Kavey Eats on the BBC: A Question of Taste

If you're in the UK and like watching food shows, you've probably already seen, or at least heard of, A Question of Taste.

It's the pilot series of a new quiz show currently airing on BBC2 on Monday nights. Presented by Kirsty Wark, it seems loosely based on the format for A Question of Sport. In a nutshell, two teams of foodies compete for points but no prizes, by answering a range of questions on ingredients and cooking techniques, TV cookery shows and chefs, and even a little food history and science.

Yours truly is one of the contestants; my episode airs at 7.30 pm, Monday 30th January on BBC2.

My fellow team members are Danny and Dan and together, we are Three Like To Eat.

Produced by Silver River, the company launched by successful producer Daisy Goodwin, I don't think the show quite hits the mark and I'll be surprised if the BBC commission another series, though you never know; food TV is still hot property and this is that rare entity – a family show for all ages, if they don't get bored silly.

Kirsty Wark is a good presenter, I like her personality and her style, though I'd prefer to see her engage in a lot more banter with the contestants, and make the show more fun and lively. As it is, it feels stilted and dull! The torturous run-through of the rules before each round is… boring in the extreme! And I know I'm not alone in finding William Sitwell's role in the Kitchen Corner particularly annoying and patronising, even more so having seen that he doesn't know in real life the information he's reading out as the resident "expert". Ever since Countdown had a lexicographer on hand to provide alternative answers and extra information, it seems that other quiz shows feel they must follow suit, and here, it doesn't seem to work.

That said, I did have a lot of fun participating!

I know I'm going to cringe my way through this, not least because the need to smile throughout filming was strongly impressed on us before we went on air. I'm convinced the result will be Danny and I gurning at each other, whilst Dan looks suavely on!

There's also a point at which Kirsty miscalls us Three Like It Hot, which makes me giggle for some time. But after the quiz is finished, the crew have her run through a number of do-overs, including that segment… so the audience won't understand just what I'm giggling at!

For me, it's been great fun watching the series, as every episode has featured friends of mine, usually at least three people and in one episode, all six contestants!

Watch, enjoy, giggle with derision, but be gentle! :)

Read More...

Summary only...

Remembrance Day

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

I have always had an interest in World War Two. Not a Boy's Own fascination with military manoeuvres, tanks and planes or playing soldiers, but from a historical, political and people perspective.

At school, history was one of my favourite subjects. I never much cared for learning about British monarchs – William the Conqueror, the Tudors and the Church of England, the Stuarts and the Parliamentarians (though I love the term "Roundheads") – but as soon as the subject turned to the 20th Century, and I could clearly trace a line between historical events and the current world, I perked up and paid attention.

Luckily both my school and sixth form chose modern history curriculums so history lessons were a pleasure.

I loved learning about how so many disparate happenings in different corners of the world were interconnected and how they shaped the current global balance of power, the development of current political systems, the values, belief systems and cultures of people in different parts of the world.

And I was sobered by the many stories of war and oppression and what men (as a species) can do to each other.

WW2 was of particular interest to me. Our closest family friends (adults and children both) were a Jewish family. The father had come to England as a very young boy when his father made the decision to abandon their lives in Germany, after his sister was attacked. Other family members chose to stay behind and suffered the consequences. How this came to happen was something I wanted to understand.

Anyone studying WW2 could not fail to be drawn into tale of the Battle of Britain and the role of the RAF.

The Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain is the name given to the air campaign waged by the German Luftwaffe (Air Force ) against Britain during the summer and autumn of 1940.

The name came from Winston Churchill's "finest hour" speech which he delivered to the House of Commons on 18 June 1940. He said:

"What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands."

Background

Towards the end of May, British, French and Belgian soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk. Although it was hailed as a great success (and as an evacuation, it was certainly miraculous), it was, in the words of Churchill, "a colossal military disaster", with troops completely cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk. As well as loss of life, Allied troops had to abandon all heavy equipment and vehicles; 9 Allied destroyers were sunk and many more sustained heavy damage.

A few days later, the French Prime Minister, Reynaud, resigned and was succeeded by Marshal Philippe Pétain who immediately requested an armistice with Germany. Thus the Battle Of France was officially over on 22 June 1940 when the armistice was signed.

Hitler believed Britain would soon come to terms (negotiate peace) too and focused his attentions on planning an invasion of the Soviet Union. However, Winston Churchill had just become Prime Minister and flatly refused to consider an armistice with Hitler.

Hitler's military advisors told him that an invasion of Britain should only be contemplated as a last resort, and only then with full air superiority. The Royal Navy was in vastly better shape than the Kriegsmarine (Germany Navy) following the Norwegian Campaign and the continuing Battle of the Atlantic.

Nonetheless, in July, Hitler ordered his forces to create a plan for a land operation against England in mid-September. Part of these plans included the directive to bring about the preconditions that would make such a landing in England possible – an English air force weakened to the extent that it could no longer muster any real resistance to the German invasion.

For Hitler's invasion plan to succeed, the RAF had to be neutralised beforehand.

It starts

From July 1940 the Luftwaffe targeted shipping convoys in the Channel and coastal shipping centres.

