I can't believe it's not milk... Umm...

While not a vegan, I do find the whole concept of drinking milk to be a bit vile. I’m lactose intolerant so maybe I should explore alternatives, but unless I overdo things I am usually okay. However while I am perfectly happy to use soya, rice or oat milk etc on cereal, I have yet to find anything that has the same mouthfeel in coffee as moo juice.

I decided to perform my own highly unscientific trial of alternatives available and how they fair in my beverage of choice. As a disclaimer all of the products mentioned below taste perfectly okay straight out of the container, my main criteria for voting is purely based on how they perform in coffee and whether the end result is to my own personal liking.

Here I present my preliminary findings of this ongoing taste test...

Koko dairy free coconut based milk alternative One of the problems I've had in the past with using soya milk in coffee is that once diluted in a hot drink it goes a bit watery. As coconut is so high in fat I thought I'd be onto a winner with this one. However delicious as it may be, it became thin and wishy washy on addition to my coffee, so nope.

Alpro soya my usual soya milk for other purposes, tastes nice and creamy. While it has that typical soya taste in coffee it does give the drink a satisfying creaminess. However… a bizarre gloopy sediment remained in my cup which increased exponentially as the day went on (I'm lazy okay? It's much easier just topping up than washing out a cup every time). Slightly worrying and a more than a bit nasty. Unfortunately no photographic evidence of the sediment, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Coop organic soya milk I had assumed that all soya milk was the same. However this one seemed to produce far less of the gloopy cheese-like sediment. Main drawbacks were extreme frothing and a tendency to separate on standing, and if you forgot to shake the container before using it the end result was not pretty. So far my favourite and a reasonable facsimile of milk.

Update – on opening a new carton, the separating out problem proved to be a regular occurrence despite vigorous shaking. Coffee became undrinkable. And it takes an awful lot to make me throw out a cup of coffee…

Almond milk Oh sweet Lord this must be what evil tastes like! Now, don't get me wrong, I love almonds, though on tasting the almond milk before adding it to coffee I had an inkling that all would not be well. Pleasant enough, but with a slightly cyanide-y aftertaste. Hmm… Once in coffee and the overwhelming flavour is burned something or other (charcoal briquettes maybe?) With added cyanide. Plus it separates out into a rather alarming crazy paving effect on the top of the cup. Not pleasant. 

Oat Milk  I was hoping for great things with this one, if you've ever soaked oats in water and poured the liquid in your bath then you'll know that the resulting emulsion does indeed look milky. But does it taste milky? And what happens if you pour it in a nice mug of hot coffee?

Well… the initial appearance looked promising, a nice milky coffee look, however in the time it took to walk from the kitchen to my office (~1 minute) it had started to separate out giving that "oops the milk’s gone off" look. On standing, more unusual happenings took place, the mixture appeared to move, forming random shapes and pictures on the top of the cup. Quite hypnotic actually...

As a tree turned into a whale, a colleague pointed out that there could be potential fortune telling opportunities in it. Fortune telling aside, what did it taste of? Vileness. Alas another one for the 'no way Jose' pile.

Rice Milk Rice milk is a staple in my cupboards as it's ideal to have handy when the urge to whip up a batch of horchada beckons. Pouring it out, the almost translucent effect was not promising, it barely diluted the colour of my coffee and despite vigorous shaking there was a thin layer of clear liquid floating on top of my cup and a slight oil slick-like sheen.

End result in coffee? Hmm… scary. The texture is watery and very unpleasant, the actual taste is okay without the bitter aftertaste of soya, but I'm not sure it's something I could get used to, plus it’s a bit too close to milk of magnesia for comfort. On the plus side, no gloopy weirdness or separating out…

Hazelnut milk A curious one. Pouring into a glass its beige colour is a little disconcerting, and it was pointed out that this is sold as a ‘Hazelnut drink’ rather than milk, so how would it behave in coffee? Drinking the milk by itself I noted a strong hazelnut flavour and a sweet taste, not unpleasant. In coffee I have to say the physical appearance was very convincing...

No separation, crazy paving effect or oil slick… And the taste? Oh wow! Creamy beautiful hazelnut coffee, the milk effect was very convincing and there was no unpleasant residue at the bottom of my mug. Only drawback I can think of is that it feels more like a ‘special occasion’ luxury drink rather than an everyday milk substitute. I did check the calorie content to see how it compares with semi skimmed moo juice, and surprisingly it has less calories and fat per 100mls. I'm not sure if it would take over from milk, as I kind of like coffee flavoured coffee, but I have to say I was impressed.

