Sharmila on Food

I've moved...

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:36:10 -0400

…over to Wordpress. You can now find my food-based ramblings over at http://www.riceandpickle.com

Hopefully see you on the other side!

Girl and the Goat, Chicago

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:55:00 -0400

I’ve been off on my work travels yet again, this time to Chicago. I was very excited about all of the eating opportunities and I wasn’t disappointed. I think my body may be disappointed in me now though. No person should probably eat that many fried potatoes for breakfast consistently over five days.

Beyond all the American fare and lardy breakfasts though, one place I did want to try out was Girl and the Goat, which I had read about at Passport Delicious and also at Meemalee’s Kitchen. Sadly, it appeared I wasn’t the only one - no tables available until July, and a no reservations bar seating policy that managed to stress me out as I hovered, eyeballing other parties waiting to swoop on any available bar stool. Yes, this is a restaurant with buzz, and lots of it. We stopped by one night - no chance of any food action, and wandered over the road to eat vaguely disappointing Italian food. However, we pledged to swoop by the night after early (like, 6pm early) and see if we could bag a spot at the bar.

Bizarrely enough, we managed to get more than that - more in the fact of a free table for 3 at 7pm on a Thursday night. I’ve never seen my colleague move so fast as when he was told they actually had a table.

So, for all the waiting and bar stool vulture stress, was it worth it? I can safely say, yes. The concept is small plates of the “throw as many different ingredients of different cultures into a dish and see what happens” school, but in the main, it worked, and for some dishes, this worked brilliantly. This Stephanie Izard definitely knows her flavours, and it’s also this kind of playful, not-too-serious style of food that I generally love about the American eating scene.

My only key issue with Girl and the Goat would be…too big wine glasses, nay, wine goblets.

Just look at this glass/goblet thing. It’s bloody massive. Some of you may not see this as a bad thing (big glasses of wine - brilliant). For someone like me though, who happens to have some of the tiniest hands known to man, this is a very bad thing. I had to grasp this wine goblet in both hands in order to drink out of it, in the manner of a small child. I can safely say you cannot feel or appear sophisticated if you are drinking wine as if you are gulping it out of a beaker.

Anyway.

Food. The highlights:

Shisito peppers with miso, sesame and parmesan. You want the ultimate snacky food to eat with booze? Well, here it is. Totally savoury, totally works. I so want to re-create these at home.

Wood fired chicken, fried pickles, shredded sprouts, naan bread and yuzu harissa. This may sound like a culinary crime. All I see are FRIED PICKLES! Amazing. And if I had the chance, I would have yuzu harissa on hand for every meal. I would even bathe in the stuff. It’s that good. Again, something I immediately wanted to re-create at home as soon as I tried it. Naan bread was a bit duff though.

A little loaf of sourdough with beer cheese. Yes, that’s beer cheese. You’re basically dipping bread into liquid Welsh rarebit topping. That is a very, very good thing.

Beets, green beans, crunchy things, white beans and anchovies. Fresh, tasty, great variety of textures. Felt virtuous but delicious at the same time. I liked this a lot.

The chickpea fritters with feta, hazelnut hummus and romesco was also pretty good too. I think I would have preferred a bit more romesco to cut through the more comforting textures of the hummus and fritter though.

Goat masala pizza. I’m not joking. It worked. Imagine the most tender, lamby lamb, topped with really rich but sharp yoghurt, zingy herbs and cooked down onions. Seriously rich, but very nice. I only wish we had ordered a few less dishes so I could have properly enjoyed this, rather than feeling like I was about to explode.

There was also some pork shank with truffles and apple, and calamari stuffed with lamb sausage - I have to admit, I could hardly eat any. Way too much food. We should have followed the servers advice.

Alongside this, we also had a really fabulous red - a Spanish Barabazul - which was wonderfully fruity, but also lingered on the palate and had a good level of depth. I really want to seek this out so I can drink it again.

So, you probably get the gist. I really liked Girl and the Goat. It’s buzzy, the interiors are nice, it’s laidback, but most importantly, the food is really really good. If you find yourself in Chicago, do what you can to bag a spot.

Details:

Girl and the Goat

809 West Randolph St

West Loop

Chicago
IL 60607

Price range: mid-level to pricey (you could definitely get away with ordering a couple of dishes less than what we ordered for three people)

Apple and hazelnut cake, with butterscotch sauce

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:59:00 -0400

Yes, butterscotch sauce. That was probably enough to prompt me to make this recipe, which is an adaptation of one kindly given to me by Elisabeth who is one half of the duo who have created the fab My Cookie Heaven app.

This is a really fabulous cake. The original called for pears and walnuts. Having neither to hand, I opted for apples and hazelnuts. Regardless, the end result was still wonderful - moistness from the apples, crunch from the hazelnuts, and a hit of booze to round everything off. The butterscotch sauce is no mere after thought - if you’re going to make this cake, make the sauce. It brings all these flavours together wonderfully, and then you also have a stash of butterscotch sauce in the fridge to eat in whichever way you want (probably straight out of the fridge with a spoon/fingers).

Apple and hazelnut cake with butterscotch sauce

(I apologise for the measurements in cups - I have them to hand, but realise not everyone does)

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tbsp brandy (optional)
1/3 cup milk
2 ripe apples, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup of toasted, chopped hazelnuts

1. Preheat oven to 175 C and grease and flour a 23cm round cake tin.

2. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

3. Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer or using an electric handheld mixer until the mixture is fluffy and well combined. Leaving the mixer on, beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl every so often. Stir in the brandy.

4. Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture until everything is just combined, then half the milk. Stir in the remaining flour mixture. Then add the milk and mix until just combined. Gently fold in the hazelnuts, raisins and apple.

5. Scrape the batter into the cake tin and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 40-45 until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 5 mins, then invert cake onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Butterscotch sauce

3/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp heavy cream
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp fleur de sel or maldon

1. Combine the water and sugar in a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, and continue to boil until it turns a light amber colour. Do not stir. If the syrup darkens unevenly, gently tilt the pan to distribute the caramel.
2. When the syrup is uniformly amber (make sure it does not turn too dark), turn off the heat and stir in the cream with a wooden spoon. The mixture will bubble quite a lot, but it will then calm down. Keep stirring. Once the bubbling has subsided completely, stir in the butter and salt. Allow to cool to warm before serving it spooned over the cake, with cream, ice cream, or whatever you want.

