Maunika Gowardhan’s Chicken Curry cooked with Fried Onions, Tomato, Spices and Garam Masala (Murgh do Pyaza)

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

Another cracker from Maunika Gowardhan.

The addition of the chargrilled shallots at the end is the clincher here, adding great texture and flavour: though the whole curry is just a wonderful Saturday night in sort of curry. Plus the potato adds even more luxury when accompanied by the couch, dimmed lights, a glass of red and a good movie.

Somewhat on the Colonial Indian side of cooking.

Definitely one to bookmark. (And do yourself a calorie favour, even on a Saturday night: substitute this great cauliflower rice for rice and cut your calories by 90%!)

Ingredients

1kg skinless chicken thigh, cut into bite-sized pieces
6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped*
2″ ginger, roughly chopped*
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 bay leaves
2 dried mild red chillies
200gm white onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 mild chilli powder (or Kashmiri chilli powder)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
200gm tomatoes pureed to a paste
140gm Greek yoghurt whisked
150ml water
140gm baby potatoes, roughly chopped
Sal to taste
1 tbsp garam masala
Coriander for garnish

For the shallots

2 tbsp vegetable oil
200gm shallots peeled and halved

Method

  1. Grind the garlic and ginger in a blender with a splash of water. In a large mixing bowl add the chicken, and mix in the garlic ginger paste. Mix well and set aside for an hour or overnight preferably.
  2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottom sauce pan over a medium flame. Add the bay leaves and chilli and fry for a few seconds. Add the onion and fry for 17 – 18 minutes, stirring well: as they begin to brown, add the marinated chicken. Turn the heat up and cook the chicken until it is sealed.
  3. Stir well and at this stage, add the chilli powder, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder. Fry for a minute. Add the pureed tomato and mix well, scraping the bottom of the pan. Cook for 4 minutes.
  4. Turn the heat back to medium and add the yoghurt, a little at a time. Stir well, ensuring it doesn’t curdle, for 6 minutes. Add water, potatoes and season to taste. Turn the heat down low and cook the curry for 20 minutes with the lid on or until the potatoes are cooked through and the gravy reduced. Add the garam masala and let rest.
  5. In the meantime, in a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the shallots for 5 – 6 minutes on each side over a medium heat. Cook until slightly charred, add to the curry and stir well. Garnish with coriander and lemon juice and serve with rice or roti

* Or if you’re cooking curries as often as we are, get yourself a large jar of garlic and ginger paste from any good Indian supermarket and measure out the equivalent amount.

Maunika Gowardhan’s Pomegrante and Chilli Spice Chicken (Anardana Murgh)

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

I typed up this wonderful Thali Nat and I plated a while back, from the aptly named cookbook ‘Thali’ by Maunika Gowardhan. And now I am back with the absolutely wonderful chicken curry.

Served alongside an excellent Spiced Turmeric & Coriander Potato Curry from the same book, this chicken curry is just pure moorish.

It is also really unique in terms of the heavy use of pomegranate powder, a style I had never encountered and wasn’t really sure of. (Note: I substituted mango powder (Amchur) which has essentially the same tanginess and qualities.)

It’s also a pretty simple recipe.

An absolute homerun of a curry. Mate it with a vegetable curry for a dahl and this is the perfect way to end the week and say hello to an Autumn weekend.

Ingredients

1kg boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tbsp vegetable oil
300gm white onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 c chicken stock
Salt to taste
2 green bird’s-eye chillies, slit lengthways
2 tbsp roughly chopped coriander leaves

For the pomegranate marinade

4 tbsp pomegranate powder (substitute mango powder (Amchur))
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1 tbsp ground coriander
6 garlic cloves, pounded to a paste*
5cm ginger root, grated*
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

  1. First, make the marinade by mixing all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Smear the mixture over the chicken pieces and leave to marinate in the fridge for 3 – 4 hours or overnight.
  2. When you are ready to cook, heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Fry the onions for 11 – 12 minutes, until they are soft and turn light brown.
  3. Tip in the marinated chicken pieces and fry, sealing the meat, then continue to fry for 5 minutes until the chicken is browned. Add the garam masala and stir well. Now add the stock, then season and bring to the boil.
  4. Reduce the heat to low, letting the mixture simmer gently. Cover the pan and cook for 9 – 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, stirring halfway through.
  5. Add the green chillies and fresh coriander. Stir and serve with warm paratha or rice.

