Rocket Science and Light Bulbs - Part 3: Next on the thrift list

Here's a dish using your baked jackets spuds. This is originally a side dish but has morphed into a stand-alone veggie meal by adding a selection of other stuff – cauliflower and chick peas to name but two!

Bombay Aloo – aka Bombay Potatoes

2 large jacket spuds from your stash, peeled if you prefer

OR

500g of cooked potatoes – I use Charlottes – whatever you use it should be a waxy potato that holds its shape, so any new potato will be just the job

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

250g passata

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp ginger paste or 1” fresh, grated.

2 cloves of roasted garlic or 2 cloves of fresh, crushed

1 tsp each of ground cumin, coriander, garam masala and curry powder. Use a curry powder that best suits your palate and how much heat you like – mild, medium or hot

1 tsp salt or to taste

Use a medium size saucepan (21cms/8”).

Your potatoes should be cut to approximately 6-12 cms/¼” to ½” pieces.

Fry the onions in the oil until soft – 3-4 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, spices and salt. Fry so that the spices are released. Add the potatoes and the tomato paste, fry gently so that the potatoes absorb the flavours and the paste cooks too – 3-4 minutes.

Add the passata and sugar and cook on a gentle heat for 10 minutes**. Taste the Bombay Aloo, adjust salt and sugar to personal taste. Cool, box and fridge. The longer you leave this dish the better it will be. It freezes well.

As a guide this recipe will give you 690g of scrumptious Bombay Aloo.

You can add a can of chick peas, drained and rinsed or tiny florets of cauliflower with the passata and sugar marked ** above - or anything that takes your fancy!

Here's a photo guide of the original Bombay Aloo :

the beginning

the middle

the end

in an individual pot, ready to roll!

It's a win win – you use up any potatoes and produce a dish that will go down a storm – an added bonus - if you cook it on purpose it doesn't break the bank – I love it when an economical plan comes together especially when it tastes so good!

P.s. Have you ever wondered how they make the “onion salad” served with the poppadoms? I know that it varies from restaurant to restaurant but, many moons ago I was given a recipe which, to this day I've never committed to paper.

Here goes :

2 medium onions, finely chopped -

weight 150g per onion approximately

salt and black pepper

2 tbsp fresh orange juice

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp tomato paste

pinch of chill powder

Place the onions in a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Place the salad in sealed airtight containers and store in a cool place.

The secret to this salad is that you should not serve it for at least a day, preferably two after making it. It's important that the orange and lemon juice and the tomato paste are allowed to “mature” - leaving it to infuse takes away any harshness from the onion and the tomato paste.

This is a perfect accompaniment for any curry.

Here it is :

If you are a lover of all things spicy then this onion salad is excellent with cold meats or, best of all, with a strong mature cheddar cheese.

Enjoy!

Editor's June Pick #5: Jam Jar Salad

Editor's note: For this week's selection I've gone with a couple of interesting ideas for summer meals. One for when it's super hot - as it currently is in some parts of the UK, and one for when it's not so warm and you can stand to be in the kitchen for a bit longer! First up is the Jam Jar Salad - a fantastic idea for grabbing and eating in the garden whenever the mood takes! Ingredients and kit first, as MiamMiam says, jam jars for when you're eating them yourself, Kilner for if you're entertaining!

Jam Jar Salad

Since we are approaching all things summer – alfresco dining, bbq'ing et al, here's an idea that can be adapted to suit your own taste.

You will need jam jars – preferably those with twist off lids - you can buy the lids separately if you need to.

If you want a posher more up-market version, use a kilner jar – see photo below. If you want to do fancy the jar would be nice to serve as part of a lunch or supper party and you can of course re-use it afterwards.

I used the Bonne Maman conserve jars – posh jam really – I love these jars, they have the pretty lids. As an aside - the conserve may be expensive (keep your eyes open for offers) but the way I look at it is that I get an excellent store cupboard product and a useful, attractive jar that can be used again. I get the feeling that Bonne Maman know that their jars will be re-used – the labels on the jars are really easy to remove in hot soapy water - then you can sterilise them in the dishwasher.

The jam jar salad

Serves 4

You'll need four jars – capacity 370g

1 x 750g smoked gammon joint

(£2.68 from Tesco)

Silverskin onions, finely chopped

Piccalilli sauce for drizzling

(Bartons Piccalilli Sauce)

750g baby new potatoes

Sweetcorn salsa

Method and assembly next!

Winter menu – option 6, the “takeaway” and the “treat”

Option 6 is my version of fish, chips and peas.

Fish, chips and peas – my version

cod loin, baked in hoi sin sauce

twice cooked roasties (leftover roast potatoes)

petit pois or mushy peas

This idea comes at the weekend so it's acceptable to cheat!

Fish is expensive so you have to shop smart. I've found that Aldi's cod loin is the cheapest and there's no difference in quality to any high end supermarket. Here's the chapter and verse – in January 2020 280g of cod loin cost £3.79 and it's still the same price today. 250g of smoked haddock was £3.09 and has increased to £3.15 – certified and sustainable, responsibly sourced. I'd call that excellent price control!

For the cod loin, portion size depends on size of appetite. The cod loin will come in sealed packets. Before you are ready to cook lay kitchen roll in the casserole (or foil tray) you will use. Open the packet (you might want to use gloves, it's very fishy!) and place the loin fillets on top of the kitchen roll and then cover to absorb the moisture and dry the fillets. Once again you might want to dispose of all the fish packaging, gloves etc., straight into a suitable disposable bag. When you're ready to cook remove the kitchen roll and then pour the hoi sin sauce over the top, turn the fish, ensuring that the fillets are covered.

I've used two types of “ready to use” hoi sin sauce, both of which are designed to use as a stir fry sauce but are equally good as a coating sauce.

Here they are :

Sharwood's hoi sin & spring onion - 195g

Amoy - 120g

Now for the twice cooked roasties …