Egg Fried Rice

I first read this method of cooking egg fried rice in Yan Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook in the early 1980s. I've been using it ever since and it's a success every time. It's also a good way of using up any boiled rice from a previous meal in a very easy, tasty way.

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Ingredients

• 400g (14oz) boiled rice left for 3-4 hours to dry out. Spreading it out flat after cooking will improve this process.
• 2 tbsp peanut (groundnut) oil
• 1 large egg beaten with 1/4 tsp of salt
• 2 spring onions cut into small rounds with the white and green separated
• 2 tsp Thick Soy Sauce

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Preparation

• Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan.

• Add the white part of the spring onion and stir a couple of times.

• Add the beaten egg and fry for 10 seconds.

• Add the rice and stir so that the egg adheres to it.

• Heat until the rice is warmed through and piping hot.

• Add the green part of the spring onion.

• Add the Soy Sauce and mix into the rice.
  

For variation try using duck eggs instead of hen. Duck eggs are much richer tasting and this intense flavor suits fried rice well. Another thing you can do is to fry some chopped bacon or pancetta and add it to the oil first. Fry until crisp and then add the white of the spring onion and continue the recipe from there. Adding bacon flavors the oil and ultimately the rice. Bacon and egg are a classic combo, so I'd recommend cooking it this way.

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Trinidadian Beef Curry

Living in Nottingham in the 80's I had the advantage of a perpetually open West Indian take away on my doorstep. Dishes such as Goat Curry when you got the munchies at two in the morning were much appreciated. The following curry recipe is for beef not goat but is still no less righteous. You can also use chicken, lamb or even goat instead of beef if you like. If using chicken or lamb then use water or chicken stock instead of beef. The beef stock would be a bit too intense for it. Thanks to Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible for bringing back memories of early morning Caribbean feasting

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Ingredients

Marinade

• 1 kg of beef (strewing / braising steak) cut into 1 inch pieces
  
• One medium sized onion finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic peeled & chopped
• The white part of 4 Spring Onions sliced into rings
• 4 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• 5 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 1/2 a very hot chili (Appropriately for a dish cooked in Scotland I used a Scotch Bonnet.) Handle with care and wash your hands several times afterwards.
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper

For the cooking

5 tbsp oil such as peanut
5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
2 pints of beef stock
1 tsp of ground roasted cumin seeds
2 tsp amchar masala

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Preparation

• Blend the marinade ingredients, with the exception of the beef to make a smooth paste.

• Marinade the beef in this paste covered in the fridge for at least 1/2 an hour and for a maximum of 3 hours.

• Heat the oil in a wok or large lidded non-stick pan over a medium high heat.

• Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds until it sizzles.

• Add the curry powder and stir for 10 seconds.

• Reduce the heat to medium and add the meat and its marinade stir frying for a minute.

• Cover, reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Add the stock, cumin and amchar masala.

• Stir and bring to a simmer.

• Reduce the heat to low and braise for around an hour and a half until the meat is tender.

• Increase the heat to medium high and reduce, stirring constantly, to a thick sauce.

• Stick some Peter Tosh on the ghetto blaster and eat with some boiled rice (the curry that is, not the ghetto blaster).
  

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Amchar Masala

This mix is from Trinidad and uses many of the spices that are used for pickling in India. First they are lightly roasted releasing a heavenly aroma and giving them an intense flavor, then they are ground ready for the jar. Like Garam Masala in Indian food, Amchar Masala is often added to a dish at the end of cooking. So put some Bob Marley on the CD player and grind it like a Lion in Zion.

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Ingredients for around 8 tbsp

• 4 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds

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Preparation

• Put the spaces in a heavy dry saucepan.
• Stir over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes to lightly roast. The spices will darken slightly.
• Leave to cool.
• Grind in a mortar & pestle or clean coffee grinder.
• Store in an airtight container and keep in a dark place.

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Shortbread

There is nothing more quintessentially Scottish than a nice piece of Shortbread.

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Ingredients
200g plain white flour
A pinch of fine salt
40g of ground rice
75g Caster Sugar (plus some more for dusting)
175g unsalted butter, from a chilled 250g pack

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Preparation

• Sieve the flower and salt into a large bowl.

• Stir in the ground rice and sugar.

• Grate in the butter. The secret of shortbread is to minimise contact with the ingredients when mixing. By grating the butter we reduce the time taken to mix and thus make a better biscuit.

