am pleased this recipe was recreated in their home so that I could enjoy it in my home here in the Welsh valleys and shared with my readers as well as those of you visiting my blog for the first time through Vegan Mofo on World Vegan Day.

I think this Burmese Yellow Split Pea Dal is perfect to share on World Vegan Day as its very different from those dals you find in South Asian homes and eateries.  It contains an added ingredient in the form of shredded white cabbage.  Most Indian style dals are just made with the lentil and spices and then simmered slowly to be transformed into something quite simple, yet delicious.

The Samosa drowning in the Yellow Split Pea Dal Soup acts like a crusty bread roll or croutons.  This combination may sound a bit unusual, but it makes sense to me as my family do eat samosa this way but its with salad and a raita and then crushed into those components into a spoonful of messy deliciousness.  I won't fib, the samosa's are homemade, but not by me.  My sister in law sometimes makes me a batch that I put in the freezer and shallow fry at home when snack attacks, but feel free to make your own or even buy from a good South Asian take-away. I also loved the sharp tangy undertones of the tamarind that was soothing on my throat. 

Even though the Burmese Yellow Split Pea Soup was tad too spicy for me, I loved it.  We had it over the weekend when the Welsh weather outside turned a little nippy.  My original thoughts were this would be like a starter, but to be truthful - we were both way to full the rest of the evening to eat anymore, other than grazing on some left over Birthday cake.  Once again Happy World Vegan Day.


I am sharing the Burmese Yellow Split Pea Soup with Inheritance Recipes co hosted by Solange at Pebble Soup and Coffee and Vanilla as this recipe combines two dishes from my heritage: Dal and Samosa.  

I am also sharing it with  Soups, Salads and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen; Sneaky Veg, Hijacked by Twins for CookBlog Share; My Legume Love Affair that was started by The Well Seasoned Cook and now administed by Lisa's Kitchen.  this month is is hosted by Briciole; Honest Mum for Brilliant Blog Posts; and finally Healthy Vegan Fridays hosted by Rock My Vegan Socks and V Nutrition.

Tamarind Edamame, Soy and Green Beans

Eat Your Greens on World Vegetarian Day.

Although a little spicy, this plate of food made for an interesting eat.  This Tamarind Edamame, soy and Green Beans dish is more of a stir fry than a curry. 

There is crunch from the green beans also known as pole beans, and different flavours of green  from the garden peas, edamame and soy beans.

I know stuffed I like tamarind a lot.  Its one of those ingredients that I reach for when I have a sore throat - its not like honey, but more marmite, but the flavour of tamarind are more sweet and sour, than yeasty.

D is not that keen on it, but will accept it as long as it does not dominate the whole meal, and this certainly does not.  Its subtle.  The tamarind lends a mild citrus twang with a hint of sweetness.  I think this dish was suitably moist as its not overly saucy, but if you want more sauce, then please feel free to stir in some coconut milk - how much is up to you.

Other Tamarind Recipes on my blog
Hot and Sour Broad Beans
Carrot and Tamarind Soup
Carrot Ketchup
Quinoa Meatballs in Tamarind Sauce
Gol Guppay
Sarah Beatties Tamarind Parsnip Curry
Slow Cooked Vegetable Tamarind Stew
Sweetcorn and Tamarind Soup
Tamarind Tofu 'Fish'
I am sharing this with Eat Your Greens hosted by my co-host The Veg Hog;   Healthy Vegan Fridays hosted by Rock My Vegan Socks and V Nutrition;  My Legume Love Affair which celebrates its 100th edition, I am so glad it continues as it is one food blog event that i have continues to participate in over the years.  It is hosted by  Cooking with Siri and  Lisa's Kitchen and finally  Meat Free Mondays.  

Gol Guppay: Puffed Pastry Shells filled with Tamarind, Chickpeas and Potatoes

I love tamarind, but unlike my sister in laws who can drink it by the bucket loads, I satisfy my quench for it when my taste buds desires by making a zingy Tamarind drink, but it is Gol Guppay's that I now and again crave, and sadly it is one dish from my childhood that I don't make that often.

