Chaat (sometimes spelt chat) Masala is a Pakistani and North Indian spice mix which is both sweet and sour in taste. There are, of course, more versions than I can shake a stick at but my version is below.

There are a couple of unusual ingredients, the first being Kala Namak (Indian black salt) and secondly Amchoor (dried mango powder). If you track down either of these ingredients in rural Spain then please do let me know.

Blend the following ingredients in a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar if you want to give your arms a work out.

1 tbs roasted cumin seeds

1 tbs roasted fennel seeds

Pinch asafoetida

½ tbs garam masala

½ tbs amchoor (dried mango powder)

½ tbs kala namak (black salt)

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp roasted black peppercorns

Dry fry or roast the cumin, fennel seeds and peppercorn until they start to release their oils giving off a wonderful aroma. Make sure not to burn them.

Add all ingredients to a spice blender and pulse until powdered.

Place in an airtight container in a cool dark place where is will keep for a couple of months but I prefer to mix and grind it as and when I need it.

On the day I ground my mix I used it as a rub for fish that I baked in the oven and served with roasted vegetables. 

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The term pickle is derived from the Dutch word pekel, meaning brine. Pickled as a newt is an English phrase for being pissed.

Pickling is the process of preserving food in brine or vinegar and this method has been used for thousands of years, particularly in India and other parts of Asia.

In Fiji, for example, before a man could woo a girl he had to show his prowess by allowing her parents to inspect his pickling pits in order to prove he was good marrying material. I am going to try something similar - you show me yours and I'll show you mine.

Even Christopher Columbus's ships carried pickles as they are packed with vitamin C and thus helped avoid scurvy. Brits are often referred to as ‘limeys’ because their ships carried citrus fruits for the same reason.

In days gone by fruits and vegetables were pickled in order to survive hard and long winters. Now, in the main, we can pickle in times of plenty to enjoy in the winter. Pickling has enjoyed a recent boon from chefs and foodies alike (and me) as they add an interesting and acidic punch to dishes and it is very cheap to produce.

However, apart from pickled herrings, pickling is rather new to me. And now I have the pickling bug from onions, mixed vegetables to chillies. 

Pickling vegetables not only improves their texture and flavour but it can also make them more nutritious - by introducing B vitamins produced by bacteria.

And recently I watched The Hairy Bikers' Asian Adventure – Korean episode on catch up and there was Kimchi, I had it once in Hong Kong and now I am going to pickle cabbage, Kimchi Andalucían style. 

According to Korean scientists, Kimchi contains as much as twice the levels of vitamins B1, B2, B12, and niacin as unfermented cabbage contains. Now you know.

Meanwhile, whilst in pickling mode and having some green chillies to hand (Francisco, in my local fruit and veg shop told me they were muy, muy picante, he even wagged his finger to emphasis the fact) I decided to give it a go and here’s the recipe which has been specially requested by a friend, Fran Rajewski, who is slowly recovering from surgery. I’m sure my picante pickled green chillies will help with her mending. 

Use your usual sterilisation method. I place my jars in the oven for 10 minutes at 120°C and the lids under boiling water for the same time.

Place the chillies in a colander and scold with boiling water, set aside to cool as you will have to pierce them in order that the pickling solution penetrates them. 

Place them into the jar and add whatever spices suit you. I added:

Mustard seeds

Peeled garlic

Black pepper corns

Bay leaves

Cassia bark

Coriander seeds

Plus a teaspoon of salt and a good sprinkle of brown sugar.

Apart from flavouring the vinegar the spices are antimicrobial – they kill micro-organisms or at least they inhibit their growth.

Now cover with vinegar of your choice (white wine in my case) making sure everything is submerged. Now tap the jar in order to release any air bubbles, screw the lid tight then store in a cool dark place until the chillies start to turn light green. 

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For the train spotters: We travelled overnight from Delhi on the mail train to Lucknow. It was a laborious 9.5 hours. We shared a 4 berth area with very little privacy. And it was very noisy.

Lucknow is a city of 2.5 million and at times it seems as though the majority of the populous live on the streets or in terribly overcrowded huts or rooms in decrepit old buildings. We saw it as we searched all over town looking for WiFi.

After visiting the British Residency* we didn't find WiFi but we did discover Tunday Kababi tucked away in a bristling bazaar - try to imagine downtown Kabul. The food was fabulous with a high turnover of diners. We were stuffed after spending £2.36 in total. It is a Muslim establishment with a separate dining area for women and we didn't feel comfortable in taking photographs inside but Tony captured a few shots of the outside.

This was our 5th day in India and the end of my vegetarianism. I simply couldn't resist the kebabs and please understand these are nothing like the kebabs served up in England but ground meat mixed with spices and served with flat bread.

*The Siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the Residency within the city of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief attempts had reached the city, the defenders and civilians were evacuated from the Residency, which was then abandoned. Wiki. 

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Visiting New Delhi is not complete without a trip to the 17th century market. It is one of India’s largest.

Kalu travels 40km (each-way) every day to Delhi by bus just so that he can cycle a rickshaw that he doesn't even own. It is a very tough life and this day he peddled his rickshaw around the market of Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi carrying Tony and I. We stopped at the spice market, of course. 

It is loud and dirty but vibrant - the wholesale spices are traded and sold in an old mughal building which seems to be held together by prayers alone.

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Curry. What better way to bring people together. 

In rural Spain it is not easy to pop out for what in the UK is the most common takeaway, curry. 