So... results? These preliminary findings still have soya out ahead, purely for the texture you get in a hot drink. For the next round of voting I'll have to compare the various supermarket brands... Stay tuned!

Iman Bayildi (Stuffed Aubergine)

Iman bayildi is probably one of the quintessential Turkish recipes that most people with even a passing interest in Middle Eastern food are likely to have come across. 
While it is a classic, there are numerous versions of how to cook it 'properly'. Some recipes call for the raw aubergine to be hollowed out and stuffed, others stuff after cooking. I've read recipes that involve frying, others braising and some where the aubergine is practically deep fried. All have their place. The only absolute certainty is that it must be served at room temperature. Straight from the fridge and you can’t taste a thing, and (heaven forbid) straight from the oven and it’s just plain wrong on all levels.

This is my recipe, tried and tested for decades (okay, a couple of decades I'm not *that* old) you could, as a friend did years ago when I gave her the recipe, adapt it for a weight-loss diet and leave out the olive oil (yikes!) it's still tasty, but really I'd rather cut back elsewhere than skimp on the olive oil… The amounts given here are enough for one large-ish aubergine, which could feed one very hungry person, or two with an accompaniment. 

 Ingredients

1 large aubergine
1 large red onion
3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
3 tomatoes
Tomato paste
Pine nuts 
Salt to taste
Chopped parsley to decorate

1. Prick the aubergine a few times with a knife and put it in 250 C oven. Roast for approximately 30 minutes until done. How to tell? Give it a poke! You don't want it collapsing in on itself, but the sides will start to wrinkle slightly
2. Meanwhile, while the aubergine is roasting, finely slice the onions, crush the garlic and fry in olive oil (I will leave the amount to your discretion. Remember, the original dish made an Iman faint so don't worry about being too generous) until soft and almost caramelised
3. Stir in the spices and cook for a minute or so, taking care that the mixture doesn't burn
4. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and add to the pan, cook down on a low heat until the tomatoes have all but disintegrated
5. Take the aubergine out of the oven and place on an oven proof dish, you want something with slightly deep sides. Make a cut along the middle, and gently part with a couple of forks. Mash down the insides taking care not to tear the skin

6. Add a little salt and olive oil to season the flesh
7. Now spoon in the tomato and onion mixture, packing it in as tightly as possible, trying to avoid any overflow, and sprinkle with pine nuts
8. Put it back in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes
9. Take out and allow to cool. Squeeze a little lemon over the top and pour a little olive oil over it. Sprinkle with chopped parsley

 

Agua de Sandia (Mexican watermelon drink)

I was hoping for another glorious weekend, but after sitting inside all week at work looking longingly out the window and tiring of hearing endless news stories about the 'heatwave' whilst viewing it secondhand, it appears to have ended. At least here anyway, and while no means cold, the sun is cosseted in a thick blanket of clouds save for the occasional few seconds peek at what could be... Ho-hum.

So for that reason my mind started wandering on to means of escape and (almost) guaranteed decent weather. Ah... yes. Mexico and my I-hope-it-happens winter break! I'd bought a watermelon on Friday anticipating a weekend of beautiful weather and balmy days sitting under a tree reading and sipping cool drinks. The Mexican aguas frescas are just made for such a day. I'd mentioned them in a previous post, the most popular flavours being agua de horchata (rice milk and cinnamon), agua de jamaica (hibiscus flower) and agua de tamarindo (tamarind). They can, however be made out of just about any fruit, and agua de sandia, made out of juicy watermelons is, as you can imagine a thirst quenching delight that takes almost seconds to make (plus chilling time). Who care's if there's no sun? The colour of the finished drink will brighten up your day.

Ingredients
1 watermelon
2 limes
Agave syrup (or sugar)
Water

1. Peel the watermelon, cut it into chunks and place in a blender. Some recipes say to deseed it first, but really, do you have time to sit and pick out the seeds? 
2. Blend until smooth
3. Squeeze in the lime juice
4. At this point have a taste, some recipes call for a sugar syrup to be added, but I prefer the natural sweetness of the watermelons. I added a little agave syrup as the watermelon wasn't particularly sweet.
5. Strain into a large jug, and taste again. Dilute with water to your own preference and chill for 30 minutes.
6. Serve over plenty of ice, sit back and drink! Incidentally, I used an ice cube tray I'd previously used to freeze batches of green chilli relish and it gave quite a nice tang. For that reason I think serving the agua de sandia with a sprinkling of dried red chilli flakes would work nicely.

