Put the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a bowl and mix together. Make a well in the centre and add the water, then bring the dough together. If you’re using a mixer, knead for 5 minutes on a high speed, and if you’re doing it by hand, knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be lovely and shiny and stretchy. Place back in the bowl and leave to prove for 1 hour, covered, in a warm place until doubled in size.
Meanwhile cut out 10 squares of baking parchment measuring 10cm x 10cm and have two baking trays at the ready.
Roll the dough into a sausage shape and cut it into 10 equal pieces (80g each). Roll each one out to a circle 5mm in thickness and brush all over with oil. Brush a chopstick with oil too, then lay it in the centre, fold over the dough to create a semicircle and pull the stick out. Place on a piece of paper and then on a baking tray. Do this to all 10 pieces of dough, then cover with a piece of greased clingfilm and leave for 30 minutes, until doubled in size.
Depending on the size of your steamer, steam as many buns as you can at a time without overcrowding it. They should take 5–6 minutes, until springy to touch.
While the buns are steaming, make the spicy tuna. Put the chopped tuna into a bowl and add the onions, chilli, ginger, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds and chopped coriander. Snap open the steamed buns and fill them with the spicy tuna.
HANDY TIP
Any leftover tuna mix can be saved in the fridge for the next day, to have with rice, a stir-fry or in a poke bowl, and any leftover buns can be frozen.
BAO BUNS WITH SPICY TUNA
JACKFRUIT CURRY WITH NO-YEAST NAAN
SERVES: 4 TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR 10 MINUTES
Jackfruit is all the rage at the moment, which is bizarre, because I have been eating the stuff my whole entire life and never batted an eyelid. I like it ripe on my toast, sweet and fragrant. But when still green and not sweet, it makes a great alternative to meat – with its stringy body and firm texture I kind of get it, and it is delicious in a curry.
For the curry
10 cloves of garlic
a 3cm piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon salt
100ml vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon chilli paste
1 tablespoon tomato purée
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 x 565g tins of jackfruit in brine
200ml water
fresh coriander, chopped
½ a lime
For the naan
500g plain flour
2 tablespoons nigella seeds
5 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
250ml whole milk
vegetable oil, for brushing
In a food processor, blitz the garlic, ginger, onion and salt to a smooth paste. Add water if you need to, but very little.
Put the oil into a large non-stick pan over a medium heat. Add the cinnamon and fry for 20 seconds. Then add the paste from the processor and cook for 5 minutes – if it starts to stick, add splashes of water. Stir in the chilli paste, tomato purée, turmeric and curry powder.
While that cooks on a medium heat, drain the jackfruit and cut it into small, bite-size pieces. Add them to the pan, then stir in the water and leave to simmer gently until totally dry.
Now start on the naan. Mix the flour in a bowl with the nigella seeds, sugar, salt and baking powder. Make a well in the centre and add the milk, then use a palette knife to bring the dough together. Knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes, or, if you are using a dough hook on a mixer, knead for 5 minutes. Then leave the dough in the bowl for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 240°C/fan 220°C, and put a large baking tray in to get hot.
Divide the dough into 8 equal portions, then roll them all out as thin as you can get them. Take the hot tray out of the oven and brush its surface with oil. Add as many bits of rolled dough as will fit. Bake for 2 minutes, until lightly browned, and lightly brush the tops with oil once you have taken them out of the oven. Repeat until all the dough is cooked.
To finish the jackfruit curry, stir in the coriander, drizzle with a squeeze of fresh lime, and you are ready to eat. There is enough here for 4 meals, so if you have any curry left over, you can freeze it for another day.
You can also freeze any leftover naan breads, or keep them for the next day to make Harissa Bean Pizza (see p. 22).
JACKFRUIT CURRY WITH NO-YEAST NAAN
PANEER KOFTA WITH VERMICELLI RICE
SERVES: 6 TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR 10 MINUTES
Paneer is a kind of cheese that is creamy, but meaty enough to withstand being rustled about and cooked furiously. So rather than using mince, I use blitzed paneer to make these cheesy koftas, dipped in an easy sauce, and served with hot vermicelli rice.
For the koftas
1 x 226g pack of paneer
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
3 cloves of garlic
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 medium egg
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
8 tablespoons chickpea flour
500ml vegetable oil, for frying
For the vermicelli rice
100g vermicelli
1 cinnamon stick
5 bay leaves
150g butter
400g basmati rice, washed and drained
1 teaspoon salt
1 litre boiling water
For the sauce
250g Greek yoghurt
150g tahini
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2.5cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 lime, juice and zest
To serve
limes, cut into wedges
Begin by making the koftas. Put the paneer chunks into a food processor and whiz until they look minced. Now add the salt, cumin seeds, chilli flakes, garlic, onion, egg and chickpeas and keep whizzing until you can see that the chickpeas have broken down. Now add the chickpea flour and whiz until you have a very thick paste.
