Author: blenderandbasil

Blender & Basil is an invitation to explore, create, and connect as a global community of food enthusiasts, generate new traditions and create a home away from home. Reach out to us for collaborations and let's share our culinary adventures!
Dough_Knot_Soup
Recipes, Simple Recipes, Sunday Lunch

Dough Drop Knot Egg and Tomato Soup – Chinese Gnocchi

When you think of Chinese food, rice usually comes to mind, but actually flour-based recipes are just as common in the north. This dough drop soup is a home-cooked staple from the north of China as it looks more filling than it is, and it’s really easy to make, so became popular in the Sixties, when food was scarce. You don’t have to worry about making the dough drops even or pretty, because the whole point is that they are supposed to look lumpy and uneven – part of the handmade charm. Continue reading “Dough Drop Knot Egg and Tomato Soup – Chinese Gnocchi”

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First Time Making, Meatless Monday, Recipes, Simple Recipes

First Time Making: Miso Aubergines

I often have lunch at a small Japanese restaurant on Brewer Street called Kulu Kulu. In one of their colourful bowls, they serve this delicious aubergine dish. I like it so much that even after the first bowl, every time another one comes around on the conveyer belt, it’s so tempting to go for seconds! This vegan friendly dish is rather simple, but getting the right combination of flavours is not as simple (I learned the hard way) as it seems. I will try and share the learnings gleaned from my first attempt, for which I took inspiration from this Japan Centre recipe. Continue reading “First Time Making: Miso Aubergines”

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Recipes, Simple Recipes

Sardinian Pasta (Malloreddus) with Asparagus and Sea Urchins

During the Easter break, I went to visit my father who at the moment works in Belgium. Even though he works around the world, he always brings with him a stock of Italian ingredients so he can cook his favourite Sardinian food wherever he is. To make this recipe, he used canned sea urchins, which you don’t find so easily in London. Continue reading “Sardinian Pasta (Malloreddus) with Asparagus and Sea Urchins”

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Sweet_corn_salted_egg_snack
Recipes

Sweet corn and salted egg yolk – a golden Chinese snack recipe

Happy St Patrick’s day! In celebration this week, here’s a simple sweet corn snack that’d go well with a beer or two. A name for this Chinese snack means “a granary full of golden grains” (jin gu man cang), but it’s much more straightforward than it sounds: these are fried sweet corn kernels topped with salted egg yolks. There’s no need to add any other spices or flavours to it: the natural sweetness of the sweet corn balances perfectly with the salted eggs.

You can keep the egg whites to use in other recipes. For example, they can be mixed with minced pork.

This is very easy to make, and only takes around 10 minutes. The portions below serve two. If you are using frozen sweet corn, then please defrost it beforehand! Also, I’m using whole wheat flour in this version of the recipe, so the colour is a bit darker.

Sweet_corn_salted_egg_snack

Ingredients
1.5-2 cups of sweet corn kernels
3-4 tbsps of plain flour
2 salted egg yolks

You’ll also need some water and plenty of oil for frying.

Continue reading “Sweet corn and salted egg yolk – a golden Chinese snack recipe”

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Foodie Travel

Madrid: a culinary city break

When I told friends that the city break in Madrid was quite a culinary one, they said that, well, every time I go on holiday it ends up being a culinary trip! But what better than food to tell you the story of the place you are visiting? Out of all the curiosities travelling might trigger, this one is undoubtedly the most satisfying. Knowing what people eat is like entering into their everyday life, inside their habits, their most familiar thoughts. At Blender and Basil we represent two of the most traditional cuisines in the world, where eating is so important that every life event is discussed or celebrated around the table: decisions and compromises, promises and arguments, hellos and good byes. In Spain, too, it goes just like that, so I did my best to taste some of the most traditional dishes in the country.

La Daniela

Can you have a whole banquet inside a croqueta? At La Daniela I learned you can. We visited this wonderful restaurant at our arrival in Madrid and on an empty stomach. Once sat at the bar and chatting away with the most pleasant waiter, we definitely got carried away with the orders. Croquetas de Cocido, Croquetas de Jamon, Callos (tripe), Salmorejo soup with aubergines, Russian salad and, on the house, Ropa Vieja (another Cocido derivate dish). The highlights of our quite extensive menu were definitely the Croquetas de Cocido and Callos. Both rich on the palate and heavy on the stomach, these dishes are very representative of the city. The former, a derivate dish of the cocido madrileño, in croquetas the heart of all cocido tastes mixed with beshamel sauce. The latter can be a tricky one to get right, as tripes are very fat: but this one had just the right mixture of elements to make it irresistible. Just like their personelle, who made us feel at home and let us stay a little later after closing time to chat away and finish our vino.

Continue reading “Madrid: a culinary city break”

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Aubergine_Meat_Sauce
Recipes

Aubergine in soya bean and meat sauce (Jiang Qie Zi) – a traditional Chinese recipe

The most well-know Chinese aubergine (or eggplant) recipe is probably the sichuan-styled braised aubergine (yu xiang qie zi), but it’s not the only traditional recipe out there. This version with soya bean sauce (Chinese miso) is a common home-cooked dish from the north. The meat is optional, but does help to add a bit of flavouring.

