My New Favourite Curry with Naan - Lamb In Karhi Sauce

This Curry is really easy and if you leave out the chillies and halve the cayenne pepper it is not at all hot but very very tasty.  Karhi Sauce is essentially a yogurt sauce thickened with chickpea flour that is ideal for dunking naan or soaking into plain rice.  This creates a lovely creamy curry without cream or nuts and you can use any protein or go vegetarian if you like.

Lamb in Karhi Sauce

2 Tbs Chickpea Flour
1 C Unsweetened Yogurt
1/4 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 Tsp Nigella Seeds (Black Onion Seeds)
1/4 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1/4 Tsp Fennel Seeds
4 Tbs Vegetable Oil or tallow
1/4 Tsp Brown Mustard Seeds
2 Brown Onions
2 Tsp Fresh Ginger finely chopped
4 Cloves of Garlic crushed
700 gm Diced Lamb
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 Tsp Ground Turmeric
1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
A handful of fresh Curry Leaves (or re-hydrated dried ones)
4 - 5 whole Chillies 

In a bowl mix the chickpea flour with the yogurt and set aside while you prep your other ingredients.
On a saucer measure out your cumin, nigella, fennel and fenugreek seeds and on another saucer measure out you ground cumin, turmeric, cayenne and salt.  Dice your onion.
Heat your oil in a heavy based pan with a lid and once hot add your mustard seeds, they will start to pop and sizzle and as soon as they do add the other whole spices and fry for about 30 seconds before adding the diced onion.  Cook until the onion starts to brown around the edges then add the ginger and garlic and cook for a further minute.  Add the salt, ground cumin, turmeric and cayenne pepper and stir through followed by the yogurt mix until you have an even colour then add the lamb.  Bring to the boil then reduce and cook for an hour or until the meat is tender.
While the meat is cooking soak your dried curry leaves in cold water.
After an hour cooking add the whole chillies and curry leaves and cook for a further 10 minutes before serving over rice or with naan.

This is the best Naan recipe I have used and it not at all difficult and you do not need any special equipment and they get cooked under a grill so nice and easy.

Naan - Makes 4

2/3 C Warm Water
1 Tsp Dried Yeast
1 Tsp Sugar
2 C Bakers Flour
1 Tsp Salt
2 Tbs Unsweetened Yogurt
Melted Ghee
2 Tbs Nigella Seeds (Black Onion Seeds)

In a jug mix together the water, yeast and sugar and set aside to activate the yeast.  Once it is frothy add to a bowl that contains the flour, salt and yogurt.  Mix well the turn out onto a floured bench and knead for 5 - 10 mins or until the dough is elastic and smooth.  Set aside to rise for an hour or so.
When you are ready to cook line your grill tray with aluminium foil and grease it with melted ghee. Divide the mix into 4 and gently stretch each portion out until they are between 5 mm and 10 mm. Lie the first naan out on your foil and brush the top of the naan with ghee then sprinkle with Nigella seeds.  Grill under a medium to hot grill until lightly browned then flip and cook the other side.
Once cooked repeat the process for the other 3 portions of dough and keep the cooked ones warm on a plate wrapped in a tea towel.

Naan before cooking

Cooked and golden

Ox Tail Curry - Nose To Tail Eating

More than 12 months on we are still eating our way through our home raised and killed cow and there is still quite a bit to go.  It was all vacuum packed so it will last another year if we need it to.

Ox Tail is not something that appears on the average dinning table these days but it is something I remember eating as a kid, probably because like us back then my family raised our own meat.  
Oxtail is full of gelatin (so is extremely good for you) which cook out during a long slow cooking leaving a delicious, tender and unctuous (yes that is a word - my favorite word to describe food that is delicious, succulent, luscious, rich, decadent and has slightly oily mouth feel).

You can buy oxtail from most supermarkets where it is likely to already be cut into segments but if it comes from the butcher it might only be partially segmented like in the picture below, or they might only sell the bits from the thick end.  It is very easy to cut through as you can feel where the tail naturally segment.  Oxtail is not an expensive cut but since some of what you pay for is bone it is not the cheapest either but I think it is worth having every so often for all of the health benefits.

This is a Burmese style curry, that like a vindaloo contains vinegar, and is really very easy as it is a one pot wonder when it comes to the cooking.  Marinate the meat for at least 3 hours, I like to do this bit at breakfast and it takes 3 hours to cook so don't forget to get it on at afternoon tea time.

