Once in a while, why not?
A couple of things:
1. For traditional mushy peas, use marrowfat peas. They come dried.
2. The potatoes for the chips are best if floury rather than waxy
3. Don't balk at the idea of vinegar on chips. We use malt vinegar - this perfectly complements the chips whereas any other vinegar (such as wine vinegar) would be ghastly
4. You can use frozen fish for this but never keep the fish frozen for more than around 1 month
Serves: 3
Cost per person: 5 zl (a quid)
Ingredients:
- around 250g cod
- 3 large potatoes
- a few handfuls of marrowfat peas
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- a few tablespoons of plain flour
- 1 tablespoon of rice flour
- 25 ml beer
- salt
- pepper
- malt vinegar
- veg oil for deep frying
Let's get started on this!
1. Soak the peas overnight with 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
2. Drain, wash and cover in fresh water till about 2cm over the peas. Boil and simmer for around 15 minutes
3. Meanwhile, peel and chop up the potatoes into chips. Put in a pan so that the potatoes are covered by the water. Add 1 big pinch of salt
4. After around 10 minutes, the peas will have started to shed their skins. Remove as many skins as you can
5. Continue simmering till the liquid has reduced and the peas are mushy (around 30 minutes).
6. Grind in some black pepper and season with a pinch of salt. Set aside to reheat later
7. Dust the fish with flour
8. Combine the flours in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and make a well
9. Add the beer
10. Whisk to form a liquid batter
11. Parboil the chips for 5 minutes (from when the water boils)
12. Drain
13. Heat up the oil to medium. Drain the potatoes. Add to the oil. Fry for around 8 minutes.
14. Drain in a sieve
15. Dip the fish in the batter will totally immersed. Pull out gently and drop straight into the same oil. Cook for around 7 minutes
16. Remove and rest on kitchen paper
17. Add a little butter to the peas and gently reheat, stirring in the butter
18. Heat up the oil to full blast. Refry the chips for around 2 minutes until golden.
19. Drain in a sieve with kitchen paper. Season with salt and malt vinegar
20. Plate up and enjoy!
Cost:
- fish: 10zl
- peas: 1 zl
- potatoes: 1 zl
- the rest: 3 zl
Total: 15 zl
Servers: 3
Per person: 5 zl
Simple and mega tasty - this packs a pleasant punch!
The arrabbiata sauce can be used in other ways in other dishes. If you're a meat fan, for example, you could add chorizo.
Serves: 4
Cost per person: 2.25 zl (40 UK pence)
You'll need:
- 2 cloves of roughly chopped garlic
- 1 large, mild red chilli roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 tin of tomatoes
- a splash of olive oil
- 1/2 a jar of black olives (I used pitted but I actually prefer them with whole)
- a couple of pinches of dried herbs (I used a Tuscan herb mix but oregano and basil would be just as good)
- salt to taste
- a few good grinds of fresh black pepper
- around 300g of fusilli
- some grated parmesan
Let's go!
1. Prep the garlic, onions and chilli
2. Oil in the pan. Medium heat. Onions in. Sweat down for around 10 minutes. Season slightly
3. Garlic and chillies in. Sweat down for a further 5 minutes.
4. Tomatoes and herbs in. Grind in that black pepper. Season.
5. Cover and simmer for around 15 minutes till you have a fairly thick sauce.
6. Get some water boiled in a pan. Add a few pinches of salt. Pasta in. Cook according to the instructions on the pack. Drain when cooked.
7. Meanwhile, add the olives to the sauce
8. When the pasta is cooked, plate up. Grate some parmesan and enjoy!
Cost:
- tomatoes: 2 zl
- onion, garlic, chilli: 0.50 zl
- pasta: 3 zl
- olives: 2 zl
- parmesan: 1.50 zl
Total: 9 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 2.25 zl
It's cheap. It's so vegetarian that it's even vegan (well, if you don't add the yoghurt like I did). It's also jain - no onions or garlic.
Use whatever lentils it's easy for you to get hold of.
Useful substitutes if you haven't got a particular item:
amchur powder - lemon juice
asafoetida powder - a clove or 2 of finely minced garlic
Dried red chillies - just leave out or add a bit more of the chilli powder
The other ingredients should be available in pretty much any shop.
Serves: 4
Cost per person: 0.75 zl (14 UK pence)
Ingredients:
- a mix of 4 different lentils (I used chana dal, toor dal, urad dal and mung dal - 2 tablespoons of each)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp of grated ginger
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 tsp amchur powder (dried mango - substitute with lemon juice if you like)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
- 1-2 dried red chillies
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
- a dab of yoghurt (optional)
Okey dokey let's get down to it!
1. Get the dal ready
2. Soak for a few hours in cold water
3. The starch in the lentils makes the water cloudy. You want to rinse them in a few changes of water till it's fairly clear. The water should be around 2 cm above the lentils.
4. Boil up the lentils (they'll take around an hour to cook). Meanwhile prep the spices
5. Add the coriander, turmeric and ginger. Cover and simmer.
6. Prep the next bunch of spices (garam masala, amchur and salt) to go in towards the end.
7. Spices in
8. Prep the spices for the "tempering" - dried red chilli, chilli powder, cumin seeds, asafoetida powder. The dried red chillies are optional. If you haven't got asafoetida, just fry up some garlic instead.
9. Temper the spices in some medium hot oil or butter for around 1 minute to impart the flavour.
10. Add the tempering to the dal
11. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Check that the dal is cooked (soft) and enjoy!
12. I served it with a dash of yoghurt, some vegetable pakora and a sourdough bread roll.
Cost:
- lentils: 2 zl
- the rest: 1 zl (if that)
Total cost: 3 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 0.75 zl
Dead easy to do. If you haven't got the starter/ can't be bothered, substitute with a pack of dried yeast and follow the instructions on the pack.
Makes: 8 rolls
Cost per roll: 0.20 zl (3.5 UK pence)
Ingredients:
- around 500g of mainly white flour with a bit of wholemeal or whatever you want
- around 30 ml of luke warm water
- around 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter
- 2 big old pinches of salt
- an egg (for brushing before baking)
Let's go!
1. Mix the flour with salt in a bowl and make a little well
2. Whisk the sourdough starter with the water and then add to the flour
3. Mix well and knead for a few minutes. You may need to add more flour or water depending on the consistency - you want it pretty firm
4. Cover with a plastic bag or foil and leave overnight to "prove". It should double in size
5. Divide into 8 portions
6. Form into rolls and put on a greased baking tray
7. Cover and leave to prove again for around 2 hours
8. Brush with an egg wash
9. Bake at 200 degrees for around 17 minutes.
10. Remove from the oven and rest for an hour before eating
Enjoy!
Cost:
- flour: 1 zl
- egg: 0.60 zl
Total: 1.60 zl
Makes: 8
Per roll: 0.20 zl
