This recipe book is Classic Indian: Easy, delicious and authentic recipes, with a forward by Rafi Fernandez (out of print). I didn’t find the recipes delicious or as a result overly authentic. They used all the right spices, but still somehow managed to make food that was quite dull, so they either used the right spices incorrectly or in the wrong amounts. The recipes themselves were fairly straightforward, I burnt one dish (and possibly ruined a saucepan), and it was awful as a result, but otherwise bland, though straightforward recipes – 2 out of 5 stars.
Lamb Korma
Ingredients:
- 15ml/1 tsp sesame seeds
- 15ml/1 tsp white poppy seeds
- 50g/ 1/2 cup blanched almonds
- 2 green chillies, seeded
- 6 garlic cloves, sliced
- 5cm piece fresh root ginger, sliced
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 45ml/3 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
- 6 green cardamom pods
- 4 cloves
- 900g lean lamb, cubed
- 5ml/1 tsp ground cumin
- 5ml/1 tsp ground cumin
- 5ml/1 tsp ground coriander
- 300ml double cream
- 2.5ml/ 1/2 tsp cornflour
- salt and ground black pepper to garnish
- roasted sesame seeds to garnish
Method:
- Heat a heavy-based frying pan and dry-fry the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, almonds, chillies, garlic, ginger and onion. Cool, then grind finely in a food processor.
- Heat the ghee or oil in the frying pan. Fry the cardamom, cinnamon and cloves until the cloves swell. Add the lamb, cumin and coriander. Sstir in the prepared paste. Season to taste. Cover and cook for about 1 – 1 1/4 hours, until the lamb is almost done.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Mix all but 15ml/1 tbsp of the cream with the cornflour. Gradually stir into the lamb mixture Reheat gently, without boiling and serve, garnish with the sesame seeds and the reserved cream.
Notes on this recipe:
- In step one you’re told to dry fry several ingredients, but not for how long, until they’re a certain state, nothing useful.
- I’m not convinced that white poppy seeds actually exist as I’ve never been able to find them
- This dish was insipid and boring, and really 300ml of cream is WAY too much cream. It would be far better with half that amount.
- Oh and the last instruction in step 2 is also rubbish, it should be until the lamb is tender. If it isn’t done after cooking for 1 hour, there is something wrong with your cooking process.
Spiced Spinach and Potatoes
Ingredients:
- 450g potatoes
- 60ml/4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2/4 cm piece fresh root ginger; grated
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 green chillies, chopped
- 2 whole dried red chillies, coarsely broken
- 5ml/1tsp cumin seeds
- 225g fresh spinach, chopped or 225 frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- salt
- 2 firm tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped, to garnish
Method:
- Cut large potatoes into quarters, or if using small new potatoes, leave the whole. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the potatoes until brown on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Pour off excess oil from the pan, leaving 15ml/1tbsp. Add the ginger, garlic, onion, green and red chillies and cumin seeds and fry gently until the onion is golden brown.
- Add the potatoes, season with salt, and stir well. Cook, covered, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife.
- Add the spinach and stir well to mix with the potatoes. Cook, uncovered, until the spinach is tender and all the excess liquid has evaporated. Garnish with the chopped tomatoes and serve hot.
Notes on this recipe:
- It’s quite straightforward, though I forgot the tomatoes as a garnish. It’s also again quite bland. The spices don’t penetrate the potatoes and so the spinach and onion are great, but the potatoes aren’t all that interesting
Lentils Seasons with Fried Spices
Ingredients:
- 115g/ 2/3 cup red split lentils
- 50g/ 1/3 cup bengal gram or yellow split peas
- 4 green chilllies
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 350ml water
- 400g can plum tomatoes, chopped
- 60ml/4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 6 curry leaves
- 2 dried red chillies
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida
- salt
Method:
- Place the lentils, split peas, green chillies, turmeric, onion and water in a heavy pan and bring to the boil. Simmer, covered, for 30 – 40 minutes, until the lentils are soft and almost dry.
- Mash the lentils. When nearly smooth, add salt to taste, and the tomatoes and mix well. If necessary, thin with hot water.
- Heat the oil in a small heavy frying pan. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, the crushed garlic, curry leaves, the dried red chillies, the dried red chillies and asafoetida and fry, stirring, for about 2 – 3 minutes. Pour the hot spice mixture over the lentils and serve at once.
Notes on this recipe:
- This is the recipe I burnt and may have ruined a saucepan cooking.
- At 20 minutes the lentils were mostly done, but there was still some liquid left, it wasn’t “almost dry”. So I kept it cooking on a lower heat for another 10 – 15 minutes. But this point it was thoroughly burnt and as far as I was concerned – completely ruined. “Almost dry” isn’t a good enough description, and I had no idea this would be so likely to burn.
Quick Basmati and Nut Pilaff
Ingredients:
- 225 basmati rice
- 1 – 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 large carrot, coarsely grated
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp black mustard seeds (optional)
- 4 cardamom pods
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock or water
- 1/2 cup unsalted nuts
- salt and ground black pepper
- chopped fresh coriander and fresh coriander sprig, to garnish
Method:
- Put the rice in a sieve and wash under cold running water. Transfer the rice to a bowl, add fresh water and soak for about 30 minutes. Drain thorough in a sieve.
- Heat the oil in a large shallow pan, add the onion, garlic and carrot and fry gently for about 5 minutes. Add the rice to the pan with the cumin seeds, ground coriander, black mustard seeds, if using, cardamom pods and bay leaf. Cook for about 1 – 2 minutes more, stirring the rice and spice until the rice is thoroughly coated with the spice mixture.
- Pour the chicken or vegetable stock or water, and season well. Bring to the boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer very gently for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat without lifting the lid, this helps the rice to firm up and cook further. Leave to stand for about 5 minutes until small steam holes appear in the centre. Discard the cardamom pods and the bay leaf.
- Stir in the nuts and check the seasoning. Sprinkle with fresh coriander and add a fresh coriander sprig, to garnish.
Notes on this recipe:
- Again boring. Although I left the coriander out, it wouldn’t’ve added enough to this recipe to make it interesting. It was well cooked though, the instructions in this one worked, but something made it dull.
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