Visually, we are trying to preserve the look of “unbroken”, whole aubergines, so ideally the type of aubergine used should be the thin, long Asian types instead of the . You can also use baby aubergines.

The cooking and prep time is around 15-20 mins, and we are using the microwave with this recipe (I don’t think it affects the taste, and means that it’s easier to preserve the look of the aubergine). This serves 2.

Aubergine_Meat_Sauce

Ingredients
2 narrow aubergines
3 cloves of garlic
3 slices of ginger
1-2 spring onions
1 chilli
1 tbsp of soya bean paste – huang jiang
1 tbsp of fermented soya beans (optional)
1 tsp of soya sauce
1 tsp of Shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp of sesame oil
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of salt
75-100g of minced pork

Continue reading “Aubergine in soya bean and meat sauce (Jiang Qie Zi) – a traditional Chinese recipe”

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yellow_split_pea_cake_wan_dou_huang
Recipes

Split yellow pea cake (wan dou huang) – a simple Chinese dessert recipe

Pulses such as split peas and lentils are a great source of iron, and if you get bored of cooking with them for savoury dishes, then you can try out this traditional Beijing snack, made with mostly just yellow split peas (and some sugar). It’s very much a spring snack, and is eaten before the third of the third lunar month, which is 9th April this year.

The cooking time is quite long, but mostly it just needs to be left to simmer on the stove – there is very little prep needed. This recipe makes a large batch that’d last a few weeks. You can downscale and make a smaller batch to start off with.

yellow_split_pea_cake_wan_dou_huang

Ingredients
1kg of split yellow peas
6 dried jujubes 
300g of sugar

You’ll also need water and a tiny dash of oil.

Continue reading “Split yellow pea cake (wan dou huang) – a simple Chinese dessert recipe”

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Steamed_pork_mince_salted_eggs
Recipes

Steamed minced pork and salted eggs – a quick and simple recipe

This steamed pork recipe is from the very south of China (part of the Cantonese cuisine), and is one of my favourites from the restaurants there. However, not a lot of restaurants serve it in London, and it’s so simple to make at home, so here goes!

This only takes around 5 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook, so it’s perfect after a busy day at work. This version will serve 2-3 people.

Steamed_pork_mince_salted_eggs

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon of soya sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
Dash of shaoxing rice wine (optional)
1/2 chicken stock cube
1 tablespoon of plain flour
Thick slice of ginger
1-2 salted eggs (depending on how salty the eggs are)
400g of minced pork
 Continue reading “Steamed minced pork and salted eggs – a quick and simple recipe”

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Recipes

Chickpeas and then some: Cocido Madrileño

After visiting Madrid and discovering the highlights of Spanish traditional cuisine, I naturally felt like trying to reproduce it at home. Following the same idea as the Sardinian hen broth – a dish that is designed to feed a whole family reunited for a weekend meal; and in the same fashion, Cocido delivers several dishes on the table in one go. The richness of the meats and the goodness of the veggies, the comfort of the soup and the flavour of the chickpeas all come together to create a small feast that will fill up your table and stomach and leave you incredibly satisfied on a chilly March day.

Ingredients:
1 chicken of the weight of 2kg max, even better if you can get a small hen
200 g cut of beef for stews
50 g pancetta
150 g piece of bacon
1 small piece of ham bone (which I imported from Spain, but any bone would do)
1 chorizo for cooking
1 morcilla for cooking
200 g chickpeas
1 green cabbage
2 potatoes
2 carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
Paprika
Bay leaves
Salt and pepper

Continue reading “Chickpeas and then some: Cocido Madrileño”

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Japanese_Chicken_Curry
Product Review, Recipes

Japanese chicken curry with S&B Golden Curry sauce mix – a simple recipe

There are a couple of sauces that are good to stock in the food cupboard for a quick and tasty meal, and if you want to cook Japanese curry (aka kare raisu), then S&B Golden Curry sauce mixs are one of my favourites. They are like stock cubes, and come in three strengths: mild, medium hot (as above) and hot. I’m using the medium hot one below, as it seems to provide the best balance for the chicken curry. They’re also stocked in various supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. If they don’t have it in your local store, then you can even buy it on Amazon.

You won’t need to add any other flavourings or spices to the curry – the cubes are all you’ll need. There are clear instructions on the box on how to use the sauce mix, although the cooking times are a bit vague. My favourite to make with the sauce mix is a chicken curry with carrots, potatoes and garden peas (plenty of vitamins)!

The following serves 2-3 people (closer to 3), and you’ll need to cook some rice separately. The total cooking time is around 30 minutes, and the prep is very simple, as you don’t need to slice any of the ingredients into very fine pieces.

Japanese_Chicken_Curry

Ingredients
300-350g of chicken breast fillet
1 large potato
1/2 an onion
1 carrot
1 tbsp of shaoxing rice wine (optional)
150g of garden peas
2 curry cubes

You’ll also need a dash of oil and some water.

Continue reading “Japanese chicken curry with S&B Golden Curry sauce mix – a simple recipe”

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