A month later, the Luftwaffe shifted to attacking the RAF Fighter Command in an attempt to gain air superiority. Initially, the Germans bombed fighter airfields and then began to also target aircraft factories, though not very effectively – British fighter production continued at an increasing rate throughout the campaign.

In August, general industrial targets were also attacked and the use of night raids increased. Airfields were still key targets.

On the 24th of that month, following a raid on the Thames Haven oil refinery, some of the German bombers dropped bombs on residential areas in North and East London. The British retaliated with a bombing raid on Berlin the following night. The Luftwaffe high command were furious, and Hitler too. He demanded further attacks on major British cities, by day and by night.

Hitler hoped these terror bombing tactics would demoralise the British people.

The Blitz

The Blitz, as we called it in Britain, began on the evening of September 6th.

Although RAF and industrial targets were still attacked, the additional focus on major British cities reduced pressure on the RAF airfields. Of course, it resulted in a great many Civilian deaths and vast amounts of destruction of property.

The fortitude and resilience of Brits during the Blitz is a whole other topic; full of both harrowing and uplifting tales of courage and loss.

Incidentally, whilst Hitler certainly didn't come up with the tactic ascribed to Blitzkreig (lightning war) – finishing a war quickly and decisively by deployment of a fast and overwhelming military force – the term assumed significance through Nazi propaganda journalism from where it was quickly adopted by Allied journalists following the invasion of Poland in 1939.

The RAF

On the 20 August 1940 Churchill made another speech to the House of Commons and the British people in which he said:

"The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All our hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day… "

To this day, "The Few" continues to be the nickname for the airmen of the British RAF who fought in the Battle of Britain.

These aircrews comprised not only Britons but many from Britain's former colonies, particularly New Zealand, Canada, Australia and South Africa, exiles from conquered allies including France, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Belgium and a handful of others too.

The RAF was founded in 1918, during the First World War, when the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were merged. Although it was relatively quiet during the inter-war years, it underwent rapid expansion prior to and during WW2. During the war, it's ranks were hugely bolstered by recruits into the RAF Volunteer Service.

Aircraft production kept pace with demand, despite the raids by German bombers.

Towards the start of the Battle of Britain, there were almost two RAF pilots in the RAF to each aircraft. But not all of these were fully trained fighter pilots. Fighter Command struggled to assign sufficient numbers of fighter pilots to each squadron to maintain operational strength in the face of casualties and allow for pilot rest, recovery and leave. Many pilots were also assigned to staff positions, since RAF policy insisted that only pilots could make staff and operational decisions.

Despite the lack of full training, the RAF aircrews went into battle against an enemy air force that was able to muster larger numbers of more experienced fighter pilots, many of whom had fought in the Spanish Civil War and were well trained in aerial gunnery and fighter combat tactics.

Grim determination and stamina won through. The Luftwaffe experienced a faster decline in operational strength, due to a lack of sufficient pilots, as the battle progressed than did the RAF.

In October, after a number of British victories in individual skirmishes in the skies, Hitler postponed the invasion until Spring 1941 and the regular bombings of Britain ended, though there were a limited number attacks after this time.

It's easy, reading this narration of events, to miss the personal stories of courage, determination, loss and sacrifice made by the men and women of the forces during the Battle of Britain and WW2 as a whole.

I urge you to do some reading on your own and learn about what it was like to live through such a time.

An Celebration on the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain

A few weeks ago, I was invited to meet members of today's RAF at an event instigated by Henrietta Lovell of the Rare Tea Company and hosted by the Coach and Horses pub.

The pub laid on some WW2-inspired food (including a marvellous rabbit pie).

Henrietta provided tea and tea-based cocktails (and some wonderfully amusing posters). The tea in question was her specially blended Royal Air Force Tea, which she first created for Terry Clark, a veteran of the Battle of Britain.

The Wolf Brewery provided beer brewed especially to commemorate the Battle of Britain. (Read Pete's review of the beer).

It was a lovely evening and gave us the opportunity to talk to men and women serving in the RAF today, though none of the veterans from the Battle of Britain were present on this occasion.

Henrietta is donating 10% from each sale of her Royal Air Force Tea to the RAF Association's Wings Appeal.

Wolf Brewery are donating 10 pence from each bottle of any of their 4 Battle of Britain Beers to the same association.

Remembrance Day: Commemoration & Thanks

I believe it's important to give thanks to all those, the many and the few, who sacrificed their lives for us during the wars (and to spare a thought for those who continue to do so through peaceful times and times of conflict).

You might think, hang on, your family didn't emigrate to Britain until the late 1960s! What do you need to be thankful for? But, of course, the nation we are today (and the region and world as a whole) owes a huge debt to those who fought back then. Because I am proud to be British, I am grateful to those who defended it then.

Join me in remembering and giving thanks.

Read More...

Summary only...

Best of the Blogs: Kavey Eats in the Times!

To my utter delight – more accurately described as delirious euphoria – Kavey Eats is featured as this week’s Best of the Blogs in the Times’ weekly food supplement, ‘The Table’.

click on image to view larger version

I particularly like journalist Nick Wyke's description of my blog as "rambling (in a good way)" and his comment that I have "an eye for the unusual".


For those of you visiting for the first time, after reading about Kavey Eats in the Times, welcome and thanks for stopping by!

