Chilli Marrakech with Lime & Chilli Yoghurt

Well, this recipe couldn't have arrived on a better day for it.

At around 3 a.m. the night before, it started snowing - and continued throughout the day.  Eventually, we had around 4-6 inches of snow on the garden - which is really quite deep for Dorset!

Now ordinarily, I'd have been having successive batches of kittens over this happening.  However, I'd seen the weather forecast and we'd been out and done our weekend's shopping the day before, so it was just a matter of having to drive son & heir to school.  I used to not really bother about driving in the snow, but since moving to Dorset where no road exists that doesn't involve either climbing up or going down a hill, it's a different matter.  One experience of sliding down a hill whilst slowly spinning until hitting the car at the bottom of the hill (and missing all the parked cars - which was a singular miracle) is quite enough and I don't mind admitting I've lost my snow nerve where driving is concerned.  Especially now I own a nice car.  The thought of stoving in one of Alfie's sides (Alfie the Amalfi Lemon coloured Skoda, that is) by crashing in snow is just terrifying.

However, all was peace and tranquillity when at 7 a.m. we had a message from school to say that the school was closed for the day.  And breathe!

That's a lot of snow, for us!

So we spent the day sitting in the warm, watching the snowflakes fall - and trash our baby Olive tree.  Yeah, thanks snow.  Poor little chap, we should have brought him in under cover, but forgot.  I don't think he's ever going to achieve "tree" status, he'll for ever be a bush instead, because of several mishaps involving dogs paws and now the snow.

What a perfect day, therefore, to have a warming Chilli on the menu.  So often, I find myself booked to make a stew when suddenly it's like the Sahara outside, or alternatively, we're booked for a salad on a day like yesterday.  For once, however, I got it right.

The Chilli Marrakech is a recipe taken from the BBC Good Food Magazine.  You can find it here.  (Thanks for pointing me to it, Angela!).  The recipe I detail below contains all the original recipe's ingredients, it has just been a bit re-organised to suit my cooking methods better.  For instance, I make sure to drain all the fat from the meat and so as to not lose too much flavour, I brown the meat before cooking the onions.  It's a small point, but it makes a lot of difference in the eating.  The lamb fat is brilliant mixed with some bird seed and left to solidify.  If you line the container with cling film before filling, it make it easier to get out.  Put it on your bird table and watch the birdies tuck in!

We all really enjoyed this dish.  It is very aromatic and a lot lighter than your usual Mexican style Chilli Con Carne.  In fact, I think to compare it to Chilli Con Carne is a bit daft as they are, really, completely different in just about all ways other than the fact that it's minced meat with spices and a bean.  In this case, it uses lamb, Harissa and chick peas to great effect.  I'm not sure how authentically Moroccan this recipe is - but it uses flavours that originate from Morocco, so if nothing else, it is Moroccan style!

Now I really like Harissa - and most especially the Sainsbury's Speciality Ingredients Harissa paste.  The ingredients are very similar to Ras al hanout spice mix, in that they include rose petals, paprika and cumin.  Obviously it differs in that it is a paste as opposed to a dry spice mix and it also contains rather more chilli - but if you know Ras al hanout, then you will know Harissa.

The recipe also includes additional cumin, paprika and cinnamon, along with fresh ginger, garlic and coriander - so you'll begin to see the kind of level of spicing we're talking about here.  Very aromatic, very flavoursome.

However, none of the spices overtook the lamb - you could very definitely tell it was lamb and not beef involved there.  The addition of chunks of sweet red pepper was great, too - as it gave interest, colour and the occasional burst of lovely sweetness - which always helps when you're eating an intensely spicy (but not hot) combination.

In fact, speaking of spicy heat, I added a pinch of red chilli flakes to my version as I felt that the Harissa just didn't have the punch that the family would be looking for from the dish.  It was a long way from the nose-running kind of hot and spicy that a good Chilli Con Carne should be, but that additional pinch just bolstered the chilli in the Harissa.

Now, the thing that absolutely made the dish - from my perspective - was the Lime & Chilli Yoghurt.  This wasn't included in the original recipe but I would very definitely recommend you make it to accompany this dish.  It only takes a moment or two to make and is just so good along with the chilli.

