There are some born green fingered, some who learn and others who could set fire to a dead plant by watering it.
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Hot curries get something of a bad rap as tasteless in many ways. Seen as just a vessel for unnecessary heat and not enough taste, they're also quite often associated with drunken louts ordering the hottest thing on the menu. It's a shame really, hot doesn't mean tasteless and those drunken louts inspired possibly one of the greatest comedy sketches ever - "Bring me the blandest thing on the menu"
To go about proving that hot isn't tasteless, vindaloo is my go to dish. Following my open love letter to Netherton Foundry and as part of the mutual support between homegrown companies that we often discuss on Twitter, Street Food Sat Down will be joining Netherton Foundry at Lichfield Food Festival on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st August. This follows a Scouse honour that no pans will find their way into my handbag.
We will be giving demos and handing out tasters focused on their slow cookers (see middle of the collage). We'll be cooking a recipe created especially for Lichfield Food Festival. You'll be able to feel the lightness and quality of these British made beauties. Don't forget to come say hi and see what the fuss is about. Quick disclaimer: As always, thanks to Netherton Foundry for the use of their wonderful website pictures. Curry is a strange beast - generally regarded as one cuisine despite hundreds of different dishes from countries across every continent.
There's curried goat in the West Indies, seafood curries in Goa, coconut and lemongrass heavy curries in Thailand and the curries we know in Britain, usually Bangladeshi specialties if the Observer's 2002 article is to be believed. The dish all restaurants are judged by in this household and the first recipe to enjoy is pathia. A hot, sweet and sour curry, it must be perfectly balanced to give the right flavour. This is personal though so it's ideal to make at home if you fancy it. There's even a recipe for pilau rice without the fake food colouring. Let's not beat about the bush, I love food, cooking and kitchen gear. I see kitchen equipment in the same way some women see shoes or handbags.
Some see high heels, low heels, boots, clutch bags, satchels, so on and so forth. I see Joseph Joseph, Le Creuset, technical gadgets, ceramic knives and the like in the same way. My equivalent of the ultimate handbag - be it Mulberry, Louis Vuitton or whichever to you - is Netherton Foundry Pans and this is my unofficial love letter to those beautiful spun iron pans. I may have mentioned a few too many times that I'm a Coeliac. It's something that gets thought about when planning Street Food Sat Down things because any kind of food intolerance or allergy sucks.
For sufferers, everything can feel like a battle. Having to check every food is exhausting, constantly having to ask and explain yourself then being made to feel like you're just being awkward can be upsetting. If mistakes are made, it can be uncomfortable or in severe cases, like nut allergy, it could prove fatal. Not what you want when you just want to enjoy good food and have fun with family and friends, so we think about these things by trying to exclude as many allergens as possible when we plan event catering. At my own wedding later this year, the entire menu will be gluten free and includes my beloved chicken, rice and peas. So after my weekend of spectacular food - have I mentioned that we went to Shrewsbury Food Festival? - here's a dish that I threw together after an 8-6 tech support shift to use up some super cheap ingredients we picked up from the supermarket's reduced section on our way home.
Let's call it Za'atar and mint lamb patties, spiced butter beans and token green things. I used a little bit of oil, a tablespoon of Za'atar, a garlic clove and some mint which I whizzed up in a mini blender and mixed into the minced lamb. I then made it into small patties because I wanted to cook it quickly in a dry pan. We have a halogen oven which I used to keep the patties warm while I used to the same pan to make my spiced butter beans. These were made using a chopped spring onion, a teaspoon of smoked paprika, garlic powder, parsley, a dash of coriander leaf and a tablespoon of ground coriander which were cooked in the residual fat left in the pan. A can of drained butter beans went into the pan and cooked them a little before adding just enough passata to make them slightly saucy. I then mixed some harissa into a tub of hummus, added token salad and had a very happy Mr SFSDTam fed in less than fifteen minutes. |
About @SFSDTamPart North Walian, part Scouse, lover of food & music, hater of bad customer service, supporter of charities & Mountain Rescue Teams, Director and 'gofer' at Street Food Sat Down. Archives
November 2015
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