SouthseaScene

Friends came over and one of them was a vegetarian, so I opted to serve an Indonesia Rijtafel style meal allowing everyone to choose what and how much to have on their plate. For the vegetarian friend I made Telur Pindang or pickled eggs. The recipe serves 6 people for starter or as part of a larger meal. Telur Pindang Ingredients: 6 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled 1 small onion thinly sliced 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced 2 medium ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped 1/2 tsp ginger 1 tbsp dark brown sugar 1 tbsp white vinegar 100ml water Heat the oil in the saucepan and saute theonion, garlic and chillies until the onion is soft (about 5 minutes). add the chopped tomatoes and ginger and cook, stirring, until the tomato has pulped. Add the remaining ingredients, bring the mixture to a boil, stir well, cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Half the eggs and serve on the plate covered with the sauce. Normally...

I just love to cook and it's nonsense when people say you need a lot of time to cook a meal. As a working professional with an equally busy social life, I do sometimes find myself having to rustle up something quickly. You can find the following ingredients quite easily at your nearest Tesco Express: Prawns - 150 g pack serves 2 generously and 3 at a stretch Linguine - 75 g per person Garlic - 1 clove, crushed and diced Red chilli - 1 medium, diced Butter - 25 g Parmesan - 25 g, grated Sliced spring onions, if available - it just makes the meal a bit more moreish Half a lemon Boil some water in the pan and add the linguine. Set the timer to 10 minute as it takes the linguine 8-10 minutes to cook. Then melt the butter in a pan and add the spring onions, garlic and chilli. Fry it gently and as the timer shows 3 minutes to go, add the prawns and salt and pepper and drain the linguine into the pan with a little of the water to keep everything moist. Only co...

A new curry house, A Pinch of Spice, proves to be an exciting new restaurant to try. My friends, Karen and Dom, introduced me to the place. Last Friday night I had the most delicious Mumbai Mango King Prawn. The mango sauce was so divine! Another dish I like there is the Handi Gosht made with the most tender lamb. It's not a cheap curry place, my dish and lemon rice, plus a couple of beers cost me about £20. But it's a nice change from the usual. Next Friday night, try it.