I didn't serve the chilli with any rice or couscous, but with some sundried tomato & onion flatbreads that came from Asda.  Yes, I know I could have made them - but I could also have wound up incapable of movement by the end of the cooking process - and I'd really like to be able to get from kitchen to chair to eat my meal!  The Asda flatbreads are very nice indeed.  I put them onto a baking tray and give them a little sprinkling of water, followed by 4-6 minutes in a hot oven - and they're perfectly soft but with a crunchy edge.  Just right for dipping and eating alongside.  Yum.

So the next time we've got snow on the horizon, off you go to Sainsbury's for lamb mince and Harissa paste!  You can't go wrong.

CHILLI MARRAKECH with LIME & CHILLI YOGHURT   (serves 4)

Ingredients :

600g minced lamb
1 onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, chopped finely
1-2 tbsp Harissa paste (use less if you like less spicy heat)
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 heaped tsp ground coriander
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
1 heaped tsp paprika
1 pinch chilli flakes (omit if you like less spicy heat)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 long sweet red pepper, de-seeded and cut into chunks
400g tin chick peas, drained (and washed, if in brine)
150ml lamb stock made using 1 stock cube or 1 tsp powder (I used Essential Cuisine lamb stock powder) 
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
15g fresh coriander, chopped.

For the yoghurt :

1 lime, zest and a little juice
a pinch of chopped fresh coriander
finely chopped red chilli, to taste
4-5 tbsp greek yoghurt
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper.

Method :

1.  In a large saucepan, dry fry the lamb mince until the majority of the liquid has burned off and all the meat is brown.  Spoon the meat out into a bowl using a slotted spoon, so that the fat drains out of the meat and back into the pan.  Drain off all but 2 tbsp of the fat.

2.  Add the onions and cook on a moderate heat until softened.  Add the garlic and ginger, then cook for another minute or so.

3.  Return the meat to the pan and stir through.

4.  Add the Harissa paste and all the spices and stir thoroughly as it cooks, to make sure the paste is distributed evenly throughout the mixture.

5.  Add the chopped tomatoes, red pepper, chick peas and stock.  Again, stir through well to combine.

6.  If you have used a low salt stock, taste to check for seasoning and add as necessary.  Otherwise, add a pinch of sea salt and a good quantity of freshly ground black pepper to taste.

7.  Add three quarters of the chopped coriander and bring to a simmer.  Cook for around 30 minutes, or until the chilli reaches your preferred consistency.

8.  While the chilli is cooking, make the Lime & chilli yoghurt by grating the zest of a lime into a bowl.  Add a pinch of the remaining chopped coriander, the finely chopped red chilli (quantity depends on how spicy you like it - so be cautious when adding and taste before adding a little more), the juice of one third of the lime, the yoghurt and a tiny amount of sea salt & black pepper.  Stir to combine and taste.  Add more lime juice or more chilli, as you prefer. 

9.  Serve the chilli in warmed bowls with the remaining coriander sprinkled over, the Lime & Chilli yoghurt and warmed flatbreads.

Printable version

Egg & Vegetable Curry

It has been a long time since I made a curry.  Well, a curry from scratch that is - you know, without the "benefit" of a shop bought curry paste or suchlike.  One where you devise the spicing yourself and pray it comes out okay.

Now I have made a couple of meals that involved curry in the recent past and all have been pretty darned poor.  Take the Kedgeree that I made only a couple of weeks ago.  It really was horrid.  For some reason I overcooked the rice and also used a pre-made curry paste that was really bad.  I've no idea why I didn't spice it myself and have no clue as to why we seemed to go back to buying curry paste - as the marked decline in my curried fortunes seemed to coincide with that.

I have been having a dalliance with "authentic" type curries recently, which has meant that hubby hasn't been too pleased with them.  You see, generally, "authentic" i.e. not British Indian Restaurant style curries are a lot wetter than the BIR style ones.  I've talked in the past about hubby's hatred for "pond water" (i.e. broth) rather than a more robust sauce and these "authentic" style curries (such as Malay and Thai) just aren't his "thing".  It's a shame, because I was quite keen to investigate these more "brothy" types of curry and explore the flavours involved.  Hey ho - another single person lunch project, maybe!

