Lamb Korma and Masoor Dahl

The last time I made a Korma, it went down very well with my sister, so I decided to try again, only using Lamb this time. I modified the recipe a little after reading a few others on the internet, but it's basically the same technique. I also had another go at making Masoor Dahl (Red Lentil Dahl), and although I didn't use Sandra's technique of frying the spices, then adding the lentils and water to that, it did come out a lot better than the previous effort and had a lot more flavour. The main reason I think is because I made a lot less, but used the same amount of spices as last time.

Another reason for the difference with the Dahl could have been that I used Asafoetida for the first time in my cooking. Many Madhur Jaffrey recipes list it as an optional ingredient, however, in the Monisha Bharadwaj book I have, she often lists it as an ingredient and has two pages of the book devoted to it. It wasn't the easiest thing to find, although, I eventually found it in Waitrose, and I have to say, it's got one of the worst smells of anything in my spice drawer. It's kind of sulphurous, perhaps something like the worse pair of trainers worn without socks during a long hot summer. However, once a pinch is dropped into the hot oil, it doesn't smell nearly as bad. Monisha Bharadwaj says that it can make a dish. I'm not sure about that, but the Dahl was good, so I'm going to stick with it in future, although just a pinch. It really doesn't smell like something you should be putting into your food though, although, funnily enough, it's supposed to reduce flatulence among other things!

Although the Korma wasn't as hot as I would have liked, it was still pretty nice. I think I probably got the amount of Chili about right, but next time, I will leave the seeds in, or perhaps add a little more Cayenne Pepper. During cooking it really smelled like it was going to be a hot one, but the Coconut Milk really cools it down.

The nice thing about both recipes is that they taste just as good, if not better, the next day, and in fact, the photos were taken of my reheated curry lunch as the ones I took on the evening just weren't that great, and I much prefer shooting in daylight.

Recipe for the Masoor Dahl (Serves 4)

• 1 Cup of Red Lentils, washed
• 1.5 Pints of Water
• A few thin slices of Ginger
• 1 teaspoon of Turmeric
• 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• A pinch of Asafoetida
• 1 teaspoon of Cumin Seeds
• 1 teaspoon of Mustard Seeds
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Coriander
• Half teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
• 1 teaspoon of Salt

After washing the lentils, put them into a heavy pan along with the Water, Ginger Slices and Turmeric. Bring the pan to a simmer, then cook for an hour and a half, making sure to stir in the last half hour to make sure it doesn't stick. Remove the slices of Ginger.

Heat up some oil in another pan and drop in the Pinch of Asafoetida, Cumin Seeds and Mustard Seeds and once they start popping, add in the Ground Coriander and Cayenne Pepper, stir a couple more times, then pour into the Lentils. Finally add Salt to taste, and garnish with Fresh Chopped Coriander.

Recipe for the Lamb Korma (Serves 3)

• 500g Lamb Pieces
• 6 Tablespoons of Natural Yoghurt
• 5cm Piece of Ginger, grated
• 4 cloves of Garlic, chopped fine
• 1 Medium Onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves of Garlic
• 4 Green Chilies, seeds removed
• 3-4 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 1 Large Onion, finely sliced
• 5cm Cinnamon Stick
• 4 Green Cardamoms, broken
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Coriander
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• Half teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
• Half teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Half cup of Hot Water
• 1 can of Coconut Milk
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
• 2 tablespoons Almonds, finely chopped
• Handful Fresh Coriander, chopped
• Juice of half a Lemon

Marinate the Lamb pieces in the Yoghurt, Grated Ginger and Chopped Garlic for a few hours at least (preferably overnight). Put the roughly chopped Onion, Garlic Cloves and Chilies into a blender, blend to a fine paste and set to one side.

