Very mild, but very rich summer vegetable curry (vegan)

 When I recently found out that spicy dishes, onions and garlic are not very good for my stomach I was devastated because I like hot dishes and could not imagine making curry without chilli or garlic. Apparently rice is also not very good for me, so I should not eat it very often. "Say good buy to Indian food" - I thought to myself at first but then decided to go for milder version and have curry on it's on (or with naan only). So I made this rich, but not too spicy summer vegetable curry and it was so satisfying and surprisingly filling - I never thought I will not miss a bowl of rice with my curry. 

I used some of my own home grown vegetables (woo hoo! for the first time I managed to grow my own and I am so proud of myself!) and added some boiled chickpea just to include more starchy ingredient and forget about the missing rice. I used milder shallot instead of sharp onion and reduced drastically amount of garlic (normally I would go for at least 4 cloves!).

It was sooooooo good!

Serves 4

2 tbsp of sunflower oil

1 medium shallot, peeled and diced

1 garlic clove, grated

1 piece of fresh ginger (walnut size), grated

2 tsp garam masala

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp whole yellow mustard seeds 

1 tsp black onion seeds (Nigella seeds, kalonji) and some extra for topping the dish 

400ml tomato passata or chopped de-seeded tomatoes 

400ml coconut milk

2 handfuls of fresh coriander, finely chopped with the stalks, some leaves reserved for topping the dish

2 big handfuls of French/green beans, trimmed (and optionally halved) 

1 medium courgette, halved and sliced  

1 cup boiled chickpea

¾ cup fresh peas
salt 

Heat the oil in large pan and add the shallots. Fry for few minutes, until slightly softened then add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for about one minute. Next add the garam masala, turmeric, mustard seeds and black onion seeds and fry until very fragrant and start to pop. Add tomatoes, coconut mil, season with some salt, stir and bring to the boil. Then add the chopped coriander, beans, cover and simmer for about 7 minutes. Next add the courgettes, chickpea, stir and simmer for about 5 minutes. Next add the peas and simmer for 3 minutes.

Adjust the seasoning before serving and sprinkle with some fresh coriander and some black onion seeds.

Asian style vegetable & coconut soup (with chicken or tofu)

I mentioned in my last post that we were in Liverpool last week we went to Wagamama . It is one of our favourite places to eat and every time we go to the big city where they have their bar we are always tempted to go and try new things fro their fantastic menu.

I did not even know that  Wagamama  exist, until my sister who lives in Cork told me about it, also it was mentioned by one of London/Manchester placed Polish blogger. I am really grateful for this as probably I still wouldn't know about this place, as since I have moved to UK I have been living in countryside only - full of traditional pubs, but no ethnic bars or big brands. Yes, it is a big brand. Yes, it is commercial. This is fast food, and they cannot guarantee that nibbles will come before the mains or all dishes will come in the same time on one order. And yes - probably this are likely to be smooth versions of Asian (however they say they're inspired by Japanese cuisine I have seen some other inspirations) dishes more suitable for Europeans.      

In this place you will not find individual tables. There are huge wooden tables and benches to sit on and if this place is busy you are likely to be seated next to a stranger. There are no elegant serviettes, napkins or table cloths, but pieces of paper and waiter writes down you order on it.  Kitchen is open to public to yo ucan see chefs using woks. Oh, I forgot to mention - food is fantastic.

Why I like it even this is called fast food? This is fast food made with fresh and my favourite ingredients. Fresh food is being prepared within minutes using traditional Asian techniques and flavours. Also they have gorgeous freshly pressed juices - made with fruit and veg.I have tried many dishes in Wagamama, but I think my absolute number one are soups. This is also a place where I practice my chopstick skills and I am getting better at it!
 

Today I'll show you a recipe for soup that was inspired by hearty bowls of soup in Wagamama, however this recipe is not from their cookbook, that my sister gave me. I will use it another time, today it is time for improvisation. Please don't be scared by the list of ingredients, once they are chopped cooking this soup is very straight forward and takes about 10 minutes. Hope you'll enjoy it.

Serves 2

4 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 small red chilli, seed removed (or leave them for more heat) and finely chopped

1 walnut size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

5 spring onions, roughly chopped (white and green part)

1 red bell pepper, sliced

6 baby corns, halved or quartered lengthwise

6 mushrooms, sliced

handful of fresh coriander, stalks and most of the leaves finely chopped, some leaves saved for garnishing
1 tbsp red Thai curry paste (I used it because I didn't have lemongrass at the time and curry paste contains it, however for vegan/vegetarian!!! check the paste out as most of them contain shrimp paste or fish sauce, but there are some vegan available too. You can use only some lemongrass instead) 

400ml coconut milk

600ml vegetable stock (I had simple, homemade: carrot, celery, swede and leek leaves)

1 chicken breast, sliced finely

150g tofu, diced into about 2 cm dice

4 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp of palm sugar 

2 tbsp roasted sesame oil  

1 lime, quartered

300g Asian style rice noodles (or egg noodles for non vegan version, I like to use  Shahe fen, wide type of noodles)
salt

First marinate the chicken and tofu. Place half teaspoon of each chopped garlic and ginger in a bowl with sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix well and divide into two bowls - place the tofu in one and the chicken in the other. Leave it for about 15 minutes.

