Golden Fruit Salad

Golden Fruit Salad

Golden Fruit Salad

This fruit salad is inspired by the golden lusciousness of pineapple, and combines more of the juicier fruits out there. I had originally wanted to use kiwi fruit but discovered upon cutting the fruit that it was not ripe so I made an executive decision not to use it. Which is a shame but did not distract from the juiciness.

Fruit galore!

Ingredients:

1/2 pineapple

1/2 cantaloupe melon

1/2 honeydew melon

2 plums

1 lime

Wash the plums and chop together with the other fruit into bite-sized pieces. Place in a large container and grate some lime peel over the fruit before squeezing the lime over. 

Lovely Lime

 Put the lid on and shake the fruit around. It tastes best after a few hours in the container.

Lusciously Golden

So, how do you test the ripeness of kiwi fruit?

Coeliac Awareness Week 2011–The Gluten Free Challenge 16-22 May

Next week marks the start of a great campaign to raise awareness of a gluten-free diet and thinking about how those who suffer from coeliac disease cope. This campaign is a fundraising event by Coeliac UK, a charity set up in 1968 whose mission is to improve the lives of people with coeliac disease through support, campaigning and research.

My blog was inspired by a desire to raise awareness of living with a gluten intolerance (I have never been formally diagnosed as a coeliac) and the upcoming awareness week seems to be a great opportunity. I was disappointed though to note the lack of apparent involvement in London, save for the commercial partnerships, which are nonetheless welcome.

A gluten free diet is expensive. It is possible to buy a 800g loaf of bread in most supermarkets for about 47 pence. A 400g loaf of gluten free bread ranges from £1.50 to £2.39. This equates to between 6 and 10 times as much! A 1.5kg bag of plain flour costs about 98 pence, but a 1kg bag of gluten free plain flour costs £1.85, just under 3 times as much. It is hard enough for many people but the extra cost of a gluten free diet is clearly onerous.

The Coeliac Awareness Week should also raise awareness of naturally gluten free items which naturally do not cost extra. This applies not only to products but also restaurants. Coeliacs and those on a gluten free diet do not lose their taste buds. They also want to taste great food, be it home cooked or outside. I have had disappointing experiences of gluten free menus which essentially seem to be excuses to charge the same or more but offering less. However, knowing what dishes are naturally gluten free gives more freedom at no extra cost.

Awareness should also be raised for dishes that can simply be made gluten free at little extra cost. Knowing this would allow some restaurants to be able to offer gluten free options at little extra cost whilst opening themselves to a larger market. By way of example, Thai food offers great scope due to the use of vegetables and rice, however soy sauce more commonly contains gluten. Tamari soy sauce though is naturally gluten free. Using this would turn many Thai dishes gluten free.

Indian food also offers many gluten free options due to the use of vegetables, rice and chickpea flour. Italian food unfortunately is harder although anti-pasta offer great flavours. 

It would be great to see awareness raised of cost-effective alternatives for those on a gluten free diet, whilst highlighting the good products out there. I intend to post more reviews of the products out there although I am wary that I can only focus from a London perspective. 

So, do you know any other good products out there for those on a gluten free diet.

Gluten-free rusks

Gluten-free Rusks

Gluten-free rusks

This is a tentative post as I was trying to find a definitive answer as to whether the ground almonds that are used in the recipe are safe for toddlers. I am also aware that gluten intolerant parents may also not feel the need to give their children rusks which are gluten free. However, I like this recipe as for adults out there (Mrs NMFS and I included) who have fond memories of rusks, this is a quick and easy way to have a rusk which is tasty, low in sugar, dunkable and similar to a rusk. 

Rusks, as they are known in England, are great for babies who are teething due to their texture and size. This recipe has less sugar than some mainstream brands whilst retaining the texture and size that babies could explore.

Ground almonds

Ingredients:

180g dairy free margarine

70g caster sugar

1 egg

130g ground almonds

160g gluten free plain flour

3 tbs custard powder

1tsp vanilla essence

Adding the ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, mix the margarine and sugar together until light and creamy. Add the egg and mix together.

Smooth mix

Add the flours, custard powder and vanilla and mix to combine. Pop into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Large dollops

Preheat the oven to 160C. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking sheet. Dollop large spoonfuls onto the sheet and bake for 50 minutes. Take out of the oven and leave to cool.

