Tag: cooking

Ultimate Recipes

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Hello. I currently feel like a big bag of poo and can barely motivate myself to write, but if I continue to lie here watching Netflix all afternoon/evening hoping my illness will disappear I am going to go mad. If the poo reference hasn’t put you off, please continue to read.

This is the second post in my ‘ultimate’ series, bringing you my top recommendations. This time things are a little bit different – we’re not talking dining out, but rather cooking at home.

Home cooking can be daunting – potentially time-consuming, requiring a load of obscure ingredients, and with a risk that it might not go to plan at all. But don’t let that put you off! It can also be massively rewarding, and I’m giving you a head start in providing a solid set of recipes that have worked a treat for me, leaving you with delicious and creative meals to dish up to your friends and family.

Just a little note on the ‘Effort Level’ section. This is based more so on how long it takes to make and many elements and/or techniques are involved. Just because something is high in effort, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s difficult to make, only that you might need a bit more patience!

We’ll start with my favourite breakfast and brunch recipes…

7. Cauliflower Hash and Eggs

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in ‘Time to Eat’

Effort level: Medium

Dietary info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)

This one was a big surprise for me. I find it quite difficult to make something cauliflower-based that I enjoy, but this grated cauliflower hash was actually so tasty, what with all the flavour from the chilli and chives. The fried egg isn’t supposed to leak like this but overall I think my attempt looks pretty impressive, so if you want something filling and can be bothered to go wild with a grater then defo have a go at this.

6. Granola

Recipe by: Rachel Ama in ‘Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats’

Effort level: Easy

Dietary info: Vegan (contains nuts)

You might find yourself thinking, ‘why would I make granola when I can just buy it?’ But personally I found it really satisfying knowing exactly what had gone into it. You can customise with any additional dried fruits etc, and I also enjoyed junking it up a bit by adding the vegan cookie dough from Doughnut Time’s Ice Ice Bae Bae doughnut in there too.

5. Cheese, Chorizo and Spring Onion Pancakes

Recipe by: Ottolenghi @ https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/cheese-chorizo-and-spring-onion-pancakes

Effort Level: Easy

Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs, dairy

Sometimes I’m in the mood for a savoury pancake more so than sweet. This one was more like the size of a crepe but with the density of an american pancake and so one was plenty enough for lunch. Again, you can customise the toppings, so along with the chorizo and spring onion, I had some manchego that needed using up so I dropped that into the batter as it was cooking so that it melted into the pancake. Only downside then is that when you flip the pancake the melted cheese sort of sticks to the bottom of the pan. But it still worked and most of it stayed within the pancake.

4. Sweet Potato Cakes with Poached Eggs

Recipe by Kyle Boyce (London Grind), available from BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)

Like with the Cauliflower Hash, this one is slightly more effort just because of all the gratey-gratey but it is worth those extra few minutes of prep time. The result ends up being a crunchy delight, topped with a (hopefully) gooey-yolked poached egg. Bursting with flavour.

3. Sausage and Egg Bap with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Recipe by: BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains pork, eggs

One of my absolute favourites. I actually attempted to make the white baps as well but I won’t necessary include that in my analysis of the recipe as they were way too stodgy and hard, but following the recipe and using shop-bought rolls would work perfectly. The sausage patty was delicious, my fried egg perched beautifully on top, and the spicy tomato sauce brought everything together. This is very easy to make, I’ve just given it a medium effort level due to the different aspects that you have to work on separately. You could go wild and add bacon too for the Full English experience.

2. Cinnamon French Toast Drizzled in Chocolate

Recipe by: Rachel Ama in Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats

Effort Level: Easy/Medium

Dietary Info: VEGAN!!

Vegan French toast is the most exciting discovery I have made recently. I won’t spend too long talking about this one as I mentioned it in my last post (Meat Me Halfway: Week 2). You do not need eggs at all to create the mixture to coat your bread, and this one was really delicious, although I fucked up the chocolate a bit and it wasn’t supposed to be quite so runny.

1.Semolina Halva with Cheat’s Paratha

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains ghee, nuts

This is my ultimate breakfast/brunch recipe. Well, not my recipe sadly, but my favourite recipe to follow. I had no idea what this even was when I got this recipe book but thought I’d be a bit adventurous and try it out anyway. I perhaps wasn’t as open-minded back then because I wasn’t massively optimistic about liking it. But let me tell you, this is beautiful. The buttery, orange flavour with the crunch of the nuts and slight sweetness from the dried fruit; not to mention the ‘parathas’, which in this case are literally just balls of puff pastry rolled and flat and dry-fried. They end up warm and slightly spongy, and then you can pile the semolina on top, or even indulge in them taco-style if you’re an animal like me.

Next up let’s have a look at lunch and dinner. I split up the categories in this way because I couldn’t decide what exactly constitutes lunch, and what would be classed more as dinner, so this seemed more logical.

15. Butternut Pasta Soup

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain, in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: High

Dietary Info: Vegan

I never used to be a fan of soup, not really classing it as a proper meal but I’ve made some really tasty ones in the past year or so. I’m always in two minds about these kinds of ‘pasta’ soups. I’ve tried a few and for me personally I don’t think the orzo or whatever pasta shape it is enhances the dish in anyway – I either want pasta or soup, not an odd combination of the two. But whether you add the orzo or not, this is a delicious soup, managing to be super creamy without the addition of cream itself. The chipotle flakes add a warming kick, making it perfect for these long winter nights.

14. Canneloni Filled with Spinach and Ricotta

Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta

Effort Level: High

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy

Making your own pasta is a bit of a ballache but it is really rewarding, knowing you’ve made every element of the dish yourself. It’s not actually difficult, mainly just mixing your egg and flour to make the dough but then obviously it does require a pasta machine to create the sheets (they’re not particularly expensive). The béchamel with the passata, and ricotta filling makes this stuffed pasta dish super indulgent but the flavours go way beyond tomato and cheese.

