The must-have book for you Indian food lovers out there!

Ever since I first saw Reza Mahammad with Sanjeev Bhaskar on the UKTV Food Channel’s Delhi Belly I have been inspired by his passion for food. In fact I liked his style so much I insisted on taking my wife to his restaurant The Star of India in London where we enjoyed some of the most amazing food we’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. So when Quadrilla Publishing sent me a copy of Reza’s new book ‘Reza’s Indian Spice’ to review, I literally couldn’t wait to get stuck in!

I had just returned from an evening out with my family when I spotted the book on the counter. Luckily we had some yogurt and rhubarb in the fridge so I decided to make Reza’s Rhubarb lassi for the kids before waving them off to bed. It was lovely and unique – a great place to start.

Over the next few weeks, we made most of the recipes in this fun new cookbook. Reza’s Indian Spice is clearly written and divided into six well laid out chapters – Quick and Chic, Slow Burners, Showing Off, Classic Curries, Perfect Partners and Sweet Like Candy. It’s so easy to find what you are looking for. The book is packed with recipes so you will be spoilt for choice.

Reza’s Indian Spice will be published
in June 2012.

I could just talk you through each section but thought it might be better to start with the pages that have the most sauce splats and turmeric stains.

The first recipe I tried was the Sweet-sour lamb pulau on page 51. This dish was amazing. In fact it was so tasty that my wife asked me to make it again two nights later for my in-laws. We served the pulau with Reza’s cucumber raita on the first occasion and then with the coriander and yogurt dip. Both were just as Reza describes them – ‘Perfect partners’.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the pulau, I decided to take it up a notch and try some of the recipes in Reza’s Showing Off chapter – which I should add now looks very well used.

I decided to go all out for some dinner guests and made the Spice Crusted Monkfish In Tomato Sauce (Page 62), and the Chicken With Apricots and Potato Straws (Page 67). With these I served plain rice and the Beansprout Salad With Chargrilled Asparagus and Coconut (Page 116). I shall now describe the evening’s meal in the word’s of one of my dinner guests… Yum!

Other recipes that deserve a mention are the Spicy Chicken Burger (Page 22), the Sweet and Sour Stuffed Chicken (Page 38), the Scallops with Coconut and Ginger (Page 61) and the amazingly delicious Stuffed Quails With Creamy Sauce (Page 68). I could go on and on but it’s making me too hungry.

For those of you with a sweet tooth, you will love Reza’s Rose Petal and Cardamom Kulfi (Page 150). I made this recipe with the help of my eight year old daughter and she now wants to make them all the time. The Mango Brûlée (Page 146) also needs to be on your recipe to try list!

The book is beautifully illustrated. Let’s just say the food seems to jump off the page willing your to give it a go.

Reza’s Indian Spice, offers a fresh new look at Indian food.

Well done Mr Mahammad! I can hardly wait until game season when I can try your Stuffed Haunch Of Venison! It looks mouthwateringly gorgeous!

Disclaimer:My copy of Reza’s Indian Spice – Eastern Recipes For Western Cooks was sent to me free of charge by Quadrilla Publishing to review. Thank you very much Quadrilla! I love it.

Reza’s Indian Spice – Eastern Recipes For Western Cooks
Author: Reza Mahammad
Published by: Quadrilla Publishing
ISBN 978-1-84949-141-9

You are going to love these aloo kebabs!

This is the best recipe for aloo kebabs!

For some reason it has taken me over a year of cooking and eating Indian food to feel right about using any other type of cheese besides paneer in my recipes. I don’t know why. I guess I just wanted to use the cheese in my recipes that is used most often in India.

The thing is, many very popular Indian chefs use other types of cheese such a Cheddar and Mozzarella in there new-age Indian recipes and they taste great. This aloo kebab recipe was given to me by a friend who works up the road from me at a new Indian restaurant.

I have to say that I’ve been making potato cakes for many years and these have to be one of my favourites now. The recipe is simple but offers so many delicious flavours that go so well together.

