http://www.thriftygobbler.com Blogs, reviews, product comparisons and other babble, for lovers of thrift and food en rich@thriftygobbler.com Copyright 2010 2010-08-20T14:22:54+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/win-a-supper-for-a-song/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/win-a-supper-for-a-song/#When:13:22:54Z We love Tamasin Day Lewis’ fabulous book, Supper For A Song - we loved it all over our pages in the review we posted a wee while ago. And now, we’re giving away 5 copies in the very first Thrifty Gobbler competition. To be in with a chance of winning, we want you to complete the following sentence as best you can. We will pick our favourite answers and ship out the books to the winners directly. Were I to sing for my supper, I would almost certainly sing ........ Send your answers - with the subject line ‘book competition’ - to by 20th April 2010. Or, if you’d rather pay full whack, be our guest - Tamasin’s brilliantly thrifty book, published by Quadrille Publishing, costs £11.99 from Amazon. - Competitions 2010-08-20T13:22:54+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/coffee-pressing-new-developments/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/coffee-pressing-new-developments/#When:10:14:43Z Mornings at Gobbler towers have been stressful affairs of late. We were recently given a coffee machine that we thought would solve the perennial slog of inaccurate plungers - ie. they crack, leak, and ultimately make crap coffee. The machine had two functions; a dripping filter, and an espresso maker. As we like our coffee nearly every which way - American diner-style, from a pot on the stove, and black as Jeremy Paxman’s soul, in a shot after dinner - this machine was the dream. Or at least, it would have been, had it worked. The dripper made weak, muddy water that tasted like the dishes, and the espresso function took half the morning to make a single shot, whilst emitting a weird, unsettling smell - as though the strain of making coffee gave it a hernia of the circuits. So, with heavy hearts, we plodded into town to get another leaky old plunger. Many of you will now be scratching your heads, wondering why we’re so down on the plunger (cafetiere to those of you with French GCSE). In truth, we’re not. They try their best, but are fundamentally flawed. How much coffee should you add? How much water? How long do you wait before plunging? The process of turning coffee beans into coffee demands accuracy. Much better are the stainless steel stove-top pots that make a consistent cup, with very little hassle, but they can cost £30+ for a small one or two cup option; not very thrifty. But as we learned, there is another way. For the price of a decent plunger, we picked up one of these. The Aeropress coffee maker takes up a fraction of the time and space of the average plunger. It makes up to 4 shots of smooth, dark espresso, and needs no more than a rinse when you’re done. Air pressure is the key. The coffee sits on a filter paper in a plastic funnel. You add boiling water, stir for 10 seconds, insert the inner tube and press down firmly. The rubber seal on the end of this tube ensures the air has nowhere to go but out through the filter, taking the water with it. It takes about 20 seconds to press down fully, and you’re left with 1-4 shots of beautifully smooth espresso - to which you can add water, for a longer drink. But the most satisfying part of all - excluding the coffee itself - comes with the cleaning. You simply unscrew the bottom filter section, hold the main unit over a bin and press down on the plunger. The paper and coffee pops off in a delightful little ‘puck’, leaving you to rinse the rubber seal. That’s it. Bearing in mind, by this point you’ve probably spent 3 minutes in total, including the time it took for your kettle to boil, we are yet to see the downside. Since writing, we’ve discovered that the Aeropress has been knocking around for 5 years, so this ‘news’ feature isn’t really news at all, but we don’t care; we love coffee, you love coffee, and for under £25, you’ll struggle to make a better cup. Done deal. - 2010-08-10T10:14:43+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-cocktail-shakers/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-cocktail-shakers/#When:15:15:14Z Stirring is for wimps Obviously, the thriftiest way to make your cocktails is in a bucket, with a wooden spoon and your feet. But, although we are everyone’s thriftiest Gobbler, we are also pretty darn elegant, and would never engage in such a practise. 1. Boston cocktail shaker, Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk) £11.99 There are a few shapes of cocktail shaker, and this is the Boston. This particular Boston has a few recipes printed on it and a brushed steel ‘finish cup’. Everyone loves brushed steel. 