I went to visit a very good friend of mine recently. I've known her for about 15 years, and she's great. She's always warm, welcoming, funny, interesting company. You know what's also amazing about her? She's now she's got two great kids, and they're almost as brilliant!
When I go and see her, food is always something that we enjoy together. She's a veggie, and we always talk nonsense over cake and tea (she's a big fan of Ms Cupcake, and rightly so), make big batches of katsu, or enjoy crisps as a sandwich filling. Yep, that's how we roll.
She lives outside London, and that means she gets that most precious of resources, a garden. When I saw her on my most recent visit, she had a great big stash of green tomatoes that she had set on her kitchen windowsill to ripen.
"Could I take a couple?" I asked. She waved me off with a big bag of green tomatoes, a block of vegan chocolate and some huge bolts of original 70s fabric. You can see why I think she's so great, right?!
All I knew of green tomatoes is that you fry them, and that was sort of what I was planning to do. I had the idea of getting some cornmeal and sticking in some lime zest, chopped coriander, chilli, salt and what have you.
That was until I was lazily flicking through my newly acquired copy of India's Vegetarian Cooking - and saw a recipe for stir-fried green tomatoes with two of my favourite flavourings in - asofetida and curry leaves.
I've never cooked with green tomatoes before, but they've got a tang and an acidity I really liked, and that chimed so well with the warmth of the chilli.
The recipe was a simple one, six or so ingredients. It was gorgeous - I stuck a few red cherry tomatoes in for good measure, and a nice sweetness in the background, and snarfed down with some paratha.
What's better than a good friend? A good friend with a great big bunch of green tomatoes!
When I go and see her, food is always something that we enjoy together. She's a veggie, and we always talk nonsense over cake and tea (she's a big fan of Ms Cupcake, and rightly so), make big batches of katsu, or enjoy crisps as a sandwich filling. Yep, that's how we roll.
She lives outside London, and that means she gets that most precious of resources, a garden. When I saw her on my most recent visit, she had a great big stash of green tomatoes that she had set on her kitchen windowsill to ripen.
"Could I take a couple?" I asked. She waved me off with a big bag of green tomatoes, a block of vegan chocolate and some huge bolts of original 70s fabric. You can see why I think she's so great, right?!
All I knew of green tomatoes is that you fry them, and that was sort of what I was planning to do. I had the idea of getting some cornmeal and sticking in some lime zest, chopped coriander, chilli, salt and what have you.
That was until I was lazily flicking through my newly acquired copy of India's Vegetarian Cooking - and saw a recipe for stir-fried green tomatoes with two of my favourite flavourings in - asofetida and curry leaves.
I've never cooked with green tomatoes before, but they've got a tang and an acidity I really liked, and that chimed so well with the warmth of the chilli.
The recipe was a simple one, six or so ingredients. It was gorgeous - I stuck a few red cherry tomatoes in for good measure, and a nice sweetness in the background, and snarfed down with some paratha.
What's better than a good friend? A good friend with a great big bunch of green tomatoes!
I went to visit a very good friend of mine recently. I've known her for about 15 years, and she's great. She's always warm, welc...
