Lime pickle

Limes, marinading

Lime pickle ingredients

 

I'm getting a little bored with chutney and so am branching out into pickles. To be honest, I'm not sure what constitutes a chutney versus a pickle and would probably call this lime pickle a relish, since it doesn't contain any sugar. It is a very tangy version of the stuff you get in jars to have with poppadoms, but equally as oily. It was delicious served as a dip for cocktail sausages. 

• 12 limes
• 2 medium-hot green chillies
• 1 heaped tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
• salt
• 500 ml white wine vinegar
• 250 ml sunflower oil
• 3 lemongrass stalks
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes + seeds

 How to make lime pickle

1. Slice the limes thickly into a large bowl.
2. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons coarse salt.
3. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave overnight.
4. The next day rinse the limes under cold water and drain. 
5. Chop the chili, garlic, ginger and lemongrass finely.
6. Heat the oil in a in a large heavy-based saucepan.
7. Add the chopped vegetables and the chili powder and mustard seeds.
8. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring. 
9. Add the limes and the vinegar and bring to the boil.
10. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, uncovered.
11. Spoon the hot pickle into hot sterilized jars and seal.
12. Leave for at least 1 week before using.
13. Store in the fridge once opened. 

 

Lentil and pumpkin soup

The delicious dahl and pumpkin soup

It's winter and work is busy so I want a good selection of soups in the freezer for easy (and free) lunches. If you make just one type of soup you'll soon get bored and and be put off eating soup for months. Having a variety of soups in the freezer (frozen, of course, in individual tupperware-shaped portions) will stop your heart from sinking when you contemplate a homemade lunch.

Last Sunday I made three different types of soup, giving me about 10 portions in total. I used instant vegetable stock as the base for all of them. I use reduced salt Swiss bouiIllon stock and add my own salt, as I find the normal stuff too salty.
I adapted this dahl-type soup from one in the New Covent Garden Soup and Beyond book.  

There's a long list of ingredients, but they're pretty standard spice rack staples. You can of course use fresh chillies - the recipe suggests 1 red and 1 green one, but I hate getting chilli juice on my fingers, or worse, in my eye, so use Lazy Chilli or  chilli paste from a jar.

Dahl and pumpkin soup ingredients

• 1 small pumpkin
• 1 medium onion
• About 125g red lentils
• About 1 litre vegetable stock
• 1 thumb root ginger, grated
• 2 teaspoons lazy chilli
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground tumeric
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
• lime juice, to finish, to taste 

Method for making dahl and pumpkin soup

1. Heat about 1 desert spoon of vegetable oil in a pan.
2. Add the onions and fry over a medium heat till a little browned at the edges.
3. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli, tumeric, coriander and cumin; fry for about 1 minute.
4. Add the vegetable stock, lentils and pumpkin and bring to the boil.
5. Simmer till the pumpkin is tender and the lentils are cooked. 
6. Mash to your liking with a potato masher. You can liquidise if you prefer, but I like a little texture in my soup. It makes it seem more like a meal and lesslike baby food.
7. Add the coconut milk and tamarind and warm for a minute or two.
8. Add the lime juice after you have removed from the heat and are just about to serve.

I actually wish I had made more of this soup as it is so tasty, and it feels like a real treat having 'curry' for lunch at work. For free.

Salmon noodle salad

We've moved offices to the middle of the A4 and there's nowhere to go for lunch except the on-site cafe and the World's Biggest Tescos. Now lunch for free at work is not just a philosophy but a necessity. 

I've become Salad Director for our newly formed Salad Club. Even though I hate the use of capital letters in job titles I take this role very seriously.

Salad club: Kate, Peggy, Courtney, Yuki, Danielle, me. Not in the photo: Leanne (taking the photo), Erik

 

Its amazing how many contraindications there are with just eight people: onions, Kosher, coriander (afflicts a surprisingly high proportion of Salad Club members), salad-intolerence...

We settled on salmon noodle salad with coriander as an optional garnish. 

