Chicken madras

Since I appear to have deleted my photos of this dish, I have opted to use a photo of coriander leaves/cilantro. Image by beglib.

The Indian foods I have eaten since moving to the UK have been so very different from the Indian foods I used to get in Durban, South Africa. It makes one realise what a large, multicultural country India is.

The Indian descendants living in South Africa are largely Tamils, whose forebears hailed from from the southern parts of India. The food they now eat in South Africa has of course been adapted over the generations based on the ingredients available to them.

It didn't occur to me at the time, but I never ate at an 'Indian' restaurant all the years I lived in Durban. I don't even remember seeing one. I guess it would be a bit like having an Italian restaurant in Rome, since Durban is often referred to as 'the capital of India', boasting over a million people of Indian heritage (possibly the largest in the world outside of India itself).

Nevertheless, while I was teaching at a performing arts school in the Indian sector of town, I got to know all the take-away places and greasy spoons nearby. My students, to whose parents a white teacher at the school was still something of a novelty, used to bring me Tupperware dishes of this or that "my mother made for you, mem." Sadly, I never got the recipes of all these wonders. In many cases, I didn't even get the names. But, as a struggling student, I was enormously grateful for the free meals!

I always knew when there had been a wedding in the family, because then I'd get burfi or jalebi. Maybe both! My housemates used to love that!

The Indian foods on offer in England usually owe their heritage to Kashmiri or Punjabi traditions. So it's naan bread instead of roti, more meat, less beans... and in general the food is more aromatic. Oh, and I haven't seen a chilli bite in aaaaages!

There are of course, 'Indian' dishes which have been invented in both England and South Africa, just as macaroni cheese is an American dish with a nod to Italian roots. But even those tend to follow the patterns of the cultural heritage of the local populations.

Over the years, my palate has become less hardy, and there is no way I could eat the fiery hot samoosas I used to scoff after the final class on my way to a singing gig 'back in the day'.

Today's dish has a bit of bite to it, but is still within what I would consider a reasonable range. It's one I learned to make in the UK, even though it hails from the more southerly parts of India (Chennai).

Ingredients
800g chicken, skinned and cut into bite sized pieces
1 large onions, finely chopped
6 tomatoes, finely chopped
2-3 small green chillies (adjust to taste), chopped
2.5cm piece of ginger root, peeled and grated (or just use the 'very lazy' kind in a tube)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
5ml chilli powder
2.5ml ground cumin
2.5ml ground coriander seeds
5ml turmeric
5ml nutmeg
2 cloves
3 cardamom pods
Garam masala (some)
Bunch coriander (cilantro) leaves
Pinch salt
75ml oil

Method

• Heat the oil over a moderate heat in a heavy-based saucepan. Pop in the cloves and cardamom pods.
• Add the onions and fry them well. Not just to the translucent stage you may be used to, but until they are well browned.
• Stir in the green chillies, ginger, garlic, red chilli powder, cumin, coriander and turmeric. Stir for a couple of minutes.
• Season with a pinch of salt and stir some more.
• Add the chicken and stir for about 3 minutes to seal it. If it sticks a bit, add just a little water (no more than 50ml).
• Add the nutmeg and tomatoes and cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes over a medium heat.
• Sprinkle with garam masala and fresh coriander leaves to serve.
• Serve with rice, naan bread, roti....or whatever starch your little heart desires.

Risotto with an eastern twist

This is based on another recipe from my 200 veggie feasts book. In the original version were ingredients of the sort not found in the average kitchen (most people I know have never even heard of mirin, for example... and Blogger's spellchecker certain doesn't seem to know what it is!) and I was not about to send you on wild goose chase for the sake of a few mls of this (30mls in the case of the mirin, for example) and a dash of that.

So I adapted.

As you would expect.

Ingredients
1200ml of veg stock (alright, you can use chicken if you must!)
15ml soy sauce
30ml white wine (or use sake or mirin if you have it)
60ml sunflower or olive oil (or replace 15mls with sesame oil, if you have some)
A few spring onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2.5cm piece of root ginger, peeled and grated (or a tablespoon of the 'very lazy' kind in a tube or bottle - don't use dried ground ginger if you can avoid it - it's nowhere near as nice)
375g arborio/paella rice (or bog standard rice, if it's all you have)
4 kaffir lime leaves, ripped up, or the grated zest of 1 lime
250g mushrooms (shiitake if you can get them, otherwise - you know - whatever), sliced
About 30ml chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves with a few extras for garnish

Method

• Warm up the stock, wine and soy sauce, but don't let it boil.
• Heat 45ml of the oil in a saucepan or large frying pan and throw in the spring onions, garlic and ginger and stir fry on high for about a minute.
• Lower the heat and add the rice and the lime leaves. Stir for about a minute until all the grains of rice are coated.
• Add about 150ml of stock and stir until absorbed. Keep stirring and adding stock until you have about half a cupful left in the jug. You might like to turn the heat off on the rice while you do this next bit.
• Use the remaining oil in a different panto fry the mushrooms for about 5 minutes.
• Add the coriander and mushrooms to the rice, with the remaining stock. If you turned the heat off before, turn it back on now, but keep it low.
• Stir until the liquid is pretty much absorbed.
• Garnish with a few bits of fresh coriander leaf.

