Courgette Fritters with Griddled Halloumi

The weekends are my favourite time to allow myself to relax, take a little time and prepare something different and tasty for at least one of the meals during the day. Looking for lunch inspiration my fridge revealed a block of halloumi cheese and a courgette. A short while later courgette fritters with griddled lemon & chili halloumi was created.

For the fritters I used gram/chickpea flour which has a very savoury beany flavour that I think always works well in savoury fritters. It can be a little bland on its own, so I added some lemon zest and oregano to pep it up a bit. I decided not to add salt to the mix, as halloumi cheese is incredibly salty, and as I planned to eat them together I thought this would be enough seasoning.

 

Halloumi cheese is very firm and salty. You have to eat it fried or heated in some way otherwise it’s tough and squeaky. As I was planning ahead, I added some lemon, oregano and chili flakes to my halloumi and left it to marinate for 2 hours before cooking it. This added an extra flavour dimension, but you could probably get away with griddling it straight away. I don’t have a griddle pan so instead used my panini press and just didn’t close the lid, which worked really well and, even if I do say so myself, was quite a genius idea.

 

Halloumi cheese is best eaten straight after cooking, so make sure you cook the fritters first and leave them warming in the oven while you quickly cook the halloumi. Then it’s all hot and ready to go at once.

While the fritters were keeping warm in the oven I also added a few halved tomatoes. They didn’t really cook, as the heat was only low, but they warmed though enough to help enhance their natural juicy sweetness.

 

A little drizzle of sweet chili sauce and lunch was served. The pancakes were lightly crisp on the outside and still soft and tender in the centre. The courgette adds more of a colour and texture than any actual flavour, but everything eaten together produced a lovely combination of tastes and texture. Soft fritters, firm salty cheese, juicy tomatoes and a little heat from the chili. I wish Saturdays came round more than once a week!

 

And now for something completely different…

I’m off to a tiny Greek island with my sister next week so it may be quiet on here for a while. I hope to return having experiences some of the tastes and delights Greece has to offer. I’m longing to try the thick Greek yoghurt, honey, nuts, fresh fruit, feta cheese etc. Anyone got any gluten free Greek dishes they could recommend?

Courgette Fritters with Griddled Halloumi

Fritters

150g (1 large) courgette

30g gram/chickpea flour

1 egg

1 tsp lemon zest

¼ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp baking powder

½ tbsp oil

Halloumi

Zest of ½ lemon

½ tsp dried chili flakes

¼ tsp dried oregano

Halloumi cheese

To Serve

Cherry tomatoes

Sweet chili sauce

Method

Cut the halloumi into ½cm slices and lay on a plate in a single layer.

Sprinkle over the lemon, chili and oregano. Cover in cling film and leave to marinate for as long as possible – up to 24 hours.

For the fritters, wash and coarsely grate the courgette. Place onto some sheets of sturdy kitchen roll or a tea towel and wring most of the liquid out. It can be damp, but you don’t want it soggy.

Place into a large bowl and add the chickpea flour, lemon, oregano and baking powder. Toss until all the courgette is coated in the flour. Add the egg and mix until combined into a batter. It should be quite soft but still hold its shape when spooned into the pan. The more you stir, the more liquid will come out of the courgettes.

Add a little milk if your batter is too thick, or another 1-2 tsp of chickpea flour if too runny.

Warm your oven to around 100C. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and place on a baking tray and leave to warm in the oven. Also place a plate with a sheet of kitchen roll on into the oven to warm gently.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and drop tablespoonfuls of the batter into the pan. Allow to cook for 1 minute before flipping over the cooking for a further 30 seconds. They should be lightly golden.

Remove the fritters from the pan and transfer to the warm plate with kitchen roll to keep warm while you cook the rest.

Repeat until all the batter is used up. Leave the fritters to keep warm in the oven while you cook the halloumi

Heat a dry griddle or frying pan (I used my Panini press!) and place the slices of marinated halloumi onto the grills. Allow to cook for 30 seconds without touching them, then flip over and cook for further 30 seconds. They will release some oil as they cook. They should be softened and nicely griddled when done.