A good while back to mimic the flavours, I made a slow cooked tamarind vegetable pot with cumin dumpling, but I have never made Gol Guppay at home.  Its one of those social dishes, like tapas or a mezze that is best made when you are in good company, family, friends or just a social gathering.   You pick it up and pop it in on go in your gob.  

For those of you unfamiliar with Gol Guppay, it is a street snack from the Indian Sub-Continent - crispy puffed pastry shells known as puris that are filled with flavoured tamarind potatoes and chickpeas (aloo chaat and channa).  

I have been wanting to make some Gol Guppay quite recently, namely for the Inheritance Recipes challenge set by Solange at Pebble Soup last month.  The theme this month is Back to School hosted by Coffee and Vanilla.  

Well with Vegan Mofo asking participants to recreate a meal from our childhood, well it gave me the perfect reason to actually make it.  I have to confess though, my mother never prepped this for our lunch box, but we did have it often after school for tea before being shooed to after-school clubs.  

Although my mother has her own way of making Gol Guppay, I will link you to a recipe close to the way she makes it, in case you care to make it at home. The part where my mothers recipe differs is that she also includes white sweet potato and minced red onion and she also uses tamarind pulp for the tangy sauce, rather that tamarind concentrate.  Oh and we cheat, although we do know how to make the puffed pastry shells from scratch, most South Asian people very rarely make the the puffed pastry shell from scratch, most people pick them up from an ethnic grocers and I admit that is what I did this time round for convenience, more than anything else. I am also sharing this with Healthy Vegan Fridays #63

Sarah Beatties Vegan Tamarind Parsnip Curry

I'm not one for parsnips.  I find them awfully sweet, therefore better suited in my humble opinion to sweet vegetable desserts like my vegan Pomegranate Parsnip Cake, Violet and Parsnip Cake;  there is even a vegetarian version Violet and Parsnip Cake or a retro version made with hazelnuts.   But when it comes to savoury parsnip dishes you will often find a bit of trepidation on my part. D put a mound of them on my plate on my Vegetarian Roast dinner plate whilst we were at his mums for Christmas day.  I gave him a big mean look, he smiled back.  

Saying all this, I really wanted to try this savoury recipe with parsnips.  I could already imagine how the turmeric would dye the white-creamy root parsnip into golden bites.  I could already imagine how the sharp tangy tamarind sauce would infuse the sickly sweet parsnip transforming it into something very delectable with flavour and bite.  I didn't want to imagine anymore.  I wanted to try it for real.  The recipe comes from one of my new vegetarian cookbooks: Meat-Free Any Day by Sarah Beattie, bestowed upon me by my lovely husband for Christmas.  Question was, what to cook from it first? Whilst turning the pages over slowly a couple of evenings back, I finally decided on this one for Parsnip and Tamarind Curry.  

Wow, would you believe it.  I really enjoyed every mouth full.  The Tamarind Parsnip Curry was every thing I had expected it to be, but more as the spiced coconut sauce was utterly gorgeous too, I really could have licked the plate clean.  What is more surprising is that even D liked it.  I think I mentioned before on my blog that D is not overly keen on the tamarind flavour,  but he really really liked this.  He impressed me further, by picking out other spices, namely the mustard seeds.

Quinoa Carrot 'Meatballs' in Tamarind Sauce

I share with you another very autumnal looking dish - Carrot Quinoa 'Meatballs' in Tamarind Sauce.

I know I have already shared a blog post for VeganMofo featuring mock 'meatballs', but this one is not made with TVP or 'meat' substitutes.  These are made from scratch with quinoa, carrots and chickpea flour, then rolled into bite sized balls and pan fried before being added to the tangy sauce. 

D is not that keen on tamarind, which surprises me as he likes citrussy things, but I guess tamarind offers a different kind of twang, rather than a zing.  I love tamarind.  I grew up eating and drinking it, especially when my taste buds need waking up or when I am feeling a little poorly. 

Back to this Tamarind Sauce based dish.  I must add that this is not a soupy sauce, its a little on the thick side as it is rich in flavour, but feel free to water it down with either a bit of water of vegetable stock if you so wish. 

