Chicken Do Pyaza with Okra, Cucumber Raita and Naan

Sunday is curry night at home and usually we go for a takeaway from the local ‘Tandoori Cottage’, yesterday however I decided that I would have a go at rustling up my own creation with a little help from Pushpesh Pant’s ‘India’ cookbook, the invaluable instruction I received when staying with an Indian lady and her daughter in Pune (near Mumbai, thank you Sushma and Shriya), and a little experimentation of my own.

The issue then became the lack of almost all the key ingredients in the house to even contemplate any form of preparation, Tesco was open but there were some pretty niche elements on my shopping list to consider that could only really be bought in the one place I could think of, Brick Lane.

So at 10:30am my father and I set off on our bikes, at his suggestion, and cycled all the way to E1 to do a spot of shopping and earn our curry by means of exertion. I will add that our house is in East Hertfordshire and after navigating several canal towpaths in the pouring rain, falling off my bike in front of a trendy café packed with patrons, and taking in Dad’s mandatory ‘City of London Tour’, the whole excursion took in 44 miles and 8 hours. The pressure was on to make the most of the fruits of our labour. Spicy.

Ingredients: (Serves 6)

Note - The naan bread dough needs to rest for 2 hours prior to rolling out.

Note 2 – The chicken should be left to marinate for 2 hours prior to cooking.

Chicken Do Pyaza:

4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks

5 white onions, roughly chopped

½ head of cauliflower

1 cup of vegetable oil (ghee can be used to enhance the flavour, and calories)

8 cloves

8 green cardamoms, crushed

3 tspns cumin seeds

4 tspns medium chilli powder

5 tspns garam masala

2 inch piece of ginger, crushed into paste

3 tablespoons fresh chopped coriander

300ml natural yoghurt, briefly whisked

Water

Salt

Okra:

14 pieces of Okra (ladies’ fingers)

1 medium red chilli, cut into wheels

1 onion, finely chopped

4 tomatoes, cut into 8 wedges each

Water

Okra Masala:

2 inch piece of cinnamon

1 dried red chilli

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

2 black cardamoms, crushed

4 green cardamoms, crushed

Cucumber Raita:

300ml natural yoghurt

½ cucumber, diced

Naan Bread:

1 cup of plain flour

1 cup of water

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of natural yoghurt

Salt

Method:

1. For the naan dough put the flour into a bowl and add the water slowly, stirring firstly with a spoon and then using your hands until it becomes a thick doughy consistency, add the yoghurt and a little salt and knead well on a surface dusted with a little flour. The dough should not stick to your hands and should become thick and elastic, at this point add the oil and knead again for between 5 and 10 minutes into a big round lump. Transfer to a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel for 2 hours.

2. To marinate the chicken put the breasts in a bowl, add 2 tspns of garam masala, 2 tspns of chilli powder and a tablespoon of yoghurt, smother it and transfer it to the fridge for 2 hours.

3. Put three of the chopped onions into a pan, cover with a little water and boil until they have absorbed almost all the liquid, transfer to a blender and whizz into a smooth paste.

4. Pour the whole cup of vegetable oil into a thick bottomed pan and fry the remaining onions over a high heat until they brown, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

5. Add the cloves, chilli powder, cardamoms, cumin seeds, onion and ginger pastes and 3 tspns of garam masala and fry for 2 minutes over a high heat, then add the yoghurt. Turn down the heat to medium and fry for around 25 minutes until the sauce reduces and thickens, take care to stir frequently to prevent the sauce burning and add a little water if needed.

6. Whilst the curry cooks soak the okra in salted water for five minutes. While it soaks get out a frying pan and put it over a high heat, brush a little oil over the dried red chilli, add all the ingredients and spices to the pan and dry roast them for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Transfer them to a pestle and mortar/blender and grind into a masala powder.

7. Put the chicken breasts on a baking tray and cook in the oven at 220°C for 10 minutes.

8. Drain the Okra and chop the heads and tails off, then slice them into ½ cm wheels. In the pan used to dry roast the spices add 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and fry the masala powder for 1 minute, add the onions, chilli, okra and chopped tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes till they begin to soften, at this point you should add a little water and fry for a further 8 minutes until nice and thick, the smell should be pretty sexy by this point. Take off the heat and keep warm.

9. Now back to the curry: when the sauce is reduced add the fried onions you set aside earlier, the remaining 2 tspns of garam masala along with the chopped coriander and ½ a cup of water. Take the chicken breasts out of the oven and chop them into cubes before adding them to the pan and coating them in the sauce, cook for a further 10 minutes until the chicken is completely done and the sauce thickens up.