To serve, remove the fritters and tomatoes from the oven. Arrange 3-4 fritters in a stack in the middle of the warmed plate. Place 2-3 slices of halloumi on top and arrange some of the warmed tomatoes around the edge. Drizzle with a little sweet chili sauce.

Eat immediately. Makes 7-8 fritters

Summer Veg & Bean Salad in a Smoky Tomato Dressing

Now that we have had a couple of weeks of glorious warm and sunny weather it means things like summer salads, wedges of cold quiche and crunchy coleslaw are finally back on the menu. Last weekend I decided to prepare a huge veg and bean salad to have on hand for either work lunches or as part of a quick evening dinner for when it was just too hot to cook.

I’ve discovered that I absolutely love the combination of using both roasted and raw veg in a salad. They add such a wonderful texture and flavour contrast to each other. The roasted veg is sweet, soft and often slightly smokey or charred, while the raw veg is fresh, crisp and crunchy. That together with a mix of creamy starchy beans and a nice dressing makes for a delicious salad. It’s also the perfect tasty way to getting your 5 a day – did you know that beans (baked beans too) count as one of your 5 a day – its true! So think how healthy and delicious a tasty veg and bean salad it.

I’ve also discovered that making a dressing on the baking tray the veg has previously been roasted on, not only helps get those sticky stuck on pieces off the tray, but also adds a wonderful flavour base to the sauce. The sticky juices, edges of stuck on veg and scraps of roasted garlic are a delicious addition to the dressing. For this sauce I did a mix of tomato puree, paprika and chipotle chili powder for a smoky, only faintly spicy warmth.

This salad kept me going for 4 days. It makes a great meal in itself, but is also a lovely accompaniment to a wedge of quiche or on the side of a BBQ meal.

Summer Veg & Bean Salad in a Smoky Tomato Dressing

For Roasting

¼ head cauliflower

2 carrots

¼ fennel bulb

1 large onion

1 yellow pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp dried oregano

For Salad

1 x 400g can mixed beans

¼ head broccoli

2 spring onion

50g mange tout

4 tbsp sweetcorn

2 tbsp broad beans

10 basil leaves

Dressing

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp chipotle chili powder

½ tsp balsamic vinegar

100ml water

1 tsp cornflour

Salt and pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 220C. Have a large baking tray ready, but don’t line it with foil.

Divide the cauliflower into small florets. Peel and slice the carrots into thin batons and chop the fennel, onion and yellow pepper into squares. Place all the veg onto the baking tray.

Finely chop the garlic and sprinkle it over the veg along with the oregano, oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix everything together until all the veg is coated. Spread into a even layer.

Place in the oven for 20 minutes before giving everything a mix and roasting for a further 10-20 minutes depending on the size of your veg.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, cut the broccoli into small florets. Either blanch them in a pan of boiling water or in the microwave until they are slightly softened, but still firm and crisp. Cool under cold water, pat dry and add to a large bowl.

Slice the mange tout on a diagonal, so you get thin long strips. Thinly slice the spring onions. Add them to the bowl along with the sweetcorn and broad beans (you can pod them if you want, but mine were young and sweet so it wasn’t necessary).

Drain and rinse the beans and add them to the bowl along with the cooled roasted veg.

Shred the basil and sprinkle it over the top. Give everything a good mix together.

Your baking tray will probably have some sticky veg juices from roasting, which will form the base of the dressing. Add the tomato puree, paprika and chili powder onto the baking tray. Stir in the water and then place over the hob and heat gently, stirring constantly with a spoon or spatula. Rub the spatula over the base of the pan, scraping up any sticky bits of stuck on veg. Stir in the balsamic vinegar.

If the dressing looks a little thin, dissolve the cornflour in a little cold water and then stir into the dressing. Heat until slightly thickened.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the smokey tomato dressing from the heat and pour over the salad. Toss everything together so that it all gets coated in the dressing.

You can eat ti straight away but it tastes even better is allowed to sit in the fridge for a few hours or even overnight. This allows the veg and beans to absorb some of flavour from the dressing.

Serve as a meal or as an accompaniment to other summery food.

