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Al’s Curry Base Gravy

Posted on by JC — 2 Comments ↓

I have suffered a revelation. There is a whole cookery world out there that I didn’t know existed. It concerns Indian/Bangladeshi curries, which I love.

I’ve dabbled with Indian cookery recipes in the past and, I must say, with some success. There’s a BUT – no matter how many cookery books one tries, the recipes, fine though they are, never seem to resemble anything from the local Indian restaurants.

Enter the so-called BIR Base Gravy. “BIR?”, I hear you ask. BIR = British Indian Restaurant.

Your favourite restaurateurs slave away turning out a myriad different curry dishes by tarting up a generic, moderately bland curry sauce, the base gravy, with selected specific additions. They’ll even pre-cook your chicken in the base gravy before tarting it up to your liking.

The light has been swiched on. The Al in the title is a YouTuber with a channel called Al’s Kitchen. I’ve just got to give this a go. It’s a daunting list of ingredients but this makes about 4 litres of base gravy which will keep you going a while – you can freeze it in reasonable portions.

Planning

serves: n/a
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

  • 1kg white onions, peeled & quartered
  • 1 small carrot, peeled & chunked
  • ½ red pepper, seeded
  • 100g white cabbage
  • 1 medium potato
  • 40g red lentils
  • 1 green chilli, halved
  • 1 tin tomatoes
  • 60ml vegetable oil
  • 50g block creamed coconut
  • 125ml sweetend condensed milk
  • 50g garlic, peeled
  • 50g fresh ginger, peeled & chunked
  • 1 tbs tomato purée
  • 2 tsp ground tumeric
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp ground paprika
  • 2 tsp tandoori masala powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 30g fresh coriander (inc. stalks)
  • 1 batch of Akhni Stock

Method

There’s no subtlety here, just chuck everything in a very large casserole and add water up to the top of the ingredients. Bring it to a gentle simmer and cook for an hour.

While that’s happening, strain your batch of Akhni Stock into the pot as well.

Now you really need a stick blender. Remove the pot from the heat and blitz the hell out of everything being careful not to redecorate the kitchen walls and ceiling. Get it aa amooth as you can.

Return it to the heat and continue simmering for another hour, when the oil should separate out on top – just stir it back in.

Lastly – if it’s anything like mine it’ll be too thick – thin it down using water until you get a milk-like consistency before using it in a BIR curry.


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Posted in Sauces Tagged with: ,

Al’s Mix Powder

Posted on by JC — 1 Comment ↓

Revelation time: there are a bunch of BIR techniques used in curry cookery. “BIR?”, I hear you ask. BIR = British Indian Restaurants. One of the main exponents of these is Al of Al’s Kitchen on YouTube. Al is a jolly Londoner with a curry fetish.

This is a spice mix that he uses frequently. I’ve halved the quantities ‘cos the original makes a lot, which is fine if you eat curry every day of the week. Well, why not?

Planning

serves: n/a
preparation time: 5 mins
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs ground turneric
  • 3 tbs ground coriander
  • 3 tbs mild) Madras powder
  • 1 tbs ground cumin
  • ½ tbs garam masala
  • ¼ tsp hot chilli powder

Method

Stir everything together well in a glass bowl and decant into a sealed jar to keep.


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Posted in Basics Tagged with: ,

Akhni Stock

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

This is part of my recent BIR (British Indian Rastaurant) curry cookery revelation. It is a flavouring stock to be used in the making of BIR Base Gravy.

Planning

serves: n/a
preparation time: 5 mins
cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 700ml water
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 7 green cardamom pods, cracked
  • 4 whole cloves
  • 2 tsp black mustard seeds
  • 2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 2 tsp coriander seeds
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 small cinnamon stick
  • 1 small star anise (or half)

Method

Add all the dry ingredients to the water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer it for 15 minutes than strain off the liquid before discarding the residue.


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Posted in Basics Tagged with: ,

Braised Pig’s Cheeks

Posted on by JC — 2 Comments ↓

Pigs’ cheeks had become quite popular in Spain before we got locked out due to Covid-19. I don’t see them very often in the UK but we did find some in a butcher located inside a local garden centre, so here’s how we tried them.

This began life as a Spanish recipe imported by Nigel Slater but I’ve naturally had a slight fiddle with it. The original served four using eight cheeks cooked in a whole bottle of robust red wine as the liquid. Personally I prefer to reduce the heftiness of the red wine so my approach lightens the red wine with chicken stock. The choice is, of course, yours. Since our pack contained only four cheeks, the liquid is also reduced.

