This was a revelation on a recent trip to Tel Aviv. In fact, the entire trip to Tel Aviv was a foodie revelation but this was definitely a highlight. It was originally brought to Israel in the 1940s by Iraqi Jews who used to eat its key elements on Shabbat, when no cooking is allowed; they could still produce a sustaining meal by using precooked aubergine (traditionally fried, but here we’re using our grill), boiled potatoes and eggs. In Israel, somebody clever put it all into a pita bread with a few other flavoursome additions and so a most excellent street food was born, and kiosks began to appear around the city. The main ingredients of a sabich are also sometimes served in salad form and that’s another great option if you want to leave out the bread or create a big sharing bowl.
300g/10½oz aubergine (eggplant), cut lengthways into 5-mm/¼-in thick slices
salt and black pepper
300g/10½oz white cabbage, shredded
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
olive oil, to drizzle
4–8 wholewheat pita breads
To serve
mango chutney
1 batch tahini sauce (see here)
8 new potatoes, boiled and sliced
1 batch Israeli salad (see here)
120g/4½oz pickles of your choice (shopbought or see here or here), 4 eggs, boiled and sliced
zhoug (see here) or other spicy sauce
Place the aubergine slices on a cold grill or wire rack set over a roasting pan or tray. Sprinkle both sides with a little salt to draw out the water and leave for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the shredded cabbage in a bowl and add a little salt and black pepper and the white wine vinegar. Leave to one side.
When they’re ready, wipe the aubergine slices with paper towels to remove the water and excess salt, then drizzle with a little olive oil. Place the aubergine slices on a hot grill for 3–5 minutes on each side until you have some good char lines. Remove from the heat and leave to one side.
Place the pitas on the hot grill, turning occasionally, until they’re warm on both sides. Cut lengthways to create a pocket ready for stuffing.
To serve, stuff each pita to taste, starting with a thin layer of mango chutney, then adding the tahini sauce, shredded cabbage, sliced potatoes, Israeli salad, pickles, grilled aubergine, sliced egg, a little more tahini sauce and a drizzle of zhoug or other hot sauce to finish. Or, alternatively, we tend to prefer to put all the elements out and leave people to create their own.
This is a simple way to really enjoy the flavours of summer’s best vegetables. We’ve used here some of our favourites, but it works with any vegetable you fancy or happen to have to hand. It’s great served as part of a larger barbecue spread with some brown rice and a few easy sides.
bunch asparagus, woody ends removed
1 aubergine (eggplant), cut lengthways into 5-mm/¼-in slices
2 courgettes (zucchini), cut lengthways into 5-mm/¼-in slices
2 red peppers (we like to use Romano peppers), halved
1 bunch spring onions (scallions), topped and tailed
1 fennel bulb, halved, and woody part of stalk removed
2 plum tomatoes, halved
5 tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper
1 batch chimichurri (see here)
Place all the vegetables in a large bowl or on a tray, pour over the olive oil and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Mix gently with your hands to distribute the oil and seasoning.
Once the grill is hot (or use a griddle plate if cooking indoors), work in batches to grill the vegetables until they’re nicely charred on both sides. The different vegetables will take slightly different times to char, so do keep an eye on them and remove them from the grill when they are done.
Arrange on a serving platter, pour over the chimichurri and enjoy!
A highlight of any trip to Mexico, this is our absolute favourite way to enjoy corn on the cob and is a star player in any barbecue spread or a winning standalone snack. It is undeniably messy to eat, but that’s definitely part of its joy! You can use ready-prepared corn on the cob if it’s too much of a faff to shuck your own, but the ears on fresh corn do look good, and they are also very useful for holding.
60g/2oz/¼ cup sour cream
60g/2oz/¼ cup mayonnaise
120g/4½oz feta cheese, crumbled
1 garlic clove, crushed
¼ tsp red chilli flakes, plus a little extra to garnish (optional)
1 tbsp chopped coriander (cilantro), plus a little extra to garnish
4 ears of corn, shucked
1 lime, quartered, to serve
In a mixing bowl, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise and crumbled feta. Stir in the crushed garlic, chilli flakes and coriander and place to one side.