Put the oil into a small pan, making sure it comes halfway up. Have a baking tray ready, lined with kitchen paper. Heat the oil on a high heat, then reduce to medium.
Drop heaped teaspoons of the kofta mixture into the oil and fry for 3–4 minutes, making sure to turn them occasionally. Do this till you have finished them all. You should have enough koftas for half to be eaten for dinner now and the other half to be frozen, so set half of them aside to cool.
For the rice, put the vermicelli, cinnamon and bay leaves into a dry pan and turn the heat up to medium. Toast the noodles for a few minutes, until they are a very golden brown. Add the butter and leave it to melt.
Now add the washed rice, along with the salt, and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in the boiling water. Be very careful at this point, as it will hiss and spit when you pour it in. Keep stirring until it comes to the boil, and as soon as it does, keep on stirring until all the water evaporates. Lower the heat, pop a lid on the pan, and leave to steam for 15 minutes.
In the meantime make the sauce by mixing together the yoghurt, tahini, garlic, ginger, maple syrup, curry powder, salt, lime juice and zest in a bowl.
When the rice is cooked, serve it with the koftas, with the yoghurt sauce alongside and wedges of lime.
This goes brilliantly with a simple tomato salad, and some fresh coriander.
Both the koftas and the rice can be frozen. Perfect as a sandwich filler or a nibble with a dip if you’re having guests over or need a snack in front of the telly that isn’t a bag of crisps for a change.
If you have any sauce left, you can loosen it with some olive oil and use it as a salad dressing.
PANEER KOFTA WITH VERMICELLI RICE
CHORIZO
FISH STEW WITH GARLIC BREAD
SERVES: 4 ACTIVE TIME: 1 HOUR TOTAL TIME: 2 HOURS 30 MINUTES
I was raised on fish curry, so brothy, flavourful fish is right up my alley. This is warm and delicious and perfect to dippy-dip with homemade garlic bread. You can double batch the stew, if you like, so you have one in the freezer for another time. Simply double the stew ingredients.
For the garlic bread
450g plain flour
7g fast-action yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
50g butter
300ml warm water
2 tablespoons coarse semolina
75g butter, melted
5 cloves of garlic, grated
a small handful of fresh parsley, chopped
a good pinch of rock salt
For the stew
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
230g chorizo, chopped into chunks
2 tablespoons crushed mustard seeds
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
6 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon tomato purée
1 teaspoon chilli powder
5 tablespoons malt vinegar
540g white fish chunks (I like to use pollock or basa)
450ml water
120g smoked salmon trimmings
a large handful of fresh parsley, chopped
Start by making the garlic bread. Put the flour, yeast, sugar and salt into a bowl. Add the butter and rub it in. Make a well in the centre and add the water, then bring the dough together and knead for 10 minutes, until it is smooth and stretchy. Put it back into the bowl, cover and leave to prove for 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Have ready a roasting tray, lightly greased and with semolina sprinkled over the base. Knock the dough back in the bowl, then tip out on to a floured surface. Divide it into golfball-size pieces and put them on the tray, leaving small gaps in between to give the dough room to grow. Cover and leave to prove until doubled in size.
Now on to the stew. Put the oil into a pan over a medium heat, and when it’s hot add the chorizo and cook until some of the spices have been released. Add the mustard seeds and allow them to sizzle. Then add the garlic and cook until golden. Add the chopped tomatoes, salt, tomato purée, chilli powder and vinegar, and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan 140°C and bake the garlic bread for 30–35 minutes.
Now add your white fish to the stew and cook for a few minutes with the lid on. Then take off the lid, add the water and leave to simmer on the lowest heat.
Take the stew off the heat and mix in the salmon and parsley. Put the lid on the pan to keep it hot.
Meanwhile melt the butter and add the garlic, parsley and rock salt. As soon the rolls come out of the oven, brush all the butter on top of the hot rolls.
Serve the stew with the hot garlicky bread.
CHORIZO FISH STEW WITH GARLIC BREAD
TING MOMO WITH SOYA CABBAGE
SERVES: 4 ACTIVE TIME: 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES TOTAL TIME: 2 HOURS 30 MINUTES
I ate these momos with cabbage on a mountain in Nepal a while ago and I loved them so much that before I could finish my food it was whisked away. I have the flavour and memory of this beautiful dish etched in my mind and have desperately tried to recreate its magic. I hope I have done it justice. We make a double batch of the soya cabbage here, so you have a meal for another day. It tastes good with rice, as a filling for samosas or toasties, or cold from the fridge on a pasta salad.