I hope you stick around and enjoy the mix of restaurant reviews, recipes, cookery book reviews, interviews, reports from our kitchen garden, feedback on food festivals, beer and drink reviews and other random food-related mutterings.

If you'd like to subscribe using an RSS reader, please click here.

I love hearing from my readers so please leave a comment on a post or drop me an email if you would like to get in touch.

P.S. I must give credit where it's due - the "Courgette-saka" is (husband) Pete's invention, not mine!

Read More...

Summary only...

Creamy, Dreamy Paneer Malai

This post was first published as a guest post on Maunika Gowardhan's Cookinacurry blog back in June.

---

You know how people sometimes talk about second generation immigrants as slightly lost souls - neither entirely comfortable in the land from whence their parents came nor completely integrated into the land of their birth?

Well, that's not me.

I was born in London in the early seventies to two doctors who emigrated from India a few years before I was born. My sister came along 3 years (and five minutes) later. Throughout our childhood, we were brought up to have a strong connection to our relatives in India – indeed we visited them every few years, which we loved. But we were also brought up as British kids, free to take onboard our local culture, without the stricter cultural and behavioural strictures that many other second generation children were, in my admittedly subjective opinion, shackled with.

That applied to food too – mum regularly cooked Indian food but she also taught herself Italian, French, Chinese and, of course, British dishes from cookery books and by trial and error. We probably had Indian food once or twice a week, if that. And we travelled a lot too, in our holidays, to wonderfully exotic places and mum would often bring home a recipe or two such as peanut soup from South America, something she still makes today.

What all this boils down to is that, whilst we'd often help mum in the kitchen, we never really learned to cook Indian food in any meaningful way – we didn't pick up the techniques, the instinctive use of spices and wide repertoire of dishes that we might have resulted from a more traditional upbringing.

(Of course, I think my parents got it absolutely right – I feel a pride in my extra cultural heritage, I am very happy in my brown skin, I will always cherish my links with India. But I am first and foremost British).

When I went to university, I soon realised I could more readily cook a roast beef dinner than a keema curry and turned to mum for help when I needed an Indian fix, phoning for recipes and snatches of advice during term time or bending her ear during trips home. A few years later, my sister and I both implored mum to write down all our best-loved of her Indian recipes in a more organised manner, so that we might stand a chance of perfecting our family favourites.

Mum started laboriously writing recipes onto index cards, two copies of each, of course. It was slow work. Not long afterwards, an Indian cousin of ours who'd moved from India to Europe asked if he might have a copy, so he too could recreate the tastes of home. At which point, the idea of a website came up. Mum's brother pointed out that a website would allow all the family in India (plus some in America too) to contribute to the recipe collection, not to mention benefit from it too.

That was how Mamta's Kitchen came to be born, back in 2001. Since then, it's become so much more than its original intention – a family cookbook on the web. It's become a resource visited and valued by cooks from all around the world and mum, my husband Pete and I (who run it together) love the positive vibe of the whole thing.

Just like many of our non-Indian visitors, the first place I turn to when I need an Indian recipe is the website!

Recently, I was invited to attend a fantastically fun event – FoodUrchin's imu for which he buried an entire lamb in what looked like a grave in his back garden, along with lots of very hot rocks and things on fire. It's a Hawaiian tradition the idea for which he found in a book.

All the guests were tasked with bringing something for the table. With all that meat cooking away slowly in the earth, I decided to bring something vegetarian, opting for this simple paneer malai recipe.

I'd never made it before and, even when it came out of the oven, at FoodUrchin's house, I worried that it would be too bland to stand up against the robust flavours of the wonderful baba ghanoush, parmesan biscuits, salads, sauces, freshly made breads and dips that others had created. But, to my delight and relief, it went down very well indeed – I had many requests for the recipe.

Here it is as my mum makes it:

Mamta's Kitchen Paneer Malai

Ingredients
350 grams paneer
-first marinade
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 heaped tablespoon ginger root, freshly ground or finely grated
1 tablespoon garlic, freshly ground or finely grated or crushed
1.5 teaspoons salt
-second marinade
2 tablespoons full fat cream cheese
3 tablespoons full fat sour cream or thick yoghurt
2 teaspoons corn flour (not maze flour)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon sweet paprika powder for colour
3 red or green fresh chillies, finely chopped (red chillies look nicer)
1 tablespoon. coriander leaves, finely chopped
A few strands of saffron, soaked in 1 tablespoon of warm water
1 teaspoon garam masala

Notes: I used shop-bought paneer. You can make your own, which will be a little more crumbly, following this recipe. I used full fat sour cream. I didn't have any fresh chillies or paprika so I used some very hot red chilli powder instead. I omitted the saffron completely.

Method

• Cut Paneer into roughly 2 inch/5cm pieces.

• Place vinegar in a bowl and add salt, ginger and garlic. Mix.

• Add Paneer cubes, mix and marinate for 1 hour.
  
• Preheat the oven to 200˚C.
  
• Make a paste of the cream cheese, sour cream, egg, chillies, coriander, saffron, paprika and corn flour. (Mix this by hand rather than using a food processor, as a processor will reduce it to a thin runny liquid).

