BEST EVER TARKA DHAL

TARKA DHAL

I never tire of this humble dhal, I love the depth of flavours you get from adding the crispy nutty ghee fried garlic and onion tarka along with fresh coriander and garam masala at the end of the cooking, it really does make all the difference from a plain dhal to a sumptuous dish.  I love to scoop this dhal up with a ghee garlic loaded naan bread, recipe below, just perfect with this rich dhal.

Ingredients

(serves 4)

The Dhal

1 cup of red lentils washed and soaked

6 cups of water

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1 tbsp coriander stalks finely chopped

The Tarka

8 fat cloves garlic sliced

1 small onion finely diced

1 tbsp ghee

1 small bunch coriander roughly chopped

1 tsp garam masala 

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Rinse the lentils several times, place in a deep saucepan with the water, turmeric, coriander stalks, cumin and curry powder, bring to a simmer, pop on a lid and turn down to a low simmer and leave to cook for around 30 minutes, you are looking for a thick soft texture where all the lentils have cooked down and created a lovely dhal.

Meanwhile in a frying pan heat the ghee and gently fry the garlic and onion until nutty brown, reserve to one side until the dhal is cooked.

To finish the dhal add the tarka stir in with the fresh coriander, garam masala, season to taste and serve with some garlic butter naan breads for dipping scooping and stuffing.

GARLIC NAAN BREADS

Dough 15 minutes / 1 hr to 24hrs proving / 3 minutes cooking each naan (makes 8)

Ingredients 

(makes 8)

450g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

150g milk

4g yeast

1 tbsp sugar

2 small eggs

135g Greek yogurt

10 cloves garlic finely chopped

250g butter room temperature 

1 small bunch parsley finely chopped

The dough.

Place the milk in a saucepan and warm, you should be able to drop some milk on the inside of your wrist and it is not hot, take off the heat transfer to a bowl, add the sugar and yeast, leave to one side for 20 minutes so that the yeast can activate, the sugar will feed the yeast and you should see bubbles forming as the yeast activate. 

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and Greek yogurt together.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt to combine, add the wet ingredients, the yogurt egg mixture and the activated yeast milk and bring together to form a dough ball.  Knead with a dough hook for 10 minutes or by hand for 10 minutes.

Grease the bowl and cover, leave to prove for min 1-2 hours at room temperature or in the fridge for 24-48 hours.

If you have proved in the fridge take the dough out and leave to come up to room temperature at least 2 hours before cooking.

Mix the softened butter with the garlic and parsley, place in a bowl by the cooker with a pastry brush ready for painting the cooked naan’s.

To cook the naan’s heat a large skillet hot.

Tear off a tennis ball size of dough, very lightly dust you work top with plain flour and roll out your naan bread to a pound coin thickness, dust off any excess flour, place the naan bread on the skillet and let it cook on the first side for 2 minutes until two thirds cooked and puffed up, flip over and finish cooking for 1 minute on the other side, remove from the skillet and immediately paint with the softened garlic herb butter.  Keep warm and serve immediately.

CHORIZO AND POTATO SOFT TACOS

Crispy chorizo infused potatoes loaded with the usual suspects of fresh pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole, on a warm corn taco, lip smackingly gorgeous and should only be eaten with people that love you !  This taco is one of Mexico’s most favourite humble fillings, not the most famous as you can’t beat tacos al pastor.

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients 

(makes 10 tacos)

10 soft corn tacos

1 cooking chorizo small diced

4 Idaho potatoes peeled, finely diced

1 glug olive oil

1 ltr vegetable oil for frying

Pico de gallo

2 tomatoes de-seeded, finely diced

1 small red onion finely diced

1 fresh jalapeño finely diced

2 tbsp fresh chopped coriander 

1/2 juice of lime

Sea salt and black pepper

Guacamole 

1 avocado roughly mashed

1 spring onion sliced

1 fresh jalapeño finely diced

1/2 juice of lime

1/4 red pepper finely diced

2 tbsp fresh coriander chopped

Sea salt and black pepper

First place the peeled and diced potatoes in cold water and bring to a simmer, par boil for 5 minutes, drain and leave to steam dry in a colander while your oil heats up to 170 C / 340 F on a back burner.

While the oil is heating make the pico de gallo by combining the diced tomatoes, onion, jalapeños, coriander, lime and salt and pepper. 

Place on the table ready to eat.

Make the guacamole by combining the avocado, spring onion, jalapeños, red pepper, lime, coriander and salt and pepper.  