13. Blender Beetroot

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat

Effort Level: Low

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy

This is honestly one of the quickest and easiest things to make, requiring so few ingredients. Once the beetroot has been blended, your sauce is sorted. When added to the pasta, everything turns a beautiful deep purply pink. Top that off with feta and dill and you’re good to go.

12. Bhel Puri Salad

Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG

Effort Level: Low

Dietary Info: Vegan

Salads are generally dead. So uninspiring, leaf upon leaf of bland rabbit-food textures. HOWEVER, just look at this one. I was shocked. This salad is so delicious, and yes that’s partly because instead of leaves there are poppadoms and Bombay Mix but it’s still mostly comprised of radish, tomato and onion so is still pretty healthy. I loved the crunch, it was incredibly refreshing and so vibrant with all the colours.

11. One Tray Peanut Chicken

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains nuts, meat

One that worked a treat for my packed lunches at work, just as tasty cold. The combination of the peanut butter with the thai green curry paste is delicious, and the broccoli, gnocchi and chicken make a really interesting combination. It’s not difficult to make as you can just chuck everything in a baking dish together but it does require a fair few ingredients.

10. Amazing Tomato Curry

Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts

I made this just last night, using a load of cherry tomatoes rather than larger whole tomatoes as recommended. This is super creamy, and one of my favourite things is the interesting addition of mango chutney to the actual curry towards the end of its cooking time. This adds a lovely sweetness that is normally reserved for dipping. Serve with rice (or as I did, Nadiya Hussain’s Masala Eggy Bread).

9. Shell Pasta with Prawns and Saffron

Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, dairy

A deliciously creamy-below-the-surface béchamel pasta, with a crispy top after being grilled before serving. Always slightly more effort to make a béchamel sauce rather than using a tinned tomato sauce or jarred pesto, but worth it ultimately, and the fact that this is pretty quick to make overall compensates for this tiny bit of effort.

8. Rigatoni with Soft Cheese and Pecorino Sardo

Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta

Effort Level: Easy AF

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy

Another Gino one right here, and one that I avoided making for ages because there was no photo in the book (anyone else also tend to neglect these recipes??) but when I eventually got round to it, it tasted beautiful despite being so so simple. Again, it’s super creamy, but without having to make a béchamel – this one is just butter, cream cheese and milk. Ironically I don’t have a photo of my finished thing either, probably because it looked so uninspiring with no colourful elements to brighten it up, but trust me when I say the flavour was surprisingly good.

7. Samosa Pie

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: High

Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs

When this recipe actually worked out for me I was over the moon. Anything that involved me making my own pastry from scratch, I was sure would be a complete disaster but just look at it! The hot water pastry was actually very simple to make, and the samosa filling tasted so authentic. 100% recommend this recipe if you’ve got a load of people to impress!

6. Green Spinach and Lemon Risotto with Crispy Prosciutto

Recipe by: Rosie Birkett via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains pork, dairy

Risotto is slightly more time-consuming to make, constantly topping up the stock until the rice is plumped up and creamy, but this recipe is worth it. The blended spinach gives it a beautiful colour and the crispy prosciutto on top adds some variation texture-wise.

5. Stuffed Curried Aubergines

Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts

Aubergines can be dry and tasteless if you don’t cook them well, but add a delicious curry paste with a whole load of spices, sandwich it inside the aubergine and roast, and you end up with a soft, creamy, dreamy vegetable. I paired this curry with Rachel Ama’s coconut rice rather than plain boiled.

4. Prawn and Salmon Burgers with Spicy Mayo

Recipe by: Elena Silcock via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, eggs

The first time I had a salmon burger was at an amazing restaurant in Lisbon, and for some reason, I remember wondering how on earth they made them, as if making a burger out of fish would be the most complex thing in the world. It’s actually not. This burger has so much flavour, the spicy mayo is a beautiful addition, and providing you’re not attempting the buns yourself, is actually pretty straightforward to make.

3. Roast Leg of Lamb with Basil and Mint Pesto

Recipe by: James Martin via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: meaty meat meat meat (also contains nuts)

Cooking whole joints of meat can be quite daunting. I’ve only started trying it recently, and I have had a couple of disasters. But this lamb turned out beautifully – tender and almost creamy, and the pesto sauce is something different to traditional roast lamb with just a blob of mint sauce on the side. You’ll have to excuse the odd combination of sides on the plate below – I wouldn’t serve this odd combo up to anyone else but I was just trying a few recipes at the same time. I froze the leftover lamb and had it in a few other meals later down the line, including Greek Lamb with Orzo, and a Harissa Lamb Pie and the meat was still delicious in both.

2. Beef Burgers with Bacon Jam

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: All the meat, plus eggs

Another burger recipe here, and one that I adored. I used blue cheese instead of whatever cheese was in the recipe but other than that I think I followed it pretty accurately. I’ve come to love the idea of a fried egg to top a burger, and the bacon jam was also super tasty, despite my scepticism reading the instruction to add coffee powder…

1.Meatloaf Roll

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs

So this is it. One of my absolute favourite lunch/dinner recipes. I’ve made this a couple of times now and anyone who’s tried it has really enjoyed it. It is slightly more effort what with all the elements you have to combine, but at least there’s no expectation for you to make your own puff pastry. Fuck that. Also, any marmite haters should ignore the fact that diluted marmite coats the pastry in between the crust and the sausage meat centre, because I don’t like marmite, but actually the very tiny amount adds a deliciously subtle sweetness when you bite into it. The eggs lined up in the centre make for a super satisfying sight when you cut through the roll. Such an interesting meal, and one that won’t disappoint on flavours.

Exciting section coming up. This one is all about the desserts (dancing lady emoji). So there are actually only 3 in this section, and they are all Nadiya recipes, in case you hadn’t already noticed how much I love her.

