Memories of India

So hard to imagine that this time last week we were in searing temperatures, fighting our way through the crazy traffic of Southern India.
I had originally intended to keep a journal of the trip, but after two days of cycling for 6-7 hours, I lacked the energy to do anything except indulge in my favourite drink at the end of every day - a gorgeous cold (not always!), velvety, sweet lassi - perfect for refuelling the body with a little protein and carbs.  Easy enough to make by blending natural yoghurt, ice, water, a little sugar, and for me the addition of roughly ground cardamom just adds the perfect flavour.  Mint or mango are also delicious additions.

So my journal entries became bullet points, and these just sum-up what I experienced each day -
Smells - jasmine, garlic, tea, coconut, hot tar, exhaust fumes, cardamom.
Feelings - elation, exhaustion, thirst, humbleness, happiness, relief.
Reactions to us - laughter (lots - we were wearing lycra after all!), hand-slapping, intrigue, staring.
New experiences - cycling 100km+ in searing heat, dining in broken-down shacks, eating jack fruit, eating rice and curry off banana leaves with hands, sharing restaurant with a rat!


Interestingly I really thought I would start to go off curry after the first week, but it didn't happen.  And even more amazingly, I have craved it since returning home, so have already cooked myself a couple of curries, dhals, and this, my favourite Kerelan cabbage dish.

Kerelan Coconut Cabbage

Serves 4

2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 garlic clove, diced
10-12 curry leaves
1 red chilli, deseeded and diced
2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and diced
4 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 tsp turmeric
1 medium cabbage, shredded
3 tbsp desiccated coconut
small handful coriander leave, roughly torn

Heat the coconut oil and cook the mustard seeds, garlic, curry leaves, chilli, ginger, spring onion and turmeric, until the mustard seeds begin to 'pop'.
Stir in the cabbage and coconut and toss to coat with the spices.  Add a couple of tablespoons of water and continue to steam-fry, tossing from time to time, for 5-6 minutes.
Stir in the coriander, season to taste and serve.

Cycling Coast to Coast, Southern India

Wow, what a trip - cycling 800km from Channia to Cochin, in Southern India, and all with only a few hours of training on a bike as preparation!
The lack of training would not have been so bad had our itinerary been honest.  However, it appears it was just 'guidelines' to what may, or may not take place.  What I didn't know was that we were acting as guinea pigs for a new trip to be tested out for a travel company in the future.  This is what happens when you travel with mates who know mates in the industry - there is always a reason when the trip is such a good price!  
However, I have lived to tell the tale, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.  Luckily my fitness level is pretty good most of the time, so the 100km every day for the first five was not too tricky.
Before even leaving British soil however, I had prepared my body for what could be a dodgy trip on the digestive front - not only did we eat strong curry for every meal (yes, it was offered for breakfast too, although I declined for that meal at least), as we were cycling through pretty remote areas there was no choice but to eat in the tiny road-side shacks with the locals.  And to me, this was the best bit, I wouldn't have missed that for the world.  Obviously, if you tried to serve from a similar standard of establishment in this country you would be closed down by health and safely officers before you had even poured your first cup of chai!

For the month leading up to the trip I took probiotics to help build up the gut flora against any invading pathogens, plus I took oregano oil capsules daily - oregano oil is known to be an anti bacterial and anti fungal, so useful for when you know you may come into contact with lots of unusual bacteria!  Despite cycling hard every day and pushing ourselves hard in the 40 degree heat, only one of the team came down with 'Delhi Belly' - at this point I upped my intake of oregano oil and managed to avoid joining her behind a bush every 10km.

We ate some amazing meals, and some of the best were those served in the least expected places - normally the most run-down.  In Tiruchiirapalli (otherwise know as Trichy) we stayed in the Grand Gardenia hotel.  When we booked to eat in the local's restaurant in the hotel we were warned to change to the Westerners style restaurant upstairs instead, as they thought the food would be far too much for us (they clearly didn't know how far we had just cycled!).  We insisted on staying put, and ate some of the best, albeit pretty hot, food, we had had on the trip.  Other memorable meals included the creamy fish curry we had for lunch at Le Club in Pondicherry, which is a territory that was under French rule for nearly 281 years and still has the French flavour with beautiful grand colonial mansions and boulevards.
For once being a vegetarian was not an issue, in fact for once I was in the majority, with the local people favouring vegetarian food - great dahls, amazing vegetable curries and lots of great rice dishes - pilau is different in every place you eat.
One of the most traditional places we stayed in was Chettinadu Mansion, a heritage home tucked away in Chettinadu, a village that appears to be deserted, but has some of the most beautiful architecture that we experience throughout the whole two weeks.  I would point out that despite the promise of great Chettinad food, we were pretty disappointed at being served very mild and uninspiring curry, even though the setting was pretty stunning.
One other recommendation has to be Vanilla County, a plantation home-stay in Kerela, near the origin of the Meenachil river at Vagamon.  This gorgeous home-stay is run by 'Baby' Matthew and his wife Mrs Rani, and they make you feel like you are really a guest in their beautiful home.  The house has been in the family for a number of generations and dinner is served in their dining room which instantly makes you feel at home.  Both Matthew and Rani are passionate about good food and will tell you exactly how it should be eaten and which foods are to be eaten together.  A highlight for me was banana jam that was served at breakfast and tasted like banana flavoured molasses.  I spooned it over rice pancakes with sliced banana - heavenly.  Watch this space for my attempt at the recipe that Rani loosely gave me!

