Berry good

So I've decided not to update this at the weekends. This decision was made though after missing my blog posts for the past couple of days, because I had to go to a friend's party, then go to London, where I will be doing work experience with my uncle. At least this means I won't be spending all day bored on the internet, but it does mean I have to start getting up early again. For a couple of weeks at least. Right now I'm at my uncle's house, and foolish me, I left my book which has all the recipes I have collected and written down in my grandma's house. So today, I will give you some ideas about what to do with strawberries. 
Everybody knows that strawberries are the perfect summer fruit for Britain. Sweet and juicy, with that vivid red colour, they are made for lazy days under the sun. Not that we've been getting much sun at the moment. Just rain and rain and more rain. 
Ripe strawberries taste like what sunshine and summer would taste like in fruit form and there are few things more delicious than a strawberry straight off the plant warmed by the summer sun. 

Luckily for me, every year I have been able to eat the best and freshest strawberries, picked from the nearby strawberry fields. I have been going to these fields my entire life, since I was a baby, when my mother would leave me with the person looking after the fields in my car seat. Ever since then going to the strawberry fields is a tradition we all look forward to, and when the sign for strawberry picking comes up, we descend armed with baskets, tubs and  plastic bags, and return laden with the plump fruit, more than we could eat ourselves. We give most of these to friends and neighbours but we ourselves are rarely short of them after this for quite some time. 

 Nothing beats the taste of these strawberries, of which the flavour is so intense that the supermarket ones taste like vaguely sour cardboard in comparison. The best time to go is when the strawberries are so ripe they just fall into your hand, though I have been taught to keep the top intact when picking or they go off faster. 
Given that I left my recipe book, I made a list of easy things to do with strawberries (keeping in mind that I can't cook properly) and tried to keep it to things that even I could do. 


Easy things to do with strawberries

10 - Mango lassi

1. Whip some cream and crumble some meringue with the strawberries for Eton mess, a family favourite.
2. Chop some strawberries and drop into cupcakes, to be eaten fresh. 
3. Blend and strain the strawberries and add to fresh lemonade for a new twist. 
4. Serve sprinkled with sugar and indulge yourself by pouring double cream over. 
5. Hull and quarter the strawberries and add a fruity touch to good quality vanilla or dark chocolate ice cream. 
6. Drizzle some good balsamic vinegar over the strawberries to bring out their natural sweetness and for an easy grown up dessert.
7. Whizz up some strawberries, maybe with a bit of honey, and place in ice lolly moulds, for a great way for kids to keep cool in the sun while getting a healthy but tasty snack. Add a splash of something alcoholic for a grown up treat (but note that too much sugar and alcohol make it harder to freeze)
8. Sprinkle strawberries with freshly ground black pepper (I haven’t tried this one but read about it a while back, and want to try it. Pineapple tastes nice with salt, so this can’t be that bad)
9. Blend strawberries, add mint, plenty of ice, and alcohol of your choice (within reason), and top up with sparkling water for a summery cocktail. Use lime juice, sugar syrup and rum for a strawberry mojito, 
10. Blend strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, any berries really, with banana, yoghurt / milk and honey for a yummy smoothie. My mum made a really refreshing strawberry lassi (you’ve probably heard of mango lassi), which is like an Indian milkshake. 
11. Dip strawberries in melted semi-sweet dark chocolate and leave to cool. Before they’re cooled you can also roll them in chopped nuts or hundreds and thousands. Popping candy might also be interesting. 
12. Use a fan shape as a decoration by cutting the strawberry thinly but keeping the top of the strawberry intact. 
13. Heat butter and dissolve sugar in a pan to create a caramelly type sauce, and use it to coat the strawberries. Leave the strawberries to cool on greaseproof paper, and they’ll have a crispy sugary coating. Be careful not to burn the sugar or it tastes awful, and will burn onto the bottom of the pan which is a pain to clean off. 
14. Fruit salad. ('Nuff said)
15. Freeze them overnight and blend them up. (I'm not sure what will happen with this one because I have never done it. I did it with a banana and it was like a banana sorbet. But I doubt it would be the same with a strawberry. Strawberry slushie maybe?)
16. Use them to top cereal, muesli and porridge for a breakfast treat.
17. Not for eating, but mash them up, maybe with yoghurt or honey, and use as a face mask. The enzymes in the strawberry help break down dirt and dead skin to leave you skin smooth and glowing.
18. Make a strawberry sauce by mashing them with sugar and simmering. Use it to top a baked cheesecake. 
19. Suspend some in jelly (because it looks cool.)
20. Just eat them as they are!