2. Tin & glass Boston cocktail shaker, Amazon www.amazon.co.uk) £3.99 Feeling a bit skanky? Yeah, we are too. This is like the above Boston, only for povs. 3. Acrylic cocktail shaker, John Lewis (www.johnlewis.com) £5 The perfect shaker with which to practise all that tossy stuff they do on the movies. 4. Acrylic cocktail shaker, Bar Craft (www.verynice2.com) £3.72 Another chuckable shaker. Not as pretty, but with recipes on the side. Functional. 5. XXL cocktail shaker, Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk) £13.52 XXL shaker. XXL drink. XXL fun. - Top 5 2010-07-21T15:15:14+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-lollies-to-lick-part-2/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-lollies-to-lick-part-2/#When:19:48:23Z Rum and ginger Based on the assumption that a delicious drink can’t not be a delicious lolly, may we present to you part 2 of our Top 5 lollies to lick. It’s a delicious take on one our favourite things to drink in the sun; rum & ginger ale, with mint and lime. And, by delicious take, we mean it’s frozen. Enjoy your own here Top 5 2010-07-19T19:48:23+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/readers-pies1/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/readers-pies1/#When:12:38:18Z Proud of your pie? Let us admire it with you This month’s pie comes from a young fan of the Gobbler named Alice. She made this pie with only the smallest helping hand from her good (grown up) friend Tillie, and we were so impressed we couldn’t let her get away without telling us all about her crusty creation. Are you proud of your pie? Yes. Tell us what’s in it. Apples and blackberries (I peeled all the apples). If the pie had superpowers what would they be? Flying. Or Arabic dancing. What do you think of people who don’t like pies? People who don’t like pies are crazy. Will you ever make another pie again? Yes next time we will make SIX. Who had the biggest slice of your pie? Dad. Anything else to add? It was yummy and i wish you were here to try it So do we Alice. So do we. - This pie, just in. From some boys at university in Nottingham who have done us a chicken and mushroom and the second in what we hope will be a series of blinking good pie-faces. This is JEREMY TALBOT - he favours the singular oven glove. JEREMY, YOU’VE LEFT THE OVEN ON! - The first reader’s pie of 2010 comes from Natalie and Joanna in Watford. It’s a work of beauty, containing chicken and leek (and more, as we shall see). It is modelled here by Natalie, with so much enthusiasm that we just couldn’t resist. Whose recipe did you use? It is from this book - with a little improvisation. We wanted mushrooms, so we had them. Did you watch TV while you ate it? If so, what did you watch? Come Dine With Me. I think we were inspired. If the pie was a human, what would its name be? Maud or Derek. Did you eat it all? We each had a HUGE portion, then Joanna took the rest to work… - We’d love to know about your pies. So if you have a recipe, photo, or even a description of a pie you’ve enjoyed recently, then send it over to us at: eatup@thriftygobbler.com Odds and ends 2010-06-27T12:38:18+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/koya/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/koya/#When:06:44:14Z Udon it? Photo by Suzie Ok, so we’re a bit late on this one. By now every blogger in the whole damn sphere has sunk their face into a write-up of Koya’s twangy udon. But we know many of you have been putting off your trip to Soho’s newest noodles, waiting for the Gobbler nod before hopping on the bus. We’re doing this for you. The first thing to say is that this place is popular, so expect to wait. We pitched up around 1900 hours and were asked to take a seat outside - there’s a little waiting room-style row of chairs on the pavement. The second thing to say is that these noodles are hefty, so bring an appetite. There are a number of different options from which to choose - assuming you only really have eyes for udon. You can pick from cold noodles in a hot broth (Hiya-Atsu), hot noodles in a hot broth (Atsu-Atsu), and cold noodles in a cold sauce (Hiya-Hiya). Once you’ve selected the temperature at which you’d like to receive your noodles, attention switches to the extras. Amongst the usual meaty suspects, there’s a good deal of tempura, so adopting the personae of hungry lunch breakers, we went for an Atsu-Atsu with tempura prawns, and a Hiya-Atsu with duck.  