Red lentil, tomato and orange soup

I am writing this recipe watching ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ and eating some mars bar rice crispie, could literally not be more food now if I tried.*

This is my Mum’s recipe. It is one of the most comforting, warmest and most delicious soups on the planet. It is also surprisingly uncomplicated to make.

This recipe gets a bit non-linear. I know that is not so acceptable with recipes and food writing, but it is just how my brain is working at the moment. (I’ve been thinking about Kurt Vonnegut a lot lately).

Serves probably 6

Ingredients

225g red lentils

1 large carrot, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 or 2 garlic cloves, crushed or chopped

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 orange

400ml veg stock (you might need to add more water)

salt and pepper

goes really well with a crunchy garlic-y crouton

Method

Peel the orange with a vegetable peeler. take care when doing this as oranges are strange things to peel, and so some finger stabbing/peeling may occur (it is worth it though). Use a pointy-ish teaspoon or similar implement to scrape the white pith out of the back of the orange peel. This is the only tedious bit of this recipe, and in the right frame of mind, it can be oddly satisfying. Juice the orange and save the juice for later.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil and lightly fry the onion slices. If you start this off before you start scraping the orange peel pith, then by the time you are done, the onions should be lightly browned, and ready to go. Add the garlic when you are about halfway through the orange peel.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the salt and pepper), bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 30-45 minutes, or until the carrots and lentils are cooked. Check it periodically and add a bit more water if needed.

Add the orange juice, blitz the soup, and season to taste.

*of course one can always be more foodie

Roasted red pepper and tomato soup with quinoa and thyme

I’m not really into the whole “New year, new you” clean eating, guilt free thing. Eating clean just makes no sense, and thinking of food as ‘dirty’ just seems to me like a fast track to a really unhealthy and damaging relationship with food, and being someone who is really boring to talk to at parties.

That being said…

I am trying to think a bit more about what I eat. Like what makes me feel bloated and ill, and why however much pasta I eat I am always hungry about an hour later. So I’m trying to find ways to make quinoa more interesting, because it really is more filling and less bloating. And then I can read articles like this one about the quinoa industry’s affect in Peru, to remind myself that we can’t win, and everything is terrible.

  

I’m also making an effort to stop throwing so much stuff away, like disposable coffee cups and food. I bought some little plastic tubs so that I could freeze soup and curries and things in relatively small portions. This means that when I cook at the weekends I don’t need to eat the same thing every day for a week, and the freezer is filling up with tasty homemade things that I can surprise myself with when I don’t feel like cooking.

This soup was thick and warming and absolutely delicious, totally worth the effort of the additional roasting stage. It is also really filling. I am so pleased that I have little frozen portions of it for the cold grim days coming up in the next few weeks.

Serves about 6

Ingredients

5 red peppers

6 medium sized tomatoes

3 cloves garlic (skin on)

1 large onion, diced

5 ish sprigs of thyme

150g quinoa

1 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt/ course salt

About 20g butter (or just use a little bit more oil – butter is great though)

1 flat tbsp/1 cube vegetable or chicken stock powder

Ideally sherry vinegar, if you don’t have use white wine vinegar or cider vinegar

1 tbsp crème fraîche (or vegan equivalent)

Freshly ground black pepper

Serve with croutons, toasted almond slivers or toasted pumpkin seeds

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Cut the peppers and tomatoes in half, and arrange the peppers skin down, tomatoes skin up on a roasting tray. Arrange about half of the thyme sprigs among the veggies. Hide the cloves of garlic under the pepper shells to stop them burning. Sprinkle a bit of salt on the tomatoes. Roast for 30-40 minutes.

After the veggies are roasted, pinch their skins off as soon as they are cool enough to handle, and peel the garlic cloves. Roughly tear or shop the peppers into strips. Discard the thyme twigs.

During the veggie roasting/cooling stage, and heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan on a low heat and sauté the onions for 5 – 10 minutes until softened and translucent. Put the kettle on while the onions are cooking so that hot water is ready for the next bit.

Add the quinoa to the pan and pour in enough hot water to cover, plus a bit more so the liquid rises about 3 cm above the quinoa and onions. Be a little hesitant with the water, its easier to add more water later rather than dealing with too much liquid. Add a generous pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Put the lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the garlic, tomato, pepper, and any remaining roasting pan juices, more water if it needs it, and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Blob the crème fraîche into the soup and blitz with a hand-blender until it is silky and thick. Then add the leaves from the remaining thyme sprigs, about 1 tsp of vinegar and a grind of black pepper. Taste, and add more seasoning if it needs it.