* I always substitute garlic ginger paste from all good Indian supermarkets.

Kwality’s Chana Bhatura

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

I wrote a long post some time ago about a meal we had in New Delhi which blew our minds.

The restaurant Kwality in Connaught, New Dehli, where we had this dish of chickpeas served with fried and puffed potato bread and my goodness, wasn’t it a revelation.

The chickpeas, soaked overnight in tea, and then braised with spices is literally perfection. Throw in that oily potato bread and this is just sex.

Nat keeps going back to many of the recipes we discovered on our Indian trip and this is one I am happy to go back to. Most happy.

Served with this Bhatura (potato bread), this is just heaven.

Ingredients

1 c white chickpeas, soaked overnight with a tea bag
1/2 tsp cumin
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cm piece of ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, grated
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Slided red onion to serve
Lemon wedges to serve

Method

  1. Discard the tea bag and boil the chickpeas until they are soft. Drain and keep aside.
  2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the onion, ginger and garlic and sauté until the onion is golden brown. Add the garam masala, chilli, mango, coriander, cumin and turmeric powders and salt and sauté for another minute. Add the chickpeas and 1 c of water and mix well. Simmer for 15 minutes.

David Thompson’s Coconut Chicken Salad

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 2 – 4

This recipe dates back to the days of Darley Street Thai.

And wasn’t that just a brilliant restaurant, especially in the day. (I’m showing my age aren’t I?!)

We did a long Thai lunch, cooked exclusively from David’s tome of Thai cooking, ‘Thai Cooking’.

The pork and prawn egg nets by Nat were incredible, though this chicken salad was the standout. Totally luxurious, svelt, moorish and refreshing, all at the same time. And that kaffir lime!

Classicly good Thai – Royal Thai – cooking.

By itself or alongside a hot and sour curry, this simply speaks to why the Thais are just so clever with their food.

Yum!

Ingredients

1 c coconut cream
Pinch of salt
150gm skinless chicken breast fillet
1 – 2 tbsp chicken stock
Large pinch palm sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp lime juice
2 stalks lemongrass, very finely sliced
3 red shallots, sliced*
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded
1 tbsp shredded coriander leaves
Handful of Thai basil leaves
1 tbsp ground, roasted peanuts

Paste

3 long red chillies, deseeded and grilled
2 garlic cloves, grilled and then peeled
Large pinch of salt

Method

  1. First, make the paste: gradually pound the ingredients together, using a pestle and mortar, until smooth.
  2. Heat coconut cream with salt, add chicken breast and simmer very gently until cooked (4 – 5 minutes). If the coconut cream seems about to separate, add a few tbsp of stock. Remove chicken, cool and shred.
  3. Return four tbsp of the coconut cream to the boil and mix in the paste. Season with the palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice: it should taste rich, salty, sweet and sour. Mix in all the remaining ingredients and serve with a sprinkling of the peanuts.

* We tend to have quite large shallots in Australia and three of these would be too much. Play it by ear.

Gourmet Traveller’s Gremolata-crumbed Whiting with Warm Baked Potato Salad

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

We love anything from Gourmet Traveller and I found this recipe in one of their books I picked up in a local community library.

And sure, it is a simple recipe though in fairness, the book is called ‘Simple’. Doh!

And excuse the photo which was more about the memory rather than publishing: for the fish is great though my goodness, we both agreed this is one of the best potato salads we have ever had. (And we didn’t see it coming.)

And of course, it is simple!

The next time we are asked to bring a salad to a BBQ, this is it.

Though do the fish as well. Just a cracking and special weekday meal.

