Pickled apples

Curious about apple pickling, since I had a suitable large jar from S's lupins, and obviously lots of apples. I liked the sound of the spices in this recipe.

700 g apples (approx. 4 med-large apples)
500 ml white wine or cider vinegar
120 g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
10 cm Carolina allspice bark or cinnamon stick (used cinnamon
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 whole cloves
½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns or black peppercorns (used black pepper)
1 star anise
Few sprigs of lemon thyme (used dried bayleaves)

Dissolve the sugar and salt in the vinegar in a pan over a medium heat. Add the spices, simmer for 15 min, then turn off the heat. Core, peel and thinly slice two apples as the pickling liquid cools. Place the slices in a large lidded jar and just cover the apples with spicy vinegar. Repeat with the rest of the apples. Eat within 10 days or so, or longer if the apples retain a good texture.

Yellow cauliflower and chickpeas

Yellow potatoes has been a favourite of ours for some time. It's a most speedy and excellent way to use pre-cooked potatoes - essentially dry-fried; spicy and delicious. For some reason it had never occurred to me to cook anything other than potatoes like that, but S steamed a lot of cauliflower the other day and a lightbulb came on. Wouldn't cauliflower be delicious this way too? While preparing the spice paste chickpeas also came to mind - I usually have a supply of pre-cooked chickpeas in the freezer, so it was easy to throw some in. It made for an excellent combination.

approx. 1 1/4 lb mixed steamed cauliflower and pre-cooked chickpeas
fresh ginger ~2 x 1 x 1in, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tbsp water
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
5 tbsp veg oil
1 tsp whole fennel seed (optional)

Chop cauliflower into approx 1 in chunks. Put ginger, garlic, water, turmeric, salt, cayenne in blender and blend to a paste.

Heat oil.  Add fennel seeds.  Sizzle for a few seconds, then add the paste.  Stir and fry for 2 min.

Add cauliflower and chickpeas (direct from freezer is OK).  Stir and fry for 5-7 min over a medium-high flame til they have a golden-brown crust.

Peach and fennel cake

Stone fruit in Europe is so, so much better than any we ate in the USA. Everything: peaches (especially the UFO ones), nectarines, apricots, greengages, all kinds of plums - Victoria through damson. Plums are Danish but peaches and nectarines aren't even coming from round here - mostly from Spain. Even via Lidl, I haven't eaten a bad one yet.

Having filled my face with all of the above, I decided that the last few white peaches I had could get baked... This recipe caught my eye (via the most beautiful Instagram ever). We are going to lunch tomorrow at a fairytale farmhouse in Lyngby, so I decided to make this to bring. Hope it goes down well (and travels OK - we are planning to bike there, around 40 km)!

(made 1 cake in standard circular tin)

1 tsp fennel seeds
125 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
seeds of ½ vanilla pod (used ½ tsp vanilla powder)
zest of 1 lemon (used 1 ½, thoroughly zested)
zest of 1 orange (skipped - did not have)
225 g sugar, plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling
pinch of salt 
3 eggs
120 g mascarpone (used skyr)
160 g flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 peaches (used 3 small white UFO peaches)

Heat the oven to 190C / 170C fan. Grease and line tin (s - original recipe was for 8 small loaf tins). Dry toast fennel seeds until fragrant, then let cool before crushing.

Beat butter, vanilla, zest(s), fennel seeds, sugar and salt together until just combined. Don’t cream. Add eggs one at a time, mixing each egg in well. Add mascarpone / skyr, flour and baking powder mix fast for a few seconds until well combined.

Slice two 'cheeks’ off each peach (one either side of the stone). Chop remaining fruit into small dice and mix into the cake batter. Cut the peach 'cheeks’ into thin, long slices (leave one end uncut). Put the batter in the lined tin(s). Top the cake(s) with peach slices spread out like a small fan and sprinkle with the additional sugar.

Bake for 20-25 min or until risen, golden brown and bouncy. Good warm, or else eat within 24 hours.


Update: we did not eat while warm as recommended, but it was within 24 hours. It was nice. Went well with the raspberries and mascarpone P+V had prepared.

