Is this base (Sauce) really strong enough

Sorry I haven't posted recently, I have had just too much on.
Anyway here is part one of the great monthly cook.

First thing is what I call the Base Sauce.
(I will refer back to this through the next few posts)

What you need (you can adjust the volumes accordingly):

2 Bulbs (yes bulbs) of garlic
3 Seeded Chillies
2 tsp Dried herbs
400g sliced leaks
1.2Kg Sliced Onions (red or white)
200g finely sliced celery
15 tins!! of chopped tomatoes

Cooking is pretty simple really.
Brown the Onions in some Olive Oil
Add the Celery

Purée the Garlic and Chillies  together with a little salt and olive oil and add the the pan.

Turn the heat down and add the leaks and the dried herbs and simmer until they have all cooked down.

Now its time to add the Tomatoes.  Add a couple of tins at a time and let them cook down a little before adding the next few tins.

Let the whole lot simmer for about an hour or so.

What you have now is a good basic sauce that you can add whatever you like to.

I will be posting uses for this sauce over the next few weeks.

Eggciting Eggs

Made this for my breakfast the other day.
Its is a cross between a Moroccan and an Iranian dish and makes a great hangover cure.
Spicy mince with eggs

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1/2 Onion (sliced)
2-3 garlic cloves (crushed)
1/2 Tin of chopped tomatoes
1/2tsp of dried red chilli flakes (more if you like)
2 medium mushrooms (sliced)
200g mince beef (or whatever you prefer)
1/2tsp Turmeric
1/2tsp Paprika
few dashes of Tabasco
1tsp dried herbs
soya sauce
fresh corriander
4 eggs

Cooking:
Use a Medium sized sauce pan
cook the onion, garlic and mushrooms in some olive oil until soft.
Add mince and the spices and cook until the meat has browned slightly
Add soya sauce, tomatoes and dried herbs and cook on a medium heat.
Season and add fresh coriander and eggs.
cover and cook on a low heat until the eggs are done to your liking.

What the hell is Bifidobacterium Lactis anyway?

As promised in an earlier post here is a recipe for my yogurt dip.
It is actually a cross between "mast-o khiar" (an Iranian Yogurt dip) and an Indian Raita.

You need;
200ml Natural Yogurt
Fresh Mint
Fresh Coriander
1/2 small Cucumber
Turmeric
Lime Juice
Salt and Pepper

Finely chop the mint and coriander (i use about 6 large mint leaves and about the same coriander but adjust to your tastes)

Finely dice the cucumber and put in a bowel with the herbs about 1/2tsp of Turmeric (more if you like) and a few dashes of lime juice (again to your taste).
Mix well then add the yogurt and season.
Leave for about 30min in the fridge for the flavours to develop.

Goes perfectly with Kebab, Curry and even as a dip with bread.

Variants :
Replace the Mint and Coriander with Dill.
Replace Cucumber with red Onion (tip. before adding yogurt add a little salt and leave for about 15min, the salt and lime juice will chemically cook the onion and take the rawness off)

Stop! Burger Time!

Last night I had a burger from a well know chain of drinking establishment that my stomach was actually unable to digest and forcefully ejected.
To reward my stomach for all the wasted effort I decided to make some proper burgers.

Caramelised Onions & Garlic Beef Burgers

Ingredients
500G of Good Quality Beef Mince
1/2 Large Onion
2 or 3 Large Garlic Cloves
1tsp Soya Sauce
Dried Red Chilli Flakes
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:


Make sure you use good quality mince for this, cheap mince is fine when you are making a chilli or a pasta sauce because you can let in simmer for a long time but for Burgers or Kebabs you need a good quality (and not too lean) mince.  If you like your burgers a little rare you will need to use Steak Mince.

Leave the mince out of the fridge to take the chill of it.

Grate or very finely chop the Onions and fry with about 1tsp of olive oil.
Wait until they just start to brown and add the Garlic (again finely chopped or grated) and a pinch of the Chilli Flakes (more if you like it a bit hotter)
Once the Onions and garlic are nice and brown set aside to cool a little.

Once cooled put the Onions and Mince into a food processor with salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper and the Soya Sauce (the Soya Sauce brings out the flavour of the meat) and mix well.

Leave the mixture to stand for about at least 30min for the flavours to mature.

When making the burgers don't make them too thick or too compact as they will take too long to cook and become dry (If you are using steak mince and like your burgers pink in the middle then this isn't a problem).





Cooking:

Get a grill pan VERY hot.
Place the burgers on and sear the 1st side until you get the nice charred grill lines.
Turn over the burger and turn the heat down and cook slowly, this way the inside will cook nicley and you still get the nice charred outside.

Serve however you like it

Tomatoes? We don't need no stinking tomatoes...

The wife asked me if I know any recipes for tomato-less curry.
(someone was asking as their baby wouldn't eat tomatoes)
I didn't but I came up with this:

(Multiply volumes as required)
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 Green pepper
4 medium mushrooms
1/2 tsp turmeric
Fresh Coriander (1/2 hand full)
Curry powder to taste (what ever you prefer)
1/2 large container Double cream (has to be double cream or it will split)
butter

Cook Onion, and pepper in butter until soft.
Add garlic, 1/2 of coriander, turmeric and curry powder
Cook on low heat and add cream and cook slowly.
when cooked add remaining coriander

Season to taste

It is very rich so you can thin it out with vegetable stock if needed


You can also add whatever meat you like and add a little more cream and/or stock.

In the begining there was KEEEEBAAAAAB!!!!!!!

OK this is the 1st post of my new food blog (or fblog or flog or fooblog...)

This all come about because people keep on asking me for the recipes for the food photos I post on Facebook.

So here we go

Chicken Tikka KEEEEBAAAAABSSSS!!

(Dedicated to Clare James who gave me the idea for the domain name and likes this recipe) 

This received good reviews last Saturday when I took them into work.

I wont be giving exact measures because I cant

Ingredients:

4 Chicken breast (well duh)

Natural Yoghurt (enough to cover the chicken)

Turmeric (about 1tsp)

Tikka Curry Powder (about 2tsp or more depending on how spicy you want it)

Fenugreek (about 1/2 tsp)

Grated Garlic (1 or 2 cloves depending on taste)

Olive Oil (about 1tbsp)

Coriander (about a handful fresh or 1tsp dry but fresh is better)

Juice of 1/2 a lime

Salt and Pepper

Preparation:

Chicken Marinating
(also some Onion Bahji mix.. but that's for another post)

 Cut Chicken in to pieces (about as long as your thumb) and place in a bowl

Chuck everything else in another bowl and mix well.

leave for about 15min taste it, add more of whatever YOU think it needs.

Mix with the Chicken and leave for at least an hour or two but the longer the better.

Also when you mix it with the chicken stab the chicken pieces with a fork to get the flavour in.

Cooking:

Place the Chicken on flat metal skewers but don't bunch them up too much.

Now there are two ways of cooking these.

1: Use a grill pan on a medium heat turning slowly until cooked or

2: Use a grill pan on HIGH heat, sear the chicken on all side then place in a large roasting tray, poor over any leftover marinade, cover in tin foil and put in a low oven (about 140c) until cooked (about 30min or so but make sure you check). When i has finished cooking in the oven take it out, leave the foil on and leave it to stand for about 10min.

Serve with rice and/or bread with a yoghurt dip (I will post a recipe for one another time)