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Chef for many years, also knife hobbyist and collector and prolific gardener
Cooking Asian

Rendang Daging/ or Ayam

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  1. Rendang with meat of your choice  best with beef or chicken. ( Daging is beef and chicken This recipe makes about 10 portions. Tastes great the next day too

Beef -1 kg or chicken

Ginger

Garlic

Kaffir lime leaf

Fried shallots

Raw red onion

Bay leaf( traditionally used is Daun Salam – cassia leaf )

Coriander  10 g/2 t

Cumin 5 g/1 t

Salt-10 g

Stock powder-5 g

Palm sugar/Brown sugar/ gula melak-10 g

Grind all ingredients above with minimal water to a semi smooth paste.

Heat about 50 ml oil, and add paste and slow cook- this process take a long time so be patient. Wash out the blender jar and use that water in small quantities to prevent it from burning or sticking.Use the heaviest bottom pan you have and DO not multi task, if you do you have a burnt mess, which even the worm farm cannot use.

During the slow stir frying process, use 2-3 kaffir lime leaves and 1 stick of crushed lemongrass to cook in the pot and 1 star anise

You can add some coconut cream(100 ml), fish sauce- to taste, some dark soy sauce (2T/ 40 ml) for colour, some brown sugar (20 gms/ 1Tand some sweet soy sauce.(1T).

When the oil starts to ooze out that when the paste is done.That was the hard bit.

Next we add in diced meat, Thigh if using chicken and some beef topside/ rump , and add about 700 gms for this much paste.

Add some stock or water and bouillon powder.(abut 200ml)

Simmer on low heat till meat is really tender. Then reduce the liquid to almost dry coating paste.

Garnish with fresh chopped coriander, stems and leaves.

Eat with jasmince rice cooked with a mix of water and coconut cream or even crusty sourdough  or a soft bap

Best made a day before so all the spice and meat become sublime.

Cooking indian

Aloo tikki

This is a popular street food from India but can be as refined or as rustic you want it to be. Typically paired with a chick peas curry or even a white lentil / peas curry . Word of warning though if the chickpeas are not cooked enough they cause gas.

 

A lot of it. So thats one reason to pressure cook the chickpeas and use spices like ajwain/carom ajowan.

Anyway moving on to the potato cakes which are the star of the show today.

  • Potatoes 1kg..cook whole with skin on the day before.
  • Turmeric 2g/.5t
  • Chilli powder 5g /1t
  • Cardamom powder-pinch
  • Nutmeg powder-pinch
  • Salt-15-20g
  • Ginger and garlic paste
  • Breadcrumbs -25g
  • Chickpeas flour-roasted in the microwave with clarified butter/ghee -50g equal qty of both 25+25.
  • Rice flour to coat so they dont break
  • Oil
  • Ghee to cook
  • Filling -i used chopped almonds and peeled and chopped broccoli stems. -1stem peeled and chopped with chopped almond and flavoured with some dry mint
  1. Cook the potatoes a day before and keep in the fridge. They are healthier that way. Peel and grate or mash . Add all other ingredients and form a mix.shape into approximately 10balls. Make a hole in the middle and fill .coat with rice flour and then shallow fry on a a heavy based griddle with a mix of oil and ghee( clarified butter).♣

 

Cooking indian

Chana Masala/ Pindi

We are going to be cooking the great Indian gas producer(hehe). This is traditionally made in northern india and eaten with a fried bread called Bhatura- its even traveled overseas and is popular street food in Trinidad but called by another name and very moreish

  • Chickpeas/ Chana dry- 250 g
  • Baking soda/Sodium bicarbonate/bicarb – pinch- this softens the seed coat and makes it easier to cook.
  • Ajwain seeds/Carom ajowan- pinch- these tiny seeds pack a flavour punch and also are anti flatulent
  • Onions- 1 medium earlier and one later.
  • canned diced tomatoes-

Soak overnight with baking soda..next day wash and cook till soft with some onion and ajwain can also add some tea bag water for dark colour. Then heat oil with clove cinnamon black cardamom and jeera and saute some chopped onion till translucent.. add the canned diced tomatoes. Turmeric chilli powder and cooked chana and simmer on low heat for long time .

Add anardana powder or pomegranate molasses( dibs  in Arabic) and ginger julienne and coriander. 

Serve with the bhatura..there is a recipe knocking around on the blog 

Cooking indian

Potato vada

Potato Vadas or batatawada is my favoritest food ever and I have fond memories of my mum/ Aai making these for me as a child.

Its one of the most popular street food in our state Maharashtra and there are several origin stories, which is too much history when you are hungry. Its a great affordable carb laden food which serves as meal for hungry workers and people of all kinds  with deep or shallow pockets .

Its a deep fried potato patty spiced with chilli , curry leaves and coated with a chick pea flour batter  .

You need to cook potatoes , peel and crush them. Then make a spicy batter and fry them . Sandwich it in a bun and it becomes wada or vada and pav/which is a bun of sorts with a Portuguese influence. So the potato came from south America and the bread from portugal and apparently the idea came to a streey vendor in Bombay/now Mumbai who wanted to feed the masses with an affordable carb rich meal which is grab and go. Since the patty is in a bun doesn’t make your hands greasy and one hand stays free .

The ingredients.

Potato 1kg Boil or pressure cook with skin on . When cooked peel and crush.

Oil-2T/35ml  .

Black mustard seeds -1/2t about 2g

Cumin-1/2tabout 2g

Onion peeled and chopped -1/100g

Curry leaves-2sprigs better if you shred them fresh is best otherwise dried .

Ginger peeled and chopped-1small piece /10g

Garlic peeled and chopped -15g

Turmeric 1t /about 5g  these are not exact measurements mind you.

Asafoetida –very tiny pinch

Green chilli 3-4 about 10g

Lemon -1lemon or lime

Sugar1/2t

Green coriander -1sprig

Batter

Chickpeas flour /Besan-250g

Rice flour-30g

Ajwain-1/2t

Water to form batter approximately 150g

Oil to fry and clog those arteries

Salt to taste for potato and batter both.

  • Heat oil and crackle mustard seeds till they pop add onion curry leaves cumin and saute lightly. Add turmeric ginger garlic and chopped chilli . Turn off heat
  • Add crushed potatoes and salt, sugar, lemon ,and chopped coriander.
  • Cool down and shape into patties or round balls..your choice as long as the mix is tasty.
  • Make batter with besan , rice flour water. Lightly crush ajwain before adding it .if its too thick will not be very nice but stodgy, too thin and wont coat well. Practice makes perfect.
  • Heat oil and dip patties in batter and then fry till golden and crisp.
  • You can then pair this with a small bread bun and green chutney both recipes are on here. Or just gulp down as they are. Wait to cool down or your mouth is going to be burnt .
  • Everyone has their favorite street food vendor who sells this . Mine is in my home town of Pune just ahead of Aurangabad silk mills on Lakshmi road . Ive been going to the same spot since 1988. Prices have gone up X 10 times since but still tastes amazing.
  • Some folk also add a garlic chilli coconut chutney on the bun. I should at some stage write down how to make that too. Dont buy it folks it will usually be rancid.