An Edible Voyage

June 2021 Cooked rice, kimchi, an egg, gruyere.  That's all you need for kimchi fritters.  They don't look much but make the most delicious snack, fancy starter, or main event of a meal served alongside salad. I saw these on the Instagram page of a pub I've never been to in Australia.  Ottolenghi also has a recipe.  I keep things simple.  Heat a pan with a little oil, mix a few generous spoonfuls of kimchi, an egg and lots of chunks of gruyere (the more, the better is my motto when it comes to cheese) in to a portion of cooked rice, spoon blobs of your desired fritter size in to the hot pan, flip once the bottom is set and crispy - the crispy bits make a delightful contrast to the gooey centres so don't skimp on the pan time! Enjoy on their own or with a mint, yogurt and cucumber dip.

June 2021 Flavour, texture, comfort, nutrients.  Is there a bowl more complete than Korea's bibimbap.  And it's utterly delicious to boot.  If you can't get to Korea, Lime Orange in London's Victoria hits the spot every time.  Understated, and with a heavily Korean clientele, the highlight has to be the volcanic bowl mounded with 7 vegetables, rice, an egg and your choice of protein.  Add hot sauce to taste, mix quickly and devour.  My personal favourite is with tofu - giant chewy cubes a wonderful contrast to the crispy shards of rise chiselled from the bottom of the bowl - the best bit!   This dish is everything you want on a winter's day.  Go when your fingers are frozen and the biting wind is piercing your clothes, and revel in the heartiness of the nutrients racing through your blood, warming you from the inside out. Find Lime Orange on Vauxhall Bridge Road, moments from Victoria train station.

June 2020 I can't say that I've ever had Tibetan food before and it seems I've been missing out! Yeshi grew up in rural Tibet and has brought over the flavours of his native cuisine to excite the taste buds of Oxford with Taste of Tibet.  Hearty and a little spicy, his dishes are real soul food.  The vegan feast is definitely not an understatement with 3 curries, rice and a momo jam packed in to the foil container - it seemed a never-ending meal of flavour.  A mild spinach and chickpea curry, and Tibetan dahl ss balanced by the spicy potato and pea curry, and people flock from miles around for their highly acclaimed momos - dumplings filled with vegetables and steamed to create 2-bite sized balls of deliciousness.   Bread is my weakness and generally one of my most enjoyed parts of any cuisine so I had to try a Tibetan flat bread.  I was expecting it to be similar to a naan bread but it was much denser, good for scooping up a mouthful of curry. Ta...

March 2018 A simple dish which looks very plain, but somehow every mouthful is full of flavour.  Chunks of lamb and carrot are fried with onion and garlic, and mixed with cooked rice.  Told you it was simple! But there was something really satisfying about it that meant I was happy to eat it day after day. Find it on most restaurant menus in Kyrgyzstan.  It's also often served during home stays.

April 2020 Chicory, also known as endive, is one of my favourite ingredients.  Crisp and bitter in salads; mellow, sweet and nutty when cooked.  For this risotto, I cooked the chicory for only a few minutes so that it still had some bite to stand up against the softness of the arborio rice, and to allow the earthy, nutty flavours to shine through.  Stringy, molten chunks of parmesan cheese added sweetness and moorish umaminess, and I enjoyed the satisfying crunch of chopped almonds.  This was a wholesome, hearty dish which managed to maintain a freshness at the same time.