Life, Lunch & Friends

Sorry for the long absence. The week before last I was unwell and not up to eating anything, let alone cooking. I then made one of those big life changing decisions, and foolishly made the wrong one, and went off down the wrong track. It’s been a very stressful and emotional week trying to set it right again and I dearly hope things are now back on the right path. To be honest I’d love to scrap the last few days from existence, but I have learnt things too, such as don’t make important when you have been ill and are not thinking straight!

In order to offer some support and take my mind of things one of my best friends from ‘back home’ came to Sheffield to visit me over the weekend. I haven’t seen her since Christmas, so it was lovely to see her again and do normal things like go out to lunch and catch up on her news.

As Saturday seemed to be one of the hottest days in Sheffield, we didn’t want anything too heavy or more importantly cooked for lunch and so instead decided to visit Fusion Organic Café which is located down a side street (Arundel Street) near Sheffield Hallam Uni.

This is a great little café where they make all their own salads, quiches and soups fresh on site daily. The menu is always changing to accommodate what’s in season or what they fancy making – my kind of place. We each opted for the salad bowl which was a choice of 3 of their 5 salads of the day. I went for a bigger portion of just 2 salads, the chickpea and cabbage salad which was in a light dressing and then also the smoked paprika quinoa salad which had a delicious smoky heat to it.

My friend chose the Moroccan cous cous salad, the quinoa salad and a broccoli noodle salad. We both agreed everything was delicious and very generous portions considering we got all that for £3.80 each! I’d defiantly recommend it. They always have a range of gluten free or vegan options too. It’s a little hidden, but well worth the hunt out. (They are now open Saturdays too)

As the day was so swelteringly hot we decided to cool down with a pot of frozen yoghurt from a shop on Pinstone Street called Flurt. They had a choice of 3 flavours on the day, natural, chocolate or raspberry. We both went for raspberry. Our medium tubs were £2.80 and each topping was 30p extra. They had lots of toppings to choose from but couldn’t guarantee any of them were gluten free as they were all kept in the same unit, so I had mine plain while my friend chose white chocolate and strawberries for hers.

I was slightly disappointed at the lack of flavour options, as their website lists many more. Still the raspberry flavour was very fruity and refreshing, although I found it a little icier than previous frozen yogurts I’ve tasted. I also thought they were a bit stingy with the portion size considering my pot cost £2.80 and actually turned out to be swirled around the edge of the pot and the middle was hollow. We’d wandered off into the city before I discovered this but it left me feeling a bit cheated. It was very refreshing but I’m not sure I’d buy one again. Still, I may just have been unlucky.

It was a lovely way to spend a sunny day, especially when I had the company of one of my best friends. Long may the sunny weather continue!

Roasted Butternut Squash Houmous

I love houmous and its one of my household staples that appear in my fridge at least 2-3 times a month. You can get some really tasty and interesting houmous varieties in the shops these days, but recently I have found I also enjoy making it myself.

Having recently bought some of the new Warburtons gluten free tortilla style wraps to try, I wanted some houmous to eat them with. As I had some butternut squash languishing in the fridge from making my butternut and ginger soup I decided to roast it and then blitz it into some homemade houmous to add a bit of interest.

Butternut squash is one of those fabulous vegetables – well tubers really, that go fabulously sweet and soft after a little roasting in the oven. You’d never think that something so tough and hard to slice could be transformed into something so soft and almost creamy, in just a few minutes. The vibrant golden orange colour helps add a little sunshine to whatever it’s served with too.

I had a jar of garlic chutney in the fridge too, so used some of that in place of the standard freshly grated garlic. This gave it more of a subtle sweet garlic flavour rather than the harsher raw garlic hit, but either works well. I also added a squeeze of lemon juice as I’ve found this really seems to enhance the flavours in houmous.

The resulting houmous was soft with an almost creamy mouthfeel from the velvety roasted squash, which also gave it a delicious natural sweetness. Although creamy in the mouth, the houmous itself was still a little on the coarse side which I like, as it adds texture and interest. I also left it quick thick so that it would be easier to spread on wraps and in sandwiches, but you can always make it thinner if you want to use it as a dip instead.

