Author Archives: Anna and Shiv

Caribbean inspired caserole

It has been a while since we last cooked a casserole as our oven had given up on us and the replacement table top oven did the same a week ago.  We have since replaced it with another table top oven but with a built in convection fan which in theory should allow us to cook food more evenly.  We baked a gluten free chocolate cake in the oven earlier in the week and it seems to work fine.   Tonight we revisited a dish we made nearly six months ago and have been wanting to cook it again as we thoroughly enjoyed our first attempt at jerk chicken.  Rather than cooking the dish as originally prepared, we tried to be a bit creative and decided to replicate the flavours in a casserole instead and incorporated the black beans and rice into the dish versus an accompaniment as we had done previously.  The dish is more akin to a creole jambalaya in consistency than a casserole as there was very little liquid left.  Interestingly the dish seems quite balanced despite having some strong spices like all spice, cloves and nutmeg.

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What do I need to make it?

  • 500 gm boneless chicken thighs
  • 1 cup black beans soaked and then pressure cooked (about 400 gms of tinned black beans)
  • 1/2 cup of long grain rice washed and drained
  • 2 celery sticks sliced
  • 2 carrots roughly chopped
  • 2 large potatoes peeled and cubed
  • Small bunch of spring onion chopped
  • 5 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 scotch bonnet pepper de-seeded and finely chopped
  • 1 tsp all spice powder
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 chicken stock cubes
  • 3 tsp of Malibu rum
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

For the marinade

    • 2 cloves of garlic
    • 1 inch piece of ginger peeled
    • 1 scotch bonnet pepper de-seeded
    • 1 tsp dried thyme
    • 1/2 tsp clove powder
    • 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
    • 1 tsp all spice powder
    • 2 tsp muscavado sugar
    • 3 tsp Malibu rum
    • 1 tsp white wine vinegar
    • 1 tbsp olive oil
    • Salt to taste

How much will I make?

Serves 4

How do I make it?

For the marinade, use a pestle and mortar to crush the garlic, ginger and scotch bonnet pepper to a paste.  Then add the remaining ingredients and mix well.   Place the chicken thighs in the marinade and keep aside for an hour at least – the longer the better.  Heat your oven proof casserole dish and sear the chicken thighs on both sides till they colour a little bit.   Remove from the casserole and save any liquid to put back into the dish.   Wipe the casserole with a paper  towel and return to heat.  Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and saute the garlic and scotch bonnet pepper for 30 seconds before adding the celery and spring onions.   Continue sauteing for five minutes before adding the black pepper, dried thyme, all spice powder and Malibu rum.   Give it a good mix and then add the potatoes and carrots with the stock cubes.  Pour in the black beans with any remaining cooking liquor and the washed rice.  Add 1 cup of water and place the seared chicken thighs on top.   Cover the casserole and cook in a pre-heated oven at 200 degree Centigrade for an hour till the chicken is done.  Serve hot.

 

Horse Gram Series – Olan (stew)

As promised earlier we are going to try and pull together a few recipes using horse gram over the next few months.  Olan is one of the simplest dishes to make with the fewest of ingredients and the addition of fragrant coconut oil makes it one of our favourite comfort foods.  We normally make this dish with pressure cooked black eyed peas, however for this recipe we have substituted it with pressure cooked horse gram.

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What do I need to make it?

  • 2 courgettes peeled and cubed
  • 1/4 cup horse gram – soaked overnight and pressure cooked
  • 4-5 green chillies slit
  • Handful fresh curry leaves – washed and crushed in the hand to release their aroma
  • 2 1/2 tbsp of coconut milk powder (can be substituted with 200 ml of tinned coconut milk)
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • Salt to taste

How much will I make?

Serves 4

How do I make it?

Cook the courgettes, green chillies and curry leaves with a little bit of water over a low heat.   Once done add the pressure cooked horse gram and bring to a boil.   Sprinkle the coconut milk powder and adjust seasoning.   Switch off the heat and drizzle the coconut oil over the dish – serve hot with rice.

Chicken tikka with pilau

If you want to introduce your children to spice – here’s a simple recipe for chicken tikka which has lots of flavour but none on the heat.  We served it to our kids with some peas pilau – plates came back clean so we assume they liked it.  We normally make pilau by sauteing some whole garam masala (green cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, cloves and bay leaves), cumin seeds, onion and raw rice before cooking in a rice cooker.   We decided to try something different for the kids inspired by Chinese fried rice – we heated some ghee and added a pinch of cardamom powder, mace,  cinnamon powder, ground cloves and fried off a small sliced onion before adding a half a cup of frozen peas (heated in the microwave first).   After a couple of minutes we added half a cup of cooked rice with some salt – mixed everything together and then switched off the heat.

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What do I need to make it?

  • 400 gms mini chicken breast fillets
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 small piece of ginger minced
  • A pinch of cardamom powder, cinnamon powder, ground mace and ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp yogurt
  • 1 tbsp creme fraiche
  • Salt to taste

How much will I make?

8-10 fillets

How do I make it?

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and let the chicken fillets sit in the marinade for as long as you can.   Skewer the fillets and bake in oven at 200 degree Centrigrade for 30 minutes or till done – turn the skewers over half way through the cooking process.   Serve hot.

Chestnut flour pancakes with cashew nut and sultanas

We felt a bit adventurous yesterday and added some cashew nuts and sultanas with a pinch of cardamom to our pancake batter (1 cup chestnut flour, 1 cup milk, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tbsp honey and 1 egg – all whisked together) and really liked the flavour combination.  We think this could probably double up as a dessert option – served with some good quality vanilla ice cream or Indian kesar kulfi.

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Horse Gram Series – Sundal (warm salad)

January is a month when the realization of the excesses of the festive season hits most people and almost everybody wants to detox and diet.  Horse gram is one of the pulses which ancient Indian medical sciences of Ayurveda and Siddha claim to have many medicinal properties including liver and kidney detoxification and weight loss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_gram).  Horse gram is also good for coughs and colds.   We have some horse gram in our store cupboard and have decided to make a weekly dish to tide us through the winter and try to combat the many winter viruses that afflict us.  This is the first dish in the horse gram series with more to follow.  Horse gram is a hard pulse and takes very long to cook, so remember to soak the horse gram at least  for 8 hours prior to cooking it.

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What do I need to make it?

  • 1 cup pre soaked  horse gram
  • A pinch of turmeric powder
  • 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • A pinch of asafoetida
  • 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
  • 3-4 dried red chillies
  • 8-10 curry leaves
  • 3 tbsp freshly grated coconut
  • Juice of half a lime
  • Salt to taste

How much will I make?

Serves 4-6 side portions

How do I make it?

Pressure cook the horse gram with a pinch of turmeric powder and two cups of water. Once cooked drain  any excess water and set aside. (Do not throw away the cooking liquor as this can be used to make a delicious and healing  horse gram soup (recipe to follow)).  Heat oil in a wok.   Add a pinch of asafoetida and the mustard seeds.  Once the mustard seeds crackle add the dried red chillies and the curry leaves. Saute for a couple of minutes before adding the cooked horse gram and salt.  Saute the horse gram for a few minutes, garnish with freshly grated coconut and squeeze the juice of half a lime.  Serve warm.

Chestnut flour rotis

We have experimented a bit with different non-wheat based flour combinations to make rotis.   We have come to the realization that this is going to be an ever evolving process and we need to keep at it to get a combination that not only tastes great but is easy to make (we have had a few disasters along the way with the dough sticking and not being very easy to roll out).  Our latest attempt was with  chestnut flour as a core ingredient, as we have successfully used it to bake bread, cakes and cookies.   The dough was relatively easy to work with and the rotis tasted good. Texture wise we think we are 90% there – just need to figure out how to get them softer to be on par with traditional rotis.

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What do I need to make it?

  • 1 cup chestnut flour (singoda)
  • 1/2 cup rajagro flour (amaranth flour)
  • 1/2 cup samo seed flour (type of millet)
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • Salt to taste

How many will I make?

8-10 depending on size

How do I make it?

Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.   Make a well and add the oil to it – rub the oil into the flour mixture.   Then add enough water to make a pliable dough ball – about a cup of water,  little at a time.  Make lime sized balls of the dough and roll into discs using  a little chestnut flour to stop it from sticking –  cook on both sides till lightly browned, brush with some ghee and serve hot.

Italian flavoured chestnut flour pancakes

A couple of days back we made some stuffed chilli peppers with a mixture of cheese, olives, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, onion and Italian herbs.   We had some of this mixture left over and decided to make use of it in a chestnut flour pancake batter.  We are quite pleased with the outcome and will add this to our repertoire of savoury breakfast options.

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What do I need to make it?

