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Chai I'm a big believer in using whole fresh spices wherever possible, they taste much better. 1 lump of
ginger You can adjust
these amounts more or less to suit your taste. Add 3 tsp tea (decaf if you prefer), 4 tsp brown sugar, 0.75 litre milk and bring back to boil stirring continuously. As soon as it starts to boil take it off the heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes with lid on. Stir again
and pour through strainer. |
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Cocoa I'm convinced that no one actually knows anymore, because to look in supermarkets and see all the instant hot chocolate mixes available suggests nothing else - there's not much pure cocoa for sale. Get away from this plastic crap with additives and refined sugars, and get the real thing... Buy Green and Black's organic cocoa - there's no better! Put enough full cream milk into a blender to fill your mugs. Then add... Two tsp of
cocoa per mug Blend it up, nice and throthy, and then heat up to drinking temp, stirring all the time. Pour it through a coarse tea strainer to remove the bits of leaf. Sit back
and enjoy! |
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Curry
Secrets
While i have no intention of giving away my superior curry recipe, i would like to suggest some ideas that can be applied to any curry recipe to drastically improve it. Always use whole and fresh spices where possible and grind and chop only what you need just before use. I would give whole dried turmeric root a miss unless you have an angle grinder. Spices begin to stale as soon as they are ground and their flavour dimishes quite quickly. Ready made curry powders are dull and boring because of this. There are many curry spice blends on the internet, and in books, that you can try using whole freshly ground spices, so don't put up with pre-ground packet blended crap. And if you wish to take your curry blending seriously, i would suggest investing in a set of scales that can weigh tenths of grams - although to begin, teaspoon measurements are quite adequate. Use fresh chillies, but go easy on them as this is about flavour not heat. Too much heat ruins the taste. Soak freshly ground spices in a little water before adding to the fying meat. Boil rapidly to bring mixture back to a frying state. As soon as the mixture begins to fry again, add stock - don't allow the spices to fry as they'll turn bitter. Once all ingredients are added, according to your recipe, place in a gas 3 oven for an hour with a lid on. Don't cook on the stove as the bottom will stick and burn ruining the flavour. After an hour add fresh chopped coriander leaves, stir and place back in oven for ten minutes. Don't be shy with the coriander leaves, they bring a lovely flavour to curries. Then add garam masala and ground almonds. Garam masala is very important in a curry and must be added at the end of cooking - grind whole spices and almonds just before use. Again there are many garam masala recipes on the internet and in books, so try a few to get a feel of what you like. Place back in oven for ten minutes, remove and let cool. Place in fridge for at least 24 hours. If you eat a curry made with fresh spices straight from the oven, the flavours will still be individual. Letting it sit in the fridge for 24 - 48 hours allows the flavours to mellow and blend, creating a much smoother tasting curry. Reheat when hungry and serve... Yummy! |
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Pizza
 Personally i don't see much point in making a skinny pizza, some of them aren't much more than a glorified sandwich missing a top slice of bread. By using a deep roasting tin you don't have to mess about trying to balance things on top of the bread only to watch all the cheese and tomato run off the edge when it all starts to melt. Just line the tin with the dough and pour lots of tomato in, go to town on the toppings, and then bake it. The tin in the photo is 14 x 11 x2 inches and the following recipe is based on that. Make up the basic bread recipe and when it's having its first proving prepare the toppings as follows... Place the
following in a pan... Do whatever
you need to do to whatever toppings you want When the
bread dough has risen the first time, knock it back and roll it
out to fit the roasting tin that's been oiled and seasoned Leave it to cool until eating temperature before cutting it. |
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Rice
Pudding
Into a 6 pint oven proof pan place... 2 pints full cream milk 2 tbsp olive oil or butter 6 ounces short grain (pudding) rice 3 ounces raw cane sugar (adjust according to taste) 1 round tsp nutmeg Set oven to to 180c. While oven is pre-heating bring to a simmer on the stove - stirring continuously. Place in oven with lid on. Remove from oven and stir every 15 minutes until rice is cooked and pudding is creamy consistency. Place back in oven with lid off and turn heat up full to brown the pudding and create a nice skin. Eat hot, warm or cold! The 6 ounces of rice stated gives a very firm set pudding when cold, if you want a looser pudding use less rice or more milk. You can also replace the nutmeg with half a vanilla pod split lengthways. Scrape the seeds out into the milk before you put the pod in. |
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