Tandoori cauliflower with coriander and cashew sauce
The secret to delicious tandoori food isn’t the clay oven, it’s the yogurt. It acts like a protective jacket for the spices in the marinade, allowing them to perform their magic without burning. At the same time, the yogurt caramelises as it cooks, transforming it into something on the flavour spectrum towards heaven or cheese – perhaps the same thing.
SERVES 4
Pickles and sauce
- ½ red onion, very finely sliced
- 4 tbsp lemon juice, from 2 lemons
- salt
- 100g unsalted cashews
- 100g fresh coriander, roughly chopped
- ¾ tsp caster sugar
- 3 green finger chillies, chopped
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
Tandoori cauliflower
- 450g greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, from 1 lemon
- 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2cm x 2cm piece of ginger, grated
- ¾ tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1½ tsp garam masala
- 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 2 tsp Colman’s Original English mustard
- 2 large cauliflowers (1.6kg), trimmed
- shop-bought naan
1 First, make the pickles. Put the onion in a small bowl, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and half a teaspoon of salt, scrunch with your hands to wilt the onion a little and set aside.
2 Next, make the sauce. Put the cashews in a small heatproof bowl, cover with 125ml of boiling water and leave to soak for 5 minutes, then transfer the cashews and their water to a blender. Add the coriander, sugar, chillies, half a teaspoon of salt, the oil and remaining lemon juice, blend until smooth, then taste and adjust the salt, lemon or chilli as you wish.
3 Line two large baking trays with baking paper and oil them lightly. Preheat the oven to 240C/220C fan/gas 9.
4 To make the tandoori marinade, put all the ingredients, except the cauliflowers, in a large bowl and whisk to mix. Sit each cauliflower upright on your board and cut down its centre, then, starting from the cut side, slice vertically into 1.5cm-thick ‘steaks’. You should get two to four intact steaks from each cauliflower and a lot of smaller pieces alongside.
5 Dip the larger steaks into the marinade to cover each nook and cranny, then shake off any excess and place on a baking tray. Pop the remaining florets into the bowl and mix with your hands to coat well, then lift out, shake off, and place on the second tray, leaving a couple of centimetres between pieces. Put the trays into the oven, near the top, and bake the florets for 20 minutes and the steaks for 25 minutes, rotating the trays after 10 minutes, until tender and blackening in spots.
6 To serve, spread a quarter of the cashew and coriander sauce on each plate with the back of a spoon. Top with a cauliflower steak or two and several small florets, and scatter over the pickled onions. Serve with a plate of hot, freshly buttered naan.
Roast aubergine with silken tofu, tahini and crispy chilli
There are times in cooking when two plus two equals ten. A roast aubergine by itself is perfectly nice, and a drizzle of tahini, a spot of wobbly silken tofu or crispy chilli are great in their own right, but when they all come together you get the culinary equivalent of fireworks.
SERVES 4
- rapeseed oil
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 medium aubergines, cut into 2.5cm thick discs
- 300g pack of silken tofu, drained
- 2cm x 2cm piece of ginger, very finely chopped
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp white wine vinegar
- 6 spring onions, finely sliced
- 2 tbsp crispy chilli in oil
- ½ tbsp tahini
- cooked jasmine or short-grain rice, to serve
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/ 180C fan/gas 6 and line two large baking trays and one small with baking paper. Mix 4 tablespoons of oil and the salt in a small bowl, then brush on to both sides of the aubergine slices and arrange on the two large trays in a single layer. Put the tofu block on the small tray, then put all the trays into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the tofu tray; give the aubergines another 10 to 15 minutes, until they are golden brown, then remove those too.
2 While the tofu and aubergines are baking, make the sauce. Put 6 tablespoons of oil in a small saucepan with the ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, spring onions, crispy chilli and tahini, bring it up to a swift boil, then take off the heat.
3 When the tofu is just cool enough to handle, cut it into 0.75cm-thick slices. Layer the slices of aubergine and tofu in an alternating pattern on a lipped or high-sided platter. You’ll have more aubergine slices than tofu, so put the extra aubergines in the centre, or layer two aubergine slices for every slice of tofu for a more uniform look. Anoint with the hot spring onion chilli oil and serve over rice in bowls.
Miso butter greens pasta
US chef Joshua McFadden’s kale sauce is a cult sensation, coaxing cooks around the world to eat 450g of cavolo nero in one sitting. It’s impressive on many levels: the volume of green, the simplicity and the excellent flavour. I’ve made it many times, losing the parmesan but adding fennel seeds, chilli and miso instead. Like all the best recipes, it has taken on new life in my kitchen and, with thanks to Joshua, here’s my version.