Yum

Mushrooms on toast

Life’s simple pleasures.

Serves two classy people for a starter, or one greedy person for a meal.

Ingredients

200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp (approx) Olive oil

1 echalion/banana shallot, or half an onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, crushed or finely diced

1 tsp grain mustard

1 tbsp crème fraîche

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper

½ tbsp (approx) lemon juice

Toast - as much as you like.

Method

In a large frying pan, fry the onions in a glug of olive oil over a medium/low heat for a few minutes until starting to soften and colour. Add the mushrooms and fry for another ten or so minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the garlic and parsley, fry for a further two to three minutes, and then stir in the mustard, crème fraîche, lemon juice, a little salt and a lot of pepper.

Serve with toast. Happy days.

Salmon and pistachio risotto

I spoke about this risotto in the third post I ever wrote on this blog, way back in January 2011. It really has been playing on my mind for a while.

When I was eight years old I went on a family holiday to Sicily. When moments are happening it is hard to know what is going to become a significant part of your history, and what will be forgotten as a distant memory. This holiday has definitely become part of my history.

We stayed in a little place called Taormina, in the shadow of Mount Etna. We saw ancient ruins, splashed in volcanic mountain streams, climbed acropolises, and ate incredibly well.

This salmon and pistachio risotto was apparently a regional speciality in Taormina, and I remember it blowing my tiny mind. I haven’t been able to find any recipes for it, and so this is my version, based on a twenty-year old memory.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets (no skin)

Olive oil

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large shallot, small onion or half a large onion, finely diced

300g Arborio rice (or other suitable risotto rice)

125 ml  (small glass) relatively dry white wine – something that you would want to drink

1 litre hot chicken, fake chicken or vegetable stock

Approx 70g pistachio nuts, roughly chopped

25 - 40g butter (risotto loves butter, but your arteries might not)

1 tbsp grated parmesan or similar hard cheese

Optional additions – green zingy herbs like lemon thyme or marjoram, lemon zest.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (with fan).

Put the salmon fillets on an oven tray, and drizzle with olive oil and season with a pinch of sea salt and a grind or two of black pepper. Roast for 12-15 minutes, until just cooked through (you can do this while the risotto is cooking).

In a large saucepan, fry the onion in a glug of olive oil slowly on a low heat until soft and translucent (about 10 minutes).  Add the rice, and turn over in the onions until coated and glossy in the oil.

Add the wine to the pan and let it bubble for a few minutes, stirring all the time. Once the wine has bubbled to almost nothing, add the stock (I use fake chicken stock) a ladleful at a time, stirring and waiting for all the liquid to be incorporated before adding the next ladle.

This can take around 25-30 minutes.  When all the liquid is incorporated, check that the rice is cooked through, but still with a bit of bite. 

Flake the salmon (gently, so it doesn’t turn to mush) and add it to the rice, along with the chopped pistachios. Stir through the butter and parmesan, herbs if using, and season with salt and pepper.

Gooseberry fool

"Gooseberry bush" was 19th-century slang for pubic hair, and from this comes the saying that babies are "Born under a gooseberry bush." (Wikipedia)

And now, everything I write about gooseberries will seem slightly inappropriate...

In times like these where you can get pretty much anything at any time of year, it seems like gooseberries are one of the few things left that are truly seasonal. They freeze really well, so get them while you can! The other day I literally bought eight boxes of gooseberries from Waitrose so that my Mum and Grandmother could stock up.

I love gooseberries. For me they are so evocative of childhood summers and meals with my grandparents – and after polling some of my friends I think that the same is true for a lot of people. When I was growing up we had a whole load of gooseberry bushes in the garden, and ate a lot of delicious gooseberry desserts (and strangely lumpy gooseberry soup), until one year they all died - our neighbour’s leylandii were blamed and all-out war was declared.

You may think less of me, but I made this recipe with custard made from Birds Custard Powder. Birds custard is one of the best things ever – it makes the most delicious yellow thick custard, and it is vegan too. If using Birds (which I would recommend), add slightly more powder than usual, as the custard should be thicker.

