Aloo Bogar recipe

We had a Marks and Spencer curry book many years ago and this was my favourite recipe in the book.  Imagine my disappointment when I couldn't find the book any more - heaven only knows where it went, but it is no longer with us!  I found the recipe online - of course!   I'm saving it here so it won't get lots again...

Ingredients

4 large potatoes
cooking oil
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp mustard seeds
5 curry leaves or bay leaves
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 fresh green chillies
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander

Method

Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes.  Parboil for 5 mins until they began to soften. Drain and put aside.

Heat the oil in  pan and add the cumin, mustard seeds, curry leaves or bay leaves.  Do this with the kitchen fan on full as frying mustard seeds release a pungent gas - probably mustard gas at a guess, very unpleasant.

Cook the seeds for about 2mins.  Mix in chopped garlic and chopped green chilli then brown.   Add the potatoes, salt, turmeric and water and stir to coat the potatoes with the spices.  Cook or steam until potatoes are fully cooked.  Serve with chopped fresh coriander. 

Bacon and Butternut squash risotto

While we were in Pavia with Rowena I had a pumpkin risotto and it was delicious, however when I tried it here with the Halloween pumpkins it was disappointing.  I didn't want to give up on the recipe but couldn't find anything but the pumpkins sold for masks, so I decided to use butternut Squash instead and it worked really well.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
Half a butternut squash peeled and finely diced
Half a parsnip peeled and finely diced
1 small onion finely chopped
2 small celery sticks, outer skin removed and chopped finely
2 rashers smoked back bacon, diced
2 cloves garlic finely sliced
150-200g arborio rice
1 small glass dry white wine
750 ml chicken stock
50g Parmesan, finely grated plus a little more to serve
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Heat the oven to 200°C, line a roasting tin with foil, add the diced Butternut squash and parsnip and drizzle with the tablespoon of olive oil.  Roast for 30-45 minutes on the top shelf until the squash is sift and starts to blacken at the edges.  Once it's cooked, drain and keep the mix warm.

Meanwhile, heat a sauté pan and add the remaining oil and a knob of butter if you wish.  Once the oil is hot, add the bacon, onion and celery and cook on a medium heat to soften them until the bacon starts to brown.  Next add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.  Finally add the squash and parsnip mix.

Add the rice and mix well with the onion mixture to coat the rice with the oil, then add the glass of wine and heat over  medium flame until the liquid has been absorbed.  Now start adding the stock.  the stock should be kept hot and added a ladle full at a time, then mixed with the rice and boiled until all the liquid has been absorbed.  Continue adding the stock until the rice is cooked to your taste.

Just before serving add the cheese and chopped parsley, season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve in large bowls.  As this contains so much vegetable, you don't need to serve it with anything else, but if you wish you can add some green salad leaves - rocket would be good.

Buon Appetito!

My version of Chilli con Carne

I know everyone has their own version of this dish, but over the last year or so I've been refining mine and getting ideas from Mexican cookery books so this is a bit out of the ordinary.  First of all, I use a mixture of fresh tomato and tinned as I like the flavour better.  It doesn't have to be vine ripened or anything fancy so it doesn't cost that much more and it's better in the summer when tomatoes are cheap and plentiful.  The second difference is I roast the onions, chillies, tomatoes and garlic before using them, this intensifies the flavour really well.  Next I use a mixture of pork and beef - traditionally Mexican chilli is made with pork cubes but I prefer a mixture of pork and beef cubes.  I buy them from the butcher and mince them myself using the food processor, this way you can control how fatty the meat is.  Finally there's a lot of spices added - the recipe was originally from a Mexican chef, they know what they're doing and they do all add flavour.

You'll need a big casserole for this recipe, I always make a huge batch so I can freeze it for quick mid week meals - it's like curry, freezes really well.  You can always reduce the quantities for a smaller version though if you want!  Let me know how you make your chilli, it's always interesting to see how others do it.

Ingredients
5 medium onions
12 chillies
12 cloves garlic
1.3kg fresh tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
500g cubed beef
500g cubed pork
2 Bay leaves
1 tablespoon Vinegar
A large bunch of coriander, leaves and stalks together
teaspoon ground cinnamon
teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons marjoram
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 heaped teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons tomato puree
2 400g cans chopped tomatoes
2 400g cans red kidney beans

Method
Heat the oven to 220°C Peel and quarter the onions, top and tail the chillis,, crush and peel the garlic cloves and quarter the tomatoes.  Put them into a large baking tray lined with foil, add 1 tablespoon oil and a teaspoon of salt and bake until they are browned, 30-40 mins.  It should eventually look something like this:

While this is baking, make the minced meat in the processor, then add the tablespoon of vinegar and another teaspoon of salt.  Now heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the casserole, add the meat and brown it all over.  If there's a lot of water in the meat at this stage, keep cooking it until all the water has evaporated.  Keep this warm if the tomato mixture isn't ready by this stage.

