I’ve done a few Molee and this recipe is a wonderful, rustic and rather simple fish version.
It isn’t as complex or subtle as some I have done, though it is the simplicity factor that earns the write-up; and it tastes just awesome too.
Weekday, Saturday lunch, this is a great number.
Ingredients
3 garlic cloves 3 green chillies 5cm piece of ginger, peeled 3 tbsp sunflower oil 1 small onion, finely sliced 6 curry leaves ¼ tsp ground turmeric ¼ tsp salt 200ml coconut milk 160ml boiling water 500gm firm white fish, cut into 3cm pieces 2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped Basmati rice and coriander to serve
Method
Place the garlic, chillies and ginger in a food processor and process until smooth.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan to a medium-heat and fry the onion with the curry leaves for 4 minutes until softening. Stir in the garlic, chilli and ginger mixture together with the turmeric and salt. Fry for 2 minutes and then add half the coconut milk and the boiling water.
Simmer for 2 minutes and add the fish; gently simmer for 5 – 6 minutes. Add half the tomato and remaining coconut milk and simmer for another 3 – 4 minutes.
Garnish with the remaining tomato and serve on basmati rice with plenty of coriander.
Dosais are not the least expensive things on your Southern Indian restaurant menu and even then, I doubt they make much money from them.
There are plenty of ingredients that go into the whole show, they take time and technique and importantly, a truly wonderful chutney like this lasts… 24 hours. Time and economies of scale are not on your side.
The silver lining of course is that a good dosai is to die for and this chutney is simply part of the story. It is amazing.
The extra touch that turns the dial from 11 to 12. The addition that completes the meal, taking you into fine Indian cooking territory. The secret weapon in your cook-off that nobody saw coming.
Sure, you have 24-hours to get from bench to plate, though in-between making your dosai batter, your filling and a wonderful side of lentils, you’re signed up to the task right?
And the fact is, you cannot lose any cook-off – or dinner – if you pull the whole thing off.
Tie maybe, but who the hell are you cooking against?!
Ingredients
Half a coconut, grated 2 fresh green chillis ½ bunch fresh coriander leaves 1 tbsp fresh ginger Salt to taste Tempering
If you tell them you made the cheese, who knows how they’ll react. Because who the hell just makes cheese for dinner?!
Paneer Chilli Fry
Serves: 4 as a starter
Nat and I did the Nilgiri’s cooking class last Saturday and it was excellent.
The class, run by Indian restaurateur Ajoy Joshi, is pretty famous in Sydney and it wasn’t hard to see why. As a restaurateur, Ajoy has been very successful and we have eaten at all his restaurants including Tellicherry which serves upmarket, really clever Indian food backed by personable service.
In terms of the class, we learnt new techniques and gained a greater appreciation of the use and background of different spices and ingredients.
Case in point was this Paneer Chilli Fry, only the second time we have made cheese as part of a dish.
A combination of the cheese, the spices and the buttermilk, it is just wonderful. Really special in fact and definitely something you would look like a genius presenting as part of an Indian feast.
The cheese (Paneer: homemade Indian Cottage Cheese) component requires a little concentration at the beginning, though it isn’t tricky and I’ve written the instructions to keep it as foolproof as possible.
If you, like me, are on a never-ending quest to find better and better Indian food to cook, this is absolutely something you must try.
Just ensure that you don’t try and use anything but full-fat milk. Cheese needs an 8% fat content, with the addition of the cream in this dish making up the 4% fat content of the full-fat milk. Skim milk simply won’t leave you with anything but wasted milk.
Ingredients
Paneer
1 liter cream milk 100ml fresh cream ½ cup white vinegar Muslin cloth (for straining) Marinade 1 tbsp fresh ginger, crushed 1 tbsp fresh garlic, crushed 1 ½ tbsp fresh green chillis (including the seeds) 4 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed 1 tbsp chilli powder Salt to taste
To prep/serve 2 – 3 tbsp vegetable oil 300ml buttermilk Juice of one lemon Chat Masala to taste 1 bunch fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Method
Paneer
Place a saucepan over a medium-heat and add the milk and cream. Stir in a figure of eight, ensuring that you are scraping the bottom of the pan to ensure none of the milk/cream sticks.
When steam starts to come off of the milk, stop stirring. Continue to heat until it starts to boil. Take off the heat and ensure that it doesn’t overflow and spill; this likely means blowing on it to cool it.
Tip in some of the vinegar and the substance will curdle. Add enough vinegar until this is happening.
Scoop the curdled milk pieces into the muslin cloth using some sort of strainer or slotted spoon. Discard the whey from the saucepan.
Tie the cloth reasonable tightly and place the cloth/curdled milk in a colander to allow additional whey to drain out; place the saucepan on top of the cloth and weigh down so that you have an inch-thick compact disc. Allow to drain and compress for at least 20 minutes to allow all the whey to drain out.
Cut/shred into dices and set aside.
