Dogs, Chickens and Vintage China

I really  needed to get back to some healthy cooking. Over the last week we've had fish and chips, roast beef and a whole variety of really nice food that is no good for the diet at all. I had the kale in the fridge because last weekend we had Cath and Lyndon round for a meal on the Sunday and I had gone in to Alvis's farm shop on the A38 to get a couple of aubergines and came out with 2 aubergines, a truly massive head of curly kale, 2 scotch eggs, some chillis stuffed with feta, a piece of ginger, a loaf of bread and a large jar of pickled onions. Honestly all I needed was aubergines. Well as it turned out I'd made far too much food, I didn't even use the aubergines which I had gone in for in the first place. I think we've managed 3 meals with kale this week. Chana dal with kale and mushrooms Slow roast beef with mustard seed and nigella seed crust, with Leek and Kale Colcannon and onion gravy. OMG you have to try leek and kale colcannon it is amazing....

A couple of weeks ago I found myself at Bristol Biofuels with Helen, I've been running the Transit on biodiesel for about a year now since they moved up from Avonmouth to just around the corner from work. I will do almost anything to not fill the van up with normal diesel, I'm not an eco-warrior, I'm just too tight to pay the extra. We were going to the White Stuff on Queens Rd in Clifton. I just managed to go via Albert Rd in St Philips. Whilst the bloke was filling up the van with delicious cheap biofuel I noticed a large five litre bottle of olive oil on the side. "What's with the olive oil, is it just an example of veg oil?" "Nah, the boss has a share of an olive farm in Spain, we sell it" Result! I returned to the van with 5 litres of the best cold pressed extra virgin olive oil nestled in my sweaty palms. This means I have a surfeit of the golden nectar, alright green nectar but it doesn't scan as well. This recipe calls for ...

I ended up at Kin Yip Hon in Bristol the other day on my lunch break. I love it, its like stepping into a neighbourhood shop in Shanghai, Theres loads of really interesting things that I want to try, most of which I haven't got a clue how to use. I always end up coming out having spent far too much money. I wanted some kalonji (nigella seeds) and some coriander. Inevitably I got suckered into buying dried mushrooms, chillis, chilli sauce, mustard seeds, ginger, a gallon of vinegar, big bag of sesame seeds, pickled chillis and something marked up as green radish. God knows, they looked like those massive chillis you get at the kebab shop. I had seen a recipe online using nigella seeds and wanted to try them out. Of course when I came to try the recipe I couldn't find it anywhere so I made this one up and it turned out quite well, so I thought I'd post it. 1 Cup of red lentils 2 medium onions 2 carrots 2 cloves of garlic 3 chesnut mushrooms 1 leek 2 tomatoes ...

I'm afraid I haven't got any pictures but I'll try to add some when I do it again. Ingredients 3/4 cup chana dal 2.5 - 3 cups of water 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric 2 medium tomatoes roughly chopped 2 medium onions roughly chopped Coconut oil (or whatever) 4 or five mushrooms chopped into chunks 1 bag of baby spinach ( any spinach will do, or nettles if you fancy it) 2 black cardamom A sprinkle of crushed fennel seeds 3/4 teaspoon of ground ginger (use fresh if you've got it) 1 fresh chilli ( I used a birds eye chilli that was preserved in oil) 3/4 teaspoon of cumin seeds 3/4 teaspoon of ground coriander 1/2 Knorr veggie stock cube 3 - 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic ( I used half a whole garlic from the marvellous Lidl) Fresh coriander for garnish 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric Sprinkle of chinese five spice 1 cup of Basmati rice Preparing the Chana Dal The chana dal needs to be soaked for 1-2 hours before using, what I do is soak a large bowlful and...