Bean and olive salad

Since it's the weekend (yayyy!!), and we're (finally) promised some decent weather here in the UK (I'll believe that when I see it!), I thought I'd do a salad recipe today. This is a recipe I cut out of a magazine donkey's years ago and have adapted.

This should be made up in advance, because it needs time to chill. Don't we all?

Ingredients
45ml olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced or finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
250ml cooked haricot beans
30ml Balsamic vinegar (I'm sure you could use 'ordinary' vinegar - I'm just a fan of Balsamic)
15ml tomato puree
12 olives, stoned and halved
45ml chopped fresh herbs - I used a mixture of chives, mint and coriander leaves. I'd say the chives are fairly important, but experiment for yourself.

Method

• Heat oil over a low heat in a heavy-bottomed pan, and saute the onion and garlic lightly.
• Cover and allow to 'sweat' for a couple of minutes.
• Uncover and add beans, vinegar, tomato puree and olives. Stir for a further couple of minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in herbs.
• Chill before serving.

Notes
You could turn this into a main course by adding a tin of tuna.

Roast butternut and pine nut risotto

This is another one of those veggie dishes that are so good you don't find yourself thinking, "All this needs is a bit of meat, and it would be perfect." Even my carnivorous elder son wolfed it down and came back for seconds!

This recipe uses coriander leaves, but sage is just as good with butternut, so try that as a variation.

Oven temperature
200C

Ingredients
1 large butternut, peeled and cut into largish cubes
1 clove garlic, crushed
10ml fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Olive oil
30ml butter
1 onion, chopped
250ml arborio rice
250ml white wine
750ml vegetable stock
Pine nuts to serve
Parmesan cheese, grated, to serve

Method

• In a large bowl, mix up about 25ml olive oil with the garlic and chopped coriander leaves.
• Toss the butternut cubes in this until they are well coated, then place them on a baking tray in the oven for about 45 minutes until soft right through and just starting to darken along the edges.
• Cut the cooked butternut into smaller cubes (when it is cool enough to handle, obviously!). Don't worry if some pieces get a little mushy. If any little bits got stuck to the baking tray, rescue them - you're going to want those babies in the risotto, too - they have a wonderful toffee-ish taste!
• Heat 15ml of the butter and another 25ml oil in a  heavy-bottomed frying pan and saute the onion until it softens and becomes translucent.
• Add the rice and stir until the grains are coated and shiny looking.
• Add the wine and stir until the liquid has been absorbed.
• Now add the stock. The proper way to do this is to add a little stock at first and then keep adding a little at a time as it is absorbed by the rice. I tend to just add the whole lot in one go... because I'm a lazy Philistine.
• Simmer until done. Don't let the rice cook for too long - it is supposed to be al dente, like pasta.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the butternut and the rest of the butter.
• Place into serving bowls and top with a sprinkling of pine nuts, a little Parmesan cheese, a twist of black pepper and the rest of the coriander leaves.

What do I do with...butternut (squash)?

In South Africa, this vegetable is known as butternut. In the UK, it is called butternut squash. I gather that Australians simply call it squash. Whatever it is called in your neck of the woods, this is one of my favourite vegetables.

When I was still 'living at home,' as the expression goes (as if after leaving your parents' house you are doomed to nomad-status for the rest of your life), it was a family tradition to make a special dinner on birthdays and the birthday girl (because ours was a single-sex family) got to choose what was on the menu. When it was my birthday, you could pretty much depend on it that you would be eating butternut and cauliflower (with white sauce). When I was a student, I would quite often survive on baked butternut for days at a time.

Butternut is more like pumpkin that squash in both texture and taste. It is firm-fleshed and has a slightly nutty taste.

So... butternut. What do we do with them?

Raw
Butternut can be grated into salads, although it can sometimes give you that feeling of furriness on the backs of your teeth. I do have a recipe for a salad that uses raw butternut, but I have never shared it because it also requires - believe it or not - powdered jelly (jell-o), which isn't readily available in the UK. However, fret not if you live in a country which oozes jelly powder from every pore and you are dying to try something new and different. Here it is, on someone else's site.

Cooked on the hob
There are various ways to cook butternut on the hob. You can

• steam it on its own
• steam it with chopped onion and/or coriander leaves
• boil it (ditto the above two - and countless other - options)
• make butternut soup with or without orange, with or without cauliflower, with or without coriander leaves and chilli. Here's Catherine's guest post recipe from a while ago.
• make Malay-style cinnamon glazed butternut

Cooked in the oven
Butternut is also fab for

• roasting - just do as you would do with potatoes, really. And once you've roasted it, you can use it for a different tasting soup, or for a scrumptious risotto.
• baking - cut them in half, wrap in tin foil and bung 'em in the oven at about 200C until you can stick a sharp knife into it with ease. Alternatively, if you have plenty of time (or no foil), just chuck 'em in whole until they're done.
• stuffing - cut the butternut in half, scoop out the pips and fill the hole with yummy things like chopped onion, bacon bits or whatever, then wrap with foil and bake as before. You can also fill the hollow after the butternut has been cooked with something like cheese sauce.