Ox Tail Curry

2 whole oxtails or 1.2 kg approx (cut into 4- 6 cm pieces)

2 1/2 Tsp Mustard Powder

3 Tsp Ground Cumin

1/2 Tsp Ground Turmeric

125 ml White Vinegar

1 Tbs Castor Sugar

2 Tbs oil, tallow or lard (I use beef tallow as we have lots of it)

3 Large Onions diced

6 Cloves of crushed garlic

2 Tbs Grated Fresh Ginger

2 tsp Chilli Powder

1 Litre of Beef Stock

Mix together the mustard powder, cumin, turmeric and vinegar add the oxtail and toss to coat then set aside in the fridge to marinate.

In a large heavy based pot heat the oil/tallow over a medium heat and add your diced onions and cook stirring regularly until they are soft and translucent but not browned too much and then add the ginger and chilli powder and stir for 1 minute before removing the onion mix from the pan and place in a bowl.  Add your crushed garlic to the hot onions and leave to the side.

Place the oxtail into the pot and brown the pieces all over saving the marinade.

Once the oxtail is browned add left over marinade and bring to a simmer for 3-5 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half.

Then add all of the onion mix back into the pot along with the beef stock cover and cook for 3 hours at a gentle simmer.

Remove the lid and cook over a high heat for 15 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by 1/3.

Serve with plain rice and a garnish of fresh chilli if you like it hot.

What unusual cuts do you like to eat?
Do you like ox tail?

An Indian Feast

We are heading off to New Zealand tomorrow for just over 3 weeks and when we get back we expect to be busy getting ready to move and I have a lot of university work and exams.  So we decided to catch up with some friends before we left for an Indian feast.  This made it easy to cater for the vegan and the carnivores alike.

On the menu was Dahl (I make this in a big batch and keep portions in the freezer so we can have it when ever we want or add it to other Indian dishes for variety), Beef Madras, Kasmiri Chicken (made earlier this week), Punjabi Cabbage, Shebu Bhaji (Potatoes with Dill) and Gajar Matar (Sweet Potatoes with Peas).  These are all dishes that I would recommend and most of them are mild and can have the chilli left out altogether if needed.  I have listed the recipes for the vegan dishes below and will post the Beef Madras Tomorrow

Clockwise from left: Punjabi Cabbage, Beef Madras, Shebu Bhaji, Gajar Matar

 Gajar Matar

1 Onion
1 Clove of Garlic
1 x 3 cm piece of Ginger
1/4 Cup Oil
1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1 1/2 Tsp Turmeric
400 gm Carrots (I used Sweet Potato this time as I needed to use them up before going away)
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1 Cup Frozen Peas
3 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Sugar
1/4 Tsp Chilli Powder
4 Tsp Dried Pomegranate Seeds (optional but so worth it)
1/2 Tsp Garam Masala

Make a paste with the onion, ginger and garlic in either a food processor, a mortar and pestle or chop very finely.
Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large fry pan, add the onion mix and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Reduce the heat slightly and add the cumin seeds and turmeric then stir well to combine and cook for about 1 minute.  Add the carrot/sweet potato and stir for 2 mins before adding the ground cumin, coriander, and garam masala stirring for another minute.
Add the peas, pomegranate seeds and 1/4 cup of water and stir to combine before covering the pan, reducing to a low heat and simmering for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Punjabi Cabbage

1 Onion
1 Clove of Garlic
2 Green Chillis, de-seeded
4 Tbs Oil
1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tsp Turmeric
500 gm Cabbage, finely chopped
1 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
2 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1/4 Tsp Ground Chilli (optional)
1 Tbs Butter (Optiona)

Make a paste with the onion, chillies and garlic in either a food processor, a mortar and pestle or chop very finely.
In a heavy based pan add the oil and over a low heat fry the onion mix until very soft.  Add the cumin seeds and turmeric and cook for 1 minute.  Mix in the cabbage and stir well until the cabage has been coated in the onion paste.  Add the remaining ingredients except the butter, stir well and increase the heat to medium.  Cover partially and cook for 10 minutes stirring every few minutes until the cabbage is soft.  If the cabbage dries out and starts to stick to the pan add a few tablespoons of water. Once cooked stir in the butter and serve.

