GUEST RECIPE: @noodlesoup1

Ema from Chip Butties and Noodle Soup shares one of her recipes with us… do you have one you would like to share?

 

A bit of spice in our lives…

The UK is a melting pot of different cultures and populations who bring with them their own recipes, styles of cooking and spices.  In a recent poll the famous chicken tikka masala was knocked off it’s top spot by the stir fry.  A favourite in many of our homes – quick, easy and healthy.  What’s not to love?  This is a promising move towards spicier horizons. However I think we can push our boundaries further and there is always room for a little more spice in our lives.

There is a curiosity in the air, our love of spice and all things nice is all around us.  The boom in street food and pop up dining has also fed our curiosity and allowed us to try ‘little bites’ of different foods with producers keen to let us ‘try before we buy’.  The new BBC series The Incredible Spice Men also highlights our willingness to try new tastes and flavours.  It all helps in broadening our culinary horizons.  We are ready to explore  and move away from our take-away favourites and start looking at more exciting uses of spices in our own kitchen. So go on – give it a go, and add some more spice to your life.

My recipe is a quick and simple celeriac salad with panch phoran – an easy way to incorporate a bit of spice into your day.

Panch phoran (or Indian 5 spice as it is also known) is a blend of cumin, brown mustard seeds, fenugreek, nigella seeds and fennel.  You can buy it ready blended but you can easily make your own with equal quantities of each spice.

1 celeriac

1 tsp panch phoran

juice and zest of 1 lemon

2 tbs mayonnaise or Greek yogurt

salt and pepper to taste

• wash, peel and finely grate your celeriac
• roast the panch phoran in a dry pan until the essential oils are released and the spices become fragrant
• add the panch phoran to the celeriac, add the zest and juice of a lemon, 2 tbs of mayonnaise or Greek yogurt and then salt and pepper to taste

Enjoy as an interesting, spicy alternative to coleslaw.  Great as a side dish at a BBQ or a light Summer lunch.

I hope our adventures and exploration with spice are only just beginning.  There is a whole spicy world out there we are only just starting to discover.

Let us know how you spice up your cooking?

Guest post by: http://chipbuttiesandnoodlesoup.blogspot.co.uk

Foodilic does Weddings!

Outside catering is one of the services that Foodilic offers. Recently it was our pleasure to cater for a very special wedding. On the menu were a selection of our very famous salads, a hearty coq au vin, flavoursome beef casserole, and an array of vegetable dishes, including pasta and mashed potatoes. Of course no wedding breakfast would be complete without dessert and that is something Foodilic does well! We were told that it was the best looking buffet the guests had seen, of which we are most proud!

If you would like us to cater for your event, get in touch to discuss your requirements and in the meantime, take a look at some of the pictures from this event!

Recipe: Foodilic Celery Salad

 

Another popular side salad at the Foodilic counter is the Celery Salad. Once again, it’s simple, delicious and nutritious and serves as a fabulous addition to all our other dishes, whether it be vegetarian, vegan, gluton-free or a meat dish. We love it with our fabulous duck!

Here’s how to make your own!

Ingredients:

• 1 x chopped Coz Lettuce
• Green Pitted Olives
• Celery
• Cashew Nuts
• Pine Nuts
• Olive Oil
• Squeeze of Lemon Juice
• Garlic
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

Chop the lettuce finely and celery in chunks. Squeeze the lemon over the leaves and mix.

Quarter the olives and finely chop the garlic and add to the leaves and mix.

Make a light dressing with a glug of Olive Oil, a generous squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.  Add in finely chopped pine and cashew nuts and mix with a little dressing to serve.

Enjoy!

