Vegetarian soup from Chinese Food Made Easy by BBC TV chef Ching-He Huang.

Some dear friends of mine recently gave me a copy of Chinese Food Made Easy, which ties in with the BBC show presented by Ching-He Huang. It’s full of beautiful pictures and recipes that sound delicious - from mussels in black bean sauce with mung bean noodles to durian honey puffs with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup.

I decided the first recipe I would attempt would be the ‘egg flower’ drop soup from the ‘takeaway favourites’ section of the book. It looked simple and tasty and had the added advantage of being vegetarian and thus catering for my non-meat eating partner.

‘Egg flower’ drop soup

Serves 2

3 ripe tomatoes, sliced (see step 1)

500ml/18fl oz hot vegetable stock

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon of light soy sauce

a dash of sesame oil

1 pinch of ground white pepper

1 tablespoon cornflour, blended with 2 tablespoons cold water

1-2 sheets nori (dried seaweed), shredded

200g/7oz fresh silken dofu, diced into 1.5 x 1.5cm / 1/2 by 1/2 inch chunks

1 large handful spinach

2 spring onions, finely sliced

1. If you want to skin the tomatoes before slicing, cut a cross at the base of each one. Plunge them into a pan of boiling water for less than 1 minute, then drain - the skin will peel off easily. Finely hop the flesh, discarding the hard centre. However, most of the nutrients are underneath the skin so I don’t bother - also the dish is even quicker to prepare.

2. Add the tomatoes to the hot stock in the pan. Pour the whisked eggs into the broth, stirring gently. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper and blended cornflour and mix well.

3. Add the nori to the broth, followed by the dofu and heat for less than 1 minute.

4. Add the spinach and let it wilt slightly, then add the spring onions. Serve immediately.

Road test

A note on ingredients: The recipe doesn’t mention whether to use toasted or untoasted nori. I went for untoasted on the basis that it would be cooked in the hot broth. I think this was the right decision as the consistency seemed right. I used two sheets.

I didn’t have any fresh tomatoes and I had a cupboard full of crushed tin tomatoes so I drained a can and used about two thirds of the contents.

I used Waitrose-brand vegetable stock, baby spinach, and organic eggs, tofu (which I presumed was the same as dofu), and spring onions.

Method: The instructions were very clear and easy to follow.

Result: It was a bit disappointing. Firstly, the quantities of ingredients seem off. Even allowing for the fact that I opted for two sheets of nori, I had very little broth for the amount of solid ingredients. If I were making this again, I would either increase the amount of stock or decrease the amount of spinach, nori and tofu. It also made four bowls of soup rather than two, though maybe that’s down to the size of my bowls.

Secondly, and more importantly, it was quite bland. I had to add a good slug of soy sauce and another hefty pinch of white pepper to each bowl for it to become palatable. It might have been a bit better with fresh tomatoes but I don’t believe this would have made a significant difference.

Verdict

I really wish the result had been more impressive because it was incredibly easy to make. It took me about 20 minutes in total.  Unfortunately though, it just wasn’t that interesting. Perhaps I might experiment a bit with different flavours, like chilli and ginger. I’m certainly willing to test out some of the other recipes in the book before I give up.

• * Is it possible to be a food writer and still keep your waistline? Cookbook author Melissa Clark shares her secrets on Bon Appetit.

• * Eating whole grains is good for your health but it doesn’t have to be brown rice day after day. Culinate has a glossary of whole grains, from amaranth to wild rice. I haven’t heard of most of the ones on the list - kamut, anyone? Others, such as barley and quinoa, I’m more familiar with and have even cooked with. It’s a good resource and reminder of the variety that’s out there.

• * I love edible flowers - nasturtium, marigold or borage can really pep up a fresh salad, and fried zucchini (courgette) flowers are simply delicious. Around Britain with a Paunch blogs about an edible flower tasting menu at Roussillon, created in honour of his mother who is somewhat of an expert on the subject.

• * The Times has a guide to pick-your-own farms - a fun day out for the family and perfect for anyone who fancies a go at making jam or preserves.

• * For dessert here’s Closet Cooking’s cherry clafoutis - a dessert I’ve been hearing loads about lately. It sounds so good with its custard and cherry combination but I am yet to attempt making one - usually when I get fresh cherries I scarf them down plain, which is almost certainly healthier anyway!

Kangaroos might be cute but they are also delicious - a lean red meat not wholly unlike venison. Now there’s another reason to eat them. You’ve all heard of the infamous contribution to global warming made by farting cattle - it’s one of those things that sounds like a joke but really isn’t. Apparently, kangaroos have a far more genteel digestive system, so you can eat red meat and save the planet too.

Eggs and cappuccino at the Electric Cinema cafe on Portobello Road.

One of the best things about being freelance is sometimes I get to play when other people work. (One of the worst things is that sometimes I have to work when the rest of the world is playing).

I’d had a very productive week so I rewarded myself by meeting a friend (Natalie - that’s her in the picture) for brunch on Thursday morning. The Electric Cinema - a fine picturehouse with comfy chairs and great brownies - has a café attached. It’s almost impossible to get a table there on a Saturday unless you’re prepared to get up early, which really defeats the point of brunch. On a Thursday morning, it’s a different story.

It was a sunny day and we had a table in a prime location outside on the pavement. I’m a big fan of dining al fresco - food just seems to taste better outdoors and drinking coffee on the street makes me feel cosmpolitan and connected to the world around me. One of the things I miss most about Sydney is the numerous cafés, with tables on the footpath so you can watch the world go buy, good coffee (a rarity in London though becoming more common), and excellent brunches. When I lived in Newtown, in inner city Sydney, I went out for brunch at least once every weekend.

England is renowned for inventing sports that other people play better. Similarly, the Brits invented the full English breakfast, but other people have improved on it. (Not everyone agrees with me on this, hence why I have invented the Global Breakfast Tournament, which is still ongoing). I’ve gone out for breakfast in numerous cafés in London and B&Bs all over the country and encountered both good and bad but nothing like the consistent quality we get in Australia. I’m definitely not into the greasy spoon style breakfast - I want fresh ingredients, lots of variety, modern cooking styles, and good coffee. Nor am I that into the breakfasts at the grand hotels like the Wolseley - it’s good food done well but just not that interesting.

I’ve found a few good places around - I like Brioche and the Wet Fish Cafe, almost next door to each other on West End Lane in West Hampstead. Boiled Egg and Soldiers in Clapham Junction was decent but not worth a trip across town.

I think it was Jessica at Ripe London who recommended the Electric Cinema for breakfast to me and I’d been meaning to try it for ages. The menu had everything you’d expect - though there was nothing I would describe as unusual or adventurous. I had Eggs Florentine and I asked for the hollandaise sauce on the side. Natalie had the full vegie breakfast.

The waiters won points for getting the orders exactly right - they even remembered the two glasses of tap water, which so often gets forgotten. However, they were a bit slow and left us to our own devices a little too much even though I think we were pretty much the only ones there. The food was great though; we lingered over our meals as we chatted about my recent trip to Syria and Natalie’s holiday in Iceland.

Inside the decor is achingly hip, with a bar with leather bar stools, and in the back room, wooden panelling and booths with more padded leather. The effect was a bit like what you’d get if you asked Philippe Starck to design an American diner. There’s actually a private members lounge upstairs; Natalie was the first to arrive and when she told the waiter she was looking for a friend, they suggested that might be where I was! Fat chance.

I enjoyed the brunch immensely though the damage came to £33 between the two of us, including the service charge. The same meal in Australia or the US would cost the same in dollars - in other words, half that when you convert the currency.

Electric Cinema
191 Portobello Rd, Notting Hill
London W11 2ED
www.electriccinema.co.uk

Brioche
238 West End Lane, Hampstead
London, NW6 1LG
020 7431 8175

Wet Fish Café
242 West End Lane, Hampstead
London, NW6 1LG
020 7443 9222
www.thewetfishcafe.co.uk

The Boiled Egg and Soldiers
63 Northcote Rd, Clapham Junction
London, SW11 1NP
020 7223 4894

The Wolseley
160 Piccadilly
London, W1J 9EB
020 7499 6996
www.thewolseley.com