Review: Hula Juice Bar

Located on Edinburgh’s famous Grassmarket, on the corner of West Bow, Hula Juice Bar is a superb little café specialising in awesome smoothies and fresh juices with a wicked little breakfast and lunch menu. Additionally Hula often exhibits artwork from local and upcoming Artists which adds a nice little touch to an already well-decorated, funky interior.

Having eaten there previously I can recommend to you almost every single smoothie or juice on their menu, although if you put a gun to my head (don’t!) then I’d have to say my favourites are the Blue Hawaiian (blueberries, strawberry, apple and banana) and the Nutty Professor (banana, peanut butter and frozen yoghurt), de-licious! Although the menu is fairly simple, there is actually plenty of variety as the soups and salads are often daily specials and the desserts are regularly updated, much to my personal delight. I haven’t actually had the pleasure of breakfast at Hula yet, but the breakfast menu looks equally great, despite it again being fairly simple, there is definitely plenty of offer to satisfy a variety of breakfast cravings.

This time around I settled for the lunchtime special of soup and a wrap/bagel for £6.50, which is great value for somewhere as popular as Grassmarket. I chose the Broccoli and Pesto soup, and a bagel of Pesto Chicken, Sundried Tomato and optional toasted Brie, both of which were fantastic. Also, despite this being a lunch deal, portion size is not compromised and the bowl of soup is actually pretty generous and the bagel was packed full of filling!

 

There are several gluten-free options on the menu, including desserts and all the wraps and bagels can be made on gluten free bread, which is great. What I really enjoy about Hula is the staff, who are always friendly and jovial and very attentive. The service is also particularly speedy for somewhere that is so busy on a regular basis. Overall, it is easy to see why Hula has been showered with honours in the past including Best Café in Edinburgh in 2013! For a quick lunch, or a smoothie and a coffee (and potentially a piece of cake) with friends, Hula is right up there with the best in Edinburgh.

The wee Drunken Chef Rating: 8.5/10

Lentil Parsee Curry

Ingredients
2tbsp Coconut Oil
250g Red Lentils
1tsp Fenugreek Seeds
2 Large Onions (thinly sliced)
3 Tomatoes (quartered)
2 Thumb-sized Pieces Ginger (roughly chopped)
10 Dried Red Chillies
8 Garlic Cloves (peeled)
½tsp Cumin Seeds
1tsp Ground Coriander
1tsp Cinnamon
1tsp Turmeric

Method

1. Wash the lentils thoroughly and allow to soak in clean water for 20 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onions. Cook over a medium-low heat for 20 minutes until soft and golden.
3. Meanwhile, after the lentils have soaked, cook them for 15 minutes in fresh water with the fenugreek seeds.
4. In a blender, bring the tomatoes, ginger, chillies, garlic and remaining spices together to a paste adding a little water if necessary. Add the paste to the onions and fry for 5 minutes. 
5. Drain the cooked lentils and add them to the pan with the onions and paste. Add 100ml water, stir and cook with the lid on for a further 20 minutes over a very low heat. 

Serve with boiled rice, a chutney of your own choice and plenty of naan bread to mop up all the spicy lentil goodness. 

 

This recipe is just another reason to add to the incredibly long list of why I love curries. Out of 3 simple ingredients and a few spices comes this superb, filling, spicy lentil dish that you’ll not be able to stop eating. For such a simple list of ingredients, the flavours are pleasantly complex and the spice is not too overpowering, but certainly still packs a punch.

As I’ve said before, you can remove a few chillies, or just the seeds from the chillies if you want less heat and spice. Also, if you want to thin it out more, or keep it thick, add more or less water than stated in the method, just manipulate it down to your personal taste. This is a great vegetarian option and remains filling and full of protein even without the addition of any meats. If you really need to add meat to your dishes (then shame on you!) chicken is probably your best bet to accompany the flavours here. Fry the chicken for 5 minutes after you’ve added the paste and before you add the lentils. Enjoy!

Moroccan Turkey Burgers

Ingredients
1tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
400g Lean Turkey Mince
1 Small Onion (finely diced)
1 Thumb-sized piece Ginger (finely chopped)
Couple of handfuls Raisins
1tsp Cinnamon
2tsp Paprika
2tsp Turmeric
2tsp Ground Coriander
Handful Fresh Parsley (chopped)

Method

1. Combine all ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl. Scrunch the meat with the spices with your hands, really get into it!
2. Make 4 slightly flattened burger shaped meat-cakes and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
3. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry for 6-8 minutes on each side over a medium heat, turning once. Allow the burger to get really dark and charred on the outside and it’ll still be lovely and juicy in the middle. Resist the urge to turn the burger over repeatedly. 