The great thing about cycling from coast to coast is the variety of food you encounter - starting with fish on the east coast then travelling through paddy files, tea plantations, cardamom plantations, and finally on to the west coast for more great fish.  Our final meal was at Oceanos in Cochin - a great little restaurant that specialised in fish and seafood and just served you what was available (at this stage I was happy just to be fed and not having to decide which great dish to choose).  After fish soup and then a tuna salad and a pineapple , onion and tomato salad (unusual but surprisingly tasty!) we had red mullet in a spicy tomato sauce and great tiger prawns in a korma sauce.  Even better is that for once the kitchen is open to view, so you can tell that this one really is clean!

Variety in my day

I do love that my days are filled with such random things to do.
Take this week for instance, not only am I testing recipes for a bread company (which are delicious, and include lots of sticky buns!), I am also writing healthy recipes for a new company called Naturya.  Their products include things such as Wheatgrass Powder, Maca Powder, Acai Powder and Hemp Protein Powder, plus lots more you've probably never heard of!  But you should, so do go to their website soon where you will find all of my delicious recipes using these great healthy ingredients.  The Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms shown here include both the Wheatgrass Powder and Hemp Protein Powder - and taste amazing!
Then on to my other job as photographer and I have been asked for pictures that represent the Diamond Jubilee or The Olympics - in other words, lots of Union Jacks on anything you can think of!  Actually it has turned out to be quite a bit of fun - lot of cupcakes (obviously), but I have also tried to be a little more adventurous, and have attempted the Union Jack in fruit!  Let me know what you think - and any other ideas that you think would be fun to do (and not too difficult please!).

Sorting out the men....

It's weekends like this one that really sort out 'the men from the boys' on the rowing front (I've just realised there is no female equivalent to this saying that would really have the same meaning!).  In my case, we are an all female squad and did our best at training in pretty chilly conditions, especially as we start at 7.30am. The thing about rowing is that there are only so many layers you can put on, before you are unable to bend in the middle - pretty important!  The best bit of all though is coming off the water and into a warm club-house for a satisfying breakfast, when you know that most people have not yet even surfaced - job done.
Of course one of the things about doing exercise in the cold is that you use up even more nutrients and calories than normal, making it doubly important to have a good feed to keep up the strength and to support the immune system from all the circulating bugs at this time of year.
One of my favourite warming foods has to be risotto - not only because I love Italian food, but also because it is easy to throw together, can be flavoured with pretty much anything you have in the store cupboard, and even tastes great as left-overs!  And despite some of the recipe books you may have read, it does not have to be stirred continuously - I made all three of these risottos at the same time, and obviously only have two arms!

A Raw Day

After attending a media event at Saf Restaurant last night, it got me to thinking how easy it is to make great food, without cooking it.  I always say that the best food starts with great ingredients, then it's up to you how you use those ingredients to get the best tastes, textures and flavours.
So I have challenged myself to eat great food all day with out cooking any of it - and this does not mean I am surviving on a few lettuce leaves!  I am training twice today, once on the river early this morning and again later tonight on the erg and with weights, so I need some good protein and carbs.
Luckily I happen to love raw fish, which is obviously a great source of protein and, armed with a food processor have come up with some great textures and flavours with other ingredients I already had in my fridge.  This is my favourite way of cooking - get out the ingredients you like then just start playing!  With raw food having a food processor is a must, as this is how you make lots of delicious sauces, pastes, or in this case rice!
As I was only playing I didn't write down quantities of anything, so you just have a rough recipe here of what I did , but the whole point is that you experiment yourself with what you have.
Pesto - firstly I made a pesto with a handful of baby spinach leaves, a few basil leaves, some walnuts, garlic and extra virgin olive oil.
Tuna - marinate in soy sauce, honey and mustard (or wasabi if you have it would be great), then roll in sesame seeds just before slicing to serve.
Parsnip 'rice' - place a peeled and chopped parsnip in the food processor with a handful of pine nuts and pulse until you have 'rice'.
Vegetables - slice a large carrot and courgette with a vegetable peeler then toss the thin slices with rocket leaves and a tiny amount of sesame oil.
Place the vegetables on the plate, top with the parsnip rice then a sliced avocado.  Slice the sesame tuna and place on top then drizzle around the pesto, followed by balsamic glaze.  Looks amazing and tastes delicious.

