Taste Tibet - Hay Book Festival [@NLi10] @TasteTibet

 I'm not really into Food TV, which is probably surprising as I spend so much time thinking and writing about it.  My partner watches Bake Off and that's about it.  Taste Tibet had all the 'featured on the food shows!' signs, but more importantly I'd never had Tibetan food (despite formerly owning a Tibetan Terrier).

We spotted this stand - went to our two talks - then came back in the break.

The menu is deep and exciting, contains momo buns and branded merchandise with Chai Tea in - and there is an option to basically have it all for £22.50 which in hindsight is a little expensive I guess.  But it's a day out so I went for it.

New Work Mug Unlocked!

The Chai was great - if not a little small to share as was the plan

The Momo is a beef dumpling thing and absolutely amazing.  For £2.50 this transformed the meal and added so much texture and depth.

I could have gone back for more of these - except the curry was rich, meaty and incredibly filling.  It was not as spicy as I'd have guessed - but with the dahl built in had a great warming effect.  I did not require pudding from the pudding stalls at all.  I couldn't even fit another Momo after our final talk.

Totally worth the extra to have something truly special, and I can be proud to show off the camping mug and wonder if I'll bump into these at future food shows too.

It was a bit damp so we didn't use the more traditional outside food section apart from for photos.

Alfez - Harissa Kebab Wrap Kit [@NLi10]

 We love meal kits in this house - and picking up a new one is a voyage of discovery.  Alfez has shown up in a few places and figured we'd give it a try.

We like harissa and even without the chicken (veggie version today!) and as usual all the stuff is in the box - we are just proving that not all wraps have to be Mexican!

And it comes out looking like this!

Of course you can wrap it all together to make it easier to eat, but that's a boring picture.

The flavours here were really interesting and even the wrap was decent quality - and when we went shopping a few days afterwards I picked up a second one for another day.

Tesco Mini Cinnamon Spekulatius - German Inspired spiced biscuits (@NLi10)

We have made it to mid-December, and the final of the three items surrounding the festive candle.

We are left with the most traditionally festive thing on the table - the spicy German biscuits

Well, German inspired anyway.  They are probably made locally.  They do have an authentic taste and smell though...

Enough to entice in kittens!  Look at that tongue action.

The designs are well embossed - you can tell what everything is.

And they are thin! Which works really well - they snap and crackle as you crunch them to release their lovely flavour.  And - these are both festive and very good for snacking - you do get a decent amount, you could pop these in a bowl by the TV and treat them like festive popcorn.

Possibly less authentic than the Aldi & Lidl versions, but without going to Germany these are close enough.

 

Chilli Jam?! (Ok - Tracklements Mango & Chilli Chutney) - (@NLi10)

After Uncle Roger initially caused a stir on YouTube about Egg Fried Rice he then criticised Jaimie Oliver for using 'Chilli Jam' in his own recipe.  This is correct - Mr O rarely gets the recipes right, and is a big fan of bashing in anything within arms reach to great effect.  

Thing is - I was pretty sure we had a jar of the stuff sitting unopened at the bottom of one of our cupboards.

Looks ace right? But when are you actually going to use this at home?

That's a lot of spicy stuff - maybe too much for a nice side with ham after Christmas.  But wait! We can order popadoms with our takeaway as an indulgence and have an excuse to try this!

And wow is this powerful.  I chose a curry at the top end of my spice tolerance and this made it feel tame for the first few mouthfuls.  I think it's the ginger - I have a really low tolerance for it - but my goodness is this special.  I don't want to waste this chucking it at EFR, I want to save it for the inevitable left-overs and for the popadoms as intended.  I guess this counts as another Diwali review (I had Masala Mughlai) but frankly I'm eating this all over the winter and looking forwards to it.

Another ace pick up from the Tracklements family. 

(and here is the video in question)

 

Polish Pre-filled Pancakes! Nalesniki Z Truskawkami (@NLi10)

While picking up the Polish Pirogi from last week I also grabbed something for desert!

These are Nalesniki Z Truskawkami - which appear to be pancakes with strawberry jam in them - at least that's what the Western Europeans would do.

But essentially here it's just strawberry paste - maybe - I don't know...

Lets fry them!

They look a bit broken here...

The vegan (frozen Nutella) distracts from the crepe disaster that we see before us.  The filling is dark and gooey, much more like a puree than a jam.  And it's nice - but you couldn't get away with selling these to people on your Christmas market stall as it is!  The flavour of the coconut oil I fried them in really added to it but I think made them stick too much.

But you get 4 in the pack so I got creative!  Good old George Formby Grill (Turned Out Nice Again!) to the rescue - get it to temp - plop them on - roll them about every few minutes - pristine pudding!

OK - maybe a little overdone on the sides - but that's part of the crispy pancake appeal.  The tastes were very similar (minus the coconut) but the texture was much more professional.  Lets put in an application for the Christmas market and charge £5 for 2!

All round success once the cooking had been sorted, and another authentic taste to add to the pudding menu.