Welcome to the Wotnomeat blog.

I hope to bring you a little humour, some mouthwatering meat free recipes, reviews, news and hopefully not too many disasters.   I wont take my self to seriously and if I do please feel free to tell me.

Vegetarian cookery has come a long way since the days of pioneer cooks like Eva Batt and Sarah Brown, although they were life savers for a new vegetarian at the time.  More people are opting to cut out or at least cut back on how much meat they eat and thankfully there are some very exciting vegetarian chefs and even most of the mainstream celebrity chefs are realising the importance of innovative meat free food.  There will always be those that regard vegetarians as a pain in the arse.

So why at so many pubs or restaurants where the meat eaters rave about the food, is the vegetarian option so rubbish.  Quite often the only option is eat it or go hungry.  I think the main reason is they cant be bothered or they are afraid to cook a meal without meat.

There are exceptions and I hope to find some Gems and hopefully recreate some of the best recipes at home.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching Indian Food Made Easy with Anjum Anand, where she made Avial - a Southern Indian mixed vegetable curry that has yoghurt and coconut.  Inspired I decided to make it there and then.  Only thing was I didnt have half the ingredients and I was snowed in.  Quick look around the kitchen I had all the spices, half of the vegetables, no yoghurt or desiccated coconut.  After a few changes extra potatoes, carrots and peas, double cream for the yoghurt and cream coconut and water for the desiccated coconut, I ended up with a creamy mild curry which tasted fabulous.  Wikipedia said that a guy called 'Bhima is said to have prepared Avial, when there were unexpected guests for king Virata and he needed to serve meals for them. there was not sufficient vegetables to cook any individual side dish, so Bhima used what ever available vegetables to make a new dish, which came to know as Avial'  Well if thats the case I'm sure he would have approved. 


If you want Anjum Anands version go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/southernindianmixedv_86569

Snowy day Avial

2tbsp vegetable oil or ghee

1 tbs cumin seeds

1 medium onion, sliced

1-2 green chillies finely chopped

15g/½oz fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 cloves garlic crushed

1tsp garam massala

¾tsp ground turmeric

salt, to taste

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

½ cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeds removed, chopped into 1cm/½in pieces

25g/1oz creamed coconut

100ml water

100g/4oz frozen peas

12 fresh or dried curry leaves

5-6 tbs cream or yoghurt

Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan. Add the cumin, onion, chillies, ginger and garlic and cook until the onions are soft and beginning to colour.

When the onions are cooked, stir in the turmeric, garam masala, salt, carrots and potatoes. Cover the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring often. If necessary, add a little water to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the pan.

After about 15 minutes, add the cucumber, peas, creamed coconut and water. Cover the pan again and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until all the vegetables are tender.

Tear the curry leaves into the pan and stir in the yoghurt.  Cook for a further five minutes, stirring thoroughly.

Serve with basmati rice, naan bread or chapatis