Sikil Pak (Mayan pumpkin seed and roasted tomato dip)

I was looking for something a bit different to make today, and something relatively easy as I'd left it rather late in the evening to think about food. 
I'm planning on heading to Mexico later on in the year, last year's experience has whetted my appetite for more, so for that reason I've been pouring over guide books and mentally planning routes. This time I'd like to start in the south of the country, Maya territory. While I love Mexican food (no really? You'd have never guessed huh?) I'm not that familiar with traditional dishes of the south, and whilst perusing books the name of a dish caught my eye - sikil pak (or x'ikil pak / sikli paak) a Yucatecan dip of Mayan origin. Based mainly on pumpkin seeds (pepitas) with the addition of tomatoes or tomatillos depending on the recipe, it sounded intriguing and delicious. I love sauces made from nuts or seeds, so a dip made from them seemed like a natural progression. Try it, it could end up a regular on the menu! 

Ingredients
200g hulled pumpkin seeds
2 large tomatoes
1/2 red onion
1 garlic clove (unpeeled)
Fresh coriander
Water
Salt


1. Toast the pumpkin seeds, the traditional way is in a comal (a smooth flat cast iron pan) or you could use a dry frying pan. I spread them on a baking tray and put them in a hot oven (I was roasting an aubergine at the time and it seemed a good use of the heat) and that worked fine. The seeds start off flat, but puff up when heated. Keep a close eye on them so they don't burn. Once toasted leave to one side to cool.
2. Put the tomatoes, garlic and half an onion in a dry frying pan and toast. Don't worry about the black patches that appear, that is pure flavour! You may want to keep an eye on the garlic though as it can turn bitter quite quickly.

3. Place the toasted pumpkin seeds in a blender and puree until you get a fine sand-like consistency.
4. To this add the tomatoes, onion and garlic and blend.
5. The mixture should have the consistency of hummous, so add a little water if it's too thick (I don't give measurements, it depends on how juicy your tomatoes are)
6. Taste and add salt as desired.
7. Eat! Muy delicioso with tortilla chips (I had some fresh (but rapidly becoming less fresh as the week goes on...) blue corn tortillas in the cupboard so made some chips out of them

Rose and Cardamom Horchata

It's been a gloriously sunny weekend and yesterday I visited a chilli festival. Amongst the numerous (and delicious) food stalls there was a couple selling aguas frescas (literally fresh waters), those beautifully refreshing drinks found throughout Mexico, Central America and parts of the Carribean. Whilst aguas frescas can be made of just about anything, the three most popular flavours in Mexico are probably tamarindo (made from tamarind juice), agua de Jamaica (made from hibiscus flowers) and agua de horchata which is made from rice milk spiced with cinnamon. Perfect for a hot day.

The agua frescas remind me a lot of the Middle Eastern sherbets (or sharbats), similarly refreshing drinks, made of fruits, flowers and spices, and in particular the agua de tamarindo brought to mind a similar drink I've had at Lebanese restaurants, where the sour sweet tamarind is combined with dates and rose water. 

And that got me thinking... horchata is typically Mexican, but what if it was given an Eastern twist? Or perhaps conversely, what if a Middle Eastern sherbet was given a Mexican accent? Hmm... The end result was a food marriage made in heaven. Simple to make and delightfully refreshing to drink!

Ingredients
1 litre rice milk
2-3 tablespoons rose water
1 cardamom pod 
2 tsp pomegranate syrup (optional but tasty)
2 tablespoons pistachios

1. Pour the rice milk into a large jug. Traditionally for horchata the rice milk is made by grinding rice in a blender with the spices, adding water and leaving to soak before straining. Shop bought rice milk seemed like a much easier option to me!
2. Take the seeds from the cardomom pod and finely crush. Add them to the milk and stir in.
3. Add the rose water - as an aside for this recipe you need proper rose water, not rose essence that is commonly found in the baking aisle of supermarkets and contains propylene glycol and alcohol as additional ingredients. It may be okay for cakes (personally it sounds totally vile to me...), but not for anything that requires rose water (i.e. Turkish delight). I say 2-3 tablespoons, you can add more or less depending on your personal taste. Rose is one of those flavours that can rapidly go from "Yum... this is gorgeous" to "Yech... it tastes like I'm eating perfume!" in a few drops. 
4. Now add the pomegranate syrup, this is optional. I had some in the house and thought it would be a nice addition.
5. Chill in the fridge for an hour or so. 
6. Serve over lots of ice with chopped pistachios sprinkled on top.