Prepare the noodles according to the producer's instruction and divide into two warmed bowls.  Set aside.

Heat half of the oil in wok or large pan and fry the remaining garlic and ginger for about 1 minute. Add chopped spring onion (save some green bits for garnishing), baby corns, pepper, mushrooms and fry for about 2 minutes before adding chopped coriander and curry paste (lemongrass depend on what you are using). Fry for about 1 minute and add the coconut milk and hot stock. Bring to the boil and remove from a heat after about 1 minute. Add some salt if you require. 

In the meantime, when preparing the soup heat the remaining oil in the two separate frying pans. Fry the chicken and tofu until golden, this should not take more than 4-5 minutes so if you not good in multitasking then fry this when the soup is ready - it will not cool down if covered.

Divide the soup between two bowls with noodles, add chicken to one and tofu to another and sprinkle with some chopped spring onions, coriander and top with lime quarter. Just before eating squeeze the lime into the bowl.

Radish & rocket salad with Indian dressing

Radishes mean spring to me. Perhaps like me you would like to dress them differently this spring? I have this strong craving to change my meals and some pieces of my wardrobe this spring. I bought myself rather skinny (!), bright (!!) and ankle length (!!!) trousers last week and I have an eye on pink (!) dress. Would you believe? I recommend this simple yet different salad with very interesting dressing. I found the recipe for this dressing in "The Food of India. A journey for food lovers" but I have changed it slightly and used whatever ingredients I found in the fridge and what I fancied this particular day. This is the result.

Serves 2

about 200g radishes, quartered

2 large handfuls of rocket

1 tbsp sunflower oil 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp black onion seeds (nigella)

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp salt 

pinch of asafoetida

1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix the rocket and the radishes and place in a serving bowls.

Place the oil and the cumin seeds together with black onion seeds and leave covered over a medium heat. Wait until the seeds start to pop, then add the turmeric, salt and asafoetida. Fry for about 10 seconds and remove from a heat. Add lemon juice, stir and set aside to cool down.

When cooled down use dressing to dress the leaves and radishes and serve.

Chickpea, spinach & sundried tomato curry

I stumble over the cardboard boxes. Marlon constantly jumps in them letting me know that perhaps I should start packing. Or perhaps something completely opposite: “please, please, do not take these away, these are my favourite toys”. 

Six years since I moved out from my family home: almost two thousand kilometres away, few hundred hours on Skype, few things that my Mum gave me before I left and many others that I collected over the years. Those things simply bought in the supermarkets, a present from former employer, who got rid of some odds and ends in the pub or B&B, treasures found on car boot sales or charity shops. Nearly for free, or literally for nothing – one man garbage is another’s man treasure. An odd glass that can handle almost half large bottle of mineral water - ugly but practical. Clay bowl that presents hummus in a beautiful way. A cup that was left behind by beloved Sister, when she moved out of the house we shared few years ago.  New house is a good opportunity to sort things out – things and thoughts. I always try to go to the new home with a fresh mind, without bad memories, but I simply can’t get rid of many things collected over the years. 

For example I have this really old tea towel with some printed hens. It has few holes in it, but I can’t just bin it – my Mum gave me this one and I love it more than any other posh tea towels. I also have some cards, letters, or just notes collected over some period of time – I love them because not many people nowadays send a traditional post. I cannot just burn them in the fireplace. Are books my fetish? Yes. Is this weird? Perhaps. I love the smell of paper and the paint and will not replace it with new high technology reader. The most recent one that my partner bough me for last Christmas and secretly sat and look ate the photographs reminding him the best meal we had in our life. So I get rid of the dust like they do it on films and place all of them in the boxes. I wrap the plates using huge “Sunday Times”. For the next few weeks we will only use: two plates, two cups, two pans. We need to pack and be ready to move.  

I also gradually use up some ingredients that perhaps we little forgotten and spent too much time in the kitchen cupboards.  I am getting used to the idea of cooking dinner of whatever is left in the freezer, cupboards and fridge. From the next month going to the shop to get some extra shopping will be even more time consuming, so I need to be more disciplined. There is half pack of the dried chickpea, great to make vegetable curry. Too few vegetables? Lacking a bit of colour? Do not worry; there are some sundried tomatoes in the fridge. At first I wasn’t too sure if it will go well together, but is tasted incredibly. Surprising, new flavour combination. 

