Tag: christine manfield

Christine Manfield’s Baked Fish with Mustard Cashew Masala

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Serves: 6

The effort in this fish is not to be sneezed at, what with the preparation of tomato kasundi pickle.

Something I am not necessarily entirely convinced you need, though we were left with a jar the pickle and Nat made one of the world’s best cheese toasties the next night with a slathering of the pickle.

The end result of this curry is remarkable, however.

The flavours are gentle and yet so full of layers of flavour. This is not your cheat’s Tuesday night coastal Indian curry.

The evidence of the prep and time in this curry is clear.

This curry is a special keeper. Worth every minute.

Another Christine Manfield homerun.

Ingredients

3 tomatoes, grated
1 tbsp tomato kasundi pickle (see below)
3 tsp sea salt flakes
1 tbsp caster sugar
100ml vegetable oil
2 tsp coriander seeds, roasted and ground
2 tsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground
1 c fish stock
1 tbsp chickpea flour
1/2 c thick plain yoghurt
50ml cream
6 x 150gm mulloway cutlets*
1 tbsp mustard oil
25ml lime juice
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1/2 long green chilli, finely sliced

Mustard Cashew Masala

2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
60gm grated fresh coconut
1 tbsp minced ginger
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3 small green chillies, chopped
1 brown onion, chopped
2 tbsp raw cashews, chopped
1 tbsp mustard oil

Tomato Kasundi Pickle (Makes 600gm)

1 tbsp brown mustard seeds
160ml malt vinegar
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
6 garlic cloves
8 small red chillies, minced
100ml mustard oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground turmeric
1kg ripe tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
50gm brown sugar
1 tbsp sea salt flakes

  1. Kasundi Pickle: heat a frying pan over a low heat. Add the mustard seeds and vinegar and cook for 5 minutes, taking care not to evaporate the vinegar. Set aside to cool.
  2. Place the mustard seed vinegar, ginger, garlic and chilli in a food processor until a smooth paste forms.
  3. Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the ground spices and cook for 15 seconds or until just fragrant. Add the mustard paste and tomato, stir to combine and cook, stirring occasionally for 45 minutes or until the tomato has broken down. Add the sugar and salt, stir to combine and cook for a further 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Transfer to a food processor and pulse briefly to form a coarse paste. Pour into a sterilised glass jar and seal with a tight-fitting lid. Store in the pantry for up-to 1 month and refrigerate once opened.
  4. To make the mustard cashew masala, place all the ingredients together in a food processor and blend to form a paste. Set aside.
  5. Place the tomato and tomato kasundi pickle in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook for 8-10 minutes or until reduced by half. Add 2 tsp of the salt and the sugar, stir to combine and set aside.
  6. Heat the vegetable oil in a wide-based pan over a low heat. Add the ground coriander and cumin and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Immediately stir in the mustard cashew masala, increase heat to medium, and continue stirring for 5 minutes or until aromatic and starting to colour. Add the reduced tomato and the stock and cook for 10 minutes, Reduce heat to low.
  7. Meanwhile, combine the chickpea flour and yoghurt in a bowl, this prevents the yoghurt from splitting during cooking, and stir into the masala sauce. Add the cream and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat while you cook the fish.
  8. To cook the fish, preheat the oven to 200c. Brush the fish skin with mustard oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Heat a heavy-based, ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. Add the fish skin-side down, and cook for 3 minutes or until golden and crisp. Turn the fish over, pour the mustard cashew sauce around the fish, transfer to the oven and cook for 4 – 5 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish, or until cooked through. Rest for 2 minutes to allow juices to settle.
  9. Carefully lift the fish from the pan and place on serving plates. Add the lime juice, remaining 1 tsp of salt, coriander and chilli to the sauce in the pan and stir to combine. Spoon sauce over the fish and serve with steamed basmati rice.

* Any deep-sea, firm-flesh fish will do, such as kingfish trevally, trumpeter or groper.

Christine Manfield’s Chettinad Chilli Chicken

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 4

You can point blindfolded to any Christine Manfield recipe and know it will be a knockout.

French, Asian, Contemporary Australian.