Heat up the oil in a heavy bottom pan and fry the onion slices for about 5 minutes, until turning golden. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set to one side. Add a little more oil to the pan and add the Cinnamon Stick, Cardamoms, Ground Coriander, Turmeric, Cayenne Pepper and Black Pepper and stir. Now put the lamb and marinade into the pan, stir to ensure they are coated in the spices and cook for about 10 minutes. Next, add the paste and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add a little hot water to help de-glaze the pan a little, and add the Coconut Milk and the fried Onions. Cook for another 30-40 minutes, or until the Lamb is tender. Stir last of the ingredients and serve.

Lamb Rogan Josh (Red Lamb Stew)

I've cooked at Eduardo's flat a few times, but recently he got a new kitchen fitted, and finally has a half decent gas stove and had been trying to get me to come around and cook for a while. As it was a new-ish kitchen, I couldn't think of anything better than letting it have that cooked-in smell of doing a good curry.

The last time I cooked at Ed's place, his girlfriend reckoned she had a reaction to the coconut milk in the Thai curry I cooked, so I decided that this time I would cook an Indian using yoghurt instead. I had wanted to cook something with Lamb, and after flicking through the Madhur Jaffery book, I settled on doing a Lamb Rogan Josh, as it seemed nice and simple, and I wouldn't have to carry too many ingredients with me (knowing that Ed was unlikely to have most of the necessary spices for even the simplest curry). Also, Lamb Rogan Josh is one of those dishes that I would regularly order in a restaurant, so I really wanted to have a go at doing it myself.

To be honest, I think I made it a little hot, so the recipe I'm writing is how I would do it if I made it the same again. This was partly because I was cooking less due to Katia being ill and not wanting to eat any, and so I didn't buy as much Lamb as I would have done if everyone was hungry. Also, it really could have done with a vegetable dish to go with it, but I forgot that I had considerably better cooking facilities, so concentrated on the main dish and forget to get together a vegetable dish to go with it. Due to the hour long simmering time, there is plenty of time to get something else together while waiting for the lamb to become tender.

Recipe for Lamb Rogan Josh (serves 2-3)

• 3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 8 Cloves of Garlic
• 5cm Piece of Ginger (roughly chopped)
• 500g Lamb Shoulder Cubes
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 5cm Cinnamon Stick
• 10 Peppercorns
• 10 Cloves
• 8 Green Cardamoms (Broken)
• 2 Onions (finely chopped)
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Coriander
• 2 Teaspoons Ground Cumin
• 3 Teaspoons Paprika
• Half Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 5 Tablespoons Natural Yoghurt
• 200ml Water
• Half Teaspoon Garam Masala

Put the Garlic, Ginger and a few tablespoons of water into a blender, and blend to a smooth paste. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan and then lightly brown the Lamb in batches, and remove to a bowl.

Drop in the Bay Leaves, Cinnamon Stick, Cardamom Pods, Peppercorns and Cloves into the pan and stir for about 30 seconds, then add the Onion and fry until lightly browned for about 5 minutes. Add the Garlic and Ginger Paste and stir and fry for about 30 seconds before adding the Ground Coriander, Cumin, Paprika, Cayenne Pepper and Salt. Stir these in well. The mixture will probably be fairly dry at this point, but then add the Lamb and juices back into the pan, and it should start to moisten up again.

Next start adding the Yoghurt, a tablespoon at a time, stirring it into the mixture and ensure that it's fully combined before adding the next tablespoon. Cook for a further 4 minutes, then add in the water, stir and bring to the boil, then reduce the meat to a simmer. Cover and simmer for an hour, or until the Lamb is tender, and the sauce has reduced to a nice Gravy. Finally stir in the Garam Masala.

Serve with Rice and ideally a nice vegetable dish.

Beef Kerala, or maybe just Beef Curry Stew

I had various plans for cooking this weekend, but in the end, I decided I wanted something nice and warming, and with a bit of red meat for a change. Laura was going to come for dinner and didn't want to eat Lamb, so Beef it was. I really liked the Chicken Kerala recipe I made a few weeks ago, so decided to hunt the web for some ideas for a Beef equivalent.