Shebu Bhaji

200 gm potatoes
Large bunch of Dill
2 Tbs Oil
2 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 Long Red Chilli
1/4 Tsp Turmeric
1 Tsp Black Mustard Seeds
Pinch of Asafoetida (Optional)
1/2 Tsp Salt

Cut the potatoes into 2.5cm cubes and cook until almost cooked and drain well.
Wash the dill and chop finely.

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the garlic and chilli over  low heat for 30 seconds then add the turmeric, mustard seeds, asafoetida, salt and stir well. Stir in the cooked potato and dill and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes and serve.

Do you have a favourite Indian Recipe? 

Penang Beef And Coconut Curry With Peppercorns

We love curry and it does not matter what part of the world it comes from.  This is a Thai curry and it is not hot at all in fact in this dish the heat comes from the pepper not chilli although you can always add chilli on top like we do it you like a bit more heat.
You can use any cheap cut of beef for this dish and because it is cooked for a long time it will be amazingly tender.  It is important that you do not shake the coconut cream as you want to separate the cream from the milk.

Penang Beef And Coconut Curry With Peppercorns

1 x 400 ml Tin of Coconut Cream
500 g Diced Beef Shin/Blade/Chuck or other stewing cut
2 Tbs Red Curry Paste
2 Tbs Palm Sugar or raw sugar
1 Tbs Fish Sauce
1 x 55 g Tin of Green Peppercorns in Brine, drained and rinsed
8 Kafir Lime Leaves
4 Tbs Roasted Salted Peanuts, chopped
1/2 Cup Basil Leaves
1 Long Red Chilli (Optional)

Open the cocnut cream and spoon out the thick cream from the top and set aside in a bowl.  Pour the remaining coconut milk into a large saucepan and add your diced beef and a little water to cover if required.  Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours or until the beef is tender.
Allow the beef to then cool in the liquid.  

When the beef is cooked and cooled heat the remaining coconut cream in a wok over a medium heat until the oil starts to separate.  Add the curry paste and fry gently for 5 minutes the add the sugar fish sauce, half the peanuts, the kaffir lime leaves and beef.  Then add enough of the beef cooking liquid to make a thick sauce.
Simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes stirring every so often and then add the peppercorns, basil and finely sliced chilli.  As soon as the basil is wilted remove from the heat and serve over fluffy rice and garnish with the remaining peanuts.

This is a really easy curry to make and the pepper is a great change to the normal chilli heat that curries often have.

Beef And Lentil Curry

I found this recipe in an old magazine and decided to give it a go.  The magazine did not specify the country of origin but I suspect it is from the India, Myanmar or northern Thailand region.

This curry has a sauce added at the end which gives it a real tangy punch.

The recipe calls for Chuck steak which comes from the shoulder and is ideal for curry's as it contains lots of connective tissues and collagen which partially melt during cooking and make the meat tender and succulent.  You can use any cut of stewing steak for this recipe.

Beef and Lentil Curry

Dressing

5 Long Red Chillies
1/2 Cup White Vinegar
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Fish Sauce

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside until serving.

Curry

1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Onions
8 cm Piece of Ginger peeled and grated
8 cm Piece of Galangal peeled and grated
2 Cloves of Garlic crushed
2 Birdseye Chillies deseeded and finely chopped
3 Lemongrass Stems, Bruised *See Note
10 Kaffir Lime Leaves
1/2 Cup Grated Palm Sugar
2 Tbs Ground Turmeric
2 Tbs Ground Coriander
2 Tbs Ground Cumin
2 Tbs Sweet Paprika
1 Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
1 kg of Chuck Steak
1/2 Cup Fish Sauce
2 Cups Red Lentils
1 Cup of Toasted Desicated Coconut 
2 Cups of Coconut Milk
Fresh Coriander and Basil to serve

Get the curry on the go and then when it is cooking you can make the sauce.

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat and cook the diced onion until lightly browned.  Add the ginger, galangal, garlic birds eye chilli, lemongrass and lime leaves and stir for 2 minutes then add the dried spices and cook for another 2 minutes stirring the whole time before adding 4 cups of water, the beef, fish sauce.  Bring the sauce to a boil and  the reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours stirring occasionally.
After 2 hours add the lentils and coconut and cook for 30 minutes or until the lentils are soft.  Once the lentils are cooked stir in the coconut milk bring it bake to the boil then remove from the heat.

Spoon into serving bowls or over rice and top with fresh herbs and chilli dressing.

