Tag: curry

Vikrant Kapoor’s Chickpea Curry (Channa Masala)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

Zaafran used to be one of Sydney’s best Indian restaurants. My best mate Giles and I would often go there for lunch, overlooking Darling Harbour and the city.

As Darling Harbour (now demolished) slowly merged from a stylish shopping centre and destination to a tourist trap full of ugg boot and opal sellers, Giles and I stopped visiting. Though what great memories and food: nothing beats a midweek lunch and a bottle of cold white.

This is the second Vikrant Kapoor recipe I have cooked. The first was this tremendous barramundi, something that was simply 5-star.

This chickpea curry’s simplicity is deceptive. The clarity of the flavours is just awesome and it was just a perfect side to this Pushpesh Pant Chicken with Fenugreek Leaves.

Arguably, it was much more than a side. Brilliant.

Ingredients

1 large potato, unpeeled
1 tbsp ghee
1 large onion, chopped
1 large tomato, puréed
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
450gm canned chickpeas, drained
1 tsp salt
Coriander leaves, to garnish

Method

  1. Cook the potato in a pan of boiling water for about 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and allow to cool, then peel and cut into cubes. Set aside.
  2. Heat the ghee in a frying pan, add the onion, tomato, ginger garlic paste, cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli powder and cook for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and chickpeas and 1/2 c lukewarm water and cook for 5 minutes or until hot. Garnish with coriander.
methi-murg

Pushpesh Pant’s Chicken with Fenugreek Leaves (Methi Murg)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

When I told the owner of our local Indian grocer I wanted fresh fenugreek leaves, he asked why. I explained that I was cooking this curry and he was totally confused by the quantity asked for and doubted it would work.

(It turns out it is also easier to buy frozen fenugreek leaves rather than fresh, though the result is of course the same.)

This curry was superb: it absolutely worked. Served alongside this chickpea curry, it was just a brilliant meal.

The marinade can be made the night before, perfect for a mid-week treat. Open a good red and thoroughly enjoy.

Ingredients

2 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 onions, sliced
2 tbsp natural yoghurt, whisked
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 medium-sized chicken, cut into pieces (I substituted 1kg chicken thigh)
3/4 c vegetable oil
2 large cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
3 green chillies, de-seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp ground caraway seeds
2 c fenugreek leaves, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Salt

Method

  1. To make the marinade, combine the ginger garlic paste, 1 onion, the yoghurt, chilli powder and turmeric together in a large, shallow bowl and season with salt. Add the chicken and turn to coat well, then cover and set aside in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
  2. Heat half of the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over low heat, add the marinated chicken and cook for 8 – 10 minutes, or until the chicken is slightly browned. Pour in 3 1/4 c water and cook for about 30 minutes, or until 2/3 of the water has evaporated and the chicken is cooked.
  3. Heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add the cardamom pods, cinnamon, chillies, ground caraway seeds and the remaining onion and fry for 1 – 2 minutes or until the cardamom swell. Add the chopped fenugreek leaves and fry for 3 – 4 minutes. Add the cooked chicken and simmer together until the leaves are fragrant, then squeeze over the lime juice.

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.

Pushpesh Pant’s Chicken in a Rich Scarlet Sauce (Murg Roganjosh)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

The name on the tin is exactly what you get here: a beautiful chicken curry in a rich scarlet sauce.

Another Pushpent Pant win.

Marinate the chicken overnight and this is a simple, authentic curry for a special mid-week meal.

Ingredients

1 c natural yoghurt, whisked
4 green cardamom pods
2 black cardamom pods
800gm chicken thigh cut into pieces
1 c mustard oil*
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks, 2.5cm long
4 cloves
Small pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground aniseed
1 tsp Garam Masala
Salt

Method

  1. Mix the yoghurt and cardamom pods in a bowl to make a marinade, then season with salt. Put the chicken in a large shallow dish and rub the marinade evenly over the chicken, cover and set aside in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
  2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over medium heat, add the chicken, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and asafoetida and stir gently though constantly for 10 minutes until the yoghurt dries and the oil separates out. Now reduce the heat and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the chicken turns brown. Mix in the chilli powder, increase the heat and stir quickly, then add the ginger, aniseed powder and garam masala together with 1 c of water. Reduce the heat and cook until the sauce thickens.

* Two points here. 1. Mustard oil is lovely and definitely worth getting. 2. I used a little over 1/4 c. Oily Indian curries are lovely, though 1 c will scare your guests.

Café de Paris Butter

.Reading time 5 minutes.

OK, I am going to tread very carefully here and after my brief intro, I am going to revert to a piece I found online many years ago by Franz Scheurer on the topic of Café de Paris Butter.

The reason for treading carefully is threefold:

  1. The original recipe was (and is) a secret and cooked only in one French restaurant in Geneva.
  2. It was so good that apparently the Germans during WWII booked the restaurant out night after night.
  3. There are many interpretations though they are just that; nobody really knows and suggesting that this take on Café de Paris Butter is correct would be dangerous.