Mainly because I don’t care for cooked-to-death carrots, I also chose to blitz the sauce, which lends itself very well to being mopped up with mashed potato.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

  • olive oil
  • 4 pigs’ cheeks
  • 1 white onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 red onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 carrots, roughly diced
  • 2 sticks celery, roughly diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, halved
  • 1 tbs flour
  • 2 bay leaf
  • 6cm strip orange rind
  • 250ml red wine
  • 250ml chicken stock
  • 6-ish sprigs fresh thyme
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas 2.

Heat a tablespoons of olive oil in a casserole (one that has a lid) over medium heat. Season the cheeks then brown them on both sides in the oil. Transfer the cheeks to a plate while you deal with the vegetables.

In the same pan, adding a little more oil if necessary, sweat together the carrots, onions, celery, garlic and orange rind. Once the onions begin to colour just a little, return the reserved cheeks to the pan. Stir in the tablespoon of flour, then pour in the wine. Continue stirring as you bring it to a simmer to drive off the alcohol. Now add the chicken stock, thyme and bay leaves and stir well again.

Cover with the lid and pop it in the oven to simmer gently for 2½hrs.

You can serve it now or, as I did, put the cheeks onto your serving plates, then remove the herbs and orange rind before blitzing the vegetables and braising liquid together.


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Posted in Meat Tagged with:

Wild Boar Ragù

Posted on by JC — 4 Comments ↓

A classic Italian ragù recipe using delicious wild boar, essentially from Michel Roux Jr. except I’m using dried marjoram instead of his fresh oregano.

This is good served over a fresh ribbon pasta such as papardelle and topped with fried, thickly sliced (large) mushrooms. Grated fresh parmesan to sprinkle is a must.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

  • olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, finely diced
  • 2 sticks celery, finely diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
  • flour (for dusting)
  • 900g wild boar, cut into 1½cm cubes
  • 100g pancetta lardons
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 5cm strip orange rind
  • 375ml red wine
  • 2 tbs tomato purée
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas 2.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, lightly coat the boar pieces in seasoned flour (shaking everything together in a large plastic food bag works well). Brown the boar cubes all over, doing it in batches to avoid crowding the pan. As the boar browns, transfer it to a plate using a slotted spoon. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and bubble off the alcohol.

In an ovenproof casserole (one with a lid), heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over low-medium heat. To the hot oil, add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and bay leaf. Soften the vegetables, stirring occasionally, then add the pancetta lardons and orange rind. Cook for five minutes or so until the pancetta fat renders and the veggies are tinged at the edges.

Now add the browned boar meat. Add the tomato purée and stir to combine. Cook for two minutes, stirring to avoid burning.

From the sauté pan, pour over the warm red wine along with 200ml water. Sprinkle in the marjoram and bring to a simmer.

Cover the casserole with its lid and cook in the oven for 90 minutes, when the boar should be meltingly tender and the liquid reduced slightly. If the ragù still seems to be quite wet, remove the pan’s lid and simmer on the hob to reduce and thicken the liquid a little. Finally, adjust the seasoning to taste.

Serve the ragù over some freshly boiled ribbon pasta (or gnocchi works well, too).


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Posted in Meat Tagged with:

Paella con Cerdo y Acelga Arcoiris

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

… or Paella with Pork and Rainbow Chard, to you.

This is developed from a pork, chorizo and spinach recipe in Moro. What, chorizo in a Paella? Yes, just don’t claim it to be a Paella Valenciana or you’ll get lynched.

Much as I love spinach, I also love chard, particularly rainbow chard. The thing about chard is that the leafy greenery and the stems benefit from cooking separately and this recipe lends itself to doing just that. Another adaptation from the original is to treat the pork differently, cutting it very thinly and cooking it well to tenderize it as opposed to leaving it just barely cooked, which we found a bit resilient.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients

  • 500g rainbow chard
  • olive oil
  • 1 pork tenderloin
  • 120g chorizo
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large green pepper, seeded & chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 250g paella rice (bomba or Calasparra)
  • 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika (pimenton)
  • 800ml chicken stock
  • Salt & pepper

Method

First prepare the chard. Cut the leaves from the thicker leaf ribs, then cut the ribs into 4cm lengths. Now cut the leafy bits crosswise into 2-3cm slices. Wash it all but keep the leaves and stems separate.

