The (Inaugural) Chowtzer Awards 2013

The recent resurgence of street food in London has shown us that fast food and street food doesn't have to be unhealthy or poor quality. Twenty or even ten years ago, 'street food' in England conjured up images of illegal hot dog stalls; dodgy vans or hand carts with questionable hygiene, which you probably would only frequent if you'd had a skinful. Or 'Mr Whippy' vans who allegedly sell ice cream. But food fans and food adventurers often love to travel, and sampling the far flung delights of street food in more exotic climes has been an inspiration for many. So now we have our current street food revival, which can be sampled at Borough, Whitecross Market, and the South Bank to name just three locations. Even Leather Lane market near my workplace has handful of stalls where people queue up for enticing and exotic delights. 

Picking the best of this kind of food globally is a big challenge, and a challenge that Chowzter is keen to embrace. From their website http://www.chowzter.com/ the Chowzter organisation have the aim of finding the tastiest food on earth. They don't want to recommend unhealthy, lazy or poor quality fast food. Their concept is to find 'Fast Feasts' - food which is healthy, made with love and from good ingredients. As they say, they "hope to provide amazing tips to foodies around the world about where to get delicious fast feasts of the highest quality at a good price anytime and anywhere". 

They intend to do this by recruiting passionate food specialists and bloggers to represent their city who are willing to find the best Fast Feasts in their city. Their team of 70 recommend the offerings of the best informal restaurants, cafes, delis and street food joints they know, so that the rest of us food lovers can benefit from their knowledge. The current list of bloggers can be found here: http://www.chowzter.com/fast-feasts/bloggers-list

I was really pleased that the people at Chowtzer invited me to their Inaugural worldwide awards to find the best Fast Feasts. They intended to give awards for:

Best Sandwich

Best Sausage

Best Pizza

Best Curry

Best Burger

Best Chicken dish

Best Taco

Best City for Foodie

Outstanding Contribution

Best Food Item In The World

Held at Village Underground, Shoreditch, we had a mini street food extravaganza with food available from Pizza Pilgrims, Ambriento, Big Apple Hot Dogs and The Ribman. Anyone who had a ticket for the event was given an armband so they could walk in and out as they pleased to sample the street food offerings. A lovely touch, given the spirit behind the awards themselves.

Jeffrey Merrihue, founder of Chowtzer, kicked off the evening with an explanation of the thinking behind the organisation. The idea that people who live in the cities in question who are passionate about food put together the lists of the best dishes, is to me a good one. I look forward when I plan future travel to check Chowtzer to find out the best Fast Feasts in my destination city!

Our host was the irrepressible Alexander Armstrong, self confessed 'journeyman comedian', actor, 50% of Armstrong and Miller (please don't get me started with how much I love the 21st Century WW2 Airmen sketches) and Host of BBC1's cult tea-time quiz show Pointless.

The great and the good of the London and international food scene were in attendance. I had the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I saw food legend and food luminary walk around and take their seats for the award.

I was totally amazed when I saw Chef and legend Angela Hartnett come in, mill around and say hello to people. I have admired her for years! She is a remarkable woman who has climbed to the top of a male dominated profession with style and class. She has published cook books which have been loved by gourmands, chefs and simple food lovers like me. I have cooked and loved her recipes and thoroughly enjoyed reading her food writings. Anxious and unsure - after all, she might have told me to go away and leave her alone - I felt I had to meet her. So I gingerly walked up and introduced myself. It turns out that she is a lovely person as well as extremely talented. She was kind, accommodating and very pleasant. 

The first award, for Best Sandwich was suitably international. There were shortlisted candidates from Venezuela, China, the USA, and England. The winner was Banh Mi Thit as served at Huynh Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Banh Mi sandwiches are made from crusty baguette bread, an influence from when the French ruled what they called French Indochina. They are filled with a healthy amount of vegetables, herbs and meaty goodness, frequently pork or possibly chicken. A sauce is often drizzled over the meat to give some spice and zing.

The Best Sausage award was contested by candidates from Korea, USA, Ireland, and Argentina. The winner was the Kielbasa of the Kielbasa Truck, Krakow, Poland, who grill their sausages on a wood burning barbeque. Their Kielbasa, served in a bread roll with mustard and onions is said to be worth the trip to Poland alone. 

