The Flavour Thesaurus - by Niki Segnit

This fantastic and innovative book on food has got to be one of the best new additions to food literature for quite a while. It's just incredibly informative and useful. Go buy it if you like having a bit of a play with yer flavours in the kitchen. Find out (for example) why some Italian housewives add a touch of cloves to their basil pesto. Brilliant!

The essentials of a Keralan curry

This (basic version) of  a Keralan classic (Malabar sauce) will work well with fish, poultry or vegetables. If you get into this there are lots of twists you can do (both in ingredients/spices and the precise curry method) but this is a good starting point and makes it easy to do veggie and non-veggie versions from the same sauce. Curries made with this sauce go well with rice or Indian breads, especially parathas (I will post a recipe for these soon).

You will need INGREDIENTS:
3 tbsp oil
1 onion
Fresh ginger (say 3cm x 3cm) grated
Fresh garlic (say 4-5 cloves) chopped
Fresh chilies (3 x green chopped) (or a tsp of chilli powder)
3 tomatoes chopped
50 ml tamarind water (see below*) or the juice of a lemon or lime
Spice mix (3 tsp coriander, 1.5tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp tumeric, black pepper and 1/2-1tsp salt)
1 tin coconut milk (400 ml)

METHOD:
Fry the onions on low to medium for 10-15 mins
Add the garlic/chilies/ginger and continue frying for 5 mins on low
Add the tomatoes and spice mix and saute until the tomatoes are softish (if it gets too dry splash in tablespoons of water during this phase)
Add the coconut milk and the tamarind water (or lemon/lime juice)
Simmer on low for 10 mins
THAT IS THE SAUCE - Use it as is or liquidise it for a smoother sauce (my preference).
You can then make a curry with almost anything.
Veg: cook your veg in your prefered way and then pour on the sauce
Chcken: fry some chicken pieces then add the sauce and make sure they are cooked through
Fish: Pour the sauce onto the uncooked fish and poach it in the sauce (10  mins for an average fillet of salmon for instance)

* Try and get a block of tamarind pulp from an Asian grocer as this flavour is better than lemon or lime for this recipe. To make 50ml of tamarind water, soak a 2cm wadge of the pulp in 70 ml of hot water fro 20 mins. Squidge it around to get the juice out then strain through a sieve (you'll end up with a murky looking brown liquid that should taste about as strong as lemon juice)

EXPLANATORY NOTES (might help you get a good result):
If the coconut milk is particularly creamy you might want to add some water - the key to this sauce is getting the balance right between the rich creaminess -alkaline quality- of the coconut against the citrus acidity of the tamarind water/lemon+tomatoes. Seasoning with just enough salt will marry those two together. The spices give depth and complexity.

When two blogs collide - Rowan Jelly and Add N to (X)

This Rowan Jelly is deliciously smokey/sweet with a satisfying burnt treacly after-taste. I just got a jar of it from a friend of my wife's. He picked the berries and made it from scratch and it's lovely. I had a teeny spoonful whilst playing some moog-rich Add N to (X) - cor! - what a mix! - so - because I'm big on sensation associations I hereby post a pic of both in action. Each work well with cheese and bics on a cloudy early Autumn evening under some fairy lights. I intend to try and work a recipe incl. the jelly.

Beef rendang

This is a classic Malaysian dish - if you haven't had it I urge you to do so. This version is something of a "Delia cheat" in that it utilises "any old red curry paste" though something like this one is probably best. "If you're going to use a paste", I hear you ask, "why not just use a rendang paste?" Well the thinking here is that more people will have a red curry paste in stock opposed to a rendang. If I was being pure I'd offer a recipe including a home made paste but that's long-winded - this does work. Remember this is a dish that makes something special out of a cheap cut of beef by cooking the bejesus out of it for quite a while. This version is a cheat but it isn't quick - you can't do a quick rendang!!

Serves 2 (serve with plain rice and some sort of veg - greens work well)
Gently fry some grated onion (100gr) and crushed garlic - don't brown.
Add 2-3 table spoons of the curry paste and fry a bit longer
Bung in about 500gr of diced stewing beef and brown
Add a tin of coconut milk (about 400ml)
NOW - if you have these things add any/all of them - they will elevate the final result quite a lot
A cinnamon stick or a cassia bark (or 2)
Add a star anise (add 2 be a devil!) (adds a nice aniseed flavour)
Add some dessicated coconut - maybe 75gr (dry fry it first until it goes a bit golden -makes it better)
Add the juice of a lemon/lime (or better still 75ml tamarind juice - from 1tbsp of soaked pulp)
Throw in a lemon grass stick - whack it about first to get the juices loose
Add some kaffir lime leaves (now these are a great aromatic flavour - get frozen ones rather than dried)
Add some fresh chopped chilli

Cook for a long time (1.5 hours - 2.5 hours)  on a VERY low heat, covered (you want that cheap cut of beef to be very very well cooked and really tender) - check that it doesn't dry out once in a while. In the end you want a fairly thick sauce - if it's too wet after 2 hours boil down a bit with the lid off - and as I said - if it's getting too dry just add some water. Depending on the curry paste you used you may need to season with salt and pepper but do this at the end.

Smokey Spanish potatoes with tomato

This is my attempt to make a Spanish version of a Greek dish (roast lemon potatoes).  It's a fantastic way to do potatoes as they come out really creamy with the absorbed olive oil and rich in the flavour of the tomatoes and smoked paprika.

Ingredients:
800gr potatoes (peeled and cut into 2.5cm chunks) (Maris piper is a good type)
400gr chopped tomatoes
6 cloves garlic (bashed a bit and halved)
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 bushy sprigs of fresh thyme
100 ml red wine
150 ml olive oil


Preheat oven to 200
Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly and put into a casserole dish
Cover and put in the oven for about 40 minutes
At 40 minutes take out and give it all a stir
Put back in the oven UNCOVERED for about 15-20 minutes
The end result should be well cooked potatoes almost bathing in a rich oily tomatoes sauce.