10. Raita - dice the cucumber and mix with the yoghurt.

11. Finally, take the naan dough from the bowl and mould it into small ovals of about 80g each, roll it out so it’s a few millimetres thick, place on a baking tray and grill for a few minutes till browning on top. Spread a little butter over it and serve with the curry. Spice as nice. 

Friday Fish and Chips

Having recently returned from six months abroad, the final two of which were spent in India, I have been getting stuck into reacquainting myself with Great British foods. The kind of staples that embody the quintessence of old Blighty and only really taste great on home soil. 

When I was walking through the infuriatingly chaotic streets of Varanasi, Hinduism's holiest place and the setting for some pretty mind blowing religious devotion, I was accosted every step of the way by hawkers and street children trying to sell me something or get a commission out of me. The kids, all of whom are illiterate but speak several languages fluently, find out your country and hurl the relevant colloquialisms at you, almost every time as Brits we got "FISH AND CHIPS"! 

I thought of this yesterday when considering how to enable my fishy Friday and thought it would be a nice idea to chuck a bit of the east in there, hence the ginger, cumin seeds and chilli in the mix that are all brought together by the lemon zest and seasoning. Enjoy. 

   

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

Fish:

4 skinned cod fillets

Small bunch of finely chopped parsley

Tspn of cumin seeds

One medium red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

Zest of half a lemon

1 clove of garlic, crushed

Extra virgin olive oil

1cm of ginger, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

Beer Batter:

1 cup of plain flour

1 egg, beaten

1 garlic clove, crushed

½ tspn black pepper

Can of lager

Mushy Peas:

4 handfuls of fresh garden peas (frozen will do)

A handful of freshly picked mint, finely chopped

1 tablespoon of crème fraiche

A small knob of butter

Salt and pepper

Chips:

5 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into chips

Salt

Tartare Sauce:

300ml of Hellman’s mayonnaise

1 tablespoon of capers

6 pickled gherkins, roughly chopped

Small bunch of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

30g of anchovies, roughly chopped

Juice of ½ a lemon

Smoked paprika

2 litres of Vegetable oil for deep frying

Method:

1.Put the cod in a bowl and add all the ingredients from the fish section along with a dash of extra virgin olive oil, leave in the fridge to marinate for a couple of hours.

 2.
Boil the chips for 5 minutes in salted water until they begin to soften but still hold their shape, drain and set aside.

3. For the batter put the flour in a bowl and make a well, pour in the egg, garlic and pepper, and then the lager, stir it thoroughly till the batter reaches a smooth thick consistency and set aside.

4. For the tartare sauce put the mayonnaise in a bowl and add the capers, along with the remaining roughly chopped ingredients and the lemon juice, mix well and keep in the fridge. You can dust the top with paprika when you serve it.

5. Boil the kettle and cook the peas for 3 minutes until soft, transfer to a blender along with the crème fraiche, chopped mint and butter, and blend for a few seconds so it remains lumpy and not pureed. Season to taste.

6. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan over a high heat until it is ready for frying, test it by chucking in a small piece of chip, if it starts to bubble aggressively then you’re ready to get frying. Carefully pour in the chips and cook them for around 10 minutes or until golden, using a slotted spoon transfer them to a plate with some kitchen cloth to drain the oil from them, toss in salt and keep warm.

7. Remove the fish from the fridge, dunk and cover in the batter and lower it carefully into the oil. Cook for between 7-10 minutes or until golden and crispy, remove, and drain on tissue paper before plating all the components together.

Rhubarb and Vanilla Ice Cream

I went out and bought an ice cream maker from ‘The Steamer Trading Company’ yesterday, my new favourite shop, I came out with several things that I hadn’t intended to buy but will nevertheless use. I then went on a walk with my little sister in search of some summer fruits to make my first ice cream ever a seasonal sensation, we made it as far as the vegetable patch twenty feet from the kitchen where we stumbled across the last rhubarb of the year ripe for the picking.

Recently I was fortunate enough to have a week’s work experience in the kitchen of the Michelin starred Petersham Nurseries in Richmond, and whilst there I was called upon to make a ‘Crème Anglaise’ (custard in layman’s terms) to act as the base for a delicious roasted fig ice cream. I had never made one before but fortunately help was at hand in the form of a friendly, but more importantly patient Irish chef named Jordan. It is to his credit that my ‘Crème Irlandaise’ was a success.

Ingredients:

Crème Anglaise-

6 egg yolks

1 pint double cream

½ pint whole milk

200g white sugar

1 vanilla pod, halved but NOT deseeded

Rhubarb-

500g of rhubarb, roughly chopped

80g white sugar

Small knob of butter

Mint and fudge cubes to garnish

Method:

1. Mix the egg yolks with the 200g of sugar a mix well.

2. Mix the milk and cream together, pour into a large pan, add vanilla pods and stir in a figure of 8 with a spatula over a low heat until warm but not too hot.