Golden heaven

The rusks should be light whilst firm and tasty enough without too much sugar. Feel free to dunk in hot tea!

So, were you given rusks as a baby?

Busaba Eathai, Shoreditch, London

Busaba Eathai, Shoreditch, London

Busaba Eathai is a very successful chain of trendy Thai restaurants, located around central London with usually queues of people wanting to get in. They recently opened up a new restaurant in the trendy part of Shoreditch on Old Street. They have excited their customers with their modern and interesting approach to Thai food and just about keep their customers engaged with happy service and modern food. Like any successful chain though they do have problems maintaining their quality with some items on their menu but have some standout items such as the pad thai that ensure Mrs NMFS and I will come back.

Stylish

The decor is in keeping with the trendy location in Hoxton, with lighting and clean lines adding to the trendy ambience. We had to queue up for a while in a long line carefully marshalled by a friendly ‘bouncer’. He admired our patience though in also wanting to wait for a booth seat to become available. Much as I recognise the popularity of communal eating arrangements, the large tables with bench seating at Busaba Eathai can be a bit cramped and feel claustrophobic so we generally ask for seating by the window, which offers generally more space and comfort. Londoners can also be a bit too reserved for communal eating to work.

Romantic window seats

Once we finally got the window seats that we wanted, we were happy to be able to sit down and browse through the menu which is full of interesting combinations. The lighting is very good with nice lanterns adding a romantic feel to the place.

Busaba explanation

It was nice to see that the menu explains the philosophy behind the restaurant and this is seen in the quick service and choice of ingredients.

Tea better than the juice

We were intrigued by the juices, wondering whether the combinations would work so I decided to try the jasmine smoothie with passion fruit, banana, orange and yoghurt.

Too many bananas!

I had high expectations with the hope of trying subtle jasmine tones, but unfortunately this drink seriously disappointed since the banana was too overpowering and proved to be the dominating flavour. I could not really taste the jasmine, which for a jasmine smoothie is quite disappointing. Either the recipe is a bad one or someone did not taste it before sending it out

Great ginger tea

Mrs NMFS went for her favourite, ginger and honey tea served with cashew and coconut cookie. This drink is a success and reasonably priced. The cookie, unfortunately we cannot have due to the gluten, but we usually keep it to give to someone else. We get good reports on these cookies though as being light and tasty. Back to the tea, the reason why it works so well is due to its simplicity. It simply comprises of fresh shredded ginger with honey. Where the jasmine smoothie fails, the tea succeeds in relying on the ingredients to offer great flavours. The tea is also less sweet than traditional ginger tea.

Curry galore

For some reason we rarely go for the green or red Thai curries as often they disappoint and fail to deliver the sweet and sour flavours that we associate with Thai food following our love of som tum. Today I decided to go for the stargazer monkfish green curry with pea aubergine and corn as I fancied something hot.

Soup or curry?

The curry came in a large bowl with the fish swimming in the sauce. Some may not appreciate so much sauce and if you were to have it on your own with one serving of rice, it would just not be enough rice. In the end it was bit like a soup but a pleasant one. The curry packed a good amount of heat and whilst the fish could have been given more generously, it was a pleasant curry with the good addition of the pea aubergine and corn elevating the dish above merely a green curry. It is a dish that I would enjoy again.

Star of the show

Great pad thai!

The star of the show is the pad thai and this is what brings us back to Busaba Eathai.

The pad thai is done very well here and we usually go for the sen chan with the added crabmeat and green mango adding more flavour. It is disappointing to see pad thai done badly with sloppy, oily blobs of noodles offered as poor excuses for pad thai. Here you get it as it should be, tasty rice noodles mixed in a nice fresh dressing of soy, lime and fish sauce. The green mango and crabmeat are a combination which works very well. The dish is well presented and reasonably priced in relative terms.

Unmitigated disaster...

Mrs NMFS also wanted something spicy so she also ordered the tom yam talay. It was a big disappointment. The flavour of the pad thai before this was totally lacking. I could only muster two spoonfuls. The spicy sour soup was very bland with a hint of bad taste in the background. This dish did not have any redeeming features to mention.

Buzzing atmosphere

Busaba Eathai offers a good atmosphere with quick and friendly service with some good dishes but also some poor ones. If you want good pad thai with a nice ginger tea I would recommend it but be wary of some of the other items on the menu.

So, do you enjoy communal eating?