London Directory
PURPLE POETS
POETRY ON A PLATTER
(with poems) favourite recipes

Coming soon! Our First Book,
with an Introduction by Mo Smith "The Lazy Cook"
author of THE PURPLE SPOON
and her excellent 'Lazy Cook' series of books
www.lazycookmosmith.co.uk

...................................................................................................

THE PURPLE POETS AND FRIENDS
BIG SUMMER ICE CREAM SHAKE-OFF

host your own pop-up picnic and instant ice cream shake-off
The Purple Poets' favourite 5 minute recipe (learned in Delhi)
VS
Grahame's favourite recipe (learned in the Kendrick Street Deli)
www.kendrickstreetdeli.html


'rosemary, that's for remembrance ...
... and red currant jam, and apricot jam ...
... and home-made rosemary-and-garlic bread
and barbeque skewers for salmon....'

-- Ophelia joins the Bloomsbury Poetry Workshop Café.

"Ophelia, this is your mother"
poem by Bithi Das recorded in
Jo WOnder's art film 'Ophelia'



CLICK HERE OUR FAVOURITE RECIPES

TOP FAVOURITE: ARIA'S SCENTIFIC
FIVE MINUTE ICE CREAM

2011 National Poetry Day Project: (on-going)
The Purple Poetry Tree  Bench & Ice Cream Project:
Choose a park bench that needs painting
under or around a beautiful tree
Ask permission to paint it purple (Dulux Velvet Ribbon)
Let it dry for at least a week.
Invite everyone to come to make Aria's ice cream,
translate the recipe into another language,
recite your own Postcard Poem about a Childhood Game
or recite your favourite poem, sing a song, tell a joke, do a dance
to celebrate your Purple Poetry Tree Bench!

LATEST RECIPE:

THE PURPLE POETS
Bloomsbury Workshop
Poetry on a Platter
a celebration of food and drink



CHRISTMAS:
RECIPES AND POEMS:

Kathy Randle's Celebration Glogg
found poem: Kathy Randle's Christmas Glogg
Ode to Kathy Falciola (by Bithi Das)

Jessie's Mince Tarts
(at last! Jessie's delicious Secret Recipe)
I Like Christmas! (by Eppie Caredda)

Trillis Mistake Christmas Cake

Serena's Elderberry Port (and Sloe Gin)
for Serena (by Kim Morrissey)

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY (MARCH 8)

Heather Spears 2010
International Women's Day Dance
Dick Collins Salad

POEM:
The Art of Cooking  
(a found poem for Heather)

BENGALI NEW YEAR (April 14)
Chngri Malai
(King Prawn with Cream and Coconut-milk Curry)
POEM:
Memory of my Grandmother Cooking (by Bithi Das)

How to Cook Saffron Pilau
POEM:
from  What Do you See? (by Ferdous Rahman)
POEMS:
Bengali New Year (by Bithi Das)
Our Bengli New Year (by Islam Molla)


SPRING AND SUMMER CELEBRATIONS
RECIPES AND POEMS:
JUNE 9, 2007 West Euston Third Age Project
TAP 10th Anniversary potato salad


Strawberries
Strawberries (by Bithi Das)
First Strawberries (by Ferdous Rahman)

Fresh Fruit Salad

My Favourite Food: The Food of My Mother
(by Nahar Islam)

THE BIG ICE CREAM SHAKE-OFF (Dehli VS Deli)

Poetry on a Platter, Summer Sessions 2009

Aria's 5 minute Ice Cream!

POEM:
Aria's Scientific Dream (for Aria, who is only ten)
(by Bithi Das)

Poets' Paneer (Homemade Indian Cheese)

POEMS AND RECIPES  WRITTEN
TO CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF LUCY MAY SCHOFIELD'S
WELLCOME TRUST CUMBERLAND MARKET
COMMUNITY PICNIC COOKBOOK 2010

HOW NOT TO COOK CHICKEN:
POEM:
How Not to Cook Chicken: Cooking For One (by Islam Molla)
(recipe submitted to Lucy May Schofield's Wellcome Trust
2010 Community Festival Cookbook - but not included!)

CHILDREN'S CHICKEN AND PORK ADOBO
POEM:
Cooking with My Grandfather (by Eppie Caredda)




OCTOBER
National Poetry Day 2006

RECIPES AND POEMS:
Purple Poets' Canadian pancakes

Purple Poets' soup

Fanny Keats' Cake (sister of John Keats)

Purple Poets' plum tarts for TEA WITH BEE.

Purple Poets' Poker Chips
Playing Carrom with the Purple Poets (by Patsy Futatsugi)

OCTOBER
National Poetry Day 2007
Torie's Trillis Pumpkin Carrot Cake baked as muffins (split in two)


National Poetry Day 2009

RECIPES:
HEROES Purple Poets' Purple Heart Brownies

Purple Poets' Chocolate Pots

National Poetry Day 2010
Purple Poets Purple Smoothies

Josie's Chickpea Salad


OCTOBER
RECIPES AND POEMS:
2009: H-POD HALLOWE'EN PARTY!

pumpkin chips! pumpkin soup! pumpkin pie!



A Workshop RECIPE
Our Workshop Community (by Babushka)
bar

Kathy Randle's Celebration Glogg
Kathy Randle

('glogg' is mulled wine; the word is a mixing of 'grogg' and 'glug')
made by Kathy, Christmas Party O2.12.2005
made by Kathy, Christmas Party 14.12.2006
Mulled Wine donated by Purple Poets
poems "The Essence of Christmas" a found poem
 "Ode to Kathy" (Christmas 2005) by Bithi Das


3 bottles of cheap red wine
9 small pieces of lemon peel
9 pieces whole cardamom
9 whole cloves
3 small pieces of ginger (sliced finely or use ground ginger)
6 pieces of cinnamon sticks (or ground cinnamon)
12 oz. raisins (or sultanas or currants)
1 ½ pints water
4 oz of sugar (or to taste)
(optional -- 6 oz flaked almonds)

Makes 4 ½ pints

Boil up wine with ingredients.
Add water and sugar to taste.
Add more cinnamon if required.
Make early morning and reheat when required.