On the barbecue
One of my favourite things to do with butternut is to bake it in the coals of the barbecue - either halved and wrapped in tin foil or whole as is. You can stuff them if you like, just as you would for baking.

I'm sure there are endless other things you can do with this delicious and versatile vegetable, like substituting it for pumpkin in a traditional American pumpkin pie. But that should be enough to get you started.

Enjoy.

And feel free to share your own butternut ideas in the comments below, or on my Facebook page.

Tuna steak - the fish for non-fish-eaters

Some years ago, I discovered the wonder that is tuna steak. I ate it at a wonderful Italian restaurant called Mulinos in Milton Keynes. It wasn't on the menu, but the chef had sourced some fresh tuna steak that day. My elder son ordered it, and I was surprised when the waiter asked him how he would like it done. I mean, it's fish, right? Everyone knows that fish needs to be cooked right through, right? Wrong. Oh, so wrong.

My son ordered it medium rare, which is the way we all prefer our beef steak... and it was sheer bliss. I know. I tasted it. If I hadn't known it was fish, I would certainly not have guessed it from the taste (or the texture). Not that I have anything against fish, mind, but some fish has an overwhelmingly 'fishy' taste. Fresh tuna steak does not. Not even slightly.

Tuna steak should be cooked pretty much the same way you cook a beef steak - very hot pan, and then just a couple of minutes on each side (for a succulent, medium rare steak).

This is what I did with ours last night:

Ingredients

Two fresh tuna steaks

1 kaffir lime leaf, shredded

Juice of half a lime

1 small chilli, finely chopped

5ml grated ginger root

5ml chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves

2.5ml finely chopped lemon grass

5ml olive oil

Method

• Mix all the ingredients (apart from the fish) together to form your marinade.
• Place the steaks in the marinade, turning a few times to ensure that it is well coated.
• Leave for about 10 minutes.
• Heat a heavy-bottomed frying pan over high heat until it is very hot.
• Give the pan a quick spray of fry light or a light brushing with olive oil if necessary. If it's a really good pan, this won't be necessary.
• Remove the steaks from the marinade and fry for two minutes on each side.
• Serve with potato wedges and a garden salad.

Chicken and sesame stirfry

I don't know about you, but I am mad-keen on the food at Wagamama. Unfortunately, on the last two occasions I visited my nearest branch, the service was iffy at best. On one occasion, it was so bad, that my husband called the manager over to complain... whereupon he (the manager, not my husband, although it was a close run thing) became belligerent and argumentative. Needless to say, my husband simply will not go back. I have since visited other branches and found the service to be of a better standard.

But I digress...

This dish has a flavour combination that reminds me of some Wagamama dishes. It's based on one that I downloaded from somewhere (Tesco diets, I think). It uses chicken breast fillets, but these are so ludicrously expensive in the UK, that I often substitute turkey breast.

Ingredients
2 large skinless chicken breast fillets, sliced into thin strips
1 tablespoon honey
Juice of 1 lime
2 kaffir lime leaves (optional), finely shredded
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (you can toast these yourself, if you can't buy toasted ones)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
5cm piece root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
225g broccoli florets
2 large carrots (you may notice from the picture that I threw in a courgette, too)
1 bunch spring onions, trimmed
250g noodles
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Method

• Mix together the olive oil, ginger, lime leaves (if using) and garlic in a bowl.
• Add the chicken strips, toss to mix and set aside until needed.
• Blanch the the broccoli florets as follows: place them in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to stand for 1 minute. Drain, refresh under cold, running water and drain well.
• Cut carrots into matchstick strips (you may notice from the picture that I was lazy on this!)
• Cut the spring onions in half lengthwise and then again crosswise.
• Heat a wok or a large frying pan and then add the chicken and stirfry for 2 minutes.
• Add the carrots, onions and broccoli and just a little water. Cover with a lid and steam for about 5 minutes (make sure chicken is cooked through).
• Cook the noodles as per instructions on the packaging.
• Mix together teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, lime juice and honey.
• Drain the noodles and add to the chicken.
• Add the liquid mixture.
• Toss well until everything is evenly distributed and hot.
• Sprinkle sesame seedds over the top. Serve.

On the occasion when the photo was taken, I used quinoa instead of noodles, just for a change. It worked. Of course.

Cabbage bredie

'Bredie' is roughly the Afrikaans word for stew, but somehow there is a different nuance to it. Maybe that's just my imagination, though, with my dual heritage.

I cook mine in a pressure cooker. If you don't have one, you will need to watch those fluid levels and add more if necessary. You need to know something about cabbage: it is so full of flavour that when it is such a dominant ingredient in a stew, you need very little by way of seasoning. Honest. Try it yourself.