Gooseberry fool is rich and creamy, and an excellent dessert to make for special occasions, or for when you just really want to spoil yourself.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

800g red or green gooseberries, topped and tailed.

2 tbsp caster sugar – plus more to taste

1 tbsp Date syrup

Approx. 1 pint custard, homemade from scratch, with Birds Custard Powder, or bought.

300ml double cream

Method

Stew the gooseberries in a few tablespoons of water and the sugar until they have completely collapsed. This might take around 15 minutes.

Allow them to cool slightly, add the date syrup and use an immersion blender to wiz them into a smooth sauce. They should really be sieved at this point too, but I can never be bothered – the seeds aren’t too annoying. Taste the pureed gooseberry and sweeten further if needed (remember that the custard will be sweet too) – use date syrup if you want it to be more caramel-y, or just use normal sugar.

When the pureed gooseberry mixture is cold, whisk it together with the custard and cream, and leave it in the fridge to thicken, for at least a few hours until you are ready to serve.

See here for a recipe for gooseberry fool from 1914. 

Roasted cauliflower with tahini and date syrup

Dear wonderful followers, occasional readers, and one-off Googlers,

Sorry that things have been a quiet round here. I have been having a bit of a hard time in the part of my life that isn’t to do with food or films. I realised that I completely wear my heart on my sleeve, so I have been trying to keep to myself, to contain any misery. I know it isn’t emotionally healthy, but I have never been very good at following my own advice.

What is interesting is that in spite of all that is going on with me, I have been eating relatively healthily, and doing more exercise than usual. Partly it is because comfort-eating is such a f**king cliché, and partly is that eating well and doing some endorphin-generating activity does actually make me feel better. I never thought I would be the kind of person who sweated voluntarily, but it seems to really work for me. I have been told on a few separate occasions that I have the legs of an athlete, so maybe the rest of my body will catch up soon.

Cauliflowers are for me probably the big fluffy duvet of the vegetable world. This recipe is really delicious, and I have been eating a lot of it lately. It is a bit like a healthier, Ottolenghified cauliflower cheese.

One medium-sized cauliflower will make enough for a mezze dish for up to 4 people. I tend to buy the extra-large cauliflowers wherever possible. I have left the quantities here vague so that you can scale up/down depending on how much you are making.

Ingredients

Cauliflower – separated into florets (ranging in approximate size from walnut-egg).

Olive oil

Sea salt

Tahini sauce (directions on how to make can be seen here. Omit the garlic and add enough liquid to make a good drizzling consistency).

Date syrup

Za’atar

Method

Preheat your oven to 200 c (180 with fan)

Toss the cauliflower florets in olive oil and arrange them in one layer on a baking tray. Grind some salt over them, and roast them for 25-35 minutes, or until cooked through and browned in places. Try not to eat all the pieces straight out of the tray, and let them cool to room temperature.

Arrange the cooled cauliflower on a nice plate (this is very important), and drizzle with tahini in artful swirls. Add an artful swirl of date syrup on top of the tahini (a little goes a long way), and sprinkle some za’atar over the top.

And feel better.

Lentil and chestnut soup

For the past few months I have been followed around by really perfect pulse and chestnut soups. My stalkers tend to be inanimate – I was once stalked by a £10 note.

The first time I encountered a perfect pulse and chestnut soup was in Italy on Silvia Nacamulli’s fabulous cookery course (see here for more superlatives). It was a chickpea and chestnut soup, flavoured with garlic and rosemary, and it was astounding. I had never experienced so much flavour coming from a bit of lumpy broth before. I tried to recreate it when I got back home, but it just wasn’t the same.

The second time I encountered a perfect pulse and chestnut soup was at my work’s Christmas lunch at a fabulous gastro-pub called the Anglesea Arms in Hammersmith. It was a lentil and chestnut soup, thick and dark, butter-rich, and swirled with buttermilk and herb oil.

With these two perfect pulse and chestnut soups now inspiring me, I set out to try and create something on my own. So here is my version. It is thick and rich, and although it is long past Christmas, while it keeps raining like this I’m sure that hearty soups will stay welcome.

Ingredients

275g brown lentils – approx 1 and a half cups.

250g peeled chestnuts, not frozen. 

