Tiffany Salad

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

There’s not a lot to say about this salad, except that it is surprisingly substantial and goes very well with flatbread. Oh, and it’s based on the house salad from Restaurant Tiffany in Prishtina, Kosovo – one of the finest establishments in the world.

Ingredients

1/2 head of lettuce

6-8 radishes

1 carrot

1 leek

1/2 cucumber

80-100g butter beans

80g feta

1-2 beetroots

lemon juice and salt, to dress

Method

Step 1: cut iceberg into chunks and arrange in the bottom of your salad bowl.

Step 2: use a vegetable peeler to create strips of cucumber and carrot.

Step 3: chop leeks, beetroots and radishes, well, as you see fit. Bite size bits seem to work best for salad. Right? I’m less particular about these vegetables, apparently…

Step 4: drain beans or, if using dried beans: soak, rinse and cook for about 30 mins. But be careful – butter beans turn to mush super fast if you overcook them, so some care is needed.

Step 5: arrange each vegetable into a nest of its own on top of the lettuce, and sprinkle the cheese in the middle. This way of serving it allows people to avoid the bits they don’t like. (Not that you would dislike any of these magical ingredients but some people are crazy. See for example people who don’t like Sunday roasts).

Step 6: dress with a pinch of salt and lemon juice. Et voila, you are done! Serve a stronger vinaigrette dressing on the side and consume with plenty of fresh flatbread.

Sweet cardamom dukkah

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

Ah, January. The time of the year when you’re fat, broke, cold and tired. Don’t you just love it? I gotta admit, I really don’t. I have a cold right now, which means that I’ve been forced to dry out (yup, spoken like a true alcoholic) because one glass of wine turns me into a snot monster from hell and frankly, I’m scared of choking on my own mucus. Wow. I just remembered that this is a food blog.

Anyway, on top of not being able to drink, I also can’t eat chocolate because my photographer who, usually, is the one who goes to the shop to get me chocolate is on a diet – and I feel I can’t send him just for me. And I’m farrrrr too cold and tired to go get it myself. Ergo, I have been forced to make do with other sweet treats, based on things I have in the house. I present to you sweet cardamom dukkah. Believe it or not, this will satisfy your sweet craving – promise.

Ingredients

20g peanuts

20g flaked almonds

20g pistachios

20g ground coconut

20g hazelnuts

5g ground ginger

seeds of 4 cardamom pods

2tbsp honey

Method

Step 1: preheat oven at about 160c and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Step 2: Using a mortar and pestle, bash up the whole nuts and cardamom seeds for a few minutes. Stop when all nuts are fragmented but before they are dusty.

Tip: if any of your nuts still have skins on them, you may want to remove the skins first – totally optional. One method of doing this is to roast them at a low temperature for about 5 minutes and then rub the skins off. Hazelnuts can be a bit resistant to this treatment though, so an alternative method is to pop them into a pan of boiling water with a tbsp of bicarbonate of soda for a minute of two. After this the skins should slide right off.

Step 3: pour all the nuts, including flaked almond and coconut, onto the baking tray, spread out evenly and sprinkle with ginger. Place into the oven at 160c for 10 minutes; remove, shake the nuts a bit to help get them evenly roasted and drizzle with honey. Return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes, then remove and set aside to cool.

Step 4: once cooled, use your hands to break up the mixture into granola-like crumbs, which can be stored in tupperware and used as a topping for fruit, porridge or – as shown here – homemade mango frozen yoghurt.

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, sweet cardamom dukkah.

Two minute salsa

January 14, 2015January 15, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

I like to think that I embrace most foods in life. It is important to eat well but it’s also important (to me) not to be unduly restrictive. Do I eat McDonald’s every day? No. But is there anything better than a caramel sundae or a fillet-0-fish at the right time and place? Also, no.

There is, however, a short list of food stuffs that I really just don’t like and one of those things is store bought salsa. I get that it’s junk food and, therefore (arguably), supposed to be kind of crappy – but it smells rotten and the texture of the tomatoes is just so very wrong. So, I’ve made up my own. And it only takes 2 minutes to make, hence the name.