Serves 4 

2 tbsp sunflower oil or clarified butter (ghee)

1 medium onion, peeled and diced  

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped  

1 red chilli, peeled and finely chopped  

about 2.5 cm piece of fresh ginger   

¼ tsp turmeric

about 3 cups of chickpea, boiled and drained

400ml coconut milk 

300g fresh baby spinach  

about 8 sun dried tomatoes from the jar, drained and sliced into strips

salt

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion. Fry for few minutes until slightly softened and add the garlic, chilli and ginger. Fry for about one minute and add turmeric. Stir so the spice covers the onions and next add the chickpea and coconut milk. Stir, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Next add the fresh spinach, do it in few batches, always wait until the previous batch is wilted. It looks like a huge amount of spinach at first but when added to the pan it goes down a lot. Seson with some salt. When the last batch of spinach is added place the sun dried tomatoes in the pan and stir again.  Bring to the boil and remove from a heat.

I serve it with Peshawar naan bread. This dish is suitable for reheating however the spinach is not very good looking when re-heated. Still tasty though!

 

Sticky Five Spice Beef with Fried Ginger

I love the Five Spice mix. It's taste and the whole idea of five different flavours being five different energy fields: wood (sour), fire (bitter), earth (sweet), metal (spicy), and water (salty). Like the concept of yin and yang, the Five Elements Theory is at the cornerstone of Chinese culture. I am not an expert so please find some books or other materials related to this subject. I simply love the taste of this spice mix, even I not entirely sure what is included. Some of them have cumin, some not, others will contain cardamom, and use of pepper is not sure to me: Sichuan or black peppercorns? Nevermind. I get it ready from a shop and do not worry too much about making my own. Not yet, anyway. 

I found this recipe in last "Good Food" magazine and I found it very interesting. Sticky, sweet and spicy, very tender meat is something that I fancy a lot, so I pressumed (and I was right) that this will be an ideal meal for me. I did not use exact quantities. I used brasing steak as they are quite cheap, there is no point of buying more expensive cuts as after two hours of brasing, the meat will be very tender anyway.

 

Serves 2 

2 braising beef steaks, each about 200g, cut into four pieces
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 onions, peeled and quartered
1 piece of fresh ginger, about 3cm, peeled
3 garlic cloves, peeled
small handful of fresh coriander (leaves + stalks)
2 tsp Five Spice
1 whole anise star
1 tsp black peppercorns, smashed in the mortar
2 tbsp of soft, brown sugar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato puree
about 250ml beef stock
salt

Heat the oven to 140 C (fan).

Place the onions, ginger, garlic, most of the coriander (save some leaves for garnishing) in the food processor and whizz until smooth paste.

Heat the oil in an ovenproof pan, season beef chunks with some salt and fry oon both side, over a high heat until browned. Then remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl.

Add the whole paste to the pan, and fry for about 2 minutes, rinse the food processor with some water and add the remaining pf the past with the water to the pan. Add star anise, Five Spice, pepper, both soy sauces, sugar, tomato puree and stir. boil for about one minute and next add the beef with it's juices and the stock. Turn the heat down, cover and bring it to boil, then place in the oven.

After 2 hours check if the sauce is not dangerously reduced and close to burn, if so add some more stock. I braised my beef for about 2.5 hrs in low temperature.

Serve it with some cooked basmati or jasmine rice, garnished with some coriander leaves and fried ginger. it is perfect to finish off some Asian dishes.

Fried Ginger 

Serves 2-3

1 piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 tbsp sunflower oil

Heat the oil in a pan, over a high heat. Add ginger and stir fry until crispy and golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and rain the excess of fat by putting the ginger onto a paper kitchen towel for a while. Serve immediately.

Spicy aubergines

I tried to avoid the thought that the autumn is coming. In my memories I still go back to sunny and warm Italy. For the last two days we had really strong wind in Dales, it was quite cold and wet and also the nights are coming in so therefore more than usually I drink hot tea with lemon and Polish honey I brought back from home. 

Even when I got over the first signs of autumns depression it was not that easy to write another post. It is not easy to type when you have cats walking across the keyboard. No, it is not good (or shall I say bad) old Buka going mad and Mimi doesn’t change her preferences too. It is our new kitten that we hope is a boy. For a time being we have two names under consideration: Marlon or Marla. 

We chose those names to pay the tribute to some film characters and they both were truly distinctive, charismatic people, and looking at our new cat and his (her?) behavior we could not choose more appropriate names.  Seven weeks old hyperactive kitten is very demanding and looking after him is very time consuming, so I am little bit tired recently. As much as I am bitten, scratched, sleepy and I make uncontrolled cries when he decides to climb my leg. I am also very, very happy. Eating, cooking at the moment is little bit less important. I cook mostly dishes that I know well, preferably one-pot. This is one of those, my favourite from "The Food of India: a journey for food lovers". I did not stick to the exact quantities.  

