Bengali Five-Spice Blend - Panch Phoron

 Panch phoron is a spice blend used in Eastern India, in Bengali, Assamese, and Oriya cuisine and also in Bangladesh and Nepal. It is a blend of black mustard, nigella, fennel, fenugreek and brown cumin seeds and, really, it couldn’t be easier to make!

 

According from which region the blend is made, the five spices can be added in equal quantities or vary slightly. I make mine with equal quantities of mustard, fennel, cumin, and nigella seeds and half the amount of fenugreek seeds, which have a bitterness that can be a bit overwhelming for some people, although I love it. Panch phoron is typically fried in hot oil, which causes the spices to start popping to release the flavours and temper the oil.

 

This spice blend is worth having to hand when you are in a bit of a hurry and want something that tastes good, but without putting in too much effort. Make a simple dal or vegetable dish, by frying the usual garlic, ginger and diced green chilli together, with a chopped onion, if you want. Then add the dal/vegetables and cook to your taste. You can then fry a tsp of panch phoron in some oil and add this tempering to the dal or vegetable dish before serving.

 

Makes about 3 tablespoons

 

Ingredients

 

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp fennel seeds

2 tsp black mustard seeds

2 tsp nigella seeds

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

 

 Combine the whole spices and store in an airtight container.

 

Carrot Pulao

A lot of dals and curries are made without any additional vegetables apart from garlic, onions and chilli.    While the myriad vegetable side dishes that exist in Indian cooking, are both delicious and fun to make, if I want to have rice, I often don’t want to have another pan to wash up, or have to make smaller portions of each dish, so that I don’t end up with too much food.    I usually make enough for two meals, and eat the leftovers for breakfast (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!), but I don’t like having the same dinner two nights on the run.    The solution to this issue is to make a pulao that also contains vegetables.

Carrots are an epic voyaging vegetable, particularly if you can buy them from a market or greengrocer, unscrubbed and unrefrigerated.    While no doubt many voyagers would make a carrot and cabbage salad to go with curry, I confess to preferring both carrots and cabbage cooked rather than raw.    Grated carrots and shredded carrots do, however, use less of your precious provisions if you are trying to eke them out over a long passage.

 I came to make this, one night in summer, thinking that I wasn't particularly hungry (I often lose my usually-healthy appetite in very hot weather).  Just as I had opened the recipe, I suddenly realised that I was hungry and decided to add some lentils to the mix.  I put 1/2 cup of lentils into the pan; 10 minutes later I added the rice and 10 minutes after that, the chopped carrot.  Then followed the recipe as shown below.  I have to say it was delicious and satisfying - if not particularly authentic!!

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown basmati rice

1 large or 2 small carrots, grated or diced

4 tsp ghee, coconut or vegetable oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

Indian bay leaf (or some diced, salted lime)

20 cashew nuts (or equivalent if yours are broken)

1 small onion, finely chopped/

4 green chillis, slit lengthwise or diced*

1/2 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

Instructions:

• Cook the basmati rice in a cup of salted water. If you are using diced carrots, add these after about ten minutes.
• Add a tsp of ghee or oil to a frying pan and heat it over a high flame.
• Add the mustard seeds, cumin, bay leaf (or lime) and heat until they sizzle and pop.
• Now, add the cashews and fry them for a few minutes.
• Once the cashews turn golden brown, add the chopped onion and green chillis. Reduce the heat and fry until the onion turns translucent.
• If you are using grated carrot, add this and fry for a minute until it shrinks and changes in colour.
• When the carrot is cooked, add turmeric and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly.
• Now add the cooked rice (and cooked, diced carrot).
• Mix again gently, and cook for another minute.

Serve this carrot pilau with dal or curry. You can also serve it for a light meal with yoghurt  or raita, if you like.  Pappadoms also go well.

Note:

• * use fewer chillies if you think four seems a bit excessive.

Sun-dried tomato pesto

 

Blender alert

 

I love sun-dried tomato pesto: it has a rich and intense flavour, softened by the nuts. It makes an excellent spread, is a superb grown-up substitute for tomato ketchup and I like to use it as a base for frying pan pizza. As long as you have a blender, it’s also easy to make, but I'm afraid that in this case, the blender is a necessity.

 

Most pesto recipes, including those based on tomatoes, call for fresh basil, but all too often, this is inappropriate for a voyaging boat. It’s usually relatively expensive, it doesn’t keep well, even if you have a fridge and a ‘bunch’ of basil is not very quantifiable. Moreover, this is only something that is available when you have frequent access to shops. I add a teaspoon of dried basil to this pesto, but if you feel it tastes wrong, you can leave it out altogether! Or add more if you wish. Or even add fresh basil should you be lucky enough to have some. But this is intended as a voyaging recipe that you can make from ingredients that you have in your lockers.  