I found a number of slightly different recipes, but which tended to follow the same theme, with one of the common differences between the Beef and Chicken variety being the addition of Black Mustard Seeds and Green Cardamom Pods. Also, none of them seemed to have as much in the way of vegetables, so I decided to add a bit of what I had, in this case, some Fresh Peas, a bit of Cauliflower, Carrots and Potatoes. This is where it tended towards a stew I think. This and the fact that after normal cooking time had completed, and after a little taste, I decided that the beef wasn't anything like as tender as I like it, so I decided to keep slow cooking it in the oven for a couple more hours which worked great.

The resulting dish was definitely a cross between a curry and one of my more traditional stews, but with a very different flavour. Still, it was missing something on the flavour front, but I'm just not sure what, so I will have to have a little of the leftovers later to try and figure it out. The taste was fine, but just something missing.

Recipe for Beef Kerala (Serves 6)

• 900g Casserole Steak (cubed)
• 8 cloves of Garlic (minced)
• 2" piece of Fresh Ginger (grated/minced)
• Half teaspoon of Salt
• Half teaspoon of Black Pepper
• 2 tablespoons of Vegetable Oil
• 4 Green Cardamom Pods (crushed)
• 1 teaspoon Black Mustard Seeds
• 5-6 Curry Leaves
• 3 Green Chillies (sliced)
• 3 Red Onions (sliced)
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Coriander
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon of Chilli Powder
• Half teaspoon of Ground Turmeric
• 4 Tomatoes (chopped)
• 4 Potatoes (cubed)
• Half Head of Cauliflower (cut into small florets)
• 3 Carrots (julienned)
• 1 Cup Fresh Peas
• 400g Can of Coconut Milk
• 1 Teaspoon Garam Masala

First marinate the Beef in the Ginger, Garlic, Salt and Pepper for about an hour.

Heat up the oil in a heavy pan and add the Cardamom and Mustard Seeds. When they start popping, add in the Curry Leaves, stir for a minute, then the Chilli, stir for a minute, then the Onion and continue to cook until going golden. Put the Coriander, Cumin, Chilli and Turmeric into a small bowl and mix with some hot water to make a thin paste, then add this to the pan and stir well.

Next, add the Beef and continue to stir for about 10 minutes until the beef is browned all over, then throw in the tomatoes and continue to cook for a few minutes. At this point, I added the rest of the vegetables and a cup of hot water, covered, and allowed to cook for about 40 minutes at a simmer. Next add the Coconut Milk and Garam Masala. Stir in and simmer for a further 5 minutes without letting it boil.

At this point, most of the recipes said to serve it, but after finding a fairly tough piece of beef at the top, I decided to put it into a 150 degree Celsius cover for the next few hours and see how it came out. For me, this worked well, and the resulting curry/stew was definitely one to keep you warm in winter, plus I could imagine up a number of variations. I'm pretty sure none of the other recipes added much in the way of vegetables other than the Onion and Chilli, but the tomatoes I added as the Chicken version I'd made had used them, and as I wasn't doing any other vegetable side dishes to go with it, I felt it necessary to add some other vegetables in there.

Definitely a recipe I'm going to make again in future, even if only to see if I can figure out what the missing flavour was, if indeed there was any. I could just have been my imagination.

Thai Turkey Curry and Jasmin Rice

I was going to title this "Thai Red Turkey Curry" due to the Red Curry Paste recipe I used, however, Dave reckoned my paste look nearly a green as the Green Thai Curry Paste which he had bought in Wing Yip. Personally, being slighltly colour blind, I'm probably not a good judge, but mine definitely looked more Red than Green. If anything, I would say that the bought Green Curry Paste was more Red (but I could be wrong).

