Don’t get me wrong, I love a good sandwich.  Although bread has been having a hard time of late, what with low-carb fashions and suspicions about gluten, I do not let these things hold me back.

Nonetheless, we all have times when we crave a little change from the humble sandwich.  This week is one of those times and so the Mr and I put together some sushi.

Now, please don’t think I am making claims for any kind of sushi-making prowess, and certainly nothing in the league of the talented Jiro in the delightful film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which I heartily recommend by the way.  No, I always find sushi-making a bit of a stretch of my technical abilities, with plenty of frantic stuffing of rice and filling into the hapless nori.

Concerns about presentation aside (which I understand is certainly not the point if one is making sushi properly), there is still something very satisfying about  the combination of sticky, vinegary rice  and the filling of one’s choosing.  I am an avocado nut, and so I always plump for plenty of avocado, along with tuna and plenty of capsicum and carrot in this instance.

And as we’re talking about sushi ingredients, I just can’t help adding a few snaps from Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, where the proper sushi chefs find their ingredients.  A far cry from my tinned tuna, I know.

The nice people at BBC Food provide these helpful instructions for cooking sushi rice.  My sushi even fits nicely into my much-love Tupperware sandwich container, which will be housing sandwiches again before long I’m sure.  Happy eating ’til next time.

My adventures with chickpea flour began in Binn Inn, one of my favourite retail locations.  It’s the perfect combination of thrifty spending and food shopping that leave me positively glowing with pleasure and virtue.

On this particular occasion, my sister and I had made a special trip to Binn Inn as part of a birthday outing, in which she also very generously shouted me high tea at the gorgeous Sweet Pea on Petone High Street.

As we poked about in the bins and bottles, she alerted my attention to a large vat of chickpea flour, promising ‘I have a nice recipe for this stuff.’  Not one to turn down a new recipe, particularly one which involves a purchase at Binn Inn, I found myself in possession of my sister’s lovely Socca recipe and now, dear reader, is your chance to read all about it.

Socca is flatbread made from chickpea flour.  This lovely dish also goes by the names of Farinata, Cecina and Faina and is found in Italy, France, Agentina and Uruguay.

Chickpea flour, I suppose, does not look terrifically exciting in its raw form, although I can assure you it has a rather pleasant nutty smell.

To turn a little pile of chickpea flour into delicious Socca according to my sister’s recipe, you will need:

1 cup of chickpea flour

1 cup of water

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of salt.

Method:

Add all the above ingredients to a bowl, mix them together and leave them for about half an hour so the chickpea flour can absorb some water.

Heat up the grill at quite a high heat.

Heat an oven-proof frypan on the stove top and once hot, add a fair bit of olive oil and swirl it around to grease the pan (I say ‘a fair bit’ as my first attempt, sadly, did not involve enough olive oil and I wound up forlornly picking bits of my flatbread off the pan).

Pour in a third to a half of the batter and treat it like you would a crȇpe – swirl it around to cover the base of the pan.

Leave it cooking a few minutes.  Mine developed some cute little pancake-like frills as I did this.

Then, put the pan under the hot grill until it bubbles and blackens slightly.  Once it has coloured and bubbled evenly over the surface, you’re ready to go – pull it out and enjoy.

My sister included the following piece of advice about this stage: ‘DO NOT hold the handle of your frying pan with your bare hand.  I did and it burnt me. OUCH.’  And for this, I can recommend my cute little green potholders, modelled below.  They offer a bit more grip and flexibility than your average cloth potholder, with their clever ridgy-bits.

I served my flatbread with pan-fried chicken thighs, spinach and pine nuts, and a smudging of my Parsley and Mint Yoghurt Sauce.  The internet tells me they are often served with fresh rosemary, pepper and sea salt which sounds utterly scrumptious, and given the fact I am nurturing a small rosemary bush in my new garden, I will be trying this combination soon.

Gingery, salty, savoury and good; this Asian noodle soup recipe is something I muddled around with when I lived in London and frequently found myself in need of something comforting to protect against the long dark wintery nights.  This warm, spicy noodle soup is the equivalent of a cuddle for your tummy and brightens up the most blustery, cold mid-week evening.  So if your tummy feels in need of cuddling, go no further.

