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00:00Creamy, dreamy, irresistibly tasty.
00:03Whether it's the key ingredient or main event,
00:05Philadelphia is the one cooks reach for.
00:08You've got a friend in Philly.
00:10They say the dinner table is the heart of the home.
00:14But what they forget to mention is...
00:17the absolute chaos it takes to get there.
00:20Navigating the small daily hurdles, the inevitable chaos
00:23and the everyday victories are what make family life such an adventure.
00:27Thank you!
00:30Welcome to the bit between the fridge and the fork,
00:34where the chaos battles calm and pasta waits for no one.
00:38Mmm!
00:39I literally would eat that directly from the pan.
00:42This is not a cooking show about perfection.
00:45This is real-time cooking,
00:48where every minute matters and every dinner served is a small triumph.
00:53So let's get cooking.
00:55Today I'm proving that meat-free does not mean flavour-free.
01:01These dishes are bold, brilliant and packed with satisfying texture and taste with no meat in sight.
01:09We're kicking things off with a silky dal and crispy cauliflower.
01:13Creamy lentils, spiced cauliflower and all the cosy vibes.
01:17Then it's sticky tofu rice bowls with sweet, salty caramelised tofu and crunchy veg.
01:23A proper power bowl.
01:24And finally, crispy gnocchi with minty peas and mascarpone.
01:28Pan-fried pillows of joy with a creamy, herby finish.
01:31It's big flavour, all veg and total meat-free magic.
01:43Dal is one of those dishes I come back to time and time again.
01:46It is endlessly comforting and very easily adaptable with whatever ingredients you have to hand.
01:51Now it starts off in a pan with a little drop of oil.
01:54I'm going to add to this plenty of spices and this is a great one to use up store cupboard ingredients.
02:01I've got coriander, a little bit of cumin, some smoked paprika, turmeric and the core of it, which is some red lentils.
02:08These cook out and become wonderfully rich and creamy.
02:11I'm going to start off in the pan with plenty of spice.
02:14The heat's coming up, so a little teaspoon of some cumin and some coriander.
02:18I just want to waken them a little bit before we add in the lentils.
02:24A little bit of turmeric for some colour.
02:27A little bit of paprika for some sweet spiciness.
02:32And then give that a quick stir.
02:35And just look at that.
02:38Coming alive in the pan.
02:40You can smell it instantly.
02:42And it just takes a moment for this to become aromatic before it's time to add in the lentils.
02:47These are washed and rinsed and ready to go.
02:50Pop them in.
02:51Give them a little mix.
02:53And if you've never made dal before, it really is a simple one to do.
02:57We're going to add in a little bit of stock.
03:03And pour all of this in.
03:05As they cook out, I'm just going to keep an eye on things and let them simmer until the lentils become smooth and creamy.
03:12Give that a nice little mix through.
03:14Let it come up to temperature and I'm going to let it do its magic in the pan while I crack on with the rest of this.
03:19This is proper real time magic.
03:21While the dal cooks, we're going to make up a very simple cauliflower mixture.
03:24So slice it down the middle.
03:26I'm just going to tear these florets.
03:29And you can be as aggressive as you want.
03:31I'm not looking for anything fancy here.
03:33I'm just tearing these nice florets in.
03:35Any of those smaller leaves you can pop in here as well.
03:38And the stock.
03:39And then before it has its time in that air fryer, I want to take up another store cupboard ingredient.
03:45Some tandoori paste.
03:47I'm going to go heavy on this.
03:48If you have a jar of curry paste like this, this is your moment to take it out and make use of it.
03:54I'm just going to spread that across the cauliflower and then get it into the air fryer to cook off.
04:00Now, this is going to go into the basket of an air fryer.
04:04You can do it on a roasting tray if you fancy.
04:08Give that a shuffle and a shake and it'll only take about 15 minutes to cook that off.
04:14Now, while that cooks, it gives me a perfect moment, firstly, to check on the dal, see where we're at.
04:20And already those lentils are starting to swell.
04:22I'm going to let that continue to cook out while we prep up some aromatics.