3.Gingerbread Melt in the Middles

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy

In third place, we have these little gingerbread cookie cups filled with a melted chocolate centre. This is another recipe that didn’t come with a picture, and when I started trying it I don’t think I’d actually read the recipe through beforehand so didn’t really have any idea what I was making. These turned out such a treat though. Cooked through, the biscuit cup is buttery and delicious and then cutting into it, the melted chocolate centre oozes out. I served this with Nadiya’s Cardamom Ice Cream that she makes alongside her Banana Tarte Tatin (a recipe that actually failed for me lol).

2. Burnt Almond Butter Fudge

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy and nuts

I’d never realised fudge was this straightforward to make. It is slightly disconcerting when you realise as you’re making it that it’s pretty much pure sugar, but the flavour is stunning. This one had the most incredible smooth, creamy texture. I’m never a fan of the kind of fudge you have to sort of scrape bits off with your teeth rather than being able to bite straight into it (reminds me particularly of shitty cinema pick & mix fudge…). The almond flavour was lovely, and it’s given me the confidence to try making my own flavour variations of fudge using this recipe as the base.

1.Choco Lime Roulade

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs

This is my favourite dessert recipe. Often my favourite recipes end up being unexpected ones, or basically the ones that I think are going to be a disaster, and actually turn out to be pretty impressive. I 100% assumed this sponge would break up as soon as I rolled it, but it didn’t at all. I found the chocolate/lime flavour combination really interesting and unusual and I would definitely serve this up to guests again!

We’re nearing the end and it’s my final section – snacks and sides. Either dishes that you could eat alone when you’re peckish mid-afternoon, or that you could combine with the above recipes.

4. Banana Honey and Hazelnut Smoothie

Recipe by: BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Low

Dietary Info: Contains nuts, dairy

In fourth place is actually a drink/smoothie, but one that is a great breakfast addition. The honey stops the banana flavour from being overwhelming and the little chopped hazelnuts on top add a lovely little crunch. You could always use soy milk as I did to make it dairy-free.

3. Chunky Halloumi Chips

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs

Who doesn’t love halloumi. Especially halloumi that’s fried. These squeaky cheese chips are delicious, with the saltiness of the halloumi and the added chilli and za’atar for a spike of flavour. If you want to be particularly indulgent, wrap these in prosciutto before frying.

2. Naan Bread

Recipe by: Miriam Nice via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy

Another recipe where the result shocked me. I couldn’t believe how perfect this naan was. From the teardrop shape, to the soft, spongy texture, to the pronounced flavour from the Nigella seeds. Despite learning in India that this kind of naan we’re used to having here doesn’t actually exist there (no teardrop shape, more just like a big, circular, flat and less spongy flatbread), this still was incredibly satisfying to produce and looked shop-bought in a good way. Dipping this into my soups and curries was heavenly. Also freezes well.

1.PBJ Balls

Recipe by: Mrs Hollingsworth at https://mrshollingsworths.com/2019/06/23/pb-j-balls/

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts

So I already raved about these in my last vegan blog so I don’t want to repeat myself other than saying these were insanely delicious. You don’t have to make the chia jam yourself if that’s too much effort, using shop bought is fine. Head to the website in the link above for a huge number of other variations of these little energy balls, all of which I want to get round to trying at some point!

And there’s my full round-up of the best recipes I’ve tried in the past year or so. The above have all produced fantastic results for me so I definitely recommend trying some of them out. I think the majority of them can be found online, although it’s always worth investing in a few solid recipe books if you’re looking for inspiration.

If you end up trying any of these, I’d love to see the results, so tag me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn so I can check them out!

And…

¡Cocinamos!

(Google it hun xo)

Meat Me Halfway: Week 2

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One month has flown by, and so we’re already at week 2 of my mission to reduce my meat and dairy intake.

I’m gonna go straight in there and say that I enjoyed this week a lot more. I think the meals I ate were more varied, and I focused slightly less on beans and pulses; my body ultimately thanking me for this as I felt less heavy and bloated.

I’ll kick things off with one of my absolute favourite things that I snacked on at work nearly every day.

I saw this recipe on @mrshollingsworths Instagram account and they looked amazing – peanut butter energy balls filled with raspberry chia jam. You never know if these kinds of things are going to work for you in the same way that they miraculously do on Instagram and recipe books etc, but I can confirm that these came out perfectly. Basically just a combination of oats, peanut butter and dates blended together. For the chia jam you can either buy it or make it yourself but you need to freeze it in an ice cube tray so that the little blobs are easier to work with. Once they’re frozen, you take them out and press the dough around the frozen jam in a little ball. The jam will then defrost so that when you bite into them, this happens…

Just delicious. And with the same Rachel Ama raspberry chia jam recipe that I used for her pancakes last vegan week. I’m looking forward to trying other variations of these little energy balls next time round.

Along with these snacks, I needed a more substantial main meal for my week of packed lunches and decided to take a risk, following a salad recipe. Just to emphasise, I am really not a salad person and just the word alone makes me shudder. But, being open-minded and all, I went straight to Jamie’s Veg book (which seems to be absolutely everywhere recently) and tried his Bhel Puri Salad recipe.

Biggest shock of my life. It was amazing.

First off, it was so vibrant in colour – I think perhaps the fact that it wasn’t such a green salad helped me to find it less off-putting. It’s certainly not a traditional leaf-based salad.

You’ve got red onion, radish, peanuts, pomegranate, and a whole load of crunch from the Bombay Mix and crushed poppadoms. Add all the spices and this really does form a solid meal that tastes as exciting as it looks.

A couple more Rachel Ama recipes followed, one a bit meh, one an absolute winner. I had a brunch of her Nut Butter Toast which was okay but quite basic I guess, but at least it’s something you can customise yourself in terms of toppings and flavours.