• Quickly work the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

• Press the mix into a 20cm square baking tin, levelling off the top.

• Refrigerate for an hour

• Heat the oven for 140C for a fan oven, 160C for a non-fan oven

• Bake for 40 minutes until a light gold colour

• Prick all over with a fork & mark into 20 pieces, cutting through to the tin, but not through the tin.

• Dust with plenty of caster sugar and leave to cool in the tin.

• Remove and store in an airtight container.
  

• Dust
  

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Cranachan

Cranachan is a traditional Scottish desert made using local produce. It used to be eaten at harvest time when raspberries were plentiful. Today it is a popular ending to a burns supper on Burns Night on the 25th of January.

Cranachan is also sometimes called Crowdie Cream, as it used to be made with a soft Scottish Cheese known as a Crowdie, instead of the modern variant that uses cream.

In one variant, the Ale-Crowdie, ale, treacle and whisky were served with the oats. This used to be served at weddings with a ring added to the mix. Whoever got the ring either choked to death, or was fated to be the next to marry.

The traditional way of serving Cranachan was to bring each individual ingredient to the table separately, the guests could then assemble it themselves to their own taste.

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Ingredients (serves 2)

• 300g (10 1/2 oz) Raspberries or Strawberries
• 280 ml (10 fl oz) Thick Double Cream
• 2 tbsp Good Quality Honey such as a Scottish Heather or Blossom honey
  
• 2 tbsp Single Malt Whisky or Drambuie (Note that for an alcohol free version you can add a few drops of Vanilla Essence instead)
  
• 2-3 tbsp Oatmeal

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Preparation

• Place the Oatmeal in a cool pan and heat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until golden. This should take from 10 to 20 minutes.

• When toasted leave to cool in the pan and sieve to sift out any dust.
  

• Put the cream in a bowl and whisk until thick.

• Add the honey and Whisky / Drambuie / Vanilla Essence (delete as appropriate) and fold into the cream.

• Put 3 or 4 raspberries in the bottom of each serving dish.

• Keeping a couple on one side, gently stir the remainder in to the cream mix, breaking some up to slightly colour the cream.

• Spoon the cream into the serving dishes.

• Sprinkle on the cooled oatmeal mixed with two tablespoons of sugar.

• Top each with a raspberry.

• Put in the fridge to chill for at least half an hour or overnight.

Do you want wafers with it?
For another variation, cover a baking tray with baking paper and pre-heat the oven to 160C. Mix 3 tbsp honey and with 6 tbsp of oatmeal together and form into 10 thin round shapes. Place on the baking tray and bake for 10 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool. Break two of these wafers up and add to the cream mix from the previous recipe. Use the remaining wafers to decorate the finished dish.

Best eaten on Burns Night or watching the Wicker Man on TV (the original not the naff remake). Summer is a comin' in....

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Haggis, Neeps and Tatties

A Shaggy Haggis Story

A Haggis is a creature found in the Scottish Highlands that lives on the sides of mountains. An unusual aspect of the Haggis is that the legs on one half of the body are longer than they are on the other. This makes them perfectly adapted to run around and round the steep sides of the mountain in either a clockwise, or anti-clockwise direction depending on which side are longer. Unfortunately this Darwinistic edge proves also to be their downfall. To catch the Haggis chase it round a mountain in the opposite direction. It's disproportionate legs will now cause it to fall over and it can be easily netted.

The Reality. Or is it...
Some say that the haggis is made from a sheep's pluck (heart, liver & lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, & salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the beast's stomach. This is in fact 'mock haggis' the real version runs around the hill tops.

Buying you can either make your own haggis, which any self respecting foodie should try at least once in their life (when I do I'll blog it), or buy one. If you buy a haggis go for the best brand you can find. If your outside of Scotland, MacSween haggis is widely available and very good. They also do a vegetarian haggis for any vegies out there. My own personal favourite is from Findlay's of Portobello, which used to be my local butcher when I lived there a few years back. One year they had the audacity of taking the title of best haggis in Scotland which upset MacSweens a bit. Crombie's of Edinburgh also make a fine Haggis and a damn fine sausage too. For details of other quality Haggis check out the Scottish Association of Meat Traders website.