For the ting momo
250g plain flour, plus a little extra for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon fast-action yeast
150ml warm water
vegetable oil, for greasing
For the soya cabbage
150ml vegetable oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
3 teaspoons chilli flakes
2 medium onions, finely diced
1 large bulb of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 teaspoons salt
2 red peppers, finely diced
1 white cabbage, finely shredded
600g soya mince (or any vegetarian mince of your choice)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
a large handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
Start by making the momo dough. Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the water, then bring the dough together. Knead for 10 minutes, until smooth, then rub the outside of the dough with a little oil. Grease the inside of a bowl with oil and put in the dough, then cover with clingfilm or a tea towel and leave to rise for an hour, or until it has doubled in size.
Meanwhile, cook the cabbage. Put the oil into a large pan on a medium to high heat. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and coriander seeds, and as soon as they start to pop, add the chilli flakes and give it a quick stir.
Add the onions and turn the heat up to high. Let the onions cook, tossing them around in the oil and spices, until they are golden brown, stirring now and again. Turn the heat down to medium, then add the garlic and salt and cook for a few more minutes.
Add the red peppers and the shredded cabbage and give it all a stir, then add a small splash of water and put the lid on the pan. Reduce the heat to low and leave to steam for 30 minutes, allowing the cabbage to wilt.
Take the dough out of the bowl and put it on a very lightly floured surface. Oil your hands lightly, and oil a steamer generously all over. Flatten the dough and roll it out into a rectangle roughly 40cm x 45cm.
Oil the top layer of the dough lightly all over by hand. With the longest side closest to you, fold one third of the dough over the next third. Take the other third and fold it over the other two. You should have one long rectangle with three layers. Cut it into 4 equal pieces – you should have 4 rectangles.
Take each rectangle and cut it into 6 equal strips. You should treat 6 strips as one ting momo now. Separate them out into 6 individual sections. Place 3 strips on the other 3 strips. Do the same with the rest. You should end up with 4 piles of stacked strips.
Hold the strips at the ends and pinch together, all the time pulling and stretching gently. Give them a twist a few times and twirl as if you were wringing out a towel by the ends. Now twist the whole thing in your hands to create a neat swirl. Tuck in the ends at the bottom and pop into the steamer. Do the same with the other 3 piles of strips and leave to prove for 30 minutes, covered, in a warm place.
Give the cabbage a stir – it should have wilted significantly by now. Add the turmeric and the soya mince, give it all another stir, and leave to cook for a bit longer while the momos are proving. The cabbage lends itself to long, slow cooking – the longer you cook cabbage the tastier it gets – so just leave it on a low heat with a lid on the pan.
When the momos have doubled in size, bring the water under the steamer to the boil. Pop in the momos and steam for 12 minutes – no longer.
Dish up and eat while still warm. The cabbage should be lovely and soft, and because of the long cooking it will have bits that have caught and fried a little more than the rest – those are the best bits.
To eat, take a momo, peel away long pieces and use them to pick up the cabbage.
This is a double batch, so one half of the cabbage needs to be cooled completely. Once cool, put it into a bag and freeze.
TING MOMO WITH SOYA CABBAGE
CHICKEN SHAWARMA
SERVES: 4 ACTIVE TIME: 20 MINUTES TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR
Shawarmas are like the kebabs that you can justify as being good for you. Well, they’re not particularly bad for you really, and they are actually quite easy to make. You don’t need a roly thing, or a special bread knife or tray. Let me show you how.
For the shawarma
2 tablespoons cornflour
&nb
sp; 1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
750g boneless chicken thighs, halved
For the raw slaw
1 large broccoli floret, thinly sliced
300ml Greek yoghurt
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon salt
fresh parsley, finely chopped
To serve
flatbreads
Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C and lightly grease a 900g loaf tin.
For the shawarma, mix together the cornflour, salt, cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric, cloves, cayenne and cinnamon.
Put the oil into a bowl, then add the chicken and stir it around. Add the dry spice mix and stir to coat all the chicken pieces well. Layer the pieces of chicken in the loaf tin and press down, then bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the slaw. Put the broccoli into a large bowl.
Put the yoghurt into a second bowl and heat the oil in a small pan. As soon as the oil is hot, add the mustard powder and seeds – when the seeds begin to pop, pour the oil and seeds over the yoghurt, add the salt and stir. Pour this dressing over the broccoli, then mix in the parsley.
When the shawarma is ready, leave it in the tin for 10 minutes so that all the juices can go back into the chicken.
Tip it out of the tin and slice your shawarma. We like to eat this piled into flatbreads with the slaw. Any leftovers can be kept in the fridge, or frozen for the next time you need your shawarma fix.
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