Chicken Madras

Another Kris Dhillon recipe

One of my favourite curries. Don't know why I had not had it for so long. My husband requested it last night. Think he's getting fed up with trying new recipes and wanted something he knows well LOL

(Recipe serves 3-4)
5 tbs Vegetable oil
3 cups Curry sauce
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Hot chilli powder
450g Chicken, cooked as shown here
1 tsp Garam Masala, I use homemade
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
Pinch of Methi powder (ground dried fenugreek leaves)
1/2 tomato, thinly sliced
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tsp Tandoori marinade (optional see tip below)

Heat oil in a large pan and add the curry sauce and bring to a boil. Now add the salt, chilli powder and cooked chicken. continue cooking 5 minutes.

Turn down heat and stir in garam masala, ground cumin and methi. Simmer for a further 2-3 minutes.

Add sliced tomato, tandoori marinade and half the coriander and cook another 2 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining coriander and serve.

TIP adding tandoori marinade to the dish improves the texture and flavour of the sauce as well as the colour.

Tandoori Marinade

a Kris Dhillon recipe


300ml Plain yoghurt
2 Green chillies, deseeded
2 tsp Fresh ginger, grated
3 Cloves garlic
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Garam Masala, recipe here
2 tsp Vinegar
2 tsp Vegetable oil
1/2 tsp Red food colouring
1/2 tsp Yellow food colouring

Put yoghurt, green chillies, ginger and garlic into blender and blend until smooth.

Empty into a bowl and add all remaining ingredients. Whisk until glossy.

Homemade Garam Masala

a Kris Dhillon recipe

When making meals using your own ground spice mixes it's very satisfying.


1 tbs Coriander seeds
1 tbs Cumi seeds
1 tsp Green cardamoms
1 tsp Cloves
1 tsp Black peppercorns
2 Sticks of cinnamon, about 2" in length
2 Bay leaves
1/2 Small nutmeg
4 Black cardamoms

Place all ingredients into grinder and grind to a very fine powder. Store in a screw top jar.

Homemade Curry Powder

I used to buy curry powder. Most people probably do. But a few years back I invested in a coffee grinder. Not for coffee, just for grinding my own spices. Originally it was purchased for a particular curry recipe; not one I'll be sharing with you though because it was not nice. Anyway, I soon decided to start experimenting to achieve my own curry powder. And, here it is........


Mild Curry Powder (for hot add 2 tsp chilli powder)

3 tbs Coriander seeds
2 tbs Cumin seeds
2 tbs Turmeric
1 tbs Mustard seeds
2 1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
1 1/2 tsp Ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns
1/4 tsp Grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
Seeds of 8 Green Cardamons
8 Cloves

In a large non stick frying pan, toast the spices on low heat until they are aromatic. Spread out on a baking tray and leave to cool completely.

Once cooled, grind well in batches and put into a screw top jar.

Keeps approx 6 months.

NOTE: Use with Garam Masala

BMT (the new BLT)!

Forget the BLT, the BMT (Basil, Mozzarella & Tomato) is definitely my favourite.

It may seem odd to post such a simple lunch, but I'm on a mission to try out these 3 simple ingredients in as many ways as possible LOL. Watch this space for other recipes to be included.

The toasted sandwich version (serves 1)

2 slices white bread
Margarine for spreading
1/2 ball of mozzarella, sliced
Handful of basil leaves (washed & dried, chopped
1 Tomato, sliced
Salt, freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil

I have a Dualit toaster with a wider slot for toasted sanwiches. For this purpose the outsides of the bread is lightly spread with margarine. Prepare your sandwich according to your type of toaster, or simply grill.

Begin by putting the slices of mozzarella onto one slice of bread, then add the chopped basil leaves, then the tomato slices, season with salt & pepper and drizzle with olive oil, put 2nd slice of bread on top.

Toast sandwich.

Done.

Tarragon, Garlic, Chicken & Mushroom Risotto (serves 2)

A labour of love (well you'd have to love it to stand there adding 1 ladle of stock at a time)

Risotto doesn't naturally present well (I don't always present my food well either, but I am practising) so I decided to cook the chicken separately and present it on top of the dish, rather than mixed in.

