Author: bethdoesfood

Mango & Lime Lassi Posset

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I survived on mango lassis when I was living in India. Like an Indian-style smoothie, lassis are made from yoghurt mixed with water and spices, and can be salty or sweet. Salty lassis take a bit of getting used to but are delicious on a cold day. Different parts of India have different preferences and flavourings. In North India, we mainly drank mango lassis. The mangoes over there are so fresh and juicy, you can squash them up with your hands into a pulp, make a small hole in one of the ends and suck out the juice. This, mixed with goats milk yoghurt, plenty of jaggery (unrefined cane sugar) and spices is the basic foundation of a lassi, and absolute heaven after a rich spicy meal. I’ve been working on a dessert to finish the evening of my Curry & Chips Club (my first Curry For Change supper club which will raise money for the charity Find Your Feet). I have come up with the Mango Lassi Posset: a  smooth and creamy lime posset with all the beautiful flavours of a lassi. It’s …

Cooking with matcha

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I have recently rekindled my love of green tea after discovering matcha – a powdered green tea made from specially selected green tea plants, which are shade grown for a few weeks before being ground up. The result is a clean, smooth-tasting tea that doesn’t have that horribly bitter after taste that first put me off regular green. It’s really easy to drink and has helped me through many a starvation lull on one of my fast days, as i’m currently trialing out the intermittent fasting (or the fast diet) in an attempt to (pun-alert) have my cake and eat it too (sorry.) But I’m more interested in matcha being used as an ingredient in cooking. The first time I tasted matcha was in a life changing dessert at So Japanese, Soho. This place was recommended to me by an ex colleague for its unbeatable sushi (and at a reasonable price for sushi) but I would also highly recommend the Japanese desserts. The Matcha & White Chocolate Cake with Black Sesame Ice Cream & Fruit Mousse   This was ordered …

Leek bhajis

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For me, onion bhajis are one of the things I get most excited about when I go for an Indian meal. Their like a little explosion of everything I love about Indian food- the staples of a great curry paste (onion, ginger and chilli), carefully selected and delicate spices, and plenty of fresh coriander. In India, bhajis are more commonly known as pakora (fritters), and don’t exclusively contain onion. Some have potatoes, spinach, peas, chicken, or anything you fancy. The Onion bhajis that we know and love in this country have a distinctive taste and smell from ajwan and nigella seeds, and can range from big boulders served in chip shops to tiny delicate nests. In any case, When done properly they have a crisp fried onion shell and perfectly cooked batter and soft onions in the centre. I recently had the opportunity to learn how to make Spinach and Onion Pakoras with head chef Rakesh at Cinnamon Kitchen. His trick was to combine the chopped onions and spinach with spices and salt before leaving it …

My weekend in pictures

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Thursday: Half price Itsu, Paddington central, Post work   Homemade Top Corn – coconut oil, brown sugar and cinnamon   Friday: Bodeans BBQ, Soho – ribs, pulled pork, brisket, cornbread muffins and wet fries  Saturday (fast day) – post run soup. Looked DISGUSTING, tasted quite pleasant. Sauteed red onion, garlic and courgette in olive oil. Add fresh spinach, nutmeg, salt and pepper, fennel seeds, stock cubes and water. Simmer for 10 minutes, blitz and finish with Greek yoghurt.   Fast day dinner: 500 calories a day is absolutely killer for someone who is obsessed with food. I decided to go against all my food instincts and wolfed down boiled eggs on frozen veg. After a day of starving, was bloody delicious.  Sunday BBQ: I have no idea what the rules are.

Avocado & lemon pesto spaghetti with Parma ham

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This delicious pesto dish is ready to eat in the time it takes to cook the pasta and is a great way to use up really ripe avocados. I use a couple of tricks to make this recipe extra special – using avocado creates a light and creamy pesto, and is a healthier alternative to cream or oil. I also add a little of the starchy cooking water to the sauce to help it to coat all of the spaghetti. Serves 4 Ingredients: 300g spaghetti a large bunch of fresh basil 2 garlic cloves 50g pine nuts, toasted 50g parmesan cheese, grated 2 avocados, really ripe ½ lemon, zest only 4 slices of Parma ham salt and pepper (You will need a pestle and mortar or a food processor) Preheat the grill on a medium heat and boil a kettle. Add the spaghetti to a large pan of salted boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile, roughly chop up the basil and add to your pestle and mortar with the garlic, parmesan, …

green coriander chutney

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I’m working on some lovely Indian dishes in my little old kitchen at the moment and here’s a little taster of things to come. A punchy, green chutney full of chilli, curry leaf, lemon and herbs! It’s perfect with poppadoms, naan bread, drizzled over BBQ meat or kebabs or stirred into soup or dhal! Serves 4 1 big handful of coriander 1 sprig of curry leaves 1 garlic clove 2 green finger chillies 1 sprig of mint mint the juice from ½ a lemon a glug of groundnut oil a pinch of salt a pinch of sugar Roughly chop the herbs, chillies and the garlic and blend everything in a mini food processor to a puree. Taste and add more seasoning if required. Done.

Black & White Pudding Pasties

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Hello, I’m Beth and I’m addicted to black pudding. I regularly exceed my RDA of iron and I am constantly looking for new ways to get my next fix. Last weekend, with an abundance of black and white pudding I have in my fridge from The Bury Black Pudding Company, I decided to find another excuse to ‘go to town’ on blood pudding and created the perfect lunch for my cousins to enjoy whilst working hard on their allotment! If you’ve never had white pudding i’d highly recommend it. It’s like black pudding, but without the blood (so basically a sausage, with plenty of pepper, spices and a firm, meaty texture). Ingredients 1 onion 2 medium potatoes 1 large black pudding sausage, chubb 1 large white pudding sausage a good glug of rapeseed oil 1 tsp English mustard 1 bay leaf a small sprig of thyme a handful of parsley 5 sage leaves 1 sheet of shortcrust pastry 1 egg salt and pepper a punnet of cress, for garnish Preheat the oven to 180°c Peel and dice up the …

My store cupboard essential: what’s yours?

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Oh boy, do I love a good chutney tray in an Indian restaurant (yes I do).  At home, I have spent many years buying pre-made Sharwoods poppadoms (around £2 for 8 poppadoms). I now realize that i’ve been CONNED. If you’re like me and didn’t know that popping your own poppadoms was so easy then take my hand and let’s float away into the future of fast, healthy, cheap snacking. MY STORE CUPBOARD ESSENTIAL: RAW POPPADOMS These babies are an absolute gem: 1 pack of 15 costs £1! (more than half the price of ready made) each poppadom has under 30 calories (that’s less than a small bag of popcorn) heat for 15 seconds in the microwave (and their ready to eat straight away) you can rub each side in butter, coconut oil or ghee (for a richer taste) you deep fry in hot oil for a couple of seconds (Indian restaurant-style) Save a couple of quid on a takeaway and make your own If you’re craving a packet of crisps, whip up a couple with a jar of …

Shortbread Jammy Dodgers

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My first memory of cooking is making salt dough decorations. If you’ve never made salt dough with kids it’s so much fun. The recipe is basic: 2 parts flour, 1 part salt & 1 part water. Mix into a dough, roll and cut into whatever shapes you want. Pierce each with a pen so you can string them up later. Bake in a low oven at 100˚c for 3-4 hours until they are completely dry. Cool, then paint and hang with string. Note: do not eat! You will be sick. Now, the only biscuits I really enjoy baking (and can be trusted to make) are ones where all the ingredients are mixed up in a food processor, rolled and cut with my retro cutters, just like salt dough. The shortbread recipe I use is from Adam Stokes on Great British Chefs. It’s tried and tested and i’ve made them so many times – it makes light buttery biscuits that are lush and soft in the middle with a short snap. I’ve taken the vanilla and cinnamon from the recipe …

What I learned at Cinnamon: the art of Indian cooking

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I ate like a Queen this weekend. Beautiful, refined and proper clever Indian cooking. The food successfully mixed authentic flavours from all over India with more classic European cooking techniques and styles, which always did service to the original dishes but enhanced the dining experience. This type of cooking is a real art; a dish is never changed for the sake of being different. Everything I tasted was true and intelligent, without trying to be fashionable or in trend. I was privileged enough to spend the weekend as the guest of Vivek Singh at two of his three London restaurants, Cinnamon Club and Cinnamon Kitchen. As well as the chance to explore the kitchen at Cinnamon Club, where I skipping around with a spoon like a kid in a sweet shop, I also attended their Wine & Spice pairing at Cinnamon Club and a Vegetarian Masterclass at Cinnamon Kitchen, hosted by head chef at Cinnamon Club Rakesh Ravindran Nair and manager Hari Nagaraj. I took away with me so many tips. Here are my favourites: A pinch of sugar: …