Fen-style garlic slow braised aubergines with hand smashed noodles

Inspired by a naughty lunch delivered to my work place from Fen noodles in Old Spitalfield Market, I aspired to recreate their glorious and unctuous garlic aubergine and hand pulled noodles.  One of my vegan pals had really loved it and it was their birthday this week, so I thought I'd have a go at home and bring some in for them.

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

3 to 4 medium aubergines (yes, it's a lot - it shrinks down)

1 to 2 TABLESPOONS of finely chopped garlic (yes, it's a lot, it is honestly not overpowering

1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

1 tablespoon lao gan ma crispy chilli oil or chilli bean paste

crushed chillies (optional) 

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar, or balsamic vinegar, or rice vinegar with dumpling dipping sauce mixed

2 tablespoons ground nut oil (or more as needed)

some spring onions, finely sliced, divided into white and green parts.

350 - 500g dried lasagne sheets 

Side note about garlic:  I usually buy peeled garlic cloves in bulk from Costco or Booker and then chop half in a food chopper/processor and freeze it and I freeze the unchopped garlic separately also.  If you can be bothered, you can freeze the chopped garlic in ice cube trays initially and then pop them out into bags, but I can't usually be bothered and I don't like the garlic residue on the ice cube trays (yes, I've tried keeping some separate just for this purpose but that really only works if you live alone as no-one in a family or house share listens to these sorts of rules) and I quite like smashing up the frozen lumps of chopped garlic to get however much I need.  It's cathartic.

I start by cubing up the aubergine and heating the oil and frying the aubergine at quite a high heat.  Unless you have a catering size wok, you may need to do this in batches until the cubes are nicely browned on all sides and the skins look browner rather than purple.

Once they all fit in the wok at once, add the garlic, the white part of the spring onion and the salt. and then continue to stir and toss so that the garlic doesn't catch or burn.  Once the garlic is soft, and the aubergine is starting to collapse on itself, add the chilli paste (either lao gan ma or chilli bean paste - I've seen both in supermarkets) and stir well, coating all the cubes with the shiny, red oil with its deliciously savoury chilli or soybean and chilli bits.  You may wish to add some crushed chillies at this point, it rather depends on your tolerance and the fierceness of your chilli paste.

Once it is all nicely mixed, add the soy sauce and vinegar, pouring around the edge and tossing it all well.  

Now, reduce the heat and let the aubergine cook down.

Now for the carb element.  I really liked the hand pulled noodles we had from Fen.  I do not, however, have the time or energy - or even inclination on a weekday - to make hand pulled noodles myself, but I really wanted to get that chewy, irregular pasta/noodle mouthfeel.  Inspiration struck me quite literally when a box of dried lasagne sheets fell out of the larder onto me! I got the kids to break the sheets up into irregular pieces and then I cooked the pieces in plenty of salted water just as I would any other pasta shape.

Once they were done - around 11 mins - I used a slotted scoop and tongs to lift them out of the water and drop them straight into the aubergine (once that was done).  I mixed them all together and scattered the green part of the spring onions on top and served!  If I had needed to, I could have used some of the noodle cooking water to lubricate the dish, but it wasn't needed this time.

Now, it wasn't anywhere near as FIERCELY spicy as the Fen noodles one, but we all loved it, and my pal was over the moon (despite the moderated chilli levels) and said it was an amazing birthday gift!

Meatless Monday Courgette and Haricot pasta

This filling and veg packed pasta dish is really satisfying and moreish.  You don't HAVE to serve it on a Monday, obviously!

Ingredients :

1 medium to large onion

3 large courgettes

1 can of beans (haricot, borlotti, cannelini etc)

400g pasta twists or similar shapes of your prference

salt and pepper to taste.

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp Marigold

red chilli flakes to taste

grated cheese if desired, or Engevita flakes

double cream if you want or have it, or Oatly cream.

Method:

Finely slice the onion and fry in a good glug of olive oil, on a medium heat.  

Cut the courgettes lengthwise and slice thinly - I'll admit I used a food processor for this and it was a boon.  Once the onions are soft and starting to mellow, tip in the courgettes and stir well to coat.  Turn the heat up and keep stirring for a few minutes.  

Add the salt and pepper, mixed herbs and chilli flakes and keep stirring and mixing.  Lower the heat very slightly, and allow to soften and cook down.

Boil the water for the pasta, salt the water once it's boiling, and then cook the pasta for 10 minutes.

