What to do with Swiss Chard?

Is what I always think when I get Swiss chard in my veg box. I love receiving my veg box, because I get to cook food I normally wouldn't buy. Swiss Chard is a green I'm just not really sure what to do with. Once I just curried it, the same way I would make spinach curry. It was lovely and had a slightly denser taste than spinach.

I didn't want to boil, steam or stir fry it, so I decided to make Swiss chard quesadilla.

These are a fab fun meal to have. I've never made quesadilla before but I knew in my head exactly what I wanted, so I made it come true. And it got the thumbs up from the American Vegetarian as well.

Ingredients (makes 3 quesadilla)

A bag of Swiss chard
1/2 red onion; sliced
1 clove of garlic; chopped and crushed into a paste
1 can of black beans (drained)
Any cheese of your choice ( I used Red Leicester) grated
2 fresh tomatoes (de-seeded and chopped)
6 soft flour tortilla
some olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Some spray oil.

Method

First prepare your Swiss chard. Wash and chop the chard. Now the way I wash my chard is by giving it a bath in the sink as opposed to rinsing it under water. This way all of the mud from the veg box has defiantly been washed away. I do this twice. You can see from the colour of the water when the Swiss chard is clean. Chop the stems and roughly chop the leaves. Set aside.

Make the garlic paste. To do this just peel a garlic clove and chop quite finely, then add a little bit of salt and with the back of your knife crush it. The salt prevents the garlic from slipping away. Keep crushing it with the back of your knife until the garlic is paste like.

Now heat some oil in a pan and fry the sliced onion and garlic paste then add the Swiss chard and season with salt & pepper. Cook until wilted for about 5-7 minutes. Set aside.

Now prepare your other ingredients. Chop and de-seed two fresh tomatoes, so you have some nice small squares, drain and rinse one can of black beans and grate your cheese.

Then prepare the tortillas. I should point out that when you add the ingredients to your tortilla make sure you leave about an inch space between the edge of the tortilla and the filling.

Now get one tortilla and sprinkle some cheese on it, then add the Swiss chard, then the black beans, then some tomatoes, then some more cheese. Season with salt and pepper and top with another tortilla.

In a big frying pan (big enough for your tortilla to sit) spray some spay oil and add the entire tortilla to the pan. Let it cook for about 3-4 mins until browned to your liking then before you turn it over spay some oil on the tortilla and then very carefully turn it over and cook for another 3-4 minutes. You might find some of the filling fall out but it doesn't matter.

Then slip it on to a plate, cut in quarters and enjoy!

If you have any ideas what else to do with Swiss chard then please let me know. Your opinion on this recipe and my new look blog is very much appreciated.

All hail Chipotle

Chipotle is in TOWN!!!!!

OK so most of you should have noticed the surge of Burrito bar's that have cropped up around town lately. We have Tortilla (too salty), Chilango (I love the Totopos here), Benito's Hat, Daddy Donkey (unsampled...yet) and for me the mother of them all CHIPOTLE.

I first discovered the amazing Chipotle back in 2006 when I was spending a lot of time in New York. The American Vegetarian introduced it to me on a cold February day. It was no big deal, we were walking down 34th Street in Manhattan and we were both freezing and hungry and she suggested Chipotle. I didn't really think much of it when I walked in. It seemed a bit too fast food. Ordering your food at the bar while they make it in front if you, then finding somewhere to sit. But little did I know what was about to happen. I had two revelations here.

1) Black Beans.

2) Mexican food is AMAZING.

Up until this moment I had never eaten black beans, but black beans in the States is as popular as baked beans are over here. I was astounded that I had never come across black beans before. Especially since growing up in an Indian home I was surrounded by a lot of beans and pulses that were not in the supermarkets and have only entered the mainstream in the last 5 - 8 years. So I thought I had tried, or at least knew of them all.

Black beans are fab. You can find them in the Caribbean section, in cans which works for me, or I sometimes buy them dried and pressure cook them for about 7 whistles; (see pressure cooking post in April). You can curry them (in fact what can't you curry?) add them to salads or mix with sweetcorn, tomatoes and coriander to make a fab salsa.