Note: Using Lemon Grass

If you have not used lemongrass before you need to trim off the base and the green tops so you have about a 15 cm stalk.  You then need to discard a number of the outer layers until you are left with the fresh pale inner stalk.  In this recipe you just bruise the stalks (I whacked mine with the pestle from my mortar and pestle on the chopping board) and add them whole to the pan but other recipes will call for you to slice the lemon grass finely.  You can watch a demo here.

Curry Of The Week - Rogan Josh

Following on from my post yesterday about spices I thought it was time for a curry post.
This is such a tasty curry and is not at all hot but feel free to add extra chilli if you want.  It also takes lamb and onions and turns them into something amazing through the addition of spices.

Rogan Josh

1kg Diced Lamb
1 Cup Yogurt
1 Tbs Malt Vinegar
6 Cloves of Crushed Garlic
2 Tbs Grated Fresh Ginger
2 Tbs Ghee (use vegetable oil if you don't have ghee)
4 Cardomon Pods
4 Cloves
2 Tsp Fennel Seeds
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 Large Brown Onions
4 Tsp Ground Cumin
6 Tsp Ground Coriander
2 Tsp Sweet Paprika
3/4 Tsp Ground Chilli
1/2 Cup Chicken Stock (you could use water)

In a large bowl combine your yogurt, vinegar, 3 cloves of crushed garlic and 1 Tbs of grated ginger. Once combine add your lamb mix well to coat, cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours, but the longer the better.
Dice your onions and set aside in a bowl.  Then add you ghee and whole spices to a large heavy based pan a cook over a medium heat until fragrant.

Whole spices and ghee

Add the onions and cook, stirring regularly, until the onions are soft and a little brown then add the rest of your garlic and ginger and cook for another 2 minutes.

Onions and spices

Add your dried spices to your onion mix and cook them out (cook until they are fragrant but do not over cook or they will turn bitter).

I find it easier to measure out my spices so I can add them all at once and quickly blend them

The marinated lamb

Then add your lamb mix and combine with the spice mix then add your stock and mix until well combined. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours then remove the lid and cook for a further 30 minutes or until the lamb is tender

Stock added

The finished dish

I like to serve with chopped fresh mint and coriander sprinkled on top and while it does not look so pretty in the photo above it was extremely tasty.  It just goes to show that by adding spices to meat and onions you can turn them into something interesting.

Do you have a favorite curry?

Mixed Vegetable Curry

This is a really easy and very tasty curry that is satisfying enough to keep even the carnivore in the family happy.
I try and make sure we have at least 1 meat free day a week because even though we have a freezer full of meat this can also be the reason we eat meat at most meals.
We have heaps of beans and still a few eggplants going in the garden at the moment and the other day I found some frozen cauliflower that I froze at the end of last winter so they really needed using up.  Perfect for this dish along with a few spices and some other basic vegetables.

Mixed Vegetable Curry

1/4 Cup Natural Yogurt
2 Cloves Crushed Garlic
2 Tsp Grated Ginger
2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Cracked Black Pepper
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1 Tsp Ground Chilli Powder
1/2 Tsp Garam Masala
4 Bruised Cardamom Pods
2 Tbs Oil
2 Diced Onions
2 Medium Potatoes cubed
1 Sliced Carrot
300 gm Cauliflower Florets
2 Small Eggplants cubed
1/2 Cup Water
1 Cup Coconut Cream
150 gm Green Breans
Mint and Coriander to garnish

Combine the yogurt, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and spices in a small bowl and set aside at least minutes.
After about 5 minutes heat the oil and cook the onions stirring until the onions are lightly browned.
Add the carrots potatoes,eggplant and cauliflower and cook for 5 minutes stirring occassionally.
Add the yogurt mix, waster and coconut cream and simmer covered for approx 15 minutes or until the potatoes are just tender.
Add the beans and cook for 5 minutes.
Serve up and sprinkle with chopped mint and coriander.

If you do not like things spicy either halve the chilli or leave it out.  And feel free to use what ever vegetables you have on hand.

Curry of the Week - Turmeric Chicken with Potatos and Peas

This Curry requires you to make your own curry paste but if you have all the ingredients it is not difficult.  You will need a mortar and pestle and, depending on if you cook Thai food very often or not, the only slightly uncommon ingredients are fresh Turmeric and Shrimp Paste.
Before giving you the recipe I would like to give you some quick information on the fresh Turmeric and the Shrimp past in case you have never used these before.