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS

THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTMAS:
KATHY RANDLE'S CHRISTMAS GLOGG
(a found poem)



the cheaper the better
is the secret, buying wine for your glogg
two pounds?
too much!


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS

CHRISTMAS ODE TO KATHY
for Kathleen Falciola*

by Bithi Das
14.12.2005


Our honourable little Kathy
She always looks very happy
Her smiling delightful eyes
Can be compared with the divine sky.

She has no foes but only friends
And everybody runs round her with a hand to lend
Kathy we all wish you the very best
Because you are the ideal example of rest

May God bless you darling and
Wish you a very Merry Christmas

Your loving friends
Third Age Project


*First read at the Third Age Project/Workshop
Chrismas Party, 02.12.2005. As well as being a talented actor,
Kathy Falciola read the the poem 'the punctuation of comedy'
(for Michael Palin)
at the  Purple Poets' 1st Annual Camden
National Poetry Day Celebration, October 7th 2009
Camden Hero Postcard Poems


.




PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS -

At The Crypt Centre in Munster Square, Third Age Project member Jessie's beautiful mince pies are a delicious secret. Jessie learned this recipe at home when she was 13, with mother, who was a cook, and she has been making then ever since. She was 97 when she and Kathy Falciola (aged 96 - the 'Homourable Little Kathy' from Bithi's poem above) met Mayor Jonathan Simpson, Mayor of Camden; both Kathy and Jessie gave him one of Jessie's mince tarts at the Third Age Project, WETB, and Wellcome Trust co-produced Cumberland Market Picnic on June 26th 2010).

JESSIE'S MINCE TARTS

1/4 lb. lard
4 Table Spoons of flour
2 Table Spoons of milk
1 jar of mincemeat

Mix lard and flour together. Then add milk. Stir well. roll pastry out. Cut into rounds for Tarts. Put 1 Teaspoon of mincemeat in each pastry case. Cook for 10 minutes on No. 8 in middle of oven.

--Jessie A. Davies


EPPIE CAREDDA
I LIKE CHRISTMAS!
06.12.2007



Christmas is like a Mince Pie
Crunchy and buttery and messy

I can’t help it, I have to bite
And I can’t stop at just one!

Christmas is like Chocolates,
tempting, melting on your tongue

So amazingly gorgeously  sweet
and yummily yummily yum!

My friends, we can’t stop
Till we finish my box

So Cheers!
Merry  Christmas To Everyone!


TRILLIS MISTAKE CHRISTMAS CAKE (started 21.11.2009)
Always start soaking your fruits on Saturday, and bake
on Stirring Up Sunday  in November

This recipe uses double the butter of most recipes
-- and half the flour. Remember to line each cake tin carefully, or you'll make
our mistake - and the extra butter will end up on the floor of your oven!
Made at Trillis with Mick Beard, 21st and 22nd November 2009.

FOR 2 CAKES (you need two 9 inch tins):

The FIRST DAY
500 grams each, roughly chopped:
raisins, sultanas, currants, dried prunes, candied peel
250 grams each, roughly chopped:
dried apricots, stoned dates
grated zests and juice of 2 oranges and 2 lemons
Soak this fruit in 500 ml of cognac overnight.

THE SECOND DAY
PREHEAT the oven to 140 C/ 275 F/ Gas Mark 1

500 grams salted butter
200 grams light muscovado sugar
160 grams Billington's molasses sugar
8 eggs beaten lightly
110 grams hazelnuts, roughly chopped
110 grams hazelnuts ground fine (lightly roasted)
200 grams ground almonds
up to 200 grams Waitrose Canadian white flour (or durum wheat flour)
(just enough to barely bind the mixture)
2 heaped teaspoons mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Grease 2 nine inch round tins, and line
then well with grease-proof paper.
(lining the walls of the tin, so it is higher than
the tin by at least 4 cm to allow the cake to rise).

In a very large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until fluffy.
Add egg (if it curdles, add a little flour to stop the curdling).
Add the spices, nuts, boozy fruit, and flour and turn into the 2 tins.
Wrap the outside of each cake tin with brown paper, tied with string. 
Bake the mixture 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Allow to cool. Rewrap the cake
in two fresh layers of grease-proof paper. Store in an air-tight tin.
If you remember, give it a glug of cognac ever other week until Christmas.


Remember to line each cake tin carefully, or you'll make
our mistake - and the extra butter will end up on the floor of your oven!


SERENA'S  ELDERBERRY PORT
Kim Morrissey

2 quarts elderberries to:
1 gallon water
3¼ LB sugar
4 oz raisins

FROM A BOOTS SHOP OR WINE SHOP: wine yeast or port yeast,
sterilising solution, gallon bucket or jar, bored cork and plastic airlock
Pick berries on a hot day (don't pick after it has rained, or the berries will be tasteless. Strip berries from their stalks using a fork, strip them into a large bowl. Place berries in a large pot. Add the water and bring to the boil for 15 minutes, and then simmer for 15 minutes. Using a sterilised funnel and sieve, pour liquid into the sterilised jar, discarding the pulp. Add sugar and raisins to the liquid in jar. Stir to dissolve sugar. Let the liquid cool. Sterilise cork by boiling. Sterilise plastic air lock in sterilising solution. Add yeast to liquid. Leave liquid to finish.
Recipes say the port should be left a year; delicious after 8 weeks. 1983- made Sept 15th with Serena Beard, very drunk with Serena Beard November 16; 1992.


