In recent years, the light and fluffy Chinese delicacy that is the baozi, or bao, has found its way into restaurants and kitchens across the globe. Their being steamed, combined with the yeast within the dough, makes for a soft and delicately spongey texture, quite unlike any other kind of baked bread or steamed dumpling.
Our lexical disclaimer for today is here to inform you that ‘bao’ in itself translates as ‘bun’ in Mandarin, and so the commonly-used Western phrase ‘bao bun’ is grammatically redundant, literally meaning ‘bun bun’, in the same way that in Hindi, ‘Chai tea’, actually means ‘tea tea’.
Baozi
Generally baozi are a filled ‘bun’, with the dough gathered together on top, sometimes leaving a small hole for steam to escape, and complete with either a meat or vegetable filling. One of the most popular is the Char Siu Bao, filled with sticky barbecued pork. Other variants include the xiaolongbao, with xiaolong referring to the bamboo steaming basket in which they are cooked and served., This bao is filled with a hot soup, and is sometimes referred to as a dumpling. The final type of bao that I’ll touch on is the gua bao, which comprises of a flat, open steamed lotus-leaf bun, with a meat (often pork belly) filling.
Xiaolongbao
As ever with Chinese food, it’s very difficult to generalise, as regional cuisines across what is such a huge country vary so significantly. Whether we’re talking baozi, xiaolongbao or gua bao, these may be more prevalent in certain provinces, or be made differently in others, and so defining such a specific part of incredibly complex and diverse cuisine is pretty tricky to do in a few hundred words!
gua bao
…….
Career changes, and COVID combined meant that my dreams of heading to China this year were scuppered, and so I’ve never tried these dreamy little buns in their homeland. Living in London does mean however, that there are a million one street food stalls, Chinatown restaurants, and chains that serve up these little beauties, although of course I’m unable to comment on their authenticity.
Interestingly, many of the places in which I tried bao/baozi weren’t actually Chinese-influenced, and include Malay, Vietnamese and Japanese-inspired food businesses to name a few. The very first time I tried baozi was years ago at a little independent restaurant back in Nottingham, called Yumacha, which describes itself as serving up ‘an eclectic mix of the Far East’s favourite dishes’. These kind of ‘Asian fusion’ restaurants seem to be on the rise, combining Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Indonesian cuisine plus a whole lot more. I had no idea what I was eating at the time, with the concept of a steamed bun seeming completely alien to me – I have to say this was many years before my foodie instinct really kicked in, and my knowledge of the food I was eating was minimal. Despite this, I loved the unfamiliar, cloud-like texture of the buns, along with their punchy flavoured meat fillings.
Keu Deli
Fast-forward a good 5+ years, and I’ve tried a fair few variations. Popular Vietnamese Keu Deli in London serves up a giant baozi, which definitely wins points for the lightest, most satisfying bao texture. BaoziInn in Chinatown is a solid bet for quality baozi, which were slightly flatter in my experience, and fillings include the pork-patty-like stuffing that I tried.
Admittedly, I’ve yet to try xiaolongbao, possibly because I’ve distanced them from the baozi that I love, as they do tend to resemble dumplings, and the hot broth filling has never appealed to me as much as a juicy meaty filling.
Gua bao , however, might be my favourite, based on those that I’ve tried. They have the most wonderfully smooth texture, and oddly, more filling seems to be packed into these open bao than stuffed within the closed, larger baozi.
My favourites so far were from Thai-Malaysian street food stall Satay Street ,where I was lucky enough to win a competition for two free portions. I tried a curried chicken bao and a satay chicken bao, both of which were great, with the satay flavour being particularly delicious.
Satay Street
I have to admit that the first gua bao I ever tried was actually from Wagamama – I think they’d just added it to the menu, as they were giving away samples outside with a pulled beef style filling, and it was pretty good. There’s only been one occasion where I’ve not been able to finish a gua bao, and I won’t name the business, but it was the filling rather than the bun that I couldn’t stomach – I can only hope you never stumble across it yourselves!
DIY BAO
Oh dear…
Baking your own bao at home seems like such a daunting exercise, and I have had varying degrees of success. The first time I tried it was a BBC GoodFood recipe, with a pork belly filling, and whilst the filling with sticky and sweet, as you can see, my buns failed entirely, ending up flat as pancake, stodgy and generally quite grim. Whether this was the recipe, my techniques, or dodgy ingredients I couldn’t tell you, but it didn’t bode well for future attempts.
That’s why I was so surprised when I tried Queen Nadiya’s recipe for spicy tuna bao, and they turned out excellently. From her ‘Time to Eat’ cookbook, this is a recipe I would 100% recommend – there’s definitely a little effort required, but with such impressive results, it’s worth it. The buns are super filling but the tuna itself is light, fresh-tasting, and umami, and when a recipe like this goes to plan, there’s a real sense of achievement waiting for you on the other side.
I’m sure there are a huge number of people who still have never tried any form of bao, and if you’re one of them I really urge you to do so. I can’t think of a single other food that compares in texture to these perfect little buns, and with fillings being so varied, there’s bound to be something to suit all tastes.
The first in a new series, here I’ll be taking a look at key dishes from countries around the globe, how they compare in London, and how you can attempt to whip them up in your kitchen at home.
Before I get stuck in, I’d like to point out that I began writing this before things really spiralled with regards to the Coronavirus. I talk later on about my love for London’s street food pop ups, and urge you to visit your local, independent restaurants, however, as things stand at the minute, obviously that isn’t necessarily possible. So many places I love have closed down, some not knowing if they will ever be able to reopen. It’s a massively tough time for so many people, so I just hope that when all of this subsides, as many of these places as possible can get back on their feet. So, continuing with my original request, please consider investing your time and money (and stomach space) in these amazing small businesses when it’s safe to do so again – they will really appreciate your support, and it’ll be exciting to try something new.
But getting stuck back in, my first stop is Egypt, an underrepresented cuisine here in the UK, with my Egyptian dish of choice being Koshari (also written as ‘Kushari’).
I first came across Koshari in the Lonely Planet Street Food guide, which highlights some of the world’s best street food, offering readers simplified home recipe versions.
But what is it? As the national dish of Egypt, Koshari consists of brown rice and lentils mixed with chickpeas and macaroni, and topped with a tomato sauce and crispy fried onions. All the elements within the dish are super basic, but combined, create a fibre-filled snack, which is full of flavour. Traditionally, koshari doesn’t use any animal products and so is suitable for vegan diets, although nowadays, some places mix up their menus to include meat versions. Koshari initially came about as a street food dish, being sold on carts throughout Egyptian towns and cities; however, it can now also be found on more formal restaurant menus.
One of the most wonderful things about living in London is the diversity of its food scene. The concept of ‘street food’ in the UK has come under scrutiny recently due to the rapid increase in super popular, commercialised food halls offering ‘street food’. Authenticity and motivations have been questioned, and one of the key issues has been the idea that this kind of food, which initially existed across the world to be sold to labourers as a quick and cheap lunch option, has been ‘gentrified’ in a sense. For ‘street food’ in London, you could find yourself paying over £10 for one dish to enjoy as part of a social outing. Despite this, I strongly believe that our street food scene shouldn’t be given a bad name. I love the fact that many of my favourite food stalls and pop ups are run by people who are so passionate about their food products that they want to channel that into preparing traditional dishes here in London. There may be wider issues, but not to the extent that we should feel guilty for enjoying incredible international food created by experts.
No matter how obscure you think a dish may seem, there’s a 99.9% chance that you’ll still find it in London, and Koshari is one of those. Koshari Street is a small business with a little store on St Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden, which serves the classic dish alongside meat and chicken options, protein bowls, and build your own bowls. The store is a really relaxing space with a small number of tables, and all the ingredients for the dish lain out in front of you behind the counter.