Carrot Ketchup

I've made some vegetable burgers recently, and wanted to try out something different in place of relish or supermarket bought red ketchup or the brown sauce varieties. I had loads of carrots in my vegetable basket and decided to take inspiration from my recent Carrot and Coriander Hummus and thought what if I went a step further and pureed the carrots to a sauce, the result awesome.  

The Raw Carrot Ketchup was sweet from the carrots, but it also delivered a light twang from the tamarind, and a little bit of warmth from the dried chilli flakes.  The coriander is of course,  optional.  I love the flavour, so tend to throw it in lots of savoury dishes, but feel free to omit this if you so wish.   I also loved how smooth the carrot ketchup was, considering it was made from raw carrots, there were no bits at all.  Pour and scrape into a squeezy bottle and squirt over oven baked chips, sweet potatoes wedges, vegetable burgers and much more.   Yes you read right, I did use raw carrots for the recipe.  If your carrots are organic, you do not even have to peel them, just give them a good scrub.  For ease I used tamarind concentrate, but you can if you so wish use **tamarind pulp or those dried pressed tamarind cakes which of course will need to be soaked and pressed of its juices, then omit or reduce the water in the recipe below.

You can try to make this ketchup in you blender, but I must tell you that I chose to try out my new Optimum 9400 Blender from Froothie.  I do have a blender from a  well known designer brand, and often make spreads and dips such as Hummus, but it does not offer the same creamy smooth bit- free that I got from the Optimum 9400 Blender. The other thing I noted immediately is that majority of the blenders that I have used in my life would take a good 10 - 15 minutes in reaching the point of creamy smoothness, as well as a lot of stopping and scraping down of the blitzed vegetables from the sides.  Using the Optimum 9400 Blender  reduced this massively.  The ketchup was made literally within a minute and I hardly had to scrape the vegetables off the side.  It was such a breeze to use. 

This carrot ketchup is a delicious change from tomato ketchup or even brown sauce!  Next watch out for my Beetroot Ketchup!

Carrot Soup with Tamarind Swirl

I can't believe that its June and I am craving for a bowl of tangy soup.  Part of the reason is this crazy indecisive weather.  I don't know what its like where you are, but here in Wales it has changed from rain to shine, shine to rain within moments.  I mean yesterday, I left the house with a coat on as it was raining quite heavy, by the time I got into the town centre the sun was blazing and many people were donning T-shirts and naked legs, I most definitely felt overdressed, but not today - its very, very breezy outside.  In fact, its similar weather to that day when I lost my plastic greenhouse and compost bin.

I am so glad I don't have any physical running around to do today for my upcoming venture and can stay happily indoors.  However, this doesn't mean I haven't got loads of things running through my brain, so instead of making the most of my free day lazing in front of the computer; or TV with a DVD as I have done most of the week, I got on with a bit of cooking and stirring of pots.   

One of the dishes that I completed earlier was this sweet Carrot Soup. I know Carrot Soup, doesn't sound that exciting and I guess its not, but if I mention it with Tamarind, it may just peak your interest. I personally love the flavour of tangy tamarind, there is something just soothing about it, the way lemon soothes when you have a bit of a sore throat. 
I like this soup bowl, I got it a couple of years ago when I went to Paris for the first time ever.  It only comes out now and again; and has appeared on this blog a couple of times already.

I will happily share with you my recipe for this particular carrot soup, just ask - but you will find that there are a number already on this blog. 
Carrot and Thyme Soup
Carrot and Coriander Soup
Carrot and Potato Soup
Plus, I think most people have a good recipe of their own.  As for the Tamarind sauce - see below.  I am linking this simple recipe with Frugal Follies who is hosting Frugal Thursday.

Tamarind Sauce
Ingredients
Makes about 100ml - 120ml
1teaspoon tamarind concentrate
1 tablespoon ginger, freshly grated
100ml vegetable stock
1 teaspoon tomato paste
Method Combine all the ingredients except for the tomato paste in a small saucepan.  Simmer on medium heat for a few minutes, then stir in the tomato paste.  Simmer for a few minutes more until the sauce begins to thicken.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
When cool, pour into a squeezy bottle and use over each bowl of soup.  Simply squeeze and drop a few droplets into the bowl, and then with a spoon just swirl.  Nice.