3. Add the sugar and egg mix in a steady stream and continue to stir for around 10 minutes, at this point you have to watch diligently as the consistency changes very quickly and if you over cook it the eggs will scramble. To test pull out the spatula and run a finger through the creamy residue, if the line where your finger was remains and doesn’t dribble it is ready. Quickly strain it through a sieve into a cool pan and chill in the fridge until cold.

4. Whilst the crème anglaise is cooling, chop the rhubarb into chunks and add to a frying pan over a medium to high heat with a small knob of butter. After a few minutes it should begin to soften, pour over 80g of sugar and mix it in so the rhubarb begins to caramelise. After 10 minutes the rhubarb should have turned into a mush, transfer to a blender and give it a couple of good whizzes before putting it in the fridge to cool.

5. Read the instructions on your ice cream maker to see how long it needs to chill, I had to stick mine in the deep freeze overnight. When it is ready and the rhubarb and crème anglaise are chilled, pour the latter into the compartment and churn for at least 20 minutes before adding the rhubarb mush and churning for a further 10. Scoop it out into a container and whack it in the freezer for a few hours until it reaches the desired consistency. Couple of dollops on the plate, fudge cubes and a sprig of mint and it’s ready to go.  

Classic Fish Pie

This is one of my absolute favourites and the first recipe on here because of it, my Mum has been cooking it for years and I'm pretty sure she got it from hers, who in turn got it from my Great Grandmother who probably learnt it the same way. My culinary genealogy doesn't stretch that far back unfortunately, so whether Mrs Beeton may have stuck her oar in at one point I'm not sure. Although I have checked the copy of 'Mrs Beeton's Everyday Cookbook' on my shelf at home given to my Great Grandmother by her Grandmother for Christmas (To My darling Connie, From Grandma Xmas 1928), and the recipe seems very different indeed -

Ingredients - 1 lb each of cold fish and mashed potatoes, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs, 4 oz of finely chopped suet, enough milk to reduce the mixture to the consistency of very thick batter, salt and pepper.

Method - Chop fish coarsely, mix it with the potatoes and suet, add a liberal seasoning of salt and pepper, the eggs and milk, and beat well. Turn in a greased pie dish, and cook in a moderate oven for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Serve in the dish in which it is baked.

Time - About 2 hours. Sufficient for 6-7 persons.  

83 years later and the recipe couldn't be more different, more ingredients, less time, and hopefully much tastier now that I've added a few bits of my own.

Ingredients: (Serves 6) 

Smoked Haddock Fillet

Salmon Fillet

Cod Fillet (1 lb of fish pie mix from the Deli will do it) 

12 King Prawns, ready cooked and shelled

3 eggs (2 hard boiled)

5 Medium size Potatoes for Mashing

1 Leek, roughly chopped

125g Mature Farmhouse Cheddar, grated

40ml Double Cream

450ml Semi Skimmed Milk

75g Salted Butter

80g Plain Flour

1 tspn Nutmeg, ground

1/2 tspn Cinnamon, ground

Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Peel the potatoes, chop them into halves and put them in a pan with cold, salted water and bring them to the boil over a high heat. When the water is hot enough throw in a couple of the eggs for five minutes to hard boil them and save water. 

2. While the Potatoes are cooking chop the leeks roughly, cover with pre-boiled water and cook for 5 minutes until softened. Drain and set aside.

    

3. In a pie dish lay out the cubed fish mix and prawns evenly and give a couple of turns of black pepper.

4. To make the White Sauce (Roux) put a saucepan over a medium heat and melt 50g of the butter until it has all become liquid, add the 80g of plain flower and mix together using a whisk. It should turn thick and lumpy, when this happens pour in a little of the milk and whisk gently till it thickens. Continue to do this until you have a thick smooth sauce and have used all of the milk. 

5. Keep the white sauce over a medium heat and mix in 100g of the Cheddar until it has melted, then add the leeks and the hard boiled eggs, shelled and cut into 8 wedges, along with a tspn of ground nutmeg. Stir thoroughly and pour over the fish.

6. When the potatoes are cooked strain them and return to the pan, add the remaining butter, cream, egg (the heat from the potatoes will cook the raw egg) and a few turns of salt and pepper and 1/2 a tspn of cinnamon. Mash well and cover the fish, spreading evenly with a fork. 

7. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees Centigrade and cook for 20 minutes, remove and sprinkle the remaining cheese and a little nutmeg and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and the pie is golden. Garnish with a little parsley and serve piping hot with ketchup. I don't have the sauce with much, but it belongs with this pie.