The Sugar Bar

I made a very similar dish earlier on Monday. I had just gotten home from uni, starving, cold, and just a tiny bit cranky. In such a volatile state, it was very likely I would’ve succumbed to the lazy option of a bowl of cereal. Oddly enough, I prepared a prawn & tofu stew of sorts using mirin, sake, miso, smoked pancetta (yea, odd one out) and lots of negi. It worked and I think a part of me was shocked it had because honestly, cranky cooking isn’t always a very wise thing to do.

I wanted to recreate the flavours for a donburi. Why I was so motivated to have a donburi was also due to my newly purchased bowl. You can check it out in the pictures. It’s even got a cute little ceramic cover like those claypots you normally see at Chinese restaurants. Was unbelievably chuffed all of yesterday about my bowl. I even got it out and showed it to the flatmate and her boyrfriend too. I was all giggles and big grins. And you know what else I absolutely love about my new bowl? If I wanted to have pickles with my donburi, all I need to do is to flick over the cover which is helping to keep my just-cooked meal nicely warm, put the pickles on the underside of the cover which when flipped, acts as a little side-dish. How awesome is that! Most donburi bowls I find are a little too large so I end up filling it up to only halfway which looks a little silly. And if I fill it all the way, it’s too much food for me to consume at a go (actually I lie, sometimes I can eat a horse if you could bang it up into a soup and therefore downsize it into mouth-friendly portions- sorry if that was crude). This guy is just purrr-fact.

In my walk-in kitchen – and I call it that because it’s so ridiculously small and crappy I could cry – I own very little. 1 cereal bowl, 2 plates, 2 Cath Kidston mugs (1 given to me for my birthday), 1 milkpan and small frying pan (given to me by S’s mum for my birthday as well), 1 glass mixing bowl, 1 colander, some cooking utensils and cutlery. That is literally owning next to nothing. And I don’t complain because the kitchen has very little to offer as well: no oven, 2 ridiculously tempermental electric hobs, zero work space, 1 crapbag microwave/grill, next-to-zero pantry cupboard space – and that is something we can’t change since we’re all moved in and literally living in the coolest, trendiest bit of Central London. So gifting myself this humble bowl makes me very happy and even happier to use it. (I thought about an ice cream maker but that in comparison to my small kitchen would be a monster of gadget.)

But anyhow, another recent purchase was the Everyday Harumi cookbook, just one of the cookbooks I’ve had on my Amazon wishlist for a while now. The pictures in here are seriously good and the recipes so easy to follow (very similar to things my mum would cook at home – a very heartwarming cookbook). It’s too bad for the others that they didn’t get purchased but I thought was a longtime coming. After flipping through it, I was glad to see a recipe for something quite similar and incorporating an ankake sauce. This sauce is made by thickening seasoned dashi stock with a potato starch and water mix. It is very tasty and goes so wonderfully well with rice; therefore making donburi one of the best comfort foods for me. When the day is as grey as heck from morning til evening, surely a bowl of rice will bring a little sunshine into my cupboard-sized bedroom?

I haven’t followed Harumi’s recipe exactly. In fact, I’ve used some different ingredients but I’ve basically followed her ankake sauce recipe quite closely. I think this dish is spanking good and you can try it with loads of other types of ingredients. Smoked pancetta cubes was a bit of an odd one out. But I do love pairing it with prawns and seafood in general – as you can see from my past King Prawn Pancetta Fried Rice post. Very comforting, very easy to make. I have a feeling my mama would be proud.

A little word about potato starch – you can find this in Asian supermarkets. I got a packet which cost a little over a quid from my Japanese grocer – a really large packet actually so it’s good to invest in it and just keep it in the pantry for future use. Also, potato starch is a lot stronger than cornstarch as a thickening agent so you don’t need large quantities to get the required texture. It mixes a lot easier than cornstarch I find, so you don’t get those bitty pockets of starch like if you used cornstarch or worse, plain flour.

This recipe yields 2 servings.