SERVES 4
- 60g unsalted butter (vegan or dairy)
- 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 100g broccoli, chopped
- 400g cavolo nero, leaves stripped and sliced
- ¾ tsp salt
- 2½ tbsp white miso paste
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 500g orecchiette pasta
- chilli oil or extra virgin olive oil, to finish
1 Melt the butter in a very large pot (around 5 litres) on a medium heat. When it’s bubbling, add the garlic, fennel seeds and chilli flakes and fry, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, until the garlic smell changes from raw to cooked and a bit like garlic bread.
2 Add the broccoli, cavolo nero, salt and 250ml of water, stir (this will be challenging, but believe in yourself), cover, turn down the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring every few minutes, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the greens have wilted and become tender.
3 Scrape all the contents of the cavolo nero pan into a blender or food processor, add the miso and olive oil and blend to a smooth sauce, scraping down the sides as necessary; add a little water, if needed, to create a silky-smooth sauce (I add about 4 tablespoons).
4 Rinse out the greens pot, fill with water (do not salt it: miso is already quite salty, and you can always adjust the seasoning later) and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions and, when it’s got a minute to go, gently lower a large mug into the water and scoop out a mugful of the starchy cooking water.
5 Drain the pasta, return it to the pot, add the sauce and toss with 6 to 8 tablespoons of the cooking water to get it to a consistency you like. Taste and add salt, if need be.
6 Spoon out on to a serving platter and drizzle with chilli oil or extra virgin olive oil.
Marmite risotto with tomato and crispy chilli butter
Some people have big epiphanies, but not me. I had two small ones, though. The first was that I don’t like the taste of vegetable stock: use too much and there’s no return. This led to my second illuminating discovery, namely that Marmite makes great stock and, well, here we are. This risotto, contrary to what you might assume, is very gentle (the Marmite is a back note); the party is in the tomato and chilli butter, in which I’ve used my favourite crispy chilli oil to give the cherry tomatoes a kick.
SERVES 4
Chilli butter
- 550g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- 50g unsalted butter (vegan or dairy)
- 2 tbsp crispy chilli oil sediment
Risotto
- 50g unsalted butter (vegan or dairy)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 350g arborio rice
- 175ml dry white wine
- 4 tsp Marmite (35g), dissolved in 1.1 litres boiled water
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line a baking tray with baking paper. Put the tomatoes for the chilli butter on the tray, coat with the olive oil and sprinkle over the salt. Bake for 35 minutes, turning once halfway, until sticky and browning (but not burnt). Remove and leave to cool.
2 Now for the risotto. Put half the butter and all the olive oil into a medium-sized pan set over a medium heat, then add the onion and salt, and fry, stirring regularly, for 8 minutes, until soft, translucent and golden. Add the garlic, cook for a further 2 minutes, then add the rice and stir to coat. Pour in the wine, let it sizzle away, then add a ladleful of Marmite stock. Cook, stirring gently and regularly, until the stock is absorbed by the rice, then add another ladle of stock to the pan and repeat. Carry on cooking and adding stock as necessary, until the rice is tender and the risotto very creamy (rather than too stiff or too loose), which may take up to 30 minutes (if you run out of stock, add some hot water instead). Take off the heat and stir through the remaining 25g of butter.
3 To make the chilli butter, heat the butter and crispy chilli sediment in a small saucepan and, when the butter has melted, mix in the tomatoes and take off the heat. To serve, dollop the risotto into shallow bowls andput a couple of spoonfuls of the tomato chilli butter in the centre of each portion.
NOTE Any crispy chilli in oil would work, but my favourite, by Lao Gan Ma, can be found in larger supermarkets, as well as in Chinese grocery stores and online at orientalmart.co.uk.
Anshu’s squash and sweetcorn erriseri
In Mumbai, up to 200,000 dabbas – containers of home-cooked food – are delivered from people’s homes to workplaces every day by dabbawalas, who travel on foot or by bike. It’s an epic story of India’s love of home cooking. Thanks to Anshu Ahuja and her company, DabbaDrop, Londoners can eat her home cooking, delivered by bike. This erriseri – a sweet, rich and sour stew – is a go-to recipe for Anshu’s family: it’s what her grandmother used to make for Sunday lunch, it’s what her mother makes for guests and, now, it’s what I make for my family and friends.
SERVES 4
- 1 butternut squash (1kg), washed
- 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
- salt
- 340g tin of sweetcorn, drained
- 2 tsp black mustard seeds
- 12 fresh curry leaves
- 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 3 green finger chillies, finely chopped
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 400ml tin of coconut milk
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, from 1 lemon
To serve
- a handful of fresh coriander leaves
- cooked basmati rice
- finely sliced red onion and lemon wedges, optional
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Cut the squash in half (no need to peel), scoop out and discard the seeds, then cut it into 2cm cubes. Tip the squash pieces on to an oven tray, pour over 2 tablespoons of the oil, add a good sprinkling of salt and toss to coat. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the squash chunks are tender and their edges caramelised.