I loved the rich orange roasted colour it produced. Even though I usually associate roasted veg with winter, this seemed very fresh and summery. I served mine with an assortment of salads and olives, along with strips of the gluten free tortilla wrap. I then had fun making up little handheld wraps, almost soft taco style, using the houmous as the base. Delicious

Roasted Butternut Squash Houmous

Ingredients

300g butternut squash

400g tin chickpeas

1 tbsp roasted garlic puree/chutney (or 1 clove garlic grated)

2 tbsp olive oil

½ tbsp lemon juice

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with foil.

Cut the butternut squash into 1cm thick slices and lay them out on the baking tray, leaving the skin on. Brush with half a tablespoon of oil and roast for 25-30 minutes until softened and just starting to take on some colour.

Once roasted, remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Place the chickpeas, 1 tbsp of water from their tin and the remaining 1½ tablespoons of olive oil into a food processor and blitz to create a chunky paste. Scrape down the sides once or twice during the process.

Add some roasted garlic puree/chutney, or grate in 1 clove of fresh garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Peel the skin off your roasted and cooled butternut squash using your fingers, it should come away easily.

Briefly mash the butternut into a mush and add to the blitzed chickpeas along with the lemon juice. Blitz again until well combined and the mixture is as smooth or chunky as you desire. (You can add a little more oil or a drop of water if it is too thick)

Spoon into an airtight container and store in the fridge until required.

Delicious served with crudités, on jacket potatoes, salads, wraps with crackers or in sandwiches etc.

Makes around 800g (you can freeze some in a Tupperware container if you don’t think you will eat it all straight away)

Butternut Squash & Ginger Soup

What a week it’s been, so busy and the next couple of weeks don’t look like being any different. The weather has also been pretty miserable, damp, windy and cold. Parts of the UK even had snow early this week – snow! It’s May for goodness sake!!

Hard work and cold weather make me crave warm comforting foods, rice puddings, stews and soups. Feeling a little careworn I decided to make soup to give my body an extra wholesome boost. I love making soup, I find the process almost as therapeutic and comforting as eating the soup itself. There is something calming about a gently simmering pan of savoury veg.

 

Having recently bought a large butternut squash I decided to use this as the base of the soup, replacing the usual potato as the starchy thickener. This not only gave the soup a wonderfully rich orange hue, but also an incredible smoothness and natural sweetness.

 

I considered adding some chili to the soup to make it extra warming, but decided instead to use the fresher warming kick of fresh ginger. I’ve never used fresh ginger in a soup before but the results were lovely. The ginger wasn’t immediately apparent, but it left a lingering tongue tingle and aromatic freshness after each spoonful.

 

I topped my soup with a swirl of buttermilk and used some crunchy roasted spiced chickpeas in place of croutons. They added a lovely contrast to the soup, much better than a bit of soggy bread. Wholesome, healthy and spirit lifting. A delicious soup for the soul.

Butternut Squash & Ginger Soup

Ingredients

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic

2 carrots

400g butternut squash

1 inch piece of fresh ginger

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Small knob of butter

2 pints vegetable stock (check any stock or stock cubes are gluten free)

½ tsp dried thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Method 

Peel the onion, carrots and garlic cloves. Roughly chop the onion into chunks, it doesn’t need to be that neat as you blitz everything later.

Heat a large saucepan with the oil and butter and add the onion. Stir, put the lid on the pan and leave to sweat.

Chop the carrot and butternut squash (leave the skin on) into chunks and stir into the onion and replace the lid again.

Finely chop the garlic and fresh ginger. Stir into the veg along with the thyme and replace the lid again. Leave to cook for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare you stock, ideally you want it hot so it doesn’t destroy the heat in the pan.

Once the veg is starting to soften and take on a bit of colour, pour over the vegetable stock, stir well and replace the lid, this time ajar so some of the steam can escape. Bring the mix to a boil then reduce it to a simmer and leave to cook for 25-30 minutes.

Check the butternut squash and carrots are cooked by fishing a bit out with a spoon and tasting it. If it is, remove the soup from the heat, if not, leave to cook for a further 5 minutes before testing again.