1-2 tbsp olive oil 

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 sprigs rosemary

1 carrot, peeled and diced

vegetable stock cube

salt and black pepper

To serve:

yogurt or crème fraîche in fancy swirls or drizzles

olive oil

toasted pine nuts, pumpkin seeds or almonds

sherry vinegar, a few drops

Makes about 8 servings

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion, carrots and rosemary and fry on a medium until the onion is golden and the rosemary fragrant. Be patient, it might take a while. Add the garlic and fry for a few minutes more.

Add the lentils, chestnuts, and carrot bits, together with the vegetable stock dissolved in one litre of hot water. You will need more water, but I find it better to just top it up as needed, as opposed to putting too much in to begin with.

Bring the soup to the boil, put the lid on and simmer for about 40 minutes until the lentils are soft. Add more water as needed.

Remove the rosemary stalks, add some salt and pepper and blend with a hand blender until more or less smooth, with a  few lentil-y lumps. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. 

Please note that this soup needs a bit of developing time – it tastes much better if made ahead of time and reheated than fresh.

Serve with all or some of the suggested serving flourishes.

Accompany, as I did (on all pulse and chestnut soup occasions), with a lot of wine.

Egg stuffed tomatoes

Egg stuffed tomato – sounds so obvious as soon as you say it out loud. This is a really delicious breakfast or brunch dish, and would be perfect if you were cooking for a lot of people as it isn’t much prep and is no-where near as ‘hands-on’ as most other kinds of breakfasty eggs.

This recipe is from The Vintage Tea Party Book by Angel Adoree, which I described in Interlude number 2 – the cookbooks. This isn’t the one I describe as thigh-quiveringly sensual, but it was very good – in more of a well-behaved Sunday brunch-y kind of way. 

Ingredients

1 large beef tomato per person

1 medium egg per person

1 tsp of your choice of filling – whatever you want really, or happen to find in the fridge. It could be: cheese, crème fraîche, pesto, chill sauce, leftover ratatouille, or even a couple of anchovy fillets.

Salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200 c.

Using a sharp knife (serrated is easier for tomatoes), cut a little bit of skin of the base of each tomato so that it sits flat. Then cut the top off, creating a lid that will be used for cooking. Scoop out the seeds and middle part of the tomato flesh, creating a large well. Be careful not to go through the base.

Spoon in your choice of filling (I went for pesto, plus a little cheese on top of the egg), and then crack an egg in. Season the egg with salt and pepper, and balance the tomato lid back on top. Place the stuffed tomatoes in a lightly oiled roasting dish and cook for about 20 -25 minutes, until the white is set and the yolk is warm and runny – or however you like it.

Cauliflower and Stilton Soup

Inspired by Claudie

I really love September. It is a time for renewal, and new intentions.

Rosh Hashanna (Jewish New Year) was a few weeks ago, and for the past three years I have celebrated, and participated with an incredible community called Grassroots Jews. Grassroots Jews is a temporary community that comes together for the High Holy days (Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement) to create an inclusive spiritual environment, focused around the ideals of inclusivity, participation and co-creation. Observing the days with the Grassroots community has also been the first time I have ever felt any real spiritual connection to this incredibly significant part of the Jewish year.

At Rosh Hashanna I always make some resolutions. They are more ‘intentions’ than ‘resolutions’, and I use them to give a bit of purpose to the year ahead – as opposed to the traditional sort of resolution that seems to exist only to be broken. For example, three years ago I set the intention of having more adventures and putting my creativity into the world – and that is how this blog was born.

Every year some of my intentions are profound, and some are more prosaic. This Rosh Hashanna my intentions included ‘keeping things simple’ and ‘eat more cauliflower’.

This soup is, obviously, born of both of those intentions. It is amazing how you can take so few ingredients and create something with such depth of flavour. It is rich and creamy; perfect comfort food for when the weather starts to get miserable. A bowl would probably be in a meal in itself, so serve small portions if you want to eat more food as well.

Serves 6-8 with a bit left over

1 large cauliflower, finely slice the stalk and separate the top into florets

1 large potato, diced (you don’t need to bother peeling it)

1 large onion, diced

1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil

1 vegetable or chicken stock cube dissolved in 1 litre of hot water

Approx 75g blue Stilton, cut into little lumps (more or less according to your taste)

Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, and fry the onion until lightly browned. Add the diced potato, and fry for another 5 minutes or so until the onions are a little more caramelised and the potatoes have taken on a little colour too.

Add the sliced cauliflower stalks, stock, and a big pinch of salt, and bring to the boil and let it bubble for about 10 minutes.