My first experience of her cooking was at her extraordinary Sydney restaurant, Paramount. And that would have to have been 25 years ago.

I was then lucky enough to do a Christine Manfield cooking class at the Seafood Markets with my mother, something I still remember well. (Also probably 25 years back!)

Christine’s Five Spice Duck and Shiitake Mushroom Pie is a flavour triumph, though start a day ahead as Nat will attest!

Anything from her book ‘Tasting India’ is going to blow your socks off in a good way: her 100-almond curry is an extraordinary place to start.

I’ve only cooked a few dishes from her latest book ‘Indian Cooking Class’.

This curry is one of them and the complexity of the spice layering is just awesome.

It isn’t so complex that you couldn’t make it mid-week, especially if you made the masala paste on Sunday afternoon.

Put on your blindfold, line this recipe up and thank me later.

Ingredients

75gm ghee
2 brown onions, diced
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
3 small red chillies, minced
20 fresh curry leaves
2 tsp chilli powder
4 chicken marylands, cut into thigh and leg joints
3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
100ml chicken stock
2 tsp sea salt flakes
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 c coriander leaves

Chettinad Masala Paste

1 tsp white poppy seeds
2 large dried chillies
100gm grated fresh coconut
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp finely diced brown onion
2 tsp ginger garlic paste

Method

  1. To make the Chettinad masala paste, place the poppy seeds in a frying pan and cook over low heat for 20 seconds or until lightly toasted. Remove from the pan and soak in 1 tbsp water for 20 minutes. Add the chillies to the pan and cook for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Allow to cool before grinding into a fine powder in a spice grinder. Place the poppy seed mixture, coconut, ground chilli and other spices in a food processor or blender and process to a fine paste.
  2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 minutes or until golden. Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the spiced coconut paste and cook, stirring to combine, for 4 – 5 minutes. If the mixture becomes too dry, add a splash of water to prevent it from burning. Set aside to cool.
  3. To cook the chicken, melt the ghee in a wide-based pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 minutes or until softened. Add the ginger garlic paste and minced chilli and cook, stirring to combine, for 30 seconds. Add the curry leaves and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until crisp. Add the ground chilli and 3 tbsp of the Chettinad masala paste and cook, stirring to combine, for 2 – 3 minutes. Add the chicken and cook, turning once to ensure the pieces are evenly coated in the paste, for 5 minutes. Add the tomato and cook for another 4 minutes. Add the stock, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Season with salt and lime juice. Scatter with coriander and serve with steamed rice.

Christine Manfield’s Mughlai Chicken

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

Christine Manfield‘s Mughlai Chicken is just another brilliant curry from her wonderful book, Tasting India.

It was just luscious, so unique and perfectly executed by Nat. Local Indian restaurant this is not.

Served alongside another wonderful cauliflower and potato curry, we had an old friend over for dinner, decanted a cracking red and had a memorable Saturday night in.

Doesn’t get much better than this.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
50gm finely sliced white onion
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
2tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
500gm chicken thigh, cut into 2cm cubes
100gm thick plain yoghurt, whisked
300ml white chicken stock
3 tsp mint chutney
50gm finely chopped spinach leaves
100gm spinach puree
2 tsp salt
20 fried curry leaves, slightly crushed
1 tsp ghee, melted

Mint Chutney

100gm mint leaves
75gm coriander leaves
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 small green chilli, minced
2 tsp minced ginger
5 tbsp thick plain yoghurt
2 red shallots, finely diced
2 tsp chat masala
1/2 tsp sea salt
Pinch of chilli powder

Method

Mint chutney

Blend the mint, coriander, lemon juice, chilli and ginger to make a smooth paste. Stir in the yoghurt, shallot, chat masala, salt and chilli powder. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Spinach puree

Blanch spinach leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds, drain and chop then puree in a food processor.