Back with the tomato mixture, take it out of the oven once browned and leave it to cool slightly,  Now add three quarters of the mixture, cooking juices and all, to the food processor and blend until it's chopped but still chunky and add it to the meat.  Finally add the last quarter to the processor and add the coriander leaves and stalks and process until smooth.  Add this to the meat and tomato mixture and turn the heat to full.  Now add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, stir well then turn the heat down and cook at a high simmer to reduce the mixture down to the thickness you desire, it usually takes me 1-2 hours.

Once it's cooked, serve with boiled rice and a salsa or why not try my avocado and cucumber guacamole?

Avocado and Cucumber guacamole

I have a great Mexican recipe book by Roberto Santibanez who has some wonderful salsa and guacamole recipes.  This one is my own version where I've mixed his basic guacamole recipe with his cucumber and pineapple guacamole recipe.  So here's my own invention, the avocado and cucumber guacamole.  It's beautifully fresh and green and the cucumber gives it added crunchy texture that goes well.

Ingredients
1 small red onion
4 tablespoons coriander leaves and stalks
1 small cucumber
3 Haas avocados
1 lime
1 teaspoon salt

Method
You can do this all by hand if you don't have a food processor, but processing it makes it so much quicker.  Peel and quarter the red onion, and wash the coriander.  Add them to a food processor and blend until smooth.  Now peel and deseed the cucumber, cut it into large chunks and add it to the onion and coriander and pulse until you have small pieces.  Now peel the avocados and remove the stones and add it to the mixture.  Drizzle the lime juice ove the avocados to stop them going brown and then pulse the food processor until you have medium sized pieces.  Add salt to taste and serve with Mexican food.

A new favourite Cabbage recipe

Over Christmas I watched Brian Turner on TV and he had a good recipe for lightly pickled cabbage.  I tried it out and it worked well, but I thought it needed a little more.  Here's my version of the recipe, hope you like it too.

Ingredients
Half a large cabbage such as January King
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 red or green chilli
1cm of fresh ginger
2 Garlic cloves
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

Method
Separate the leaves of the cabbage and cut out the stalk. Next, shred the cabbage leaves into 1cm strips, then wash and drain.  Remove the seeds from the chilli and chop finely, peel and julienne the ginger, crush and slice the garlic cloves thinly and crush the coriander and cumin seeds with a heavy knife.  Heat the olive oil in a pan, then add the black mustard seeds and cook until they start to crackle and pop.  Now add the chilli, ginger, garlic, coriander and cumin and cook gently for 1-2 mins until the flavour is released but the spices don't take on colour.

Add the cabbage and toss to coat the cabbage in the oil and spices.  Fry on a high heat for a maximum of 2 mins, then remove from the heat by draining in a colander so the cabbage stops cooking - you want it to still be crunchy.

Put the cabbage back in the pan and add the vinegar and toss to coat the cabbage, then add salt to taste.  At this point you can leave the cabbage to rest until it's needed, to serve heat until warmed through.

Mango Salsa

When we have chicken fajitas, it's sometimes nice to add that little bit extra and have a salsa.  This one is a favourite and combines the sweetness of the mango with the freshness of the lime.  Give it a go, we all love it!

Ingredients
2 ripe mangos
1 onion
1 green chilli
1 red pepper
2 tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
1 lime
½ to 1 teaspoon salt

Method
Peel and slice the mango, then cut the slices into bite sized chunks.  Peel and chop the onion as finely as you can.  Top and tail the chilli, de-seed it and remove the white veins; now chop it as finely as possible.  De-seed the red pepper and dice it into 3mm squares.  Chop the tomatoes roughly.  Chop the coriander into small pieces.

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl, squeeze over the lime juice, add the salt and combine it together and serve immediately with for example chicken fajitas

Easy chicken fajitas

I've developed this recipe over the years as a quick and easy supper recipe.  It's dead easy to do after work and takes less than half an hour from start to plating up.  It's also healthy and goes down well every time.  Last time Rowena was home from Italy she specifically requested this one so I'll put it up here in case she wants to have a go herself now she's in France :-)  Keep everything warm by using a plate warmer if you have one on your cooker, if not, put everything into a warmed oven - not too hot though as you don't want anything to cook, just keep warm!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 good sized skinned and boned chicken breasts
2 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons of Cajun seasoning (I use Bart's)
1 white onion
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper

To serve
2 limes cut in half
1 little gem lettuce, bottom 3cm of stalk removed, washed and leaves separated
4 tortilla wraps microwaved for 20 seconds
green chilli, sliced and sauteed (optional)
chill sauce

Method
cut the chicken into bite size pieces and put into a bowl.  Crush the garlic into a pulp and add to the chicken pieces along with the two teaspoons of Cajun seasoning.  Mix the chicken pieces and seasoning well until the chicken is coated on all sides, cover and set aside.

