Besan Fried Aubergine with Lentil Pilaf

Right, so the kitchen is unpacked, and the living room is clear of boxes. I've no idea where anything is, but at least have managed to find my bed every night, which is always a good thing! Saying that, my bedroom looks like it has been hit by a girl bomb*, but let's just ignore that for now. All in all, I'm getting settled - and hopefully normal blogging services will be resumed shortly!

The dish I'm serving up to you today is a feat of kitchen clearing. I prepared it in my last week at the flat, and was chuffed about using up lots of bits and pieces to actually make a fairly cohesive whole. Not only that - it was quick to make, ridiculously cheap, and damned tasty with it! My quantities are pretty rough - the end of a pack of basmati, finish off a couple packs of lentils, some bits of veg from the back of the fridge, a couple of almost empty jars of sambal...

Besan Fried Aubergine with Lentil Pilaf

Serves 4

• 1 cup red lentils, washed
• 1.5 cup basmati rice
• 0.5 cup broad beans (from the freezer!)
• Half a broccoli, florets
  
• 400g tin tomatoes
• 1 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
• 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
  
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
• good pinch saffron
• Vegetable bouillon
• Salt to taste
• ghee to fry

Heat ghee in a heavy-based saucepan and add mustard and fennel seeds. When mustard seeds start to pop, add the garlic and ginger, then the fenugreek, lentils and basmati rice. Stir for 3/4 minutes, then add the rest of the spices, and salt as required.

Add the tin of tomatoes, and top up with hot bouillon to about an inch over the level. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 or 6 minutes.

Chuck in the broccoli florets and broad beans and add more bouillon if required. Continue cooking until rice and lentils are done, checking to make sure it doesn't get too dry, adding more bouillon as necessary.

Besan-Fried Aubergine

• 1 cup gram flour
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• water to mix
• 1 aubergine (eggplant!)
• ghee to fry

Mix together the first six ingredients, then mix in just enough water to make a thick batter.

Cut the aubergine into slices about 1cm thick, and coat them in the batter.

Heat the ghee in a frying pan to a medium to hot heat. Cook the aubergine for a minute or two on each side, until golden and crispy - but don't overcook!

Serve the lentil pilaf with slices of fried aubergine on top, and a couple dabs of sambal if you're in the mood for a bit more heat!

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* clothes, shoes**, make up, more boxes and some random utterly unnecessary objects... A small stuffed bagpuss mouse that sings "We will fix it". Except the battery is all but dead, so all it actually does is an aphonic "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.......". Then snuffles a little before returning to its glass-eyed voiceless state.

** did I mention I halved my shoe collection before I moved? I threw out 42 pairs... :-S

Think Spice: Fenugreek Poached Fish with Saag Aloo

First things first...

Yes, ok, so I haven't been around much this last week or so: I'm woefully slow in my posting, and my google reader ridicules me everytime I turn the computer on, groaning under the weight of unread posts... I have been in the kitchen (a lot!!) but have been sorely limited in non-work pc time.

So apologies if I haven't been by as much as usual - I promise I'll sort it out soon!

I have still been managing to cook - and this post is my entry for this month's Think Spice... this month being hosted by... me!

I chose fenugreek as the spice, either in seed form or as dried leaves. I ended up using both forms in this dish - although the seeds were my main use.

Unusually for me, I have kept the heat in this dish to a minimum - I didn't want to overpower the subtle flavours in the fish. And I was really pleased with the result. It was spicy - but in a flavourful way rather than hot. The saag aloo may not be authentic, but its main ingredients are spinach an potato - so I figured it deserved the name!

There was quite a bit of gravy at the end - next time I would serve this with some lovely naan bread to soak up all the flavour. As it is I just had to drink it out the bowl... ;)

Only 10 days left to get your fenugreek-spiced dishes to me - come on peeps, get cooking!

Fenugreek Poached Fish with Saag Aloo

Serves 2 - with leftovers!

For the Fish and Broth...

• 1.5 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 350ml water
• 100ml milk
• 2 fillets firm white fish - I used pollock

For the Saag Aloo...

• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 large pinch dried fenugreek leaves
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp ground coriander
• 0.5 tsp turmeric
• 0.5 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  
• 1 large clove garlic, crushed
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 bunch spinach, washed, destalked and roughly chopped
• 4 plum tomatoes, diced (large)
  
• 4 medium potatoes, diced (large)
• 2 tbsp ghee

Prepare the Broth...
In a dry pan, toast the fenugreek seeds for 3/4 minutes until golden brown. Transfer them to a mortar and pestle and give them a bit of a bash. Warning - these little legumes are really hard - so just try to break them up a bit, don't worry about grinding them to powder.

Put the bashed fenugreek and the fennel seeds in a pan, then pour over the water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.


Prepare the Saag Aloo...
Heat the ghee over a low to medium heat and add the mustard seeds. When the start to pop add the onions and dried fenugreek leaves. Fry gently until translucent, don't allow to brown.

Add the ginger and garlic and cook for another minute or so before adding the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli.

Add the diced potato to the mix, and top up with cold water to about half way up the potato. Bring to the boil, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes or so, stirring a couple of times through out.

Prepare the fish while the potatoes are cooking...


Cook the Fish...
Once the broth is cool, strain through a fine sieve and discard the seeds. Add the milk, salt and turmeric. Lay the fish fillets in the broth - they should be totally submerged - otherwise top up with water.

Gently bring the broth to the boil. As soon as it reaches the boil, cover and turn off the heat. Leave in the broth for 5-10 minutes - until fish is cooked through (this will depend on how thick the fish is).


Finish the Saag Aloo...
Add the tomatoes and chopped spinach to the potato mix and stir well. Cover the pan, and cook for another 5/10 minutes - until the potatoes are cooked through, the spinach is completely wilted and the tomatoes are softened.

Depending on how much water is released by the tomatoes and spinach you may want to remove the lid for the last few minutes of cooking to let the sauce thicken.

Nice n' Spicy, Easy Peasy, Leftovers Curry!

I was looking for a space in my bulging freezer the other day when I found a container of dark roast turkey meat - left over from Christmas!!

I had been planning on getting a take out curry that night - but figured with the meat cooked, I could knock one up in the time it would take to deliver. With the added bonus that I could make it exactly how I wanted it and keep it as healthy as possible!

It turned out really really good. The addition of tamarind and fenugreek added a special edge to the other spices. And because the meat was already roasted, it soaked up the gravy and took on a lot of flavour. Best of all - it was ready in 20 minutes!

So here we have it, my nice n' spicy, super-speedy, easy-peasy leftover curry!

Leftover Roast Dinner Curry

Ok, so maybe not the prettiest picture in the world - but it tasted goooooood. And isn't that the important thing?? ;)

• 1 tsp fenugreek leaves
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 3 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 3 dried red chillies, roughly torn up
  
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1" piece ginger, finely grated
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste, mixed with 300 ml water
• left over roast turkey or chicken
• ghee or oil to fry
• salt to taste

Heat ghee in a heavy-based saucepan

Add all the seeds and the dried chillies and fry for a minute or two until they smell really good! Add the onion, garlic, ginger and fry for another couple of minutes.

Chuck in the other spices, tomatoes, tamarind water and salt and mix well. Put in the meat and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it starts to reduce too much, cover until ready (or add more water ;)

Serve with rice and a smile!

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Not only is this an original recipe - but it's an original recipe conceived in about 3 minutes! So I reckon it fits the bill for Lore's Original Recipes event!

Check out the last round up, great stuff Lore!

I'm back! Onion and Fenugreek Pakora Anyone??

Well, hello, hi and howdy doody!!!

This is my first post in an absolute age. First of all I was on holiday in Ibiza for a week... and what a week it was! Have a pic of me swimming at sunrise! It was just beautiful.

What wasn't so great was getting sunstroke on the last day (durr - how annoying/stupid was that, I'd had on loads of SPF, and drank plenty of water, but still got ill after 3 hours in the sun. It was HOT!). The upshot was I had to stay at home in bed while my friends went out for the big last night out. And what was even worse than that was that I still felt worse than they did the next day for the journey home - they could at least have had the decency to fake hangovers!!