Though I think, from what I have read, that this particular recipe is close if not it!

And lordy, of all the butters I have made, it is freaking good.

Don’t be inundated by the extent of the ingredients. Roll up your sleeves and do the hard yards. It freezes and you’ll have the best steaks in town for weeks and weeks.

The excerpt I found by Franz Scheurer:

Created by Freddy Dumont in 1941, specifically to go with sirloin steak, and served in the Restaurant Café de Paris in Geneva, this herb/spice butter was an instant success. So much so that it was almost impossible to get into the restaurant for years. The exact recipe is probably still secret today, and only a few restaurants world-wide are reputed to serve the original recipe, amongst them the Parisian ‘Le Relais de l’Entrecôte’ and the ‘L’Entrecôte de Paris’ and the ‘Café de Paris’ in San Francisco. The original Restaurant Café de Paris in Geneva still exists (albeit under new management) and still has the butter on the menu.

You won’t find a recipe for Café de Paris in Escoffier, Larousse or the Sauce Bible. Nor is it listed in the Oxford Companion to Food, Food Essentials A-Z or in the Cook’s Encyclopaedia. I did eventually find it in the German edition of ‘Der Grosse Pellaprat’, printed in Switzerland in 1966. Interestingly, it closely matches the recipe I have from my father, from his time as a chef at the Savoy in London in 1943.

Surfing the internet it becomes obvious that there are a lot of ‘chef’s versions’ out there, some quite close to what you would expect and some really way-out, like a German hotel chef’s version mounting a herb butter based on thyme, tarragon and parsley with sweetened condensed milk!

In Sydney Café de Paris butter is on the menu at quite a few restaurants and one, Bistro Moncur, is certainly very well known for this dish and their version is superb. 

Below my father’s recipe from 1943:

Beurre Café de Paris

Ingredients

1 kg butter
60g tomato ketchup
25g Dijon mustard
25g capers (in brine)
125g brown eschalots
50g fresh curly parsley
50g fresh chives
5g dried marjoram
5g dried dill
5g fresh thyme, leaves only
10 leaves fresh French tarragon
Pinch ground rosemary
1 garlic clove, squashed then chopped very finely
8 anchovy fillets (rinsed)
1 tbs good brandy
1 tbs Madeira
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp curry powder (Keens)
Pinch cayenne
8 white peppercorns
juice 1 lemon
zest of ½ lemon
zest ¼ orange
12gm salt

Method

  1. Mix all ingredients with the exception of butter in a glass bowl and leave to marinate for 24 hours in a warm part of the kitchen (a slight
    fermentation occurs).
  2. Purée the mixture in a blender and push through a chinois (a sieve to save you looking it up!).
  3. Foam the butter and mix with the purée. Cover and store in the fridge.
  4. It is customary to form the butter into a log, freeze it and cut off slices as you need them.

Keeps for several weeks.

Upon service a round of frozen butter is placed on the cooked sirloin and put under a VERY hot salamander for just long enough to begin to brown the top of the butter (while the butter underneath stays cold).

Ummmm

Cook your steak, let it sit, slice some of the butter on top and put it under the grill until it starts to melt.

Serve with thinly sliced and baked potatoes and an avocado and watercress salad and Vive la Revolution!

Light chicken korma

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

This is a simple and healthy take on chicken korma, save that unless you told your guests, they wouldn’t know.

The ground almonds are reasonably high in calories, though they pack so much other goodness (vitamins, minerals, good fats) that I didn’t (and wouldn’t) take it out of the recipe. Balance and moderation and all that.

Serve with basmati rice and plenty of coriander and this is two weekday dinners – and next day’s lunch packed.

I cut and steamed a whole head of broccoli and added it in at the last minute and you could of course do this with pretty much any vegetable, extending how much food you’re cooking and getting extra vegetables into the picture.

(And despite eating healthy, you’re eating the world’s greatest invention: curry!)

Ingredients

1 tbsp canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Thumb-sized piece of ginger, roughly chopped
4 tbsp korma paste
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
50g ground almonds
4 tbsp sultanas
400ml chicken stock
¼ tsp brown sugar
150g pit 0% fat Freek yoghurt
Big bunch of coriander, chopped

Method

  1. Put the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor and whiz to a paste.
  2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy pot to a medium heat and add the paste, cooking for 5 minutes until soft.
  3. Add the korma pasta and cook for another 2 minutes until aromatic.
  4. Stir the chicken into the sauce, then add the ground almonds, sultanas, stock and sugar. Give everything a good mix, cover and cook for 10 minutes until cooked and reduced. Reduce further if need be.
  5. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the yoghurt and season. Serve on top of steamed basmati rice sprinkled with the coriander.