Truly Scrumptious

Tagged with:

Stuffing

Terrine

08 06 20

I had a party this weekend and decided to make terrine for the food table. I thought it would be difficult and take ages, but it was surprisingly easy and it turned out really well.

ter 1

I discovered that you can really make it up as you go along, you can use pretty much whichever meats you like, and you can also add herbs that you like. If I were to make this again I might add some vegetables to it for a change of texture.
I made the terrine from the recipe on the BBC Good Food page but adapted it by adding chicken. I found that the quantities were enough to make one full sized terrine and one smaller one. I used standard loaf tins to make it.

Ingredients
300g pork tenderloin
2 medium sized chicken breasts
2 packs of sausages or an equivalent amount of sausagemeat (if using sausages, remove the skins)
a bunch each of thyme, parsley and chives, finely chopped
approx 12 rashers of streaky bacon (or use long cut bacon and save the meaty part for brekkie)
a splash or two of port or brandy
100g pistachios – shelled
a bag of dried apricots (or you could use prunes or sour cherries)

1. Chop the pork tenderloin and chicken into bite sized pieces and soak in the brandy for a while – just use a few tablespoons of brandy and stir it occasionally. Add a little salt but not too much because the bacon and sausages will add salt.
2. Heat the oven to 180 deg C.
3. Lightly butter two standard loaf tins.
4. Line the tins with the streaky bacon, try not to leave any gaps. If found that my rashers were too short to wrap right around the terrine but it still worked out ok.
5. Sprinkle some of the mixed herbs on the bacon, then line the bottom with pork fillet.
6. Sprinkle with more herbs and some pistachios – you can actually use quite a few pistachios, I was a bit sparing with mine.
7. Layer some sausagemeat on top, sprinkle with herbs again, and place a line of apricots down the middle.
8. Now layer with chicken, add more herbs, and finish with another layer of sausagemeat.
9. If there are any ingredients left just tuck them in where you can – you can do another layer of apricots or pistachios if you like.
10. Wrap the bacon over the top of the terrine and squash it down firmly – I covered it with foil and pushed the foil down quite hard with my hands.
11. Wrap the loaf tins in heavy duty foil, use a few layers and wrap them tightly.
12. Half fill a roasting tray with hot water to make a bain marie, and place the loaf tins in the water. Don’t overfill the roasting tin, the water mustn’t get into the terrines. My water level was approx two thirds the height of the tins.
13. Place the roasting tin containing the terrines into the oven and cook for 1 to one and a half hours.
You can test them with a skewer or a meat thermometer to see if they are done.
14. Take the terrines out of the water bath and let them cool completely. While they are cooling place a few large cans on top to weigh down the meat. This will give you a more tightly packed result.
15. Now transfer then to the fridge – still weighed down and leave overnight.
16. My terrines kept ok in the fridge for a few days before serving. When you turn them out, run a knife around the outside of the bacon, tip them over and tap the tin. The surface will be covered in a thin layer of meat jelly which is quite nice.

ter 2

Category:

Tagged with:

Terrine

Samosas

08 06 20

I love samosas. This is a vegetarian recipe, but you can add minced lamb to the mixture if you prefer the meat version. I made mine with filo pastry – you can make the traditional samosa pastry if you like, but it is quite an art to get it right, and filo crisps up really well when you fry them. I asked my Indian friend Kesh if it is ok to use filo and he said yes, so if it’s good enough for him then I don’t feel too bad about cheating. Like the onion bhajias, you can fry these in advance and heat them up later in a hot oven.

sam 3

To make the filling you need:
2 onions chopped
4 medium potatoes diced small
2 carrots diced small
2 cups of frozen peas
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of green masala paste (if you haven’t got any – whizz up a green chilli with 2 large cloves of garlic and and inch of root ginger)
1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger
1 and a half teaspoons fresh crushed garlic
2 teaspoons sugar
half a teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
half a tablespoon ground coriander (dhania)
half a tablespoon ground cumin (jeera)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
a large handful of coriander leaves finely chopped

Method
1. Heat 3 tablespoons of sunflower or groundnut oil in a large pan or wok with a lid
2. Add the onions and fry gently for a few minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

sam 4

3. Cover and simmer over a low heat for up to 45 minutes (the cooking time will depend on how large the pieces are).
4. Test regularly with a knife to see if cooked (try a potato).
5. Stir through some butter or non dairy spread while still warm, and then set aside to cool. Next step you need butter or non dairy spread and some cornflour.
6. Melt some butter or non dairy spread to brush on the pastry.
7. Mix 1 teaspoon of cornflour with water to make a runny paste – this can be used to ‘glue’ the filo edges together if the samosas are a bit loose.

