Yelly-fi-felly-food-belly

From the rice, sesame and chilli fields we saw during our three day trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake, to the wet markets of Yangon, it seemed abundantly clear that much of the Burmese cuisine revolves around the fresh ingredients the land offers. Until now, I knew very little about Myanmar cuisine, and when trying the dishes I often struggled to work out what ingredients and flavours they were made up of. Unfortunately having not attended a cookery class, I am still none the wiser, however these flavours are something I am definitely keen to learn more of and experiment with when I get back to London. Perhaps the Burmese cookery book James bought me a while ago may get a bit of use! Why am I so keen? For one, they have oodles of noodles, which I absolutely love, and as through most of India my options were rice or bread, I was happy to be able to consume an alternative carb! My particular favourite were the Shan style noodle soups, with either minced pork or chicke...

With such an easy flight over from India, it was hard to believe we were actually in another country. But here we are in Myanmar, with at first literally no idea what to expect. We'd been so focussed on planning our first month around India, that we hadn't really thought about what Myanmar would present us with. Bags dropped at the hostel in Yangon, we headed to the nearest pagoda, the beautiful Sule Pagoda, and after wetting the Buddha's head, we wondered out for our first Burmese meal. We chose Danuphyu Daw Saw Yi in downtown Yangon. A fairly plain white wash cafe, completely open out to the street, with banterous men serving out front, and women with yellow thanakha painted faces in the kitchen (sandalwood-like paste used as suncream for women and young boys). There was no menu, only a lovely Burmese man (everyone here seems to be so nice and very apologetic!), who pointed at each of the dishes behind a glass counter with a brief explanation of what they were. ...

Stage one - dazed and confused Jet lag aside, arriving in any new city around the world with the need to find food can be a daunting task. Go with the guide books or TripAdvisor and you'll probably find hoards of tourists and you feel right at home. I'm not against using these methods, and in fact some of the best places we ate at came from these, however even with these and in a big city such as Delhi, your task may still be a tricky one. So not really with it to make a decision having arrived at 4am, our hostel gave us a recommendation of a place for lunch (sleep took priority over breakfast), to introduce our western tummies to the Indian cuisine. Yes they are referring to the dreaded Delhi belly, and we were told by an Indian guy on the plane, that even he has to give himself a few days to adjust after returning from university in the UK! The safe bet was Haldiram's, a bustling, brightly lit canteen near Connaught Place, offering fast food thalis and tandoori kebabs, ...

Sunday morning car boot, I pace up and down the rows of cars not really getting into the spirit of the early morning treasure hunt. I dip in here and there pretending to have a rummage when boom, a cute little 8-piece set of rice bowls, rice spoons and soy dishes catch my eye. I'm officially the worst haggler so leave the tough work to my boyfriend, and by the end of the morning I'm the owner of a lovely little set destined to be showcased at a dinner party. Best get practising then with these little numbers...  Ingredients (serves 2): For the pickled cucumber... 1/2 cucumber 1/2 inch of ginger, cut into batons 1 tbsp rice vinegar 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp sesame seeds For the chicken teriyaki... 200g chicken thigh fillets, cut into chunks 1 tbsp sesame oil 1 leek, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces 3 tbsp teriyaki sauce 1 tsp sugar For the crispy pan fried sea bass... 2 fillets of seabass 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp fish sauce 1 tsp honey 1 red chilli,...