Place on the table.

Garnish the sour cream with fresh coriander and place on the table.

Place the stack of corn tacos in a small non stick pan on a low heat and keep turning and changing the stack order regularly to warm them through, alternatively heat in a microwave for one minute, once warm wrap in a tea towel or place in a tortilla warmer to keep warm.

Place the diced chorizo with a little olive oil in a medium hot pan and cook until crispy, at the same time add the potatoes to the hot oil and fry for approx 5-6 minutes until crispy golden brown and fluffy in the center, remove with a slotted spoon and add to the chorizo, toss the potatoes through the chorizo making sure they soak up all the released chorizo cooking oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately family style for every one to just dive in.

NAAN BREAD WITH GARLIC BUTTER AND CHARRED TANDOORI CHICKEN

Super Easy…

Light fluffy puffed naan breads with that charred finished, painted with a serious raw garlic and herb butter, a wonderful bread for all your Indian dinners, my family loves these breads with clay pot cooked tandoori chicken, recipe below for tandoori chicken.

I like to prove all my dough’s for at least 24 hours in the fridge overnight, this slow proving improves the taste and texture of the breads, but you can prove this bread for 1-2 hours in a warm area of your kitchen, proving draw or laundry room and use on the same day.

Dough 15 minutes / 24hrs proving / 3 minutes cooking each naan (makes 8)

Ingredients 

(makes 8)

450g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

150g milk

4g yeast

1 tbsp sugar

2 small eggs

135g Greek yogurt

10 cloves garlic finely chopped

250g butter room temperature 

1 small bunch parsley finely chopped

The dough.

Place the milk in a saucepan and warm, you should be able to drop some milk on the inside of your wrist and it is not hot, take off the heat transfer to a bowl, add the sugar and yeast, leave to one side for 20 minutes so that the yeast can activate, the sugar will feed the yeast and you should see bubbles forming as the yeast activate. 

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and Greek yogurt together.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt to combine, add the wet ingredients, the yogurt egg mixture and the activated yeast milk and bring together to form a dough ball.  Knead with a dough hook for 10 minutes or by hand for 10 minutes.

Grease the bowl and cover, leave to prove for min 1-2 hours at room temperature or in the fridge for 24-48 hours.

If you have proved in the fridge take the dough out and leave to come up to room temperature at least 2 hours before cooking.

Mix the softened butter with the garlic and parsley, place in a bowl by the cooker with a pastry brush ready for painting the cooked naan’s.

To cook the naan’s heat a large skillet hot.

Tear off a tennis ball size of dough, very lightly dust you work top with plain flour and roll out your naan bread to a pound coin thickness, dust off any excess flour, place the naan bread on the skillet and let it cook on the first side for 2 minutes until two thirds cooked and puffed up, flip over and finish cooking for 1 minute on the other side, remove from the skillet and immediately paint with the softened garlic herb butter.  Keep warm and serve immediately.

Tandoori Charred Chicken 

This is so good and is great fun to cook, I love cooking outside, despite the sleet rain and wind at present!  But this is almost as good charred on a hot griddle pan in the kitchen, with the windows open!  After many attempts I have finally married up several inspirational recipes and found this marinade tasted as close to the proper tandoori chicken cooked in a traditional tandoor.  I used my hot coal clay pot to cook the chicken which allowed me to get that all important charred essential layer of flavour on to the chicken to add that authentic tandoor taste, but you can still get that charred flavour from a stove top griddle, the outdoor cooking smoke flavour is the only flavour you be short on.  The flat breads really are worth the effort to make they only take 5 minutes to set the dough up and 3 minutes to cook and are outstandingly fabulous.

I have used kashmiri chilli powder in this recipe, you can find this on Amazon or in good deli stores.  If you want a redder traditional colour like in the Indian restaurants this is achieved by adding a paprika extract known as, paprika oleoresin I was unable to find this, it is used commercially and you can find it in the commercial mix of tandoori masala powders readily available.  I have made my own tandoori masala, recipe below.

MARINADE

5 cardamon pods de-seeded

2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

2 tsp  coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 grated nutmeg

2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder

1 tbsp tandoori masala powder (home made recipe below)

1 lrg tsp salt

2" piece of ginger finely grated

6 garlic cloves finely grated

300g Greek yogurt

1/2 lemon juiced

4 chicken breasts or lamb 

ACCOMPANIMENTS

200ml Greek yogurt

 8 tsps Harissa paste

watercress salad

 1 sliced onion

 1 sliced peppers

2 tbsp fresh chopped coriander 

TANDOORI MASALA POWDER

1 tsp ground ginger, cumin, coriander, paprika, salt, cayenne and turmeric.

