The Urban Spice man cometh

It was an exciting day when the postman dropped off this parcel.
We have been entrusted with a selection of the Urban Spice Man's range of spice blends for pre-launch testing and honoured with the task of coming up with some recipe ideas.

Intriguing and enticing titles and a full menu of contents - I couldn't wait to get started.  But life has been hectic of late, so simplicity was the key consideration.  These spice blends are well thought out, beautifully balanced and absolutely zinging with flavour, so simple is anything but boring.

On a #MeatFreeMonday in dreary December, this zipadeedoodah green tomato and black bean curry was as bright and cheerful as a Spring day.

1 tblsp rapeseed oil, we always use our local favourite from Bennett and Dunn

1 onion, sliced

20g butter

2 cloves garlic, sliced

200g green tomatoes, chopped into large chunks - the last of the season, the plants withered by the first frost, the fruit clinging on, but with no hope of ripening.  You could also use any under-ripe tomatoes for this recipe, the astringency bringing another flavour dimension to the dish.

200g cooked black beans (or kidney beans)

2 teaspoons Wor Toon Curry Pooda (adjust the quantity to taste) 

50g creamed coconut

250ml water

4 generous handfuls spinach

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp salt

Put the oil and butter in a large frying pan or prospector pan and warm over a medium heat.

When the butter foams, add the onion and garlic and fry until translucent. Tip in the spice mix and cook for 5 minutes.  If the mixture starts to catch on the bottom of the pan add a little water (you don't need any more oil).

Put the tomatoes, beans and coconut in the pan and stir in the water.

Simmer for 30 minutes, adding more water if the sauce looks too thick.

Taste, add the lemon juice and season with salt.

Add the spinach, a handful at a time and when it has just wilted, the dish is ready to serve.

A handful of chopped coriander and some lemon wedges would not go amiss, but are not essential.

Serve with rice or naan.

Serves 4

Keep checking the website and our social media for more news from the Spiceman and more recipes.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

https://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/

To Autumn

Autumn has arrived promptly this year, bringing chillier mornings and darker evenings.
Autumn raids the cliché cupboard every year and there can scarcely be any adult who has not, at some time or another, uttered at least the first line of Keats' famous poem, To Autumn,

"Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness"

It is a season that assails our senses; there are the scents of bonfires, quinces and damp leaves; the sounds of apples thudding to the ground in the wind, dry leaves kicked by small children and, buried in the memory, the clash of conker on conker; then there is the nip in the air, tingling the fingertips and beginning to numb the toes.
And the sheer glory of the colours; glorious shades of orange, red, yellow - I was astonished to look out of the kitchen window and see the extraordinary yellow hue of the damson tree leaves, which seemed to have received word overnight that the seasons had officially crossed the line.
An aside, while we are on the subject of colour.  Do you know what season you are?  Doing some research before I embarked on this post, I was astonished to discover that Colour Me Beautiful is still a "thing".  Carole Jackson wrote the book that launched the company over 35 years ago, but is no longer involved. You can read more in this article by Hannah Marriott. I had assumed, cynic that I am, that it was a relic of the power suited, excess fuelled 80's when money was no object and for some it took more than American footballer sized shoulder pads and a can of hairspray to give them the confidence to join the swaggering class.
Cynicism aside, there is a warmth to the hues of this season that softens, yet intensifies the light of the shortening days.

My favourite lines from Keats' poem are:

"To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, 

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core."

There is an abundance of ripe, seasonal produce of every shade in Autumn, after all, every church in the land is preparing for Harvest Festival; orange squashes, red and green apples, pears, yellow quinces, late summer and green tomatoes - the ones you know will rot before they ripen, but are too good to waste - white, green and purple brassicas, brown nuts and the last of the purple finger staining damsons, blackberries and elderberries.

Now is the time for the warm spices; cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice; for dried fruits and citrus.
There is already a number of autumnal recipes if you scroll through the appropriate months, but I make no apologies for adding another.  You can make this one all year round, by substituting the fresh corn for tinned.

This recipe brings together the colours I have already mentioned, with some of those warm spices.  I cannot claim credit for its origin, nor trace its provenance back to the ultimate source, but I can acknowledge two steps along its evolutionary journey.  I took my inspiration from a piece by Simon Hopkinson - a yellowing, desiccating cutting from the Independent Saturday Magazine, a throwback to the sadly lamented glory days of the broadsheet format print editions. He, in turn, based his recipe on a tomato curry prepared by the Thanki family at the Kastoori Indian restaurant in Tooting, south London, equally sadly, now closed.