Serves 2-4 

2 medium aubergines, halved lengthways and then sliced into about 7mm slices  

5 tbsp of sunflower oil or ghee (clarified butter) 

400ml skinned, chopped fresh tomatoes (or tinned)  

5 garlic cloves, peeled  

about 2,5cm fresh ginger root, peeled

1 tsp black onion seeds (nigella seeds, kalonji)  

1 tsp fennel seeds  

1 tsp ground coriander  

1/4 tsp of turmeric  

1/4 tsp cayenne 

salt

Blend half of the tomatoes with garlic and ginger until smooth. 

In a large pan heat one tbsp butter at time and fry the aubergines in one layer, on both sides until slightly browned. Place fried aubergines in a bowl and set aside. Heat the remaining butter in the same pan. 

Add black onion seeds, fennel seeds, cover and leave it to pop for about minute. Next add the turmeric, coriander, cayenne, mixed tomatoes and the remaining ones. Be careful as it will spit. Add the aubergines, some salt and cover. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes. 

They are great on their own, but will go nicely with naan bread, some mango chutney on the side. I also serve them as one of many dishes along curries and others when I host Indian dinner. 

And please, let me introduce new remember of our crew: 

Ground turkey curry

Or don't judge a book by its cover...

Basically food is like the men. It can be good looking, but after a while you discover there is nothing exciting underneath this beauty cover. Food wise you can get those lovely looking, modern dishes finished with champagne foam and liquid nitrogen but the taste is not there.

On the other hand with not very handsome man you can get a whole bunch of virtues that were not so obvious from a first sight. Again with food, some dishes not particularly good looking can be extremely tasty.

The reason I am writing this is that I want to prepare you for a not good looking dish. However if you give it a chance you will not regret.

I have found many recipes for Murgh Keema (ground chicken curry) and adapted them to my taste. Also I used ground turkey instead.





Serves 2-3

500g ground turkey
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2-3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 medium onion, peeled
1 fresh green chilli (deseeded for less heat, or with seeds for little bit more spice)
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled
tsp of turmeric
half tsp ground coriander
150ml thick natural yoghurt (I used TOTAL and I think it is the best one)
200ml chopped tinned tomatoes
approx. 250ml frozen peas
salt
big handful of fresh coriander (leaver to top up the dish, stalks for more flavour)
about 100ml of water


Heat the oil in a big pan. Meanwhile I chopped chilli, garlic, ginger, onion and coriander stalks in mini chopper - I had coarse paste. Stir-fry it in the hot oil over a high heat for about one minute. Next add turmeric and coriander and fry another 30 seconds.

Next add the meat and fry, dividing big lumps with a wooden spoon, until slightly browned. Next add potatoes, about 100ml water, generous shake of salt, mix well, cover, turn the heat down and simmer for about 10 minutes. Next add peas, tomatoes and yoghurt mixed with little salt. Mix well, cover and simmer for further 5 minutes. Yoghurt may curdle a little bit - it really depends on the brand.

Serve in the bowls, garnished with some fresh coriander. You can chop some coriander and generously sprinkle the dish.

Cod curry & Fish Fight

Beginning of this year there was a series on Channel 4 called the Big Fish Fight. Channel 4's top chefs: Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver, Arthur Potts Dawson joined the forces in the Big Fish Fight championing sustainable seafood and celebrating lesser known delicacies of the deep.

Hugh, the actual founder of this campaign (supported by many people and organisations such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund) spent quite a lot time travelling around the UK and meeting fishermen marine conservationists, politicians, supermarkets bosses, and of course fish-eating members of the public and it really changed the way he thinks about fish now.

This campaign changed my way of thinking about fish. I simply did not realise that around 40-60% of the fish caught by fishermen in the North Sea are unnecessarily thrown back into the ocean dead. Many different fish live together, fishermen cannot control the species that they catch and all those dead fish dramatically change the natural balance in the sea. Many of these are very tasty, but unfortunately unfashionable. Those chefs shown how to cook delicious fish dishes using less popular types of fish. This is how we, consumers can help to prevent their discard - by rediscovering our taste for them and diversifying our fish eating habits.

Today I will show you fish curry using yes! quite popular cod, however this campaign made me pay more attention to the fish that I buy. I read the labels carefully or ask fishmonger if fish I buy comes from sustainable source. Trying to choose fish from a certified sustainable fishery is another way to support Fish Fight - so check out label for a certificate of the Marine Stewardship Council. This guarantees that the fish you are eating was caught or farmed to a high standard.