Mix together

TANDOORI MASALA MARINADE

In a pestal and mortar or my favourtie a not for coffee grinder, grind the cardamom, cumin, cloves, black peppercorns and coridander seeds, tip into a larage bowl and add the yogurt, cayenne, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, chilli powder, tandoori masala powder, ginger, garlic, salt and lemon juice, mix well into a gorgeous paste and coat the chicken really well.  The longer you can leave this to marinate the deeper the flavour, 30 minutes and you will have a tandoori chicken meal but 5 hours or overnight in the fridge and you will have outstanding tandoori chicken.  Once marinated place the chunks of chicken on your skewers, if using wooden skewers soak them in cold water for 30 minutes prior to use.  If using metal skewers your chicken will cook a little quicker than wooden skewers.

CHICKEN TANDOORI

Fire up your BBQ, coal pot or stove top griddle and to start cook the skewers low down near the coals, or on a really high heat so as to char the chicken, don't turn the skewers until the meat has really sealed and charred on one side then once you have charred both sides lower the heat or pop higher up to finish cooking slowly, allowing the chicken to start resting as it finishes cooking, serve stuffed and rolled up in your naan bread with salad, yogurt and harissa.

AVOCADO OIL MAYONNAISE

SUPER SPEEDY…

90 seconds is all it takes to whisk up this wonderful zingy mayonnaise, once you start to make your own mayonnaise you’ll probably never buy store brought again, the comparison in flavour is miles apart and even better you can flavour your mayonnaise to your likin! 

I like to use a glass bowl and ballon whisk, but this recipe also works using a food processor too.

AVOCADO OIL MAYONNAISE

Ingredients 

(makes 400g)

300ml avocado oil or rapeseed oil

3 egg yolks

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 lemon juiced

Sea salt and white pepper

In a deep bowl or food processor place the egg yolks, white wine vinegar, lemon juice and Dijon mustard, with a balloon whisk, or with the food processor running start whisking and slowly at first drizzle in the oil once you have a emulsion you can add the oil at a faster speed, whisk until all the oil is incorporated and you have a lovely glossy thick mayonnaise, season with salt and white pepper, that’s it.

THE BEST EVER HOT CROSS BUNS

Glorious spiced fragrant hot cross buns, lightly toasted and topped with a indecent amount of Cornish creamy butter, a wonderful way to celebrate Easter.  These are super easy and un-complicated to make and are of the chart in flavour and spice.  These only take 10 minutes to make and 3 x 1hr proves I followed/tweaked a little from Paul Hollywood's good food recipe

10 minutes hands on / 3 x 1 hour proves / Baking 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

(makes 15)

500g 00 flour

10g yeast

1 tsp salt

100g caster sugar

300ml warm milk

80g butter melted

1 egg beaten

1 lady grey tea bag

1 apple grated

Zest of one orange

1 tsp heaped ground cinnamon

100g dried fruit

25g mixed peel

100g plain flour

water

1 tbsp apricot jam

Place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl, keep the yeast away from the salt, warm the milk and butter together until the butter has melted.  

Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the warm milk and the beaten egg, using a wooden spoon bring the mixture together to form a dough and knead for 5 minutes.  Place in a oiled bowl and cover the top with oiled clingfilm, not touching the dough, place in a warm place to prove for 1 hour.  Take the dried fruit and place in a bowl, add the fragrant teabag and pour over approx 100ml hot water to soften the fruit.

At the first 1 hour prove, mix the cinnamon, apple, orange zest, mixed peel and dried fruit, (drain off the tea) into the dough and leave to prove again for another hour, the dough will be slightly wet and sticky that is good.

After the second 1 hour prove, dust your worktop with flour and tip out your dough, divide the dough into 15 equal ish size balls, I mean you can weight the dough, divide equally but I like to go by eye! Gently form into dough balls, place on a greased baking tray with space around each bun to allow room for expansion, cover with oiled clingfilm loosely and again prove for the final hour.

Pre heat your oven to 200 C / 392 F

Next apply your cross, mix the flour with some water to make a thick paste, fill a pipping bag and pipe on the cross.  

 Bake at 200 degrees for 18-20 minutes.  Once cooked glaze the top with some warm apricot jam, saw in half and pop under the grill to toast, load with butter and I like to pop back under the grill for 30 seconds again to get the mound of butter melted so I will get a crispy but buttery bottom too, making these the best ever hot cross buns, eat immediately.