Ladle the soup into a liquidizer and blitz until smooth, you may need to do this in batches. Alternatively, use a hand blender to blitz it straight in the pan.

Return the soup to the pan and warm through if needed. Taste and add extra salt and pepper if desired.

Serve in warmed bowl and top with a swirl of buttermilk or cream. Add a few croutons or gluten free alternative. (I used roasted spiced chickpeas for a nice contrasting crunch)

Serves 4-6 depending if served as a starter or main

My First Dosa at East & West Restaurant, Sheffield and a visit to Castleton

My parents came up to visit me over the bank holiday weekend for a belated birthday celebration. We spent the morning wandering round Sheffield city centre before going for lunch at East & West restaurant, followed by a walk in Castleton, afternoon tea and then back to mine for dinner. The sun was shining, the food delicious and the company couldn’t have been better. All in all a fabulous day.

East & West is a South Indian restaurant on Abbeydale road that apparently has been running for 5 years, but it has only just registered on my radar. They are famous for their dosa, which are huge, paper thin crispy pancakes made from rice and urid (lentil) flour. I have been watching Paul Hollywood’s Bread programme on tv and he did an episode on breads from different cultures, one of which was Indian dosa. I had never heard or seen a dosa before but the uniqueness of them and the fact they are naturally gluten free made me instantly long to try one for myself. I did a little googleling and discovered East & West restaurant that specialised in them. Until recently, they were in fact the only restaurant in Sheffield to offer dosa. Upon discovering this I immediately suggested to my parents we go there for lunch when they came to visit. Thankfully they too had been watching the bread programme and so were more than happy to accompany me.

The restaurant itself is tiny, with only 4 tables inside but we managed to get a table when we visited at lunch time. It’s quite a simple set up, but the aromas of food wafting out the kitchen were mouthwatering and it was clear everything was made fresh. The menu is made up of a few choices, with a variety of fillings or flavour varieties for each dish. It all seemed very authentic and included many dishes I have never even heard of before. However, we were on a dosa mission and all decided to order dosa.

While we waited for the food we were served our drinks. My father and I had mango lassi, while my mother chose mango juice. The lassi was delicious. Very thick and creamy from the yoghurt and nicely sweet without being sickly. The mango flavour was good too.

When our dosa’s arrived we were all very excited and impressed at the sheer size of them. They were longer than the trays they were served on! Dosa are cooked on a large flat griddle until crisp, when they are rolled around the filling of your choice and served with a selection of chutneys. I chose Masala Dosa, stuffed with a potato and onion curry mixture, while my parents both went for a Chicken Dosa, chicken and potato curry.

They filling is only in the very centre of the dosa, to ensure the rest of it remains crisp. You eat the dosa by breaking off pieces from an end, scooping up some of the filling and then dipping it into one of three chutneys – two were spicy and the third was like a cottage cheese. I love eating food with my fingers in this rustic fashion, and it made the process of eating really fun and interactive. The filling was only lightly spiced but two of three chutneys had quite a powerful kick that really pepped the dish up. Different flavours and levels of spice with each bite depending on the chutney chosen. It was delicious and surprisingly filling.

I found the dosa themselves quite salty, but the saltiness was calmed down when eaten with the filling and spiced chutneys. I loved how thin and crisp they were. The mango lassi was also great at calming the mouth and preventing anything from getting too hot. It was such a unique dish to me that I could quite happily go back every day for a week to eat another one. It was a very simple yet delicious lunch.

After lunch we drove to Castleton and had a quick wander round the village before trekking up to the ruins of Peveril Castle at the top of Peak Cavern (also affectionately known as The Devil’s Arse!) There is good parking at or nearby the visitors centre.

There are a couple of routes you can go to get up there, but we decided to climb up Cave Dale, which is a meandering rocky trail up an old river way, through the hills. The beginning was quite steep and rocky in parts, but the scenery was stunning. From the top it leveled out and we were treated to a spectacular view over Castleton. We then clambered back down a very steep grassy hill (the hardest part) and back round into Castleton for afternoon tea.

It was a lovely way to celebrate my belated birthday and it was so lovely to spend some time with my family again. The day was perfect, it almost felt like a little holiday and I didn’t want it to end.