Once the filling has cooled, spread out some filo pastry on a work surface.
Take one sheet and brush it with the butter or dairy free spread and place another sheet over the top.
Slice the sheet vertically into approx 5 strips.
At the bottom of a strip place a spoonful of filling. Fold the corner over in a triangle, then back again in a zig zag pattern until the whole strip of pastry has been used. Seal the end with a dab of the cornflour paste.
Click here for a folding diagram.
Carry on until all of the filo and mixture is used up.
Deep fry in hot oil until brown and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper.
If not eating immediately they can be finished in a hot oven for 10 minutes.

Category:

Tagged with:

Onion Bhajias

08 06 20

These little onion bhajias are magic – I think it’s nice to make them small because they end up crispier and not at all stodgy. If you are not eating them straight away, you can deep fry them in advance, and then finish them off in a hot oven which will crisp them up nicely.

ob 1

What you need depends on how many you are going to make – I managed to get around 25- 30 small ones out of this mixture.
Ingredients
1/2 cup of chick pea flour (chana flour or gram flour)
1 cup of self raising flour
2 onions halved and then sliced finely so that you get long bits which will crisp up
1/4 teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin (jeera)
1 teaspoon ground coriander (dhania)
1/4 teaspoon crushed star anise (soomph)
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon of green masala paste (if you don’t have this whizz up half a green chilli, a large clove of garlic and 1/2″ root ginger)
200ml water

Method
1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl, then add the water to make a batter and mix till smooth (you can use a blender if you like), then add the onions and mix well.
2. Heat some oil in a large pan or deep fat fryer – it will be hot enough when a tiny drop of batter fizzes and rises to the surface.
3. Using two spoons press the batter into small balls – it will look like it wants to fall apart, but when you add it to the oil it will bind together and be ok.
4. Use tongs to fry until golden brown on both sides, flipping every minute.

ob 4

5. Drain on kitchen paper.
6. Either eat immediately or warm up later in a hot oven for about 10 minutes.
You can make a mint sauce to dip these in by whizzing up the following ingredients:
Yoghurt (you can also use coconut yoghurt), salt, fresh mint, fresh coriander, pinch of garam masala.

ob 3
ob 2

Category:

Restaurant review, Vegan/Vegetarian

Tagged with:

Indian Mixed Vegetables

08 06 20

This is my general recipe for indian mixed vegetables – it is basically an aloo gobi (potato and cauliflower) recipe which you can adapt to suit your taste and to suit whatever you have in the cupboard.
It helps if you have green masala paste and dhania/jeera spice mix already made up, but don’t worry if not – you can adapt the recipe for a one-off version, but if you find that you are making it regularly, I would advise making up a batch of each to save time.
See my page on home made Indian food for instructions on dhania/jeera and green masala.

Aloo gobi

Here is the recipe for my aloo gobi, but feel free to change the vegetable content (carrots, broccoli, swede, spinach, capsicum, butter beans etc) – I would recommend always having potato and onion in it, but you can use sweet potato if you prefer. If you like a good variety of veg, you can make it with frozen diced mixed vegetables too.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2-4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium to large onion – chop half of it finely and the other half quite chunky
1 -2 potatoes (or sweet potatoes) diced
half a cauliflower cut into bite sized pieces
2 ripe tomatoes chopped (skin them too if you are fussy)
2-3 large mushrooms sliced
1 tablespoon of dhania jeera mix (alternatively use a heaped half tablespoon of ground coriander and a heaped quarter tablespoon of ground cumin)
half a tablespoon of ground turmeric
2 teaspoons of green masala (alternatively grate a green chilli, 2cm ginger and 2 cloves garlic)
1-2 teaspoons sugar
half to one teaspoon salt (depending on taste)
a handful of frozen peas
a handful of fresh chopped coriander

Method:
1. Prepare all of the veg.
2. The amount of oil you need can vary depending in how many veggies you have and how watery they are – if you are not using tomatoes or mushrooms, add a little extra oil. Heat the oil in a large pan (use a huge saucepan or wok, but make sure it has a lid).
3. When the oil is hot add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds – fry until they pop and crackle.
4. Now add everything else except the peas and coriander. I find it easier to stir the spices and masala paste into the oil, then add the veggies. You won’t coat them all in spice to start with, leave them to reduce a bit and stir occasionally. Put the lid on throughout the cooking. If the veggies seem to be sticking a bit you can add a splash of water to help steam them, but don’t add too much water.
5. The veggies will take approx 30 minutes depending on how many hard veg you have. Stir them every 5 minutes and test them with a knife. When nearly done, add the frozen peas and coriander and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
6. Serve as a veggie curry on it’s own, or as a side dish, or in Indian bread with yoghurt.
Add fresh shopped chilli if you like it hotter. If it’s too hot, add a little extra sugar and stir it in well.

