A friend recently lamented that “British tomatoes are still terrible”, after which I pushed over the table we were sitting at and squashed a local farmer’s market tomato in his face. OK, so I didn’t, really (and perhaps there was a time when you might have mistaken a British one for a wet tissue), but these days our tomatoes are truly great. My favourites are grown in Yorkshire or on the Isle of Wight, and the piccolini variety sold by a certain supermarket. It might seem contradictory to cook your best cherry tomatoes into spelt, but I do believe that good ingredients beget good food.
Spelt, tomatoes, pickled onions and tahini
Spelt is a wonderful, nutty grain, which you can buy as pearled spelt or spelt grain. This dish calls for pearled spelt, which is made by taking away the outer layer of the grain (the bran), making it quick(er) to cook. Pearled spelt is widely available and, happily, Hodemedods sells some British-grown stuff.
Prep 20 min
Cook 1 hr 5 min
Serves 4
80ml olive oil, plus 1 tbsp extra for the chipotle tahini
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
650g cherry tomatoes, halved
Fine sea salt
4 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
330g pearled spelt
1 small red onion, peeled, halved and very finely sliced
4½ tbsp lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
15g dill, finely chopped
100g tahini
2 tsp chipotle paste – I like Cool Chile Co’s one
2 tsp maple syrup
Put the 80ml oil in a medium saucepan for which you have a lid on a medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the garlic and cook, stirring, for two minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes and a teaspoon and three-quarters of salt and leave to cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft.
Stir in the tomato paste, then add the spelt and 750ml water, then cover the pan and leave to cook for 35-40 minutes, until the spelt is cooked – test by biting into one grain: it should be tender but not chalky inside, and the mixture should be a little loose, a bit like a thick soup. If it’s too thick, add a little water; if it’s too watery, simmer with the lid off for three to five minutes longer, to reduce and thicken.
While the spelt is cooking, make the pickled onions and tahini. Put the sliced onion in a small bowl with three tablespoons of the lemon juice and a teaspoon of salt. Scrunch with your (clean) hands until the onion has wilted, then stir in the dill and put to one side to pickle.
To make the chipotle tahini, put the tahini in a small blender with the remaining tablespoon of oil, the last tablespoon and a half of lemon juice, the chipotle paste, maple syrup, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and six tablespoons of water, and blitz until smooth and fluffy.
When the spelt is ready, divide it between four shallow bowls and top each serving with a healthy dollop of chipotle tahini and a big pinch of pickled dilly onions.
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Meera Sodha’s new book, Dinner: 120 Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes for the Most Important Meal of the Day, is published on August 1 by Fig Tree at £27. To order a copy for £23.76, go to guardianbookshop.com
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