Jardaloo ma Murghi (Chicken in Apricots) Recipe

 Jardaloo ma murghi

I tried to find the origin of jardaloo ma murghi and for once the ever reliable Wiki does not have an entry. Based on what I read from a few sites, I guess this is a Persian dish but available in India, or an Indian dish with Persian origins. Adding curry to dried apricots sounds like fusion. 

Curried apricots sounds unappealing but the dish is really delicious. Apricots add slight sweetness, its not overly sweet.

The recipe below suggests making masala paste. I took a short cut and substituted with curry powder.

 Jardaloo ma murghi

Source: Good Food Channel

Ingredients

200 g dried apricots

250 ml water

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 cinnamon sticks, 2.5cm long

2 medium onions, chopped

2 tbsp ginger- garlic paste

600 g chicken, boned and diced

1 pinches salt

4 medium tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp coriander, chopped

For the masala paste (or skip this and use curry powder)

8 large dried chillies

1.5 tsp cumin seeds

1.5 tsp coriander seeds

2.5 cm cinnamon sticks

green cardamom

5 cloves

Directions

1.      Soak the apricots overnight in water until swollen and soft. Remove the stones if you like 

2.      To make the masala paste, grind all the masala paste ingredients with as little water as possible to make a thick paste.

3.      Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-based pan and add the cinnamon sticks. When absorbed and puffed a bit, approximately one and a half minutes, add the onions and fry until browned, stirring often, around 5-10 minutes.

4.      When the onions are browned, add the garlic and ginger paste, masala and fry, stirring often, until the oil, which has been absorbed, is released slowly around the edges of the combined masala and onions.

5.      Add the chicken and salt, and fry for 4-5 minutes or until half done.

6.      Add the chopped tomatoes and the soaked apricots (together with any soaking water), mix well, cover and simmer until the chicken is done. If the sauce is too thin, uncover and cook until it reaches the desired consistency

7.      Blend in the chopped coriander and check the seasoning.

 Jardaloo ma murghi

Mocha Meringue Recipe

Mocha Meringue

These meringues are the chewy type, actually the very chewy type. I suppose if you bake longer, it will get more crispy, but I didn’t try this.

I find standard meringues to be overly sweet so I used less sugar, and it turned out fine.

By the way, perhaps I am a little biased but these meringues look like something sitting on the side of the road that you don't want to eat, let alone step on. Once you get over the hesitation and actually try it, you won't be disappointed. I am referring to the mocha meringue, in case this was not clear. 

What would go well with this meringue is a new product from Arla, soft ice cream. See this link if you are interested in testing it.

Adopted from Emeril Lagasse and Cadbury Kitchen

Ingredients

1 egg white

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa, sifted

½ teaspoon instant coffee

¼ teaspoon white vinegar

Directions

1.      Heat oven to 120°C/250°F

2.      Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

3.      Add sugar a little at a time and continue beating until sugar has dissolved.

4.      Gently fold in cocoa, coffee and vinegar.

5.      Place the mixture on a sheet of baking paper. Bake for 45 minutes, turn off oven and let meringues cool in the oven for 1 hour. Do not open the oven door while the meringues are cooling.

Mocha Meringue

Blood Sausage / Black Pudding Sausage Roll Recipe

Black Pudding Sausage Roll

Or you can call it black pudding wellington, it sounds more gourmet and complex! Its anything but complex.

Making black pudding sausage roll is far easier than making regular sausage roll. You need 2 ingredients and get a delicious result with minimal effort. Though not so delicious if you don’t like blood sausage.

Even though I didn’t add anything to the black pudding, it wasn’t dry. Have it as is, or with some hot sweet sauce.

I haven’t given any amounts in the recipe. You can add more or less sausage depending on availability and preference.

Ingredients

Blood sausage/black pudding

Puff pastry

 Directions

1.      Dice the black pudding. About 1cm cubed should be sufficient.

2.      Lay the mixture along the centre of the pastry.

3.      Roll up the pastry around the black pudding mixture as tightly as possible.

4.      Bake at 200°C/400°F until golden brown and delicious, about 20-25 minutes

Black Pudding Sausage Roll

Easy Smoked Fish Cake Recipe

Smoked Fish Cake

This was my first attempt at making fish cakes. I never realised it was so easy to make.