So many of the bowls looked great, but for ‘research purposes’ I wanted to try the classic. With bowls coming in regular and large, I can confirm that the regular portion is a really good size. The base, as is customary, is made up of lentils, macaroni and small noodle pieces and is topped with the classic zingy tomato sauce, chickpeas and a deliciously spiced nut mix, which also adds a lovely crunchy texture to the dish. Koshari bowls are super healthy, but really filling, and I’m really happy to see Egyptian food on the mainstream here in London.
But then it was over to me. To be honest, the task of recreating this at home probably wasn’t as daunting as some of the other dishes I will be attempting, after all, it only really consists of boiling your rice, lentils and pasta and mixing up your tomato sauce before piling everything together. Even so, I was pretty happy with how it turned out…
As a lunchbox meal to eat at work or on the go, this kind of dish is perfect, and is also the kind of thing you can batch cook. I added lots of diced onion to the top of mine for added flavour, but really the classic is so satisfying that you really don’t need to mess with the traditional ingredients. The tomato sauce is actually just a tomato puree mixed with garlic, onion, cinnamon, cumin, salt, pepper and chilli flakes. Because the carb/protein base of this dish is so simple, the beauty of it comes from the spices so the cumin and cinnamon really do bring the whole thing together.
This post has been short and sweet, but hopefully you’ve learnt something. I’d love for this series to encourage you to try something new; to venture out and indulge in a kind of cuisine you’d never really considered before, and maybe even try tackling an unusual dish in your own kitchen. We’ve probably all tried French, Spanish, Mexican, Indian etc., but there is so much more out there that’s hidden from our mainstream dining options. Don’t get me wrong, some of the dishes in this series will be pretty well known, but others I hadn’t even heard of before researching potential material.
Most towns and certainly all cities will have at least a handful of independently run restaurants or cafes dishing up amazing food from lesser-publicised corners of the world, so for your next date, family celebration or friendly catch-up, why not try something new and support those who are kind enough to share their national cuisine with us?
Controversial documentaries, tofu breakthroughs and gross pasta have all featured in part 5 of my vegan week diary, but overall I have to say, it’s been a tasty one. There’s been a lot more of the home cooking than eating out, and most have been deliciously successful.
Before I go into the food itself, let’s stop for a minute to talk about Netflix’s The Game Changers, which has got a lot of people talking recently. The documentary focuses on a UFC fighter addressing the prospect of going completely vegan, and looking at other athletes who have done so, and the consequences on their bodies, from the ‘world’s strongest man’, to college footballers in the US.
The research done is entirely in favour of 100% plant-based eating, and so you want to know what my thoughts are? It’s a load of preachy bullshit 🙂 🙂
I’m all for science and research, but as someone who is happy to embrace plant-based eating, I just couldn’t deal with the pushy ‘evidence’ insisting that it’s as straight forward as converting to a plant-based diet, and you’re suddenly bursting with energy and performing athletically at the top of your game. These one-sided diet A is better than diet B arguments are just such nonsense. The reality is that our bodies, as individuals, react differently to different diets, and so it is impossible to say that we would all be more ‘physically successful’ by only eating plants. Of course they’re only going to show the studies that prove their points (including a ridiculous one about how men’s sexual performance was enhanced after having eaten literally just one plant-based meal…). The whole programme was just masculinity-targeted propaganda, and whilst I understand that there are gender-stereotyping issues linking masculinity and the reluctance to cut down on meat, I just found the documentary very unconvincing. There was even a point where they made a group of people undergo a plant-based diet for a week, and at the end of it they all came back saying how they felt amazing and had so much more energy than usual…
Well maybe they did. But guess who else eats plant-based for an entire week every single month and feels absolutely no difference whatsoever??? ME.
This is almost starting to sound like I’m against plant-based diets. I’m not at all. I’m all for reducing our meat and dairy intake for a range of reasons and I actually really look forward to these meat-free weeks and the exciting meals they bring, but I’m more for balance, and feeding myself things that I enjoy. What I’m not a fan of is this overrated documentary.
If you want to read any more on it, Paul Kita’s piece in Men’s Health basically covers all the issues I have with it in a more articulate and scientific way.
But feel free to have a watch yourself, and who knows, maybe it’ll convert you.
I did always want this ‘diary’ to incorporate plant-based related issues, as well as the actual mealtime side of things, but that’s enough for this week, time to get to the good stuff. What did I actually eat??
Monday
I’m really excited by this first one, the reason being, it’s yet another successfully satisfying tofu-based meal. Rachel Ama makes a spread out of tofu, cashews and chives, and I had this on seeded bread, topped with griddled aubergines. The combination actually worked so well, and the recipe gave enough of the spread to have on my toast for multiple breakfasts in the morning. On the side of that I made Nadiya’s Hasselback Butternut Squash with Burnt Garlic Rice. The squash was delicious and had slightly caramelised in places whilst in the oven.
Surprise, surprise I was also back on Mrs Hollingsworths’ energy balls. Like I’ve mentioned before, these are the perfect snack to take to work and are so quick to make, basically just blending everything together in the food processor. The first lot are cocoa raisin oat balls. Weirdly, I love the stodginess of these types of snack, and even tastier than the cocoa ones were the lemon meringue balls. Honestly, these tasted insane, I can’t believe how much flavour there was in there, and these ones were cashew-based rather than oat-based. When you start cooking plant-based, it’s crazy how much you can do with cashew nuts. They will become your best friends, for both sweet and savoury meals.
Tuesday
Next up is actually one of my own recipes. I’ve been trying out developing recipes recently, rather than always stealing other people’s and this one was pretty good. Along with cashews, another ingredient that works a treat is oyster mushrooms. They have a fantastic texture that makes them perfect meat substitutes, without having an overwhelming flavour. Here I fried them in a jerk sauce and then baked them after to get rid of excess moisture. I used them to top coconut quinoa and black eyed beans (I’d defo use rice next time as the quinoa texturally wasn’t as strong), and then added a row of delicious fried plantain. Roll it all up in a tortilla and you have a delicious vegan burrito.
Wednesday
So Wednesday was my indulgent eating out day, and I finally got round to trying ByChloe. ByChloe is entirely plant-based, and they have restaurants in the US as well. It has a very informal fast-food style to it, and I got all my food to takeaway. I’d heard lots of good things about the Pesto Meatball Sub, which obviously isn’t actually meat, but uses mushrooms to create the meatballs. They are massively convincing and taste great along with the pesto. The roasted red peppers on top finish the whole thing off beautifully.
They also do two different pastas – a Cashew Mac ‘n’ Cheese, and an Avocado Pesto Pasta, so of course I had to try both. The Mac ‘n’ Cheese I was really impressed with. It was creamy and slightly spicy and the mushroom and crumb topping added extra flavour and texture. But… then we come to the avocado pasta. I gotta be honest, I hated it. I’m sure this is probably partly because I’m not the biggest avocado fan, but I do eat it. It just was way too bland as a pasta sauce though, and there were random heavily-salted patches. It’s very rare that I don’t finish something because I don’t like it, but it does happen from time to time…
Finally I had one of their London menu specials, which was the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Coconut Cream. This dessert was really good. I was sceptical about how the dessert would travel, as it didn’t seem like the kind of thing that would be good to take away, but I did it, and it tasted delicious. It was syrupy and sweet, with a super-moist spongy texture and a lovely coconutty cream, which added an extra dimension of flavour.
There’s plenty more I could’ve tried, but my stomach ain’t gonna stretch that far, so overall it’s definitely somewhere that I’d recommend, whether you’re eating in or ordering to takeaway, or via UberEats.
