Tag Archives: rice

Aromatic lamb pilaf and dreaming of distant lands

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Lamb pilaf

I’ve always loved tales of travel and far off places, adventures under a burning sun, crumbling desert fortresses and high mountain passes. Travellers like William Dalrymple, Bruce Chatwin and Robert Byron have long captured my imagination with tales of Afghan chieftains, nomads in the dessert and forgotten ruins.

And they always seem to end up sat on low divans in a tent, or around a fire under the stars tucking into mountains of steaming rice studded with chunks of tender spiced goat or mutton. Their writing is redolent of heady aromas and strong tastes as well as being full of striking descriptions of lands travelled and people met. Continue reading →

A South Asian influenced feast

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Spiced wild salmon

Sometimes you start off with the kernal of an idea that just grows until it’s way beyond your control, taking on a life of it’s own, just like Jack’s magic beans. This started off when I glanced at What’s for Lunch Honey’s Channa Palak recipe a few days ago . I mentally filed it away as something I wanted to try out. That mind running along a South Asian spice track, and then, heading back to the same blog I found a Spicy bream recipe and thought I could adapt that to some wild salmon. I figured the strong almost gamey flavour of the fish would stand up to spices well.

And everything just sprouted uncontrollably from there. I needed rice to go with it, but rather than soothe and mollify, I wanted it to complement and almost compete with the salmon. So I matched the paprika-laced oily fish flavours with sweet and scented saffron and raisins. They made a glorious juxtaposition and both were backed up by the simpler, more rustic chickpea and spinach. Continue reading →

Sichuan dry-fried chicken, green beans with ginger & garlic, rice & peas

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Sichuan dry fried chicken

For the new year I’m trying to move away from focusing all (foody) things Turkish. We live in area of London chock full of Anatolian grocers full of fresh herbs, cucumbers & peppers galore, and about a billion different types of feta, halloumi, yoghurt, tahini, olives etc. Consequently 2009 has had a definite Levantine flavour.

However, with an austere new year beckoning, it feels right to explore all the cuisines i’ve been neglecting, and bring more variety and excitement to the plate. Far eastern food has a purifying effect suitable to post-excess January, in particular the strong flavours of Thai, the simplicity of Japanese and the warmth of Sichuanese.

Accordingly last night’s dinner was Sichuanese dry fried chicken, sticky rice with peas and green beans with ginger and chilli. Continue reading →