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Serving
Haggis is the National dish of Scotland and is traditionally served with neeps and tatties. Tatties are potatoes. Neeps are a purple coloured, orange fleshed type of turnip that South of the border are called Swedes. The reason for this disparity in names, is that this variety of turnip was originally imported into Scotland from Sweden. The slang name for it was therefore the Swede.

Ingredients (serves 3)
1 or more haggis around 500g (or is that haggi?) More if you are particularly greedy, which I generally am on Burns Night.
2 large turnips
3 large potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edwards is recommended)
Unsalted Butter
Full Cream Milk or cream
Salt and Pepper
Sugar
Freshly Grated Nutmeg
Ground Ginger

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Cooking

The Haggis

Method 1 Boiling

• First wrap the haggis in tin foil. The skin may burst during cooking so this acts as a backup in that event.
• Put in a large pan of warm water and bring to the boil
• Lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Note that a shop bought haggis is already cooked so we're just warming it through.

Method 2 - Steaming

When I bought my Haggis today from Findlay's of Portobello, the butcher asked me how I normally cooked my haggis. When I told him the method outlined above he said that a much better method is to gently steam it. The problem with boiling is that quite often the Haggis splits. Although the foil does somewhat lessen the effect, it still somewhat ruins the dish. By using this alternate method of steaming you eliminate this possibility and thus are guaranteed a quality end product every time.

• Preheat the oven to 180C
  
• Lay the Haggis in a similar sized roasting or baking tray and pour in about half an inch of water.
• Cover in tin foil making a seal
• Cook in the oven for 1 to 2 hours, until the Haggis is cooked through,
  

The Neeps

• Peel and quarter the Swedes
• Put in a saucepan filled with cold water
• Bring to the boil and simmer for a further half an hour
• Drain and mash
• Mix in some butter
• Add salt, ginger and sugar to taste You could also try adding a pinch of curry powder)
  

The Tatties

• Peel and quarter the potatoes and put in a pan of cold water
• Bring to the boil and boil for a further 20 minutes
• Drain and put back on a very low heat for a couple of minutes
• Mash well
• Add the butter and stir in
• Heat the milk / cream first and stir it into the tatties a bit at a time until smooth but not sloppy.
  
• Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Grate on the nutmeg.

On Burns Night
To serve put a portion of neeps and tatties on everyone's plate and put on the table. Bring in the haggis and get someone to read Burns's "To a Haggis". At the end toast the haggis with a dram of whisky with the host raising his glass in the air and shouting "The Haggis". Then with a large knife slit it open. Serve, eat, enjoy.

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Who ate all the pies? I don't know, but they were last seen on the streets of Buckhaven.

I just found a news story detailing the winners of the 2008 World Scotch Pie Championships. Interestingly the overall winner and the winner of the best Bridie both come from Buckhaven in Fife. I'll have to drive out there and check them out some time.

The overall winner was Amos Smith, of WF Stark butchers in Buckhaven. Amos won the competition at his first attempt. The previous years winner, Keith Stuart, also from Buckhaven, took home the Best Bridie prize. Best savory was won by Thomas Auld and Son for a Turkey and Cranberry Pie.

My favorite Edinburgh butchers,Crombie's won the awards for best specialty pie with their Beef & Burgundy Steak Pie. We would have had one for New Year, but they were only selling the large version. The medium sized standard steak pie we had instead was excellent though. I must remember to get one of the award winners to take down south this Easter.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Batman and Robin, Bacon and eggs, Strawberries and Cream. Some things were just made for each other. This soup contains another classic culinary combo, Tomatoes and Worcester sauce.

Aiding the dynamic duo on this occasion is that other kitchen stalwart balsamic vinegar. Together they add a certain Kapow to this dish which comes from Marcus Wareing's How to Cook the Perfect....

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Ingredients

• 150 ml Olive Oil
• 1/2 a small Onion Chopped
• 3 Cloves of Garlic Chopped
• 1kg Ripe On the Vine Tomatoes
• 150g sun dried tomatoes in Oil
• 3 Sprigs of Basil
• 3 Sprigs Of Coriander
• 2tbsp Tomato Puree
• Worcester Sauce
• Balsamic Vinegar
• 500ml Chicken Stock
• Maldon Salt and Freshly Milled Black Pepper

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Preparation

• Heat the oven to 220C for a fan oven 240C for anything else.

• Heat a roasting tin big enough to hold the tomatoes for 3-4 mins.

• Add the Olive Oil, onion, garlic and the tomatoes.

• Season then roast for 15 minutes.