Ruby Murrays and all that jazz

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:09:07 -0400

I’ve currently been reading a really great book all about the history and emergence of many of the dishes we recognise as curry house classics in wee Blighty - Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham. Thoroughly researched, I definitely left knowing a lot more than I did before. Who would have thought it was the Brits who entrenched tea drinking in India, and not the other way round? And the chapters focusing on colonial rule are just fascinating - the image of stiff collared Brits dressed up in their English clothes, trying to enjoy insipid boiled and roast meats and hot custard amidst the stifling heat and buzzing insects of rural India is one that made me chuckle a great deal.

Now, whilst I may be British Indian, the world of the British curry house was as new to me as many other British people when I first “went for an Indian” as a teenager. Coming from a Tamil family, with a vegetarian mum, meant the rich, meaty, saucy dishes of the curry house felt a world away from the stuff I used to eat at home. I always found it highly amusing at uni when friends would ask me to decipher the menu and make recommendations down the curry mile in Manchester. Er, you’re probably asking the wrong person!

Many of the dishes we think of as curry house classics (the madrases, kormas and vindaloos we see on tired looking menus up and down the country) are either almost complete British inventions, or so far removed from their roots as to not really bear relation to what you would find back in India. However, many of these dishes have a warmth and familiarity about them that can’t be denied. And anyway, the concept of a proper cooked chicken tikka masala (smoky, charred, marinated chicken in a rich sauce) should be one that ends up being supremely tasty, even if it rarely is.

Anyhow, this got me thinking about trying to cook proper, authentic versions of many of these curry house “classics”. So, count this as first in a “series”. I’ve done a proper vindaloo before (which was lip smackingly tasty), but have never really attempted a proper, regal Persian korma, or a heady, oniony rich dopiaza. One dish that a recipe is included for in Curry (insert book title) is for an authentic dhansak. Now, this often pops up on curry house menus as some odd mild, sweet curry dish, usually involving pineapple (bleurgh) and a few lentils - I had never tried it. Sounds pretty horrible. However, I knew this was a classic Parsee dish, and from reading a few Rohinton Mistry books (and I would implore anyone to read A Fine Balance), it became clear that the proper rendering of this dish has nothing to do with the over sweetness of tinned fruit.

Having now made it, I would definitely recommend it. The classic dish involves four different types of lentils. I had two to hand, and as I was in going-on-holiday-clear-out-the-cupboards mode, I was in no mood to jam more packets of pulses into my kitchen. It has a rich, caramel hint of sweetness from the jaggery (which is well worth seeking out), and a sharpness from the lemon. Yes, sweet and sour, but not a piece of tinned pineapple in sight. I added chicken, but next time I wouldn’t bother. It is wonderful as it is as a fine vegetarian dish.

However, the biggest revelation for me was the caramelised brown onion rice you are meant to eat on the side. I make no claims for health on this - yes, it does contain caramelised sugar, fried onions and ghee. But, god it is good! I quite happily ate this up on its own.

So, I’ve now attempted a proper dhansak and it’s pretty damn fine. What next? I’m hankering after a proper chicken tikka masala. Something tells me there won’t be a can of Heinz tinned tomato soup involved in the making.

Dhansak - adapted from Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham

Serves 6

75g red split lentils

75g moong dhal

75g chana dhal

75g toor dhal

(I used double the amount of red lentils and chana dhal instead, as that is what I had to hand)

2 onions, finely sliced

2 whole garlic cloves and 6 garlic cloves, crushed

1cm piece of ginger, finely chopped and 2cm piece of ginger, grated

1/2 tsp turmeric

500g veg of your choice (I used chopped aubergines)

a bunch of coriander leaves, chopped

1tsp cumin powder

1tsp coriander powder

1/2tsp chilli powder

2 brown cardamoms

1 small piece of cinnamon stick

1tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

3 tomatoes, chopped

2 green chillies, finely chopped

1-2tsps of jaggery, or soft brown sugar (if you can get jaggery, I would recommend it)

Juice of 1 lemon or lime

2-3 tbsps of groundnut or vegetable oil

Optional: chicken, cut into pieces. I say optional, as I don’t think it needs it

1. Wash your lentils and soak in water for a few hours or overnight. Drain and place in a large pan with the onions and turmeric and cover with water to cover by a 3cms or so. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 25 minutes, or when starting to become tender.

2. Add the vegetables of your choice (but not the tomatoes) and the 1cm chopped ginger, and whole garlic cloves, and the majority of the fresh coriander (keeping some back for garnish). SImmer until everything is soft and pulpy. Take off the heat and mash a bit with a potato masher.

3. Heat the oil in a pan, and when hot, add the ginger and garlic. Fry for 5 minutes, but make sure they don’t burn. Add the cumin, coriander, chilli powder, brown caradamom, cinnamon, mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds and fry for a minute.

4. Add the tomatoes and green chillies. Fry for another 3 minutes or so, until the tomatoes are starting to soften slightly. If you are using meat, add it at this point and fry the pieces until browned.

5. Add this spice mixture to the lentils with salt to taste. Add 300ml of water (if you are using chicken you can use chicken stock), the jaggery/brown sugar, and lemon or lime at this point. Simmer until everything is cooked through Garnish with the coriander.

Caramelised brown onion rice.

I found this recipe online, but stupidly can’t find it again. My approximate is underneath. I would implore anyone to try it.

1. Finely slice two onions. Heat 2tbsp of oil in a wide frying pan. When hot, slowly fry the onions until they are nicely browned (not burnt!) and crispy. Drain and lay on kitchen roll.

2. Place 2tsp of sugar over the base of a small saucepan. Heat until it melts and starts to brown to a caramel colour (keep a close eye on this, you don’t want it to burn).