PURPLE POETS SLOE GIN
Kim Morrissey

1 pint sloe berries to:
1 bottle (75 CL)  gin
6 oz sugar

Pick sloe berries in late October onwards
(you need at least one hard frost to sweeten the berries).
Do not wash the berries. Pour out half the gin from the bottle,
and make two gin & tonics. Drink as you work.
Pour sugar into bottle with a funnel, and shake to dissolve.
Prick each sloe berry several times with a needle
to release the juice. Drop berries in the bottle
with gin and sugar. Shake well.

Shake  the bottle every 2-3 days
(or whenever you're passing)
until the New Year, then remove berries from gin.
Most books tell you to keep it a year
before tasting - it's delicious after three days,
and more delicious the older it gets.


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
......................................................................................

KIM MORRISSEY
For Serena

first draft 24.11.2006



You are there

baking for Christmas, siphoning
wine in the afternoon

laughing at The Singer Not the Song
your first schoolgirl crush

in Sales I see your colours:
Cinnamon, Spice, Terracotta, Rust.

I put them back
for someone else

breathing in the Blackened Orange
the small ache of cloves

Red Sand; Dust.




Serena Beard taught me to make Elderberry Port and Sloe Gin,
in 1983, at her home in Trillis, Gloucestershire. She died of ovarian
cancer March 13th, 2001. This poem was published in
painted, spoke
n (edited by Richard Price) in March 2007.

South Bank Digital Poetry Magazine Project (painted, spoken)
http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/issue.asp?id=687



PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS

........................................................................................................................
HEATHER SPEARS RECIPE:

2010 INTERNATIONAL
WOMEN'S DAY DANCE SALAD

Dick Collin's Hall

1 portion of Cottage Cheese
1 Banana (sliced)
1 Orange (diced)
1 Apple (diced)
(Times 20 to serve 50 women).
Mix lightly and serve



KIM MORRISSEY
THE ART OF COOKING

for Heather Spears (poet and artist)
a found poem



Heather
who has no time to cook
cooks beautifully



BENGALI NEW YEAR! APRIL 14!

Chngri Malai Curry
King Prawn with Cream and Coconut-milk Curry
(by Bithi Das)


Ingredients: first you buy very big king prawns and you de-vein them (cut away the black thread down the prawn, and wash all the black away). Then you put a little salt and turmeric on the washed prawn, and then in one pan put two tablespoons of oil (mustard or sunflower or whatever oil you have) and 50 grams of butter. Then, when the butter melts put one or two bay leafs and put some whole garam masala (cardamom cinnamon and cloves). When the the spices start pop, you add into the oil very thinly sliced onions ( 2 big onions) and start to fry them, and when they are browned a little, add one teaspoon of crushed garlic and two teaspoons of fresh paste ginger. Now you start to fry and when they give their aroma, and then put the prawn with it, when it changes colour to red, add one tin of crushed tomatoes. As soon as the tomato liquid starts to dry up, then add 3 tablespoons of cream. Add 5 Tablespoons of coconut milk. Add salt and add hot chilli powder (if you don't have cayenne pepper, add hot chilli powder. Fry everything together until the spices and coconut milk and cream are absorbed. Then you pour a little bit of water, just to make the gravy thick, and after 7 or 8 minutes on simmer, when the gravy is thick, not very dry, you put some grated nutmeg on the curry, and take it off the heat. Rest it for 5 minutes. And that is when your king prawn curry is ready.

You can serve it with basmati rice or serve it with naan.


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS


..........................................................................................

BITHI DAS
Memory of My Grandmother Cooking
first draft 15.05.2010



The first time I cooked
with my grandmother
I was ten years old.

Even now I am seventy-five
Still in my mouth,
The taste hasn't been lost.

I close my eyes
and see her, still cooking
golden


Ferdous Rahman's
Recipe To Cook Saffron Rice
(Pilao)

The ingredients:

Ghee or olive oil
Finely chopped onion
3 or 4 cardamom pods,
Stick of cinnamon
2 or 3 cloves
Paste of garlic and ginger
rice (wash until clear)
Little salt
(Garnish with crispy fried onion, soft yellow or green Sultanas,
chopped almonds, chopped pistachios)

saffron and hot milk or hot water

How you cook/prepare it
Put a finely chopped onion in oil or ghee and fry.
Once the onion is lightly fried, put in cardamom, cinnamon,
cloves, garlic and ginger paste with the onion
and fry for a minute (do not burn the onion),
then add rice into the pan as well, and fry for three or four minutes.
Then pour enough hot water or hot milk onto the rice,
so that the liquid is 2 centimetres above the rice
(add a little salt - as much as you would add for ordinary rice).
Bring the rice to the boil, and boil for two minutes,
and then simmer until the rice is done.

Soak two pinches of saffron in a little warm milk or warm water (about 2 TB).
The liquid should be warm, but not hot.
(it has to be warm to make the colour come out of the saffron).
When the colour comes out of the saffron,
then make 4 or 5 holes in the mound of cooked rice
in the pan and pour the saffron liquid into it.
Leave it for one or two minutes.
If you want it to be one colour, mix the rice with saffron.
If you want it two colours, leave it longer,
if you like, to get a good contrast between the white and yellow rice.
Serve in a bowl, and sprinkle with crispy onions


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS

......................................................................................

FERDOUS RAHMAN
from WHAT DO YOU SEE?
03.05.2007



The colour of saffron infuses with spice
Fragrance of food floating in the breeze
Tingling the taste buds, that's how I see
Today's multi-racial Britain.




PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS


................................................................................... ..

BITHI DAS
BENGALI NEW YEAR


New Year, April 14th
my mother would give me
a new saree -- so elegant!

and so many sweets to eat!
Rasgulla, Gulabjamun

I was young and greedy

Only on that day
I can eat so much
But only one day!

and then I have
to wait another 364

isn't it sad?