Ingredients

4 tomatoes

1/2 clove of garlic

1 handful of coriander

juice of 1/2 lime

1 red chilli pepper

generous pinch of salt

Method

Step 1: Quarter the tomatoes and chop the red chilli pepper and garlic.

Step 2: Throw into a pot with the other ingredients and liquidise with handheld blender (or food processor, if you have one) until smooth. Done.

Now, go eat it in front of the TV with some dirty tortilla chips or better yet, fajitas – like I just did.

P.S. My editor (read: sister) rightly points out that this salsa is also nice if you hold back half the tomatoes and chop them finely. I concur. However, I also find that this can be fiddly, takes longer, and is quite difficult to do with overripe tomatoes or less than razor sharp knives. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Roast lamb with potatoes and beans

January 4, 2015January 21, 2015 ~ annie ~ 1 Comment

Who doesn’t love a Sunday roast? Crazy people, that’s who. I grew up in a household where the Sunday roast was the single most important (if perhaps only) ritual there was. Whether it was rare roast beef with yorkshire puds, leg of lamb with mint sauce, or good ol’ roast chicken, it was most definitely the highlight of the week.

Ah, those were the days, when precocious banter would descend into personal insults, culminating in “words” and one of the siblings storming off to his or her bedroom.

It is with these genuinely fond memories that I have continued the tradition in my current household, which I share with this blog’s photographer. He eats whatever I cook, takes the pictures and does the washing up. Win.

This is my version, or rather one of my versions, of roast lamb, accompanied by roast potatoes, haricot beans and whatever else takes your fancy. It is delicious. Quick tip: make sure you’ve got at least 5 hours on your hands before you set out.

Ingredients

400g boneless shoulder of lamb

6 cloves garlic

6 sprigs rosemary

4-5 potatoes, peeled and quartered

400g tin of haricot beans, drained and rinsed

sunflower oil and salt

Serves 2-3

Method

Step 1: pre-heat oven to 200c. Remove lamb from packing and arrange in baking tin with rosemary and garlic tucked in all around. Stick the lamb in the oven at 200c for about 10 minutes; remove, cover with tinfoil and then return to oven at 150c. Ideally it should get about 5 hours from this point, with occasional basting. You’ll also want to flip the meat once about halfway through.

Step 2: After about 3 hrs 30 mins, get your potatoes and beans ready. Peel, quarter and par-boil the potatoes (this takes about 10 minutes from the boil). Drain and rinse beans under some cold water. At this stage, I like to put the potatoes and beans in a big bowl with some sunflower oil and a pinch of salt and bash them around a bit. It makes them a bit more absorbent and, ultimately, tasty.

Step 3: About 3 hrs 45 mins – 4 hours in, remove lamb from oven and arrange potatoes and beans around the meat, basting them with any additional lamb fat from the bottom of the oven.

Step 4: Return to oven and cook for another hour to 1hr 15mins, turning the potatoes once, halfway through. You’ll know it’s ready when the potatoes are starting to crisp up and frankly, you can’t wait any longer for food. Once you cut the string, the meat should be falling away at the touch of a fork. If – and only if – your dining companions can be trusted to share, simply place the pan on the table and let them dig in. I serve it with a green salad and citrus dressing on the side, which to my tastebuds is a nice counterbalance to the main event.

Chipolata sausages and lentils

December 29, 2014January 28, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

The inspiration for this dish came to me yesterday, while staring blankly at the meat section in Sainsbury’s, wondering – as usual – what the f*ck to cook for dinner. Having just finished my “long run” outside Sainsbury’s doors (good timing or what?!) I could barely think straight, let alone face into hours of laborious food prep.

This is my take on what has become a well-known dish in recent years. It’s great winter food and quite impressive, particularly given its simplicity. If you have a good stock of herbs and spices you can get quite creative but for my version I’ve stuck closely to the seasoning used in the sausages, amplifying or complementing flavours already present in the dish. It’s super tasty, nutritious and quick – you should be able to get it on the table in 30 minutes. For real.

