Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Navratan korma

Cut & paste, needs rewriting..

3 cups - Boiled vegetables (9 varieties-potatoes, carrots, green peas, french beans, cauliflower, capsicum, cabbage, bottle gourd, cluster beans)
150gms - Grated paneer
3 - Tomatoes
2 - Grated onions
1 1/2 tsp -Ginger paste
1 1/2 tsp - Garlic paste
Salt To Taste
1 tsp - Turmeric Powder
1 1/2 tsp - Red chilli powder
1 tsp - Coriander powder
2 tsp - Garam Masala Powder
2 tbsp - Cream
6 tbsp - Vegetable oil
1 tbsp - Ghee
1 cup - Milk / water
1/4 cup - Dry fruits (cashew nuts, raisins)
Coriander leaves for decoration

How to make navrattan korma :
Boil tomatoes till tender. Allow them to cool. Then peel off the tomato skin to make puree. Readymade tomato puree can also be used.
Take 1 tbsp ghee and slightly fry the dry fruits for about 1 min on medium heat.
Heat oil in a pan. Fry onions and ginger-garlic paste till golden brown.
Add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and fry for 2-3 minutes.
Next add tomato puree and dry fruits. Stir well and cook the mixture for 4 minutes. Ensure that the mixture doesn't stick to bottom of pan.
Add milk (use water alternatively). Bring it to boil. Reduce the heat and cook until the gravy becomes thick.
Add paneer to the gravy and stir well.
Finally add all the vegetables to the above gravy and cook for 5-7 minutes.
Serve the navratan korma hot. Put cream and chopped coriander leaves on the navaratna korma decorate .

Aloo Palak

Aloo Palak simply means: potato spinach.

Start making a spicy spinach mixture. Cook spinach with 2 cloves garlic, ginger, onion and green chilies for 5 - 10 minutes (everything grated). Blend the spinach mixture to a fine puree.

Boil potatoes with salt and turmeric for 10 minutes.



Heet ghee in pan and fry cumin seeds, add 1 teaspoon garam masala, half a teaspoon of coriander powder and half a teaspoon of cumin powder. Add the spinach paste and fry for a few minutes.



Add potatoes and simmer to let the potatoes absorb the flavor.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Paella de marisco (seafood paella)

This paella is based on seafood only. It's a basic recipe. You can substitute the gamba's for snails, the langoustine for chicken, rabbit and or bell pepper, add peas, substitute the fish stock for chicken stock or vegetable stock etc.

For 3-4 people:

Garnish:
4 langoustines (Spanish: cigalas)
4 big gamba's
mussels

For the stock:
400 gram cangrejo y galera (= sea crabs, you can also use shrimp)
400 gram gamba's or shrimp with head and tails (heads and tails for the stock, the gamba's need to be fried)
1 bay leaf
1 clove of garlic

Fry in pan:
olive oil
saffron
half an onion
salt
4 grated tomato's
1 cuttlefish (cut in small pieces)
Paella rice

Preparation
Boil plenty of water for the stock. Add "cangrejo y galera", bay leaf, 1 garlic clove (whole) and simmer. Peal gamba's and add the shells to the stock. Skim foam off stock. Add saffron to the stock. You can also make a stock with just the heads and tails of the gamba's, bay leaf and garlic (in that case skip the "cangrejo y galera").



Cut the cuttlefish in small pieces. Grate the tomatoes, discard the skin. Cut onion very finely. Clean the mussels.



Heat olive oil in paella pan. Fry mussels in oil, remove them and keep aside.



Fry langoustines and big gamba's, add a little salt. Remove them and keep warm.



Fry onion.



Add cuttlefish and small gamba's.



Fry tomato's together with the onion, cuttlefish and gamba's.



Add paella rice. Fry for a little while and add a glass of white wine. Let the wine absorb.



Add stock through a sieve. Add a little salt and simmer until the rice is half done. Instead of saffron you can add Spanish yellow food dye at this moment, although this is just for color and doesn't taste of anything (I was told).



Add langoustines, big gamba's and mussels to the pan and simmer until the rice is done.





Serve with lemon.

Note: a paella pan is very thin. When the rice in the middle was done, the rice near the sides was still uncooked. You really need an even fire.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Ossobuco (alla Milanese)

Ossobuco can be made in a number of different ways. This is a basic version.