Looking like magma with a couple of eggs inside it!

Hence, I had made a mental note that my next curry was to be a BIR style one - and I suspect that the curry paste came along because I'd lost confidence in my ability to cook a curry from scratch.

However, the meal on this night wasn't supposed to be curry at all.  It was supposed to be cornish pasties!  Not a lot of difference there, is there?

I served mine with curried flatbreads

Well the cornish pasty thing got scotched (or cornished) when I realised that I'd left the beef in the freezer and it wouldn't be defrosted by lunchtime, when I was going to be making the pasties.  This demanded a bit of a side-step and an audit of the contents of said freezer and the fridge, for alternative ideas.

I'd accumulated a fair amount of little bits of vegetables that had been left over from previous meals and which set me to thinking about a vegetable curry.  At this point, a lightbulb went on and I remembered that I'd been vaguely hankering after an egg curry, after seeing a photograph of one on the excellent Facebook page "The Food Court".  Obviously, I couldn't make simply an egg curry, as hubby's sensitivity to eggs would rule him out of one of those - but a veggie curry with a couple of additional hard boiled eggs for son & heir and myself was sounding increasingly good.

A quick rummage in the tin cupboard turned up a tin of coconut milk and a small tin of chick peas and a rummage in the larder cupboard turned up a carton of tomato passata.  Along with a bit of leftover single cream in the fridge and a well stocked spice cupboard, I had just about all I needed.

The curry was delicious.  Hubby really enjoyed his vegetable version and son & heir loved his egg along with the curry.  My vague lusting after an egg curry was assuaged and we all went away smiling.  Can't ask for more than that - especially from a last-minute decision of a curry that was made out of leftover and forgotten ingredients!


EGG & VEGETABLE CURRY    (serves 3)

Ingredients :



1 tbsp vegetable or groundnut oil
15g butter
2 onions, one chopped fine and one sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
2 heaped tsp ground coriander
1 heaped tsp ground black pepper
1 flat tsp ground turmeric
a hefty pinch of red chilli flakes
1 heaped tsp Madras curry powder
3 green cardamom, crushed
250ml tomato passata
2 carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
a quarter of a swede, peeled and cut into small chunks
400ml can of coconut milk
1 heaped tsp (or 1 crumbled cube) vegetable stock powder
220g tin of chick peas
2 big pinches of dried Methi (Fenugreek) leaves
1 courgette, sliced thickly on the diagonal, then halved
sea salt
200ml single cream
a knob of Jaggery (or 1 tsp brown sugar)
another (smaller) knob of butter
3 eggs, just hard boiled (around 7 minutes).

Method :

1.   In a deep saucepan, heat the oil and butter until the butter has melted.  Add the onion and fry on a medium heat until soft and deep golden brown.  Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.

2.  Add the cumin, coriander, black pepper, turmeric, chilli flakes, curry powder and cardamom and stir to combine.  Cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent the spices burning.

3.  Add the tomato passata and stir to combine.  Continue to cook until the mixture has lost a good deal of its water and the fat is being released.

4.  Add the carrots, potato and swede and stir well until the vegetables are all coated in the spice mixture.

5.  Add the coconut milk and vegetable stock powder and gently stir to combine.

6.  Add the chick peas and the methi leaves and bring to a simmer.  Cook, simmering, until the vegetables are softened, but not quite tender.

7.  Add the courgette, stir to combine and continue to cook until the vegetables are tender.  You may need to add a little water from time to time, if the curry begins to get too thick.

8.  Once the curry has thickened, add the cream, jaggery (or sugar) and salt to taste.  Once you are happy with the flavour and the cream is well combined, add the knob of butter and the three shelled hard boiled eggs.

9.  Allow the eggs time to heat through and serve on white rice, with the eggs halved and placed on top.

Serve with naan bread, chapatis or flatbreads.

Printable version

Mediterranean Chicken Stew

This is one of those dishes that split the crowd.  I liked it a lot, Son & heir liked it and hubby didn't like it much - from which I detect that it may well be a "women & children only" dish!

