Smashed at the Weekend #5

Cook some easy vegetarian Indian recipes, dine on Thai food at Long Chim, drink achingly hip vodka and register with The Department of Salad

Something to Cook

Two recipes from Easy Indian Vegetarian by Chetna Makan

Sabzi chole biryani | Vegetable and chickpea biryani 

‘This is a dish I came up with to entertain the vegetarians in my life, mainly my husband! I love a chicken biryani, it’s my death row meal, so I wanted to create a vegetable biryani that could stand side by side with it. I’m pleased to tell you that this one is a winner. You won’t miss any meat or flavour in this beautiful layered rice dish. Although biryani was never a vegetarian affair, I am sure it will become a classic in time.’ 

SERVES 4–6 

200ml (7fl oz) sunflower oil 
4 onions, thinly sliced 
a pinch of saffron 
50ml (2fl oz) whole milk, warmed 
1 teaspoon rose water 

FOR THE VEG 
2 bay leaves 
6 black peppercorns 
6 cloves 
1 star anise 
1 cinnamon stick 
4 cardamom pods 
1 teaspoon cumin seeds 
2 dried red chillies 
2 onions, roughly chopped 
2.5cm (1 inch) fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped 
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chilli powder 
1 teaspoon ground turmeric 
1 teaspoon garam masala 
1 teaspoon ground cumin 
2 teaspoons ground coriander 
1⁄2 teaspoon mango powder (amchur) 
1⁄2 teaspoon black salt (kala namak) 
2 carrots, cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces 
1⁄2 cauliflower, cut into florets 
2 potatoes, cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces
150g (5 1⁄2oz) green beans, cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces 
100ml (3 1⁄2fl oz) boiling water
150g (5 1⁄2oz) natural yogurt 
400g (14oz) tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed 

FOR THE RICE 
4 cardamom pods
6 black peppercorns
6 cloves
2 bay leaves
350g (12oz) basmati rice

TO SERVE 
raita 
Mirchi Ka Salan (recipe follows)

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium–low heat and cook the onions for 12–15 minutes until golden. Pour into a sieve set over a bowl to collect all the oil. Set the fried onions aside. 

Soak the saffron in the warm milk for 10 minutes. 

To cook the veg, heat the collected oil in the same pan, add the whole spices and cook for a minute, then add the dried chillies followed by the onions. Cook for 6–8 minutes until golden, then add the ginger and garlic, and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes until completely softened.

Now add the salt and all the ground spices and cook for a minute before adding all the veg along with the boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the yogurt and stir over a very low heat. Cover and cook for 10 minutes until the veg is almost cooked, then add the chickpeas and mix well. 

For the rice, fill a large pan with water, add the whole spices to it, then add the rice and cook until it is three-quarters cooked. Drain well. 

Take a deep stock pan and start layering up the biryani. Put in half of the veg, followed by half of the rice, then half of the fried onions. Repeat with a second layer of each. Drizzle over the rose water and saffron milk. Cover and cook over the lowest heat for 30 minutes. Alternatively, bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 180°C (350°F), Gas Mark 4. 

Serve with raita and Mirchi Ka Salan (see below).

Mirchi ka salan | Chilli curry 

‘Salan is a Hyderabadi curry made with a rich paste of peanuts, sesame seeds, coconut and gentle spicing. The little punch comes from the tamarind and the heat comes from the chillies. It is popularly served with biryani, but is great with some chapatti or parathas, too. Usually this curry is made with Bhavnagri chillies (which you can sometimes get in Asian stores). If they are not available, Thai chillies should do the job.’ 

