Tzatziki

Summer's almost here and it's tzatziki time! There's nothing quite as simple yet delicious as some good bread smothered with this Greek classic.

Cost to make a nice batch: approx. 3 zl (60p)

What you need:

- a tub of greek yoghurt
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1 small clove of garlic
- salt and pepper

It's a very simple dish to make. However, the crucial part lies in prepping the cucumber correctly.

1. Skin the cucumber and cut into strips along the sides, discarding the "seedy" middle part. The "seedy" core is a little gunky and mushy - we don't want that kind of texture in the dish.

2. Dice as finely as you can. You don't want to grate it - it will end up too stringy and gunky. Put into a sieve. Sprinkle with salt and leave for 15 minutes. The salt will draw out the moisture and allow you to press more of it out.

3. 15 minutes later, press the cucumber against the sieve to squeeze out as much liquid as you can - you don't want your tzatziki too runny, so this stage is crucial.

4. Mince a small clove of garlic with a micro plane.

5. Hey presto!

6. Get all of this stuff in a bowl with the Greek yoghurt. Season with black pepper.

7. Enjoy!

Aubergine in a spicy tomato and tamarind sauce (ennai kathirikkai kuzhambu)

This dish is a Tamil Nadu favourite teeming with flavour. The aubergines come together with the tomatoes and tamarind to combine with the melody of spices and chilli to create a crescendo of sensations. And it's cheap! And healthy! And no animals were hurt during the making of this dish...

I like to serve this with spinach vadai ( a kind of Indian falafel) to add a contrasting textural element to the ensemble... and with rice.

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 3 zl (60 UK pence, 0.73 Euros, 1,876 Columbian Pesos)

What you need:

- either 5 finely chopped shallots or 3 finely chopped shallots plus 1 finely chopped red onion
- 2-3 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
- 1-2 aubergines diced into 1 inch cubes
- 2 medium tomatoes skinned and pureed
- 1 tsp tamarind paste dissolved in a small glass of warm water
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/2 tsp urad dal
- 1/2 tsp tumeric 
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp fennel powder
- 1/8 tsp asafoetida
- a good bunch of curry leaves
- salt to taste
- rice to serve

Ok. Can't wait. Let's go!

1. Prep the aubergine. Soak in salted water while you get the other stuff ready.

2. Chop up the shallots, onion (if using) and garlic.

3. Puree the tomato

4. Dissolve the tamarind concentrate

5. Prep the whole spices

6. Prep the other spices

7. Oil in a pan. Medium heat. Aubergines in - you'll need a good old slug or two of oil for this. Sautee till browning (around 15 minutes). Remove from the pan.

8. In the same oil (add more if necessary), pop the whole spices for around 30 seconds.

9. Add the onions/ shallots and sweat down for around 7 minutes

10. Garlic in. Sautee for a further 5 minutes

11. Curry leaves in

12. Rest of the spices in

13. Pureed tomatoes in. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

14. Tamarind in

15. Return the aubergines to the pan

16. Simmer for a further 2 minutes and enjoy!

Costing:

- aubergine: 5 zl
- rice: 2.40 zl
- tomatoes: 3 zl
- the rest: 1.60 zl

Total: 12 zl
Serves: 4
Cost per person: 3 zl

Salmon Red Curry

As soon as Mr. Fishmonger said "25 zl please!", I knew this would go waaaaay over budget. Ah well, there's a first time for everything and today's the day I'm blowing the budget out the water big style!

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 8.75 zl (1.70 UK, 2.10 Euros)

Here's a Thai-style dish which will make your mouth burn and water simultaneously. I say "Thai-style" because I have to admit that I approximated some of the ingredients to make the dish more accessible for the European shopper. I say "make your mouth burn" because it's bloody spicy! 

Here's what I missed out:

Galangale - used ginger instead (yeah, I know it doesn't exactly taste the same but... hey)
Kaffir lime leaves - used lemon zest for that background citrus feel
Lemon grass - used lemon juice 
Shrimp paste - used fish sauce

Here's what I didn't miss out:

- 10 large dried red chillies deseeded and soaked in water for around 10 minutes
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 2 cardamon pods
- 1/2 tsp black pepper corns
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 3 shallots
- 1 inch of ginger
- the zest of 1 lemon
- the juice of 1 lemon (the same lemon!)
- a glug or two of fish sauce
- a pinch or two of salt
- a can of coconut milk
- a tablespoon of coconut oil
- 500g of salmon
- some thinly sliced bell peppers

Let's get cracking!

1. Thai cooking is often based on pastes. So, let's begin with the ingredients for the red curry paste. Firstly, we need to get the dry spices prepped.

2. Prep the "wet" ingredients too: soak the chillies, peel the garlic, ginger and shallots. Zest the lemon.

3. Dry roast the dry spices in a frying pan for a couple of minutes until they start to brown.

4. Grind in a coffee grinder.

5. Grind the rest of the wet ingredients. Transfer to a bowl. Slug in some fish sauce and add a pinch or two of salt to taste. Taste it! Yeah, I dare you! Ha ha!

6. Remove any bones from the salmon and cut into largish chunks. Leave the skin on.

7. Add a tablespoon of coconut oil to a wok on high heat. Add the salmon pieces SKIN DOWN. Cook for around 3-4 minutes or until the salmon has turned pink 1/2-2/3 of the way up.

8. Flip the fish over and cook for a further minute or until the entire pieces have turned pink. Remove from the pan and rest. At this stage the salmon will be cooked on the outside but still slightly undercooked inside. This is what you want because you will transfer the salmon back into the sauce later on and cook through.

9. In the same oil, add the red curry paste on a medium heat. Cook through for around 2-3 minutes.

10. Peppers in. Cook for around 30 seconds.

11. Coconut milk in. Cook through for around 2 minutes.

12. Return the salmon pieces to the wok. As far as you can, place them SKIN UP so that the skin retains its crisp. Cook through for around 2 minutes - just enough for the fish to be cooked all the way through. That's the secret of cooking fish - do it till they're done and take off the heat.

13. Enjoy with rice!

Costing:

- salmon: 25 zl
- coconut milk: 5 zl
- rice: 2.40 zl
- lemon: 1 zl
- rest: 1.60 zl

Total: 35 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 8.75 zl