Green Curry

Friday, February 15th, 2008

The Green Curry is probably the most famous dishes from Siam as my mother calls it.

However, the green curry served in many restaurants in the UK is missing two things: sweetness and tons of chilli. For Green Curry is the hot one.

Recently I watched Nigella Lawson cook a really quick Green Curry on television. She was really proud of herself. But she got a couple of things wrong. To start with Green Curry is meant to be quick, and quicker than she did it. Secondly she made it far too complicated.

So, here is a very basic, and searingly good Green Curry – Bear style!

Oh, I have left out the palm sugar – I really cant get my head round the way some Siamese drown everything in sugar!

• 1 whole Chicken, deboned and chopped into mouthfuls. (or you can also use Duck)
• 2 cans Coconut Milk
• 5 spring onions
• 1 bunch Coriander, roots and all
• 3 Lime Leaves
• 2 stalks Lemon Grass
• 10 + green chillis – the smaller hot ones, if you dare, or fewer of the fat mild ones with seeds removed.
• 3 cm cube of Ginger
• 8 cloves Garlic
• 2 tbs Fish Sauce
• 1 tbs crushed coriander seed
• Salt to taste
• 3 Tbs Peanut Oil
• 1 small can shredded Bamboo Shoots (get the panda to let go first)
• large handful or so of pea aubergine
• small bunch of Sweet Basil (If you cant get the sweet version, DONT substitute with italian – wrong taste! Just leave it out)

In a blender or food processor add the onions, lime leaves, coriander, lemon grass, chillies (de seeded or not!), ginger, garlic and coriander seed. Blitz to a rough paste (don’t make it too fine or it will lose texture.)

Heat the oil in a very large saucepan to medium heat – do not make ti too hot or you may need to evacuate the house. Add the paste you have just made and fry, stirring continuously, for about 2 minutes. Add the coconut milk and fish sauce and bring to a low boil. Put in the Chicken and pea aubergines. Fast Simmer till chicken is just cooked, 10 minutes or so. Add the bamboo shoots and salt to taste. Cook for 2 minutes more then sprinkle in chopped sweet basil. Serve with gently steamed fragrant rice.

The trick to this dish is speed. It should have a light aromatic taste which can be spoilt with over cooking. However, do check your chicken is cooked properly!

You can add other vegetables like ordinary aubergines, string green beans, etc, but dont over do the veggies, it can spoil the taste. You may also wish to experiment how much of the paste to add. I like mine strong, you may wish yours milder. The paste will keep for a week or two in a sealed jar in the fridge, especially if you add a little oil to it.

Best Chicken Soup

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Chicken soup is one of those underrated, often badly cooked, essentials that is not just the mainstay of any Jewish mother, but of all who like great soup. There are a thousand variations to this soup, and I will no doubt be putting up some more as we go along.

But this is your standard starter for 10 – a great, easy to drink, 100% authentic, good for all occasions, chicken soup! The trick here is, of course, great ingredients. In this case I suggest small free range chickens. Slow grown and nice and fit. If they have fat, ridiculous breasts on them, then you have chosen wrongly.

By the way, this works best when started the previous day.

(Note: you can use most of this recipe just for stock)

• 2 chickens worth of bones
• 2 litres water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 large onion
• 1 large carrot
• 1 stick celery
• 2 cardommon pods
• bunch parsley
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 knob butter (unsalted)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and black pepper
• 1 large potato, peeled and chopped – a waxy variety

For this recipe you can use either cooked or uncooked chicken carcasses. However, it is nice if at least one of them is very well roasted to give added flavour. This is simple, just chuck the bones of the chicken into a very hot oven and roast till well and truly roasted – but not burnt!

Now, onto the rest:

Chop the onion and garlic very finely. Heat a very large saucepan to a medium heat. Throw in the butter and oil. Once the butter is mostly melted, put in the chopped onions and garlic. Now, gently fry these till the all the juice has gone out of the onions and they are turning slightly brown, but not over caramelised.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the salt and pepper and the potato. Bring to the boil then turn down to a sprightly simmer. If you have used raw chicken bones you may need to skim some scum off. Carry on simmering for a good couple of hours and until the liquid had reduced down by nearly half. (if it reduces too early, add some more water and turn the heat down a bit!)

Take off the heat and pour through a sieve into a large jug or bowl. Let cool.

Cover with cling film and shove it in the fridge over night, if possible.

The next day, take the stock out of the fridge. Carefully scrape off any fat that has solidified on top.

Put in a saucepan together with 1 large potato, chopped. Bring to the boil and season.