 

Makes about 1 cup

 

Ingredients

 

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil, including oil

1 clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp vinegar or lemon juice*

salt and pepper

water

 

Instructions

• I suggest whizzing up the sunflower seeds first. This way you can chop them to the extent that you want. They are unlikely to get pulverised, once you’ve added the tomatoes.
• Once the sunflower seeds are chopped up, add the tomatoes, garlic, nutritional yeast, basil and vinegar. Blend to a chunky consistency. 
• Now carefully separate the blender and taste. Add more vinegar if you think it’s required.  
• Check the saltiness - some sun-dried tomatoes are much saltier than others - and adjust, then add a good grinding of pepper. If the pesto seems too thick - and it probably will - add some water. Blend and check the consistency again (you might be able to do this simply by shaking the goblet), leaving it chunky or making it smooth, as you wish. You may need to add water several times some tomatoes seem denser than others.

Decant it into a glass jar, for preference. Use it more as a condiment than a dip - it’s quite strongly flavoured. However, it would make a brilliant pâté, mashed with some white beans.

 

Notes:

• Theoretically, this should be kept in the fridge, but I’ve found that as all the ingredients keep without refrigeration, so they do when they are combined! However, don’t keep it too long in a warm climate, because the oil may turn rancid.
• Add more garlic if you like it to be more emphatic
• With the sundried tomatoes I normally buy, I need at least 1/4 tsp salt.

Variations:

• Be aware that some sun-dried tomatoes in oil have vinegar already added, so taste them first to make sure you don't overpower your pesto with the taste.
• Try adding a few chilli flakes if you’re fond of them
• Capers would also go well in this pesto
• If you’re feeling wealthy, use pinenuts instead of the sunflower seeds. Or any other nut or seed that takes your fancy.

Broccoli sauce with walnuts and lemon

Blender alert (see Note)

This creamy broccoli sauce is perfect for pasta, and so easy to make. Whizzed together with walnuts and seasonings, it is both surprisingly satisfying and creamy. The first time I cooked it, my reaction was that it was hard to believe that it was dairy free.  Broccoli is by no means a voyaging vegetable, because it keeps so poorly, but it is readily available in many places. This recipe is a particularly good way of using up broccoli, when has started to turn yellow and it's great if you haven't been able to use up the stalk.

I like to serve it with spaghetti, but I think it would go well with most varieties of pasta.

 

Serves 2 

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 broccoli

1/3 cup walnuts

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp onion powder

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp nutritionalyeast

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

 

Instructions:

• Add about half a cup of water to a saucepan and bring it to the boil.
• Cut the broccoli into florets, and cut off the woody end. Peel the thick skin from the stalk and slice the stalk. (You can use a peeler, if you wish, but I find that you can loosen the skin from the base of the stalk and simply tear it off with your knife blade.) Boil the broccoli and stalk for 4-5 minutes until just soft.
• Remove from the pan, reserving the cooking water, and tip it into a blender or food processor.
• Add the walnuts, garlic, onion powder, lemon and olive oil to the blender with the broccoli and whizz them together until they form a smooth paste.
• Season generously with salt and pepper, then add a little of the cooking water, whizz again, and continue adding more water until it reaches a sauce-like consistency.  Check the seasoning, once the sauce is the thickness you want..
• In the meantime, cook your pasta of choice according to the instructions on the package. You can use some of the pasta water in the sauce to thin it to the correct consistency, if necessary.

Serve the sauce piping hot with the pasta, with more black pepper ground over it.

 

Note:

• If you don’t have a blender, you can still make this into a delicious sauce, but of course it won’t be as creamy.

Variations:

• Leave out the salt and/or lemon juice and add some salted lemon at the blender stage.
• Add freshly-grated nutmeg just before serving.
• instead of blending in the walnuts, chop them, to add additional texture to the sauce.
• Instead of using onion powder, chop a small onion and cook it with the broccoli.
• Rather than using this as a pasta sauce, pour it over vegetables or any main course dish.

Tomato chutney

While this is a traditional Indian chutney, it is very adaptable to western ideas and you can use it as a base for a sauce, a dip for for stuffing vegetables. Or even as an extremely inauthentic pizza base! I think it goes very well with Lentil flatbreads for a light lunch or with sundowners. Unlike ‘chutney’ as most British people would think of it, this is not a preserve, although it will keep quite well for several days.