Ingredients
1 whole cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
700g stewing beef or lamb, cubed
3 carrots, peeled and sliced (my 'slices' are always very large, because that's the way my husband prefers them - carrots are his favourite part of any stew)
45ml tomato puree
Salt to taste (I add none at all)
5ml caraway seeds
250ml stock
A little oil

Method

• In a large saucepan/pressure cooker, saute the onions in a little oil until they become soft and translucent.
• Add the caraway seeds and the meat. Saute until the meat is browned on all sides.
• Add the entire cabbage, carrots, tomato puree and stock.
• If you're using a pressure cooker, close it, bring it to pressure and cook for 20 minutes. If you're not, cover, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 2 hours, checking the liquid level every now and then so that it doesn't dry out and burn.
• Serve with rice, polenta (which is what you can see in my photo above) or quinoa. Alternatively, you can add potatoes into the stew and then serve it without the additional starch.

Beef sosaties

Sosaties (soSAHteez) are traditional South African meat skewers cooked on the braai (barbecue). Everybody's granny had the best recipe, including mine, who loved to tell everyone that I had once eaten thirteen of her famous sosaties in a single sitting... and it was no more than the truth.

If you're a purist, you should be using lean pork and mutton fat. But I'm not a purist and I happen to like beef, so my sosaties are made using beef steak. Obviously, if you live in the UK, it's best to wait until there's a special promotion on, because steak is stupidly expensive. But you can also try any other meat, including white meats such as turkey breast or chicken... even firm fleshed fish.

Ingredients
750g beef (or whatever), cut into 2.5cm cubes
2 large onions, 1 finely chopped, the other divided into layers and then into 2.5cm squares
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
15ml medium curry powder
5ml turmeric
15ml brown sugar
4 curry/bay leaves (see note below), finely chopped
45ml brown vinegar
2 lemons, sliced
125ml meat stock
125g dried apricots
1 green pepper cut into 2.5cm squares
A little oil for frying
Wooden meat skewers

Method

Ready for the fire....

• Place the meat and the leaves into a non-metallic bowl (for some reason this is important). I suspect that it had to do with aluminium and that stainless steel would probably be safe, but my gran was almost superstitious in her insistence that the bowl should not be metal. Mix them about so that the leaves are evenly dispersed among the cubes of meat.
• In a saucepan, saute the chopped onion, garlic, turmeric and curry powder together, until the onion has softened.
• Add the meat stock, sugar and lemon slices and bring to the boil.
• Remove from the heat and add the vinegar.
• Pour over the meat and stir well to ensure even distribution.
• Cover and set aside overnight. If you want to play it safe, pop it in the fridge, but beef is pretty robust in my experience, and can handle room temperature overnight.
• Skewer the meat, interspersed with slices of green pepper, onion and dried apricots.
• Cook over a very hot (about as hot as for steak) open fire for about 10 minutes, turning and basting with the left over sauce.
• Serve with all the usual barbecue/braai suspects.
• If you like, you can squeeze lemon juice over them before eating, but I reckon that ruins them (any my granny wouldn't have approved!)

Note about those curry leaves
These aren't easy to come by, I know. So if you can't get your hands on them, use bay leaves. However, I have to tell you that my gran reckoned it was the curry leaves that were the secret ingredient that made the sosaties special.

Burger patties

The photo shows the three men in my life at the fire. My younger son appears to be overcome by the smell of something or other, to the point that he is having a 'moment'.

Next week is national barbecue week in the UK. So I thought I'd help out with a recipe for home made burger patties. Much nicer than bought ones, and you know nothing nefarious has been added to bulk it out.

We love to have a barbecue (or braai, as it's called in South Africa), and let me tell you, he might be a Swede, but my husband spent enough years in South Africa to become a dab hand at it. Nobody is more skilled with the barbecue than that man. He even does our Christmas roast in the kettle barbecue!

Ingredients

500g minced beef
6 spring onions, shopped
Pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
5ml dried thyme
5ml ground coriander seeds (not the leaves - that's a different taste altogether)
Pinch mustard seeds and/or a splash of chilli sauce such as Tobasco (optional)
1 egg, lightly beaten
Little oil and basting sauce of your choice

Method

• Mix all the ingredients together, except the oil and basting sauce.
• Divide into 6-8 equal sized balls and flatten into a patty shape.
• Brush with  oil and a little basting sauce.
• Cook over hot coals, basting every now and again, for 5 minutes each side or until done through. You could fry them, of course, but that is rather unhealthy.
• Assemble on a burger bun with whatever trimmings take your fancy.

Brisket with attitude

As I took my last mouthful of delicious tender brisket on Saturday night, I looked across at my husband and said, "I forgot to take a photo!" My family has grown so used to having their food photographed before they get to eat it, that he knew exactly what I meant. But it was too late. Sorry about that.

This recipe is based on one I got from my local butcher years ago. He had these little recipe cards printed up and would hand them out to the customers when they purchased the relevant cut of meat. I must have bought a brisket from him, I guess.

Brisket is one of the cheaper cuts of beef. It is full of flavour, as so many of the cheaper cuts are. But it is also inclined to be tougher. So you should roast it at a lower temperature for longer to overcome that. Don't be tempted to aim for a roast that's still pink in the middle. Save that for the more expensive cuts.

