November - I'VE WRITTEN A BOOK + Prawn and Lentil Curry + Winter Lentil Fritters

Lentil party coming at you

It will come as a surprise to no one who is familiar with my work that I love everyone in the pulse and legume families very, very much. Whilst The Bean is championed frequently in this newsletter, I thought it was about time to give their cute lil cousin The Lentil the spotlight.

Puy lentils are a favourite of mine for their bite and flavour. I buy packs of ready cooked sachets for some purposes, and dried for others. You will find a recipe using each below.

But first, some news…

I wrote a book!

If you like my recipes, then you may be interested to know that I have written a cookbook!! Tucking In is coming out on 13th June, and is available to pre-order here now. It’s packed over 100 hearty, comforting recipes that I love cooking for my pals, whether it’s for someone on a Tuesday night tucked in on the sofa, or a big gang squeezed around the garden table. It’s a love letter to all the people who have fed me, and all the people I have fed. I am stupidly excited for you to get to see it.

Pre-ordering the books of first time authors is super key to driving awareness of the book, and lets booksellers know which publications consumers have an appetite for. This informs the decisions about how many of the books they then buy for the shop. So, in short, it is very important! If you’d like to buy it, you can do so here.

Prawn and Lentil Curry

This was inspired by a glorious meal I ate at The Urchin in Hove a few years back. We were fresh off the back of Baby’s First Covid, and I was suffering with horrendous fatigue, not to mention I couldn’t taste anything at all. The Malaysian prawns at this gorgeous pub/restaurant was the first thing I could taste in about a month. It quite literally brought my tastebuds back to life!! And I will forever be grateful to them.

I can’t confirm how similar this is to the actual dish, but to my memory, it holds the essence of it. Lots of lemongrass, pink little prawns and a good smack of chilli heat.

Serves 4

3 banana shallots

2 sticks of lemongrass

2 red chillies

6 cloves of garlic

2cm piece of ginger

bunch of coriander

1 ½ tbsp curry powder

1 tsp ground turmeric

4 tbsp tomato puree

300g puy lentils

400g coconut milk

2 limes

350g raw shells off prawns

40g butter

½  tsp turmeric

50g plain yoghurt

salt and vegetable oil

1. Peel and finely chop 2 of the shallots. Finely chop your lemongrass and garlic along with 1 of your red chillies.

2. Add your chopped shallots to a pestle and mortar and bash to a paste. Throw in your lemongrass, chillies, and garlic one at a time, bashing each till it reaches a paste-like consistency before adding the rest. Alternatively, you could whizz this up in a food processor.

3. Finely chop your coriander stalks.

4. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat with 3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Add your shallot paste and cook out for about 5 mins.

5. Add your coriander stalks, tomato puree, curry powder, and turmeric, then cook out for another 2 mins.

6. Pour your puy lentils into a sieve and give them a really good rinse under cold water. Pop them into your spice pan, then add 800ml of water and your coconut milk. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook for 30 mins.

7. Meanwhile, finely slice your remaining shallots.

8. Heat a generous portion of vegetable oil in a frying pan. Add your shallots and fry for 5 mins until deeply crisp and golden. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, then drain on kitchen paper.

9. Devein your prawns. Heat a frying pan over a high heat with 1 tbsp olive oil, then tip in your prawns. Fry them for about 3 minutes, until they are curled up and pink. Remove from the pan.

10. Pick your coriander leaves, and finely slice your remaining red chilli. Halve one of your limes, and cut the others into wedges.

11. Melt your butter in the same pan you cooked your prawns in, then add your turmeric. Keep warm.

12. Check that your lentils are tender, then add the juice of your lime and season to taste with salt. Sprinkle your prawns into the pan, and stir briefly to combine.

13. Drizzle the top with your yoghurt, crispy shallots, sliced chillies and coriander. Pour over the turmeric butter, then serve with extra lime wedges, and enjoy.

Winter Lentil Fritters

I’m a sucker for veggie fritters, to rustle up for speedy lunches and light dinners. Sometimes I favour softer Greek style fritters, other times deeply crispy ones similar to pakoras. These ones are more the latter, though they use lots of ingredients you may not have eaten in pakora form before.

The curry yoghurt takes a bit of time, but can be rustled up up to 2 days in advance.

Serves 4 as a main, more as a nibble

125g cavalo nero

4 spring onions

small bunch of dill

small bunch of parsley

250g cooked puy lentils

80g gram flour

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 egg

salt, pepper and vegetable oil

for the curry yoghurt:

½ onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp tomato puree

150g thick natural yoghurt 

1. Start by making your curry yoghurt. Peel and finely dice your onion and garlic.

2. Heat a small frying pan over a medium heat with 2 tbsp vegetable oil. Add your onion to the pan, and cook it for 15-20 minutes, until it is really soft and just starting to colour.

3. Add your garlic, curry powder and tomato puree, then cook these out for 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and leave to cool.

4. Move onto your fritters. Finely slice your spring onions. Finely slice your cavalo nero leaves, discarding the stalks.

5. Mash up half of your lentils with a fork. Add your spring onions, cavalo nero and all your lentils to a bowl, along with your gram flour, cumin seeds and a heaped tsp of salt. Give it a mix so that the gram flour is coating all the vegetables.

6. Crack in your egg, and give it a mix so that it is all combined.

7. Back to your yoghurt. Add your onions to a small food processor along with your yoghurt, and whizz it up to a smooth paste. Season to taste with salt.

8. Pour a good drizzle of vegetable oil into a large non-stick frying pan. Bring it up to temperature gently.

9. Once your oil is hot, add a few heaped tbsp of fritter mixture to the pan at a time, and flatten them down a little with the back of your spoon. Cook them for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until they are crispy and golden.

10. Lift the fritters out of the pan with a slotted spoon, and drain them on a plate lined with kitchen paper, and keep them warm whilst you fry the rest. 

11. Pile the fritters up on a plate, and serve them up.

Thank you for all your support - see you next month x