 

Ingredients

 

1 tsp coconut oil, mustard oil or other oil of choice

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp fennel seeds

a generous pinch of asafoetida)

2 tsp finely chopped ginger or ginger paste

3 or 4 cloves finely chopped garlic or 2 tsp garlic paste

1 green chilli chopped

1 small onion, chopped (optional)

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/4 tsp salt or to taste

1/4 tsp black salt (kala namak)

1/2 tsp Kasmiri chilli powder, to taste

 

Method:

• In a medium pan, add the oil and heat on a medium flame.
• Once hot, add mustard and cumin seeds and let them crackle.
• Add asafoetida and fennel seeds, and mix for a few seconds.
• Add ginger, garlic, green chilli and optional onion and cook on medium, stirring occasionally, until the onion is golden and/or the mixture smells fragrant.
• Add turmeric and ground coriander and mix well.
• Add tomatoes and salt and cook on low-medium heat, covered, until tomatoes are completely softened.
• Adjust salt and spice. Add black salt and chilli powder to taste. Mix well.

You can continue to cook this chutney down to a thicker consistency or add a little water to make it thinner, depending on what you are serving the chutney with. I like to cook it over a low heat, covered, to make a very thick sauce.

Notes:

• For those who don’t have some of the more unusual curry spices on board, you can leave out the mustard seeds and asafoetida. Use ordinary salt in place of the kala namak and 1/4 tsp chilli flakes as a substitute for the Kashmiri chilli (a mild and very red, Indian chilli powder). You could use 1/2 tsp paprika to enhance the colour of the chutney.
• If the pieces of onion or tomato skins seem too intrusive, you could try mashing the chutney, or give it a few seconds in a blender.  Be careful, however: you don't want it to end up as a purée!

Annie's English sausage seasoning

 

This is a very well-flavoured, spicy blend to add to sausages, using whatever recipe you like.  It is based on several recipes for Cumberland sauasage, a popular English variety and native to the next county I grew up in.  It makes for an astonishingly authentic taste in sausages that are entirely innocent of meat. 

Makes enough for about 60 sausages, or 20 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground mace

2 1/2 tbsp salt

2 tbsp black pepper

2 tbsp rubbed sage 

2 tsp onion powder

 1/4 tsp ground ginger

2 1/4 tsp thyme

3/4 tsp cayenne

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

• If you don’t have ground nutmeg or mace (which don’t keep well ready-ground) grind up about 1/2 a nutmeg in a mortar or blender. Remove 1 1/2 tsp and add to a bowl.
• Take several blades of mace, grind to a powder, remove 1 tsp and add to the nutmeg.
• Now add all the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Put into a glass jar and keep as cool and dark as feasible.

Add 1/2 tsp of seasoning per 6“ sausage

Aubergine, spinach and tomato casserole

I invented this dish in Trinidad, where one of the shops had a very limited supply of fresh vegetables, but they nearly always included wonderful aubergines and beautiful, local spinach. You had to buy large quantities of both, so I would cook half the spinach in a recipe one day, followed by spinach and aubergine the next day, finishing up with aubergine alone on the third. This is the recipe I invented for day two!

I can’t really give a measurement for spinach. So often you have to buy it as is: by the bunch, already tied up, or by the bag, which frequently doesn’t mention the weight. If it includes the roots, there will be more wastage than, say, baby spinach. Put it this way: a huge amount of spinach disappears into very little. For two people you would probably want as much as would fit in a 3 litre (3 quart) bowl, before it’s washed and chopped. If the spinach still has its roots on, it will want very thorough washing. Sea water is fine for this, as long as it’s clean. Give the spinach a really good shake and wait until the meal is just about cooked before adding any more salt.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil

1 aubergine

1 tsp oregano

6 juniper berries

400 g/14 oz can tomatoes

spinach, well washed

grated cheese

• Chop the onion, dice the garlic and fry them in the olive oil for five minutes.
• Meanwhile, chop the aubergine into chunky pieces.
• When the onion is softened, add the aubergine and stir it round until most of it is coated in oil. (Aubergine is like blotting paper, so don’t worry too much about getting it evenly distributed.) Turn down the heat, cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the aubergine is soft.
• Add the oregano; crush or chop the juniper berries and add these. Pour in the tomatoes, roughly chopping them with your spoon. Roughly chop the spinach and add this. Cover and cook for a further 5 minutes.
• Take the lid off and stir everything around so that it’s all mixed together. Smooth the top and sprinkle with the grated cheese. Turn the heat right down, insert a flame tamer and cook gently until the cheese has melted.

Serve with pasta or potatoes.