Thursday
Another one of my own again now! Trying my best to use up all the food in my fridge and freezer before I buy more, and so that led me to whipping up this Parsnip, Walnut and Honey Risotto. If anything, I’d go heavier on the walnuts and honey next time as it was really good with a nice creamy texture, and delicious parsnip flavour, but extra sweetness would make it even better.
Along with my energy balls, for work lunches I ran with the burrito theme and cooked up some Mexican-spiced rice to pad the tortillas out with. Using my food processor, I made a paste from various chillies, chipotles en adobo, tomatillos, onion and a load of spices, and then stirred this into the cooked brown rice. I often find that I’m not taking big enough lunches with me to work and so I end up wanting to snack, but this burrito was a big improvement on that because they’re actually really filling (I guess that’s double carbs for you…).
Getting off the tube at King’s Cross before work, I found myself directly opposite the Crosstown Doughnuts stall in the square. I didn’t need one and I definitely couldn’t justify the money, but yes, I did accidentally still do it. I bought two but only one was vegan so that’s the only one I’ve actually tried yet. To be fair, it was something that had been on my radar for a long time, ever since I’d seen that one of their seasonal specials was the Winter Crumble doughnut. Thoughts? Delicious crunchy crumble topping – I loved that. The actual apple crumble filling I initially thought was way too spiced; a very adult, sophisticated flavour, but this grew on me as I worked my way through it. I’m still not a big fan of their signature sourdough dough though, as it’s just too bready for me.
Right next to their stall was Amala Chai, serving up their incredible smelling hot drinks. The cardamom smell was so intense, I couldn’t not get an oat milk Masala Chai – the first I’d had since I got back from India last summer. To be honest it’s so difficult to live up to the dessert-like Chai you get in shot size paper cups in the street there. I like a properly milky, creamy, super sweet cinnamony chai, and whilst this one for most experienced tea drinkers was probably delicious, for me, someone who has never made a cup of tea at home or work, it just wasn’t the same.
Friday
A fantastic meal next up, and one to add to my ever-growing list of successful soup recipes that I’ve followed. Ainsley’s Caribbean Kitchen is probably my favourite cookbook as I’ve said before, and this was another winner. Spinach, Chickpea and Sweet Potato soup, with a side of Rachel Ama’s Caribbean Dumplings. The dumplings were crispy on the outside, and soft and doughy in the middle – perfect for dunking into the soup.
Friday night saw me devour an impulse giant bowl of porridge, after my plans kept changing and I needed something quick and comforting. To be honest it wasn’t actually that good, and I think this is in part down to my reluctance to add sugar to my porridge or extra syrup because god knows I eat way too much sugar anyway. Pecans, maple syrup and peanut butter sounds beautiful, and it was satisfying, but yeah, sweeter would’ve been better.
Saturday
Rachel Ama’s making another appearance here with her Roast Veg on Giant Cous Cous. The aubergines, tomatoes and courgettes smelt delicious as they were cooking, and the meal was surprisingly filling. This is a really healthy one for when you want to counteract a slightly less healthy evening.
Sunday
Aaaand the final one of this week. Ainsley and his soups. Or chowders. What actually is the definition of a chowder because I really don’t know? This is a spicy lentil, sweetcorn and butternut squash ‘chowder’ and it was so good. So I know creamy refers to a texture, and this chowder wasn’t that creamy, but the coconut milk gave it a creamy taste, if that’s even possible. I’m sure some of you will understand. I toasted some tortilla strips as well to dip in and ended up being very full by the time I’d finished it, so never fall into that old trap of thinking soup isn’t filling. It really ain’t just water.
Madness to think that my next post in the series will be halfway through (6 of 12!) – half a year of vegan weeks. That has gone scarily quickly, but yet again I have more treats in store for you (and by that I actually mean myself) as I will be heading to The Vurger Co, praying that I can still get my hands on their vegan Philly Cheezesteak sandwich, but only time will tell.
Also have plans to check out Yard Sale’s amazing-looking new vegan pizza menu, however that one will depend on how my body and purse are feeling. Gotta always be changing up my food plans based on if I feel too heavy or in the mood for a treat, and that’s the best way to work it. Listen to your body and adjust your meals accordingly. Not easy for someone who loves a solid plan, but there you go.
Breaking my meat fast with a bacon naan from Dishoom tomorrow morning. You will undoubtedly find images of it within 24 hours on my in-need-of-love Instagram account @foodtravelsldn.
When I visited Morocco about 7 years ago now, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that taken by the food. I entirely put this down to the fact that I was still in my fussy phase at 18, rather than the food actually not being good.
Tagine and Cous Cous were frequently on the menu, and apparently neither of these satisfied me back then. Added to that was the fact that I was on a school ‘expedition’, so most of the meals that I was eating had been cooked for me by our hosts, whether that was Rashid’s wife in Taroudant or the amazing team who looked after us during our camping trek in the Atlas Mountains. Looking back now, this gives me even more reason to be in awe of the food. No choice, just delicious home-cooked (or mountain-cooked) meals dished up for us every breakfast, lunch and dinner. It really was a treat I should’ve appreciated more.
I’ve not really eaten much Moroccan food here either. I once had a tagine from Giraffe at Birmingham aiport, and despite having had some lovely meals from there before, it really wasn’t good.
Other than that, my inspiration for this probably has to come from my Dad’s leftover lamb stew, that we’d have the day after a Sunday Roast. For years I refused to eat it if it had apricots/dates in, as the idea of mixing sweet with savoury really didn’t work for me, but now that’s my favourite part.
I’ve finally come up with my own recipe for it, along with a side dish for mopping up all the sauces, inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s ‘Cheat’s Paratha’.
Of course it would be more ‘authentic’ to serve with cous cous, but ultimately you can choose whichever side dish you wish. This one’s satisfyingly indulgent, but I guess cous cous would be the slightly more health-conscious option.
A few disclaimers before I get to the point.
I don’t do recipe writing. It’s not my forte, but I do want to be able to share my successes. Because of that, my way of instruction won’t be the most precise – you’ll have to trust yourself to go with instinct sometimes, but the basic guidelines will be there.
Serves 2
For the stew
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 large clove of garlic
1 tin of chickpeas
1tsp tamarind paste
1tsp ginger paste
2 tsp rose harissa pasta
1tsp ras el hanout
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
handful of dried apricots
small handful of dates
leftover lamb
water
salt/pepper
Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion and garlic.
When fragrant tip in drained chickpeas.
Add the pastes and spices, give it a good mix and cook for a few minutes.
Chop dried apricots and dates into smaller pieces (generally I’d chop apricots in halves or quarters and dates into thirds), and add these along with the chopped tomatoes and seasoning.
Chuck in the leftover lamb and add enough water so that everything is almost completely submerged.
Leave to cook on a low heat for preferably a couple of hours (if you’re massively impatient like I often am, a shorter cooking time just to reduce the liquid slightly will do)
This stew-style sauce should still be liquidy when ready – don’t expect it to reduce down completely. You are aiming for the perfect balance between a thick pasty sauce and watery broth.
For the ‘Paratha’
Ingredients:
Puff Pastry
1 chilli
½ ball of mozzarella
1 tsp chilli powder
As I mentioned before, this is inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s Cheat’s Paratha. Certainly not a paratha (type of flatbread) in the typical sense, instead of having to make the dough from scratch, here you are just using puff pastry. It ends up having the most amazing soft, spongy texture, and I’ve just added a couple of extra ingredients to make it even more delicious.
Cut your ready-rolled puff pastry into 2 rectangles (you probably want enough that when you roll it into a ball, it’s a fist size).
Roll each rectangle into a ball.
Finely slice your chilli, and tear the mozzarella lump into smaller pieces.
