Fresh from the oven - Stuffed Buns

This months Fresh from the oven challenge has been hosted by Ria where she proposed Stuffed Buns. I've never made stuffed buns before let alone eaten them, but I'm always up for a challenge!

The dough turned out very different to the type of dough I'm used to working with. The best way I can describe it would be of the texture (and weirdly the smell) of playdoh. I had to add more flour to get it to a kneading consistency. This extra flour may be down to me converting the recipe into grams incorrectly. I also mucked up the oil. Thinking Sunflower oil would the best as it is the lightest flavoured oil I had in the house, I had completely forgotten until I poured the oil in that I had used this oil for frying fish a while back and filtered the unused oil back into the bottle giving the dough a slight eau d'fish-and-chip-shop. Thankfully once the buns were cooked you couldn't smell or taste the oil. I chose to make the buns with a curried paneer filling which was very tasty.



Given all the stumbling blocks I had with this dough the buns worked well. Hubby and his workmates raved about them. They have requested some more soon.

Stuffed Buns
makes 12 buns

For the dough:

3g fast action yeast
125ml milk
Salt to taste
125ml oil
250g plain flour
60g sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 egg white, for egg wash
Nigella seeds (Kalonji) for sprinkling
Method

1) Boil the milk and allow to cool down till it is warm to touch. Add sugar, oil and salt. Mix well with a wooden spoon till the sugar dissolves and add 1 cup flour and mix to a smooth paste.

2) Add the beaten egg, yeast and mix. Add the remaining flour and mix well till it forms a smooth dough. Knead well for 10 mins. Let it rest till it doubles in volume.

3) Punch down the dough lightly using your palm and divide them equally. Flatten them into small discs and fill them with 1 tbsp of the filling. Re-shape them into a ball. Sprinkle the top with Nigella seeds. Let it prove for another 20 mins.

4) Bake them in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for 10 mins. When it starts to brown, give them an egg wash using 1 slightly beaten egg white.

Spicy paneer filling

200g paneer
4 Onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
3 tbsp oil

1) Heat oil, add the garlic paste and saute till it gives out a nice aroma. Add the onions. Saute them till soft and transparent. Reduce the heat and add the groud spices and mix well for 2 mins.

2) Add the paneer and mix well. Take it off the heat and allow to cool before filling the buns.

Curry Monday - Chard Aloo

For the last few weeks the garden has truly bloomed...and bolted in some places. A combination of hot sunshine and lots of rain made the rhubarb chard we had planted as part of the River Cottage Seed Project bolt over the space of 2 days. A bit of searching around the internet found that we could still eat bolted chard (unlike bolted radishes, yuk!)

I used the lovely Mallika's recipe for Saag Aloo. I'm not sure if you can use the word "saag" if it is made with chard, hence why I've called it Chard Aloo. I made a very tasty curry that I will certainly be having again.

Curry Monday - Mushroom Korma

As we've been away for the weekend I haven't had the opportunity to get to the butchers so tonight was a veggie curry. Knowing Hubby can be a bit reluctant when it comes to veggie dishes I was shocked when he came home and announced he had been looking forward to Mushroom Korma all day!

It wasn't like a thick super-creamy korma as I know it, but was still delicious. A quick googling of the word "korma" teaches me that a korma is just a pale, creamy and mild curry dish. As I'm getting better with different curries and their techniques I'm beginning to understand how I can create other curries. In the next couple of weeks I'm going to try a Chinese curry. The recipe below is based on a recipe from 30-minute Indian cookbook.

Mushroom Korma
Serves 2-3

1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
400g button mushrooms, halved
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp ground coriander seed
2 tsp ground cumin
1 small can (220g) tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp single cream
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

1) Heat oil then grntly fry onion until soft. Stir in ginger, mushrooms then saute for 5 min.

2) Add spices, tomatoes and sugar. Cover and simmer for 10 min.