Ingredients

1/4 c flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
Grated rind of 1 lemon
3 c day-old breadcrumbs, dried in oven until crisp
2 tsp capers, drained and chopped
12 whiting fillets (we used John Dory)
1/2 c plain flour
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water*
Vegetable oil, for shallow frying
Lemon wedges to serve

Dressing

2 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp whole-egg mayonnaise
1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Warm baked potato salad

800gm chat potatoes, halved
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small Spanish onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tbsp chopped sage leaves

Method

  1. For dressing, whisk all the ingredients with 1 tbsp water in a small bowl until well combined, then season to taste.
  2. For warm baked potato salad, place potatoes in a roasting tray, drizzle with the olive oil, season to taste, and toss gently to combine. Bake at 200c for 20 minutes, then add the onion, toss to combine and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Just before serving, toss the potato mixture with dressing, then gently stir the herbs through.
  3. Meanwhile, combine parsley, lemon rind, breadcrumbs and capers in a shallow bowl and season to taste. Dust fish in flour, shaking away excess, and dip in egg mixture, then coat in breadcrumbs mixture, pressing crumbs onto the fish to coat evenly. Shallow-fry crumbed fillets, in batches, in hot vegetable oil for 2 minutes each side or until golden and cooked through, then drain on absorbent paper.
  4. Serve crumbed fish immediately with warm baked potato salad and lemon wedges to the side.

* It is a bit of a bugbear of ours, though you will always need at least twice the egg mixture called for so prepare yourself for this inevitability.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s Char-grilled Asparagus

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

This is such a delightful side, showcasing how the addition of a few simple ingredients can make a vegetable side totally sing.

For a BBQ, this is the sort of dish that makes good, great.

Definitely one to bookmark.

Ingredients

2 bunches of asparagus
2 tbsp rapeseed oil, plus extra to finish
1 tsp sea salt
60gm feta, crumbled
1 tbsp capers
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Black pepper

Method

  1. Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus and discard. Toss the spears in the oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Lay the asparagus in a hot griddle pan, placing them perpendicular to the ridges of the pan. Cook for 6 – 9 minutes, turning occasionally, or until just al dente and lightly charred.
  2. Arrange the asparagus on four serving plates. Sprinkle over the feta, the capers, lemon zest, more pepper and a drizzle more of the oil.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s Leek Fritters

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 4

Before diving into this quite excellent recipe, it has been a few months since my last post.

It is not that we haven’t been cooking and eating well, though, since my last post, Nat and I have welcomed a little baby girl to the family: Avalon.

I can’t blame sleepless nights. Avalon has been an absolute dream and has slept from 7pm to 7am since she was nine weeks old. Though with Christmas, a few trips thrown in and all the rest of the craziness, typing up recipes has taken a back seat.

I have a real backlog of recipes to get through, though now have the joy of typing, looking at the most beautiful sister to Max, Tom and Oliver. This recipe is for Avalon.

I can’t wait to cook with her in the kitchen.

And now to these fritters.

They are superb.

Chosen and cooked by Nat as part of a bigger Yotam feast, they are so tasty and so soft. Add the sauce and serve alongside this Yotam Ottolenghi Char-grilled Asparagus, and you’ve got an absolutely wonderful weekend meal on your hands.

Ingredients

3 leeks (450gm in total, trimmed weight)
5 shallots, finely chopped
150ml olive oil
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and sliced
25gm parsley (leaves and fine stalks), finely chopped
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 free-range egg white
120gm self-raising flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 egg
150ml milk
55gm unsalted butter, melted

Sauce*

100gm Greek yoghurt
100gm sour cream
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
20gm parsley leaves, chopped
30gm coriander leaves, chopped

Method

  1. Start by making the sauce. Blitz all the ingredients together in a food processor until a uniform green. Set aside for later.
  2. Cut the leeks into 2cm thick slices; rinse and drain dry. Sauté the leeks and shallots in a pan with half the oil on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until soft. Transfer to a large bowl and add chilli, parsley, spices, sugar and salt. Allow to cool down.
  3. Whisk the egg white to soft peaks and fold it into the vegetables. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, whole egg, milk and butter to form a batter. Gently mix it into the egg white and vegetable mixture.
  4. Put 2 tbsp of the remaining oil in a large frying pan and place over medium heat. Spoon about half of the vegetable mixture into the pan to make four large fritters. Fry them for 2 – 3 minutes on each side, or until golden crisp. Remove to kitchen paper and keep warm. Continue making the fritters, adding more oil as needed. You should end up with about eight large fritters. Serve warm, with the sauce on the side or drizzled over.

* Substitute a squeeze of lemon or lime juice if you just don’t have the time for the sauce.

Eggs En Cocotte (Baked Eggs)

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

My mother used to make these eggs for us as kids on special Sundays.

And special these eggs are!

So simple, so wonderful. Such a treat – almost brunch material.