• Lift Paneer cubes pieces from the first marinade, leaving the liquid behind (but taking some of the ginger and garlic solids, if you like). Add them to 2nd marinade and gently turn to coat well. Allow to stand for an hour (or longer).

• Line a tray with aluminium foil and cook for 10-20 minute, turning once or twice, to ensure even cooking.

• They are ready when the marinade has formed a firm crust on the paneer cubes and they have started to take on a little colour at the edges.

• If you do not have a grill or oven, you can stir-fry them in a heated wok in 2 tablespoons oil.

Mum would usually serve these cubes on a bed of lettuce with some lemon wedges, but in this case, they were eaten straight from the oven dish, in very short order!

Read More...

Summary only...

Memories of Vodka, A Moscow Mule & The Re-Establishment of a Vodka Empire

Vodka has a special place in my affections, so strongly does it feature in my memories of two rather splendid holidays during my youth.

the only picture of me I have to hand from 1989 (and I was all dressed up and hadn't hit the voddie yet)

In 1989 I was one of a coach load of teens (under the supervision of just 3 brave teacher-drivers) on an adventurous road trip across Europe. To Ukraine and back again, we went. I can't even begin to describe to you how amazing these 5 glorious weeks were to us, how many unexpected, incredible experiences we shared, how widely opened were our young eyes. Even now, 21 years later, I could write pages and pages… but let me focus on the vodka:

It was the summer of vodka. In some places, the facilities in the camp sites we inhabited were so primitive that we brushed our teeth with vodka (and toothpaste) rather than risk the local tap water. We drank vodka morning, noon and night.

One evening, installed in a rather comfortable hotel for a change, I went to the bar to order 13 shots for my 12 friends and I. As the bartender argued vociferously against my order, I wondered if he was berating us for being too young or suggesting that vodka wasn't a suitable choice for us – in truth I had no idea. Speaking next to no Russian, I pointed repeatedly at the vodka listing in the menu, "puzhalsta, puzhalsta" and finally he conceded. I handed over a ridiculously paltry sum to cover the bill and a decent tip and went to sit down. Shortly afterwards, 13 large bottles of vodka arrived! A bottle each but don't worry, they didn't go to waste!

A couple of years later, I went to Moscow and St Petersburg in the company of fellow history undergraduates, from Warwick University. This trip too included many vodka moments.

The ones I cherish most fondly are from the long train journey between the two cities. We were kept boisterous company by other passengers, mostly Russian, with whom we found vodka and song to be a far more universal language for communication than English could ever be! I seem to recall that we supplied most of the singing and our Russian friends supplied most of the vodka. We had the most marvellous time together, though I recall needing some assistance walking by the time we detrained!

But since these long-ago days, I've drunk surprisingly little... In fact, my alcoholic tendencies have withered so dramatically that my current annual ingestion is less than what I could once consume in a single night of partying!

Until this year.

So early in the year did my rediscovery of vodka begin that one could almost consider it a new year's resolution. "I resolve to drink more vodka". Now that's the kind of resolution I could get behind!

Of course, Leonid didn't hook me back on any old voddie, oh no! I've now developed a taste for the expensive vintage Russian stuff - I even bought a bottle of Kauffman Special Vintage 2006 for Pete's birthday.

*cough* OK, I'm fully expecting to assist him with it!

The stoli that kept me warm during those long-ago drink-fuelled days tastes like lighter fuel in comparison.

Heck even the triple filtered stuff is as rough as a Russian's five o'clock shadow.

So, back to the present day.

I was approached by Babelgum, a new online mobile video channel thingy, with information about a 24-part documentary they are hosting called How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire.

It's a story about filmmaker, Dan Edelstyn, who travels to Ukraine to explore his ancestry only to discover that his great-grandfather once owned the town’s now nearly bankrupt vodka distillery. He decides to revive the business by launching a new vodka brand named after his ancestors.

Edelstyn has an odd style. I don't care for the arty reconstruction sequences in which his wife plays the part of his granny. But I did quite enjoy his exploration of family history and the former vodka empire. I haven't watched the whole series yet, though.

Well OK then. But what about the vodka?

You'll be pleased to know (though not as pleased as I was) that the PR approach about this unusual story came with the offer to send me a sample of the vodka in question. I quickly agreed.

I'm a sucker for rustic labelling!

Vodka:

Now... what to do with it?

Well... I discovered vodka mules for the first time only a few months ago and have been meaning to make my own ever since.

Kavey's Belvoir Moscow Mule

Some vodka
Some Belvoir Ginger Cordial
Some lemonade
Some lime juice

The standard moscow mule recipe calls for vodka, ginger beer and lime juice but I decided to use some lovely Belvoir cordial I picked up recently and mix with lemonade.

I was a little heavy-handed with the cordial but it worked for me!

Happy drinking!

Read More...

Summary only...

Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did

I love strawberry picking.

It's one of those quintessential childhood memories – piling into the car with family and friends, tumbling out in a screeching gaggle, excited to see row after row after row of beautiful strawberry plants, scalloped green leaves revealing lush, red berries… spreading out across a few rows, mums together, kids finding their own corner… everyone laughing, chatting, giggling and picking fruit… competing over who's picking the biggest berries or who is the fastest to fill their punnet… and later, smeared in sticky juices, making our tired but happy way back home again clutching our precious baskets of fruit.

