Oven roasted lamb cutlets

 
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This is one of those perfect, easy to throw together one-dish winter meals.  That everyone in my family loves.  Amazingly.  

To make enough for four people, you will need:

1 kilo of lamb cutlets

2 heaped tablespoons of full fat greek yoghurt

2 heaped tablespoons of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of oil 

1 heaped tablespoon of bottle masala (or good quality, freshly ground curry powder)

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of sugar

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

A punnet of cherry tomatoes

Fresh coriander and lemon to garnish

Make a marinade with the yoghurt, tomato paste, oil, crushed garlic and seasonings and coat the lamb.  I do this in a snap lock bag which inevitably tears... and then I saw on Masterchef last week that you can use two bags, one inside the other to prevent this, which had never before occurred to me.  Leave for anything between 30 minutes to overnight, depending on how much time you have.

To cook the lamb, you can grill, pan fry, BBQ or bake it.  For this recipe I put the lamb in a big oven dish and bake it in a 200 degree oven for around 10 minutes, then I take it out, throw in the cherry tomatoes and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes until the lamb browns and tomatoes go a bit mushy.  

When the lamb is done, take it out and leave it to rest for a few minutes before serving.  Serve topped with fresh coriander and lots of fresh lemon juice. 

 

 

Mince samosas

 

These samosas are the best in the world.  Definitely worth a try... but if you are completely time poor like me, you can use this filling and make curry puffs using puff pastry instead.  I have also recently experimented with baking these samosas too, brushing them with oil and cooking them in a hot (around 200 degrees celsius) oven until done (about 30 minutes). 

To make the mince filling for around 40 small samosas, you will need:

500 grams of beef mince, 3 star (the mince needs some fat)

1 tablespoon of oil

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

a tablespoon of ginger, crushed

1 green chilli, split vertically down the middle 

1 heaped tablespoon of bottle masala (or very good, freshly made curry powder)

1 cup of fresh or frozen peas

1 tablespoon of full fat yoghurt 

1 teaspoon of salt

Fresh lemon juice to taste

(One potato, boiled and mashed, optional)

For the samosas you will need:

1 packet of frozen spring roll pastry

a bottle of peanut oil

To make the mince, heat the oil in a large heavy frying pan. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli, fry until it smells nice, then add the bottle masala, followed by the mince.  Keep frying to break up the mince.  Lower heat and cover and cook for a few minutes, then remove the lid, turn the heat back up and fry the mince until it is quite dry and the fat is released (it starts to fry in its own fat).  Throw in the peas and cook until they are done, then add salt, stir in the yoghurt and squeeze in some lemon juice (to taste). You can stir in some chopped spring onion and/or coriander at this point too, and another option is to add in some mashed potato to make the mixture softer.  Set aside and leave to cool.

To make the samosas, defrost the pastry and cut the sheets into 4 strips.  You need two layers of pastry on top of each other per samosa.  In a small bowl, make a thick paste of flour and water and set aside, this is your 'glue'.  Also get hold of a damp tea towel to cover and keep the stack of pastry damp so that it doesn't dry out.  

Starting at the top, fold the pastry strip down into a triangle, and take the opposite corner and fold over to make a slightly bigger triangle.  You should now have a small cone that you need to fill with a heaped teaspoon or so of cold mince.  Once the mince is in the pastry, keep folding the pastry down into triangle shapes, taking the opposite corner each time.  Keep the corners tight so the mince filling stays inside, and use the flour and water paste to 'stick' the folds together.   When you have just a small bit of pastry left, apply some paste and tuck it into the last fold, like an envelope.  The photo above should demonstrate each fold from start to finish where my explanation has failed. 

When you have all your samosas done, you will need to shallow fry them on high heat in a large, heavy frying pan using about an inch of oil.  They won't take more than a couple of minutes on each side to brown.  Drain them on kitchen paper when they are done.

If you have made a big batch of samosas you can also freeze them uncooked in small batches, to make it easy for them to be defrosted and fried up.  You can also easily warm up leftover samosas in the oven to keep them crispy.  We don't really have this problem as they disappear pretty quickly.  

