Posts Tagged ‘Coriander’

My Style Thai Style Pot Stickers

Saturday, September 17th, 2011

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Gyoza, dumplings, wontons, pot stickers, whatever you call them, I love them. They’ve fast become one of my favourite snacks. One of those things that when you think about them, you’ve got to have them.

I’d never really thought of making my own, but a chance encounter with a dumpling press and a packet of wonton wrappers in San Fran’s China town changed all that, and now I can’t stop cranking them out. Of course if I was a real expert, I’d be wrapping them by hand, but I’m not, and the $6 press does a pretty good job.

This Thai influenced recipe has a pork filling, but you can stuff these little guys with whatever you want really. You could do a variation with salmon or shrimp and chive, or maybe even tofu and shitake mushrooms. The cases we’ve found work best are Singapore style dumpling wrappers as they’re a bit thicker and give the pot stickers more substance.

One more thing, the pot stickers get fried on one side (which is how they get their name) and then steamed, so you’re going to need a wok or frying pan with a lid. Lets begin.

Ingredients (makes about 20)

For the pot stickers

250g pork mince

1.5 tablespoons fresh coriander, finely chopped

1.5 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped

3 spring onions (scallions), finely chopped

1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger (more…)

Keema Naan

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

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Going back in time a bit, on the last day of the bread section of my course we had a flat bread day. We made pitta, pizza, lavash and naan breads. Knowing we were going to make them, I thought I’d give my course mates a little taste of ‘home’ by making some spiced fillings for a few of the naan. Well everyone knows how much us Brits love a curry.

The breads are made with a whole wheat biga, which is a (typically) Italian stiff pre-ferment, although I imagine the Indians would use hunks of ‘old dough’ to add flavour and a bit of leavening. As the biga is made of whole wheat and has a wee bit of yeast in it, you don’t need to make it the night before, just a few hours before you make your final dough, which has a 3 hour bulk ferment, so you’ll need to get a bit organised.

I made the meat (keema) filling for the carnivores and a vegetarian version for the herbivores and we baked the breads in the schools wood fired oven, which I’m guessing most of you out there don’t have. Don’t worry, you can cook them in your oven at home. Just make sure it’s as hot as Hades, and that you bake the naans on something solid and heat retaining like a pizza stone or heavy roasting tin.

Ready?

Ingredients (makes 4)

For The Bread

380g White Bread Flour

30g Whole Wheat Flour

170g Water (temp of around 26c)

16g Ghee or melted butter

12g Salt

1g Instant Yeast

160g Goat or regular low fat Yoghurt

225g Whole Wheat Biga (see below)

More Ghee / Butter for brushing the bread with

For The Keema

400g Minced Beef

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Simple Pleasures #3 Guacamole

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

As you may know, Hand To Mouth is a big fan of the avocado. Particularly for breakfast. And we couldn’t be be better placed right now to feed our addiction. California produces around 90% of the US’s crop, so San Francisco is awash with them, and seeing as we’re living in a Mexican area of the city, I thought I’d pay homage to the ‘alligator pear’ by throwing together a guacamole.

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I’ve got a lot of love for guacamole. Eating a bunch of it with some corn chips and washing it down with a couple of cold beers is, in my opinion, time well spent. Whole Foods does a pretty good one, but at 6 or 7 dollars a tub, it’s not exactly cheap, so we’ve been making our own. We’re living on a budget after all.

Before we get cracking, a quick couple of pointers. Avocados will discolour pretty quickly once cut, so prep all the other ingredients first. I also like a few chunks in my guacamole, so keep back one quarter of chopped avocado to add to the bowl once you’ve mixed together all the other ingredients.

Ingredients

2 ripe avacados

1 habanero chilli, de-seeded and finely diced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2-3 spring onions, finely chopped

1/2 a plum tomato, de-seeded and diced

1/2 handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped

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Tandoori Lamb Chops

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

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Pretty much anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a mild addiction to Pakistani food, and in particular the tandoori lamb chop. I’d more than happily spend an evening at Mirch Masala in Tooting, or Tayyabs, but my favourite place to get a fix is Lahore in Whitechapel (long overdue a ‘Local Hero’ post). The chops may be a bit smaller, but my god they taste good. Spicy, deeply flavoured and smokey. Yep, my mouth is watering and it’s only 9am.

But enough about my issues. This recipe is my attempt to re-create Lahore’s greatness at home. Funnily enough, I don’t have a tandoor in my kitchen so I use a griddle pan to get the charring and smokey flavour, and whilst this recipe doesn’t quite live up to East London’s finest, it’s not half bad. If you don’t have a griddle pan, you could grill them on both sides.

I use lamb cutlets as opposed to thicker chops, and serve them with a coriander and mint raita.

Ingredients

8 lamb cutlets

(for the marinade)

2 large cloves of garlic

1 thumb sized piece of ginger

2 green chillies, seeds removed

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Fast Chick Pea & Spinach Curry

Monday, February 21st, 2011

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I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before or not, but we start every week with Macca’s ‘meat free Monday‘. Don’t hold it against us.

As a confirmed carnivores, it can be quite tough to build up the enthusiasm to cook a bunch of vegetables, but this curry is healthy, tasty, and as it uses a ready made paste, its fast too. I use a spicy madras paste in this recipe, but you can use what ever floats your boat.

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 heaped teaspoon of chopped fresh ginger

2 tablespoons madras curry paste

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tin chopped tomatoes (400g)

1 tin chick peas (400g)

200 ml water

150g fresh spinach, roughly chopped

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

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Connie’s Quick lamb Curry

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

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As I may or may not have mentioned before, my other half’s family are a real mixed bag in terms of nationalities. Chinese, Indian, and South African to name but three. A veritable melting pot compared to my comparatively mundane ancestry.

As a result, my future mother in law, Connie, seems to be able to cook anything. From insane curries and whole fried Chinese fish, to cream horns and South African doughnuts. And the speed she does it at is mind blowing. Turn your back for 10 seconds and when you look back there’s a plate of food in front of you. Brilliant.

This recipe is for her quick lamb curry that I tried whilst over in Oz and she kindly wrote the recipe down for me. It’s very tasty, and also very easy. If you can get your lamb on the bone, so much the better as it’ll give your curry more flavour.

Ingredients

750g stewing lamb, diced

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, pounded

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, pounded

1/4 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 cinnamon stick

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