Burger & Shake Night at Homemade Sheffield

Homemade is a café/deli in the Nether Edge area of Sheffield. They mainly open 10am - 3pm Tuesday – Saturdays, but about once or twice a month they hold special themed food nights. Recently there has been a Friday Bistro night and a Saturday tapas Sharing Plates night.

The week before my birthday I was browsing the interest in search of somewhere to go with A to celebrate my birthday. I was delighted to discover that on Wednesday 24^th April, my actually birthday, Homemade was holding a Burger & Shake night. Now you may think that a burger – meaty in a bun – wheaty, is not the best idea for a vegetarian coeliac, but that is until I tell you that they offer 3 handmade meaty burgers - all gluten free and 5 handmade veggie burgers, of which 4 are vegan and 2 are gluten free. Yippee!

Having a burger and shake is not something I have done since having to eat gluten free, over 2 ½ years now. The fun element, American slant and the fact it was a special event evening really appealed to me as a place to go for my birthday meal. That little bit different to the usual Italian or Indian food I often eat out. My boyfriend A loves burgers so I knew he would be more than happy with my choice.

 

Upon arrival we were seated at our reserved table and I was impressed that water was immediately brought to the table along with the menus. A ordered a strawberry milkshake while I chose a smoothie from their specials board of raspberry and blackberry. The drinks were obviously made fresh on site as A’s milkshake had little bits of strawberry floating in it and my smoothie was wonderfully thick and smooth.

 

My choice of two burgers was:

The Hot Chick - chickpeas, cumin, carrots, paprika, garam masala and fresh coriander. Served with sour cream.

Billie The Kid - mint, feta, oregano, red onions, chilli, chickpeas and garlic, topped with griddled halloumi or beetroot.

It was a tough decision but in the end I chose the Billie The Kid with beetroot, as I liked the idea of the mint, feta and chilli in the burger. A went for The Uncle Sam, a beef burger with coriander and spices topped with onion and tomato. We had a choice of homemade baked potato wedges or house made coleslaw and salad. We both went for wedges.

While we waited for the food I was enthralled by the wall we were sat next to. It was covered with pages from an old copy of woman’s weekly, or housewife magazine (I can’t remember which) and was full of top tips and recipes for the woman of the home. Things like sensational salads, how to cater for a dinner dance and adverts for Bovril. The front cover page said it was priced at 14½. I was really amused by the poem advert for cheese triangles, which it described as crustless cheese!

 

Our burgers arrived, with mine accompanied by a gluten free bun, which I was pleased about. The taste was lovely, quite subtle on the chili, but I loved the chunks of feta which had become all soft and melty. The texture was more like a potato cake than a dry mealy bean burger, which made a lovely change. I really enjoyed the baked potato wedges which were served skin on. The chef even came to our table to assure me she made all the food and it was gluten free.

 

I was delighted to be told that they had a gluten free dessert. And not your usual boring crème brulee or bought in chocolate brownie either. Instead I was offered a slice of house-made apricot and coconut tart. This sounded too good to pass up and I was presented with a simple enormous slice. It had a base of apricot halves with a desiccated coconut frangipane style top served in a gluten free pasty base. The filling was a little fragile and crumbly, but this is expected in gluten free baking, but it was deliciously flavoured and moist, that I happily devoured every crumb. It was the best gluten free dessert I’ve ever had out. I told the chef this at the end of the night as I think it’s important to encourage people to continue to care about and provide tasty gluten free food.

 

It was a lovely way to celebrate my birthday and we left full and happy. It was our first visit to Homemade, but I have no doubt we’ll be back!

Note: For their special food nights it is important to book a table.

They also only accept cash or cheques for payment.

Burger & Shake nights are currently every Wednesday, but for a limited time only.

Spinach & Sweet Corn Tamales

I have been longing to make my own tamales since tasting them for the first time on my visit to LA last Febraury. I ate a dish of green spinach tamales in a fabulous restaurant called Hugo’s and it remains the best meal I have ever eaten in my life. The textures and flavours just blew me away and were unlike anything I have ever tasted. Imagine my delight when I discovered that the restaurant had created a video, showing exactly how to make the dish. Once I discovered this I knew I had to try and recreate them.