Place the corn on your grill (or under the grill if you’re using an oven) and rotate every now and again until all sides have a lovely char and you begin to hear the occasional kernel popping.
Remove from the grill and slather generously with the cheese mixture. Garnish with a little extra chopped coriander, a few more chilli flakes, if desired, and a wedge of lime.
Ubiquitous throughout Indonesia, we’re always surprised not to see more tempeh in the UK, but you can generally find it in health food shops, sometimes in the freezer section. These ‘ribs’ are a great part of a veggie barbecue and work well served with rice and Asian greens, or our rainbow slaw (see here). Kecap manis, an Indonesian sweet soy sauce, is one of our star condiments and is available in most Asian grocers. It’s thick like treacle and absolutely delicious added to stir-fries and rice dishes.
250g/9oz tempeh, cut into 5-mm/¼-in thick slices
For the marinade
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
1 tsp coriander seeds, toasted
1 garlic clove, chopped
1½ tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp kecap manis, plus 2 tbsp to serve
1 handful coriander (cilantro), chopped, plus a little extra to garnish
For the salsa
2 small shallots, finely sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
½ handful coriander (cilantro), chopped
juice and zest of ½ lime
salt and black pepper
2 tbsp kecap manis marinade (see above)
First make the marinade. Place the toasted cumin and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar and grind until powdered. Add the garlic, grind a little more, then add the olive oil and kecap manis and grind again. Mix in the chopped coriander to finish.
Put the tempeh slices into a large bowl and then pour over the marinade, making sure they’re fully coated. Leave to one side for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your barbecue or oven grill (broiler).
Put the tempeh slices on/under the grill (place the slices in a roasting pan if cooking indoors) and cook, basting regularly with the leftover marinade and turning as needed to get a nice colour on both sides.
Combine all the salsa ingredients with a little salt and pepper in a bowl.
When the tempeh is ready, serve on a plate and top with the salsa. Drizzle over the additional kecap manis and enjoy!
These are excellent skewers abounding with Asian flavours. We use miso paste all the time for soups, stocks and marinades and are particularly keen on the brown rice miso from Clearspring. We tend to use Taifun smoked tofu.
8–10 metal or bamboo skewers
500g/1lb 2oz aubergine (eggplant), cut into roughly 3-cm/1¼-in cubes
salt and black pepper
1 green pepper, cut into roughly 3-cm/1¼-in squares
2 blocks smoked tofu (about 200g/7oz), cut into roughly 2-cm/¾-in cubes
6 spring onions (scallions), cut into 4-cm/1½-in batons, plus 1 finely sliced to garnish
150g/5½oz shiitake mushrooms, trimmed and cut to a similar size as the other skewer items
2 tbsp vegetable oil, for brushing
65g/2¼oz fresh ginger, peeled and grated
40g/1½oz/2½ tbsp brown rice miso paste
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp tamari
1 tsp brown rice vinegar
1 tsp unrefined brown sugar
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted, to serve
If cooking indoors, preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7. If cooking outdoors, prepare the grill. Meanwhile, soak the bamboo skewers (if using) in water as this stops them from burning when they hit the barbecue.
Place the aubergine cubes in a large bowl and sprinkle with a couple of pinches of salt. Leave to one side for about 15 minutes to draw out the water. Rinse with cold water in the bowl, then drain in a colander and pat dry with paper towels.
Assemble the skewers, leaving about 7cm/3in free at one end. We thread on a piece of aubergine, then a piece of pepper, smoked tofu, spring onion, shiitake, and so on until the skewer is full. Brush the skewers with the vegetable oil.
If cooking outdoors, place the skewers onto the hot grill and cook until they’re almost done on all sides.
If cooking indoors, put the skewers in a roasting pan and cook for about 15 minutes on one side, and then turn and cook for a further 15 minutes until they appear almost done. At the end of the cooking time, turn your oven grill on full blast.
While the skewers are cooking, make a glaze by mixing together the ginger, miso, sesame oil, tamari, rice vinegar, brown sugar and a little salt and black pepper in a bowl.
