During my last trip to Bangkok I visited a Chinese restaurant that sent the most extraordinary fried long beans out of its kitchen. Only a few strings came per order, so they were especially savoured and discussed over the course of the meal. The vegetables were very simply dressed with…
Snacks and Sides
Creamy Tahini Maple Spinach
Tahini Maple Spinach Spinach is one of the few green vegetables my partner actively enjoys, and he is especially fond of the balance of nuttiness from tahini and sweetness from maple syrup and mirin in this recipe. This is an easy side to throw together on a weeknight and it…
Fermented Abroad: Burmese Pone Yay Gyi (Horse Gram Bean) Paste
A few years ago, after an arduously tiresome journey from Lake Inle (most of it spent literally sitting on a road after a lorry broke down and left an entire mountain bypass of vehicles stranded), I found myself seated in a roadside restaurant in Bagan, Myanmar. The menu featured a…
Tis the Season for Ramps! Creamy Wild Garlic Mash with Spring Onions and Mustard
Ramps, wild leek, ramsons, wild garlic; whatever you call it, these flavourful leaves are excellent tossed in salads (both warm and cold), swirled through soup, made into pesto, and blended with mash, as in the wild garlic mashed potato recipe below. Whether you’ve found a glut of ramps on a…
Broccoli with a Garlic Spiced Yoghurt and Tahini Dressing
This is a simple salad of broccoli with garlic yoghurt dressing that is heightened by the addition of savoury umami from mirin and seasoning sauce (or soy sauce). If you don’t have mirin to hand, you can use sherry or Shaoxing rice wine (if it’s the rice wine or a…
Smoky Gochujang Roasted Broccoli
Gochujang is a fire engine red chili paste that is a foundation ingredient in much of Korean cooking. Made from a combination of dried red chillies, sweet rice flour, and fermented soybean powder, the slightly funky flavour is further accentuated by weeks of aging in the sun. This spicy condiment…
Vegan Karaage Recipe
This vegan karaage recipe is perfect for party nibbles, paired with an ice cold beer, and/or to complement the binge sessions of Pretty Little Liars you laugh yourself to sleep by even though you don’t admit that to anyone. And neither am I. It’s just an example. Anyway, season 7…
What to do with too much dill? Make Pesto!
I really, really, really like dill, but unfortunately many of the people I’m likely to cook for really, really, really dislike dill. Combined with the fact that every time I buy dill I can only find a bunch that is a minimum of six times the size of my face,…
Vegan in Kyoto + recipe for fried tofu and nori parcels
The most difficult aspect of writing a blog post, or anything I suppose, is starting. I’ve been working full time on the internet for 12 years now, and engaging in blogging side projects for nearly as long. I know the rules and I know I don’t play by them. Catchy…
Steamed and Fried Tofu Cakes
In order to make Chinese style fermented tofu, firm bean curd is cut into cubes, inoculated with a mould, left to ferment, and then covered in brine. The process typically takes at least a couple of months, but as with cheese-making longer aging tends to produce a more flavoursome and…
Smoky Sriracha Tofu Steamed Buns
I’ve been away for a few months and am slowly replacing the freezer burned leftovers my partner failed to spot with new easy meals my partner will fail to spot. That’s fine so long as I’m around, because more steamed buns for me. I wonder if he reads this thing?…
Crispy Marmite Battered Chickpea Fritters
<some_sarcasm> Sometimes I hear people say things like “I’m craving vegetables because my body is telling me I need them” or “I believe my mind is more at ease when I use coconut oil because I am clinically insane.” Like, you just have to listen to your body and it…
