I've been eating lots of ethnic-inspired food lately...

First up is the mushroom and chickpea curry recipe from the vegan society's new recipe leaflet which I got with my copy of The Vegan magazine. It was gorgeous, yet really simple. I just tried to look for a link for a PDF for it, but seemingly it's not up yet. But seeing as how it's a leaflet they wish to be distributed as widely as possible, I'm sure they won't mind if I copy the recipe(with my commentary and variations in brackets!) on here for my readers!

1 large onion, chopped (I used 2 red onions!)
2 tbsp vegetable ghee, or oil (I used sunflower oil)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used 3!)
2 large tomatoes, chopped (I used half a tin of chopped tomatoes instead!)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
chilli powder, or finely sliced red chilli to taste(I used chilli flakes)
1 420g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
500g mushrooms, sliced (I only had a 250g punnet, so that's all I used)
2-3 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped (I used 2 tsp dried coriander leaf instead)

-fry onion in oil over medium heat until soft, then add garlic and tomato
-after 2-3 mins, stir in salt, spices, then add chilli, chickpeas, shrooms, and 2 tbsp water
-simmer with lid on till shrooms are soft(about 10-15 mins)
-mix half the coriander leaves then sprinkle the rest on top before serving. If you prefer more sauce add some tomato puree with a little vegetable stock and adjust the seasoning.



Next up is the tamarind lentils from Veganomicon, served here with coconut rice inspired by Alternative Vegan. This was delicious! It's the first time I've tried cooking with tamarind, but it definitely won't be the last! I planned to eat the leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, but... there weren't any! :P
These things here are rambutan stuffed with pineapple (and they're from a tin, which I bought from Tesco's exotic foods section). I first tried (and fell in love with!) rambutan in Wah Wah's Thai Noodle Bar, when I was in Blackpool. This was the first time I've spotted them available to buy anywhere since, and these tinned ones are absolutely lovely. It's hard to describe rambutan, but do try it, it's delicious!