Kerala Beef Curry

This curry is very popular in our house. It isn’t the prettiest of dishes but the flavour is amazing!

 I love the fact that the meat and veg are all in one pot and the boys love that they get to eat it with bread and poppadoms while using their fingers!

Serves 12, this curry freezes well so I tend to make this quantity and freeze half for a night off another day.

Ingredients

50g ghee

15 whole cloves

15 cardamom pods

20 black peppercorns

4x5cm sticks of cinnamon

2 medium onions, diced

4 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised

30-40 curry leaves

Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1.75kgs diced beef, around 3cm

1 litre water

Salt

750g potatoes, kipfler are great, cut into 4cm pieces

1/2-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

500g frozen baby peas

270mls coconut cream

2 tablespoons corn flour mixed with 3 tablespoons water

75g fresh chopped coriander, stalks and leaves

Method

In a large pan with a lid, heat the ghee, once hot, add the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon sticks and peppercorns.

As soon as they begin to sizzle, add the onion and cook over a medium to high heat until colouring a little.

Add the garlic, curry leaves and ginger to the pan and cook for two minutes.

Add the beef to the pan and over a high heat, brown the meat, around 4 minutes.

Pour the water into the pan, cover, bring up to simmering and simmer for 90 minutes. Uncover for the last 30 minutes.

Now, add the potatoes, cayenne and salt to the pan, bring back up to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes covered and then ten minutes uncovered.

Carefully pour the cornflour slurry into the curry sauce and stir until thickened.

Now add the peas and coconut cream, bring up to a simmer and sprinkle over the coriander. Serve.

Dukkah

Dukkah, what can I say, one of my favourite ingredients for so many things!

On its own with bread and olive oil, as a crust for chicken and fish, spooned over salads, sprinkled over rice, popped into soups, sprinkled over a mashed avocado, added to an egg for breakfast and even sprinkled over the top of barbecued meat.

This is a totally non traditional recipe, no hazelnuts and no roasting of spices but it works for us and keeps in a jar for a couple of weeks so this is the minimum quantity that I make.

Ingredients

60g macadamia nuts

50g pistachio nuts

4 teaspoons sesame seeds

3 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

a pinch of ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons nigella seeds

a really good grinding of fresh ly ground pepper

salt to taste

Method

In a frying pan, toast the nuts until just beginning to colour. Tip onto a plate to cool.

In a large mortar and pestle, crush the nuts so that it’s mostly powdery with a few bigger pieces, don’t over do it or it will be oily and stick.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Taste and add a little more salt if needed.

Store in an airtight container.

Chicken Wings With Pomegranate Molasses

If you like your wings full of flavour and on the sticky side, give these a go!

I buy my wings whole and then remove the tips and cut through at the joint so each wing gives me two “chicken nibbles” as they are called here.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

1kg chicken wings

3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

2 tablespoons oil

3 large garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 large red chilli, sliced finely

salt and pepper

Method

Combine all of the ingredients in a zip lock bag and pop into the fridge for 2-24 hours.

Once you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade and line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Spread the wings out over the prepared trays and bake for 20 minutes.

Spoon the juices over the wings and return to the oven for 10 minutes, repeat the basting and bake until fully cooked.

Tomato and Saffron Rice

The colour of this rice really says it all.

By cooking down the tomato to a paste you have an intensely flavoured base to this rice and you can make the paste ahead of time and keep it in the fridge if you have limited time. I also sometimes double the paste recipe and just freeze half for another day.

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

450g fresh tomatoes, quartered

1 onion peeled

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 cinnamon stick

4 cloves

a large pinch of saffron

1 teaspoon salt

50g ghee or oil

300g rice

425mls water

Method

Process the tomatoes, onion, garlic and 50mls water.

Heat the ghee or oil over a medium to high heat, pour in the tomato mix, add the cinnamon, cloves, saffron and salt, stir well and bring up to the boil.

Allow the tomatoes to simmer, uncovered until all of the liquid has evaporated and you have a thick paste in the pan.

Stir the rice through the paste and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the cold water, stir again and cover, bring up to the boil and then reduce heat, cook, covered for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, turn the heat off but leave the rice, covered for 10 minutes.

Fork through the rice before serving.

Pomegranate Lamb Chops

Known as caveman food in our house, these chops have to be eaten with you hands for complete enjoyment and satisfaction!

By cooking these in a very hot oven you get a lovely spicy crust on the outside that I think goes rather well with the garlicky green dressing.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

850g lamb chops

3 large garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

3 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

DRESSING

100mls olive oil

1 garlic clove

small bunch fresh parsley, leaves picked

2 large stalks of fresh oregano, leaves picked

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

Method

Combine all of the lamb ingredients and leave to marinade in the fridge for 8-24 hours.

When you are ready to cook, take the lamb out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking.