04:26I've got some ginger, some garlic, some spring onions, and I'm just going to get these nice and finely chopped.
04:31A last little chop of the spring onions.
04:41I've got my garlic.
04:42I've got my ginger.
04:43I'm going to add some butter straight to the pan.
04:45And we're going to fry that off.
04:47And then as soon as that butter starts to melt, it's time to add in the spring onions, the ginger and the garlic.
04:55And while that's frying, it's time to add in some spices in the form of some cardamom pods.
05:00About a handful or so of these go in.
05:02They're one of my favourite ingredients.
05:04Fabulous in baking.
05:06To that, we're going to add some coriander seeds.
05:09Another little handful.
05:11For some spice, some chilli flakes, or you could use some fresh chilli if you fancy.
05:16And then just a little bit of cumin.
05:18Now everything needs a little season of some black pepper and some sea salt.
05:31And now it's a moment to add some fresh aromatics.
05:33I've got a nice handful of coriander which I'm going to stir through.
05:37And then add some more just when it's time to serve.
05:39It needs a good squeeze of lemon juice just to waken it up.
05:47Lovely.
05:49And then I'm going to take a little bit of that tarca and just pop it straight in.
05:55And then save some to serve over the top.
05:58Consistency-wise, this is exactly where I need it to be.
06:02It still has a little bit of shape on the lentils, but really nice and creamy.
06:07So, it is time to serve this up.
06:09And the beauty of the dal is that once it's done, it can be popped straight into a bowl.
06:14This keeps really well in the fridge and you can reheat it and reconstitute it with just a splash of water.
06:20But it's all about the finishing touches.
06:23So when you have a nice big bowl of dal, like this, steaming from the pan,
06:28it's all about those beautiful little moments that you can finish it with.
06:32And my cauliflower, at this point, is pretty much good to go.
06:36So having something that is spiced, crispy and gorgeous over the top is going to look really beautiful.
06:44And it just adds a nice little bit of texture and flavour to essentially a mushy dal.
06:50And the last little touches, some more fresh coriander just over the top, in and around.
06:57Those lovely little leaves do add such great flavour.
07:00But don't forget all the flavour you've got going on here in this tarca.
07:05Sizzling.
07:07Get this spiced butter right and it'll be what makes your dal.
07:12You've got all those lovely fresh aromas, the lovely spices.
07:16Stir that through and it's going to be spectacular.
07:19Just look at that.
07:21Simple, gorgeous, last bit of salt and time to tuck in.
07:26This looks super fancy and it's only a handful of store cupboard ingredients brought to life.
07:38Mmm.
07:39Those lovely little pops of spices from the cardamom and the coriander.
07:45This kind of dish might even convince the meat eaters in your house to go veggie.
07:50Now, if you're not into tofu, this could be the recipe that changes the game.
08:10It leaves you with sizzling spiced tofu on a rice bowl with lots of veggies.
08:15The perfect thing to whip up for a meat-free winner.
08:19Now, this recipe begins with one of my favourite kitchen gadgets, the rice cooker.
08:31And I'm going to use this to cook up some brown sticky rice.
08:34And the first job we need to do is clean the rice.
08:38The trick here is to fill it up with a little bit of cold water
08:41and just move the grains around in the water until it becomes a little bit cloudy.
08:45And when it has, you're going to tip that out
08:47and you're just going to keep repeating that until you get nice, clear liquid.
08:51If there's too much starch in there, what tends to happen is it sticks together and it gets a bit gluey.
08:57But washing it will ensure you take as much starch off and leave you with perfect, fluffy grains.
09:02Now, I'm going one part rice to about one part water.
09:08And the beauty of doing this in a rice cooker, which is one of the few kitchen gadgets I actually subscribe to,
09:14is that I will stick it on.
09:16And especially if I'm doing a little bit of prep, this is a great thing to have cooking away.
09:21It has a keep warm function.
09:23So it means that even if you prep well in advance, you can come back to it
09:26and you'll have perfectly cooked rice ready for the rest of your ingredients.
09:30Now, before this does cook, I want to add a little bit of butter and plenty of salt.