3. When the sugar has melted to a nice deep brown, add around 200ml water and take off the heat immediately. It will bubble. Stir well until the sugar is dissolved into the water. Keep to one side.

4. Get another saucepan, heat some 2tsp of ghee. When melted, add a couple of green cardamoms, 3 cloves, a small piece of cinnamon and a bay leaf. When aromatic, add 2/3 of the onion (reserve the rest for garnish) and basmati rice.

5. Fry until the rice is well coated in the ghee and onions. Add water to cover by 1cm or so (I use the absorption method to cook rice). Bring to the boil, cover with a tight fitting lid, and turn the heat down to low.

6. Cook until the rice has absorbed all the water and is cooked through and fluffy. Garnish with the remaining onions.

A piece of cookie heaven

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:34:00 -0500

Cookies vs. biscuits. Ooh, a dilemma. I’m sure most Brits would fall very much in to the biscuit camp (this must surely be the land of biscuits). Not me though. Never been a fan (I’m sure some people would view this as heresy). Cookies, however - a different matter entirely. Squidgy, crunchy, loaded with treaty size pieces of tasty stuff. Yes, cookies I can definitely go for.

I’m obviously not alone, judging by the fab My Cookie Heaven app two very talented acquaintances have made. Aside from having impeccable taste in music, Rob and Elisabeth have now created their own cookie app for the iPhone - it has 15 very easy but tasty looking recipes on there, some useful hints and tips, as well as some very beautiful photography. Having glanced through, I fell upon the Ultimate Choc Chip Cookies, and had to give them a whirl.

They were supremely easy to make, but more importantly, damn tasty (I’m glad I went with the recommendation on the recipe to put chopped walnuts in).

If you’re also a cookie fan and have an iPhone, I would definitely recommend you give it a whirl. I’m currently eyeing up the peanut butter cookie recipe (the fact there is a peanutty cookie recipe in itself ensures My Cookie Heaven has a firm fan in me). I’m sure our Mr Monster at the top would most definitely approve

More details can be found here

We interrupt this transmission...

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:06:34 -0500

Yes, a post not about food. Who woulda thought it?

Anyway, I’ll keep it brief. Many of you may be aware that today is International Women’s Day (8th March 2011), and also the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. Now I think that’s something to celebrate. And it’s also a time to get us thinking about all of the progress we still need to make whether it is on equal pay, or the staggering levels of death in childbirth that occur for so many women in the developing world. There’s still a long way to go, and that is something we should always be mindful of.

I feel incredibly lucky and fortunate, as a woman, to have grown up in the circumstances I have. The fact that I can write this blog, have my voice heard and not worry about the repurcussions is something that sadly, cannot be said for many women in the world.

There are many organisations out there doing brilliant work to help women across the world on a number of fronts. One such organisation is Women for Women International, who do sterling work for female victims of war by helping them rebuild their lives, moving from a position of crisis and instability to one of security and self sufficiency. I’m not going to go into great detail about all of the amazing things they do, but please take a look at their website http://www.womenforwomen.org/index.php.

On April 3rd, I am going to don a pair of stupid looking running leggings, and take part in the Run for Congo Women 10k, which is organised by Women for Women International. Democratic Republic of Congo has been torn apart by war, with women being significant victims. Sexual violence and rape is a ubiquitous tool of war, and leaves women damaged, both physically and emotionally, in a way that I can’t even begin to comprehend. By running this 10k, I hope to raise some money that can go towards helping female victims of war and sexual violence rebuild their lives.

I hope you’ll agree this is a very worthy cause. If would like to donate some money to my running this 10k, I would seriously appreciate it. You can donate here:

http://www.justgiving.com/Sharmila-Subramanian

Right, normal service resumed.

3 Little Pigs - great coffee down Warren St

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:39:57 -0500

I’ve worked in Fitzrovia now for one and a half years. It’s a massive improvement on working in Hammersmith for three and a half years, where my workmates and I would often get excited about the occasional visit to Pret (I’m not joking - when you work just far enough away from the main drag to make you think twice about doing the walk, these things become significant). There are lots of options for food round here, and I always feel pretty grateful that I’m so close to Rasa Express and the Indian YMCA (masala dosa for lunch? Yes please). However, the coffee options are pretty poor. Whilst there is Lantana and Kaffeine further South, they are just that little bit too far away to make them convenient stop offs for my daily pick me up. Instead, we have an abundance of Starbucks’, Pret (my, how things are all relative) and your Nero’s and the like.

So, I was pretty happy when I stumbled across 3 Little Pigs - a brand new coffee place that has set up shop inside Black Truffle, a little shoe shop on Warren St (which also has another branch on Broadway Market). They’ve only been going for a little while, but I’m already a fan, and have popped down quite a few times for my caffeine dose. They use Nude coffee beans, which I drink at home anyway, so another plus in my book. And the owner (who I can’t believe I haven’t got the name of) is incredibly friendly and always greets me a smile. I’m currently alternating between lattes and flat whites, but will attempt to work my way through the different types over time. They also have a mighty fine looking selection of pastries and biscuits, but as I’m not a sweet breakfast person, I haven’t partaken just yet.

If you work in the area and like your coffee, I would definitely recommend you to go. It’s a very welcome addition to the neighbourhood.

Details:

The Three Little Pigs at Black Truffle

52 Warren Street

Nearest transport: Warren St tube

Oodles of noodles at Qin Tang Fu, Beijing

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 14:39:25 -0500

Yes, it’s been ages since I’ve got back from Beijing now. I’m a rubbish blogger. But I didn’t want to leave this post to drift off into the ether, because Qin Tang Fu is just too damn good for that.

Qin Tang Fu specialises in noodles and, more generally, Shaanxi food. My very kind hosts picked this place our for lunch on an exceedingly cold day, and I am very grateful to them for that.

Up first (alongside a bowl of noodle water), was a biscuity unleavened bread full of braised fatty pork. What can I say - if you love braised pork, you would definitely love this. It was immensely comforting. Alas, I had to leave some of it, otherwise there would have been no way I could have got through the feast of noodles to come.

