Category: Indian

Indian, Meat

Lamb Rogan Josh

7shasha7

I had just bought beautiful lamb curry cubes from this online butcher here and decided to make this Michelin star chef’s rogan josh. Boy, was I glad I followed his recipe instead of buying those ready made rogan josh in a jar!

It’s so easy to make but watching on YouTube and pausing, reading his recipe in description took a lot of time so let me break this down.

First step is to marinade the lambs cubes with yogurt and saffron and ginger garlic paste. I used 500g of lamb curry cuts and 2small tubs of yogurt, followed by a pinch of saffron.

Cover and marinade
for a few hours in the fridge or overnight.

Then prepare the spice mix. One is to fry and the other is to add to the lamb mixture when it’s half cooked.

Chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and turmeric powder. I used more chilli powder because mine is a milder version.
Then it’s time to fry. In hot oil, add cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, cloves and star anise. I followed the chef’s advice to pound them first to release the oils. Then add sliced onions. I used about two small Bombay onions here.
Once the onions are browned and nicely fried (not too dark and crunchy) add the lamb cubes with all the yogurt marinade. Simmer and let it cook.
When it’s half cooked, add the powdered spices and let cook again till lamb is tender.
It’s down when meat is tender and the oils surface.
I served it that day with some homemade flatbreads.

The original YouTube recipe is here.

What I like about this recipe is that it’s mild but fragrant. You might like his recipe too!

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Asian Dishes, Indian, Meat

Lamb Curry

7shasha7

Dinner situation last night was a quick affair. I had lamb that had been defrosted in the fridge and was thinking of cooking something curry-ish but not quite. So when The Man asked what’s for dinner, I replied, ‘Lamb Tomato Curry’. And he was like ‘Which is it? Lamb Tomato or Lamb Curry?’ 😁

This is a mild curry version and this time, I recorded the entire process and posted it on my newly created YouTube channel – Shasha Cooks.

Recipe:

1. Blend one white onion, two garlic cloves and a knob of ginger to form a paste

2. Slice half a white onion into thin slices

3. 1kg of bone in lamb, cut into bite sized chunks

4. Cinnamon stick, four cardamom pods, 2 sprigs of curry leaves

5. Two tbsp tomato puree

6. Two tbsp Greek yogurt

7. 1 tsp lime juice

8. Salt to taste

9. 5 heaped tbsp meat curry powder

10. Four coriander roots

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Asian Dishes, Bread and Batter, Indian

Chapati

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So finally I’ve decided to make chapati. With a mixer with the dough hook attached, this is a painless exercise.

The tricky part now is getting that ball of dough to a flattened round shape. Which of course I couldn’t, but the Helper did a much better job than me.

The recipe I followed couldn’t work because of the humidity level here. It’s like almost 98 percent humidity all the time. So I’ll give the original, and what it should be if you love in the tropics.

Original: 2 cups whole meal or atta flour, 3/4 cup warm water, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp vegetable oil

My recipe that worked: 2 and 1/4 cup atta flour, 3/4 cup water, 3/4 tsp salt and 1 tbsp olive oil

Add all the ingredients in the mixing bowl, dry ones first. And then slowly incorporate water till a soft dough is formed. Line a bowl with olive oil and coat the dough with it. Leave to rest. I read that the longer it is allowed to rest, the softer the dough will be.

Even though I bought this wonderful mat from Amazon, I couldn’t keep to the round shape. 🤭
Place on a hot griddle without any oil or fat. I even bought this flat Indian chapati griddle a few months back before the lockdown. The dough will puff up. And when it does, flip over.
There’ll be pockets of coloured areas which is exactly how it’s supposed to be.
Serve with dhal.

And here, I have to special mention a wonderful literary text titled The Village by the Sea. It’s been a literature text for secondary schools here for decades and it also happens to be the text that I did as a student decades ago. As a tribute, I will post these:

Bread and Batter, Indian, Middle Eastern/Turkish

Easy Flatbread

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I finally decided to make Jamie Oliver’s flatbread after so many people around me have raved about how simple and good the recipe is.

And indeed it is! I made using 2.5 cups of plain flour, 2 tubs (140g each) of yogurt, baking powder, salt and enough olive oil to form a dough. Let the dough rest for at least half an hour after kneading and forming them into two balls.

For the flatbreads I made, I tried to mimic naan bread and hence slathered some melted butter, garlic and coriander before placing the dough on a hot pan.

This is indeed an easy and cost saving option if you ever need some good bread for gravy dishes or curries. I served mine with some leftover keema (minced meat Indian curry) I had bought the previous day from a hawker centre.

Asian Dishes, Bread and Batter, Indian, Snack

Indian French Toast

7shasha7

A Friend posted on Facebook a video of an old Indian Sikh man who is famous for his egg dishes. A makeshift stall by the side of the road selling only three types of eggs – boiled, half cooked or scrambled with bread (essentially a French toast style).

I decided to make the French omelette style bread.

In a bowl crack in three eggs. Add finely minced green chillies, tomatoes, a sprinkle of dried Mun and a few rounds of freshly ground black pepper. Salt to taste.

Pour the mixture into some hot oil and then proceed to add two slices of white bread. I didn’t manage to snap a photo when the bread went in. Fold the bread with the egg underneath it in half so essentially you’ll have two breads sitting on TOP of each other. Cook till eggs are done and cut the bread into two then fours using your spatula.

Voila! Is all done. For the egg mixture it’ll be nicer with finely minced purple onions but the family here doesn’t like onions so I’ve omitted it from the recipe.