Finely slice the onion, de-seed and slice the peppers into thin strips.  Heat half the oil in a non stick pan and add the onion and fry until softened and starting to colour.  Set aside on a warm plate and cover with foil.  Now add the peppers to the same pan and again fry them intil they have softened and started to colour, now add them to the onions and keep warm.  Firnally add the remaining oil and the chicken pieces to the same pan and fry them on a medium heat until they are nicely browned on each side and cooked right through, about 5 mins each side and add them to the plate with the onions and peppers.

To serve, put everything on the table and just let everyone help themselves.  If you want a little more, you can always make a mango salsa to go with it.

Home made chilli sauce

These days, if I'm making kebabs I'll usually make a quick chilli sauce to go with them as I've never found a really good shop bought version.  This one is easy to do and can be cooking while you're making the kebabs from my other recipe.

Ingredients
4-6 fresh chillies - older ones in the veg rack can be used but beware, as they get older they get hotter!
1 small onion.
1 dessert spoon of olive oil.
250g of fresh tomatoes or 1 400g can chopped Italian tomatoes.

Method
Chop the chillies and onion finely, then fry them in a saucepan in the olive oil until the onion is softened.  While that's cooking, chop the tomatoes into small pieces if using fresh.  Once the onion and chilli is softened, add the tomatoes and cook on a low heat until the tomatoes become a sauce.  If it's taking too long you can up the heat a little but be careful not to let it get too dry and don't let it burn.  Serve it with kebabs or any other dish that you want some chilli heat with.

Doner Kebabs that are healthy!

Yes, if you make your own you can cut down on all the bad stuff in the standard Doner kebab.  Even better, why not make a big batch, shape them into individual portions and freeze them, the you don't even need to go out to get your fix!  This recipe serves 4 comfortably.  You can also do these on the barbecue come the summer and they make a nice change for sausage and burgers.

Ingredients
500g extra lean lamb mince - get the leanest you can find or even make your own if you wish.
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
2 heaped teaspoons ground cumin
2 heaped teaspoons ground coriander
1 green or red chilli
1 teaspoon oregano (optional)
half a teaspoon of salt

To serve
1 pitta bread per person
4 tomatoes
1 little gem lettuce
1 red onion
half a cucumber
1 fresh chilli
1 lemon

Method
Chop the onions as finely as you can and put them into a bowl.  Crush the garlic cloves to a pulp and add them to the bowl.  Add the mince, the cumin, coriander, salt and oregano if using and mix them all together as thoroughly as possible.  Heat the grill to full and while it's warming shape the kebabs into individual sausage shapes and thread them onto a metal skewer (you can use wooden skewers but make sure you soak them for 10-20 mins if you do).  Put them under the grill and cook them turning regularly until they are nicely browned - it takes between 10 and 20 minutes.

While the kebabs are cooking  prepare the pittas and the salad.  I tend to put pittas in the microwave for 30 -40 seconds on high to heat them through as I prefer a softer finish, but if you like a little more crunch put them in the toaster until cooked to your liking.

Wash and shred the little gem lettuce, dice the cucumber and slice the red onion, chilli and tomatoes and put everything on a plate so everyone can help themselves.

Once the kebabs are cooked, put one on each plate with a pitta bread, Slice the lemon into quarters and add one to each plate then serve with the salad.  You can also make your own chilli sauce if you wish to go with it.

Enjoy the meal and you won't have to feel guilty either!

Dill Sauce

This dead easy dressing works brilliantly with Gravadlax and salad leaves as a light starter.  Don't be tempted to use the stuff that comes with gravadlax, it tasted horrible by comparison!

Ingredients
7g sugar
100ml red wine vinegar
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
100ml olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped

Method
Whisk the sugar, vinegar and mustard together in a bowl. I use a hand held blender to do this.  Now add in the oil while blending to get a smooth and thickened dressing.  Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, add the dill and serve separately with the Gravadlax and salad leaves. 

Crab Cakes with salad

Cooked these as a nice light starter after all the heavy Christmas food, went down very well with a Vietnamese chill, fish sauce and vinegar dipping sauce.

Ingredients
A 2cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled
2 red chillies
300g crabmeat, equal amounts of white and brown
1 tbsp fresh coriander
2 spring onions
1 free-range egg
2-3 tbsp breadcrumbs
25ml/1fl oz olive oil

To serve
Vietnamese chilli dipping sauce
A few Little Gem lettuce leaves 

A small cherry tomato cut into 4

A small amount of diced cucumber
A few drops of vinaigrette dressing
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
1. Place the ginger, chilli, coriander and spring onion into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
2. Add the crabmeat, egg and breadcrumbs to the processor and pulse briefly until all is combined but you still have some texture.
3. Divide the crab cake mixture into 3cm patties, place on a plate and chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

4. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on a moderate heat and gently fry the crab cakes for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until crisp and golden-brown on each side. Keep the crab cakes warm.

5. Serve the crab cakes with the mixed salad, lightly dressed with a few drops of vinaigrette and the Vietnamese dipping sauce.