Aubergine, Tomato and Tamarind Stew

Another aubergine and chickpea combination.

This time with different warming flavours.  Part of the reason for making this recipe was to enjoy seasonal produce, in this case aubergines and tomatoes.  The other reason to use up store cupboard ingredients, in my case tinned chickpeas and tomatoes.

Really these aubergines should have been chopped into chunks with other summer vegetables such as courgettes and peppers, then skewered and put on a veggie BBQ.  But no here the aubergine chunks are roasted and added to a bubbling stew.

Yes, here is a stew for the summer because you know at some point its going to belt down with rain.  This stew was very reminisce of the Tamarind Vegetable Pot with cumin dumplings and even the Swiss Chard, Chickpea and Tamarind Stew I made last year. I served it simply with plain Basmati rice.

I am also submitting this to Simple And In Season as both aubergines and tomatoes are in season.
Aubergine, Tomato and Tamarind Stew
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 large aubergine
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 – 3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large red chilli
1 teaspoon cumin, freshly ground
½ teaspoon coriander, freshly ground
1 teaspoon brown or black mustard leaves
1 x 400g tin of tomatoes, chopped
1 scant tablespoon of tamarind paste
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
6 – 8 tomatoes, cut into quarters
A small handful of mind, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 5.
Cut the aubergine into cubes and roast for 20 – 30 minutes on a lightly oiled tray.  Remove and set aside.
Heat the olive oil and gently fry the onion, garlic and whole chilli until softened, stirring occasionally. Stir in the spices and cook for a few minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes, then stir in tamarind, and chickpeas and cook for 5 minutes, before stirring in the aubergine and fresh tomatoes. Cook for a further 15 minutes. Check seasoning and stir in the mint before serving. Adapted from Leon by Allegra McEvedy.

Tamarind Wins and Loses

You often read about my success with dishes, but here is one that was edible but still requiring a little tweaking. 

Its a bowl of Tamarind Roast vegetables.  The vegetables include such as carrots, cauliflower, garlic and shallots were all fine, it was the tamarind.  I was a bit heavy handed with the tamarind, it overpowered the dish completely drowning all the other flavours. I also think it lacked a little green, so I will be making this again in the near future.

But its not all bad with tamarind.  Some of you may remember that last month I entered Tinned Tomatoes Slow Cooking Challenge and I submitted this (see below) Slow Cooked Tamarind Vegetable Pot with cumin dumplings to Jacqueline, well guess what?!

I won!!!

I won a 4.5 Litre Flavour Savour Slow Cooker courtesy of Jacqueline and Morphy Richards. When I learned that I had won, I left this comment for Jacqueline. '... I am absolutely gobsmacked I won your Slow Cooker Challenge. I'm really delighted. I so wish you could see the huge smile on my face and the way I am jumping up and down - Imagine a grown woman bouncing on one of those retro space hoppers yelling 'I've won, i've won!' - Well thats me! Thank you so much to you Jacqueline and to Morphy Richards'.

Slow cooked Tamarind Vegetable Pot with cumin dumplings

For those of you into South Asian (Punjabi) cuisine you may be familiar with a snack dish called Gol Guppay (Guppe, Gappa) - puffed crispy pastry shells (puris) filled with tamarind flavoured chickpeas and potatoes (Channa and aloo chaat). Gol Guppay are also very similar to Pani Puri where the pastry shells are filled only with Tamarind water (Imli Pani). Well this recipe is kind of based on the Gol Guppay, but with a difference. I have slow cooked the ingredients resulting in a deep dark sauce like chocolate, but with the unmistakable savoury tang of tamarind. In place of the traditional crispy puri, I decided to make some British style dumplings, but again with a difference. These were flat dumplings studded with with flecks of cumin seeds. Oh they were light and airy as clouds.

I tell you if you've been feeling poorly; or a bit low and want your taste buds to awaken, well this dish will certainly do that- it will perk you up! I must point out though, as with most slow cooked dishes, this was much better the day after.