Not gonna lie, I have no idea what I can write about tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll think of something. As always, feedback is appreciated.

Ciao, xxxx

Seafood, eat it

Today I have a seafood recipe for you. Not only that, it isn't even Indian! It's only short though, because it's late, and I just spent ages doing my nails. I tried loads of different stuff watching youtube tutorials, but it just never comes out the same as how they do it, even though i had all the right tools (well, I had an old eyeliner brush as a striper, and a hairpin as a dotting tool, but that's close enough!) Eventually, after all the hassle, I just did a twist on a French manicure, with a maroon base and gold tips. It's really messy, though, there's bits all over my skin. That'll come off soon though. 

Not going to be a hand, or finger model any time soon

Scallops seem to be all the rage at the moment in posh restaurants. Take for example Ricky in The Apprentice, in which during one challenge, he was served scallops as a sample dish at EVERY SINGLE RESTAURANT to which he went. On the plus side, they taste really good.

Scallops in balsamic sauce

Serves 4 as starter

Scallops with coral
50g butter, preferably unsalted
45 ml balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

1. Warm a non stick pan to a high heat.
2. Rub some of the butter onto the base of the pan and cut the rest into small pieces.
3. Sear the scallops for two mins each side, then reduce the heat.
4. Take out the scallops.
5. Pour the balsamic vinegar into the pan and scrape in any scallop bits on the side of the pan.
6. Reduce this by 1/3rd
7. Add the rest of the chopped up butter
8. Whisk until the butter dissolves, then season.
9. Pour the sauce over the scallops in a nice dish to be served and eaten, preferably with crusty bread. Yum yum yum!

Even though they don't look all nice and plated up, these scallops are totally delicious and nice bread is perfect for mopping up this sauce, nd it’s so simple (says she who can barely cook). I have to say, we don’t normally have scallops, but I think my mum found them on special offer, and gave them to my dad for him to cook. However, the reason I might find them so delicious is because of the balsamic vinegar. Ever since I was little, I have loved vinegar, in salad dressings, in crisps... In fact I really like sour things. Ad balsamic vinegar has just the right balance of sour, sweet and savoury. I'm finding I totally understand what the Japanese mean by an "umami" flavour, a savoury sort of taste, like soy sauce. My sweet tooth as dwindled recently, but savoury has taken it's place. That's the reason I like eating meat so much, and I find myself wondering how vegetarians can get that really intense savoury flavour without it. Vegi-sausages and quorn and other things like that have been really quite bland, but I guess seeing as things like soy sauce are vegetatian, it is reasonable to assume vegetarians aren't completely deprived of the taste. 

NB. Having just googled umami, apparently ripe tomatoes, mushrooms and loads of other foods, including vegetarian ones, have this flavour, so I guess they'll do fine!
I did actually do some cooking today. If boiling some fresh pasta for three minutes and stirring in some Philadelphia, creme fraiche and sweetcorn counts as cooking. As primitive as it may be, it’s so yummy. Pasta is a holiday staple, especially filled pasta, like this was. So quick and easy to do. 
Tomorrow I go to London, so hopefully I'll be able to get some recipes off my aunties and grandma who live there, rather than just from my mum and dad (although their cooking is in fact excellent). In any case, I'll actually have to do something other than sleep and eat, that being work with my uncle who is an accountant. Thrilling as that sounds, I will still try to update this everyday. Even if barely anyone reads it :D
Bye bye xxxx

