Vegetable Curry

It was National Vegetarian week recently - so to get in he spirit I dug out an old favourite vegetable curry recipe. It is based on a Nigel Slater recipe - his recipes work - and he has a great style of writing that just makes you want to cook!!

The recipe does call for salting and rinsing the aubergine - which I did - but I am not sure you need to do this with most aubergines these days.
The aubergine is meaty enough to hold its own against the spices - and you certainly don't miss meat. After cooking it I wondered what it would be like using portobello mushrooms instead - so that may follow another day!

2 large aubergines - cut into large chunks (see picture)

salt 

oil

2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

2 tbs ginger, finely chopped

8 cardamon pods

1 tsp chilli flakes

2 tsp ground tumeric 

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tin chopped tomatoes

natural yoghurt

coriander

mint

1.Place the aubergine in a colander set over a bowl. Sprinkle with salt to draw out the moisture. Leave for 30 minutes.

2.Whilst waiting for the aubergine in a large pan add the groundnut oil, put on a high heat, and add the onions, garlic and ginger. Lower the heat, cover with a lid, and allow to cook for 20 mins, or until the onions have softened.
3. Crush the cardamon pods, extract the seeds and crush in a pestle and mortar. Add them to the pan with chilli flakes, turmeric and cumin seeds, and stir to lightly toast.
4. Add the tinned tomatoes, and pour in enough water to cover the vegetables. Season well with salt and pepper, cover and leave to cook.
5. Rinse the salt off the aubergine, and brown the pieces on a griddle - in batches if necessary.
6. Add the griddled aubergine to the main pot, cover and simmer until the aubergine is very soft, about 25 minutes.
7. Taste the curry and adjust the spice t taste - I often add more chilli flakes towards the end of cooking. You can adjust the spice level by adding the natural yoghurt.
8. Sprinkle over the chopped coriander and mint and serve.

Jose - Bermondsey Street

A great Friday afternoon spent at Jose Pizarro's tapas bar Jose on Bermondsey Street.

At lunchtime it is strictly standing room only - so we aimed for after 2:00, and managed to get two stools at the end of the bar by the window - a perfect spot.
A great welcome straight away - a glass of cava - and then down to business!!
The menus are on two chalk boards behind the bar - and we did our best to work our way through them!!

All of dishes we tried were good - the stand out dishes sea bream a la Sevlliana, which included orange and olive, the padron peppers and fried chorizo piquillo.

The place has a really nice buzz to it - and all of the staff were friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. As we were there at the quietest point of the day it was also when staff went on breaks etc - and our waitress said good bye to us before she went on her break - and the new one was in place straight away.

A great way to spend a lazy afternoon - a little bit of Spain in the middle of Bermondsey - and Bermondsey is all the better for it!