So, on to pudding!
Place a couple of figs, 4 prunes, a knob of stem ginger and a little of the stem ginger syrup and a pinch of nutmeg into a small blender and blitz until smooth.
Stir into natural yoghurt, not quite mixing it in, then spoon into a glass, top with chopped pecans and drizzle with honey - heaven in a glass!

Tonight I am hoping to do a raw soup similar to a gazpacho - I have lots of red peppers and celery so they lend themselves to that.  My protein may have to come from creamy mozzarella chopped into the soup.  I can't wait!

Do you have any great unusual raw recipes?  Do share them with me.

Variety in Your Diet

People always say that it feels easier to eat more healthily in the summer, mainly because it's easier to eat salads and less stodgy foods.  But winter foods don't have to be stodgy, and can be just as exciting and varied as summer foods.
Firstly, change your shopping habit - go to different shops to buy your food this week - that way, you will see different foods, rather than shopping on automatic pilot.  And if you see foods you are unsure of how to cook, buy them!  Then go home, look on the internet to learn about them and cook a new recipe that you've not done before.
There are probably hundreds of ingredients out there that you have never tried, but could find that you really love them, and that they may be good for you!
Home-made soups are an ideal meal through the winter, and they give the chance to get real variety into your diet.  Plus, they are cheap and easy to prepare.
Add spices, herbs and all your favourite ingredients, making sure there is some protein somewhere in your meal - this can be done by serving soup topped with a softly poached egg, or dropping in chunks of salmon to cook through at the end.
As an example, the soup here is made from chickpeas (great protein, lowers cholesterol & improves blood sugar levels) and spinach (antioxidant), but I also added turmeric (anti-inflammatory), ginger (anti-inflammary and anti-microbial), garlic (aids digestion, lowers cholesterol) - so you see how easy it is?  And making it yourself ensures there are no bad bits going in either.
Time to throw away the tin opener and get your pans out!

And if you are thinking of detoxing at this time of year, think again - take a look at my feature on the subject at www.lovefood.com.

New Year, new idea.....?

So here we are again, back at January, starting the new year with lots of good intentions, and no doubt a few new resolutions just waiting to be broken?  Probably best just not to make them in the first place - too much pressure.

Now is not the best time to think about going on a crash diet, or fasting detox - your body is trying to recover from all that rich food and high living over the festive season, whilst also keeping the immune system in top notch condition to prevent you from catching all those coughs and colds floating around.
The best thing right now is to eat really healthy, nutritionally-rich foods, and try to cut down on those foods that expect your liver to work double time - increase fruit, vegetables, water intake, exercise and good simple foods that the body can recognise and deal with, and avoid pre-prepared foods, stimulants like coffee and alcohol, and anything you think you may be slightly intolerant to (makes you feel bloated or gives your wind).
Great thick home-made vegetable soups are perfect right now - warming and nutritious, especially if you use a variety of ingredients - spices and herbs to add flavour, lentils to add protein (or top with a softly poached egg), a drizzle of extra virgin oil and sprinkling of pumpkin seeds for essential fats.

As you will know if you read my blog regularly, I do believe in being 80% good and 20% naughty, and over the festive period I made a very naughty dessert for friends, that certainly used up my weekly 20% in one serving!  I am sharing it with you but be sure to have a few friends to help you to eat it!



Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart


Serves 6-8


For the pastry - 
225g flour
110g butter, cold, diced
75g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp cold water


For the filling - 
150g dark muscovado sugar
150g unsalted butter
1 x 397g tin condensed milk
1 1/2 tbsp honey
1 tsp sea salt flakes
100g dark chocolate
40g white chocolate

• To make the pastry, place the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor and process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Add the egg and enough water to bring the dough together.
• Roll in cling-film and chill for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5.  Roll out the dough and line a 20cm flan tin.  Chill for 10 minutes.
• Blind bake the pastry case for 20-25 minutes, until golden, removing the greaseproof paper and baking beans for the last 5 minutes.  Leave to cool.
• To make the filling, slowly melt together the sugar, butter, condensed milk and honey and bring to the boil.  Continue to cook, letting the mixture bubble, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken (about 8-10 minutes).
• Stir in the salt then pour into the pastry case.  Leave to set for 1 hour at room temperature.
• Melt both the chocolates.  Pour the dark chocolate over the top of the caramel.  Using a small spoon decorate the tart with zig-zags of white chocolate.  
• Chill for 30 minutes before serving.