Dukkah

One of our best food finds in Copenhagen so far has been Sticks n Sushi. The name didn't sound that promising but there was one near work and I'd read that they had some good veggie stuff, so S and I decided to check it out one lunchtime, and call it research for the interviews he was hosting soon for people in his new lab (!).

It was empty that first time, but really really good once we got going. We ate a veggie selection (I think called the Greens Keeper), and it had a bit of creative veggie sushi, some unusual summer rolls, grilled corn on the cob and edamame in pods, and something really simple but delicious: sticks of sweet raw veg, with a miso dip and a sort of a dukkah of poppyseeds and something red - so you dunk the veggie stick in the miso stuff then the dukkah so the seeds etc stick. Really fresh and tasty...

(nb they had exactly my kind of puddings too: little tasty things. I tried a caramel covered in dark chocolate with sesame seeds on the outside and it was gooood)

So anyway, we went there again the other evening and ate that dip/dukkah thing again, and I started thinking about dukkah, and how M gave me some she'd made a while back and it was yummy and fennel seed-y and I put it on everythingggg. And then I made broccoli with miso sauce and seeds, and realised the world was telling me to make dukkah. So then I did. I thought Ottolenghi would probably have a good way of doing it, and I had hazelnuts left over from S's birthday cake, so I followed this recipe (subbing black pepper for green because I didn't have green and I think I like black better anyway).

70 g hazelnuts
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp dry green peppercorns (or white... used black)
3 tbsp coriander seeds
1½ tbsp sesame seeds
½ tsp nigella seeds
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp paprika

Heat the oven to 140C/285F/gas mark 1. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking tray and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Add the sunflower seeds to the tray halfway through, keeping them separate from the nuts. Remove from the oven and leave to cool while you toast the seeds.

Heat a small frying pan, then dry-roast the fennel seeds for 30 seconds. Add the cumin seeds and cook for another 30 seconds, or until they start to pop, then tip both into a little bowl. Put the pan back on the heat, toast the coriander seeds, and tip into the same bowl.

Toast the sesame and nigella seeds together until the sesame turns light brown, then tip into another small bowl.

Rub the hazelnuts to discard some of the skin. Crush coarsely with a pestle and mortar, then transfer to a medium bowl. Lightly crush the cumin and fennel seeds, and add to the hazelnuts. Repeat with the coriander seeds, then the sunflower seeds. Add these to the nut bowl, along with the ground black pepper, sesame and nigella seeds, add salt and paprika, and mix well.


I ate it with celeriac puree made like this, and it was truly delicious, either on bread, with pasta, or just the dukkah and the puree. After making this I remembered making dukkah once before, that time slightly different (I really wanted the fennel seeds this time), and eaten with baked squash.

Roasted apple and fennel seed chutney

I keep thinking this year's harvest is over - I thought the quinces would be the last thing for sure. But then something else crops up. This time it's apples - a LUrC tree five minutes from my house! How could I resist? I spent a fun few hours with M on a busy street corner - our strategy was for one person to try and knock apples out of the tree with a pole while the other (usually M - he is good at catching, I am decidedly not) tried to catch them, all the while trying to avoid hitting people, bashing parked cars, or sending apples to become untimely apple-roadkill-sauce under passing wheels. We grabbed a surprising amount before I had to leave and it was getting dark; at which point M was still up the tree in gathering gloom, unable to resist reaching for the final few.

The other reason I was happy about that harvest was that I'd joined a skillshare group wherein some people wanted me to show them how to make jam. It was starting to seem like it wasn't going to happen, but this last-of-the-season bonus made it possible. So, on Sunday, three ladies came over and I took them through my jam making process using this recipe.

I wasn't really meaning to make any more preserves. But then started constructing an apple and fennel seed chutney in my mind. And, while thinking of it, came across this recipe, which featured an interesting new chutney-making technique (roasting in the oven rather than simmering on the hob - also here), and sounded exactly like what I wanted (and completely delicious).