2 Add 2 tablespoons of water to the drained sweetcorn and whiz to a smooth paste in a blender.
3 In a large frying pan, heat the remaining oil and, when hot, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves, and leave them to crackle and pop for a minute. Now add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until turning golden, then add the garlic and chillies, and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the sweetcorn paste, turmeric and 1½ teaspoons of salt, cook for a minute, then add the coconut milk (keep the empty tin) and whisk so everything is combined and the curry sauce is a vibrant yellow.
4 Half-fill the coconut milk tin with water and add to the pot to loosen the curry – you may need a little more or less water than this, depending on the thickness of your coconut milk – then bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, until it starts to thicken. Stir in the roast squash and lemon juice, and check the seasoning. Garnish with coriander and serve with basmati rice plus some sliced onion and lemon wedges, if you wish.
NOTE Fresh curry leaves can be found in larger (or Indian) supermarkets and online at desicart.co.uk. Freeze what you don’t use.
Cheesy masala beans on toast
Not long after my parents were married, they lived in a council flat in Scunthorpe. With very little money, they had to cook thriftily, which led to them eating these curried baked beans on toast as a regular midweek meal. To this day it stands the test of time as a great, delicious and inexpensive dish.
SERVES 2
Beans
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 green finger chilli, finely chopped
- 1 heaped tsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp salt
- 400g tin of baked beans
To serve
- 2 large or 3 small slices of sourdough bread
- unsalted butter, vegan or dairy
- 120g mature cheddar, grated
- ½ green finger chilli, finely sliced
1 To cook the beans, heat the oil in a frying pan and, once hot, add most of the onion (leave 2 tablespoons to one side). Cook, stirring regularly, for 8 minutes, until soft, golden and translucent. Add the garlic and chilli, cook, stirring, for 2 minutes more, then add the tomato purée, all the spices and the salt. Cook for 1 minute, then add the beans and cook for a couple of minutes, adding a tablespoon or two of water if it’s looking a little dry. Take off the heat.
2 Heat the grill and put the bread on a baking sheet. When hot, place under the grill for 2 minutes, then remove, flip over and generously butter the bread, and grill for another minute or so. Top with the beans, then sprinkle over the cheddar, reserved onion and green chilli. Grill for another 6 minutes, until the cheese is golden and molten, and serve straight away.
Fennel and dill dal
Of course, dals are great in autumn and winter, but they’re also good all year round. This one is warming but it has a freshness to it from the dill and lime that just feels right on a summer’s evening.
SERVES 4
- 300g yellow split mung dal
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1¼ tsp salt
- 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1½ tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 brown onion, finely chopped
- 1 large fennel bulb, finely chopped
- 20g fresh dill, leaves roughly chopped
- 2 green finger chillies, finely chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 200ml coconut milk
- 1½ tbsp lime juice, from 1 lime
- cooked basmati rice or chapattis, to serve
1 Rinse the mung dal in a sieve under the cold tap until the water runs clear, put into a large pot with the turmeric and cover with 1.2 litres of water. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until cooked – that is, when the lentils start to break down and merge together when stirred. Stir in the salt and set aside.
2 While the lentils are cooking, put the oil into a large frying pan over a medium heat and, once it’s properly hot (test by placing a wooden spoon in the pan: it’s ready when the oil bubbles around it), add the cumin and mustard seeds. Thirty seconds later, when they pop, add the onion, fennel and half the chopped dill, and cook, stirring every now and then, until soft and caramelised, which should take about 20 minutes.
3 Reserve a couple of tablespoons of the fennel and onion mixture to decorate the final dish. Add the chillies and garlic to the remaining fennel mixture, stir-fry for 3 minutes more, then tip into the lentil pot along with the coconut milk; if the mixture looks as if it could do with being a bit looser, add a little water. Bring the mix up to a bubble, then take off the heat and stir through the lime juice. Taste and adjust the salt, lime and/or chilli as you wish.
4 To serve, ladle the dal over the rice, if using, and scatter over the remaining fennel and onion and chopped dill.
NOTE You’ll need the yellow split insides of mung beans, called ‘mung dal’, which can be found in South Asian supermarkets and online.
NOW BUY THE BOOK
Our recipes are from Dinner by Meera Sodha, with photographs by David Loftus, which is published by Penguin, £27. To order a copy for £22.95 until 18 August, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over £25