Ingredients

375g chipolata sausages (12)

250g spinach

200g split red lentils

150g cherry tomatoes

1 onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 chili pepper, minced (optional)

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp nutmeg

3 bay leaves

salt to taste

juice 1/2 lemon

1/2 glass wine

Serves 4

Method

Step 1: in a large pan, warm the dry spices in a little olive oil on a medium-low heat for about 1 minute. Add the minced garlic, onion and (optional) chilli. Fry for a further 3 minutes.

(As an aside, I cook with chilli a lot – but sometimes I’ll use peppers, or even chili flakes, that go straight for the back of my throat, and have me coughing up a lung for 20 minutes. I tend to just struggle through (good for the sinuses and all that), but I’m told that a damp bandana tied over your mouth and nose should help. Just don’t suffocate yourself, please.)

Step 2: add split red lentils, cherry tomatoes, bay leaves, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and about 400-500mls of water. Cover and leave to simmer on a low heat for 12-15 minutes.

Step 3: meanwhile, place chipolatas under a hot grill, turning occasionally to make sure they are good and browned all the way round. This should take about 10 minutes. Once cooked, turn on oven at about 160c to keep them warm while waiting for the rest of the dish to be ready.

Step 4: add wine to lentils and stir through.

Step 5: turn up heat to medium-high and add spinach. Toss the spinach to make sure that some of the lentils are on top as this will help it wilt faster. You want to remove from heat as soon as the spinach has wilted as it’s much nicer with a bit of bite left in it. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Check seasoning to make sure it’s to your taste – but otherwise, you’re done. Serve with red wine, obviously.

Irish soda bread

December 21, 2014January 14, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

I was talking to my mother earlier this week, and she “commented,” ahem, that my recipes have been a bit complicated of late. Apparently the peeled roast peppers in my last post pushed her over the edge. So, in response to this observation, here is a recipe that’s about as simple as it gets. Foolproof, you might even say.

Ingredients

450g flour

large pinch salt

8g bicarbonate soda

300ml milk

100ml yoghurt

butter, to grease bread tin

Method

Step 1: grease bread tin with butter and pre-heat oven to 210c.

Step 2: mix together dry ingredients in one bowl; mix yoghurt and milk in another.

Step 3: add yoghurt and milk mix to dry ingredients, bit by bit, until it is all combined into a sticky dough.

Step 4: spoon dough into greased bread tin and smooth the top, poking the dough down into the corners as you do.

Step 5: place in preheated oven at 210c for 35 minutes.

Step 6: remove from oven and bread tin and allow to cool on a metal rack.

That’s all folks! No proofing, no knocking back, no kneading. Just mix it all together,whack it in the oven, and 35 minutes later you have one of the best things in the world – freshly baked bread. Have it for breakfast, lunch, as an afternoon snack or even for dinner, as I did today, with smoked salmon pate. You’re welcome.

Roast chicken salad

December 13, 2014January 14, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

Last night was our office Christmas party. True to form, I drank far more than I intended to – and then left without telling anyone. They don’t call it an Irish exit for nothing. Anyway, as you might imagine, today I had a bad dose of The Fear. And as I ran out the door (late) to meet someone in Brixton this morning, fighting back waves of nausea, smudged makeup still under my eyes, one slice of toast and a cup of ill-advised coffee swilling around in my poor, poisoned stomach, I thought to myself, what the f*ck am I going to do with that roast chicken sitting in my fridge?

Aha. Chicken salad. Which, aside from being truly delicious, also happens to be a solid hangover cure. So, here we go:

Ingredients

Salad

200g roast chicken, torn into strips

50g split red lentils

200ml vegetable stock

1 clove garlic, grated

3 roast peppers, peeled

1 red onion, peeled and sliced

250g cherry tomatoes

200g boiled chickpeas

1 ripe avocado

50g sheep’s cheese

3-4 sprigs of mint leaves, torn

zest of 1/2 orange

Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

1/2 tsp English mustard

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

pinch salt

juice 1 lemon

Method

Step 1: place chicken in a pre-heated oven at 180c for about an hour and a half, depending on weight. Remove, cover with foil and set to one side to rest. When it’s cool enough to handle, tear into strips and add to your salad bowl.