The Best Pizza award was fought over by competitors from Italy (Naples, of course, the birthplace of Pizza), Argentina, UK, USA and Tokyo. The winner was the Story Deli in my own beloved London town! I will confess it was a pleasing shock to me to find that the Pizzeria in Naples had been beaten by home-grown talent, and now I must dust off my Oyster card and sample the Margherita Pizza as served by Story in east London. 

The Best Curry award was presented by the author of Cook In Boots, Ravinder Bhogal. The award went to the Mutton Vindaloo from the Ritz Classic, Panjim (Panaji), Goa, India, beating off another contender from India, and rivals from Canada, Cambodia, and the Philippines. 

Ravinder Bhogal presents the Best Curry Award

Jonathan Downey, the noted Michelin starred chef presented the award for Best Burger, which went to perhaps the earliest producer of the burger, Louis' Lunch, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Founded by Louis Lassen in 1900, Louis' Lunch still uses the same presses to form their burgers. Rival burgers were from Istanbul, London, Sydney and India.

Petra Barren presented the Best Chicken dish award, which went to HanChu of Seoul, Korea for their Fried Chicken wings. I love chicken wings, all fiddly finger food deliciousness, so I now have a place to put on my list when I travel to Seoul!

Martin Morales, founder of Ceviche restaurant, presented the Best Taco Award. This went to the BBQ Goat Tacos at Barbacoa Santiago, Queretaro, Mexico. Interestingly, the other shortlisted taco dishes (from Mexico, London, Arizona and California) had very varied fillings, including Tuna. Of course, a taco is very versatile, allowing for all sorts of meaty goodness to be served inside!

So, which cities were up for the Foodiest City award? Well, not everyone was going to be happy about the shortlist, mainly because it had to be a short list and omit many amazing cities noted for excellent food. The shortlisted cities were Lima, New Orleans, London, Portland (Oregon) and Hanoi. Of all the categories (and I have to say they all made me come all over with wanderlust), this was the one which made me want to pack a case and book the first plane out, because it went to Hanoi. I love travelling, particularly in south east Asia, in no small part due to the food. One day I will make it to Vietnam, a country whose food I love, and hope to have a steaming bowl of Pho, a bowl of Bun Cha and some Ban Cuon there.... although there are probably so many other dishes I'd want to chomp my way through, I might never come back!

The Outstanding Contribution Award went to Tuba Satana, for her work on the Istanbul Food website, showcasing the best food in that amazing, vibrant and historical city. Tuba is a professional photographer who has published a book of her photographs entitled Güneşin ve Ateşin Tadı (A Taste of Sun and Fire), and calls herself a 'food storyteller'. Her website, which is a must if you are planning to visit Istanbul can be found here: http://www.istanbulfood.com

Finally, there was the award for the Best food item in the world. This was the most anticipated award of them all, and was given by Russell Norman, the restauranteur behind Polpo Soho, Polpo Covent Garden, Polpo Smithfield, Spuntino, Polpetto and Mishkin's who has recently treated us to the Polpo cookbook, featuring his unique take on Polpo's Venetian inspired food. The award went to Story Deli (currently at a temporary address at 123 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, London) for their Margherita Pizza. The pizza, in the ultra-thin style is made from Molina Grassi SpA organic flour. It is literally 'shown the oven' since it is only baked for 30 seconds!  Lee Hollingworth of Story Deli accepted the award. 

My final surprise of the evening was when I went to fetch my coat to drift back home after an evening of food and drink. I had managed to get my coat on when I pretty much stumbled into someone tucking into the Ribman's rib meat roll.... none other than Giles Coren! He was a real sweetie - I was really impressed by his kind and engaging manner. He really could not have been nicer to me. What a memorable end to a great evening!

I would like to thank the organisers of the Inaugural Chowtzer Awards for inviting me to attend as a guest.

Sushi & Sake Masterclass, Inamo, St James

I love Japanese food, and I love socialising with people who love their food. So obviously, I was delighted to have been invited by Kavey to be her 'plus one' for a Sushi and Sake Masterclass at Inamo St James. Kavey's excellent blog, Kavey Eats, can be found here: http://www.kaveyeats.com/

Inamo St James is a fusion restaurant, serving a combination of Japanese, Chinese and Thai dishes, and drawing influences from all 3 cuisines in some of its fusion offerings. 

