Vegan

Fearless Noodles

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Hey folks, it’s sunday and I believe that I owe you a recipe.

Now, normally, this would be my christmas recipe, what with it being the winter holiday season, but I haven’t felt particularly inspired, on that front, this year. So, instead, I have a little something that I was asked to share with you all. My little christmas present to you, if you will.

This is mark two of my udon bolognese, as I like to call it, made with Wiltshire Chilli Farm’s Firemite. Giving it a serious dark depth and throaty warmth, which makes it even more of a satisfying winter meal than last time.

So what are you waiting for?

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An Audience with the Sultan

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Hello again, everyone. Today, we’re looking at a brand new addition to my sidebar. Another company who’ve sent me something free to feature. And, this time, it’s not a sauce.

It’s a pair of curry kits, containing all of the necessary spices for two full meals and their sides:

Two of the most popular products from The Spice Sultan – Their Thai Yellow and Sri Lankan Coconut & Lime flavours. Both tangy, coconut-forward curry styles, based on authentic spice blends from the founder’s asian backpacking adventures.

Let’s have a look, shall we?

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Spanish Soup

Spicefreak2 Comments

Hola, mi amigos. My apologies for the lateness of today’s recipe but I had no idea what to make, until last weekend came around. Then the warm weather rolled in and suddenly, I had the perfect fit. An idea that’ve been holding onto since the end of last year’s growing season.

This is gazpacho. A traditional spanish dish that’s most easily described as “raw tomato soup”.

Yet that doesn’t really sell its uniqueness, its depth of flavour or the freshness which makes it a perfect home for the habanadas that I’ve been saving, in my freezer.

Because yes, they do taste almost exactly like habaneros but they still have something special to them, besides their lack of heat. A refreshing wetness, reminiscent of watermelon or the juiciest of cucumbers.

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Not Really Kashmiri

Spicefreak2 Comments

Hey folks, welcome to november! I know that national curry week was last month but I just so happened to come into a whole load of bananas and coconut, recently. Inspiring me to look into one of my mother’s favourite curries: The kashmiri.

A sweet, creamy, fruit-based curry from exactly the region that its name implies.

So it was a simple prospect: Research a real kashmiri, put my own little twist on it and, if all went smoothly, write up my results for all of you. Easy content, right? Well, not exactly

As it turns out, an authentic kashmiri curry is based around mangoes and lychees, not bananas. Still fruity, yet very different from what I had in mind.

So, while today’s dish does take a little inspiration from it, in its spices, it also draws upon the malayan and a whole host of more keralan meals, in order to form a truly delightful, caramelised fruit curry with neither an official name, nor any specific region to call its own.

A pan-indian fusion, if you will, which gets its mild heat from a blend of rich and raisin-like, mexican chillies, in order to best complement the banana without adding any extra sweetness. Because, if I’m going off-script already, I might as well go the whole hog.

There’s nothing traditional about today’s recipe but I’m eager to share it, all the same. It’s too good not to.

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Cauliflower Curry Bites

Spicefreak2 Comments

Happy national curry week, everyone! It’s back around again and, oncemore, I really wanted to put together a topical recipe for the occasion.

But I also wanted it to be a bit different to my other curry recipes and, after a little deliberation, I figured that it’d be fun to try out something from one of my favourite producers – Daddy Cool’s.

Now, this little dish of his isn’t the main event. It’s not strictly a curry but it’s a pleasant side, made using his gorgeous Okra and Garlic Pickle, to carry its delicious flavour through these light potato and cauliflower bites:

A particularly delightful addition to your curry platter, if not a delightful recipe to follow.

Hopefully I can fix its issues for you.

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Hippy Heat

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Hola, mi amigos! It’s the fifteenth today and, apparently, that means mexican independence day.

So, while I don’t have anything truly mexican to offer you, I am going to be showing off a mexican-styled sauce, in keeping with the occasion. And that product is Angry Goat Pepper Co.’s Hippy Dippy Green:

One which you may well know as the second wing on Hot Ones’ eighth season but which interested me for entirely different reasons.