(made 4 small jars)

90g dried sour cherries, soaked overnight in apple juice (used white grape juice, soaked ~3 hours)
1 kg Cox's apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped (used Packard's Corner apples)
2 fennel bulbs, finely sliced across (a mandoline is very good for this) (used green tomatoes instead)
1 red onion, cut in half and sliced lengthways, from the root end to the top (used white onion as had no red)
100g fresh ginger, finely grated
1 red chilli, finely sliced into rings (used dried)
2 tsp fennel seeds (used 2 1/2 tsp)
2 tsp coriander seeds
3 star anise (used 2 1/2 tsp anise seeds instead as liked the taste more than star anise in this context)
250 g demerara sugar
400 ml cider vinegar

Put everything in a roasting dish, cover with foil and place in an oven preheated to 160C/320F. Cook for an hour and a half, stirring once or twice, then remove the foil and continue to cook for about an hour, until thick and browned and a good chutney consistency (cook for longer if necessary). Remove from the oven and spoon into sterilised jars while still hot. Seal immediately.


The roasting worked well although not sure if it is any different or better than doing it on the hob, and does make sterilising the jars a bit more faffy since the oven is occupied. It's a delicious chutney. The ginger is pretty strong, the fennel / anise is present, but the sour cherries are perhaps a little lost. Will taste again when it is mature - for now I am definitely happy with it. Would probably be even better with fennel - just used green toms as that's what I had, but they don't really add anything to the taste.

Pickled green tomatoes (and grapes)

With my harvest of green tomatoes, I decided to pickle some (using my trusty faux-Grillo brine) as well as making jam. In fact, I still have some left even after all this - perhaps frying is also on the cards, or exciting sauce, or who knows what else? The grapes were left over from my last bunch of Concord grapes of the season - I hung onto the unripe ones to try pickling them.

~1 lb of green tomatoes
~10 unripe Concord grapes
~20 mint leaves
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1/4 tsp red chilli flakes
3/8 cup cider vinegar
3/8 cup white vinegar
1 1/4 cups water
3/4 tbsp salt

Slice the green tomatoes thickly and pack into two (~400g size) jars. Add the Concord grapes and mint leaves to one / the fennel seeds, celery seeds and chilli flakes to the other. Put the vinegars, water and salt into a small saucepan and bring just to the boil. Pour over the jar contents, making sure to fill right up to ~1 cm from the brim, jiggling the contents to minimize air bubbles. Put lids on while the contents are still hot, then let cool before storing in the fridge.

Brinjal chutney

At the end of my day at Drumlin, I became custodian of a large quantity of aubergines otherwise destined for the compost heap. I had no particular plan for them at first. A suggested preserving them in oil; I'd also seen them pickled in vinegar; but I wasn't really fancying either of those options. But then I started daydreaming about aubergine preserving, and what developed in my mind was more of a chutney: deep and dark and richly spiced. I used the spice combination from my favourite aubergine curry, and I based the chutney method on this recipe.

(made ~3 small-medium jars)

1 kg / 2 lb 4oz aubergines, chopped into ~1 in cubes
~2 tbsp salt
~4 tbsp veg oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
~2 medium chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
50 g / 2 oz ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp nigella seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp tamarind paste mixed with 3 tbsp hot water
150g / 6 oz light brown sugar
300 ml / 1/2 pint cider vinegar

Layer chopped aubergines with salt in a colander, put a weight on top and leave to drain for approx 2 hours or overnight. Rinse and pat dry.

Heat oven to 400F. Toss the aubergine pieces with approx 2 tbsp oil and spread out on baking trays. Bake for ~30 min, until tender. Meanwhile, dry fry the whole spices. When fragrant, let cool a little and then transfer half of the mixture to a spice grinder and grind lightly - leave the rest as whole seeds.

Heat 1-2 tbsp of oil in preserving pan and add onion, garlic, chilli and ginger. Cover and cook until softened (~10 min). Add the ground spices (including turmeric), whole spices, tamarind, sugar, vinegar and aubergines. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then cook for about 40 min, until thick and the aubergines are tender.

Spoon into sterilised jars and seal. Let mature for at least a month before opening.


Oh wow, this is delicious. Exactly what I wanted. The few tbsp I couldn't fit in my three jars and became a test part-jar are already in my belly with no days' maturing time and the chutney is already delicious.