Fried curry leaves

Heat some vegetable oil to 170c and fry fresh curry leaves in small batches for 20 seconds

The Curry

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli over a high heat until softened. Add the chicken and toss to combine. Fry for a minute and then add the yoghurt.
  2. When the mixture starts to simmer, add the stock. Bring back to the simmer and then stir through the chutney and spinach leaves. Cook for 10 minutes until the chicken is tender and the gravy reduced.
  3. Add the spinach puree and salt and stir until combined and heated through. Stir in the curry leaves and ghee and serve with steamed rice.

Christine Manfield’s Andhra Curry Leaf Chicken

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

There is yet to be a Christine Manfield curry that hasn’t amazed and this one is no different.

It is moorish, spicy, colourful with a few layers of flavour, the cashew paste adding a wonderful creaminess at the end: we added more of the cashew paste than was asked and didn’t look back.

The real winner however – as Nat observed – is the fried curry leaves and the fun and flavour they add.

And it’s a simple dish. Marinate overnight, cook in under 30 minutes the next night.

I’ve written it many times, though the excitement for us in cooking Indian food is finding new flavours and styles. Christine does not let anyone down with this one.

Ingredients

1.2kg chicken thighs, cut into 4cm chunks
1/3 cup cashew paste
2 large dried red chillies
2 tbsp shredded curry leaves
2 tbsp fried curry leaves

Marinade

1 tsp chilli powder
1 large dried red chilli, broken into small pieces
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
3 tomatoes, chopped
150gm thick natural yoghurt

Method

  1. To make the marinade, combine all the ingredients and 1 tsp freshly ground pepper in a bowl. Add chicken chunks, mixing to coat. Marinate for 10 minutes (or overnight).
  2. For the cashew paste, blend equal parts raw cashews and water in a food processor to make a thick, smooth paste.
  3. For the fried curry leaves, heat some vegetable oil in a saucepan to 170c and fry fresh batches of curry leaves for 20 seconds until their colour darkens. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.
  4. For the ginger and garlic paste, process equal parts garlic and ginger in a food processor with a little water until smooth.
  5. Tip the chicken and marinade into a large, non-stick frying pan. Place over a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 10 minutes or until the mixture is not too wet and the marinade has reduced and is coating the chicken.
  6. Stir in the cashew paste, chillies, 1 tsp salt and the shredded curry leaves and cook for another few minutes.
  7. Serve sprinkled with the fried curry leaves.

Christine Manfield’s Five-spice Duck and Shiitake Mushroom Pie

.Reading time 10 minutes.

Serves: 8

Preamble: We are typing up this recipe as part of a tribute to our awesome friends Leesh and Josh who are getting married – at last – this weekend. Being awesome means they are awesome on the food front: cooking, eating, discussing and pairing wines with.

Here is to many meals in the future guys. We are proud to be your friends.

Enjoy the copper and cooking this pie one rainy Saturday. Keep the champagne near.

Love

Nat and Rob

—

Christine Manfield is unquestionably one of Australia’s most talented chefs that you’ve never heard of… unless you’re a foodie.

Her Paramount restaurant was arguably Australia’s best restaurant for many years and the breadth of her capabilities is stunning. One downside is the complexity of much of her work where a sauce is reduced and added to another sauce which is then reduced and worked into another sauce.

Tuesday night cooking it is not.

Conversely, every recipe I have cooked from her beautiful Indian cookbook Tasting India has been so unique, so wonderful that the decision to invest the time is simply one about what sphere of eating you want for that night.

Her food is not incrementally good. It is revolutionary good.

From Indian to this recipe is a jump, though you’ll understand my point about the range of her abilities. It is one of the finest bits of food I have cooked.

Indeed, this pie is one of her signatures and she says of it:

“This was a constant on my Paramount menus from the very beginning to the restaurant’s final night, selling out on a nightly basis,” says Christine Manfield. “People still stop me and request it. It pays homage to the French Pithiviers, a hand-moulded dome, while its filling is a nod to Chinese flavours. Where the humble meat pie holds special significance for many Australians, this version elevates it to a refined status. Don’t be daunted by the process – the workload can be spread across a couple of days and the result is a triumph, so please persevere.” Manfield suggests making the pastry and balls of duck-mushroom filling the day before, and then rolling out the pastry rounds and assembling the pies on the day of baking.”