The noodles are spectacular. Koya specialises in udon, so you’d be foolhardy to stray. Each batch is laboured over with a potent mix of sweat and love by chefs Oda and Yamasaki, who import flour from Japan, and mix it with water from the Thames. The noodles are thick and springy, smooth and slippery, and clearly worth all the effort as they slither into the broth, which by the way is no slouch either: Salty, and complex, with hints of ginger and sweet mirin. Having tried both noodle/broth combinations, we favoured the Hiya-Atsu, as it gave you control over the amount of noodles you had cooking at one time, and maintained elasticity and bite. The tempura was also just how we like it; crisp and light with a fat succulent prawn perfectly cooked within. Perhaps a better option would be to order a selection of tempura as a side order, because whilst we love the sodden batter, it’s the type of thing we like to regulate. Koya certainly isn’t the thriftiest place we’ve eaten - it’s perhaps not even the thriftiest place we’ve eaten udon - but such things are relative, and when two chefs have devoted this much time and effort to making a single foodstuff this enjoyable to eat, we’ll happily skip a mid-morning coffee to make up the difference. - Japanese 2010-05-31T06:44:14+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/farm/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/farm/#When:08:58:25Z Farmers unite Admit it, a farm cafe opening in Brighton’s hemp-clad north laines doesn’t sound that original. Brighton Pavilion was the only constituency in the Kingdom to elect a Green MP, and it’s easy to see why. The place boasts enough nobbly home grown organic produce to choke an army of beaming Hindu cows, besides which, it’s home to Bills. Need we say more? But the newly opened Farm cafe is different. Helmed by a sculptor-turned-farmer and his sculptor-turned-farmer’s wife, Farm brings together produce from local farms and serves it piping hot to the people of Brighton. Most of the meat on offer has travelled less than a stone’s throw, field-to-plate, and as we sink our teeth into a pair of their signature Farm Burgers, it all makes begins to make sense. The decor is made up of a mismatch of old furniture, milk jugs and church pews, and the walls list the various farms that contribute produce to the menu. It’s a nice place to park yourself. The menu is uncomplicated, allowing the brilliance of the ingredients to do the talking, and the roast of the day is clearly a hit - as evidenced by the steaming pile of meaty remains in temptingly full view of our table. On the day of visit, the roast is salt beef - a category we feel more than qualified to judge. We like our beef piled high and served on rye, with dill pickles and mustard. Farm don’t disappoint. The breakfast is equally impressive, with sausages, bacon, and black pudding, all from the same farm (Jessups) and therefore, potentially, the same pig. But it’s the lovingly spiced Farm burger that leaves the greatest impression on the Gobbler gut. Moulded into the sort of shape that only a homemade burger could be, and served on chewy foccacia, with coleslaw and homemade potato wedges, this is a big win. So what to wash all that down with? The farmy name and back to basics ethos might have you braced for a pint of builder’s tea, but remember, this is Brighton. As well as an array of smoothies, milkshakes and herbal teas, Farm boasts coffee from the legendary Monmouth’s coffee company of Borough market. They also deliver, and offer a full corporate catering service, straight to your work place. This is not some Dingle-brained Hovis commerical by any means. But, what of the location? Two doors up the road from the mighty Bill’s breakfast, is this a declaration of war? Should we get a pitchfork? No, it’s all perfectly amicable. Bill is a greengrocer, and Farm’s owners have supplied him with meat for years - it was Bill who suggested they set up shop in the first place! Splendid. We’ll just take our turf wars and gang rivalry back up the M23 then guys and leave you all to it. Things must just be different in the country. - Cafés & coffee shops 2010-05-19T08:58:25+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-lollies-to-lick-part-1/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-lollies-to-lick-part-1/#When:15:00:39Z Summer… is that you? If Mr Fish and his goons are to be believed, this week should see the first proper ‘ice cream weather of 2010’. This got us thinking about the lollies we might make, should the inconceivable actually occur. Our first installment is a little bit odd. It’s a gazpacho lolly. Gazpacho, in case you’re not aware, is a Spanish tomato soup, usually served chilled. We saw no reason why it wouldn’t translate into a lolly, and sure enough, it translated just fine. Full recipe here. - Top 5 