We had bought a chicken last weekend, as a fall-back position if it transpired that we couldn't get hold of a piece of roasting bacon.  As we finally managed to secure an enormous joint, the chicken went into the freezer and became part of this week's menus.

As such, I simply roasted the chicken during the day and stripped the carcass into two halves of usable meat.  One half went in today's chicken stew, the other was intended for the chicken pie that I had scheduled.

I'm always on the lookout for "things in which to use leftover roast chicken", as we rarely eat more than half a chicken in a roast dinner - which leaves the other half.  Now as much as I like cold roast chicken in sandwiches, it seems that I'm alone in that in our house - and there's only so many roast chicken sandwiches a girl can eat.

The original recipe (which I found on "The Kitchn" - click to view) recommended using a rotisserie chicken for speed, so I reckoned "the other half of the roast chicken" would qualify in this regard.

Believe it or not, apart from forgetting to include two components of the dish (the bay leaves and the lemon juice), I almost followed the recipe as it is set out on the originating blog.  I'm quite sure the lack of bay leaf won't have hurt the recipe any, and I was quite glad I had forgotten the lemon juice, as the tomatoes made it quite acidic enough.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't over-acidic (probably because I'd used the lovely Tarantella tinned tomatoes, which are just beautiful), but I can't help but think that a tablespoon of lemon juice might have tipped it over the edge.  The one addition I made to the recipe was the addition of a tablespoonful of tomato ketchup.  I dunno, I think it just adds a little spicy something to a tomato sauce - and the sweetness often will take the edge off of the tomatoes.

I served it with mashed potato and tenderstem broccoli (you're going to get sick of hearing about that stuff, if you're not already!) and it was a lovely mid-week supper.

MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN STEW  (Serves 4)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, grated
2 tsp dried oregano
400g tin of chopped tomatoes in juice
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
400g tin of chick peas, in water
150ml chicken stock
2 bay leaves
freshly ground black pepper
half a medium sized roast chicken, shredded into chunks
a handful of olives, sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional).

Method :

1.  In a large, deep saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the onion.  Cook until softened but not browned - some 5-8 minutes.

2.  Add the garlic and oregano, cook for a further minute, stirring well.

3.  Add the tomatoes, chick peas, tomato ketchup, chicken stock, bay leaves and pepper.  Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.

4.  Add the chicken meat, stir gently, lower the heat and simmer uncovered for a further 10 minutes.

5.  Just prior to serving, stir in the olives and continue to cook until they have heated through.

6.  Serve with mashed potato and a green vegetable of your choosing.

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So simple! Spicy minced lamb

Although the recipe for this Spicy minced lamb is incredibly easy, it is definitely worth blogging about.  Any recipe that takes as little as this one does - yet turns out an appetising and delicious result, is always worth passing on.

The "recipe" is one which has evolved over the years and is a great stand-by for those moments when you want something homey and warming, but don't want to spend ages creating it and equally don't want anything too challenging on the tastebuds.

I served it with Ottolenghi's Green Couscous, which was a stroke of brilliance on my part and provided us with a welcome injection of green food, but without having to think about it being palatable or what sauce to go with it!  The mince contains all the right kinds of flavours to go with the Green Couscous and the two of them were very comfortable bedfellows (or should it be "platefellows"?).

SPICY MINCED LAMB  (feeds 3-4)

Ingredients :

500g minced lamb
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 garlic clove, grated
a pinch of chilli flakes
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
400g tin of chick peas
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped.

Method :

1.  In a dry frying pan, brown the minced lamb until all the water has been burned off and the mince is beginning to caramelise on the pan.

2.  Add the ground cumin, ground coriander, garlic and chilli and continue to cook for a minute or two, mixing to ensure all is well combined.  You may need to add a little olive oil at this stage, depending on how fatty the mince was.

3.  Add the tomatoes, tomato ketchup and chick peas and stir to combine.  Add a little water to let the mixture down, if it needs it.  Simmer for around 10 minutes (or as long as it takes to make the Green Couscous!).

4.  When the mixture has reduced and combined, stir through the fresh coriander and serve.

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The hummus muse hath struck!

Since forever, my hubby has been saying to me “you should make your own hummus, you know” (much in the same way as he’s now saying “you should make your own gnocchi”).  So while the gnocchi still waits, I overcame my reluctance and bought some Tahini paste (which is made from sesame seeds), dried chickpeas – and waited for the muse to strike.

Well, the muse took her time – as 6 months down the line, I’ve just made my first batch of hummus.  I found that the first problem was remembering to put the chickpeas (also known as "little bums" - well, have you looked closely at one?) on to soak the night before.  Yes, I know you can use tinned chickpeas, but if reports were to be believed, the best hummus comes from dried, soaked and boiled chickpeas rather than tinned.  I am also controlled by the “I’ve got to do it RIGHT” muse, by the way.

So, having managed to remember to soak the chickpeas, I was then committed to doing something with them the next day.  The cooking of the chickpeas was easy enough – into a pan with a teensy amount of salt and a whole heap of water, boil for an hour.  Sorted.  Tasting them thereafter, I realise now why hummus purists prefer the dried version.  The flavour is far superior.  So anyway, I procrastinated as long as was possible over the next stage, then got on with it.

Chuck the chickpeas into a food processor, add olive oil, Tahini (I suggest you start with just a little and work your way upwards – basically because you can’t take it out once it’s gone in and it is a very strong flavour), a good quantity of lemon juice, a squashed garlic clove and some salt & pepper.  Blitz until the mixture runs smoothly, adding olive oil as you go, to get the right texture.

I found it was a trial and error thing with the quantities of olive oil, lemon juice and salt.  Very much a personal taste issue.

However, it really wasn’t as big a deal as I was thinking it might be.  It was really quite easy – and the hummus is a very forgiving substance, which you can blitz and taste, blitz and taste, without it getting all huffy and going wrong like egg whites will, in similar circumstances.

Of course, I got the quantities wrong and made an industrial sized quantity – so I’ll be scaling that down for future hummus makes – but it was really very nice indeed.  I ate it with a drizzle of olive oil and some cayenne pepper sprinkled on, with mini carrots and some little salty biscuits and it made a very yummy mid-film snack.

Sausage Goulash

Hubby managed to pick up a pack of 12 speciality chipolatas for the price of an ordinary pack of sausages, the other day.  Although there were 12 in the pack, I felt they were a bit on the teensy side to be treated as just plain old sausages to be had with mash or suchlike, so began looking for a casserole-type dish to use them in.

I turned up a recipe for Sausage Goulash, which looked like it would have good results.  Indeed, it would have done, had it not have been for the accidental heavy hand with the crushed chillies and the quantity of paprika, which to hubby's taste was rather too strong.

Still, I enjoyed both the paprika and the chillies!  However, because I know that I'm currently going through a chilli-phase, I've re-written the recipe for another go at it, this time adjusting the quantities a tad.  Oh, and I'll try not to have a nerve jump in my hand right at the moment I'm shaking out a half a teaspoon of crushed chillies, next time.  LOL 

Incidentally, it would be easy for it to stretch to feed more people simply by including more vegetables in the mix.  Potato, sweet potato, parsnip, swede, peas, sweetcorn, green beans - all these would go very nicely.

SAUSAGE GOULASH (serves 3)

Ingredients

1 pack of sausages
2 onions, sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, grated or chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 bay leaves (optional, depending on how herby the sausages are)
1 heaped tsp Paprika
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
half a tsp dried chilli flakes
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
4-5 mushrooms, quartered
1 small can kidney beans
1 small can chick peas or cannelini beans
600ml chicken stock
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
Plain yoghurt to garnish

Method

1.  Brown the sausages in a deep saucepan, then set aside.

2.  Fry sliced onions and garlic gently until golden, but not caramelised.

3.  Add paprika and stock.

4.  Add carrots, chick peas and beans, bay leaves, tomato puree & tomato ketchup and mushrooms.

5.  Return the sausages to the pan and simmer until the carrots are tender.

6.  Add the balsamic vinegar and simmer for 15 minutes more.

7.  To serve, decant into warmed bowls and add a generous blob of natural yoghurt on top.  If you really want to show off, add a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

Serve with crusty bread.