spice | The grub worm

Aromatic lamb pilaf and dreaming of distant lands

Posted on 12 April 2011 by The Grubworm

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 →

Potato & chickpea curry, tomato cachumber and raita

Posted on 24 February 2010 by The Grubworm

No-place does vegetarian food like the South Asian subcontinent. I’ve had very good vegetarian Italian, Japanese, Thai and for want of a better name, fusion food. But nowhere, and I mean no-where, that I’ve come across takes vegetarian based cooking so seriously and has such a breadth of veggie food. It’s my go-to cuisine when i’m in need of a serious green (or orange, yellow, red etc) flesh-free hit. Continue reading →

Chorizo, prawn and saffron risotto

Posted on 3 February 2010 by The Grubworm

I love paella, risotto, and jambalya – all products of very different cuisines, but all equally as wonderfully ricey, gooey and savoury. Ideal for a winter’s night. This dish has something of all of them about it. It’s closest to a risotto and uses Arborio rice for the base because it gives such a creamy-with-bite finish. But the mix of spicy sausage and prawns with chilli is definitely creole influenced and the chorizo and saffron give it a Spanish flavour as well. It probably fits in most comfortably with the New Orleans crucible of Spanish, African, French and Native American influenced cuisine. Continue reading →

A South Asian influenced feast

Posted on 25 January 2010 by The Grubworm

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 →

Lentil and cumin soup

Posted on 11 January 2010 by The Grubworm

Sometimes, you need something that will warm your soul as well as your stomach. A meal that imparts the glow you usually only get when sipping a fine whiskey. Those are the times that a salad or stir-fry just won’t cut it. You need something smooth, something…well…warm in the emotional (as opposed to temperature) sense. Everyone has their favourites, their particular comfort food. For me there are several things that hit that spot: red braised pork belly, lamb casserole or hot pot, a rich and creamy mushroom risotto, poached chicken broth with ginger, lemon grass and chilli. And a spiced lentil soup. Continue reading →