Now before Chipotle, Mexican food to me was, re fried beans (not my favourite in any country), and sizzling fajitas from Old Orleans or Navajo Joes (Urgh). Now before I continue I am very aware that Chipotle and the other burrito bars are probably not classic authentic Mexican food. But it'll do me. On my first visit I opted for the tacos. Three soft flour tacos filled with Mexican rice, black beans, sauteed green and red peppers, guacamole, cheese, lettuce, and salsa. All these flavours squished together to give me a mouthful of glory. The American Vegetarian did not realise just how much I loved it. In fact she was a bit shocked, after all its only a burrito. But to me it was a food revelation.

So you can imagine my dismay whenever I came back to the UK to not find an eating establishment like Chipotle. Until that is, two years later I saw Tortilla in Upper Street in 2007. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me, is it a Starbucks, is it a Gregg's, no it's a burrito bar!!!

I was so excited, I really didn't know what to do, who should I call, when shall I go? are there any vacancies? Anyway soon after, the American Vegetarian and I had a burrito there. We were happy, they served black beans and all the trimmings, and they had two sizes; a small and a USA large. We knew that we can handle the large so that's what we had. Tortilla was the only place to go for a burrito, but after a while we both admitted that it was quite salty. So we then found Chilangos. Here we tried the Totopos. Which consists of a layer of tortilla chips topped with beans or meat and guacamole, lettuce, salsa, etc.. This was like nachos meets burritos and I highly recommend taking a trip to Chilangos and ordering this. Its a nice change from a burrito.

So lets fast forward to the day I found out Chipotle had arrived in the UK. The American Vegetarian alerted me to the breaking news one day saying "Guess what's in town"? The parameters were too wide for me to actually guess so I just asked what. "Chipotle". Now if I could play Carmina Burana here I would, so please use your own imagination and hear it in your head. I ventured down to Chipolte which is on Charing Cross Road, one sunny evening with my mate Viv. She had never experienced Chipotle and didn't really understand the fuss, but was happy not to spend more than £6 on dinner. As we approached I looked through the window and was happy just at the fact that they had the same red baskets that are used in the States.

The menu was the same and I decided to opt for a vegetarian burrito bowl. I was offered a choice of rice (Mexican or coriander) a choice of beans; black or pinto. Now this is where a big red flashing light should appear with WARNING for all vegetarians. Chipotle offer black beans and pinto beans. Their pinto beans come with bacon in them. When you order a vegetarian burrito/taco/bowl, you shouldn't really be offered beans with bacon in them. As I was in a good mood, (and on a certain time scale) I didn't pull the person up on this. However if it happens again I will. But just so you know, the pinto beans are NOT vegetarian.

I sat down at a counter with my order and ate my bowl. I enjoyed it. Viv was very happy with hers as well. It wasn't too salty and mixing everything up together was nice. The warm black beans mixed with the cool guacamole and the crunchy lettuce tasted lovely. Eating from a red basket reminded me of a time I commuted from London to New York and as I looked out the window I didn't see the streets of New York, but the bustling streets of London instead.

Oh Chipotle is on 114-116 Charing Cross Road, London.

Bi Bim Bap time

I like nothing better than finding a new cheap eat in London. Tired of venturing to the usual cheap eat haunts on a weekday night (GBK, Sagar, Fire & Stone, a Thai place or Burrito Bar), I googled 'cheap eats London' to see if anything new came up. And it did!! Time Out had a good review of a Korean restaurant called Bi Bim Bap.

The name alone intrigued me and after reading the review I knew I wanted to eat their. However I had to make sure that they had good veggie options. So I checked out their website and menu and was over the moon when I discovered what a Bi Bim Bap is.

At Bi Bim Bap, they serve Bi Bim Bap's. Bi Bim Baps is a Korean dish served in a very hot stone bowl. It consists of vegetables like cucumber, beansprouts, spinach, carrots, daikon and mushrooms, and these sit on top of a bed of sticky white rice (you can swap this for brown rice for an additional cost). On top of this is the vegetable or meat of your choice. The traditional one comes with a fried egg on top. I had this one and the American Vegetarian chose the tofu. They advise you that the best way to eat a Bi Bim Bap, is to mix everything up really well. That way all the well balanced flavours infuse really well together giving you a fantastic meal.