• Add the herbs, sun dried tomatoes and their oil.

• Roast for another 10 minutes.

• Stir in the tomato puree.

• Roast for a final 5 minutes.

• Tip the contents of the dish into a large bowl and add 2 tbsp of Worcester Sauce and 2tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar. Note- My wife thought it could have done with a tad less Balsamic so you may want to reduce the amount of vinegar slightly. On the other hand, I though it was fine with this amount.
  

• Cover with cling film and leave to marinade for half an hour.

• Puree in a liquidiser in batches till smooth.

• Pour through a sieve into a pan, which will get rid of the tomato skins. This is where the hard work is done in this recipe, which is one of the reasons I didn't do it (it's what a wife and son is for).
  

• Heat to simmering point and add the stock.

• Add up to 4tbsp more Worcester sauce and up to 3 tbsp more balsamic to taste.

• Season to taste.

• Serve hot with some crusty bread and a piece of cheese.

After eating this you'll feel like 'Souperman'. Up, up and puree...

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New York Cheesecake

This cheesecake floats into your mouth like a New York ferry into a New Jersey dock.

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Ingredients

• 90g Unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 200g plain digestive biscuits crushed (Put them in a plastic food bag and hit them. Rolling pin, hammer fist strike, whatever it takes.)
• 500g full-fat soft cheese, at room temperature (As an experiment try Philadelphia. Your cheesecake may go backwards in time though.)
• 200g of caster sugar
• 5 tbsp of double cream
• 30g of cornflour
• 4 large free range eggs, beaten

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Preparation

• Heat the oven to 100C for a fan oven or 120 otherwise.

• Mix the crushed biscuits with the butter and press into the base of a 20cm by 5cm cake tin.

• Put the cheese in a bowl and using a spatula mix in the sugar, cream and cornflour.

• Pour in the eggs a bit at a time. Beating them in. Unless your name is Clark Kent I would recommend using an electric mixer set to high for the desired consistency.

• Pour the mix over the biscuit base, shaking the tin to flatten it out.

• Using your finger, or other suitable appendage, remove any air bubbles that formed. This will prevent the cake rising unevenly.

• Bake on the middle shelf for 1 1/2 hours. It should be just set at this point with a slight wobble in the middle.

• Allow to cool to room temperature before removing from the tin.

• Don't store it in the fridge as it will go hard. You want it firm but not hard.

Try to resist the temptation of eating it all at once, that means you Stuart, although, with it tasting so good and being so light and airy, it would be very easy to do so.

Eat with a damn fine cup of coffee, while reading one of F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack novels.

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Marinated Miniature Figs and Mascarpone

This one's easy. Apart from finding the marinated figs, which I've done for you. You get them here: Merchant Gourmet - Marinated Miniature Figs. A jar looks as though it should serve eight, but I'd get a couple of jars because you'll want to serve this again. It's on the menu at Pizza Express (and at my brother's house) and is served with an espresso or cappuccino. Go and do thou likewise.

Ingredients
marinated miniature figs
mascarpone

Preparation
Place a good dollop of mascarpone in the centre of a plate and surround it with eight or so miniature figs. Dribble some of the juice from the jar over the whole assembly. Serve with a nice zippy coffee. Wonderful!

Leek and Potato Soup

I was contemplating committing the heinous crime of going to my local Asda to pick up some tins of soup for lunch (they've go a deal on with Heinz Soup at the moment), when I remembered the copy of 400 Best-Ever Soups I picked up for £4.99 from WH Smith in the January sales. I also remembered the leeks and potatoes I had stashed in our conservatory, which doubles as a fridge this time of the year. Hmmmm... Half an hour later the following leek and potato apparition emerged from my kitchen and was laid to rest in my stomach.

Ah well, when in Scotland, cook leek and potato soup.

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Ingredients

• 3 Leeks, trimmed, washed thoroughly and diced
• 1 Small Onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 large potatoes (about 350g) peeled and chopped
• 1 1/2 pints of chicken stock
• 50 g of butter
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

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Preparation

• Heat half the butter over a medium heat in a large pan until it's foaming.

• Add the leeks and onions and cook gently for about 7 minutes until softened.

• Add the potatoes and cook for another 3 minutes.

• Add the stock and bring to the boil.

• Cover and simmer on a low heat for 30-35 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

• Season to taste with the salt and pepper and take the pan off the heat.

