Potato & pea curry

An amazing recipe by my friend Dipti Mathur. I finally decided to have a go at making my first curry. My friend started me off with a straightforward recipe, it required a trip to an Indian shop to get all the ingredients, but the cooking process was fairly easy.
 

Ingredients for 4 large portions:

6 large potatoes
1 small bowl of frozen green peas
3 large onions
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 star anise
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
2 bay leaves
3 cardamom pods
1 tsp asafoetida
3 garlic cloves
1 knob chopped ginger (or 1 teaspoon ginger paste)
3 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp garam masala
half a bunch of freshly chopped coriander
fresh chopped chillies or chilli powder
vegetable oil
salt

Peel, steam/boil and cut 6 large potatoes (don't let them get too soft as they will cook more in the curry). Heat up some oil in a large wok (3 tbsp minimum), add the star anise, cumin seeds, cloves, bay leaves, cardamom pods and asafoetida. Once the cumin seeds have turned brown, add the onions and fry till golden brown. Add the chopped garlic and ginger, coriander powder, paprika, turmeric, tomatoes and a bit of salt to taste. When the oil starts to separate (it won't if you use a small amount of oil), add the potatoes, frozen peas and desired amount of chilli/chilli powder. Add the chopped coriander and garam masala and cook for ten minutes on medium heat. Add water if needed. Serve by itself or with basmati rice.

 

Tip: curries always taste better after a few hours/the next day.

Low fat parsnip crisps

Homemade vegetable crisps make a perfect healthy snack, as I have recently learnt. No need to worry about calories or fat as you know exactly how much oil, salt etc you put in. And you can use any oil you want, I tried extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients (for 1 small bowl):

1 large parsnip
1 - 2 teaspoons olive oil
sea salt & freshly ground pepper
dash of spicy paprika (or chilli powder if you prefer them more spicy)

Peel the parsnip and discard the outer peel. Use the same peeler to peel long, thin strips - as many as possible, it gets quite tricky towards the end. Add the oil and seasoning and mix well.

Place the peels on a baking tray (or trays) in a single layer. Bake at 180°C for about 20 minutes until they're crispy and brown at the edges.

Sudanese Mullah

The recipe for mullah was originally discovered in a newspaper by my mum back in the 1990s - she didn't quite follow the recipe and made her own version of it. It became my favourite childhood dish (my tastes buds have always been adventurous!). I recently learnt that “mullah” can mean any kind of stew in Sudan, normally made with local ingredients. The main ingredient I copied from my mum’s recipe is cinnamon. It really makes this dish for me. 

Here’s my vegetarian mullah recipe for 3-4 good size portions:

5 potatoes
2 onions
500g chickpeas
3 garlic cloves (pressed)
olive oil
400g tomato purée
2 x pinch of cinnamon
1 pinch chilli powder
salt & pepper

Peel and cook the potatoes. Once they're cooked, cut them into small cubes. Fry the onions in olive oil until they have soften, then add the potatoes, vegetables and spices. Cook until the potatoes are soft (about 20-25 minutes). Make sure you use enough seasoning.

 

Tandoor Restaurant in Warsaw

Tandoor is the best curry place I have discovered in Warsaw so far.

I've had a few bad curry experiences in Poland; I guess Indian food is still quite new in here, so some restaurants are either playing it safe by serving food that's more acceptable to the average palate (note to them: creamy tomato sauce with some curry powder in it is NOT a curry!), or maybe just lack the knowledge.

I'm not an expert to be able to claim what's authentic or not, but food at Tandoor is really good! 

Dubai

I was quite impressed with vegetarian food in Dubai. Apart from the standard, Western/European food you can get in most places all over the world, I also enjoyed more traditional Middle Eastern food like falafel, hummus, manaeesh (manakish) and soups. I wasn't there long enough to properly explore the cuisine, but it's definitely a place where you won't starve being vegetarian or vegan.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Spaghetti with Garlic & Oil)

If any Italians come across this recipe they probably won't be very impressed. I know the traditional Spaghetti Aglio e Olio recipe, but it has been posted online billions of times. Therefore, here is my own version of it, with a slightly different list of ingredients. Apparently it's edible!

Ingredients for 2-3 portions:

250g spaghetti (I used wholemeal)
1/4 cup virgin olive oil
3 large/5 small garlic cloves, sliced very thinly
a few chopped mushrooms
a few pieces of sun-dried tomatoes (chopped)
1 chilli pepper (or less if it's very hot), chopped super finely
1 handful of chopped basil leaves
2 tbsp sliced black olives
salt & pepper
grated hard cheese (optional) 


Bring a pot of water to boil and add a generous amount of salt. Cook the spaghetti according to instructions. bvkf

Meanwhile, chop the vegetables and heat up the olive oil. Fry the mushrooms for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and chillies and fry on medium heat until the garlic turns golden. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and sprinkle everything with salt and pepper.

When the spaghetti is ready and drained (leave a small amount of water so it's not too dry), toss it with the warm olive oil, black olives and basil leaves. Serve with grated hard cheese (optional).

Warsaw: Beirut Hummus & Music Bar

Lentil Soup

Halloumi with pomegranate

I found another good place in Warsaw! The choice of veggie food was so varied for a non-vegetarian restaurant that it took me a while to decide what to have. I liked the variety of food Beirut offers, from small snacks to proper meals, e.g. halloumi burgers.