ISLAM MOLLA
BENGALI NEW YEAR



Ordinary food
cooked in a special way
and only the ladies
cook

The whole motto
is to Eat.
Eat, Drink and Be Merry

and pay all your debts
you may not be alive
The next year!


TAP
 10th ANNIVERSARY  BOILED EGG SALAD

9th June 2007

six potatoes (or a head of cauliflower if you don't like potatoes)
six organic free-range eggs
six tablespoons of mayonnaise (or to taste)
a large sweet mild onion
a handful of red radishes, sliced into 8 pieces for each radish
freshly ground pepper and sea-salt to taste

This salad is about texture - you need big bite-size pieces. Boil the potatoes (or the cauliflower) and put the eggs in the same pot to boil for six minutes or until they are hard-boiled. Shell each boiled egg and cut roughly into six pieces. Put them in a bowl with the onion chopped into big bite-size pieces. Add the potatoes, and mayonnaise to taste. Add radishes, each cut into roughly six pieces. Cover with aluminium foil (to celebrate the TAP 10th anniversary - aluminium is the gift for 10th anniversaries). Chill.

2007. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WEST EUSTON THIRD AGE PROJECT ON ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY FROM THE PURPLE POETS 09.06.2007: Babushka, Bithi Das, Carol Moon, Eileen Frances, Eppie Caredda, Ferdous Rahman, Islam Molla, Jean Watt, Kathy Randle, Patsy Futatsugi and workshop leader: Kim Morrissey. Special guests for the programme: Rose Hacker and Jill Fraser.




Fresh Strawberries
Wash. Eat. Watch Wimbledon.


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
........................................................................................
BITHI DAS
Strawberries
31.05.2007


Strawberries are like roses
Full of beautiful secrets

You snip a rose
and only one word
comes from your mouth
                              Aahha

you eat a strawberry
and it melts in your mouth
                    you say Aahha.

It is nothing but eternal pleasure.


FERDOUS RAHMAN
First Strawberries
third draft:  18.05.2010



England is Wimbledon
Strawberries

Handpicked fruit
and fresh cream.

British tradition
in full swing.


FRESH FRUIT SALAD:
WASH AND CUT UP FRUIT


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
............................. ....................................... .............................

NAHAR ISLAM
My Favourite Food: the food of my mother
(poems for a children's colouring book) 01.04.2010


My favourite food
Cooked by my mother
Everything fresh
Bought by my father!

Pineapple and Guava,
but Bananas were best.
The King of Fruits
-- even better with the rest!

How tasty they were.
The best food you could wish!
I can't forget them,
Their taste was so good.

I remember my parents
And - Mmmm - delicious food!



This poem was devised  by Nahar
as a colouring book for children
(two lines to a page).


2009 Inter-Generational Summer Poetry Classes
Poetry on a Plate


SESSION ONE: July 30,2009

Aria's Scientific Ice Cream
(20.12.2008 cook: Aria, age 10)
(taught to Kim at Aria's house during the 2008
New Delhi International Literature Festival)


special equipment: two self-sealing plastic bags (a little bag and a big bag)

Little Bag:
200 ml cream (Aria used UHT single cream)
2 Tablespoons chocolate sauce (Aria used Hershey's)
(or any other flavouring you like, including vanilla)
2 Tablespoons sugar

Mix the ingredients in a small plastic freeze bag. Seal the bag and roll the top down (to take out as much air as possible, which will speed up the freezing). Seal the bag or the salt and ice will get in and ruin your ice cream!
(but don't double-bag, or your ice cream won't freeze in five minutes)

Big Bag (or a self-sealing solid plastic container):
ICE CUBES
TABLE SALT

Fill the  BIG BAG halfway up with ice cubes,
and add 5 Tablespoons of salt to the ice.
THEN put the Little Bag with the cream mixture into the Big Bag and seal.
Shake the Big Bag for about 5 minutes until it looks like ice cream. Delicious!

PURPLE POETS LESSONS LEARNED:
SESSION ONE: July 30, 2009
if you forget to add the salt, the cream won't freeze.
Sharing poetic words to form an ice cream cone poem

SESSSION TWO: August 6th 2009
you can use a large rigid plastic container
(purple of course) instead of a large bag
to help keep you fingers warmer
(and also, so the ice cubes won't pierce the big bag as you shake).

SESSION THREE:
TOP TIP: WHAT NOT TO DO
if you add paperclips to the small plastic bag,
it will make holes in the bag and let the salt into the ice cream.


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS

...................................................
www.purplepoets.comBithi Das 3
Aria’s Scientific Ice Cream
54 seconds
http://youtu.be/7kuAn3UpG9U

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7kuAn3UpG9U?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&></iframe>
...................................

BITHI DAS
Aria's Scientific Experiment
(for Aria who is only ten)
21.08.2009



You scream
I Scream

It is little Aria's
Scientific Dream.

A five Minute Ice Cream.

In a bag
Mix the chocolate, sugar and cream
Put the mixture in
Add a salty-ice cube rim

All goes in our purple box.

THEN

Shake your arm
Shake your ass
Don't worry
It won't smash.

Five minutes gone
The ice cream is done
Now the time to test

Oh - Yes
It is one of the best!

Poets' Paneer
(Homemade Indian Cheese)

PROPORTION OF MILK TO YOGHURT = 4 to 1.

1. Bring the milk to a gentle boil in a saucepan.

2. Add whisked yoghurt and stir gently, continuing to boil
for two or three minutes, until the curds have separated.

3. Place a clean tea-towel (or cheesecloth) in a sieve to form a bag,
place a bowl underneath, and pour the milk curd through,
so that the cloth catches the curds, and the whey drips through.

4. Tie the cloth with a string, and hang up to drip
for four to five minutes over the sink or a bowl.

5. Press the cloth to remove as much moisture as you can,
then place the cloth on a dish, put another dish on top,
and then a heavy weight on top of that dish,
to flatten the cheese into a pancake shape,
which will press out more moisture.
Leave for fifteen minutes.