There is no precise technique to this next bit – basically divide the chilli/mozzarella mix into two piles – one for each paratha, and press the puff pastry ball into that pile, constantly pushing the dough around so that the chilli and mozzarella becomes incorporated into the dough. At this point you can also sprinkle over as much chilli powder as you can handle. You want to knead the dough/push it around for a couple of minutes so that the mozzarella and chilli are evenly distributed throughout the dough rather than just being concentrated in one area.
With a rolling pin, roll them flat into circles – I like mine quite thick, so I’d probably go for the thickness of two pound coins. If you’ve used rubbish, cheap mozzarella like me, don’t worry if the dough is incredibly sticky and wet, it might seem like a disaster but it will still work fine.
Heat a frying pan on high, and once rolled out, add your paratha to the dry pan. There’s no specific cooking time, but you want to leave it until it’s crisped up and is no longer sticky at all on one side, and then you can flip it to crisp the other side. A couple of minutes should be enough, but just monitor it and use your common sense.
When fully cooked, you should find that they are browned up on both sides but that the centre is soft and slightly gooey and when you pull it apart, the cheese should stretch between both sides.
Serve the stew with your paratha on the side for a cheesy, spicy dipping experience!
Would love to know if anyone ends up trying this, so please leave a comment or connect with me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn.
Okay, so that’s not strictly true; if my Bosch Multitalent 3 Food Processor lasts the entire duration of my hopefully long life, I’ll be slightly surprised to say the least, but even so, it’s certainly not a ‘use for a few months and then forget all about’ kind of gift.
The same cannot be said, however, for the tin of Cartwright and Butler fudge, which lasted approximately 24 hours after having torn the wrapping paper from the giant box in which it was encased. In this instance, it definitely was just for Christmas.
I thought about whether to do this post, all too familiar of a vomit-inducing Youtube haul (I actually watch these all the time as there’s something addictive about them), but still I hate the ‘look at all this stuff that I either didn’t pay for, or I did pay for because I’m rolling in money for doing fuck all’ kind of posts.
I can’t decide if this is actually any different, but there are no Tiffany lockets, Michael Kors watches (sick face), or Gucci belts and handbags (actually just sick face all of those). Instead here you’ll find a selection of edible and inedible goodies that if you’re still reading, you might actually be interested in purchasing yourself.
Not everything Santa brought me was food-related (he very kindly gifted me some toothpaste, deodorant and make up wipes too – make of that what you will), but a lot of it revolved around the kitchen, and I simply wouldn’t have it any other way.
I should probably start with the aforementioned food processor then. It’s something I’ve wanted for a while (not necessarily that specific one but just something to mush stuff up). I already have a stick blender, and a smoothie maker, but nothing in between for mixing up larger batches of ingredients.
I did my research into how it all works last night, and there are a fair few exciting parts to this ‘MultiTalent’ gadget. The main processor bowl has various blades and attachments. Firstly, you have the standard choppy, mixy sharp blade that you’ll find in any standard processor (like I’ve mentioned before, we only use technical terminology here). It also comes with a plastic ‘blade’ which is designed for mixing up doughs, taking the effort out of strenuous hand-mixing (that’s where I get my bulging biceps from).
As well as those, there are two chopping disks. These sit just underneath the lid of the bowl, and so when you feed your ingredients through the funnel in the top, the blades slice them to the desired thickness (there’s a thick side and a fine side). The other chopping disk is used for speed-grating, and again, this blade has a coarse-grating side and a fine-grating side.
Remove the bowl, and you can add on the blender, ready for prepping smoothies, juices, sauces or soups. This add-on will probably get the least use of them all for me, as like I mentioned, I already have a specific smoothie maker, and my stick blender is perfect for soups, as you don’t even need to move the liquid from the pan.
Finally, what will be massively useful for me is the smaller add-on container. I often make spice/curry pastes for the dishes I cook up, and have been used to using the stick blender for that too. But when I’m literally just making a paste for a meal for one person, there’s so little of the mixture that it barely even reaches the blades on the stick blender. So this small container will be perfect for those kind of things – finely mashing up all those seeds, berries and bits of diced ginger and veg to create the perfect paste quantities for my main meals.
On to some of the edible goodies I found under the tree. First up is this Shawarma Paste by Belazu. I first found a love for Shawarma when I spent a few months living in Granada in Southern Spain. Every city has its own post-night out snack, and I would like to personally thank the Moors for bringing the hangover cure that is Shawarma from North Africa to the region of Andalucía. What could be more desirable in your inebriated state than a stodgy wrap, full of flavoursome kebab meat, salad and all the sauce.
I’ve never made anything along those lines myself, but you can guarantee I’ll give it a go now. It might not be in its Andalucían wrap form, but my mind is running wild with thoughts of all the delicious stews I could make that would benefit from this beautiful-scented paste.
Sticking with the Middle Eastern/North African theme, I unwrapped this lovely little jar of Steenbergs’ Dukkah. I had heard of it before, but truth be told, I wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly what it was, so here’s the Wikipedia explanation:
… is an Egyptian condiment, consisting of a mixture of herbs, nuts (usually hazelnut) and spices. It is typically used as a dip with bread or fresh vegetables for an hors d’oeuvre.
Having done some research, there seem to be a number of ways to cook with Dukkah. It can be used as a crispy coating for meat and fish (or even veg), or can be sprinkled over salads, eggs or toast for added crunch and flavour.
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It’s customary in my house to receive some kind of Lindt chocolate at Christmas time (as if 24 days of Lindt advent calendar chocolate hadn’t been enough). I’ll actually be saving this milk chocolate bear ready for when I need chocolate to bake with. If I don’t want to overload myself with chocolate, I tend to put it to one side in the cupboard, and inevitably at some point I’ll be making a cake, hot chocolate or sauce that requires melted chocolate – and there it is, beautiful tasting, quality chocolate just waiting to be used up.
One thing that I’ve wanted to cook with for a while, but not necessarily had the patience to hunt down (it’s not actually that difficult to find at all) is liquid smoke. Perfect for BBQ style dishes, and actually also featuring heavily in many vegan recipes I’ve come across, this sauce has a unique flavour that can’t really be created from scratch using indoor cooking appliances. I think a big rack of BBQ ribs are in order now.
I was possibly most excited by this Doctor Seaweed, Weed and Wonderful, Smoked Scottish Seaweed Infused Rapeseed Oil. It may have an incredibly longwinded title, but it’s not that complex to use at all. It smells really interesting, and the bottle suggests drizzling it over fish or something along those lines to add smoky flavours of the sea.
As if my spice cupboard needed any further additions, Santa treated me to this cute little pack of nutmeg with a mini grater. First off, I LOVE the grater. Anything miniature has me whining and cooing about how adorable it is, but it’s actually quite practical too in this case. I still have a little bit of nutmeg left over from what my parents brought me back from Burma, but it is running kind of low, so now I have this lovely back-up ready and waiting. I honestly think nutmeg is my favourite spice. It just has the most beautiful warmth to it, and probably reminds me sentimentally of the bread sauce I smothered all over my roast chicken for years when I was (even) little(r than I am now).
It took me a while to work this next one out, and I’m still not entirely sure about it, but these are hot smoked paprika flakes. I’ve never used paprika flakes before, only ground paprika, so I imagine these will add a more intense burst of flavour. I do love spice (heat) so a sprinkling of this over avocado toast or something like that will be delicious.
Continuing on the paprika theme are these super cute mini paprika packets. Each one has a slightly different note – there’s smoky, sweet, and bittersweet. This is so useful for me, as I often follow recipes that ask for ‘sweet’ paprika, and all I have is what I consider to be ‘generic’ paprika so I just use that. Now I actually have slightly different concoctions of the spice that will add subtly different flavours to my dishes.