And then, over the next day or two, helping my mum make the most delicious strawberry jam from the fruits of our fun. (I couldn't bring myself to call it a labour!)

At university too, there was a pick-your-own farm just down the road from the campus. Better still, they had an honesty system – when you took your strawberries to the till to be weighed and paid for, a small note asked you to make a guestimate and contribute towards the berries you'd eaten whilst you picked. I loved that, as it meant I didn't feel guilty about popping berries as I picked … I'd even be willing to bet that most pickers over- rather than under-estimated their consumption.

I have picked strawberries now and again, in the intervening years, but must confess that back, hip and knee problems make crouching and crab-walking along the ground difficult to manage for more than a few minutes at a time.

Last year, just too late for the strawberry season, I came across a recommendation for Parkside Farm in Enfield. Mention of their table-top strawberry system appealed hugely and I bookmarked the site, checking on it regularly these last few weeks, waiting impatiently for the strawberry season to arrive.

Finally, on the last Saturday in June, off we went… me bubbling with excitement, just as I had when I was a child. The farm was busy; families with kids of all ages playing hide and seek between the rows, an elderly couple taking their time to select only the most perfect fruits, four middle aged friends striding purposefully from the entrance, people of all ages, speaking many different languages but sharing the delight of picking one's own…

So, what about the table-top system? What can I tell you? I'm an absolute convert! Strolling comfortably along the rows of waist-height troughs of healthy plants, their ruby red fruit hanging so easily in reach, takes away the pain but without losing any of the pleasure I remember so fondly.

(Pete, being 6 foot 6 inches tall, still has to slouch just a little, but for the rest of us, the strawberries are at just the right height).

What did I do with our 4 kilo harvest? Strawberry jam, strawberry ice-cream, strawberry vodka and, of course, fresh strawberries and cream!

The quote in the title, by the way, is by William Allen Butler, a 19th Century American lawyer, poetical satirist and travel writer.

Read More...

Summary only...

An interview with Kavey!

I've been interviewed by Debs of Debs Kitchen Creations!

Do go and visit to read my rambles about blogging, eating, travelling, photography and the kitchen garden. Thanks, Debs!

Read More...

Summary only...

Happy Birthday, Pete!

Wishing my lovely husband a very happy birthday!

Pete with the lovely cake presented to him at the pre-birthday birthday dinner at Bob Bob Ricard a couple of nights ago!

Read More...

Summary only...

Kavey Eats Profiled

Krista over at Londonelicious is currently blogging profiles of a range of food bloggers.

Here's mine!

Read More...

Summary only...

Kavey: More Of The Story

Way back in May I asked readers of my blog (plus foodie friends elsewhere) to pose questions for me to answer as part of an introductory post for my newbie blog's 2 month anniversary. I didn't meet my deadline and managed to post the first set of responses back in June, focusing on those relating to my childhood food memories and experiences.

I've been meaning to post another slew of answers for ages and ages and ages but kept forgetting to pull the draft off my USB stick - how crap an excuse is that?

So, without further ado, here's more about me as told through food:


In The Now
Anne: Do you prefer to cook or be cooked for?

This one’s an easy one for me to answer as I’m a ridiculously lazy individual! My interest in cooking is driven entirely by my love of tasty food! My husband, superstar that he is, does more of the cooking at home than I do. I do some, of course, but when it comes to every day eating, he’s the man! We do decide what we’ll have together, though if he’s cooking, the final say is his, as it depends on what he feels like making. I prefer to cook when I have more time and am not knackered (as I often am after work) so I try to think of interesting dishes to cook on days when I’m working from home or not working.

In my fantasy world, we’d have a personal chef - one with a deft hand in a wide range of cuisines and who would prepare what we fancy just how we like it. Of course, in this fantasy, we’d also have won enough on the lottery for a lovely big house with a huge, well-equipped kitchen. Then again, since we’d be rich enough not to have to work, we’d probably have more time and inclination to cook ourselves! But we could still turn to our chef on days we didn’t feel like it!

Heavenly Housewife: What foods make you the happiest when you eat them?

Unfortunately, one of the reasons I'm so rotund (or, lardy-arsed, as I call it) is because so *many* foods delight me! A few of my favourites are alphonso mangoes, foie gras entier, lamb chops cooked on the BBQ or at an okacbasi grill, goose-fat roasted potatoes, my mum’s lamb curry and keema curry, so many dim sum dishes, cheese - oh goodness, cheese (I love cheese so much i could write an entire eulogising post just for cheese), tiramisu, fresh strawberries and cream, spare ribs, king prawn tempura, scallops, chocolate...

Bexxi: What do you think is the biggest fad ("must have") ingredient that is being pushed at the moment (i.e. the least worthwhile one)?

I tpp get fed up of all the ingredients that suddenly become trendy when their supposed health benefits are over-pimped! Acai berries and goji berries spring to mind! Then again I'm not a big health nut so these claims are of little interest to me. I usually find such ingredients making their way into far too many products, particularly smoothies and snacks!

Recently, I've seen a flurry of posts about sumac - a spice made from grinding the fruit of a genus of plants found around the world. The spice is used in Middle Eastern cuisine. But, for once, I'm guilty of following the crowd as I've blogged a recipe featuring sumac myself only last month! I liked the lemony flavour it gave but wouldn't suggest you rush out to get some!