All I can say is that after a day in the kitchen, this pie will blow your socks off. You’ll have bonded, you’ll have opened a wine at 5 and you’ll be so pleased with yourself and so you should be.

Do it.

Ingredients

4 Duck Marylands (250gm-300gm each), trimmed of excess fat
½ tsp ground Sichuan pepper
½ tsp Chinese five-spice
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
2star anise, broken into pieces
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 litres brown chicken stock

Mushroom mixture
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
250 gm shiitake mushrooms, thickly sliced
250 gm chestnut mushrooms, trimmed (see note)
1 tbsp five-spice salt (see note)
3 spring onions, thinly sliced
¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Crème Fraîche Pastry
2 ⅓ cups) plain flour
250 gm chilled unsalted butter, diced
250 gm crème fraîche
Eggwash, for brushing

Ginger Glaze
1 onion, thinly sliced
1small red chilli, thinly sliced
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger, plus 1 tbsp extra, cut into julienne
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 star anise
100 ml Stone’s Original Green Ginger Wine
25 ml Shaoxing wine

Method

  1. Prick duck skin with a skewer. Combine Sichuan pepper, five-spice and 2 tsp sea salt in a bowl, then rub into duck.
  2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in deep frying pan large enough to hold duck in a single layer over medium-high heat and fry duck, skin-side down, until browned (2-3 minutes), turn and cook other side for 2 minutes. Set duck aside, tip fat out of pan, add remaining oil and onion and sauté until onion is softened and translucent (4-5 minutes).
  3. Add garlic, ginger, chilli and spring onion and fry until softened and just starting to colour (6-8 minutes). Add whole spices and fry for another minute or so until fragrant. Add stock, bring to the boil, add duck in single layer so it’s covered by stock, reduce heat to low and simmer until duck is tender (50 minutes to 1 hour).
  4. Remove duck from stock (reserve stock), then, when cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones (discard skin, bones and sinew). Finely chop and set aside.
  5. Strain stock through a fine sieve, cool, then refrigerate until fat sets on the surface (2-3 hours). Skim off fat, discard and refrigerate stock until required.
  6. For mushroom mixture, heat oil in a frying pan and sauté onion, garlic and ginger until fragrant (3-4 minutes). Stir in mushrooms and toss to coat, then sauté until softened (8-10 minutes). Season with five-spice salt and 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, stir to combine and remove from heat.
  7. Stir in the spring onion and parsley, cool slightly, then add to duck meat and mix well with your hands. Roll into 8 balls roughly the size of a tennis ball, place on a tray, cover and refrigerate until cooled and firm (2-3 hours).
  8. For the crème fraîche pastry, process flour, butter and 1 tsp sea salt in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs – don’t overwork. Add crème fraîche and pulse until just incorporated. Tip out onto a bench, form into a disc about 3cm thick, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest for 2 hours.
  9. Cut pastry into 4 even pieces. Keep remaining pieces refrigerated as you work with each; roll out each and cut out two 11cm-diameter rounds for the 8 lids, place on a lightly floured tray and refrigerate. Re-roll pastry and cut out eight 7cm-diameter rounds for the pie bases, place on a lightly floured tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  10. Working with a pastry base and lid at a time and keeping remaining pastry rounds chilled, lay a small pastry round (base) on a lightly floured surface, brush edges with eggwash and place a ball of duck mixture in the centre. Place a larger pastry round (lid) over the top, gently mould pastry over duck mixture with your hands, press edges with a fork to seal, then trim edges with a paring knife. Place on an oven tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate while you assemble the remaining pies. Brush pastry with eggwash and score seven arcs from centre of lid down the dome with a paring knife, then refrigerate for 1 hour to rest.
  11. Meanwhile, for ginger glaze, fry onion, chilli and chopped ginger in oil over medium-high heat until soft and translucent (2-3 minutes). Add spices and fry until fragrant (1 minute). Deglaze pan with ginger wine and Shaoxing wine, and boil until reduced by half (3-4 minutes).
  12. Add 300ml reserved duck stock and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer until reduced by half (40-45 minutes). Strain through a fine sieve and season with salt to taste. Just before serving, bring to a simmer, adding julienned ginger at the last minute.
  13. Preheat oven to 200C. Bake pies until golden brown (18-20 minutes). Serve with ginger glaze.

