I was terribly sick in the beginning of the week. I guess that election result didn’t help at all. I’ve stayed up the previous week waiting for it and of course it didn’t happen, not until the next day late morning while I was at work already. It’s nice to know that I wasn’t the only one to go to bed at the after midnight hours worried about the future for Britain.
Had my class on Wednesday evening with Sandra’s help. The class wasn’t fully booked and I was disturbed for months. Exotic Taiwanese cookery class: Britain= not ready! We will stick to the good old dim sum for now.
The street food menu is crazily easy to prepare. I even had time to spare for my good friend Hideko when she surprise-visited me. Well, it was a bit bizarre to prepare the class before someone you know. Not that I am shy or anything like that. It’s just that I’ve always separate my teaching ego from my usual BOBO self and of course the Chef Beverly ego. It feels a bit mixed up when people know me from somewhere else suddenly appears. Anyway I found out that 2 out of 5 students for the night actually were my old students. So I was happily blabbing away as usual in the class.
One thing though if you are going to prepare the whole menu, I found it is very good to add the dry shrimp and dry Chinese mushroom soaking liquid (from the oily rice recipe) to the chicken stock (for the cuttlefish potage). I am not the one to guess how the street market people make the broth so delicious (MSG?) but this was a good tip for the students.
I’ve cooked as usual for the guys at work this week and the guys LOVE my vegetarian Kofte. When I got out of my kitchen everything was gone! A little secret though; this recipe is great for the cooks hate waste. The usual herb roots and vegetable stems are perfect for it. Normally the recipes only ask you to use the leaves and florets. So what are you going to do with the rest? Compose? What a waste! Keep them in a bag in the fridge or freezer and when you have enough of them. You make this yummy veggie balls. Here I will share the recipe with you:
For the hungry vegetarians everywhere!
You will need:
A magimix or a sharp knife and a great love for chopping
A pan
A pair of tong
Ingredients:
1 green courgette
1 yellow courgette
1 fennel
Quarter of cabbage
The stem of 1 cauliflower (you can use the florets for something else)
The stem of 1 broccoli (same for cauliflower)
The green part of a leek
1 handful of spring greens or spinach
1stick of carrot, peeled
The middle bit of celery (which you cannot use to make beautiful crudités)
1 handful fresh coriander
1 handful parsley
1 tin of chickpea
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
½ tbsp salt
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 egg
4 pieces of random old toast (or 2 large handful breadcrumbs)
30g flour
Oil for shallow frying
Method:
1. Use your magimix to grate the courgettes or grate them by hands.
2. With your magimix, pulse chop the rest of the vegetables two at a time. You want to have all of them kind of “rice” size in the end. Don’t worry if there are some big bits that just won’t go. You will either pick them out or chop them by hands. And if you don’t have a magimix; grate what you can and chop what you cannot grate. Keep those in a large mixing bowl.
3. Now pulse chop your herbs. Add those into the waiting mixing bowl. Remember don’t over whiz them in the machine into this meaningless green mud.
4. Finally work these chickpeas with the magimix. If you’d prefer, you can whiz these into paste. Personally I like something to bite on in my food so I left my chickpeas rustic. Add these into the mixing bowl with the rest.
5. Blend your old toast to fine breadcrumbs if you don’t have them already.
6. Crack your 1 egg into the mixing bowl. Add the spices, flour, salt and pepper.
7. Wash your hands first or you can use the disposable gloves. Now mix all the ingredients in the mixing bowl with your hands. Really work them through! This is the fun bit! Stress release I call it.
8. In your pan, heat up about 1 cup of oil. While the oil is heating up; make the kofte: take a large tbsp size and roll them into small balls. Keep them on a clean plate.
9. When the oil is hot enough. (not smoking! This would be too hot!) Gently place the balls into the pan. Use the tongs to turn the balls to make sure they are browned evenly.
10. When they are golden browned all over. Take the balls out of the pan and drain the excess oil off on the paper towels.
11. They are good to eat!
12. If you are entertaining, it would be nice to have some sort of dips to go with those little Kofte. I am thinking chopped mint with thick Greek yoghurt or paprika chilli mayo dip.