Either way, Dave decided that it was a Brown Thai Curry, and although he didn't approve of the Cauliflower in it, he did like the Curry, but he still thinks it's a waste of time making your own Paste. Personally, I like making the Paste. It can be made at anytime, just as long as you have the ingredients to hand, and keeps for a month or two in the fridge. The only problem is that although I make enough for 2 or 3 curries at least, I invariable end up having to hand over the leftover Paste to someone who ate some of the curry and wants to make it themselves. Last night was slightly different in that I was cooking at a friend's house, and simply left it behind.

I've made this curry with a variety of variations in the paste and with various ingredients. Turkey steaks were going for a good price, and are supposedly fairly low fat, so this week I figured I'd give them a try again in this curry. I'm not a fan of having Turkey for Christmas Dinner, but I've found that Turkey steaks can be quite versatile for other things.

Recipe for the Red Thai Curry Paste (enought for 2-3 curries)

• 50-60 Dried Bird Eye Red Chillies (whole)
• 1 tablespoon Coriander Seeds (toasted and crushed)
• 1 tablespoon Cumin Seeds (toasted and crushed)
• 3 stalks of Lemon Grass (chopped fine)
• 2" piece of Galangal (or Ginger if not available)
• 8 cloves of Garlic (chopped fine)
• 6 small shallots (chopped fine)
• 2 tablespoons Coriander Root, or white part at base of the stem (chopped fine)
• 6 Kaffir Lime Leaves
• Half teaspoon Turmeric
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Shrimp Paste

Toast the Coriander Seeds and Cumin Seeds in a dry pan until they start to give off their aromas. Then throw everything into a blender and blend until you have a smooth-ish paste. Decant into a jar of your choosing and store in the fridge for up to 2 months.

Recipe for the Thai Turkey Curry (serves 4)

• 400g Turkey Steak (about 4 steaks, cut into bit-sized pieces)
• 1 Cauliflower (cut into small florets)
• 250g Fine Beans
• 1 Red Pepper
• 1 x 400g can of Coconut Milk
• 1-2 tablespoons Fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Palm Sugar
• The juice of half a Lime
• Fresh Coriander to Garnish

In a flat based wok, heat up a couple of tablespoons of oil, then when hot, add a couple of good tablespoons of the Curry Paste and cook until the room completely fills with the aroma of the cooking paste (you might need to remove small children and pets from the room at this point). Next add a little of the Coconut Milk and combine with the paste and keep cooking until the oil starts rising through the Coconut Milk.

Now add the turkey, then cook for about 5 minutes, stirring into the sauce. Add the rest of the Coconut Milk, bring back to the boil, add the vegetables and stir in. Then cover and simmer for about 30-40 minutes. In the last five minutes, add the Fish Sauce, Palm Sugar and Lime Juice a little at a time and taste to get the balance as you want it. Serve with Jasmin Rice and sprinkle with a little chopped Fresh Coriander.

I've found this basic recipe works with a variety of meat and vegetable combinations. I tend to just use whatever looked good in the shop that day. Cauliflower didn't sound particularly Thai sounding, but then it's popular in Indian Curries, it's coming in to season, and I love it, so in it went. Chicken and Bamboo shoots is one of my favourite combinations, but if I've had a chance to get to Wing Yip to pick up some King Prawns, then that is also a nice version (although the Prawns need go in right at the end so that they don't overcook).

Chicken Kerala

I have been craving curry recently. It has been a while since I made a curry of any description, although I have made few spicy soups. When searching around for recipes, I found this one on the BBC website by Manju Malhi which caught my attention, mainly because I had pretty much all the ingredients already to hand, and also because it looked particularly quick and easy to make.

This recipe tasted great, and was extremely easy to do. I tend to do all the preparations before I start cooking, that way I can just empty the various bowls of ingredients in, TV-style, as I'm going along. It means I have more bowls to wash up, but it helps me to not forget any ingredients and make sure things go into the pot when they're supposed to.