What did really impress me though was her French Toast. I’d never really thought of french toast as something that could be vegan, as I’d thought that the egg was a key component. The substitute for the beaten egg mix worked perfectly though and visually created the same yellow-brown hued appearance on the bread. The recipe also used sourdough which I was sceptical about as I thought (bare with me on this one), it might be too ‘bread-like’. As in perhaps a bit crusty etc but it turned out super soft and spongy.

Ngl I would gladly eat this in a restaurant. Credit where credit’s due.

So after this masterpiece and the PBJ balls, I felt like I was on a bit of a roll, but I did take a few steps back again with my attempted Mango Cococnut Chia Pudding breakfast topped with granola and coconut shavings. I made this the night before as Rachel suggests, thinking it would be ready to go, perfect for the following morning and giving me an extra 15 mins in bed as I didn’t have to make anything from scratch. However, this ‘pudding’ just didn’t do it for me. A question of taste I reckon. I’ve never enjoyed mango that much but I’m always determined not just to write off recipes containing it. But that, along with the coconut milk that had soaked into the chia seeds forming an almost gelatinous slime really didn’t go down well. I don’t think the recipe is bad by any means but it just didn’t work for me.

From one coconut recipe to another, her simple, straightforward recipe for Coconut Rice was a winner, and pairing this creamy, delicious side with Jamie’s Stuffed Curried Aubergine worked a treat.

Doesn’t look massively appealing here, but it was absolutely packed with flavour – I highly recommend trying this recipe.

Back to Instagram, and the vegetable I have a love-hate (like-hate is probably more accurate) relationship with, it’s @elavegan ‘s recipe for Kung Pao Cauliflower.

This didn’t end up being bad, but I think I would’ve enjoyed it more had I boiled the cauliflower beforehand to soften before pan-frying and roasting.

Then came the evening when for once I didn’t have a plan. It was my opportunity to wing something. I had some filo pastry that needed using up so decided to try a filo pastry pie. Instead of egg wash I used coconut oil which I read was a half-decent substitute, and so after lining the dish with a couple of layers of the pastry, I filled it with chopped walnuts, mushrooms, vegan pistachio pesto (featured in my last Meat Me Halfway post), and @iamnutokay ‘s vegan black truffle cheese. The end result actually turned out pretty well, and it was really tasty, despite the photo looking like an absolute mess.

I bought a couple of things from @iamnutokay at Victoria Park Market in Bethnal Green a few weeks ago. All their ‘cheeses’ are plant-based, and although the texture doesn’t particularly resemble actual cheese, it’s a great substitute that comes in a range of really tasty flavours. Along with the black truffle, I also bought a chipotle cheese, and both of them are delicious. Vegan ‘parmesan’ also seemed like an important staple so I grabbed a jar of that to keep me going for a while, to add to vegan pastas and risottos.

***

Some of you may know that yesterday was actually World Vegan Day, and the evening before, on Halloween, I got last minute tickets to the Vegan Nights Festival at the Trewman Brewery in Shoreditch, London. I am going to do a separate post about that shortly, but I tried quite a few different vegan street food style meals with mixed results! A couple of amazing finds and some to be avoided, but more to come on that soon!

Restaurant-wise, I’ll take it back to Itsu, which is really great for vegan lunches. I also find their food so refreshing and energising, and they make rice box salads that are super filling. I don’t have any photos this time, but I still adore the vegetable gyozas which I had for a second time, and also was massively surprised by the mini avocado maki rolls. Not a huge fan of avocado, but for some reason, encased in sticky rice and nori sheets it tasted great.

***

I still love the fact that two of the best biscuits out there (Oreos and Lotus biscuits) are both vegan, and so these make a great base for vegan shakes. From Ed’s Easy Diner, I got an oreo milkshake which was creamy and indulgent, and kept me going through a long night shift.

Again, not the most appetising-looking but I promise it tasted great!

Last but not least, I finally got round to trying Arancini Brothers, whose burgers I had first noticed on Instagram a while back, being astounded that they were vegan. I ordered a ‘nudie’ arancini pot along with a chorizo burger. Other than the arancini arriving cold which was disappointing, I loved everything about the food.

I didn’t get any chorizo flavour or texture from the burger to be honest, but the flavour was still beautiful. It was pretty spicy, and the whole concept of an arancini patty is amazing, especially if you’re not a fan of typical plant-based patties made from soya/beetroot/mushroom/lentils etc. The ‘cheese’ was just oozing everywhere, and so for me, this is the perfect example of how vegan food can be utterly indulgent. We’ve come a long way from immediately associating a vegan diet with greenness and health-obsessions.

So that’s pretty much everything. Like I said I found this second week a lot more exciting food-wise than the first week and there are a few meals here that I would actively choose over meat/dairy-based meals which is a good sign. It’s given me a new burst of enthusiasm for all the recipes that I’m going to try next time around at the end of November when week 3 comes calling.

Stay tuned for the Vegan Nights post coming as soon as I have the time. In the meantime why not research vegan eateries near you and set yourself the challenge of eating out at one of these plant-based spots this month. Go in with an open-mind, and…

¡Comemos!

xo

Meat Me Halfway: Week 1

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This is the first part in my new and ongoing series of blog posts, ‘Meat me halfway’. It’s basically a diary following the ups and downs, highlights and lowlights of my journey to reducing my meat and dairy intake.

I’ll willingly admit that I don’t ever have any intention of giving up meat, seafood, and dairy products entirely, however, everything I’ve seen in the media recently has made me consider what I can do to contribute positively to the environmental issues we’re facing. I’m under no illusions – I know that me eating slightly less meat/dairy isn’t going to change the world, but it’s a small step that I can take to contribute to reducing the demand. The way I’ve decided to work it is that for one week towards the end of each month, I’ll only eat plant-based food, so that equates to 3 months a year. I’m also intrigued as to whether my body will physically feel any better.