6. When cool, remove the paneer from the cloth. Eat or store.

MUTTER PANEER
(Indian peas and cheese)
(vegetarian dish)


1 portion of Paneer, cubed.

1TB butter, 1 TB olive oil; 1 tsp. stir fry oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 heaped Tablespoon coriander seeds (freshly ground)
1 tsp. each: fennel seeds, paprika, turmeric and salt;
3 large fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 cup fresh coriander leaves (or parsley)
1 large potato, cubed, parboiled
4 cardamoms (freshly crushed)
grated nutmeg; freshly ground black pepper
I cup water (optional)
1 tin marrowfat peas
 (or fresh, frozen, tinned peas or soybeans)

Heat butter, olive oil and stir fry oil together, on moderately high heat and add cumin seeds. Stir as they sizzle for 10 seconds. Add freshly ground coriander seeds, fennel seeds, paprika, turmeric, and salt, stir. Add tomatoes, and then reduce liquid for five minutes. Add fresh coriander (or parsley). Add parboiled potato, turn heat high. Add cardamoms, grated nutmeg and ginger, cook for three minutes: turn heat to med./low. Add a cup of whey from panir, or water (if needed) and continue cooking, stirring occasionally. When potato is cooked, add peas. Cook for three minutes. Turn heat off. Add paneer.
Let stand 5-10 minutes. Serve with rice.

National Poetry Day 2009


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS


......................................................................................

ISLAM MOLLA
How Not to Cook Chicken:
Cooking for One
08.05.2010




Sometime
I cook chicken but
it is not very tasty

I cut it into pieces
or get the butcher to cut it
and then put oil

onion, ginger, chillies
garlic is a must
all those good things put together

The only thing is:
I take it out and it is dismal
I am hopeless

I cook only for survival:
boiled egg.
boiled rice.
boiled egg.




CHILDREN'S CHICKEN AND PORK ADOBO
Eppie Caredda

Chicken and pork cubes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, 1 chopped onion, 1 bay leaf, boiled water (to make sauce), 1 dash of soy sauce, 1 tomato, 1 red pepper, 1 celery stalk , 1 teaspoon of whole black or coloured peppercorns (paminta), 1 tablespoon vinegar.

Choose fatty chicken and pork meat, and cut into big cubes. Fry one tablespoon of olive oil with garlic, and then some ginger, and then onions, then and the cubes of chicken and pork, until the meat is sealed.

Turn down the heat and add a red sweet tomato, and then cover the pan and cook for ten minutes. If you need to add a little water, to keep things from burning, add it. When the meat is soft, put in a little more boiled water,  for the sauce, soy sauce and then add a bay leaf, a chopped red sweet pepper, a teaspoon of whole coloured peppercorns or whole black peppercorns (paminta).

Cover and continue cooking for 5 to 10 minutes. At the end, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and cook covered for two minutes.


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS

......................................................................................

EPPIE CAREDDA
COOKING WITH MY GRANDFATHER

08.05.2010

I was brought up very tenderly
And sweetly by my grandfather,
And when I was young
My grandfather and I
Loved to cook  this!

Chicken and Pork Adobo
is easy. We had it always
In the Philipines on weekends.
A special dish!

Chicken and Pork
Or Chicken and Beef
In my country we always
Mix two kinds of meat.
           - more juice!



NATIONAL POETRY DAY 2006
October 5th 2006 MENU



Betty's Purple Poet Potion Tea
a limited edition, 2006

created especially for the Purple Poets
to celebrate National Poetry Day 2006
all herbs and spices on the day donated by
Betty's Herbs From Heaven (organic)
Borough Market


9:30 a.m.

Purple Poets' Canadian Pancakes

1 cup of milk
1 beaten egg
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 Tablespoon of baking powder

Beat the egg into the milk,
add the rest of the ingredients and stir slightly.
Heat oil in a frying pan.
Pour the pancake into the pan and
wait until bubbles start to form in the batter.
Flip the pancake and fry the other side.

Serve with butter and blueberry jam
(or Canadian maple syrup).




11:00 am
"Let Them Eat Cake"

Morning Coffee
and Fanny Keats'
Hazelnut Cake


Fanny was the sister of John Keats.
This was one of his favourite cakes.
(Recipe provided by Keats' House, Hampstead).

Fanny Keats' Hazelnut Cake

6 ounces sugar
3 eggs
1/4 pint of milk
4 ounces breadcrumbs
4 ounces chopped hazelnuts

Beat the eggs with the sugar until smooth,
pale and fluffy. Fold in the nuts and breadcrumbs
and enough milk to give a dropping consistancy.
Turn into a greased 7" cake tin and bake
for fifteen minutes in an oven at 220,
then reduce to 180 degrees
and cook for twenty to thirty minutes
until the cake is firm to the touch.
Cool.  Serve.

"After the War" Chocolate Fudge Cake
baked by designer Paula-Jane James-Scott



Tor Chocolates


ingredients: half-walnuts, melted caramels, melted milk chocolate
Melt the caramel, pour over the half-walnut,
then when it is set, pour melted chocolate over the caramel,
to make a smooth, bumpy chocolate.
M.E.A. Rope, the 1930's stained glass artist
of the windows at the Crypt,
was called Tor by her family (short for Tortoise).
These chocolates look a little like the tortoise
she used to sign her windows.


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS



www.purplepoets.comPatsy Futatsugi 4
‘After The War (The Chocolate Poem)’
57 seconds
http://youtu.be/_hEcCXpGz3s

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_hEcCXpGz3s?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

...................................................................................

After The War
By Patsy Futatsugi
22.07.2006



My mother worked in a sweet shop
And every Friday she brought me
My special treat. Fuller's Chocolates .