I think I now have enough saffron to last me a looong while, but who would be unhappy with that, as it’s the most expensive spice. I’ve also heard a fair bit about Brindisa being a great-quality supplier of Spanish ingredients within the UK – they have shops and tapas restaurants in London and so it’s nice to have something of theirs to try (literally off to browse their website right now…)
Another product that I’m happy to have a top up of is the Taylor and Colledge Organic Vanilla Bean Paste. I reluctantly (reluctant because of the price) bought some of this from Morrisons a few months ago, and I’m so close to running out, so it was a perfect coincidence that I found another little tub of it waiting for me yesterday morning. Obviously a tiny bit of vanilla bean paste or essence goes a long way, so this should hopefully last me a while.
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Buying Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats earlier this year introduced me to the idea of using Moringa and Açaí powder in my vegan cooking. Obviously I’d eaten açaí a million times over in Brazil, but never thought of using the powdered form. Rachel makes pancakes using the ‘superfood’ that is moringa powder (the whole superfood thing is mostly bullshit, but still, it looks interesting), and also an açaí smoothie bowl using that powder. These Indigo Nutrition packs are pretty big and so despite probably being quite pricey, they should last me a while. I’ll be making both the pancakes and the smoothie bowl quite soon, and so you should you’ll be able to see those finished brunch items in one of my upcoming Meat Me Halfway posts.
God, I’m still going. There’s actually quite a bit left. I loved the fact that instead of buying shitty crackers full of tat, my parents made crackers out of toilet roll and tissue paper with personalised things inside. My treat was this tiny tiny tub of Nutella, and you know what, I may never use it because it’s that cute. I don’t think I can even bear to open it…
I’d actually forgotten that I’d asked Santa for some mini tart tins, as when I was in Morrisons a few months ago, I saw that they did a pack of 2 for about a fiver, and so I couldn’t resist buying them. Well, now I’ve got 2 more, which is actually pretty helpful, as I think these ones are slightly bigger, and so would be perfect for making individual savoury tarts, whereas I feel like the ones I already have are a better size for sweet desserts.
The last set of food items came in the form of a hamper that came with the food processor. There was actually so much in here – all by Cartwright and Butler. There was a box of butter shortbread which were as expected – buttery and crunchy with a sprinkling of sugar on top. There was also the tin of fudge mentioned earlier (yes, that tin that I devoured in less than 24 hours). The fudge was beautiful and I’d definitely recommend that if you’re looking for a lovely gift for someone. Whilst the fudge came in a pretty greeny blue tin, the hazelnut truffles were housed in a lilac tin – both of which I’ll be reusing, filling them with other ingredients in my kitchen once I’ve eaten everything inside. The truffles weren’t exactly what I was expecting – I thought that truffles always had a soft centre, but these were solid throughout with a strong, bitter-flavoured cocoa coating. They weren’t unpleasant, but just not what I’d thought they’d be.
Savoury-wise, they’d included a packet of cheese biscuits, which were very moreish. I could say I wasn’t in love with them flavour and texture-wise, but then you’d question why and how I’d already managed to finish them all (:
Just a couple more bits in the hamper – a lovely little tin housing a big slab of cherry and almond cake. I sat in my room looking through all the bits I’d accumulated, wanting to try a little bit of everything, but unfortunately I didn’t have a knife up there. Instead of going downstairs to get one to slice a piece off like a normal person would, I peeled back the plastic wrapping, and just took a bite out of the side of the cake, shoving it in my face, eating it as if it were a child-size cake bar. Do not judge me. It was actually so lovely – there’s only half of it left, and I’m not sure whether it’s going to make it to my friends’ for New Year’s Eve or not.
The jar of rhubarb custards was super cute, and the mason jars are going to be perfect for making jam or something like that afterwards. I’m not normally a huge fan of sweets, but these will be nice for when I have a sweet craving but don’t want something too indulgent.
Finally in the hamper was a jar of apple chutney. I love chutneys so I’m very exicted about this. It smells amazing, and I love the thick, chunky texture. I haven’t decided what I’m going to use it with but I reckon it’d be a welcome side sauce for most things I’d cook.
I hadn’t heard of Cartwright and Butler before, but this hamper gives me the impression that their stuff is perfect for gifts, both in terms of taste and presentation, so it’d definitely be worth checking out their website (assuming they have one – I haven’t actually got round to that yet as I’ll probably want everything).
A couple of non-kitchen-related inedible items now, all still to do with food of course. The first is a book that I saw newly–released on Amazon not long ago. ‘This is a book for people who love hot sauce’ is a short and sweet A5 book all about, you guessed it, hot sauce. From the science behind the chemical processes involved and the Scoville scale, to the history, to the variations of hot sauce all over the world, it won’t take me long to blast through this book. I love hot sauce, and if you do too it’s a novelty read.
On the theme of books, I also got this beautiful blank notebook, which I’m going to use as my own personal recipe book. I’m going to fill it with a compilation of base recipes (think different pastries, staple sauces etc), and on top of that, once I perfect recipes of my own, or come up with ideas for potential recipes, I’ll jot all of those down in here too. I want it to be a book that I cherish, and one that I continue to add to for a very long time.
Before I disappear off to enjoy the last few hours of boxing day (before I head back to work fml), my final semi-related present was these incredibly comfy gym leggings from Gymshark. You may have no interest in these whatsoever, and why should you? But just in case you do get a little thrill from heading out for a run, or lifting weights in the gym after all that Christmas fun (there really is no need to feel like you should..), then these leggings have quickly become some of my Gymshark favourites. They fit true to size, aren’t too long for someone short like me, and are tight, sucking me in in all the right places, without feeling uncomfortably restrictive (like some of the other Gymshark styles).
So whether your New Year’s resolution is to cook more, eat more, read more or work out more, hopefully some of the items above that I was lucky enough to find wrapped up under the tree will be of interest to you.
I can’t wait to get to work in the kitchen with them, and no doubt over the next few months I’ll be adding even more to my gadget and store cupboard collections.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (or just a lovely, relaxing break if you haven’t celebrated).
The New Year may be just around the corner, but resolutions or not, we’ve still gotta eat, so…
We’re already 4 weeks into what I’ve decided is going to be a year-long series – sounds intense, but that’s actually only 12 posts and so I’m 1/3 of the way there already.
Again this time round, there has been an interesting mix of fantastic meals and some that were disappointing, but I’m quickly realising how diverse vegan food can be.
Vegan food used to equal bland veg and a bit of quorn but you’ll see so much variety in the things I’ve eaten, both at home and out.
This isn’t quite everything I had, as 2 meals a day plus snacks for 7 days adds up to a lot, and I waffle enough as it is, but I’ve chosen the most relevant and interesting (good and bad) things I ate.
I do love that I can flick through the non-vegan recipe books I have and find a few meat/fish/dairy/egg-free recipes. There are never loads, but enough to satisfy my vegan week cravings.
Take my first meal of Week 4 for example – yes, I’m back there again, it’s Nadiya. Soup is such an easy one to make vegan and it’s massively satisfying, both with its winter warming powers, and with it being surprisingly filling. This was a carrot, cumin and coriander soup – very easy to make (stick blenders are life-saving, and not at all expensive), with lots of curried flavour. Another example here of me using up some rubbish leftovers – literally just a bagel that had fallen apart shoved in the oven to toast and then dip.
One thing I love doing, particularly with vegan meals, is having a mini feast (oxymoron?), combining a few different recipes on one plate. It can be time-consuming and a fair bit of effort (and washing up) but it’s a great way to get in a load of different veg and healthy bits whilst making them a bit more interesting.
