I once wrote a book entitled "Voyaging on a Small Income" and the parts about provisioning and cooking proved very popular. "The Voyaging Vegetarian" would have followed, but so few people were then vegetarians that I thought no-one would publish it. Now many more people realise that eating dead animals is unkind and bad for the planet. I hope a blog, which I can update with new recipes, will work better than a book for liveaboards and aspiring voyagers, and those living simply in small spaces.
Back in the 80s, I wrote a book called "Voyaging on a Small Income", which was published and sold astonishingly well. It’s become almost a “classic” and is probably why you’ve found this site!
I’ve been living aboard and sailing since the 70s. Nine different boats have been home, sometimes for several months, sometimes for many years. I love the way of life, the small footprint and being close to Nature. I’m a great fan of junk rig and having extensive experience with both gaff and bermudian rig, I wouldn’t have any other sail on my boat. It’s ideal as a voyaging rig, but also perfect for the coastal sailing that I now do. I’d rather stay in New Zealand, not having to keep saying goodbye to friends, than go voyaging, these days.
Between 2015 and 2021, I built the 26ft "FanShi", the boat I now call home. For the last 45 years or so, my diet of choice has been vegetarian and is now almost vegan. I love cooking and particularly enjoy having only myself to please. I am combining all these interests (apart, perhaps, from junk rig!) in this blog. I hope you enjoy it. I also have other blogs: www.anniehill.blogspot.com and http://fanshiwanderingandwondering.wordpress.com
Put the chanadal in
the pressure cooker, together with the water and
turmeric, bring up to pressure and cook for 10 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.
Put the
cooker over a low flame and gently simmer the dal and courgette
until the latter starts to soften. 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 courgette lets
out a lot of moisture.
Now
make the tempering. Put a small frying pan over a medium heat and
add a glug of oil,
or a scoop of coconut oil.
When the oil is hot, add the cumin
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 greenchilli.
Cook until the onion becomes translucent.
Now add the chopped tomato
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.
Mix it in and cook of 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 can’t
get chana dal, then yellowsplitpeas 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, finelychopped instead of the paste
Use 1/2
tsp ginger, grated instead of paste.
Use a few
cherry tomatoes, halved, instead of the chopped tomato.
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 kidneybeans and their water
in a pressure cooker, together with the bulgur wheat, soyasauce and cocoa.
Bring to pressure and
cook as usual.
Meanwhile, heat the oliveoil in
another saucepan, add the onion and garlic and fry for
about 5 minutes until they’re softened.
Chop and add the greenpepper, lower the heat and cook for a few more minutes. Add
the chilli flakes, cumin,
smoked paprika andoregano 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 roughconditions,
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 reallyroughconditions, 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.