Notes:

• If you can lay hands on it, vegan cheese is fine for this. It’s also good with my 'Parmegan cheese', even though that doesn’t melt. Either put it on before serving, or add it at the table. Or both! 
• A green such as chard would substitute for the spinach, but kale and cabbage would take too much cooking. If you don’t have soft greens, serve a vegetable on the side.

 

Vegan "scrambled eggs'

 

No tofu; no chickpea flour

Blender Alert (but there is a possible suggestion in the Notes if you don’t have one).

I really love scrambled eggs for breakfast, and since I became vegan, they are something I miss.  However, there are many reasons for the ethical vegetarian not to eat eggs, so I rarely buy them.  I have been working on this recipe for scramblers for some time.  What I wanted to achieve is something with a similar appearance, colour and texture as the Real Thing, which to my mind is soft and barely set.  All the vegan recipes I’ve tried produce a very dry, rather rubbery result.  I’ve never tried making it with silky tofu – I can’t buy it locally, and when I get to a larger town where it’s available, it comes in packs that are too big for me to use.  I’m prepared to eat a lot of failed experiments in search of the Ideal Recipe, but I’m not prepared to waste food!  Besides, how many voyagers are going easily to be able to buy silky tofu or are likely to have it on board? This recipe comes from ingredients that you are likely to have in your lockers.

Veganism is still a fringe way of living, especially away from the Western world (although of course many people are vegan without even thinking about it!), so in all these recipes, I am trying to avoid branded or really weird ingredients, which might well be expensive and/or unavailable to the average voyager.  If you’re interested, see the notes below for a discussion as to how and why I’ve chosen these particular ingredients and some substitutes.  I am sure this recipe can be improved, so please leave a comment if you have a suggestion.

 

I can see an argument for mixing all the dry ingredients together in quantity and keeping a supply in a jar, so that you can make this more quickly: just add water!

Serves 2

1/2 cup blanched peanuts

1 cup water, divided

4 tsp tapioca flour

2 tsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp black salt

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp garlic granules OR 1 large clove, roughly chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

• Put the peanuts into the blender and whizz them into a coarse meal. 
• Now add 1/2 cup water, the flour, nutritional yeast, black salt, turmeric, garlic and olive oil.   
• Blend quickly - you don’t want to pulverise the peanuts: this gives the scramblers some texture.
• Scrape the contents into a small saucepan and rinse out the blender with another 1/2 cup of water (put it back together and give it a good shake) and pour this into the pan. This is the easiest way to make sure everything goes in the pan!
• Heat the mixture over a moderate flame and stir regularly until the mix is hot and starting to thicken. Turn the heat right down, continue stirring occasionally, taste and season with a generous amount of black pepper and more salt if you think it needs it.    Add some more water if it is getting too thick.

Serve hot on fried bread or toast, or with fried tomatoes, mushrooms, etc as part of a cooked breakfast.

Notes:

• Blanched peanuts are cheap; they are also better for both workers and the planet than cashews, which would be most people’s choice.  Peanuts require much less water than most nuts, they are nitrogen-fixing and their preparation doesn’t generally exploit low wage-people working in poor conditions.  I don’t understand why they aren’t used more often. However, use cashews if you prefer them or can’t get peanuts.
• Tapioca flour doesn’t seem to need cooking the same way as cornflour, once it starts to thicken, which is why I suggest it.  Uncooked cornflour has a definite taste and sensation to it.  Using a little flour creates a more convincing texture as does the slight ‘stretchiness’ of the tapioca flour.
• The small amount of nutritional yeast does, I think, improve the flavour, but you could leave it out if you don’t have any.
• The black salt is to give the sulphur scent that eggs have.  Don’t use it with a heavy hand and if you like your scramblers more salty than the recipe, add some more normal salt. Again, you could leave it out, but the result will be a less convincing substitute for eggs.
• The turmeric is necessary for colour: again, use a light touch – it’s a powerful dye! This amount makes the scramblers a light yellow.
• I love a little bit of garlic in my scramblers. Leave it out or substitute 1/2 tsp onion powder if you can’t face garlic at breakfast. Neither is crucial.
• If you don’t have a blender, this might work with 1/2 cup ground almonds, but they have a much stronger flavour than peanuts.

Aubergine, with pesto and pasta

Gluten free with the appropriate pasta

 

This recipe is very freely adapted from one of Jamie Oliver’s. Firstly I tweaked it so that it just made one serving, then I tweaked it again for this blog to serve two, and then I adapted it for a voyaging locker, which probably doesn’t include fresh basil, but might and, I now believe should, include a jar of pesto.