3) Stir in cream and coriander. Serve.

Curry Monday - Rogan Josh

This is the first curry in the history of Curry Monday which I haven't tasted. I've been off work today with an odd bug leaving me feeling tired, dizzy, nauseous and lack of appetite so today, for me, bland foods are the game. Hubby however was greeted by the aroma of beef rogan josh as he came home. I had already defrosted the beef and wasn't going to waste it. He's secretly pleased I didn't eat my portion as he can take it to work tomorrow for lunch.

I used Serena's @ Rock Cakes recipe. I had to make the odd alteration as I didn't have any yogurt in so used creme fraiche instead and I totally forgot the almonds. Hubby enjoyed it and said it had just the right chilli kick.

Curry Monday - Achaari Chicken

Apologies for the brief nature of my posts recently. I'm currently trying to fill in the mother of all applications forms for a job I really want. Not only is the application form long with a detailed supporting statement I also have to submit my CV and covering letter. It seems to be taking forever!

I'm so glad tonight's curry was nice and quick as I wasn't in the mood for anything fancy. Achaari contains similar ingredients to chutney and unsurprisingly resembles chutney in taste. It tasted like a light and spicy sweet & sour curry, Perfect for a summer evening. The original recipe has onion seeds (I couldn't get my hands on any) and a great deal more chilli powder. The only change I'll make next time is to maybe grate the onion to give the sauce a thicker texture.

Achaari Chicken
Serves 2

1 tbsp sunflower oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp tomato puree
100ml water
1 onion, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
sprinkle of chilli powder
1/2 tsp grated ginger
2 chicken fillets, diced
1 small red chilli, sliced

1) Heat the oil in a wok. Fry all whole spices for 1 min to re lase the flavours.

2) Stir in tomato puree, water, onion, garlic, chilli powder and ginger. Fry for a further minute.

3) Add chicken, cover and simmer for 7 min until chicken is cooked. Stir in chilli slices then serve.

Curry Monday - Paneer

A few months back I tasted paneer in a curry for the first time and enjoyed it. Paneer is a non-melting, unaged cheese that is made by curdling hot milk with an acid (usually lemon juice). It has a mild flavour and like tofu has the ability to take on other flavours. For all you fellow science geeks out there, this is also the same process in which you make milk plastic

I used the curry base from Cashew Chicken, but replaced the chicken with paneer and chicken stock with water. It worked really well. Next time I will use Hubby's cheese press so it won't end up as thin, which in turn should mean it won't break up as easily during cooking. Interestingly different different parts of India have thier own paneer methods.

This Thursday I've been given the job of teaching some of the Junior kids all about Indian food. With only 2 hours and a microwave to hand I'm thinking of taking my range of spices in so the kids can smell them and we may make something like chutney or riata.

Paneer
Makes around 150g

1 litre of whole milk
2 tbsp lemon juice

1) Heat milk in a large saucepan until it is boiling. Add lemon juice and keep stirring. Eventually the milk will begin to curdle leaving you with curds (the solid) and whey (the liquid).

2) Sieve contents of saucepan through a fine sieve or muslin.

3) Turn out curds onto clean chopping board. Sandwich with another clean heavy chopping board and leave to set for 1 hour.

Curry Monday - Kheema Aloo

The inspiration for this weeks Curry Monday came from my brother. He had originally asked for me to do a Lamb Methi, but as I didn't have any fenugreek leaves decided to make Kheema Aloo, Kheema meaning spicy minced meat and Aloo, dry curry.

My goodness was this curry hot. I didn't put in as much chilli powder as the recipe suggested, but it was still very very spicy! I ended up stirring some cream into mine in an attempt to cool it down.

Things are a bit manic over the next week so don't expect another update until next Sunday or Monday. A week today Hubby and I celebrate our 1st Wedding Anniversary. I can't believe how fast a year has gone. Coincidentally our wedding photos are featured in the Real Life section of this months edition of Wedding Ideas. As to which couple we are...I'll leave you to guess.