2010-05-17T15:00:39+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-larder-peanut-butter/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-larder-peanut-butter/#When:10:17:15Z For this particular larder item, we enlisted the help of a sibling (student) and his friend (also student). They voted unanimously for the saltiest, most unhealthiest butter by miles, and then buggered off to watch Countdown or something… probably. Skippy 3 stars £1.79 53p/100g Dense and sticky, with just the right amount of salt (although probably too much to be healthy). Aldi, Grandessa 4 stars 87p 25p/100g Nice and gloopy, with all the taste of the Skippy. Win. Peanut Butter Co. 3 stars £2.19 64p/100g One for the purists; this one contains little more than peanuts, yet still manages to cost more. Tesco 2 stars 87p 25p/100g Low on taste, and nowhere near grainy enough for our knife. Meh. Sainsbury’s 2 stars 99p 29p/100g Much like Tesco’s effort, but with an odd aftertaste thrown in for good measure. Waitrose, Essentials 4 stars £1.06 31p/100g Lovely coarse butter, well-seasoned and at a tastey price. - Spread 2010-05-09T10:17:15+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-thrifty-gobbler-picnic-kit/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-thrifty-gobbler-picnic-kit/#When:21:14:48Z Picnic doesn’t hamper us Cool bag (www.argos.co.uk) £6.99 For stopping your salami from getting its sweat on. Cups, saucers, spoons ‘n’ that (www.wilkinsonplus.com) £12 We want you kitted out as bulkily as possible, mmm-kay? Tupperware (www.amazon.co.uk) £1.75 Lock up your tater salad all nice. Chair (www.sainsburys.co.uk) £7.49 Look down on your fellow picnickers from the lofty heights of a Sainsbo’s deck chair. Jug (www.asda.com) £5 Insert Pimms/ homemade ginger beer/ Tango. Rug (www.picnicshop.co.uk) £15.95 Tartan. To makes you look proper. Bit of bunting (www.marksandspencer.com) £3.50 To help you find us. Straws (www.wilkinsonplus.com) 38p Well, what kind of a picnic are we having? The whole shebang (www.woolworths.co.uk) £24 Long live the Woolies website. Hamper, knives, forks, spoons, plates, napkins. - 2010-05-03T21:14:48+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/a-cake-of-nandos/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/a-cake-of-nandos/#When:12:26:14Z The chips are white chocolate I don’t know who ‘Saz’ is, but the more people that see this cake, the better. It’s the work of Jodelka. Give cake it’s dues here. Odds and ends 2010-04-26T12:26:14+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/otto-pizza-to-open-in-london/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/otto-pizza-to-open-in-london/#When:09:59:01Z Notting Hill gets a slice of the action Otto Pizza is poised to open in London’s Notting Hill, and we Gobbling folk can’t wait to go grab a slice of their cornmeal crust pie. It’s the project of friends Rich and Tom who first happened upon the cornmeal concept while on holiday in America. Following a trusted recommendation, they stopped off at the Dove Viva pizza restaurant in Portland Oregan, and were so impressed that they set about bringing the distinctive flavour and texture back to London. You might (we did) know cornmeal as polenta, or even grits. It brings strength to a pizza crust, allowing the chef to be ‘more creative (and generous) with the toppings.’ Its high fibre content makes it more filling than a traditional base, and the lads down at Otto reckon a 12” pizza feeds 2-3 people. They haven’t provided an estimate for hard up and hungry Gobbler, but you can rest assured we’ll be down there as soon as the oven’s on to see what they’ve got. Otto Pizza opens soon. For more information, head to www.ottopizza.co.uk Odds and ends 2010-04-21T09:59:01+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/pizza-tour-slice-of-brooklyn/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/pizza-tour-slice-of-brooklyn/#When:20:15:45Z Manhattan? Fuhgettaboudit! Being white and middle class, we hate nothing more than going to a new place and ‘seeing the sights.’ No, we must see the side of Delhi its downtrodden workforce sees, and taste the bitter taste of Bangkok, as endured by its lowly street urchins. You won’t catch us following any umbrella waving tour guide – even if it means massive unnecessary expense and hours of aimless ‘exploring’. We won’t have it. So, imagine our surprise last month in New York when we found ourselves on a bus, speeding over Manhattan Bridge, utterly engaged by a tour guide named Tony Muia, enthusing about Brooklyn and its phenomenal pizza restaurants. Tony is as Brooklyn as it gets. Born and raised in the city, there’s very little he doesn’t know about its rich cultural heritage - and the food that comes with it. His increasingly popular Slice of Brooklyn pizza tour covers as many areas of interest, famous film locations, and historical landmarks as anybody needs to see in one day. But that’s just as well, because Brooklyn is the sort of place you could live in for ten years without ever getting to know it properly. The tour takes four and a bit hours, and rarely does Tony stop talking, but you’re unlikely to notice, or care. There’s a lot of knowledge to impart, and he imparts it in such an easy and compelling manner that even when he rants about the sale of his boyhood baseball team - the Brooklyn Dodgers - you can’t help but listen. We see the three bridges that join Brooklyn with Manhattan and Staten Island, the docks where Elvis was shipped off to fight in the war, the street where John Travolta filmed the opening sequence of Saturday Night Fever, and the famous Coney island theme parks. But all of this sightseeing and film watching becomes a second thought once the pizza arrives. The bus stops at two of New York’s most beloved restaurants, each the sort of place a visitor might overlook, and each serving the finest pies this Gobbler has tasted for some time. The first is a guide book favourite, but don’t let that put you off. Directly descended from New York’s first ever pizzeria (Lombardi’s in Manhattan), Grimaldi’s in the DUMBO district of Brooklyn (down under the Manhattan bridge overpass) serves a Neopolitan style pie, baked in a traditional brick oven. Regular folk wait on line for hours to grab a bite, but thanks to Tony’s connections, your table (and accompanying pizza) are there waiting for you when you roll up. The base is light and crisp, the mozzarella like none we’ve ever tasted and the sauce so pure and sweet, we’d happily spoon it onto our breakfast cereal. The second restaurant is not so well known. Located far deeper within Brooklyn, L&B Spumoni Gardens’ started life as an ice cream cart, selling the legendary L&B spumoni. Its speciality is a Sicilian style pie - deep and square and with cheese bubbling away beneath the tomato sauce. The problem here, is that by the time we reach the restaurant, we’ve already eaten four large slices of Grimaldi’s finest, and are feeling a little on the heavy side. Refusing to shirk a responsibility, Gobbler chewed on until Tony took pity and had the waiter package the remaining slices up to take home. In short; we can’t really recommend this enough, just make sure you skip breakfast. - 2010-04-20T20:15:45+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-super-taco/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-super-taco/#When:08:34:27Z Tastier than a speeding bullet You may have noticed a drop in Gobbler activity over the past month. Then again, you may not. Either way, we would like to assure you that we are not dead, nor have we lost faith in the mission for cheap and delicious food, we’ve just been away. We’ve been slumping around, picking up little nuggets of culinary delight to funnel down the interweb to you, beautiful reader. Many of these nuggets will inspire, some shall amuse, and the vast majority will be of little use whatsoever. None of this matters; we are back, and to kick things off, we’ve brought you a recipe. But not just any old recipe; not some ill-advised soup, or poorly-researched pie, no. We’re kicking things off with a taco… a super taco. Gobbler picked this one up in San Francisco. We had planned to have burritos, but upon arrival our friendly guide shoved a brace of these little fellas beneath our collective nose. Obviously the recipe we cobbled together only goes some way to recreate the magic of the lovingly prepared article that dribbled down our chins at La Taqueria on Mission in San Francisco, but we’ve had a good go. And at the end of the day, isn’t that all that really matters? Recipe here... - 2010-04-19T08:34:27+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-wintery-soups-part-5/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-wintery-soups-part-5/#When:17:19:18Z Wintery, not winter This final installment only really applies to people living in wet old Blighty - everywhere else should be gearing up for Gazpacho by now. I went outside a few moments ago and treated myself to a comprehensive drizzle soaking - just to get in the mood. And now that I’m back in the warmth, it’s time for a delicious bowl of classic minestrone and a flick through my soggy pile of holiday brochures. Make yours here Top 5 2010-03-30T17:19:18+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/how-to-fritter-bananas/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/how-to-fritter-bananas/#When:10:00:49Z Deep fry something healthy. Make it delicious instead. The