Next prepare the meats. Cut the chorizo (you can use dulce or picante, whichever) into roughly 1cm cubes. Now split the tenderloin in half down its narrower length. Cut each half across the grain into fine slices, about 3mm thick.

Now we can cook. Using your chosen paella pan [yes, I know, a paella IS a pan], over moderate heat, quickly fry together the pork slices and chorizo in olive oil until the pork is beginning to brown on both sides. Rescue the pork and chorizo to a plate using a slotted spoon, leaving the flavoured oil for the next stage.

Over medium heat, sweat the onion and green pepper together until the onion is nicely softened. Toss in the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Now sprinkle over the pimenton with about half a teaspoon of black pepper and a teaspoon of salt (assuming you are using unseasoned stock and NOT a stock cube – adjust if you are). Stir in the rice to coat with oil and cook gently for 2 or 3 minutes.

Add the chicken stock and stir. Add the rainbow chard rib pieces, together with the reserved pork and chorizo and stir again to mix well. Bring the whole to a moderate simmer and let it cook, uncovered, stirring maybe once or twice, for 20 minutes.

There should still be some liquid left, if not add a splash of water. Place the chard leaves on top of the paella and cover, either with a lid (if your pan has one) or foil if not. Keep the heat where it was and the steam generated will wilt the chard leaves.

Uncover the pan and drive off the remaining liquid. If you’re feeling adventurous, bump up the heat and toast the rice lightly on the bottom of the pan, which the Spanish love.


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Posted in Starters

Thai Green Curry Paste

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

This is essentially the spice mix by for a Thai-style curry by Nigel Slater. This uses the medium hot large-ish green chillis beloved of our supermarkets. Heat can be adjusted by including and removing as many seeds and pith (the hot bits) as you think fit.

This makes sufficient for two 4-person curries. Main ingredients spiced with this paste can vary according to preference, normally including a meat or fish component plus a vegetable. Green curry pastes work very well with tiger prawns, too, but put them in near the end of cooking.

Planning

serves:
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time:

Ingredients

  • 4 fresh lemongrass stalks
  • 8 medium-hot green chillies
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 5 cm piece fresh galangal or ginger, peeled and chopped
  • 2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 4 tbs fresh coriander stalks, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • zest and juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tbs Thai fish sauce
  • ½ tsp ground black pepper

Method

Remove any outer leaves of the lemongrass that are too coarse before slicing it quite finely. According to taste you can remove some of the seeds from the chillies (seeds and pith are the hot parts) prior to chopping them coarsely. Place the lemongrass and chillies, together with the other ingredients into a blender/food processor. Blitz this lot together, scraping down the sides regularly, until you have a thick paste. (You can add a little water to help slacken it if necessary.)

Cover and refrigerate this until you need it. It will keep for about a week in the fridge.


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Posted in Basics Tagged with:

Clafoutis aux Fruits

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

A classic French batter dessert with embedded fruit, often cherries but you can use many alternatives such as apricots, apples, blackberries …

Planning

serves: 4-6
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients

  • 500g black cherries (or …)
  • 100ml milk
  • 150ml whipping cream
  • 2 drops vanilla essence
  • 4 eggs
  • 120g caster sugar
  • 20g plain flour
  • a pinch salt
  • butter for greasing
  • sugar to sprinkle

Method

Preheat your oven to 200°C/Gas 6.

Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl [ crack the eggs first, of course 😀 ] and whisk until creamy. Add the flour and salt and whisk until smooth. Now add the milk and cream with two drops of vanilla essence, beating to mix well.

Butter a flan dish (about 25cm/10in) and sprinkle with caster sugar. Add your fruit, distributing reasonably evenly, before pouring the batter over and around the fruit.

Cook in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, until set and lightly golden on top. Remove and allow to cool down to warm before sprinkling over some caster sugar and serving.


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Posted in Desserts Tagged with:

Pollo en Pepitoria

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

Here is one of those delightful Spanish recipes using an Almond sauce. This one, though, is given a lift by being lightly spiced – fragrantly spiced rather than hotly spiced. As usual, the recipes vary markedly on the Internet but this version, from Rick Stein’s Spain, has the spice mixture that I like.