Recipe for Chicken Kerala (Serves 3-4)

• 4 tablespoons Groundnut Oil
• 1 Onion, sliced
• 3 Green Chillies, finely chopped, seeds and all
• 2" Root Ginger, finely grated
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• ¼ teaspoon Hot Chilli Powder
• 1 teaspoon Ground Coriander
• ½ teaspoon Ground Turmeric
• ½ teaspoon Salt
• 400g Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 medium Tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 3-4 Potatos, cut into 3cm cubes
• 330ml Coconut Milk
• pinch of Garam Masala

Heat up 3 tablespoons of the oil in a heavy based pan and saute the Onion and Chilli for a few minutes. Then add the Ginger, Garlic, Chilli Powder, Coriander, Turmeric and Salt and stir into the Onions and once all covered, add the Chicken and fry gently for about 8-10 minutes. If the pan gets too dry and stuff starts to stick to the bottom, add a dash of water. Next add the Tomato and Potato and stir in for another couple of minutes before adding about a third of the Coconut Milk along with about 200ml of boiling water. Leave to simmer for about 6 minutes, then add the remaining Coconut Milk and further simmer for about 10 minutes until the potato and chicken are cooked. Then sprinkle of the pinch of Garam Masala.

I served this with Basmati Rice and garnished with some, maybe, overly browned shallots and curry leaves, however, for the photo, I just stuck a couple of Coriander leaves on top, because the shots with the onion just didn't look as nice.

Thai Red Chicken and Bamboo Shoot Curry... slightly improvised

I didn't have all the ingredients necessary for this, so a little improvisation was necessary. I could have just used one of the few Thai Red Curry pastes available in Sainsbury's, but that seemed like cheating, and after reading that people in Thailand will probably make a different Curry Paste every day, I thought that maybe a little variance over the recipes I had read would at least make it authentically mine, if not authentically Thai.

The main missing ingredients were the Fermented Shrimp Paste, Kaffir Lime and Palm Sugar, plus one or two recipes talked about putting Sweet Basil in there, but I couldn't even find any Fresh Basil, let alone Fresh Sweet Basil, so that was also left out. It was still very tasty, and nice and hot (good for the metabolism apparently), and with leftover Curry Paste in case my sister fancies cooking it again in the next month, although I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Once again, photography was courtesy of my sister's excellent camera, although, as she was too busy fighting with her computer, I took the photos, so they're not quite the same quality than had she taken them for me.

Recipe for the Red Curry Paste

• About 45 Dried Red Chillies, seeds and all
• 2 sticks of Lemon Grass, chopped fine
• 8 cloves of Garlic, chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon Galanga
• 1 tablespoon of Fish Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
• Quarter teaspoon of Ground Turmeric
• 1 tablespoon Fresh Coriander Stalks, chopped fine (should be roots, but a couple of recipes mentioned that you could get away with the white part of the stalks, so in they went).
• 1 tablespoon Coriander Seeds, toasted and crushed
• 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds, toasted
• 5 White Pepper Corns, toasted and crushed
• Zest of a Lime (preferably a Kaffir Lime)
  

Put all the above ingredients into a blender, and blend to a paste. If too dry, add a little water. Looking at the quantity made, I'd say you could probably get 2 curries out of this, or a pretty large one. Ideally, there should have been 1-2 teaspoons of Fermented Shrimp Paste in this, but again, I didn't have any.

Recipe for the Curry (served 2)

• 375g Chicken Breast, cubed
• 2 heaped tablespoons Red Curry Paste
• 1 can of Coconut Milk
• 1 small can Bamboo Shoots
• 1 Red Pepper, cut into strips
• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Sugar (should have been Palm Sugar)
• Zest of a Lime

Put a little oil in a large pan and fry the Curry Paste for about a minute, then add half the Coconut Milk and bring to the boil, mixing the Paste into it. Some oil will probably form on the top which you can skim off and discard. Then add the Chicken and cook for about 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients and the rest of the Coconut. Continue to cook on a high simmer until everything is cooked and the sauce has reduced to your liking. Served with Thai Jasmin Rice.