09:36So a good pinch of salt goes in there.
09:40Now, while the rice is cooking, it gives you the perfect opportunity to bring together these tofu bowls.
09:45So into a bowl, we have some tofu, which is firm tofu.
09:50So if you're looking for it in the shops, look for the firm tofu because that's the one that crumbles beautifully.
09:56The silken one is best for soups and things like that.
09:59But this firm one, you can crumble and turn into essentially tofu mince.
10:03And that's exactly what we're going to do here.
10:05And rather than having to work away with this with a knife, I'm just going to crumble this loosely.
10:11So I have nice kind of meaty bits of the tofu.
10:14And this will pan fry, crisp up and be the perfect vehicle for a gorgeous gotchujang sauce.
10:20Give that a little mix up.
10:22Give the hands a wash.
10:23Now, to season this up, I only have two ingredients.
10:30One is a little bit of corn flour and this will ensure that it doesn't stick together.
10:34So about a teaspoon of corn flour goes in here.
10:40You could even put this in the air fryer if you fancied making nice crispy little pieces of tofu.
10:45But I'm going to speed things up here and just go with a pan fry.
10:48Now, spice wise, I have a little bit of five spice powder.
10:52Give it a little sprinkle of that.
10:55And just mix that through.
10:57So you want a nice coating.
10:59The corn flour will help to soak up any excess liquid.
11:03And it'll just ensure that you keep it in nice little chunks.
11:06So once you have that mixed through, time to get the pan on.
11:09Good glug of oil into the pan.
11:12And I'm going to pan fry this until I have nice browned off pieces of tofu.
11:17And then top tip here is press this down against the surface of the pan and allow it to get a little bit of colour before you start to move it.
11:30While the tofu browns, I'm going to crack on and make a simple sauce.
11:34Now while that's cooking away, I have a very simple sauce that's going to go over this once we've browned up the tofu.
11:49So into a bowl with a little bit of gochujang.
11:52We're going to use it here to give us a really beautiful, funky sort of umami laden sauce that gets formed with a little bit of soy sauce, sesame oil and the gochujang.
12:04Once I've mixed that up, I want to wake it up with a little bit of ginger and some garlic, clove of garlic and then a little knob of ginger.
12:19A nice fine grating of the ginger and oftentimes when you have these sauces that have been sitting in the store cupboard, they need a little wake up call in the form of some fresh aromatics like ginger and garlic.
12:33Okay, that's my ginger and then my little tip with garlic, when you're microplaning it like this, it grates it so fine, leave the papery skin on, you won't notice it at all.
12:53Okay, give that a little tap.
12:57Before I give that a mix up, I'm coming back to my tofu to have a look and see what we're dealing with here.
13:02Nice little crunchy bits, nice little charred colour on it.
13:07I'm just going to turn it, toss it and then do exactly the same as when I started out.
13:12Just leave it pressed against the pan to get that colour.
13:15Now, let's give this little sauce a mix up.
13:21And look at that, a gorgeous glossy umami laden sauce that is going to coat our tofu.
13:26Rice is cooking, we're still in the real time mode.
13:29I've got a wonderful little way to ramp up the flavour in this bowl.
13:33And that is using some store bought mayonnaise, which I'm going to add a few dollops of straight into the base of a bowl.
13:39And when I have time like this in the kitchen, where there is a moment where tofu is working its magic,
13:44it's all about the little extra things you can add that will make this bowl really sing.
13:49Two ingredients that I always have to hand, a little bit of mayonnaise and one of my favourite fridge ingredients, kimchi.
13:57If you have not tried this fabulous Korean fermented cabbage, it is spectacular.
14:03It is so full of flavour, really good for the gut, used quite a lot in Korean cooking.
14:09You can buy it store bought or you can make it yourself.
14:11But either way, it's a fantastic ingredient to have to hand.
14:14And all I'm going to do is roughly chop this and pop it into the mayo.
14:18And into a mayo like this, it will completely transform it.
14:22So a nice fine chop on the kimchi and then just scoop that up and pop it in.
14:29Now we're starting to build really great flavours.