So a few days before setting off to India I held a curry night at Casa Adora attracting nationalities from UK, France, Belgium and Spain. Oh and Diabetic Tony from the Midlands. 

They all agreed it was picante! 

For the curry lovers here was the menu: 

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It’s hot and the refrigeration equipment is working overtime to keep things cool but that doesn’t mean I want salad for supper.  I am hankering after heat, fresh and hot.

Coconut chilli chicken

Cut a chicken breast into thigh size pieces and brown in oil. Set aside and drain off most of the oil and juices.

Meanwhile, place the following into a whizzer:

Knob fresh ginger

Red chilli (fresh) with or without seeds

Clove garlic, peeled

Zest of a lime (keep the lime for later)

Bunch fresh coriander

Lemon grass

Large ripe tomato

Splash soy sauce

Splash fish sauce

White pepper

It is good to make this in advance as the ingredients get to know one and other

Place the paste into the pan you cooked the chicken in and cook over low/medium heat for a couple of minutes stirring continuously.  

Now return the chicken to the pan and add 100ml or so of coconut milk, stir, cover and leave to simmer for 20/25 minutes.

When the chicken is cooked add the lime juice and some fresh coriander leaves

And then I got carried away with Aubergine Bhaji and Coconut Naan bread.

It was fresh, hot and the sweat dripped off the end of my nose as I ate and watched the sunset go down from my roof terrace. 

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I have a thing about rice. 

In my store cupboard you can find wild rice from France, arborio from Italy, Indian basmati rice and of course arroz bomba from Spain. I have a selection of brown (integral/wholemeal) rice too.

Pilaf is an English term borrowed from the Turkish pilav which in turn is derived from Persian polow. It is also known as plov (doesn't sound so good, does it?) pilafi, pulao and polou, etc.

The ambiguous pilaf can be found in a whole host of countries including Greece, Turkey, Iran, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. And no doubt lots of other countries too.

And then there are variations in Spain (paella), UK (kedgeree), Italy (risotto), Caribbean (rice & peas) and so on.

Alexander the Great (he died in 323 BC, it was one a few historical dates that I got right at school) enjoyed pilaf whilst in Persia and his soldiers brought it back to Macedonia where it spread throughout Greece although to be honest despite having visited Athens (and several Greek islands) more than twenty times; I have enjoyed great and wonderful food there but never pilaf.

My favourite version is pilau which was probably introduced into the Indian subcontinent by Alexander although most Indian restaurants in the UK (8 out of 10 are actually run by Bangladeshis by the way) serve their own version - biryani.

However, the best pilau I've ever tasted was cooked by the wife of the owner of The Bridge Chippy in Norden, Lancashire. The chippy had been in the same local family for a generation or two but the children decided that frying chips wasn't their life time vocation so it was sold to an Asian family around 1980 who were actually kicked out of Uganda by Idi Amin in the early 1970s and then settled in Blackburn before making the move to acquire the chippy.

Lo and behold this acquisition was not readily accepted by the majority of the locals until rumours spread about the size of the portions of chips!

I've tried many times to repeat the fabulous flavours that bounced around my mouth when eating Mrs Uganda's pilau but my efforts, whilst quite good are nowhere near a match to hers.

Anyway, it is an easy enough one pot:

Vegetable pilau

100ml basmati rice

150ml water (or stock)

Sunflower oil

Small red onion, chopped

Garlic (quantity of your choice)

½ tsp mustard seeds

Cardamom pod, crushed

Knob of fresh ginger, shredded

1 red or green chilli (seeds and membrane removed if desired)

Small potato, peeled and diced

Small carrot, peeled and diced

Small handful green beans, sliced
Handful sultanas

Bay leaf or two

Pinch mustard seeds

Pinch turmeric

½ tsp garam masala

Salt to taste

Wash the rice in several changes of water then cover and leave to soak for 20 or 30 minutes

In a frying pan (with lid) add some oil (don't be stingy) and throw in the mustard seeds and cook until they sizzle and pop then add the onion to sauté not brown.

Add the ginger, garlic and chilli... fry off for a minute or two before adding the rest of the vegetables.

Then add the bay leaf, sultanas  turmeric, garam masala and cardamom pod giving the pan a good shake.

Drain the rice then add it to the pan making sure it gets an oily coating and is coloured by the turmeric.

Add the water making sure the lid is a tight fit (otherwise cover the pan with foil) and simmer for 20 or 25 minutes until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid. If it is a little bit soggy then remove from the heat and place a tea towel over the pan.

And if by chance the rice has caught on the bottom of the pan then don't worry as you will have created “socarrat” - Socorrat, from the Spanish verb socarrar (meaning to singe).

I sometimes wonder where Mrs Uganda is today. 

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This Capsicum gets its name from the capital city (Cayenne) of a French overseas region called Guiana which is on the north Atlantic coast of South America where cayenne chillies originate. The chillies are red and when matured they are dried and then ground into a pungent powder.

I make my own in small batches by grinding whole dried Kashmiri chillies and storing in a small air tight jar. It is not as hot as cayenne pepper but it perks things up all the same and adds a vibrant and wonderful colour when cooking.

Try mixing some cayenne pepper with sunflower oil then rub over pieces of chicken which is simple but adds something special to the chicken.

There are many health benefits attributed to cayenne pepper and the one I like helps to keep blood pressure levels normalized. It also rids the body of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

And by the way as Guiana is an overseas region of France it makes it part of the European Union. Not many people know that.

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