One of the best things about this stay in the UK is the ability to pick up a variety of world foods and know they are genuinely authentic to their country of origin. Nothing attenuated for an ignorant and uncaring French clientele here.
I don't recommend shopping in Tesco, ever, but I was there and from the ethnic shelves collected a bag of sweet and sour sev, cornflake and lentil mix. Perhaps a little light on the puffed rice but an excellent base for the snack or light meal known as Bhel Puri.
This is an infinitely variable dish in that nearly every individual part may be substituted with something else but the basic format is fixed; a light crispy base of puffed rice and sev noodles, a salad mixture of cooked potatoes, finely chopped raw onions and diced tomatoes, a fresh green chutney of coriander, mint, green chillies (as many as you like), salt and garlic thinned with a little water or lemon juice and a luscious brown date and tamarind sauce, sweet and sour with subtle curry spice flavours. These separate parts are put onto a dish in the proportions preferred by the diner, mixed all together and eaten with joy.
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