Once the potato is cooked, use an electric blitzer to beat the potato into the soup. The potato is optional. If you want a more stock type soup, just leave it out. I do frequently when I want a drop of soup with my lunch.

Serve with hunks of bread!

I am not sure what medicinal value chicken soup has when you are ill, but the placebo effect is really worth all the trouble!

Beef Stew

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Now, everyone likes a good stew. It is one of the oldest ways of cooking food and still one of the best. Stew is really a very simple concept – it is the combining of ingredients in a sealed vessel. That is it. After that it is just a question of choosing the right ingredients for the job and getting on with it.

This one is loosely based on a French hunters stew. But over the years I have to admit it has become corrupted as I add different ingredients depending on what is available. Oh, and I have also added dumplings. However, I have stuck to the two core ingredients – Beef and Wine.

The beef is as important in a stew as it is when choosing the perfect steak. Choose from good quality beef stock like Hereford. The cut you want is something like shin or braising steak with plenty of thin fat marbling. But do trim off any very heavy fat or tough gristle as that wont help. While you are picking up your beef you will also need a bit of gammon hock – to help the whole thing along.

Now, on with the show.

• 1 kg diced beef
• 1 smoked gammon hock
• 2 large onions
• 8 cloves garlic
• 10 medium carrots
• 2 Turnip
• 2 stalks celery
• 150g dried Cep
• 1 bottle red wine
• 2 tbs goose fat
• Salt and Black Pepper
• Small bunch French parsley
• Flour and butter for thickening.
• Red Desiree Potatoes as an accompaniment.
• Suet and flour for dumplings (see side of your suet pack!)

Bouquet Garni made out of:

• 2 sticks of rosemary
• small bunch fresh Thyme
• 2 Bay leaves
• small bunch of Marjoram

Chop the onions, garlic and celery. Heat the goose fat in a large saucepan or pot over a medium heat. Add the onions garlic and celery and fry gently for about 10 minutes or so till very soft and all the juices have evaporated. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Remove the gammon from the hock, chop up finely and add to the pan. Fry for a short time, but do not brown. Remove with the slotted spoon. Now, turn up the heat a little and fry the beef in batches till it is all brown. Return everything to the pan together with any juices that may have collected.

Add to the pan peeled and chopped turnip and chopped carrots (do not peel them) and the Ceps. Pour in the wine, add the bouquet garni and salt and pepper lightly. Bring to a light boil, then turn right down, put the lid on and leave cooking for 1 hour.

Make up suet dumplings with Beef Suet. There is usually a recipe on the side of the packet. Add to the stew and leave cooking for another hour until the dumplings are well swollen.

Remove the dumplings carefully with a slotted spoon and set aside. Remove the bouquet garni. Mix a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of butter together into a paste and add to the stew. Stir gently till the stew thicken thickens. Add chopped parsley and check the seasoning. Return the dumplings to the top of the stew. Put the lid on and cook for another 1/2 hour. In the meantime boil Red potatoes with the skins on. Once cooked, drain, add a nob of butter, salt and lots of pepper and keep warm.

Serve the stew with the dumplings and potatoes in large bowls with lots of fresh bread to soak up the gravy!

You really can add anything to this dish – green beans, haricot beans, swede, parsnips. Just keep it seasonal – then it will happily transform itself through out the year! Oh, and green vegetables only need to be added right near the end. Or cook seperately.

Note: Ceps are more often called Porcine in UK supermarkets and come dried in small packets. If you get them fresh, please send me some!

Basic Bread

Monday, February 11th, 2008

Any old bread is that stuff in the UK that supermarkets force down your throat. Just because it is cooked on the premises, however, does not mean that it is good bread.

Good bread starts with a good flour. It does not, however, involve the use or flour treatments or other rising agents other than yeast. It also does not need anything extra to make it last longer. If it is not eaten all at once, then it ain’t great bread!

This recipe is my starter for 10. If I am not doing anything very clever, such as workign with a fermented starter or adding extra ingredients, this is where I start. From this point I can make rolls, loaves, batons, and even pizza without wandering off the list of ingredients. If you don;t plan to get over adventurous, then perfecting this recipe will probably keep you happy all on its own!

• 1½ilbs (625 grams) Strong Flour
• 400 ml Tepid Water
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tbs Olive Oil
• 1 tbs Active Yeast or
• 15gm Live Yeast

Add the active yeast or live bakers yeast to the water in a measuring jug and stir to dissolve. Leave for 5 minutes or so.

Combine the flour and salt in a very large bowl and make sure they are mixed well. Create a well in the centre of the flour.

Pour in the yeasted water and add the olive oil. With a fork make sure the oil and water are well mixed. Start mixing in the flour graduly with the fork. Keep mixing in with the fork using slow stirring motions till all the water is mixed in.