Oven temperature
150C

Ingredients
2kg deboned, rolled brisket
10 peppercorns
6 cloves
2 bay leaves
4 kaffir lime leaves
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
60ml brown vinegar
25g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
500ml boiling water
250ml chutney (Mrs Balls for preference, if you're able to get it)
125ml sweet chilli sauce

Method

• Crush the herbs and spices together (I use a coffee grinder) and mix together with the chopped onion, carrots, vinegar, chutney and sweet chilli sauce.
• Place the meat in a large bowl and spoon the sauce over. Make sure the meat is evenly covered with marinade.
• Leave to marinate for eight hours or overnight, turning once halfway through the process.
• Remove the meat from the marinade and drain (but keep the marinade!).
• Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan and brown the joint on all sides. Transfer into a casserole dish.
• Add the boiling water to the pan to loosen up the bits and bobs from the browning, then add that to the marinade and pour over the meat.
• Cover with a lid or foil and pop into the oven for about 3 hours.
• Remove from the marinade and blot off any excess fat. Set aside and keep warm.
• Thicken the sauce with a little cornflour mixed with cold water and bring back up to the boil. You could use the frying pan for this again. Serve this in place of gravy.

Tuna and asparagus bake

A truly yummy combination of flavours that could use up some fridge fallout in the process. The original recipe is stuck in my do-it-yourself recipe book, having been cut out of some or other magazine at some or other point in my life.

Oven temperature
180C

Ingredients
750ml cooked rice (as in 750ml after cooking, not 750ml rice which is then cooked)
90ml butter
15ml lemon juice
15ml chopped parsley (I leave this out, because my husband loathes parsley)
410g tin of asparagus salad cuts
1 onion, finely chopped
2 courgettes/zucchini/baby marrow/whatever you call them, sliced (roughly 4mm slices)
Half a green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
25ml cornflour
60ml water
60ml sour cream
200g tin of tuna, drained and flaked
15ml fresh mint, chopped
250ml grated cheddar (or similar) cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

Bake, uncovered for about 30mins

• Combine the rice with 30ml of the butter, lemon juice and parsley in a large bowl, then spoon over the base of a large ovenproof dish. Press this rice base down to pack it tightly.
• Drain the asparagus cuts, but keep about 125ml of the juice. Arrange the asparagus on top of the rice.
• Heat the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium heat and saute the onions lightly.
• Add the courgettes and green pepper. Stir fry for about a minute or until the veg begin to soften a bit.
• Stir in the cornflour and cook for a further minute.
• Stir in the reserved asparagus juice and water and keep stirring until a smooth consistency is achieved.
• Remove from heat and add the sour cream, tuna, mint and seasoning.
• Spoon this mixture over the asparagus and spread gently.
• Sprinkle with cheese and bake uncovered for about 30 minutes.
• If you like, you can top it with croutons after baking, but I have never found it necessary.

The rice forms a sort of 'crust'. I tend to mash the rice a bit to achieve a 'mealie rice'/grits texture.

A note about my comment about fridge fallout - you could add leftover vegetables to the tuna mixture, and I reckon peas and/or sweetcorn would be no bad idea!

Chicken biryani

This recipe is fairly time consuming, but the results are oh-so-worth it! I am utterly in love with chicken biryani, so much so that it is a challenge for me to choose something else from the menu when we visit an Indian restaurant.

I should point out that this recipe is almost certianly not authentically Indian, since it is based on one drawn from a book of Cape Malay recipes. South Africa has an enormous 'Indian' population. These are people descended from the Indians brought out to work on the sugar cane farms in what was then known as Natal. In the apartheid era, 'Indian' was one of the four racial classifications and the term is still in use today. Most South African Indians remain in the KwaZulu-Natal area, as a result of which, Durban (the city in which I was born) is often referred to as the 'capital of India'.

The Cape Malays (as the phrase suggests) are largely concentrated in the Western Cape, which is where I spent twelve years of my life, and where both my children were born.

However, there are commonalities in their cuisine, and some fusion has been inevitable...especially in my kitchen, with my exposure to both! Purists will argue one way or the other, of course, but I'm not enough of a connoisseur to get embroiled in that wrangling. I enjoy recipes from both cultures, and I hope that you will enjoy this one. It is one I make fairly often for guests.

So here goes...

Oven temperature
Low (for reheating)

Ingredients
1kg chicken portions
2 onions, diced
A little oil
500ml lentils
500ml uncooked rice (I use Basmati, because my husband is addicted to the stuff!)
10ml butter
2 cinnamon quills/sticks/whatever you like to call them
4 cardamom pods, split open
3 red or green chillies chopped (increase or decrease this number to taste, but biryani is generally not very hot)
4 hard boiled eggs
10ml ground cumin
2.5ml turmeric (if you're feeling flush, you can use some saffron strands instead) plus another 7.5ml
250ml pouring yoghurt
10ml red masala powder
15ml peri-peri oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
5ml finely chopped fresh ginger (or you can use the 'very lazy' bottled kind, but avoid the powdered ground ginger)
5ml ground cinnamon
10ml salt

