Category Archives: The Dining Room

VIVIENNE’S Happy 5th Birthday to the Pub – The Spread

05 Monday May 2014

Posted by in The Dining Room, Vivienne

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

, , ,

 

Digital Mischief by Warrigal Mirriyuula

Digital Mischief by Warrigal Mirriyuula

In the spirit of a milestone birthday party, the big 5th, half a decade, I’ve prepared some virtual food. As they say, get stuck in, please enjoy, bon appetito, smakelijk, velbekomme, kali oreksi, selamat makan, douzo meshiagare etc.

CANAPES

On arrival pub patrons will be offered plates of beautiful homemade canapés (or ‘orsesdoovers). Nibble on small pancakes topped with smoked salmon, sour cream and caviar, melba toast with chicken liver pate, smoked trout and pickled water melon rind or baba ganoush. Gluten free homemade crisp bread is there too – all delicious.

Then there is the cheese board to peruse: French brie, Australian cheddar, Milawa blue and goats cheese and some more, the names of which I can’t spell or remember how to pronounce.

THE COLD BUFFET

With Trotter’s Ale, mystery pink drink, wine or whatever in hand move on to the cold buffet.

Help yourself to slices of double smoked ham right off the whole leg, fresh tiger prawns, Sydney Rock or Coffin Bay oysters freshly shucked, cold roasted chicken drumsticks, rare roasted whole scotch fillet and any of the many enticing salads (potato, coleslaw, mixed lettuce, homegrown tomatoes/cucumber/fetta/olive or tabouleh). For the vegetarians I’ve gone to a lot of trouble and made devilled eggs and a spicy lentil patty with so little meat in it you’ll hardly notice.

THE HOT BUFFET

Then waddle over to the hibachi in the new slightly enclosed verandah for smokers. The coals are ready for cooking. COOK YOUR OWN HOT FOOD. Just select any or all of the prepared meats on a stick. There is my fabulous malay satay (lamb), original beef kebab, chicken satay and more garlic prawns and scallops on sticks. For the vegetarians – sorry there is nothing so you are stuck with baba ganoush, devilled eggs and salad and cake.

DESSERT

There is no dessert. (I only do crepes but I used all the mixture up to make the little pancakes for the canapés.)

But there is a BIRTHDAY CAKE. In keeping with the pub theme this is one laced with brandy and sherry. It’s full of dried fruit, wholemeal wheat, brown sugar, butter, free range eggs, crushed homegrown almonds and another dash or two of brandy and cream sherry.. Yes, it is actually a rich fruit cake.   I could have done my carrot sponge cake with strawberries on top but there are no strawberries and the fruit cake is easier to prepare ahead of time and I needed that time to get to the fishmonger for the oysters and seafood which are clearly of greater importance.

So here’s happy birthday to you – to be hummed with gusto and toasted with a glass of sparkling shiraz durif from a vineyard down the road from me (it’s bloody good).

PS: there is an excellent jug or two of percolated real coffee on the table near the cheese. Some drinking cups too if you must. But I’ll probably open another bottle of sparkling somethingorother ..….. hic.

Pig’s Arms Bumper Christmas Edition 2102 – Vivienne’s Tapas

25 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by in The Dining Room, Vivienne

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

, ,

Vivienne's Tapas

Vivienne’s Tapas

This is how I wrote the recipe down 20 plus years ago.  It was Maria’s dish from the Philippines.

500g of rump steak sliced thin and marinated in – vinegar, garlic (1 tsp), pinch of salt – for 12 hours or overnight.   Drain and dry off meat by cooking in frypan.  Remove and add cooking oil – fry up with some thick sliced onions and serve with dip.

Dip:  vinegar, garlic (half teaspoon), white sugar (1 tsp), pepper, salt and a little chilli.

The method was a bit too brief and needed some working on.  When Maria cooked the meat I thought my whole kitchen was going to go up in flames.  The temperature was so high that smoke obliterated the stove.  It tasted great but for indoor cooking it needed toning down.

Half a kilo of rump gives enough for everyone to have a snack, as in tapas.  However, we loved it too much to settle for a snack, so I do at least one kilo for four people.  The marinate mix needs to be just enough to barely cover the meat in a glass bowl.  I put in more minced garlic and a bit more salt.   I do this the day before.

When meal time comes around, preheat the oven or warming tray and serving dish.

Peel and thickly slice the onions (3 or 4 large ones).

Dry fry off the meat in batches in a large flat bottomed pan – the meat will be cooked and a bit dry.  Drain off any liquid which accumulates in the pan.  Then add some oil and fry in the oil – mix up some of the onion with the meat each time, doing this in say four lots, each time adding a little oil.  It is done when the onions are just done (not limp).

The dip can be done hours before – put into a screw top jar and give it plenty of good shakes.  I used to add chilli powder but have also used a little sweet chilli sauce and I add more garlic.  But the basic taste is vinegar with oomph.   Serve with dish surrounded by a few little bowls of the dip for each person.  Use fingers or a toothpick and dunk in dip and pop in mouth.

Have a lovely Christmas everyone.  With very best wishes from Vivienne.

 

The Pig’s Arms Salutes the Young Henrys and Silverbean Saloon

11 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by in The Dining Room, The Public Bar

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

Be there or B square !

Still life with Opera House

Merv was overjoyed to discover, just around the back, opposite the Enmore Theatre, a micro brewery.  THE MICRO BREWERY !

Name of Young Henrys.

The Young Henrys have been battling the bureaucracy for an eternity to get their wonderful industry up and running and have made a brilliant start.  Adding a real brewery to a cyber pub has left mere watering holes in the Inner West reeling.  Some 14 to date have seen the light and now stock the Young Henrys’ delightful products.

Look closely at the label – see the homage to la maison de porc ?

A growler waiting to wing its way homeward for a quiet evening of Letters and Numbers (yeah, right !)

It’s possible to sample a few jars and take home a growler (just under 2 litres) in a recyclable flagon-like receptacle.  Bring it back fresh and clean and the lads will top it up for a modest fee.

Ah, that foamy, amber / black / red / pale ale hoppy goodness. Hmmmmm.

The discovery was courtesy of running into Oscar – brewer extraordinaire at Merv’s escape coffee and Tex Mex deep south bolt hole – Silverbean Saloon  ……

Catch a great vibe and and look out for Ry Cooder, Red Stick ramblers and Delta bluesmen on close rotation and a delicious jambalaya, corn bread, home made muffins, freshly-squeezed OJ and hair raising coffee.  Lowan may even be persuaded to put on the New Lost City Ramblers……

Chef Lowan and Concierge George, Props, Silverbean Saloon  http://www.silverbean.co/index.html

Hog’s Bacon Particle Discovered !

15 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in Emmjay, The Dining Room, Warrigal Mirriyuula

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

, , ,

After the discovery of the Hogs Bacon Particle the true nature of reality was revealed for the first time.”

Story by Emmjay, Digital gastronomy by Warrigal Mirriyuula.

Well, the sub-atomic nuclear physics community and the Australian Butchers’ Association were stunned today by the publication in Pub’s Monthly of the ground-breaking research at the Pig’s Arms.

Pub’s Monthly reported that noted gastronomic scientist, Granny, has unequivocal evidence of the existence of the long-postulated Hog’s Bacon Particle.

The Hog’s Bacon particle is the last piece in the theory of everything jigsaw that has been sitting on a table in the front bar, near the jukebox since Buddy Holly died.

In essence, probably lemon essence, the Hog’s Bacon Particle is the subcutaneous doover that gives crackling its cracklingness.  Some pork roasts have crackling that doesn’t actually crackle at all while other roasts’ crackling is so crackly that dentists rub their hands together and plan for a new model Porsche.

Granny’s experimental evidence links the speed of the meat tray delivery van driven by DRMICK’s brother and the frequency that he had to stand on the breaks – that is the incidence of extremely rapid acceleration and deceleration – at the speed of lights in the inner west traffic grid – to the density of Hog’s Bacon particles in the crackling.

High density Hog’s Bacon particles accumulating in the subcutaneous lard deposits of the pork roast make for extremely crackly crackling.  In a statement to the media, Granny pointed out that she had been able to conclusively prove the existence of the Hog’s Bacon particle through careful observation of the multivariate factors involved in the creation not only of the universe, but more particularly in the creation of her roast pork rolls.

Granny criticised what she described as  “the ridiculous experimentation” by sub-atomic particle physicists working underground at CERN, saying that whereas they had spent over 17 billion Euros in the pursuit of the Hog’s Bacon particle, her roast pork rolls have been continuously available in the counter lunch menu at the Pig’s Arms since 1953 and now feature at the very affordable price of  $4.00 including optional apple sauce.  “Match that, you Hadron tonkers”, she said.

In an interesting twist, the IUG (International Union of Grammarians) threw a spaniel into the works by insisting that there has never been a Hog’s Bacon particle and that the missing piece in the theory of everything jigsaw on the table near the juke box in the front bar of the Pig’s Arms pub was a typographical error and that the real missing piece is in fact the Hog’s Bacon participle.

The IGU firmly believe that there is unequivocal evidence in Strunk and White of the existence of a fundamental participle that qualifies nouns but retains some properties of verbs like tense and government of objects – both at the astronomic and sub-atomic quantum levels.

The IUG point out the challenging idea that “crackling” is itself a participle and that that this indeed opens up the possibility that grammar is the underlying principle – even more so than mathematics, that allows scientists and philosophers to accurately describe the universe.

This observation is said to have provoked an unseemly scramble in the front bar of the Pig’s Arms with grammarians, butchers and sub-atomic particle physicists scrambling to put the last piece in the unifying theory of everything jigsaw.

Notwithstanding this contentious discovery, roast pork rolls will still be on the lunchtime counter menu at the Pig’s Arms – for $4.00 with optional apple sauce and Granny will be pleased to autograph all copies of the Pub’s Monthly, perhaps with a kind shout of a Trotter’s Ale celebrating her discovery.

Hung’s Christmas Prawns

25 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in Mark, The Dining Room

≈ 58 Comments

Tags

, , ,

Black Tiger Prawn

Hung’s Christmas Prawns

Look, I putting myself out on a limb here but I thought I would share an old family recipe for prawns.

Ingredients

20 cooked Black Tiger Prawns

2 Limes

Cracked sea salt

Method

Shell and de – vein the prawns

Sprinkle lightly with sea salt

Smoother with lime juice

Phew, after all that work I need a glass of French Champagne supplied by the mighty Julian London however beer is also a suitable substitute.

Eat, enjoy.

PS: I stayed up all night working on this recipe.

VIVIENNE’s Thoughts and Recipes for Autumn

27 Sunday Feb 2011

Posted by in The Dining Room, Vivienne

≈ 39 Comments

Tags

, , ,


I feel that Autumn is a time for being re-inspired in the kitchen.  If it has been too hot and humid for a long time, cooking (for me anyway) often becomes a bit of a chore in as much as I really would like a magic wand.  Sometimes I find myself making a potato salad (with cream and mayo and spring onions), throwing together a tossed salad and then cutting up a bought chicken or just cooking a decent piece of steak.  Sometimes I ask my husband ‘what would you like to cook tonight darling?”

Right now the hot and humid days have finally gone and energy is coming back.  Here are some of my favourites for weekend family eating.

Shami Kebabs (lamb meatballs)

For this I suggest you ask your butcher to bone out a leg of lamb, skin it and put it through the coarse mincer (not fine).   About 600g will make plenty as a snack for 4. (The remainder goes in the freezer.)

Put 3 slices of white bread (crust removed) in a bowl and add milk to soak until it is mush.  Pour off any milk and squeeze till bread no longer drips.   Mix the meat and bread together and add the following:

  • 1 medium onion, very finely chopped
  • 3 cloves of crushed garlic
  • 1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, grated
  • 2 teaspoons of garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon of chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1-2 tablespoons of fresh chopped mint
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon of plain flour

Mix very well.   Form into small balls about the size of a walnut (definitely no more than 3cms diameter).   Traditionally about three of these would be threaded onto a metal or bamboo skewer and then deep fried.  However, I think it is easier (and possibly safer) to just shallow fry individual balls in peanut oil, fairly quickly.   It doesn’t take long.  Drain on absorbent paper and keep warm until you have finished doing a number of batches (you can’t do them all at once).

Great eaten hot, warm or cold – as a snack or part of a bigger spread.  Mango chutney goes well as does a minty yoghurt.

American style Pork Ribs

The trick to this dish is finding the right spare ribs.  I really do mean RIBS – they don’t have a lot of meat on them so you need to be fairly discerning in picking out the best.  My butcher doesn’t have them but I usually find them at the Safeway meat section.  Ridiculously expensive at $5-7 for just one slab of them.  To feed four people I need five or six packets.

Place ribs in a large baking dish and pop into medium hot oven to cook about ¾ through.  Add nothing, just the ribs.  The purpose is actually to cook out any fat.  Take pieces out and cut into sections of 4 or 5 ribs each.  Clean out the baking dish and arrange rib pieces side by side.   Mix the following together in a bowl:

  • About 150 ml of golden syrup
  • ½  teaspoon of cayenne pepper
  • ½  teaspoon of salt and a little pepper
  • 2 cloves of crushed garlic (more if you like)
  • 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
  • 1 ½ tablespoons of dijon mustard

Coat the top side of the ribs with this mixture and cook in oven till it becomes sticky.  Turn ribs over and coat the other side and cook again till sticky.

The mixture can be increased proportionately to fit the quantity of ribs you are cooking.  The above amount probably is just enough for 4 sets of ribs.

Serve with a little boiled rice and salad or whatever takes your fancy.

 

Duck de Chirico

Duck with Muscat-Honey Sauce

Buy a good duck such as Luv-a-Duck (size 20-22) which is sufficient for four people.

Place in baking dish, sprinkle with salt and then into medium hot oven.  Cook for about three hours, turning occasionally, sprinkling more salt and pricking here and there to release fat.  About 2/3rds of the way through reduce oven temperature a little.  You want the duck well cooked but not ruined.  This is a sort of confit style.

While duck is cooking boil at least one potato per person until at least half done.  Peel and cut into large cubes.  About 30 minutes before you are ready to eat, heat a large pan and add butter and the potatoes plus salt (Murray River flakes if you have them).  Turn about every now and then till crisping up.     Also prepare whatever other vegetable you might like or preferably make a really good mixed greens salad with cherry tomatoes, slices of pear, shaved real parmesan etc.

Now for this part you need to take care – remove duck to large plate and then drain off the fat in the pan into a jar for use later.   You should wind up with at least half a cup of total duck juices.   Put these juices into a small saucepan on the stove top.  Add equal quantities of Muscat (about $10 for a bottle of Chambers regular muscat) and honey (about the same quantity as the juices you have saved).

Cook and stir till it starts to foam.  Remove from heat and let settle so you can test taste.  It should be about right – sweet and yum.

Cut duck up into quarters or carve if you prefer.  Carefully share out the sauce for each serving.    Make your plate look nice and have an appropriate good wine to accompany (my favourite sparkling Shiraz-Durif goes down particularly well).

—ooo—

To Pare the Perfect Pear

05 Sunday Dec 2010

Posted by in Gerard Oosterman, The Dining Room

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

To pare a perfect pear.

There is nothing quite like the perfect pear. Of all the fruit, surely the pear is king amongst all of them. Some might argue the durian is better. That choice comes from mainly the southern hemisphere. I remember a long arduous sea voyage where many Indians had taken with them enough durians to last them all the way to Freemantle. People, especially the 10 quid poms almost jumped ship well before landfall. Of course, even the smell of soap can make some poms feel sick.

Anyway, back to the pear. The flesh is grainy and unlike most fruit, it has a luscious sheen, a certain gloss that the apple for instance lacks. While the verb ‘to pare’ can be applied to some other things, I believe that the usage applied to the pear is what it was meant for.  Verbs are ‘doing’ words and the paring of a pear conjures up mum with a long perfect unbroken pear peel in the kitchen of food and eating pleasure. The peel was not only unbroken but it still had spring to it and was curled up as if wanting to get back onto its host. Too late for that though. The glistening fruit, dripping with juice was eaten, core and all, but not the stem.

And so….partake to peel and pare of the pleasing portion of a plump ripe pear!

Lehan and others; here the etching I did after seeing a pear picture on a poster, somewhere, many years ago.

VIVIENNE’S Summer Suggestions

16 Tuesday Nov 2010

Posted by in The Dining Room, Vivienne

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

, ,

GADO GADO

Prepare the Sauce:

To do enough for a meal for two:

In a small saucepan heat just enough oil to fry half a chopped onion and one crushed clove of garlic.  Don’t overcook it – you need to stay with the pan for the whole process.

Add chilli powder to taste (half a teaspoon say) and juice of good half lemon.  Smash an anchovy up and add to the mix.  Then stir in crunchy peanut butter (about half a small jar) and a few teaspoons of brown sugar.  Stir well and cook on slow heat for a little while.  Taste it.  When you are ready to have the Gado Gado for dinner, add a very small can of coconut milk to the sauce and mix well.  I prefer to serve the sauce warm up.

Gado Gado mix (the food to go with the sauce)

Hard boiled eggs (quartered), lightly blanched beans, raw cucumber pieces, cabbage (cut chunky) and carrots sticks.   I think bean curd (tofu) would probably go well with this so add some cubes if you like tofu.  I do believe you can use whatever vegetables you prefer including potato and perhaps the stalks of broccoli.  Arrange decoratively on an oval plate.

You can either dunk the vegetables in the sauce or pour it over.  I prefer dunking.  (Dedicated to Gerard)

PEANUT SAUCE FOR SATAYS

Version one:  same as for Gado Gado but add 2 tablespoons of tamarind and some sambal badjiak and a couple of splashes of water.

This is to go with beef or pork satay which is marinated in dark sugar, crushed garlic, salt, soy sauce and a little cummin and a little oil.  Cooked over charcoal.

Version two: Roast 200g of unsalted raw peanuts for a few minutes, cool a bit and rub off the skins.  Blend peanuts in blender and add 3 red chillies, 3 garlic cloves, salt, one chopped onion and a little oil.  Mix to a paste and then add enough water to make a workable consistency.  Heat mixture in a saucepan, adding a little more water for right consistency.  Taste and if desired add more soy sauce and lemon juice, or salt.  Serve hot with chicken satay.

Comment re Satay dishes:   my favourite one is Malay  which I do with lamb and I don’t serve it with any peanut sauce at all as it just doesn’t need it.  I’ll give you the recipe another time.

LAMB WITH EGGPLANT AND CAPSICUM

For the vegetables

  • One large eggplant cut crosswise into slices 1 cm thick.
  • 75 mls olive oil
  • 2 large red capsicums halved lengthwise.
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh oregano
  • 1 fresh red chillli, seeded and chopped  (or use chilli powder)
  • salt and pepper – grounded – to taste.

For the Lamb and sauce

  • Splosh or two of virgin olive oil
  • Cut lamb rump from the leg into four or so thick slices looking like backstraps
  • ground salt and pepper
  • 80mls of dry red wine
  • 4 – 8 teaspoons of cranberry jelly
  • half cup of chicken stock.

To cook vegs – brush eggplant with little oil and grill both sides.  Cool and cut into long strips.  Do the same with capsicums but remove skin and then cut into long strips.

In a heavy frying pan heat a little oil and add vegies and herbs and chilli and stir until well mixed and almost falling apart, then season to taste and  keep warm on a separate plate.  Add a little more oil and sear the lamb, season and cook to your liking for a few minutes.  Remove to a plate and keep warm.  (Handy if your oven has a warming tray.)

With the remaining juices in the pan, heat and stir and get all bits nicely mixed and add wine and jelly, stirring until melted, then add stock and reduce till saucy consistency.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  I often add more jelly.

To serve, cut lamb at an angle and arrange on serving plate.  Add vegies and sauce and serve at once.

SMOKED TROUT SERVED WITH PICKLED WATERMELON RIND

To Make the ‘Pickled’ Watermelon Rind

You need watermelon with a thick white rind.  Slice off the green skin and make sure that no red melon is left on the rind.  Slice it up into pieces about 1cm by 3cm.  Simmer the pieces in pot of water until just a little soft.  Drain.  Prepare a ‘pickling syrup’ of a little white vinegar (a good dash), cup of hot water, about 3 teaspoons of sugar, 6 slivers of lemon skin and about 4 cloves.

This is cheap to make as you get to eat the watermelon and have a byproduct.  I store in a large well cleaned empty vegemite jar.  One cup of syrup will do about two jars worth.  Put syrup in jar and add the pieces of rind.   Okay to eat the next day but better after a few days.   The rind should taste a bit sweet.

I first had this with smoked trout 30 years ago at a wine and food group’s outing beside a river up the mountains.   It was totally glorious.

The Smoked Trout

First catch your trout ……  ha ha.   Seriously though – where I live you can catch and smoke your own and right now the fishing in Lake Hume and the rivers is so good.  But, better still is the fact we have the best smoked trout available at Butts Smokehouse – you can buy it whole or skinned and filleted.  Arrange trout on a platter with little bowls of the watermelon rind and those little crunchy bread squares or water biscuits.    This is a great starter to a casual lunch party picnic and goes so well with a crisp white wine.

In the Kitchen with Vivienne – 3 Special Occasions

30 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by in The Dining Room, Vivienne

≈ 57 Comments

Tags

, ,

By Vivienne

These two Indian style dishes will blow your socks off !   Not with their heat but by their luxurious taste and appearance.

Ideal for dinner party for six when you want to do something different and can plan ahead.

—ooo—

RAAN  (leg of lamb dish)

...... not actual size 🙂

Remember if you want to have this for dinner on Saturday night you need to do all this preparation on the Thursday.

Take one good size leg of lamb and trim off all excess fat.

Prick the leg of lamb all over with a skewer.  With a sharp knife make several deep gashes in the flesh.  Put leg into the pan in which you will be roasting it.

Next:

  • finely chop about 4 oz of fresh root ginger
  • peel 12 cloves of garlic
  • all the yellow rind of one lemon (just in strips)
  • juice the lemon
  • 2 teaspoon of ground cummin
  • 2 teaspoons of ground cardamom
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 2 teaspoons turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon of ground chilli (more if you like)
  • 3 teaspoon of salt

Blend all of the above and then spread it over the lamb.

Leave aside while you….

Mix a cup of ground almonds, two tablespoons of soft brown sugar and a cup and a quarter of  plain greek style yoghurt.  This should be enough to cover the leg of lamb.  Don’t worry about the bit at the bottom – you can’t turn it over at this stage.   If this mixture doesn’t look enough to coat the lamb just add some more ground almond and yoghurt.

Next:

Cover the lamb and put in fridge for two days.

On the day you want to eat this dish, take out of fridge one hour before starting to cook (bring to room temperature).  Sprinkle two more teaspoons of brown sugar over the lamb.

Preheat oven to 220c or 425F.   Place uncovered dish in oven and roast for 20 minutes then reduce temperature to 180 or 350 and roast one more hour.  Then reduce temperature to about 150, and COVER the pan (with foil) and leave slowly roasting for another 4 hours.

Then….

Transfer lamb to serving plate, cover and leave in oven while you….

Spoon off any visible fat from roasting pan juices and then add saffron powder – half a teaspoon.  Stir all up on top of stove and let it boil to reduce a little.  You should be able to figure out the consistency.

My recipe says to spoon sauce over the dish but I think it is better to pass around the jug.

You really can’t do a regular carving job, just get stuck into it as it falls apart easily.

—ooo—

DHANSAK

Dhansak Lentils

A Parsee chicken with lentils and vegetables dish (my version)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of lentils (made up of one or four different lentils, whatever you like)
  • 2-3 cups water
  • Salt – 2 tsp
  • Ghee – about 2 tbs
  • Fresh root ginger – 1 inch piece finely chopped
  • Garlic – 1  finely chopped
  • One good size chook, cut up into 8 pieces
  • Fresh mint – 1 tablespoon, finely chopped
  • 1 eggplant – cubed
  • Pumpkin – a cup and a bit peeled and cubed
  • Silverbeet – a cup, chopped up (no stalk bits though)
  • Onion – 1 large, sliced
  • Tomatoes – one can of chopped

For the masala:

  • Ghee – 1 or 2 tablespoons
  • Onion – 1 medium, sliced
  • Fresh root ginger – 1 inch piece finely chopped
  • Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
  • Garlic – 3 cloves finely chopped
  • Cinnamon – ground, half teaspoon
  • Cardamom – ground, half teaspoon
  • Cloves – 3 ground up (optional as far as I am concerned)
  • Turmeric – 2 teaspoons
  • Coriander  – ground – 3 teaspoons

Cooking:

Soak lentils for 30 minutes, drain and then into large saucepan (preferably cast iron),  add water and salt, bring to boil and then simmer for 30 – 40 minutes (until soft obviously).  In another large pot melt ghee and first lot of ginger and garlic and the chicken pieces and lightly brown and then add to lentils.  In same pan as used for chicken pieces, add more ghee, second lot of garlic, ginger, onion and spices and sauté until onion clear but not brown.   Put all this and the other vegetables (pumpkin, eggplant, toms etc) into pan with the chicken.   Simmer away until chicken all cooked and everything smells great and vegetables sort of disintegrated.  Check taste for salt etc.

Note:  When preparing garlic, ginger and onion just do twice the amount first mentioned and halve it for the process.  If you have a good size pot and want to do two chickens you will not need to double all the other ingredients.  2 teaspoons of salt will be about right for 1 or two chooks, ghee will be plenty,  I’d increase vegetables and lentils by 50%, one can of tomatoes should do, but increase spices by 100%  (though the chilli, I leave up to your discretion).

Accompany this dish with Naan bread.  If you can’t make it yourself the brands in the supermarket are passable (just warm up in the micro-wave).

—ooo—

POTATO SAMBAL

This goes well with any curry, eat it warm or at room temperature.  Taste testers beware – this sambal is deceptively delicious and addictive.

In a tablespoon of ghee (you must use ghee, never oil) lightly cook the following:

  • 1 finely minced onion
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 non hot green chilli or pepper
  • half teaspoon of ground ginger
  • “         “             cummin
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • quarter tsp hot chilli

Having already cooked 5 potatoes and roughly mashed,  add the above mixture plus salt to taste.  Then stir in some thick coconut milk, a little bit at a time.  Consistency should still be firm.

Other usual side dishes recommended (apart from your favourite chutney or pickle):

  • Cucumber/yogurt
  • Sliced tomato and onions dressed in lemon juice, salt/pepper
  • Naan and or pappadums
  • If Naan not possible, a basmati rice dish of course

A note from Vivienne

This is the third and last instalment of recipes from me for the time being.  I don’t want to wear out my welcome.  Some of the other ideas I have are more suited to the winter months so I do intend to do another series.  In the meantime if any of you lovely people have a foodie question please feel free to ask and I’ll endeavour to assist in whatever way I can.