Category:

Tagged with:

Bhuna Sauce

08 06 20

I made an epic prawn bhuna the other day and I’ve had a few people asking me for the recipe, so here it is. It doesn’t have to be a prawn bhuna, you can make it with any meat, or tofu, vegetables, paneer (Indian cheese) for vegetarian/vegan options.

bhuna

I make mine dairy free, so I use coconut yoghurt or coconut cream instead of usual yoghurt, but if you don’t mind dairy, feel free to use lovely thick Greek yoghurt. I also use fresh tomatoes because the produce here in Perth is outstanding, but feel free to use tinned tomatoes if you wish.
This is how I skin and prepare my tomatoes – it’s quick and easy and by the time you have chopped your onions and garlic, the tomatoes will be ready to peel. I boil the kettle, and with a sharp knife I cut a shallow cross in the top where the stem was and again on the opposite side. Then I place them in bowl of boiling hot water for about 5-6 minutes.

bhuna 2

Be careful when you remove them because they’ll be hot. The skin should come away easily just by rubbing it slightly, if it doesn’t then they need a bit longer.

bhuna 3

I also remove any thick inner stem and the fibrous part where it attached to the plant. For this recipe I also remove most of the watery seedy part so that the final product is chunks of skinless tomato flesh.

bhuna 4

This recipe is enough to serve 6 people, you can also freeze portions of sauce to use later then you can add fresh chicken, vegetables, or prawns on the day that you serve it.
Ingredients:
a quarter of a teaspoon each of:
coriander seeds
cumin seeds
fennel seeds
black mustard seeds
2 onions (chop one and a half of them and puree the other half in a blender)
2 teaspoons of garlic (either crushed or pureed with the onion puree above)
2 teaspoons of fresh grated ginger (or from a tube if that’s more convenient)
4 large ripe tomatoes
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
2 teaspoons of chilli paste (or 1 teaspoon of chilli powder)
4 teaspoons of medium curry powder (I use Clive of India but choose your favourite brand or make your own)
300mls of chicken or vegetable stock
2 generous heaped dessertspoons of Greek yoghurt or coconut yoghurt or approx (150-200ml coconut cream)
4 tablespoons of tomato puree
2 teaspoons of garam masala
oil – vegetable, groundnut or something else with a mild or no flavour
salt and pepper

1. Get everything chopped, pureed, and ready:

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large pan and add the whole seeds.

bhuna 7
bhuna 8

3. Once you hear them pop and crackle, add the onions, ginger, and garlic and stir to coat them in the spicy mixture.

bhuna 9

4. Once the onions start to soften, add the turmeric, chilli, and curry powder.

bhuna 10

5. Give everything a good stir, cook for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes and tomato puree

bhuna 11

6. Cover and cook for approximately 10 – 15 minutes then stir in the yoghurt and the garam masala. The garam masala will make the sauce take on a brown colour. Once the tomatoes and onions are soft and a bit mushy, turn the heat off and leave the sauce covered to cool down in the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. If it’s too spicy, add a little sugar to balance the spices. Freeze in appropriate portion sizes.
7. If using the same day, reheat the sauce and add the protein of your choice e.g. raw prawns, chicken, lamb, tofu, veggies and cook until the protein or veggies are cooked through. I used lovely fresh large raw jumbo tiger prawns and they were delicious.
8. Bhuna tends to be quite a dry curry, so use as much sauce as you like that suits your needs. I prefer more gravy so I tend to be quite generous with the sauce. If you reheat it uncovered, you can reduce the sauce if you prefer a thicker, richer flavour.