Serve on a bun with hot sauce, some yoghurt, mint and cucumber or serve alongside a large salad and some rice or cous-cous.

I tried this recipe for the first time this Friday, and we’ve been craving them ever since. As is typical with Moroccan cuisine, the ratio of sweet to spicy is just right and the parsley and ginger add a real fresh bite. This recipe is perfect with a cooling yoghurt sauce, made simply by combining grated cucumber, finely chopped mint, salt, pepper and yoghurt.

What sets these burgers apart from the rest in my opinion is the sweetness of the raisins and the bite of the fresh ginger – I insist that you use fresh ginger instead of ground! Additionally, the smell and colour of these burgers will get you salivating at least 15 minutes in advance, which can only be a good thing.

Also, the turkey mince is healthier and leaner than beef mince and takes on the flavour of the spices really well. You can easily make a huge batch of these burgers, store them in the freezer and whip them out at a barbecue or whenever the craving takes over, because believe me, it will!

Onion Chutney

Ingredients 
1tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 Onions (thinly sliced)
4tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1tbsp Soy Sauce
1tsp Mustard Seeds
3 Garlic Cloves (finely diced)
Red Wine
Black Pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. 
2. As they begin to pop a little, throw in the onions and stir. Cook over a medium low-heat for 20 minutes. 
3. Add the garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes. 
4. Finally, add the vinegar, soy sauce and a good slug of red wine, season with salt and pepper (be wary of adding too much salt as the soy sauce is also a seasoning here), stir it through and cook until all the liquid has been absorbed and the texture becomes thick and sticky. 

Store in sterilised jars in the fridge. 

This is the perfect recipe if you’ve got a shed load of onions lying around that need using, plus, I don’t need any excuse at all to make a chutney.

The longer this stays in the fridge to mature, the better it will be. So, if you have the patience (I rarely do), or if you make a huge batch, let it mature for 4-6 weeks before you tuck in and it will be even more delicious.

Serve it with a really good mature cheddar or a blue cheese on some crackers, or mix it with grated cheese and serve on toast making sure to melt the cheese and chutney mixture under the grill. Or if you’re not eating dairy, like me, have it on the side of a salad, or on a cold meat sandwich, something like a good ham. Finally, adding a heaped teaspoon to a gravy will really take it up a notch! 

This is an easy recipe and a flavourful chutney, so you’ve got no excuses! 

Chorizo and Vegetable Bake

Ingredients

1tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Celeriac (peeled and thinly sliced)

5 Medium-Large Potatoes (thinly sliced)

2 Leeks (sliced)

2 Garlic Cloves (finely diced)

1 Chorizo Sausage (cut into small chunks)

Rosemary

½ pint Vegetable Stock

1tbsp Plain Flour

100ml Soy Milk

Method

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the chorizo for 5 minutes. Add the leeks and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. 
2. Combine the vegetable stock, the rosemary and the soy milk with the flour stirring continuously to remove any lumps. 
3. In an ovenproof dish creates 2 layers of potato and celeriac, then add a layer of the leek and chorizo mixture. 
4. Repeat until all the ingredients have been used, make sure the top layer is potato and celeriac! Pour over the stock gently then season the top with salt, pepper and a pinch of chilli flakes. 
5. Bake in the oven at 180 for 45-50 minutes or until the top is nice and crispy.

Serve simply with a nice salad. The salad I made is really quick and simple: roughly chop a fresh lettuce, slice up an apple and toss with ½tsp Dijon mustard, 1tsp olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and some black pepper.

This recipe makes a really hearty meal out of some simple ingredients and easily takes you towards the daily target of ‘5 a day’ that we all aspire to! Additionally, this is simple to cook and allows you to spend the time this takes in the oven doing other things which makes this a perfect midweek meal. The chorizo is the key in this dish so make sure you get a good one; if you’re in Edinburgh then look no further than Lupe Pinto’s deli in Tollcross - ask for the spicy one, it’s so good! Make sure you fry the chorizo long enough to brown it all over otherwise it may start to fall apart in the oven.

If you’re not off dairy like I am, this would be awesome with some grated cheddar cheese on top. Also, if you don’t have celeriac, just add a couple more potatoes to the recipe - though I highly recommend the celeriac for a slight difference in flavour. Finally, this can also be made into a vegetarian dish if you remove the chorizo, just add a teaspoon of paprika to the leeks in the frying pan. 

Chilli con Carne 'Especial'

Ingredients 
1tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
500g Venison Steak Mince
2 Onions
4 Garlic Cloves
4 Dried Chillies
4 Chipotle Chillies
1tbsp Gluten-Free Soy Sauce
1tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2tsp Paprika
2tsp Ground Coriander
1tsp Chilli Powder
1tsp Cumin Seeds
2tsp Dried Oregano
400g Tomatoes (chopped)
200ml Water
250g Red Kidney Beans (cooked)
Handful of Fresh Coriander (to garnish)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the cumin seeds for a minute. Add the steak mince and fry over a medium heat until brown then add the onions and fry for 5 minutes. 
2. In a blender, combine the chillies, garlic, vinegar and soy sauce and blend together until a paste forms. 
3. Add the remaining spices to the meat and onions, stir together and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Now throw in the paste, stir again and cook for a couple more minutes. 
4. Add the tomatoes and water, bring to a boil then cook with the lid on for at least 45 minutes. 
5. Add the kidney beans, season with salt and black pepper and cook with the lid on for a final 15 minutes. 

Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with boiled rice cooked with some lime juice.

Why is this Chilli con Carne deserving of the ‘especial’ title I immediately hear you ask, well, first of all, it’s pretty damn delicious and secondly it’s cooked with venison steak mince which is a slight diversion away from a typical chilli con carne. Plus, ‘especial’ sounds impressive and Mexican. Realistically, you can cook this with beef mince but if you can get your hands on venison steak mince I really do recommend giving this recipe a go. Also, the additions of balsamic vinegar and soy sauce add something that you would not normally get from more traditional Mexican food.

This chilli hits all the right spots in terms of flavour, it has spice and heat from the chillies and spices, sweet and sour notes from the vinegar and a real savoury element due to the soy. The choice of venison also gives this recipe a richness that you wouldn’t get from normal beef mince.

As you may have already noticed on this blog, I love Mexican food and although some of the ingredients for this dish are not typically Mexican, this Chilli is a real winner. I think the crucial thing to get right here is the paste and the mixture of spices. If you prefer a sweeter chilli, add a red pepper to the paste and roast the tomatoes before you add them to the sauce. Obviously, if you don’t have a huge heat tolerance, then remove a couple of the chillies from the paste mixture. In terms of the spices, it’s important to fry the dry spices before adding the paste just to bring out their full flavour. It really is worth the extra time investment for this recipe to get that really great end product.

If you have the time, like I did this weekend, simmer the chilli for a couple of hours before adding the beans to intensify the flavour. If you want to make this meal go further, serve with tacos, rice and plenty of salad dressed with lime and coriander. Any excuse to put something in a taco right? Buenos noches amigos!

Banana and Peanut Butter Biscuits

Ingredients
2 Bananas
4tbsp Organic Peanut Butter
250g Gluten-Free Oats
1tbsp Honey

Method

1. Add the bananas, peanut butter and honey to a blender and whizz round until it becomes smooth. 
2. Add the oats and blend again until everything is combined. 
3. Spoon into small, fairly flat biscuit sized shapes on a baking tray and cook in a preheated oven at 180 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  

Serve with a cup of tea. Seriously.

Another gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free snack!? Yep, my sweet-tooth really kicked in this weekend and the girlfriend and I needed something to sneak in to the cinema with us and snack on. Also, this is far cheaper, better tasting and healthier than a £4 pack of Minstrels and some cardboard flavoured popcorn.

I bet you didn’t even realise that biscuits were an option on a diet without sugar or dairy, well, now they are! These crunchy little devils are the perfect sweet snack to satisfy a craving before or after dinner and the ultimate companion to a great British cuppa! You can also add a pinch of cinnamon to the mixture or sprinkle a little on top of half the biscuits just before they go in the oven for a subtle difference in flavour. Also, you can easily add a handful of raisins if you like a bit of fruit in your biscuits.

Finally, a little tip: use crunchy peanut butter, you won’t regret it.