The thing I loved most was that the food cooked and stayed piping hot as you ate it. In fact I would say the food became more hot because it actually was cooking while we ate. They also give you chilli paste and miso paste to add as you wish. I loved the Bi Bim Bap. It was tasty, healthy, warming and something completely different. Oh and at £5.95 a bowl, you really can't go wrong.

Now we went on a Tuesday night, and there was a regular stream of customers coming in but it wasn't overly busy. Our service was fine but could have been better. There was a couple next to us who had been waiting a while for their order. They kept looking at their watch, and asked more than once where their food was. Our starter came within 15 minutes. I then had to remind the waiter of our drinks, which he swiftly brought immediately, but then our Bi Bim Bap's were brought before we had a chance to finish our starter. Usually I would have said something, but seeing as the table next to us had waited far longer for their mains then we had, I let this one go.  Also I think I was still experiencing an endorphin rush from the spin class I took before going to dinner. My work out schedule hasn't been very healthy lately due to a star jump that went wrong (my lower back decided to have a spasm mid jump).

I needed some no impact hard core exercise. So spin it was. It was a great class, and is made all the better as it is taught by a guy I went to infant school with. (Elementary for my US readers..I think I have some!).

So I highly recommend Bi Bim Bap for all vegetarians and non vegetarians out there. They have five options of each and some very nice Korean beer. The service could be better but I'm puting this down to teething problems and not going to hold this against them. I will definatley be going back, with friends in tow.

http://www.bibimbapuk.com/ for the food.
http://www.jubileehalltrust.org/ for the spin class (Simon; Tuesday @ 6pm).

Sweetcorn Salsa

I went to an impromptu barbecue on Sunday at my brother's house. My cousin from Canada visited the UK with his family. His wife Carol, is French Canadian, and therefore their three children are a beautiful mix of Gujarati, French, Canadian-ness. So that means they eat onion soup with their fingers! Only kidding!! So while my brother was making his infamous kebabs my cousin (a different one; Raj from North London) and I made a sweetcorn salsa. Now he makes it slightly differently to me but the essence is the same. This salsa is great at barbecues as a side with vegetable kebabs, on some lightly toasted sourdough bread or just with some tortilla crisps and a beer. 

So here is our sweetcorn salsa.

Ingredients

Sweetcorn (Either kernels cut from a cob, or straight from a can; drained)

2 vine ripened tomatoes

1 small red onion diced
1 green chilli de-seeded and finely chopped

Big handful of fresh coriander
Fresh lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 clove of garlic (Raj's option)

Sourdough bread
Olive Oil

Method

If using kernels form a cob, then after you have cut them off, spread them on a baking tray and dry roast for about 20 minutes. You can prepare the rest of the salsa whilst they are roasting. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and de-seed them and then cut the flesh of the tomatoes into cubes. Peel the onion and dice. Wash and chop the fresh coriander and de-seed and chop the green chilli. Once the sweetcorn has roasted mix them with the tomatoes, onion, green chilli, coriander, and lemon juice and garlic (if using) together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Toast the bread and drizzle some Olive oil on it and serve with the salsa. Delicious!!

Scene & Heard Summer Time Shakes

Sorry!!! I know I haven't been updating my blog as much as I'd like to but I hope to try and change that. Meanwhile let me tell you about a project I have been involved with called Scene & Heard.

Scene & Heard is a fantastic mentoring project for children who live in the Somers Town area of London. Its a play making and play writing course for children aged between 9 - 15. Over a period of about 8 weeks the children have a mentor in the shape of a theatre professional and they are taught basic drama and playwright skills. They then over a weekend wright a 8 minute play which is then put on by 2 professional actors and a director. Its then performed over a  4 nights at Theatro Technis. I've volunteered for them as an actor on 3 occasions, and I've played a skittle and rose.

The plays are totally out of this world. They are so imaginative and contain everything from comedy, tragedy, love, hate, revenge, envy, and loss. You really have to see it to believe it. So if you haven't seen a Scene & Heard play, go check out their website to see when the next event is on. You'll have the best night out at the theatre you've ever had.