Category:

Tagged with:

Mushroom Bhajee

08 06 20

mb 1

500g mushrooms (I use the white round mushrooms, but you can use any)
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds (Rai)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (Jeera)
2 large teaspoons green masala paste
1 tablespoon dhania/jeera powder (see above)
1 onion chopped medium fine (however you like it)
2 tomatoes chopped and peeled (optional)
1 teaspoon turmeric (Haldi)
2 tablespoons butter or non-dairy spread (optional)
oil such as sunflower, peanut
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped

1. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan, and add the black mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Fry quickly for a minute or two – they will crackle, and this initial spice/oil mixture is called a ‘vagaar’.
2. Fry the onions in the vagaar, until they begin to soften slightly, then add the green masala paste, dhania/jeera and turmeric.
3. Now add the mushrooms and mix well to coat them with spices. Put a lid on the pan.
4. After approx 5 minutes, add the tomatoes (if using), butter, stir in the coriander leaves and cook on low for a further 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft.
5. Taste, and add salt, pepper and a sprinkle of garam masala if needed. There should be enough to serve 4 people as a side dish.

mb 2

Category:

Tagged with:

Indian Food

08 06 20

Today I made a mushroom bhajee. I wanted something to go with a home made curry in the week, and I usually make a vegetable mix of spicy cauliflower and potatoes, but I fancied mushrooms and was thinking of how I could reproduce the lovely buttery mushroom bhajee from UK takeaways that I know and love. My Indian friends will be laughing at me now, wondering why I need to have veg to go with my curry – they tend to have meat curry and rice or veg curry and rice, and think it strange that I want to have meat curry with a veggie side and rice. It’s just what I am used to though – my idea of a balanced meal is some protein, some veg and some carbs.

Because I love indian food so much, there are some basic things that I have in my house:
1. A Braun multiquick blender – ideal for whizzing up curry pastes. It comes as a set with lots of attachments:
br 2

This is the attachment that I use for my pastes:

br 1

2. A cheap coffee grinder which has never seen a coffee bean – freshly ground spices are so much better than preground. If you get used to grinding your own spices, you will be making your own curry powders and garam masala, and you will love the aroma. You can buy an expensive one if you like, but I got a cheap one in Kmart for around $15:

When I have finished grinding spices, I wipe out as much residue as I can and then grind some plain dry rice to clean it and pick up the last bits of spice.
3. A supply of green masala paste in the fridge – this paste is so versatile, I use it to make everything from curries to veggies, and you can even mix it in with basics like beans on toast and scrambled eggs to give them a touch of spice 4. A pot of dhania/jeera – this is coriander and cumin in a nice proportion,
roasted, ground and ready to use
5. Good curry books like Madhur Jaffrey recipes and Ramola Parbhoo’s ‘Traditional Indian Cooking’.
6. Plastic pots with snap-on lids to keep your spices in – spices degrade quickly in non-air tight containers, and I love the plastic ones – I just write the name of the spice on them in marker pen, and wash the writing off when the pot is used up.
Here are the recipes for the green masala paste, and the dhania/jeera.
There will be more Indian recipes to come – this is just a few store cupboard staples to get you started.

Green Masala Paste
100g green chillies stalk removed – you can remove some of the seeds if you prefer it less spicy
40g garlic peeled
50g fresh root ginger, peeled
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 teaspoon salt
a pinch of turmeric
Blend all of the ingredients together in a food processor (I use my Braun multiquick) until you have a lovely green paste – doesn’t it smell good ? Transfer it to a suitable size jar or tub, press it down a little so that the surface is even, and pour a little oil on top. Store in the fridge.

Dhania/Jeera
65g coriander seeds (dhania)
35g cumin seeds (jeera)

Learn the indian names of spices – it helps when you are in the indian supermarket.
Gently roast the spices in a dry frypan over a low heat for 2 minutes. You should smell the aroma. Transfer them to a coffee grinder and grind them until you have a medium coarse mixture. Store in an airtight container.

Category:

1 Comment

Tagged with:

Peking spare ribs

08 06 20

Chinese restaurants offer various varieties of spare ribs. Barbecue ribs seem to be the most popular, but you can also get the drier spiced salt ribs, ribs in plum sauce, or Peking spare ribs (sometimes called King Do). In restaurants the Peking ribs are usually coated in an orangey-brown sticky sauce and have a unique flavour of sweet and sour richness with a warm spicy background.

ribs

The recipe for the ribs is fairly straightforward, but you need to plan ahead because they take a lot of marinating and cooking time. Whether you buy beef or pork ribs, get the best quality you can with a nice amount of meat on them.
Quantity – I served two racks of ribs between 6 people as an interim course between starter and main. It looked like quite a lot of ribs and was a large serving, but they all disappeared fairly quickly. If your ribs are long you can chop them in half with a meat cleaver to get extra portions. As a starter you should probably allow 2-3 ribs per person.
Wash your ribs before marinating, pat them dry with kitchen paper, and divide them up so that they are easier to manage. Make sure that you remove the tough membrane (if there is one) because it doesn’t taste nice.