Keema Aloo
Serves 2-3

1 1/2 tsp rapeseed oil
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
250g minced lamb
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli powder (less if you don't want it spicy)
1 tsp grated ginger
pinch of salt
3 small potatoes cut into small cubes
1/2 can (200g) chopped tomatoes
50ml hot water
2 tbsp fresh coriander

1) Heat the oil then fry cardamom, cinnamon and cloves for 3 mins.

2) Add the lamb along with garam masala, chilli, garlic, ginger and salt. Stir well then cook for 5 min.

3) Stir in potatoes water and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 10-15, until potatoes are cooked.

Cashew Chicken & Puris

Today in our house, Monday has been officially declared "Curry Monday", with the aim of me trying more or less every recipe in my new favourite Indian cookbook. What makes it even better is that all of the curries in the book can been made within 30 min, quicker than visiting the local Balti to pick up a takeaway! Usually I do a fancier rice like pulao rice to accompany curries, but as were tasting new curries I'm sticking to plain basmati rice for the time being so I don't overwhelm the flavours.

Tonight was Cashew Chicken's turn. The original recipes does use chicken thigh, but I'm a funny one when it comes to meat and don't like the texture of thigh meat (I told you I was odd!) and it also has quite a sizable amount of apricots in. You can add them if you want, but I prefer apricots in my granola rather than curry.

To go with the curry Hubby made some spiced Puris. Puris are puffed up deep-fried bread and are often used as the base of dishes like chicken chat. I left the puris in the capable hands of Hubby as I have a well known fear of frying. Not the healthiest, but goodness are they moreish. They had just enough chilli kick to complement the curry perfectly.



The curry turned out to be very similar to a lovely salty/sour curry I had a few weeks ago in a restaurant. Very delicious. I had to hide the portion I had put aside for my lunch tomorrow from Hubby as he was very tempted to scoff it. I'm sure if you added the apricots it would sweeten it.

Cashew Chicken
Serves 2

3 shallots, roughly chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
30g cashew nuts
1 garlic clove
1 tsp garam masala
1/8 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sea salt
1 dsp lemon juice
1 dsp plain yogurt
3 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
2 chicken fillets, diced
150 ml chicken stock

1) Blitz the shallots, tomato puree, cashew nuts, garlic, turmeric, salt, lemon juice and yogurt until you have a smooth paste. In a pan fry off the paste for 2 min.

2) Add the chicken and coriander to the pan. Fry for a further 2-3 min. Pour in chicken stock. Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes until chicken is cooked.

Spiced Puris
Makes 8

110g atta (chapatti) flour
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp water
sunflower oil for frying

1) Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Gradually add the water until you have a soft, but not sticky dough. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Split dough into 8 balls, then roll out to make rounds about 3 inches across

2) Fill deep pan with about 2-3 inches of oil. Heat to 180oc (when a cube of bread browns in 30 sec). Cook puris in small batches. After a few seconds of being in the oil the puris will puff up. Turn over and continue to fry until golden. Drain on kitchen paper.

Bombay Chicken Masala

On Sunday evening I had all good intentions of writing an account of our cold, blustery, but fun weekend camping in the Peak District...however I borrowed someones compact digital camera and am struggling to get the photos off. That post will have to wait!

I'm a big fan of Indian food and slowly I'm learning how to cook curries at home from scratch that are just as good as the local Balti House. When we first moved into our cottage 3 years ago my Mum gave me a copy of 30-minute Indian by Sunil Vijayakar. Back then I wasn't the most confident cook and the list of ingredients scared me, so the cookbook sat at the back bookshelf. In the summer of last year, I dusted the book down and decided to have another go.

