Wednesday 26 June 2013

Bak Kut TEddles %)

NAME: _Bak Kut TEddles %)

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
2 cups stock (beef or chicken or pork)
6 cups water
1 tsp chinese five spice (heaped, depending on tastes)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
several cloves garlic
350g - 500g pork bones (see NOTES)
1 cup straw mushrooms or shiitake
6 - 10 pieces of cubed fried bean curd
1 - 2 cups sliced vegetables (see NOTES)
1 tbsp light soya sauce
a few drops sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:
Peel garlic and slice thinly. Place in saucepan with the stock, water, five spice, black pepper, and pork bones.

Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour or two, as long as it takes your pork to become quite soft.

Add mushrooms and sliced vegetables, (see NOTES) top up liquid if necessary, return to boil, then simmer for a further 20 - 30 minutes. Add any greens (see NOTES) and the fried bean curds about five minutes before end. Also add sesame oil and soya sauce at this stage., and adjust seasoning.

Pork should be fall-from-the-bone soft. Remove from heat and let stand for a few minutes.

SERVING:
Serve with steamed rice or noodles, and a soya sauce with sliced chilli condiment. Generally also a serve of stir fried vegetables is traditional, but (see NOTES) I've put some vegetables in the soup for the last half hour.

NOTES:
Pork should be something like riblets, belly, etc. The main thing is to have bones with a thin covering of meat. I got about a quarter of a pork ribs/belly and cut the skin and some fat off, then split into ribs, and cut the ribs (and the odd strips of belly that protruded past the ribs)  into about 6cm lengths.

Sliced vegetables - it's more usual to have the vegetables as a side dish but as I don't have a stir fry pan going, it's more convenient to add a few diagonal slices of celery, some carrot slices, etc. If your vegetables include pak choi and/or spinach (highly recommended) then add these for the last five minutes of cooking only.

If you want, by all means stir fry the vegetables and serve as a side dish instead of with the soup.

ENJOY!

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Ted's Exotic Crumbing Mix

NAME: _Ted's Exotic Crumbing Mix

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup besan flour
1/2 cup plain flour
2 eggs
1 tbsp water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp red paprika
1 tsp ground cumin

METHOD:
Mix breadcrumbs, besan flour, and spices together in a bowl. Mix eggs and water in another bowl.

Follow standard crumbing procedure: dredge in flour, dip in egg, roll in crumbs, fry. Preferably at slightly lower temperature in olive oil.

SERVING:
Really good as the crumbing on the potato and lentil burgers. Also good on cauliflower florets.

NOTES:
Every so often, I want to crumb something to go along with a spicy curry or similar dish, and I experimented a bit and came up with this. It tastes really good with curries, and some Arab dishes. The turmeric and paprika give a nice colour, and are also really healthy. It kind of balances out the frying in oil... %)

ENJOY!

Friday 7 June 2013

Fried Spice Veg Curry

NAME: _Fried Spice Veg Curry

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
2 - 3 medium potatoes
equal amount pumpkin
1 medium carrot
2 brown onions
1 cup natural yoghurt
1 cup cream
1 tsp each of mustard seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, black peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom seeds, cooking salt, chilli flakes, sesame seeds
2 tsp each ground turmeric, ground Indian red paprika.
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp rice bran oil

METHOD:
Peel onion, cut into lengthways crescents. Peel potato, pumpkin, and carrot, cube potato and pumpkin to about 1.5cm - 2cm cubes, slice carrot 1cm thick.

In a heavy saucepan, fry the seed spices in the oil until you hear them crack, then add the onion, fry for another five minutes then add the ground spices and reduce heat. Add the vegetables and about 750mL of water (3 cups) and allow to simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Mix together the yoghurt and cream to serve with the curry.

SERVING:
Serve with basmati rice and add a dollop of the yoghurt-cream mixture. Good served with Potato and Lentil Burgers or similar crispy side dishes.

NOTES:
This is a very flavoursome curry, and depending on the chilli flakes you use, can pack quite a wallop. If you're unsure about the chilli flakes, test by frying a teaspoonful of flakes gently in a teaspoonful of olive oil and then dipping a wooden skewer or toothpick into the oil and tasting that.
ENJOY!

Lentil and Potato Rissoles

NAME: _Lentil and Potato Rissoles

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
2 medium potatoes
1 cup dry red lentils
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp besan flour
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
1 - 2 cups breadcrumbs
1/2 cup olive oil

METHOD:
Simmer lentils in 2 cups of water until all absorbed. Peel and cube potatoes, simmer until just soft enough to mash. Mash potatoes, adding in the turmeric and salt and besan flour. Add cooked lentils and mix in, set aside and allow to cool.

Whisk egg and milk together in a bowl, put breadcrumbs in another bowl. Form potato / lentil mixture into rounds about 1cm thick and 4cm diameter, cover in egg wash, then in bread crumbs. These can either be fried right away and served, or kept in the refrigerator to firm up before frying. Fry in batches to prevent the oil getting too cold.

SERVING:
Serve on their own with a sauce like yoghurt/cream, or hummus. Or serve as a side dish to curries etc.

NOTES:
Besan flour is chickpea flour. You can substitute plain flour instead, but besan gives a better flavour.

ENJOY!

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