Marinade
For the marinade, mix the ginger, garlic, chilli, coriander seeds, chilli powder and salt.
To serve
Heat the oil in a pan until it smokes. Add the marinade to the pan, reduce the heat and cook until the marinade caramelises. Add the buttermilk and reduce until well heated and slightly thickened.
Add the diced paneer and toss until coated in the marinade.
Sprinkle with the freshly squeezed lemon juice (to taste) and fresh coriander leaves.
Easy, full of flavour, fun and generally, really healthy.
This particular number from Tobie Puttock is especially good. As far as weekday dinners go, it is a complete win. (A 240 calories per-serve win.)
We served this with steamed beans and twice cooked and roasted baby potatoes: steam your potatoes, lay them flat on a baking-paper lined tray and half-flatten them with a large spoon, drizzle with olive oil, season and cook until golden.
You will enjoy.
Ingredients
4 blue-eye cod fillets or similar (we used ling)
100ml white wine
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Long strips of the zest of 1 lemon
2 birdseye chillis, cut in half and partially seeded
Small handful of dill sprigs
Sea salt and pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200c.
Tear off 4 pieces of foil, about 30cm long, then 4 pieces of baking paper, 25cm long. Lay the baking paper on-top of the foil. Fold and crease into wells with walls all around to hold the fish and liquid.
Combine the wine, olive oil, lemon zest, dill, chilli and a good pinch of salt and peppe. Stir to combine and then carefully add the fish fillets and turn them to coat with the marinade.
Place a fish fillet into each well; share the dill, chilli, lemon zest and remaining liquid with each fillet. Close and seal the foil bags.
Place the bags on a baking dish and cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily. Let sit for a few minutes, transfer the bags to serving plates and open carefully at the table.
And it is Bill Granger. A man I have doubted but am now totally buying into!
I suspect that our addition of the chilli flakes was a necessary addition – and don’t hold back on the hot sauce if you like it hot – though the rest could not be doubted. Great flavor, moist and so easy to prepare.
And healthy. Seriously healthy.
Wow.
Bill, you won me over with this one. The doubt is gone – your simple cooking is a real winner!
(Double this recipe as we did; you will have the best lunch at work the next day! He claims it served 4 though it is so good and so healthy, just keep going.)
Ingredients
4 tbsp canola oil
250gm button mushrooms, stalks removed, finely chopped (or food processed as we did)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500gm chicken mince
1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger (do 1 tbsp and you won’t look back)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chilli flakes
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 or 2 heads of cos lettuce, leaves separated
1 small red onion, sliced into thin rings
Small handful of coriander leaves Hot sauce
Method
Heat a large frypan over a medium-low heat, add 1 tbsp of the oil and cook the mushrooms and garlic until nearly all the moisture has evaporated; remove the mushroom mixture from the pan and cool.
Combine the mince, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, chilli flakes and mushroom mixture and mix well. Use 2 tbsp of the mixture at a time to role the small, football-shaped croquettes.
Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the croquettes, turning occasionally for 5 – 7 minutes or until golden all over and cooked through.
Serve the chicken in the lettuce leaves with a few onion rings, a small handful of coriander and a good squeeze of hot sauce.
It was the first meal I cooked when I moved out of home, a recipe I adapted from Neil Perry and adapt every time depending on what is in the pantry and the fridge. Try it with torn basil, a pinch of sugar, freshly chopped chilli, whatever you want.
The key is in the length of cooking. The longer you can sweat the onions and the more slowly you can reduce the sauce, the better and better it will be. Forget that stuff from the local pizza shop, add lots of chilli and two hours over the stove and this takes on a new dimension.
Add this recipe to your repertoire and know it like the back of your hand. It will make clear to your lady friend that you can turn a pack of bacon and a few things from the cupboard into an amazing, hot and smoky pasta: it worked for me!
Ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil
2 red onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 good pinches chilli flakes
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
8 cherry tomatoes, halved (half a punnet)
1 can tomatoes
1 tbsp capers, drained
2 tbsp black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
Good handful of ham, roughly chopped
10 rashers of bacon cut into lardons
Salt and pepper Penne, spaghetti, whatever
Ground parmesan
Chopped Italian parsley
Method
Heat the oil in a pan over a low heat and add the onions, garlic, chilli flakes and good pinch of salt and sweat as slowly as you can without letting stick to the bottom of the pan; around 20 – 30 minutes.
Separately, cook the bacon in a pan until golden. Drain and set aside.
Add the tomatoes, ham, capers and olives, combine with the onion mixture and cook for a minute. Add the bacon and can of tomatoes as well as a can of water.
Bring to the boil and then drop to a low simmer.
Cook for an hour to an hour and a half and longer if you can. The key is to removing as much liquid from the sauce as slowly as you can.
Check the seasoning and chilli and adjust as necessary.
What happens when you bring together a spicy curry with flaking pork shoulder?