At the restaurant, these aloo kebabs are served on wooden skewers. I have chosen here to make simple patties. Call me crazy!

By the way… Just in case you’re wondering, the secret is in the Cheddar cheese!

Serves 4 as a starter

INGREDIENTS

3 large jacket potatoes – peeled and quartered
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
3 fresh green chillies – finely chopped
Juice of one lime
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
5 tablespoon grated Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon sifted gram flour
5 tablespoons chopped coriander
250ml (1 cup) semolina flour
250ml vegetable oil

Method

Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and add the potatoes.

Cook for about 25 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

Drain and return the potatoes to the pan and mash. Set aside to cool.

Heat a small dry frying pan over medium heat and roast the cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Move the seeds around in the pan so that they roast evenly and remove from the heat when they begin to smoke.

Add the cumin seeds, green chillies, lemon juice, Cheddar cheese, red chilli powder and chopped coriander to the mashed potato and mix.

Form into 8 patties.

Aloo kebabs served in an Indian tiffin

Dust the aloo kebabs with the semolina powder and shallow fry for about three minutes per side. Be careful when turning so that the aloo kebabs don’t turn into oily aloo slop.

Want to WIN a four tier tiffin like the one featured in this recipe?

I am giving away a 4 tier tiffin and a selection of Asharun Spices!

This fantastic prize draw ends on 8 June.

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The BBC Good Food Show Summer is sure to be a brilliant day out. There are loads of great exhibitions and many of your favourite foodie stars will be there. You might like to watch James Martin in Saturday Kitchen live or check out The Hairy Bikers entertaining live show.

James Martin

John Torode and Gregg Wallace will be there too with MasterChef 2012 winner Shelina Permaloo. I have to say I’m very impressed with Shelina and would love to meet her myself.

You can read the official BBC press release for the show here to see what this fabulous prize includes.

The Hairy Bikers

Just for fun, please leave a comment and let me know who your favourite celebrity chef is.

GOOD LUCK

Dan

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Pulled pork is so good done in this way!

Pulled pork for dinner anyone?

A long time ago in my college days back in California, I was the pulled pork king! No, I never won any awards nor did I serve my pulled pork to many people. My friends knew though and that was enough for me.

My wife and I were out on Saturday evening and didn’t roll in until the early hours of Sunday. It was a great evening but there was no way I was going to slave away in the kitchen. Especially not with the sun shining as it was. For those of you who don’t live in the UK, that ‘sun shining’ bit doesn’t happen all that often.

I took out some smoked spices by Besmoke and a leg of pork which was sent to me to try from Farmer’s Choice and went to work. The preparation for this pulled pork only took a couple of minutes! The rest was done outside – iced tea in hand (My wife said beer wasn’t an option) and we enjoyed the day, in the sun with the amazing aroma of the barbecued meat cooking away in the background.

I served the meal with vegetables, a home made hot sauce, yogurt raita and store bought naans. If you feel up to it, my homemade naans are a lot better.

You need to marinate the meat in the dry rub for at least three hours. For best results, however, let it sit in the spices for about 24 hours.

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 2 kilo (4 pound) leg of pork with the skin scored

For the spice rub
2 tablespoons brown sugar or palm sugar
1 tablespoon smoked or normal paprika
1 tablespoon smoked or normal cumin powder
1 tablespoon smoked or normal garlic powder
1 tablespoon smoked or normal black pepper
1 tablespoon smoked or normal sea salt
1 tablespoon smoked or normal chilli powder

For the vinegar sauce
125ml (1/2 cup) cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tabasco
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano

Juice of 3 limes

Method

Combine all of the dry rub spice ingredients and rub them deep into the flesh of the meat.

Allow to marinate for 3 to 24 hours.

When you are ready to cook, build a small charcoal barbecue fire and cook over indirect heat. For those of you not familiar with this term, simply build a charcoal fire. When the coals are nice and white hot, move them to one side of the barbecue. Place the meat on grill opposite the fire and cover. You can also cook this pulled pork in the oven at about 150c.