However, it prides itself on its sushi, which is why they were keen to hold a hands-on sushi making masterclass run by its specialist expert sushi chef, Chef Jon.

The concept of the restaurant is that the diner can tailor their experience precisely to their own requirements. If you book a large area, you can bring a music playlist to your own specification. Your table can have a background of your choice projected upon it. And rather than wait for someone to take your drink or food order, you can place your order from the comfort of your table via computerised controls. In fact, you can even watch your food being prepared via a webcam in the kitchen, check train times or order your taxi home from the comfort of your table!

Here are a few pictures illustrating the table top controls. One aspect I particularly liked is that you get to see a large full colour picture of any dish you are thinking of having beamed onto your plate so you can have a really good look at it before making your mind up.

But I wasn't here as a diner, I was here to learn a small element of the craft of the sushi chef. We were going to be taught how to make Nigiri sushi (the one with the rice on the bottom and the piece of fish on the top) and sushi rolls. We were ushered into the kitchen, which was a full-on professional kitchen, where all the action happens.

Chef Jon was very precise with his instructions, kind and patient. He was also full of excellent tips for successful sushi making.

As I have indicated above, I learnt a lot of useful tips for sushi making, and I will try my best to explain the procedure and what I learnt here.

Our sushi rice (known in Japan as sushimeshi) was ready prepared for us. The Japanese call this rice 'shari'. Chef Jon advised us to use Nishiki brand sushi rice, available from the Japan Centre. I have found this product in Oriental Supermarkets (such as See Woo) in the past, so this was very helpful, as I think many readers will be able to find it. As Chef Jon told us, yes, it may be grown in the USA rather than Japan, but it is a traditional type of Japanese Sushi rice, so the origin is not an issue.

If you are making your own Sushi rice, you will need to wash it thoroughly. You then need to allow the rice to cool. It is best to allow it to cool naturally. Please don't put it in the fridge. The best explanation of how to make the sushi rice I was able to find comes from Nami's blog: http://justonecookbook.com/blog/how-to/how-to-make-sushi-rice/

One really important point to make is that Sushi rice is really very gluey. It sticks to your hands and makes working the rice very difficult. The only way of avoiding this is to ensure your hands are really quite damp. It is useful to keep a clean, wet towel in your workstation, so that if your hands start to dry, you can top up with moisture.

We started with making Nigiri. The ideal amount of rice for this type of sushi is around 10g cooked rice, an amount which is easy to handle in just one hand. We made three types of Nigiri, using tuna (known in Japanese as maguro), salmon (sake), and yellowtail (hamachi).

Here is a diagram to show how to shape the Nigiri. I apologise for my pretty dodgy drawing skills! The only specialist equipment you will need is YOUR THUMB!

Next was the making of the sushi rolls. We were given a sushi rolling mat each to use for this part of the class. It was wrapped completely in cling film. Apparently, this is required for all sushi restaurants for food hygiene reasons, and needs to be changed several times in a night as it gets warmed up and bacteria grow on it. We were advised to do the same at home, both for food safety reasons, but also because it makes the job of rolling much easier.

We were given the choice of what style of roll we wanted to make; either uramaki, where the Nori (sea weed) is inside the roll with rice on the outside or hosimaki, where the Nori is outside the roll.

The Nori was a full sheet cut in half to make it the perfect size for making 3 rolls at a time. I was advised to buy the best grade nori available, if necessary from a specialist shop like the Japan Centre in Central London. The higher grades are crispier and get less soggy when used. The nori should be used rough side up, so that the rice is placed on the rough side. It will adhere better and will leave you the smooth, shiny side on the outside for pretty presentation.

The ideal amount of rice we were advised to use for making a big sushi roll which you then cut into 3 to make 3 normal size rolls is 40g.

So, you place the Nori on the mat, and pat the rice down on top, not all of the way.

 



















You then, at the edge of the rice, place your fish, any cucumber or avocado that you intend to use.

Then you start to form the roll by gently using the mat to curve and shape the rice, before finally rolling.

Then you have to cut the rolls. This needs to be done neatly and precisely or the Nori will break and tear and ruin your presentation. You also want a precise cut of the fish.

