This is a full flavoured, unctuous meal. It takes no more than 20 minutes from starting to prepare, to eating.
For 2 people
Ingredients
*1in diameter bundle of Spaghetti (¼ to 1/3 of a packet), Spaghetti doubles as noodles – try it!
*1T oil
*1t coconut oil
*5 or 6 types of vegetables, thinly sliced, see the photo for inspiration, (We used, in order of longest to least amount of cooking time: ½ Carrot, 1 onion, 1 stem from some broccoli – outer peeled away as it can be stringy, 1/2in root ginger, ¼ large red pepper, 1 fat garlic clove, ½ large courgette, 1 large tomato).
*Chilli flakes/powder to taste, optional.
*1T Sweet Chilli Sauce
*1T tomato puree/passata/chopped tomatoes
*1T light soya sauce (1t if it is the very dark one)
*No salt
Method
*Prepare all vegetables and lay out in the order for frying – take no more than 5 minutes on this task.
Cooking the Noodles
*Break the pasta into 3in lengths and drop into a large saucepan
*Boil a kettle of water and pour over the spaghetti.
*Put onto the stove and bring to the boil, then simmer til only just cooked
The stir fry
*While the pasta is cooking
*Heat the two oils together, the coconut oil will froth, this is fine. It should be hot.
*Keeping the oil hot through out, fry each vegetable type, in order, for a minute each. Not the courgette or tomato. Keep stirring.
*Add your chilli flakes/powder to last, stir.
*Add the sweet chilli sauce, the tomato puree and the soya sauce and continue stirring.
*Add your penultimate fast cook vege/s, for me that was courgette.
*Drain the pasta and add to the stir fry, keep stirring.
*Turn off the heat, add the tomatoes and stir.
Dinner is ready!
Remember to let us know what you think of this easy-peasy meal by leaving a comment below. Ta!
Agree to bring a couple of plates of finger food to his ‘pot luck party’ and spend half a day agonising over what to make. We decided on:-
Two very full Dinner Plates one of Onion Bhajis and another of Thai Fishcakes.
ONION BHAJIS
Ingredients:
3c Chickpea Flour (also known as Gram Flour)
2 Eggs (optional)
3 – 4 average sized onions, very finely sliced
1T Curry powder, or asian spices.
Salt to taste
Water to give correct consistency.
Oil for frying.
Method
*Beat the eggs into the sliced onion so that the onions are well coated.
*Mix all the dry ingredients together.
*Stir the dry mix into the onions, add water to give a ‘soft drop’ consistency (more or less)
*Taste and adjust the flavourings and salt.
*Heat the oil and fry heaped t’s of the mix. This can be shallow or deep fat frying.
*When golden on one side, flip them over and cook the other.
*These small Bhajis cook quickly, so you’ll soon have a production line going.
Serve hot or cold.
To make them a little more exciting: add coconut milk, rather than water, when mixing. Fry in part ordinary oil and part coconut oil: coconut oil froths as it fries, this is normal. Add fresh coriander, or mint. Add garlic. Add chilli (not always popular at parties). Once cooked, sprinkle a little salt over them. Make them using other vegetables– fantastic, but keep spare flour handy, as some vegetables make the mix sloppy over time and, if this happens, you will need to mix in more flour.
Really this is a chuck it all together recipe. As long as the consistency is about right and the vegetables have some of the mix on them, you will have a good result.
THAI FISHCAKES
Ingredients
3 tins sardines in tomato sauce
1 large potato
1T onion, finely diced
1t oil, to bind it together
1t curry powder
2 cloves garlic
half lemon, zest and juice
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
COATING
3T flour
1T curry powder
pinch of salt
Method
*Boil and then mash the potato
*Stir in all the other ingredients, breaking up the fish as you go.
*Making one fishcake at a time, form the mix into table tennis sized balls and flatten in the palm of your hand.
*Coat both sides with the flour mix
*Shallow fry on each side, so that they are browned.
Serve hot or cold, with sweet chilli sauce (from a super market)
This is another ‘chuck it in and hope for the best’ recipe. If the consistency is about right, and you like the flavour, then that is perfect.
Enjoy the video tour of this perfect little Moroccan hotel.
Sometimes, despite having a perfectly servicable tent, Wally and I feel the need for a little comfort. With a hot shower to the forefront of our thoughts, we sought a traditional Moroccan house, a riad, that would accept a couple of grungy bikers.
You know the kind of place, it should have an unassuming entrance that opens onto a light, courtyard, with a central fountain, and rooms on three sides. Looking up there should be a first, and possibly a second and a third, floor balcony around the wall of the courtyard, with more rooms. And looking up even higher there should be no roof, the courtyard should be open to the sky. The whole effect must be of cool, blue light, with the sound of tinkling water in the background.
These days the courtyards usually sport a glazed roof to protect against the occasional storms. These properties always have a roof terrace which should be available to us guests.
Here is the little hotel that we stumbled across on a leading trip advising website. £35+ per night is the going rate including a traditional breakfast and lovely hosts, both local people and the French owners. It ticked everything on the list above.
Like the Snowbirds in the USA we decided to fly south for the winter to avoid the worst of a British winter. As part of the plan we wanted a pair of lightweight motorcycles to allow us to explore our winter habitat.
