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Ram Baan or

One ring to rule them all,
one ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.

After that rather theatrical name we must get down to brasstacks. The first part of the name comes from King Ram from the great indian Ramayan and baan the arrow or missile he used to vanquish the great demon / Rakshasa , Ravan. This term was used for a base onion and tomato gravy in my hotel company many many years back which used to go into allmost all the Indian food and thus the second part of the Tolkien title from the One Ring.

heres how we do it

oil -10 ml
butter15 gm
cumin -¼ tsp
cardamom green-2
cinnamon- 1 small pc

cloves 2-3
Heat oil, add butter and whole spices
then add 500 gms chopped onions and saute on low heat till light brown.
Add ¼ tsp coriander pdr, 1/8tsp cumin powder, pinch turmeric powder.
Add in about 20 gms of ginger and garlic paste. continue to saute.
Add in 400 gm tin of chopped tomatoes , and slow cook till the oil starts to separate out.

Barbacoa with roasted coconut and chettinad spice rub

This version of meat comes from a transmogrified version of a Barbacoa, but flavoured with traditional south Indian spice mix where they would shudder at the mere thought of the holy cow tainting the spices .Never mind the fact that the neighbouring state Kerala has plenty of Beef Pepper fry .

But never mind we must go boldly where no man has gone before . We will then take it further and serve this rich spice laden stupedous concoction and put it in a bao or a sourdough bun or even a dosa .Our recipe serves 4 hungry people or more if you only serve it as finger food

Beef rump or similar-600 g
For the marinade
Yoghurt- 2 TB/55 gms approximately
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp , 2 gms
Ginger and Garlic paste- 2 t /10 gms
Salt- 1
For the gravy
Oil- 1T /20 gm
Curry leaves- 1 sprig/ 1 gms
green chilli- 2 ea/ 5 gms
Onions brown peeled and chopped-250 gms
Tomato crushed/ Tomato passata – 75 gms
coriander powder- 1 t/ 5gm
cumin powder- 1/2 t / 2 gm
chipotle chilli – 5 gms-
coconut cream- 100 ml
For the dry spice mix
Cardamom green- 3 ea
Cloves- 2
cinnamon stick – 1 small
Bayleaf- 1/2- The indian bayleaf is actually a cassia cinnamon leaf called tej patta, if you dont have that then use bay,
dessicated coconut- 1T/ 15 gms
peppercorns- 8-10
star anise/anasi poo- 1/2
fennel seeds- 1/2 t
Dagadphool/Kalpasi- 1-2 gms this gives it a unique aroma
Toast all in the microwave and then grind to a coarse mix
Method.
Marinate beef, ideally overnight, if pressed for time then atleast a few hours.
for the gravy, heat oil add curry leaves , and green chilli and then the chopped onions, sand saute till brown
add the powder spices and tomato and cook till the oil starts to separate from the mix.

Garnish with toasted sliced coconut ..

The almond cake with cocoa nibs

This is a cake I baked a few days back an hour before I had to fly out from Sydney to Singapore enroute to Mumbai. Was meant to be a surprise dessert to take to meet my friends from a long time back. They are christened as Gatarganga for the filthy language they use when talking to each other ..Ahh boys who still pretend that they and I are teenagers.

I was very pleased to see that it survived the journey in my backpack all the way to here so I thought to write down the recipe before I get senile or dementia or both.

  1. Butter softened -75 g
  2. Oil( vegetable )-50 g
  3. Sugar brown or white – 125 g
  4. Flour 95 g
  5. Almond powder- 50 g
  6. Baking powder-10 g
  7. eggs large-2
  8. Cream 50 g
  9. Cocoa nibs – 10 g/1 t( these are for the crunch and a hint of bitterness to contrast with the sweetness of the cake.
  10. Sliced almonds -20g/1 T

I made this like a modified version of a pound cake. First things to do is get your oven preheated before you start to175 C. Line one 8 inch cake tin with baking paper atleast at the base( or use a precut silicone cake base)

whisk the eggs with sugar and add a little vanilla extract. Melt the butter and oil and add to the whisked eggs mix. Add in the cream and mix lightly.

Mix together the almond flour and baking powder and fold it into the egg mix. Gently mix in the cocoa nibs.

Pour it into the cake tin and top with sliced/ flaked almonds. Bake for between 20-25 mins or a bit more till done .

choux pastry with craquelin

  • craquelin topping
  • 60 g butter
  • 50 g white sugar
  • 60 g plain flour
  • Combine to a dough like consistency and roll out and refrigerate between sheets of baking/ silicone paper.
  • This is the topping we will put on top of the choux pastry and bake to get a pleasant crunchy crackly topping .
  • For the pate a choux ( fancy french for choux pastry)
  • We need
  • 200 g butter
  • 300 g flour
  • 500 ml water
  • 9 eggs….simple formula 2-3-5-9….since the time I was a mere stripling.
  • Melt butter in water and when it comes to a boil , add flour and stir till comes away from the bottom of the pot. Take off the heat and allow to cool down slightly. Add in the eggs one at a time using a spoon or so.. don’t use a whisk keboz it will get stuck in the middle.
  • Then the paste can be baked , fried , or poached..

MEME’s Apricot Macadamia muesli cookies

Mel is one of my co workers in my current workplace at Opal aged care and works as a helper/assistant in one of our dining rooms. Sometimes if ive been nice to her she gets me one of these Cookies, which are amazing. She also says her Nonna makes the best foccacia in the world, and on that point we agree to disagree.

These are like an anzac biscuit on steriods, lots of dry fruit and nut and very very yum..

Dry ingredients

  • Oats 300 g
  • plain flour 300g
  • dessicated coconut- 250 g
  • white sugar- 175 g
  • dried apricots chopped-125 g
  • raisins-125 g
  • macadamia or almonds- 1/2 cup

Wet ingredients

  • butter chopped -150 g
  • golden syrup or honey- 40 g
  • baking soda/ bicarb- 8 g
  • boiling water- 40 g
  1. line three trays with baking paper and preheat your oven to 160 C.
  2. combine all the dry ingredients.
  3. melt butter and syrup together.Add baking soda to the boiling water and mix with butter.
  4. addthe wet to the dry (as easy as that).
  5. roll into small balls and keep apart on the baking tray.
  6. Bake for about 20 minutes till the edges are browned and cool down on the tray .
  7. Drizzle with extra dark bitter chocolate if you want to be extra wicked !!