• Chop and stir in the remaining butter.

• For a smoother soup, liquidise all or part of the soup in a blender
  

• Serve with hot crusty bread
  

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Potatato and Pea Curry

Necessity was the mother, father and midwife of invention in the case of this dish. I'd chopped an onion and 3 cloves of garlic in preparation for the shepherds pie I planned to make. Pulling the lamb mince from the fridge however, I found that It had passed it's use by date by about a week. Damn. I then decided to use what I had available to make a meal on-the-fly. The following recipe is the fruit of my labors and as it tasted pretty good I thought I might as well blog it.

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Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Groundnut Oil
• 3 Garlic Cloves, peeled and chopped
• 1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 1 hot Red Chili, seeded and finely chopped
  
• 3 Sticks of Celery
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced into 2mm slices
• Salt and Freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 tbsp Curry Powder
• 1 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1 1/2 pints of Beef Stock
• 1 can of Peas (or equivalent of the frozen variety)

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Preparation

• Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan
• Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for a few seconds to infuse the oil
• Add the Onion, Celery and Chili and fry on a medium-high heat until golden brown
• Add the Potatoes and fry until browned
• Shake in the curry powder and stir for 1 minute
• Season with salt and pepper
  
• Add the stock, stir and cook over a low heat for around 40 minutes until the potatoes are cooked
• Crush about half the potatoes with a spatula
  
• Add the peas and cook until warmed through
• Add the Garam Masala
• Serve

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I served this up with some Tracklements Fig Relish and Indian Mango Chutney and it was excellent.

Shame about the lack of shepherds though. A little Bo Peep moment.

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Chicken Tikka Kebabs

These kebabs can either be served on their own as a starter, when they'll serve 8 people, or with a sauce to make Chicken Tikka Masala, when they'll serve 4. For greedy hungry people change those numbers to 6 and 3.

Ideally these should be marinated overnight, so marinade them up the day before you are going to eat them.

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Ingredients

• 675g (1 1/2 lb) boned & skinned chicken breasts cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp fresh ginger peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic peeled and pulped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 6 tbsp whipping cream
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 3 tbsp peanut oil

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Marinading

• Put the chicken in a bowl and rub in the salt and lemon juice.

• Prod the pieces lightly with a knife and rub in again.

• Set aside for 20 minutes.

• Add the: -
• ginger;
• garlic;
• cumin;
• paprika;
• cayenne;
• garam masala;
• cream.

• Mix well, cover and put in the fridge for 6 - 8 hours, or preferably overnight.

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Cooking

• Preheat the grill just before serving (If like me your grill is rubbish, you can cook the chicken on a griddle pan).

• Thread the meat onto 2 - 4 long metal skewers.

• Brush with oil and balance on rim of a small shallow baking tray.

• Place about 13cm (5 inches) from the heat source and grill for about 6 minutes a side until lightly browned and cooked through.
  

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Chicken Tikka Masala

I guess at some point I had to include the nations favourite food. Apart from being very popular, this is also very good.

Please note that the Chicken Tikka Kebabs in this recipe need 6-8 hours to marinade (or preferably overnight), so marinade them before starting in on the masala sauce.

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Ingredients

• 4 tbsp oil peanut or olive
• 140g (5 oz) onions sliced finely into half rings
• 1 tbsp ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic pulped
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tbsp ground tumeric
• 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp paprika (I'd recommend Pimenton de la vera if you can get hold of it)
• 4 tbsp full fat natural yoghurt such as greek (don't use a low fat yoghurt)
• 3 medium tomatoes peeled, seeded and finely chopped
• 350 ml (12 fl oz) chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp garam masala
• 4 tbsp fresh coriander leaves chopped
• 1 batch of freshly made Chicken Tikka Kebabs

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Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a wok or large non-stick saucepan over a medium-high heat.
2. When it is hot add the onions and stir fry for about 6-7 minutes until they turn light brown.
3. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for another minute.
4. Add the coriander, tumeric, cayenne and paprika.
5. Stir for around ten seconds
6. Add a tablespoon of the yoghurt.
7. Stir until absorbed.
8. Repeat steps 6 -7 until all the yoghurt has been used.
9. Add the tomatoes and fry them for 3-4 minutes, pressing them with a spatula or wooden spoon to turn them into a pulp.
10. Add the stock and season with salt to taste.
11. Reduce to a low heat, cover and continue to simmer gently for 15-20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it until the kebabs are cooked.
    