I won’t go through everything we ate, but these were some of the highlights:

Cold, chewy noodles dressed in oil and vinegar. Shockingly cold, but very refreshing. I’m assuming they were made from some form of pea starch. I had to keep on turning that lazy susan round to get another few bites of this.

Spinach noodles in a vegetable and beef broth. This was almost akin to a traditional British meat soup. It was pretty much all you could ask for on an exceedingly cold day

Chewy wheat noodles with simple cooked green vegetables. That might sound boring, but it really wasn’t. Wholesome and nourishing, this was pretty welcome after that fatty pork

Gorgeous scrambled egg. You might be thinking “scrambled egg - whatevs” But I’ve found the Chinese generally know how to whip up some pretty delectable scrambled eggs. This was chock full of tomato and sharp spring onion, and redolent with the smokiness of good wok cooking

Some of the best damn dry fried green beans I’ve ever eaten. And this wasn’t even a Sichuan place. Again, a dish that smacked of good wok cooking - perfectly puckered, smoky beans and crisp bits of pork.

And then some crispy, intensely savoury fried chicken. Amazing. However, by this point I was ready to be rolled out of the restaurant, so I wasn’t able to partake in the fried chicken as much as I would have wanted to. A shame. I’m kicking myself now just thinking about it. I must acquire some cow-like second stomach soon.

And this was all at lunchtime. And everything came to £19, with more than enough food for eight people. Yes, that’s eight people. A supreme bargain for some amazing food. This was one of my highlights of all the food I had in Beijing. And I had a lot of great food in Beijing. If you find yourself there, go. I can be sure you won’t be disappointed.

Details:

Qin Tang Fu (there appear to be multiple locations - I haven’t worked out which one I ate at, but below is the address for the original location)

Cháoyángmén Nán Xiǎo Jiē 69 Hào

ChaoYangMen

Price range: cheap

Green mango pickle

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:17:45 -0500

I love pickles. I mean I really do love them. Any forms of pickles are great, but my true love will always lie with Indian pickles. Sour, savoury, hot - I will pretty much take any Indian pickle and love it very very much. I usually eat pickles alongside curd rice (rice mixed with plain yoghurt). The first time I ate this, my husband looked at me like I was mental. But curd rice and pickle is truly one of my favourite comfort foods. We always had a bit of this after dinner when I was growing up - apparently it’s meant to help cool your mouth and stomach down, but considering most pickles involved were very spicy, I’m not sure how much good it did. Whenever I’m too lazy to cook, or need a bit of comfort, I will invariably end up eating curd rice and pickle.

Most people will be familiar with the range of ready jarred pickles you can pick up pretty much anywhere in most supermarkets - the mangos, limes and aubergine pickles. However, a particular favourite of mine is fresh green mango pickle. This is not a pickle with a long shelf life - it’s not really preserved, as such, but it will last around a week in the fridge. I spied some unripe green mangoes in SMBS in East Dulwich - one of those stores that stocks pretty much everything. I knew I had to make this pickle.

This is very very easy to make, as long as you can get hold of some unripe green mangoes - Indian food shops are your best bet.

Green mango pickle - I used one mango to trial this, which yielded enough pickle for a good 7 or so dishes

1 firm, green mango

150ml groundnut oil

1tsp mustard seeds

2 good pinches of asafoetida (sometimes also called hing)

1tsp turmeric

1tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp fenugreek powder (basically toast some fenugreek seeds in a small pan until fragrant (a couple of minutes), leave to cool and grind to a fine powder)

3/4 tbsp salt (it seems a lot, but it is to help it keep as well as flavour)

1. Cut the mango up into very small pieces, around 1.5cm long, and discard the core. Keep the skin on. Place in a bowl.

2. Add the turmeric, chilli powder and fenugreek to the mango

3. Heat the oil in a small pan and when hot, add the mustard seeds. When they begin to pop, add the asafoetida and take off the heat. Pour this mixture over your pile of mango and spices. Add the salt and stir everything really well, until it’s all evenly combined.

4. When cool, put the pickle in an airtight container, and it should keep in the fridge for a week or so.

I love it with curd rice, but try it out as you would any Indian pickle - with poppadums, with breads. I would pretty much eat it with anything.

Good eats in Hong Kong

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 06:17:45 -0500

Rather than plough through a load of blog posts focusing on specific places, I thought I’d take the slightly more lazy, but probably also less boring (for my dear readers) route, and do a little round up of some of the things I really enjoyed eating whilst in Hong Kong recently.

I barely scratched the surface in the 4 days I was there, and some of these places will be nothing new for many. But these were all very tasty morsels that anyone would enjoy, however well known some of these places are.

First place I hotfooted it to after flying into HK was Mak’s (77 Wellington St, Central). This place is famous for its won ton noodle. Everyone knows about it, it’s meant to be the best blah blah blah. But I make no apology for talking about it, because it’s great. I have been to Hong Kong three times and I have been here every time. I’m sure you can get bigger and cheaper won ton and brisket noodles elsewhere in Hong Kong, but I love Mak’s. If you want great broth, great won tons and truly springy tasty noodles, go here. This time around, I plumped for the beef brisket noodles rather than the won ton ones. Just as tasty.

Much has been written about Din Tai Fung. Famous for its xiao long bao, it has branches across East/SE Asia. I’ve been to the one in Shanghai already. I have to admit, their xiao long bao were not akin to the Second Coming for me. However, I ended up going back to the branch in HK, primarily because it was opposite my hotel, and I wanted an easy lunch (Din Tai Fung, ground floor, Shop 3-9, 68 Yee Wo St, Causeway Bay) .

I ordered a serving of the pork xiao long bao, and alongside a cold dish of shredded “wild vegetable” (I have no clue what this vegetable was) with diced beancurd. The xiao long bao were good, definitely better than the ones I had at the Shanghai outpost. However, the revelation for me was that dish of cold wild vegetable and beancurd. It was so fresh and delicate, I couldn’t help gobbling it up. When people think Chinese food is just crude, strong, gloopy flavours, they should get a spoonful of this. Order this if you go to Din Tai Fung.

