PING: Jane Margaret Laight
The Highlander
CURRIED CHICKEN
1 fryer chicken, skinned and chopped in bite sized pieces
(if you can't get the skin off, don't worry)
3 tbsps salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 1/2 tsp ginger root, finely chopped (or 3/4 tsp ginger powder)
1 1/2 cups onions, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin *
1 tsp turmeric *
1 tsp ground coriander *
1 tsp cayenne or chili *
1/4 tsp ground fennel *
1 2 cups tomatoes, canned, drained
juice from canned tomatoes
2 tsp fresh coriander, finely chopped ** (or parsley)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp garam masala *** (optional, but good)
1.0 Pat chicken pieces dry with paper towel; sprinkle with 2 tsp salt.
2.0 In heavy frying pan heat oil, high heat till water drop splatters.
3.0 Add chicken, fry 3 4 mins, turn pieces untill white and firmer.
4.0 Transfer chicken to a plate.
5.0 Add garlic, ginger, onions to oil in heavy frying pan.
6.0 Fry 7 8 mins, stir constantly till onions are soft & golden brown.
7.0 Turn heat to low and add:
7.1 Cumin,
7.2 Turmeric,
7.3 Ground coriander,
7.4 Cayenne or chili,
7.5 Fennel (or Madras curry powder)
7.6 1 tbsp tomato juice.
8.0 Stir fry 1 2 mins.
9.0 Stir in tomatoes, 1 tsp coriander/parsley, yogurt, 1 tbsp salt.
10.0Increase heat to medium, add chicken and any juices in plate.
11.0 Add remaining tomato juice, bring to a boil.
12.0 Stir in chicken to coat pieces evenly with sauce.
13.0 Sprinkle top with garam masala, 1 tbsp coriander or parsley.
14.0 Reduce heat to low, cover.
15.0 Simmer 20 mins until chicken is tender.
16.0 Serve chicken, sauce poured over, sprinkled with lemon juice.
* For these 5 spices, substitute canned "Madras Curry Powder."
** Also called Cilantro or Chinese Parsley.
*** Buy from East Indian or spice store.
Accompaniments:
1.0 Branston Pickles; a form of chutney.
2.0 Pita bread and/or rice - Basmati or Japanese short grain.
Chutney. My favourites: Major Grey or Mango Chutney.
3.0 Raita(s): Cooling accompaniments to curries.
3.1 Beetroot Raita: (serves four)
3.2 1 cup (5 oz) sliced beetroot
3.3 1 cup (5 oz) plain yogurt
3.4 Salt to taste.
3.5 Chop beetroot roughly; mix into yogurt.
3.6 Mix in sone beetroot juice from can for colour & flavour.
3.7 Taste, add more salt if desired.
3.7 Sprinkle with coriander, ideally lightly toasted seeds.
3.8 Chill and serve
4.0 Banana Raita: (serves six)
4.1 3 large ripe bananas
4.2 Lemon juice
4.3 1 cup (8 fl oz) natural yogurt
4.4 3 Tbsps fresh grated or dessicated coconut
4.5 1/2 tsp salt
4.6 2 tsps sugar
4.7 1/2 tsp ground toasted cumin seeds
4.8 Slice bananas, sprinkle with lemon juice
4.9 Combine yogurt with other ingredients
4.10 If dessicated coconut used, sprinkle with 2 tsps water.
4.11 Toss with fingers until no longer dry.
4.12 Chill and serve
5.0 Drink accompaniments:
5.1 Light beer
5.2 Laban (Arab drink)
5.3 2-1/2 cups (20 fluid oz) natural yogurt
5.4 2-1/2 cups (20 fluid oz) cold water, ice
5.5 1 - 4 Tbsps dried crushed mint, or to taste
5.6 Beat yogurt in thoroughtly in blender, add water, ice
5.7 Season to taste with yogurt and mint
5.8 Mango Lassi (East Indian drink)
5.9 3 cups (24 fluid oz) yogurt
5.10 5 ice cubes
5.11 1 cup mango pulp
5.12 4 tsp sugar or powdered sugar
5.13 water as desired.
Phew! That's what I serve when I want to impress someone!
The Highlander
Faodaidh nach ionann na beachdan anns
an post seo agus beachdan a' Ghàidheil.
The views expressed in this post are
not necessarily those of The Highlander.