Well, that’s it! Very simple. I forgot to mention: the guys at work called these balls Falafels. Kind of similar ideas really, I think. I didn’t even object to it.
Had my class on Wednesday evening with Sandra’s help. The class wasn’t fully booked and I was disturbed for months. Exotic Taiwanese cookery class: Britain= not ready! We will stick to the good old dim sum for now.
The street food menu is crazily easy to prepare. I even had time to spare for my good friend Hideko when she surprise-visited me. Well, it was a bit bizarre to prepare the class before someone you know. Not that I am shy or anything like that. It’s just that I’ve always separate my teaching ego from my usual BOBO self and of course the Chef Beverly ego. It feels a bit mixed up when people know me from somewhere else suddenly appears. Anyway I found out that 2 out of 5 students for the night actually were my old students. So I was happily blabbing away as usual in the class.
One thing though if you are going to prepare the whole menu, I found it is very good to add the dry shrimp and dry Chinese mushroom soaking liquid (from the oily rice recipe) to the chicken stock (for the cuttlefish potage). I am not the one to guess how the street market people make the broth so delicious (MSG?) but this was a good tip for the students.
I’ve cooked as usual for the guys at work this week and the guys LOVE my vegetarian Kofte. When I got out of my kitchen everything was gone! A little secret though; this recipe is great for the cooks hate waste. The usual herb roots and vegetable stems are perfect for it. Normally the recipes only ask you to use the leaves and florets. So what are you going to do with the rest? Compose? What a waste! Keep them in a bag in the fridge or freezer and when you have enough of them. You make this yummy veggie balls. Here I will share the recipe with you:
Vegetarian Kofte
For the hungry vegetarians everywhere!
You will need:
A magimix or a sharp knife and a great love for chopping
A pan
A pair of tong
Ingredients:
1 green courgette
1 yellow courgette
1 fennel
Quarter of cabbage
The stem of 1 cauliflower (you can use the florets for something else)
The stem of 1 broccoli (same for cauliflower)
The green part of a leek
1 handful of spring greens or spinach
1stick of carrot, peeled
The middle bit of celery (which you cannot use to make beautiful crudités)
1 handful fresh coriander
1 handful parsley
1 tin of chickpea
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
½ tbsp salt
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 egg
4 pieces of random old toast (or 2 large handful breadcrumbs)
30g flour
Oil for shallow frying
Method:
1. Use your magimix to grate the courgettes or grate them by hands.
2. With your magimix, pulse chop the rest of the vegetables two at a time. You want to have all of them kind of “rice” size in the end. Don’t worry if there are some big bits that just won’t go. You will either pick them out or chop them by hands. And if you don’t have a magimix; grate what you can and chop what you cannot grate. Keep those in a large mixing bowl.
3. Now pulse chop your herbs. Add those into the waiting mixing bowl. Remember don’t over whiz them in the machine into this meaningless green mud.
4. Finally work these chickpeas with the magimix. If you’d prefer, you can whiz these into paste. Personally I like something to bite on in my food so I left my chickpeas rustic. Add these into the mixing bowl with the rest.
5. Blend your old toast to fine breadcrumbs if you don’t have them already.
6. Crack your 1 egg into the mixing bowl. Add the spices, flour, salt and pepper.
7. Wash your hands first or you can use the disposable gloves. Now mix all the ingredients in the mixing bowl with your hands. Really work them through! This is the fun bit! Stress release I call it.
8. In your pan, heat up about 1 cup of oil. While the oil is heating up; make the kofte: take a large tbsp size and roll them into small balls. Keep them on a clean plate.
9. When the oil is hot enough. (not smoking! This would be too hot!) Gently place the balls into the pan. Use the tongs to turn the balls to make sure they are browned evenly.
10. When they are golden browned all over. Take the balls out of the pan and drain the excess oil off on the paper towels.
11. They are good to eat!
12. If you are entertaining, it would be nice to have some sort of dips to go with those little Kofte. I am thinking chopped mint with thick Greek yoghurt or paprika chilli mayo dip.
Well, that’s it! Very simple. I forgot to mention: the guys at work called these balls Falafels. Kind of similar ideas really, I think. I didn’t even object to it.
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