The Lake District: Currying flavour

Curry night: Lauren and Theo

Whooo! A most excellent hearty curry banquet complete with specialist beers (Cobra). A rare treat to be able to indulge in Indian cuisine without feeling like I've eaten my body weight in ghee and MSG.

Pumpkin & Apple Curry (serves 4)
What you need
Vegetable Oil
large onion
500g of pumpkin/squash, cubed
800g of baking potatoes, cubed
1 large cooking apple, cubed
2 tsp curry paste
1 tsp turmeric
root ginger (2.5cm)
bay leaves
500 ml vegetable stock

The do
Heat oil in pan. Add onion and brown.
Add chilli, curry paste, turmeric, ginger, bay leaves, apple, pumpkin, potato to pan.
Immediately after add vegetable stock.
Bring to boil and then simmer for 20 minutes until cooked.
Serve with fromage frais or yoghurt.



Easy Tofu Curry (serves 4)
What you need
good swig of vegetable oil
Tofu, diced
Seasonal veg - I like to use broccoli & green beans
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp mild curry powder
2 medium fresh green chillies, thinly sliced
5 cm chunk of ginger, grated
2 onions
1 can tomatoes
1 can coconut milk (use light coconut milk if you want a healthier option)

The do
Start by browning the tofu pieces in a pan until brown.
In another pan, heat the oil and add your spices and ginger.
Fry for a few minutes, then add the onions and fresh chilli.
Cook for another 5 minutes then add the tofu and tomatoes.
Simmer for 10-15 minutes then add your favourite veg (broccoli and beans are yum!)
Finally, add the coconut milk and simmer for a final 5 minutes.
Season and serve with basmati rice, raita, mango chutney and fresh tomato salad.

Fresh Tomato Salad (serves 4)
What you need
6 medium tomatoes, diced
Small onion, thinly sliced
Fresh Coriander
Juice of fresh lemon

The do
Combine the ingredients and season with lemon juice to taste

Tune
Sung Tongs Animal Collective

at home with two kittens and a squashed leg

Today, our home is a hive of activity with our two new kittens, Oscar and Rocky, and our good friend Natalie, recuperating after a road accident.

Nat's leg has been covered in dramatic bruises, and swollen like a Quorn sausage. Thankfully, it's a lot better than it was, and she is in the clear now. She sits on our sofa with her foot up, drinking Darjeeling tea like a princess, so we watched the most pointless film ever made, Marie Antoinette. The cakes looked nice though, which made us think about food.





This dish is inspired by one of the best things on the menu at Huong Viet, the wonderful but maddening restaurant on Englefield Road, N1.
It combines tofu, aubergine and dill - the dill takes a back seat in this dish and comes through in the aftertaste.



What you need
2 small eggplants, sliced 1 cm thick and halved
half a block of tofu chopped into big cubes
a third of a chili, thinly sliced
a few sprigs of dill, chopped
1 tablespoon of bouillon powder dissolved in a Chinese teacup of boiling water
1 small teaspoon of cornflour dissolved in a a splash of cold water
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Spring onions, chopped

The do
Splash some oil in a medium heat frying pan or wok. Add garlic, stir a few times, then add chili. Brown the eggplant. Add tofu, stock, dill and cornflour. Simmer until eggplant goes soft. The goal is to end up with some juice that you can spoon into rice. So if the pan goes dry, add a little more water and stock, mix well, and simmer.
Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve with rice.

Gong Xi Gong Xi Gong Xi Fa Cai! (part 2)

The directive for Chew’s Chinese New Year feast was to bring a plate of Asian inspired deliciousness. Fusion! Brilliant! Me being no Iron Chef, I needed that sort of lateral thinking. And if it worked for Miles Davis…

I’ve always wanted to make chicory leaves stuffed with blue cheese the way they do at our Spanish local, Brindisa. I had most of the ingredients on the weekend... as well as rice paper sheets. Not only would this combination make for an interesting clash of textures, it'd be perfect for Chew's party. I was going to call them (con)fusion rolls. But then Confucian Rolls seemed more in keeping with the theme.