Jane Margaret Laight
well, that surely is impressive, I must say--a virtual feast. The
addition of the tomato is a nice touch. Here's my take:
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, or
1 fryer chicken, cut into bite size pieces
2 onions, chopped
4 green chili peppers, chopped
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp chili powder
2 cups water
1 tbsp garam masala
pinch ground turmeric
salt, to taste
Rinse chicken pieces and pat dry. Set aside. In a large skillet, sauté
onions and green chilies in oil until golden brown. Add ginger garlic
paste and continue to sauté. Add poppy seed paste and reserved chicken
pieces, continuing to sauté. Stir all together; after chicken is well
mixed with the 'gravy', add the red chili powder and pour 2 cups of
water over the mixture. Cover skillet and let simmer about 12 to 15
minutes, until chicken is cooked through. After chicken is well-boiled
(the oil should be floating on top of the skillet liquid), add the
garam masala and turmeric powder and turn off the stove. Stir all
together and serve over rice (*basmati preferred)
Now I have had curried chicken with various additives--I have to try it
with tomato, however, although checking with other curry devotees I
have been reliably informed that it isn't uncommon. A peculiarly
American take on curried chicken includes a half cup of Coca-Cola,
which doesn't sit particularly well with folks in New Delhi. My tastes
have changed somewhat; as I get older, I can't handle strong spices as
I used to so I adjust the chili powders and other heat-engendering
spices to taste.
When I have some time, I will jazz up my rather pedestrian curry a la
Highlander and keep you posted as to the results.
Now to the supermarket for supplies...
Bon Appetit!
JML
The Highlander
<jml2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
And to you!
Yours is a very different version - interesting!
I would consider the tomatoes an integral part of my recipe.
My wife told me that if I ever had a girl over after she was dead, the
recipe above and the one I am about to post below were "guaranteed
panty removers!" I doubt that the average male would need much
inducement to untrouser (de-trouser?) so BE WARNED!!!
This is my second best recipe:
OSTRICHE ALLA FIORENTINA
(Oysters Florentine)
BEFORW YOU START, BE AWARE THAT THERE IS A SPINACH CONCERN IN THE US
AT PRESENT AS SOME VARIETIES SEEM TO HAVE DEVELOPED A HARMFUL VIRUS.
12 fresh oysters in shell.
Put each oyster on the deepest side of the opened oyster shell.
Spinach Mixture:
2 bunches of fresh spinach.
Wash and stem spinach in cold water.
Discard any limp or discoloured leaves.
Blanche spinach by dropping it into a
saucepan of boiling water, then drain.
Finely chop spinach and put it into a bowl.
(Use a food processor)
2 tbsp./30 g. butter
Sauté onion in butter in a skillet on
medium heat until onion is transparent,
then add to spinach in bowl.
¼ cup/50 mL. white sauce
Add white sauce to spinach and onion
in bowl and mix together thoroughly.
Add salt (to taste), fresh ground black pepper
and 1/8th tsp/pinch of nutmeg
Put a small amount of the spinach mixture on
the deepest side of each oyster shell and
put oyster on top of spinach mixture.
Make 1 ¾ cups/400mL. white sauce
Coat oyster and spinach mixture with a small
amount of white sauce.
¼ cup/50g. Parmesan cheese,
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of coarsely ground
oyster and spinach mixture and white sauce.
Put oysters on a baking sheet and bake on baking
sheet in oven and bake at 400° F/200°C for 15
minutes, then broil for 2-3 minutes until cheese
turns brown.
Preferably serve oysters on a bed of rock salt.
Garnish with one lemon, cut into wedges and 2 sprigs
of fresh parsley and serve.
This recipe for Ostriche Alla Fiorentina serves 2 people.
And as kedgeree was mentioned somwhere, this is my great-uncle Frank's
recipe. It's a brfekfast dish in India and as he lived and worked
there as a judge for 17 years, we have to presume that he knew what he
was doing as he apparently ate it every morning!
KEDGEREE
3 tbsps butter
1 cup cooked rice (see below)
1 cup canned salmon or tuna or shrimp or crabmeat
3/4 cup heavy cream
curry powder to taste (1/2 tsp is mild, 1 tbsp is hot)
3 tbsps raisins
2 hard boiled cold eggs, chopped
1 tsp turmeric to color (optional)
Parsley flakes to garnish
salt to taste
Melt butter in a frying pan or wok on medium heat. Stir in rice,
fish, raisins, cream, curry powder, salt and optional turmeric (which
turns the rice a saffron-golden color). Mix well and cook only until
heated through. Garnish with cold chopped eggs and sprinkled parsley.