12. When the kebabs are cooked reheat the sauce.
13. Stir in the garam masala and coriander leaves and add more salt to taste.
14. Fold in the kebabs and serve.
    

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Duck and Wild Mushrooms in a Thai Red Curry

I first cooked this dish in Brussels when I was planning on cooking the chicken and bamboo shoot recipe in Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible from memory. Popping in to my local Carfour supermarket however, I found some superb duck breasts and wild mushrooms on sale. Hence this variation was born. Feel free to revert to using chicken if you can't get any decent duck breasts though.

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Ingredients

• 1 x 400ml (14 fl oz) can of full fat coconut milk left untouched for at least 3 hours. This will cause the cream to float to the top.
• 2 tbsp peanut (a.k.a. groundnut) oil
• 5 tbsp Red Curry Paste (if you don't make your own buy a good quality Thai brand)
  
• 450g duck (or chicken) breasts cut into thin slices.
  
• 1 250-300g pack of wild mushrooms (if you can't get wild use normal field mushrooms)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
• 1 tsp lemon juice (Use fresh lemons to get the juice. Do not use that abomination you can find in a bottle or plastic lemon thingy.)
  
• 1 tsp of palm sugar (or if you can't get it, use any granulated sugar)
• 4 fresh Kafir Lime Leaves or 1 tsp julienned lemon rind (if you use the rind, remember to buy unwaxed lemons)
• 15-20 fresh basil leaves chopped after removing the central stalk.
  

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Preparation

• Very carefully open the tin of coconut milk, trying not to disturb the cream which will have formed on top.
• Take out 4 tbsp of the cream and store in a bowl, stir the rest of the milk and put to one side.
• Heat the oil over a medium heat in a wok or wide non-stick pan.
• When hot add the coconut cream and curry paste and stir fry for about 4 minutes or until the oil starts to separate and the paste is lightly browned.
• Reduce the heat to low and add the duck (or chicken) fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar and the reserved milk.
• Stir and bring to a simmer.
• Cook over a low heat for around 15 minutes.
• Add the Mushrooms.
• Optional steps, if you're in a flat in Brussels.
• Realise you've forgotten the Basil and head off to get some from the supermarket.
• Then discover that the second key to the flat has been left in the door and that you're thus locked out as your key will now not open the door.
• Find someone who speaks French and call a locksmith telling them that the flat will burn to the ground if they can't get around quickly enough.
• Suffer their sarcastic comments and glances, on seeing the contents of your wok is barely bubbling and unlikely in the extreme to come to the boil, let alone burn the house down.
  
• Pay the locksmith 80 Euros and bid him au revoir.
  
• By this time the duck will be cooked to perfection.
  
• Continue to cook until the chicken / duck is cooked through.
• Add the Basil and serve.
  

Cooks Tip: Thai food is a marriage of hot, sweet, and sour flavors. Here the curry paste adds the heat, the sugar the sweet and the lemon the sour. Before serving, taste the food and adjust to balance these elements. If it's too sour add some more sugar, if it's too sweet add some more lemon juice.

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Butternut Squash Soup

Here's an easy soup that's always popular whenever I serve it. I don't know its origins, but it works a treat.

Ingredients
1 medium onion
1 oz butter
1 butternut squash
2 pints of vegetable stock
6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
salt and pepper
chili powder

Preparation
Chop the onion and sweat it in 1 oz butter for ten to fifteen minutes. Shred the bacon finely and add to the butter and onion. Peel the butternut squash—a job that will bring strength to your wrists and orange to your fingertips. Scoop out the seeds and chop into inch cubes.

Add the butternut squash pieces to the pan containing the onions and continue to sweat them all for a few minutes. Add half a teaspoon of chili powder (the curry powder given below works very nicely, too, although you may need a bit more of it than the chili powder), a pinch of salt and a twist or two of black pepper.

Now add the stock. You could use either chicken or vegetable stock, but it helps to use a reasonable one. In the absence of any home-made stock—I have a job, a daughter to get to school, and a conspicuous absence of kitchen staff—like George I cheat and use a shop-bought concentrate. The Greasy Truckers' current favourite is the Knorr 'Touch of Taste' liquid concentrate range. Three tablespoons of it will make a couple of pints of stock. The beef one works well in the French Onion Soup recipe below.

