They're yummy in the summer, grilled/bbq'd and in a pitta with loadsa mint and cucumber raita or a nice garlic mayo! loads of fresh lettuce and onions!
They can be either lamb,beef or pork!
You can freeze them with ease!
Right,Here is my recipe to simple recipe to kebabs.
4 lb Pork mince ( you can use beef or lamb but i used pork because it was easier to get hold of!)
8 cloves of garlic (minced)
3 Chillies (mine are pretty damn hot)
30g fresh root ginger (minced)
10g bread crumbs
1 whole egg
1 tbsp cumin powder
2 tsp whole cumin
2 tsp Garam masala
2 tbsp Chopped coriander
Salt to taste
In a Bowl mix all of your ingredients!(how easy is that!!) By the way,i minced my ginger,garlic and chillies all in my vegetable chopper :D
Roll them into any shapes and sizes you wish,they make great burgers!i made theminto these sausagey shapes because they hold theyre shape bettter when cooking.i weighed these out at 5g each. i got 50 peices out of this mix!
Willy Wonkas factory never failed to amaze me,until today!
We had a visit from The cress people. Cress people,yes.
They say little things please litttle minds,but these little things will baffle and amaze Mr Einstein himself!
We had cress that tasted like mud! flowers that made your mouth tingle! & flowers that looked to good to eat! All in one room!
& GUESS WHAT!!
Non of it was GM!
I was so amazed i had to pretend i wasnt,i didnt want to look like the weak link in my class or anything!
So today at college we were talking about dietary requirements,Veganism, cooking for diabetics and celiacs and stuff. My friend being as self centered as she is, couldn’t understand how or why people would want to be a vegetarian let alone vegan!
Im not exactly a huge fan of meat, but I do love my fish, but I feel I could do without it.
But here I am now...Vegetarian for a week.
This doesn't bother me, because I love vegetables! I love my pulses and beans too and if anything I see this as an opportunity to get more intact with my roots.
We are from the Indian part of Punjab you see!(well my family is)
Where foods like; Rajma,Rongi and saag are everyday foods! (Just to name a few of my favorites!)
As a student chef im always trying to new recipes and ideas, and I already find it hard to work with food, well taste it because I do not eat beef or halal.
Obviously Halal being cheaper for some unknown reason, we use allot more of it; I have no problem cooking it, its just eating it.
I struggle here because if I don’t taste it how do I know if I’ve cooked it right?!
But still enough of all this, im going to post you one of my favourite recipes!
Dhal Makhani!
150g whole urad daal
2 tablespoon Red kidney bean
1 1/2 litres of warm water
2 medium onions finely chopped
3 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoon turmeric powder
125g chopped tin tomatoes
25g Ginger piece
3 green chilies minced ( mine are really strong so adjust this to your chillies!)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
10 floz Double cream
2 tablespoons yogurt
2 teaspoons of tandoori powder
3 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoon Garam masala
Salt to your taste
Normally this dhal is cooked for about 3 hours! but i would say this takes just over a hour and a half..
Make sure the red kidney beans have been soaked the night before,just too speed things up a bit.(you can also soak your urad by the way)
The dhal should be cooked until soft,kidney beans contain toxins which can kill you!(eeek!) So please make sure you cook them properly,otherwise you wont be making my yummy dhal again,will you!!
To soak the beans just put them in a bowl and cover with boiling water and leave over night!The longer the better.
Anyway,enough of this morbidness!
Right!
In a largeish pan,heat your oil and heat your butter.
Temper your jeera.
Then add your onions and ginger,& cook until translucent.
Add your garlic and your chillies and cook until brown.
Add your Tumeric & tandoori powder,cook out for about a minute.
Then add your Urad dhal,and your tomatoes & cook out futher,until you feel the dhal starting to stick.
Add your water and you kidney beans and place a lid on your pan!
Leave for about half an hour and keep checking to make sure your dhal has plenty of water in it.
when you notice the water has reduced a bit,and the urad has started to fill out/split,test your dhal. Remove a kidney bean and urad dhal and squash it,there should be no hard bits in it.
If at this stage the shal is soft,add your yogurt & cream and salt and reduced to a desired consistency!
PS.
I will add pictures soon! and i am sorry about the state of this but the blogger editor is playing up and just making a bigger mess out of my mess :( !! HELP!!
P.P.S.
ive just returned from asda! i went to go get double cream so i can take pics of this for you people to see!
and the double cream split in the carpark and covered me! and im sticky and i probably smell like mouldyness and OH the shame :( SEE WHAT I DO FOR YOU!