So then… back to the recipe. Place the meat in a pan large enough to hold it and place on the BBQ grill and cover.

Allow to cook for about three to five hours. While the meat is cooking, combine the vinegar sauce ingredients and baste the pork with the vinegar sauce about every half hour.

The pulled pork is ready when you can literally tear it apart (pull it apart) into shreds or small pieces.

Remove the pork from the BBQ and allow it to rest for about 30 minutes before ripping it to pieces and serving.

Give it a good squirt of the lime juice and mix well with the cooking juices.

Yum!

Disclosure:The smoked spices were supplied to me free of charge by Besmoke. You might be interested to know that I am bringing out a new ‘Curry Guy’ spice range with Besmoke with a lightly smoked flavour similar to what you would get from a tandoor oven! The pork was supplied by Farmer’s Choice. Farmer’s Choice deliver free range meat to your door. I have to say that unfortunately the pulled pork was so nice we didn’t have any leftovers.

These are so good!

Over the years I have tried many recipes for seekh kebabs. Some are melt in the mouth gorgeous where others are a bit disappointing.

Not this one!

One of the benefits of writing a curry blog is that I receive a lot of emails and tweets from people who want to show me their versions. This is a real bonus. I have learned so much from restauranteurs and followers of my blog without having to leave my chair!

This may be a simple recipe but if you source good quality ingredients and have a good butcher, your seekh kebabs will be better than you find at most Indian restaurants.

I recommend cooking these seekh kebabs on a barbecue. Better yet, cook them in a tandoor oven. Tandoor ovens are now available worldwide and cost about the same as a fancy BBQ. For the Indian food lover, they are something to put on your gift list.

If you get yourself a tandoor, I will happily help you learn how to use it. This recipe is for all you barbecue fans out there.

Serves 4 as a starter

INGREDIENTS

1/2 leg of lamb (about 700g meat off the bone) Ask your butcher to run the meat and fat through a mincer.
3 tablespoons pineapple juice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
4 tablespoons grated Cheddar cheese (This adds flavour and helps keep the kebabs together)
3 tablespoons garlic puree
2 tablespoons ginger puree
3 green chilies – finely chopped
6 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (about one small bunch)
6 tablespoons finely chopped mint (about one small bunch)
1 tablespoons garam masala
1 tablespoon red chilli powder
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Mix all of the ingredients very well with your hands.

Place in a bowl and leave covered in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours.

When ready to cook, build a charcoal or wood fire.

While the coals are burning, form the meat around metal skewers. You could also just make the meat into patties.

When the coals are good and hot – if using charcoal, the coals should be white.

Place the seekh kebab skewers on the grill over the fire and cook until the minced meat is cooked through. This should take about 5 minutes.

Serve the seekh kebabs with a spicy yogurt raita, mint and coriander chutney and/or chilled thinly sliced red onions.

Homemade papadams

There’s really no point going to all the trouble of cooking great British Indian restaurant (BIR) style food at home, just to settle for those pre-made stale papadams that are sold in the shops. Either forget the papadams all together or make them yourself.

Homemade papadams are so much better. It’s the only way you can get the true BIR papadam experience.

The great news is that it isn’t difficult to make them yourself. Many supermarkets and fine food shops now sell papads. Papads are flat lentil disks that when fried turn into lovely papadams. Of course you will find them in almost every Indian shop.

If you’re watching the calories, you could also plop these discs in the microwave for about 30 seconds but the end result isn’t as good.

But  for true papadams like you find in the curry house, you’re going to need some vegetable oil.

frying papadams

You are going to need a wire rack, paper towels and a slotted spoon.

Serving size – one to two papadams per person.

INGREDIENTS

Papads (1 to 2 per person)
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Method

Heat the oil in a large wok.

When a piece of papad puffs up quite quickly in the oil, it is hot enough to get started.

