Tag: vegan

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Kutti Dosa – Little South Indian Rice & Lentil Pancakes

small indian dosa pancake

The last time we made lacto-plums on an impulse I threw some of the plum vinegar into a batter I was making for dosa. I usually keep my dosa pure, but in for a penny, in for a pound: in went some black cumin after which a pinch of hing felt obligatory. Then I waited until morning for the result.

The batter had a definite yeasty smell and was extra full of air. This batter wanted to make soft, fluffy kutti (small) dosa. The type you drop onto a skillet and let spread naturally while a thousand bubbles burst to adorn the top

You can make Kutti Dosa the traditional way: just omit the lacto plum vinegar. Even the spices are optional

Continue reading “Kutti Dosa – Little South Indian Rice & Lentil Pancakes”
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Bibimbap – Korean Rice & Vegetables

korean dolsot bibimbap

When in Spain for the New Year celebrations we rarely venture out before 1am. Last time we had to run for cover for fear of falling shrapnel from guns fired into a firework-lit sky, conscious also of a custom of flinging old items out of the window after a glass or three of bubbly.

We enjoy this brief period of voluntary house-arrest with something festive for supper: something full of colour, bursting with flavour and screaming CELEBRATION.

This year’s choice dish was that veritable painting-on-a-plate from our Korean friends down east.

Continue reading “Bibimbap – Korean Rice & Vegetables”
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Shukto – Bengali Mixed Vegetable Curry

bengali vegettarian curry - Shukto

It’s the custom in the Bengal region of north-east India to start a meal with a bitter dish. Shukto achieves this through the use of karela, a bitter gourd readily available from most Asian grocers. If bitter isn’t your thing you can simply omit this vegetable and use any of your favourite ones.

Two other flavours are common in Bengali dishes, mustard in the form of seed, the oil or kasundi and panch phoran or five spice. This dish combines all these flavours for a traditionally sweet dish with a mild bitterness – or leave out the bitter and keep it sweet. Continue reading “Shukto – Bengali Mixed Vegetable Curry”

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Aloo Gobi – Potato & Cauliflower Curry

aloo-boby - indian potato and cauliflower curry

This is my earliest memory of making curry. 1981, the London Sivananda Yoga Ashram, my home at the time, is hosting a distinguished group of Indian scholars for a week of lectures on Vedanta philosophy. Declaring European fare as “bland” our guests have brought their own cook who is promptly dispatched to the kitchen.

A Brahmin, the highest of the Hindu casts, Rita handles food exclusively with her right hand, her left dedicated to supporting a long, shimmering fold of silken sari. She requests assistance. My luck is in. Continue reading “Aloo Gobi – Potato & Cauliflower Curry”

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Spiced Smoked Aubergine Curry – Began Bharta

flame-roasteed aubergines

A member of the nightshade family, along with tomatoes, peppers,  potatoes and others, aubergine’s popularity derives largely from its great abosrbency. They are masters at mopping up flavour – and also oil. As with potato, they’re no good raw. But while potatoes can be steamed or boiled, aubergines are at their best cooked in oil. Or are they?

indian and palistani smoked aubeergine curry Continue reading “Spiced Smoked Aubergine Curry – Began Bharta”

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Sri Lankan Sweetcorn & Cauliflower Mallung

Srli lankan cauliflowwer and sweetcorn mallung

When’s a curry not a curry?

An Anglicisation of Indian dishes containing spices in a sauce, curry has evolved into a by-word for Indian food. Indian food developed in the UK by Bangladeshi cooks into the British restaurant curry, a unique cuisine at the heart of which is a very special onion “gravy”.

Our simply spiced vegetable dish has no sauce, is not based on the restaurant gravy, and is not even Indian – or cricket – or curry. Continue reading “Sri Lankan Sweetcorn & Cauliflower Mallung”

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Mexican Tomato Sauces: Caldillo

courgette flowers on tomato sauce

The world knows salsa ranchera. That spicy tomato-jalapeño classic turning plain old eggs into huevos rancheros. Usually eaten at breakfast I’m equally happy to start, sustain or finish my day with this light but satisfying dish.

Ubiquitous in Mexico, caldillo is conspicouly absent in Europe. We introduce it here as a topping for pizza tamalera, subject of our next post.

Caldo means broth, soup or stock. Caldillo is a tomato sauce incrporating a big pot of of your favourite broth which has been slowly added and simmered off. Caldillo is typically served with stuffed poblano chillies but is heavenly with just about any dish using tomato sauce. Continue reading “Mexican Tomato Sauces: Caldillo”

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Mexican Tamales

corn-husk and banana leaf wrapped Mexican corn tamales

The tamal is recorded at least as far back as 5000 BC. Tamales may have evolved from other nixtamal-based items, such as tortillas, out of the need for soldiers and warriors to have access to pre-perared food in the many wars between between pre-hispanic peoples.

Tamales are essentially corn dumplings, filled with meat, fish, vegetables, even insects or their eggs, wrapped in corn husks, or in more tropical regions plantain or avocado leaves, then cooked in a variety of ways. There are savoury and sweet tamales, filled and unfilled (blind), open (unwarapped) and closed, steamed, boiled, roasted, fried, even fermented tamales. the range is potentially endless Continue reading “Mexican Tamales”