To tempt or inspire....

Aloo Wadiyan (Punjabi)

Wadiyan (also spelled Varian and Badiyan, and called wadi for short) are large balls of dried lentils, peculiar to the cuisine of the Punjab. They are sun dried spicy urad dal balls that serve to spice a dish and also to thicken the gravy. They are very spicy and each bite sends a burst of flavour to your tastebuds. They are also quite meaty in texture, and thus a good option for your non-vegetarian friends.

This dish cooks the wadi and potatoes (and sweet potatoes - my addition) in a tomato-onion-spiced gravy for a relative quick, definitely easy meal. Wadi go very well with potatoes, but can be cooked with other vegetables too.

Here I have used a mixture of potatoes and sweet potatoes, or you can use butternut and potatoes. These mixtures are not really traditional, but work very well in the modern kitchen.

Because the Punjabi wadi are extra spicy 🌶️ , not a lot of other spice is needed in the dish. I sometimes forget this and end up with an EXTRA spicy meal! 🥵 🔥

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To tempt or inspire....

Zucchini (or use radish) with Soy and Wasabi

I am a great fan of wasabi – anything hot for that matter. Horseradish, mustard, wasabi. I like it when it gets up your nose and leaves you breathless with its heat. Now you don’t have to like it as hot and pungent as I do in order to like this snack/salad - you can temper the taste to your own preferences.

It is a lovely dish, put together in 3 or 4 minutes, perfect for Summer evenings or any time the weather has a bit of heat in it. Use zucchini or red or white radishes – they work equally well.

The idea came from one of my loved books – #JamTodayToo, by #TodDavies. A treasure trove of easy to make dishes with at-hand ingredients.

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To tempt or inspire....

Chilli Beans!

Years ago I used to make a chilli dish – the recipe comes from a dear friend who lives in the Grampians. It was a chilli that is often called “Mexican” although it is not, and includes coffee, chocolate and red wine. I gave up making it when I adopted a vegetarian diet. Much later another friend reminded me that chilli without meat is possible – and also delicious.

Elwyn’s Chilli Beans was such a no-fuss recipe – a few essential ingredients cooked at the barely simmering heat level for hours until all was infused with chocolate, coffee, wine and chilli.

The success of a Bean Chilli, with our without meat, is the deep, dark richness of the sauce. I took Elwyn’s recipe and added favourite spices to deepen the flavours, a variety of vegetables to enrich the dish, and some walnuts – I often made enough to feed our street! Luckily it freezes very well. It is quite a “meaty” dish with the walnuts adding a great texture.

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To Tempt or Inspire ....

Way back in Covid lockdown time everyone was baking bread. I was a bit of a laggard – we don’t eat a lot of bread so it was not my first thought. But, 4 months later than everyone else, I saw a recipe that had me visiting my secret supplier of bakers flour and fresh yeast (everywhere else was out of good quality product), and this beautiful loaf was born.

The recipe that excited my bread-baking genes was one from Nigel Slater that includes spelt flour and dry cider! The cider gives it a lovely, almost sour dough, tang. It is mixed with milk for a beautiful soft crust. This was Good Bread!

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To tempt or inspire....

3-Cheese Eggplant Bake

This is a gorgeous baked dish with eggplants, cream and 3 soft cheeses. It is made without eggs and the result is an addictive dish with a thick set custard-like consistency.

The recipe is an adapted version of #Ottolenghi’s Eggplant Cheesecake from #PlentyMore. I have made it egg-free. If you want to check the original recipe have a look here https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/06/aubergine-cheesecake-vegetarian-recipe-ottolenghi.

My version is a soft dish that is spooned from the baking dish onto serving plates. Perfect for lunch with a lemony salad of bitter leaves and fresh herbs.

Ottolenghi says "Like all good cheesecakes, tucking into this is so effortless and soothing that it’s easy to forget yourself and just gobble up more and more. And, like a sweet cheesecake, it’s also a bit of a no-brainer that yields very impressive results."

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To tempt or inspire....

Two Bean and Two Lime Salad

We once had a strange green bean growing – its pod was green with flecks of red. It was delicious, as all green beans are, and perfect for this salad.

You can of course use any green bean – the beans can be paired with either edamame, younger broad beans or even peas. The key to the salad is a beautiful dressing made with lime zest, lime juice, coriander, mint, garlic and chillies! Oh, yes, you just might get excited.

Once the beans are trimmed, it is quite simple to make. Of course it is, it is from #Ottolenghi’s book #Simple. 10 ingredients, quick and it can be made ahead.

In the book it uses fresh limes and makrut lime leaves. Online he jazzes it up with some dried lime powder. It doesn't have the same dressing either. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/21/lime-recipes-salad-soup-beans-stew-yotam-ottolenghi

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To tempt or inspire this weekend....

Chinese Style Orange-Sesame Sauce, coating deep fried cauliflower

I must play around with this sauce again. It is quite rich and dark in flavour – a current obsession of mine in the kitchen. Wintery flavours.