I definitely need to spend some time getting more of the correct ingredients before trying this again, but it was still a pretty good success (there were no leftovers, other than the spare Curry Paste, enough to make the same meal again). Also, if you have the Curry Paste prepared beforehand, it's fairly quick to make.

Chicken Korma and Red Lentil Dahl

Two firsts for me. Making something with lentils and making something with coconut milk. But I knew my nephew liked dahl - even though when he saw me opening the lentils, he said "errgh, I don't like lentils", then correcting himself when he realised they were the main ingredient - so I thought that I should probably make the curry a little milder than I would normally go for. Whenever I've had real korma, it's never been that sweet and often sickly dish you tend to find at Indian restaurants in the UK, and often quite spicy, but I kept the amount of chilli down, so that Joseph would probably eat it without complaint. As it was, the Pea and Potato Pasties were more spicy than the curry, and he ate more of them than anything else.

Photography was once again supplied by my sister, although when she got around to capturing the main course, her thoughts were definitely drifting to eating it before it got cold than, than taking a huge number of photos, so there were considerably less of the curry shots to choose from.

Recipe to Marinate the Chicken

• 600g Skinless Chicken Breast, cut into 2cm cubes
• 4-5 tablespoons Natural Yoghurt
• 5cm piece of Root Ginger, finely grated

In a bowl, mix the Chicken pieces in the Yoghurt and grated Ginger, cover, then keep in the fridge for 3-4 hours (or even overnight).

Recipe for the Curry Paste

• 2-3 Red Chillies, seeded
• 1 Medium Onion, chopped roughly
• 4 cloves of Garlic, chopped roughly

Throw all the ingredients into the blender and blend to a fine paste, adding a little water if too dry. Keep to one side for the meantime.

I would probably use some hotter green chillies if I weren't making it with my nephew in mind.

Recipe for the Korma Sauce

• 4 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 1 large onion, sliced finely
• 1 tablespoon Ground Coriander
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
• Half teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Half teaspoon Salt
• Half cup of Hot Water
• 1 can of Coconut Milk
• 2 tablespoons Almonds, chopped
• Handful Fresh Coriander, chopped
• Juice of half a Lemon

Put some vegetable oil in large, heavy pan and fry the Onion until golden and then remove from the pan and put to one side. Add some more oil, then when hot, add the spices and stir around for about a minute. Then add the chicken pieces and marinade, stir into the spices and cook for about 10 minutes. Next add the paste, stir in and cook for about another 10 minutes.

Now pour in the Hot Water which should help de-glaze the pan a little, and then add the Coconut Milk and stir the ingredients together along with the fried onions and salt. Bring the pan to a simmer, cover and leave to cook for about another 40 minutes until the sauce has reduced to a thick gravy.

Put the Almonds into a blender and whizz about for a few seconds so they're finely chopped, but not a paste, a bit like large breadcrumbs. Stir these into the curry along with the Fresh Coriander and lemon juice, you're ready to serve.


The Korma came out lovely, but the rice, for the first time in my life, all stuck together. Maybe it's because I didn't have my nice caste iron pan to make it in. Would've been perfect if we were making sushi. Also, I'm not sure I was happy with the Dahl as it was a bit dark and a bit bland, although Sally said she thought it was OK and no complaints from Joseph. I didn't have my notebook with me that contained Sandra's recipe, which I had intended to try out, so I had to improvise using a few I found on the web. Once I've had another crack at this one, I'll publish the recipe.

Waiter, there's something in my ... Spicy Potato and Pea Pasties

There's something about the "who's eaten all the pies" expression which somehow puts me off making and eating pies. Plus the total lack of space or equipment to properly make a pie. However, for a few days this week, I'm looking after my nephew at my sister's place, and she's got a much bigger kitchen, gas hobs and more pots and pans. Plus she likes having food on the table when she returns from work. Still, she's not a big pie eater either, so I figured I'd have to do some mini pasties or something along those lines, so that the quantity of pasty didn't seem so great. These deep-fried, potato and pea pasties seemed to fit the bill, and made a good starter, but would also make excellent finger food.

There is also the added bonus that my sister has two cameras that are better than mine, and is a professional photographer, so I could utilise not just her kitchen, but her photographic skills, even if she's more accustomed to portraits than food photography. Even without using her tripod, she takes a much better photo than I do, so well worth getting her to completely take over the photo duties (hence the number of pictures as I'm lucky to get a couple which I like when I'm doing the photos).

Sandra, the original source of my Lamb Meatball Curry, has lent me a book of easy curry recipes, and one which caught my attention was one for Potato and Pea Pasties (well, they call them Potato and Pea Pastries, but they look like pasties to me, even if they are deep-fried). The recipe looked simple enough, although, once again, wasn't made totally to the letter.

Recipe for the Pastry

• 1.5 cups Plain Flour
• 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• A quarter cup Water

Sift the flour into a bowl, then make a well in the middle and add the oil and water, mixing, then kneading to make a firm but slightly elastic and smooth dough. You may need a little extra oil or water, but add early in the process, and only very small quantities. Cover the dough and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour.


Recipe for the Filling

• 1-1.5 Baking Potatoes, peeled and finely diced
• 1 cup Peas or Petis Pois
• 2 tablespoons Currants
• 2 tablespoons Fresh Coriander, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• Half teaspoon Hot Chili Powder or Cayenne Pepper
• Half teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• Juice of half a Lemon
• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce (omit if cooking for vegetarians)
• Groundnut Oil for deep frying

Boil the cubed Potato until softening, then drain, put in a bowl and mix with the Peas, Currants, Cumin, Chili Powder, Cinnamon and Fresh Coriander. Then add the Lemon Juice and Light Soy Sauce and stir in so as not to bread any ingredients up, but ensure that all the spices have evenly covered the other ingredients.

It's probably best to divide the dough into two before rolling it out on a well floured surface. The dough should be quite elastic without breaking so that you can get it just over a millimetre thick. Then use a circular pastry cutter, or other round implement (a bowl with the assistance of a knife in my case) to cut circular pieces of about 10cm in diameter. Spoon about a heaped tablespoon of the filling in the centre of each round, and fold in half, using a fork to seal the edges. You should be able to make about 20 or so from the above ingredients.


Next, they need to be deep-fried in batches in the hot oil, turning occasionally, until they turn golden brown. Then transfer to some kitchen towel to drain off the excess oil.

They tasted good hot and cold. Slightly spicy, but with the slight tang of the citrus from the lemon juice. My nephew loved them and probably ate more than he did of the rest of the dinner. My sister will be taking the leftovers in her packed lunch tomorrow.

Lamb Meatball Curry, without cheating

Now that I've got my blender, making curry pastes is ridiculously easy, so I've gone back to what is becoming a favourite curry of mine, only this time, making the required paste myself (especially after getting grief more than once about cheating on the paste). This recipe originally came from a friend's wife, Sandra, then modified slightly when I couldn't remember everything and had to look up a similar recipe on the web. Since then, the guys in my local shop have added their input, so it is getting a little different each time.

This time, I made the meatballs on the day as I was hoping to get a bit more daylight to get a good photo, but it's extremely gloomy out today, so I don't think it made any difference.


