Another year, another financial disaster (don't worry: this is not a moan, it's merely a description so you'll understand the how and the why) - I have been without a job straight across Christmas and New Year (during which I let my social conscience get the better of my financial one - totally worth it), and am now trying to find something to do with my life and my time, while trying to prevent myself from spending any more.
So this post is about what I've been eating over the last few days, where I'm willing to drop extra cash and where I'll go Basic and beyond.
I was given Meera Sodha's fabulous 'Made in India, Cooked in Britain' book for Christmas. It was an absolute godsend. Through it I've discovered the joy of dal and other wholesome goodies that cost very little to make in vast quantities.
This week, I've eaten 20 minute fish curry, tamarind chicken, Gujarati potatoes and 'Daily Dal' from what has become my new favourite cookbook (sorry Nigel, Tamsin and Delia - I still love you).
The reason all of these have been doable is because many of the ingredients cost very little indeed, especially for the dal. The thing to remember is that, if you're not a curry enthusiast already, you'll either need to buy in various spices, which will make the first spend considerably larger, or you'll need to find someone who loves you and who also loves curry who will lend you their kitchen and spice cupboard for an evening in return for your bringing the other ingredients, and of course, a share of the spoils at the end (this is how I learned to make my first curry - I begged the kitchen time and spices from my mother, who is fully fluent in curry).
Spending on spices is a must if you're going to be making curry often. If you're not going to do it frequently, then consider alternatives (sharing spices with flatmates is a good one; investing in pound shop jars and then buying a couple of tsps of spice off friends/relatives with fuller spice larders might be a good option). The reason I'm pushing not overstocking on spice is because, like all foods (fast food hamburgers and the dreaded mcflurry being two horrible, horrible exceptions), they change appreciably over time. They lose their zing to oxidation - having a large amount of surface area to not very much volume will do that. So if you're not going to get through a jar of spice in a year or less, I'd go elsewhere.
If you're a serious curry fan, then there is a final alternative, which is to buy the whole spices, roast them yourself (if roasting is required) and bash them up in a pestle and mortar, or in a spice blender. This is an excellent gift to ask for if you've got a celebration coming up, as it's the sort of thing relatives are prepared to spend money on (in less lean times, I am the same - I love to give people the tools to make something delicious again and again).
Gosh. Ramble ramble. So - TL;DR - spend money on decent spices, or acquire them for free from people you know.
Back to where to spend.
A lot of the curries I enjoy have a tomato base. Tomatoes are somewhere else I won't skimp. I've cooked with value tomatoes before, and I just don't think that, unless they're the 17p variety, the 10p difference between them and the next level up is worth it. What I love to do is wait for the really nice varieties to be on offer. Napolina tomatoes are usually about £1.10 a tin; if I can get them for 60p or less a tin, I'll buy several and hide them in the backs of cupboards.
I don't eat that much meat or fish at the moment. That's because when it comes to chicken, turkey and pork, I'm really fussy about Free Range. Even though battery hens are a thing of the past, cheap chicken will almost certainly not have led a happy life, and while the birds that are in the supermarket have already paid the ultimate price for our constant desire for poultry, if we stop buying it, yes, there'll be an awful waste of life for a short time, but hopefully (desperately hopefully) the suppliers will change their ways. I don't know. I'm very pro Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on all this.
So I'll wait until there's a good deal on free range chicken. Also, if a recipe calls for breast, ask yourself if it does, really, or if you can just bone and chop up the much tastier thigh meat instead. Or cook with boned joints - I LOVE cooking with whole legs - you get a lot of meat for your money and are often less than half the price of breast meat. Plus you can turn the bones into stock if you cook enough of them. Win.
As for fish, the ocean is in real trouble just now, and it's only going to get worse without a massive turnaround. When I do eat fish, it's always Marine Stewardship Council Certified (look for the MSC logo), and if I possibly can, I also buy the less popular types of fish fresh from the counter. Pollock is brilliant for curry, as it'[s bland on its own, but takes flavour beautifully and has a good texture. I'm careful with frozen fish, because it's not always brilliantly treated, but if you can find a supermarket that does a good line in it, particularly chunked off-cuts from the pricier fillets, get in, enjoy and cook your heart out.
The last thing I've really spent on food-wise lately has been yoghurt. Lots of people might disagree with me on this, but I am a huge disciple of Total 0% - it's the riccotta-ish thickness of it that makes it for me. Whereas with a tub of thick Greek yoghurt, I'll eat half the tub like soured cream, with Total, I'll eat a big spoonful on a whole bowl of curry, and that's enough. Plus it's deliciously sour and unbelievably moreish on a rich, starchy dish. Yes it's more expensive, but I reckon it goes more than twice as far for less than twice the price of its competitors. So I'm sold.
Where to scrimp.
Pulses - avoid supermarkets. Go to somewhere you trust for value - there's a brilliant green grocer's near my parents in Finchley that stocks every type of pulse and grain imaginable in huge bags for low prices. Bad if you've got mice, good if you're on a budget. I do not have mice, so I have bought big.
Rice - Basmati is good, but in the end, you can have a very good meal of cheap rice as long as you're sure it's been properly stored and also as long as it's cooked from fresh. Did you know that slowly cooled or reheated rice is the perfect environment for bugs like salmonella? It's essentially a 3D petri dish - warm, moist and with a permanent supply of starch. Reheating rice is like playing raw chicken roulette. Don't do it.
Onions - buy them at grocers, or better yet at a market where you can buy a whole sackful towards the end of the day for next to nothing. Only do this if you have somewhere sensible to store them. Rotten onion is one of the worst things to find hidden in a kitchen.
Garlic - buy it when you need it. A whole head is only about 40p; overbuying will only lead to sprouting and then you'll lose half your stock to cutting out the green shoots.
Stock - if you need it, make your own if you can. It's cheaper, better, and you get a sense of smugness no number of gel-pots will ever give you. I don't do it all the time, but when I do, I am significantly prouder of myself than I've any right to be, which is a sensation I'd like to share with you all, too.
Drink - if you're low on money, forget booze. Make lemonade, drink water, have tea, buy squash (budget winner if you learn to love it pathetically weak like I do - I like water to taste like it once met a lemon in another life).
I'd write more, but I've just scrolled up and seen how long this post is. Kudos if you've made it to the end! Good lord. It's like writing a stream of consciousness cookbook.
Never mind. Til next time. Perhaps it won't be months and months before I post again, but if it is, there's always 2016 for me to get it right!
Catch you later
xx Alex
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