Prawn, Shiitake & Tofu Ankake Donburi
Ingredients

1 cup shelled prawns
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms
2 Japanese negi (or large spring onions), sliced into 1.5″ lengths
1 small red onion, halved then wedged and sliced
2 tbs smoked pancetta cubes
1 packet firm silken tofu, cubed
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs cooking sake
1 tbs mirin
1/2 sugar
150ml dashi stock (I’ve used a sardine one rather than a kelp stock)
1 tbs potato starch
1 tbs cold water
1/2 tbs chopped fresh garlic
light olive oil, for cooking
ground black pepper, for seasoning
black sesame seeds, for garnish
reserve the greens of negi/spring onions, finely chopped for garnish
2 servings hot steamed rice

Prepare vegetables. Clean mushrooms, trim the stalks and either finely slice them or leave them whole and star the top with a knife. This ensures that it gets cooked through (similar concept to brussel sprouts) and also looks pretty. My mum prepares it with the star for oden hotpots but I generally like to cook my shiitake mushrooms this way.

For the ankake sauce: In a small bowl, add the soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar to prepared dashi stock. You may use any type you’ve got on hand but I prefer using a sardine or bonito one as it gives a bigger flavour than kelp stock I find. Mix together thoroughly and set aside. In another bowl, mix together the potato starch with a tbs of cold water. You’ll need to give it a quick mix again before using as this will settle whilst you let it stand.

In a large frying pan or wok, heat some oil. When hot, add the garlic, pancetta cube and red onions. Sauté. Then add the negi/spring onions, mushrooms and prawns.

Add the ankake sauce mixture. When it comes to a boil, add the potato starch mix to thicken the sauce, stirring so that it becomes thicker evenly without bits of jellified starch.

Separate hot cooked rice into two donburi bowls, serve the ankake over it. Garnish with chopped negi/spring onions and sesame seeds. Finally, take a deep breath, savour the gorgeous smell and tuck in!

When I realize the dishes I’ve been cooking are either starting to look the same every time or just backsliding into the boring (or actually I’m simply having cereal for dinner), I know it’s time to invest in a new cookbook/look into some older ones I’ve forgotten, or go grocery shopping for something good. Take-away is a sorry way out. Avoiding it also makes me feel like a better person, by some odd line of reason. So, grocery shopping was what I did last Friday at Borough Market – where there was lots to drink, taste, ogle at and buy of course. Foodies familiar with Borough Market will know that it’s not simply a fresh produce heaven, it’s also a mushroom heaven. I was so thrilled being able to find a couple of stores selling a wide range of wild and exotic mushrooms; indulging myself, I bought a lovely bag of assorted types – one of my favourites being the oyster mushroom and the king oyster (which my mum uses a lot in Korean cooking actually). I saw a stall selling a range of Japanese shimeiji mushrooms too which would be good for my miso soup. A little pricey but that comes with having to import them I believe.

With mushrooms, it’s always good to have them fresh as once they start to go mucky, it’ll affect the taste. Of course, it starts to look less visually appealing as well. So storing them in a dry part of your fridge is ideal. Make sure you haven’t put them next to anything wet or if you’ve left them in those supermarket plastic boxes with a clingwrap top, make sure no condensation has collected underneath the plastic wrap which could drip onto the mushrooms. This will mean they’ll start to decompose quite quickly in the fridge. You want them dry, smooth and springy to touch.

When I first bought the fresh pasta, I kept calling it ravioli and then tortellini which is a mistake. Ravioli – because I’ve been wanting to get a pasta machine and make giant ravioli filled with all sorts of weird wonderful fillings (like a little goblin, it’s been hiding in the back of my mind so much a lot of the stuff I talk about tends towards ravioli which leaves people around me very puzzled). Tortellini because I never knew there was a difference between tortellini and tortelloni. They both look the same. Apparently the sizes and weight differ, from 2g to 5g respectively and tortellini is more often served with broth and not tortelloni. Did you also know, according to the story behind tortellini/loni, that this lovely pasta was very likely inspired by a woman’s navel? Learn something new every day! The beetroot tortelloni is from La Tua Pasta (website is here) and I found its lovely stall, manned by 2 beautiful European men, next to the Empanadas one. To find it, just leave the Green Market, head to the bit selling all the chocolates and patisseries and then turn left which will bring you out into the open.