I usually cook two papads at a time to speed things up a bit.

When you drop the papads in the oil, they will very quickly become full sized papadams. Remove them from the oil when this happens with a slotted spoon.

Don’t be tempted to let them turn a light brown as they will burn. The papadams continue cooking when removed from the oil.

If you like these homemade papadams, be sure to subscribe to my blog. I’ve got loads more recipes to share with you.

Papads ready for cooking!

Place the cooked papadams on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil and then store on a wire rack.

Serve immediately with a selection of pickles and chutneys or store in a very low oven until ready to eat.

You are going to love this whitebait recipe – I promise!

This is a great starter for kids!

Put a plate of hot whitebait in front of me and I’m a very happy man. I’d never even heard of whitebait until I was 27 and saw it on the menu in a Soho restaurant. We have a lot of great seafood back home in California but whitebait isn’t one I knew.

I loved it from the first bite and now order it regularly. So when I saw some fresh whitebait at my local fishmonger today, I decided it was time to make it again.

If you’ve been following my blog over the past few days, you will know that I’m currently having a lot of fun with some smoked spices that were sent to me from a company call Besmoke. Besmoke smoke the spices and then package them for retail sale. In fact we are planning a new range of lightly smoked ‘The Curry Guy’ spice mixes so watch this space!

One of the spice mixes we are developing is a smoky version of my curry powder recipe. This spice mix will make it possible to create curries that taste as if they were cooked over a fire or slowly simmered in a tandoor oven. I can hardly wait.

Nice one!

You don’t need much so a store bought curry powder will do the job just fine if you can’t be bothered to make your own.

You will need paper towels and a slotted spoon for this recipe.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

450g whitebait
Vegetable oil for deep frying

6 tablespoons white flour
1 tablespoon curry powder or garam masala
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon white cumin seeds
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
Salt to taste

Lemon or lime wedges for serving

Method

Combine all the ingredients for the flour mixture in a large bowl.

Heat the oil in a large wok until a small piece of bread sizzles and browns in about 25 seconds.

Coat the whitebait in batches with the flour. You want to shake them in your hand to get as much of the loose flour off before adding them to the oil.

Fry until golden brown and then remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to soak up the excess oil.

As you can see, I served this on a bed of red onions that were marinated in the juice of one lime for about an hour in the fridge.

Disclaimer:The smoked spices used in this recipes were supplied by Besmoke free of charge for me to try.

Barbecued hake doesn’t need much to taste amazing!

"Barbecued Hake" served with a spicy pea mash and potatoes

For the past few days, I’ve been playing with a range of spices that I totally love!

I received some smoked spices from a company called Besmoke and boy have their spices made dinners tasty. I’ve always loved the taste of smoke in my food. I’m originally from California where the BBQ flavour is big business.

Today I decided to use some of the smoked spices with a few fillets of hake. I just wanted a subtle smoky taste that didn’t overpower the beautiful flavour of the fish.

Neither my family nor I were disappointed.

This dish could so easily be cooked on a BBQ but I cooked it in the oven. Call me lazy. The delicious flavour of the smoked spices made the fish taste as if it were barbecued without all the hassle of firing up the coals.

This barbecued hake – without the barbecue – was such a nice way to end the evening.

You’ll notice that I used white wine in this recipe. Wine isn’t used in many Indian dishes but I like it so…

If you don’t have the smoked spices, check out Besmoke or cook the fish over indirect heat with charcoal or wood in your BBQ.

You will need a large piece of foil for this recipe.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

4 x 175g Hake fillets

1 tablespoon garlic puree
1 tablespoon ginger puree
1 tablespoon green chilli puree
1/2 red onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
100ml white wine
1 teaspoon smoked or normal cumin powder
1 teaspoon smoked or normal red chilli powder
Juice of one lemon
Smoked or normal flaky sea salt to taste
Black pepper

Method

Preheat your oven or BBQ to about 200c/400f

Combine the garlic, ginger and green chilli pepper purees with the cumin and chilli powders.