Veal shank
Butter
Onion (finely cut)
Dry white wine (250 ml.)
Flower
Garlic (pressed)
Bay Leaf
Celeriac (finely cut)
Carrot (finely cut)
Tomato's (without skin and grated)

For the gremolata
Parsley (finely cut)
Garlic (pressed)
Lemon zest (grated)
Anchovy (finely cut)



Rub shank with flower and fry in hot butter for 10 minutes. The shank should be no more than 4 centimeters thick, in The Netherlands veal shank is about half as thick. Remove shank. Fry onion, carrot and celeriac in the butter for 3 minutes, add garlic.



Return the meat to the pan. Add white wine and simmer; add beef stock and tomato's. Add bay leaf, thyme (sage is also an option). Simmer until meat is soft (two hours). Add salt and pepper. Reduce sauce.



Gremolata: mix ingredients (start with parsley; add other ingredients according to taste) and sprinkle over dish on plate.

Ossobuco alla Milanese
The traditional recipe from Milano is made without tomatoes and flavored with cinnamon, bay leaf and gremolata. Prepare as above but skip the tomato's. Ossobuco alla Milanese is served with risotto alla milanese. The modern tomato version can be served with potatoes.

Witloof in de oven

A Belgium classic!

4 witloof (English: witloof chicory or Brussels witloof)
4 slices of ham (beenham = highest quality cooked ham)
200 ml milk
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons flower
100 gr butter
150 gr grated gruyère
1 tablespoon sugar
nutmeg
salt and pepper

Preparation
Clean the witloof chicory, remove bottom and bitter part near the bottom. Cut the garlic in small pieces. Melt 50 gram butter, add the witloof chicory, sugar and a little water. Simmer for 5 minutes, add the garlic and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the witloof chicory and keep the butter mixture, you will need this for the béchamel sauce.



Making the béchamel sauce
Melt 50 gram butter on a high fire. Remove pan from fire and add 2 tablespoons of flower. Add 200 ml milk, mix well and add the butter garlic-mixture. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper and half the grated gruyère cheese.

Bake in oven
Roll each witloof chicory in beenham and lay them in a buttered oven dish. Pour over the béchamel sauce and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Add the remaining gruyère cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.

It doesn't look good in this particular photo but it's very tasty!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Stoofvlees op Vlaamse wijze (met Westmalle Dubbel)

Flemish beef stew simmered in Westmalle Dubbel Trappist beer. Stoofvlees is a Flemish signature dish. There are many variations. This dish is closely related to Limburgs zoervleisj.

For 4 persons:

4 onions, roughly cut
1 kilo beef, cut in 2 centimeter pieces
75 gram butter
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (or: appelstroop)
2 tablespoons flower
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 bottle of Westmalle Dubbel Trappist beer
1 bay leaf
a few cloves
dried thyme
2 slices of old bread
mustard

Heat the butter and fry the meat on a high fire until brown (5 minutes and make sure the meat is at room temperature). Remove meat from the pot (season it with salt and pepper and set aside) and fry the onions for 3 minutes. Add sugar and flower and fry for a minute. Add vinegar, beer, bay leaf, cloves, thyme and the meat. Simmer for 1 hour.



Remove crust from bread and cover one side with mustard.



Put the bread, mustard side down, in the pot and simmer for 30 minutes.



Mix the bread with the sauce and simmer for another 1,5 hours (about 3 hours in total). Because of the alcohol and vinegar this dish will age well and taste even better the next day. Serve with fries and Westmalle Dubbel.

Soupe au lait des Ardennes

La soupe au lait telle qu'on la mange dans les forêts ardennaises... or (Belgium) Ardennes milk soup.



For 4 persons:

3 leeks (only the white part, thinly sliced)
Endive (6 leaves, roughly cut)
1 big onion (roughly diced)
2 tablespoons butter
1 liter of milk
3 waxy potatoes, cut in 1 cm pieces
Salt and pepper
Optional: parsley for garnishing

Melt the butter on a low fire. Add the leek, onion and endive, simmer with lid closed for 10 minutes.



Add milk and potatoes, season with salt and pepper (also possible: bay leaf, parsley, thyme and nutmeg), bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.