Curry Night in a One-bed Flat

Four meat-eaters and a vegan attend a curry night in my tiny flat with no table and not enough chairs.  I would say it went well, perhaps it could have been improved but for my first time hosting a meal and my first ever cooking proper curry, I think it went well!

I'd been planning this thing for two weeks but had not had a trial run.  My cockiness told me I would be able to cook regardless.  Thankfully, I was right about this as I was so pushed for time.  So, I step out of work at 6pm and out of Sainsbury's at 7pm and out of my shower at 7.30pm.  At which point I receive a call from my friend Lexi who is five minutes away and doesn't know exactly where my house is!  She is also running thirty minutes early and I am running thirty behind.  Clutching a towel around myself I look at Joe with pleading eyes while confidently informing Lexi that he will come and get her.  Nothing is yet on the hob or in the oven....

So I bolt for my bedroom, knowing I have to dress up a bit because my friends always do and, in truth, there is a bit of a friendly clothing war going on.  I plump for a black tank top under a pink shrug with a short blue skirt, completed with purple tights.  The whole thing sounds so planned but really it was all I could find with seconds to spare.  I was extremely lucky that it was quite a nice outfit.  My friend Abby told me later that night that she liked my "colours".  So clearly a win!

I finally make it to my kitchen, my hair is still wet and I'm make-up free but at least I've made it to the damn cooking stage.  I decide that as time is short I will follow the recipe to the letter.  I'd gone to ASDA at lunchtime and picked up half the ingredients, which by this point were rolling all over the counter, and got the other half, as I've suggested, from Sainsbury's (with my cash-back card and nectar points, thank you very much)!  They were rolling all over the other counter.

I started with Dal Kofta Balls: http://www.veggienumnum.com/2010/09/dal-kofta/.  It was as I was crumblign bread crumbs over the mixture that my last of three guests arrived.  I was elbow deep in lentils and nuts, and good Lord my hand's were sticky.  Not to be beaten however I persevered with the bloody vegan balls and managed to get eight into the oven.

Got Joe on frying up the chicken, which he then transferred onto a plate and washed the pan.  I was not going to let anything dead touch Abby's food!

I made the sauce from this recipe, using light coconut milk instead of yoghurt: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/9535/indian-chicken-curry-with-tomatoes-and-yoghurt---murgh-kari.aspx.

For dessert I made: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/28863/vegan-chocolate-tofu-pudding.aspx.  I substituted the cocoa powder and soya milk for chocolate soya milk.

I also defrosted a double chocolate cheesecake, which my mum and I prepared earlier (Blue Peter Style). We used this recipe: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/330617/double-chocolate-cheesecake?utm_expid=13353178-7&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F.  This is easy to make and complete heaven to eat.  You can use the cheapest chocolate you can find and it will still taste expensive.   It takes less than thirty minutes to make and only a couple of hours in the fridge but freezes great too!  It is a perfect pudding in so many ways.  I knocked another one up at the weekend with no effort at all.

So I may have cooking like a maniac while my house was crawling with hungry people but I pulled it off.  I felt like I was in a mini-commercial kitchen, trying to get food out as quickly as possible, chucking orders onto the restaurant floor ASAP.  It was only on the third plate I realised we didn't have enough forks.  Where the hell did all the forks go?!

All the while trying to make polite conversation, being interesting and witty. I leaned on my culinary skill fairly heavily, only pausing from this to tell an embarrassing sexual anecdote (I was story topping!). The food went down the hatches and my first ever vegan effort was a success (I've only got one testimonal on this but that is a 100% success rate if ever there was one).

The aftermath was a mere curry and cutlery bomb hitting my kitchen.  No biggie.

(Not Quite) Authentic Japanese Food

As a very white Western girl I can't cook authentic Japanese food.  I do not have any Japanese heritage and living in Kent I do not source my ingredients from Japan.  Though one day I will go there and make fabulous (near) authentic Japanese cuisine.

I can however do the next best thing... improvise.  So last night I treated the boyfriend and myself to Japanese One-Pot Chicken Noodle Soup.  Inspired by this recipe: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/3226/one-pot-japanese-chicken.aspx, I created a fabulous meal and I swear it tasted like the genuine article.

Japanese One-Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

Serves 2-3

• 400g Chicken fillet
• 2 Noodle nests
• 3 Carrots
• 1 small onion
• 2 Handfuls of spinach
• 200g Bamboo shoots
• A bit of red cabbage (As much as you want - it can be any type of cabbage really)
• 1 litre Chicken stock (May need more - half way through I ended up making up another 1/2 litre)
• 1 Clove of garlic (Or to taste)
• 2-3 Eggs (If using)
• Salt and pepper

Ponzo Sauce (My take)

• 100ml Dark soy sauce
• 3 tbsp White wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp Lemon juice
• 3 tbsp Mirin wine
• 1 tbsp vodka
• 1 tbsp Sweet chilli sauce

Method

1. Chop and crush garlic and throw into frying pan with diced chicken, salt and pepper.  Fry until browned and then add the chicken stock.
2. Soak the noodles in a separate bowl in cold water.
3. Add washed and chopped carrots to the pan, trying to cover with the stock, simmer for 10 mins.  Then chop and add cabbage; I cut it into strips.  also add bamboo shoots.  Simmer for five mins.
4. In a small saucepan add all the ingredients for the ponzo sauce and place over a low heat with the lid on.  Take off the heat after about 3-5 mins.
5. Add chopped onion and spinach to the pan.  You may need to add the extra stock at this point. Simmer for 3-5 mins, depending on how soft/crunchy you like your veg.
6. Drain the noodles and add to the pan.
7. If using the egg fry them at this stage.  Dish up the meal into bowls and pour the ponzo sauce over the top.  Place one egg on the top of each meal.

I did not have an egg on the top of my food but Joe did and he said it was wonderful.  I got the idea to add an egg from a Japanese meal we had for my birthday up in London.

My intention had been to make this meal for the two of us but there was so much left over I have enough for lunch at work today!  I am looking forward to it... Yummy Yummy!

=(*^_^*)=