Another small, but no less tasty eat were the delectable green tea mochi from Mochi Cream, which is located in the basement of Sogo in Causeway Bay. I love mochi anyway. Inject a centre of beautifully chilled cream and green tea, and I will love mochi even more. So good, I went back more than once. I would love to be able to get these in London.

Finally, I had a lovely meal with Tom and Jen of http://www.tomeatsjencooks.com/, who kindly met up with me, rather than leaving me to another evening of watching BBC World in my hotel room. It had to be Sichuan food, so Tom and Jen took me to a place out in North Point, called Little Chilli (33 North Point Road, North Point). Aside from having probably the most friendly waitress in a Chinese place I have ever come across, some great dishes included:

The gong bao chicken. You get it everywhere, but when it’s done really well, it’s so moreish. I want to know how they get those peanuts that crispy. Alongside, the spring onion pancake was also pretty top too.

I also loved the garlic shoots with Chinese sausage. That was a seriously good specimen of Chinese sausage.

We also gorged on boiled beef in spicy water, some good ma po dofu, and some aubergine that we probably could have done without.

It was a fun meal, and it was refreshing to get some proper ma la action, which is so hard to really come by in London. Thanks Tom and Jen!

So, that was Hong Kong. A great eating city, and one I always enjoy coming back to. Then it was on to Beijing - more gluttony, more great food. I’m definitely going on some kind of fast pretty soon…

Char siu heaven in Hong Kong

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 09:33:00 -0500

So, I’m currently on a bit of an extended work trip, which has thus far led me to Hong Kong, Beijing. I’m then off to Sao Paolo next. What that does mean is a lot of meals. And a lot of those meals have been very good - I’ve sometimes felt over the past week and a bit that I’ve been fattened up like a pig being led to slaughter by my very hospitable hosts in both HK and Beijing.

Whilst I’m still wading through photos trying to distinguish one plate of Chinese food from another, I’ll just add this little blog post as an ode to one of the most wondrous things I have eaten on this trip thus far - the char siu at Fu Sing in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong.

Now this is not anything like the char siu you often encounter in Chinese restaurants in the UK, which is often more akin to pink dyed shoe leather. No, this is another beast entirely (though still of the porcine persuasion). Just think meltingly tender meat and luscious fat, a swoon inducing flavour of honeyed, porky richness. This was one of those moments when you are so startled at the wondrousness of what you have just eaten that you need to check you aren’t imagining it. I did, dear reader, many, many times. Until there was none left. Little piggy indeed.

No question - if you find yourself in Hong Kong, go here and order the char siu. Just do it.

(And thanks to Tom of tomeatsjencooks for the suggestion, and countless others - it made the trip that bit more gluttonous).

Raspberry and thyme custard tart

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:35:36 -0500

New year this time around was most definitely low key. It had been quite a year (what with getting married and all), and whilst I am one of life’s people who loves a good plan, I couldn’t face trying to arrange anything for 31st December. Thankfully, some good friends decided to instead, which is why I found myself ambling up to Ladbroke Grove for a lovely dinner party and much lighting of sky lanterns when it hit midnight.

I had offered to make dessert, and my immediate thoughts turned to prune and armagnac tart. This is a personal favourite, but does rely on getting good quality Aegean prunes. Alas, it was not meant to be, as I found myself searching high and low for relevant ingredients. Looking around for something to make, I remembered the frozen raspberries in the freezer. A quick internet search turned up a very delicious sounding raspberry and thyme custard tart. Being a fan of all things raspberry and custard, I had to make it.

Whilst I was in no mood to make my own sweet pastry (God bless Jus-rol), this still turned out wonderfully well. I was very proud - it was one of those edifying moments when something you’ve made turns out pretty much perfectly. The thyme flavour is not strong, but adds a nice deep herbal flavour to the mix.

So, a gorgeous tart, to cap a wonderful evening of homemade vespa’s, lashings of wine, and insanely good belly pork. Now that’s a good way to cap off a very good year.

Ba Shan (Hunanese food)

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 06:53:59 -0500

You will probably know by now that I have a slightly major obsession with Chinese food, particularly Sichuan and Hunanese. Sichuan has been an obsession that has been easier to indulge in London, with lots of restaurants popping up over the past few years. However, good Hunanese food has been harder to find. Save for Local Friends in Golders Green and Golden Day in Chinatown.

However, I can now add Ba Shan to that list - and probably to the top of that list too. Ba Shan is part of the same stable as Bar Shu and Baozi Inn. It’s been through a few incarnations - from Beijing style dumplings, through to more Sichuan-y stuff, to now having a pretty much full blown Hunanese menu. It was seen as underwhelming by many initially, but I have to say, I think it’s bloody brilliant right now. Everything we ate smacked of good cooking technique, and not skimping on good ingredients and chilli. Added to this, some brilliant smoked meats in one of the dishes. For me, the most wonderful thing about the food I ate when in Hunan, was the quality of the smoked pork. I really felt Ba Shan delivered in terms of quality here.

I apologise for the incredibly awful photos here - Ba Shan has similar, odd red-hued lighting as Baozi Inn has too.

First up, an appetiser of spiced chicken slivers. I wasn’t expecting much (maybe because it was chicken), but this was really great. It had a spiciness that crept up on you, with a hint of crisp ginger in the background. Moreover, they didn’t skimp on the chicken, bulking it out with slivered carrot or cucumber. I liked this a lot.

Next up, dried yard beans with smoked bacon. I can safely say this is one of the best dishes I’ve eaten this year. There was that wonderful snappiness from the dried beans, coupled with a rich, savoury smokiness from the bacon. We ended up pouring the juices from the empty dish over our rice, relishing the way the bacon flavour had permeated the whole of the dish.

Alongside, one of my favourite Chinese dishes - hand torn cabbage. There was great wok char present here, giving an added dimension of smokiness to the dish.

To finish, pressed beancurd stir fried with celery and chilli pepper. I do love my beancurd, and this is a beancurd dish I would definitely eat again. The beancurd had a great toasty flavour, and those peppers were actually spicy.