Latest yellow split pea dal

Pretty much based on this recipe: trying to perfect my method.

1 cup yellow split peas
3 cups water
1 tbsp coconut oil (or olive)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 in piece ginger, finely chopped
1/4 tsp fennel seed
1/4 tsp nigella seed
1/4 tsp mustard seed
1/4 tsp cumin seed
seeds from 4 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp salt

Put the split peas and water in a medium saucepan, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the ginger, garlic and whole spices. Cook for a few minutes, until spices are aromatic and garlic light gold, then add the turmeric and cook for a few more seconds. Stir the peas and check they are soft and collapsing. When they are, Add the spice mixture to the peas, along with the salt, and stir. Eat with rice or with flatbreads.


This is really warming and good. I've worked through a few iterations and like this one best (with optional fried onion addition). Must be patient and make sure the peas are fully cooked - the softer the better, really.

Beetroot and orange relish

Got lots of beetroot - was really in the mood for it.  I made this relish once, a while ago, and I remember it being really good - the recipe is on a scrap of paper, thought it would be good to write it down before I lose it.

1 lb beetroot
1 lb onions, chopped
2 oranges, grated rind and juice
1 tsp salt
6 star anise
1 tsp fennel seeds
350g / 3/4 lb sugar
570ml / 1 pint pickling vinegar

1) Put beetroot in large pan and cover with cold water.  Simmer until tender.  Drain, peel and chop roughly into small pieces.

2) Put all other ingredients into a large pan and bring slowly to the boil.  Simmer until it reaches a good consistency.  Test for seasoning.  Pour into sterilised jars.


Edit: yummmm, this is just as good as I remembered - the beet/anise/orange/sweet/acid combination is a party in the mouth...  The colour was different than I remembered - I think I must have used some fancy vinegar when I made it before - this version was very very pink and looks like jewels or sweeties.  Made a fantastic sandwich with Romaine lettuce, tahini and dry tofu, on olive and sesame bread.

Sweet and sour red lentils

 

It has been raining since Monday.  Now it's Thursday, and it's wetter than ever.  It felt like weather for comfort food.  I decided that = dal.  I was looking for a red lentil dal, with the thought at the back of my mind that I'd like to use some of the fenugreek I bought the other day.  I came across this recipe by Madhur Jaffrey on the BBC, and it caught my eye - it includes a few of my current favourite things (tamarind, fenugreek, nigella, fennel seed...).

250g/9oz/1¼ cups red lentils
¼tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp mustard or any other vegetable oil (used regular veg oil)
½ tsp brown mustard seeds
½ tsp panch phoran (= mixture of fennel seed, nigella, cumin seed, fenugreek and celery seed or black mustard seed - I didn't have celery seed so used a mixture of the first four)
4 hot dried red chillies (used 2 as thought they might be super hot)
1 bay leaf
1¼-1½ tsp salt
2 tbsp thick tamarind paste or to taste
1 tbsp sugar or to taste

Wash the lentils in several changes of water until the water runs clear. Put them in a medium-sized pan with the turmeric and mix. Cover with 1l/1¾pt/4½ cups water. Bring the lentils to the boil over a medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially and simmer for 40 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Stir now and then during the last 10 minutes. When the lentils are cooked, mash with a spoon to a pulp-like consistency.

Heat the oil in a large, wide, preferably non-stick pan or wok over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds. As soon as they pop, a matter of seconds, add the panch phoran, chillies and a bay leaf. Stir and fry for 5-6 seconds or until the chillies darken in colour. Add the cooked lentils, 150ml/5fl oz water and the salt. Stir to mix. Add the tamarind paste, a little at a time to get the sourness you desire. Add just enough sugar to balance the sourness. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 8-10 minutes. The finished dal should have the consistency of a thick purée.


This is sooo good.  The red lentils become this thick, lumpy, earthy paste, and the sweet and sour and spicy flavours mingle into that and just make it all incredible.  Didn't really mash / puree it that hard - quite liked it with still-discernible lentils in it, and red lentils turn to mush with little encouragement anyway.  Could have been more brave with the chilis.  Love how much tamarind it has in it.

