Baba Ghanouj (smokey aubergine and tahini spread)

The naughty sister of the mighty Hummus, Baba Ghanouj certainly is a cheeky little Middle Eastern spread! The basic idea is to replace the chickpeas of the hummus recipe with roasted aubergine et voila! Enjoy with bread and savour the earthy flavours - sure beats a processed cheese spread.

Cost per medium sized jar: around 5 zl (1 UK pound Sterling)

What you'll need:

- 1-2 aubergines
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tbsp tahini paste
- juice of 1 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste

What next?

1. Heat your oven up to max (over 220 degrees if you can)

2. Rub oil over aubergines. Give them a good massage. Lay on a baking tray. I'll be using one of these aubergines for the baba ghanouj and another for a recipe coming up soon!

3. Just look at those aubergines! Fresh from the market. Locally grown. Wonderful! Into the hot oven. 30 minutes. Out.

4. The skin should be brittle and the inside will have transformed into a soft pulp. Cool a bit and pull off the skin. Scoop out the pulp.

5. Put the pulp into a cheese cloth (or in my case, a poor quality yet hyper-clean tea towel which is quite porous)

6. Bring the sides of the tea towel up and start squeezing the pulp inside. A lot of moisture should come out and the tea towel will get a little stained - don't worry! Just clean later by boiling in a pan with a little washing powder.

7. After you've really squeezed the moisture out, scrape out the pulp into a bowl.

8. Prep the other ingredients

9. Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend up to a fine consistency. Add a glug of olive oil if it's too dry. Season. 

10. You're there!

Enjoy with crusty bread and maybe a little olive oil and a smattering of cayenne pepper.

Hummus

I think that if you were trapped somewhere with nothing but hummus to eat, not only would you survive, but you'd live well. Just look at the line-up of ingredients:

Chickpeas - packed full of protein
Tahini paste - calcium and iron
Garlic - antibacterial
Lemon juice - vitamin C

Tahini paste - what's that then, eh? It's a paste made of sesame seeds. Available from most supermarkets in the UK. Found in all Asian stores. Available in Poland from Kuchnia Swiata. (http://www.kuchnieswiata.com.pl)

I estimate that one jar would cost you around 3 zl to make (around a US dollar)

You need:

- 2-3 good handfuls of dried chickpeas
- the juice of one lemon
- 1 tbsp of tahini paste
- salt and pepper to taste
- a nice glug of olive oil

What you do?

1. soak the chickpeas overnight and then cook on a low heat with plenty of water for 2 hours till soft

2. Prep the ingredients

3. Juice the lemon. Add all ingredients to a blender and whizz up fine

4. Eat with bread!

There you go - another vegan classic!

Tarka Dal (Version 1)

Now then, if you're serious about being a vegetarian or vegan, you'll need to make friends with pulses - beans and lentils. Much of the world survives on them for their protein content. India would collapse without them.

There's a myth going round that lentils are boring: wrong! Depends what you do with them, eh? This dish will convince you that lentils can not only be as enjoyable as meat but even preferable!

There's another story going round that lentils are dirt cheap and you can eat well on next to nothing. That's entirely true.

Tarka dal is an Indian dish. 

Dal = pulses
Tarka = flavoured at the end by adding a tempered oil

This version I suppose is slightly Bengali influenced with its liberal use of mustard seeds.

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 1 zl (20 pence UK, 24 Euro cents, 31 US cents)

What you need:

- 4-5 good handfuls of red lentils (or a mix of red and yellow)
- 1 tsp coriander
- 2 tbsp veg oil
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2-3 dried red chillies
- 1 tsp finely chopped garlic
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1/2 tsp turmeric 

This is easy to make, really. It's vegan (but don't tell anyone!).

Let's get to work!

1. Soak the lentils in a bowl for around 30 minutes

Rinse several times during the 30 minutes so that you move from a bowl which looks like this:

To one which looks like this:

2. Heat up the lentils in a large pan with water 2-3 cm above the line of the lentils

3. When it's up to boil, add the coriander powder. Reduce the heat and cover. Cook for 45 minutes (more or less). The lentils should get nice and mushy by then.

4. While the lentils are cooking, prep the ingredients for the tarka (the flavoured oil)

5. When the lentils are pretty much done, get cracking with the tarka. Heat around 2 tbsp of veg oil in a wok. Mustard seeds in.

6. When the mustard seeds start popping, add the cumin seeds in

7. The tarka is a quick process, so almost immediately after the cumin, add the chillies

8. Wham! Add the garlic and ginger

9. 10 seconds later, get the turmeric in. 5 seconds. Off the heat

10. Your tarka's ready! Add to the pan of lentils.

11. Season with salt to taste. Reduce a bit on a low heat for another 5 minutes. You want the consistency of a thin sauce.

12. Serve with rice!

Cost:

- lentils: 2 zl
- rice: 1.60 zl
- the rest: 0.40 zl

Total: 4 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 1 zl

Lemon chicken risotto with bell peppers

I had a simple version of this in a restaurant the other week and thought to myself: I could do that! So I came up with this. A lot of the technique here comes from watching my dad make his fine risotto over the years. 

A few things about risotto first. The main thing is to add the stock gradually and keep stirring till most of the liquid has been absorbed. Then add a little more etc. It takes time. You can't rush a risotto. One of the worst risottos I ever had was about 18 years ago and a "risotto" came out of the oven as if it was a pasta bake. No! No! No! It was bloody awful.

Rice: use Arborio rice. Nothing else will do. Trust me.

Serves: 2
Cost: 3.40 zl per person (1.04 US Dollars, 67p UK, 2.48 Brazilian Real)

What you'll need:

- 100-120g Arborio rice
- a good litre of stock 
- extra flavourings for the stock:

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp dried lovage leaves

2-3 bay leaves

1 dried red chilli

salt to taste

- a splash of white wine

- 1 medium onion finely chopped

- 1 clove of garlic finely chopped

- 1/3 each of red/ green/ yellow peppers chopped

- 100g chicken thigh meat off the bone cut into thin strips

- handful of basil leaves

- juice of half a lemon

- 2-3 tsp grated parmesan cheese

- salt and pepper to taste

Let's get grooving!

1. The stock. The easy way is to dissolve around 2 stock cubes in one litre of hot water. The harder (but tastier way) is to boil down a chicken carcass for a couple of hours with some left over vegetables. Strain. Let the liquid settle in a closed container and put in the fridge. When you take it out of the fridge, the fat will have settled at the top. Skim it off.

2. Pour the remaining liquid in a pan and heat. Get the flavourings together.

3. Get those herbs and spices into the stock! This is going to be ticking over on a low heat while you get everything else ready.

4. Prep the other ingredients:

5. A nice glug or two of olive oil (extra virgin this time) in a hot pan.

6. Onions in. Sweat down for around 10 minutes till reduced and translucent.

7. Garlic in. Give it a minute.

8. Chicken in. I've opted for thigh meat. Why? Because it retains its juice better. Breast meat tends to dry out if cooked longer than 10-15 minutes. Thigh meat also has more flavour.

9. When the chicken is almost all sealed (white - around 5 minutes), get the peppers in.

10. Give it 30 seconds

11. Rice in. Let it absorb the juices for at least a minute.

12. Give it a splash of white wine. Enjoy the "whoosh" as it hits the hot pan and starts to evaporate.

13. Ok. Now it's time to start ladling in the stock (this will take around 25 minutes). Put two ladles in first. Wait till that's absorbed and then add two more. Repeat and stir until the rice is al dente. Keep tasting - that's the only way you'll know when it's there!

14. Just around when the rice is al dente (and I repeat, this will be after around 25 minutes), add some basil leaves.

15. Squeeze in the lemon juice

16. Parmesan in. Melt through. 

17. Serve!

What did this cost?

- chicken: 2.50 zl
- rice: 1.25 zl
- peppers: 1 zl
- the rest: 2 zl

Total: 6.75 zl
Serves: 2
Per person: 3.40 zl

Easy Crispy Aubergine (smooth pakora baingan)

I have a slight addiction to pakoras - I think it's the crispiness that gets me every time. That and the subtle hint of spice. This version isn't mouth-blisteringly hot at all and uses few ingredients so I reckon it's an easy one that goes well with just about any other Indian dishes or could just be eaten on its own as a snack.

I've stripped the ingredients here to the bare minimum. You don't have to use aubergine; it's just that I happened to have one lying around. Broccoli and cauliflower would work well too. Maybe carrot? Go crazy and try!

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 1.25 zl (25p)

What you need:

- an aubergine
- a small onion
- 1-2 tablespoons of greek yoghurt
- 2 green chillies
- 3 tablespoons of gram flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of rice flour
- a good pinch of salt
- 1 tsp coarsely ground coriander seed
- 1/3 tsp chilli powder (if you want a bit of extra kick; I didn't bother)
- veg oil for deep frying

Let's boogie!

1. Get your stuff ready for grinding

2. Chop up the onion and chillies and put into a coffee grinder

3. Yoghurt in and grind to a very smooth paste

4. Get the flours in a bowl. Add the crushed coriander seed

5. Get a pinch or two of salt in there plus some chilli powder if you like

6. Onion and chilli paste in

7. Start working it, baby!

8. Wash out the grinder with some water and add

9. Keep working it!

10. Add more water till you have a fairly thin batter

11. Slice the aubergine

12. Add to the batter

13. Heat up enough oil in a wok to deep fry comfortably. Get it nice and hot. Aubergines in. Cook till golden brown (approx 5 minutes).

14. Drain on kitchen paper and enjoy. Don't worry if the batter gets a bit deformed - it's all part of the fun!

What did this cost?

- aubergine: 3 zl
- the rest: 2 zl

Total: 5 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 1.25 zl