Firstly,My apologies if this is a little messy & the pictures are worse than usual! Ive been busy at work :( and now im eating saag and ARRRGH i cant let anything come between me and saag!!
Oh my Gourd enough of that already! * teehee *
Don't you just love them,Pumpkins,Squashes! Call them what you wish!
Whether they be sweet or savoury, theyre well worth eating,and when better to eat them,than this time of year.
We needed something quick and simple to eat & Whats better than a spicy,hearty,Butternut squash and potato curry!
You will need:
230g Butternut squash (peeled & diced into bite size pieces)
170g Potato ( Peeled & diced into bite size pieces)
80g Chopped onion
200g chopped tomatoes ( i used tinned)
25g chopped Garlic
20g Chopped ginger ( you can mince or grate the ginger and garlic if you wish)
2 tablespoons of veg oil
2 curry leaves ( i crushed :$ )
2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
2 teaspoon whole cumin
1 small pinch of Hing (Asafoetida)
2 teaspoon Tumeric
3 Chillies ( i used birdseye and they were pretty hot you can tweak this to suit your taste)
1 teaspoon of paprika
Salt to your taste
1/4 pint of water
Method:
In a pan temper your Cumin,Black Peppercorns & Curry leaves.
(Until the cumin goes a little darker (NOT BLACK)
Add your Onions and Ginger and cook until the onions are translucent and starting to go brown.
Then add the ginger and chopped chillies.
Cook until goldenbrown Then add your;
Hing,tumeric,paprika.
Cook Mix in all the spices,Then add your potatoes and cook
out for a further 5 minutes.
Add your squash,And cook until you can feel the curry just starting to stick to the pan,
Add your water and placer a lid on top,and cook on a low heat until the potatoes & squash are soft.
When soft take off the heat,sprinkle with plenty of freshly chopped cilantro!
Check out my gujrati che! :D
Have you ever been to Southall?
Where Indian sweet shops plague shopping parades?
Names like Ambala and Jalebi junction.
Not only do they taunt you,they lure you into purchasing some of they're uber delish foods!
Weve all been there,if not in Southall,Some other place!
Ever been in to one of these shops and thought,"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" ?
Probably not,But sometimes i go in and i think "do i really want something sweet?"
So i buy some freshly made bombay mix,Maybe some patra and Dhoklaa! Okay i admit i do nick some mixed mithai somebody in my family bought!
So Dhokla,Oh The Guji people of the world,i know you don't know me,but thankyou for this one,really,thanks.
Usually you get a choice of a Mint or red chilli chutney,or if your lucky some tamrind chutney! Mmm
Dhokla has a really unusual taste and texture and just keeps you coming back for more!
& guess what lovely people!
I GOT YOU A RECIPE!! :D ( Ideal as finger food at a party! Oh i also found you some music just because it was what i was listening to whilst making it!)
*Jumps around with excitement for a while*
Just to add,This recipe is steamed! If like me you don't have a steamer,Just use a large pan with a tight fitting lid!! I also used a 8 inch square cake tin as my Dhokla mould...(Gosh i am useless!) Alsoooooo,There is many different variations of this recipe,some call for semolina some call for Eno and all sorts,this is a way i found worked!
RECIPE
280g Besan (Gram flour/Chickpea flour) 240ml Yoghurt 600ml Warm water
2 chopped green chillies 1 inch chopped ginger 1/2 teaspoon powdered tmeric Salt (to your taste) 1 teaspoon Baking soda
2 tablespoon oil Juice of 1 lemon
To decorate these beauties;
2 teaspoon mustard seeds 2 dried Curry leaves
3 tablespoons of Freshly chopped corriander A generous sprinkling of grated coconut
Sift your Besan into a bowl Add your water & yoghurt and Salt
Whisk until it is of dropping consistency and has no lumps Leave it to ferment for about 2 hours, ( The longer you leave it the better,so i am told) Blitz your ginger and chillies into a paste (using a food grinder) Grease your make shift dhokla pan Mix the lemon juice,half the oil and all the bicarb soda in a little bowl and add to the fermented besan mix
Pour your batter into the tin and add into your steamer Steam for about 12 minutes! ( Or until it springs back when poked)
When the dhokla is done,cool and cut into desired shapes,sizes and pieces!
In a pan temper your curry leaves and mustard seeds,when you hear the seeds pop pour this mix over the dhokla!
Garnish with split green chillies and chopped corriander,oh and the coconut!
Enjoyyyyyyyy!!
I got this recipe out of a book from India i have at home but had to mess around with it!
So Now it is mineeee!! ALLLL MINEEEE BWHAHAHAHA!! *ahem