So there’s my intro – you can look forward to these diary posts once a month from now on, but for now let’s get stuck in and see what delicious (and not so delicious) meals I ate.

One of the things that actually quite concerns me about eating purely vegan food is Biscoff. Is there anything in the world that tastes as incredible as Biscoff spread? I think not. Yet it being vegan is not synonymous with it being healthy. And it is fast becoming my weakness. Firstly, Doughnut Time’s ‘David Hassel-Biscoff’ is one of the best and most indulgent doughnuts you will ever eat. But I wanted to incorporate this incredible spread into my home-cooked food. Porridge oats are delicious with some added Biscoff spread. This meal is so straightforward – oats with soy milk, (which I’ve realised doesn’t differ in taste at all to cow’s milk) add a blob or swirl of Biscoff spread, and top with a few Lotus biscuits. Super straight-forward, filling and tasty. Now I just need to stop eating it straight from the jar…

Another breakfast meal that’s really satisfying to both make and eat is granola. When I decided to embark on this journey I bought Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats book, as it was one of the only books that stood out to me in terms of interesting, exciting-looking vegan food that I was eager to try out. Her guide to making your own granola is so simple – blitzed mixed nuts with coconut oil, oats and maple syrup, baked until golden and then add your choice of dried fruits. To make this even more delicious, I took the vegan cookie dough from Doughnut Time’s Ice Ice Bae Bae doughnut and sprinkled that on top.

Meal prep for the week came in the form of beetroot lentils with HECK sweet chilli plant-based sausages. I have to admit that this meal that I ate repetitively throughout the week didn’t really do it for me in the end. I much prefer chickpeas and beans to lentils, and although I love the flavour of beetroot, I felt like the texture of the lentils with the sausages was just too stodgy. The sausages were actually pretty tasty but the texture was definitely veggified rather than them attempting to be an actual meat substitute.

Last Sunday afternoon I headed to the Black Food Festival at the Oval Space, the focus being on innovative food aesthetics – more specifically, black tinted food. I hate to say it but I was very disappointed with the festival overall. There just weren’t enough traders or visitors to fill the large space, and to make matters worse, despite the festival ending at 9pm, by 5pm when I arrived, most of the food had sold out. I was able to get my hands on a vegan salad from a stall that I annoyingly can’t remember the name of but I’m not actually sure what that had to do with black food. It was tasty at the time, but one of those that on reflection you wouldn’t desperately want to eat again. Then I got a mushroom and black bean taco from Tacos Hermanos. It looked great with the charcoal tortilla and the contrasting bright orange chipotle sauce, and it tasted good, but I found myself admitting that I would never choose that over meat.

Before heading to work the following morning I went back to the wonderful recipes of Rachel Ama, and this time, her vegan pancakes with raspberry chia jam. They were super easy to make, including the jam (although it didn’t thicken up that much) and they tasted great too. The pancakes were quite heavy as oats had been used instead of flour, but they still had a nice texture and the sharpness of the chia jam worked really well.

I was lucky enough to receive some freebies from Itsu later that day in exchange for food from where I work and luckily the ladies had lots of vegan options. They gave me some vegetable gyozas and a tofu rice/salad box. I really enjoyed the gyozas – honestly don’t think I have a preference between the meat and veg ones, which says a lot. When it comes to tofu I have tried it many a time and sometimes I can stomach it, others I can’t. I really wasn’t a fan of this one so I left it, but I did really enjoy the salad and sushi rice, with the delicious sauce, although I still haven’t worked out exactly what it is.

My first proper vegan restaurant dining experience took place at BabaBoom in Islington. It was good that they had a few different options, although there were no vegan desserts. We had flatbread with sweet potato hummus to start and the hummus was great and really creamy. My main was a broadbean falafel flatbread, and whilst I definitely did enjoy it, I still found myself getting food envy when my parents’ chicken and mutton flatbreads were served. Falafel is a great vegan option though and I was definitely super full at the end – helped out by the really well-seasoned fries that I had on the side.

My homemade sweet treats of the week came in the form of apple crumble oat balls. I had a couple of these to snack on each day, and they grew on me throughout the week. They’re made from a blend of apple, almond butter, dates and oats and then chilled in balls so that they hold together. These are great for an energy boost and would be really easy to adjust the ingredients to create different flavours.

We’re on to Rachel Ama round 3 for one of my dinners, and I made her Caribbean Channa. This chickpea curry/stew was packed with flavour and tasted so much better than it looked, but despite all that flavour, for some reason it just didn’t satisfy me in the same way that it wouldn’t done if it’d had beef or chicken in.

I think one of the things I’ve been realising is that sweet vegan food is often much better than the savoury, and Juicebaby’s Açaí bowl reaffirmed this to me. I hadn’t had açaí since I was in Brazil and had been kind of nervous that it just wouldn’t be the same, eating it at work in rainy London as opposed to on beautiful, sunny Ipanema beach. But you know what, I loved it. It didn’t disappoint and although it was a little on the pricey side it was a decent portion size and a great breakfast. It was topped with banana, granola and coconut, but toppings can be customised.

Now, my first slip up. Up to this point, I’d found eating vegan super easy. I hadn’t been remotely tempted to break my plant-based promise. But whilst at work, I was approached by a lady who worked at the café opposite who was interested in doing a food exchange, much like the one I’d done with Itsu days before. I agreed enthusiastically, but then it turned out that eggs and bacon were the extent of the options available. My brain for some reason just froze and I couldn’t tell her that I wasn’t eating meat or eggs so found myself replying ‘Ooh a bacon sandwich would be great.’ Ten minutes later I’m sitting there with this sandwich thinking what the fuck do I do now? The smell was killing me. I literally can’t deal with food waste so there was no way I was gonna let it go to waste but it wouldn’t last until my vegan week was over. So yes, in the end I ate it. And you know what? I have no regrets, because there are no rules to my plant-based eating plans. I can eat what I like, and if during a week of around 15 vegan meals, one ends up slipping, who cares? I’ve still done really well. So I don’t plan on breaking the cycle every time I’m on vegan week, but I really didn’t need to beat myself up about it.