 

Easy yellow fish curry

 

This fish curry is incredibly easy to prepare, and would have been the staple dish in many Indian households where fish was easy to access. In my grandmother’s house, the fresh masalas would be ground and the coconuts opened and scraped first thing in the morning.  The fish seller would come to the door with a selection of the day’s catch, and by lunchtime the curry would be ready.  

I use my bottle masala for this recipe, if you don’t have any, use a very good curry powder (one without salt, sugar, flours, preservatives or anti-caking agents) or try a simple mix of red chilli powder, turmeric and ground cumin and coriander.

For up to 4 people you will need:  

500 grams of fish fillets (I used Spanish Mackerel)

3 tablespoons of oil (coconut oil works well)

a stalk of curry leaves (optional)

1 tablespoon of bottle masala

1/3 teaspoon of turmeric

1/2 teaspoon of salt

a stock cube

1 teaspoon of tamarind paste

1/2 teaspoon of sugar

a tin of good quality coconut milk (I use Ayam brand)

Place the fish fillets on a plate and sprinkle with the bottle masala, salt and turmeric. Turn over to coat, and leave to marinate for 30 minutes or so (you can also cook immediately if you don’t have the time).  In a large frying pan, heat the oil and fry the curry leaves if you have them.  Turn the heat to medium-low and place the fish fillets in a single layer.  Fry for a minute or so and turn over to brown the other side.  Next slowly add around 200 ml or so of coconut milk, crumble in half to one stock cube and stir gently to mix, ensuring you don’t break up the fish too much.  Let the curry cook on a low heat for 10 minutes or so.  At the end, add the sugar and tamarind paste and stir again.  Taste for salt, sugar and the right amount of ‘sour’ from the tamarind, before serving.  If you don’t have tamarind you can use some freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice.  

Chick pea, tomato and ginger curry

 

Tinned lentils and beans make a great, easy to prepare comfort food in the depths of winter.  Today was cold and wet, and this quick to make chick pea curry was the perfect antidote.  This recipe uses my bottle masala, so if you don't have any substitute with a good curry powder or your own mix of red chilli powder, turmeric and whole cumin seeds.

To feed four people generously (you can also easily halve the recipe), you will need:

3 tablespoons of oil 

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 stalk of curry leaves (if you have them)

1 tablespoon of crushed ginger

1 green chilli, finely chopped

1 tablespoon of Bombay bottle masala

2 large tomatoes, blended to a pulp

2 tins of chick peas, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon of tamarind paste

1 teaspoon of salt

half a bag of fresh baby spinach leaves

a handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion.  Add the curry leaves, ginger and chilli and fry until everything is lightly brown.  Add the bottle masala, quickly followed by the pulped tomatoes and stir until everything is mushy and starts to smell nice.  Empty the drained chickpeas into the pan, stir well and cover and cook on a very low heat for 10-15 minutes.  Stir intermittently and add a little splash of water here and there if the curry is too dry.  At the end, add the tamarind paste and salt, and adjust water to ensure you have as much gravy as you like.  Just before serving, throw in the baby spinach leaves and fresh coriander and stir through. 

 

Coconut, ginger and prawn curry

 

I was enjoying my coconut chutney so much I decided to use it in this curry... which I will cook again and again... it was spicy, gingery and full of coconut flavour - perfect for this cold weather.  

We ate it with rice but I think it would also taste good with noodles.  

For two people you will need:

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 stalk of curry leaves (if you can get them)

1 tablespoon of ginger, cut into very thin matchsticks

½ to 1 green chilli, depending on how hot you like it

2 spring onions, finely chopped

½ cup of peas

250 g prawns

½ a tin of coconut milk (around 135 ml)

125 g coconut chutney

salt and pepper to taste

To make the coconut chutney you will need:

1 cup of dessicated coconut

1 green chilli

1 inch square of ginger

½ a teaspoon of salt

1 ½ teaspoons of sugar

juice of half a lemon

For tempering the chutney:

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

1/3 teaspoon of mustard seeds

a stalk of curry leaves (10-12 leaves)

To make the chutney, first place the coconut in a bowl and pour in some bowling water – it should reach the top of the coconut but not go over.  Set aside for 10-15 minutes.  After this, put it in a blender with the rest of the chutney ingredients and blend to a paste.

Heat the coconut oil in a small pan, throw in the mustard seeds and wait until they start to pop, then add the curry leaves and keep frying for a few seconds.  Tip this mixture into the blender and blend again to a paste.