Ingredients (serves 2): 2 smoked trout fillets 200g mangetout, halved lengthways  100g peas 1 fennel bulb, shredded  2tbsp olive oil 1tbsp white wine vinegar  1tsp honey 1/2tsp wholegrain mustard 2tbsp chopped almonds 1. Cook the peas and mangetout in boiling water for 1 minute, drain and allow to cool. 2. Once cooled, mix the greens with the shredded fennel. 3. To make the dressing, mix the oil, vinegar, honey and mustard in a pot, and give it a thorough mix by fastening the lid of the pot and shaking. 4. Flake the trout into the greens mix, pour over the dressing and mix altogether. 5. Plate the salad and sprinkle over the chopped almonds. Enjoy! Yelly -fi-felly-food-belly x

London is a fantastic place for a foodie to live. You fancy Italian? We have plenty. You want street food? It's everywhere. Trouble is, that is the trouble. There is so much and it's hard to make a decision on a hungry stomach. So here are a couple of things I do when picking out somewhere to eat. 1. Keep a food bible Have you ever read TimeOut and thought, I DEFINITELY need to go to that restaurant and then two weeks later you find yourself with a free evening with no dinner reservations and can't think of anywhere to go? Annoying. So here's what I do, I collect clippings from TimeOut , Olive Magazine , The Times etc., and keep them all in a file to reference later. This includes recipes too, it's like my go to guide for all things food. Seems like a lot of effort? Then just create a Pintrest board. 2. My favourite app Dojo - great for finding out what's nearby: street food, markets or restaurants, they show it all. They do a regular ...

My food bible! I have a long list of restaurants, bars, cafes and pop-ups that I want to visit in London. In fact I have a food bible where I take clippings from various magazines and newspapers and use it as a kind of foodie to-do list. Problem is, these places are on a lot of people's to-do lists, and with the increasing popularity to go with the no reservations policy, you can often struggle to get a foot in the door unless you queue for 45 minutes plus. But that's the weekends. So I have a couple of days off and my dad up to visit me - suddenly my options are limitless. So knowing my dad is a lover of coffee, I refer to my food bible and know just the place:  Milk  in Balham. This trendy white brick cafe sits along Hildreth Street Market and I'm told is a popular place for the mummy and baby groups of Balham. Obviously they took this particular day off as it was filled with a mixture of young professionals gazing at laptop screens, tourists and the odd ...

This is a genuine "use what I had left in the fridge" recipe. The egg and crispiness from the grilled finish really makes this dish. I cooked for one (plus a bit spare), but the recipe below is for two. I also cooked this in a ovenproof frying pan, but for two or more I would probably transfer into individual ovenproof serving dishes as serving the egg in one piece is quite tricky / messy! Ingredients (serves 2): 100g chorizo, cut into 1cm slices 1 red onion, diced  1 green pepper, cut into 1cm strips 200g cherry tomatoes, halved 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 tsp paprika  1/2 vegetable stock cube dissolved in 4 cups of boiling water 2 cups of rice Olive oil 2 eggs Salt and pepper 1. Soften the onion in a little olive oil over a medium heat for 5 minutes. 2. Next add the chorizo and cook for a further 3-4 minutes until the edges of the chorizo starts to crisp. 3. Add the peppers, paprika and garlic, coating all of the ingredients with the paprika a...

I posted a picture of this on my Twitter  a while ago but never got round to writing up the recipe. It is a great all in one dish - just make sure you can use your frying pan in the oven and avoid touching the handle when you bring it out!! Ingredients (serves 2): 250g chicken, cut into small chunks 50g smoked pancetta, cubed 1 large leek, cut into 1cm slices Large knob of butter 1 flat tbsp plain flour 200ml milk 1 pack of ready rolled puff pastry (or make your own!) Olive oil 1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. 2. Cook the chicken in a little olive oil for 4-6 mins over a medium heat. 3. Add the pancetta to the pan and cook for a further 3-4 minutes until the chicken starts to colour and the pancetta starts to turn crisp. Set the chicken and pancetta aside, draining the fat from the pan. 4. In the same pan, melt the butter and soften the leeks over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes. 5. Remove from the heat and add the flour, allowing the butter to be ...