Along with a couple of beers each, and rice, we ended up leaving £50 lighter, and it was most definitely worth it. I can’t wait to go back with a larger group, and really work through the menu - the brisket with smoked bamboo shoots, the lotus root, and the slivered pigs ear are all definitely on my list.

For anyone who has gone to Ba Shan before, and had a slightly disappointing experience, I would say to give it another go. On current experience, I know I will definitely be back.

Details:

Ba Shan

24 Romilly Street

Soho

W1D 5AH

Nearest transport: Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Sq tubes

Price: cheap to mid-range

Dhokla

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 17:47:00 -0500

Out of any Indian regional cuisine, Gujarati, for me, does snacky food like no other. Chaat, pani puri - all amazing. Dhokla is another one I would add to that list. It’s quite hard to describe, save it’s a moreish, spongey snack, flavoured with ginger, chillies and yoghurt, and topped with a rather tasty coating of mustard seeds and curry leaves tempered in oil. Finish off with a flurry of coriander leaves, and you have a pretty formidable snack. I used to love this as a kid - it was one of the things we would always buy on frequent family trips to Belgrave Road in Leicester to stock up on Indian groceries.

However, I had almost forgotten about dhokla - I rarely stumble across it in London. Until I was staring at the menu for a new Indian vegetarian place in East Dulwich. And there it was. I haven’t been able to get the tasty thought of it out of my head since. Perusing recipes online, it didn’t seem that hard - I get the impression the real real deal can involve lots of soaking of gram and grinding this up. Needless to say, I went for the recipe that just called for using normal gram flour (this is just chickpea flour, and is also referred to as besan). So, I gave it a shot, and I’m pretty pleased with the results. This is no light snack - it has some heft, but you always end up going back for more.

I pretty much followed this recipe, save for scaling down quantity, and adding some finely chopped green chilli and sesame seeds to the final topping. They are both sound additions. For anyone who loves their Indian snacks, I would urge you to give this a go - little effort, lots of tasty reward.

Making bacon

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 07:06:00 -0500

Bacon with chinese flavourings, in fact. I have cured my own bacon before, and very nice it was too. The only issue being I didn’t use any saltpetre. At the time, I wasn’t bothered about the fact that its absence meant my bacon wasn’t an attractive pinky colour. However, the more I’ve read, the more I’ve realised that that handy kitchen explosive can also guard against botchulism. Oh well, not dead yet!

Anyone who has eaten good Chinese food may have encountered the wonderfully savoury, intensely flavoured bacon that you get in a lot of dishes. I had read a lot about this in Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop, as well as encountering some of the most amazing cured bacon in the dishes I ate in Hunan (which it appears, is renowned for its bacon). I really wanted to make my own. It’s supremely easy, as long as you can be a bit prepared. The smoking may prove a bit more daunting. As I now have a hot smoker, this is very easy. You could try the wok method that Dunlop advocates. After my doomed forays in wok smoking, I can’t safely say, I wouldn’t.

Dunlop states to hang the bacon to dry (after it’s dry curing) in a well ventilated area, such as by a north facing window. I chickened out of hanging bits of meat in the kitchen (my cats would have gone mental for a start), and instead wrapped it loosely in muslin and hung it off my pan rack located near my window. It didn’t appear to do any harm.

The end result has been fantastic. Thus far, I’ve used the bacon very simple - once in a dish of stir fried cabbage with some ginger, garlic, chilli and soy. The other dish was a home style beancurd. In both instances, the bacon imparted a wonderful flavour - subtly sweet from the Shaoxing wine, but with a nice punch. Surprisingly, the pieces were also not too salty.

As with any form of cured meat, you get out what you put in. Which means, try to get the best quality pork belly you can find. It will make a difference. It really will.

The recipe below is for much larger quantities than I cured. Use you common sense and reduce your proportions of cure according to the weight of your pork belly. This is of particular importance when it comes to the saltpetre (which can be bought here), as you really don’t want to put too much in, as I don’t think that is very good for you.

Home-made bacon with Sichuanese flavourings - taken from Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop

3kg belly pork, skin on

For the salt cure:

3 cloves

few pieces of cassia bark

3 star anise

1/2tsp saltpetre

2tbsp Shaoxing wine

30g soft brown sugar

2tbsp whole Sichuan pepper

150g salt

For smoking with a wok:

100g plain flour

100g sugar

50g pine needles, cypress shavings or peanut husks

For using a hot smoker:

A good amount of wood chips to cover the bottom of the smoker (I think I used something oak based)

1. Cut the pork belly into 5cm wide strips. Crush the cloves, cassia bark and star anise in a pestle and mortar. Dissolve the saltpetre in the Shaoxing wine.

2. Rub the cure ingredients all over the pork. Take a bit of time over this to really work the cure into the meat. Put the strips in a large pot or tupperware container. Then cover and place in the fridge for a week, turning once after 3-4 days.

3. After a week, remove the strips, pierce with a meat hook and hang in a cool, well ventilated place for several hours. Or, like me, wrap loosely in muslin and hang somewhere well ventilated for a bit longer (I did this overnight).

4. When the bacon is dry, start the smoking. If using the wok method, line the wok with a double thickness of foil. Mix the flour and sugar together in the centre of the wok, and scatter over the pine leaves or whatever you are using. Place a metal rack over the smoking materials (ideally 10cm above). Place the strips of bacon on the rack. Put the wok on a very high flame until lots of dark smoke is being generated. Cover with a wok-lid, turn down to medium heat and smoke for 15-30 mins until the strips have a rich yellowish colour. Make sure to turn halfway through. If using a hot smoker, follow your normal instructions. This was smoked for 15-20 mins, as we also had a smaller quantity.

5. And that’s it. You can store until you want to use it. I wrapped mine in greaseproof paper, as was worried plastic wrap would make it wet.

Friendly friands

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:07:26 -0500

I am most definitely in baking mode at the moment. First it was a chocolate and Guinness cake. Then it was a fudgy chocolate cake that didn’t rise and ended up looking like a brown frisbee (and it flew like one when I flung it across the kitchen in frustration). Now it’s friands. Must be the cold weather. At least the oven heats up the kitchen.