Recipe for the Meatballs (Serves 4)

• 454g/1lb Minced Lamb (or Beef, but I think Lamb is better)
• Half a Small Onion, finely chopped
• 2 Green Chillies, de-seeded and de-veined, finely chopped
• 1.5 tablespoons Ground Coriander
• 1 tablespoon Ground Cumin
• Half teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 3 tablespoons Fresh Coriander, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons Minced Ginger (OK, maybe that's cheating, but I got some which needed using, and I don't have a grater to use fresh stuff for this part of the recipe)
  
• 3-4 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
• 1 Egg (optional), lightly beaten

Mix all the above ingredients together by hand, kneading the mixture until all of them are evenly distributed. Then with moist hands, form into individual meatballs. You should get around 20-24, depending on how big you make them. Arrange on a plate, then cover and put in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but ideally, make them the night before you intend making the curry.

Recipe for the Paste

• 2 inch piece of Root Ginger, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves of Garlic, chopped
• 2 Red Chillies, de-seeded and de-veined (Hot Green Chili would be better, but I ran out)
• 1 tablespoon Ground Coriander
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 3 tablespoons Water
  

To make the paste, just put all the above ingredients into your blender and blend until you have a smooth paste.

Recipe for the Sauce

• 1 teaspoon Coriander Seeds, crushed
• 6 Green Cardamom Pods, 2 crushed
• 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
• 4 Whole Cloves
• 3" Piece of Cassia Bark (should be cinnamon stick, but this is the closest I could find)
• 2.5 Medium Onions, chopped
• 1 Green or Red Pepper, chopped
• Half teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 can Chopped Tomatoes
• 5 tablespoons Plain Yoghurt
• 3 or 4 tablespoons Olive Oil
• Half teaspoon Salt
• Half teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
  

Next heat up your oil in a heavy pan, and when hot, add the cardamom, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, and cassia bark and give a quick stir. Add the onions and green pepper to the pan and fry for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are brown. Lower the heat and add the paste and stir into the mixture for a couple of minutes. Next add the tomatoes and cayenne pepper and cook until they start to darken.

Stir in the yoghurt, making sure each tablespoon is mixed in before adding the next. Then stir in a couple of mugs of water. The mixture will be fairly thin, but I tend to cook it for a couple of hours and allow for a fair amount of evaporation which is how Sandra reckoned it works best.


Now it's time to put the meatballs in. Last time, I put a layer of cubed potato at the bottom of the pan so that there was no chance of them sticking to the bottom, although I don't think it's really necessary, although Sandra had suggested having potato in there anyway, but it's definitely optional. Carefully drop the meatballs in, one at a time in what should be one layer across the pan. Bear in mind, you wont be able to stir the curry for a good 30-40 minutes without risking breaking up your meatballs, so you need to avoid stirring and just gently shake the pan to move stuff about during cooking where possible. Later you can get away with it, but still do it careful so as not to break any.

This needs to simmer, covered, for an hour at least, but up to 2 hours is fine if you want your sauce to thicken up more. Personally, I like to cook it for at least 2 hours. After the first 10-20 minutes, your meatballs should float to the top so that you don't have to worry about them sticking to the bottom, unless your sauce completely evaporates. The following image shows how much I like my curry to evaporate before getting the rice on.


Either mix in some chopped fresh coriander right at the end, or use as a garnish and serve the curry with Basmati Rice. Tonight, I just plucked a leaf or three and stuck it on top for the garnish. At the very least it kept their eyes off the state of the rest of the flat.

Beef Meatball Curry

Reading this blog, you would be forgiven to think that I only make things like stew and curry. OK, in the last month or so, I have made these two recipes twice, but they're popular with guests as well as with myself. Besides, this time, I used beef mince instead of lamb. Actually, I think I prefer it with lamb mince, although I did cook it for an hour or so longer this time to get the gravy to a thicker consistency (and also to allow me to go get the wine which I knew Marisha wouldn't bring).

No photos unfortunately, as I can't find the charger for my camera battery. Also, with the awful tripod-less efforts I've made in these bad lighting conditions recently, I'm not sure any photo I would have taken would have done the finished product justice.

Specifications for the new site still continue. I think I'm going to have to at least get a personal version of the site going as I've had a few requests to see the recipes I'm using on-line.