Add the rest of the cauliflower, put a lid on the saucepan and bring it to a simmer – you can add another 250ml of hot water if you want the soup a little thinner – but don’t add much more than that.

Simmer the soup for about 15 minutes from when the cauliflower florets go in. When it is ready and the veggies are soft, blitz with an immersion blender. Add the Stilton, and blitz a little more. The soup should be really thick and creamy so make an effort to blitz out all the lumps. The cheese is salty so don’t add any more salt until it has been blended in – but make sure you taste and season once it has.

Goes very well with garlic-y croutons.

Here is a nice thing to do with your leftover Stilton: Butternut Squash, Sage and Hazelnut Risotto with Blue Cheese.

Inside the Grassroots Ohel (tent) - I was very impressed by their use of the pomegranate motif,  although I felt like I couldn't associate it with eroticism in the same way as normal pomegranates....

Comfort Food part 4: Creamy smoked mackerel spaghetti

I don't really know why, but for the past two weeks my energy levels have just completely disappeared, and I have been feeling a bit low and sorry for myself. I really am not asking for any sympathy - I'm not that kind of attention-seeker. Sometimes I just feel a bit rubbish, for no real reason in particular. You might be the same, you might not.

I know that smoked mackerel isn't particularly sustainable these days, but as a comforting treat once in a while I think it is ok. This sauce is creamy and not too rich, lightened up with lemon and capers. And it really is my favourite thing when I need a bit of comforting (except, maybe, for my Mum's chicken pie).

The sauce probably makes enough for 2 servings, scale up as needed

For the sauce:

1 peppered smoked mackerel fillet, flaked up (if you are vegetarian, or fancy an alternative, try this with courgette slices instead)

1/2 onion or 1 large shallot, diced quite fine

1 clove of garlic, crushed

Olive oil

1 dessert spoon capers, rinsed and roughly chopped if they are massive

A big splash (roughly 1/3 a small glass) of wine wine (or vermouth or something, I have actually used cooking sake for this before)

1 tbsp cream cheese (low fat is fine)

1 blob crème fraîche (optional)

Chopped parsley, fresh or frozen, but not dried

Lemon juice

Extra salt and black pepper if you like

Spaghetti, or any other pasta you like (I am going through a whole-wheat spaghetti phase)

1 cup frozen peas per serving - because you need some vegetables

Sauté the onions in a glug of olive oil on a low heat until translucent but not coloured, and then add the garlic. After a few more minutes add the capers and wine and turn up the heat and let it bubble. When the liquid has reduced by about half, add the cream cheese, and give it a swirl with a cooking spoon to melt. Add the crème fraîche too if using, and the mackerel and parsley, and turn the heat down to very low. Don't worry if it looks a bit solid, you will be adding more liquid later.

At this point put the water on for the pasta. Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water (I tend to do it for 1 minute less than packet instructions), and add the peas when you have about 1 and a half minutes of cooking time remaining. When the pasta is ready, just before you drain it add about half a ladle-full of the cooking water into the sauce, and stir - you may want to add a bit more liquid to get the sauce to the consistency you want it.

Add the drained pasta and peas to the sauce and stir everything well to coat. Add a squeeze of lemon and taste to see if you want more salt or pepper.

Mars Bar Rice Crispy Squares

For as long as I can remember, these have been one of my ultimate favourite treats. Chocolate rice crispy squares are pretty standard, learning-to-cook-in-primary-school fare, but these ones really are the best. I think it is probably the combination of familiarity, or nostalgia, with the fact that they just taste so fucking amazing that makes them so magical. You may in fact not want to know the recipe, as it takes some of the wonder away - to be honest, if you give me enough cuddles and cups of tea I will probably make you some.

The old-school-y-ness of this recipe can be seen by the fact that the quantities are in ounces. With thanks to my mum for giving me the recipe.

Ingredients

The quantities couldn’t be simpler – you need one ounce of rice crispies and salted butter per large Mars bar. For a standard sized rectangular cake tin, use 4 ounces of rice crispies, 4 ounces butter and 4 large Mars bars.

I tend to double this – using the large rectangular dishes that are roughly the same size as one full oven shelf (8 oz. rice crispies, 8 oz. butter, 8 Mars bars).

You will also need some dark chocolate to melt over the top – approx. 150-200g for the ‘4 bar’ size, and 300-400g for the ‘8 bar’ size.

