Stuffed peppers

Here’s a recipe for stuffed peppers. The thing is though that when we ate them, nobody really liked the peppers but but loved the filling, so this is the inside bit.

Ingredients/method:

Cook 2 cups brown rice in 4 cups water with two teaspoons of veg stock powder. Throw in a palmful of currants. While the rice is cooking, roast 2/3 cup of cashews for about 15 mins until brown but not burnt. Chop these roughly. Chop 1 red onion finely, chop 2 cloves garlic finely and soften in a tbsp olive oil. Add 12 baby plum tomatoes halved and let them sweat with the onions/garlic. Add 1 tsp curry powder to the chopped cashews, add the cooked rice and onions and mix all the ingredients together. Stuff this mixture into halved pepper and top with cheese and slices of chorizo if wanted.

Storm Erik comes to Shelley Banks

I’m hoping to do a bit more personal work over the months, this is the first in a series. Shot using a variety of Nikon lenses mounted on a Canon C100ii. This is new (to me0 camera, a fantastic piece of kit with a great sensor and fantastic colour science.

Shot in 2 hours, edited in 4.

Kimchi

In an effort to eat cleaner, I’m going to try making kimchi, fermented Korean style cabbage (and other veg). The version I’m making isn’t vegetarian because it contains fish sauce.

The first link is the one that I’m making with a few variations in the ingredients (addition of capsicums, carrots and cabbage).

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/brussels-sprouts-kimchi

https://www.mnn.com/food/recipes/stories/how-to-make-kimchi-in-5-easy-steps

The prepped veg are sitting patiently in their jars, fermenting away for a few days until I sample. It may end up being disgusting, but it’s a reasonably cheap experiment and it may be good. Time will tell.

Sourdough recipe

Akhil Malhotra‎ to Perfect Sourdough
2 hrs ·
Morning All,
I’ve pulled these suckers out of the oven this morning and thought I’d share the method and get some thoughts from all of you.
Normally I feed my starter the day I mix, but due to new constraints I had to feed it the afternoon before – so here we go.
5pm – feed starter (60% hydrated starter, 100% WW)
9am – Mix Dough, (100% white, 72% hydration, 20%starter, no salt yet)
9:30am – Add 2% salt
10:00 am – first fold
10:45 am – second cold
11:30 am – final fold
11:45 am – preshape
12:20 pm – final shape and retard
10 am next day – Bake at 230 for 20 with steam and 190 for 30 without steam
Bulk was done at roughly 28-29 degrees C (aiming for final dough temp of 26 degrees C)
Retarding was at anywhere between 3-5 degrees C
Any questions fire away
For more images follow me on instagram, akhilmalhotra

Tribesman, near Geda Yesus, Amhara, Ethiopia

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The office today, man and cow, near Geda Yesus village about 40km north of Dejen. This is about as Old Testament as it gets apart from the AK47. The people here haven’t seen rain for two years, and adjacent to where this picture was taken is a waterhole which services two kebele (villages) totalling about 1500 people. It’s a trickle – women queue all day for a chance to fill a 20l jerry can with a cup, then carry it back to their village. Life is unbelievably tough, the landscape is harsh, mortality is high. Sustenance is provided by the government but the diet is poor.

Going back to Ethiopia

I’m back over to Ethiopia in a less than 4 weeks with my son Ben to film a few projects near Debre Markos, and also down south in the Kaffe region. Ben is in Transition Year and it’ll be his first trip to sub Saharan Africa. A great way to spend two weeks from TY, and a great way to broaden your world view.

Greystones

The X100 is versatile, even with its tiny sensor you can make short ass depth of field images if you crank it open. Definitely my favourite camera of the moment. Love its size and power compared to its bigger, uglier, heaver full frame dslr cousin.

6 million steps

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For the last few years I’ve been interested in wearable tech and I’ve ended up using a Jawbone Up for a lot of this time. They’ve been convenient devices to wear but in those few years I’ve broken two and lost one, so as a result I’m on No. 4 (an Up2 I think).

I’m not convinced of its accuracy, there seems to be a 12% error over a known course, which is a bit on the high side. However regardless of its accuracy, it does give me a reason to get up off my arse and walk more, so I try. I really like the software you use with it though, you can view trends and set reminders to get up and move after a period of being stationary, you can set wake up alarms and get it to remind you to go to bed.

U2 at the Point

Had the good fortune to come across tickets for the U2 gig in the Point, very unexpectedly. I hadn’t seen them live for a good few years since they placed Croke Park, which wasn’t a great experience because the venue isn’t suited to it and we spent a large part of the night trying to get to somewhere we could actually see the whole stage. Anyhow, the gig in the Point was great, they played maybe 2 1/2 hours, even song a hit. Bono is an easy target for slagging off, but I had to admit that every song was a hit and he sang beautifully. The fact that they can play for so long and not one dud amongst the songs is a real testament to their endurance. Terrific gig, great music, great visuals. Edge is my hero 🙂