NAME: _Chump Chop Curry
INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
4 to 6 lamb chump chops
3 or 4 medium white potatoes
3 or 4 medium brown onions
1 cup chickpeas
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp curry powder (mild or hot depending on your preference)
1 tbsp baharat (www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Baharat-Spice-Blend-224763)
1 tsp salt per preference
1 tsp cayenne pepper per preference
1 tbsp flour
1 litre water
METHOD:
Cut onions into lengthways crescents, trim fat from chump chops. Put oil into a large saucepan and bring to a gentle heat, add the onions in a layer, then place the chops atop the onions. Sprinkle half the spices over the chops and onions, leave to braise.
After about ten minutes turn the mixture over so the chops are on the bottom, sprinkle remaining spices over. Leave for another ten to fifteen minutes.
Add enough water to cover, and if your chickpeas are dry and have not been cooked, add them at this point as well, so they will soften in time. Allow to simmer gently for 45 minutes. Resist the urge to eat it now!
Peel and dice the potatoes in about 2cm cubes, add to the pot and add enough water to make the sauce liquid again and cover about 3/4. Add chickpeas at this stage if they are precooked. Allow to simmer for another half hour.
Adjust seasoning at this point, and mix the flour with a few tablespoons of water. Drizzle the flour/water into the pot, stirring all the time, and waiting to see how much the sauce thickens. Adjust to preference.
SERVING:
Serve over a bed of Basmati rice, with a garlic and chilli type pickle/relish on the side. (These are usually reddish-orange coloured, spicy hot, with a nice fermented taste, available at Asian and Indian specialty stores.)
NOTES:
The herbs in the curry and baharat penetrate the meat during the simmering, and produce the trademark "falls off the bones" tenderness of the meat. It should have a curry bite without being scorching.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Bullets For My Chicken
NAME: _Bullets For My Chicken
INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
100g - 200g chicken or turkey mince
1 tbsp polenta fine
1 tbsp bourghal fine
1 tbsp psyllum husk
1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp chicken stock powder (or replace water, below, with strong chicken stock)
1 tsp salt (more or less, season to taste)
1 egg
2 tbsp water (roughly - adjust to make mixture slightly soft to begin with)
Rice bran oil or grapeseed oil to fry.
If crumbing as well:
1 egg
flour (wheat or corn meal flour)
breadcrumbs
METHOD:
Mix everything except the water in a bowl, really well. Add water (or chicken stock) bit by bit until you get a stiff paste. Mix really well to develop some stickiness and set aside for a while. An hour at least. That allows the grains of polenta and bourghal to absorb moisture and become softened.
Roll out in long cylinders about the thickness of a Sharpie (5mm - 10mm) and cut into 2cm lengths. If you're crumbing them, do it now, roll in flour, egg, and then crumbs.
Your choice of deep or shallow frying - just make sure they get golden to brown in colour.
SERVING:
These are just part of a meal, you can try them in a variety of ways:
- Crumbed, with a side of vegies in a creamy sauce, served immediately.
- Tossed with pasta and Italian red sauce.
- On a bed of rice drizzled with a sweet and spicy sauce.
- Cold, in a salad or as a finger food snack
NOTES:
You can replace the polenta and bourghal with plain bread crumbs if you don't have them, use a touch less water/stock if you do.
Also crushed cheese crackers will work. (It's just to break up the tight meat texture, and I often use cheese Jatz, some finely grated cheese, and crumb them with more cheese Jatz crumbs instead of breadcrumbs to makeTed's Famous Fowl Cheesy Balls.) Psyllum husk is dietary fibre, and also helps bind the mixture.
Why I use RBO or GSO to fry rather than olive oil is simple - olive oil is not a high temperature oil. It's mainly for salads and for adding to cooking at a later, lower temperature, stage. I also prefer to shallow fry and control how much oil I end up eating. (Although, these bullets don't soak up much oil thanks to the psyllum husk, anyway.)
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INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
100g - 200g chicken or turkey mince
1 tbsp polenta fine
1 tbsp bourghal fine
1 tbsp psyllum husk
1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp chicken stock powder (or replace water, below, with strong chicken stock)
1 tsp salt (more or less, season to taste)
1 egg
2 tbsp water (roughly - adjust to make mixture slightly soft to begin with)
Rice bran oil or grapeseed oil to fry.
If crumbing as well:
1 egg
flour (wheat or corn meal flour)
breadcrumbs
METHOD:
Mix everything except the water in a bowl, really well. Add water (or chicken stock) bit by bit until you get a stiff paste. Mix really well to develop some stickiness and set aside for a while. An hour at least. That allows the grains of polenta and bourghal to absorb moisture and become softened.
