Store cupboard essentials - part 1

Store Cupboard Essentials

In order to cook great quick vegetarian food for my family, I rely on a well-stocked store cupboard. Build things up as you go along - you don't need everything at once.

Spices

You don't need to have loads of spices to cook well. I find it really useful to have my ingredients organised and use glass jars so I can see what I have at a glance. If you don't have the space to do that a little list of what you have / what needs using up stuck up in your kitchen can be useful.

Some Key Spices

Smoked Paprika

Smoked paprika for that smokey heat, chilli for a hot heat.

Cinnamon

I love cinnamon in baking but you can also use it in lots of curries.

Cumin

Cumin has a lovely earthy flavour and acts as a great base for curries.

Turkish Chilli

I favour the gentler spice of Turkish chilli. It's great for children and other people who can't handle extremely spicy food. It almost has a sweet aroma and works really well with roasted root vegetables.

Turmeric

Turmeric with its light bright flavour is a key spice for me, it's used in Middle Eastern and Indian cooking.

Sumac

Sumac is a brilliant spice to have in the store cupboard. A dried ground-up red berry with a lemony citrusy flavour.

I love having spice blends. You can buy many from curry to Persian blends. If you can try and buy single-origin spices. It's about having four or five spices that you really love, that are bought in smaller bags as spices can go off quite quickly.

Sources for Spices

UK

• Rooted Spices - Which is great for single-origin spices and interesting blends.
• Épices de Cru from Vinegar Shed - Great for single herbs and spices as well as blends.
• Cool Chile Company - Great for chillies and Mexican goods.
• Daphnis and Chloe - They sell fantastic dried herbs and more unusual spices, perfect for those more adventurous.
• Honey and Co - They sell wonderful middle eastern spice blends.

USA

• Diaspora Co - Great single-origin spice blends can be bought here.

Dry Goods

In terms of pulses, we are talking about different types of beans; cannellini beans, black beans, chickpeas, different types of lentils and mong beans. You can have these tinned and jarred, ready to eat, I find the jarred ones are superior to the tinned ones.

I also have dried pulses which last much longer, are cheaper but require longer cooking times. When I'm organised, I'll cook a big batches of dried beans and freeze individual-sized portions so I know they're homemade and as nutritious as possible. I always try and soak them first.

Split lentils and green lentils are great to have in your cupboard as they don't require a long soak and can instantly be made into a daal.

Soaking and Cooking Times for Dried Pulses

Quick

Soak 30 Minutes + Cooking 30–40 Minutes

• Lentils and split peas
• Moth beans
• Mung beans

Short

Soak 2–3 Hours + Cooking 30–40 Minutes

• Aduki beans
• Black-eyed beans

Medium

Soak 4 Hours + Cooking 1–1½ Hours

• Borlotti beans
• Butter beans
• Cannellini beans
• Haricot beans
• Kidney beans
• Pinto beans

Long

Soak 8 Hours Or Overnight + Cooking 1½ - 2–3 Hours

• Chickpeas
• Fava beans
• Soya beans

Flours

I use various different flours in my kitchen. I never buy self raising flour, I prefer to buy plain flour and have baking powder to hand. Flour doesn't last forever, I would recommend buying flour in small bags with a couple of varieties. I think it's really important to also vary the flours that we eat.

Favourite Flours

Plain Flour

Chickpea flour

It is gluten free and is brilliant in soccer pancakes and has a nutty character that I love.

Oat Flour

I love the creamy note that oat flour adds to baking.

Rice Flour

Strong Flour

Great Places to Buy Flour

• Wildfarmed grain
• E5 bakery
• Shipton Mill
• Sharpham Farm
• Doves Farm

Grains

Each grain has a different flavour and texture and provides your body with different vitamins and nutrients. There are a lot of really interesting grains which we can include in our diet from spelt to farrow. Quinoa is often grouped with whole grains but it is actually the seed of a plant that is a relative of leafy green vegetables such as spinach and Swiss chard. It is really high in both protein and fibre, with the added bonus of containing no gluten and almost no fat.

With a food processor you can make your own flour from grains. To make your own flour at home, put about 400g of grains or dried pulses into your food processor. It's important to put a decent amount in, otherwise the grains just fly around the bowl. You can get away with doing smaller batches of nuts, though. Put the food processor on high and blitz until the flour has formed a little wall around the sides and is no longer falling back into the centre. Remove the flour and sift it through a medium sieve for slightly more textured flour or a fine sieve for fine flour for lighter cakes and sauces.

Nuts and Seeds

I always have nuts and seeds to hand in my store cupboard. There are many different types of seeds from sunflower seeds to pumpkin and chia. They are a brilliant, accessible and affordable way of adding protein to your vegetarian diet. Seeds are great on top of soups. You can grind up nuts and seeds into butters you can have on toast as well as into flour.

Pastas

I always have pasta on hand, as well as normal durum wheat pasta I often buy a variety of different pastas.

My Favourite Pastas

Durum wheat (normal) pasta

Delicious and versatile.

Chickpea pasta

Lovely nutty flavour and gluten-free.

Buckwheat pasta

A slow-releasing, which is both wheat and gluten-free

Gluten-free pasta

Brown rice pasta

Subtle in flavour, making it a perfect replacement for those going gluten-free but wanting the same flavour as normal durum wheat pasta.

Wholemeal pasta

Keeps a nice bit of bite when cooked and has a higher protein content than regular pasta.

Breadcrumbs

I keep panko breadcrumbs on hand in a jar as well as blitzed up fresh breadcrumbs from the ends of loaves in the freezer.

Great Pasta Brands

A great brand of chickpea pasta is Ugo. Also, I like Garoffalo for gluten-free and brown rice. De Cecco is a great brand for wholemeal and durum wheat pasta.

Jars and Tins

Chopped Tomatoes

I use so many tins of chopped tomatoes especially during the winter when fresh tomatoes aren't at their best.

Coconut Milk

I use it in both Asian and Indian cooking adding creamy note to different dishes.

Roasted Red Pepper

I think that these are a brilliant hit of flavour.

Olives, Capers and Cornichions

Olives, Capers and Cornichions all bring a great acidity to my kitchen and add an extra interesting dimension

Salt

I always have a flaky sea salt on hand and use it in most of my cooking. It ads both texture and flavour to meals. A smoked salt is great on hand giving a smokey note. I also have fine sea salt on hand for seasoning pasta water and baking. Halen Môn sea salt is an all-time favourite for me and a great sea salt to buy.

Soy

Soy sauce is a really useful seasoning; I usually buy a tamari sauce a version of soy made without gluten. Clearspring is one of my favourite brands. I use it for stir-fries, soups, and dressing where I want the flavour of soy but also where I want an even saltiness.

Vegetarian Stock

Sometimes I make my own, but I like to have a tub as back-up whenever I need it. I use a bouillon stock powder or vegetarian stock cubes and pastes. Any of those are a great thing to have.

Vinegar

I always have vinegar on hand, I use it for different things and enjoy the different flavour profiles that it brings. There are cider vinegars, red wine vinegar, herb and fruit vinegars. Vinegar can add acidity and different flavour notes. Andy Harris, a friend of mine, runs the Vinegar Shed, which offers excellent vinegars. There are great niche vinegars like cherry and quince vinegars.

Fats and Oils

I always have a really brilliant extra virgin olive oil for drizzling and a cheaper olive oil for cooking and usually some ghee and coconut oil and well. I vary between those oils dependent on what I'm cooking.

Happy Ghee is great for buying extra virgin ghee.

Sweeteners

I opt for more natural sweeteners, as they have more flavour and nutrients. I normally have honey, blackstrap molasses, maple syrup, agave and castor sugar, golden castor sugar, muscovado sugar and coconut sugar.

Honey

I love honey, and a jar lasts just a few days in our house. I love it in teas, in baking, on toast, stirred into yoghurt

Blackstrap Molasses

It is a full-bodied treacley sweetener. It's particularly high in calcium and iron, which are both difficult to come by for vegetarians.

Maple syrup

I love maple syrup – it tastes of childhood trips to American diners for towering stacks of maplelaced pancakes. Maple syrup is high in nutrients and minerals such as zinc.

Agave

Light and clean-tasting agave is a neutral sweetener that's made from the juice of the agave plant, which is also used to make tequila.

Coconut sugar

Coconut sugar has a round, caramelly flavour and a mellow sweetness. Coconut sugar comes from coconut palm trees.

Flavour Packed Ingredients

These are things that are brilliant to add whilst you are cooking. Chipotle is a smoked chilli from Mexico and a magic ingredient, its sweet, smoky and packed with flavour. You can buy it a few ways; as whole dried chillies or in chilli pastes. I use Chipotle in loads of different soups and stews as it adds a smokiness.

Tamarind paste is another thing I love to add. It adds a sourness and a depth to food, it is great in Thai, Asian and Indian cooking and lasts for ever in the fridge. Lastly, miso a fermented food adding saltiness, umami and depth of flavour. Other ways to add dimension are things like dried mushrooms, I particularly like having porcini and shiitake on hand. These mushrooms soaked in water add an earthy depth to your cooking. Seaweed is also great to have in your store cupboard adding a salty sea note to your cooking.

Nut Butters

I love cooking with peanut butter, I feel it adds a richness, depth and a brilliant hit of protein.