SERVES 4 

40g (11⁄2oz) tamarind pulp 
200ml (7fl oz) boiling water 
6 tablespoons peanut oil 
8 green chillies, slit lengthways 
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
10 curry leaves
2 onions, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1⁄2 teaspoon ground turmeric 1⁄2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin 

FOR THE SPICE PASTE 

70g (21⁄2oz) unsalted raw peanuts (with skins) 
3 tablespoons sesame seeds 
1 tablespoon poppy seeds 
1⁄4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds 
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut 
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 
2.5cm (1 inch) piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
50ml (2fl oz) water 

Start with the spice paste. Dry roast the peanuts for 5 minutes until fragrant and golden. Remove them to a food processor. In the same pan, dry roast the sesame and poppy seeds for 2 minutes until golden and transfer to the food processor. Finally, dry roast the fenugreek seeds for 2 minutes, then add the coconut and cook for another 2 minutes. Add to the food processor along with the garlic, ginger and water. Blitz to a paste. 

Soak the tamarind pulp in the boiling water for 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan and fry the green chillies for 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate. 

Add the cumin and mustard seeds to the same pan and let sizzle. Add the curry leaves, then the onions and cook for 6–8 minutes until golden. Add the ground spices and then the spice paste. 

Strain the tamarind mixture through a sieve into a bowl, squeezing the pulp to extract as much flavour as possible. Add the tamarind water to the pan along with an extra 200ml (7fl oz) of water and the green chillies. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, then serve. 

Extracted from Easy Indian Vegetarian by Chetna Makan

£26, Hamlyn
Use the following affiliate link to buy the book and support Smashed: click here

Something to eat

Chef David Thompson’s thrilling Thai food at Long Chim in London

Clockwise from top left: Chef David Thompson, grilled squid, breaded pork and monkfish curry

Don’t waste your time reading the following short review of legendary Sydney-born chef David Thompson’s new London restaurant Long Chim, just book and go. If you like Thai food, and who doesn’t, you are going to love this place. Also, don’t bother reading this short review because words fail me about how stupidly delicious Thompson’s cooking is (and he was cooking the night I went).

I can tell you that, from the concise menu I ate ‘Long Chim rolls’ - long, thin, deep-fried spring rolls filled with vegetables and served with a soy-based dip that I ate with a spoon after the rolls were gone, it was so good; ‘spicy grilled squid southern style with pickled ginger’ - tiny cephalopods that were tender and full of charred flavour; ‘breaded cured pork’ - as advertised and served with raw shallots, ginger, peanuts, chili and coriander (I bumped into The Devonshire’s chef Ashely Palmer-Watts at the restaurant and he said he could eat this dish every day. I agree).

I would say an ‘aromatic curry of monkfish with cucumber relish’ was as addictive as crack but I’ve never touched a Class A drug in my life so I’ll be more honest and say that it’s as addictive as The Day of The Jackal TV series. Spicy and aromatic with Thai chili, lemongrass, galangal and turmeric (I think - I’m going by a recipe for a similar curry in Thompson’s Thai Street Food book), coconut milk lending a touch of richness slightly sweet with palm sugar and with tender chunks of fish and breadfruit, it’s what you’d probably expect from a Thai curry, but somehow even more delicious.

Jasmine rice, made in a huge rice cooker that was sat on the counter of the open kitchen, was light and fluffy and a ‘pomegranate salad with mint and lemongrass’ was fresh, aromatic and sweet. Even a simple bowl of stir-fried sugar snap peas were elevated by some lovely wok charring. I couldn’t stop eating them. How does Thompson do all this? No idea, but I’m glad that he can.

The nightclubby room is comfortable and fun, service is warm and attentive and there’s a reasonably priced, decent wine list. The food ranges from £3 for one of the those squid skewers to £18 for black tiger prawns baked with vermicelli, spring onions and celery. I’ve got a feeling that the prices may rise at some point but even if they do, Long Chim is not an expensive restaurant, at least compared to many in London. Anyway, I hope you took my advice and didn’t waste your time reading this review and you’ve bagged yourself a table already. Can I come too?

Long Chim, 36-40 Rupert Street, London W1D 6DW. longchim.london; 020 3319 7750
(Smashed was a guest of the restaurant)

Something to Drink

721 Vodka - when is a bottle of booze not just a bottle of booze?

There’s a lot of baggage that goes with this boldly designed vodka from Hove based distillery Degen (short for Degenerate) that’s backed by Google and, er, Brewdog (is it OK to like Brewdog again yet? I can’t work it out), so let’s get the straightforward stuff out of the way first.