Pudding Play

Today’s recipe comes courtesy of my mother. Not even an inspiration. She actually wrote out the recipe and ingredients. Don’t be fooled though - she did it for her own food blog, not mine. However, she made this rice pudding yesterday and so I demanded a recipe for it. And here it is. 
My mother's writing style is quite different to mine. She really likes to embellish recipes with sensory descriptions. I guess I can't really do that, having never made these things myself. But seeing as this is my blog, I have edited bits (most) of what she has written, into something a bit simpler, but perhaps somewhat lacking in the same artistic vision. (Not that I can't be artistic - my friends will remember when asked to VERY simply analyse a painting, I waxed lyrical about the "the light and dark metaphorical cloth of life." It was a picture of a lady in a dress.)

Anyway, I digress. Back to rice pudding. Here I give you some handy hints from my mother left unadulterated. 

“Indian rice pudding is never baked in the oven. The creaminess comes from reducing the milk by more than half and this takes time!  More than an hour of constant stirring – so pull up a bar stool, get a book and get set for a marathon run of stirring.” 

“The best pan for cooking the rice pudding is, of course, a cast iron Le Crueset pan – the bigger the better – no boiling over and spilling of the frothy milk.”

She is much much better with her level of detail in her recipes. But as always, times and measurements are approximate.

Indian Rice Pudding
With raisins, cashews and almonds.


Serves 6 

Half a cup of basmati rice, washed and dried in a sieve for about half an hour
A knob of butter
A few cardamom seeds
Some cinnamon sticks1/2 cup / handful skinless chopped almonds1/2 cup / handful chopped cashews
1/2 cup / handful washed raisins
3 litres of full cream milk
Cup of sugar – or to taste

1. Warm the milk up in batches in a measuring jug in the microwave.
2. Melt the butter in the pan and add the cardamom and cinnamon. The spices will release their flavour into the butter.
3. Add the rice and stir gently to coat with the butter and fry for a minute or two on low heat.
4. Add a litre of hot milk to the rice and stir, and turn up the heat.  
5. When the milk froths and nearly boils over, reduce the heat to a simmer and keep stirring. The grains of rice will be quite distinct.
6. Add the nuts and raisins.
7. When the milk reduces and the mixture begins to thicken, add more milk – about half a litre at a time.  Keep stirring making sure that the pudding does not stick to the bottom and get burnt.  
8. Continue the process until all the milk is added and the mixture is thick like lightly whipped double cream. The rice grains will be soft and will no longer hold their individual shape. and they will look a bit squished.
9. Add the sugar. The mixture will be a bit runny as the sugar dissolves.
10. Simmer for a few more minutes
11. Take off heat, and place in a nice dish to be served and eaten. Yum yum yum!

Make sure that the bottom is well stirred (ooh err!). That is, the bottom of the pan, obviously. If bits at the bottom are left and become burnt, it will make the entire rice pudding smell and taste foul. Which is a waste of good rice pudding if you ask me. 

If almonds are bought skin on (which might actually be better if you think about it - more versatile), then place them in a deep dish or measuring jug and pour boiling water over them. Pour out the water after 5 minutes and you’ll be able to easily pop them out of their skins (is it just me or does that sound like something from a horror movie?). Speaking of horror movies, although it isn't one, I have been terrified by watching the Lovely Bones. Of course, you can easily skip this step or buy already skinned ones. Even my mother admits sometimes when cooking she creates more work for herself. 

According to my mother “The pudding is best served warm.” But don’t be fooled - yesterday I ate some cold, and it was still delicious. It’s also nice in the morning as a decadent sort of porridge, and if eaten straight out of the fridge is all creamy and thick. This however could be something to do with my strange breakfast eating habits. That is if you can call eating pizza at 1pm breakfast. That is an average time for me to come downstairs at weekends, holidays or any time I don’t actually have to get up early (early being 10am.

My mother also has a few variations to offer.
For a kind of Arabian feel, add a few drops of rose essence can be added and the pudding decorated with edible rose petals.

Instead of chopping the cashews, take a pestle and simply roll it over the cashews and crush them.

Add a few saffron strands for a splash of colour and a different note in the fragrance and taste.