This one was a Rick Stein Mexican feast – 100% vegan. I think often with vegan diets people tend to combine a load of side dishes to make one meal and that’s what I’ve done here. I started off with his ‘Patty’s Green Beans’ in a kind of tomatoey, chilli sauce. I had those with the slightly more indulgent Cauliflower Fritters with Cashew Sauce, and to finish it all off, some Mexican Red Rice. I know cashews are often used in vegan pasta sauces etc but I’d never tried to make one myself. I was surprised at how easily the soaked cashews could be blended and reduced down into a thick, creamy mixture. I can’t say I loved the fritters, but I am always looking for new ways to cook cauliflower, as it’s something I used to hate.
The Mexican Red Rice was the highlight for me. It had so much to it– from the coriander, to the chilli, it really would be appropriate to use the phrase ‘bursting with flavour’. I didn’t see any one part of this meal as the ‘main’ component, but I don’t find that important, I don’t always feel like I need a meat replacement, and as previously mentioned, I’m pretty happy with a selection of ‘sides’ like these.
My first non-home-cooked meal came on a lazy weekend day when, for once, I just didn’t feel like cooking. There didn’t seem to be that many vegan options available to me on UberEats, but I did find somewhere I hadn’t heard of before, that after having a little stalk of on Instagram, looked like it had some great options. From Miranda Café I got their Peanut Butter Cacao Banana Bread and Seitan Reuben Sandwich with an Aztec Spiced Hot Chocolate.
The banana bread looked amazing in photos so that was what influenced me. It was nicely presented with a pot of berry compote on the side. To be honest, it was very dense and heavy, however, it tasted great. There was a gooey chocolatey centre to it, which added moisture, and the sharpness of the compote helped to combat the thick peanut butter on top. It is indulgent, but for an exciting vegan brunch, I would recommend it.
Then we have the Reuben sandwich. Typically a Reuben sandwich features salt beef and sauerkraut, but obviously that wasn’t going to be the case with this one. The first thing I had to do was to remove 2/3 of the salad. Now I’m not scared of a few leaves, but this sandwich contained a whole forest of them. It was pretty ridiculous (maybe this is a tactic places use to hide a potential lack of filling??). Once I’d removed that though, I was ready to dive in. The actual flavour was good, and there was a nice crunch from the seitan patty (decided I love seitan), and a slight ooze from the melted cheese. I enjoyed it, but I’d firstly say more cheese would be fab, and secondly I’m not sure about calling it a Reuben, because it bore little resemblance to one in my mind.
Finally the hot chocolate. I’ll keep it short and sweet (unlike the drink). It tasted like warm cinnamon milky water. Very overpriced. Get your hot choc from Pret. The end.
Okaaaay, meal prep for the week and how many times do I have to say – ‘and back to Nadiya?’. She has a fab recipe for an Indian 5 spice veg stir fry so this was a great opportunity to use up loads and loads of leftover veg. After prepping it all, I was convinced this would easily feed me for 5 meals, but crazily once I’d cooked it, I only managed two. It was, however, delicious and very satisfying – and that’s just veg!
We move on to treat time. Or should I say Doughnut Time, with their wonderful vegan doughnuts. So they brought out a sort-of new one. They’ve had the MEGA (large, birthday cake-sized doughnut) Chris Hemsworthy on their menu for a lifetime, and they finally created an identical mini version, aptly named Liam Hemsworthy, after his younger brother. This is a red velvet dough with a cookies and cream buttercream, chocolate drizzle and topped with chocolate cookie pieces. It’s not too intense as it doesn’t have a filling inside, and the buttercream on top is delicious.
God, you are going to get bored of me, but back to Nadiya!!! This one wasn’t planned, I just made a few changes to my meals and so had to hunt for something vegan in my cookbooks that I had all the ingredients for. And that’s how I ended up making her Red Lentils with 5 Spice Soda Bread. The lentils were delicious and creamy, and the soda bread would’ve been perfect for scooping it up if I’d perfected it. The bread did actually taste decent, it just looks a bit of a dodgy effort (not sure why it resembles a jacket potato…). To go with those I had Rachel Ama’s Curried Cauliflower with Coconut Raita which was okay but not mind-blowing. Another effort in my cauliflower research.
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I love that Ainsley Harriott has a whole section in his Caribbean Kitchen book dedicated to vegetarian and vegan recipes, and it’s honestly one of my favourite books. Tofu is dodgy territory for me – I remember making Nadiya’s tofu with edamame bean salad months ago and surprisingly enjoying it, but anytime I’ve tried to cook with tofu since, I’ve found the texture tricky to stomach. Anyway, I decided to be brave and try his Ginger Beer Battered Tofu with a spicy tomato sauce, and I had James Martin’s Green Beans and Broccoli with Hazelnut (vegan) Butter on the side. The batter was so easy to make, and cooked so well. The crunchiness of the batter was so essential to me being able to enjoy the tofu. The veggie side was also super tasty, now that I’ve managed to get over my fear of the woody flavour of hazelnuts.
Now it’s sweet treat time again (because once a week is absolutely not enough). I went back to Mrs (Emma) Hollingsworth as I’ve loved her vegan energy balls that I made before, and her recipes are so simple, requiring very few ingredients. If you’re looking for easy vegan treats, which would be perfect to prep for lunchboxes, you can find all her recipes on her blog, although she has just released a book too.
I made her Choco Banana Crumble Sandwich, and despite it not looking as pretty as the one she made, it was a great combo of crunch from the oats, smooth, creamy chocolate and the added banana flavour.
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How could it be vegan week without some input from Rachel Ama? As well as her Curried Cauliflower, I also made her BALT sandwich, which is smoked aubergine, tomato and lettuce. I loved the smoked aubergine but the tomatoes I’d bought were so bitter, I didn’t really finish it, so it’s a very simple and potentially tasty easy lunch but just make sure you have half-decent veg!
More successful was her Vegan Full English, which I actually made post-vegan week because it appealed to me so much! This is another one of those oxymoronic mini feasts, and the washing up I had to do was mega, but it was worth it. As well as the thinly sliced smoke aubergine, I had avocado, fried plantain, and chilli oyster mushrooms. Not stopping there, she cooks down some tomatoes with spinach for an extra health kick, and my favourite part – the beans on toast. Despite apparently being a bit of a British staple I never eat beans on toast (not that I dislike it), but putting it all together myself made it so much nicer. You top your buttered toast with the tomatoey, spicy haricot beans. This meal will keep you full for a while, whilst giving your body a whole load of nutrients.
Okay, a couple more meals to go, and this one might be my favourite. After the first part of my double shift, I headed to KERB Seven Dials Market in Covent Garden, where Club Mexicana serve up a delicious vegan menu of Mexican street food. I had a Cheezeburger Burrito and Loaded Nachos. Nachos aren’t ever really my favourite to be honest, but I wanted a side dish, and although the tacos looked amazing, I didn’t feel like a taco on the side of a burrito would really work well. The nachos were good, they looked amazingly colourful, and had flavour with a great puffed-up texture to the tortilla chips, but my mind wasn’t blown (nothing against the nachos, like I said, I never really get that excited by them as a dish). The burrito, however, was another story. Lots of places tend to describe certain dishes and flavours as ‘chee[z]eburger’ without much justification, but this burrito honestly tasted like one. The burger mince substitute was delicious, and very convincing, and I could’ve drank burger sauce… This is definitely my top recommendation for this week, whether you’re vegan or not. Ignore how bad the picture is, I was way more bothered about shoving this food in my face than how it was going to look in a photo on my blog a week later.