This is a combination of recipes I found and altered based on what I had in the cupboard. You can easily substitute the chicken for any other meat, or the pak choi for another veg, based on what you have in your cupboard! Ingredients (serves 2): 300g udon noodles, cooked as per the pack instructions 3 pints of boiling water 1 chicken stock cube 300g chicken thigh fillets, cut into thin strips 1 pak choi, cut into strips lengthways  2 spring onions, cut into discs 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp Worchester sauce  1 tbsp mirin 1 inch of ginger, cut into sticks 2 cloves of garlic, minced  1 tsp cinnamon 2 star anise 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds 1/2 tsp brown sugar 1 red chilli, sliced 2 tbsp crushed unsalted peanuts 2 eggs Sesame oil for frying 1. In a saucepan, place the water, stock cube, soy sauce, Worcester sauce, mirin, ginger, garlic, spices, sugar and most of the chilli, bring to the boil and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. 2...

I'm still not entirely sure what is classed as a traditional lamb kleftiko and a recent trip to Athens left me just as confused. So I'm going with my take on one of the first ever lamb kleftiko I tried, basically a one-pot Greek lamb casserole with plenty of feta cheese! Ingredients (serves 2): 450g diced lamb 1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges 1 clove of garlic, crushed 3 medium sized potatoes, peel and sliced into 1cm thick pieces 1 pack cherry tomatoes (approx 330g), left whole 1 green pepper, roughly chopped into large chunks Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp of English mustard 1/2 lamb stock cube dissolved into 100ml of boiling water 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary 2 bay leaves Salt and pepper Olive oil 200g feta cheese Handful of pitted black olives, halved, to serve You will also need... Tin foil Baking paper 1. Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. 2. Boil the potatoes for 10 minutes until they start to become soft. 3. Meanwhile, heat a little ...

I'm not sure when a service charge became 12.5%. Or when it started being automatically added for tables of less than six. But it seems to me that restaurants are becoming more and more likely not to trust their customers to reward service based on their experience.  A tip is a sign of gratitude for someone who has provided a good service, and I have definitely experienced some shocking service even in the most unlikely, highly regarded Michelin star restaurants. So it always seems to me a little wrong to automatically add service charge, because restaurants like that become arrogant and assuming, when really someone needs to put them in their place. So when a restaurant appears to only have a 5% service charge, I question their reasoning. The restaurant I am referring to is  Rex & Mariano , a new  Soho  seafood restaurant which occupies the once Vodka Revs between Dean and Wardour street. At first it seems obvious as to why service cha...

This may seem like a lot to cook, but much of the preparation can be done in advance, making it ideal for a dinner party and leaving you free to host. Lamb Fatteh Ingredients: 500g mince lamb 1 aubergine, cut into chunks 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped 1 onion, roughly chopped 1/2 cup of water A large pinch of each of the following: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, pimento, ground coriander A dash of Worcester sauce 1 tsp tomato purée Handful of roasted pine nuts Olive oil for roasting To make the yoghurt topping... 4 tbsp natural yoghurt 1 garlic clove, crushed A handful of fresh mint, finely chopped 1. Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. 2. Roast the aubergine in a roasting tin with plenty of olive oil for around 30 minutes. 3. Meanwhile, brown the mince in a pan with no oil for around 6-8 minutes. 4. Add the onion and fry for a further 5-6 minutes. 5. Next add the tomatoes, spices, Worcester sauce and water, and simmer for 25 minutes. 6. Whilst t...

Whenever a restaurant solely focusses on cooking one thing, you know it has to be relatively decent or pretty soon they will go out of business. I have to admit, I'm a big fan of any place that does choose to put all its efforts paying homage to one thing: Chicken Shop , Le Relais de Venise , Dirty Burger , Burger & Lobster (OK two things), and now to add to the list: Flat Iron . When you get that steak craving in London I have always thought you can pretty much go two ways: flash the cash and opt for the tenderest steak Gaucho has to offer on their display board, or head to one of many Angus Steakhouses in Leicester square and sit amongst the tourists clinging to their recently purchased goody bags from M&M World.  Flat Iron however, one of the ever increasingly popular restaurants where you cannot book, has been offering both good quality and reasonably priced steaks since it first opened in 2012. £10 will get you a flat iron steak from Flat Iron's very own h...