Fresh Tumeric is a small knobbly root like ginger but usually much smaller.  It stains like mad so when you prepare it consider your workspace carefully as it is extremely difficult to get out of clothes and bench tops.  Tumeric is reported to have a number of significant health benefits including its anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties and cutting the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in half.

Shrimp Paste is basically what it says it is.  You can buy it in small quantities at Asian grocers and some supermarkets.  It smells awful but once it is roasted it much more mellow.  Once you buy it it needs to be kept in the fridge in it's container inside another very airtight container.  When you roast it you add the required amount to al foil and wrap it up to seal it then roast it in the oven till it is a crumbly texture, usually about 5- 10 mins at 180 degrees.

 

Curry Paste

8 Large Dried Chillies (available at an Asian grocer)
Salt
2tsp Fresh Tumeric, peeled and chopped roughly
2tsp Coriander seeds
2tsp Cumin seeds
2tsp Shrimp paste, roasted

Curry

5 Tbsp Vegetable oil
8 Chicken Thighs
2Tbsp Garlic, roughly chopped
400ml Coconut Cream
500ml Chicken Stock
8Tbsp Fish Sauce
4Tbsp palm Sugar (raw sugar can be used in it's place)
500gm Waxy potato's, cut into chunks
1 cup of peas
1 large Green and 1 large Red Chili, halved de-seeded and sliced
1 Lime
Coriander to garnish

Making the Curry Paste

Soak your large dried chilli's in boiling water for 10 minutes.  While these are soaking you need to roast you shrimp paste (as above) and dry roast your cumin and coriander seeds.  To do this just put the seeds in a small dry saucepan and heat on the stove on a medium setting until you can smell the spices releasing their oils.  As soon as you can smell them tip them into your mortar and pestle so they do not burn.  Add the salt, fresh turmeric soaked chilli's and roasted shrimp paste.  Pound to a smooth paste.

Making the Curry

Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the chicken pieces in batches.  Remove the chicken and reduce the heat add the curry paste and garlic to the pan and fry until fragrant.
Add the coconut cream, chicken stock, fish sauce and sugar, stir till the sugar has been dissolved then add the chicken pieces and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 mins.
Add the potato's followed by the peas 5 minutes later and and cook until tender.  Stir through the sliced fresh chili.
Serve with a wedge of lime and some chopped coriander.

Curry of the week - Pork and Lime Curry with Spinach

With the hot weather upon us there is no better time to be eating spicy foods.  Contrary to what you might think eating spicy foods actually helps your body cool down, or so I am lead to believe.  Regardless of this we love spicy food in our house and both Thai and Indian form part of our regular diet.

This is such an easy curry to throw together and you can use any kind of leafy green such as silverbeet, spinach, Malabar spinach or Asian greens.  It is a sour Thai curry but not so sour that it makes your mouth pucker and it is not overly hot.  Well by our standards (and really that is a how long is a piece of string thing isn't it. My hot may not be yours.)

My top tips for this would be to prepare your sauces and sugar in a bowl you can set to the side and have each of your ingredients measured out ready to go.  Use fresh garlic and not the jarred stuff as the flavour is far better, and it is the tamarind that makes it sour so if this is too sour or not sour enough you can adjust the amount of tamarind accordingly.

3Tbsp Vegetable Oil
3 Cloves of Garlic crushed
2Tbsp Red Curry Paste
250 ml Coconut Milk
500 gm Diced Pork
3Tbsp each of Fish Sauce, Tamarind Water or Paste, Soy Sauce
1 Heaped Tbsp Palm Sugar (or raw sugar if you do not have palm sugar)
250 ml Chicken Stock
10 Kaffir Lime leaves
200 gm of leafy green ( I never weigh it I just work to what I think would be 4 portions when cooked)
1 Lime

Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan and fry off the curry paste until fragrant and starting to separate.  Add the garlic and fry briefly but do not let the garlic brown.
Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil while stirring. 
Add the diced pork and reduce the heat to a simmer.  Add your fish sauce, soy sauce, tamarind, sugar, kaffir lime leaves and chicken stock.
If you used pork fillet cook just long enough for the pork to cook through.  If you used a cheaper cut of pork you can put a lid on you pot and cook for 45min - 1hr so that the pork becomes tender.
Once the pork is cooked added your leafy greens and cook till wilted.
Serve over rice with a Lime wedge to squeeze over the top.

Do you have a favorite Curry you want to share?  Feel free to link back to here.