There’s another stall selling fresh pasta too but there didn’t seem to be much of a range in my opinion. If you’re feeling very decadent, try the squid ink tortelloni stuffed with cheese and crab meat. It looks positively divine and something very similar to one I tried in Spain (why Spain, I don’t know but it was a very good handmade pasta Italian restaurant) – careful though as it’s £9.50 a pop. So if you do try it, would love to hear from you how it is!

beautiful fresh handmade tortelloni that needs to be eaten within 3 days

This beetroot tortelloni has been stuffed with beetroot, ricotta and grana cheese, nutmeg and bread crumbs. I wanted something a little different from the usual sage and butter combo and so tried out marjoram which goes great with mushrooms. I used red onions as well because of its mildly sweet flavour which worked good with the almost citrusy tanginess of the beetroot. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to taste the mushrooms with the onions and the beetroot but thankfully it worked and I thought this dish was quite delicious. The final touch of butter definitely pulled it altogether.

Mushrooms and butter. Actually, butter to anything is always beautiful. I have a book about things to eat before you die. Can’t remember the author or the title right now. It’s sitting on my bookshelf at home and I can distinctly remember what it looks like but not who wrote it or what it’s called – which is really annoying! Anyhow, the writer visits this famous restaurant and talks about mashed potatoes and what is the secret behind getting it stiff but still creamy and amazing like cement paste. And what does the chef say? There’s no secret. There’s no mashing it up and pushing it through a sieve nonsense. It’s just a lot of butter.

Ah. There you go. Goodbye olive spreads, margarine and I can’t believe it’s not butter! nonsense. Butter’s good.

If you share my love of fresh pasta, mushrooms and real butter, why not try out this recipe? You don’t need specialty pasta just some fresh ingredients and you’ve got a quick and easy meal done.

•••

I’ve decided to submit this post to the food event Beet ‘n’ Squash YOU — a monthly food- fight wherein the stupendous virtues of vegetables are extolled. You all know how much I love my vegetables and how crazed I am about mushrooms. This month, the event hosted on Gourmet Fury, boasts 2 lucky winners who will receive a super cute Winner’s badge and some Gourmet, Wild Dried Mushrooms from Untamed Feast. Totally exciting event! Go round and have a little gander ~ this month’s veggie is MUSHROOMS.

Recipe serves 2.
Beetroot Tortelloni with Wild Mushroom Medley
Ingredients

1 packet of tortelloni (about 6 pieces/serving)
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
3 large handfuls of various wild mushrooms, sliced
sprig of fresh marjoram leaves
1 tsp parsley
2 tbs butter
olive oil, for cooking
sea salt and ground black pepper, for seasoning

To prepare the mushrooms, I hear you should gently brush under water them to get rid of dirt and all that. I didn’t have a brush and I’m used to just lightly massaging the mushrooms under the running tap, making sure to get to the gills under the mushrooms. With the chanterells and oysters, simply trim off the ends, wash and dab off excess moisture before frying.

Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan. Add garlic, sauté. Add the red onions next and give it a quick stir. Once it starts to soften a little, move to side of pan, add the mushrooms and cook. Stir fry everything for a few minutes then add the marjoram. Season well. Set aside whilst you cook the pasta.

For the pasta, simply cook for 4-5 mins in boiling water. Drain off and pour into the frying pan. Give it a good toss, season a little more if needed. Add the parsley and salted butter. Give it one final toss to mix everything well. Then serve and tuck in.

This past week’s been great – I’m very food-involved and there’s much talk about cupcakes which couldn’t make me any happier. There’s even been a cupcakery feature in the latest British VOGUE. Surely there are too many signs?

And then the bestie was in London all week on an audit job so she popped in on Friday night for my homecooked meal before we went out to catch up and unwind over a couple of drinks (we managed to fit in some awesome boogying as well).

After graduating from uni, our crew of friends were like a a bunch of seeds that went dispersing in the air. Some went back to the their hometowns, some went further out to look for jobs, some wandered south-wards (like moi) to continue with their studies, or not. Some stayed put and welcomed the next stage in life with somewhat hesitant and nervously open arms. It may seem like we’ve split ways and gone forward, hopefully a positive step towards our goals in life. The latter I reckon is true but the former, I hope will never happen. Partings can be sad and goodbyes are such bittersweet moments. But again, they are also a chance to say ‘hello’ again. So it’s good. Think positive.