other day we got to thinking about banana fritters. We did a little research and discovered a small stand in North Sumatra that served the finest in the world. So we pulled some funds out of the enormous and expansive Thrifty Gobbler budget sack, and sent our roaming reporter Tillie Pea on a mission to discover their secrets. Here’s what she found… This is not 29 Acacia Road. This is Nias Island, North Sumatra. And this is Ibu Lennys, who probably doesn’t lead an amazing double life. But when Ibu fries a banana, an amazing transformation occurs… the humble banana becomes PISANG GORENG! And you don’t even really need a profound appreciation of 80s superhero cartoons to give it a go yourself. (Serves 5) 5 bananas 150g self-raising flour 15g sugar A small pinch of salt Lukewarm water Coconut oil for frying (available from Asian supermarkets, but vegetable oil will do otherwise) First, you will need to make the batter. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Gradually add enough lukewarm water to make a smooth, thick batter Take your bananas. Make sure they are not too ripe (Ibu is using tiny little ‘nanas, but we thought you had enough to worry about finding coconut oil) Peel them up Slice each banana lengthways into sections no thicker than 5mm Stop about 1 cm before the end of the banana, so that it all stays in one piece Fan out the slices from this base Coat the banana in the batter Drop the fritter into the (bubbling hot) coconut oil Give them a poke every now and again, so they don’t stick together When they are golden brown, take them out (you can use a sieve if you don’t have a fancy fryer) Enjoy. Hati-hati, they will be HOT! Thrifty? They go for 500 Indonesian Rupiah a pop…that’s about 3p. But think what you’ll be saving on the airfare. - How To 2010-03-03T10:00:49+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/make-it-houmous/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/make-it-houmous/#When:18:10:13Z Oh, isn’t this houm-er-ous Houmous is underrated. We know because we checked: it has less than 600 fans on facebook to Jedward’s 16,000. Now, we can’t stop you from gawping at the spiky mentals on your tellybox, but we can provide you with a thrifty dollop of the good stuff to gorge on while you do so. Thus restoring Jedward/ houmous equilibrium. We got a bit carried away with ours, adding lime and sugar to give it a subtle sweetness, and a bit of cumin to give it depth. 1 tin of cooked white chickpeas (brown works well too, just don’t be alarmed when it appears off-colour) 2 teaspoons of Tahini sesame paste (this can be £2+, but it keeps well and can make several batches) 1 teaspoon of natural Greek yoghurt 1 clove of garlic 1 lemon or lime, or a half of each 1/4 tsp cumin Salt and pepper 1/2 tsp sugar 1 tbsp of (extra virgin if possible) olive oil Paprika and more olive oil to garnish Drain the chickpeas and peel the garlic Blend together. This should come together in a paste, thicker than your final houmous will be. If you don’t have a food processor, dice the garlic as fine as you can and mash up your chickpeas with a fork or potato masher Add the remaining ingredients in no particular order and blend again Sprinkle with paprika and drizzle with olive oil to serve Wash, rinse, and repeat The sums: TOTAL: £1.50 for around 400g Compared to: Sainsbury’s houmous £1.01 for 200g (in the larder) Tip: Reserve some of the liquid from the chickpea tin – if you need to thin your houmous later, this’ll be nicer than using water. Additions: Shower with toasted pine nuts or un-crushed chickpeas for texture. Mix in finely chopped red pepper for colour, chilli powder or harissa for heat, or caramelised onions if you like it sweet. - Make it 2010-03-01T18:10:13+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/make-it-chapati/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/make-it-chapati/#When:14:10:57Z A thoroughly nice chapati Baking your own bread is an ancient and spiritual experience that everyone should just bloomin’ well get on with and stop moaning. And if you don’t have the time or patience to do it, then just flob right off and go eat a potted noodle or whatever it is you lot like to eat. With this message still ringing in our poor little ears, we left River Cottage for the last time and set about finding the quickest and easiest way to appease old Hugh and his mates before things turned ugly. Sure enough, we found it. A delicious chapati. (makes 12) 2 cups wheat flour 1 tsp ghee or oil 1 tsp salt A little water Mix all the dry ingredients together and knead with as much water as it takes to form a smooth, elastic dough Leave to prove for one hour Make as many identical balls as you like/need, sprinkle