Whether you wanted to or not, yesterday, you all probably caught a glimpse of the Royal Wedding and that dress. It was on almost every single Sky channel imaginable and there’s no denying the amazing pageantry that was going on. For me, the real stars were those gorgeous fairytale horses pulling the carriage from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace – how cute were they?!

Adding blended nuts to a sauce is very traditional of North Indian and Central Asian cuisine. It was once symbolic of the wealth and social supremacy of the Mughal courts however, adding blended nuts to curries is now becoming increasingly popular in restaurants and in homes. Popular choices include cashews and almonds, with the use of pistachios being less common.

You know me – slightly odd and preoccupied with the need to make a break from the norm. The delicate flavour of sweet pistachios is in fact, a beautiful match for tender, textured cauliflower. It also stains the white cauliflower with the lightest hue of green imaginable.

Almond and Pistachio Cauliflower Curry

Ingredients

400g cauliflower, boiled until al dente50g pistachios, shelled
50g blanched almonds, skins removed
100g onion, chopped
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 small green chilli, minced
¼-½ tsp whole black peppercorns
1 inch stick cinnamon
1 star anise
1 tsp white pepper powder
3 cloves
1 tsp cardamom powder
2 tsp coriander seed powder
½ tsp fennel powder
2-3 tiny drops almond extract (please don’t overdo this one!)
¼ tsp garam masala
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sour cream
1 ½ tsp sugar
1 tsp salt or to taste
800ml water
3 tbsp oil
 
Method

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I’m stepping into rhubarb terriory. My motto concerning fruits and veggies unknown has always been: If all ideas fail, just chutney it.

This week’s recipe challenge for Food Network UK:

Create a recipe using a secret seasonal ingredient chosen by the FN UK HQ’s, Chopped style.

My latest recipe for the Food Network UK blog is for Rhubarb and Anise Chutney. It was a ‘Chopped’ style challenge (if you’re an avid Food Network fan, you’ll know all about it. If not, you need to switch on the TV and start watching).

Good old British rhubarb reminds me of the times I spent devouring crumbles made with ‘proper’ Yorkshire rhubarb while growing up. It also brings back the not-so fond memories of the hideous bellyaches I had after polishing off entire ‘quarter’ bags of rhubarb and custard sweets from my pa’s sweet shop.

If you’re a chutney person you really need to bottle up a few jars of this to keep in the fridge. It’s great on toast, in sandwiches with cheese and spread on crackers.

Read my recipe for Rhubarb and Anise Chutney on the Food Network UK blog and remember to leave a comment!

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Purple is definitely the colour trend of the season over here. As autumn approaches, every clothes shop is bursting at the seams with plums, violets and amethysts. Not only does this make choosing clothes really difficult, but it also fills my mind with thoughts of seasonal produce and autumn flavours. That’s right, I think about food when I shop for clothes. There’s something seriously wrong there.

I felt the urge to jump on the purple preserve bandwagon after Mr. P of Delicious Delicious Delicious made a stunning blackberry jam from a portion of the 5kg of sugar he found on his doorstep one morning (here’s the story). Regardless of the fact that there is a distinct lack of freebies coming my way (gosh, I’m so bitter), P’s jam looked so divine that I had to follow suit.

I think that aniseed adds an extra dimension to both sweet and savoury dishes. It’s deep, liquorice-like flavour provides sweet dishes with a savoury edge, and savoury dishes with a subtle sweetness. Clever little spice.

With this conserve you can be as imaginative as you like. Spread it on toast for breakfast, water it down with lemon juice to use as vinaigrette for warm new potatoes, or even fold some into dark chocolate ganache and chill in espresso cups for a rich chocolate pudding with a bite.

I love opposing flavours, and the spicy anise and red chillies provide that little tingle of heat needed against the sour plums and sweet sugar. This combination will set your mouth on fire. Not literally. Well at least I hope not anyway.

Fiery Plum Conserve
(Makes enough for you to share with the neighbours)

Ingredients

6 cups ripe purple plums, stoned and cut into quarters (that’s 6 cups of quartered plums, not whole)
4 cups granulated sugar
2 hot red chillies, chopped finely
3 star anise
½ tsp salt
2 tsp butter (optional)

Method

1. Place everything except the butter in a large, heavy based pan and heat on a low flame until some juice begins to seep from the plums. Do not add water to it no matter how much you want to.

2. When there is some juice in the pan, increase the heat and boil vigorously until the conserve reaches a lightly set point. To test this, remove the pan from the heat, place a spoonful onto a very cold plate (put one in the freezer for a little while). After a couple of seconds push it with your finger and if the top ever so slightly wrinkles then your conserve is ready. If it is too runny you won’t able to do this and you’ll need to boil it for longer. Keep testing it often. It needs to be slightly runnier than a jam but much thicker than a syrup.

3. Whisk the butter (if using) and dollop into sterilised jars. This keeps for 2-4 weeks in the fridge. If it lasts that long.

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Great news. No, not great news. Amazing news.

KO Rasoi’s recipe for Melt in the Mouth Paneer Kofta has been selected as one of the top 100 entries for the Foodista Best of Food Blogs competition. The recipe will feature in a full colour cookbook which will be published by Andrews McMeel Publishing this October. I’ll give you more details as and when I find out information.

How exciting is this for us?! The little veggie blog is taking baby footsteps and I like where it seems to be heading.

Cooking, eating, writing; these are the things that I can use to escape in to a world where my passion for food roams freely and relentlessly. Rather like a starving gerbil on Shandy.

What I would like to do most is thank you all for such wonderful feedback and supportive comments. You are the people that make KO Rasoi shine, not other things like scrummy cheesecakes (although, those are yummy and almost as attractive than you are). Stop blushing.

Moving swiftly on…

In order to celebrate this exciting newsflash we have daal. Don’t make those sighing noises I used to make when I was little and had to eat daal, because this isn’t just any daal. It’s three lentil daal.

And I don’t have to justify that because it tastes marvellous and it’s good for you!

Celebrate the colours of India and happy times with this delicious three lentil daal (triveti daal). These lentils are widely available in all good supermarkets and Indian grocers.

Ingredients
(serves 4-6)

100g moong daal (mung bean daal)
100g urad daal
100g toor daal (pigeon pea daal)
1 ¼ litres hot water
1 large onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 inch piece ginger, minced
2 hot green chillies, minced, (or to taste)
1 tbsp ghee (or oil)
2 star anise
1 small cinnamon stick
5-6 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp asafoetida
200g tin of chopped tomatoes
½ tsp turmeric
½ cup coriander, chopped
Salt to taste

Method

1. Wash the three daals together and boil in the hot water until tender. Hot tip: Adding a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to your boiling water will make the daal cook quicker. If your daal mixture is too dry add a little more water but do not drain any water from them. Set the cooked daal aside.

2. Heat the ghee/oil in a large pan and add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to pop, then add the onion, garlic, ginger, chillies, asafoetida, curry leaves, star anise and cinnamon. Cook until aromatic.

3. Add the tomatoes, turmeric and cooked daal mixture. Simmer for 5 minutes and season with salt. Remove from the heat and add the coriander. Remember to remove the cinnamon stick and star anise before serving.

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