This recipe was improvised by me based upon a knowledge about other curries that I cooked in the past. Most of my Indian recipes come from "The food of India. A journey for food lovers". I have made it in the past with salmon and monkfish, however any meaty fish should be fine. I will definitely try it with less popular fish recommended on Hugh's website.


Serves 2-3


about 400-500g cod, fillet, skin off, cut into large chunks
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
tsp ground coriander
tsp ground cumin
tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp turmeric
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
piece of fresh ginger (about 3cm), peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
about 200ml chopped tinned tomatoes
about 400ml coconut milk
salt


To serve:

rice (basmati or jasmine)
fresh chopped coriander or spring onion
quartered lime (optional)

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion until soft, but not browned. Add all the spices, mix well and fry another minute. Next add chilli, ginger and garlic and fry for another minute or so, stirring.

Next add tomatoes and coconut milk to the pan, stir well and bring it to boil. Turn heat down to simmer, add fish chunks sprinkled with little salt, cover and simmer for about 7 minutes. Stir gently half way through.

Serve with rice sprinkled with chopped spring onion (or coriander) and lime wedges.

Low fat onion bhajis

Thanks to Healthy Supplies I have received few days ago the following ingredients that I am in love with:

Chickpea Flour, Organic (Infinity Foods) 500g
TRS Turmeric Powder (Haldi) 100g
Chilli Powder 100g (TRS)
TRS Ginger Powder 100g
Spelt Flour, Organic 500g (Infinity Foods)
Spelt Flakes 500g
Agave Concentrate Syrup, Organic 250ml (Biona)
Clearspring Mikawa Mirin 150ml
Hemp Oil - Organic, 260ml (Granovita)
Spaghetti, Wholegrain Spelt 500g (Biona)
Organic Rye Grain 500g (Infinity Foods)
Sun-Dried Tomatoes 250g, Organic (Infinity Foods)

Parcel arrived safely and very quickly, the selection of goods on their website is definitely worth recommending. Especially they have a recipe section too.

Having chickpea flour handy and all those lovely fragrant spices I decided to cook onion bhajis. I love the taste of this snack, however the amount of fat needed to cook it concerns me and I did not want the whole house smell of oil. I had them once from a take away and there were repeating on me for two days. Never again! I thought I could bake the bhajis and this is what I found when searching for a low fat recipe.

These are very tasty, smell gorgeous, but do not make your house smell with oil and are low in fat. Perfect!




Makes 6-8

500g white onions, peeled and sliced
4 tbsp of vegetable oil
half tsp chilli powder
half tsp turmeric
half tsp ground ginger
tsp ground cumin
tsp ground coriander
half tsp salt
100g chickpea (gram) flour
about 50ml water
tbsp tomato pure

Fry the onions in a pan with 2 tbsp of oil with pinch of salt, over a low heat until soft but not browned.

Next add turmeric, ginger, chilli and half tsp of both cumin and coriander and mix well, fry for another minute or so.

Preheat the oven to 180 C and line a large baking tray with some baking paper. Drizzle with 1 tbsp of oil.

Mix chickpea flower with half tsp of cumin and coriander, salt and add the onions. Mix well until onions are covered in flour.

Mix water with tomato pure and add to the onion mixture. Mix well again and spoon onto the baking tray in 6-8 batches.

Place in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, then drizzle with 1 tbsp of oil and bake for further 10 minutes.

Remove from the tray and place onto paper kitchen towel to remove the excess of fat. Serve immediately.

First anniversary. Spicy tomato soup with coconut milk

Today I wonder if I published my first post year ago subconsciously to avoid Valentines Day theme? This is not my day and not because I am not in love I simply think that nice gestures, flowers and romantic dinners count all year round not once a year. I think the same about food - I try to cook tasty, good looking food all year round, not only for some special events. I hope I have proofed this during last 12 months.

Year ago I was still hesitating, but today I am sure it is worth having my own space in the Internet where I can share with you a part of my life that is important for me. There are many things that make me happy: every new fan, every comment, visitor, e-mail criticising or saying thank you for making this space friendly and welcoming, where somebody can forget everyday problems for a little while. Blogging itself makes me happy. It would not be so beneficial if there was nobody to read. Therefore for all of this I just want to say: thank you. And welcome you with another hot, tasty soup.

I started with this tomato soup with cheddar dumlings year ago, because I love it. Tomato soups are one of my favourites because it give a huge amount of different twists. I think this is a dish that I should serve for an anniversary lunch with my readers. This time with oriental twist - spicy, aromatic and ideal for winter time.




Serves 4

2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp groundnut oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
about 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded (or with seeds for extra hot flavour) and finely chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala
2x400ml tinned chopped tomatoes
about 800ml vegetable stock
about 150ml coconut milk
salt

In a pan fry the shallots in the oil over a medium heat, until soften. Add the garlic, chilli and ginger and fry for about one minute. Next add all the spices, except the salt and fry for about 30 seconds. Add all the tomatoes, stock, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Next remove from the heat and liquidise with hand blender until smooth. Add 3/4 of coconut milk to the mug, add some hot soup, mix well and add to the pan, again mix well. Season with salt if needed.