Tonight I wanted to cook a curry that didn't involve cream/coconut cream (like most curries I cook do) and found a recipe in 30-min Indian for Bombay Chicken Masala. What I like about this cookbook is that it tells you how to cook a curry from scratch, unlike the majority of food mags that tell you to use ready-made curry paste. I'll hold my hands up to using Thai curry paste at the moment as I can't get hold of the right ingredients near me, but considering I'm not too far from the Curry Capital of the UK I can get my hand on Indian ingredients relatively easily. Along with the curries, it also tells you how to make the accompaniments including paneer, barfi and puris.

I have to admit I was a bit scared when I saw the amount of chillis going into the curry, but there was no need to worry. It produced a beautifully fragrant, light curry where you could taste the chillis rather than having your head blown off by them. We really enjoyed the curry and am planning to cook some more from this cookbook soon.

Bombay Chicken Masala
Serves 2

3 shallots, roughly chopped
3 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
handful of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
70ml water
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 chicken fillets, cut into strips
125ml chicken stock
salt & pepper

1) In a blender blitz shallots, chillies, garlic, ginger, ground coriander, cumin, coriander leaves and water until you have a paste.

2) In a wok, heat rapeseed oil then fry paste for 1 min. Keep stirring, or it'll stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken, stir until thoroughly coated in the paste and cook for a further 2-3 min.

3) Pour in stock, cover and gently simmer for 10-12min until chicken is tender. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Lamb Biryani

Ever since seeing the recipe for Lamb Biryani in this months Delicious I couldn't wait to give it a go. I'm a fan of Indian food, but struggle to find recipes that make dishes as good as the local Balti house.

The original recipe is for 6 so I had to tweak it slightly. The recipe also calls for ghee (clarified butter), I didn't really want to buy ghee from the supermarket as I can't see me using the rest of it so I made my own. I also don't own a casserole dish with a lid that is hob safe do had to dramatically alter the times to take this into account (the times here are the times I used).

We had it with naan bread and some riata I made. I was nice and certainly smelt of a biryani, but I felt it needed more of a spicy kick. Next time I'll make a basic vegetable curry to accompany it. It would have looked far more photogenic if I had remembered to buy fresh coriander!

Lamb Biryani
Serves 2 with leftovers

Marinade (prepare the night before)
125ml natural yogurt
400g lamb leg steak, cut into bite sized pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small green chilli, sliced
1 inch ginger, grated
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin

1) Mix all the marinade ingredients together, ensure lamb is thoroughly coated. Cover, chill and marinade overnight.

2) Next day, remove from the fridge and allow to get to room temperature.

Biryani
50ml milk
1/2 tsp saffron
40g ghee (if you are making your own, 50g unsalted butter will make enough ghee for this recipe)
1 large onion, finely sliced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
180g basmati rice, rinsed and soaked for 30 min in cold water
6 cardamom pods
1/2 cinnamon stick

1) Preheat oven to 180oc. Heat milk and stir in saffron, put to one side. Heat all but 1 tbsp of ghee in pan. Gently fry onions for 15 min. Stir in cumin and coriander for the final minute.

2) Boil rice, cardamom and cinnamon in pan of water for 2 min, then drain. Stir in onions.

3) Melt remaining ghee and pour onto the bottom of your casserole dish. Spread a small amount of rice at the bottom of the dish. Pour over with half of the lamb and marinade, top again with half of the rice. Cover with the remaining lamb and finally the last of the rice (think, layering up a lasagna!). Drizzle the saffron milk over the rice.

4) Tightly cover with foil, then place the lid on top. Bake for 45-55 minutes until rice and lamb are tender.

Garam Masala

As I'm now on half term I have lots of cooking planned for the next week. First on the list was garam masala. I've been meaning to make some for ages, but just never got around to it. Traditionally garam masala contains cinnamon, cumin, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom, but it greatly varies depending on the region it is traditionally from. I came across this recipe on Kitchen Chick and as I had all the spices decided to give it a go.