with spare flour and roll out to roughly the thickness of a tortilla Heat your griddle, or skillet, or frying pan and place your chapati on it Cook the chapati on both sides, until brown spots appear Serve with whatever you fancy - we can’t tell you! Easy, or is it? There is undoubtedly art in the perfection of these apparently simple breads. Ours for instance were a little crispier than we might have liked, so we welcome you to inundate us with tips and tricks to achieve the soft, pleasingly chewy chapati we all want to eat. Comment away. -   Make it 2010-02-18T14:10:57+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-wintery-soups-part-4/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-wintery-soups-part-4/#When:14:45:59Z It’s still winter, we checked Mulliga-who? Tawny’s the name, I’m a deliciously comforting, spicy Indian soup, now kindly get your spoon off my lawn. There’s nothing quite like a bit of spice to unblock that wintery old nose and fend off the chills for another minute or two, and this cracking Indian offering is a Gobbler fave and no mistake. Make me here - Top 5 2010-02-17T14:45:59+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-gourmet-chocolate-pizza/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-gourmet-chocolate-pizza/#When:08:11:17Z Willy Wonka eat your Oompa Loompa out We were sent this fine chocolate pizza the other day, and feeling hungry, we popped it straight in the oven. A few days later and the replacement has arrived, looking every bit as delicious as the name suggests. But before you all go rushing to buy one in time for Easter, ask yourself how did it fare in the TG chocolate pizza taste test? Let’s see… First impressions are good, although it looks about as much like a chocolate pizza as a frisbee looks like a plastic one. This is a silly detail to pick on of course - chocolate log doesn’t look much like a log - but it’s probably best to point out early on that it is really just a large disc of chocolate, cut into slices, with chocolate shavings and stuff on top. Apparently ours is an Easter special and the regular one looks much more lifelike, but don’t expect an actual pizza with sweet toppings. In terms of taste, we can’t complain; lovely creamy milk chocolate base, with shavings cascading all over the place, and a pair of white chocolate easter bunnies to fight over at the end. Having eaten a slice, we can appreciate the decision to scale down from average pizza depth - it’s a lot of chocolate as it is. And it comes in a takeaway-style brown cardboard box, making it a great gift for any chocolate-based religious occasion, but go for one of the regular varieties for maximum it looks like a real pizza effect. - Odds and ends 2010-02-17T08:11:17+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/make-it-mango-lassi/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/make-it-mango-lassi/#When:11:04:41Z Gobbler’s fine young lassi ‘What’s that, Lassi, the readers have sampled you in Indian restaurants around the country, and are now stuck trying to recreate you in their kitchens? Let’s go see if old Mr & Mrs Gobbler can’t help them out…’ Laboured Lassie pun over. We found this tin of mango pulp in our local Morrisons, and immediately thought lassi. It’s way much cheaper than buying real mangoes. Here’s how it went down: (Serves 2) 1/2 tin of mango pulp, (or 1 ripe mango, if you’re feeling flush) 150ml/5fl oz milk 175ml/6fl oz natural yogurt 2 tsp sugar Put everything into a food processor or blender, and blitz until smooth Serve in tall glasses with a few ice cubes for good measure The sums TOTAL: £1.30p OR 65p per person Compared to Your average restaurant-bought lassi, £2 - Make it 2010-02-10T11:04:41+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-heart-shaped-things/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-heart-shaped-things/#When:08:15:46Z Say it with a ramekin Besides the weighing scales we brought you in our last top 5 (they’re still there! Give them a home!), we’ve found more heart-y gifts for your dear one. And they’re WELL cheap. How romantic are we?! 1. Glitter Heart Party Straw in pink or lilac, Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk) 36p Suck it up, love birds. Slurp your Gobbler ginger beer, through these wondrous sparkly straws. They’re 36p, so stock up. You just never know when you might need another. 2. 