Blog
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Irish Soda Bread
With Noel’s permission, here is the recipe that he and Mary take turns to make. 10 minutes to mix and half an hour to bake. Perfect!
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Cacao – exotic, fussy and downright picky
My first public talk on chocolate was back in 2003 at the Natural History Museum. I was based there as a PhD student, researching and analysing the recorded data of the 800 or so medicinal plants used in homeopathy. Those were great years and I shared the botany students room together with 2 other PhD…
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Cabbage stir fry
White, red or the crinkly leaved Savoy, this humble vegetable is used by almost all people around the world and eaten raw, cooked or pickled.
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Ah! Chocolate – food of the gods
Now to my favourite part about chocolate, the food of the Gods. The difference between the best and the not so good chocolate depends on the variety of cocoa beans used and two main groups are recognised, the “fine or flavour” cocoa beans, and “bulk or ordinary” beans. Generally fine or flavour cocoa beans are produced…
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What is Turmeric?
Also known as Indian saffron, turmeric is the dried underground stem or rhizome of the tropical plant Curcuma longa and belongs to the ginger family. Rhizomes are stems that grow horizontally and under the ground that set down roots and sends up shoots. These rhizomes are the part used either fresh or dried as a…
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Banana Cake
This tasty cake always takes me back to my days at The Natural History Museum when I used to share the student’s room with Jovita and Neil.
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Rendezvous in a soup pot
It is still winter and that time of the week we call the weekend. The frost is still on the grass and the sun bright but the air is sharp and very cold. Mmm… I think to myself, what about a nice bowl of steaming hot soup, and I do have a few left over…
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Simple lentil dish
Quick to make and very tasty. You can use either red or yellow lentils and complement it by adding fresh tomatoes or spinach, toasted fennel seeds, cumin seeds and coriander leaves. Can be eaten as a soup. Ingredients 1 cup red or yellow lentils 2 cups of water 1 small onion sliced ½ inch piece…
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Vegetable moilee
Originally from Goa, the Moilee is an Indian curry made with fish, or any seafood and coconut milk. This simple dish made with vegetables and coconut milk, has been slightly adapted from Thangam Philip’s recipe book, Modern cookery for teaching and the trade. Coconut oil is ideal for this dish but I used olive oil.…
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Quinoa – Inca gold
Although considered a cereal quinoa is not a true cereal like rice, wheat or corn as it does not belong to the grass family.
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Fresh Fennel
Today the market made its monthly appearance and I quickly hunted out the fennel, managing by great strength of will (and an empty wallet) to avoid the temptation of cakes, handmade chocolates and posh cheeses.