Before going any further, not all jars of pesto are created equal. Some contain a ghastly green puree, while others look like something you’d be quite proud to make yourself and have a delightful texture, just like the Real Thing. When I first came across jars of pesto, I was inclined to believe what it said on the label about having to be kept refrigerated. However, my local supermarket sells small jars at a very reasonable price and as I wanted to try out different recipes for calzone, I thought I’d probably get through the jar quite quickly, anyway. I used most of it and then out of curiosity, left the near-empty jar in my locker. it kept for months.

I was also surprised how good it tasted: the one that looked the best value, “Pam’s” is not an expensive brand, so therefore there wasn’t much chance of it being made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, pine nuts or Pecorino cheese - all of which would be found in a traditional pesto. In fact the ingredients were canola oil, 35% basil, sunflower seeds, cheese (unspecified), garlic, sugar :-(, salt and natural flavours, so it’s rather surprising that it does taste so good, which implies that the best part of the pesto is the basil. My “Pam’s” Pesto also included three e-numbers in the ingredient list: E202 - potassium sorbate, E270 - lactic acid and E300 - ascorbic acid, and I thought that before suggesting that others put it in their lockers, I should see what these were. I had a look online and even the most hysterical of ‘health-food’ sites seemed pretty chilled about lactic and ascorbic acid. There was a bit more tooth sucking about potassium sorbate, although it is derived from sorbic acid, which occurs naturally in rowan berries. It is very commonly used in all sorts of food production and the worst that anyone had to say about it was that if it is consumed in high doses during pregnancy, it might effect the DNA. Personally, I feel quite happy about my jar of pesto: my only genuine reservation is that it contains cheese, and I prefer to eat a vegan diet. The reason I’m rabbiting on about this is because fresh basil doesn’t keep well at all - even if you have a fridge and for something like this recipe, you wouldn’t want more than a quarter of a cup, which wouldn’t use up a whole bunch. However, by all means make your own pesto if you prefer!

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 large or 2 small aubergine

olive oil

salt

4 tbsp pesto

Pecorino cheese or "Parmegan"

pasta spirals or similar

6 cherry tomatoes

black pepper

• Cut the aubergine in half. Rub it – particularly the flesh, with oil and put it on a well-oiled baking sheet. Roast it at 180° for 35 mins. Or cook it in the pressure cooker until it’s tender, cut it in half and briefly fry it in a little oil so that the flesh is lightly browned.
• While it’s cooking, cut the tomatoes in half. The original recipe says to remove the seeds, but I don’t bother. Then cut them into fine dice.
• When the aubergine is thoroughly soft, let it cool and scoop out the flesh. Chop it all up, put it into a bowl and keep warm.
• Pour the pesto over the aubergine and mix it all up. Add olive oil for taste and texture.
• Now add a little bit of cheese.
• As soon as the pasta is ready, add some of the water to the aubergines so that you have a saucy consistency.
• Mix in the tomatoes.  Grind plenty of black pepper over it.
  
• Tip in the drained pasta and serve.

Pass round extra cheese, and maybe pine nuts, chopped almonds - or sunflower seeds at the table.

Notes:

• If you have fresh basil, some leaves would be a lovely addition when the pasta is served.
• I like aubergine skin, so I generally just dice the aubergine and mix it with the pesto.
• This isn’t particularly filling, so you might want to increase the pasta from what you normally would cook, or serve it with bread, or maybe even add some cooked white beans or chickpeas to the aubergine sauce.

Chana dal with courgettes

 

Edit   I made this the other night and found it rather bland, so decided to alter the recipe.  However, I then thought that this is actually a very good introductory curry for people who don't like their food too 'hot' or are a bit cautious about the whole concept of curry.  Therefore, I've decided to insert the additional ingredients in italics, so that you can decide whether or not to add them yourself.  The only really 'hot' addition would be chilli powder.

 

Chana dal are split white chickpeas and look very similar to yellow split peas. I've seen various ways of cooking this curry, some of which appear to have the chana dal served very firm. This one cooks them to a tender state; because it uses a pressure cooker, it also requires less time and fuel. This is a good curry for someone who wants to start out with ‛authentic’ curries, because there aren’t many spices and the only one that you're unlikely already to have in your lockers is asafoetida; on the other hand, you're not likely to find the recipe in most Western food blogs.

