Category Archives: Bits and Pieces

Kev vegan veg curry mk2 potatoes and chickpeas

It’s turning bloody cold; so I decided to have another go at making the veg vegan curry!

For the general list of ingredients, see this previous blog entry here:

I used a tin of chopped tomatoes and popped some squished up organic tomatoes into puree to give it a different base; I also left the onion chunkier than last time, didn’t use a blender at all!

There was also no spinach left in the fridge, so I threw in a load of new boiled potatoes along with some beans and a bit of lime juice.

I’m definitely much happier with this version of the curry; the absorbing nature of chickpeas definitely makes for a better consistency!!!

Oh, and I also have a Tefal ‘Madras’ curry pan which is very cool! Bit better than the wok, sure you’ll agree!

Bud bud bud.

Kev’s totally Vegan Vegetarian chickpea, brocolli and spinach curry

I decided to take up the challenge of ‘Veganuary’ and have adopted a totally vegan diet for the entirety of January; so far, I’m happy to say, it’s been a fucking piece of piss.

With this curry, you can probably add just about any veg that you want; next time, I’m going to add some boiled potatoes and a little more chilli!

As you can see, I cooked it in a wok (it’s not just for Chinese food you know!) and the curry was a little more liquid based than I would have preferred, which I put down to the reduced amount of chickpeas.

Once it’s drained off (as per the tupperware box picture), it’s fantastic to keep for lunches.

Very healthy, doesn’t half make you fart though!

INGREDIENTS

1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3cm ginger, grated
6 ripe tomatoes
200g of tinned chopped tomatoes
1/2 tbsp oil
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
Pinch of chilli flakes
1 tsp of yeast extract (Marmite)
4 tbsp lentils
6 tbsp coconut cream
1 head of broccoli, broken into small florets
400g Chickpeas, drained
200g of Butter beans or similar
100g baby spinach leaves
1 lemon, halved
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp chopped cashew nuts

METHOD

Put the onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes in a food processor or blender and whiz to a purée.
Heat oil in a large pan. Add the spices, fry for a few secs and add purée and yeast extract.
Bubble together for 2 mins, then add lentils and coconut cream.
Cook until lentils are tender, then add the broccoli and cook for 4 mins.
Stir in chickpeas and spinach, squeeze over lemon and swirl through sesame and cashew mixture.
Serve with rice and toasted pitta bread, if you are so inclined!

Yufa – Whitehorse Road

I used to love going to Yufa in Whitehorse Road, Croydon; located just around the corner from Limes Road studios, Kebabs and Pizza were often scoffed here in between music sessions and Anglo-Indian shenanigans.

From memory, it was originally located a bit further up the road, but they were so reliant on our business that they moved 20 or so shops closer to Alex’s place.

Mmmmmmmm, Yufa(kincunt).

Time for a haircut!

I sheared Cheeks today; little guy needed a good shave after the top half of him had come to look like a bush!??

BEFORE

AFTER

Behtareen – Indian Street Food – East Croydon

Behtareen is a funky new Indian-style cafe in Dingwall Road which is just down from East Croydon train station.

At the risk of sounding Tolkienesque, you will find Behtareen next door to Zabardast! The observant souls amongst you will probably notice that the cafe and Indian sandwich shop are both owned by the same people!

Simply put, there are times where I **NEED** curry and have become something of a regular to Zabardast since it opened in 2014 (fueling my Seekh kebab roll addiction on a Friday!).

Therefore, I was overjoyed when Bethareen sprang up because Croydon has been lacking a decent Indian cafe since ‘Spice Cafe’ left Surrey Street many moons ago.

Inside, the cafe’s decor is visibly very bright and clean with park/pub bench style tables; if you look around, you’ll also notice a load of Indian ‘stuff’ in frames up on the walls.

I’ve only used the very swift take-away option so far (they conveniently have a card machine for payment!), but I took the time to observe the friendly table service whilst I waited for my food and have vowed to sit in there in the near future.

So far, I’ve tried the lamb biriyani, tandoori paneer and paratha; all of which were very tasty and reasonably priced!!!

Anyway, give it a whirl sometime! Antikrish recommends!

Here’s the menu! behtareen menu

Brooklyn Bowling London O2

Brooklyn bowl is a fantastic place to spend a Friday night; located inside the Greenwich O2 (Millenium Dome innit) it has a great restaurant, a couple of seriously stacked bars (cheap prices for central London!) and a stage for love gigs. Oh, and a bowling alley!