Tomato, egg and sweetcorn curry

2 eggs, boiled for 4 minutes and cooled under cold running water.
2 corn on the cob, kernels stripped
8 medium sized tomatoes, halved
50g butter
2 cloves garlic
4 tsp ground ginger
2tsp cumin seed and 1tsp cloves
½ tsp fennel seeds
5 green cardamom pods
1 dried red chilli
50g creamed coconut
200ml water
2 tsp salt
Juice of half a lemon

Toast the cumin and fennel seeds and cloves in a dry pan, until the aroma rises and inveigles its way into your nostrils.  A blini pan is ideal for this.  Remove from the heat and grind finely in a spice grinder or with a pestle and mortar.
Place a large frying pan or prospector casserole over a medium heat and melt the butter.
Add the garlic and cook until just turning golden.  Stir in the spices and cook for another 2 minutes.
Put the tomatoes, sweetcorn coconut and water into the pan. Stir and then leave to simmer until the coconut dissolves into the water and tomato juices.
Cover with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes. 
Meanwhile, peel and halve the eggs.
Take off the pan lid, remove the chilli and the cardamom pods, season to taste with salt and add the lemon juice.
Sit the eggs on top and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
Serve with plain boiled basmati rice or chapatis.

                                        © Netherton Foundry 2017     
                                       www.netherton-foundry.co.uk            

Coconut curry

We are very fond of spiced food here and our trip to India last summer heightened my interest in creating curry style dishes.
I make no claims for the authenticity of this dish, it is simply a combination of warm, fragrant spices that I happen to enjoy.
This is not a mouth blistering curry,but has a subtle blend of flavours, with an overlay of toasted coconut.

It works well with lamb, hard-boiled eggs or paneer.

You will need:
3 onions
3 garlic
1" ginger 
50ml water
2 tblsp coriander seeds, 
1 tblsp cumin seeds, 
2 tsp fenugreek, 
1 tsp white peppercorns  
10 cloves
1 tblsp turmeric 
1 tsp asafoetida
1 dried chilli
4 tblsp dessicated coconut.
500g lamb or 4 hard boiled eggs or 1 pack of paneer
500ml water
1 tsp salt
2 chopped tomatoes
1 teacup frozen peas.

Peel and roughly chop the onions, garlic and ginger and blend to a paste with the 50ml of water.
Dry fry the coriander, chilli, cumin, fenugreek, cloves and peppercorns,  Our blini pan is perfect for this.

Allow to cool and then grind with a pestle and mortar or in a spice mill. 
Dry fry the coconut and set aside.

Put 2 tblsp oil in a cast iron casserole dish, add the onion paste and fry gently for 5 minutes.
Tip in the ground spices, turmeric, asafoetida and coconut.

Cook for 2 minutes, adding more oil if necessary.
Throw in the cubed lamb (if using) and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the tomatoes and water and 1 tsp salt.
If using eggs or paneer, add them now.

Cover with a lid and simmer for 1 hour.
Chuck in the frozen peas, cook for another 5 minutes and serve with rice or Indian breads.

You can make great chapattis in our crepe pan.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

A trip to India

This summer we were lucky enough to travel to India - an amazing experience and one which I would love to be able to repeat.
We flew into Delhi, where we had less than 24 hours before heading north to Ladakh and the Himalayas.
However, you don't go all that way and miss out on the chance of a good look round.
Fortunately, we were recommended a walking tour of Old Delhi, by our friends at Creative Cookware in Edinburgh. Update: Creative Cookware has now closed, but you can still buy Netherton cookware in Edinburgh - head to Marchmont Hardware 
And what a recommendation!!

If you ever get the chance to visit Delhi, book a tour with Dhruv  http://www.masterjikeehaveli.com/, who took us on a walking tour of Old Delhi, up on rooftops, to the very best street food vendors, the back rooms of shops and finally back to his own home, an old style Delhi haweli, where his wife and daughter prepared us a fabulous dinner.  This was a view of the city we would not otherwise have seen, accompanied by a local resident passionate about his home city, its past and its future.

  

We also got to meet a jeweller and visited his workshops - we always like to meet other people who are making things, and who share our passion for raw materials and craftsmanship......... in this case the raw materials were Sri Lankan sapphires!
He makes a beautiful diamond ring for a jeweller in London, who sells them exclusively and whilst we could see the ring we were not allowed to know the name of the jeweller, nor the store it is sold in.  All we did know was that the mark up between Delhi and London is x 30!!

                                           

After  the blistering heat of Delhi 36ºC, we transferred to relatively temperate climate of Leh in the Ladakh region.  Another assault on all the senses and a challenge to one's views on poverty, affluence, happiness........
Life here is so very different from our own and it certainly takes an open mind to appreciate everything that is thrown at you.

This is principally a Buddhist region, with beautiful gompas (monasteries) scattered around the countryside and the Buddhist philosophies certainly appear to be imbued in every day life, without being thrust upon you.

As you can imagine the food was wonderful and I bought a local cook book

I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, there is always that worry that it will taste nothing like it should do when you try and recreate it in an English kitchen.

One thing I will not be trying is the local homebrew beer - we did try some, but it is certainly an "acquired taste"

The whole point of the trip was to go trekking - with OH and the kids also tackling Stok Kangri a 6000m Himalayan peak.  Here they are on the top - check out their personal icicles!

