Intro

I have fallen in love with Indian sweet making and have been trying to recreate the gorgeous delicacies I experienced in Delhi.

I interloaned the "Art of Indian sweets by Krishna Priya Dasi" and every recipe I've tried  has been a winner.This slice is slightly chewy, coconutty, a slight catch from the cardomom and just delicious. The book can be prchased from the Krishna Store.

Recipe

• 1 cup ghee
• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup disicatted coconut
• 1 teaspoon cardomom

Texture of fully cooked mixture.

Melt the ghee, add the milk, then all the other ingredients. Stirring constantly cook for 12 -15 minutes on medium then continue for another 5 mins on low. It will initially come together almost like a choux pastry mixture but then it breaks up; eventually it will get to a stage it where the mixture releases the butter oils.

Tip the mixture out into a greased slice tin and press flat. Soak off  the extra oils with paper towels then refrigerate. Cut into squares when cold. 

Coconut Laddu

Intro

These are gorgeous; the flavour of coconut ice but soft and creamy - and none of that cloying sweetness.

Recipe

3 cups desicated coconut

4 cups full fat milk

1.75 cups sugar

1/2 cup extra coconut

Place 3 cups coconut and 2.5 cups of milk in a blender and blend until it becomes a smoothish paste (couple of minutes. Place into a large heavy flat bottomed saucepan, add the remaining milk and bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium and stirring constantly cook until the mixture is very thick. Add the sugar (and a few drops of cochineal if you want pink balls) and continue stirring and cooking until it is thick again.

Transfer to a bowl and leave until cold in the fridge. Form into small balls and roll in coconut.

Coca - Catalan Pizza

Flatbread

• 225g strong flour plus extra for dusting
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried yeast
• 150ml tepid water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Place salt and flour in a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the water and add oil to the water. Tip the liquid into the flour and mix in with fingers to form a ball of dough. Tip dough onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Smear a little oil in a bowl and roll the dough ball around in the oil, cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour or 2 until doubled in size. Punch down then divide in half and roll each out very thinly.

Place on a hot pizza stone or oven tray, add topping (below) and bake for 10 minutes at the highest temperature your oven can go until the base is crispy. Remove from heat, drizzle the saved olive oil over the top and serve immediately.

Topping

• 1 medium aubergine or eggplant chopped into 1cm dice,
• 1 zucchini - thinly sliced,
• 2 medium onions - thinly sliced
• 2 capsicums or red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, seeds removed and thinly sliced,
• 1 heaped tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
• 150ml olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped,
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt.

Sprinkle the aubergine with salt and set aside. Gently saute the onions and a pinch of salt in the olive oil in a heavy based frying pan for about 15 minutes until soft. Add the capsicums and garlic and continue to saute for another 10 minutes until the capsicums are soft and sweet and the onions a golden colour. 

Drain the aubergine and pat dry then add with the zuchinni and rosemary to the onions.Cook for a further 10-15 minutes stirring frequently. Remove the pan from the heat, move the filling to one side of the pan and leave to rest on a slight angle to drain excess oil away from the filling. Don't throw away the oil!

Chicken in a Clay Pot

Pollo en Cunete

• 1.5 kg chicken pieces - on the bone preferably
• 11 coves garlic
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons corn or vegetable oil
• 20 small new potatoes
• 10 baby onions
• 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 6 bayleaves
• 2 tablespoons each thyme
• 2 tablespoons marjoram
• 2 red chiles

Crush the garlic, salt and pepper in  mortar and pestle. Rub into the chicken pieces and refrigerate for 2-4 hours.

In a large skillet heat the corn oil and saute the chicken briefly and transfer to a large pot. In the same oil saute the onions, remove and add to the chicken. Gently brown the potatoes then remove and set aside. Add the vinegar to the pan and bring to the boil scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour the vinegar through a strainer over the chicken.

Add the olive oil, salt, bay leaves, thyme and marjoram to the chicken. Bring to the boil over high heat then cover and lower heat to a simmer, stirring every 10 minutes. After 35 minutes uncover, correct the seasonings, add the chiles and potatoes. Cover, cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Check seasonings again and serve with crusty bead or steamed rice.

Taquitos

Select coarse corn chip textured tortillas rather than smooth cheap ones.

Recipe

• 500g boneless pork, chicken or beef,
• 3 black peppercorns
• 1 clove garlic
• salt
• 4 cups water
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
• 1 thinly sliced onion
• 20 corn tortillas
• oil for deep frying

1. Place the meat, peppercorns, garlic and salt in the water and bring to the boil. Simmer, covered, for 40 minutes or until tender. Let cool then shred the meat.

2. Mix the coriander with the sliced onion, salt and shredded meat.

3. Spread a large spoonful along the 2/3rds mark of each tortilla. Roll up and secure with toothpicks. Slice in half.

4. Heat the oil and fry until golden. Remove the toothpicks and serve with guacamole and salsa.

Guacamole

Intro

I foolishly allowed myself to be cajoled into teaching a cooking class this week as part of our Global Cuisine series of Chalkle classes. Since it was my bright idea to bring Chalkle to Horowhenua I really didn't have much of a choice really. So, here in quick succession, I will be posting my three favourite Mexican recipes (yes - I am teaching a Mexican cooking class) because while I cook them reasonably often I've not actually got around to posting them online yet.

• 2 large ripe avocados - not over ripe or bruised or brown,
• 1 tblsp finely chopped white onion to suit your taste,
• 1 or 2 finely chopped fresh chiles (a teaspoon),
• 1 large tomato - cut in quarters and insides thrown away,
• 1 clove garlic - squashed and finely chopped,
• 2 large springs fresh coriander,
• lime juice,
• salt,
• pepper.

Recipe

Remove the flesh from the skin and seed. Place in a bowl and roughly mash with a fork. Chop the tomato flesh into small cubes, add the onion, roughly chopped coriander, a squeeze of lime juice and salt. taste and add lime juice and salt to taste.

Pork and Beans

Intro

I stumbled on Heller's Paprika and Cumin bacon in the supermarket a few months back and it is astoundingly good. It is dry and thick cut and very flavoursome.

I couldn't find a recipe for pork and beans so made this up tonight and it was actually fabulous. I didn't want to forget how I made it so here is the recipe. I might leave out the dried apricots next time but I will need to watch because the flavour balance was perfect.

Recipe

• 2 kg pork shoulder chops
• 2 teasp salt
• 3 teasps smoky paprika
• 1/2 cup flour
• oil
• 2 large onions
• 5 large cloves garlic
• 3 slices flavoursome streaky bacon
• 1/4 cup bourbon or brandy
• 1 generous teaspoon of molasses
• 8 dried apricots
• 1 tin crushed tomatoes
• 1 tin red kidney beans
• 1 tin white beans
• 1 lemon

Bone the pork chops and discard the obvious fat and sinew. Chop into cubes.

Combine flour, salt and paprika and toss the meat in the flour mixture. Saute in batches in the oil until browned and place into a casserole dish. Once all the pork is done add the chopped onions, garlic and bacon (sliced into small pieces) to the pan and fry gently until onion is clear and bacon is browned. Add sliced apricots and cook a further 2 minutes. Tip in the bourbon or brandy, mollasses and a tin of crushed tomatoes. Add the beans and onion/tomato mix to the pork. Stir to combine. It should have just enough liquid to almost cover so top up with a little water if need be. If you add more than a cup of water add a beef stock cube.

Cook in a covered dish for 40 minutes or so. Just before serving squeeze in 1/2 a lemon, check seasoning and add more lemon and/or salt to taste.Serve with steamed brocolli and crusty bread.