Everything and anything that is good about food!
This is a cracker of a curry. Really distinct and rich flavour, incredible texture of the pork, especially after the effort of really browning it off, great spice from the chillis. Yum!
Cooked at Nat’s parent’s place where we were dog-sitting, we served this with a chutney and some rice with coriander and it seriously hit every spot.
Ingredients
1kg pork shoulder cut into 3cm pieces
15 dried long red chillis
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
5 cardamom pods, crushed
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
⅓ c white vinegar
¼ c vegetable oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp finely grated giner
1 fresh bay leaf (or 2 dry)
2 c chicken stock Chutney to serve
Method
Place the chillis in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 10 minutes or until softened. Drain, discarding the stems and seeds.
Using a mortar and pestle, grind soaked chillis, cumin, mustard seeds, fenugreek and cardamom until fine: better still, if you can outsource this part of the process! Transfer to a small bowl, then stir in the coriander and turmeric.
Heat a small frying pan over a low heat and add the spice mixture and cook, stirring for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the vinegar and set aside.
Heat oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Season pork, then, working in batches, cook until the liquid evaporates and the pieces are browned all over. Transfer to a plate.
Reduce heat to medium, add the onions and cook, stirring for 5 minutes or until softened.
Add garlic and ginger, stirring for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add reserved spice mixture, bay leaf and chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low, return pork to the pan, cover and cook for 1½ hours or until pork is tender.
I type this recipe up on Valentine’s Day morning and so you can guess what I have just eaten and been made for breakfast!
This is better than any Hallmark card. In fact, it is better than any smashed avocado and tomato number that you’ll likely get at your local breakfast haunt, what with the addition of the chilli, ginger, dill, a squeeze of lemon and the radish sprinkled on top.
I added a few slices of tomato to my plate as well.
1 avocado
Juice of half a small lemon
Half a bunch of dill, chopped
Good pinch chilli flakes
2 good pinched of grated ginger
Rock salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
2 thinly sliced radishes
2 – 4 slices of toasted soy and linseed bread 1 tomato, sliced
Method
Mash the avocado together with the lemon juice, dill, chilli flakes, ginger and salt and pepper.
Spread the avocado mixture liberally on the toast.
Throw a few radish slices on top and the tomato if using.
I typed this recipe up a few years back though haven’t made it since.
Next weekend, I will right that wrong.
Using whole ocean trout as your fish – truly the most beautiful fish in the world – and cooked in foil on the BBQ, when fish meets chilli butter and with perhaps some greens and potatoes on the side, something special happens.
Sure, it isn’t quite restaurant fare though it’s certainly bistro fare and it is a great recipe to dip your toe into the ‘cooking whole fish on the BBQ’ trick.
Of course, you could cook the fish in the oven by laying them down on baking paper, cutting two or three slashes into the thick flesh and baking, though I think the BBQ adds to it.
Ingredients
4 whole ocean trout
2 tbs olive oil, plus extra to brush
1 roasted red capsicum (or a jar of chargrilled capsicum, drained)
100gm unsalted butter
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 1tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 small red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Method
Heat the BBQ to medium-hot. Brush the fish with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. By all means, stuff lemon and coriander and garlic and butter and whatever else your grandpa included into the cavity of the fish. Wrap in foil and cook for 10 – 12 minutes, turning once.
Meanwhile, very finely chop the capsicum then place in a small saucepan with the olive oil, butter, lemon zest and juice, coriander, chilli and garlic. Season. Stir over a low heat until butter is melted and well combined. Keep warm.
Serve the fish with the capsicum and chilli butter drizzled on-top.
For the past few months, I’ve cooked this at least once a month with plenty left for freezing until the next batch of cooking.
It is so good.
To the extent that I feel excited all day about getting home, heating it up, slicing in some avocado and mixing through some Greek yogurt. Some coriander and maybe even a chopped tomato.
It is healthy – 270 calories a cup – and it is hot.
And it’s mince! The final word in why you really should be whipping up a batch at least every month and drip-feeding the excitement when you need it most.
Lordy.
Ingredients
1kg turkey mince
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can, crush tomatoes (no salt added as if you didn’t know!)
1 can, baby tomatoes (yes, you can get them at Coles if you look)
3 tbsp tomato paste
½ tsp hot/chilli sauce
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 red capsicum (pepper), chopped
1 green capsicum, chopped
2 jalapenos chopped (you can get these in a jar, I substitute a big red bullhorn chilli)
½ tsp sea salt
Pinch of pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp chilli powder (3 makes it explosive, though sure, why not if you are so inclined)
2sp dry oregano
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Method
Heat the olive oil in a large heavy saucepan/pot and sauté the onions and garlic until fragrant – 3 or 4 minutes. Add the turkey and cook until browned and crumbled and the excess liquid has cooked off.
Add the rest of the ingredients – boom – and cook for an hour or more until you can’t hold out anymore!
Robby Dog Cooks 