14:32The tofu is browning off, the rice is cooking.
14:34We've got kimchi mayonnaise.
14:36The last job is some veggies and this all comes together quite quickly.
14:40Give that a little stir through and just look at that.
14:43Just look at that colour.
14:45It just completely transforms regular store bought mayonnaise.
14:50Now, that's aside, time for a tofu check.
14:53Let's see where we're, oh yeah, oh yeah.
14:56Now we're talking.
14:57I'm telling you, if you're not a tofu fan, this is the way forward.
15:02Give that a little mix up and now that we've got all those brown gnarly bits,
15:06it's time to get in there with our sauce.
15:09And you want the tofu to sizzle and soak up all of those flavours.
15:14OK, might need a little splash of water just to loosen it out.
15:19And then it's just a case of introducing those flavours in the pan.
15:24Give it a little swirl.
15:26One last little shuffle and a shake.
15:28And to be honest, as soon as that sauce starts to come together, it's pretty much done.
15:32So I'm going to turn the heat right down on that.
15:34And meanwhile, we're going to cook up some veggies quick, fast in the wok,
15:37just to have some nice veggies alongside this dish.
15:40Spring onions go in first, cut into nice thumb-sized pieces.
15:43Heat up the wok with a tiny touch of sesame oil and get those spring onions straight in.
15:48Now we're going to trim the green beans because they're slightly thicker and I want them to cook through first.
15:53A touch of water will go a long way to help them steam and cook out evenly.
15:57And then finish with the pak choi.
15:58Start with those thicker stems, leaving the softer leaves to be added just at the last moment.
16:03As soon as that starts to soften down ever so slightly, hit it with a little touch of some sesame oil and a splash of soy sauce to season.
16:22And that's all it needs.
16:24I'm going to take everything off the heat and serve up.
16:28OK, tofu's looking good, greens are ready to rock.
16:31Let's check on the rice.
16:32Yep, we're in good shape.
16:33I love the fact that every single time the rice cooker delivers.
16:37Perfectly cooked sticky rice that's ready to be popped straight into a bowl, nice and warm.
16:43And now it's just a case of building this bowl.
16:48So I've got my greens which are sizzling.
16:50Everything can come off the heat.
16:52Lovely fresh greens.
16:55And look, use that same method with whatever greens you have in the house.
17:00And now for the all-important crumbly, sizzly tofu, which will hopefully be the way you now cook tofu from here on out.
17:08I'm going to grab up some of that lovely kimchi mayonnaise and just a dollop over the top is going to add a little bit of creaminess.
17:16Lovely.
17:17A little bit of sesame oil.
17:18And finally, a bit of coriander on the side.
17:21And that is a proper meal in minutes that's taken no time at all.
17:25And now, time to tuck in.
17:30A little bit of that kimchi mayonnaise.
17:33Mmm.
17:35But that sweet, sticky sauce is so good.
17:39Get yourself a tub of gotcha jang and you've got dinner in a matter of minutes.
17:46Mmm.
17:56Gnocchi is one of those ingredients I always have in the cupboard
17:59because it's quick, it's flexible and it's the perfect base for big flavours.
18:03Today, I'm going to crisp it up in butter and serve it with minty peas, a silky mascarpone cream cheese mix,
18:09which is easy, indulgent and so properly delicious.
18:13This one is super quick.
18:23We're going to start off with some butter in the pan.
18:27Melt that butter down.
18:28I have a few ingredients to grab from the fridge in the form of some mascarpone cheese,
18:32a little bit of parmesan and some cream cheese.
18:35And we're going to make up a beautiful little sauce that our creamy crispy gnocchi is going to sit into.
18:41As soon as that butter starts to melt, straight in with the gnocchi.
18:44You do not need to boil it first.
18:46We're going to get gorgeous browned off little potato gnocchi.
18:50Season at this point with plenty of salt, plenty of black pepper and give it a little toss in that butter,
18:56just so that it's completely coated.
18:58Now, the beauty of this recipe is that while the gnocchi browns, we make a very simple creamy zesty base for it.