Salmon noodle salad ingredients

Serves 8

• Salmon fillets, x6, marinaded and cooked (see below)
• 1 cucumber thinly sliced
• Grated carrots
• Red and orange peppers, thinly sliced
• Cashew nuts
• Beansprouts
• Spinach, 1 bag
• Vermicelli rice noodles 
• Salad dressing (see below)

Salmon marinade ingredients 

Marinade the salmon in the following for 20-30 mins

• 1.5 JOT* (ginger, peeled and grated)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce (I used dark, as this was all I had, though light would be better)
• 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
• Juice 2 limes

*Jamie Oliver's thum, the IM unit for ginger. 

How to cook the salmon 

1. Heat the oven to the Magic Number (190C fan assisted). Bake the salmon for 10-12 minutes.
2. I'm a bit fussy about slimy fish. After 10 minutes I thought the salmon was a little too opaque so gave it a couple more minutes.
   Bear in mind though that it will cook a little more once out of the oven, and also in the lime dressing. 
3. Once cool enough to handle, gently break the salmon up and flake into pieces.
4. Store in a tupperware container overnight.

Salad dressing ingredients

Add the following to a screw-cap jar and shake well. You will need to give it another vigorous shake before serving.

• Juice 2 limes
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon chilli jam or sweet chilli sauce
• Dash fish sauce*

*only needed if it tastes a bit too sweet 

How to make salmon noodle salad

1. Tell everyone to assemble at the allocated time with their ingredients already prepared. 
2. Help yourself to everything, add a little dressing, and eat at a communal table. 

NOTES:

• It is every member of Salad Club's responsibility to bring and prepare their own ingredient. 
• The Director and Deputy Director of Salad Club are happy to give prep advice if needed up to 5 minutes before the arranged salad club time. 

Asian mushroom soup

Marshroom soup

Today I got a text from my blog chum Mars saying I had inspired her to make vomit soup. Since she is full of cold I thought I’d make up a new slightly less vomit-looking recipe for her with a good kick of ginger and chilli to make her feel better.

Asian-tasting mushroom soup ingredients

• Approx 150g red lentils
  Unlike most pulses, lentils require no pre-cooking soaking or rapid boiling.  
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• I stalk lemon grass, finely shredded, or, in my case today, a squeeze of lemon grass paste (not as good as the real thing but an OK substitute for soup)
• A piece of root ginger, about the size of Jamie Oliver’s thumb*
• 200-250g chestnut mushrooms (I happened to have 127g, yes I actually weighed them). Oriental mushrooms would be good but you would need to reduce the quantity as things like oyster or shiiake mushrooms are expensive.
• Small can coconut milk – Blue Dragon do a 165ml can which is the perfect amount. The tin looks dinky too
• Approx ½ litre or 1 pint chicken stock. Vegetable stock will be fine for this recipe. In fact, non-vegetarians may not even notice the lack of meat since there are so many other strong flavours in here.
• Fish sauce – a large dash
• Coriander leaves and stalks, chopped (if you have the roots from the plants, all the better)
• Mint leaves, chopped
• Lime juice from 1 lime
• Fish sauce, a splash

*Thumb-size is the international measurement for root ginger. Although this recipe isn’t Jamie’s, he frequently uses this measurement so I assume his thumb is the accurate size.

1. Gently fry the shallots and the ginger for a few minutes in some light-flavoured oil, such as groundnut or sunflower.
2. Add the mushrooms and fry until they have started to collapse and release a deep mushroomy smell.They will sizzle like sausages or, if you are vegetarian, like mushrooms. 
3. Add your chicken stock, lemongrass, chilli and rinsed lentils, then bring to the boil.
4. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are cooked.  
5. Add a splash of fish sauce and the coconut milk and cook for about 5 minutes. 
6. Turn off the heat and add the lime juice.* 
7. Ladle into serving bowls and sprinkle each with some chopped coriander and mint.

This made enough for 3 portions, ie 3 free lunches.

*Don’t add the lime if you’re going to reheat this soup at work – take half a lime to work with you and squeeze it in after its been reheated.