 

Courgettes/zucchini can sometimes present a problem for voyagers. In places where they’re grown, you are likely to be offered them frequently. When they're very fresh, they'll keep for days or even a fortnight without refrigeration, which is just as well, because a generous gift of courgettes will take up a lot of room in any fridge. I have on occasion, been swamped with them and I like this recipe, because you can use up your surplus of courgettes without requiring other vegetables for the recipe. If you are really swamped with them, you can make a courgette curry, without the dal and just use as many courgettes as you think will suffice for a full, main course!  Chana dal goes very well with the courgette: the different textures complement one another. If you're trying to use up your courgettes, you can add more than is recommended in the recipe, but remember that they produce a lot of moisture, so use the minimum with your dal when you cook it (ie 2:1 water to dal by volume). The end result is an attractively colourful dal, with the green courgette and the red tomatoes a pretty contrast to the yellow dal.  However, if you don’t want to use fresh tomatoes, or part of a tin, you can add purée to get the flavour.

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup chana dal

1 cup water

1/8 tsp ground turmeric

1 medium courgette, cut into half moons

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder or 1/8 tsp cayenne

1 tbsp oil/ghee/coconut oil

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

pinch asafoetida (omit if GF)

1/2 tsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp ginger paste

1 green chilli, minced

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped (or I whole canned)

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves

Method:

• Put the chana dal in the pressure cooker, together with the water and turmeric, bring up to pressure and cook for 7 minutes. Reduce pressure naturally.
• Once you can take the lid off, add the courgette and salt. If the dal is very dry, add a couple of tablespoons of water.
  
• Cover the cooker and put it over a low flame and gently simmer the dal and courgette until the latter starts to soften, at which stage you can remove the lid, because by then the courgettes will have exuded their juices. Now add the chilli powder. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t overcook – you still want a bit of texture in it. Add more water, if you think it needs it, but usually the courgettes let out a lot of moisture.  (If you want the courgette to be a bit softer, just replace the lid and bring the cooker back up to pressure.  Immediately remove it from the heat and let it lose pressure naturally.)
  
• Make the tempering. Put a small frying pan over a medium heat and add a glug of oil or a scoop of ghee or coconut oil.
  
• When the oil is hot, add the cumin and mustard seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds. (If you’re not sure the oil is sufficiently hot, just put a few in the pan first.)
• Now add the asafoetida and the onion - don’t let the asafoetida burn.
• Cook for about a minute and then add the ginger, garlic and green chilli. Cook until the onion becomes translucent.
• Now add the chopped tomato and coriander and cook for a further couple of minutes.
• By now the courgette should have softened. Check the texture, taste to see there is sufficient salt and then pour in the tempering. Add the dried fenugreek leaves.
  
• Carefully, mix everything, ensuring you neither mash the chana nor break up the courgette,  and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

Traditionally, this curry is served with roti or naan, but you can serve it with rice if you’d rather.

Notes:

• If you don't have chana dal, then yellow split peas will work fine. They may cook a little more quickly, so it’s probably worth letting the pressure off after 5 minutes and checking them.
• Use 1 clove garlic, finely chopped instead of the paste
• Use 1/2 tsp ginger, grated instead of paste.
• Use a few cherry tomatoes, halved, instead of the chopped tomato, or, as suggested in the intro, 1 tbsp tomato purée.
  

Leek and potato soup

 

This is a really good, hearty soup and completely different from its cousin Vichyssoise, which is served chilled. See in Variations. I think it needs plenty of potato to give it body. Some people like it puréed to a velouté, some people prefer it hearty and chunky. I prefer it half way between the two, but unless you go for totally puréed, you really to have to be sure that the potatoes are of a floury variety. Chunks of potato really don’t complement the smoothness of the leeks. I don’t peel the potatoes, but again that’s a personal choice. You can add milk of any type. Some people like to swirl in cream, at the end, but I would only want to do tat when having the soup as a starter. Sour cream is better – otherwise the result can be a bit cloying.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

Serves 4 for a starter, 2 for a main course

Ingredients

1 large or 3 small leeks

2 large tbsp butter or olive oil

salt

2 large, floury potatoes

4 cups mushroom stock, or water

1 cup milk

coarsely ground black pepper

Method:

• Trim the discoloured top off the leek(s). If the leeks are very dirty, slit them in half or quarters from the top down towards to root end, and swirl around in plenty of water until clean. Otherwise, you will probably find the dirt is only in the lower part of the green leaves and the upper part of the white, in which case you can just slice that part out and wash it separately.
• If you want to garnish the soup with crispy, fried leek tops (see Variations) cut off about 30 mm/1 inch of the green top, slice very thinly and set aside.
• Now, take your clean leek and chop it.
• Heat the butter/oil in your pressure cooker and add the leek. Sprinkle with about 1/4 tsp salt to help it soften and fry until the pieces are soft and silky in texture. If you wish, you can remove a couple of spoonfuls and set aside, to add at the end for additional texture.
• Cut the potato into cubes, skin and all. Add to the pan and sauté for another couple of minutes, then add the stock or water. Bring up to pressure and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Let the pressure reduce at room temperature.
• Allow to cool slightly and then add the milk.  Mash, or purée to the required consistency. Season to taste: the saltiness will depend on whether you have used seawater and/or stock, and then grind over lots of black pepper and stir in the reserved leeks, if you’re using them.  Reheat until piping hot and serve.
  