Spiced Tamarind (Imli) Corn Soup

Sweet corn always reminds me of my childhood. My mother would often slowly cook corn cobs under the grill or in the oven. When it came out slightly turned golden and black in some places, we would all take a cob each and slather it generously with lemon and chilli-salt. The kernels soaking up the citrus and spice and enhancing the flavour further making it even more juicy and sweet. Just the thought of it is making my mouth water.

But it wasn’t to be spiced corn on the cob. I remembered that Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen was hosting this months No Croutons Required Challenge. The challenge was to create either a vegetarian soup or salad using corn. For one moment I thought about being sneaky and submitting this Spicy Sweetcorn soup that I had made early in the year with frozen corn. Then I thought why on earth would I with all this fresh corn around me. So I decided to challenge myself further and create a dish with some other ingredients I had to hand, namely a couple of organic red Romano peppers which I picked up in the reduced section of the supermarket now beginning to look a little wrinkly; and tamarind paste/concentrate aka imli. This Spiced Tamarind Corn soup was the result. Check out the other NCR entries here and cast a vote for the one that tickles your tastebuds!

The rich tamarind not only flavours the soup by giving it a slight tanginess, it also gives it a deep brown, autumnal colour. The corn gives it a sweet crunch and a little texture and the fresh coriander enhances the flavour further. For me this was the perfect soup to welcome the Autumn, even if it has arrived with lashings of rain. The Tamarind Corn soup was accompanied with some Jalapeno and sweetcorn bread in the shape of both corn cobs and muffins. I’ve made these before. The only thing I did differently this time was use fresh red pepper. The recipe for the cornbread can be found on this link.

I was send this cast iron corn stick by my best friend in America (whom I met at University), who posted it to me in 2000 after I had returned from visiting her near San Fransisco. It must have cost her a fair bit to post. Its not exactly feather weight and for that I am grateful. I have barely used it, so in order to give it more wear and show her my appreciation. I dug it out from amongst the other baking pans and decided to make some corn stick muffins to accompany my corn soup. I just wish she was sitting at the table with me, enjoying them with me. As well as enjoying her company, which I miss so dearly. I would have had the honour of holding her first child: a baby girl, who from the e mailed photographs looks just like her - Beautiful. If your reading this my dear friend, I miss you.

Spiced Tamarind (Imli) Corn Soup
Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
4 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
300g sweet corn, fresh or frozen
1 Romano or red pepper, diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin,
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon tamarind (Imli) concentrate
1 – 1 ¼ pint water or vegetable stock
Coriander, minced for garnish
Method
Heat oil over medium-low heat in a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add onion and sweat until soft. Add cumin, coriander and chili powder, and sauté for 2-3 minutes more or until fragrant. Add corn, pepper and tamarind, and sauté for 5 minutes. Pour in water or stock. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until corn and pepper begins to soften. Season soup with salt and pepper to taste. Remove soup from heat. Let cool. Transfer half of soup to blender, puree, and return to pot. Ladle into soup bowls and garnish a sprinkle of minced coriander.

Swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew

Now, I love the sharp tang of tamarind, it makes my tongue feel alive especially when I am feeling poorly. I have to admit when others are feeling fluey, they may make a lemon drink, well I like to drink hot tamarind. So when I saw this recipe in the Guardian last year. I immediately tore it out to cook one of these days. Well that day arrived. It was so easy for me to put together as I had all the ingredients at home, small jar of tamarind concentrate remaining from the tamarind tofu and surprisingly even caraway seeds.