  • 1 cup chestnut flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3 tbsp of stuffing mixture
  • Pinch of salt
  • Butter to cook

How many will I make?

6 small pancakes

How do I make it?

Mix the milk and chestnut flour first and then whisk in the egg till it is full incorporated into the batter.   Add the baking soda, salt and stuffing mix and spoon onto a hot pan with a little butter.  Cook on both sides and serve hot.

Risotto with wild mushrooms

We often watch a lot of cooking programs and one of the most dreaded dishes contestants have to prepare is a good risotto.  To be honest the thought of preparing it based on everything we have  heard and seen has been daunting and off putting.  Step in Jamie Oliver and the mystery and myth behind preparing a good basic risotto are dispelled.    We had our niece over with us over the weekend and decided to overcome our fears and attempted a wild mushroom risotto using Jamie’s “risotto bianco” recipe as a base.   It is a labour of love and needs patience but once mastered you will want to try other flavour combinations.  Next challenge – macaroons worthy of Adriano Zumbo’s seal of approval!

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What do I need to make it?

  • 200 gm arborio rice
  • 1 cup of dry white wine
  • 200 wild mushrooms
  • 50 gms re-hydrated porcini mushrooms
  • 4 button mushrooms sliced
  • 1 medium onion finely chopped
  • 2 stick of celery finely chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic chopped (2 for the mushrooms and 1 for the rice)
  • 60 gms Grana Padano cheese (or freshly grated Parmesan)
  • 1 vegetable stock cube dissolved in 500 ml of water
  • 50 gms butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Handful of parsley chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste

How much will I make?

Serves 3

How do I make it?

First boil some water for the stock and keep dissolved stock aside.   Prepare the mushroom toppings in a separate pan – add a knob of butter, a couple of minced garlic cloves and the trio of mushrooms.   Saute over medium heat till done – season with salt and pepper before taking off the heat.

For the risotto – put the olive oil and a knob of butter into a separate pan, add the onion, garlic and celery, and cook very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring. Once the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.  After a minute or two, pour in the white wine and allow the rice to absorb all the liquid – keep stirring gently.   Once the wine is full incorporated into the rice, reduce the heat to a simmer, add a pinch of salt/pepper and start adding the stock one ladle at a time – wait for the liquid to get absorbed before adding the next.  This takes 15-20 minutes and keep checking if the rice is cooked.   If the rice is not cooked and you run out of stock, use some hot water from the kettle till rice is done.  Once the rice is cooked, put in the grated cheese, chopped parsley and 50 gms of butter – stir, check seasoning, switch off the heat and cover the pan  and let it sit for a couple of minutes.  As Jamie says this is the most important part of the preparation as this is when it becomes amazingly creamy and oozy like it should be.   Serve the risotto hot in a bowl with a generous portion of the sauteed mushrooms.

Related Links:

Jamie Oliver’s “Risotto Bianco”

Stuffed chilli peppers

We used to make this stuffing for a melted cheese sandwich in our sandwich maker and decided to experiment a bit with it.  End result was a dish which took very little time to prep and was tasty and satisfying.   We have a few more ideas for stuffed pepper dishes which once tried and tested will be shared with you.

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What do I need to make it?

  • 6 long green chillies (non spicy variety – substitute with small bell peppers or long red peppers if not available)
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 10 sun dried tomatoes chopped
  • 4 tbsp black olives chopped
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1 cup of grated cheese (mix of cheddar/mozzarella)
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp red chilli flakes
  • Salt and pepper to taste

How much will I make?

6 stuffed peppers (serves 2-3)

How do I make it?

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.  Make a slit along the length of the pepper.   Place stuffing inside the cavity till full.   Bake in a pre heated oven for 40-45 minutes at 190 degree Centigrade till the peppers are cooked through.  Serve hot.

You could add or delete ingredients to mixture ie. add pepperoni or ham and make a nice melted cheese treat for the kids.

Salad therapy – roasted corn and coconut

A simple salad to pull together as an accompaniment  or a summer barbecue staple.

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What do I need to make it?

  • 2 ears of corn
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 1 green chilli chopped
  • 1 small green pepper chopped
  • 3 tbsp grated coconut
  • Handful fresh coriander chopped
  • Juice of half a lime
  • Salt to taste

How much will I make?

Serves 4 as a side dish

How do I make it?

Roast the corn cobs over an open flame and then shuck them once cooled.     Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together.