Once the courgettes are softer, sprinkle in the Marigold powder and add a little of the water from the can of beans.  Mix well.  Drain the rest of the can and add the beans to the courgettes.  Mix thoroughly, lower the heat and cover.

When the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the courgette mixture.  Stir well to mix, and add the cheese or Engevita flakes.  Finally add the cream if using.

Peanut noodles with smacked cucumbers

 

If we are busy on the weekend or if Papa is working and we don't have a chance to go shopping, I get to get creative with my storecupboard for Meatless Monday!

The kids are not big fans of daal and rice and I find I'm often hungry again soon after rice anyway, so I was thinking of something different to do.  I remembered that we'd had some peanutty noodle dishes from Hello Fresh which had included chicken and I'd felt the chicken was not really adding flavour, and I also remembered a dish from a book we used to use a lot: The Wolf in the Kitchen which was simple and filling, so I sort of smushed the 2 ideas together.  I had a bendy half head of broccoli and a lovely organic cucumber in the fridge, so I googled a nice smacked cucumber recipe as I've been wanting to try this for ages and lo and behold I even had some fresh veggies for the meal!  This was filling and tasty! The kids  also didn't ask where the meat was...

NB This is only vegan if you use non-egg noodles and make sure the chilli oil is vegan/vegetarian as some types have fish or prawns in!  As you know I am NOT vegan, but if you are, I don't want to inadvertantly cause a problem.

Noodles:

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic
3 or 4 spring onions
2 tbsp peanut butter (crunchy works well)
25g  creamed coconut
some broccoli or other green veg. Mange tout, green beans, pak choi, cabbage etc
4 leaves of medium egg noodles or similar
100ml boiling water
soy sauce, ketjap manis, salt, sesame oil, sriricha - to taste

Method:

Slice and fry the garlic and spring onion on a low heat to soften and mellow the garlic.  

In another pan, cook the noodles.  Drain when done and keep ready.

After a few minutes of frying the garlic and spring onion, add the broccoli or whatever green veg you have if it is at all robust.  Once that has started to soften, add the peanut butter and creamed coconut and the 100ml water to dissolve and spread.  

If you are using green leafy veg, add it now.

When the veg is almost done, add the drained noodles to the pan and mix well.  Add the flavouring sauces and seasonings to your preferred taste.

Serve with the smacked cucumber.

Smacked Cucumber:

Ingredients:

1 (organic) cucumber
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce 

1 tsp sugar 

2 tsp chilli oil

1 tbsp sesame oil
optional 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Method:

Using the flat of the knife blade, or a meat mallet, or a rolling pin, whack the cucumber all along its length. Take your time to enjoy this. Imagine it's (insert name of currently relevant idiotic politician)'s head or face. 

Once it is good and split, chop it into 2cm pieces and put the pieces in a bowl and add the salt. Leave aside for 30 mins.

When it has sat in the salt, reverse drain it with a sieve or colander and pat dry with kitchen paper.  DO NOT RINSE.  

Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl or jug and pour over the cucumber.  Top with the optional toasted sesame seeds.  Use any left over dressing with the noodles, or with some steamed edamame in pods for a tasty side dish.

Easy on the go breakfast cups

The quest for acceptable holiday breakfasts continues.  I've tried a few online recipes, and found many that are suitable, but the kids either get bored or find some issue with the results quite quickly.  I don't want to compromise, and I want a handful of solutions that I can put on rotation.  After a lot of trial and error, I came up with this iteration which is a mix of a couple of different recipes.

1 and a half cups of oats

2-3 tbsp of ground flax seed or similar (I used Aldi's ground linseed with raspberry and blueberry powder)

3 small brown bananas

3 tbsp smooth peanut butter (I used Whole Earth)

2tbsp coconut oil

half a cup of dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly oil 10-12 silicon muffin cases.

Mash the bananas as smoothly as you can in a small bowl.  Add the peanut butter and mix until well blended.  Now add the coconut oil.  If you've used a peanut butter that is even more natural and separated, you may not need as much or any coconut oil.

In a bigger bowl, mix the oats and the flax seed.  You could add some chia as well if you like.

Stir through the choc chips.

Add the banana peanut butter mix and combine well.  Divide between muffin cups and bake for 15 mins.

Remove when done, they should be browned and slightly crisp around the edges.  Allow to cool for a few mins and then turn carefully onto a cooling rack.  Store in an airtight container.

Serve with berries if liked.