Ready to be covered in foil and cooked!

Place the hake fillets on a large piece of foil and dot with the butter. Splash the wine over the fish and plop the chopped onions over it all.

Make a fish packet with the foil and press the sides together.

Stick in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.

If you want, you could heat a frying pan over high heat and fry the fish fillets for about a minute in a knob of butter skin side down. This isn’t necessary but it does look nice.

To serve

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and squirt a bit of lemon juice and the cooking juices over it all.

Disclaimer:The smoked spices for this recipe were supplied free of charge by Besmoke for me to try. The hake for the barbecued hake was supplied buy
my favourite fishmonger Delish Fish.

This is a barbecued poussin recipe you can make all year round.

barbecued poussin with smoked spices

Have you every had every intention of firing up your barbecue just to realise you’ve run out of time?

Such was the case last night. I’d had a long day at work and was really looking forward to firing up my new tandoor oven, eating some amazing smoky food and enjoying the evening with my family.

By the time I got home, it had already gone 7.00. My youngest daughter was in her PJs and the thought of waiting an hour and a half for the tandoor to heat up was no longer appealing.

Luckily we also have a much easier gas BBQ so I heated it up and made a few changes to my dinner recipe.

I had already been marinating a few small poussins since Sunday. The box of smoked spices sitting on the kitchen table that was sent to me by a company called Besmoke was a site for very sore eyes.

I took the poussin out of the marinade and sprinkled each with some smoked garlic, smoked red chilli and some smoked brown salt and black pepper. The poussin smelled amazing even before they were cooked.

I skewered them to make turning easier and then placed them on the BBQ covered over indirect heat. I did turn them about six times while they cooked but other than that all I had to do was relax.

This barbecued poussin recipe could also be cooked in the oven. The smoky spices gave the birds the flavour of great BBQ without the need to fire up the coals.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

4 poussin
Juice of two limes
Salt and pepper

For the marinade/raita

2 cups (500ml) plain yogurt
1 tablespoon garlic puree
1 tablespoon ginger puree
1 teaspoon cumin powder
2 green chillies – finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper

Optional smoked spices
Smoked garlic granuels
Smoked cumin powder
Smoked chilli powder
Smoked salt and pepper

Method

Make about six slits in the poussin with a sharp knife. Squirt the lime juice all over and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Mix all the raita ingredients together and massage half of the mixture into the birds. The other half can be covered and stored in the fridge to enjoy with the meal later.

Marinate the poussin for at least three hours and up to 48 hours. The longer the better.

When ready to cook, heat up the oven to 200c/400f. As mentioned before, you could of course cook this over indirect heat on a gas or charcoal barbecue.

The cooking time will vary but they poussin should be ready in about 20 to 25 minutes.

If using the smoked spices, dust the finished poussin to taste and serve with the leftover raita and a nice green salad. A bit of chopped coriander will also go very well with this.

Disclaimer:Thank you very much to Besmoke for sending me the smoked spices used in this recipe free of charge to try. They were great with the barbecued poussin!

The Global GSF22 Peeling Knife

This Global GSF22 Peeling Knife has a 11cm straight blade that is ideal for slicing fruit and vegetables.

Global GSF22 knives are forged with solid handles. These knives are excellent quality.

All Global kitchen knives are made by hand using high carbon stainless steel called ‘CROMOVA 18′ in Niigata, Japan. If you are already familiar with the Global brand you will know just how nice this prize is. If not, prepare to be impressed.

This beautiful prize is being offered by Gourmet Kitchenware! You can learn more about Gourmet Kitchenware and their magnificent range of cookery products here.

Entering this prize draw couldn’t be easier.

This draw is open to UK residents.

You must be 18 years old or older! No exceptions.

There are many ways to enter. Some ways gain you more entries and increase your chances of winning.

Draw Closing Date Friday 8 June 2012.

GOOD LUCK!

Dan

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