This sauce is orangey with the depth of soy and a hint of sesame. It has sweet overtones. It goes well with anything deep fried – tofu, cauliflower, pakoda – or grilled items – eggplant slices for example – or roasted or stirfried veg – broccoli, cauliflower etc.

It would be fabulous for all sorts of Indo-Chinese dishes too. Think deep fried Manchurian veggie balls.

Or it can be used as a coating sauce, dipping sauce (although it is quite thick) or spread the sauce on a plate and place ingredients on top of the sauce. I love roasted slices of eggplant and deep fried tofu that way, scattered with tons of spring onions.

The sauce is made with garlic, spring onions (scallions), sesame seeds, Chinese toasted sesame oil, fresh orange juice, sweet soy, and vinegar, and is thickened with cornflour.

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To tempt or inspire....

Turnips, the forgotten vegetable of Winter. Yet they are divine either raw or cooked. We have quite a few recipes from around the world. This one is a simple Turkish dish of turnips and onions simmered using a la grecque style techniques, and finished with herbs. It is a simple and easy way to cook turnips.

The dish is very gentle, some might think it is bland. But it marries beautifully with a host of other, more strongly flavoured dishes. It is best not to overcook turnips or they will go watery. Remove from the heat when juuuuust tender enough.

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To tempt or inspire .....

Urad Tamatar Dal | Urad Dal with Tomatoes and Purslane

Purslane is abundant in our garden during Summer, even in Autumn. All season, starting early December, it appears in different parts of the garden. We follow it around, pulling out the plants and using the leaves. A nice way to keep it under control.

Here I used it in a tomatoey urad dal, and it added that beautiful lemony flavour to the dish as well as a little texture against the creamy urad. Loved by all.

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To tempt or inspire.....

Indian Melon and Tamarind Kuzhambu with Brown Chickpeas | Kadalai Puli Kuzhambu

It is not all sambar and rasam in Tamil Nadu. Once you start exploring lentil/soupy dishes there are a wealth of them - pitlai, kuzhambu, kootu, masiyal, rasavangi, ..... and more.

And within each, so many different types. Traditional Indian cuisine is an ancient one, eons old, with superb flavour and texture combinations, exquisitely evident in these soupy and/or lentil dishes. Infinite varieties exist, emerging from very subtle cooking differences (eg whether the vegetables are added before the tamarind or after), on the time of the meal, on the region, the village, the time of year, the festival, the vegetable used, or the spices used, whether coconut is added, and so on.

This dish is a delicious dish that can be made with Ash Gourd, Winter Melon, Bottle Gourd, Green Squash, Pumpkin, drumstick vegetables or a mix of vegetables. It includes brown chickpeas (kala chana) cooked with toor dal for both silky smoothness with the chunky chickpeas. It is a dish from Tamil Nadu.

You can pick up the different melons/gourds in good Asian groceries.

Many of the Tamil dishes I cook come from #MeenakshiAmmal 's #CookAndSee books - 3 volumes' worth, with a 4th Volume by her granddaughter. She is very specific about which vegetables can be used in each dish (according to spice mix, dal used and other factors). These days, people are looser in their choices. Some of that older knowledge is being lost.

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To tempt or inspire ....

Cauliflower and Parmesan Farinata

I love Farinata but don't make it enough. It is made with a chickpea flour batter. I like to bake them, although some people will cook them on the stove top. Baking gives a different experience. This one is with cauliflower, onions and parmesan.

Farinata tastes a little like an omelette, and cooked right, it will slide right out of the dish. Served in wedges or squares with a salad (and some Celeriac Chips!), it makes a lovely lunch or light evening meal.

The idea for this farinata came from #Ottolenghi’s recipe for Cauliflower Cake in #PlentyMore. That recipe uses eggs and I wanted to make something with similar flavours. So this recipe for farinata was created.

Ottolenghi says that cauliflower needs more attention. He says that it’s one of the most magnificent of all vegetables and is as versatile as potato. I reckon he is right.

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To tempt or inspire....

When I make miso soup it is a tangle of what is in the kitchen.

Miso Soup with Dried Shiitake, Ginger, Greens and Noodles

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To tempt or Inspire....

Cheesy Butternut Bake in Creamy Sauce with Quince Paste

This is an unusual dish of butternut pumpkin, roasted, then cooked in a creamy cheese sauce with quince paste (membrillo) for a great festive dish.

It is a twist on a quiche in #Ottolenghi‘s #PlentyMore. As we do not cook with eggs, I made this into a dish that is simply the roasted pumpkin baked with cheese and quince paste in an exceptional rich creamy sauce. It has been cooked until the top is bubbling and golden.

The original quiche recipe is here if you want to make the original - it is quite different to my version. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/02/christmas-party-food-yotam-ottolenghi

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To tempt or inspire....