After much deliberation and head scratching we settled on the 2018 version of KTM,s 390 Duke for our winter sabbatical. We intended to spend a few weeks in Morocco as well as overwintering in Spain. Our final destination was Morzine in France for a week of snowboarding in mid April.
We trailered the two bikes to Spain, towed behind our VW T4 Westfalia camper. Our intention was to use the bikes for local transportation, in and around Denia, on the Costa Blanca, and a camping trip to Morocco. There was also the possibility of a small amount of off-road riding on unpaved trails.
Why the 390 Duke?
We needed bikes light enough to be towed in an un-braked 7.5 tonne trailer.
Bikes with a low seat height.
Decent power delivery.
Trail potential
Other bikes considered:
Honda CRF 250 – too tall.
BMW 310GS – too heavy, lack of power, expensive.
Kawasaki Versys 300 – too tall, expensive.
First impressions of the Duke were favourable, aesthetically, a good looking bike with character.
A short test ride confirmed our pre-conceived ideas of what this bike would be like. Light, eager with a reasonable turn of speed.
Back in the dealership we chose 2 Dukes, one orange with around 600 miles and the other white, pre-registered with delivery mileage. We specified engine guards, and rear rack on both and hand-guards on Jen’s as an extra precaution. The white one was fitted with Oxford bar heaters.
As we were due to leave the UK within 2 weeks of purchase, the white one needed to have 600 miles put on it in order that the 1stservice could be done before departure. This job fell to me, as Jen had had an operation on her thumb and was forbidden to ride for 6 weeks.
It wasn’t much fun riding the Duke sympathetically, the fancy colour display is set up to glow red as you approach the rev limit, which is prescribed by the factory, during the running in period. This is adjusted during the fist service and can be tailored by the rider thereafter. Whilst on the subject of the display, though thoroughly modern, it is a little disappointing. Much of the information is difficult to read if you have normal eyesight and not that of a teenager (Jen did not agree and found the display ok to read). It has a fuel-gauge with a clear warning when the tank is getting low. The gear indicator is a plus but the difference between 5th and 6th not easy to see. Although I had no problems with reflections, Jen found that the display was unreadable at times, especially with the sun behind her. The display has night and day display modes which it automatically switches between depending on light levels. The bike has bluetooth pairing for compatible devices.
After 600 miles of cold wet weather riding, the bike was ready for it’s service. During that time I had discovered that the seat was comfortable over fairly long rides, 250 miles one day. The heated grips were great. Wet weather handling was perfectly acceptable and the vibrations, though evident, were not overly intrusive and didn’t blur the mirrors at any rpm. The mirrors did have a habit of loosening off from time to time; quite annoying. The side stand is a little too long and unless on flat ground the bike, when parked, felt unstable at times. The rear hugger is completely useless, the rucksack I was using, not to mention my backside, were soaked in road grime within a few miles of starting out.
Initial impressions were that the bike was going to suit our purpose in most departments. Plenty of power given the small power unit with just about enough space to carry camping gear. Comfortable, especially given that we were not expecting to be riding in wet conditions thus making the hugger less of an issue. We doubted that we would be doing much off-roading though due to the unsuitability of the tyres and, probably, the suspension.
At this point the bikes were loaded into the trailer and we headed for sunny Spain.
On arrival in Spain we decanted the bikes and discovered, on the floor of the trailer, a 3 inch, 6mm bolt. It soon became clear that it didn’t belong to the trailer. To our horror we discovered the bolt was the top bolt from the rear suspension unit on Jen’s bike. It had vibrated out on the journey between Spain and the UK! Read more here.
We spent several months acclimatising to the new bikes ahead of our planned trip to Morocco. The seat remained comfortable and the riding position was ok, no aches or pains after several hours in the saddle. The brakes were adequate but provoking the rear ABS was quite easy and noticeable. I later found out that the ABS, when really pressed, was literally a life saver! I almost rearranged the back end of a classic Merc convertible, a ‘sorry mate I didn’t see you’ moment; he didn’t apologise.
The roads in the mountains around Denia are superb, long sweepers, tight S bendy climbs and descents, and so little traffic. The area is used by many international cycle teams for training so some caution was needed. These roads could have been especially designed for the bike. The rear of the Duke seemed a bit loose and I experienced the back end sliding out on many occasions. This may be due in part to the Spanish roads, often dusty and seemingly polished with constant changes in surface and holding the damp where the road was shaded. The standard Metzelers seemed to respond badly to transitional changes in the road surface, giving a little shift sideways as power was demanded. We had a tyre-wall failure after a particularly big pothole hit in Morocco and a nail puncture in the other bike.
During or trip to Algeciras and subsequently in Morocco we had to deal with some heavy winds. We both felt the bikes felt unstable in a cross wind but gusts were up-to 40k and the bikes are very light. Fuel consumption was pretty much what you might expect, refilling after 200k would take about 10 litres, less if we had been taking it easy. Fuel warnings were good leaving a useful range after the first yellow warning on the display.
In conclusion I rather liked my Duke and I think Jen did too. It’s a fun bike when pushed, that works as mini tourer too. Comfortable and light with useable power and great value for money.
In Morocco we were carrying camping gear plus clothing. We travel fairly light and the additional weight did not upset the handling. Apart from the tyre failure, the bikes stood up well to the indifferent Moroccan roads. An occasional spanner check did not reveal any loose fittings. The bikes attracted a lot of admiring interest in Morocco, especially with the kids.
The Wandering Wallys 