Spinach Cream with Arteisan Indian Cheese Cubes

Ok, Let's call this as how it's called back home in India- "Palak Paneer". But I kinda liked the new name- more exotic. Palak (spinach) was seasonal, before the advent of hypermarkets and frozen veggies. Winter meant new potatoes, carrots, beets, raddish, turnips, spinach, mustard, and new rice. And 'Palak Paneer' was a seasonal treat. Here's a quick recipe that evolved while trying to conjure a part of that wintry evening magic for a guest of mine.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Cottage Cheese (Paneer)- 200 gm cut into 1 inch sticks.If you are unable to locate paneer, you could try with whatever local option's available. Maybe a haloumi?
• Spinach- 500 gm
• Onion- 1 medium, finely chopped
• Garam Masala- 1/2  tsp
• Red Chilli's- 2 large
• Ghee (clarified butter)- 3 tbsp
• Salt- To taste

Preparation (45 mins):

Wash and puree the spinach. On low heat fry the paneer pieces, taking care that they do not break, till one side is golden brown. Remove the paneer from the pan and add the onions. Saute till translucent, add red chillis and turn up heat. In a minute or so add garam masala and stir.

Add the blended spinach, paneer. Cover and let simmer for 10 mins.

 

Serve hot with rice or roti


Tips:

• If you prefer a mellower rather than a spinachy flavour, you could cook for another ten minutes or so, but mind you, you will be loosing all the vitamin boost that comes from fresh veggies. ;)
• For a creamier taste stir in a couple of spoonfuls of fresh cream just before taking it off the stove.
• If you are adventurous, you could substitute the spinach with mustard leaves for a drier, pungent dish- a recipe common to North Indian Punjabi kitchens in winter.

Irish Stew

The second one in the stews. soup series from the weekend. Not exactly what purists would call an Irish stew, but inspired from it.


Ingredients (Serves 3):

• Mutton- 200 gm (I actually was buying mutton for a kebab recipe, when I chanced upon the idea to do a stew with the bony parts. So dressed the meat away from the bone for kekab's and used the remainder for the stew)
• Carrot- 1 large, diced
  
• Potato- 1 large, diced
• Raddish- 150 gm
• Onions- 1 large, chopped
• Garlic- 4 large cloves, chopped
• Pepper- 2 tsp 
• Parsley- 1 handful, chopped
• Salt- To Taste

Preparation ( 1.5 hrs):

Cut mutton into small pieces. For the bony pieces, leave a little meat around the bones while dressing. In a large sauce pan, add  mutton, potatoes, onions, pepper, garlic and salt. Boil on high for 1 hr.











Add in raddish and chopped carrots. You could use turnips (didn't get them at the supermarket, hence used raddish). Simmer on medium heat for 1/2 hour. Throw in parsley for flavour and your stew is ready to serve.

Pumpkin and Mushroom Stew

Tis' the season for warm stews and soups. This post and the next one are stews done over the weekend. As usual, my recipes are not for purists, but just everyday take on good food inspired by eating out, reading or just a flight of fantasy. Don't follow strict recipes, but cook with what's at hand, trying to recreate flavours with what I have, can be done easily, is cost-effective. This one was inspired by a lovely Pumpkin Soup with Truffle Oil from the al Nahda Resort last month. Unable to locate truffle oil in Muscat, I substituted with sesame oil. Not a bad outcome, I would say.

Ingredients (Serves 1):

• Pumpkin- 150 gm, diced
  
• Mushrooms- 4 large, chopped
• White Onion- 1/4 chopped
• Pepper- 1 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Sesame Oil- 1 tsp

Preparation (25 mins):

Microwave chopped pumpkin, white onions in 3cups of water at a high setting for 10  mins. Add pepper, salt, chopped mushrooms. Microwave for 5 mins on high. Add in sesame oil and microwave for a further 5 mins.

Serve hot with bread rolls. If you want you could add a dollop of butter for taste. (Was so hungry that I started eating before I realized I had to take a pic of the finished stew. :) )

Buckwheat Porridge

Buckwheat porridge or 'Kasha' is a common breakfast food in Slavic Europe. While great for breakfast with milk or just plain boiled, I concocted this hybridized version- Slavic buckwheat meets Indian Khicdi  for a quick dinner last evening.

All you health food aficionados, give this a try. High in fiber, contains all eight essential amino acids and gluten-free. Best of all cooks quickly with minimal interference.