Taste chutney for lemon, salt and sugar before serving. 

To make the curry, heat the coconut oil in a large frying pan and fry the curry leaves, ginger and white parts of the chopped spring onions for a minute or two.  Throw in the peas (they can be fresh or frozen) and then add the chutney.  Fry for a few more minutes, stirring constantly, and then add the prawns.  Keep stir frying for about 30 seconds and start to add coconut milk.  Add up to half a tin of coconut milk or to taste – depending on how thick you want your curry.  Cook for a few more minutes only - don't let the prawns overcook.

Taste for salt and add some pepper and a squeeze of fresh lime juice at the end if you fancy it.  Before serving, stir in the rest of the chopped spring onions (the green bits).  

Quick coconut chutney

 

I do like my chutneys.  I live on green chutney, but this coconut chutney is also pretty good... for total convenience I make it with desiccated coconut but it would be lovely with fresh grated coconut.  I served it with this curry leaf and coconut toast and it was delicious.  To make your own, you will need:

1 cup of dessicated coconut

1 green chilli

1 inch square of ginger

½ a teaspoon of salt

1 ½ teaspoons of sugar

juice of half a lemon

For tempering:

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

1/3 teaspoon of mustard seeds

a stalk of curry leaves (10-12 leaves)

For the curry leaf toast:

sliced bread

10-15 curry leaves

coconut oil

To make the chutney, first place the coconut in a bowl and pour in some bowling water – it should reach the top of the coconut but not go over.  Set aside for 10-15 minutes.  After this, put it in a blender with the rest of the chutney ingredients and blend to a paste.

Heat the coconut oil in a small pan, throw in the mustard seeds and wait until they start to pop, then add the curry leaves and keep frying for a few seconds.  Tip this mixture into the blender and blend again to a paste.

Taste chutney for lemon, salt and sugar before serving. 

To make the curry leaf toast, I smeared a few slices of bread with coconut oil, arranged the curry leaves on top and placed them in a sandwich grill to brown.  I sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper on to the toast before serving. 

Wendy's pickle fowl

 

My friend Wendy Chaves from Bombay sent me this recipe for a traditional East Indian curry called Pickle Fowl... not one I've ever come across before or could find in any of my old recipe books.  

It is a very elegant precursor to the more modern British tradition of cooking curries with dried fruits and nuts, and let me tell you, it is one of the most delicious curries I have ever tasted in my life.  It is hot, sweet and sour all at once, and full of fresh ingredients. 

I can't recommend it highly enough.. stop what you are doing and cook it immediately!

To make a substantial curry for 6-8 people you will need:

1 kilo of boneless chicken thighs 

5-6 tablespoons of oil

6 small onions, very finely chopped or roughly blended

10-12 dried red chillies

1 pod of garlic (around 10-12 cloves)

2 tablespoons of finely chopped ginger

1/4 cup of white wine vinegar

100 grams of raw cashew nuts

50 grams of 'kishmish' (raisins)

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

First blend the raisins and the cashews until you have a thick paste and set aside.  Next, blend the red chillies, garlic and ginger in the white wine vinegar to a paste and set this aside as well.

Heat the oil in a large pot and gently fry the onions until they have turned a light brown.  Add the chicken pieces and brown them too.  

Add the chilli, ginger and garlic paste, stir fry for a couple of minutes until the oil starts to separate, add a small amount of water and the salt and cover and simmer until the chicken is nearly done (around 15 minutes for boneless chicken thigh pieces).  

After this, stir in the raisin and cashew paste, turn up the heat slightly and fry until the sauce reduces slightly and you end up with a bright red, thick gravy.

We added a few whole toasted cashews to the curry at the end, and ate much more of it than we intended.  It was totally amazing!  

I think it would taste great with duck, or even prawns ... so watch out for the next version. 

Thank you Wendy!



Bombay potato chops

 

Potato chops are an institution in Anglo Indian cooking.  They are basically crumbed and fried patties with a surprise centre of spicy mince coated in soft mashed potato, and definitely take the made-for-each-other combination of meat and potato to a whole new level of deliciousness.