8-inch Heart Sponge Tin, Cake Craft Shop (www.cakecraftshop.co.uk) £4.25 A tin. For doing a cake in. 3. Love Toast, I Want One Of Those (www.iwantoneofthose.com) £2.99 Love toast. Breakfast in bed to make his/her heart melt, without all the effort of, say, a boiled egg. 4. Wilko Novelty Cookie Cutters, Wilkinson (www.wilkinsonplus.com) 97p A heart-shaped cookie cutter as part of a set of 6 means your lavish 97p purchase isn’t rendered useless after the occasion. You’ll be making flower cookies for mothers’ day, gingerbread men for general japes, and circles if you’re a total bore. 5. Le Creuset Heart Ramekin in cerise, John Lewis (www.johnlewis.com £6 Should your loved one complain about the great gift of ramekin, tell them: ‘THIS AIN’T NO REGULAR RAMEKIN. IT’S A POSH ONE’. Or stick a soufflé in it. - Top 5 2010-02-10T08:15:46+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-patch-daves-parsnip/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/the-patch-daves-parsnip/#When:09:44:33Z Stand back, he’s got root veg Look what our Dave yanked out of the cold, hard ground the other night. In the weeks to come we are told to expect all kinds of earthy goodies; so keep checking back to see radishes the size of tennis balls, and a swede with a chin… probably. - Odds and ends 2010-02-03T09:44:33+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/how-to-show-your-coconut-whos-boss/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/how-to-show-your-coconut-whos-boss/#When:18:14:03Z We mash ours up We love old Levi Roots. We love his cook book. But bless him, there’s a lot of coconut involved. Ever tried to tackle one? They can be stubborn. Today we set out to make a tub of Levi’s traditional rice and peas, but before we could get into any of that, we gave Mr Coconut a good stern talking to. Here’s how our chat panned out. Pick your eye Coconuts have three eyes; two are hard, and one is soft. Test each of them with a sharp knife, and once you’ve found the softy, set to work on him to make a decent hole. Now drain the juice. Smash the place up There’s no point beating about the bush here - you need to break through the hard outer shell to stand any chance of getting at the bounty. You could probably take a hammer to it,  but we’re chaotic folk, so we took our nutty adversary outside and smashed his head into the paving. Not so tough now, are you? Knife time Carry the coconut shards back indoors, and with your sharpest small knife, set about prising the flesh from the inner shell layer. This can be tricky, so why not treat yourself to a little nibble on some of the peelings? As you like it Levi told us to grate our coconut, so grate we did.  Squeeze Next, we added water to the shredded (and by now, pretty defeated) coconut. We picked up clods of the stuff and squeezed and squeezed until poor old Mr Coconut had no delicious juice left to release. He was done. We win - How To 2010-01-25T18:14:03+00:00 http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-weighing-scales/ http://www.thriftygobbler.com/site/top-5-weighing-scales/#When:19:46:08Z From 99p to £50 Stop what you’re doing. Lob that much flour in the mixing bowl and you’re in for one crumbly cake. At some point, you are going to have to invest in some kitchen scales. That way, you can start to get your favourite Thrifty Gobbler recipes right for a change, and you can’t put a price on that … can you? Well you can’t, but we can – it’s 99p – the price at which our handsome selection of scales starts. 1. Swan 5kg kitchen scale, Wilkinsons (www.wilkinsonsplus.com) £4 Every bit as unpretty as you’d expect, and served in a cardboard box, as pictured. Nonetheless, these simple, white Wilko scales weigh things, and they cost £4. 2. Salter chop & weigh scale, Lakeland (www.lakeland.co.uk) £14.99 King of the scales, the Salter brand has dreamed up these, which come with integral chopping boards which you can lift out. They’re colour-coded as follows: blue for fish, yellow for cooked meat, red for raw meat and green for fruit and veg. Though quite why you’d want to weigh your salad we do not know. 3. Salter add and weigh jug scale, Argos (www.argos.co.uk) £17.99 The stainless steel jug is marked for measuring liquids in litres, fluid ounces and pints. This is two utensils in one bizznizz. 4. Elements traditional scales in black, The Cooks Kitchen (www.thecookskitchen.com) £50.15 We cannot justify our endorsement of these pricey scales. We’re sorry but we kind of love them. And for those of you who harbour dreams of owning sweet shops, this retro number will spruce up your kitchen in a flash, so start using up your leftovers in a bid to save some pennies. 5. Heart shaped kitchen weighing scales, Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk) 99p Did you just gasp? We don’t blame you, because we love it, too. Sadly, many others don’t, and that’s why it’s been reduced to oblivion. Take it off its virtual shelf and give it a home, would you? And while you’re at it, check out these matching spoons. - Top 5 2010-01-14T19:46:08+00:00