Curries: cauliflower chickpea tomato / dry yellow potatoes

Saw this in the Guardian and got in the mood for making lots of curry.

Cauliflower chickpea curry

1 whole cauliflower
3 medium onions
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
½ a green chili, finely chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp cayenne
½ tsp turmeric
2 tsp garam masala (used lebanese seven spice)
2 tsp ground cumin
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes (or fresh)
1 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Remove the stalks from the cauliflower and cut into large florets. In a pan of boiling water, add the cauliflower and cook for five minutes. When ready, drain from the water and place back in the pan. Cover so it stays warm.
While the cauliflower is cooking, cut the onions into small pieces. Chop the garlic until nice and fine.
In a pan, add a little olive oil, plus the onion, garlic and ginger, and sauté until golden brown.
In the same pan, add the dried spices and cook for a further five minutes.
Add the tin of tomatoes and chickpeas and stir well. Then add the cooked cauliflower. Top up with 100ml of cold water and bring to a simmer for five to 10 minutes until the cauliflower is cooked.
Finish by adding the chopped coriander, salt and lemon juice to taste. Serve on a warm plate.


'Dry' yellow potatoes

This is a recipe I copied from a book of Shireen's long ago but don't think I tried til now.

1lb 6oz potatoes
fresh ginger ~2 x 1 x 1in, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tbsp water
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
5 tbsp veg oil
1 tsp whole fennel seed (optional)

Boil potatoes in their jackets (15-20min).  Drain and cool completely.  Peel and cut into 3/4-1in dice.

Put ginger, garlic, water, turmeric, salt, cayenne in blender and blend to a paste.

Heat oil.  Add fennel seeds.  Sizzle for a few seconds, then add the paste.  Stir and fry for 2 min.

Add potatoes.  Stir and fry for 5-7 min over a medium-high flame til they have a golden-brown crust.


I also made this aubergine curry, and served them with basmati rice boiled 1 cup rice and 2 cups water with a few cloves and whole cardamom pods in it.

The cauli-chickpea was OK but a bit wet and not so special.  I have another recipe with a spice paste and frying the cauliflower first which looks a bit more complicated but I think it is more like what I am looking for in my gobi.

The dry potatoes were a huge hit with S - he said they were the best potatoes he'd ever had.  And I liked the recipe - pretty simple so long as you have cold potatoes in the fridge.

All in all, a well-fulfilled curry craving.

Things with coconut milk

Had most of a tin of coconut milk left from Seb's birthday cake - somehow ended up making many things from it...

Coconut rice

1/4 large red onion, sliced
4 cardamom pods, crushed slightly
cup basmati rice
tsp veg oil
cup of coconut milk
cup of water

Heat oil in a saucepan and then fry the onion til soft.  Add rice and cardamom and stir / fry a couple min.  Add coconut milk and water and bring to boil.  Cook ~ 10min til rice is done, then leave with lid on for 10 more min.  Fluff with a fork before serving.

-pretty good.


Beetroot brinjal coconut curry


1 small red onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove
~1 red chili (taste)
1/3 lemongrass stalk
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp coriander seed
1/3 tsp fennel seed
1 tbsp veg oil
150g raw beetroot (1 large beetroot) peeled and cut into chunks
bits of aubergine equivalent to 2 baby aubergines, quartered
70ml veg stock
100ml coconut milk
salt and pepper
handful raw cashews

Liquidise onion, garlic, chili, lemongrass.  Dry roast cumin, coriander and fennel to dark brown, then grind.  Heat oil.  Add onion paste and cook for a few min, then add ground spices.  When combined add beetroot and aubergine.  Fry for 2min high.  Add stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer til soft (~30min).  Add coconut milk and simmer for 5 min.  Dry roast cashews and use as garnish.

This was tasty.  Bit faffy with paste and ground dry spices, and took awhile to cook.  But several of my favourite things, and bright pink of course.  Based on a recipe I copied from a book of Shireen's awhile ago - I don't remember the title.