The smell that filled the kitchen while the spices were roasting in the oven, was amazing. As I don't have a coffee grinder I had to use my blender, pestle & mortar then passed it through a tea strainer to ensure I was left with just the powder. I was a bit scared about putting the whole nutmeg through the blender so grated it first. I'm looking forward to cooking with the spices.

This week is British Sausage Week and tomorrow is Apple Day so to celebrate we're off to Chantry to buy some of their award winning sausages and I'm planning to make apple and plum strudel.

Coconut Chicken Curry with Onion Bhajis

While I was sorting out the kitchen yesterday I came across a cookbook I haven't used in ages; 30-minute Indian - Sunil Vijayakar and with this weeks ingredient challenge being chillis I knew it had to be something Indian. I was really pleased how both the bhaji & curry worked out. Even though the curry was meant to be coconut curry it certainly had a strong chilli & garlic kick!

Onion bhaji
Makes about 8

1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
5 tbsp gram (chickpea) flour ....you can use plain flour
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped coriander
3/4 tsp baking powder
2-3 tbsp water
sunflower oil for frying

1) Mix all ingredients together (apart from the frying oil). Rest for 10 min.

2) Heat oil to 180oc-190oc or until a cube of bread browns in 30 sec. Drop spoonfuls of mix into oil. Fry for 1-2 min until brown.

Coconut chicken curry
serves 2

1 tbsp ground almonds
1 tbsp desiccated coconut
250ml coconut cream/milk
2 tsp chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
2 garlic cloves crushed
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp veg oil
2 chicken fillets, diced
4 cardamom pods
1 tsp crushed red chilli flakes
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1) Dry fry almonds and coconut until light brown. Transfer to mixing bowl. Add coconut cream, coriander, chilli powder, garlic, ginger and salt. Mix well.

2) Fry chicken and cardamom.

3) Stir in coconut mix and chilli flakes. Cover & cook gently for 10-12 min. Add fresh coriander, stir and serve.

Perfect Pulao Rice

We have just returned from a week in Center Parcs - Sherwood Forest. I admit I'm not the sportiest person on the planet and running around the gym, isn't my idea of fun so I spent most of the time in Aqua Sana or drinking/eating. In the spa Hubby & I had a fantastic treatment called Serail Mud Treatment. Essentially you smother each other in a clay/mud mix and sit in your own private steam room for 20 min. Very hot and very messy, but left us both with baby soft skin.

The food in Center Parcs can be very much hit or miss, but their Indian restaurant Rajinda Pradesh is fantastic. Ok, it's not as cheap & cheesy as Balti Towers (yes that is the name of my local Indian!) down the road, but it is a great place for a posh curry.

Whenever we eat at Rajinda Pradesh we go a bit mad. Our order included:
Shuruati Jugalbandi - A selection of starters including bhajie, tandoori chicken, deepfried okra (far nicer than I was expecting!) and mini shish lamb kebab.
Pappadums - with various dips and chutneys
Chicken Passanda - Chicken in a red wine, cashew, tomato and cream based sauce flavoured with garam masala
Chicken Makhani - Tandoori chicken in a creamy sauce with coconut butter.
Tandoori Naan bread
Pulao rice

All washed down with a bottle of Hardys "The Riddle" Chardonnay-Semillion and liquor coffee. Heaven!

Just before we went on holiday I manged to cook the perfect pulao rice. Has been many years in the making, but I got there eventually!

Perfect Pulao Rice
Serves 2

200g basmati rice
1/2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 cloves
2 cardamom pods
1 inch cinnamon stick (don't break it up, or it's a pain to fish out!)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp salt
300ml boiling water
1/4 tsp lemon juice

1) Heat oil and add whole spices. Cook gently for 1 minute until you can smell the spices.

2) Stir in bay leaf, salt, rice and water. Cover and cook on low for 10 min.

3) Take rice off heat and leave for 5 min.

4) Fish out bay, cinnamon, clove and cardamom then serve.