Healthy Boy thin soy sauce - magic veggie ingredient for Thai food

My wife's a vegetarian so I've gotten the habit of trying to devise decent veggie versions of recipes. By and large fish recipes (esp Asian sauce-based ones) are really veg-friendly with a little thinking about flavours and textures, but Thai food in particular has been a challenge as it uses a bunch of very intense fish-based products for flavour. One of these is Thai Fish Sauce but I've never been satisfied with the obvious substitute, your "off the shelf" Soy sauce (even the good stuff like naturally brewed Kikkoman brand from Japan). But a few days ago I read about "white soy sauce" from Thailand and how it was a good substitute. I headed off to the local Chinese supermarket and found Healthy Boy Brand "thin soy sauce" (product of Thailand) - they don't actually call it "white" on the bottle but this is definitely the business. It's thinner even than "light" soy sauce (like Kikkoman) and more translucent in clour, but it has that essential saltiness and fermented flavour you get from fish sauce. If you want a decent substitute for Fish Sauce, I'd suggest trying this.

Mousakka recipe (veggie version)

I made up this recipe for mousakka last night in an attempt to use up a batch of stuff but also try for an authentic style veggie version. I concentrated mostly on trying to create a decent substitute for the minced lamb in the meat version. To do this I used tasty/hearty things like puy lentils and sundried tomatoes: see what you think:

Ingredients:
3 large aubergines sliced into 1cm rounds
1 onion (180-200 gr)
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 tomatoes (200-250 gr) chopped
Olive oil

Things to make a substitute for the minced lamb - any combination of:
Mince substitute (eg quorn)
Lentils cooked (Puy lentils are nice)
6-8 sundried tomatoes (re-hydrated  then chopped) - I'm lucky here as I get a supply of really good ones from Puglia, Italy from a friend who visits there a lot.
NOTE: Those last 3 should weigh about 400-500 gr altogether. If you leave out the sundried tomatoes add a couple of table spoons of tomatoe puree.

A good handful of chopped fresh herbs (any one or more of Oregano, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley - my fave at the moment is mint)
150 ml red wine
250 ml veggie stock
A teaspoon of cumin and maybe a pinch of cinnamon if you like

Salt/Pepper to taste (you may not need any/much salt if you use the salty sundried tomatoes and a decent tasty stock).


For the topping (cheese bechemel)
60gr butter
60gr flour
600ml milk
2 big eggs whisked
100 gr of nice cheese grated (Gruyere/Parmesan mix works well)
A pinch of grated nutmeg

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 200 
Brush the aubergines rounds generously with olive oil and place on an oiled baking tray and pop in the oven (probably for about 20-30 mins - until soft and a bit charred).
Set them to one side
Boil the lentils (follow pack instructions - usually about 20 mins for puy lentils)
Fry the onions in olive oil until just browning - then add the garlic and fry for another minute or two (just don't burn the garlic)
Add the tomatoes and the red wine and cook for another 3-4 mins until the tomatoes are soft
Add the stock
Add the stuff for the mince element (ie lentils, sundried tomatoes, quorn etc)
Add the fresh herbs

Now bring all this up to the boil
Turn down to a very low heat and gently simmer this lot with a lid on for about 30 mins (basically you are after something like the consistency of a rich bolognese sauce). Taste for salt/pepper and add accordingly (1/4 teaspoons at a time for salt so as to avoid over-seasoning).

Make the topping (bechemel sauce - can be tricky to avoid lumps*):
Gently heat the butter until melted
Slowly add in some flour stirring all the time until it's all in and you have a pasty consistency
Now start slowly adding in the milk always stirring
In the end this  sauce should be about the consistency of a very thick double cream (*if you do get a lumpy sauce - bung the whole lot in a blender to get rid of the lumps then gently re-heat stirring all the time)
When it's done take off the heat and mix in the beaten eggs. Now fold in the cheese and add the nutmeg.

Now construct the mousakka:
In a deep (pref round) oven proof dish:
Add a layer of aubergines
Then a layer of of the mince mix
Then aubergines and so on (the dimensions of your dish will affect the number of layers - but 2-3 of each is pretty good)
When you have layred everything pour over the topping (cheese bechemel)

Bung it in a pre=heated oven (190) for about 30-40 mins (until the topping is nicely charred)

Take it out when done and leave it to stand for 15-20 mins

That's it :-)

PS - look closely and you may notice that there is an undocumented courgette poking out the top (it's true - I only had 2 aubergines so used a courgette for the final layer - (OMG!!)

Spaghetti with tomato, mint and caper sauce

Unusual mint and tomato combination v nice. Serves two.
Ingredients:
500 gr cherry plum tomatoes (halved and de-seeded), 20 fresh mint leaves chopped, 1 heaped tablespoon salted or pickled capers rinsed and chopped, 2 garlic cloves chopped, 200 gr dried spaghetti. A handful of fresh parsley chopped. Parmesan cheese grated.
Method:
Fry garlic in 2-3 tablespoons olive oil (then sieve off the oil into second pan to give garlic flavoured oil)
Fry the tomatoes, mint leaves, capers in that garlic oil until tomatoes are soft.
Season to taste with salt and pepper (remember the capers are salty already).
Put spaghetti in boiling salted water (guideline: 2 litres water/200 grams pasta/4 teaspoons salt is about  right) until al-dente.
Drain pasta and add to the tomato sauce and mix well. Now serve and sprinkle with fresh parsley and parmesan (both last two are nice but optional).
Voila :-)