The top tip we were given by Chef Jon was to keep a pot of cold water handy. The very sharp knife you wish to use should be dipped in the water, then held up to allow the water to drip the length of the blade. Then you use the knife, repeating the water dripping for each cut. It worked a treat! The knife even cut the individual grains of rice to give lovely flat, precise surfaces to the rolls!

So, when we had plated up our sushi, we were ushered out of the kitchen to eat the results of our labours. I was unbelieveably pleased to discover that Chef Jon has decided that my Sushi was the best formed of all of our group and decided to award me a prize of a bottle of Rose Sparkling Sushi! I call it Beginner's Luck, but was happy to accept the praise. It really made my day!

My prize was this:

We then moved on to the Sake tasting session. We tasted an Akashi-tai honjozo sake (the normal grade of sake) both hot and cold. Sake, as you will know, is made of rice. 

But you may not know that the 'grade' of the sake is controlled by how carefully the drink is prepared; how much the rice is 'polished' to remove the husk and leave as much of the pure starch for fermentation, etc. It is one of the reasons if you drink high quality Sake, you are far less likely to suffer a sore head the next day!

The difference between the hot and cold Sake was tremendous. I have only ever had it hot. I love the warm comforting nature of Sake drunk whilst hot, and the way the alcoholic vapours creep into your nose before you take a sip, but cold, I was surprised how many more delicate flavours come through, like flowers and a gentle sweetness. The tasting has broadened my horizons considerably!

To finish we tasted Umeshu, a plum infused sweet sake. The plum flavour was not overpowering, but complemented the Sake in a sweet and pleasing way. The closest comparison I can make is to a cream sherry, but even that is not a particularly accurate comparison. Perhaps you will have to try it for yourself!

I would like to thank Kavey and Inamo for letting me come to the Masterclass as a guest

The First Two Weeks on the 5:2 Diet (A Couple's View)

Introduction: Please don't worry, I have not gone mad!

I will begin this post with the relevant disclosures. I am not saying I am fat. So anyone who knows me and is concerned that I am saying I am going on a diet, don't worry, I am not going to start becoming obsessive about my weight. The fact is, I don't even possess a weighing machine. I have to go to the supermarket or doctor's surgery to get weighed! 

The honest truth is that I am straining at the limit of my dress size. I have had to throw out many clothes in my size which are slightly fitted. I have recently returned 4 pairs of skinny jeans supposedly in my size, some of which I could not even get my bottom into! I have a choice: continue as I am, and move into the next dress size up, or do something now.

At my age, I could simply choose to move to the next dress size up. But it would involve buying new clothes and getting rid of a collection I have proudly curated most of my adult life (since I have been in full time work and been able to buy nice clothes). It would mean replacing that collection (some of which I convince myself will come back into fashion given time) with a whole new array of clothes which I can ill afford right now. What also troubles me is that if I acquiesce so easily to this next size up, will I do the same for the next? And when will this end if I start down this path?

I am only 5'1" tall, about 151cm. Not tall. In fact, I am blooming short! So any additional weight looks even more pronounced in its effect. If I am brutally honest, which for some unknown reason, I am prepared to be on this blog (I pretend that nobody I know reads it!), then I will admit I am a pear. I have a pear-shaped body. Small on top (damn!) and chunky at the bottom. All of my weight goes on my bottom and below. It is not with delight that I admit to having "thunder thighs". It is in the interests of honesty. I never leave the house without them being properly covered in either trousers or very, very thick tights. Thick tights cover all the orange peel wobble action!

But, I love my food. And I also love wine. I don't intend to give them up. I don't want to be on a permanent diet where I have to turn away the food I love. A permanent programme of self denial doesn't seem much fun for me. I don't think ANY pair of skinny jeans is worth that. 

Him Indoors knew that I was mulling over going on the 5:2 diet after watching Dr Michael Mosley's BBC Horizon programme 'Eat, Fast and Live Longer'. He too, as a result of our love of food and wine, has piled on the pounds. When he was slim, Him Indoors was cuddle-able (for those of you who don't know him, he's a lovely, lovely man), but now he was also cuddly. At first he wasn't keen to go on on any kind of diet programme, we've tried low fat cooking before and it was not fun, but he changed his mind and decided he's go for it too. So I now had fresh resolve and a diet buddy!

