Category: RECIPES

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POORIS WITH POTATOES

In India, pooris are often eaten for breakfast along with a potato preparation. What’s not to love about a poori that is beautifully puffed and deliciously light even though it has been fried in oil? My mother reminisces the time when she prepared the dough wanting to make rotis for lunch and had gone shopping. I must have been just about 10 years and I don’t remember it but I used that dough to make pooris for everyone instead of rotis! Such is the love for pooris in India, however these days it has become a very occasional treat.

For all my Indian breads I use atta that one can buy in the Indian store – it is not the same as wholemeal flour but personally feel atta is milled fine.

Frying pooris

INGREDIENTS FOR POORIS

400g atta

¾ to 1 cup warm water (40 degrees Celsius)

Pinch of salt

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CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

I know this is very retro – I loved mushroom soup in the ‘90s and now too. It is a lovely soup for a cold night or served with crusty bread, makes a great starter for your dinner party.

The flavour for this soup is enhanced by mushroom powder. I make mushroom powder by blitzing dried shitake mushrooms in a small spice blender. The mushroom powder is not limited to this soup – I use it to inject flavour into pies and pasta sauces.

Cream of mushroom soup

INGREDIENTS

60g butter

100g onion, finely chopped

3 garlic, finely chopped

800g white button mushrooms, any black bits brushed off

1 heaped tablespoon mushroom powder

750ml good quality vegetable stock

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PIZZA DOUGH FROM SCRATCH & PIZZA BIANCA

Pizza needs no introduction. From humble beginnings as peasant food in 17th century Naples, it is now one of the most popular and well known foods today. Store bought vegetarian pizzas are meh, so I love making my own pizzas from scratch and injecting tons of flavour at the same time not making the crust soggy.

I love this pizza dough recipe because you can freeze it or refrigerate overnight. You do need a stand mixer otherwise you need to manually knead the dough for over ten minutes. Normally I find kneading therapeutic so don’t use stand mixer for doughs that require shorter knead times! For the dough, best to use bread flour or 00 flour or any flour with a higher gluten content.

It is best to weigh out the water to be precise. Approximately one and a half cups of water makes up to the 350 grams of water needed for the dough.

In Italy, pizza bianca means “white pizza”, which is a pizza drizzled with olive oil and salt and of course no tomato sauce. Sometimes topped with Mozzarella or Parmesan Cheese. We love to top our white Pizza’s with wafer thin slices of potato and herbs.

Pizza bianca

INGREDIENTS FOR THE PIZZA DOUGH

548g high grade flour

1 tablespoon sugar

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PASTA WITH CAVALO NERO & CHICK PEA SAUCE

Cavalo nero has several other names. Lacinato kale in Italian, or black cabbage, Tuscan kale, Italian kale or dinosaur kale. Whatever the name, it is rich in iron, Vitamin K, A and C and like its other cousins, has more calcium than milk.

Cavalo nero

The sauce is fairly simple and quick to make, using only a few ingredients. I used parsley pesto but basil pesto should work. Also the cavalo nero is cooked well for 20 or so minutes, as recommended by Italian chefs. You can use casarecce or strozzapretti shaped pasta.

Pasta with cavalo nero and chick pea sauce

INGREDIENTS

60g butter

3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

½ to 1 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 tablespoon parsley pesto

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TOFU KATSU CURRY

Japanese curry is served in three forms – curry rice (simply referred to as curry), curry udon (noodles) and curry bread. You guessed it, curry was introduced from India by the British and is extremely popular in Japanese cuisine.

Katsu is simply a cutlet, crumbed and deep fried and put in a curry sauce. Mine is a vegan version and I shallow fried the tofu. I know, I wax lyrical about tofu because it is so versatile and a great bearer of flavours. So do try this curry as it is very different to Indian curries.

I served mine with medium grain rice which is naturally sticky. After cooking, I mixed through cut spring onions and poured a few drops of sesame oil on each serve.

Tofu Katsu Curry

INGREDIENTS

5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

100g onion, chopped

2 teaspoon dark brown sugar

200g carrots, peeled and chopped

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MUSTARD BROCCOLI on CAULI MUSTARD

There is no typo here!! If you love mustard flavour as much as my family does, this is the ultimate taste explosion. Broccoli belongs to the mustard family (Brassica or Cruciferae) and so does cauliflower – initially thought it would not be balanced but let me reassure you that this was an instant hit and it’ll become your favourite way to serve. I used mustard oil – very distinct aroma of mustard and you can get in any Indian store. This recipe uses mustard oil, wholegrain mustard and hot English mustard plus broccoli and cauliflower.

I served this as a vegetarian first course / starter. Please do try as you will not be disappointed.

Mustard broccoli with cauli mustard

INGREDIENTS FOR MUSTARD BROCCOLI

1 head of broccoli, halved

100g Greek style natural yoghurt

2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard

½ teaspoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon curry powder

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VEGAN CURRY LAKSA

Malaysian cuisine is a melting pot of  traditions from its Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and ethnic Bornean citizens, with heavy to light influences from Thai, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabian cuisines and British cuisines, to name a few. The condiments and spices used in cooking varies and this results in strong regional nuances.

There are two types of laksa: curry laksa and asam laksa. Curry laksa is a coconut milk curry soup with noodles, while asam laksa is a sour, most often tamarind-based, soup with noodles. I have tried to keep this vegan, (took inspiration from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty More) and so did not use any of the traditional seasonings like shrimp paste. Here is my take on the classic.

Curry laksa

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PASTE

2 tablespoons sambal oelek

100g shallots, peeled and chopped

8 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

30g ginger, peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon ground lemon grass (frozen)

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POHA & BEAN SUNDAL – a different kind of salad

In India, poha (rice flakes) is a staple breakfast in many households because it is quick to prepare. Just soak poha in water for fifteen minutes and it is ready. Poha is unique because rice is flaked in the husk and handmade following traditional methods. Poha is the name of the dish as well as the name for rice flakes in Hindi.

My Amma (mum) likes to make sure there is enough protein in each meal and this is one of her recipes where she uses poha the same way you would use rice in rice salad. It is a lovely, gluten free and vegan lunch dish.

INGREDIENTS

100g black eyed beans, soaked overnight

150g poha

50g onions, finely diced

100g carrots, peeled and grated fine

75g coconut, shredded (I use frozen)

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LENTIL & CARROT SOUP

One of the reasons I love winter is because you can make a hearty soup that warms the body and soul. You kind of feel good tucking into a bowl of wholesome soup because you know it is very nourishing. I love to experiment not only with different flavour combinations but also incorporate beans or lentils or grains for the protein.

When I was growing up I hated cooked carrots, felt that they have a smell and it is more pronounced on cooking. Luckily I got over that and carrots cooked or raw are absolutely delicious. The soup is a bit different in the sense that I cooked the lentils separately.

Lentil & Carrot soup

INGREDIENTS

500g carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

100g onions, diced

50g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

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CHICK PEAS TAGINE STYLE

A piece of trivia for you – I always thought chick peas were native to the Indian subcontinent but now know that they were grown in Turkey about 8000 BC!!

Tagine or Tajine is a North African Maghreb dish which is named after the earthenware pot in which it is cooked. Algerian and Moroccan tagine dishes are slow-cooked savory stews, typically made with sliced meat, poultry or fish together with vegetables or fruit. Spices, nuts, and dried fruits are also used. Common spices include ginger, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, and saffron. Paprika and chili are used in vegetable tajines.

My version is a vegan one (omit the feta cheese as topping) and it is a one pot dish cooked over a couple of hours in the oven. Unfortunately, you can’t put the oven on timer and wander off as you need to stir once in a while and add the herbs in between! It is very flavourful and the prunes breakdown giving a bit of sauce and also makes the stew rich and gooey.

Chick pea tagine style

INGREDIENTS

400g dried chick peas, rinsed and soaked in lightly salted water overnight

250g red onions, each onion cut into eight chunks

100g pitted prunes

500g carrots, peeled and cut in half

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