Preheat the oven as high as it goes, I cook these at 240 degrees Centigrade.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Lay the chops on the prepared tray and pour over any excess marinade.

Pop the tray into the oven and bake for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of your chops, the meat in the photo baked for 10 minutes.

While the chops bake process the dressing ingredients to form a thick green dressing.

Once the chops are cooked, allow to rest for 5 minutes and then plate them up with the dressing poured over the top.

 

 

Rice With Spices and Barberries

This lightly spiced rice goes so well with any Middle Eastern cooking.

There is a recipe for making your own jars of caramelised onions on the blog, sorry, I haven’t a clue how to include a link! These onions are so handy to have in the fridge for those days when you just don’t have time to cook onions low and slow.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

100g caramelised onions

200g basmati rice

1 teaspoon ground all spice

1 teaspoon ground coriander

a pinch of ground cinnamon

a pinch of saffron strands

375mls vegetable or chicken stock

10g barberries

Method

In a pan with  a tight fitting lid, warm the onions through over a medium heat.

Add the rice and stir through for 1 minute.

Add the allspice, coriander, cinnamon and saffron, stir well.

Pour in the stock and add the barberries. Stir again.

Cover with the lid and bring up to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer gently for 14 minutes.

Turn the heat off but keep the lid in place, let the rice sit for 5 minutes.

Fork through the rice and serve.

Meatballs With Sour Cherries And Herbs

A bit of an odd combination to some people but it does work very well giving these meatballs a hint of sweetness in amongst the fabulous herb flavours.

I quite often make the meat mix in the morning and come back and make the meatballs for our evening meal, it sits quite happily in the fridge.

Makes 36 meatballs, serves 6-8 depending on sides. We have these as a mezze meal and I serve them with some yogurt flavoured with garlic and mint.

Ingredients

1kg minced beef

1/2 red onion, very finely diced

4 garlic cloves, crushed

4 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

15g chopped fresh dill

15g chopped fresh parsley

salt and pepper

150g drained sour cherries

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade.

Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. the cherries will get all mushed up, don’t worry!

Form into balls and lay on the baking sheets, spread a little apart.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until browned and cooked through.

Carrot and Red Quinoa Cake

Ok, a bit odd but bare with me!

Gluten free baking has its challenges and making a cake rise and stay risen is one of them.

Enter quinoa, a bit like beetroot brownies the bulk of the carrots and quinoa keep the cake well risen and the quinoa adds a slight crunch which I rather like.

This is the single layer version of the cake, I made it for the lunch boxes so no icing but if you want a multi layer gluten free cake this is the one to use, moist, a little crumbly and lovely with cream cheese icing!

Serves 8.

Ingredients

3 eggs

120g brown sugar

100mls oil

150g grated carrot

90g cooked quinoa, I use red quinoa but regular works well too

40g coconut flour

60g buckwheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Centigrade, grease and line the base of a 23cm spring form tin.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until very light and creamy.

Slowly fold in the oil followed by the remaining ingredients.

Spoon into the tin and smooth.

Bake for 30-35mins, allow to cool a little in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Sprinkle a little caster or icing sugar over the top to serve.

Banana and Coconut Muffins

The boys are all back at school now after the long summer holidays so I am back to baking for the lunch boxes.

These are gluten and dairy free and I  just top them off with a little brown sugar and cinnamon.

Makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients

3 large bananas

1 egg

100g buckwheat flour

50g desiccated coconut

60g tapioca/arrowroot flour

1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

75g icing sugar

100mls sunflower oil

50g brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 180degrees Centigrade. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, set aside.

In a food processor, process the bananas and eggs.

Add the buckwheat, tapioca, coconut, baking powder, bicarb, icing sugar and oil, process again.

Pour the batter into the prepared paper cases, around 2/3 full.

Top with the brown sugar mix.

Bake for 18-20 mins, allow to cool on a wire rack.

Christmas Spiced Biscuits

A bit of a change to the usual gingerbread, which the boys have eaten a few kilos of by this time of year, these biscuits are flavoured with cinnamon, ginger and all spice so still lots of Christmas flavour and smells!

I have used a circular cookie cutter with an icing decorating tool as a press to make the cute snowflake decoration.

This recipe makes 55 biscuits but consider doubling the ingredients and freezing half, this dough freezes very well.

Ingredients

340g plain flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground all spice

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

110g butter

170g brown sugar

60mls golden Syrup

1 egg, beaten

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Centigrade. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Process the flour, spices and bicarb.

Add the butter and process until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Weigh the sugar into a bowl, spread out and then weig the syrup on top, this makes it easier to pour into the processor.

Process all of the ingredients until you have a smooth paste.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface and cut into your desired shape.

Lay gently onto your prepared sheets and then bake for 10-12mins, allow to cool fully on a cooling  rack.