For a full meal, serve with fresh bread.

Variations:

• garnish with 4 tbsp sour cream
• garnish with 4 tbsp chopped chives
• garnish with crisp green leek tops, heat a frying pan, with a good glug of oil over a medium-high heat. Drop in a piece of leek, and when it bubbles and floats to the surface, add the rest and fry for a couple of minutes, until they go crisp but still maintain some of their colour. Remove with a slotted spoon
• For Vichyssoise, which really needs to be served chilled, use half the potatoes and equal amounts of milk and water. When the soup is cooked, mash it or blend it smoothly – it’s supposed to be a velvety purée – and then chill it on ice or in a fridge, if you have such a thing. Serve with cream. This looks particularly attractive if it’s swirled on top of the soup.

Pav Bhaji spice blend

 

Blender Alert

Pav Bhaji is a popular Indian street food and is usually made in huge pans. Pav means “a small bun,” while bhaji means “vegetable.” The spice blend used to make the vegetable stew is different from the usual garam masala (or curry powder!) and has sour and sweet notes. The black peppercorns add a background heat, and the other spices add glorious scent and flavours to the blend. It can be used on any vegetable side dish or you could experiment with adding it to vegetable curry.

Makes about 1/4 cup 

Ingredients

4 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

4 whole black cardamoms or use whole green cardamoms

4 cloves

1/2 to 3/4 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp ground cinnamon (not cassia)

3 tsp dry mango powder/amchar

Method: 

• Heat a large skillet over medium heat. 
• Add coriander, cumin, fennel, cardamoms, cloves, chill flakes and peppercorns and dry roast for a couple of minutes, until the coriander and fennel seeds start to change colour.  Cool slightly and transfer to a spice grinder.
• Add the cinnamon and mango powder and grind the ingredients to a powder.  Transfer to an airtight container and store in the proverbial cool, dark space.  A glass jar is better for blended spices.

 

Chilli sin carne

 

This is one of the first recipes I ever cooked and it was pretty exotic for an English girl in the mid 70s!  The photo above, shows it served with kumara/sweet potatoes: I'd never heard of either back then!  Nowadays, in one form or another, it’s a standard for both omnivores and vegetarians. People make all sort of punning and witty names for the vegetarian version, but surely chilli sin carne is the obvious version - chilli without meat!  I have tweaked the recipe over the years and now have something that everyone seems to really enjoy. Full of flavour, with a nice lift of chilli, warming and filling, it is wonderfully welcome on a cold, damp evening. Moreover this recipe is one that can be cooked in just about any conditions at sea – and I have done so. You can eat it with bread, rice, pasta, polenta, potatoes sweet or otherwise and no doubt many other things.  

With fried yams

If you aren’t used to ‛spicy’ foods, ie, chilli, you might want to go easy on the chilli flakes. If you like more spice, swop out the flakes for cayenne pepper.

Everyone, I’m sure, has their own version of this dish and mine is less authentic than most. The bulgur wheat makes a fine substitute for mince, while keeping the dish looking similar. I add some cocoa, which darkens the sauce and adds what I fondly believe to be ‘that South American touch’. In defence of my creation, I will say that everyone seems to enjoy it.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup red kidney beans, soaked in 1½ cups water

1/4 cup bulgur wheat

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp cocoa

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, diced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 green pepper

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp oregano

400 g/14 oz can chopped tomatoes, OR 3 fresh tomatoes OR 4 tbsp tomato purée

salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Put the soaked kidney beans and their water in a pressure cooker, together with the bulgur wheat, soya sauce and cocoa. 
• Bring to pressure and cook as usual.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in another saucepan, add the onion and garlic and fry for about 5 minutes until they’re softened.
• Chop and add the green pepper, lower the heat and cook for a few more minutes. Add the chilli flakes, cumin, smoked paprika and oregano and stir until they are well mixed in.
• Stir in the tomatoes and lower the heat. If you're using tomato purée add and extra ¼ cup of water.  Bring to the boil and then simmer over a low heat.
  