Okay, last and kind of least (feeling a bit queasy thinking about it), is the Ortolana Pizza from Rossopomodoro. I’d never tried their pizzas at all, let alone the vegan ones, but they seemed to have a few options to choose from. This one was topped with aubergine, capers, spinach, vegan cheese and I can’t remember what else. Actually the base/crust was great, perfect balance of doughy but not too doughy (we only use the official technical terms here), but yeah the toppings made me feel a bit gross afterwards. Maybe it was the lack of tomato sauce, I’m not sure. What this does suggest though, is that Rossopomodoro has the potential to produce a great pizza because they’ve got the base down, but maybe the main non-vegan range is where it’s at.
There we go. 4 weeks down. Next time round I’m gonna head to ByChloe which I have heard wonderful things about, so I cannot wait for that, and you will have to wait slightly longer for my next instalment of fabulous vegan recipe testing, but end of Jan I assure you I will be back here with the lowdown.
If you fancy trying any of the recipes or places mentioned above then it has to be Club Mexicana’s Cheezeburger Burrito, Rachel Ama’s Full English or any of Mrs Hollingsworth’s sweet snacks.
I’m signing off on the vegan adventures for the next month. Until then…
Second year of uni. Food plan for the weeks ahead sorted. £80 Morrison’s shop delivered.
(Yes £80 – this is what happens when you don’t drink that much)
This was the way things went every month. Stock up and then by the end of the month my food supply would be depleted ready to start again.
Or at least that’s how I expected it to work. But my food plans would change constantly and after weeks had gone by I would find heaps of gone off food in the back of the fridge, all of it ending up in the bin.
And I didn’t really think much of it.
Fast forward a few years however, and lots has changed. Now, to me, food waste is criminal. It’s very rare that I end up throwing stuff away, and that’s how it should be.
This is a sort of guide with a number of suggestions and recommendations on ways that you can make the most of what’s in your cupboards, but also help to reduce commercial food waste.
On a personal level, Nadiya’s Time to Eat was what started my full on appreciation for my freezer. So many of the foods I’ve thrown away over the years would’ve been perfectly edible had I frozen them. Your freezer is your friend and the sooner you realise that, the less waste you’ll end up with.
The current contents of my freezer are as follows:
Cardamom Ice Cream
Gingerbread Fondant Cups x3
Vegan Sausages x4
Chips
Edamame Beans
Peas
Shortcrust Pastry
English Muffins x2
Bacon x3
Squid
Smoked Salmon
Broad Beans
Focaccia x1
Croquettes x1
Vegan Fries
Bagels
Shellfish Stock
Some of the things on this list are obvious – where else would you keep ice cream? But others have meant I’ve preserved food that otherwise wouldn’t have made it.
Take the Gingerbread Fondant Cups for example. I made dessert for two people. When it comes to buying ingredients, just making two little fondant cups isn’t really worth it, so I ended up with about nine. There was never any chance of me eating 9 in one sitting, so they’ve now been resting in the freezer for a few months, ready for me to dish up as dessert if I ever have guests over, or for my flatmates.
Making sure you freeze in practical portion sizes is essential. If you tend to just be cooking for one, don’t freeze 3 chicken breasts together – you’ll come to regret it when you only want to defrost one.
My freezer is also a saviour for bready carby products – bagels, muffins, and all sorts of actual bread. Okay, so it’s never quite the same after being defrosted, never as soft and fluffy, but it’s edible, and when you slather it with fillings, the bread really isn’t the star of the show anyway. The focaccia I made the other day is waiting patiently until I delve back into my Max’s Sandwich Shop book in a month or so’s time – and because that’s already sorted, the sandwich recipes I want to try will take me ¼ of the amount of time what with not having to make the actual bread again.
This is one of the sandwiches I made for lunch this weekend with a portion of the focaccia I’d frozen weeks ago. All that remained was to whip up some guacamole and fry an egg!
You can also make the most of slightly stale bread by blending it to breadcrumbs or toasting cubes of it for croutons. This is a much better option than buying packets of these straight from the supermarket.
Another thing that I’m not afraid to do is freeze leftover food that I’ve bought from stalls and restaurants. I currently have my loaded fries from Temple of Seitan sitting in there after I couldn’t manage to eat them the other week as I’d already had 4 wings, a burger and Mac n Cheese lool. I’ve done this before with fries from Truffle, which tasted just as good heated up weeks later. The alternative is wasting perfectly good food and in my mind that’s just not a option. There should be no shame in taking home leftovers when you’ve been out to eat – this is much more responsible than overordering and then allowing it all to be thrown away. It also means you’ve got food ready to be reheated for an evening or lunchtime when you’re in a rush and don’t have time to cook something from scratch.
Saving them for a rainy day.
And the final point to add on the topic of freezing things is that many unappealing-looking scraps can be turned into something useful before or after being frozen.
Example number 1: Shellfish stock
I recently made a crab curry and found myself left with all shell and claws. Instead of binning them straight away, I boiled them into stock with a few other added ingredients, and have now frozen that stock ready for when I make a squid stew later this week.
In the process…
The finished product
Example number 2: Vegetable soup
This one might not sound that appealing but it was so satisfying to make. I froze a load of veg scraps – parsnip peel and cauliflower stalks etc and once I had built up enough, I boiled them, eventually blending the scraps into a smooth soup. You could just make stock, but why make stock and end up throwing the scraps away again when you could actually just blend them and use them as the substance for an entire meal. The idea of eating vegetable peel and stalks doesn’t sound massively appetising but it made for a really satisfying meal.
Before the blending
Example number 3: Aquafaba mayo
I was surprised to learn during my vegan week (from Rachel Ama) that vegan mayo can be made using aquafaba, or the liquid that comes from tinned chickpeas. Instead of draining the liquid when making a chickpea curry, I kept the liquid in a sealed bag and froze in, later using it to make the mayo.
The point is, if you do your research, there are plenty of ways to think outside the box when it comes to using your freezer to its full potential to limit the amount of food waste you’re producing.
And it’s not only vegetable waste that we can avoid. Fruit that is past its best can also be utilised to make tasty snacks. One of the most obvious examples is with bananas. Overripe bananas that are too mushy to eat are perfect to bake with – whether its cupcakes, muffins, or of course, banana bread. Other fruit works in a similar way – it might not taste great eating it on its own, but you don’t need or even want the freshest fruit when it comes to cooking it down for a compote, or baking it into cakes etc.
If you don’t fancy all that added sugar from baking, try making smoothies or shakes instead. Blend the fruit alone, or add milk or crushed ice (or even ice cream if you want to indulge) for the perfect pick me up in the morning. Once again, the fruit does not need to be on top form for this, as it’s going to be blended to a pulpy mush anyway.
Although most often I cook just for myself, that doesn’t stop me from wanting to try cooking bigger joints of meat, so I often find myself with lots of meaty leftovers. I tend to freeze the meat in smaller portions but there are so many things you can do with leftovers like this, whether it’s chicken, beef, lamb, pork or something more exotic. Using a food processor, you can blend smaller chunks of meat into mince. Obviously the texture ends up being quite different to shop-bought mince but it works in exactly the same way, and often has more flavour.
One of my favourite things to do is use leftover meat in a pie. I made a lamb roast dinner a few months ago, and with the leftover meat, I made a harissa lamb pie filling which was delicious.
After the pie there were still leftovers, so wanting to use up the lamb in as many diverse ways as possible, I added it to a greek lamb orzo dish. Another time I used some leftover brisket as the filling to some deliciously cheesy eggy bread. Adding your leftover meat to stews and curries is another perfect, and very easy option, and the possibilities really are endless.
As well as the things you can do in your own kitchen, there are now a number of really useful apps you can use on your phones and tablets to help reduce waste in your local community. Here are 3 of my favourites:
Too Good To Go
A large number of cafés, restaurants and even supermarkets are now using Too Good To Go to reduce their end of day waste. You can browse the app to see which locations will have waste at the end of the day, and how much it will cost (significantly reduced prices of course). You never actually know what specific items you will receive in your mystery bag, as because it’s a sort of pre-order system, the businesses cannot predict what they will have leftover, but they generally tend to give you an idea of the things you can expect to receive. Collection only.