You could add spinach or even cheese if you were inclined, though this recipe is for the original and in my opinion, the best.

Ingredients

8 large eggs
4 rashes of bacon, julienned
1 c thickened cream
Freshly cracked pepper
Good buttered toast to serve

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180c.
  2. Pan-fry the bacon over medium heat in a pan until slightly browned.
  3. Into four ramekins, divide the bacon and then crack two eggs per ramekin.
  4. Pour a 1/4 c cream over each ramekin and finish with a good crack of pepper.
  5. Bake for 25 minutes until set. Serve with some great buttered toasts to serve.
  6. And Champagne if brunch!

Manali Singh’s Bhindi Masala

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

I don’t know when Nat fell in love with okra, though it has become a total staple in our Indian cooking. No complaints whatsoever there!

It is a little-known vegetable in Australia and to make it sing, it does need a bit of prep.

Sans prep, it’s slimy and that isn’t going to make the cut.

Soak the okra overnight, however, and it is such a versatile and wonderful vegetable: somewhere between French beans and eggplant.

The best Indian is vegetarian and this recipe is exactly why. Served alongside this Ajoy Joshi Hyderabadi Chicken, this was such a brilliant match.

Honestly, cook these two recipes with some Jasmine rice and tell me this isn’t as good as Indian comfort food gets!

Ingredients

2 1/2 vegetable/canola oil, divided
500gm okra
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 medium red onion, chopped
3cm ginger, grated
1 green chilli, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp amchur (mango powder)
1/4 tsp chilli powder
3/4 tsp salt
Garam masala to sprinkle
Julienne ginger to garnish
Rotis/Rice to serve

Method

  1. Soak the okra overnight. Wash and pat dry each okra with a paper towel and then chop into 1cm rounds, discarding the head and tail. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan on medium heat and when hot, add the chopped okra. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently and then lower the heat for 5 minutes more. The okra should be cooked by now (15 minutes) and there should be little sliminess (!) left. Set aside.
  2. Add the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp oil on a medium heat and when hot, add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds. Add the chopped onion and saute for 2 – 3 minutes until soft. Then add the ginger and green chilli and cook for 1 minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until soft and mushy.
  3. Add the spices and some water so that the spices do not burn. Stir well.
  4. Add the okra back in and cook together on a low-medium heat for 5 minutes, uncovered.
  5. Sprinkle with garam masala and serve garnished with julienned ginger.

Ajoy Joshi’s Hyderabadi Chicken

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

Well, here we are again.

Another Ajoy Joshi homerun curry, completely consistent with his wonderful use of onions and a yoghurt marinade.

The addition of the sesame seed and peanut paste adds luxury and when served alongside this completely contrasting okra dish by Nat, it was just an absolutely, if understated lunch.

Flavours that just complimented each other so easily, we really had no words.

Ajoy has an unusual approach of sealing the pot – for the final 45 minutes – with a large metal bowl in order to steam the chicken and seal the delicious flavour.

I skipped this step. I made the marinade the night before and then cooked until I had a wonderful yoghurt gravy. The result was just excellent and I have adjusted the recipe this way.

Hats off Ajoy Joshi. Truly a signature dish and one he is famous for.

Ingredients

1kg chicken thigh fillets, cut into large cubes without trimming off the fat
1 tbsp sesame seeds
50gm peanuts
Milk
1/3 c vegetable/canola oil
1 onion, sliced
Salt
1 tbsp crushed ginger
1 tbsp crushed garlic*
1 1/2 tbsp crushed green chilli
Pinch of turmeric
1 1/2 c natural yoghurt
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp black cumin seeds
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

  1. Toast the sesame seeds and peanuts in a dry frying pan then grind to a paste. Mix the paste with a little milk.
  2. Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan and add the onion and 2 pinches of salt. Cook over medium-high heat until caramelised and golden brown. Remove from the heat.
  3. Place the peanut paste, ginger, chilli, turmeric, yoghurt, garam masala, cumin seeds and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and mix together. Stir in the fried onion and chicken. Leave to marinate for 10 minutes.
  4. Put the chicken and marinate in the saucepan used for the onions and cook over a medium-heat for 40 minutes until you have a thickish gravy. Just before serving, stir through the lemon juice.

* I’ve said it before. Get yourself a jar of garlic ginger pasta and cruise through this step!