Marinade recipe (enough for two racks):
250mls vegetable stock (either from stock cubes, powder, a carton or freshly made)
5 tablespoons of brown sugar
half a teaspoon of five spice powder
4 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
1 teaspoon of finely grated ginger
4 tablespoons of light soy sauce
2 cups of tomato ketchup (I used Heinz)
2 tablespoons of Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
60-80mls red wine (optional)

1. Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl and marinate the ribs for at least 24 hours, I marinated mine for 2 days in the fridge, the bowl covered with cling wrap.
2. The next stage is to boil them. You don’t have to do this but it really makes them tender, so I definitely advise it. Pour the ribs and marinade into a large covered saucepan and bring them to the boil, then simmer them for 15-20 minutes.
3. Next prepare a large baking tray – for ease of cleaning I lined mine with foil and then placed baking parchment on top of the foil – this avoids the result of gooey bakeware which needs soaking to remove the sticky residue.
4. Place the ribs in the tray, make sure that each one is coated with marinade but not swimming in it. Loosely cover the tray with foil and roast in a preheated oven at 180-190 deg C for 70-90 minutes. The longer you cook them the more tender they will be. The meat should fall away from the bone quite easily.
5. Add honey to the remaining marinade (I added about 6 tablespoons) and baste them with fresh marinade about every 15 minutes during roasting. You can remove the foil cover 15 mins before the end of cooking.
6. Once they are done, you may wish to garnish them with sesame seeds and chopped spring onion before serving.
Serve with good wine and good company.

Category:

Tagged with:

Ribs

Mango and Lime Chicken

08 06 20

mlc

This is a nice way of making Nandos style chicken. In Australia we can’t get the mango and lime basting any longer, so I make my own.
The chicken is better if marinated for 2 days, but you will still get some nice flavours after an hour of marination. Buy enough chicken to feed your guests – you can buy it as portions, but I prefer to buy a whole free-range chicken and joint it, because it tastes nicer if the bones and skin are still intact.
Once you have your chicken jointed, place it in a large bowl. There are a few ways of making the marinade, you can use either fresh or tinned mangoes, or mango chutney. The quantities may vary depending on how sweet you like the result, but half a fresh mango, 2 tablespoons of mango chutney or half a tin of mangoes should be enough for one chicken.
Then you will need the juice of 2-3 limes. If using fresh or tinned mangoes, chop them into small pieces and mash them a little with a fork. Start by adding the juice of a lime and taste it. If it tastes sweet, add the juice of another lime. It seems to sweeten up a bit during the marinating process so err on the side of slightly sour rather than slightly sweet. Now add a pinch of salt and a spoonful of chicken stock powder to the marinade and spread it over the chicken pieces. Cover the bowl with cling film and place it in the fridge, turn the pieces regularly – if you are marinating them for a few days, turn them twice a day to make sure they get a good coating.

On the day you are cooking, set the oven to 180 deg C. Take enough potatoes for your guests – I allow a large potato each and cut your potatoes into chip sized pieces. You can do wedges if you prefer. I leave the skin on because it tastes nice and I can’t be bothered to peel them.
Toss the potatoes in a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake them in a baking tray – they will take around 30 minutes depending on how good your oven is, and the chicken will take about 40 minutes, so put the spuds in first, then after 10 minutes put the chicken in. I put my chicken and chips in trays lined with baking parchment or foil to save on washing up. Make sure that the chicken is nicely coated with the marinade.
If using spray oil for your chips – a word of caution – don’t spray it on your best non-stick pans. The aerosol in spray oil damages the Teflon coating. I found this out to my cost when I used it on two of my beautiful Circulon fry pans.
You can also use sweet potatoes, but they will not take as long as regular potatoes, so put them in at the same time as the chicken and cut them into large chips.
While the cooking is happening, make the chip salt by mixing the following:

1 tablespoon of onion powder (I ground up some dried onion flakes) do not use onion salt it is too salty
1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
half a teaspoon of cumin
quarter to a half teaspoon of chilli depending on your spice tolerance
a quarter of a teaspoon of allspice
a quarter of a teaspoon of salt
a quarter of a teaspoon of pepper

Mix the spices together – you can double up these quantities if you have a lot of chips.
When the chips are done sprinkle them with the spice mixture.
Serve the chicken and chips with buttered sweetcorn and peas.
If you want to make perinaise chip dip, add a dash of tabasco or chilli paste to some mayonnaise.

Category: