European
I just adore baby fennel (and in fact, fennel bulb in general) – this recipe takes most of its flavour from the fennel, with very little else to confuse it.
Can obviously be made with cream, if you want it richer and easier to do, just leave out the flour. We don’t usually have cream, so this is our mid-week alternative and it’s fairly close (and much healthier)!
Indian
This recipe is our take on butter chicken, with a healthier spin of course. Fairly simple to whip up and totally delicious, this is a winner for last minute entertaining.
European
Fermenting vegetables is a fascinating subject, with most cultures around the world fermenting in some form or other.
I became obsessed with fermenting foods after reading a brilliant book by Sandor Katz called The Art of Fermentation. This is the holy grail of fermenting, and covers everything from making your own soya sauce to fermenting cider and making yoghurt.
This blog post is going to cover just the very basics of vegetable fermentation.
Equipment:
Big sharp knife and cutting board
A big, clean bucket
A waterproof, reasonably sturdy plastic bag (shopping bags will not work) – an industrial bin liner or heavy duty clear plastic bag will do the trick.
Microbiology:
The fermenting process is driven by 2 bacteria and their natural variations, lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. I’m probably spelling that incorrectly. Leuconostoc is responsible for initial fermentation, and produces CO2. After a few days, lactobacillus takes over and produces lactic acid (which makes the pickles sour).
Salting:
There are 2 basic types of salting: Dry salting and brining. Dry salting involves putting salt straight onto the chopped veggies and pickling in the water that gets extracted, bringing involves adding the vegetables to a salty brine, and pickling in that. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
In general, dry salting is better for vegetables with a high water content (cabbage, chinese cabbage, peppers etc), and brining is better for harder vegetables (carrots, beetroot, cauliflower etc)
When dry salting, use 2-3% salt per weight of the vegetables – around 1 tablespoon of salt per kilogram of vegetables. Stir around nicely with your (clean) hands, and put a weight on top to compress the vegetables.
When brining, make a salt-water solution so that the total weight of both water and vegetables is around 2-3% salinity. In other words, if you are using 1l of water and 1kg of vegetables, then add 40g of salt to your brine (about 2 big tablespoons).
Weighting:
There are many different ways of weighting, the basic principle is that you want all of your vegetables submerged in water. some people use a plate that fits the bucket that they are using, with a brick or something on top of the plate, but my favourite method is to take a strong clear plastic bag, half fill with water and place this on top of your pickles. This “water weight” does 3 things – not only does it keep your vegetables submerged, but it also minimises air contact (and thus mould growth) since the plastic bag spreads to cover the whole surface of your pickles evenly. The plastic bag also allows your pickles to bubble away nicely and lets all the gas escape around the edges of the bag.
You must fill the bag with water before putting on top of your pickles to make 100% sure that there are no leaks.
Water:
Water is a topic of some debate – the issue being whether the chlorine in tap water inhibits bacterial growth. My personal experience is that using tap water for pickling results in inferior pickles that just don’t ferment as well.
If you are lucky enough to live by a spring in the mountains, then just use that with no problems. If you live in the city and your tap water is chlorinated, you need to dechlorinate.
You can dechlorinate water either by filtering (if you have a water filter), buying bottled spring water, or by bringing your water to a boil on the stovetop and then letting it cool down, uncovered, until it’s back at room temperature – the chlorine is luckily volatile and blows off when the water is boiled.
Ok so here’s a basic recipe for an asian style pickle: feel free to change any of the spices or vegetables, or scale the recipe as you need.
Southeast Asia
This is the stock standard thai curry base that we use for our thai curries, with a few variations.
The soy lecithin is a wonderful ingredient to play with in the kitchen, its an emulsifier, which means it helps fats and water to stay blended in a sauce without splitting out. You can get it in health food sections of most big supermarkets, or with the baking goodies at your local health shop.
Making your own coconut milk is so easy and so delicious, we never buy canned coconut milk anymore.
Indian
Basic, delicious vegetarian food, hearty and satisfying. Indian food is, in our opinion, some of the best in the world. The indian subcontinent has been refining its cuisine over centuries to produce complex, wonderful food that is both cost effective and healthy.
This is our take on a classic weeknight supper – bear in mind that all ingredients are approximations, and should be guided by your gut feel, and not the exact amounts. Spices vary in intensity depending on freshness, tomatoes vary in sweetness and sourness, chillis vary in hotness, and so forth – use your intuition.
European
Who doesn’t love pizza? Here is a healthier, whole-wheat, lower-carb version. A wrap mimics an ultra-thin pizza base, and is fuss-free and delicious.
Middle east
This is pure magic.
If you have a lemon tree or too many lemons on hand – this is one of the simplest, and most unusual things you can do with lemons. Once you’ve made your first batch of pickled lemons, you’ll never go back.
Pickled lemon rind is smooth, lemony and not at all bitter; mild enough to be eaten raw and powerful enough to add a punch of drama to cooked dishes. We always have a jar of these sitting at the back of a cupboard waiting to impart their magic to whatever we feel like cooking.
Middle east
Socca is a flatbread made from chick peas, and is absolutely delicious, and very easy to make – recipe here.
Sabzi khordan is a persian side salad of fresh, sharp herbs, but here we put it as a part of the main course, and it rises to the challenge beautifully.
This is a perfect light lunch if you are entertaining and want to impress, but don’t want to do too much effort 🙂 It’s basically a salad, pancakes and sardines, but like everything in life, it’s not what you cook, but how you cook it that matters.
European
Socca, or farinata, are thick chickpea pancakes from southern europe. This recipe uses raw soaked chickpeas instead of flour for a wonderfully deep flavour and texture that goes well with almost any savoury or sweet dish.
These are meant to be thick and substantial, not thin like a crepe.
Middle east
Harissa, tomatoes, lentils, yoghurt… These are ingredients that fill me with excitement whenever we decide to cook with them. Simple, cheap, unpretentious, they shine if you give them a chance.
This recipe is adapted from a wonderful book by Diana Henry called Crazy water, pickled lemons – grab it if you see a copy, its very exciting.
This pilau (or pilaf) makes a wonderful vegetarian main course, served with some socca and hummus, or as a side to a sunday roast.
The harissa recipe I’ve used here isn’t spicy at all, but feel free to beef it up if you like a bit more oomph.