Here is Dr Michael Mosley talking about the diet on Radio 2: 

Why we chose the 5:2 Diet

I investigated the two diets which are getting a lot of publicity right now: "The 2 Day Diet" and "The 5:2 Diet". I will say more about these two approaches in a future post.  I have been reading the books about these diets and they make informative interesting reading and I would advise people thinking about these approaches to read both books before deciding which approach suits them better. I did think about the DODO diet (day-on, day-off) but going without every other day seemed excessive and a bit too onerous. I don't want to be severely restricting what I eat 7 days out of 14.

We decided to think about these methods rather than a traditional diet because we like our food and could not possibly go for several months of eating low fat and low calorie foods. We also know that traditional diets often lead to the dieter putting the weight back on once the diet has finished. We thought that these newer methods would lead to a permanent lifestyle change and help us keep off the weight. 

But one very persuasive factor were the non-weight loss benefits: anti-cancer, anti-type 2 diabetes, cholesterol lowering, insulin response recalibration, stopping your body from storing so much fat, anti-Alzheimers and anti-ageing. "Wow!" we thought, that's a big set of benefits for just 2 days a week hardship!

Whichever plan you choose, you are looking at a restricted calorie intake of on your "fast days". That means very little food, and no alcohol at all. For many of us, this is quite a restriction and sacrifice. We began to be filled with trepidation and doubt. We felt convinced this would be really difficult and a test of our willpower that we might, embarrassingly, not be able to meet. 

For a variety of reasons Him Indoors and I decided to go for the 5:2 diet with its 2 non-consecutive calorie restricted "fast days" rather than the 2 Day diet with 2 consecutive days of restriction. Achievability, simplicity and the ease with which we could fit it into workaday life were important factors. Men are permitted 600 calories on a fast day, women 500. Whether you have one big meal or several small ones is up to you. You can have whatever drinks you like, but have to count the calories towards your limit.

We then had to decide on the days to be our "fast days". We decided that we wanted to keep weekends sacrosanct. They have to be days for rest, relaxation and indulgence. What's the point of working hard all week only to be unable to enjoy food and drink on days off?

So we've opted for Tuesday and Friday. We thought about Tuesday and Thursday, but they were no good owing to pressure of work for Him Indoors. We knew that our ability to succeed in sticking to this diet depended on us both participating, so Tuesday and Friday were the best choices for both of us.

We thought about having a breakfast and a dinner. But honestly, trying to split my measly 500 calories into anything approaching two 'meals' was tough. Really tough. So we took the decision to have one big meal a day, at dinnertime. That way we could prepare it together and eat it together. And we would be able to stick to the calorie limit because we had selected the dish and eaten it together. What's the bet if I had a little breakfast on my own I'd be tempted to add a little something extra?

We then had to decide on D Day: when we would begin our dieting adventure! We chose Monday 8 April. Not real reason other than we might as well just get started. No need to wait for a new month or a new season. 

Our First Week

We started our very first 'fast' day with trepidation. We're so used to eating what we want, when we want, that the idea of going most of the day without food filled us with fear. Him Indoors particularly thought he would find getting through a working day extremely difficult. I'd read about the need to drink a lot of water or tea, so I followed that advice and had lots of drinks through the day. I won't lie, I had moments of feeling very hungry and my resolve did wobble. However, the pangs of hunger do fade. The feeling of being empty comes and goes. Him Indoors found he survived the day, and that it was mentally difficult more than physically tough. 

For our supper we made "5-2 Diet Smoked Haddock and Pearl Barley Casserole" by Fiona MacLean who writes the London Unattached website/blog. The recipe can be found here http://bit.ly/ZEKTur

Him Indoors was very sceptical about this recipe. I selected it because he usually likes haddock, so I was a little miffed to say the least! I also chose it because I thought the pearl barley would be broken down slowly, resulting in slow energy release. In the end, Him Indoors was very pleasantly surprised. The dish is easy to make and very tasty. We will be making this dish on another fast day, for sure. It's a real winner. 

We found that the second fast day was easier, mainly because we now knew that we could handle the waves of hunger before dinnertime. We were both relieved when I got home a little early and we could start on dinner as we had gone for a long enough time without food. 