Lahmajun with Caramelised Red Onions and Olives

The Italians do not have a monopoly on pizza. I would imagine that any country that has got as far as baking bread will have some recipe that involves topping the aforementioned bread with something delicious - and Middle Eastern cuisine is no different. 

Lahmajun (or lahmacun, lehmajun, lahmajo) gets its name from the Arabic lahm bi'ajin (meat with dough) and consists of a bread base topped with spicy lamb, probably most commonly seen in Turkish restaurant as lahmacun. My version replaces the lamb with caramelised red onions and chopped black olives, a substitution that I think works really well. If you're feeling lazy the topping would be just as nice on some store bought pitta or flatbread.

Ingredients
500 g flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
320 ml warm water
  



For the topping:
1 large red onion
100 g black olives
1 handful fresh coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black cumin
1 tsp brown mustard seeds (optional but tasty)
1 tsp ajwain seeds (optional but tasty)

1. Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl and stir in the olive oil. Add the water slowly and mix until it forms a dough
2. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place it in a large bowl, rub a little olive oil over the top, cover with plastic wrap and leave for at least an hour to rise
3. To make the topping add the finely sliced red onion and cumin (and other spices if you're using) to olive oil, and cook on a low heat for around 30 minutes until caramelised
4. Finely chop the black olives and coriander (you can do it by hand or use a food processor, you don't want it too fine though) and stir them into the onions
5. Preheat the oven to 250 C, and while you're waiting for it to heat up, knock back the dough and knead for a second time
6. Divide the dough into 6 pieces (more or less depending on what size you want the finished lahmajun to be) and roll out into discs
7. Add a spoonful or two of the onion and olive mixture to the discs and spread out
8. Cook for around 10-15 minutes - the timing will depend upon the size of the lahmajun and your oven. I'd check them after 10 minutes...
9. Eat!

Mujadarra (Middle Eastern style rice and lentils)

Every culture has its comfort food. That 'go to' recipe for when you're feeling down, homesick, or just in need of something delicious to feed the soul. Middle Eastern cuisine is no different, and in response to that deep seated need, I offer up mujadarra (also by way of transliteration known as moujadara, mejadra, mudardara, megadarra and numerous other spellings)

Found all over the Middle East, mujadarra is the epitome of comfort food, assuming you like rice (or burghal), lentils and fried onions - and who doesn't love fried onions? There are some slight national variations with regards to the ingredients, some recipes call for green lentils, others brown, in Lebanon burghal wheat is often substituted for the rice, and in Egypt they may add some pasta and tomatoes to the mix, but all variations involve topping the delicious mixture with onions fried until caramelised.

My recipe below is a bit of a cheats version, my local supermarket had no dried brown or green lentils, and while red lentils are delicious cooked with rice, for mujadarra you need something that's going to hold together. They did however have canned puy lentils, so a puy lentil mujadara it was to be.

The rice and lentils can be cooked together pilaf style or separately. I usually go for the latter method as I think it gives a better taste and texture. As an aside, if I was using dried lentils then I'd add the spices to the lentil mixture when they were almost cooked.

Ingredients
400g long grain white rice
400g brown or green lentils
Water for cooking
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp smoked paprika
Salt to taste
1 large onion
Olive oil
1. Finely slice the onion and fry until golden brown and caramelised. I added a little pomegranate molasses to speed up the caramelisation process and add some extra sweetness
2. While the onion is frying, cook the rice according to your preferred method (boiling or absorption) and leave to one side. I add the cumin seeds to the rice whilst its cooking (and also 2 sliced cloves of garlic, not neccesarily traditional but tasty)
3. Cook the lentils until al dente and drain (or drain the can, reserving a little of the water to heat the lentils up in)
4. In a large bowl mix the rice and lentils together, the final proportions are up to indiviidual preference. I go for a 50:50 mix of rice to lentils
5. Stir in spices and season to taste
6. Eat! Delicious with a spoonful of yoghurt or sour cream and served with pickled cucumbers and tomatoes.