Method

• Combine the following ingredients and marinade the chicken for two hours: yoghurt, red masala, 7.5ml turmeric, peri peri oil, garlic, ginger, ground cinnamon and salt.
• Set the lentils to cook in boiling water until more or less soft. While they're doing that, you can get on with the next steps. When they are cooked, drain and set aside.
• Boil the rice in boiling water as well, until done, drain and set aside. To be honest, I cook the rice and lentils together, because it frees up one hotplate and means one less saucepan to wash!
• Heat a little oil and saute the onion and chilli. Set aside.
• Over a medium heat, melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and add the cinnamon quills and cardamom.
• Brown the chicken in this saucepan, taking care not to burn the yoghurt. If necessary, add a (tiny) bit of water, so that the chicken doesn't stick.
• When the chicken is brown, add about half a cup of water and 2.5ml of turmeric (or saffron) and cook, uncovered until done through and soft. Remove from heat.
• In a large bowl, mix the rice, lentils (if they aren't already mixed, that is!), onion-and-chillies and chicken.
• Transfer half the mixture into a serving bowl, and sprinkle with half the cumin and spread half the egg slices over it.
• Add the other half and sprinkle with the rest of the cumin. If you have rose water to hand, you might like to sprinkle some of that over, too (yum!). Spread the rest of the egg slices over the top. Cover and place in the oven to heat through.
• Serve with vegetable curry (for an Indian slant) or Cape Malay style vegetables (recipes for which will be added to this blog at some stage, but can be downloaded from all manner of sites in the interim).

Beetroot risotto with cream cheese and pine nuts

Today, I'd like to share with you a delicious, delumptious, recent discovery. A couple of weeks ago, I came across a little paperback book going for half price in my local supermarket. It's a Hamlyn book by Louise Pickford, called 200 veggie feasts. I was attracted to it because our current straitened circumstances mean that we have to cut back on meat, which tends to be rather costly. Let me tell you, I could happily work my way through the entire book! We have already sampled several of them, and today's recipe is based on one such. It is one of the tastiest meals I've had in a long time.

Ingredients
1200ml stock (I made this up using my old standby Vecon)
4 cooked beetroot, peeled and diced
60ml cooking oil (okay, the book calls for extra virgin olive oil, but in the light of yesterday's post...)
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
10ml fresh thyme (or 5ml dried)
300g arborio/risotto/paella rice (you could try ordinary rice, if you like)
125ml red wine
150g cream cheese (the original recipe calls for either mascarpone or soft goat's cheese, but cream cheese works a treat!)
Small bag pine nuts (you could substitute pecans if you prefer - just chop them)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

• Bring the stock to a gentle simmer in a saucepan
• Heat the oil in a separate saucepan and stirfry the onion, garlic and thyme over a low heat, until the onion is softened and translucent. Add salt and pepper to taste (I added a twist or six of black pepper, but no salt).
• Add the rice to the onion mixture and stir until every grain is coated and shiny looking.



Until the liquid is absorbed

• Stir in the wine and bring to the boil. Keep stirring until the wine is absorbed.
• Stir in the beetroot.
• Add the stock, a little at a time, stirring after each addition.
• Cook over a medium heat until the liquid is absorbed. You will need to keep stirring, or it will stick. This should take about 20 minutes. Ideally, the rice should be slightly al dente.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Cover and leave to stand for a couple of minutes.
• Sprinkle each portion with pine nuts as you serve (don't forget this bit, it makes such a difference!)

Köttbullar med gräddsås (Swedish meatballs and...erm... 'gravy')

Being married to a Swede, it was inevitable that I should have to learn to make these early on. Of course, when we moved to the UK and had access to Ikea, we were able to buy frozen meatballs by the bag. Home made ones are still better, though! When I make them, I make a double batch and freeze half for later use.

They can be fried (my mother-in-law fries hers... in lashings of butter, of course), but I find that takes forever when you are cooking large enough quantities for three viking appetites, so I do mine in the oven. Sacrilege!

Oh, and remember what I said about the traditional Swedish diet not being healthy? You have been warned.

First let's get those meatballs going, then we'll make a start on the sauce (which, by the way, translates as 'cream sauce').

Meatballs
Oven temperature
200C

Ingredients
500g minced beef
500g minced pork
1 egg
200-300ml cream-and-water mixture (or the slightly healthier option of just using milk, as I do)
1 small onion, finely chopped
100ml breadcrumbs (or rusk flour if it's available in your area)
2 cold, boiled potatoes
Butter, margarine or oil for frying/baking (we'll come to that in a bit)
Salt and white pepper to taste
5ml ground allspice (this, dear friends, is the critical ingredient that gives the meatballs their 'Swedish' taste)

Method

I roll them in flour as I go

• Traditionally, you're supposed to saute the onion in butter until golden, but a healthier option is to sweat them in the microwave (place in glass bowl, cover with pierced clingfilm and nuke 'em for about a minute or so). You decide.
• Peel and mash the potato.
• Moisten the bread crumbs (or rusk flour) with a little water.
• Mix the meats, egg, breadcrumbs, potato, flour and seasonings.
• Add a little of the cream-and-water/milk at a time, until you get a manageable consistency. You might not have to add all of it, but don't despair, you can use what's left for the gräddsås.
• Shape it into balls with wet hands (so that the mixture doesn't stick too much). You're looking for something about the size of a golf/squash/table tennis ball.
• Place on a lightly floured chopping board. I tend to roll each ball in flour as I go. I use a small tupperware container for the purpose.