Raw Food…What’s it all about? #foodilic

America has of course, first on the bandwagon for eating raw food, or ‘raw foodism’ as they have called it. It’s not rocket science. Obviously eating something raw has more of a ‘clean living’ attitude than eating something cooked. Especially veg and fruit. The website Raw Food Life explains the science and Wikipedia splits the raw food eaters into two categories…

Raw veganism

A raw vegan diet consists of unprocessed, raw plant foods that have not been heated above 40 °C (104 °F). Raw vegans such as Dr. Brian Clement, Dr. Gabriel Cousens, Thierry Brouwers a.k.a. “Superlight”, and Douglas Graham believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost much of their nutritional value and are less healthful or even harmful to the body. Advocates argue that raw or living foods have natural enzymes, which are critical in building proteins and rebuilding the body, and that heating these foods kills the natural enzymes and can leave toxins behind. However, critics point out that enzymes, as with other proteins consumed in the diet, are denatured and eventually lysed by the digestive process rendering them non-functional. Typical foods included in raw food diets are fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouted grains and legumes.

Among raw vegans there are some subgroups such as fruitarians, juicearians, or sproutarians. Fruitarians eat primarily or exclusively fruits, berries, seeds, and nuts. Juicearians process their raw plant foods into juice. Sproutarians adhere to a diet consisting mainly of sprouted seeds.

Raw vegetarianism

Vegetarianism is a diet that excludes meat (including game and byproducts like gelatin), fish (including shellfish and other sea animals) and poultry, but allows dairy and/or eggs. Common foods include fruit, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, dairy, eggs and honey. There are several variants of this diet.

We believe at Foodilic that eating raw is the way to go and we pride ourselves on serving up raw dishes that will make your mouth water! There are many reasons for going raw. Here is a round up taken from Zen Habits that we believe to be true:

1. Live foods. Raw seeds grow. Heating food over 118 degrees Fahrenheit destroys much of the nutrients in food. Cooking food also diminishes the natural life energy. I’d rather put living food in my body.
2. Enzymes. Cooking food destroys much of the natural enzymes in food that are needed to break down nutrients. Eating raw eliminates this problem.
3. Insane energy. You won’t know this unless you try it for yourself, but eating raw gives you an amazing boost in energy. I used to get tired around 2 or 3pm during the day. Now I simply don’t have that problem. When I do get tired, it doesn’t last nearly as long and an orange or apple will recharge me within a few minutes.
4. Better sleep and less sleep needed. I’ve slept better than ever while eating raw. But most importantly, I don’t wake up feeling tired or groggy anymore. On most days, I wake up feeling full of energy.
5. Increased mental clarity. Eating raw has helped me focus on the things that are important and made me more emotionally in tune with others. I feel like a wall of fog has been removed in my mind. It’s easier to think clearly and focus for long periods of time.
6. Eat as much as you want. This isn’t really a health benefit, but it is pretty awesome. I never get that uncomfortable full feeling eating raw. You know where you have to unbutton the top button on your pants and take a nap? I don’t get that. I can eat as much as I want, and while I will feel full, I don’t feel weighed down or tired.
7. Less cleanup. Simply put, there aren’t many dishes to wash when you eat fruit and vegetables. Although if you do compost (like I do), you’ll probably have to do it more often.
8. No packaging. Eating raw means less packaging all around (well, I guess you could argue that banana and orange peels are “packaging”). This means less trash in a landfill and more room in your cupboards. Win/win for everyone.
9. More regularity. You should naturally have around two to three bowel movements a day. If you’re going less than that, it probably means your intestines are unhealthily clogged. A raw diet gives you more than enough fiber to keep you regular.
10. Connection with the earth. Eating food that’s been freshly picked just feels different. You feel more connected to the earth and more grounded. Eating lots of processed foods — frozen or from a box — makes creates more of a gap and leaves you feeling disconnected from the earth that sustains you.

Why not come in and try some of our delicious raw food dishes! We will convert you for sure!

Foodilic HQ

Pentonville Road @foodilic: Opening Soon!

Foodilic fans will be very pleased to hear that you will not have to travel to Brighton to sample our fare! In the next month or so we will be opening up a branch on Pentonville Road, serving the same amazing dishes, juices, breakfasts, lunches and dinners that have kept us at the top of the restaurant chain for many years. Customers will be able to eat in or take away and eat at their own leisure!

Watch this space for news and opening offers!

Foodilic HQ