Serve with some coconut milk on the top. It is really tasty with some fresh coriander on the top, but this time local delicatessen run out of it. If I want to make it more filling I add some cooked basmati rice or egg noodles. Sometimes I drink it from a mug when having a naan bread.

Sweet & sour chicken

To all working-class people!

A spectre is haunting Europe - spectre of plastic, artificial food! Rotten Western countries has overpowered us with quick instant dishes, ready made sauces from the jars, even East very often betray us - I bet your local Chinese take away add some magic powder to their meals. Also they contain massive amounts of sugar and salt! We would be able to feed all members of proletarian movement with those amounts!

Those who have been reproached with the desire of loosing few inches in their waists in new year should stop buying take away dishes and start to cook their own classic Cantonese dishes at home.

Let the take away bars tremble! You have nothing to lose but your chains. They have great amount of taste to win.

Lovers of sweet and sour dishes of all countries, unite!

Happy New Year to all my readers!

Right, after this ridiculous introduction inspired by one of the most absurd things I have ever read* please let me invite you to my kitchen for an absolute Chinese classic dish, that most of you probably know and like, however I am not sure if you know hoe to cook it from a scratch at home. It is worth as much effort as it takes to cook it - it is tasty, and you know what you eat and it only takes less than 30 minutes to make.

The recipe for sweet and sour sauce comes from "Foolproof Chinese Cookery" ** by Ken Hom, that contains easy to make, step by step everyone's favourite Chinese recipes. It goes nicely with chicken, prawns or pork. It is also up to you to decide what vegetables you want to use - those that I used today, or perhaps thinly sliced carrots, exotic mushrooms or water chestnuts.

Serves 2

tbsp groundnut oil
fresh ginger, a walnut size
2 garlic cloves
4 spring onions
2 small chicken breasts
red bell pepper
green bell pepper
tinned bamboo shoots, 120g drained
piece of fresh pineapple (I used a quarter of small one, you can use tinned instead, but in my opinion fresh is more tasty)
salt
black pepper

For the sauce:

150ml good quality chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp tomato puree
3 tbsp rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour (starch) or potato flour blended with 3 tbsp water

Prepare all the ingredients so they are ready to stir fry: peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger, slice the spring onions diagonally, deseed peppers and slice into strips, thinly slice the chicken breast, cut pineapple into bite size chunks.

Heat the oil in a wok or deep pan and stir fry over a high heat the ginger with garlic and half of spring onions (I save the darker, top parts for garnishing) for about 30 seconds. Add the chicken breast stir fry until seared. Next add the peppers and bamboo shoots, season with salt and pepper and meantime prepare the sauce.

Mix all of the sauce ingredients except the corn flour and set aside.

After about 5 minutes of frying the vegetables with chicken add the pineapple and fry for another minute or so then add the sauce and bring to the boiling point. Add the corn flour blended with water, mix well and cook for about 30 seconds - the sauce should be thick after this time, so remove it from the heat.

Serve with boiled rice and sprinkled with some spring onions.

* The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei)
** I believe my sister Miki didn't have bad intentions when she gave me this book of which title contains the word "foolproof", ha, ha! I have made a very good use of this book and would recommend it to anybody wanting to cook easy Chinese dishes at home.

Green bean curry

There seems to be a strong catholic tradition in Poland that makes people not to eat meat on Friday. Fish is allowed, but can be quite expensive, some people do not like it, sometimes it is difficult to buy fresh, tasty fish in Poland without spending a fortune. I would think that sticking to this tradition makes Polish people aware of many tasty vegetarian dishes. Unfortunately I can still see some people mourning about Friday diners. They are lacking of inspirations, sometimes have to adjust dinners to few other members of family who do not certain food i.e. fish. Sometimes they have a problem with cooking filling, comforting dish to other members of family who do not accept dinner without meat. I would like to make it clear that it is not my tradition, but still in my opinion not eating eat at least once a week it good for health and environment. I prefer to eat meat 2-3 times a week myself, so I have no issues with that.

Even if we drop the idea of cooking fish, there is still a huge amount of vegetarian dishes that we can cook. Why not to cook vegetarian curry for a change? In India due to the religious restrictions many people is on vegetarian or vegan diet and their food is fantastic! The veg curry ideas are endless and it is your own imagination that limits you. Use seasonal vegetables, in winter stick to frozen or tinned ones and create your own tasty curry. I made this one, because my boss gave me a bag of various beans and I wanted to utilise it in dish that is tasty, filling and is suitable to reheating next day for lunch. If some of the people still do not like this idea I am going to cane them with green beans.