I tasted the vodka neat, which is not something I’ve done since the last time I was in St Petersburg, and found it to be very palatable with a smooth round finish and a hint of sweetness and spice. The manufacturers say it’s been filtered only once to retain its character and that anyone else who filters their vodka more than once are a bunch of ninnies. Or something. It made a very nice Sparkling Cosmopolitan (recipe here) which is, I’m sure, the last drink the hip people at Degen would want their consumers to be making with their non-more-2024 spirit. However, I have seen several recent-ish articles that say 90s cocktails are back in fashion, so get me.

Degen’s 721 gets complicated when you start factoring in everything that surrounds the bottle and its contents. You see, 721 isn’t just a rather nice premium vodka that will make you feel good (drink responsibly kids), it also ‘opens playgrounds and homes for risk takers, creators, artists and degenerates through technology and community.’ So that’s nice. Degen say they are using ‘the power of the collective backed by web3 technology to bring experience and connection in a way never been done before’. That appears to mean that,if you buy a particular type of NFT, you can join the Degen Distillery Club and collect rewards. I didn’t know NFT was still a thing.

People younger and smarter than me may well buy into the whole web3, NFT community side of 721, but I’m happy just to sit at home with a dated/not-dated cocktail and raise a glass to all the risk takers, creators, artists and degenerates. Here’s to ya.

721 Vodka
£35 (40% ALC - 70cl VOL) available from degendistillery.com

Something to read

The Department of Salad

I always hated that question ‘if you could invite anyone, alive or dead to your ideal dinner party who would they be and why’ mainly because I never used to have an answer to it (I also have strong negative feelings about the ‘what would be your death row meal?’ which you can read about here if you want). But now I do.

As soon as I’d read the opening chapter of food writer Emily Nunn’s funny, smart and unflinchingly honest food memoir The Comfort Food Diaries I wanted to invite her round for dinner. Not just Emily of course, that would be weird. I mean, I’m, not stalking her or anything. No, there’d also be American chef Jeremiah Tower (I’ll be writing more about him next week), the late Canadian comedian Norm Macdonald, the late indie rock legend and gourmet Steve Albini, the late playwright Harold Pinter and the late writer Jean Rhys. That’s a lot of dead people. I hope they’re still hungry. That would make me the least interesting person in the room by far, but I would make up for it by cooking something good and keeping everyone’s wine glass topped up.

Born of the pandemic when Nunn found herself eating a lot of salad (you can read more about the origin of the newsletter in this New York Times profile), it’s now one of the most popular food-themed publications on Substack and with good reason. Former New Yorker writer Nunn’s twice-weekly recipe-based The Department of Salad not only has the best title of any newsletter on Substack (when I launched my newsletter I tried to come up with something as equally eye-catching and amusing. I failed), but is one of the few examples of food writing anywhere that is as funny as it is informative.

To pick just one example, in this edition about internet food content creators (you should read the whole thing, she says something rather brilliant about Instagram cooking videos) she wrote: ‘Some of the most compelling food in the huge social-media landscape, particularly on Instagram, is detached and pristine and abstract and unknowable. But it still makes you (or me) desperately want to meet its creator, to dine at their home! Even though dinner could likely be, you know, two perfect sea beans, a small pool of deep green olive oil, and a tiny, possibly poisonous flower under a pink spotlight served in a kitchen whose vast counters have nothing on them but a giant bowl of guavas and a box of bee pollen.’

The many delicious sounding recipes in the site’s large archive include ‘Salmon and Lentil Salad with Soft Boiled Egg and Herbs’, ‘Spring Goddess Rice Salad and Cantaloupe and Cucumber Salad with Herb-Lime-Chili Pepper Vinaigrette’. Come for the recipes and stay for the writing, or vice versa, but either way, you should register with The Department of Salad immediately.

The Department of Salad by Emily Nunn

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