Mainly due to the amount of garlic used, both in the main risotto and the chicken itself, this is a dish for garlic lovers and so tasty too.

1 pint chicken stock
1 tbs olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
200g risotto rice (or spanish Bomba rice)
1 large glass of dry white wine
salt and ground black pepper
50g grated parmesan cheese
15g dried mixed mushrooms (or just dried porcini), soaked in water for 1/2 hour
100g fresh white button mushrooms, quartered
35g unsalted butter

For the chicken:-
1 large skinless breast, butterflied
2 cloves garlic, minced
20g unsalted butter, softened
1 tbs fresh tarragon, chopped
salt and ground black pepper
dash of lemon juice

Prepare the chicken first. Place the butterflied breast between 2 sheets of clingfilm and pound with the flat side of a meat mallet to make a large piece. Leave to one side whilst making the butter.

Put softened butter into a bowl, add the garlic, tarragon, salt & pepper and lemon juice, mix well to combine.

Remove top sheet of clingfilm from chicken and spread the butter mixture all over, leaving a small border around the edges. Roll up tightly, wrap the bottom sheet of clingfilm around the rolled breast and holding the ends roll away from you and make the ends nice and tight. Put in fridge until required.

Stuffed and rolled chicken breast ready for poaching

Onto the risotto:-

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan, add the shallots, garlic & mushrooms and stir fry for a few minutes. Turn up heat and add the rice, stirring to coat in oil. After about 1 minute add the wine and keep stirring.

Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add the first ladle of stock and seasoning. Turn down heat to medium.

Meanwhile put a medium size pan of water on and bring to a boil. Once boiling add your chicken breast in the clingfilm and simmer for 15 mins.

Take the soaked mushrooms and squeeze out the water then chop up and add to pan. Strain the reserved soaking water and add 1 tablespoon to the pan. As each ladle of stock starts to soak into the rice, add another and continue until all the stock has been added.

Now add the parmesan cheese and butter. Stir in and turn off heat. Cover with a lid and leave whilst preparing the chicken.

Remove clingfilm and put chicken onto a plate. The butter will have melted and be in the clingfilm, be sure to pour this onto the plate too. Slice the chicken.

Put risotto mixture into bowls and place slices of chicken on top. Pour the juices from the plate over the dishes and serve immediately.

Enjoy your labour of love.

Garlic & Chilli Chicken with Noodles (serves 2)

Love chinese? Love garlic? Love chilli? Love this.........

2 x chicken breasts (sliced thinly)
60g plain flour
groundnut oil
6 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 medium red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
bunch of spring onions, chopped
125ml chicken stock
2 tbs light soy sauce
1 red pepper, sliced
200g noodles

Cook noodles according to packet instructions, drain & set aside.

Coat the chicken in flour and shake off excess.

Heat oil in a wok, stir fry chicken until cooked through, remove and keep warm. Add garlic, chillies, pepper and spring onions to wok, stir fry until pepper is tender.

Return chicken to pan with stock, soy and noodles. Stir fry until sauce boils and thickens slightly.

Serve immediately.

Linguine Aglio E Olio (serves 1)

Back in the days of living in the UK, my husband and I used to regularly visit a lovely restaurant called La Caverna in Enfield. The food is italian and the drinks are spanish, it is run by a husband and wife team. This dish was one of my favourites and because I miss that fact I can no longer frequent there due to our move to Spain, I just had to recreate this at home. I have no idea if I am making it correctly, but it tastes the same so I assume I am.

It is the simplest and just the most delicious dish. At La Caverna they use spaghetti, but I prefer linguine.....

Don't worry about the amount of olive oil and garlic, this dish needs it and it will sink to bottom so keep mixing it up. If there's any oil left after eating, mop it up with crusty bread. Mmmmm

95g Linguine
1 Heaped tablespoon finely minced garlic
2 Small red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
5-6 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

Fill your pan with salted water and bring to a boil. Put in the linguine and cook to just al dente.