Round with bits of purple and red
Square nougat, sugared almonds
Walnuts covered in Dark and Milk
Chocolate. They were just there.
Every Friday when she was paid.

One Friday my mother forgot
I remember screaming
Kicking and crying
"Where's my bloody chocolates"
And being put to bed without supper.

The next Friday she came home
With more glossy, shiny,
Gooey chocolates.
Glossy, shiny, creamy,
Milky, syrupy-sweet

Smearing on the hands and face
Of a five year old

Melting in my mouth.



First performed at the Cumberland Market Festival,
Cumberland Market, at 2 p.m. on the Main Stage
on July 29, 2006.


noon
The Purple Poets'
Purple Soup


Simmer fresh sliced beetroots with
fresh tomatoes (whole)
fresh celery (sliced)
fresh carrots (sliced)
Betty's bay leaf
cooked haricot beans
salt and freshly ground pepper

Simmer for several drafts of a poem.
Serve with Sour Cream
and fresh-baked Bread.


PLEASE NOTE:
THE POETS' POKER
HAVE BEEN CANCELLED.
THE POETS WILL BE PLAYING POOL
WITH LES WATERS AND FRIENDS
AT ONE PM INSTEAD


Purple Poets' Poker Chips

Slice the root vegetables thinly:
potatoes, parsnips, carrots and beetroot.
Dry them with paper towels.
Fry until crisp in hot oil.
Mix all the chips together.
Salt with freshly ground Maldon sea-salt,
and be sure to give people paper napkins
(to keep the cards clean).


PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS


......................................................................................


PATSY FUTATSUGI
Playing Carrom
With the Purple Poets
05.01.2009



Imagine the talking and laughing
and whooping when it hits home

Food being fried
Greasy fingers licked clean!

Playing Carrom is like Pool
without a cue.

Flicking Fingers
to Thumb .

And it hurts
Especially when you lose.

4(ish) Tea with Bee
(and her Rushey Green Friends)

FEATURED:  PURPLE POETS' PLUM TARTS

RECOMMENDED READING:
"The Queen of Hearts
She made some tarts
All on a summer's day ...."
--Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
(Poem Recommended by Camden Councillor Penny Abraham )

PURPLE POETS' PLUM TARTS
FIRST, MAKE YOUR PLUM JAM
Pick damsons and Victoria plums at Hewitt's Farm.
The 2006 West  Euston Workshop and Third Age Project
Coach Outing  to Hewitt's Farm was on August 24th, 2006).
(the next outing was August 30th, 2007)

Hewitt's Farm
01959532003
Hewitt's Road,
Orpington,
Kent BR6 7QR

Make Plum Jam on the same day or the next.


PURPLE POETS' PLUM JAM

The weight of the fruit= the weight of the sugar.
Wash fruit. Weigh it.
1 pound stoned damsons to
1/2 pint of water.
and the juice of one lemon
(and lemon zest if you'd  like a sharper taste).
Simmer until reduced by half.
Stir in one pound of sugar.
Simmer until the sugar is dissolved, then
boil until the jam sticks slightly to a wooden spoon.
Ladle into washed, boiled, heated jam jars and seal.


RECOMMENDED READING:
The poem by  imagist William Carlos Williams
"This is Just to Say" which begins:
I have eaten
the plums ...

(Poem Recommended by Chef and Councillor Arthur Graves)

TO MAKE THE TARTS:
Preheat your oven to Gas 5, 190 C 375 F.
Oil or butter your  tart tins. Press the rolled out pastry into the tart tins.
Prick the pastry  base with a fork and bake for about 25 minutes
until golden. Remove from the oven to cool.
Turn oven down (Gas 2  150C 300F).
Fill your pastry shells with one level teaspoon of jam .
Bake in the oven for about ten minutes, or so,
until firm. Leave to cool and then chill.

Serve with tea.

2006: culinary gifts to the Workshop Café from the Purple Poets
2 large purple salad serving bowls, 30 white  ceramic soup bowls,
5 large glass jars and  30 ordinary glass jars for making jam,
a gigantic tea-pot, a potato peeler, and a silicon pancake flipper. 20 china teacups collected from Charity Shops (with thanks to Jan at the Goodge Street YMCA Charity Shop). Some of the  small jars of jam were given to the Purple Poets' Special Guests (Rose Hacker, Richard Price, Gareth Edwards, Karen Lyon, Bee, David Neita, The Mayor of Camden Jill Fraser, CLLR Penny Abraham, CLLR Arthur Graves, Shahanara Begum, Master Baker Cyril and Graphic Designer Urmi, Betty from Betty's Herbs from Heaven, Paula for her four beautiful Chocolate Cakes, Emily Jewell  for her superb readings of Purple Poet Patsy's "After the War" Chocolate poem). The Purple Poets' Plum Jam' label was beautifully designed by Urmi (who also designed our National Poetry Day Poster) and wrapped by Cyril (who heroically baked our scones on the day).

The Thank You letters to our special guests were composed by Islam Molla. The remaining (bulk) of the jam was donated to the Workshop Cafe for use throughout the year.

Special Thanks to Islam from the Bengali Men's Cooking Club, who is a wonderful cook, and who helped prepare lunch in 2006 for the London-wide Workshop poets who came as our guests, even though National Poetry Day falls in Ramadan and thanks to Teresa, who brightened our days during the poetry workshops lunches with her constantly cheerful 'who's a good girl, then?'  