I top each one with a tiny knob of butter

• Traditionally, you are now supposed to fry them slowly in butter (yes, butter, I kid you not!). But I tend to place them in a baking tray. I spray the tray first with Fry Light, but you could grease it, or cover the bottom with a thin layer of oil. Then, if I'm feeling decadent, I top each one each with a tiny knob of butter. I bake them in the oven for about 20 or so minutes, turning every now and then, to ensure even(ish) cooking. Because you have used pork, it is vital that the meatballs are cooked right through.

While those are in the oven, let's get cracking on the sauce, shall we?

Gräddsås
Ingredients
100ml cream or milk (or half of each)
200ml beef stock
15ml cornflour
Salt and white pepper to taste

Method

• You're supposed to include the scrapings from the frying pan, but since we don't have any, we will make do without. If, however, you've decided to go the traditional route, make up the sauce in the frying pan, starting by swirling the (boiling) beef stock in the pan to loosen up all those little loose bits that remain in the pan.
• Bring the beef stock to the boil in a small saucepan.
• Add a little water to the cornflour and mix into a smooth paste. Add this to the stock and stir until thickened.
• Remove from the heat and add the cream.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with boiled baby potatoes and lingonsylt (if you can get it). If you can't get your hands on lingonsylt, cranberry sauce makes a fair substitute.

Pickled fish

In the UK, it is common to eat salmon on Good Friday. In many South African communities, particularly on the Cape Flats, where there is a strong Cape Malay influence, it is more common to eat pickled fish.

These days I can buy almost everything that formed a part of my shopping list in South Africa at at least one of my local supermarkets, but pickled fish is an exception (there is one other, and perhaps I will find and share a recipe at some point).

I was bemoaning this fact to a fellow ex-pat a couple of years back, and she happily shared her recipe with me, advising me to get myself a copy of the Cape Malay cookbook. To my embarrassment, I realised that not only did I have this cookbook, I used it fairly often. It had just never occurred to me to make my own pickled fish... or even to look for a recipe! I used to buy canned pickled fish in South Africa. It was one of those things you don't think of making (like baked beans and tuna).

So, if you'd like to try a slightly different fish tomorrow, how about this? It's almost certainly going to be cheaper than salmon!

I'm sharing the recipe today, because it needs 24 hours marinading time.

Ingredients

1kg (ish) of firm fleshed white fish
2 pinches salt
10ml red masala (or medium curry powder if you can't get masala)
175ml sunflower oil
1 cardamom pod, split open
375ml malt (brown) vinegar
10ml turmeric (borrie)
5ml chilli powder
15ml sugar
2 onions, thinly sliced
250ml water
2 bay leaves
2 curry leaves (if you can't get these, add more bay leaves)
4 allspice
1 whole clove

Method

• Blot the fish with paper towel and then sprinkle with one pinch of salt and about half of the masala. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes.
• Heat oil and cardamom pod in a frying pan and shallow fry fish until light brown.
• Remove fish from pan and spread in a large, shallow dish (not aluminium). Set aside for now.
• In a saucepan, place vinegar, turmeric, sugar, second pinch of salt, the rest of the masala, chilli powder, onion rings and water. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes.
• Add the bay leaves, curry leaves, allspice and clove and remove from the heat.
• Allow to cool slightly, then pour over the fish, covering the fish completely.
• Cover and set aside for 24 hours for the flavours to develop.
• Serve with buttered bread and a green salad.

Fish cakes

I hope you don't mind: you're going to get fish recipes twice this week. Ironic, considering my early disclaimer regarding a lack of fish in my repertoire. I guess I need to re-evaluate that perception of myself. It appears to be past its sell-by date.

When I was a child, my Mom used occasionally used to buy frozen fish fingers, which I loved (and still enjoy - no food snobbery, here!) and frozen fish cakes, which I loathed. They left me with such a negative impression of fish cakes, that I was well into adulthood with a family of my own before I even thought of trying to make them.

This is a great way to use up leftover fish and potatoes. I made these ones using the leftovers from the stuffed hake recipe I shared a while back, having monstrously over-catered on that occasion - forgetting that there would be just two of us at dinner.

Ingredients

200-400g cooked fish - you can use white fish, salmon, haddock, mackerel... you name it! You could even use shellfish, but you'd need to mince it.
1 large cooked potato
10ml chopped dill (I have explained about my Swedish husband and their addiction to this herb - feel free to use one you prefer, like chives or parsley)
2 eggs
10ml grated lemon zest
60ml flour
Fresh breadcrumbs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

• Mash the potato well.
• Mash the fish and stir it to the potato.
• Stir in the flour.
• Beat one of the eggs and mix that in.
• Add the zest, herbs, salt and pepper, and mix everything together well. If the mixture is too runny, add another mashed potato.
• Lightly beat the other egg and place it into a flattish bowl.
• Shape the fish mixture into balls with your hands. Flatten each ball into a patty shape and then dip in the egg, turning the fish cake over to coat each side. It's probably best to use and egg lifter/fish slice (whatever you call it in your neck of the woods) for this task.
• Dip in the breadcrumbs, and turn, coating both sides.
• Shallow fry in oil/Fry Light over a medium-high heat until browned on both sides.
• Serve with salad.