Christine Manfield’s One Hundred Almond Curry

.Reading time 3 minutes.

One Hundred Almond Curry

Serves: 8

This is an absolute pearler of a curry.

Just wonderful.

Unique, hot, creamy, moorish and all at the same time. That we had it with an indulgent medium-grain rice made it all the better.

From Christine Manfield’s Tasting India, it is one of those curries we have been lucky enough to cook that you will never have at a takeaway or your local Indian restaurant. It is far too good and sophisticated for that.

Not that you would get that from the ingredients at first glance.

It is the almonds that make it so special – something I have written about in the past – and it is their slight crunch, the flavour, the colour and again, the creaminess that makes it work just so damn well.

This recipe from the Himalayas is unquestionably worth doing. Another example of a curry you’d never know existed until you tried it and one you will absolutely love.

Ingredients

2kg lamb leg on bone, cut into pieces
1 tbsp black peppercorns
6 slices ginger
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
3 litres chicken stock
1 ½ cups (240gm) blanched almonds, skins removed
1 onion, finely sliced
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste (essentially, half/half ginger and garlic)
12 dried Kashmiri chillies, broken into small pieces
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp white poppy seeds (we substituted white sesame seeds)
3 tbsp ghee (we substituted canola oil)
300ml coconut milk
70ml Tamarind Liquid
3 tomatoes, quartered, seeled and sliced lengthways

Method

  1. Put the lamb, peppercorns, ginger, bay leaves and salt in a large, heavy saucepan and pour in the stock. Bring to boiling point over a medium heat, reduce the heat and simmer for at least an hour until the meat is very tender. This could take up to an extra hour so be prepared.
  2. Remove the lamb from the stock and set aside. Strain the stock, discarding the solids.
  3. Blend the almonds with the onion, ginger garlic paste, chilli and cumin, coriander and poppy seeds to make a fine paste.
  4. Heat the ghee in a large pan and fry the almond paste over a low heat for a few minutes until it starts to colour. Add the coconut milk, tamarind liquid and 2 cups of the strained stock, stirring to combine. Simme for 15 minutes until it has reduced and thickened slightly. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
  5. Add the lamb and the tomato to the gravy and stir well to combine. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the tomato breaks down.
  6. Serve with rice.

Christine Manfield’s Black Pepper Chicken Fry

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

This recipe is from Christine Manfield’s gorgeous book, Tasting India.

If you ever needed convincing to visit India, leaf through her book and you have it; an afternoon with this wonderful book was enough to seal it for us and in 2017, we’re heading there!

This dish is from the Chettinad region and is as unusual as it is tasty. It isn’t spicy, though the pepper gives it a lovely peppery taste. Really unique.

It’s also pretty easy to prepare, something we did for an Indian-dinner at Nat’s sister’s place.

If you love curry like we do, this is definitely one to try.

Ingredients

5 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3cm piece cinnamon stick
2 green cardamom pods, cracked
2 white onion, finely sliced
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
2 tsp salt
1kg chicken thigh fillets, chopped into 3 cm pieces

Pepper Masala

3 tsp fennel seeds
3 tsp cumin seeds
3 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp black peppercorns
4 small dried red chillis

Method

  1. To make the pepper masala, dry roast the spices over a gentle heat. Cool, then grind to fine powder.
  2. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and ginger to a smooth paste. Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan and fry the cinnamon and cardamom over a moderate heat for 30-seconds until fragrant. Add the onion and stir for a few minutes until golden. Add half the pepper masala and stir until fragrant. Add the ginger garlic paste and the tomato and fry for a few minutes, then season with the salt and cook, stirring, for a minute or two.
  3. Add the chicken pieces and stir until they are coated. Fry for 3 – 4 minutes until the chicken is beginning to colour. Add 2 cups (500ml) water, then cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the chicken is cooked and tender; remove the lid, and cook down any remaining liquid until you have a thick gravy. Serve.