BEST EVER FOUR CHEESE MAC n CHEESE

Creamy oozing sumptuous loaded four cheese mac n cheese, topped with crispy sweetcure bacon and crispy crunchy bacon Parmesan panko breadcrumbs, just dive right in or eat with a spoon!  My son loves to drizzle habanero sweet chilli sauce over his Mac n cheese too.

Ingredients 

(serves 4-6)

1 kg elbow macaroni 

50g butter

50g plain flour

1 ltr gold top creamy Jersey milk

1 onion halved 

1 clove

1 bay leaf

400g -500g medium cheddar cheese grated 

100g Emmental grated 

100g Gruyère grated

200g Parmesan grated

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

Sea salt and white pepper

Toppings

500g sweetcure bacon

1 tbsp butter

250g panko breadcrumbs 

100g fresh grated Parmesan 

Habanero sweet chilli sauce (optional)

Mac n Cheese

Take the onion and using the clove as a stud, pin the bay leaf to the onion and pop into the milk, bring the milk up to almost a simmer and take off the heat, leave to infuse for half an hour.

Meanwhile fry off the bacon until crispy, using your fingers crumble the bacon, reserve to one side on some paper towel.  In the same pan add the butter, once melted add the breadcrumbs and toast until light golden in colour, take off the heat and toss through the Parmesan cheese, reserve to one side.

Meanwhile make the roux by melting the butter and adding the flour, cook on a low heat for five minutes, this is to cook out some of the flour flavour.  Increase the heat to a medium, remove the onion from the milk, add a ladle of infused milk, whisk in well, repeat this until all the milk has been incorporated, you want a medium thick sauce that if you draw a line through on the back of a spoon the line stays.

On a gentle simmer keep the sauce cooking for twenty minutes stirring almost all of the time, next add the cheddar, half of the Parmesan cheese, the Emmental and Gruyère and stir in until melted, season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste, add more seasoning or cheese to your taste, leave on a low low heat while you cook the macaroni.

Bring a large pan of water to a boil season with a tbsp of sea salt, drop in the macaroni and cook for 6-8 minutes until al dente, soft but with just a hint of bite to the elbows, roughly drain and add to the reserved bechamel cheese sauce and combine well. 

Pour into a large casserole dish, top with the crispy sweetcure bacon and panko bread crumbs, bake for 30 minutes until bubbling hot and serve.

SPANISH PAPRIKA CLAMS MUSSELS SCALLOPS SQUID PRAWNS AND CHORIZO

OMGosh…….

This is a outstanding winner dinner dish!  So simple yet a real show stopper!  Gorgeous succulent shellfish with a insanely flavoured broth, such beautiful fresh ingredients speak for themselves in all the flavours of this dish.

This is a really fast cook, on the table in 10 minutes!

TIP…have all the ingredients prepped and ready to go before you start cooking, and have your serving bowls and table set.

Ingredients 

(serves 4-6)

20 fresh cold water prawns peeled

1kg fresh mussels 

1kg  fresh clams

12 scallops

1 large squid cleaned and sliced

4 cooking chorizo sausages sliced chunky

2 tbsp butter

Olive oil

750ml chicken stock

300ml dry white wine

2 large vine ripe tomatoes skinned, deseeded and finely chopped

1 lemon juiced

1 lemon cut into wedges

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tsp smoked paprika

Warm crusty garlic butter torn baguette (optional)

Spread a ton of butter mixed with chopped garlic and parsley over the halved baguette, pop in the oven 170 C for 6 minutes, serve torn in a bread basket on the table.

Place the mussels and clams in a large pan with a lid, add the wine, half the butter and half the garlic, bring to a rolling simmer and cook for 3 minutes, strain the mussels and clams into a sieve, keeping all the cooking liquid.  Reserve the shellfish to one side.

Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a saucepan along with the remaining butter, cook the chorizo for 3 minutes turning half way, add the scallops and sear for 45 seconds each side, remove the chorizo and scallops and reserve to one side, next cook the squid fast around one minute each side, remove from the pan and reserve to one side.

Add the mussel cooking liquid and chicken stock to the pan, reduce by half on a high heat, next add the remaining garlic, tomatoes, lemon juice, parsley, paprika and prawns, when the prawns are two thirds cooked around 1-2 minutes add all the reserved mussels, clams, scallops, squid and chorizo, stir though for one to two minutes until hot, check for seasoning, turn off the heat.