A note on chicken: I buy free range and/or organic chicken – primarily for ethical reasons but they do actually taste a whole lot better too. You can get a chicken for less than £6 in Sainsbury’s and, given that you can get 4 meals out of it (6 if you use the bones and any scraps for chicken soup), I think that’s pretty good value for money. And I assure you, I am on a budget.

Step 2: cook the lentils in the vegetable stock and garlic on a medium heat for about 15 mins, until the water has boiled off but the lentils still have a teensy bit of a bite to them. Once cooled, add to salad bowl.

Step 3: place peppers on a roasting tray in a pre-heated oven at 200c for about 40 mins or so, turning once in the middle. About 20 mins in, add a sliced red onion to the tray. Set tray aside to cool or, if time is of the essence, run peppers under cold water for a minute or two. Peel, cut into strips and add to the salad bowl, along with the red onion.

Step 4: wash tomatoes and add to salad bowl. I had mine whole and raw today because I wanted to give the salad some bit, but I’ve been known to slice or roast them with the peppers. Whatever takes your fancy.

Step 5: next, add the chickpeas. I use pre-boiled, canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained. If you feel like cooking them up yourself, even better.

Step 6: cut open the avocado and scoop out the flesh into the salad bowl.

Step 7: crumble white cheese on top of the salad mix.

Step 8: add zest and torn mint leaves. I don’t own a zester right now so I’m using the parmesan side of the cheese grater which, as far as I’m concerned, works just fine.

Step 9: mix salad dressing ingredients together in a cup, giving it a good stir to make sure none of the dry ingredients clump, and drizzle over the salad ingredients.

Step 10: mix salad by hand and voila, you are done.

Serves 4 (unless hungover, in which case 2)

Baked cheesecake with hazelnut brittle and raspberry coulis

December 6, 2014January 28, 2015 ~ annie ~ 1 Comment

I visited Azerbaijan recently, where two important events occurred. First, I tasted the most perfectly roasted hazelnuts I’d ever tasted in my life – blanched, light, crunchy and ever so slightly sweet. Let’s just say it was an eye-opener. Second, I got to see my lovely sister and brother-in-law, and my even lovelier nephew, who live in Azerbaijan. Said sister, let’s call her Kate for the sake of argument (and because it’s her name), is also a foodie. So, one day while I was there, we decided it would be entertaining to pick something to cook and each do our own take on it. Approximately 3 weeks later, here is my take on baked cheesecake with chocolate and hazelnuts.

Ingredients

Base

75g butter, melted

50g sugar

50g digestives, crumbled

100g ground hazelnut

Filling

540g cream cheese

200g sour cream

100g white chocolate, melted

zest 1/2 lemon

juice 1/2 lemon

2 eggs, beaten

200g caster sugar

20g cornflour

Coulis

140g raspberries (frozen is fine)

20g icing sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Brittle

120g roasted hazelnuts

1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

100g white chocolate

250-300g light brown sugar

Method

Base

Step 1: line a springform cake tin with greaseproof paper and preheat oven to 150c.

Step 2: combine dry ingredients, add melted butter and stir. Pour base mixture into the cake tin and press it down until it’s as even as you can get it. Stick it in the over for about 10 minutes, remove and set aside to cool. Turn oven up to 170c for next step.

Filling

Step 1: combine beaten eggs, cream cheese, sour cream, lemon juice and zest.

Step 2: melt white chocolate in a glass bowl over some hot water. Keep it on a relatively low heat and stir continuously. Take it off the heat just before the last bits have melted. Stir a couple of times and these should dissolve into the goo. Scrape chocolate into cream cheese mixture and stir in.

Step 3: combine cornflour and sugar in a separate bowl and then gradually add dry ingredients to the cream cheese mixture, giving it a good beating once all the ingredients have been combined.

Step 4: once all lumps have been beaten out, pour the filling over the base. The sour cream should make this quite a runny mixture so you probably won’t need to smooth it out – but if it’s stiff, use a knife or spatula to make sure the mixture sits evenly across the base.