Simmer gently until the butternut squash is cooked. This should take around twenty minutes or so. Liquidize it until it's smooth—I use a stick blender, but a liquidizer or food processor would do. Season to taste and serve.

Japanese Style Curry

It is said that the Japanese love curry and from my experiences of the Toyota canteen in Brussels I wouldn't argue with that. Coincidentally I also love curry. Result.

The following recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible. It follows two of my favorite philosophies in cooking, one, it's easy to do and two it's extremely tasty.

I think I'm turning Japanese.

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Ingredients

Marinade for the Beef

• 450g / 1lb of beef (use a good quality cut like fillet if you can, this recipes is good enough to deserve it!) cut at a slight angle into 1/4 inch (3 mm) slices
• 5 tbsp tamari - tamari is a brand of Japanese Soy Sauce and has a very distinctive mild taste. Although you can substitute a light soy here, I'd recommend you get hold of the real deal as it does make a big difference to the taste. If you're in London this can be bought from the Japan Centre at Picadily Circus (this also has a useful on-line shop), if not check out your local Asian shops.
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp hot curry powder
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp con, peanut or olive oil
• 2 peeled, crushed garlic cloves
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated, or, as I prefer, hacked to bits with my trusty cleaver
• 1 large Onion, peeled and finely chopped
  
• 3-4 Carrots peeled and cut into 3 cm pieces
  

Sauce

• 2 tsp cornflour
• 6 fl oz (175 ml( beef stock) I cheat and use the bottled liquid stock that's readily available these days.
• 2 tsp tamari
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sake
• 4 tbsp whipping cream

For final Cooking
3 tbsp corn, peanut or olive oil
1 medium Onion cut into thin half rings
2 medium carrots roll cut into 3 mm (1/4 inch) slices

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Taking Care Of Business

• Start by marinading the beef. In a bowl mix all the marinade ingredients and add the beef mixing well. Leave to marinade in the fridge for up to 2 hrs.

• Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside. I tend to leave out the cream and add this in at the last minute of cooking. Then set aside.
  

• When the beef has marinated heat the oil over a medium heat in a large non-stick pan

• Stir fry the Onions and Carrots for around 4 minutes until the Onions are slightly translucent.

• Add the beef with its marinade and fry, stirring all the time, for a minute.
  

• Lower the temperature to medium, cover and cook for a further 5 minutes. Lif the lid and stir periodically in this time.

• Take the pan off the heat and pour in the sauce.

• Stir and cook on a medium low heat for another minute. This will heat the sauce and thicken it a bit, courtesy of the cornflour.
  

• If you've not included the cream in your sauce, add it now. The last time I did this I forgot to add the cream and it still tasted exceptional. Good news if you're on a diet other than see food.

• Stir once more and serve immediately. The Japanese would serve this with rice and Japanese pickles called fukujinzuke (sounds like a word that Ricky Gervais would use in When the Whistle Blows), I found it also works pretty well with some Jalapeños on the side.

Enjoy !!!

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Curry Powder

It might be a bit of a grind, but there is no substitute for using freshly made curry powder in your cooking. Whether it's a parsnip soup a-la Elizabeth David, or, believe it or not, a curry, home made is the real deal.

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Ingredients

• 2 tbsp whole coriander seeds
• 1tbsp whole cumin seeds
• 2 tsp whole peppercorns
• 1 1/2 tsp whole brown mustard seeds
• 5-6 whole cloves
• 3 dried, crumbled, hot red chillies
• 1 tsp whole fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp ground tumeric
  

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Preparation

• Heat a small hard bottomed frying pan over a medium heat.

• When hot add the: -

• coriander;
• cumin;
• peppercorns;
• mustard seeds;
• cloves;
• chillies.

• Stir until spices emit a light roasted aroma. Some of the spices will darken slightly. Take care to roast very lightly or the mix will turn bitter.

• Add the:-
  
• fenugreek;
• tumeric.

• Stir for 10 seconds.

• Empty on to a clean plate to cool.

• Grind as finely as possible in a clean coffee or spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

• Store in a clean jar keeping away from heat or sunlight.

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Note: To make a spicier blend add from 1/2 to 2 tsp of good quality chilli powder to the mix.

If you can't take the grind, try the pre-grounhd mix I posted, Curry Powder 2 that I took from Pat Chapman's The New Curry Bible: The Ultimate Modern Curry House Recipe Book (Curry Club)

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