Vietnamese-style Fragrant Chicken Curry

This is a firm favourite of mine, and I probably make it every couple of weeks as it’s just so satisfying and tasty. I think the secrets to it’s unfailing success are getting the right coconut milk – one with a high coconut extract content and not too many added extras – and fish sauce of course. I serve it simply with plain thai jasmine rice and a little extra coriander sprinkled on top. It really is very good.

Serves 4-6

You will need: 5 cloves garlic, 4 stalks lemongrass, 4cm piece of ginger, 1 birds eye chilli, large bunch of coriander, 400g skinless chicken thigh fillets, 2 cans coconut milk, 1 aubergine, 2 onions, 1 green pepper, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 4 tbsp fish sauce, 1/2 tsp garam masala

Finely chop the garlic, lemongrass, ginger, chilli and stalks of the coriander. Chop the chicken, aubergine, pepper and onion into big-bite sized chunks. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy-based pan. Add the vegetables and coriander stalks and cook for 10-15 minutes on a medium/high heat until they’re soft and tasty-looking. Add the chicken and the chopped ginger and cook till the chicken changes colour all over. Add the garlic, lemongrass and chilli and fry for a couple of minutes. Then pour in the coconut milk, sprinkle over the sauces and spice and season well with lots of pepper. Stir well, let it bubble, then turn the heat right down and simmer it for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Roughly chop the coriander leaves for sprinkling over the finished dish.

Latkes with Hummus

These were made as a bi-product of the other night’s stuffed potatoes. They’re potato and parsnip fried hotcakes.  Again from the Jerusalem book, I adapted the recipes just a little to suit what I had. I served it with the leftover meat filling for the potatoes that i shaped into burgers and grilled.

For the Latkes: 300g grated potato, 150g grated peeled and grated parsnip, 2 egg whites, small bunch of chopped coriander, 1 tbsp cornflour, seasoning, butter and oil for frying.

Rinse the grated potato in cold water and drain it well, squezzing it in a tea towel. Mix all the ingredients except the fat and season well. Heat a knob of butter with a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and add the mix in cakes of 2 tbsp, flattening them down with the back of your spoon. Fry them for about 3 mins on each side or until crispy and golden. I kept them warm in the oven while they cooked. I served them with a little soured cream also as recommended.

For the Hummus: 1 can drained chickpeas, 100g tahini paste, 1 clove crushed garlic, 4 tbsp lemon juice, 50 mls cold water, seasoning

Blend the chickpeas in a food processor for a couple of minutes. Then add all the other ingredients, seasoning well.

 

Stuffed Potatoes in Spicy Tomato Sauce

This was made as my first foray into my new cookbook (yay) Yotam Ottolenghi and Sam Tamimi’s Jerusalem. It’s a lovely book choc-full of flavour packed and delicious-looking recipes, so I selected this one at random. It is quite a labour of love to make, but the results are so tasty and fantastic. As it says in the book, make it if you have a lot of time or a companion to help you. My little sister was great.

I am giving the quantities I used tonight, based quite closely on the original recipe. This will serve 6 well, probably with leftovers – I made it for 4 and there’s loads left – it’s no bad thing.

For the tomato sauce: 5 cloves garlic, 1 medium onion, 1 carrot, 2 sticks celery, 1 red chilli, 2 tbsp oil, 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp ground caraway seeds, 1 tsp allspice, 2 1/2 tins chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp tamarind paste, 1 1/2 tsp caster sugar, salt and pepper

Finely chop all the veg, garlic and chilli and fry in the oil for about 10 minutes until soft. Do this in a very wide pan if you can. Add the spices and cook for a couple of minutes. Add everything else, seasoning to taste, and bring to the boil then take off the heat set to the side.

For the Potatoes: 1.5kg potatoes, 250g lean beef mince, 250g pork mince, 2 cloves sliced garlic, 20g chopped parsely, 2 tbsp chopped thyme leaves, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 medium onion finely chopped, 2 eggs, 200g breadcrumbs, salt and pepper

Peel the potatoes and slice them in half lengthways. Now hollow them out with a spoon, leaving a shell about 1.5 cm thick –  the leftover potato can be used in another recipe that I shall hopefully be making soon – and set them to the side. Mush up all the other ingredients together in a bowl till well mixed, with hands is best! Stuff the mix into the shells, filling them well, pushing the mix right in. Now try and nestle the potatoes into the tomato sauce, they should be very snug in together. I didn’t have a pan big enough for all of them so I did this in two pans, transferring some of the sauce to the other pan. Then add enough water so the potato is sitting nicely in a bath of liquid. Put the lids on and cook this gently for an hour. I took the lids of for the last 10 mins so the sauce could reduce a little.

I served this with cous cous with parsely, spring onions and coriander oil stirred through. Twas very nice indeed.

Lamb Albondigas with Spaghetti

Made these unplanned to use up some lamb mince. Based loosely on a recipe I found on bbc food. Really spicy, rich and delicious result.

Serves 4 with leftovers. Combine 500g minced lamb with 1 slice of bread soaked 3 tbsp milk, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 slices of ham finely chopped, 1/2 tsp smoky paprika, 1/2 tbsp each ground cumin and coriander seeds and 1 tsp of fennel seeds. Season well. I then tried to mix this with a fork but hands are much more effective! Then shape into balls, I made about 20. Then batch fry these off in 1 tbsp mild oil just til browned all over. I find a good non-stick pan is your greatest ally in these situations! Set them to the side.
For a spicy tomato sauce I fried 2 sliced onions and 2 sliced courgettes in garlic oil til soft with 1 finely chopped birds eye chilli ( this makes it really quite spicy, add less if you like it milder). Then I added 1 tbsp tomato puree and cooked off about 4 tbsp of red wine in this. Once the alcohol had burned off I added 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and seasoned. I then simmered this with the meatballs in while I cooked wholewheat spaghetti to accompany. Great with a sprinkle of grana padano or manchego cheese! Mmmmmm…

Duck Breast with Baked Onions

Lovely French duck breasts tonight, simply slashed, seasoned and fried till crisp and golden, then into a 200C oven for 5 minutes. Then make sure you leave them to rest for a good 15 minutes in foil. Great served with whole onions baked in the same oven for around 40 minutes. Tonight I baked a whole head of garlic in with the onions then squeezed the sweet cloves into mashed potatoes made with extra virgin olive oil. Delicious!