All posts tagged: Food

Do Diwali 2015 with Beth Does Food

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Do Diwali 2015 with Beth Does Food Diwali. the ancient Hindu festival of lights, is only two weeks away and i’ve been working on some delish recipes which celebrate the vibrant colours and flavours of Indian street food. Shot by the fabulous food stylists Faye Wears (www.forksknivesblog.wordpress.com) and Lauren Miller (www.laurenmiller.co.uk), my recipes are based around street food classics and are the perfect way to celebrate Diwali yourself. Hope you guys enjoy my recipes. In the meantime, here are some teasers to get your taste buds tingling. Check ’em out – alvida! BDF x

Lamb burgers with fennel & red chilli & harissa burger sauce

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These lamb burgers are foolproof, fiery and flipping easy to make with a few little secrets to guarantee your burgers are juicy and don’t fall apart when you cook them The burger sauce is spiked with harrissa, an amazing chilli paste made of roasted red chilli peppers, garlic, rose petals, cumin and other spices – it’s one of those ingredients that’s worth spending a little more money on. It’s great spread on bruschetta or pizzas, stirred into fajitas, beef chilli or even homemade dips, but it works an absolute treat in a burger sauce with mayonnaise, cool yoghurt and that classic burger sauce staple American mustard. Makes 4 lamb burgers 250g quality lamb mince (20% fat) 1 small white onion, finely diced 1 red chilli, finely chopped 1 large clove garlic, crushed 1 tsp fennel seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 small handful of fresh breadcrumbs 1 egg yolk plenty of salt and pepper 4 soft seeded buns 1 gem lettuce Harissa burger sauce 2 tbsp yoghurt 2 tbsp mayonnaise 2 tsp harissa 1 tsp American mustard (optional) Saute the onion in …

Brighton Be Beautiful: Bardsleys, The Chilli Pickle, The Lion & Lobster & Coggings & Co.

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Oh I do like to be beside the seaside. So much so that last weekend I played away from home (cheated on my glorious sandy hometown of Swansea) and enjoyed a weekender in Brighton. I was fortunate enough to have plenty of suggestions and advice from a network of food lovers and twitterers, so ‘the ol’ food itinerary’ was pretty chocker block.  Alex has been away with me enough to know that ‘free time’ doesn’t really feature in my holiday itineraries – but what’s leisure time when you get the chance to taste the best food around with me, eh? BRIGHTON BITES 1. For the perfect fish & chips – Bardsley’s   Now, I spent the best part of my early teenage years working in a cracking local chip shop on the seafront in Swansea. During the summer of 2008, I think mushy peas were the only vegetable in my diet and my lunch of choice was curry and cheese on chips with chilli sauce (oh to have the metabolism of a teenager again.) So I know good fish …

The Big Food Fight

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Of the 481 accounts I follow on Twitter, aproximately: 200 are chefs 150are  restaurants 81 are food writers 50 are food fanatics and a fair few MasterChef contestants are thrown in there too. I am bombarded with tweets about new places to eat and new things to try. From the short-lived ‘Cronut’ hype of 2013 to the recent gravy-dipped burger trend that I keep bloody hearing about, its safe to say nobody’s stuck for choice when deciding what’s for dins. Take the beloved beefburger: Cool person 1: ‘Have you been to (restaurant title including one or more of the following words: dirty, bun, burger, cow, liquor, meat, patty). It’s the best burger in London!’ Cool person 2: ‘I beg to differ.. you’ve gotta try (another restaurant title including one or more of the following words: dirty, bun, burger, cow, liquor, meat, patty). Cool person 3: ‘What about (yet another restaurant title including one or more of the following words: dirty, bun, burger, cow, liquor, meat, patty)? It’s the bomb!’ Well, which is it then people?! Are these new places ‘WE’VE GOT TO TRY’ actually that special? Are …

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 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 …

Avocado & Lime Houmous

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Two years ago ready made houmous was my shopping basket essential – you can dip in almost everything, and it doesn’t break the bank leaving more money for your night out (it also makes for amazing late night/ early morning snack when the kebab shops are all closed). But now i’m no longer a student, and try to think a lot more about my waste line, and making everything from scratch. Avocados are now a shopping basket staple and so the avocado houmous was born. All you really need is a food processor, and something to dip in. I like to keep mine chunky – its nice to get a good chunk of avocado on your nacho… Makes a good bowlful Ingredients 1 really ripe avocado 1 can chickpeas small bunch coriander extra virgin olive oil 1 garlic clove 1 lime ground cumin ground coriander ½ tsp chilli flakes Roughly chop the coriander, bash the garlic to remove the skin and add to the food processor with the drained chickpeas, cumin and coriander. Blitz a couple of …

Homemade Flatbread with Sticky Chicken Thighs & Curryslaw

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This is one of my favourite summer time evening meals. I used to buy flatbreads until I realized how blimmin’ easy they are to make at home, and how much tastier they are too! Indian coleslaw is a revelation, and goes PERFECTLY with sticky tender chicken thighs and fluffy flatbreads. Watch the video for this recipe here: Ingredients (serves 4) For the Sticky Chicken 4 chicken thighs, skin and bone removed 1 tbsp curry powder ½ tsp garlic powder ½ tsp onion powder ½ tsp mustard powder 2 tbsp honey 1 tsp black and white sesame seeds olive oil salt and pepper For the flatbread 160g self raising flour 140g full fat greek yoghurt 1 tsp sesame seeds 1 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp fennel seeds salt and pepper For the Curryslaw 1 small red onion ½ red cabbage 2 carrot 4 spring onions small bunch coriander 1 lime 1 pomegranate 100g mayonnaise 50g creme fraiche 1 tsp garam masala ½ tsp turmeric ½ tsp nigella seeds salt and pepper For the coleslaw, peel …