Karma
Karma works in a similar way to Too Good To Go, except businesses upload individual waste items live as they have them, and so you will find food ‘to rescue’ even first thing in the morning. Also, rather than committing to buying a surprise goody bag like in the previous app, with Karma you can choose to buy specific dishes. You’ll even find street food style businesses on this app. Again, it’s collection only but each establishment will let you know when you need to collect the food by. More often than not, the food items are half price.
Olio
Saved my favourite until last! Olio does work alongside businesses but it’s designed more so for normal people like us who have food in our homes that is perfectly good to eat but that we’re not going to use. Instead of wasting it, you put up a post on the app, showing what food you are trying to get rid of with a short description, and when it will be available to collect from yours. People can then contact you if they are interested in collecting the item and you can arrange the pick up. A lot of the time people will leave the item securely wrapped outside the property so that you can collect it even if they’re not home, and I’ve done this at mine so I don’t have to worry about whether I’m going to be in or not. The food items can be brand new and unopened or even half used. This might sound odd, but why let half of a loaf of bread go to waste, or even half a bottle of ketchup if it’s perfectly good to use and it saves you from buying a whole new one! I really recommend using this app, and certainly not turning your nose up at it, as I reckon if we all properly thought about how much food we throw away on a yearly basis, it would be shocking. I’m still delighted about the fact that it saved me a few pounds the other month when I needed some strong bread flour and a lady living about 10 minutes from me had a whole unopened packet going for free. Result.
Most of my suggestions above are probably pretty obvious. Use your freezer. Sounds silly, but every time you’re about to throw something away, just think, is there another way I could use this? Might I want this for a dinner or packed lunch next month? Do I know someone who might want this? Of course there’s no point in filling your freezer with a load of things you are never ever going to go back to, but if that’s the case, you need to question what you’re buying, and how much of it you actually need in the first place.
Bottom line is we’re throwing far too much away. There are constant talks of shortages of this and shortages of that, but how can we be suffering shortages at the same time as wasting so much??
The moral of the story is think very carefully about what you’re buying and what you actually need, and do challenge yourself to try one of the apps or recommendations above this month, and see if you can reduce your waste.
As I often like to reiterate – food waste is for losers.
Nadiya Hussain is now often referred to as a national treasure.
Which she is.
But this adopting of her by a whole nation seems to ignore the individual stories of those who have found solace in both her story, and her food.
I watched Bake Off back in 2015, and yes, I was one of those who grew to love her. Endearingly funny without realising it, and completely oblivious to her own talent, we were all rooting for her until the end.
After bake off finished, however, I didn’t think much more of it. I liked her, but I didn’t continue to closely follow her story.
It was just after Christmas last year when I decided to buy her third cookbook, ‘Nadiya’s Family Favourites’. I’m not sure what made me do it – I didn’t own a single recipe book prior to that, and although I often cooked from scratch at home, it was never anything particularly complicated and I certainly hadn’t yet discovered the passion for food that existed somewhere within me.
In the first few months of this year, I tried following a few of her recipes, with varying degrees of success. There were however, occasions where I miraculously ended up with a dish that actually looked half decent. I’d take something out of the oven, and think, ‘I actually made that… and it wasn’t a disaster…’
Ham and Cheese (not crown) Crown
Rhubarb and Ginger Cake
Without really realising it, I was learning a lot and something was stirring inside of me.
It wasn’t until about April when things really changed. Working in a very challenging secondary school environment started to take its toll on me. I had struggled on for 8 months without saying anything, but it began to reach a point where it was obvious something was wrong, and there was nothing I could do to hide it, often finding it near impossible to drag myself out of bed to go to work without becoming hysterical.
Fast forward a few weeks and I eventually conceded that I needed time off, and began to talk about things that had been stuck in my head for as long as I can remember. This, coincidentally, was also the time at which Nadiya released her ‘Anxiety and Me’ documentary.
I didn’t watch it at the time, despite multiple people referencing it in conversation. At that point, I wasn’t prepared to be introduced to someone else’s struggles when I was working my way through a difficult time myself (I have since watched it, and am in awe of her as always).
Having a few months off work wasn’t what I had initially wanted, but I was very productive during that time. I kept active, going to the gym nearly every day, I completed a food journalism course whilst blogging and researching career options that would help to carve out a happier future for me, and I baked. I cooked and I baked and I baked and I cooked.
I remember in those first few days constantly worrying that everytime I posted on Instagram something that I’d made, people would be thinking ‘so she’s not at work but she’s ok enough to post all these photos of food and jolly captions.’
But it wasn’t like that.
As I sort of managed to tell Nadiya at her book signing on Sunday night, through blubbering, hyperventilated breaths, it was my therapy.
I realised that when I was at work in the kitchen, I literally didn’t think about anything else.
I then bought Nadiya’s second cookbook ‘Time to Eat’, and loved this one even more than the first. Her recipes incorporate everything from British comfort food (think baked beans, roast dinners, buttery English muffins and sausage and mash) to plates inspired by her Bangladeshi background (fattoush, chaat, lassi and halva) and then everything in between (enchiladas, pancakes, pizza and pastries).
Those few months were a whirlwind in the kitchen and I made some of the best food I’ve ever attempted.
Something inside me had been ignited, and I put so much of it down to the love of cooking that her recipes produced within me.
I began to write more about food, starting this blog and channelling all of my energy into what that made me happy.
After a pep talk from one of my closest friends, I made the decision to quit my job. It was a risk, as I didn’t have a plan, and for me, not having a plan is terrifying.
The funny thing is, I still don’t have one, the only difference now is that I trust that I’ll get to where I need to be regardless.
Last night (Sunday 1st December) I went to Nadiya’s book tour for her new memoir ‘Finding My Voice’ at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre in London. She spoke openly and eloquently about the many challenges she had faced and overcome, and still is overcoming in her life. Some of them were so far from anything I had ever experienced, and others spoke to me. Some of her fears are my fears, but some of her strengths (without wanting to blow my own trumpet lol) are my strengths.
I was lucky enough to meet her afterwards, but came away feeling like a ginormous idiot, as words failed me, and for reasons I couldn’t really explain at the time I got massively emotional. I actually blame the woman in front of me in the queue who also started to cry so it was her fault for setting the precedent. So yes, this big, long essay here is everything I was trying to explain to her, which just came out in sobs via my ugly crying face.
Who knew cooking and enjoying the incredible recipes that someone else has conjured up could have such an impact on me.
And now I can’t wait to spend every minute of my work shifts reading through the chapters of her life.
Nadiya is brave and inspiring. She’s funny and warm. And I hope that one day when I have children, they have someone like her to look up to.
Fangirling is a bit cringey. But as the title suggests, if you can cry over Beyoncé, I can cry over Nadiya.
……………..
Leaving it on a more light-hearted note, I now have 3 of Nadiya’s 4 recipe books and am gradually working my way through cooking a load of her incredibly diverse food, so just to get you salivating, here are a selection of my favourite and most successful attempts.
Chocolate Caramel Tear ‘n’ Share Soda Bread
Halloumi Fries
PBJ Pancake Traybake
Cayenne Eggs Benedict
Chocolate Lime Roulade
Black Pepper Cake
One Tray Peanut Chicken Gnocchi Bake
Blender Beetroot Pasta
Semolina Halva with Cheat’s Paratha
Beef Burgers
Savoury French Toast
Gingerbread Melt-in-the-Middle with Cardamom Ice Cream
¡Comemos! 