Whilst the pasta is cooking, gently heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and chillies. Do not let the garlic burn. This needs long slow cooking for the garlic and chillies to flavour the oil.

Drain the pasta and put into a warmed bowl. Pour over the oil mixture and scrape the pan to get out any bits left behind.

Scatter over the parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper.

Enjoy

Chicken Tikka & Salad Pittas

A simple, tasty brunch

I often struggle to achieve a really good brunch. For some reason I can't decide what I fancy to eat and then occasionally I know after my first mug of tea of the day what I really, really want. Today is one such day and it was sooooo delicious.

1 Cooked tikka chicken breast, see marinade recipe here
Lettuce leaves picked from the garden
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced

Dressing:-

1 pot natural greek yoghurt
Juice of 1 lemon
Mint leaves, finely chopped
season to taste

Mix all dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Let the cooked chicken breast cool slightly, then slice thinly. Warm the pittas and cut off about 1" and open out the pocket. Layer the inside with lettuce leaves, onion, pieces of chicken and some dressing. Carry on layering until the pittas are full, then finish with a final drizzle of the dressing.

Chinese Crispy Shredded Beef

I have had this many times in various restaurants over the years and it's still one of my favourites. Recreating it home, took quite a few tweekings but eventually I got there. Not one for usually blowing my own trumpet, but this time deservedly so. My recipe is better than any I've had in a restaurant. Well I think so anyway.

Serves 2-3 as a main meal or 4 as part of several dishes

Approx 230g beef fillet
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
4-5 tbs cornflour
2 tsp 5 spice powder
Oil for deep frying

For the sauce:-
A bunch of spring onions, finely shredded
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1" piece of ginger, grated
2 Red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
4 tbs Caster sugar
3 tbs Rice vinegar
2 tbs Light soy sauce
Cornflour paste (1 tbs cornflour, mixed with 2 tbs cold water)

Cut the beef into very thin long strips and dust with a little cornflour.

Make up the batter by placing cornflour in a medium bowl with the salt and five spice powder, make a well in the centre and add the beaten eggs. Mix well to form a smooth, lump free batter than mix in the beef strips and stir well to coat beef.

Get your oil nice and hot to 190 whilst preparing ingredients for sauce.

Using tongs, pick up strips of the beef from the bowl and drop individually into the hot oil, cook in batches for approx 4-5 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm whilst making the sauce.

TIP: You can prepare the beef in advance and keep refrigerated until required, then warm though in the sauce when ready.

In a wok or saute pan heat 1 tbs of vegetable (or groundnut) oil. Add carrot and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the spring onions, garlic, ginger and chillies. Stir fry again for a couple of minutes and add the rest of the ingredients.Once the sauce is quite thick, quickly add the beef and stir well to coat in the sauce. Serve immediately.


Beef cut into thin strips

Beef mixed into the batter

The cooked beef strips

Ingredients ready for the sauce

A Little Chinese Feast

Given the choice, I'd probably eat chinese food everyday

Sometimes you just fancy picking at food rather than eating a complete meal. I remember, when living in the UK, we would sometimes order lots of different starters from the chinese take-a-way. Whenever I make spring rolls, I make a large batch and and freeze them so I've always got some ready.

Chicken Satay with spicy dipping sauce:-

2 chicken skinless chicken breasts (cubed)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 red thai chillies, seeded and finely chopped
4 tbs peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp light soy sauce
125ml coconut milk (or just plain milk)
60ml beef stock

Heat oil in a pan and cook onion, garlic and chillies, stirring until onion softened. Add peanut butter, sugar and soy sauce. Gradually stir in coconut milk (or milk) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens slightly. Leave to cool.

Combine chicken with half of the sauce in a large bowl and marinade in fridge overnight. Thread onto skewers.

Grill or BBQ the skewers until cooked through.

Meanwhile, add stock to remaining peanut sauce and cook, stirring over low heat until heated through.

Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls:- (makes 16)

Small bunch spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red chilli
1" piece ginger, grated
100g beansprouts
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1/2 chinese cabbage, finely sliced
1 tbs dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar
8 squares of spring roll pastry

Heat 1 tbs of vegetable (or groundnut) oil in a wok and add spring onions, garlic, ginger & chilli and fry gently for 5 minutes. Add the beansprouts, carrot and cabbage and stir fry for a further 2 minutes.

Tip into a bowl, add the soy sauce, sugar and seasoning to taste, stir mixture well and leave to cool.

Cut the spring roll wrappers in half. Put spoonfuls of mixture onto wrapper and roll up tightly, seals end with a little water.

Oven bake or deep fry.

BBQ Spare Ribs:-

500g pork spare ribs
2 tbs clear honey
2 tbs soft dark brown sugar
2 tbs tomato ketchup
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
1 tbs french mustard
1 tbs wine vinegar
1 tsp five spice

Line a roasting tin with foil. Pour in approx 2 tbs vegetable (or groundnut) oil, add the ribs turning to coat in oil and season with salt & pepper. Place in a preheated oven at 200 for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, put remaining ingredients into a jug and stir well to combine.

Remove the ribs from the oven and pour over the sauce, turn the ribs until well coated. Return to oven and roast for 45 minutes. Turning occasionally.

Lower oven temperature to 180. Turn ribs over again and return to oven for a further 45 minutes or until meat is tender and the sauce is syrupy.

My first ever BLT!!!!!

OK, I can already hear the gasps of shock horror. I bet you all thought "everybody has eaten a BLT", of course with the exception of vegetarians and the like LOL.

Quite simply, I've never had one before because I cannot accept a bacon sandwich prepared by anybody else. I am the fussiest person ever when it comes to fat on meat; especially bacon fat which I just can't have in my mouth, not even the tiniest bit. No matter how much you tell someone this, I will find fat (yuk), so it's safer not to accept.

Anyway, the in-laws arrived this week for their summer holidays and my wonderful mother in law bought some english bacon with her. We have just started a fresh, thick cut english white loaf and as my husband has never had a BLT either, what better opportunity to try it out.

With tomatoes in the fridge and fresh salad leaves picked from the garden, this age old sandwich was in process.

I made my husbands first (he loves the fat). Then I set about mine, I needed to use 3 rashers for mine because there's not much meat once the fat has been removed. I would have used 4, but there was only 3 left.

Just to make it slightly different I decided to add a cheese slice too. Yes, plastic cheese slices, because they were lurking in the frige and needed using up.

Would I have it again? I won't rush, it was OK'ish and the cheese wasn't necessary because I couldn't taste it.

So, what's all the fuss about and why is the BLT on every sandwich menu?

Chicken in yellow bean paste (Jiang Pao Ji Ting)

I have been a fan of Sunflower for a long time now and often keep a check on recipes she posts on her site and make a mental note of dishes to try. I've had a tin of yellow bean paste in the cupboard for sometime and after reading that once opened it will last for ages in a screw top jar, kept in the fridge, I decided it was time to give this recipe a go as shown here

I have adapted the ingredients slightly as I didn't have all that Sunflower listed, but nonetheless, it was delicious and a dish I'll try again very soon.

300-350g Chicken breast meat, cubed
1 small egg white, beaten
1 heaped tablespoon cornflour
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 cup cooking oil
1-2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger (depending on taste)
2 tablespoons chopped spring onion
2-3 tablespoons yellow bean sauce (depending on taste)
1/2 green pepper, deseeded & finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, deseeded & finely chopped
dash of light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar

Mix chicken with egg white, soy and cornflour. Set aside and leave for 20 minutes.

Heat oil in wok until very hot, drop in the chicken pieces, stir fry for 1 minute. Then remove the chicken and drain.

Remove all but 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the ginger, yellow bean sauce, spring onions, and peppers and stir fry for a few minutes.

Add the chicken back to wok and stir fry for a few more minutes until chicken cooked and well coated in the sauce. Add sugar and a dash of soy sauce.