What is....amchur?

It looks like sand and it tastes like...something fruity, sour and zingy. Sometimes substituted by lemon or lime juice, or even tamarind, amchur (or amchoor) is an ingredient made from dried mangoes and gives a delicious cheek-sucking tartness to North Indian curries and other dishes.

Inspired by The Second Pancake's Chana Masala, I dashed out to buy some amchur from Delhi India to top off this delicious curry. However, I ended up testing it out in a simple marinade instead.

Zingy Amchur Prawns (serves one greedy girl)

200g raw tiger prawns
1 tsp Maldon salt
1 tsp amchur
Pinch of chilli flakes
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Mix all the ingredients together
2. Fry the prawns in a griddle pan until pink and juicy (approx 2 mins each side)
3. Toss with some ripped up coriander leaves

Enjoy!

The Princess

Good Food Show favourites

I had an absolute blast at the BBC Good Food Show on Saturday, Gordon Ramsay was on form (despite being hung over from birthday celebrations the night before), the stalls were fab and I really enjoyed watching the participants in the Gordon Ramsay Scholar - definitely some future stars in the making.

My absolute favourite treat (after many, many tastings!) was from the Snowdonia Cheese Company - they make some deliciously creamy cheddars like you've never tasted before. My personal favourite was the Green Thunder (Mature Cheddar with Garlic & Garden Herbs) although the BF was in rapture over the Amber Mist (Mature Cheddar with Whisky). They're stocked in delis across the country and come in distinctive colourful wax truckles, so look out for them!

The UK's gone cheese crazy!

One of the big things I miss about the UK is cheese, and judging by recent press my fellow countrymen back home are enjoying it more than ever.

Alex James of Blur fame has been posting The Cheese Diaries as part of the fabulous Observer Food Monthly blog.

There's cheese tasting and cheese making galore at the Great British Cheese Festival, a two day extravaganza being held in Oxfordshire by the Cheese Web next weekend.

The Foody has a whole encyclopedia of cheese, whilst down in Somerset they're even giving cheeses names. Wedginald, a now world-famous cheese with it's own website and 1.5 million viewers around the world, was graded and tested this week to an audience of thousands.

However, over in the US, they're not quite so keen!

Photo thanks to Tellgraf

Anyone for strawberry pasta?

La Favorita Fish, an Italian company specialising in gourmet products is now being stocked at Harvey Nichols foodhall in the UK. I don't think it's got to Hong Kong as yet but I'd be very intrigued to try some of their ingredients, particularly the Strawberry-Barolo Tagliatelle and the Tasty Sauce.

The website also has quite a few unusual recipes, so I would recommend checking it out!