Step 5: put your cheesecake into the oven at 170c for about 40 mins. You want to remove it when the edges are a teensy bit brown, and firmer than the middle (which will still be wobbly). Set aside and leave to cool for 3-4 hours – or even better, leave it in the fridge overnight.

Coulis

Step 1: dump all ingredients into a jar or high-edged bowl (to prevent painting your kitchen in raspberry coulis) and liquidise with handheld blender. You can strain out the seeds with a sieve if you like, but I quite like them so I don’t bother.

Brittle

Step 1: buy pre-blanched, pre-roasted hazelnuts. Failing that, preheat oven to 150c and see steps 2-4.

Step 2: bring a small pot of water to the boil, add a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda and pour hazelnuts in. The water will go brackish pretty much immediately. Leave for 2-3 minutes and then strain.

Step 3: using a cloth, or your hands, rub the skins off the hazelnuts. They should slip right off – and running them under some cold water will do some of the work for you – so whilst this is slightly annoying, it actually isn’t as arduous as it sounds.

Step 4: place hazelnuts on a baking tray and put into a pre-heated oven at 150c for about 10-15 minutes, shaking once in the middle. The best way to test if they are ready, really, is to bite into one. But they should be good to go when they are ever so slightly browning and the oil is just starting to seep out of them. Once ready, remove from oven and set aside.

Step 5: pour sugar into a pan or wok and melt on a medium heat. When it has turned to liquid, pour in the hazelnuts and make sure they are all, or mostly, covered with the sugar. Pour mixture onto a sheet of buttered greaseproof paper and spread out flat. Set aside to cool.

Step 6: melt 100g of white chocolate (see above).

Step 7: pour melted chocolate over the hazelnut brittle. Don’t worry too much about perfect layers as it’s all going to get smashed up at the end anyway.

Step 8: place in freezer for 3-4 hours or overnight. When it’s good and set, use a knife to chunk it up.

To serve:

Remove cheesecake from tin. Sprinkle the brittle over the top. Serve with coulis on the side or over the slice – whatever looks right to you. Enjoy!

Coconut curry goat

November 13, 2014January 14, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

I am sorry goats, but you are tasty. Especially when stewed for 3 hours with a variety of soft spices and stock and some coconut milk thrown in at the end. You taste even better the next day.

We live near Brixton. And while Brixton is, in many ways, the new Clapham, it has one very good thing going for it: the market, where you can get almost any spice you can think of and all sorts of weird cuts of meat, internal organs and, most importantly, goat. At least, they call it goat…

Anyway. This is a lovely, fragrant curry which will fill the house with delicious smells and chase away the Sunday blues. Because when else are you going to have the time to cook a 3 hour curry?

Ingredients

2 cloves grated garlic

1 tbsp grated ginger

olive oil

flour

salt

pepper

500g boneless goat meat

1 cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

1 star anise

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp ground clove

1-2 tbsp ground cumin

1 1/2 pints stock

4 potatoes, chunked

1 tin coconut milk

150g frozen peas

1 handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Serves 4

Method

Step 1: mix flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Cut meat into bite sized chunks and toss in the flour until completely covered.

Step 2: warm grated ginger and garlic in some olive oil on a low heat. Turn up heat and add floured meat and fry until sealed. Turn off heat and set aside.

Step 3: if any of your spices are in whole form (for instance, I keep whole star anise and coriander seeds), grind them with mortar and pestle for as long as your patience will hold out. If you are like me, that’s not very long – so then grind them some more. Add coriander seeds, star anise, cumin, and cloves to meat and stir through.

Step 4: add stock, cinnamon stick and bay leaves to the pot and return to the stove on a medium-low heat. Put lid on and leave to simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. It’s fine to let the liquid reduce a bit, but if it looks like it’s drying out, add a splash of water.

Step 5: add the peeled, cubed potatoes to the pot and make sure everything is just about covered with water (add a splash or two more if necessary). Simmer for 45 mins – 1 hour.

Step 6: stir through coconut milk and bring back to simmer.

Step 7: add frozen peas. Keep on heat for about 1-2 minutes to make sure the peas are hot – but no more than this. Remove from heat and stir through coriander. Transfer to serving bowl (if you fancy being fancy) – et voila, you are done!

A good, flavoursome Sunday evening meal and an even better Monday packed lunch.

Home made pita with yellow lentil, pink bean, red pepper and green parsley dip

November 9, 2014January 14, 2015 ~ annie ~ 1 Comment

I was at work on a Friday afternoon daydreaming about…not being at work. And I got to thinking about how brightly coloured I could make food without resorting to food coloring. I present to you: yellow orange lentils, pink butter beans, sweet and spicy red peppers, and green parsley dip. Served with straight-from-the-oven-homemade pitas, these were an excellent weekend treat.

Yellow lentil dip

Ingredients

60g split orange lentils

40g sheeps cheese

1 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 clove garlic

1/2 orange zest

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

salt to taste

Method

Step 1: boil the lentils with about equal amounts of water. Simmer for 10 mins. Turn off and allow to cool.

Step 2: add all the other ingredients and mix through with a metal spoon.

Step 3: using a handheld liquidiser, blend the mixture together, adding a tbsp of water as necessary to loosen it up. Add salt to taste.

The orange zest and peanut butter make this a very more-ish tasting dip. Is it dhal? Is it hummus? Who can tell, all you know is you want morrrrre.

Pink bean dip

Ingredients

1 can butter beans, drained

1/2 beetroot

1/2 clove garlic

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

juice 1 lemon

salt to taste

Method

Step 1: boil 1/2 a beetroot for about 20 mins. Run under cold water, peel and chop.

Step 2: add beetroot to all other all other ingredients, except salt and lemon juice, and stir.

Step 3: blend with a handheld liquidiser. Lemon juice and salt to taste.

You will be shocked at how bright even half a beetroot will make this dip. Beetroot is also a lot sweeter than you might imagine, which is why I used quite a lot of lemon juice to balance out the flavour. Think of it as pink hummus, except without the chickpeas. Or the tahini. What the hell, just think of it as pink bean dip. Perfect for a party.

Red Pepper Dip

Ingredients

4 sweet long red peppers

1 tbsp chilli flakes

juice 1/2 lemon

salt to taste

Method

Step 1: roast peppers at about 180c for 45 mins. Set aside and allow to cool.

Step 2: once cooled, peel the peppers and dump the flesh into a bowl, along with seeds. Add chilli flakes.

Step 3: blend with handheld liquidiser. Lemon juice and salt to taste.

This is a sort of Turkish/Mediterranean-inspired dip. Great as a starter with just some bread and olive oil.

Green parsley dip

Ingredients

80g sheep’s cheese

2 big handfuls of parsley

2 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic

juice 1/2 lemon

Method

Step 1: wash parsley and chop it roughly.

Step 2: crumble cheese onto parsley and add olive oil and garlic. Stir with metal spoon.

Step 3: blend with handheld liquidiser. Lemon juice to taste.

So goood. This one is my favourite – it’s a take on a dip served in my favourite restaurant in Kosovo, Restaurant Tiffany. I could make myself sick on this stuff.

Pita Bread

Ingredients

250g strong white flour

150ml water

1 sachet yeast

pinch of salt

dash of olive oil

Method

Step 1: preheat your oven to 220c.

Step 2: throw all your ingredients into a bowl together. Mix it up by hand. It should be a dry-ish mix that doesn’t stick to your hands or the bowl. Throw in a dash more flour if it’s too wet.

Step 3: knead the dough for 5 minutes on a floured surface. Stick it back in the bowl and place it somewhere warm and a bit humid for about an hour, until it’s doubled in size.

Step 3: knock it back and knead again. Leave it for a further 15 minutes.

Step 4: separate out into 6 balls and roll out pitas on a floured surface. Arrange on a floured baking tray and place into pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes, turning once toward the end. 2 trays should do the whole lot.

And there you have it: no frills, no fuss – just pitas. Serve warm with a variety of dips. Though not quite naans, these are great for mopping up a curry.