Okay, we’re on to our penultimate meal, and it’s a good one. I was really excited when I came across Chilango’s ‘This isn’t chicken burrito’ on Deliveroo. I was really intrigued as to how convincing it would be. This was one of the best things I ate all week. You could barely tell it wasn’t chicken, the texture was almost identical, and being the filling to a burrito, flavour didn’t really come into it, as that came from all the other elements. You had rice, black beans, salsa, jalapenos, all of which created the most flavoursome Mexican wrap which I would be happy to eat any time, even when not making a conscious effort to eat vegan. This is one that I massively recommend.

Last but not least is another home-cooked meal, but this time one that required no recipe. My parents had just got back from Italy and had brought me back some food-related goodies. One of those was a jar of vegan pistachio pesto, and along with that was some Busiate pasta from where they had been in Sicily which is not made with eggs. The pasta was oddly slimy, but not unpleasant, and when I’ve made fresh pasta myself it’s always had this texture. The pesto was really nice, but not as strong tasting as a basil-based pesto. Regardless, I will definitely be eating this again, maybe with some added sun dried tomatoes and who knows, perhaps a few bites of chicken.

So there’s what went down during my first vegan week. The highlights were definitely the Biscoff, which I have found myself craving 24/7 and also the Chilango burrito. I’m also impressed by the discovery of plant-based milk, which I’ll be using full-time from now on. 

I reckon I’d been pretty naïve regarding the way I thought my body would feel following all this plant-based food. I assumed that by being so ‘healthy’ I would feel less heavy and generally better in myself, whereas in fact I felt more gross and bloated than I have done in a long time. I guess this stems from a combination of things – firstly, as previously mentioned, veganism and healthy-eating are not necessarily synonymous so I hadn’t really been that healthy. Secondly, such a drastic change in my diet is obviously going to have effects on my body, and will probably take some getting used to, not to mention the fact that beans, pulses and some veg are known for leaving you slightly bloated so I should’ve expected this. It hasn’t put me off at all though and I’m sure once my body gets used to it every month, the side effects won’t be so significant.

I definitely suggest that you check out Rachel Ama’s cookbook for further inspiration, and hopefully you’ll learn that plant-based food can be both deliciously satisfying and full of flavour. Whether you’re a full-blown meat-eater or a dedicated vegan, I hope this little diary has offered you some ideas to consider when it comes to meat-free eating habits, but remember – as long as you’re enjoying what you’re eating in a balanced way, you do you! This is well and truly a non-preaching zone.

Stay tuned for next month’s instalment, and for now…

¡Comemos!

xo

Delhi to Goa: A Culinary Trail

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Those of you who follow my Instagram page (foodtravelsldn) will know that I recently got back from an amazing 2 week trip to India.

There are so many things that India is famous for, but one of the most significant is its food. I knew I was heading to an absolute foodie heaven.

HOTEL FOOD

I ate so much over the two weeks that I couldn’t possibly cover everything. I’ve broken it down into 10 of the most interesting things that I came across, so here’s my best attempt at a round-up of those delicacies…I’ll start with hotel food. Often when eating abroad, hotel food is a bit of a cop-out. Generally they offer less authentic dishes and a wider range of international cuisine. One of the first striking things about food in India though is you can get great food from anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether it’s on the streets, in a small hotel or from a 5 star restaurant – the quality is still there, and you can be sure that nothing is coming from a packet. I’m not saying that each one of the meals below was a 10/10 but food in low-budget UK hotels doesn’t begin to compare.

STREET FOOD

One of the most exciting things for me was the prospect of trying street food. Not one to be scared off by talk of Delhi belly, I was fearless when it came to trying everything. My first day in Delhi was one of my favourite meals. I paid 20 rupees (25p ish) for a delicious potato curry with fried I-don’t-know-whats. It was probably the spiciest thing I ate there as it hadn’t been toned down for the foreigners but that’s exactly how I liked it. No cutlery, just hands. A delicious meal on the capital’s busy streets.

MASALA CHAI

I can’t even recall the number of times I’ve found myself saying ‘I don’t drink tea’ in my life. Yet despite that, something quite extradinary happened to me in India. I developed an OBSESSION for Masala Chai. It is exquisite. And yes it may well be because it’s so sweet and sugary and milky that it just tastes like a dessert but that’s not the point. I gave in to tea, with all its gingery, cinnamony flavours. The best chai by far is the tiny cups you get in the street, on the go. I’m not sure I’m quite fully converted to tea, but it’s a step in the right direction.

SPICE MARKETS AND FRESH PRODUCE

Arriving in Delhi, I’d read that one of the main attractions was the city’s spice market, and so being such a keen cook I had to check it out. To be completely honest, it wasn’t what I’d imagined. In my head I’d conjured up images of bustling streets and market stalls full of every colour and tone of spice you could imagine. The reality is all the little shops are nestled below buildings running along the side of each street and the takeaway images aren’t as striking. Having said that I still bought away an exciting haul of turmeric, cinnamon, cloves and some unknown substance that I’ll just shove in a curry and hope for the best.

Big chain supermarkets aren’t really a thing in India so local people buy all their fresh groceries from people selling on the street. In Jaipur the side pavements were awash with every kind of veg you could imagine, and for me it was a whole lot more interesting than what Delhi had to offer.