I love friands. I remember eating one at Lantana, and having a bit of a moment. But then any cakes involving almonds and lemon zest will generally find a friend in me. So moist, so tasty! Anyway, they are also very easy to make. Though they do involve sifting. However, I love them so much that I will even do a bit of sifting, even though I am supremely lazy when it comes to sifting anything.

These make great cakes to have with a hot drink. They are not too rich and the lemon zest gives them a bit of zing, that means you could probably eat about three of them in one go if you wanted to. I do.

I’ve always used this recipe from The Times (you can still access it - in your face paywall!), and the result has always been great. I added some raspberries (I like having a stash of frozen raspberries in the freezer), and the sharpness worked really well. Similarly, I’ve used blackberries and blueberries before. Basically, any soft fruit works a treat.

Friands - taken from Times Online

Makes 12 large or 24 small cakes - you will a normal, or mini-muffin type tin

180g unsalted butter
6 large egg whites
75g plain flour
210g icing sugar
125g ground almonds
Zest of 1½ unwaxed lemons

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat and then grease the inside of each muffin hole using a brush. Leave the remaining butter to cool.

3. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until frothy (but not at the soft-peak stage). Sift the flour and icing sugar over the egg whites and sprinkle the almonds and lemon zest on to.

4. Pour in the cooled butter, then mix carefully until the batter is completely smooth. Spoon into the tins (at this point, drop your soft fruit of choice onto the top of each one) and bake for 13-15 minutes (18-20 minutes for larger muffins). They should be light golden and springy to the touch.

5. Leave for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool.

Hot and numbing dried beef

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 15:14:30 -0500

Another Sichuan dish, and I make no apologies for that. This is one of my favourite things to order when I go for Sichuan food. Think a much more tender, flavourful version of beef jerky or biltong. It is scarily moreish (don’t ask how quickly this got demolished), and even though it is a labour-intensive dish (it is one for the weekend), it is most definitely worth it.

Again, this is a recipe taken from Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop. Two amendments I made were to add fresh coriander leaves to garnish, as I love the combination, and omitting the chilli oil, primarily because I don’t like many commercial chilli oils but am too lazy to make my own.

We had this as a form of starter, a prelude to a gorgeous meal of red braised pork, dry fried bitter melon and spicy cucumber salad. A veritable Sichuan feast.

Hot and numbing beef - taken from Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop

Serves 4 (if you were eking out with other dishes - to be honest, you could easily demolish this between two)

500g lean beef (I used the H-bone cut, but this was what I had lying around - Dunlop specifies braising steak will do)

Oil for deep frying

For the initial simmering:

1 star anise

Small piece of cinnamon/cassia bark

For the marinade:

2tsp shaoxing wine

4 spring onions, white parts only

25g piece of ginger, unpeeled

1/2tsp salt

For the braising:

1tbsp dark soy

1tbsp sugar

25g piece of ginger, unpeeled

3 spring onions, white parts only

1/2tsp salt

For dressing:

1tsp ground roasted sichuan pepper

1-2tsp ground chillies/chilli flakes

2tsp sesame oil

2tsp toasted sesame seeds

Very small bunch of coriander leaves, roughly chopped

1. Bring the beef to a boil in a pan of water along with the star anise and cinnamon/cassia bark. Turn the heat down, and simmer until the beef is cooked. Remove the beef from the pan and reserve the cooking water.

2. Slice the beef along the grain into 1cm slices. Then cut the slices across the grain into 1cm wide strips. If some of the pieces are a bit long, halve them.

3. Slightly crush the ginger and spring onions with a back of a knife blade, and then chop each into 3-4 pieces. Place in a bowl with the shaoxing wine and salt, add the beef and mix to combine. Then, leave for 30 minutes or so to marinade.

4. Heat the oil for deep frying in a deep pan. Add the beef and deep fry for around 4 minutes, until the pieces are reddish-brown colour and crisp looking. Drain on kitchen paper.

5. Heat 2tbsp oil in a wok, and heat until smoking. Add the ginger and spring onions and stir fry for around 30 seconds until the oil smells fragrant. Add 500ml of the reserved beef cooking water, the soy, sugar and salt. Add the beef, bring to the boil, and then turn the heat down. Simmer the beef for around 30mins, or until the beef has absorbed all of the liquid, leaving just a syrupy glaze coating the beef.

6. Place the beef on a dish, and stir in the dressing ingredients, and then sprinkle over the coriander leaves and sesame seeds.

7. Can be eaten straight away, but also tastes great at room temperature.

Cauliflower and almond soup

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 07:23:42 -0500

I have a love/hate relationship with soup. I often get bursts of wanting something warming, soothing and easy to eat. However, I can’t say I’m a lover of soup (save for noodle soup - another matter entirely). The amount of times I’ve packed some homemade soup for my lunch at work, got to lunchtime, and gone “eh”, is high. However, I can say that I do love this soup. Cauliflower and almond. It has a ton of melty cheese in it too. And some nutmeg. And it was crowned with a load of bacon bits. This is a soup I can get behind.

It also tastes great - a bit like the most lovely cauliflower cheese in creamy liquid form. The ground almonds give a rich creaminess to the soup that saves having to add cream or creme fraiche. I used a romanesco cauliflower for this because I had one to hand. However, a normal cauli would work just as well. Though you won’t get the pleasure of marvelling at one of the most amazing looking vegetables there is. Now if that doesn’t reinforce the beauty of maths (or something) in nature, I don’t know what does.

I served this up alongside some cheese on toast for dipping. Whilst not essential, I’m sure you can agree it is a very very sound addition.

Cauliflower and almond soup (avec ton of cheese)

Serves 4-6 (depending on how greedy you are)

25g butter (or olive oil if you’re being healthy)

1 medium-large cauliflower, broken into florets

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 bay leaves

pinch of grated nutmeg

1tsp dijon mustard

1tsp English mustard

100g strong, melty cheese, grated (I used Appenzeller - a strong cheddar, Gruyere or Emmenthal would also work well)

2tbsp ground almonds

1. Melt the butter in a large, deep saucepan on a medium heat. When hot, add the onion and garlic, and sweat until softened, but avoid browning.

