After about 3 years of relative stability, we’ve decided to turn our lives upside down, pack our bags again and move to the other side (almost) of the world. So far, we’ve really been enjoying Bristol.
Yes, the weather isn’t a patch on Greek island weather on a good day, but there is so much more happening here than on Paros in winter time. I go crazy every time we step into a niche food shop as the majority of the ingredients that were off limits to me for the past 3 years are now at my fingertips. I cannot wait to be able to create recipes again. We are facing a bit of an issue with finding accommodation as most landlords do not appreciate us having a cat, so it’s a bit of a struggle. It looks like we may need to rent something unfurnished, which isn’t ideal but certainly doable. Duncan is looking for a job as, while he has been enjoying creating videos for you guys, he misses coding and meeting people with similar interests to his (don’t worry, he’ll keep creating videos though). Tina and I are encouraging him as while it’s nice to have him around, we think it would be a welcome change for him. Tina is loving the massive garden of Duncan’s relatives (where we are staying right now) although she did disappear for 36 hours at some point and we raised a bit of an alarm in the neighbourhood. She strolled back in after a day and a half as if nothing happened…Cats, eh? We had no idea where she was but the next door neighbour has a bird feeding table and we suspect she might have just sat there with her mouth twitching the whole time. She is still petrified of Biscuits – the resident bunny rabbit, which may be big but that’s just because she is insanely fluffy. She has also spotted some foxes who visit the garden now and again so she has plenty of new things to sniff at and explore and she does look rather happy. She is also way more affectionate than she has ever been, which is a nice side effect of our traumatic journey, we think. So recipe creation has to wait until we find a place to live, but here is a recipe for vegan masala dosa, which I found in one of my favourite vegan cookbooks Vegan Street Food by Jackie Kearney. It’s not the quickest recipe to make as the batter ingredients require soaking overnight and then fermenting for another 24 hours, BUT that’s the way to make proper dosa batter and most of that time is passive time anyway so don’t let that stop you from trying!
300 g / 1½ cups basmati rice 100 g / heaped ½ cup urid dal (split husked black lentils), I used unhusked ½ tsp fenugreek seeds 1 tsp salt
FILLING
4 medium potatoes 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 tsp black mustard seeds 10 fresh or dried curry leaves 1 large onion, diced finely 2 small green chillies, diced finely 3 garlic cloves, diced finely 2.5 cm / 1″ ginger root, diced finely 1 tsp ground turmeric chilli flakes or powder, to taste 1/3 cup frozen peas ½ tsp salt, adjust to taste 2 tbsp cashew nuts, pan-roasted fresh coriander, to serve sambal oelek, to serve
COCONUT CHUTNEY
100 g / 1 cup desiccated coconut 1-2 tsp finely grated ginger root 1 small green chilli, deseeded salt, to taste juice of ½ lime 2 tsp vegetable oil ½ tsp black mustard seeds ½ tsp cumin seeds 4 dried curry leaves
COCONUT CHUTNEY