Now turn out the flour onto a clean table top. Start to mix in the flour using your fist to drag up dry flour and push it into the wetter flour. Try to avoid sticking your fingers into the dough. Keep drawing into the centre in this fashion till you have a dough ball.

Flour your hands generously and kneed the dough for anything up to 10 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with a clean cloth. Put aside somewhere warm for 2 to 3 hours till it has doubled in size or more.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knock back – basically just take the air out of it. Cover with the cloth again and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

Now you can shape it into anything you like. Let it prove, covered with a cloth, for a good hour.

Bake in a very hot oven – 30 minutes or so for large loaves, less for bagettes, rolls, etc.

Remove from the oven and set aside till completely cool.

Try to avoid flour from supermarkets. A good source of flour in the UK {glossary}FWP Matthews{/glossary} in Oxfordshire. They sell their own blend of four as well as imported French flours witch are delicious!

Arabic Lamb

Monday, February 11th, 2008

This is based on an arabic lamb dish I had many years ago. I didn’t really know how it was made so, although I think I have it fairly right, I will call it “Sort of” to be safe!

My version here is a bit less fatty than the original, but still very warming. It is a very straight forward dish made from the scraps left from the lamb when all the other bits have been eate – good honest beduin stuff! Here I have used lamb shredded from shoulder and ribs – very tasty that! But you can use minced lamb – that works fine and is cheaper!

• 1 shoulder of lamb
• 1 large Onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 10 cardomon pods
• 1 tbs cumin seeds
• small stick cinamon
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 10 chopped okra
• 1 large chopped corgette
• 1 tin chopped tomato
• 500ml Lambg stock
• Seasoning
• 1 tbs olive oil

Chop the onion and garlic together and fry gently in the olive oil in a large pot. Grind the cardomon, cinamon and cumin together in a grinder till you have a fine powder. Once the onion is solft, add this mix to the pot and fry gently for a few minutes.

Strip the lamb off the bone and shred or chop finely. Add this to the pot and fry till brown together with the chilli powder.. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for a few minutes more. Add the stock and bring to the boil briefly while stirring continuously. Put on the lid, lower to the lowest heat and cook for an hour or so – untill the lamb is tender and the stock has combined with the onions.

Once tha lamb is tender, add the vegetables, chopped into small pieces. Cook for around ten minutes till the veggies are tender. And it is done! Serve with rice and warm flat breads.

You can use whatever vegetables you like – I regularly use frozen peas. However, carrots and other root vegetables do not work so well

Scrambled Eggs

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

There are a thousand and one recipes for flashy scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs with asparagus, with salmon and probably with chicken tikka, god help us! But this is all meaningless is one cooks revolting scrambled eggs – and believe me, many do.

This is what scrambled eggs SHOULDN’T be:

* They should not resemble yellow cat litter
* They should not be in one solid chunk
* They should not run round the plate in a thin stream
* They should not have great lumps of white in them

All of these I should not have been served over the years, and yet I have found all these and many more worse examples placed in front of me.

This is what scrambled eggs SHOULD be:

* Soft
* Slightly creamy
* Warm
* Fresh

And it really is not very difficult to do – so read on.

For one person:

• 2 or 3 eggs
• Knob of unsalted butter
• Salt and Pepper
• Pinch of Parsley
• 1 tbs Double (Heavy) cream at room temperature – optional

Break the eggs into a bowl and remove any stray bits of eggshell – well, you don;t want your guest hitting you, do you?

With a fork (not a whisk, or an electric anything, or some special device from the telly, just a fork!) beat the living daylights out of the eggs so they are properly mixed and just a little bubbly. Give them a quick grind of salt and pepper. Note, make sure the pepper is not too chunky!

Take a small non-stick saucepan or frying pan and heat to medium heat. Add the knob of unsalted butter and spin round the pan quickly till mostly melted but still butter colour – err on the side of not melted enough rather than burn the poor stuff. Add the eggs and with a wooden spoon get stirring – gently.

Note I said stirring, NOT beating! Being violent with your eggs will turn them to cat litter very quickly. What you are looking for is a just set state. In an ideal world you get this so right that there is no reason what so ever to add the cream. Part of the trick here is not to cook the eggs too hot – that will give you a thick omelette rather than soft and creamy eggs.

Once you have got them slightly softer than you want them, take the pan off the heat. If you want to use the cream, add a small splash now and stir in. Turn the eggs out onto a warmed plate and serve. If you get it right, the time it takes to get to the table should have finished the eggs off beautifully.

Eat with a fork and try not to make over satisfied slurping noises.