The trekking involved camping in remote and beautiful locations and was certainly different from scout camp.

Our meal were served in a dining tent, with a tablecloth and, on one occasion, a paper napkin carefully cut to create a doyley!

As the kit was packed away on the last day, we enjoyed some al fresco dining
We had the most delicious cooked breakfasts and 3 course dinners.
We were also treated to "bed tea" - woken every morning at around 6:30am with a cup of tea brought to our tents!

  

Whilst the other 3 tackled their mountain, I returned to Leh and stayed in a family run guest house, with the most beautiful garden.

                                     

The return home was via Delhi and we couldn't leave without scheduling a visit to the Taj Mahal; it seemed criminal to travel so far and not make the effort to add a detour to see one of the Wonders of the World.

Nothing prepares you for the astonishing beauty of this place - we have all seen so many photos and TV images, but the reality is jaw dropping.  And, after the brown and grey hues of the Ladakhi traditional dress, the vibrant colours of the clothes, worn by the Indian visitors were equally stunning.

The return to Delhi from Agra was by train - an interesting experience.  We stood in the blistering heat on the paltform at Agra station, pestered by beggars and watching the rats running between the rails and wondered what the 2 hour journey would be like.
First impressions were not promising.  The carriage was old and shabby, but at least the air conditioning was working.  Then we were give a bottle of ice cold water,  a meal of vegetable curry, dahl, rice and paratha, followed by ice cream and helped ourselves to a serving of paan.  Several notches up from the infamous "British rail" sandwich and to be honest, considerably better than a lot of airline catering!

There was also a glossy magazine, Railbhandu  - and if you look closely you will see that I have been naughty,as it specifically asks you not to remove it from the train.

The reason I kept it was the article on cooking eggs, which has given me the inspiration to create the following recipe. 

So, with apologies to Indian Railways, here is my version of Bagara Egg Masala

1 large onion
12 root ginger, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
100ml water
2 dessertspoons ground cumin seeds
1 dessertspoon ground fenugreek seeds
2 teaspoon tamarind, soaked in 450ml boiling water
2 tblsp dessicated coconut
1 tblsp sesame seeds
2 tsp turmeric
4 hard boiled eggs
10 runner beans
1 tsp salt
2 tsp brown sugar

Put half the onion, peeled and roughly chopped in a blender with the ginger, garlic and water.
Blend to a smooth paste

Put your cast iron casserole on a medium heat and add 2 tblsp oil.
Slice the other half of the onion and add to the dish.  Fry until just turning brown, then add the onion paste.
Fry for 3 minutes.
Add the cumin, fenugreek and turmeric and fry for a further 2 minutes.

In a separate pan - one of our frying pans is ideal - dry fry the coconut, and sesame seeds, until the coconut starts to turn colour.

Add to the onion and spice mix.
Stir thoroughly.
Add the hard boiled eggs and sliced green beans. Stir well to coat with the spice mix.
Strain the tamarind water and add to the pan, with the salt and sugar.

Simmer for 40 minutes and serve with rice.
This is the same sauce with paneer in place of the eggs for a friend, who can't/won't eat eggs.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Asparagus and paneer curry

Yet another seasonal favourite - English asparagus.  This is one of my absolute favourite vegetables and I just can't get enough of it during its short season.

There are so many ways to enjoy this from simple melted butter, Hollandaise sauce, dipping it into a poached or boiled egg, soup, quiche, steamed, griddled, barbecued, but I have been experimenting and after having pasta sauces and risottos with asparagus, I decided to have a go at adding it to a curry.

I can hear some of you screaming in protest - but I have to say that it was a delicious combination of flavours and because I added the asparagus right at the end, none of its magic was lost, simply enhanced.

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 onion sliced
2 tblsp coriander seed
1 tblp cuminseeds
10 cloves, 
 2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 dried chill
1 tsp dill seed
1 onion, chopped
1" root ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
600 ml water
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp amchoor (mango powder)
4 chopped fresh tomatoes
 2 tsp salt
 1 tsp sugar
2 tblsp double cream
1 bundle asparagus
1 block paneer, cubed

In a frying pan, dry fry the coriander, cumin, cloves, fenugreek, chilli and dill seed until lightly toasted.
Allow to cool and grind to a powder.

Combine the chopped onion, ginger and garlic with 100ml of water in a blender and process to a paste.

In a large pan  or casserole dish heat the oil and add the sliced onion and mustard seeds.

When the mustard seeds start to pop add the spice powder mix, turmeric and amchoor.
Fry for 2 minutes, stir from time to time.

Add the onion paste and cook for a further five minutes.
Add the chopped paneer and stir well to coat.  Then add 500ml water and simmer for 40 minutes.

Stir in the chopped tomatoes, salt, sugar and cream and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the asparagus and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Serve with boiled rice. 

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk