hello Tooting my new friend
Ohhh yippee yippee after a long haitus my fingers are feeling nimble and ready to finely chop some garlic and also write a little email!
I have been feeling a real lack of inspiration for a while now, as you might have guessed, but I have moved (I am a SW17 girl now) and moving areas means new shops and new food places and new new new. My bestie ever Jello (stage name rivaroasts) was also here for a weekend, and we were living out our teenage dreams and exploring the local gastronomical scene. We discussed how nice it is when you first move somewhere to explore what food is on your doorstep, and that kind of inspired todays substack, so today’s email is addressed to Miss Julia.
Here is a list of everything I am excited by in Tooting so far, this is fun because it sums up what I will probably tell anyone who asks ‘How is Tooting’ for the next 3 months and also we can discuss food:
Tooting market is across the road, this is MAJOR, because firstly a lot of fruit and vegetables are on the doorstep, but also very cheap tinned fish, Ugandan avacados (they are like the size of four standard avacados), 5 lemons for £1 and some very sexy looking Chinese food, and a box is only £2 in the evenings (or so I think). We have tried said Ugandan avacados and also said Chinese food - we had some very beautiful massive prawns deep fried among other things. This is very fun and funky.
On the note of the market, there is a great little fish stand within the market, and the man who runs it is the best, we bought a massive heap of sardines and sprat and we coated them in flour and deep fried them. We made them with a mound of dilly-lemony potatoes and a zingy salad. I still have some sardines in the freezer left over - if anyone has some recipe suggestions this would be welcomed.
There are also 14000 butchers on the doorstep, I am actually not a major meat eater and was very excited to eat less meat when I moved and cooked more for myself, HOWEVER I bought three whole chickens (dajaj halal) in my first week here accidently. Perhaps I should explain, one I bought for a dinner for my mum, sister and Anja. I seasoned the chicken with Ras al-Hanout, whole dried chillis, garlic, lemon, salt (I have kosher salt right now I feel like I work for Bon Appetit). I served it with tahini yoghurt, homemade hummus, a salad, roast aubergines and this verrryyyy pillowy flatbread. Then I bought a chicken and I accidentally told them to cut it up, but I actually wanted a whole chicken, so then I just bought two and one is in the freezer. (Incase anyone wondered, I did seperate all the boney bits into a bag and put in the freezer for STOCK, stock is on tap in this flat). This next whole chicken I marinated in a yoghurt, dill, anchovy, garlic concotion, inspired by this instagram reel, and I served it with chilli potatoes and a rocket, broccoli, orange salad with walnuts and a mustard dressing and pickles. (For dessert I made a pie, I wanted it to be rhubarb as it’s in season but I did not find any yet, when I do I will savour the find and perhaps make a jam from it). The cut up chicken has so far not gone to waste, beautiful Paula is home from her travels in Mexico and she bought Mole, and so we have had it on chicken and it was divine.
In general I have been cooking lots and making lots of ingredients -
I found really small cucumbers in the fruit and veg shop opposite and so I am making a constant supply of dill pickles, so that every time I host people they are just BAM ready, a healthy dose of probiotics on the table.
I also made a chilli oil for the cupboard (just with dried whole chillis, garlic, pepper corns and olive oil).
I also embarked on a (successful) journey to make labneh, I know it is literally just strained Greek yoghurt but I didn’t expect it to be as easy as straining yoghurt? It has filled my instagram with other dairy products you can make at home and usually this would not tempt me but look at this cream cheese with homemade bagels, wouldn’t that be fun.
I also LOVE that in Tooting massive bunches of herbs are cheap, it feels like I am back in Jordan the fridge is STOCKED with herbs right now.
There are so many cool restaurants in the local area and I am LOVING the exploration and I can’t wait to try them all. I don’t think I have eaten much authentic Indian and Pakastani food in my life and access to such food is aplenty here so hopefully that will change. Me and Pauly have got £2.60 BEAUTIFUL naan rolls with kofta and salad and we have set our sights on a naan shop that just makes fresh naan as our next stop.
All of this is to say, I think I (and maybe everyone, but I don’t want to speak on your behalf) make connections and a home in a new place through food, I felt this most strongly when living in Jordan, when food featured as such an integral part of the culture and the day to day. Despite it being one of the places I’ve moved where I have known the least amount of people, it’s also one of the places I felt very very loved while living in, even with the language and cultural differences, (sorry to sound cheesy) but I think food bridged that gap. I felt very loved through the cooking and learning to cook and eating with others and the hosting and being hosted. I have never really felt it to the same extent in the UK, because culturally it’s unlikley you invite a random girl to your house to learn to make a recipe your grandma taught you maybe? or maybe I’ve just had less time to prioritise it and make time for it? It’s something I have reremembered from moving and being star struck by the 24 hour veg shop opposite my window, and something I am trying to remember to give time to, because I think it is the foundations of moving to a new place and making a home there. And perhaps it’s working - yesterday when I came home from a brief trip to the Surrey heartland, I felt the first pang of oh! i’ve missed home!, so far I’ve only been feeling that about Edinburgh, and so it was a nice novelty to feel it a tiny bit already for Tooting too.
with this little soppy end, that concludes my email, thanks everyone love you
Love Ellanee xxx