The recipe comes from Yotam Ottolenghi, chef/patron of Ottolenghi restaurant in London which he co-owns with Sami Tamimi. Ottolenghi is from Israel and Sami Tamimi is from Arab Eastern part of Jerusalem. Together, with their diverse backgrounds they have shared and introduced some robust flavours such as sumac, za’atar, ras el hanout, tahini and tamarind to a new audience. These spices, herbs, seeds and dressings all generously coat fresh vegetables, greens, grains and pulses, making them mouth wateringly appealing. The restaurant is not vegetarian, but serves a good selection of vegetarian and vegan based dishes. It is their creative and flavour packed dishes that have brought them into prominence, especially on the London food scene. I couldn't help myself comparing Ottolenghi to the Gate Restaurant, but the last time ‘veggie cuisine’ was promoted so highly in the mainstream like this was when the brothers Adrian and Michael Daniel opened their restaurant the Gate in Hammersmith, London in the early 1990s. The brothers introduced big, bold and bashful flavours like red and green harissa and zhug (schoog), and plating up exquisite and innovative looking vegetarian cuisine.
Although not a vegetarian himself, Yotam Ottolenghi features as the Guardian’s 'The New Vegetarian' column contributor. This space was previously honoured by Rose Elliot. Rose Elliot is a renowned British writer on vegetarian cooking. She has written over 50 vegetarian cookery books. She is a patron of the Vegetarian Society U.K and in 1999 was appointed MBE for services to vegetarian cookery. In fact Rose Elliot successfully pioneered the popular vegetarian column in the Guardian Weekend magazine, before being replaced by Yotam Ottolenghi. Rose Elliot is a committed vegetarian and a true advocate of vegetarian and vegetable based cuisine. Although she has been extremeley successful, I have noted that her books were marketed purely to a niche audience, namely vegetarians, whereas Ottolenghi has been able to win over vegetarians, non-vegetarians and vegans with his world influenced modern dishes, many of which happen to be vegetable based. For which I have to say Thank You. I have to admit Ottolenghi salads are far more interesting in flavour combinations than those you get from your regular deli; and for that many of us are grateful that vegetable based dishes on menu’s are being seen in a different light - appealing to a much wider audience.

Well, I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed each mouthful of this stew and why wouldn’t I? It contained ingredients I enjoy eating: the texture of chickpeas and the waft of coriander. As the rice absorbed the tomatoey tamarind sauce, it reminded me of a South Indian tamarind rice dish known as pulihora or puli sadham. D had one gripe, the stew had got cold very quickly, but other than that it was good, very good.
Swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew
Serves 4 with plain Basmati rice

Ingredients
300g Swiss chard (stems and leaves), cut into 1cm slices
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp whole caraway seeds
2 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon tomato paste
400g tinned plum tomatoes, chopped up, juice and all
2 tablespoon of tamarind concentrate
300ml water
400g cooked chickpeas
1½ tsp whole coriander seeds, toasted and ground to a powder
Salt to taste
Greek yogurt (optional) for serving
1 big handful coriander leaves
Serve with plain basmati rice
method

Bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil, blanch the chard for two minutes and drain.
Put the onion, caraway and olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan and sauté over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the onion is soft and golden. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add the tomatoes, tamarind concentrate, water, chickpeas, ground coriander and chard, and season to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, by which time it should be the consistency of thick soup. Taste, and adjust seasoning. Serve with plain Basmati rice.
To serve, spoon the rice into shallow soup bowls, then make a crater in the centre of each mound. Pour a ladle or two into the rice crater. Spoon yogurt on top, if you like, drizzle with oil and finish with lots of coriander. Slightly adapted from the original recipe.

Spiced green beans with Tamarind Tofu

Is that fish steaks on your plate?!

I agree, sure does look like that, but let me assure you its 100% vegan.
After making the broad beans in tamarind sauce, I decided to carry out an experiment with the tamarind concentrate: Baked Tamarind tofu. Despite how it looks, it worked out pretty good. The flavour of the thick tamarind sauce was sharp. You could call it a BBQ sauce I guess, I honestly wouldn't know as I've never had any, or made any in my entire life; and I am a woman of a certain age now. Nope, it was not part of my childhood, teenage or early adulthood days. The tamarind sauce actually reminded us both a little of Brown sauce, just a lot more zing and zang in the mouth. So I’ve reduced the tamarind a touch. Our only complaint with this dish was the tofu itself. Its the brand I use often, but this particular this slab of tofu was actually quite soft, instead of firm. This detracted a little of our enjoyment of the meal.