• When the beans are cooked, add them to the saucepan. Stir gently to combine and season carefully with salt and a generous grind of pepper.
• Simmer until the sauce has thickened to the consistency you want and the flavours have have combined – at least ten minutes.

Serve hot.  I like chilli best, served over ‛baked’ (ie, cooked whole in the pressure cooker) and split kumara (sweet potatoes). But it also goes well with bread, rice, pasta, polenta and quinoa. I have never tried it with potatoes, but am sure it would go well with them in just about any form.

Note:

• Chilli is one of those meals that improves with keeping, so you can make it earlier in the day if you feel like it, or if you’re making it for company. Re-heat it very gently to prevent it burning and add a little more water if necessary.

With polenta

 Variations: 

• In rough conditions, fry the vegetables in the pressure cooker, add the kidney beans, the water, bulgur wheat, soya sauce, cocoa, oregano and spices, cover and bring up to pressure. Let the pressure reduce gradually while cooking pasta in another pan. Add the tomatoes and seasoning after the pressure has reduced.
• In really rough conditions, Just dump everything into the pressure cooker, along with a further cup of water and 1/2 cup rice. Bring up to pressure and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce pressure naturally.
• As an alternative to using rice, dump all the chilli ingredients into the pressure cooker, stir well to mix them all together and then put some kumara (sweet potatoes) on top. If they are small ones, you will need to handle them with care because they will be very soft after all that cooking, but still delicious.
• You can substitute TVP for the bulgur wheat. If you do, fry it with the onions and garlic and add some extra water when you tip in the beans./Substitute 1/4 cup whole lentils for the bulgur wheat.
• If you're making 4 servings, the one can of tomatoes will suffice. You may need to add more water to stop the sauce getting too thick.
• Use red pepper if you don’t have green.
• This also works well with black beans.
• Leftovers can be used to fill empanadas.
  

Mushrooms and Brussels sprouts with creamy hemp sauce

Blender Alert

I love Brussels sprouts and it always seems a bit of a shame to use them as an addition on the side rather than star of the show. They go very well with mushrooms and mixed with this thick hemp sauce, shine in a really good combination to go with pasta.

Hemp seeds, aka hemp hearts

Hemp seeds, also known as hemp hearts, are one of the latest wonder foods, but I particularly like them for making vegan milk and a cream for cooking, because there’s no need to soak them first. Hemp is also a very low-impact crop to grow, requiring little water and no fertiliser; it doesn’t have to be grown in the tropics and processing the seeds doesn’t mean (generally) women are using caustic chemicals, often with inadequate protection, so we should certainly use it in preference to cashew nuts. To serve, linguine, or fettuccine are my choice.

Unfortunately, you really do need a blender or this sauce, although, of course, you could take the concept and use some other form of cream.

Serves 2

Ingredients

olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 medium onion, diced

200 ml water

1/2 cup hemp seeds

1/2 tsp mushroom stock powder

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp salt

generous grind black pepper

2 cups Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

6 or 8 button mushrooms, thickly sliced

fettucine or linguine – about 25mm/1” dia. stacked on end

Parmesan cheese to serve

Method

• Heat some olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook for a couple of minutes, until the onions become translucent. Remove from heat.
• Now add the cooked onion and garlic to a blender, together with the water, hemp hearts, stock powder (if using), nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Blend for a minute or so to make a smooth and creamy sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• Put some more oil in the saucepan, and add the Brussels sprouts and cook for a few minutes, until they start to brown on the edges.
• Meanwhile, add water to another saucepan and bring to the boil for the pasta. When it’s boiling, cook the pasta as usual.
• Now add the mushrooms to the sprouts and fry for a few more minutes, stirring frequently, until they are browned. A pinch of salt might help here.
• Lower the heat and add the prepared sauce to the vegetables and stir to combine. Gently cook the sauce until it’s thick. When the pasta is cooked, add it to the pan, saving the pasta water, into a jug. Use some of this water to rinse out the blender and add to the pan.
• Cook the sauce a little longer: if it seems too thick, add more of the pasta water.

Serve immediately with extra hemp seeds and/or Parmesan or vegan "Parmesan" cheese.

Notes:

• The pasta sauce will thicken quickly once heated. Keep a close eye on it. If it is too thick, add extra pasta water to loosen it up.

Variations:

• You could use other vegetables, such as asparagus, green beans, mange-tout peas, etc instead of the Brussels sprouts. But the latter are particularly good!

• One alternative I would recommend is broccoli, but cut it into very small florets, the same size as half a sprout, otherwise the sauce won’t coat everything evenly.
• Substitute dried mushrooms for fresh, if these are unavailable.