Serves 2-3

2-3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 red chilli, seeds removed if you prefer mild curry, finely chopped
piece of fresh ginger, approx. 3cm, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
half tsp turmeric
half tsp mustard seeds
tsp ground coriander
tsp garam masala
large red onion, peeled, cut into eight pieces, each split into single layer
ok. 400g green beans, cut into bite size pieces
ok. 200ml chopped tomatoes (preferably skinned)
400ml coconut milk
salt

In a pan fry the garlic, chilli and ginger for a minute, next add all the spices and fry for 30 seconds. Next add onion and fry for a minute and add tomatoes, beans and coconut milk, season with little salt. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until beans are soft.

Serve with rice (preferably basmati, we run out, so had it with wholegrain and it was OK), naan bread and chutney mango. Next day I had it with rice only and it was very tasty too.

Spicy roast leg of lamb

I like living in the countryside. Sometimes I complaint about cinema or shopping centre being so far away, but I rather go shopping few times a year (it is whole day challenge) or travel to nearest fitness centre twice a week but come back from work to quiet and peaceful environment. Here a walk to the river or Pennines hills is a matter of minutes. Also I have an opportunity to buy some products from local producers such as free range eggs or meat. I pay a good price and I know exactly where the meat comes from and this is extremely important for me.

Few weeks ago my partner ordered a half lamb from a local farmer I mentioned some time ago. Surprisingly the meat was ready to collect few days earlier than we have expected so my partner went to get it and I was trying to empty our small freezer. I have managed to place everything in there and now we are stocked for good few moths.

Today I am going to show a recipe from “Indian food made easy” by Anjum Anand that I love and it would be perfect for those who do not love the smell of lamb. It is marinated for long time and spices make this meat very aromatic without a typical lamb smell. Although the smell is not totally gone. I have changed the quantities and method slightly.


approx. 2 kg leg of lamb


For the marinade

2 tbsp vegetable oil
5 tbsp lemon juice
approx. 5cm fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
6 large cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
¼ tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp garam masala
salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp water


For the honey rub

100g almonds, blanched
150ml Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp honey

Blend together all the ingredients for the marinade in a blender or food processor.

Trim the excess fat and membranes from the leg of lamb. Make deep regular cuts all over the flesh with a short, sharp knife. Rub in the marinade, making sure you get it into the deep cuts. Place the lamb in a plastic food bag with the marinade and leave in the fridge, ideally for 24 hours.

Next day for the honey rub place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend. Take the lamb out of the fridge and remove the plastic bag. Rub the honey blend into the lamb and ideally leave the lamb for another two hours, covered, in the fridge.

Remove the lamb from the fridge and bring to room temperature before cooking and preheat the oven to 225C. Place the lamb in a ovenproof dish with cover and roast for 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 180C, add half glass of water and cover. Roast for another 1 hour 40 minutes. Uncover for last 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven, cover with kitchen foil and leave to rest for about 10 minutes.

Carve and serve with potatoes and vegetables.

First day we had it with roast potatoes and Vichy carrots. Next I have carved all the meat off the bone, placed the bone in a pan added some water and boiled for about 1 hour over a low heat. I used the stock to cover meat leftovers and made sure all the almonds from roasting are added to the gravy as well. Next day I served lamb with this gravy and creamed potatoes and green beans. Any meat leftovers I freeze and going to use it when making pate or for Polish dumplings (pierogi) filling.

Salmon fishcakes

- I am glad it is Friday today. I am going to get some take away and spend evening on the sofa doing nothing. Have you got any plans?
- We will open a cold lager, have a dinner and just relax. I am glad it is Friday too.
- What are you having for a dinner?
- Salmon fishcakes, chips and salad.
- From a local fish & chips?
- No. Homemade.
- ???
- Its is Friday, I bought some fresh fish on the market and I am going to make a fishcakes and real, homemade chips. We did not have it for ages...
- I cannot believe you can be bothered on Friday night.
- Yes, I can...

Serves 2-3

500-600g salmon fillets, skin on
bay leaf
half lemon
few whole black peppercorns
whole allspice
200g potatoes, preferably waxy ones (I used Maris Piper - these are perfect for chips as well)
3 spring onions, chopped
fresh 2.5 cm piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
red chilli, deseeded and chopped
salt
pepper

Also:

white bread crumbs (preferably homemade ones, but Japanese panko would be ideal)
some plain white flour
2 eggs, beaten
salt
pepper
sunflower oil for deep frying

Place the salmon in a pan with the bay leaf, peppercorns, allspice and lemon. Pour over enough water to cover the fish, bring to the boil, then lower heat to a gentle simmer and leave to poach for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, then leave the fish in the poaching liquid until cooled down slightly.

Cook the potatoes in salty water until tender then mash with a potatoes press/masher until smooth.

