“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”
~ Samuel Johnson

To me there is no city in the world that can compare to London. I feel like it is the city of my soul, it is home in a way that no other place has ever been. (Except here in Aramco of course, but this isn’t exactly the ‘real world’.)

Growing up, my family and I spent a few weeks every summer in London or elsewhere in the UK and I always felt ‘right’ when I was there. I fit in like I did no place else and to this day London is my favorite place in the world. I even spent my first year of University there. (Here’s another post I did about my love for the UK.)

London really has everything you could ever want (except sunshine), from a fast paced city feel to the tradition and quirky elegance I always associate with England. The architecture, the history, the endlessly charming people, the brilliant shopping, the diverse and eclectic culture, the beautiful parks and markets, are all stamped on my heart forever. I just can’t get enough of that place, which is why I’ve been thinking about spending a week there this summer for my birthday.

Ever since that idea popped into my head I’ve been in constant daydreaming mode, remembering all of my favorite places in London and making mental checklists of things I’ve got to do and people I have to see. But, as you would imagine from a food blogger, I’ve been mainly dreaming about the amazing food. And what is more quintessentially London than a big pile of greasy fish and chips?

My nostalgia must have inspired my culinary creativity because this recipe is truly out of this world authentic. The trick to making the tofu taste really fishy is the addition of 2 sheets of finely ground up nori rolls in the wet batter. It gave the tofu the perfect amount of ocean fresh taste that I had been missing. The right texture of the wet batter is essential to making this recipe really genuine. You have to make sure to get the oil super hot before adding the battered tofu so the batter will seal up instantly and be light and crisp. YUM!

Vegan Fish
1 lb extra firm tofu, frozen, thawed, pressed gently to remove excess water, then sliced into 4 pieces. You don’t want them too small!
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup dark beer + 2 Tbsp (we used non-alcoholic because here in Saudi Arabia alcohol is illegal)
2 inches deep of very hot vegetable oil in a large pot
2 nori seaweed rolls
1/3 cup all purpose flour for dredging
1 tsp paprika
salt and pepper

- Place the pieces of tofu in a large dish and splash them with malt vinegar and let them marinate for 3 hours. They don’t need to soak in the vinegar, just give them a good splashing and turn them once.

- Grind up the nori rolls in a food processor till they are a powder

- Combine the 1 cup flour with the beer, paprika, salt, pepper, and nori powder

- Get the oil really, really, really hot.

- Remove the tofu from the marinade, dredge each piece in the 1/3 cup flour, then dip them in the wet batter and quickly place in the very, very, very hot oil

- Watch them closely, the oil is super hot so the batter will brown quickly. Remove when golden. Serve with a side of tartar sauce (vegan mayo and chopped pickles) and covered with lots of sea salt and malt vinegar.

The chips couldn’t be easier. Chop 2 potatoes into fry sized pieces, not too small, you want hefty fries! Toss them with a generous amount of olive oil, lots of salt, and then put them in a 400F oven. Don’t even think about touching them for 30 minutes. If you try to stir them before then they will break apart. Leave them alone for at least 30 minutes and only try to stir them and turn them over if you can do it without them breaking. In total they should bake for about 45 minutes or till they reach the crispiness you like. Serve them with lots of salt and malt vinegar!

Red Onion Marmalade has always been one of my favorite things, but up until now I had never made it for myself. One taste of this amazing spread and I bet it will be one of your favorite things, too. It has the buttery taste of cooked onions, the tangy bite of vinegar and the sweet, molasses mellowness of brown sugar, all together in one place. It is delicious spread on toast in the morning, on top of crispy fried tofu, in a baked potato, topping a veggie burger, mixed with mashed black beans to make an insane dip for crackers and chips, there are a million different ways to use this yumminess!

Here it is on top of crispy fried tofu, served with a side of steamed broccoli and my cheddar jalapeno biscuits. The tofu was marinated in soy sauce, olive oil and lemon juice and then dredged in nutritional yeast, AP flour, cornstarch, garlic powder and ground flaxseeds and then fried up in a thin puddle of olive oil.

Ingredients
2 red onions, chopped small
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
3 cloves garlic, chopped small
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

- In a small saucepan combine all of the ingredients. No need to be specific about the order, just get them all in there, and stir it up.

Onions and garlic in the vinegar, water mixture

Brown sugar and ginger added!

- Bring to a gentle simmer/boil and continue to cook, stirring occasionally for about 45 minutes, to an hour. You want to cook until most of the liquid is gone, everything is soft and it has the consistency of jelly.

Bubbling away!

- Enjoy!

Mmmm! So beautiful and tasty! This pie just melts in your mouth like silk and has the most luscious chocolate taste. You won’t believe how easy this impressive looking pie is to make, I think it is the perfect show-stopper for your next party. I got the recipe from everydaydish.tv
Although, I changed the recipe a bit. I didn’t add any espresso, but I did add a bit more vanilla and a pinch of nutmeg. So good!

…You make a delicious lemon infused meal!

This past weekend I bought some delicious local produce, procured right on the field where it was grown, sold to me by the farmer himself, in the shed he has set up just for this purpose. It was quaint, old-fashioned, and non-English speaking…and I loved it!

After working through most of the produce very quickly I was left with a bunch of bright, gorgeous lemons and I was feeling pretty stumped. That is when this sort of meal sprang to mind. It looks so simple from the outside but if you take a look at the recipe, you will realize why this was one of the best dishes I’ve had in a long time.

I didn’t write down the recipe so I’m just guessing here:

Ingredients:
4 Lemons – juice and zest
Tofu (make sure you freeze it and then thaw it out first, it changes the texture so much and it just sucks up all the marinade. Also press the liquid out after thawing!) – sliced into cutlets
Potatoes – chopped
Spinach – rough chopped

Marinade:
Balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
soy sauce
lemon juice
salt and pepper

Dredging Mixture:
Ground flaxseeds
Nutritional yeast
Lemon zest
Corn starch
Flour
Garlic Powder
salt and pepper

-Take the frozen and then thawed and pressed tofu and marinate it for a few hours.

-After marinating the tofu dredge it in the dredging mixture.

-Fry the cutlets in a bit of extra virgin olive oil – and as soon as you pull the cutlets out of the frying pan squeeze some lemon juice onto each of them and then sprinkle with smoked sea salt

-Toss the potatoes in olive oil and roast in the oven until they are brown and crunchy on the edges.

-Remove the potatoes from the oven and toss in the spinach leaves, allowing the heat from the potatoes to wilt the leaves.

-Drizzle the potatoes and spinach with olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt.

This is delicious! Enjoy!

What a quick and delicious dinner! Easy and tasty, perfect for those rushed evenings. I didn’t even plan ahead for this one, just cobbled it together from the things we have in our very, very tiny, albeit well stocked, kitchen.

I didn’t write down a recipe for this one, but here is basically what I did:

Sliced a big block of extra firm, not silken tofu, into cutlets and then pressed out the liquid. If I had not been in a rush I would have marinated them, but I didn’t and it still tasted delicious.

I dipped the slices into a mixture of spicy coarse ground mustard and agave nectar, and then dredged them in a combination of bread crumbs and cornflour, with a dash of sea salt.

Then I lightly fried them in a bit of vegetable oil, on medium heat on the stove top. That’s it! No fuss, no drama, just delicious ‘honey’/mustard tofu!

I also cooked up a batch of quinoa and topped the quinoa with lightly sauted spinach, tossed with a bit of lemon juice.

So easy and so good!

To make up for the fairly shoddy picture and lack of exact recipe, I leave you with a photo of Twilah the Zoofer Kitten and her furry belly of cuddles!