The Cookbook Tour
The Cookbook Tour – Travels in New Zealand food and music
Singer songwriter Flip Grater’s cookbook is an entertaining dairy of her travels around New Zealand in a Lada station wagon, performing music and enjoying good vegetarian kiwi kai. Flip’s 2006 tour took in towns big and small. Along the way she met a variety of kiwi characters who fed her and gave her recipes which ended up in her cookbook. The book is full of recipes for a variety of dishes including mains, snacks and drinks. There’s something for everyone.
But The Cookbook Tour is more than just a cookbook. It offers an insight on what it is like to be a musician on the road and the kind of people met on tour. I really enjoyed reading the stories of Flip’s adventures as much as I enjoyed trying out the recipes. It’s a great read, with photos to make the stories real.
The Cookbook Tour would make a great Xmas pressie for the vegetarian (or adventurous omni) in your life. Or treat yourself. Go to www.thecookbooktour.com to find out where to get your copy. To find out more about Flip and her music, go to www.flipgrater.com
Here are some recipes from Flip’s book which are suitable for the summer season. My favourite is the ginger beer. It is so much nicer than the bought version and is a lot of fun to make.
Review by Yolanda Soryl
My salsa
8 ripe tomatoes
1 small red onion
Handful fresh coriander
Juice of 1-2 limes
Fresh chilli to taste, finely chopped
Dash of oil
Plenty of salt and pepper
Dice tomatoes (you want them to be nice and soft so they go a little saucy when mixed with other ingredients and mix them together with red onion, fresh coriander, lime juice, a little olive oil, plenty of salt and pepper and, of course, a finely chopped fresh chilli. Add as much or as little chilli as you like, depending on the type of chilli and your tolerance – make sure you check the chilli heat yourself1 let the mixture meld together for half an hour or so and then serve with corn chips or on burritos.
Yadana’s eggplant sambal
2 medium-sized eggplants
4 tomatoes
6 garlic cloves
½ bunch fresh coriander, finely sliced
1 knob fresh ginger
1 Tbsp tamarind paste
1 chilli
Salt, to taste
3 Tbsp dark soy sauce
½ tsp paprika
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Oil
Soak tamarind in about 200mls boiling water. While the tamarind is soaking, prick the eggplant and score the tomatoes so they don’t explode. Place in a roasting dish with a slug of oil and the unpeeled garlic cloves and roast at 180C, turning occasionally, until squidgy, about (20-30 minutes).
Fast ginger beer
Combine:
¼ tsp yeast
½ tsp sugar
2 Tbsp warm water
Leave for 5 minutes until it bubbles.
Combine:
Juice and rind of 2 lemons
1 Tbsp dried ginger
¾ cup sugar or honey
Leave for 5 minutes and strain out rind.
Combine all ingredients in a 1.5 litre plastic bottle. Fill nearly to the top and leave for 24 hours in a hot water cupboard. Cool before opening, it should be fizzy!