Coconut veg curry

2 tbsp veg oil
1 1/2 tsp coriander seed
1 1/2 tsp cumin seed
2/3 tbsp cardamom seed
1 onion, sliced
1 large sweet potato, diced roughly
3cm chunk of ginger, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
300ml coconut milk
1 small red chili, finely chopped
juice of 1/2 lime and few shards of zest
~ 6 stalks of kale - greens separated from stalks and chopped separately
3/4 a large red pepper
about 1/4 a large aubergine

Dry-fry the spices til fragrant, then grind.  Heat the oil and saute the onion for ~ 12 min til browned.  Add sweet potato, ground spices, ginger, garlic, coconut, chili, lime zest.  Cover and simmer ~12min.  Add kale stems, aubergine, red pepper, simmer ~4min.  Simmer til veg are semi cooked.  Add kale leaves and simmer uncovered until kale is wilted and sauce is thick.  Add lime juice (and fresh coriander if I'd had it), taste for seasoning.  Sit for 10min before serving.

Suggested addition was: Put 50g sunflower seeds, 1/2 tsp fennel seed, 1 tsp caster sugar, pinch salt in nonstick pan and put on high heat.  Stir for 3-4 min til sugar dissolves and coats seeds.  Set aside to cool.

Overegged the chili and the cardamom slightly - next time use less.  Otherwise a tasty veggie mess.  Reckon you could use any combination of veggies - I based this on a more complicated recipe using okra, carrots, butternut squash and cauliflower instead of sweet potato, kale, red pepper and aubergine.

Sunday cooking: baingan achaari; potato apple latkes

Often seem to end up on a big cooking mission one day at the weekend, after rediscovering or buying lots of fruit and veg and realising it needs cooking...  Today involved 1) aubergines and 2) red-skinned potatoes

Baingan achaari (aubergine curry)

This was one of my favourites when I lived at home. Shireen introduced me to it, and it originates from Madhur Jaffrey (but has been adapted along the way).

2.5cm cube fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
6 large cloves garlic
55ml water
800g aubergines
350ml veg oil
1 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp kalonji (nigella)
1/2 tsp cumin seed
350g tomatoes peeled and finely chopped (or 1 tin)
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/3 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt

Cut aubergine into wedges 2cm thick / 4-5cm long.  Rub with oil and put on oiled baking sheet in a hot oven (~400F / 250C) for 30min.  When done put in a colander to drain.

Meanwhile blend garlic, ginger and water to make a smooth paste.

Put ~3tbsp of oil in a large high-sided frying pan on medium heat. Add fennel, kalonji, cumin and gently darken (few sec).  Add tomatoes, garlic/ginger paste, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, salt.  Bubble until thickens to a paste.

Add the cooked aubergine and stir gently.  Cook 5 min, cover and cook 5 more min.

This is delicious. Ate it with jasmine rice (with cloves and whole cardamom in cooking water), fresh coriander on top is also good.


Potato apple latkes

Adapted from a recent recipe on the guardian webpage.

500g red salad potatoes
1 small onion
1 crisp apple (Braeburn or Cox's Orange Pippin), cored but unpeeled
Squeeze of lemon juice
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 1 tbsp water)
30g plain flour
2 tsp poppyseeds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Groundnut or vegetable oil, for frying

Grate the potatoes, onion and apple. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible (in a mesh colander). Transfer to a bowl and add the lemon juice, flax egg, flour and poppyseeds. Season and mix.

Heat ~1cm oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Form the latke mixture into pancakes about 4cm in diameter and drop them into the oil. Cook for about four minutes a side, until cooked through and golden brown. Put the cooked latkes on kitchen paper to absorb oil.


The latkes were a faff, I don't know if I'll bother again - lots of grating (incl my thumbnail a wee bit), smelly frying and oily end product. They tasted quite nice - crispy fried potato and onion on the outside, waxy cooked on the inside, with little taste hits of poppyseed now and again (didn't really notice the apple). S liked them. We ate them with sweet chili or wholegrain mustard, the recipe suggested horseradish cream (2 tbsp fresh horseradish, finely grated, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp cider vinegar or lemon juice, ½ tsp caster sugar, 150ml crème fraîche, pinch of salt) - need a bit of heat and moisture. Maybe sometime in the future when I have a food processor I'll make latkes...