We made another of Fiona MacLean's recipes, this time "5:2 Diet Asian Chicken Wraps", which you can find here: http://bit.ly/W0ugXv This dish needed much more preparation, since many of the ingredients were diced, but was well worth it. It was actually hard to believe that such a flavoursome dish was as low in calories as it was! The sauce coats the chicken beautifully, and the garlic, ginger and chilli makes it taste like a real Asian dish. 

From our experience this week, I would definitely recommend 5:2 dieters to check out Fiona's recipes and give them a go; she has a talent for making low fat and low calorie food taste amazing.

Our Second Week

My third fast day was particularly difficult for me. This was because my hay fever had kicked in, as a result of flowering Plane Trees near my work. My face had swollen up, my skin and eyes were red and stinging. I felt I had no energy. It was so bad, I was told to go home by my timetabling officer! Not eating and having the waves of hunger just added to my general feeling of miserableness. 

Our meal for the day was Tiger Prawn Curry with Basmati Rice, a recipe we found online here:

http://www.closeronline.co.uk/Dietsandhealth/DietsExercise/the-5-2-diet-intermittent-fasting-dinner-recipe-ideas.aspx

The curry paste was easy to make and gave the dish a good amount of kick. We used one scotch bonnet chilli instead of 2 red chillies (since that was what we had in the house). The curry was no less spicy for the lack of 2 chillies! Him Indoors liked this dish more than I did, but my mood was so low, that perhaps I wasn't in the best frame of mind to eat it and assess it objectively. I had a hot bath after dinner and went straight to bed, stuffed to the gills with antihistamines. A genuinely tough day.

My fourth fast day was fairly easy until I got to the afternoon. A drink of water at what would have been my lunchtime didn't assuage the feelings of having an empty belly, so I had to follow it with a cup of herbal tea. All was well until the inevitable need to go to the loo! I didn't feel hungry again until I got home. Then it really hit. Preparing and cooking the dinner, having to wait for it to be ready and not being able to snack in the meantime did make me feel a little miffed at what should have been the start of the weekend. I am sure that as we progress with diet this will become easier. However, Him Indoors, who had the greatest reservations about the diet, took it in his stride!

Our supper was Squash & chorizo stew, a quick to make stew with a tomato base. Despite only having only 5 ingredients, it is quite flavourful, and has some interesting differences of texture between the chewy chorizo and yielding just-cooked butternut squash. And cooking the chorizo until its internal oils were released meant no extra fat.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4824/squash-and-chorizo-stew

Our impressions at the end of Week 2

 

Him Indoors is surprised how easily he has taken to the fast days. He finds it fairly simple to get through the fast days with some cups of Jasmine Tea with sweetener in to make it through to dinner. He says 'considering I don't have the greatest willpower in the world, I am surprised I'm finding it quite easy'. He finds it is a relief that some of the low calorie meals are 'actually very tasty'. He had fears, after I brought home a low fat cookbook in the past whose recipes were bland and boring, that this would be the same thing. 

I am finding that when I get home from work, I feel very peckish and tempted to snack. Some of you will think this fairly disgusting, but big jars of pickled gherkins have been my saviour. Crunchy, filling and only 7 calories per 100g, they are keeping me away from biscuits, flatbreads and the other sort of thing I usually graze at whilst preparing and cooking dinner. Maybe as I get used to the fast days, I will be able to phase them out, but they are getting me through the evenings.

I am relieved to be at the end of week 2 with a weekend of feasting ahead of me, that's for sure! 

Oddly, it is the stress relieving glass of wine in the evening on our fast days that both of us miss the most. Taking 2 'dry' days a week will do us the power of good, both in terms of calorie intake and as a rest for our livers. So whilst we are living with it, it still feels like a bit of a sacrifice.

I have had a hidden source of support on this challenge; the people of twitter. I have received some wonderful messages of support, as well as advice. There are loads of people willing to cheer you on, particularly on your fast days. So I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of the people who have helped me via their tweets. You're all fabulous!

Are any of you thinking about either the 5:2 Diet, the 2 Day Diet or the DODO Diet? What are your thoughts on these new plans for weight loss? Are you currently on any of these? Do you have any advice or tips to share? Please get in touch, I'd love to hear from you!