2006 National Poetry Day Poetry Workshop Facilitators:
Kim Morrissey
Tony Bloor
Urmi Nurjahan
Heeron Begh
Karen Givens

Shahanara Begum



NATIONAL POETRY DAY 2007
October 4th 2007 MENU


lunch:
purple poets' soup  
served with bread and sour cream
chicken curry, dhal, rice
fresh fruit salad
Torie's Trillis Pumpkin Carrot Cake baked as muffins (split in two)
 with mascarpone  sweetened for icing
and  purple poets  plum jam

official opening:
champagne,  cranberry juice or water
served in Purple Poets Picnic Champagne Flutes


TORIE'S TRILLIS PUMPKIN CARROT CAKE

2oz  finely grated carrot
6 oz. finely grated pumpkin chunks
2 eggs
4 oz / 100 g raw brown sugar
3 fluid oz / 75 ml oil
4 oz / 100g wholemeal self-raising flour
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp freshly ground salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 oz  (50 g) desicated coconut
2 oz (50 g) raisins

Whisk eggs and sugar together until thick and creammy, whisk oil in slowly, then add remaining ingredients and mix to evenly combine. Spoon into greased base-lined 7 inch square tin and level surface. Bake 20 - 25 minutes 190 C/ 375 F Gas 5 until firm to touch and golden brown. Cool on wire tray. Spread with orange icing when cold

ORANGE ICING:
1/2 oz butter beaten together with 3 oz pale sugar and orange rind grated. Sprinkle with walnuts.

MASCARPONE CHEESE ICING:
Mix a little icing sugar with mascarpone cheese, to taste.

2007: culinary gifts to the Time Bank Café from the Purple Poets
20 purple champagne flutes,  2 purple pitchers for water or juice
12 ceramic purple mugs. We gave the last remaining jar of our 2006 purple poets' plum jam to our special guest Henry Woolf (and gave him two of our plastic purple champagne flutes as well, for himself and his wife Susan, who inspires most of his poems. Henry said he would use one of the purple flutes as a prop in THE HOTHOUSE that evening (the Pinter play he is currently appearing in, at the National Theatre).


Thanks for the Memories ....
Special Thanks to Pusha Begum, Ratna Begum and Maya Khatun, who helped prepare lunch for the poets, and cleared away everything, even though National Poetry Day falls in Ramadan. Thanks to our time broker Shahanara  and  our beloved TAP staff member Urmi for their help over-seeing (which means cleaning!)  the kitchen. There are people who also helped to made this day special: Purple Poets  Patsy for her sterling work stirring the soup, Bithi for making a roti for Henry  Woolf to take to work,  at the National Theatre. Carol for bringing her birthday bottle of Avery champagne,  and Islam for the beautiful bottle of white wine for the Celebration. Thank you everyone,  for your time, your friendship, your laughter and your poems. See you next year!



National Poetry Day 2009


Purple Poets' Purple Heart HEROES Brownies
with Lemon Posset
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
BAKE in Heart Shaped mini-muffin tins


250 grams chocolate (broken into pieces)
250 grams butter
250 grams beetroot
250 grams caster  sugar
3 eggs
150 grams self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt chocolate, add butter and melt, add grated beetroot, add sugar, 3 eggs and flour
Bake in moderate oven.

Lemon Posset
600ml double cream
150g caster sugar or vanilla sugar
Juice of 3 medium-sized lemons
Warm cream and sugar gently in a large saucepan, add sugar and stir to dissolve. Then bring to a boil and boil for three minutes, without stirring. Remove from heat. Whisk in lemon juice. Strain into a jug, then pour into six ramekins or small glasses. Cool, cover, and refrigerate for four hours before serving.

Purple Poets' Purple Chocolate Pots

health warning: this  recipe uses raw egg yolk
 and may not be suitable for pregnant mothers or fragile people

200 grams good chocolate
1/2 pint single cream
1 organic egg yolk
50 grams grated beetroot
20 grams butter
pinch of salt

In a sauce-pan, heat the cream until small bubbles form on the top. Remove from heat and set aside for one minute. Break chocolate into pieces and stir into cream until smooth. Once melted, add your beetroot. Allow to cool slightly and then stir in egg yolks. Then stir in butter until smooth. Pour into individual serving pots.
 (Sadly, we had two friends missing for the 2009 celebrations. Theresa's funeral was held on September 24th 2009, and she is sadly missed; urmi came down with chicken-pox and missed the event. Special thanks to Josie Nakos, of Green Light Pharmacy, the H-Pod Co-ordinator, for all her help planning the 2009 celebration (including the Health and Safety Risk Assessment!).


NATIONAL POETRY DAY 2010
Purple Poets lunch before the celebration
recipe from JOSIE NAKOS
Greenlight Pharmacy H-Pod Co-ordinator

JOSIE'S CHICKPEA SALAD for the H-Pod Café 2010


You will need:

2 cans chickpeas
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 cucumber
1 red onion
1 bunch parsley (or coriander or mint)
1 packet rocket leaves
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
pomegranate syrup
olive oil
salt & pepper

Drain chickpeas of water and then place in salad bowl.
Dice red and yellow peppers, slice cucumber in half and
then cut into slices, cut red onion in half and slice,
chop cherry tomatoes in halves or quarters (depending
on how you like them) and chop the parsley. Add all ingredients
to the chickpeas - including the rocket (about half the pack).
Mix together and add olive oil, pomegranate syrup, salt and
pepper to taste. If you like bitterness, add lemon juice,
or if not use an alternative dressing (i.e. balsamic vinegar,
or just oil, salt and pepper).

LATEST RECIPE:

THE PURPLE POETS
Bloomsbury Workshop
Poetry on a Platter
a celebration of food and drink


2010 NATIONAL POETRY WEEK SMOOTHIES
created by Jake Kanter
for the Family Mosaic
and Hackney Workshop
Older People's Day
St. Mark's Church, Dalston
02.10.2010

THINK PURPLE! THINK POETS!

Frozen raspberries
bananas
and apple juice
are all that you need
--- and a VERY noisy blender.
Whiz. Share. Enjoy!

Saturday 02.10.2010. Purple Poets' founding member Serajul Islam Molla
attended the Hackney Workshop/ Family Mosaic event honouring
Older People and read his poems: Diwali Lights, How Not to Cook Chicken,
The Existence of Love, The Captain, and the Bridge-maker (for William Radice)
to celebrate Older People's Day, and National Poetry Day 2010.