The cashews will transform into soft bites, the almonds usually retain a touch of crunch, giving a nice contrast of texture. However, a couple of months ago, my dad admitted, after 25 years of marriage, that he prefers this rice pudding without nuts. And he kept quiet all that time :P

I think in this blog I should also keep a record of what I myself try to make. Today it was "just add water" couscous. And surprisingly, it wasn't bad. I added some sweetcorn (which I add to many things I make, because it is delicious and easy - just open a can [is there a difference between can and tin?]), some ham, and some oven-dried tomatoes made by my mother. They are even better than sun dried tomatoes you buy if you ask me. Nothing beats homemade, they are so moreish. The couscous would have been great for Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. I ended up eating the most awful things on D of E. But that would take up another post.

I know I said I would do something about strawberries on this post but this one I think is quite long enough so I'll see what other food is coming my way. If anyone actually does read this, I'd be grateful for feedback, comments, ideas, anything really. Talk to me about non food stuff, Duke of Edinburgh awards, the Lovely Bones, overzealous artistic analysis if you want.

Bye bye xxxx :)

Veggie Time

As promised, a vegetable recipe today, what we call a subji. I find it so boring when veg is just boiled or blanched or whatever. It just seems to drain all the flavour out of it. This is just a way to make it a bit more interesting, and as always, you can mix and match the vegetables that go in.

Spring Greens with potato and peas

Serves 4

1 head of spring greens
1 potato
1 tbsp oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
Pinch of turmeric
Handful of frozen peas, around 50g (though fresh could easily be used instead)

30 minutes preparation and cooking

1. Finely shred the spring greens
2. Peel and dice the potato
3. Warm the oil on a high heat
4. When hot, add the cumin seeds.
5. After a few seconds, when the seeds are sizzling, add the diced potato.
6. Add a pinch of turmeric and sauté the potato until lightly coloured.
7. Now add the spring greens. Cover and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Add the frozen peas, stir it, then cover for 3 minutes.
9. Remove the cover and cook while stirring for another few minutes until the water from the frozen peas evaporates. (Obviously this doesn’t apply when using fresh peas)
10. Take of the heat, put in a nice bowl and serve. Yum yum yum.

This is also eaten with rice, generally as a kind of side dish. We had this accompanying the lamb curry. My attempts at cooking haven't been spectacular today, mainly because I didn't get out of bed until 1 in the afternoon, so all I did was eat a readymade chicken pie for lunch. I have to say, chicken pies are the best sort of study leave / holiday / being lazy food. Along with pasta etc. When I wanted to have an afternoon snack, I was most distressed to find we didn't have any tinned tuna to make a sandwich. You know when you've built something up and really want it? That's what I was like with this sandwich. So disappointing.

Even as I was writing this, I ended up doing some sort of cooking. Ish. It was in the kitchen at least preparing strawberries. But I have more to say on strawberries so I'll leave it for tomorrow, hopefully also with a recipe for Indian rice pudding.

I'd really appreciate it if people could give me feedback about how to improve and what to include. I'm running out of inspiration...

Bye xxx

Lamb Curry

I decided to do another post today, because although I only posted my first one today, I actually wrote it yesterday. And I actually followed my rice recipe today! Though evidently not well enough, because I added a bit too much water and didn't hear the microwave, so didn't fluff it up with a fork. IT came out kind of sticky, which wasn't so bad. It was still edible, and even tasty when mixed with my recipe for today.
Most of these recipes will come courtesy of my dad, who does most of the cooking here. I should also point out that the measurements and timings I give are very approximate. My dad generally adds pinches of this, and spoons of that, and wanders away to watch TV when cooking. It still comes out super yummy. And don't forget to play around with the recipes. Use fresh chillies, or a different meat etc.


This recipe is one of my favourites. It seems quite simple too (though I haven't made one myself!) but it tastes really really nice. I like the potatoes big and floury, and the gravy of this (the curry sauce that is) is quite thin, so when you mix the gravy with the rice, and mash the potato into it, you get a nice texture. I don't find this curry too hot either, though I guess I am accustomed to at least a bit of spiciness.