 

Before I could get cooking, I had to buy some Masa Harina, a special type of fresh, dried and ground corn/maize flour used for making tamales and also traditional tortillas. Thankfully a quick hunt online produced two online Mexican stores that sold it. Spying they also sold corn husks – the dried outer leaves of corn in which tamales are traditionally rolled and steamed, I got some of those too. I was now ready to get tamale making!

 

My spinach mixture refused to puree smooth as I only had a small food processor rather than a powerful blender, but this didn’t seem to affect the recipe. It made my tamales speckled green in appearance, rather than being completely green, but I think this was actually rather attractive. Another thing I liked about this recipe compared to others I’ve seen is that is uses roughly blitzed fresh sweet corn for extra texture rather than relying purely on the corn flour. It’s also a gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian and vegan recipe as it uses no fat (lard is traditional) in making the tamale dough. (I did add cheese and sour cream as finishing accompiments, but this is optional.)

 

I was actually surprised how quick and easy the tamales were to make. From start to unwrapping the cooked tamale was just under an hours work. I had fun wrapping and rolling my tamales, and experimented with using both the traditional corn husks and squares of parchment paper as wrappers. I must confess I found the parchment paper squares a lot easier to work with.

 

In LA my tamales were served on a pool of green tomatillo salsa, another thing not readily available in the UK (boo). Instead I used a jar of good quality tomato sauce which I spiced up with some chipotle chili paste. It turned out to be rather fiery, as I hadn’t realised the tomato sauce was actually a fresh chili and tomato sauce, so the addition of a blob of sour cream was quite welcome to cool my tongue.

 

The texture of the tamales was just as I remembered them. Quite thick and stodgy, but also soft and flavoursome as tamales are steamed rather than baked or fried. The texture may not appeal to everyone, but I love it! The spinach gave it great fresh flavour and speckled appearance while the little chunks of fresh sweet corn added a subtle sweetness and a pleasing texture against the spicy tomato sauce. So satisfying. I can’t wait to experiment with other flavours or maybe even attempting a few stuffed tamales.

I know many people in the UK may not have even heard of tamales before, let alone tasted one, but I urge you to give them a go. I have given some links of where to get the Masa Harina flour below. Click here to see the video recipe of Hugo’s Green Tamales.

Spinach & Sweet Corn Tamales

Ingredients

200g spinach

100ml water

400g sweet corn

30g caster sugar

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

130g fine cornmeal (not cornflour)

120g Masa Harina corn/maize flour *(see below)

Corn husks or baking parchment for wrapping

* Masa Harina is made from fresh sweet corn that has been dried and ground into flour. You can buy it and the corn husks from online Mexican grocers or some specialist shops. Mex Grocer and Cool Chili Co are two such places.

Method

Cut out 6-7 inch squares of baking parchment or soak some corn husks ready for filling.

Place the spinach and water into a food processor. Process until a green thin puree has formed. Mine remaining quite chunky, giving it a mottled appearance but this is fine.

Place the spinach into a large bowl.

Place the sweet corn into the processor and blitz until broken down, but still quite chunky (if using fresh corn, cook it first, but canned or frozen are already pre-cooked) Add the sweet corn to the spinach.

Sprinkle over the remaining ingredients and fold everything together using a spatula.

Place 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture in the centre, about 1inch up from the base of the corn husk or baking parchment square. Fold over the bottom edge, to cover the tamales mixture, and then fold in each of the two sides to prevent the mixture from escaping out the sides, then roll up. Repeat until you have used all your tamale mixture.

Heat a pan of water until simmering. Place a steamer or sieve over the top of the water and arrange your wrapped tamales inside. The water should not touch the sieve/steamer. You don’t have to cook them all at once.

Place the lid on the saucepan and allow the tamales to steam for 30 minutes. They should feel firm when cooked.

Remove the tamales from the steamer. Carefully unroll them from the parchment or corn husks and place two per person on a pool of spicy tomato sauce/salsa. (Green tomatillo salsa is traditional but very hard to find in this country) Put a blob of sour cream or crème fraîche on top of the tamales and finish with a fine grating of cheese.

