First winter warmer

With the wind blowing from the north, it was freezing over here on the coast today, so it was the first soup and roll of the winter.
The rolls were from a Paul Hollywood recipe, but the leek and potato soup was my own version and the recipe will follow once I've written it up.

Classic Biryani

My passion for food started in my mother’s kitchen when I was ten years old. I was fascinated by how easy everything was to make and the complex tastes I experienced from simple ingredients. This version of a classic chicken and rice dish – Biryani - is a mixture of mother’s version combined with my additions through the years.

Preparation:  45 minutes (+ marinate overnight)       

Cooking: 1 hour    Serves 6

Ingredients

Biryani with tarka dal and paratha

1 whole chicken (1200 gms) skinned and cut into 8 pieces
½ cup cooking oil
4 cups Basmati rice
¼ tsp haldi (turmeric)
2  tsp ginger & garlic paste
2  large potatoes

4 large tomatoes
1 cup yoghurt
2 large onions thinly sliced
4 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp salt
1 tsp zafran (saffron) soaked in rose water

Method

• To marinate the chicken put the yoghurt, haldi & saffron in a bowl & mix them with the chicken. Leave to marinate either overnight or for at least 3 hours.
• Wash the rice and then soak it in water with 4 tsp salt and let it soak for 3 hours.
• Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the sliced onion till brown, not golden but slightly dark brown, take this out and put it on a paper towel so the oil is soaked in. Then crush the onions and keep to one side.
• In the remaining oil put the chicken first and cook in high temperature until all the water has dried then put the remaining yoghurt in along with salt, cover the pan for 5-10 minutes until the chicken is done and you have a curry mix. The oil will have separated and risen to the top.
• Boil the rice until half cooked, strain. When all the water has strained, mix the fried crushed onions and garam masala.
• Cut the potatoes into thick slices. Put some of the oil from the chicken curry in the bottom of a wide pan and layer the potatoes on top followed by a layer of tomatoes. Then put half of the rice, followed by chicken curry. Put the rest of the rice on top to cover completely.
• Make 5 holes on top of the rice and put the zafran/rose water mixture.
• Cover this tightly by putting a cloth on top of the pan then tie a knot over the lid.
• Let this cook for ten minutes in high fire, open the cover slightly, when you see steam come out, then lower the fire and let it cook (dum) for another 30 minutes.

Note: If you don’t like chicken on the bone then get 6 large breast pieces which you can cook either whole or cut each piece into two making 12 generous sized pieces.

Aloo Gosht

A tasty treat today - beef and potato curry!

Preparation: 20 minutes                         

Cooking:      45 minutes

Serves:        6 - 8

Ingredients

1 kg rump steak

½ kg potatoes, peeled & chopped into 2 inch cubes

2 medium onions thinly sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

¼ turmeric

½ tsp paprika powder

2 ½ tsp coriander powder

1 ½ tsp garam masala

1 ½ tbsp ginger paste

1 ½ tbsp garlic paste

3 tbsp tomato paste

1 large dollop full fat yoghurt

1 cup vegetable or beef stock

3-4 whole green chillies

1 bunch fresh coriander chopped

Up to 1½ tsp salt (to taste)

Preparation

• Marinate meat in turmeric, paprika, coriander powder, garlic & ginger paste. Cover & place in fridge.
• Par boil the potatoes, drain and fry in hot oil. Sear potatoes on all sides till brown. Turn out on paper towel to drain excess oil.
• Put olive oil in a pan and heat.  Add onions and fry till they are browned.  Add marinated beef and stir in high heat to sear all sides.
• Add any left over marinade, potatoes & stock. Put chillies in & reduce temperature, cover & simmer for about 20-25 minutes.
• Add tomato paste, yoghurt & salt (taste seasoning and add salt as required). Stir well & sprinkle fresh coriander on top.  Cover once more & simmer for another 15-20 minutes till oil comes to the surface of the pan.

Serve hot with rice or bread & a yoghurt condiment.

Extras:

• Use braising steak when you intend to cook this curry very slowly.
• If you want a spicier version use chilli powder instead of paprika and add chopped green chilli as part of marinade.
• Onions can be chopped instead of sliced if you want a smoother finish to the curry.
• If you don’t have ginger & garlic paste handy you can get away with using powder however I feel it does not add the freshness you get when you make the paste on the day!
• I usually use stock granules as it does the same job.