2. Whilst the onions are cooking, boil the cauliflower in approximately 850ml of water until almost tender.

3. Add the bay leaves to the onions and garlic, and then add the cauliflower and its cooking water to the pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the vegetables are fully cooked and soft.

4. Remove from the heat, fish out the bay leaves and either blitz the soup in a blender, or (as I did), use a stick blender, until the soup is completely smooth.

5. Return to the heat, add the mustards, the almonds and the cheese. Heat slowly until all is combined and hot. Add a grating of nutmeg, season to taste and serve. Add optional bacon and dig in.

A steamy way with aubergines

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 07:00:00 -0500

Chinese cooking techniques and flavours + aubergines = maximum tastiness. Fish fragrant aubergines are a particular example of this simple equation. Intensely savoury flavours coupled with the melting tenderness of well cooked aubergine flesh. Until now, I’d always thought the only ways with aubergines were: frying, deep frying, or charring on the grill/stove until the flesh has basically collapsed to a pulp. However, I recently tried out a Fuchsia Dunlop recipe that take aubergines into a different direction. This recipe calls for steaming them.

My initial reaction was “steamed aubergines: bleurgh”. However, I gave it a go, and was really impressed. The flesh retains that wonderfully soft character that any well cooked aubergine should have (aubergines should never, ever taste hard or spongy). Moreover, it’s healthy! Now, I’m no health freak, but a lot of my favourite Chinese aubergine dishes do call for cooking this purple fruit in a ton of oil. As well as not being too good for the arteries, it also renders cooking implements a bugger to clean. I am a bit lazy - I think about these things.

Anyway, I would urge anyone who is a fan of aubergines, especially in Chinese dishes, to have a go at steaming them. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Steamed aubergine with chilli oil (adapted from Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop)

1 large aubergine

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp chilli oil with chilli sediment

1/2 tsp chiankiang black vinegar

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1tsp sugar

a bit of salt

1. Slice your aubergine in half and trim the top stem. Sprinkle the cut sides with some salt and leave for at least 30 minutes to draw out the bitter juices.

2. Steam the aubergines until nice and soft. Leave to cool.

3. In a small dish, combine the soy sauce, sugar and vinegar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the chilli and sesame oil and stir.

4. Cut the aubergine into small chunks. Dunlop suggests dipping the aubergines in the sauce. However, I just combined it all in one dish with the aubergine and it tasted fab.

In praise of urad dahl

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 07:45:00 -0400

There are some ingredients in the kitchen that make me very happy. Yes, I am a loser. But it’s true. Those ingredients that evoke a lot of memories, whet your appetite, or just smell amazing. A lot of Indian ingredients, especially spices, do that for me. The smell of toasting fenugreek, cumin frying in oil, the pop of mustard seeds - I love all of these things. Recently on Twitter, Maunika from the fabulous Cook in a Curry asked people what their favourite Indian ingredients are. This got me thinking. As I’ve listed above, there are lots of ingredients I love.

However, one of the ones that I love more than most is urad dahl. You’re probably thinking “a lentil - boredom to the max”. However, urad dahl is not your typical lentil. Rather than just use it as any other dahl, in large quantity as the base of a dish, urad dahl is often used as a seasoning, in many ways, a spice. It comes into its own when used in combination with mustard seeds. Fried till brown and nutty, it has the most wonderful crunch, providing a brilliant textural contrast in all manner of dishes. I wouldn’t be lying if I said I often try and fish out as much remaining cooked urad dahl from a dish - now that’s a satisfyingly crunchy mouthful.

One dish it is essential for, in my eyes, is uppama. This is one of my favourite breakfast foods. It may sound strange, but semolina just cooked up with onions, chillies, curry leaves, mustard seeds and urad dahl is a thing of wonder. I can eat vast quantities of this.

I also use it in all manner of dry vegetable dishes - from my go to Indian potatoes to green beans with coconut, which I’ve listed the recipe for below (if you can call it a recipe).

Whilst urad dahl may not be one of those familiar ingredients, I would urge you to try it out - it is definitely deserving of some mighty praise.

Uppama (serves 2)

Half an onion, roughly chopped

2 green finger chillies, finely sliced

2 tsp urad dahl

1 tsp mustard seeds

8-10 curry leaves

couple of handfuls semoliina (I apologies for this measurement - I never measure this)

salt to taste

a pinch of sugar

1tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan, wok or kadai. When hot, add the mustard seeds and urad dahl.

2. When the urad dahl are turning a darker shade, and the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the curry leaves, which will splutter a bit.

3. Add the onion and chilli, and fry till the onion has softened

4. Add the semolina, stir to coat in the spices and oil. Then add a steady stream of water to the pan, stirring as you go. Now, you need to do this steadily, as you do not want to waterlog the semolina. Pour in around 150ml. Stir until the semolina starts to thicken. If it feels too thick, add some more water, bit by bit. You are looking for a fluffy consistency, which is still a bit stodgy, a tiny bit sticky.

5. When you’re happy with the consistency of your uppama, add salt to taste, a pinch of sugar, stir and serve.

South Indian green beans (serves 2)

2 large handfuls of green beans, topped and tailed and chopped into 1cm pieces (I use anything from runner beans to french beans to long beans)

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 tsp urad dahl

Pinch of asafoetida

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp chilli powder

Small handful of grated coconut (you can get frozen grated coconut from many Asian food stores - it’s very handy)

Salt to taste

1tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok. When hot, add the urad dahl and mustard seeds.

2. When the dahl has turned a shade darker, and the mustard seeds begin to pop, add a good pinch of asafoetida.

3. Add the green beans to the pan, stir to combine.

4. Add the coconut to the pan, stir, cover the pan with a lid and leave the beans to cook for 5-6 minutes or until they are tendr.

5. Uncover, stir to ensure all the coconut is combined. Add salt to taste, and serve.