I served the tamarind tofu with some spiced potatoes and the remaining runner, green (and yellow) beans in my freezer from last year. These were good and a good way to use up frozen beans.
Tamarind Tofu
Serves 3 – 4
Ingredients (can be halved)500g firm tofu
2 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
1 chilli pepper, seeded and chopped
Pinch of salt
1 to 1½ tablespoon tamarind concentrate
100ml water
1 teaspoon ginger powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 6
Slice the tofu into ¼ inch slices, lightly fry in 1 tablespoon of oil and set aside
Saute the onions, garlic and chilli in the remaining oil, and blend with all the other ingredients until smooth.
Arrange the tofu slices on a lightly greased baking dish, pour the sauce over the tofu and bake for 15-25 minutes.
Spiced green beans with new potatoes
Serves 2 - 4 as an accompaniment
Ingredients200g new potatoes, steamed, halved and set aside
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of black mustard seeds
1 generous teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander, freshly ground
300g green beans, topped and tailed
Salt to taste
100ml water
Method
Heat the oil in a wide pan, when hot add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and cook until the cumin is dark and the mustard pops. Add the potatoes and green beans and cook for a few minutes, before adding the water. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook gently for 10 minutes, or until the beans are tender, but still crunchy.
Uncover and turn up the heat. Stir in the ground coriander and seal to taste and cook rapidly for a few minutes until most of the water evaporates. Idea inspired by Stones Cookbook.

Broad beans and shallots in a hot and sour tamarind sauce

There are only a couple of fat green broad bean fingers to pick in my garden. Not enough for a meal, so whilst I am waiting for more of them to fatten, I picked up some from the local supermarket for this evenings meal.

Now there were a number of recipes I could have made that would have allowed the flavour of the fresh broad beans to come through, but for those of you who have got to know me a little through blogging will know that I like big and bold flavours and this dish delivers. The seasonal broad beans and shallots remain the stars of the dish, but they are complimented wonderfully by the hot and sour sauce. Hot from the flecks of Scotch bonnet (from my freezer) and sourness from tamarind.
Tamarind paste is a deep dark chocolate coloured pulp. It is made from the fruit of the tamarind tree. The fruit itself is shaped like a long bean, inside which is a sour pulp. The pulp can be processed to make a paste or pressed to form a 'square cake'. Small pieces of tamarind cake can then be broken off and infused in hot water to create an acidic liquid flavouring used in South Asian cooking. I've always loved the sourness of the tamarind and could happily drink it, but you don't want too much as it is quite acidic. A dish that you may be familiar with if you regularly frequent an Indian restaurant is Imli chutney usually served alongside poppadoms or samosas. For readers overseas, you may be familiar with tamarind drinks such as agua de tamarindo or traditional sour soup in Thai cooking.

A few good years ago, when I started reading up on the origins of fruit, vegetables and history of ingredients, particularly those that came from overseas into the U.K. I was very interested to learn that a key ingredient of Worcestershire sauce and Brown sauce was tamarind.

Anyway, if you can't find the tamarind paste, look for the tamarind cake which I recommend purchasing from a South Asian store as it will cost a fraction of the price. When you find it, follow this link where the Indian actress turned chef Madhur Jaffrey shows the technique of extracting the flavours from the pressed cake which can be used for this recipe.
Broad beans and shallots in a hot and sour tamarind sauce
Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
1 ½ Tamarind paste
300g shallots or small onions
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
4 cloves garlic, minced
250g broad beans
½ Scotch Bonnet (aka Habarneros) chilli, minced
Method
Dilute the tamarind concentrate in 4 tablespoons of hot water and set aside.
Ina wide pan, large enough to hold the shallots in one single layer, heat the olive oil, then add the shallots and fry them briskly, shaking the pan from time to time for a few minutes until they go quite brown.
Temporarily remove the shallots to a plate and add the sliced onion to the pan, turn the heat down a bit and fry for several minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add the mustard, fennel and cumin seeds, turn the heat up again and fry briskly for a moment or two, until they start to crackle. Add the garlic, broad beans, partly cooked shallots and chilli and stir well to combine.
Pour in the tamarind liquid and enough water to come about halfway up the vegetables, then cover ad simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until both the beans and onions are tender. If there’s too much liquid left at the end, remove the lid, turn up the heat and allow most of it to cook off until reduced to a aromatic sauce. Serve with plain boiled rice. Slightly adapted from Catherine Masons Vegetable Heaven.