19:05And that begins with a little bit of some mascarpone, plenty of cream cheese.
19:11I'm going to give this a little mix just to combine those ingredients.
19:14Add the zest of some lemon.
19:17These are simple ingredients.
19:19It only takes about 10 minutes and you have proper meat-free magic.
19:24And I want to keep this base as simple as possible.
19:27Just really creamy, really citrusy and lovely and fresh.
19:31Give that a good mix up.
19:33And once it starts to turn nice and smooth, that is it.
19:37Done and dusted.
19:38It doesn't need salt.
19:39It doesn't need pepper.
19:40We're going to keep it nice and clean flavoured.
19:42Back to check on our gnocchi.
19:44And at this point, this is what I want to show you.
19:46Is we should have lovely brown edges to these gnocchi.
19:51I'm going to give it an extra little seasoning of some salt and some pepper.
19:54And that's the majority of the hard work done.
19:59Now it's just about finishing touches.
20:01I'm going to add a little flavour in the form of some chilli flakes.
20:05As I mentioned, I'm going to keep this quite simple in terms of flavour.
20:10So, just a little chilli.
20:13Just going to take the end root off this.
20:17And then using a microplane, just going to grate that straight in.
20:25The smell is fabulous.
20:27The chilli, the garlic.
20:29Give that a little toss.
20:30Introduce the flavours to the pan.
20:32And just look, this is what we're after.
20:34Garlic, chilli, beautiful coating.
20:37And once it becomes lovely and aromatic, we're going to introduce the peas to the pan.
20:45Straight out of the bag, frozen.
20:47And amazing ingredients to keep on hand for lots of different dishes.
20:52OK.
20:53Time to give them a toss.
20:56And for some flavour and a little bit of liquid, some white wine.
21:04Only a splash.
21:07Let that reduce down.
21:09Just give that a toss.
21:12And you start to see the butter, the white wine, working its magic.
21:16And giving you this sort of rough pan sauce.
21:18Back to our cream cheese mixture.
21:20Give that a quick mix.
21:21And now it's time to serve.
21:24Dollop in that lemon creamy mixture straight into the base.
21:34And then I'm just going to smoothly spread that across the base of my serving.
21:38And now grab up a serving spoon and just dollop that on.
21:43The kind of thing that looks fancy, but you could also serve it to the kids quite happily.
21:49Gorgeous and simple as well.
21:52Grab up that microplane.
21:54A nice little grating of fresh parmesan or even some pecorino cheese would be lovely here.
22:02Hit it with some mint.
22:04Mint and peas are great little flavour friends.
22:07They work together so well.
22:08And then a last little drizzle of some extra virgin olive oil over the top to finish.
22:15Use the good stuff.
22:16Finally, a little whisper of some black pepper.
22:21And that for me is dinner in less than 10 minutes.
22:28That is so good.
22:30Right, let's try some.
22:32You want to get some of the gnocchi crispy and creamy.
22:37Mmm.
22:38Oh my goodness.
22:40It's actually worthwhile keeping that cream cheese mixture really mild and delicate with just the lemon zest running through it.
22:49Because you've great texture from the gnocchi.
22:51It's taking on the flavour of the white wine and the butter.
22:54Mmm.
22:55And it's just a winner.
22:56So simple to do.
22:57Give this one a go.
23:00Well, if anyone ever says meat-free meals are boring, send them this menu.
23:17I kicked things off with a rich spiced lentil dal topped with crispy golden cauliflower and a buttery tarca that brings all the depth.
23:26Then it was on to sticky gotchujang glazed tofu, crunchy, spicy and served up with wok fried greens and a tangy kimchi mayo.
23:34And finally that golden pan fried gnocchi laid over a creamy bed of mascarpone and cream cheese with buttery peas, fresh mint and plenty of lemon zest.
23:44Easy wins, loads of flavour and all veg powered too.
23:49For all the recipes from today's episode visit rte.ie forward slash food.
23:55Creamy, dreamy, irresistibly tasty, whether it's the key ingredient or main event.
24:24Philadelphia is the one cooks reach for.
24:27You've got a friend in Philly.
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