Bexxi: What is your favourite easy-as-hell main course?

I'd probably go with a roast dinner. Either roast chicken or roast rib of beef, some goose-fat roasted spuds, savoy cabbage and some nice gravy incorporating pan and resting juices (plus port for beef gravy). I find roasts pretty easy as, apart from spud-peeling, there's so little to do. Back when Pete and I were dating and he was working in London whilst I was still studying at Warwick, he'd come up to be with me every weekend and I'd cook a lovely roast dinner for him on Friday evenings.

If the easy-as-hell dish needs to be a little quicker than a roast I'd either use the microwave to defrost some home-made stock from the freezer and make some risotto (with additions such as pancetta or bacon or blue cheese or leeks) or I’d make Pete's cheesey potato bake which is another incredibly easy recipe!

Applelisa: Which is your favourite Indian spice?

Coriander - especially the fresh leaves, though I guess those count as a herb rather than a spice? I absolutely adore the taste of coriander leaves and since the plant also provides us with it’s flavoursome seeds, it's a double dose of goodness! I particularly love coriander in my mum's green chutney, which uses lots of coriander leaves plus some mint and a number of spices. It’s very quick and easy to make and goes wonderfully not only with Indian snacks but also in cheese sandwiches!

Applelisa: What's your guilty food pleasure?

I tend not to feel guilty about enjoying food whether it's a donner kebab, a Burger King whopper, a pot noodle, a chip butty or eating a block of marzipan straight from the packet. I really could do with feeling more guilty about some (most?) of what I eat, given my girth, but I'm too much of a hedonist to do guilt very well!


Travelling Free
Lindacatarina: When you are abroad what food do you miss back home?

Growing up near London and now living here, it’s my good fortune not only to be exposed to a wonderfully wide range of cuisines and ingredients but also to indulge in them often. So, when I’m abroad, even in places renowned for their fine food, what I miss most is variety. For example, last time I was in Italy, I delighted in all manner of fantastic pasta and seafood dishes; I was in heaven and yet… after a week, I started to crave Indian, Chinese, Thai, Turkish… I just needed a change! I find it even harder when visiting India where my family members will often eat lentils and vegetables with rice / flat bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner day after day after day. Even if I adored those dishes (and I really don’t) I’d struggle after only a couple of days! So, the honest answer is the luxury of variety from meal to meal and day to day.

Lindacatarina: What's your favourite meal from your travels?

I don’t think I can narrow it down to one! We’ve had so many wonderful meals whilst travelling! Most recently, fantastic steak and empanadas in Buenos Aires. The most delicious ragu in Bologna, fritti misti in Venice pizza in Naples and Sorrento. So many marvellous meals in France it’d be impossible to narrow it down but those that spring to mind just at this moment include a simple, rough-cut meat terrine in a cave restaurant in the Loire, lightly fried fresh foie gras d’oie entier served with fried, caramelised apple slices in Bordeaux and a fantastic picnic of fresh bread, cheeses, pate, fresh fruit and juices bought from Dijon market and enjoyed under a sunny Burgundy sky. On our several African safaris in Namibia, Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania we’ve stayed in some small, luxury camps with incredible chefs who produce amazing meals worthy of any top class restaurant, often in the tiniest of kitchens or even over an open fire, outdoors! South Africa is another great destination for foodies - I challenge anyone to eat badly in Cape Town and along the Garden Route - I can still remember many of the meals we enjoyed 5 years ago in surprising detail.


Some Random Thoughts
Lindacatarina: If you lost your sense of taste...what one food you would miss the most?

I'm assuming we’re talking about losing both smell and taste, since they are so interconnected? I think probably something like the alphonso mango, which is such an explosion of perfume and flavour. But probably lamb too! You know, I’m never very good at narrowing down my favourite foods so it’s hard to pick one thing that I’d miss the most!

Icklebecka: If your friends (or you) were to sum you up as a dish, which dish would it be and why?

It would have to be a chocolate banana. I remember watching Blue Peter when I was quite young and this recipe was featured. From that point onwards, preparing the chocolate bananas was my job. And it still is! Make a slit in the concave side of the banana, carefully push some chocolate pieces into the flesh (without causing the banana skin to split). Wrap the whole thing up in foil and cook on the dying embers of a BBQ. It helps that yellow is my favourite colour, I adore chocolate and am often told I'm bananas!

Anne: What food would you take to a desert island?

I started off thinking about a huge hog roast but, thinking more long term… maybe I should take a male pig and a female pig and get them makin’ bacon, in the hopes of having assured hog supplies for as long as I was on the island! Likewise, maybe I’d take some fruit and vegetable seeds - mangoes and coconuts would grow on my island, right? And I want sweetcorn, mushrooms, onions, peppers not to mention citrus oh and herbs and spices too… And maybe I could grow some kind of wheat for flour. Mentally I’m a regular Robinson Crusoe but, let’s be honest, I haven’t the skills, stamina or temperament to achieve such self-sufficiency! But, really, I’d be so miserable on my own that it wouldn’t matter what food I had with me. Please can I take my Pete with me?