RESTAURANT FOOD

So we come to one of the biggest areas of intrigue for me  – the restaurant food. I was really interested to see how it compared to the kind of Indian food we would eat at home. I had really mixed experiences – some absolutely delicious meals, some pretty good and some just ok. One of my highlights was having breakfast at Kyani & Co. in Mumbai, which is one of the Iranian café style restaurants that the London-based chain Dishoom is based on. In all the two weeks there were of course occasions where I strayed from Indian food because 2 weeks of curry for lunch and dinner can become a bit too much…

I’ve also taken away the fact that India is the best place in the world to eat vegetarian. There are almost more options on one menu than you’d find in most of London’s restaurants combined. Whether it’s curried okra, aubergine, daal or a selection of 3849595 paneer (cheese) dishes, it really is veggie paradise. I tried to mix it up a bit, sometimes avoiding meat and sometimes embracing it.

FLATBREADS

An absolute staple of Indian cuisine is the humble flatbread. From rotis to chapatis, naan to paratha, again, there are so many combinations to choose from. What struck me straight away was that our idea of Naan bread here in the UK, doesn’t actually exist in India. Indian naan is a thin flatbread rather than a bready doughy teardrop shaped creation like we eat here. I’m not saying one is better than the other but it was just interesting to see how things differed. For me, chapatis were the most disappointing as they tended to be the driest and were plain without a selection of exciting flavours and toppings, whereas the naan and paratha were endlessly pleasing. Cheese, garlic, chilli, butter –whatever your topping, they’re the perfect way to scoop up your curry when there’s no cutlery in sight. Peshwari Naan is also a delicious sweet alternative with dried fruits and nuts.

GLOBAL BRANDS

So I’m a complete sucker for trying new menu items, limited edition products, or just things that I know I won’t be able to get my hands on elsewhere. So for that reason I did venture to Pizza Hut (Agra), Mcdonalds (Ahmedabad) and KFC (Mumbai). I’m all about embracing every aspect of Indian cuisine – but for me, this includes eating at these places and trying menu items that I will never be able to get in the UK.

Pizza Hut was a great experience – not only was my Tandoori Paneer Pizza delicious, but the whole staff insisted on performing a very well-choreographed and rehearsed dance routine before we left.

Mcdonalds and KFC weren’t quite as exciting, and were more quick meals on the go before travelling from one city to the next. The McSpicy Paneer was a highlight but I’d give KFC a miss next time.

SWEET TREATS

This section is basically dedicated to the God of desserts – Gulab Jamun. I’d tried these sweet, sticky, syrupy balls at Dishoom here in London, and at the time had had no idea what I was actually ordering. They really are beautiful though – like a slightly less heavy small syrupy doughnut ball. And the ones in India are even smaller than the ones I had here, so you don’t have to feel as guilty! I’d also really wanted to try Rasgulla Balls which are similar but it seemed that every time I asked for them, the restaurant didn’t have them. I guess I’ll have to make it my mission to find some here.

Just a quickie before moving on – best hot chocolate I’ve ever had @Oludar Village Café in Udaipur (They also did an amazing chicken burger). Not where I was expecting to find the most delicious hot chocolate in the world but there you have it – and I made sure to sample 2 so I knew it wasn’t a fluke…

HOME COOKING

The group I was travelling with were lucky enough to visit a local family’s house in Udaipur where we were given a cooking demonstration of some classic dishes. A year ago, the lady giving the demo spoke no English whatsoever, so it was crazy how now, she was able to speak freely and spontaneously about technical elements of cooking and answer any questions we had. She made some delicious pakora, okra, chickpea curries and chapatis. It was a lovely afternoon, despite the power cutting out multiple times (meaning we were in darkness and with no air con) and I’ll definitely be trying to recreate these dishes at home.

TOP MEALS

I’ll finish with a couple of highlights. Where were my best meals and what were they? Our group ‘leader’ was fantastic with his solid recommendations and letting us know where the best places were to eat each dish.

Hunter’s Delight @ Dagla, Jaipur

This mutton curry was delicious. Incredibly tender meat, a lovely curry sauce that wasn’t too runny like some of the others I’d had, and lots of chillis and heat! I never asked for the spices in my dishes toned down like they often do for westerners because I love the firey kick!

  • Keema Baati @ The Courtyard Café and Bar, Udaipur

This was a really interesting-looking dish and I didn’t really know what I’d ordered until it arrived. They’re basically big bread balls (the bread is quite tough, definitely not soft and airy, but it’s supposed to be like this) and the centre is stuffed with minced mutton. On the side you get a mutton curry and melted ghee so my tactic was just to smother them with the curry and ghee making it as indulgent as possible. So much flavour.

  • Paneer Kathi Rolls @ Hotel Royal Dezire, Udaipur

So I can’t say this was the most impressive dish, skill or flavour-wise but in terms of setting yourself up for the day with a solid breakfast, this was it. Basically tasty, stodgy wraps filled with cheese, chilli and other veg. A beautiful start to the day.

  • Keema with Fried Egg @ Kyani & Co., Mumbai

One that I have mentioned already, but probably my favourite meal in my favourite city. The keema (minced mutton) almost felt like a spiced Bolognese, and topped with a fried egg was delicious when scooped up with the bread rolls. I could eat this every single day.

So that’s about it! It’s tricky to condense 2 weeks of foodie adventures into one post, especially when you have a tendency to waffle like me, but there are my highlights, observations and general thoughts. India was a massive adventure, and I loved every minute of it.

I wonder how long it will take me to save for my next adventure in China – I might need a few years but watch this space…

¡Comemos!

xo

Kitchen Therapy

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Everyone has shit days. Some of us combat that with a nice, long bath. Some go for walks, inhaling the fresh air. Others just curl up in bed.

All I want to do is bake. It’s what makes me happiest and is the perfect distraction.

Yesterday afternoon I went a bit mad and decided to complete 9 bakes one after the other. I don’t think I initially realised that this was going to take me a solid 7 hours from 4.30pm to 11.30pm, and had I known, I might’ve stopped myself, but sometimes not knowing what you’re getting yourself into is a blessing in disguise. After all that hard work, you reap the rewards – in my case, staring at 9 delicious sweet and savoury treats, ready to feed to everyone around me.