The ingredients list may look a bit daunting but please don’t let that put you off. The method looks a little more involved, too, but – and you must trust me on this – it’s worth it. I loved it.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 60 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs, hard boiled & peeled
  • 1 chicken, 1.5kg-ish
  • 10 green cardamom pods, seeds of
  • ½ tsp coriander seeds
  • ½ tsp loosely packed saffron strands
  • 2 cloves
  • 1cm cinnamon stick
  • ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • 6 tbs olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled but whole
  • 20g slice white bread, crust removed
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 200ml dry white wine/sherry
  • 200ml chicken stock
  • 2 fresh bay leaves
  • 40g blanched almonds
  • 40g pine nuts
  • 1 tbs fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbs flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Prepare the chicken. Cut the legs off the chicken and skin them, then divide each leg at the joint. Cut the last wing joints off the chicken and save for stock. Remove the breasts with the wings from the chicken carcass and skin them, taking as much skin off the wing joints as you can, too. Cut the wings off the breasts and divide into two. Halve each breast.

Add the seeds of the cardammoms to a spice grinder or pestle and mortar (if you like exercise), together with the saffron, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and peppercorns, and grind to a fine powder. (OK, better stick with the spice grinder.)

Over medium heat, heat 4 tbs olive oil in a casserole or deep skillet. Add the peeled garlic cloves and bread slice and fry, turning once, until golden on both sides. Transfer to the small bowl of a food processor.

Lightly season the chicken pieces before adding them to the garlic/bread pan to brown on both sides. Remove the chicken to a plate, add another splash of oil to the pan and sweat the onion for 10 minutes until soft but not brown. Stir in the ground spices and cook for another minute. Stir in the sherry/wine and bubble off the alcohol, then add the stock. Return the chicken to the pan with the bay leaves, add, say, ¼ tsp salt and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook for 40 minutes, turning the chicken pieces occasionally, until tender.

Dry-roast the pine nuts in a hot, dry frying pan for a minute – just colour them a little. Set aside to cool. In the same way, toast the almonds (about 2 minutes) and set aside to cool.

Once the nuts are cool, add them to the processor containing the toasted garlic and bread. Pop in the yolks of the hard boiled eggs. Add 10 or so tablespoons of the chicken cooking liquid and blitz to a smooth(ish) paste.

Lift the chicken pieces onto a warmed serving dish and cover to keep warm. Add the blitzed paste to the cooking sauce, set back over a low heat and stir for a couple of minutes until thickened. Stir in the lemon juice, adjust the seasoning and pour back over the chicken. Serve scattered with the chopped parsley.


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Posted in Poultry Tagged with:

Croquetas de Morcilla

Posted on by JC — 5 Comments ↓

Based on a concept from a good friend and gourmet in Spain, this is a little development using my favourite Spanish morcilla, morcilla de Burgos. Croquetas [Croquettes] feature strongly on Spanish tapas menus so, if I can get over fretting about deep frying [what on earth does one do with the old oil?] I’ll give this a go.

I do love the Spanish morcilla; morcilla de Burgos in particular is noticeably less stodgy than any English equivalent, largely because it contains rice. The Scots, however, have a much finer offering in Stornoway Black Pudding, which seems moister, perhaps because it contains onion. In addition, Haggis contains pearl barley, not dissimilar to rice, which should lighten the whole affair.

So, here’s an idea: how about some Scottish Croquettes made by substituting the morcilla de Burgos for, say, a 50/50 mixture of Stornoway Black Pudding and Haggis? To keep the Saltire flying, you’d probably need to use a Scottish cheese such as Dunlop instead of Manchego, too.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients

  • 400g cooked and cooled crushed potato
  • 200g crumbled morcilla de Burgos
  • 100g grated firm cheese (e.g. Manchego?)
  • 80g plain flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 150g breadcrumbs
  • Large pinch salt
  • salt & pepper
  • Vegetable oil for deep frying

Method

Place the potato, morcilla, cheese, half the flour (40g), one egg, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Combine the ingredients by hand until you have a firm mixture. Divide the mixture into 18-20 pieces and form into small rolls about 3ins/7cms long and 1in/2.5cms wide.

Take three bowls. Fill one with the remaining 40g of flour, a second with the remaining egg (lightly beaten), and the third with the breadcrumbs. Pass the croquettes through each of the coatings in turn, flour, egg, breadcrumbs coating thoroughly in each and then placing to one side for frying.

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan or deep fat fryer to 180°C. For preference, use a cooking thermometer, otherwise check the temperatire with a cube of bread, which should turn golden brown. Cook the croquetas in small batches, to avoid overcrowding the fryer and once they turn golden, remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.


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Posted in Starters, Tapas Tagged with: