Riz Pilaf (Oriental Risotto)

Riz Pilaf  (Oriental Risotto)

This is a French version of an oriental recipe, which I learnt how to make at a French Cooking School in London. 

Ingredients (serves 4)

200g long grain rice

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 bouquet garni

60g unsalted butter

400mls chicken stock

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

½ teaspoon saffron strands (optional)

Finely chopped coriander to garnish

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

2. Heat the chicken stock with the saffron.

3. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat and add the onion and garlic – cook them for 3 - 4 minutes - until the onion is soft but not brown.

4. Add the rice to the softened onion and garlic, and continue cooking over a medium heat for 2 -3 minutes – until the rice becomes translucent.

5. Add the hot stock and a bouquet garni to the rice and bring it to the boil, then transfer it to an ovenproof dish.

6. Cover the rice with some greaseproof paper and cook in the oven for 25 minutes, or for 20 minutes only if you like the rice ‘al dente’. (The greaseproof paper should fit the dish exactly, and place it so that it is in contact with the surface of the rice).

7. Fluff up the rice with a fork when it is ready, and if you want to make a ‘mould’ out of rice, pack some rice into a warmed pudding bowl, then cover the bowl with a plate and turn it upside down carefully and remove the bowl.

8. Sprinkle the finely chopped coriander on to the rice and serve immediately.

Quick Instructions (for experienced cooks)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

2. Heat the chicken stock with the saffron.

3. Cook onions and garlic in butter until soft.

4. Add rice and cook until translucent.

5. Add hot stock and a bouquet garni to the translucent rice, bring it to the boil and transfer to an ovenproof dish.

6. Cover the rice with greaseproof paper and cook in the oven for 25 minutes.

7. When ready to serve pack the cooked rice into a warm pudding bowl, invert the rice onto a plate and sprinkle finely chopped coriander on top.

Steak Sauce

Steak Sauce

This is a sauce that I have come up with after experimenting with various hypotheses of the famous ‘le Relais de Venise’ sauce that abound on the Internet.

Don’t balk at the idea of using chicken livers– I personally hate eating liver, but in this sauce it adds a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ and turns an ordinary French herb sauce into something quite exceptional.

Ingredients (enough for 4 portions)

1 teaspoon clarified butter

40g chicken liver

1 large clove garlic, crushed

A sprig of fresh thyme

Fresh rosemary – finely chopped - half a tablespoon

Fresh tarragon – finely chopped - half a tablespoon

Fresh thyme - finely chopped - half a tablespoon

Fresh oregano – finely chopped - half a tablespoon

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

200mls double cream
1 tablespoon brandy

50g unsalted butter – cut into small pieces and kept in the fridge until needed.

Method

1. Heat the clarified butter in a small frying pan and add the chicken liver, crushed garlic and sprig of thyme - cook for 3 - 4 minutes.

2. Add all the finely chopped herbs, paprika, salt, pepper, mustard, brandy and cooked liver to the cream in a saucepan and warm it up over a low heat for about 5 minutes.

3. Pass the cream mixture through a fine sieve and put the sieved sauce back into the saucepan.

4. When you are ready to serve the sauce, heat it gently over a low heat, stir the butter in, spoon the sauce over the cooked steaks and serve immediately.

Additional Information

One of the many invaluable lessons that I learnt at a French cooking school was that you don’t need to marinate a steak before cooking it, nor do you need to ‘rest it’ before serving. I did an experiment where I cooked two steaks and rested one of them – the taste of the rested and unrested steaks were the same, but the rested one was significantly colder and consequently wasn’t as enjoyable as the unrested steak!

Another important tip is to use warm plates when serving food – I know it’s an obvious thing to do, but it does make a huge difference, as the food stays hot for much longer.

Vanilla and Saffron Panna Cotta

Vanilla and Saffron Panna Cotta

You really can’t go wrong with panna cotta - this is one of the easiest recipes ever!

Ingredients (serves 4)

3g leaf gelatin

3 tablespoons skimmed milk

300mls double cream

½ vanilla pod

¼ teaspoon vanilla essence

50g caster sugar

½ teaspoon saffron strands

Method

1. Put the gelatin and skimmed milk into a bowl and keep it aside while the gelatin softens.

2. Heat the cream with the sugar, saffron and vanilla in a saucepan over a medium heat until it comes to the boil, then take it off the heat. (Omit the saffron if making plain vanilla panna cotta).

3. Add the softened gelatin and skimmed milk to the boiled cream and stir it in over a very low heat until the gelatin has dissolved completely, then pass it through a sieve.

4. Pour into 4 small ramekins, cover the ramekins with cling film and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

5. To turn the panna cotta out of the ramekins, place them into a bowl of hot water for a few seconds before running a knife along the sides of the panna cotta before inverting them onto individual plates.




Quick Instructions (for experienced cooks)

Ingredients (serves 4)

3g leaf gelatin

3 tablespoons skimmed milk

300mls double cream

½ vanilla pod

¼ teaspoon vanilla essence

50g caster sugar

½ teaspoon saffron strands

1. Soften the gelatin in the milk.
2. Heat the cream with the sugar, vanilla and saffron until it comes to the boil, then take it off the heat.
3. Add the softened gelatin to the cream, and sitr over a very low heat until the gelatin dissolves.
4. Sieve it, then pour into 4 ramekins, cover with cling film and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours.
5. Invert the panna cottas onto plates and serve on their own or with a fruit coulis .

Waffles

Waffles

Waffles are scrummy and very easy to make – assuming you have a waffle iron that is. If you like the idea of fresh homemade waffles then it’s worth investing in a waffle iron.

Ingredients (makes 8 waffles)

60g butter (melted)

280mls milk

2 eggs (separated)

200g plain flour

100g sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Method

1. Heat the waffle iron.

2. Melt the butter over a low heat and keep it aside (off the heat).

3. Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

4. Beat the egg yolks, milk and melted butter together, then pour it into the flour well and mix it all together.

5. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then fold them into the flour and milk mixture with a large metal spoon.

6. Use a ladle or a jug to pour some batter onto the hot waffle iron – cover about ¾ of the bottom plate of the waffle iron, (if you cover it completely the batter will spill over when you close the waffle iron).

7. Close the lid of the waffle iron and cook for 3 -4 minutes – when the waffle is ready the steam will stop coming out of the sides of the iron and the lid will lift off easily.

Serve the waffles plain or with whichever combination of the following takes your fancy – maple syrup, honey, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, ice cream, jam or golden syrup.

Background Information

If you prefer savoury waffles omit the sugar from the recipe and add a pinch of salt to the batter instead; serve them with eggs, ham, bacon or sausages for a hearty Sunday brunch.

To make the waffles a bit healthier use half chapatti flour and half plain flour – they taste just as good with this half and half combination.

To make cinnamon waffles add 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon to the flour.

Janet’s Perfect Carrot Cake

Janet’s Perfect Carrot Cake

Another recipe from my good friend Janet. This is a wonderfully moist, but not too heavy carrot cake - I sometimes add coffee to it for a change - it tastes good either way.

Ingredients

250g (3 medium sized) carrots - grated

280g caster sugar

200mls sunflower oil

3 eggs

200g plain flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

3 teaspoons cinnamon powder

120g chopped walnuts

Zest of 2 oranges (optional)

3 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water (optional)

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180°C.

2. Lightly grease a 20cm round cake tin with some butter.

3. Grate the carrots and keep them aside.

4. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl until thick, pale and creamy – this takes about 2 minutes with an electric whisk.

5. Add the oil to the eggs and sugar and whisk it in for about 1 minute.

6. Gently fold the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into the egg mixture with a large metal spoon – don’t over mix otherwise the batter will lose the air that was whisked in with the eggs and sugar. (If adding coffee or orange zest, add them at this stage).

7. Add the grated carrots and chopped walnuts and continue folding them in gently.

8. Pour it all into the greased baking tin and bake for 60 minutes. (Insert a knife into the well-risen and firm cake and it should come out clean and dry when the cake is ready).

9. Let the cake cool down before topping it with cream cheese icing.

Background Information

Janet gave me this recipe about 20 years ago – I still have it written down in her writing on a piece of “La Mama” headed paper (a shop in Cambridge in which she was doing a summer job). The recipe sat in my recipe folder all these years until last week when I decided to try it out; it turned out to be a very easy recipe - I can see myself making it again and again.

If you don’t like the idea of pieces of walnut in the cake, you could substitute ground almonds instead; or add a bit of extra flour if you want to skip the nuts completely.

The carrots add an air of wholesomeness and make one feel a little less guilty about eating cake!

Cream Cheese Icing

Cream Cheese Icing

Classically this icing is used on carrot cake, but it also goes well on chocolate and beetroot cake and on banana bread.

Ingredients  (enough to ice a 20cm diameter cake)

200g cream cheese

100g unsalted butter

100g icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method

1.Whisk the butter and cream cheese together with an electric whisk on low speed until the mixture is soft.

2. Add the sugar and vanilla essence and continue whisking on low speed until the icing is smooth.

Background Information

Most recipes for cream cheese icing use a lot more sugar than this one does– if you prefer a sweeter icing you can add up to 300g of icing sugar to the cream cheese and butter in this recipe; I personally prefer it with only 100g of sugar.

Homemade Sindhi Daal

Homemade Sindhi Daal

This is a staple at my parent’s table – it is served at least once a day - no Sindhi meal is complete without a daal.  There are many different types of daal, but this is the one that is most frequently made at my parent’s home.

Ingredients  (serves 4)

150g (½ cup) yellow moong daal

1litre (3 cups) water

10 fresh or dried curry leaves

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

5 cloves garlic – crushed

Finely chopped fresh ginger - 1 teaspoon (heaped)

1 -2 green chillies – finely chopped

2 medium tomatoes – roughly chopped

¼ - ½ teaspoon red chilli powder

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 tablespoon clarified butter or vegetable oil

Finely chopped fresh coriander

Method

1. Rinse the daal in a sieve under running cold water.

2. Heat the daal and water together in a large saucepan until it comes to the boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 40 minutes.

3. While the daal is cooking, make the ‘tarka’ in a separate small saucepan – heat the clarified butter over a low to medium heat and add the curry leaves and cumin seeds - cook them for about 1 minute – until the cumin seeds just start turning a slightly darker colour.

4. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies to the curry leaves and cumin seeds, and continue cooking the mixture until the garlic turns a golden brown. Next, add the tomatoes, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt, and cook for about 5 minutes, then take it off the heat – the tarka is now ready.

5. Add the tarka to the cooked daal (after it has been simmering for 40 minutes); stir the tarka in well and continue cooking the daal and tarka together over a low heat for a further 5 minutes.

6. Sprinkle some fresh coriander on top of the daal and serve with naan, boiled rice or chapattis.