My supermarket run was slightly OTT and this isn’t including the ingredients that I already had at home. Does 5 packets of ready rolled puff pastry seem slightly excessive?

Bake number 1 was a BBC Good Food recipe for naan bread – something that I can easily freeze ready to defrost as a tasty side dish later down the line. The dough seemed to go to plan, and seeing it grow in size was incredibly satisfying.

I still can’t really believe how easy the naan was to make. Simple ingredients mixed together into a dough and kneaded and then dry fried and rubbed with butter. They smelt amazing, and looked exactly as they would from a restaurant or supermarket.

The nigella seeds give a really subtle yet tasty flavour, and these were softer than any naan I’ve ever had before ( and that was the day after they were baked). I highly recommend trying this recipe out yourself so you, too, can marvel at how surprisingly straightforward it is!

Next up we have a semi-failure. I tried a recipe from Nadiya Hussein’s new cookbook ‘Time To Eat’ and was aiming for a Banana Tarte Tatin with Malai Ice Cream. Let’s have a look at how it went down…

So not a complete disaster! The caramel was the main issue. It didn’t quite come out right (to be fair I’ve never tried to make it before…), and it saturated the puff pastry base with its seeping syrup. In terms of flavour I loved it, the bananas were tasty, the caramel was delicious and the chopped hazelnuts were a worthwhile addition.

The ice cream fuck-up, however, was most definitely my fault. I’d forgotten that the point was to whip the cream so when I ran out of cream I added some greek yoghurt as a substitute. This then meant that it wouldn’t actually whip to the point of forming soft peaks, but I decided to freeze it anyway and see what happened. It has set to an extent, and actually tastes lovely with its hint of cardamom, but it’s not quite what I’d call ice cream.

Moving on to one of my favourite images of the 7 hour bake. Another BBC Good Food recipe and this one’s for mozzarella stuffed crust pizza, to which I chose to add chorizo and basil. Like the naan, the dough was really easy to make, although it didn’t puff up like the naan. It was quite tricky to try and seal the edges of the crust to hold the mozzarella in but these seemed to stick down once they were baked.

Not quite as photogenic once baked, but it is all about the taste really. More mozzarella and less tomato would’ve been good but the dough was so fluffy and delicious. The mozzarella in the crust seemed to disappear slightly so I’d pack that in a bit more if I were to bake it again.

Switching right back to sweet, and returning to Nadiya, we have the choc bar puffs. Simply put, a square of chocolate encased in puff pastry and sprinkled with cocoa powder. There really isn’t anything more to it than that. Super quick to make and couldn’t be any easier.

They were really tasty, but nothing mind-blowing.

Now on to one of my absolute favourite bakes. We’re sticking with Nadiya (because she is wonderful) and it’s her meatloaf roll. Inside we have beef/pork mince with hard boiled eggs lined up throughout and all that wrapped up in puff pastry.

Cutting through the crisp pastry to see the eggs perfectly lining the centre was so unbelievably satisfying. Not only that but the flavour was beautiful. Before wrapping the whole thing up, the pastry is painted with slightly diluted marmite – I only tried marmite for the first time last week and found it very odd-tasting, but the watered-down flavour brushed onto the pastry tastes amazing, and you’d never know what it was.

We now come to one of the ugliest bakes of the evening but by no means the worst-tasting. This BBC Good Food recipe was slightly dodgy in terms of making the pastry from scratch (or it’s just me…) but the filling was beautiful. Ignoring the burnt, mismatched crust, the centre of the pie stayed wobbly and gooey. It is ridiculously indulgent but such a delicious treat – so delicious (I hope) that a lovely user from the Olio App (anti-food waste app) came to collect half of it to take home for himself.

Can you believe I’m still going at this point? No? Me neither, but we’ve only got 3 left. And this one was cute. I love Le Creuset kitchenware, and I also love anything miniature so this tiny individual dish has always been a favourite of mine. I used it to create a BBC Good Food Pork, Apricot and Pistachio Pie. I have to admit, this is the only thing I haven’t yet tried, and it’ll be my dinner this evening, but it did smell wonderful. I love the combination or pork, apricot and pistachio, with the sweet dried fruit and crunchy nut combo. I have confidence that it’s going to be a very enjoyable meal…

Penultimate dish! We’re going all out now with triple chocolate cookies, dark, milk and white all in one. Now these were supposed to be gooey, but they struggled to set at all with the quantities of ingredients the recipe suggested, so whilst they are delicious, they’re pretty messy and fall apart quite easily.

……………………………………………..

Picture this. It’s half 11, I’ve been on my feet rushing around for 7 hours, the kitchen looks like a bombsite, and 7 hours of cooking has produced sweltering heat. Then finally, I take my last bake from the oven, I wait patiently for it to cool, before topping it with buttercream and the honeycomb I’d made 6 hours earlier.

The absolute relief. The satisfaction. The pride. I felt everything. I was excited and couldn’t really believe what I’d just done. And the last one was pretty good to be fair…

We’re finishing back with Nadiya, but this is from her earlier cookbook, ‘Nadiya’s Family Favourites’. It’s a banana sponge with peanut buttercream and honeycomb. The honeycomb struggled to set properly so it’s sort of improvised but still tastes good.

This is one of the lightest, most moist sponges I’ve ever managed to make and that’s impressive considering by this point my scales had had enough and would no longer even turn on. I therefore had to guesstimate all the quantities but looks like I got it pretty spot on.

I did then, suddenly find myself looking round the room thinking ‘What on earth have I just done?’. But I felt good, I felt productive, and I had well and truly taken my mind off of the less pleasant things that I had to think about.

Whatever works for you, find it and run with it. When you have a bad day, throw yourself into whatever makes you happy, whatever calms you, whether it’s active, indulgent or just plain lazy.

The kitchen is my therapy. What’s yours?

¡Comemos!

xo