In my family of course everyone has their own version of the recipe which they will fight in the trenches to claim as the best.  To maintain my relationship with my mother I had to overlook my Nana's and her old cook Hira's recipe and go with hers, and I have to admit they were pretty amazing.

Potato chops are a bit fiddly to make but they are worth the effort.  You can always make the potato and mince filing a day ahead so you're not in the kitchen for hours doing them all at once. Or more efficiently, make your mum do it for you.  

Eat them with curry and rice or just plain as a burger or in a sandwich... however you do you'll be converted.. especially if you're my Irish husband, who's enthusiasm was so great it stretched to the inadvertent consumption of eggplant.

To make 12 potato chops you will need:

For the mince:

2 tablespoons of oil

300 grams of good quality lamb mince (we used organic)

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 large tomato, finely chopped

1 small Japanese eggplant (or substitute with regular eggplant or another veg)

½ a green capsicum

1 heaped tablespoon of Bombay Bottle Masala (or substitute with a good curry powder)

3 finely chopped spring onions

2 finely chopped green chillies

handful of finely chopped coriander

salt

lemon

For the potato chops:

8 large potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed

1.5 cups of breadcrumbs – make your own if you can

1 egg

½ cup of oil to fry

Prepare the potatoes and leave aside to cool.

To cook the mince, heat oil in a large heavy frying pan and brown the finely chopped onion slowly.  Add the garlic and then the tomato and stir fry for a minute, then add the bottle masala.  Next add the finely chopped vegetables – eggplant and capsicum, and when everything is looking well cooked add the mince.  Stir fry to break up lumps and ensure everything is well mixed, add a splash of water if you need to and a teaspoon of salt.  Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.  When it is done, stir through fresh spring onions, green chilli and the juice of half a lemon, and check for salt.  Set aside to cool.

To make the potato chops, have your bowls of mashed potato and mince ready, spread the breadcrumbs over a large tray, whisk the egg in a small bowl and roll up your sleeves.

Use a 1/3 cup measure or similar to take a scoop of mashed potato in your hand, flatten it into a round patty and then shape it like you are making a small bowl.  Place a tablespoon of mince into the middle of this, and work with your hands to fold over the potato so the mince becomes enclosed (see pic below). 

It takes a bit of practice, but after a few you should get the hang of it and end up with 12 evenly sized flat potato cakes (it is definitely worth persisting).

When you are done, dip these one by one in the beaten egg and coat them in breadcrumbs.

Heat a good layer of oil in a frying pan, and shallow fry the potato chops until they are golden on all sides.  Drain on kitchen towels and if you need, place them in a warm oven to stay crispy until you serve them.

 

Green masala chicken curry

 

This green masala chicken curry is about as tasty a curry as you can get.  Packed with fresh coriander and mint, coconut, lemon juice, ginger and garlic, it is a fresh and healthy take on a curry that is also good for you.  

Start by making the green chutney, if you can resist eating it all, keep cooking!  This is great with chicken but I'm thinking it would be really nice with prawns as well.

For the green chutney:

100 grams of fresh coriander

50 grams of fresh mint

3 green chillies

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 inch square of ginger, peeled

50 grams of dessicated coconut

1/2 a can of coconut cream (around 135 grams)

3 teaspoons of raw or brown sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

juice of half a lemon

For the chicken curry:

500 grams of boneless chicken – leg or thigh fillet is preferable

3 tablespoons of oil

3 spring onions, finely chopped

chicken stock or coconut milk

lemon juice

salt to taste

To make the green chutney, rinse and dry the herbs, and then blend them with roughly chopped garlic, ginger and green chillies, and all the other ingredients for the chutney until you get a fine green paste.  Set aside. Try not to eat it all.

To make the curry, heat oil in a large heavy based frying pan and fry the chicken in batches until it browns.  Set aside.  Wipe pan clean with a paper towel, heat another tablespoon of oil and add the spring onions.  Fry for a couple of minutes, then add the green chutney.  You don’t need to use the whole batch – I usually keep a small bowl aside to snack on and garnish the dish.  After another minute or two, add the cooked chicken and continue to stir-fry until it is cooked.

If you would prefer to have a stir-fry rather than a curry, you can finish off the dish at this point with a bit of salt and lemon juice to serve.  I have included a photo below of the curry at stir-fry stage. 