Method

Chop the chocolate bars finely, and melt them slowly with the butter in a bain marie or large heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Be careful that no steam from the water goes into the buttery-chocolate. Once the chocolate and caramel has melted, you will need to take the bowl off the heat and give it a good stir/pound to break down the little lumps of nougat and create a smooth consistency – if you do this on the heat, the chocolate will be at risk of splitting.

When the chocolate mixture is smooth, quickly mix in the rice crispies and press into a flat, shallow cake tin/foil dish (as described above). It may look like not enough goo to make the squares chocolatey enough, but trust me it does.

Leave the rice crispies to set in the fridge, and cover them with a layer of melted dark chocolate when completely set – ie. the next day. Leave to set and cut into squares to serve.

Chana Masala

One of the things I am incredibly grateful for is the fact that my parents really taught me to love food from an early age. Growing up in an area with a very large Hindu community we were lucky enough to be surrounded by brilliant Indian shops and vegetarian restaurants, the kind that cater to the local community, as opposed to British people or tourists. I have been taken to Indian restaurants since I was about 4 years old, which has given me a really strong understanding of their food culture, and I can translate a menu pretty well. The dish that has been my absolute favourite since I was small is chana masala – chickpea curry.  I recently found this recipe for chana masala by The Gluttonous Vegan, via the channel 4 website, and its pretty fantastic. It isn’t particularly authentic as it uses canned chickpeas, pre-ground spices and coconut milk, but it is delicious. And as I have now made it 3 times, foolproof (not that you should ever underestimate a fool). If you were the kind of clever person that always has fresh ginger in the freezer (I sadly, am not) – this curry is basically completely store-cupboard.  It is also much quicker and easier to prepare than a traditional curry. Normally I am pretty militant when it comes to freshly toasted and ground spices, but for this one, I will make an exception.

The Gluttonous Vegan: "You know when you have a great lunch, and then you have it for dinner too because it was so good? And then even the next day you might just have it once more? That's what this is. So creamy and rich, a bit spicy but you can always cut down the spice if you're not into that. I'm pretty sure that traditionally chana masala doesn't have coconut milk in it. It's so worth it I promise, doesn't even taste of coconut at the end, just super creamy. It might seem like you need a lot of spices but most of them you'll probably have at the back of the cupboard. If you also just happen to have some canned chickpeas, tomatoes and coconut milk, it's chana masala party time, my friend."

Serves 2 hungry people on its own, 3-4 with rice. This recipe easily doubles, triples, and quadruples – believe me I have tried – although I did not increase the coconut milk as much (and was then happily eating chickpeas for a solid week).

INGREDIENTS

              2 red onions, sliced

              1 tbsp sunflower oil

              2.5cm piece fresh ginger, chopped

              3 cloves garlic, chopped

              400g can chopped tomatoes

              1 tsp dried chilli flakes (or a couple of crumbled birds eye chillies – wash your hands very well afterwards or bad things will happen).

              1 tsp ground cumin

              2 tsp ground coriander

              ½ tsp turmeric

              ½ tsp fennel seeds

              2 x 400g cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

              400g can coconut milk

              Handful of fresh coriander

              ¼ tsp garam masala (this I do recommend you grind yourself, you can buy garam masala whole spice mixes – Hannah made some up a while back and it’s a million times better than the pre-ground).

              Juice of ½ lemon

Method

Slice the onions and put into a wok or a deep-ish frying pan with the oil. Place over a medium heat and leave them to cook down a bit.

Add the ginger and garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Tip in the tomatoes, chilli flakes, cumin, ground coriander, turmeric and fennel seeds. Let that simmer for a minute or so, then add the chickpeas. Stir them in and then pour on the coconut milk.

Once that's all stirred together you can leave it for about 45 minutes. On a medium-ish heat, let it simmer away and the liquid reduce. Read your newest cookbook or watch some Great British Menu, Band of Brothers or Homeland (I never know if I should be trusting Damian Lewis or not, its very confusing) or something. Be sure to give it a stir every 10 minutes or so, just so nothing sticks.

Once most of the liquid has bubbled away, chop your coriander and add that with the garam masala. Squeeze over the juice from the lemon and some salt to taste and serve immediately with some rice or flatbread, or as part of an epic Indian feast, with a cucumber, mint, yogurt raita and plenty of Cobra beer.