Roll out in long cylinders about the thickness of a Sharpie (5mm - 10mm) and cut into 2cm lengths. If you're crumbing them, do it now, roll in flour, egg, and then crumbs.
Your choice of deep or shallow frying - just make sure they get golden to brown in colour.
SERVING:
These are just part of a meal, you can try them in a variety of ways:
- Crumbed, with a side of vegies in a creamy sauce, served immediately.
- Tossed with pasta and Italian red sauce.
- On a bed of rice drizzled with a sweet and spicy sauce.
- Cold, in a salad or as a finger food snack
NOTES:
You can replace the polenta and bourghal with plain bread crumbs if you don't have them, use a touch less water/stock if you do.
Also crushed cheese crackers will work. (It's just to break up the tight meat texture, and I often use cheese Jatz, some finely grated cheese, and crumb them with more cheese Jatz crumbs instead of breadcrumbs to makeTed's Famous Fowl Cheesy Balls.) Psyllum husk is dietary fibre, and also helps bind the mixture.
Why I use RBO or GSO to fry rather than olive oil is simple - olive oil is not a high temperature oil. It's mainly for salads and for adding to cooking at a later, lower temperature, stage. I also prefer to shallow fry and control how much oil I end up eating. (Although, these bullets don't soak up much oil thanks to the psyllum husk, anyway.)
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Free Cooking Videos
http://www.guidetoculinaryschools.com/tips-and-tools/cooking-videos
Someone just passed this link on to me, I thought I'd share it here. It seems to have links to a cooking schools and resources so it's commercial, but that's not wrong. Also, this is a few more resources for you. I like the pork confit recipe already...
Someone just passed this link on to me, I thought I'd share it here. It seems to have links to a cooking schools and resources so it's commercial, but that's not wrong. Also, this is a few more resources for you. I like the pork confit recipe already...
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Sometimes, Taste Buds Aren't.
Funniest thing I've seen in months:
Went to a friend's place for a chat and a cuppa, they berated me for letting the water boil in the kettle because "it de-oxygenates the water and makes the tea taste off" then they emptied the jug and refilled it from the tap before bringing that lot of water carefully to just below boiling point and making the tea with that...
Went to a friend's place for a chat and a cuppa, they berated me for letting the water boil in the kettle because "it de-oxygenates the water and makes the tea taste off" then they emptied the jug and refilled it from the tap before bringing that lot of water carefully to just below boiling point and making the tea with that...
Monday, 18 January 2010
AgBASE Directory of Zen
Would you like to order quite a wide range of foods online? For instance, buy california wine online or pretty much any of a wide range of produce - direct from the place that makes it. Those of you who regularly follow my other blogs TEdALOG Lite II and The Zen Cookbook Blog would already know that I'm all for anything that makes food more accountable and sustainable.
Something about AgBASE makes me happy. Maybe it's the way they use only one lowercase letter, the same as I do. But I also think that the site, which amounts to being a huge directory of food and garden greening, may be onto something, when it covers headings such as Biofuel and Biolubricant, Garden Supplies, Kosher Food, Fish and Seafood, Specialty Foods, Organic Vegetables, Berries, and so much more. The Internet needs more sites like AgBASE. The nearest thing we have in Australia is Aussieweb, but it just opens its doors to any commercial entity rather than focusing on greener and more sustainable businesses.
Something about AgBASE makes me happy. Maybe it's the way they use only one lowercase letter, the same as I do. But I also think that the site, which amounts to being a huge directory of food and garden greening, may be onto something, when it covers headings such as Biofuel and Biolubricant, Garden Supplies, Kosher Food, Fish and Seafood, Specialty Foods, Organic Vegetables, Berries, and so much more. The Internet needs more sites like AgBASE. The nearest thing we have in Australia is Aussieweb, but it just opens its doors to any commercial entity rather than focusing on greener and more sustainable businesses.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Third World Goat
An interesting price comparison: Dave says goat at his local Price Choppers in the USA, cost $2.79 per lb. Applying currency conversion rates as of about now, and converting that to kilos, that means I should expect to pay about $6.77/kg for goat meat here in Australia. Since even poor cuts of beef cost about $6/kg at my local fruit veg and butcher co-op (and they are at the low end for prices believe me!) that would make goat a really good alternative meat for me. Only problem is that the last time I looked at goat meat in a butcher's store, it was nearer $16/kg. And I can't imagine that prices have dropped since then.
Oh - and the real kicker? Regarding that super economical goat meat that Mr Dave can get at about one thrid the cost I can get goat meat here? It comes from here in the first place!
Oh - and the real kicker? Regarding that super economical goat meat that Mr Dave can get at about one thrid the cost I can get goat meat here? It comes from here in the first place!
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