IMPRESSIONABLE? I’d say so. I didn’t buy the tee-shirt but I did get the book, met the chef, ate the meal and then went home, left the bacon in the fridge, and COOKED VEGAN.
I’ve been dabbling in Jackie Kearney’s Vegan Street Food ever since I dropped on on the book’s London launch in November. That’s why you’ll find me trawling Chinatown for arcane Asian ingredients. My mission? To replicate the spicy, dairy-free food Jackie has served up as a Masterchef top 4 finalist and in her pop-up guise as the Hungry Gecko.
The range of her artistry with such a restricted palette was much in evidence when the book finally got its VIP airing in her native Manchester in the revamped Corn Exchange outpost of Tampopo, where Jackie is a consultant. Check out their menu here.
What she sent out from the kitchen is listed and pictured below. It well represented her devilishly spicy but also remarkably subtle take on the food she discovered in extensive family travels in South East Asia.
In the plastic bag below my seat lurked my recent purchases – pandanus leaves, macadamia nuts and galangal – in readiness for the following night’s cooking at home With smoked tempeh, coconut milk, tamarind and much, much more I made a Malaysian rice with sambal dish (main picture) from the book that was a revelation. Not what a culinarily prejudiced world expects of Vegan.
Promoting this culinary gospel wasn’t Jackie’s original aim, but the peasant food she found on her personal odyssey was often by necessity vegan and so that became its theme. For millions across the Indian sub-continent and South East Asia veganism isn’t an ethical lifestyle choice; it’s dictated by survival subsistence on pulses and veg.
On the evidence of Jackie’s book it can also be utterly delicious and healthy.
Vegan Street Food is published by Ryland Peters at £16.99.
At Tampopo we VIP vegans for the night ate:
Appetisers of Pani Puri Pops, Thai style BBQ tofu skewers and Tom Yum shots with sticky rice balls; Jackfruit Rendang in lemongrass, coconut and chilli; Hungry Gecko Dal Masala yellow dal with aubergine masala; Roti Canal Malay style dal with flaky roti bread; Vegetable Laab, Lao style lettuce cups; Vietnamese mushroom claypot; Balinese seaweed salad; Steamed seaweed rice.
Tampopo at The Corn Exchange open Mon-Wed, 12pm-10.30pm, Thur-Sat 12pm-11pm and Sun 12pm-11pm.