Serve the big pot family style along with the warm garlic crusty bread for dunking and soaking up the most gorgeous broth.

SAUSAGE CHEESE AVOCADO EGG MUFFIN

Gluten free.

Gorgeous Sunday morning brunch, caramelised sausage and chilli cheese corn bread pattie sandwiched between two light egg muffins with cheese and loaded with fresh avocado and spicy sriracha yuzu sauce, just perfect for a go slow Sunday breakfast.  I make my own sausages and use left over corn bread as the binder, you can also remove the skin from store brought sausages and form them in to your patties.

I use egg rings to make the muffin shape of the eggs but it’s not essential, if you don’t have egg rings just fry the eggs over easy in the usual way.

Ingredients

(serves 2)

4 sausages skinned / breakfast sausage meat OR homemade sausage meat recipe below

4 cheese slices

4 eggs

5 tsp butter

40ml olive oil

1 avocado smashed

1/2 lime juiced

1 small handful chopped coriander 

1 fresh jalapeño chopped

Sea salt and black pepper

Homemade Sausages

Making sausages is a lot easier than you think, ask your butcher for a line of sausage casings, using a funnel thread the sausage casings on to the spout of the funnel, tie a knot in the end, using the end of a wooden spoon prod the sausage meat down the funnel into the casings, this is how I started, now I have a hand turning sausage stuffer that allows me to make 20 meters of sausages at a time.  It’s a great fun experience to make your own sausages specifically with the kids, but be warned this activity does bring out the kids in adults too!

Recipe

Traditional Old Spot Sausages, gluten free

A classic sausage great all rounder and for breakfast.

1kg minced pork shoulder and belly minced, bacon optional but everything is better with bacon…

10g sea salt

5g fresh ground white pepper

2.5g soft brown sugar

50-100g crumbled chilli cheese corn bread, recipe below or breadcrumbs

50ml iced water

20 fresh sage leaves

20 chives stems

6 sprigs of thyme

6 marjoram stems.

Sausage Stuffing !!!

The Pattie

Form your sausage meat in to equal patties around 4 oz in size, place in a pan with a dash of olive oil and tsp of butter and cook medium for around 3 minutes each side until cooked through.

Place your egg rings in a non stick frying pan, add some olive oil and a tsp of butter to each ring, heat medium hot, crack in one egg in each ring and break the yolk with a knife and give the egg one stir only, pour some boiled water into the pan and pop on a lid, the eggs will fry and steam at the same time, cook for a couple of minutes until the eggs are just set, remove from the pan immediately, season with salt and pepper and assemble your egg muffin pattie.

Mix together the smashed avocado, lime, coriander, jalapeños, pinch of salt and pepper.

I like to stack my muffin egg, cheese slice, sausage pattie, cheese slice, avocado, egg and a generous drizzle of sriracha, that’s it enjoy.

Cornbread 

Ingredients 

1 tbsp olive oil 

150g butter

2 onions finely sliced

1 tsp sugar

4 corn on the cob

4 large eggs

425g yellow cornmeal or polenta

500ml gold top milk

400g cheddar cheese grated

100g Parmesan grated

5 red chillies de-seeded and finely sliced

Large pinch sea salt and black pepper

1 tsp baking powder

Grease with butter a muffin tin.

 

Preheat your oven to 180C / 355 F.  In a frying pan melt the butter and a dash of ooil, add the onions and gently fry for approx 20-30minutes, after 20mins add the sugar and cook on until they are wonderfully caramelised, golden brown and sticky.

 

I love to take my corn off the cob, it really does make a huge difference to the flavour, so holding the cob upright on the board I run my knife from top to bottom cutting off all the kernels.  Add these to your onions and cook for a further 5 minutes.  Take off the heat and reserve to one side to cool.

 

In a large bowl place the eggs, milk, baking powder and cornmeal, season with salt and pepper, add most of the grated cheese, Parmesan and chillies reserving some for topping the cornbread later, add the caramelised onion and gently stir to combine.

 

Place the corn bread batter into the muffin tin and bake for approx 20 minutes, at 15 minutes cooking time sprinkle the corn bread with the remaining cheese and chillies and return to the oven for the last 5 minutes.  The cornbread should feel just firm and bouncy to touch.

 

Leave to cool for 5 minutes or so if you can, I am often impatient at this point because I want a warm moist slice of this delicious cornbread straight form the oven loaded with butter!  The corn bread is best serve from the oven but you can cook in advance and serve on the same day, and it will still be a show stopper.