Beef Jhal Faraizi

One of the best ways to use up leftover roast beef and potatoes.

This has a bit of heat to it but if you like your food spicier then, throw a sliced red chilli in when you are cooking the onion.

Serves 4-6 depending on sides. When it comes to frying the eggs, I take a straw poll of those eating and just cook enough for them with no spares!

Ingredients

900g potatoes, cooked and peeled

1-2 tablespoons oil

500g cooked roast beef, cut into 0.5cm dice

1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon chilli flakes

2 medium or 1 large red onion, diced

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 handful fresh coriander

6-12 fried eggs depending on appetites

Method

Boil the potatoes with their skins on, drain and set aside to cool.

Once cool enough to touch, peel the skins from the potatoes and dice roughly to 1cm.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, I use a 32 cm pan for this.

Add the seeds and chilli flakes, once fragrant, add the beef and onion.

Cook over a medium heat until the onion has softened.

Now add the potatoes, turmeric, salt and pepper. Turn the heat up high and let the potoatoes catch a little on the pan to get some colour.

If they aren’t  browning up enough for you, turn the grill on and slide the pan under, being careful not to melt the handle!

Once the potatoes have some colour, stir through the coriander, fry the eggs and serve with the eggs on top.

Smashed Indian Potatoes

These are very moreish! 

What’s not to love really, spicy, crunchy potatoes are always a winner!

Although I’ve included boiling the potatoes in the recipe, leftover spuds from the day before will work just as well and don’t peel them! The skins help to hold them together.

If you have any leftovers, and I doubt that you will, keep them for breakfast, reheat the potatoes and pop a fried egg on top, absolute heaven!

Serves 6.

Ingredients 

1kg baby potatoes

30g ghee, butter or oil

1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 teaspoon salt flakes

Method

Bring a large pan of salted water up to the boil. Add the potatoes and boil until cooked, mine took 15 minutes.

Drain the potatoes and leave them to cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, gently squeeze the potatoes until they break in two in rough uneven pieces.

In a large frying pan, heat the ghee or oil over a high heat. Add the mustard, cumin, chilli and salt.

As soon as the mustard starts popping, around 30 seconds, add the squashed potatoes and stir through.

Reduce the heat to medium and fry until the potatoes are coloured and crispy.

Sri Lankan Zucchini And Coconut Curry

This is one of those easy vegetarian curries that gives the impression that you have spent hours blending spices and cooking over a hot stove! 

Thanks to curry leaves and quick cooking zucchini/courgette you can have this on the table in around 20minutes. Just enough time to cook the rice.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

30-50mls oil or ghee

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 dry chilli

15 curry leaves

1 shallot, halved and finely sliced

1 pinch turmeric power

650g zucchini/courgette if large, quartered and then cut into even chunks, around 1.5-2cm

270mls coconut milk

50mls water

Method

In a large frying pan with a lid, heat the oil or ghee.

Once hot, add the cumin seeds, chilli and curry leaves.

As soon as the leave start spluttering, add the shallot, turn the heat down and slowly cook the shallot until soft, 5-7 minutes.

Now add the turmeric, zucchini, coconut milk and water to the pan. Stir well and cover.

Bring up to the boil and simmer for 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently as the sauce thickens.

Once the zucchini is cooked your curry is ready.

Slow Roast Lamb With Ancho Chilli And Garlic Marinade

Spring is finally here in Western Australia and lamb is back on the menu!

This is a great recipe of you are feeding people who aren’t too keen on chilli, bags of flavour and not too spicy. It is also slow cooked so, ideal if you are entertaining as you really have very little to do once the lamb is in the oven.

It can easily feed a bigger crowd, just add more side dishes but the leftovers are divine too, I’ll share my Mexican Stir Fried Rice recipe soon using leftovers from this lamb!

I serve this with steamed rice, fresh salsa, salad, guacamole, tostades and refried beans, that way everyone can have as little or as much as they like!

Serves 10.

2.5kg leg of lamb

3 red onions, peeled and sliced into 1cm rings

3 dried ancho chillies

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

200mls water, just under boiling point

8 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons ground coriander

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1.5 litres chicken stock

Method

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Centigrade. Line the base of a roasting tin with the onion rings to create  a rack to keep the meat off the base, initially.

Prepare the marinade now. Place the chillies in a heat proof bowl, add the nearly boiled water and cider vinegar. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Once the chillies have soaked, carefully lift them from the water, remove the stem and seeds and return to the water. Now add all of the remaining ingredients except the onions, lamb and stock.