Moong/Mung Daal - Yellow Mung lentil

When my mother fell seriously ill last year, she was in hospital for some months.  She really hated the food, and I tried to cook for her and take it to her in the evenings so she could eat home-cooked hot food at supper time.  There were no heating up facilities, so I used to either cook it freshly and put it in a food thermos and drive there at dinner time or I'd cook it earlier/ the day before, and heat it up and put it in a food thermos and drive to the hospital at dinner time.  We would also take a metal bowl and a plastic spoon for her to eat from and with, as the hospital only had plates in the evenings and the metal spoons they had were too heavy for her to use comfortably.

Doing this was an honour and a privilege and I will always be grateful that I could do her this one small service as often as I could.  I would honestly give anything to cook one more time for her or for my dad.

One day she asked me to make this specific daal, mung daal.  It is often given to patients and the elderly, as it is supposed to be easy to digest.  As it was never one I liked as a child, I had never asked her how to make it, so I sat with her and took notes as she described how she cooks this.  I'm glad I did that then because soon after that, she lost a lot of the capacity to have told me any more recipes, although she did not die for some months after.

Since that time, I've learned to love this dish and I often cook it now for my vegan and vegetarian friends and colleagues, as well as for the family.  The quantities below will serve 1-2 people and rely on using the measurement of the ubiquitous Asian "rice cup" - a plastic cup that comes with most rice cookers - I have since found that the volume of those rice cooker cups is the same as the volume of 2 rice-portion scoops from the Love Food Hate Waste campaigns.

Mung/Moong Daal

half a rice cup of yellow mung lentils

quarter teaspoon turmeric powder

half teaspoon salt

half an onion, roughly chopped

2 green chillies, one left whole, one broken in half

2 cloves of garlic, sliced.

First, soak the lentils for half an hour.

Drain well and put into the pressure cooker.

Add slightly more than double the volume of water. (About 1 and a quarter rice cups of water.)

Add the turmeric, salt, onion and green chillies.

Give pressure whichever way you normally do for 8 minutes.

If possible, allow pressure to release naturally - otherwise, a quick release will be ok, but messy.

Mix well to smash the lentils. I've seen some Indians use a really cool piece of very simple equipment to do this - it looks like a star on a stick, and the star is put in the lentils and the stick is spun between the palms to whisk up the lentils!

Fry the sliced garlic in ghee or vegetable oil until it just starts to brown.  Add to the daal.  Check the salt and the consistency.  If you need to add more water, be sure to continue to heat the daal or the water won't mix in properly.  If it pleases you, garnish with chopped fresh coriander.  This does not please anyone in my family.

Enjoy with rice or chappati.  Think of me and my darling mother.

Daal daal daal - starting with masoor (red lentils)

It came to my attention recently that tho I mention daal often, and I certainly used to cook it often, I don't have many daal recipes actually IN my blog.  This is pretty ridiculous as I'm from a south Asian background (my mother was Bengali, my father was Sindhi, I was born in north London) and I do love daal, and apart from the fact that one of my kids isn't always mad about daal - I did used to cook it often!

Since both my parents died very close together about 4 months ago, even my reluctant kid has asked for daal and rice - perhaps it's a link to the much-missed grandparents, a comfort connection, a taste from memories linked to the older generation, I don't know, but we've started cooking daal again recently and when I realised that my recipes are handed down from my mother, sister-in-law and grandmother, then I knew I must share them with the world so their love can continue to spread around the world.

You can spell it dhal, daal, dahl or however you want, the word just means "lentil".  There are probably as many recipes as there are cooks, but every family has their preferred way of cooking each lentil and there are definitely regional trends.  I'm not going to write an essay about this now, as many people have covered it far better than I could.

These are not cookbook recipes with measurements, tho I'm sure I will revisit them in the future when I have time to measure properly for the western cook, but for now, I want to get them down quickly for people to use the way they were taught to me.

Starting with the first I learned when I was at university and craving home-cooked food:

Masoor Daal (red lentil daal) (potentially vegan)

Take one large handful of red lentils per person and put it in a pressure cooker.  This will work the same in a traditional hob top or an electric type like Instant Pot.

I have very small hands, so I tend to do 6-8 handsful for 4 - 5 people.

Add 1 tsp of coriander powder (for this amount of lentils - less for less, more for more, you will learn your tastes over time)

Add a pinch of turmeric powder and a teaspoon of salt (see above for amount variations)

Add water from the tap until the surface is about an inch to an inch and a half above the top of the lentils in the pan.

