Take 200g of pre-cooked chick peas and their cooking liquor, set aside.
Evenly medium chop one large onion and sweat off in a pan over a gentle heat in 1Tblespn of olive oil and 30g of butter. Take your time. When soft and translucent turn heat up to medium, keep stirring occasionally until the onion is evenly golden brown You cannot rush this as you will end up with burnt bits.
Turn heat up to high and quickly put in 1/2tspn coriander powder, 1/8thtspn cumin and 1/4tspn of turmeric. Stir around and blend without letting it catch and burn. Put in the drained chick peas, stir around and coat them with the spices and onion. After a minute loosen with 1Tblespn of liquor, stir, dry off liquor, repeat a few times, turn down heat to very low, add a cup of liquor, cover and let barely simmer for 15 minutes.
Turn heat up to medium and drive off any remaining liquor, add eight coarsely chopped hot bell-peppers, 2 Tblespn of chopped parsley and the juice of 1/2 lime. Adjust seasoning and serve.
A very attractive colourful dish, mildly flavoured and with a sweet overtone.
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Steamed Cabbage
This worked well for me. Another twist.
Half a head of a medium sized white cabbage. cut the half into six section along the core line,discard the outer leaf then very thinly slice radiating the cut around until the knife ends parallel with the core that is left.
Put into a steamer and steam for about 6 - 8 minutes, until the crisp edge has just gone, so still al dente.
Put into a bowl, pour over 1Tblspn of Rice Wine Vinegar, to taste. You might prefer Mirin which has a sweeter edge. A small handful of chopped parsley and three stems of basil, medium chopped so there are no large leaf segments. Fork well in and serve warm.
Half a head of a medium sized white cabbage. cut the half into six section along the core line,discard the outer leaf then very thinly slice radiating the cut around until the knife ends parallel with the core that is left.
Put into a steamer and steam for about 6 - 8 minutes, until the crisp edge has just gone, so still al dente.
Put into a bowl, pour over 1Tblspn of Rice Wine Vinegar, to taste. You might prefer Mirin which has a sweeter edge. A small handful of chopped parsley and three stems of basil, medium chopped so there are no large leaf segments. Fork well in and serve warm.
Monday, 3 June 2013
Twice cooked duck and apricot
Here is how I went about it.
Pricked a large duck skin all over. Put half a roughly chopped onion, five ready to eat apricots and a small bunch of oregano into belly cavity. Tied the legs to the body.
Put duck into a large enough pan and place into a very hot 300°C oven. Watch carefully, turn around and turn over to crisp up and brown skin. Do not let burn.
Into the slow cooker pot, one small onion, one clove and one stick of celery all finely chopped. three inch strip of lemon peel, small bunch of oregano, not more than half a piece of star anise, eight ready to eat apricots, pepper, one cup of white wine and one cup of water. Be careful the flavourings are delicate, so do not over do it. Place duck on top, cover and on the low setting set for 3.5 hours.
Meanwhile, cut a dozen fresh apricots in half and remove stones. Sweat off on a gentle heat half a medium onion finely chopped, without browning it. When transparent, raise temperature to high, add a cup of white wine, as it bubbles add the fresh apricots, cut face down. Leave, watch, gently shake until the juices have just about reduced. Kill the heat, cover and leave on the cooling stove.
Remove duck from slow cooker pan and put back into pre-heated oven at 300°C to crisp up skin, it will be done in just a minute or so, so watch it! Set aside to carve. It will be just barely cooked, still very moist, tender with a hint of blood still in the breast. Skin not coming out as crisp as I would like shall have to see if I can improve on this.
Serve with the slow cooker pan juices, take off fat first then just liquidise all apart from the oregano stems and the star anise. Put the fresh apricots back onto a high heat and with a Tblspn of Port bring back to the boil, then serve immediately without burning them. Two contrasting accompaniments to tender, juicy duck. Enjoy
Pricked a large duck skin all over. Put half a roughly chopped onion, five ready to eat apricots and a small bunch of oregano into belly cavity. Tied the legs to the body.
Put duck into a large enough pan and place into a very hot 300°C oven. Watch carefully, turn around and turn over to crisp up and brown skin. Do not let burn.
Into the slow cooker pot, one small onion, one clove and one stick of celery all finely chopped. three inch strip of lemon peel, small bunch of oregano, not more than half a piece of star anise, eight ready to eat apricots, pepper, one cup of white wine and one cup of water. Be careful the flavourings are delicate, so do not over do it. Place duck on top, cover and on the low setting set for 3.5 hours.
Meanwhile, cut a dozen fresh apricots in half and remove stones. Sweat off on a gentle heat half a medium onion finely chopped, without browning it. When transparent, raise temperature to high, add a cup of white wine, as it bubbles add the fresh apricots, cut face down. Leave, watch, gently shake until the juices have just about reduced. Kill the heat, cover and leave on the cooling stove.
Remove duck from slow cooker pan and put back into pre-heated oven at 300°C to crisp up skin, it will be done in just a minute or so, so watch it! Set aside to carve. It will be just barely cooked, still very moist, tender with a hint of blood still in the breast. Skin not coming out as crisp as I would like shall have to see if I can improve on this.
Serve with the slow cooker pan juices, take off fat first then just liquidise all apart from the oregano stems and the star anise. Put the fresh apricots back onto a high heat and with a Tblspn of Port bring back to the boil, then serve immediately without burning them. Two contrasting accompaniments to tender, juicy duck. Enjoy
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