Using a stick blender, whizz the marinade to a thick paste.

Take the leg of lamb, using a sharp knife, stab it multiple times to at least 5cm at its thickest part.

Pour the marinade over and push it down into the cuts, make sure all of the meat is covered, underside too.

Lay the lamb onto the bed of onion rings, pour the chicken stock around the lamb, seal completely with foil and slide into the oven.

Bake for 6 hours, turn the oven up to 200 degrees Centigrade, spoon off as much of the fat as you can and return the lamb to the oven to crisp up a little, around 30 minute

Now, using tongs, pull off large chunks of meat and drop them into the pan juices, as you come across the bones remove them all. You should now have a pan of meat, juices and onions, I give this a gentle stir and then serve.

 

Barbecued Lamb And Haloumi Salad

In a family of males, meat features regularly on the menu but this is a favourite, known as cave man salad by the boys and with the added bonus of bribing them to eat the salad as it has the meaty juices all over it!

Serves 6.

Ingredients

1.4kgs well trimmed lamb cutlets

4 garlic cloves, crushed

8 teaspoon zatar

2 teaspoons sumac

2 teaspoons ground cumin

zest and juice of 1 lime

50 mls oil

200g haloumi

200g mixed lettuce leaves

1 carrot, grated

1 capsicum, thinly sliced

6 tomatoes, quartered

1 pomegranate, seeds only

Method

Combine the lamb, garlic, zatar, sumac, cumin, lime zest and juice, salt, pepper and oil, allow to marinade for thirty minutes.

Heat the barbecue flat plate over a high flame.

Mix all the salad ingredients and plate up.

Cook the haloumi on both sides and then place it on the salad.

Now pop the meat into the BBQ and cook, turning once, to your liking.

Place the cooked meat on the salad, sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds and serve.

Corn Couscous With Edamame And Pinenuts

Corn couscous is a brilliant alternative if you are following a gluten free diet! It also makes a nice change from rice in our house. Check the cooking method recommended on the packet as there does seem to be some differences with the makers.

I’ve used chicken stock here but vegetable stock works very well too and if you aren’t a fan of edamame, frozen peas and baby spinach make a great alternative.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

30ml olive oil

1 large onion, finely diced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

215g corn couscous

250mls boiling chicken or vegetable stock

200g cooked edamame

50g Pinenuts, toasted

1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley

Method

Take a pan with a well fitting lid, heat over medium heat, add the oil and once hot, add the onions and cook until soft. Towards the end stir in the cumin too.

Pour in the stock and couscous, stir once and cover, allow to simmer gently for 2 minutes and then, leave covered for 3-5 minutes.

Stir in the edamame, pinenuts and parsley and serve hot or at room temperature.

Spicy Hummus

I love hummus as a dip and this recipe is no exception. I top it with my own home made dukkah, the recipe is on the blog. Leftovers are great as a spread in wraps with lots of crunchy salad.

Ingredients

400g tin chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved

1 garlic clove

juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon tahini

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

olive oil

salt and pepper

2 tablespoon dukkah

Method

Measure the reserved liquid from the chickpeas and add olive oil to it to make a volume of 160mls.

Pour this liquid into a food processor followed by the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, tahini, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Wizz to form a thick paste.

Spoon into your serving dish, drizzle over some more oil and then sprinkle over the dukkah.

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.

Dukkah Coated Chicken Breasts

This is a nice easy cheat using shop bought dukkah with a little extra kick.

It can be hard to find chicken breasts with skin on and bones in here in Perth so I tend to buy whole chooks and break them down into breasts, thighs, legs and wings.

By having the skin on and bones in the breasts have so much more flavour and really retain their moisture. I like to thinly slice the breasts and serve them on top of a big green salad.

Serves 4 if serving them up individually or thinly sliced in salad serves 8.

Ingredients

4 large chicken breasts, skin on, bones in

30g shop bought dukkah

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

1 pinch chilli powder

salt and pepper

olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Centigrade and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Rub a little olive oil over the skin of each breast.

On a flat plate, combine the dukkah, cumin, sesame seeds, chilli, salt and pepper.

Dip the skin side of he chicken into the dukkah mix, ensure the skin is totally coated.

Repeat with the remaining breasts.

Place the breasts on the prepared tray and pop into the oven.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until fully cooked, baste half way through.

Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

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.