Confucian Rolls

What you need

Red and white chicory leaves
Blue cheese
Cream
Walnuts
Chives
Round rice paper sheets (I got them at a grocery in Chinatown)
Bowl of boiled water
A couple of slices of firm tofu
A tester (mine is called Adam)
Squeeze of lemon juice
Shredded lettuce

How it happens

I would recommend doing a few test rolls before cranking them out proper – to make sure your stuffing mix is right and the whole package is tasting a treat. This is where your tester comes in because if you try too many in a row you will be stuffed yourself.



Stuffing the Leaves

Wash the chicory, cut off its end bit, chuck out the skanky outer leaves and separate the rest. You want the leaves to be dry.
Mash up the blue cheese with some cream, dash of lemon juice, chives and pepper. I reckon sour cream could work too. How much cream? I just added little bits at a time until the mixture was smooth. When I first tried it the blue cheese was a little overpowering but I didn’t want to put too much cream in so I mashed the tofu in to thin out the flavour a bit. Up to you.

You don’t need a whole lot of the mixture in each – you want it to be a lovely little flavour burst contrasting with the crunch of the leaves rather than full on blue oozing out. I used one supermarket pack of cheese for nearly thirty rolls.
Lay the walnuts on an oven tray and toast them for a few minutes. Let them cool then crush them (not too fine).
Spoon some of the blue cheese mixture into each chicory leaf and sprinkle over a few walnut bits, then cover the stuffing with some shredded lettuce leaves.



Rolling it up

To prepare the rice paper, you need to drop the sheets into a bowl of boiling water. I do them one at a time. Leave it for a minute then scoop it out with a spoon or fork. Let the water evaporate, then flatten it on a plate. You want the sheet to have lost all its hardness but not be too sloppy. You’ll need to replenish your boiled water regularly – the sheets don’t get soft enough if the water has cooled.

Place the stuffed chicory and shredded lettuce onto the sheet and roll it up, folding the edges in early. The stickiness of the sheet means it will attach to itself and stay rolled in a neat little bundle. Some of the sheets will tear, fail to roll or end up looking like crap. Don’t worry, just start over with a new one. Or feed your tester.

This is a bit of a fiddly and time consuming plate to prepare, but if you haven't got any other party tricks this one's a surefire winner.

speedy tofu and mushies

Tofu might not be the kind of thing that gets you salivating in anticipation (unless you are a dirty hippy). But my current comfort food of choice is a plate of marinated tofu and mushrooms. Perfect for a bleh monday.

How it's done
Cover thick slabs of tofu with balsamic vinegar and soy sauce (I think the quality of tofu makes all the difference and mr tofu at Borough market does it best.)
Cut fat slices of portobello mushrooms and fry them in hot olive oil so they brown and keep their juiciness.
Season the mushies. When they are tender, add the tofu to the pan and sear on both sides so it gets a bit crusty.
Pour over the marinade and let it caramelise, turning the tofu once.

Ah, happiness.

When eggs get too eggy on a Sunday morn...

...try some scrambled tofu

Serves 2
What you need
1 tub of tofu from the Tofu dude at Borough market
1/2 an onion
a few sundried tomatoes
Veg stock cube (I use the green organic Kallo ones, if in Australia the Massel ones)
turmeric


Roughly mash 1 packet of firm tofu in a bowl, keeping the tofu in large chunks.
Chop half an onion.
In a frying pan, fry the onion in some oil on med/high heat, add tofu and a few chopped sundried tomatoes.
Dissolve a veg stock cube in 3/4 cup of boiling water. pour stock onto tofu. Sprinkle some turmeric into the pan. Don't go too crazy otherwise your teeth will resemble a heavy smoker's.
Turn up the heat, fry and stir the mixture until the liquid has evaporated. Be careful not to break up the tofu too much, otherwise it will resemble spew.
Once the liquid has left the frypan, add some chopped spring onions or chives and stir through.
For the dairy tolerant - grate some good tasty cheese and stir through.
Serve with your favourite brekkie trimmings and lots of freshly ground black pepper.