To make my asian noodle soup for two people you will need:

• 1 litre of vegetable or chicken stock
• A clove or two of garlic
• Fresh ginger root
• One red chilli
• Green vegetables, such a broccoli, bok choi or beans
• One pepper
• One peeled carrot
• 6-8 dried mushrooms
• If you feel carnivorous, about 250g beef, cut into strips
• Soy sauce
• Seasame oil
• A squeeze of lemon juice
• Some nice stodgy noodles, such as Udon or Hokkien (I buy the wet, pre-cooked ones)
• A little vegetable oil for greasing the wok

And now to get started….

Pour the stock into a saucepan and put it over a low heat. You want to gently heat it so it is warm but not boiling, and it can just sit there heating up while you get on with the rest of the soup.

Heat a wok over a medium-high heat and add a little vegetable oil, or spray with an oil spray, just to stop things sticking.

Peel and slice the garlic and cut up the chilli, de-seeding if you don’t want too much heat (I usually leave a few seeds) and add these to the wok.  Grate plenty of ginger, at least a tablespoon, into the wok. Leave it all in there to heat up and start to sizzle.

Whilst the garlic-chilli-ginger trio is doing its thing, slice up the green vegetables and de-seed and slice the pepper into strips.  When the contents of the wok are getting nice and fragrant, add the greens and pepper strips and stir  about a little.

If you have decided you are feeling carnivorous, turn the heat up a bit and throw in the beef ever so quickly, just to brown it a little. This is because you are about to add the stock, and you don’t want the beef getting too tough before the stock has a chance to poach it gently.

So, carnivorous or not, at this point, ladle the warmed stock from the saucepan into the wok.

Add about half a tablespoon of soy sauce, 4-5 drops of seasame oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and stir it all into the contents of the wok.

You may be thinking I have forgotten about the carrot, but not so!  Using a vegetable peeler, peel ribbons of carrot into the soup.  I add the carrot at this point so it doesn’t get too soft.

Finally, add your dried mushrooms, using your spoon to hold ’em under for a little while if need be.  These mushrooms can be a little stinky and fusty-smelly for some, and for this reason I keep mine in an airtight jar.  They have a lovely strong, savoury flavour however, and add a delicious depth to this dish, and I’d never make it without them.

Turn the heat down to low and let the soup simmer away gently for 15-20 minutes, without letting it boil.

About five minutes before you serve, prepare the noodles (at least, do them this way if you are using the wet, prepared packaged ones like I do).

Boil the kettle and place the noodles in a heat-proof bowl.  Pour the boiling water over the noodles and let them sit for up to five minutes.  Use a fork to shake them up and separate them a bit, and then divide between two deep bowls.

Ladle the soup over the noodles in each bowl and you’re ready to go.

Tuck in and be comforted!

Here’s the ingredients and method in one go, unbroken by pictures, for your ease of use….

Asian noodle soup

Ingredients:

• 1 litre of vegetable or chicken stock
• A clove or two of garlic
• Fresh ginger root
• One red chilli
• Green vegetables, such a broccoli, bok choi or beans
• One pepper
• One peeled carrot
• 6-8 dried mushrooms
• If you feel carnivorous, about 250g beef, cut into strips
• Soy sauce
• Seasame oil
• A squeeze of lemon juice
• Some nice stodgy noodles, such as Udon or Hokkien (I buy the wet ones)
• A little vegetable oil for greasing the wok

Method:

• Pour the stock into a saucepan and put it over a low heat. You want to gently heat it so it is warm but not boiling, and it can just sit there while you get on with the rest of the soup.
• Heat a wok over a medium-high heat and add a little vegetable oil, or spray with an oil spray.
• Peel and slice the garlic and cut up the chilli, de-seeding if you don’t want too much heat (I usually leave a few seeds) and add these to the wok.  Grate plenty of ginger, at least a tablespoon, into the wok. Heat.
• Slice up the green vegetables and de-seed and slice the pepper.  Add to wok and stir.
• If you using beef, turn heat up, add to wok and brown briefly.
• Ladle the warmed stock from the saucepan into the wok.
• Add: half a tablespoon of soy sauce, 4-5 drops of seasame oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice; stir into contents of the wok.
• Using a vegetable peeler, peel ribbons of carrot into the soup.  I add the carrot at this point so it doesn’t get to soft.
• Add the dried mushrooms.
• Turn the heat down to low and let the soup simmer away gently for 15-20 minutes, without letting it boil.
• About five minutes before you serve, prepare the noodles by placing in a heat-proof boil and covering in boiling water, let sit for up to five minutes.
• Divide noodles between two deep bowls.
• Ladle the soup from the wok over the noodles in each bowl and serve.