Aktar Islam made pakora on one of the Perfect…programmes. I noticed that he didn’t make the batter very runny. Whenever I’ve made pakora I always have very runny batter which makes a mess of the cooker and I also end up with lots of leftover watery batter. So I decided to change my method based on what he does.

I had some leftover medium-grated potato which has been wrung in a teatowel to get rid of excess water. I added finely sliced onion and enough gram flour to lightly cover all the veg. To flavour I added salt, turmeric, cumin, chilli powder, garlic and ginger pastes. Then to slacken the mixture just slightly I used fresh lemon juice and NO WATER at all. I sprinkled a little bicarbonate of soda over and mixed thoroughly. I then put flattened (so that they cook through without leaving any uncooked batter) dessertspoonfuls into hot oil to fry gently. The result was very good but they did absorb a lot of oil so I will probably leave out the bicarb next time.

We were given a Gressingham Spatchcock Poussin today. It came in a four pepper seasoning. I noticed that glucose syrup was listed in the ingredients so I thought, why not go the whole hog and give it a Chinese marinade? So, using a Ken Hom recipe as a template I mixed

minced ginger
1 tsp groundnut oil
dark soy sauce
chilli bean sauce
onion powder

and pushed it under the poussin skin. Then I baked in the oven at 175C without fan, aiming for the temperature of the thickest part of the breast to reach 60C (as per Heston’s roast chicken recipe). It actually got to about 65 so was very slightly overcooked but still very nice indeed, as was the rest of the bird. I will definitely cook poussin again, and will also ask the butcher to spatchcock (and perhaps halve) a whole chicken too.

Mark made a pasta soup for me last week which I enjoyed very much. It inspired me to make one for myself. When I was given some very salty, thinly sliced ham to use up, I seized the opportunity. I made a pasta soup adapted from this bacon, bean and pasta soup with the following ingredients:

1 onion, chopped finely – no salt when frying
1 tbsp minced garlic
120g dry pasta
1 carrot halved lengthway (just to flavour broth)
1 tin flageolet beans
0.5 pack green beans, sliced lengthways
chicken stock from 0.5 cube (no more as ham was v salty)
bay leaf
2 tbsp tomato puree
3 large handfuls sliced ham, sliced and torn into bite size pieces
lemon juice
pepper

Note: My soup was a bit cloudy, I think it was caused by the tomato puree.

20 Feb 2013
I made a veggie version of this for my uni friends, replacing the meat with chestnut mushrooms, swapping chicken stock for veg stock and leaving out the tomato puree. I served it with a small bowl of harissa and creme fraiche for them to blend in if required and a sliced giraffe loaf from Sainsburys. They loved it.

1 Feb 2013

Kale disintegrates in this soup – don’t use again.

I made these using the recipe in the Primrose Bakery book. I’ve made them several times before but this time I used the food processor for everything: finely grating the carrot, beating the eggs and sugar, mixing the carrot and raisins into the batter and beating the cream cheese icing. I didn’t think it would but it made a big difference to the end result: the cake was very light and the icing very smooth. That I didn’t end up with aching arms also made the experience far more enjoyable. I am a food processor convert.

I found a Waitrose roast chicken thighs & potatoes recipe online which suited the ingredients I’d got to hand. It wasn’t a bad meal considering the minimal amount of effort and lack of planning. The thighs turned out well with lovely crispy skin – before putting in the tray I sprinkled the skin with salt and leaving to draw the moisture out, then dried with kitchen roll. I did find it necessary to take the thighs out and then return the potatoes to the oven to brown. The potatoes are a little bit dry too so might be nice to serve with something to counter this such as gravy.

6 March 2013

I watched an episode of Perfect (Roast) in which Mark Sargeant made a similar dish but he cooked his potatoes beforehand.

What I did

Preheat oven to 175C.
Peel 2 very large Maris Pipers. Cut into roastie size chunks. Parboil in UNsalted water for 5 mins. Drain and allow all steam to escape.

Tenderise the 4 large chicken thighs a la Jamie i.e. put them between greaseproof and smack with a rolling pin, then spread a mix of 1 tsp fennel (ground), 1 deseeded chopped fresh red chilli, salt and minced garlic under the skin. Then salt the skin to draw moisture out – leave for about 5 mins – and dab dry with kitchen roll.

Cube half a peeled celariac. Toss that and the potatoes in olive oil, garlic salt and a little powdered chilli. Arrange in large baking tray lined with parchment along with thighs. Put lemon segments from 1 large lemon in as well. Give the potatoes and celariac an extra dab of oil with a brush then bake for 40 mins.

Switch to grill to crisp up chicken skin and brown the celariac and potatoes.

Serve with green veg.

Verdict

The chicken was overcooked though the skin got nice and crispy under the grill. The potatoes were better than last time for being parboiled and the celariac was underdone. Nothing was inedible but overall it was a disappointment.

What I should have done was take the chicken out when it got to 60C (this would have been after 20 -25 mins) and let it rest until the rest of the meal was ready; it wouldn’t have done it any harm.

I think this is the problem with one tray bakes: you can’t get everything done as well as doing it all separately. Next time I will cook the chicken in the small oven at 175C with the flavourings and lemon segments until they get to 60C, and rest under loose kitchen roll and foil. I will make wedges and roast celeriac in the large oven at 175C + fan. Finally I will grill the chicken skin only to crisp it up.

This is a delicious, substantial and cheap meal. The flatbreads are gorgeous soaked in the sauce. I served with undressed green salad leaves.

Kefta Mkaouara adapted from a food blog recipe.

Meatball ingredients:

500g minced beef
3/4 tsp salt (1 tsp is a bit too salty)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp hot paprika powder
1 small onion, chopped finely and fried till translucent
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley

Sauce ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped finely
2 rounded tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 heaped tsp ras el hanout
1 heaped tsp harissa
2 400g cans chopped tomatoes

eggs for poaching
cooking olive oil

Directions:

Combine the minced beef with the cooked onion, salt, cumin, hot paprika and chopped parsley by hand. Make about 20 equal sized meatballs and sear the outsides in a hot pan.

The heat needs to stay low throughout the making of the sauce. Fry onions, add flavouring ingredients and fry a little to bring out flavour, then add tinned tomatoes and simmer. Liquidise if lumpy. Ensure that there is enough sauce and it is loose enough to poach eggs in. Add meatballs 20 mins from the end to cook through and eggs 5 mins from the end to poach. Don’t interfere with the eggs more than necessary as the yolks may break.

Moroccan flatbreads adapted from a BBC Food recipe.

I added 2 tbsp groundnut oil to the following as I don’t like flatbread to be too chewy:

200g/7¼oz plain flour
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cinnamon
boiling water, to bind
pinch of salt

Method is exactly the same as making chapattis. Makes 8.