Baked Peppers Stuffed with Buttery, Cheesy Vegetables

Fondant is a word that is associated with icing these days. But it comes originally from the French, a cooking term meaning to melt. Fondant Potatoes is the most well known dish where the method of cooking is applied, but it can be used for other vegetables. They are cooked in butter, or in butter and stock, until achingly tender. Sometimes, as is the case with the Fondant Potatoes, an external crispy layer is achieved.

#Ottolenghi has a great recipe in #PlentyMore for capsicums stuffed with fondant swedes. . So I twisted and turned his recipe to make it work with what I did have on hand – Kent Pumpkin, Parsnips and Cabbage. Absolutely delicious.

Ottolenghi himself has two versions of this dish. The one in the Guardian column uses gruyere cheese and does not par-cook the capsicums before stuffing. The one in Plenty More uses parmesan and goat’s cheese, and bakes the empty capsicum halves before stuffing and returning to the oven. I prefer this one as the capsicum shells are more tender.

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To tempt or inspire....

I have been collating recipes for whole mung beans for my daughter who has a surplus of them. This is one of my favourites.

Khar: garlic-flavoured mung beans with greens

Khar is a unique Assamese dish, traditionally served as a starter.

Khar can be made with a variety of ingredients – pulpy vegetables such as gourds, papaya, pumpkin, zucchini, eggplant and cucumber, as well as lentils and a variety of greens. Here we used Mung Beans although toor dal and urad dal are also common. I have seen it made with rice flour and no lentils.

The greens can be any mix you like, and I often use mustard greens with chilli leaves (when I can get them). I have even addes some betel leaves (when available).

The recipe has a lot of garlic in it which softens its raw bite due to the cooking and adds a lovely umami flavour.

Don’t confuse this dish with Lebon Khar, which is a Middle Eastern dish of cucumber and sour cream or yoghurt with a vinegar and mustard dressing.

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To tempt or inspire.....

Kale and Stilton Pikelets - adapted from #Ottolenthi's #Plenty. An egg-free chickpea flour batter mixed with lemon zest, kale, lots of butter, cottage cheese, stilton and herbs.

Delicious!

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To tempt or inspire ....... Cabbage Bondas

Bondas are a popular street food in parts of Indian like Mumbai. Bondas are little round dumplings made from chickpea flour and generally filled with potatoes (but here I use cabbage). They are sold from street carts or footpath stores, and in those little working-men’s canteens that have wonderful, very cheap food.

It is not so hard to make them at home. We were given this recipe for cabbage bondas and they are delicious. They can be made flat into a patty, or round to resemble the potato bondas.

Serve them with a chutney, or layer them in a sandwich with chutney, h tomato, lettuce and other salad type ingredients.

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To tempt or inspire ...... Peach garden Salad.

Memories of Summer....

Summer means Peaches, the stone fruit loved above all others. The gentleness of the white peach and the juiciness of the yellow peach. The joy of eating them as they are!

They are suitable not only for sweet temptations but also for salads, salsas, chutneys and drinks.

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To tempt or inspire...... Okra Pachadi

We are so blessed that we get good quality okra locally at a cheap price. Move closer to the city and it is rare and expensive. Our local shops stock it by the barrel load, a testament to the local Indian, Nepalese and Middle Eastern communities.

I had never used Okra as much before I shifted into this area. It shows just how much that the stock in our shops influences our behaviour.

This is another Pachadi, a South Indian dish of yoghurt, okra and spices, a cooling and healthy dish. I have a few Okra raita dishes – each one is a little different.

Pachadi is the Sth Indian version of raita. And like raita, it can be made with almost any vegetable (not just cucumber).

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To tempt or inspire... Salty Macadamia and Golden Syrup Biscuits

We don’t eat many sweet things around here, especially sweet baked goods – perhaps a little more in Winter than Summer. It is not that we don’t like them (we LOVE them even tho our preference is for savoury food), but biscuits and cakes are basically sugar and butter held together with flour, right? Also, we don’t cook with eggs, so that limits our range as well.

But in the depths of winter we want a few more sweet things – rice pudding, apple crumble, golden syrup dumplings, and some biscuits for our cuppa.

I was alerted to this recipe by @callissclan – she made them one day from the Winter on a Farm by Matthew Evans. The original recipe is here https://fatpig.farm/recipes/macadamia-and-golden-syrup-butternut-biscuits/.

I made a slight variation, adding coconut and a little bicarb soda (which adds a little more colour and chewiness to the biscuits). I’ve also sprinkled a little salt over the top before cooking for a delicious sweet-salty taste.

The biscuits are not unlike ANZAC biccies, starting from a base of oats, flour, golden syrup and butter. This combination is so Australian. But the technique and other ingredients differs a little. In ANZAC biscuits, when made well, the flour is partially cooked by the hot butter mix and boiling water. This changes the texture considerably. But in this recipe, the mixture is cooled before adding to the oats and flour. It makes a remarkable difference.

Dare you to stop at one.

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