This event, in honour of Older People's Day  2010 
was co-produced by Family Mosaic and Hackney Workshop
and held at Saint Mark's Church Community Hall, Saint Mark's Rise,
Dalston, Hackney





PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
Recipe for a Community
...................................................................................

BABUSHKA
OUR COMMUNITY

Which culture is friendship?
What colour is laughter?
We're one family
And we learn from each other.


more poems by Purple Poets
www.purplepoets.com
poets AT purplepoets.com



THE PURPLE POETS AND FRIENDS
BIG SUMMER ICE CREAM SHAKE OFF
5 Minute Ice Cream
(SUITABLE FOR POP UP POETRY PICNICS)

TRY YOUR OWN BIG SUMMER SHAKE-OFF
OF THESE FIVE MINUTE
ICE CREAMS IN YOUR PARK

EVERYONE BRING ASPOON!

DELHI VS DELI

RECIPE ONE: Five Minute Ice Cream
(LEARNED IN DELHI)


Aria's Scientific Ice Cream
(20.12.2008 cook: Aria, age 10)
(taught to Kim at Aria's house during the 2008
New Delhi International Literature Festival)


special equipment: two self-sealing plastic bags (a little bag and a big bag)

Little Bag:
200 ml cream (Aria used UHT single cream)
2 Tablespoons chocolate sauce (Aria used Hershey's)
(or any other flavouring you like, including vanilla)
2 Tablespoons sugar

Mix the ingredients in a small plastic freeze bag. Seal the bag and roll the top down (to take out as much air as possible, which will speed up the freezing). Seal the bag or the salt and ice will get in and ruin your ice cream!
(but don't double-bag, or your ice cream won't freeze in five minutes)

Big Bag (or a self-sealing solid plastic container):
ICE CUBES
TABLE SALT

Fill the  BIG BAG halfway up with ice cubes,
and add 5 Tablespoons of salt to the ice.
THEN put the Little Bag with the cream mixture into the Big Bag and seal.
Shake the Big Bag for about 5 minutes until it looks like ice cream. Delicious!

VS


RECIPE TWO
(LEARNED IN THE KENDRICK SREET DELI)

GRAHAME'S FAVOURITE RECIPE
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/741636/nochurn-ice-cream
Condensed milk is a magic ingredient when making no-churn ice cream -the end result will be creamy, smooth and not at all icy Serves 8
Prep 5 mins, Plus freezing

NO CHURN ICE CREAM
Ingredients
a 397g can sweetened condensed milk
600ml pot double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Put the condensed milk, cream and vanilla into a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk until thick and quite stiff, a bit like clotted cream. If you are using this recipe for The Purple Poets and Friends Big Summer Ice Cream Shake-Off,  divide the mixture into 4 lots, and follow the instructions for shaking found in Aria's Scientific Ice Cream (self-sealing bags, ice cubes and salt to lowr the temperature of the ice). If you are not shaking it into ice cream in 5 minutes, then scrape into a freezer container or a large loaf tin, cover with cling film and freeze until solid.

Per serving
456 kcalories, protein 3g, carbohydrate 15g,
fat 43 g, saturated fat 24g, fibre 0g, sugar 15g, salt 0.13 g
Recipe from Good Food magazine, August 2010.
Recommended by Grahame of the wonderful  Kendrick Street Deli, Stroud.
www.kendrickstreetdeli.html

ALTOGETHER:

I scream!
You scream!
We all scream
For Ice Cream!


THE POETRY BIT: As you shake the bags to make the ice cream
make up your own rhymes as you pass round the bags for five minutes
and remember to bring your own spoons to try the delicious ice cream!

THE SCIENCE BIT: The 5 Tablespoons of salt lowers the temperature of the . ice cubes, which makes the mixture freeze very quickly.

THE DELHI MEEETS DELI MEETS DELHI BIT: Grahame's recipe is very similar to recipes for Kulfi!
In 1974, in his STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO INDIAN COOKING (Hamlyn Press), Kalid Aziz suggests making kulfi using 350 g condensed milk, 1/2 pint double cream, 1 TB sugar 1 TB grated almonds, 1 TB pistachios, 350 g tinned or fresh mango

PURPLE POETS
POETRY ON A PLATTER
(with poems) favourite recipes

Coming soon! Our First Book
with an Introduction by Mo Smith "The Lazy Cook"
author of THE PURPLE SPOON
and the excellent 'Lazy Cook' series of recipe books
www.lazycookmosmith.co.uk


RECOMMENDED READING:
MO SMITH'S (THE LAZY COOK) THE PURPLE SPOON
http://www.lazycookmosmith.com


'Hamlet who?'

-- Ophelia joins a the Bloomsbury Workshop Café

The Purple Poets belong to the Bloomsbury Workshop  
20.10.2010


BAR

This is an educational site.
© resides with the author. All rights reserved.

For permission to use any of this material
please contact the Purple Poets
(poem AT purplepoets.com)



The Purple Poets  have co-produced projects
with the Quaker Library
and the Wellcome Trust.
and The Royal College of Physicians

The Bloomsbury Workshop
'ThePurples' create community projects promoting the 5 P's:
People, Poetry, Plants, Purple and Picnics
(our major project is Camden National Poetry Day)
We also are keen on International Women's Day,
Local Summer Festivals and Green Fairs,
Disability Access, Friends of the Park, Tenants' Rights
Constitutions, and anything else our members find interesting

purplepoets.com
think purple! think poets!
Bloomsbury
The Purple Poets
for readings, projects and  festivals contact Ferdous Rahman
rahmanferdous AT hotmail.co.uk
mailing address: The Purple Poets
c/o Flat 18 Chenies Street Chambers
Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7ET