The original recipe suggested pureeing the fish, but I preferred chunky bits. There is no binding agent like eggs so the cakes are quite delicate. You will not be able to hold it in your hands, let alone use it as a hockey puck. But its delicious when eaten with a fork.

This is part of the Secret Recipe Club. Recipe source: Cook Book of Trial and Error

Ingredients

350g peeled potatoes

75 ml milk

350g smoked fish

15 ml lemon juice

5 ml dijon mustard

115 g breadcrumbs

Salt and black pepper to taste

 Directions

1.      Place the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with water and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain, mash with milk and season to taste.

2.      Dice the smoked fish. Add it to the mashed potato, along with the lemon juice and mustard. Mix well.

3.      Shape the mixture into fish cakes and coat with crumbs. Chill for about 30 minutes

4.      Shallow fry the fish cakes until golden brown on each side

Semolina Yogurt Cake Recipe

Semolina yogurt cake

I made this cake 3 times in 2 weeks. Firstly because I bought a lot of yogurt, I couldn’t walk away from a good deal. Secondly, and equally important, this is delicious. The cake is super moist, and semolina gives a fantastic soft gritty texture. Thirdly, and less important, some eggs needed to be used up, because I couldn’t walk away from a good deal.

Semolina yogurt cake goes by various names, basbousa, samali, harisi, rava, revani… There are probably slight differences, some use milk, others use yogurt. To keep things simple, I call mine semolina yogurt cake.

Semolina yogurt cake

Ingredients

1 cup semolina

½ cup sugar

1½ cup yogurt

½ cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

3 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

For syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Juice from ½ lemon

Directions

1.      Beat eggs and sugar until sugar has dissolved

2.      Add yogurt and oil and mix well.

3.      Add all the rest of the ingredients and mix to combine

4.      Line a 8×8 pan with baking paper and pour batter in it.

5.      Bake at 175°C/350°F until golden brown and delicious, about 25-30 minutes.

6.      To make the syrup: Boil water and sugar for 3 minutes. Add lemon juice and boil for further 3 minutes. Let it cool completely

7.      Pour the cold syrup over the warm cake. Let it cool completely, or chill, before serving

Semolina yogurt cake

Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe

Chicken Tikka Masala

National dish of Britain? Debatable. There seems to be more claims that this dish was invented in Britain rather than India. However the name doesn't sound very British. Technicalities aside, this is delicious. 

Going through various recipes, I discovered there are two approaches for preparing chicken tikka masala. One approach involves marinating the chicken, grilling it and then dousing in sauce. Sounds great but too much effort. I preferred the second approach, cooking everything together.

I’ve already posted a recipe for butter chicken/murgh makhani. Chicken tikka masala does not seem to be too different, except for the origin of the dish.

Recipe source: BBC Good Food

Ingredients

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

25g butter

4 onions, roughly chopped

6 tablespoons chicken tikka masala paste (see recipe below, or use store bought)

2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into chunks

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2.5cm cubes

2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes

4 tablespoons tomato purée

2-3 tablespoons mango chutney

150ml double cream

150ml natural yogurt

Masala Pasta

5 garlic cloves

1 large knob of fresh root ginger, roughly chopped

1 red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons coriander

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garam masala

Seeds from 4 cardamom pods

Directions

1.      Heat the oil and butter in a large casserole

2.      Add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook for 15-20 minutes until soft and golden. Add the paste and peppers and cook for 5 minutes

3.      Add the chicken and stir well to coat in the paste. Cook for 2 minutes, add the tomatoes, tomato purée and 200ml water. Cover and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked, about 15-20 minutes. 

4.      Add cream, yogurt and mango chutney and warm through

5.      To make the curry paste: Blend all the ingredients together with a small amount of water or oil to make a paste. Store in a fridge for up to 1 week

Chicken Tikka Masala