To make the gravy, slowly add half a cup of chicken stock or coconut milk (depending on your preference) and cook until chicken is done. At the end, taste and add salt and lemon juice as needed, and stir in another tablespoon or so of fresh chutney just to retain the lovely fresh colour and flavour of the coriander and mint.

Eat with hot white rice.  Yum!

 

 

Green chutney with ginger and garlic

 

You can never have too much green chutney.  It is packed full of healthy greens and is so tasty and spicy it really doesn't feel like you're basically eating a pile of herbs.  

This is a variation on my normal recipe - I made it as the base for a green chicken curry from one of Nana's old books (recipe to come), but is was so easy to make and more-ish it deserves to be acknowledged in its own right.  The original recipe this was taken from contained 10 cloves of garlic and 12-15 green chillies, so I have also toned that down for normal consumption... 

100 grams of fresh coriander

50 grams of fresh mint

3-4 green chillies

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 inch square of ginger, peeled

50 grams of dessicated coconut

1/2 a can of coconut cream (around 135 grams)

3 teaspoons of raw or brown sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

juice of half a lemon

Rinse and dry coriander and mint leaves on a tea towel.  Roughly chop chilli, garlic and ginger and then put all ingredients in a Thermomix or blender.  Blend until the mixture if a fine paste and taste for salt and lemon. 

Green chutney on toast or in sandwiches is my absolute favourite, but it also makes a great dip, and a base for stir-fries and curries.  If you have any leftover, you can freeze it in an ice cube tray and pop out a cube or two whenever you need some. 

Pistachio, saffron and cardamom kulfi

 

Here is the recipe for true happiness.  Or as close as you might get... this pistachio kulfi is rich and delicious, a traditional Indian dessert first made in the courts of the Mughal Emperors in the 16th century using ice from the Himalayas.  

1 tin of sweetened condensed milk (395 grams)

Tin full of shelled, roasted pistachios

2 tins full of whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon of saffron strands

3 green cardamoms

Pour out the condensed milk into a bowl and use the empty tin as a measure for the rest of the ingredients.  Using a mortar and pestle crush 3-4 green cardamoms and save the seeds.

Fill tin with shelled, lightly roasted pistachios (around a cup) and then grind these in a blender with the cardamom seeds and saffron strands until the mixture is finely powdered. Whip 2 tins worth of cream until soft peaks form. Mix the pistachios with the condensed milk, then gently fold this mixture into the cream.  Cover bowl tightly and freeze until set.  This is traditionally a non-whipped ice cream, but you can also put it in an ice cream maker at this point if you want a lighter texture.

Nana's cutlets

 

Mince cutlets have been a favourite meal in my family for well over 100 years.  My grandfather Claude De Souza was one of 10 children, and in their turn of the century household it was commonplace for both children and adults alike to hide theirs under piles of rice so they wouldn't be stolen by hungrier members of the family.  My Nana had her own version of the recipe, which was elaborated upon by her old cook Hira, who famously added a secret ingredient (later found out to be the very un-mysterious Worcestershire sauce).  

This cutlet recipe benefits from the addition of lots of fresh coriander and green chilli.  Cutlets are great eaten traditionally with curry and rice and yellow Bombay potatoes; or can be served in a wrap, as a burger or just simply in fresh crusty white bread, my favourite way of eating them.

500 grams of mince (lamb or if using beef, make sure it still has a bit of fat)

1 cup of fresh coriander, chopped

5-6 green chillies

1 large red onion

8 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of grated ginger

2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

1 egg (plus an egg for coating)

1 slice of stale bread

1 cup of breadcrumbs

oil to fry

lots of lemon or lime juice

In a food processor, blend coriander, chillies, onion, garlic, ginger, salt, cumin, egg and a slice of stale bread torn into pieces into a fine paste.

Place mince in a bowl, add spice paste and knead gently by hand until combined.  Take small scoops of mince (around a heaped tablespoon), roll into a ball and then flatten into a cutlet shape.  Using wet hands helps.

Coat the cutlets by dipping them in beaten egg and then in breadcrumbs.  Heat around 1 cm of oil in a wide, heavy based frying pan and fry cutlets, a few at a time, for a few minutes on each side.  Place in a warm oven to finish cooking.  When ready to serve, squeeze over lots of fresh lemon juice.