Serve hot.
I'm sure you know how to make perfect rice, but for those who don't,
this recipe is Chinese and makes it perfectly.
PERFECT WHITE RICE (LONG GRAIN) (Added feature - endorsed by Adam
Whyte-Settlar the last time I posted it!)
The secret of good rice is to place it in a sieve and wash thoroughly
under cold tap, rubbing with fingers until all the excess starch has
gone and water runs clear. Personally I put the rice in a sieve and
hold it, shakiung it briskly under a cold tap until ,it runs clear.
Allow to drain, then put rice in pot, 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups water.
(1 cup raw rice makes 2 1/2 to 3 cups cooked rice, so adjust for
quantity desired.) Do not salt.
Bring to boil on high heat, stirring to prevent grains from sticking
to bottom. When water boils, turn heat to simmer, cover pot tightly
with lid; let cook 15 mins without uncovering. (You can uncover it for
whatever reason, but the steaming process which injects water into the
rice has then to begin again.)
Remove from heat and let stand, still covered, for 10 mins more. If
left covered, rice will keep hot and moist for up to 1 hr.
Store leftovers in fridge, covered.
Good for frying up as in Kedgeree recipe, especially after cooling.
To reheat, break up lumps, add 1 tbsp cold water for each cup cooked
rice, cover, simmer 15 20 mins on low heat. Do not lift lid or stir
until ready to serve.
And because once started, I never know when to stop; here are
Escoffier's recipes for perfect eggs of all types.
PERFECT HARD BOILED EGGS
Place eggs in a pot of boiling water. Boil no more than 8 - 10 mins
or whites may become rubbery. Drain pot, fill with cold water, let
stand a few minutes. Shells will peel easily.
PERFECT FRIED EGGS
Heat a tbsp of oil or butter in a frying pan until oil starts to smoke
slightly or butter starts to bubble. Break egg on a plate, salt and
pepper to taste and let egg slide gently into pan. Then with spatula
or spoon, quickly keep lifting white over yolk to keep it soft. Then
tilt pan to allow oil to gather and gently lift oil over trapped
uncooked white and yolk until a delicate white setting takes place.
Serve at once. (This is also a Chinese recipe, usually called Purse
Eggs because of their appearance when done. A Chinese variation called
Egg Pockets contains a filling, usually savoury.)
PERFECT SCRAMBLED EGGS
4 large eggs
2 tbsps heavy cream
1 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 slices hot buttered toast
Beat eggs and heavy cream in a bowl with a beater. (A fork does not
make them fluffy enough - the message here is that you cannot overbeat
eggs for scrambling. If your cooked scrambled eggs cook have a gray
colour, it is because you have not beaten them enough to oxygenate
them and bring out their preferred yellow colour.)
Melt butter in a frying pan on medium heat. Add egg mixture, stir
gently and constantly with a wooden spoon until it scrambles. Salt
and pepper to taste and serve heaped on hot, buttered toast. Garnish
with a parsley sprig. If the result is tasteless, start paying more
for farm eggs and never shop at a supermarket again.
PERFECT BOILED EGGS
Heat a pot of water from cold with eggs and a pinch of salt added.
When it boils, remove from heat and let stand exactly 4 mins. Drain
and serve. Eggs will have soft, runny yolks and hard whites.
PERFECT POACHED EGGS
Boil water in a pot with salt and a little vinegar added. When
boiling, turn heat down to simmer, then crack eggs, one at a time, and
gently drop contents of shell into water. Leave until white is set (3
mins). Remove and drain with a slotted spoon. Keep in warm, slightly
salty water until ready to use.
Note: the vinegar is critical; it stops the eggs from disintegrating.
FINALLY, as I type I am nibbling on Chinese smoked eggs which I
finished making this morning. It's a simple dish, but very tasty and
if anyone wants the recipe, which is an obscure Fujien Province dish,
and is the local Chinese equivalent of the peanuts you get with a
drink in a bar, I'll write out instructions for preparing them.
I made them to get a break from the quantities of humous and cheese I
make and eat for lunch or when I'm feeling snackish! If you want the
cheese recipe, you can have that too - it's like a Philadephia cream
cheese but I think, tastes better. I add dill weed and sometimews a
trace of garlic.
I get a yogurt container full from a US gallon jug (3.8 liters); of
milk. A Canadian jug contains four litres. British measues are the
same as Canadian measures.)
Val Adams
> On 18 Sep 2006 15:29:00 -0700, "Jane Margaret Laight"
> <jml2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
[...]