Ingredients (Serves 1):

Buckwheat: 1/4 cup

Did not have cream, hence substituted with leftover cheese powder from Pizza Hut

Egg: 1 boiled
Butter: 1 tbsp
Cream: 2 tbsp
Garlic: 1 clove, chopped finely
Green chilli: 1 small, shredded
Green coriander:  1 tbsp, chopped
Pepper: 1 tsp
Salt: To taste



 

Preparation (Cooking time 25 mins):

Roast buckwheat with salt for 5 mins in microwave at medium setting. You can skip this step, but I feel it enhances the texture and flavour. 

Add 1 cup water to the roasted buckwheat, garlic, chilli and microwave at medium setting for 15 mins.

Fluff the mixture, the buckwheat should be breaking out of their shell. Add 1/4 cup water. Stir in butter, cream/ cheese, pepper and cook at low setting for 5 mins. 




 
 


Fluff mixture again and leave for 5 mins so that excess water is soaked up. Garnish with egg and coriander. Serve hot.

Salt Crusted Roast Chicken

Trick Question: What is the likeliest topic of discussion between guys stretched out on the deck after a lovely morning of diving (other than the dive itself)? What's the second most popular thing on the agenda?

 

Before you embarrass yourself with your dirty mind, its beer and food. And this was how I first learned of beer-can chicken and salt roasted chicken. This one’s dedicated to you Craig.

Delicious roast chicken (light on the fat), crispy, juicy.

Ingredients:

Chicken: Preferable free range, 1 whole- about 800 gms

Garlic: 5 cloves, unpeeled

Bay leaves: 6

Thyme:  ½ handful/ or 2 tbsp

Lemon: ½ large

Salt: 2 kg

Preparation (1 hrs):

Pre-heat oven to 200 C. Thaw chicken, wash and pat dry with kitchen towels.

Remove the neck, and stuff the chicken with thyme, garlic cloves, bay leaves. Plug the butt with the large lemon. During cooking not only does the lemon add it’s flavor, but keeps the roast moist and keeps the other ingredients from falling out. Truss the chicken with kitchen twine.

Remove neck and pat dry

Stuff chicken with spices and plug butt this way

Now in a large dish, pour in the salt. Add water little by little till the salt is in the consistency of semi-wet snow. Not sludgy but moldable. In a baking dish, spread an inch thick base layer of salt. Sit the chicken in the mix and slowly encase in the remaining salt. Cover completely.

Preparing salt mold

Sit chicken in salt base

Encase chicken completely in salt blanket

Pop the chicken in the oven for 45-mins to 1 hr and roast at 100-125 C.

Ensure that chicken is completely encased during baking

In an hour’s time chicken is done perfectly. Now remove from oven and let it cook in it’s salt casing for 15 mins. Break away the hardened salt cover, brush away the extra salt and remove the skin.

Salt jacket draws away the dripping

 

The salt hardens to a baked pastry consistency

Removing the skin prevents excess salt from the roast

Slice and serve with hot with chimichurri sauce.

Tips:

 

This was an amazing meal on a rainy evening at the start of a long, long weekend. Best served with a chilled white.

Bon eetlus!

Grilled Chicken Purses with Cheese & Basil Stuffing

Nothing as comforting as baked potatoes, chicken and cheese. Here's a recipe for chilly winter evenings when you are just tired, and want to dig into some comfort food.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Chicken Breasts- 2
• Mozzarella- 1/2 cup grated
• Potatoes- 4 medium sized ones
• Garlic- 2 large cloves
• Button mushrooms- 1 cup
• Butter-1 tbsp
• Basil- Dried, 2 tsp.
  
• Peppercorns- 1 tsp
  
• Salt to taste

Preparation (About60 mins):

Clean the potatoes and pop them into the oven at 300C for 25 mins. While the potatoes get warmed up, clean the chicken and cut into halves. Dice garlic into small pieces, mix with grated cheese, peppercorns, half of the basil and salt to taste. Mash the mixture. Make slits in the chicken breasts and stuff with this mixture. Seal the chicken purses with toothpicks.

Baste the chicken with butter. Once potatoes finish 25 mins in the oven, add chicken to the baking tray. Dab the potatoes with a bit of butter, sprinkle a bit of salt and remaining basil over the potatoes and the chicken. Cook in oven for 20 mins at 250 C.

Turn the chicken over and pour the juices on the potatoes and chicken so that they do not dry out. Add mushrooms to the tray after dusting them slightly in remaining butter. Pop into oven and cook for 10 mins more at 200C. Serve hot.



Tips:

• The potatoes can be mashed with a bit of the gravy that drains out from the chicken . Tastes heavenly.