Read More...

Summary only...

Kavey: The Wonder Years

A few weeks ago I asked readers and friends to pose those questions they most wanted me to answer in an self-introductory blog entry. I was overwhelmed by the number and variety of questions and it's taken me quite a while to pen my (sometimes long and rambling) answers. This first set of questions takes me down memory lane to my childhood. In coming weeks I'll also post answers to questions about food and travelling, current likes and dislikes and more.

Scribbler: What is your earliest food memory?
My earliest memory is from when I was about 1 and a half years old. It's not about food exactly but since it features a mortar and pestle, I reckon it's close enough! When I was a small baby, we moved to India for about a year - apparently hindi was my first spoken language, though I can't speak it now. We spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents.

I remember sitting on the ground outside; my grandfather was seated behind me, cross-legged. The visuals of the memory show me only his arms reaching around me to the items infront of me; I can’t see his face or body but I know in my mind that they are his arms. He is making a pair of mortar and pestles from clay, one large one and one smaller one.

People tell me that I can't possibly have a memory from such a young age. Firstly, it's more what I'd describe as a memory fragment - a little scene with a small area of focus. I remember only what I describe above - a visual sccene lasting a few moments and the certainty of who I'm with. There is no sound in the memory nor any knowledge or image of where we are, what else is around us, who else might be there. Often, people insist that it must be a false memory, based on a scene described to me by someone else. But I remember very clearly the first time I related this memory to my mother. She was shocked, as it was not a story she knew (or had told me). She asked her siblings and mother, they didn't recall any of this either. But they did confirm that my grandfather made his own mortar and pestles and that he usually had a large one and small one in the kitchen. He died when I was just two years old, so I feel very privileged to have this direct memory of him.

Oddly enough, my first proper food memory is from India too - after we returned to the UK we returned to visit family for a couple of weeks every couple of years. Again, I can't remember whose house we were visiting nor much about the house or garden as a whole. What I remember is being perched up in the branches of a guava tree, with my cousins, feasting on guava fruits picked fresh from the tree.

And for an unlikely - some would even say unbelievable - anecdote, this one passed down from my mum: apparently, the first time I was fed chocolate, I spat it out in disgust! Can you imagine?!


Dunlurkin: I imagine that you grew up eating mostly Indian food, but I know that you now eat a very wide range of foods. When and how did you make the transition?

Dena: Having just read on the food board about school dinners I was wondering how you felt when you first went to school. Coming from a house where spicy, flavourful food cooked by Mamta was the norm, it must have been a tremendous culture shock to be faced with the bland meals provided at most schools. How did you cope?

Actually, unlike many children of Indian first-generation immigrants, I didn’t grow up eating mostly Indian food at all. Instead, let me tell you about my childhood as it relates to food.

Any explanation of the role food played in my childhood must start with a brief story about my parents. My mum and dad came to London from India back in the 1960s. Both were medical doctors working within the ranks of the NHS. They grew up in vegetarian households and although my dad had already eaten meat before he moved to the UK, mum hadn't. However, being a vegetarian wasn't very easy in the UK back then, especially when most meals were taken in staff canteens. So mum started eating meat aged 26.

My sister and I were born in London in the early 1970s shortly before we moved to Luton, where we grew up. By the time I was born my parents had already come to enjoy British food.

Even though, in India, most middle-class families have staff (I hate the term servants as this does not accurately reflect the situation in my family in India), my mum's parents were ahead of their time when they insisted that not only their daughters but their sons too learn how to cook for themselves. So mum already knew how to cook Indian vegetarian food. Throughout my childhood she taught herself not only how to cook Indian meat dishes (and a much wider range of vegetarian ones too) but also how to cook cuisine from all around the world.

We ate Indian food about twice a week. The rest of the time we’d have roast dinners, casseroles, fish fingers, jacket potatoes and a range of normal British fayre. And we'd have moussaka, chilli con carne, stir fries, lasagne, burgers, pizzas and all kinds of other food from around the world.

We also went out to local restaurants from quite a young age including a wonderful local Chinese (that I continued to visit even after I left Luton, until the owners retired and it closed a few years ago) and a local Beefeater pub. My sister and I often ordered steak - the bloodier the better! I don’t know where we both got that from as mum has never really enjoyed (or ordered) red meat and my dad always insisted on burnt rather than well done (though in his old age he’s finally recognised the merits of having it medium instead).

Another thread in our childhoods was international travel. I don't know where my parents' love of travel came from but we certainly benefited from it. They'd always make the most of holidays to explore the world. In my younger years we more commonly travelled within the UK; I have fond memories of beach combing in Norfolk and Cornwall not to mention enjoying cream teas in sweet little West coast villages. I even remember toe-shuffling for clams and harvesting mussels from the wooden breakers on the beach and my dad cleaning them thoroughly before cooking.

Once they could afford it, we started going abroad more, initially in Europe (although we always did trips back to visit family in India every 2-3 years) and then farther afield. As a teen I was lucky enough to visit Peru, Kenya, Bolivia, Canada, Brazil and many, many states in the US including Alaska. We went to Florida regularly too as a couple of my dad’s siblings had emigrated there.