We’re doing the best we can to stay in touch and sometimes, being such a laidback/chilled out bunch can mean there are long periods of time when the only contact we’ve had is the odd text or 2 minute phonecall. But even those moments are great. And whatever chance we get to see each other, we make sure that we have a great time in such a way that we might be said to re-define the phrase ‘quality time’. In the past few weeks, it’s been superb as most of us have done our best, booked our train tickets early, etc. to get down to wherever for a birthday bash, a dinner, a wicked nightout, a quick weekend meet-up. It’ll definitely get harder as everyone’s getting busier with work and it’s very tricky to try and sort something out between everyone’s schedules. Because of that, I’m over the moon when someone comes to visit even for a short while. These moments become all the more precious since they’re so hard to come by.

Since bestie and moi had gone for that ridiculously divine meal at Murano the last time she was down in London (and flippin’ gave myself indigestion because of it, not that I’m complaining – I’d do it all over again even if you added something more injurious to my body to the mix!), it was time for a homecooked meal, with a slight touch of sophistication I say. I’m fortunate to know girls who have hearty appetites and enjoy sitting in front of the telly with a plate of good food, scoff it down unabashedly whilst sipping daintily on a glass of whine. A bit of an oxymoron appearing in that sentence but that’s sorta like what we are. Chilled out, reaal chilled out the two of us, sophisticated (I hope!) with brains to boot, do I dare say with a touch of class and yet always eager to eat food like it should be eaten in real time. Here I am proud to announce two real women in real time! The others I’m sure you’ve either heard of on this blog or I shall, in good time, schedule in their grand entrance.

Yes, real women eat real burgers. Unless pardon me, you’ve special dietary requirements, no offense anyone!

I love sandwiches. I love good bread – especially when baked fresh so it’s crusty warm outside and almost melting buttery soft on the inside. Some good extra virgin olive oil that almost tastes grassy as a dip and some butter on the side, it’s a heavenly combination. And because good bread’s such a luxury, I like homemade burgers in anything but the cheap burger buns you can get in the shops. It jazzes things up a little, makes it look and taste better and surely makes the whole eating experience a lot more exciting?

I chose a seeded bun for this as I’m like a bird, or a squirrel, whichever. I eat loads of seeds and nuts a day. I’m addicted to them things. They make me happy. And looking at the generous sprinkling of seeds on the bun tops, I was well chuffed. I was hoping to get sourdough bread, which is what the Handmade Burger Co. we often visit serves their burgers in and I do love the texture of good sourdough. Unfortunately, my (eeks) last minute trip to the shop came back with nothing and I had to settle with the leftover stuff in the bakery section.

These burgers have a special ingredient. What’s that? Chutney! What kind of chutney? A totally spanking Mr. Vikki’s Tomato & Nigella Chutney I got from the BBC Good Food Show. It flavoured, along with the added spices and fresh coriander, the lamb very nicely and I was a little shocked how good it tasted with just a couple of simple things like that. The lamb burger also retained all it’s moistness so when I squished my bun together with the burger fillings, it oozed out all that juice and caramelized liquer which the bottom bun bread was very eager to absorb. Yum yum. Will definitely make this again and again.

For 2 servings
Spicy Lamb Burgers
Ingredients

250g lamb mince
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbs tomato & chutney chutney
1 tsp ground coriander
pinch of smoked paprika
fresh coriander, chopped
slices of mature cheddar, for filling
2-3 large leaves of lettuce, for filling

Put all the ingredients, except the cheese and lettuce, together in a large bowl. Mix well and then split the mince mixture into two. Form into balls, gently pat down and form the round sides in a burger pattie.

Add some oil to a hot frying pan and cook each side about 4 minutes on medium heat. Serve in a bap, burger bun, ciabatta roll, seeded bun, etc. Top with fillings, onion marmalade and eat!

Onion Marmalade with a Kick
Ingredients

1 red onion, sliced into half moons
1 yellow onion, sliced into half moons
2 tbs virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbs white wine
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 small yellow chili, finely chopped
sea salt & ground black pepper, for seasoning
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey

Add oil to a hot pan. Sauté the onions until they are soft and slightly translucent. Add white wine, thyme, chopped chili, salt and pepper. Lower heat and let it cook gently and caramelize for about 45 minutes. You may want to let it caramelize to a stage where it’s a lot wetter and gooey but I like to have the onion pieces still fairly whole and visible.

When cooked to your preference, stir in the balsamic vinegar and honey to taste. Serve on top of your burger.