So in honor if my time at Scene & Heard I thought I'd whizz up some Scene & Heard summertime shakes. There's nothing better, then grabbing some juice, fruit, yoghurt and ice. Whizzing it up in a blender and making yourself a little smoothie. I love them, and its a fab way of getting some of your 5 a day. Below you will find the base of my summertime shakes and then a list of ingredients that you can play with to make your own shake depending on what you fancy!


Base Ingredients

1 banana
yoghurt
OJ
Crushed ice

Extra ingredients that makes smoothie fab;

 Any fruit possible; apple, plums, grapes, oats, nuts, berries, honey, granola, melon, ginger, peanut butter, frozen grapes, frozen bananas, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, mango's, pomegranate, pineapple, kiwi, nectarine, peaches..the list can go on. But I think you get the idea.

Method

Cut up the fruit into chunks and place all the ingredients that you want into a blender then whizz away!!

Grab a friend make a smoothie and enjoy the summertime.

Vegan Banana Bread

I know I've been slack with updating my posts and my fellow blogger at angloyankophile always pulls me up on it, which I like. But recently I've been pulled away from the computer by World Cup/Wimbledon and general warm sun.

But I'm back with a recipe that I actually have never made, but is an American Vegetarian special. Its the Vegan Banana Bread.

This is gorgeous. There really is nothing better then home made bread. The smell it creates, and the joy it brings is just delightful! So here is the American Vegetarian's Vegan Banana Bread.


Ingredients

2 1/4 cups of whole wheat self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1 1/2 cups of mashed banana (approx 3)
6 tbsp apple juice
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/3 cup chopped nuts (walnuts)
1/3 cup of raisins
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of nutmeg

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F or 175 Celsius.

In a bowl mix the whole wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda together. In another bowl mash up the banana and add the apple juice, vegetable oil vanilla extract, chopped nuts, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well. Then add this mixture with the flour mixture and mix well.

Pour entire mixture into a loaf tin and bake for 50 mins. (I line the loaf tin with some baking paper.)

Eat warm or at room temperature with a spread of your choice!

My Chilli Jalapeno plant

I have absolutely no luck when it comes to growing things. Every time someone gives me a plant or I buy one thinking "that would brighten up my place". Once I get it home I try and look after it, but no matter how much I try they always die within a few weeks. So I made a decision to never buy a plant again, because I'm just not destined to grow plants or herbs or anything really.  So you can imagine my horror when on my birthday I was given a chilli jalapeno plant from my best friends 3 year old daughter, who I had been told had grown the seedling HERSELF!!

There was no way I could let this plant die, I had to give it a chance, if only for Sana's sake (the 3yr old gardener). That's the least I can do. How would I be able to face a 3 year old and tell her that the beautiful gift she gave me lasted only a few days. So operation 'chilli jalapeno plant' came in to force.

The first thing I did in order to give this plant a fair chance in life was to re-pot the thing. I already had a big pot which had soil in it taking up space in my store cupboard. This had been given to me (on my request) by my sister-in-law two years ago when I had the foolish idea of wanting to grow herbs. (I still do, but just accepted my lack of green fingers and never did). So I re-potted the seedling and placed it on my very sunny window sill.

Nafisa, (Sana's mother), advised me to give it 3 sips of water a day. I watered it everyday, but because the pot was bigger then what I had received it in, I gave it more than three sips. More like three quarters of a cup. Then I received some advice that actually chilli plants are used to quite hot arid conditions so maybe I shouldn't water it as much. So now I only ever water it when all the water from the drip tray has disappeared.

Now when I was in Rome some magic happened, because when I returned after four days of gloriousness, the plant had grown. A LOT. I felt like Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk I was amazed, I mean seriously taken back. I couldn't believe that something had grown, and better still, keeps on growing. I measure it every day, its now standing at 23cm. I love my chilli plant, even though there are no chilli's growing on it at the moment, I still love my chilli plant. I don't know what I'll do when I see my first chilli growing on it. I think I might drive all the way to West London and show Sana. I never realised how much joy you can get from making something grow. So thank you Sana.