Once the skewers are nearly cooked, brush liberally with the glaze. Place under the oven grill, or back on the barbecue, and grill, turning regularly, until they’re lovely and charred.
To serve, sprinkle over the finely sliced spring onion and toasted sesame seeds.
Having to say ‘no’ to toasted marshmallows was always one of the most difficult aspects of being vegetarian! But recently there’s been a whole slew of veggie marshmallows appearing in the shops and we’re making up for lost time! Our particular favourites are Dandies (although this does generally involve mail order), but there are many others available online and in health food shops. This is a classic campfire treat, upgraded a little with the addition of brioche in place of graham crackers or digestive biscuits.
8 brioche buns, cut open on one side to form a pocket
80g/2¾oz milk chocolate, broken into pieces
16 veggie marshmallows (normal size, some veggie marshmallows come very small so just use more if needed)
8 metal or bamboo skewers
Prepare the grill and get a campfire ready (or you can also use a gas flame on the hob/stove).
Stuff the pocket of each brioche bun with an eighth of the chocolate and put 2 marshmallows on each skewer ready for toasting.
Place the brioches onto the grill (or griddle plate if cooking inside) and cook in batches until they’ve got good colour on both sides and the chocolate has started to melt. Remove from the heat and place to one side while you quickly toast the marshmallows on the campfire or over a gas flame. When they’ve also got good colour, carefully transfer them from the skewers into the toasted brioche pockets and enjoy!
Noma mark two now has a fully vegetarian season and one of the standout dishes is a proper looking doner kebab fashioned entirely from celeriac. We’ve taken inspiration (plus we had a bumper year for celeriac on our allotment) but have gone full-on street food rather than Noma-style. You can always make the shawarma spice mix in advance at home to take with you and it’s a rub that works well with lots of other things too.
5 cardamom pods
2 cloves
½ tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
pinch of red chilli flakes
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground turmeric
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 tbsp unrefined brown sugar
3 tbsp olive oil
800g/1¾lb celeriac (celery root), peeled and cut into thin slices (ideally using a mandoline)
To serve
8 pitas, or 1 batch laffa (see here)
houmous
pickles of your choice
sauce of your choice (sweet chilli or zhoug, for example)
Prepare the grill if cooking outdoors.
Either in a dry frying pan on the hob (stove) or, if outdoors, using a dry skillet on the grill, lightly toast the cardamom pods, cloves, fennel, and cumin and coriander seeds, then place to one side in a bowl to cool. Grind thoroughly with a pestle and mortar, removing the shells of the cardamom pods, then grind in the red chilli flakes, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, salt, black pepper and sugar.
Put the olive oil in a large bowl, then add the celeriac slices and move them around so they’re coated in the oil. Gradually add generous amounts of the spice mix and combine by hand until the celeriac slices are well covered (you don’t have to use all the spice mix if you want a lighter coating). Leave to infuse for about 10 minutes.
If grilling outdoors, place the celeriac slices on the grill and cook in batches. Turn as needed to get good colour on both sides. If cooking indoors, place the slices on a griddle plate on the gas hob and prepare in the same way as outdoors. When they’re ready you can either keep them as they are or roughly chop so they more closely resemble shredded meat.
Lightly grill the pitas or laffa, make a pocket and stuff some of the slices or shreds of celeriac into each one. Load them up with houmous and your choice of pickles and sauces to taste.
Seitan is a meat replacement that seems to have become very fashionable in the UK recently but has actually been a staple of Asian cuisine for more than 1,000 years. It’s made from just gluten, and now that it’s possible to find the key ingredient, vital wheat gluten flour, in most health food shops and online, it couldn’t be easier to make your own. The other ingredient you’ll need a health food shop (or the internet) for is Engevita yeast flakes, which is a great vegan staple to get to know to add a savoury, almost cheesy flavour to lots of dishes. Here we use our barbecue sauce as the marinade, but you can use whatever barbecue sauce you like. You’ll need to make the first part of this at home, but then it’s a great dish to take with you to be finished off on the barbecue. Serve with rice dishes and salads.