Eat and enjoy.

Makes around 8 small tamales (enough for 4 people)

Note: I've just realised this is my 500th post - whoop!

Little Hanoi, Sheffield

Yesterday I agree to act as taxi service for A, as he wanted to visit a few electronic stores around Sheffield in his quest to find a new stereo system. I understand that you can only research so much online, and it’s better to see things in ‘the flesh’ and press a few buttons before making a decision. I was more than happy to accompany him on his research mission, particularly as he promised to buy me lunch as a thank you.

As we ended up in the London Road area of Sheffield, we decided to try a fairly new Vietnamese café called Little Hanoi. I’ve heard good things about this place both from co-workers and reviews online. I love anything with noodles and a bit of spice and had been longing to visit them and try the food for several weeks. When eating out, I much prefer places that make food I probably couldn’t recreate so successfully at home. Pizza and pasta places (gluten free) are fine, but I often end up thinking I could have produced the same, if not better, myself at home for half the price. So I was delighted when A agreed to give Little Hanoi a go. Plus anything that can be eaten with chopsticks is always a bonus.

Once inside and perusing the menu I was delighted to see that they had some really authentic sounding dishes and I liked how each dish had its own description, rather than being a generic noodle dish that you added your own topping to. As I’m coeliac, I spend a few minutes quizzing the waitress about the ingredients that went into the dish I was interested in – Pho xao – stir fried flat noodles. She didn’t really understand ‘coeliac’ or ‘no gluten’ but once I conveyed ‘no flour, no wheat, no soy sauce’ she understood and confirmed that the flat noodle dish was made with rice noodles made with only rice, no wheat. She also informed the chef I wanted the dish made with no soy sauce and confirmed this again on bringing the cooked dish to the table. (I don’t actually know if the dish originally contained soy sauce, but as this style of cuisine often uses it as a seasoning, I thought it best to ask for it not to be used, just to be on the safe side).

As we waited for our order we were provided with complimentary rice crackers. I thought at first they might be prawn crackers, but A assured me they were just plain rice. This was a nice gesture and they were lovely to munch on while we chatted and took in the surroundings.

When our food arrived I was presented with an absolute mountain of Pho xao dau rau (Stir fried flat noodles with vegetables and tofu). (The photo doesn’t do it justice, but that plate was about 10-11inches square!) I love flat rice noodles. The fat ribbons of soft and slightly chewy rice always end up sticking together when I try and cook them, but here they were perfectly cooked and coated in the sauce. The veggies included bok choi, Chinese mushrooms, carrot, pepper, bean sprouts and Chinese cabbage. They were still a little crisp and crunchy which is just how I like them. Large chunks of fried tofu were mixed in amongst the noodles which I was pleased to find wasn’t greasy and lovely and soft and creamy inside. I hate it when you take a bite and all you taste is a mouthful of oil, not the case here. The dish was topped off with lightly fried shallots which were crisp and sweet.

A chose Bo xao dau dua (stir fried beef with green beans). As his dish didn’t come with rice or noodles he chose a side order of chicken fried rice. He said the beef was very good and not chewy. After only about three mouthfuls he said we would have to come back again, so I think it’s safe to say he enjoyed his meal as much as I did.

I only managed about two-thirds of my dish and A didn’t finish all his rice and they were more than happy to package it up for us to take home. The food was very reasonably priced, especially considering the portion sizes, quality and freshness of the food. Two of us with drinks, complimentary rice crackers, two main courses and a side order of chicken rice came to less than £20.

The only thing I feel let the place down was that the food was served on very cold plates. In my opinion hot food should always be served on hot plates, but these were decidedly chilled. However, as I never got to the bottom of my dish this didn’t really matter, but it’s still a pet hate of mine. That small detail aside it was a delicious meal and I’m sure we’ll go back.

I’m pleased to say I couldn’t taste anything untoward/gluten-containing in the dish and it’s now the following morning and I’ve had no stomach issues so I’m confidant they were able to make it gluten free for me – hurrah!

Little Hanoi

Address: 216-218 London Rd, Sheffield S2 4LW

Phone: 01142 583836