It’s very authentic American redneck theme and friendly atmosphere absolutely warmed me right down to my cockles.

The chicken wire ‘walls’ add a certain ‘Blues Brothers’ flavour to the restaurant; whilst enjoying my meal, I could easily hear the dulcet tones of Tom Copson, support act for Hayseed Dixie (more of that later).

I really liked how you could hear the performance due to the open-plan structure to the venue. Rawhide!

As for the food, wow! What a menu! I heartily recommend the half rack of ribs; certainly the best that I’ve had outside the States!!! Watching the plates come out for other people was torture, everything looked fucking great.

The bowling is £14.95 for half an hour, maximum of 8 people on a lane. So it’d be dirt cheap if you split a nights bowling with a decent group of folks.

The lanes are stuffed with very comfy leather armchairs and sit right next to the live stage, so you could avoid paying for a gig ticket and just bowl whilst listening to a band knock out their tuned.

I was impressed by the bar products, American beers like Samuel Adams, a Brooklyn Lager and the largest collection of bourbon I’ve seen since I visited a Mormon Elders house in Utah.

So folks, y’all have a good time now! Y’hear!

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – Washington D.C.

Forget the White House, forget the Star Spangled Banner, forget all the steak; the best thing about Washington D.C. is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Holy fuck, they have some amazing shit here!

I honestly didn’t know where to run to first! Upon entry, you go through security, then you are PRESENTED WITH THE APOLLO LUNAR MODULE!! THE FUCKING APOLLO LUNAR MODULE FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

3 exceptionally brave men sat in this little thing for a week, going to the moon and back! And the yanks have it displayed in the foyer! You gotta love that? The module is AMAZING, seeing the re-entry burn marks on the blast shield made me feel faint with geek shock; I personally could not fit in the module if I laid across all three seats, so goodness knows how the astronauts managed it.

After regaining my composure and putting my tongue in my mouth, I staggered and looked around the little ‘square’ foyer. There in all their glory were the X-1 (Which Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in), the X-15 (which broke the barrier of our atmosphere before rockets went further) and Space Ship One (The future of commercial space travel?). Next to those, the Spirit of St Louis, the first aircraft to travel non-stop over the Atlantic.

I could not take it in? I have loved planes and space travel since I can remember, so to be confronted with Man’s greatest technological achievements was something to cherish.

Around the museum, you can go from seeing the Wright Brothers ‘Wright Flyer’ through to WW1 and the bi-planes, then sample the WW2 planes (one of my favourite parts of the museum) and then into supersonic, before breaking into the space age. It’s like a timeline of flight.

In addition to this, you also have a fantastic and comprehensive guide to rocket technology, from the Nazi V2 right up to things like intercontinental ballistic missles and a skylab module which was amazing to see.

It’s not all big vehicles, they have space suits, moon rock, the Wright Brothers tools, Gene Kranz’s waistcoat (NASA Flight Director during the Apollo 13 triumph). More than you could possibly hope to see, if you are as big a science geek as I am.

Look at it all!

Smithsonian National Zoological Park (Washington D.C.) – Zoolights

The Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington D.C. has free entry and pandas! Therefore, it deserves some of your time if you are in the area! (And a generous donation!).

The zoo is situated between two Metro stations, Woodley Park and Cleveland Park; much of the park is on a very steep hill, so it’s a good idea to go the extra stop to Cleveland Park and walk down through all the exhibits.

Considering it’s a free zoo, it’s a fantastic park; I particularly liked the O-line method of transportation that’s available to the Orangutan’s so that they can swing overhead between two habitats. Very cool!

The American trail is also another great feature, I’ve never seen a spectacled bear before, beautiful animal. Kudos for the amazon feature as well; walking through a very humid mini jungle was an odd sensation after having been exposed to chilly weather in D.C. throughout the week.

The Panda enclosure is the big feature and quite right too! An adult and baby panda majestically sat just in front of me whilst I was inside the centre (well, the adult sprawled out on her stomach like she’d been on a hen party the night before). I’ve seen pandas before, but it’s always a special feeling; such a cute baby!

I deliberately stayed at the zoo until closing time for the annual Zoolights feature. The security staff cordon off the exhibits, but leave the main walkway through the park available so that you can waltz through and enjoy the lights with Christmas music (got to love the ratpack!).

Beautiful neon lights adorn trees and are also presented in animal statue forms during the holiday season; it was quite sweet seeing busloads of excited kids disembark and run around the zoo marveling at the dazzling display.

Excellent, excellent, excellent! Shine on, you crazy diamond.