125g/4½oz/scant 1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
salt and black pepper
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp hot smoked paprika
2 tbsp Engevita yeast flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp gram flour
½ tsp onion salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp tahini
1 tsp tamari
1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder
150ml/5fl oz/scant ⅔ cup water
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
100ml/3½fl oz/scant ½ cup chipotle barbecue sauce (see here), plus extra to serve
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6.
Place the flour, a pinch of salt and a little black pepper with the cumin, paprika, yeast flakes, oregano, gram flour, onion salt, garlic powder, tahini, tamari and bouillon powder in a large bowl. Add the water and mix thoroughly, then when it’s pretty well combined, knead it in the bowl for a further couple of minutes.
Lightly grease a baking pan with olive oil, then transfer the mixture into it and press it down to flatten to about 1cm/½in thick. Use a knife to cut it into slices roughly 2cm/¾in wide and 10cm/4in long.
Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes.
Remove the seitan from the oven and transfer to a bowl. Once cool, gently coat in the barbecue sauce and the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour (but longer if you’d like to). During this time, prepare the grill if cooking outdoors.
When your grill is ready (or use a griddle plate if indoors), grill the marinated seitan slices, turning as needed to get a nice colour on both sides. Serve with a little more barbecue sauce on the side.
Yakitori is a Japanese skewered chicken dish; we’ve just got back from an amazing trip to Japan where we saw it everywhere but never a vegetarian version. Back home, we resolved to find a way we could enjoy its salty, sweet, sticky yumminess and this recipe is the result. They’re a brilliant street food-style snack, but they’re also great as the protein element in a general barbecue spread or served alongside a rice dish like the jollof pot (see here). There are so many vegan ‘chicken’ options these days but we tend to use the ones from Vivera. It doesn’t matter too much which ones you go for, but do try to make sure they’re quite big pieces, as anything too shredded won’t hold. Smoked tofu also works well if preferred. Remember, you can make the yakitori sauce beforehand to bring with you if it’s easier.
8 metal or bamboo skewers
20g/¾oz/3¼ tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
2 tbsp water
100ml/3½fl oz/scant ½ cup sake
20g/¾oz fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
20g/¾oz/1½ tbsp unrefined brown sugar
50ml/1¾oz/3½ tbsp mirin
50ml/1¾oz/3½ tbsp tamari
350g/12oz vegan ‘chicken’ pieces
6 spring onions (scallions), cut into
2-cm/¾-in lengths
a little vegetable oil, for brushing
1 tbsp sesame seeds, to serve
Prepare your grill if cooking outdoors.
Soak the bamboo skewers (if using) in water as this stops them from burning when they hit the barbecue.
Begin by making the yakitori. Put the cornflour with the water in a small bowl and mix. Place a pot on the barbecue grill – or on the hob (stove) if indoors – and flambé the sake. Add the ginger, sugar, mirin and tamari and quickly bring to the boil, then immediately remove from the heat as you don’t want it to reduce too much. Return to the heat when you’re ready for the next step and slowly add in a teaspoon at a time of the cornflour mix, whisking continuously, until the sauce has thickened to the consistency of ketchup. You probably won’t need all the cornflour mix. Remove from the heat and place to one side.
Assemble the skewers, leaving about 7cm/3in free at one end. We thread on a piece of ‘chicken’, then a piece of spring onion, then another ‘chicken’ and so on until the skewer is full. Brush the skewers with a thin layer of vegetable oil.
If cooking outdoors, once your grill is hot, place the skewers onto it and grill until they’re nearly cooked on all sides. If cooking indoors, follow the same instructions but use a griddle plate on the hob.
Once the skewers are nearly cooked, brush liberally with the yakitori sauce. Place back on the grill or hob, turning regularly, until they’re lovely and charred all over.
Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve hot.
We first had this flatbread in Israel and fell in love with it. A bit like pita bread but fluffier and chewier, it’s really easy to cook on a fire and great served as part of a barbecue spread. It also works as a standalone dish ‘pizza’ style (see opposite – you can also just follow the first part of that recipe to get amazing barbecued garlic bread).