This is a verde sauce. Not just a green sauce – Despite that being the literal translation – but a tomatillo salsa in a bottle.

An american take on a classic mexican dip, with a few less than classic additions to spice things up a bit.

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The Reaper’s Plague

Spicefreak7 Comments

Hey folks, It’s less than a week until my birthday and I’d love to celebrate with you all but I’ve got the plague. Though maybe not the one that you’re thinking of.

Today, I’m talking about this little thing:

BDBottle

The Black Death, from Chilli of the Valley. A special little something that they sent to fill the gap before my traditional, yearly suffering.

It’s a sinister blend of carolina reapers and black garlic, intended to serve as the appetiser to next monday’s main event. Something crazy hot and full of darkness, yet also rather more natural and flavour-focussed than what I’ll be doing for my special day.

And, while this one may have been a freebie, I had my eyes on it long before they sent this bottle over. So you’d better believe I’m excited to crack it open!

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Chestnut Roast

Spicefreak2 Comments

Happy sunday, folks! I hope you’re having a good weekend and recovering nicely from your festive feast but, if you are still in search of more season’s eatings, I do have one last late christmas recipe for you. A variation on a vegan nut roast – Made to share with my vegetarian family – that makes use of both pasilla peppers and winter chestnuts.

RoastDone

And, meat free as it may be, those chestnuts certainly aren’t umami free. They come through with a slight meaty richness that few vegan foods possess and, if you aren’t sworn off the animal products, pair beautifully with a blend of gravy and Chilli Scrumptious’s Java Hot.

Because yes, delicious and moist as this one might be, on the inside, all nut roasts benefit from a little extra sauce on top.

Here’s how I made it.

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Harissa – Hot & Hotter

Spicefreak4 Comments

Happy tuesday again, everyone. Today, we’re going to be carrying on our african theme, from the weekend’s jollof recipe, but we’re going to be moving up north for a more tunisian treat.

HarissaPair

In this week’s review post, I’m going to be taking a crack at some artisan harissa, from Burning Desire Foods and Carringtons, to see how it compares to the simpler, more traditional sort that I once stuffed peppers with.

It’s quite easy to tell which is going to be closer, though. The free sample that I got from Burning Desire uses the same blend of red bell peppers and serenades that I’ve used in my own harissa attempts, while Carringtons does away with anything so mild, in favour of a ghost, scorpion and reaper mix.

It’s pretty obvious that they’re going for heat over tradition but how will that same mellow pepper mix that we saw in 📽️ Mad Dog’s Gold Edition 📽️ impact the flavour of a harissa paste?

I can’t quite picture it but I’m certainly excited. For both of today’s products, since Burning Desire Foods have a long history of quality that we’ve seen many times on this site.

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Stir-Fried Spuds

Spicefreak2 Comments

Sup peeps. Earlier this week, we looked at some szechuan-style peanuts from Brighton Hot Stuff that I highly recommended using in a stir-fry.

I stand by that recommendation but, today, I’m going to add a caveat. They went really well into both noodle and rice-based stir-fries and they’d be just as good in a veg-heavy one but there’s a lesser known type of traditional stir-fry that I don’t see them working in. Potato Stir-fry.

Yep, you read that right. There’s a real chinese dish where they slice potatoes into ultra-fine strips and cook them like noodles. Albeit a touch more al denté.

I’m not going to lie, it’s super weird the first time you try it. It’s completely unlike any western form of spud. Yet keep going, for a few mouthfuls, and you’ll soon come to love it.

I discovered this dish at Xi’an Impressions, in london, on route to Challock Chilli Fest. I picked up a taste for it there that turned into a craving, during my recent brighton trip, but, unfortunately, I never made it back.

Instead, I’ve had to learn to cook shredded potato stir-fry myself. And now I’m going to teach you.

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