Why are the travels relevant? Because one of the aspects of travelling all of us loved (and still do) was trying dishes from the local cuisines. And mum often took it a step further, incorporating ideas into her repertoire when we returned home.

My parents are very social creatures so we were also part of a lively social life in Luton with family friends hailing from Scotland to Malaysia to Persia to India and many other places too. That gave us another avenue for trying different food - I still get jealous now when my parents are invited to our Luton Chinese friends' home for steam boat and other delicacies! My parents would hold huge parties with guests milling around the entire downstairs of the house and out into the garden. My sister and I, plus our similarly aged friends from next door, would take on roles directing the traffic and helping serve food and drinks. (The neighbours were always invited so never any complaints about the parking!)

Mum encouraged my sister and I to cook at home, whether helping her with the family meals or making things on our own. I remember teaching myself how to make home-made bread from scratch (went through quite a long bread phase - I still remember plaiting one beautiful loaf). And I grew up in the days when schools still provided proper cookery lessons (none of this learning how to make sandwiches or assembly-job pizzas using shop-bought bases and toppings). At school I learned to make cobblers, pizzas from scratch, fruit crumbles, cauliflower cheese with a proper white sauce base and all kinds of other goodies.

My sister and I share the same birthday and, when we were younger, we’d have joint parties with fantastic cakes (mum would make the cake, cut and assemble them and ice them and decorate them to look like fairy castles, lady birds and all sorts) and home-made knickerbockerglories that we’d make ourselves and all kinds of other goodies. Even when it wasn’t for a party we liked making sweet things together and mum would mostly leave us to our devices when we made peppermint creams, coconut ice and beautifully shaped and coloured marzipan fruits!

Probably the biggest surprise to those who know me is the fact that I was a very picky eater when I was very young, to the extent that my parents worried about me not eating enough and being malnourished!

Even though I’d already been exposed to a wide range of foods my parents recount how, when I first started school, they were called in to be told I was refusing to eat lunch as I said the smell made me feel sick. The staff suggested they take me home for lunch but my parents refused – they felt (rightly) that mixing with others at lunchtime was an important part of school routine. They knew I ate a good breakfast, a nourishing snack when I got home and a good cooked dinner. And they were right! Within a fortnight I started eating everything and eventually even told my mum that she didn’t cook cabbage like they did at school. I’d developed a taste for overboiled vegetables doused in gravy!

That picky eating phase didn’t last long and I grew to love all kinds of food from a young age.


Helen Yuet Ling Pang: What's your favourite dish that your mum made for you while you were growing up? And have you learnt how to make it yourself!

Even though we only ate Indian a couple of times a week I’d say my favourites are all Indian dishes such as mum’s lamb curry (with marrow in the bones that we would fight over and suck out with loud, satisfied slurps), home-made rotis and pooris, sheek kebabs with green chutney and home-made natural yoghurt (which had an incredible, extra-thick layer on top which we also fought over).

Luckily, my sister’s and my desire to learn how to cook these recipes is what, ultimately, lead to the creation of Mamta’s Kitchen, a website that’s now become a resource not just for my sister and I, or even our extended family, but for many people around the world. So, the answer is, yes I can now make most of mum’s wonderful dishes myself, though I’ve still not mastered rotis or pooris!


MidnightCowboy: What was your favourite school dinner

I generally liked a lot of what I ate at school but my favourite savoury dish would probably be a ridiculously cheesey cheese flan the dinner ladies at my senior school used to make. They made it in huge baking trays, each one must have been cut it into at least 16 generous slices – I always asked for one away for the edge to maximise the cheesey hit! Now I make my own quiches/ flans I have been able to recreate something similar.

Dessert wise, the same dinner ladies also made a killer chocolate tart. The chocolate topping was thick, sloppy rather than set and absolutely fantastic. Never come across anything like it since.

I also used to like rice pudding with a square of chocolate or dollop of jam in it!

Read More...

Summary only...

Hello and thanks for all the fish!

Just a quick post to say thank you to everyone who kindly contributed to the list of questions for me to answer in my Who Am I? post. The blog's 2-month anniversary (today) seemed a good time to introduce myself properly so I had intended to write the post on the weekend ready to post it today but there were so many (great) questions, it'll take me a lot longer than I thought!

Instead, I'll just take a moment to thank all of you who've been visiting my newbie blog, especially those of you who've taken the time to leave me comments - these are really encouraging to a new blogger and I appreciate every one of them!

Thank you too, to the food blogging community at large for encouragement, advice and information and a warm welcome into the fold.

Any opinions about the content I'm posting, ideas for future posts, tips and advice about content or layout are very welcome as are simple hellos so please do comment away!

Read More...

Summary only...

Who am I? Can you help?

As the 2 month anniversary of this blog fast approaches I think it's high time to introduce myself.

But rather than rambling away in my normal fashion I thought I'd ask my (trickle of) readers what you want to know about me?

Whether you're curious about what I ate growing up (being the daughter of Mamta of Mamta's Kitchen) or have questions about how my passions of food, travel and photography combine or want to know what my favourite (and most hated) foods are or would like me to share my cooking and restaurant top tips or simply want to know what I think about SPAM, please ask away.

Leave as many questions as you like in the comments to this post and I'll get thinking and writing soon!

Thanks!

Read More...

Summary only...