The finished dish!

Lamb and Potato Curry

Serves 4

750g leg of lamb cubed (including bones)
2 onions
2 - 3 cloves garlic
1 inch of fresh ginger
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp chilli powder
Cinnamon stick
2 - 3 cloves
2 - 3 cardamom pods
2 potatoes
Garam masala, preferably homemade

1 hour preparation and cooking (except for cutting the meat)

1. Roughly chop onions and, with the garlic and ginger, reduce to a paste with water in a food processor.
2. Warm the oil in a pan and fry the paste on a low heat for 5 mins with the cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom.
3. Add the other spices and fry using the bhunau method (fry until it almost sticks to the pan, add water, then fry it until it almost sticks again).
4. Add the lamb cubes and fry for 10 mins, until it is browned.
5. Add salt according to taste.
6. Add 500mls of water, cover and cook for 15 mins.
7. Peel and quarter 2 potatoes and add them to the meat. Add more water if needed.
8. Simmer on a low heat for 20 mins.
9. Sprinkle with garam masala.
10. Take meat off heat, and place in a nice dish to be served and eaten. Yum yum yum!

Delicious, non?

My sister and I absolutely love this curry. There's something quite comforting about it, having eaten it since we were little. Hopefully I'll also be able to get a recipe for homemade garam masala off my mum eventually but we'll see.

I have a vegetable recipe for tomorrow which I hope you'll enjoy.

Bye xxx

And so it begins...

As an 18 year old, just finished my A Levels, I've been feeling ever so slightly disorientated and bored without any work / revision / homework after 15 years of primary and secondary education. After spending days trawling aimlessly round the internet for a few days, I decided to start a summer project to keep me going insane with boredom. 

But what could it be? Drawing? Writing? Re-learning how to play the piano? After much thought, it became clear there was one blindingly obvious option - a food blog! After all, my family is food crazy, and although I'm no great cook, I am one great eater. I LOVE FOOD. And even though the university I hope to get in to is catered, I still need to learn to cook at some point. So although I'm not going to be cooking many of these recipes (yet!), I can at least collect them from my various family members for the future and hopefully share them with everyone who reads this.

This is me, wearing Assamese clothes

I should probably point out now, I am Indian. Or at least my parents are. More specifically, Assamese. Assam is a state about the size of Austria in the Northeast of India, especially famous in England for its tea. About 700 years people around the Southeast China area, called Tai Ahoms immigrated here. My family is descended from these people, although they're very much intermingled with the local inhabitants. Anyway, although I live in Yorkshire and I can't speak the Assamese language, I eat Indian food pretty much every day. And so, as my blog will probably be about what I eat, what I post will mostly be Indian food, though there may be other cultures thrown in.

Rice field in Namti, my mother's ancestral village in Assam

I've decided to start something simple today. Simple but important. Probably the most important component of an Assamese meal. In fact, the word for "rice", "bhaat", is also the word for "meal". You mix it with the gravy from your curry, with your daal, with your subji... but more of those later. Normally rice is boiled or steamed, but in our family at least, when eating rice every day, you want an easier option, of microwaving it.

Microwave Rice

Serves 4

1. Wash 2 cups of basmati rice until the water runs clear
2. Cover with double amount of water (i.e. 4 cups of water)
3. Microwave on full power for 10 minutes with a lid in the dish of rice.
4. Microwave on defrost setting for 10 minutes
5. Take out from microwave and fluff up with a fork.
6. Serve and eat. Yum yum yum!

You can get those microwave rice cookers, though we just use a big porcelain dish. When I was little, I would associate rice with a certain smell. It was only when I grew older that I realised the smell was of basmati rice and not all rice. And it certainly is better than the American long grain rices, when you get that nice fragrant puff taking of the lid.

Not all posts will be this long, or at least there'll be a better recipe than this one. Hopefully I'll keep going with it, or at least until my family get annoyed at having to explain all their recipes to me! I have a few more for this week at least.

Bye :D xxx