Dreaming about India

This blog post is extremely late and reminiscing about India is the reason to blame.  But as it’s India, we’ll let it off.  On the Saturday when I should have written this post, I was on a train zooming down to London for a meet up with my India roomie who was visiting the UK again from Canada.  The last time I saw Erin was 2 years ago so it was nice to make the trip again for a reunion.  In fact, the last time I met up with my India travel buddies, I was almost a stone heavier and a sugar junkie.  Things are very different now.  On the train down to London, instead of having a coffee and a flap jack, I had a coffee and a Satsuma and read my Hemsley Hemsley ‘The Art of Eating Well’ book and made a list of all the recipes I want to try over the summer holidays- there’s quite a few...

Our India reunions have had a similar pattern- meet up and head straight to Brick Lane (a cool, quirky and funky area of London dedicated to Indian restaurants) for a curry lunch, followed by a stroll around the vintage market nearby and then onto Covent Garden before getting the train home.

The conversation never stops and we always enjoy reminiscing about India, covering everything from the beauty of the Taj Mahal, the chaos of Jaipur, our wonderful fellow travellers and the dreaded Delhi Belly.

When I eat Indian food, I always tend to order the same thing: chicken korma, a peshwari nann, sometimes rice, though I don’t tend to now, sticking with just the nann bread instead since it’s all I need.  When I was in real India though, the food there was a whole different ball game to British curry. Half of the stuff on the menu I hadn’t heard of as most of the curries served in an Indian restaurant over here are British curries rather than coming from India.  Whilst in India though, I ate a total of 26 curries over the 2 week tour, keeping a list in my diary of everything I had tried!  

I also went vegetarian too for the two weeks as I was worried about getting sick from eating the meat as often in India, chicken is served still a little pinky which I wouldn’t risk eating over here let alone anywhere else. Also going veggie was nice for a change, just because the choices for vegetarians on menus over there is so vast!  I did have Delhi Belly, but was the only member of the group who didn’t spew.  India also had a massive effect on me too as a person and it was probably the trip where I finally nailed it with regards to who I was and finally feeling comfortable with myself. It had such an effect on me, that I even have the Om symbol tattooed on my wrist, just because it is such a beautiful reminder of my time there and what led me to India in the first place. Ironically, two years previously when I was travelling to Thailand, I did a quick stopover in Mumbai and vowed never to go to India as I didn't think it would be somewhere I would want to travel to alone. What a massive change of heart!

My om symbol!  The little peace sign  next to it represents San Francisco.

So, this week’s recipe is dedicated to my time in India. It is a vegetarian chickpea and spinach curry which I serve with brown rice, though I am going to try making cauliflower rice at some point over the summer holidays!

Spinach and chickpea curry

Ingredients:

A splash of olive/ coconut oil

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp fenugreek

1 tsp cardamom seeds

1 large onion (diced)

2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed

2 tins of chickpeas, drained

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

250g of spinach- though I just tend to shove the whole bag in because I love it that much!

1 pint of vegetable stock (you’ll need 2 stock cubes and will have a little leftover if you follow the packet instructions to make it)

Method:

1.        Heat the oil, add the spices and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes.

2.       Throw in your onion and garlic and continue to cook until the onion has softened.

3.       Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, spinach and stock.

4.       Bring to the boil and simmer for about half an hour, longer if needed.

5.       Serve with rice...or a peshwari nann which I promise you will give you a nann bread orgasm.

Any leftovers can be frozen and reheated, this dish is also gluten/ lactose free and a little vegetarian number.  

When it comes to Indian desserts, I know nothing about how to cook them.  However, if you do go to Brick Lane or anywhere that has a curry mile, have a look for the little sweetie shops selling the treats below, they are just beautiful and to die for!

Happy eating!!!!

Healthier pizza, bread and another soup recipe

I tried two new recipes the other weekend that I’d been meaning to cook for ages- a healthier version of pizza and a butternut squash and lentil soup.  The pizza was an eat clean version because the base was a wholemeal bread base; the soup was an eat clean recipe too but I adapted it so that it could be made in my soup maker rather than standing over a pan of boiling vegetables!

Pizza base:

This is a basic bread recipe.  You can make 4 pizza bases from it or could pop it into a bread tin to make your own bread that is wholemeal and free from preservatives.

Ingredients :

1 sachet of Aldi yeast (approx 7gm)

500g wholemeal flour

5 tablespoons olive oil

240ml warm water

A sprinkle of sea salt.

Method:

1.        Place the flour, yeast and salt in a bowl, then make a well in the middle.

2.       Pour the olive oil into the warm water, then add this mixture into the centre of you well.

3.       Begin mixing with a spoon and as a dough forms, get your mits in and start kneading and stretching the dough.

4.       Allow the dough to sit for 15 minutes in a warm place, covered with a towel before giving it a final knead. 

5.       Cut into 4 portions and roll out into your pizza bases.

6.       Place on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper.  Brush tomato puree onto the dough and top with whatever you fancy.  Peppers, mushrooms and sweet corn that have been fried in olive oil for a couple of minutes are delicious, as is goat’s cheese and baby spinach.

7.       Bake in a preheated oven (200°C) for around 25 minutes.  Check under the pizzas with a knife/ fish slice to see if they are cooked.

Bread- prepare and bake the dough in the same way.  You could also add some dried fruit like cranberries or apricots, dark chocolate chips or something more savoury- chopped sun dried tomatoes with parmesan cheese is amazing!  Tap the base of your bread to check if it’s done- it will sound hollow when it’s cooked through.

I did cheat whilst experimenting with the fruit and bought a bread mix from Aldi!  Also good, but will post a full bread recipe another time in case you want a larger loaf than what you will get out of the pizza dough recipe.

Wholemeal bread with apricots

Butternut squash and lentil soup

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced

1 stick of celery, diced

200g carrots, sliced

300g butternut squash, sliced

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon chilli powder

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

1 and a half pints of chicken/ vegetable stock

200g of tinned lentils, drained and rinsed

Salt to season, if needed.

Method:

1.       Chop all of your ingredients, place into the soup maker with the stock and select the smooth setting.  Serve immediately or freeze for lunches.

2.       If cooking from scratch, fry all of the vegetables (you may need extra as the measurements about are so they can fit into the soup maker) in a little olive oil until soft, add the stock and simmer until the vegetable are cooked.  Add the lentils and cook for another 5 minutes.  Blend the soup and serve.