>
> FINALLY, as I type I am nibbling on Chinese smoked eggs which I
> finished making this morning. It's a simple dish, but very tasty and
> if anyone wants the recipe, which is an obscure Fujien Province dish,
> and is the local Chinese equivalent of the peanuts you get with a
> drink in a bar, I'll write out instructions for preparing them.
>
> I made them to get a break from the quantities of humous and cheese I
> make and eat for lunch or when I'm feeling snackish! If you want the
> cheese recipe, you can have that too - it's like a Philadephia cream
> cheese but I think, tastes better. I add dill weed and sometimews a
> trace of garlic.
>
> I get a yogurt container full from a US gallon jug (3.8 liters); of
> milk. A Canadian jug contains four litres. British measues are the
> same as Canadian measures.)
>
> The Highlander
>
Of course we want that recipe too, are you trying to drive us sane????
EVal de Lerkan Merkan
Major Misunderstanding
"Jane Margaret Laight" <jml2...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1158618539.9...@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
And don't forget not to overcook the Chicken or it will taste like rubber.
M.
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Jane Margaret Laight
Looking over the recipe again, I can see how the tomatoes will
definitely add something to the finished product. I'm surprised that I
haven't had it before, but we'll see how things go in the future.
>
> My wife told me that if I ever had a girl over after she was dead, the
> recipe above and the one I am about to post below were "guaranteed
> panty removers!" I doubt that the average male would need much
> inducement to untrouser (de-trouser?) so BE WARNED!!!
>
LOL!
> This is my second best recipe:
>
>
> OSTRICHE ALLA FIORENTINA
> (Oysters Florentine)
>
> BEFORW YOU START, BE AWARE THAT THERE IS A SPINACH CONCERN IN THE US
> AT PRESENT AS SOME VARIETIES SEEM TO HAVE DEVELOPED A HARMFUL VIRUS.
>
> 12 fresh oysters in shell.
> Put each oyster on the deepest side of the opened oyster shell.
>
> Spinach Mixture:
> 2 bunches of fresh spinach.
> Wash and stem spinach in cold water.
> Discard any limp or discoloured leaves.
> Blanche spinach by dropping it into a
> saucepan of boiling water, then drain.
> Finely chop spinach and put it into a bowl.
> (Use a food processor)
>
interruption--with the "spinach concern", would canned spinach be an
acceptable substitute? How about chard?
Duly noted, and will try that one out--my rice tends to clump up--great
for throwing!
Thanks for all the "perfect" recipes--now if I were a "perfect"
cook....
JML
The Highlander
<jml2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>interruption--with the "spinach concern", would canned spinach be an
>acceptable substitute? How about chard?
Not as fresh obviously (canned spinach) as fresh spinach. As for
chard, I rarely eat it and can't guess know how it would work. If it
was me, I'd go for the canned spinach as the white sauce and Parmesan
are going to overwhelm the spinach anyway.
>
>Thanks for all the "perfect" recipes--now if I were a "perfect"
>cook....
>
>JML
I don't think there's much doubt about that after reading your recipe!
Val Adams
> On 19 Sep 2006 08:35:09 -0700, "Jane Margaret Laight"
> <jml2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>>interruption--with the "spinach concern", would canned spinach be an
>>acceptable substitute? How about chard?
>
chard tastes similar, but has to have more of the rib taken out (IMO) as
they do not soften enough in the short time cooking methods like stir-fry.
Jane Margaret Laight
Thank you Val--a culinarily minded friend suggested that preparing
chard would take longer than preparing fresh spinach, and you've pretty
much confirmed it--I guess canned spinach will do until this e. coli
scare goes away. Thanks again.
Best to all interested sheepees as well as your two-legged family
members
JML
Val Adams
Thank you, actually I think the scare was put out by interested sheepees
who perceived their stockpile of green delicacy diminishing.. ;)
Cory Bhreckan
I thought that e. coli was only in bagged spinach (Dole, last I heard).
Chard is no substitute for spinach IMHO. You won't be able to punch out
a single bully.
Val Adams
No, the media is undistributing the middle so as to now include all
spinach and teetering on the brink of all produce, last I heard.
Translation, they havent figured out a source yet.
As for bully, well, I'm kinda in to open carry, meself.
The Highlander
<jml2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
I aalso discussed the spinach problem with a neighbour and she gave me
a pack of frozen spinach to try out. I've also been eating packs of
curried spinach which are pretty good, but not with oysters.