I posted a pho recipe not so long ago. Follow the technique there for preparing the tofu until I manage to put up a separate post on foolproof tofu prep (coming up shortly).
This version of pho is great for the evening because it's light, yet packed full of nutrients. You've got more or less everything you need here in one bowl of joy!
Serves: 4
Cost per serving: 7 zl (1.26 GBP, 1.60 Euros, 39,000 Vietnamese Dong)
You'll need:
- 300g tofu (prepare according to the previous pho recipe or the next post on foolproof tofu prep)
- a mix of veg for the stock (1 carrot, 1/2 white radish, leftover broccoli, a couple of slices of celeriac, 2 celery stalks, 1 leek, some kale, some slices of ginger)
- 1 onion
- 2 star anise
- 4 black cardamons
- 2 cloves
- 1 tsp pepper corns
- 1 piece of cinnamon
- 1-2 tsp of salt
- 1-2 apples
- 300g rice noodles
- 8 pieces of broccoli per person (so one head of broccoli for 4 people, more or less)
- 1 clove of garlic roughly chopped
- a good splash of soy sauce
- finely chopped spring onion
- chopped fresh coriander (if you can get it)
- mung bean sprouts
- lamb's lettuce
- 1 lime
- chilli paste (optional)
Prepare this in stages. First of all, make sure the tofu's ready. Having done that, we can proceed with the stock.
The stock.
1. Halve the onion. Dry roast till brown along with the spices. Turn the onion to make sure as many sides as possible get brown.
2. In the meantime, boil around 3 litres of water in a large pan (this will make stock for 6 servings). While the water's boiling and the onion is dry roasting, chop up the veg.
3. Aha! The onion's ready! Take off the heat.
4. Add everything to the boiling water, including the onion and spices. Use a little water from the pan to wash out the onion residue into the stock. Add the salt. Cover and simmer on low heat for around 30 minutes.
5. Add the chopped up apple. Simmer for a further 30 minutes.
6. When the stock's ready, let's finish the dish! Boil up some water in a pan for the noodles. Meanwhile, soak the noodles in cold water (for around 5 minutes while the water comes to a boil).
7. Meanwhile, prep the other ingredients.
8. When the water boils, get the noodles in the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes then drain immediately.
9. Soak the lamb's lettuce to remove any grit.
10. A little oil in a wok. Heat up high. Broccoli in. Stir fry till light brown (3 minutes).
11. When it's a little brown, add the garlic. Stir fry for 30 secs, then add a good splash of soy sauce. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and rest.
12. The noodles should be ready now so drain. Now we can build the pho! Get the noodles in a deep bowl.
13. Broccoli in along with 7 pieces of tofu. Add some of the soy sauce from the wok. Be careful not to add too much of the garlic from the wok - it can be a little overpowering.
14. Pour in stock almost to the brim.
15. Add the mung bean sprouts. Squeeze over some lime juice. Add the spring onions and coriander (if available). Stir in a little chilli paste if you want some heat. I know I do!
16. Add the lamb's lettuce on top and enjoy!
Costing:
- tofu: 5 zl
- veg for stock: 4 zl
- lime: 2 zl
- broccoli: 3 zl
- mung bean sprouts: 4 zl
- lamb's lettuce: 4 zl
- rice noodles: 4 zl
- the rest: 2 zl
Total: 28 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 7 zl
Chettinad is an area of Tamil Nadu in South India, famous locally for its somewhat fiery cuisine. There are probably as many recipes for Chettinad veg as there are people living there, so this one's my version in their style more or less... It's a cheap and cheerful flavour sensation. Use any vegetables you like, but I've gone for a mix of aubergine, cauliflower and green beans.
Cook the veg separately for the best effect. Don't just lob everything in at once and hope for the best. Different elements require different approaches — the techniques here suit the particular veg I'm using.
One thing before we kick off... They use a weird ingredient in Chettinad — kolpasi — which is in fact a lichen found growing on tree bark. It has a distinctive flavour, hard to substitute. You can order it from specialist Asian shops online or leave it out if you want and use a little extra cinnamon instead.
Serves: 5
Cost per person: 3.60 zl (0.62 GBP, 0.84 Euros, 60 Indian Rupees)
You'll need:
- 1 aubergine
- 1/2 cauliflower
- a 1/2 cup of green beans (I'm using frozen)
- 1-2 onions finely chopped
- 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tin of tomatoes
- a glass of coconut cream or milk
- salt
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 6 or so tablespoons of coconut oil, more if required
- 10 dried red chillies deseeded
- 1 tsp kolpasi
- 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/4 tsp black pepper corns
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1-2 pieces of cinnamon
Let's get going!
1. Put the following in a pan: dried red chillies, kolpasi, fenugreek seeds, black pepper corns, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cinnamon. Gently roast on a low medium flame for 5 minutes.
2. Use a spice or coffee grinder to whizz the spices up into a powder.
3. In a little bowl, mix the turmeric and chilli powder with 1 tsp of salt. Chop up the aubergine and coat with the turmeric/ chilli/ salt mix
4. Let's be authentic here and use coconut oil! Get quite a lot into a hot pan.
5. Shallow fry the aubergines in this oil for around 10 minutes until soft and starting to brown. Remove from the pan, retaining as much oil as possible in the pan, and allow to drain in a sieve placed over a bowl (to catch the flavoured oil which we'll use later to fry the onions in). Aubergines absorb a lot of oil so you might need to keep adding some and you'll know the aubergine is getting there when it starts to give the oil back out in the pan.
6. While the aubergine is cooking, chop up the cauliflower and then shallow fry in the same pan after the aubergines have been removed. Give them around 5-10 minutes or until the cauliflower starts to brown slightly. This allows the cauliflower to soak up some of those spicy flavours from the pan! Remove and sit on top of the aubergines as they drain their oil.
7. Now, some oil will have drained out of the aubergines and into the bowl. Transfer the oil back to the pan and start to sweat down some finely chopped onion.
8. Give the onions around 10 minutes. Keep adding more drained oil as required as you go. Make the ginger garlic paste by grating an inch of ginger with one clove of garlic.
9. Ginger garlic paste in. Fry off for a minute or two. Get that spice powder in now. Stir in and fry off for half a minute.
10. Sort out the tinned tomatoes — i.e. remove any skins etc. Chop fine and get them into that pan!!
11. Cover and leave to cook down for 5 minutes on low. Add the coconut milk/ cream. Cook down for 5 minutes.
12. Frozen green beans — take the edge off in the microwave for a minute.
13. Beans in. Cook on low for 5 minutes
14. Cauliflower in for 3 minutes.
15. Aubergine in and turn off the heat.
16. Serve with rice and enjoy!
Costing:
- aubergine: 4 zl
- cauliflower: 2.50 zl
- beans: 0.50 zl
- tomatoes: 2 zl
- rice for 5 people: 3 zl
- coconut oil: 4 zl
- the rest: 2 zl
total: 18 zl
serves: 5
per person: 3.60 zl