Pyttipanna

Pyttipanna translates roughly as 'little bits in the pan'. This dish is the Swedish (and Norwegian) equivalent of hash or bubble and squeak in that it's a way to use up leftovers. But, like both those comparitive examples, it has become such a favourite that it is of often made up from scratch with purpose-bought ingredients.

One thing I have come to realise about traditional Swedish cuisine (and I hope I'm not going to offend anyone here) is that it's not terribly healthy. There's a huge emphasis on animal protein and potatoes, an awful lot of frying in butter, and not a lot of green stuff to be had. It is not unusual to be served a mountain of prawns or langoustines and nothing else at all. Not that I'm complaining, mind - Rökeriet on Sydkoster that does the most delicious smoked prawns I have ever eaten, and I have very fond memories of late summer evenings spent there with various cousins and so forth. But it is small wonder that heart disease is so prevalent, and on the increase, in Sweden.

So I'm not going to suggest that you adopt a steady diet of pyttipanna, but every now and again, it's great comfort food, and it's a lot healthier if you make it yourself than if you buy the ready frozen kind brimming with salt and additives. I am going to suggest that you buck the trend and add a few green things to yours, which is as my husband remembers it from childhood, but not what you would find in the frozen kind or what you would be served in a cafe.

Ingredients
1 potato per person, cut into cubes of about 1cm
1 or more (to taste) onions, chopped
Bits and bobs of meat:
 - A couple of rashers of bacon, chopped
 - Ground beef
 - Chicken, cubed
 - Whatever other leftover meat you have to hand, cubed
Bits and bobs of leftover vegetables, chopped
Eggs - one per person (optional)

Method

The potatoes and onions need a head start

All the ingredients (except the eggs) are fried up in a pan. I use a little oil or Fry Light. If the meat is already cooked, you will need to cook the potatoes and onions first, and the potatoes will take by far the longest. If the meat is raw, you will still need to give the potatoes a bit of a head start, and then add everything else. Keep stirring and turning the food for even cooking.

Traditionally, you should also fry up an egg for each person, and place that on top of the pyttipanna as you serve it.

Whatever you do, don't tell the Swedes I said so, but pyttipanna tastes fabulous with a dash of Worcestershire sauce!

Poached haddock

Even as a small child in the (almost) fish-free zone that was our home, I somehow managed to come into contact with smoked haddock... and it was love at first bite.

This is my preferred way of preparing it, and it so easy as to be laughable. So it's an excellent option if you are a little less-than-confident with fish.

Ingredients
1 smoked haddock fillet per person (they're available in dyed and undyed these days, but they taste the same)
Milk
Cornflour
Butter

Method

• Place the fillets skin side down in a large frying pan.
• Cover with milk or a half-and-half mixture of milk and water.
• Bring the milk to boil over a medium heat and then simmer until you can easily flake the fish with a fork.
• Meanwhile, use the conflour, butter and additional milk to make a white sauce. This is a must - this fish cries out for white sauce.

This is not a fish to serve with chips (fries). It works better with mashed potato or boiled baby potatoes and vegetables/salad. You can add the milk from the pan to the white sauce if you like, but I tend not to.

That's it. Honest. Couldn't be easier.

Jenni's chicken

This recipe came from my friend in Cape Town, shortly after John and I were married, and has become a fairly regular feature in our household, especially when there's promotion on packs of drumsticks!

Oven temperature
180C

Ingredients
1kg (roughly) chicken portions
250ml mild mayonnaise (such as Kraft)

250ml chutney (Mrs Ball's for preference, but any chutney will do, as long as it isn't too sweet - perhaps you could even try lemon atjar, now that you have the recipe, although I've never tried it with that)

30ml (or so) brown onion soup powder (if you live in a part of the world that doesn't have this on offer, just finely chop a bit of onion, or use dried onion flakes)

Method

• If you want to shallow fry the chicken portions first to seal them first, you go right ahead. I don't bother.
• Place the chicken portions in a single layer in a casserole dish.
• Mix the chutney and mayonnaise and spread over the chicken.
• Sprinkle the onion soup powder (or whatever) over the top of that.
• Cover with tin foil and bake for about half an hour.




Make sure the chicken is cooked through


• Uncover, turn the portions and bake for another half an hour, uncovered.
• Make sure the chicken is cooked through before you serve it, you don't want to give you family/guests salmonella.
• Serve with rice and vegetables. Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken and the rice for extra yumminess.

Note:
When I am making this dish (and several others), I add a teaspoon of cumin seeds to the rice when I start cooking it. I love the interesting dimension it adds.