4g/⅛oz/generous 1 tsp easy bake yeast
1 tbsp white sugar
375ml/13fl oz/1½ cups + 2 tbsp warm water
560g/1¼lb/4 cups strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
salt
2 tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra for greasing and optional dipping
Mix together the yeast, sugar and warm water in a bowl and leave to one side for about 10 minutes.
Put the flour and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Stir in the prepared yeast mixture and then the olive oil.
Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5–10 minutes until smooth. You can always add a little more flour as you go if it gets too sticky. Place the dough back in the big bowl, cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and poke a few small holes in the film to allow it to breath. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm spot (quite near to the campfire if outdoors) for about an hour until risen.
Remove the cloth and clingfilm and gently punch the dough to remove the air. Then transfer back to a floured surface and gently roll into a cylinder. Divide into 8 pieces, then roll into balls and transfer onto a greased baking sheet or tray. Cover again with clingfilm and return to a warm place for about a further 10 minutes while you prepare the grill if you’re cooking outdoors. Use a griddle plate on the hob (stove) if you’re indoors.
On the floured surface (make sure you keep the surface well floured throughout), roll each portion until it’s about 4mm/¼in thick. Use a spatula to transfer each bread to the hot grill and chargrill until bubbles start to appear. Lift a little of the bread with a spatula to check it’s evenly cooked on the bottom, then flip and do the other side.
Delicious served hot with a generous pinch of salt and a little olive oil to dip.
Laffa bread (see opposite) is a brilliant and easy bread to make and enjoy at a barbecue, but this recipe turns it into a meal in itself. You can either serve this like a pizza, or you could also roll it up into wraps – and definitely feel free to experiment with toppings! Alternatively, just follow the first part for irresistible garlic bread.
6 tbsp olive oil, plus 2 tbsp for the onions, and extra for drizzling (optional)
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
salt and black pepper
1 batch laffa bread dough in 8 pieces (see opposite)
1 onion, chopped
200g/7oz picked kale, chopped
360g/12¾oz/1½ cups soft cheese
Prepare the grill if cooking outdoors.
While the grill is heating up (or use a griddle plate if you’re cooking indoors), make the garlic mixture by combining the 6 tablespoons of olive oil, the garlic, rosemary and a generous pinch of salt and black pepper in a bowl. This is all you need if you’re just making garlic bread: simply spread a generous amount of it onto each rolled-out laffa dough and then transfer to the grill using a spatula to make it easier. Grill the non-garlic side first until it starts to bubble, check the underside is nicely chargrilled by lifting it up with your spatula and if it is, flip it over to chargrill the garlic side for a minute or two. You want to get some colour but be careful it doesn’t burn and check again with the spatula to see when it’s ready. Season to taste and drizzle over a touch more olive oil if desired.
If you’re making the ‘pizza’, before cooking the bread, place a frying pan or skillet on the grill or hob (stove) and heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onions with some salt and black pepper and sauté for about 5 minutes until they start to caramelize. Add all the kale and a splash of water and continue to cook for about 3 minutes until the kale is wilted. Adjust the seasoning to taste and place to one side.
Grill the breads in batches with the garlic mixture as above and when they’re ready, spread an eighth of the soft cheese onto the garlic side of each bread and then top with a handful of the kale mix.
A mandoline is a great piece of kit and, although a knife will certainly do, the key here is to get beautifully thin, uniform slices. We highly recommend getting a mandoline (particularly a Benriner), but please do use the safety guard! Kids love ‘chips’ and they are excellent dipped in either our homemade ketchup (see here) or barbecue sauce (see here).
50ml/1¾fl oz/3½ tbsp olive oil
700g/1lb 9oz sweet potatoes, skins on and thinly sliced, ideally on a mandoline
salt and black pepper
2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
Prepare the grill if cooking outdoors. Put the olive oil in a large bowl, add the sweet potato slices and move them around so they’re lightly coated in the oil. Add a couple of pinches of salt and a generous twist of black pepper along with the rosemary and mix by hand until the slices are evenly covered.
When your grill is ready, cook the slices in batches, turning as needed to get good colour on both sides.
If cooking indoors, place the slices on a griddle plate on the hob (stove) over a medium-high heat and prepare in the same way as outdoors. Serve hot!