Drain the salmon, discard pepper corns, all spice and bay leaf, remove the skin and flake into large pieces with a fork, then mix it with potatoes, ginger, chilli and spring onion and season with salt and pepper.

Using your hands (optionally you can use a culinary ring) to shape a fishcakes. Dust with flour, then dip in the beaten eggs seasoned with salt and pepper and press in the bread crumbs all over, shaking the excess.

Heat the oil in a frying pan until very hot. Fry fishcakes for 5 minutes each side until golden. Remove from a pan and set aside on a paper kitchen towel to remove the excess of fat.

I served it with:

Homemade chips - the secret of perfect chips is using a good potatoes, floury one such as Maris Piper or King Edward. Heat the oil, preferably sunflower to 190C, then lower the chips into the oil and fry until the chips are soft - the knife should go in easily. Shake the basket a couple of times to ensure even cooking. Lift out of the basket and drain the chips on whilst heating the oil to 200C. The cooking process can be halted at this stage until you favourite godliness is achieved.

Salad - I used a watercress with Thai style dressing: lime juice, toasted sesame oil and some honey.

Lime wedges and sweet chilli sauce, cold lager and dinner is ready!

Five or less ingredients #1

I was quite temped to buy a new cookery book last week, but luckily for my purse, and more importantly for my shelves that have run out of space, Magda has told me not to do so! Being very optimistic she told me that possibly about half of the recipes will be crap and certainly I am able to cook better dishes using my own knowledge. The book that was tempting me was about tasty food made from four ingredients.

So I sat with a pen and a piece of paper and wrote a list of dishes that require five or less ingredients to prepare. I was quite impressed with the outcome , especially when I was making this list I still did not check any of my cookery books or magazines.

Therefore I have decided to start a new series. Just to explain how it works:

I am hoping to show tasty and easy to make five or less ingredients dishes. List of ingredients will exclude salt, pepper and water, as I presume everyone has those at home at all times. Sometimes possibly you will see some fresh herbs for garnishing, but these are not included and I only use them for photographing purposes and they will not have a major or any impact on the taste of the final dish.

I will also use ready buy products such as good quality powdered bouillon (stock), puff pastry, pesto or curry paste. Anyway I do use them on everyday basis, as not always I have spare time to cook homemade stock (or I run out of the frozen one) or make my own pesto. Not even mentioning homemade puff pastry, which is gorgeous and buttery but time consuming.

Right! Lets try first recipe. It is turkey stir fry in caramel sauce served with rice. The recipe comes from "Quick & easy Vietnamese" Nancie McDermott and I have made few alterations to it.

I have tried it before with pork, which is probably my favourite one but chicken, turkey or even king prawns are fine.



Turkey stir fry in caramel sauce

Makes 2

400g of turkey, cut into bite size strips
4 tbsp brown sugar
6 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
half tsp chilli powder
rice to serve (allow 80-100g uncooked rice per person)
ground black pepper (quite a lot)
2 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp hot water

Mix the meat with fish sauce, pepper and one tbsp of sugar and set aside.

Place 3 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp of cold water in non stick pan and boil until it starts to bubble and changes colour to honey-like and it is quite syrupy. Next add 2 tbsp of hot water and leave it to erupt for a little while, then add the meat with marinade. Stir until it is all covered with the caramel sauce and keep on the heat until most of the juices evaporates and meat is quite sticky.

Serve immediately with cooked rice.

Turkey & mango stir fry

Serves 2

300g turkey fillets (you can use chicken fillets instead)
2 tbsp of groundnut oil
2 garlic cloves
2.5cm piece of ginger
1 red chilli
small broccoli
6 baby sweet corns
whole fresh mango
lime
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch (corn four)
cup of water or vegetable/chicken stock
handful of fresh coriander
Chinese egg noodles

Prepare the ingredients so they are ready to stir fry. Slice the meat finely, peel and chop garlic and ginger, deseed and chop chilli (leave the seeds if you as hard as Dirty Harry). Cut the broccoli into florets, and you can use the stalk too - simply peel it and slice - it is tasty and has nice texture. Slice the baby sweet corns in half lengthways. Peel and slice mango, discard the stone.

Heat one tbsp of oil in a wok and stir fry the meat until cooked, remove from the wok and set aside.

Add the remaining oil into the wok and stir fry chopped garlic, ginger and chilli and after a minute add broccoli florets and stalk and stir fry another minute. Next add the sweet corns and stir fry for 5 minutes.

Next add sliced mango, fry another minute then add turkey and cup of water or stock mixed with cornstarch. Squeeze lime juice, add soy sauce and boil for about 30 seconds - the sauce thickens quickly.

Serve with Chinese egg noodles cooked accordingly to manufacturer's instruction and sprinkle with some fresh coriander.