Close the cooker and bring to the boil and then turn the heat down when the pressure is up and cook for 5-7 minutes.

If using Instant Pot, close the lid and use manual, 6 minutes.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can also soak the lentils overnight and then simmer for half an hour instead.

While the lentils are cooking, you make the "tempering".  This is a flavouring for the lentils, basically.  
First, slice one small onion and start it frying on a low flame in your oil/butter/ghee of choice.  When the onion is nice and soft, add 2 sliced garlic cloves and a finely chopped inch of peeled ginger.

When these are browned and the onions are sticky looking, add half a tin of chopped tomatoes, or 2 chopped fresh tomatoes if you prefer, and about a tablespoon of tomato puree.  Stir into the onions etc. By the time those are fully cooked in, the lentils should be cooked and the pressure can then be released if it hasn't already.  Now add the tempering to the lentils and stir well.  You may at this point want to add water, and perhaps salt, or if it's thinner than you wanted, allow it to cook without the lid to let it thicken.

If I'm serving this to guests, I often add cream and butter at this point, but then it's DEFINITELY not vegan, but there are obviously vegan creams or "butters" you could add if you want that richness.  None of it is necessary.

All you need now is some steamed basmati rice, a bowl, and a spoon if you want it.

Chaat-topping lunch salad

Well, the kitchen is all done, yes I should post some pictures at some point, and I'm getting a lot of joy from cooking and baking again. I started taking lunches to work, and whilst trying to be healthy, I'm also trying to keep my food interesting too.  It's hard to be surrounded by delicious food all day and I'm so hungry by my break that it's too easy to grab something from the shop. 

Lately, I have been making a small layered salad, and adding some flavour pizazz in the form of some Indian "chat" (or "chaat") masala. It's a gently spicy, sour, pungent, punchy powder that gives that very distinctive flavour to Indian snack foods like chaat, bhel puri and many more. Some people add it to fruits, and that makes a very refreshing snack. 

If I'd been more organised, I'd have sprouted some lentils and beans and chickpeas myself, but instead I bought a pack of "salad toppers" sprouted lentils etc and used a third of the pack each time. I put the sprouted lentils in the bottom of my lunch pot, and sprinkled a little chat masala on top. Then I quartered a handful of baby tomatoes and then I added half an avocado, also chopped up. A twist of salt and another sprinkling of chat masala followed by a good shake of lemon juice, and that's the salad done. It's very filling from the lentils and the chewing, and the flavours all make it very satisfying.

roasted cherry tomato pasta sauce

I was given a LARGE box of cherry tomatoes on the same day that I realised I hadn't remembered to take anything out of the freezer for supper.  As Big'Un needed a quick bite before dashing off for rugby practice, I knew I wouldn't have any time to defrost something safely in time.

So I picked up a pack of bacon lardons from our lovely Aladdin's cave corner shop and let the kids pick a pack of their choice of shape of pasta from there too.  Yes, they chose bow ties again.  Because bow ties are cool...

Anyway, the first step was to halve the tomatoes and spread them, cut side up, on a lined baking tray.  I then threw a few unpeeled garlic cloves onto the tray.  Next, I ground a little salt and pepper on them all, and then sprinkled ground cumin, mixed herbs, garlic granules, onion salt and balsamic vinegar on to them.

I then sprayed them with a pure olive oil spray and put them in a hot oven (220 degrees) for 20-25 minutes.  I realised I had a bit  more time, so I turned the oven down to about 190 degrees then and turned the tray around and let them cook for another 10-15 minutes.)

After this point the tomatoes should be soft and slightly shrivelled and sticky.  The ones on the edges might look charred - that's all fine.

Now you need to blitz these into a smooth sauce.  First peel the garlic cloves and discard the skins.  Then scoop it all - soft sticky garlic, tomatoes, herbs, spices etc - into a blender, or pour it into a beaker or bowl and use a stick blender, or even a NutriBullet type blender would work.  Add a little water if you like and blend until smooth.  Make sure you scoop or pour as much of the lovely liquid from the tray into the blending receptacle - it's too good to waste!

While this is all roasting, cook your pasta however you prefer, and also fry the bacon until crispy.  If you are feeling decadent, add the bacon fat to the pasta sauce as you blend it.

I served this so that the plain pasta was served into bowls and the sauce was dolloped or ladeled according to each person's preference, and then the bacon was added almost as a seasoning at the end.  Some of the kids had grated cheese as well, but without the cheese was also very good.