For the rest of the time, I've been having massive issues with my internet at home - and been busy during the day so not even had much time for lunchtime blogging! I have been doing quite a bit in the kitchen - but because of my internet issues I've had to go to an old entry rather than any of the new exciting things I've been working on this week!

These pakora were the last thing I managed to deep fry before my oil finally gave out! Having this oil for deep frying has been a bit of an education since I first made the Guyanese Bakes - and I'm not sure my waistline has thanked me for it. I am very tempted to refill it immediately - primarily to make this szechaun squid again...

I have blogged pakora once before - though I got slightly snack happy... churning out huge Mushroom pakora, Courgette & Carrot pakora and Onion & Red Pepper pakora - as well as the 'typical' onion variety. We were eating them for days! This time round I made far far less, made each one a bit smaller, and quartered my onions instead of halving them so that they make smaller bundles. Bear in mind that the baking powder causes these to puff a bit - a heaped teaspoon of mixture will give a nice sized pakora... a tablespoon will make you a giant!!

Feel free to fidget about with the spices you use - I stuck to the basics here as I really wanted to emphasis the fenugreek - but make it as plain or as complex as you like!

Onion and Fenugreek Pakora

Makes about 15 pakora

• 1 large onions, quartered then fairly thinly sliced
• gram (chickpea) flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• water to mix
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
• Large handful fresh fenugreek leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste

Heat the Oil...
As I'm frying these in a pot I don't have a proper temperature gauge - but the last time I made these in a deep fryer I cooked them at 175c.

Prepare the Onion Batter...
Put the onions in a large mixing bowl.

Mix the about 6 heaped tablespoons of flour, the baking powder and the spices together (including the dried fenugreek) and sprinkle over the onions.

Give it a good stir, them add a bit of water to make a fairly thick paste. You want the batter to be thick enough to cling to the onion, but not so thick that it clumps together too much (otherwise it will go stodgey in the middle). And if it's too thin the pakora won't stick together in the fat, and will separate into pieces... You might want to add another bit of flour, then another bit of water if you want more batter.

Tip!

Don't be tempted to make the batter in advance - the baking powder will be activated as soon as it is exposed to liquid. Make it just before use for best results!

Cook the Pakora...
Pick up teaspoonfuls of the mixture and slide into the hot oil. They will take 4/5 minutes to cook - turn them once or twice during cooking to ensure even colouring.

Serve!
Serve with a dipping sauce... or even better with two dipping sauces - one hot tomatoey and tangy sweet - the other creamy and cooling!

Spicy Roti with Fenugreek and Cilantro

Srivalli at Cooking 4 All Seasons is hosting a fabulous event: Roti Mela! Apparently it's on the back of the huge success of dosa mela - which I missed, but love the round ups!

As you may have guessed by the name, the event is to round up everyone's roti recipes - definitely a roundup to be bookmarked I reckon! Rotis are something which I had never really tried until recently - I think they fell into my fear of yeast/baking category.... yes yes, I know they are generally neither yeasted or baked... I was living in roti-free ignorance!

Then I fell out of my comfort zone when I made Coconut Rotis for my Sri Lankan cookery course. I was astonished that something could taste so nice and match the curry so perfectly... and be so easy to do. Not to mention that they let me to eat with my hands, slurp ;)

So here is another roti attempt from me. Having tried layered paratha last month, I fancied doing some with quite a lot of flavour going on. I'd hoped to have enough time to do a stuffed one too - but that was not to be :(

So here is my third roti attempt:

Spicy Roti with Fenugreek and Cilantro

Makes 4

• 1 cup wholewheat flour
• handful chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 thai red chili, finely chopped
• 1 small clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 tsp aesofotida
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp melted ghee + more ghee for frying

Prepare the Dough...
Mix the flour, spices, salt, chili, ginger, garlic and cilantro together in a bowl. Slowly add warm water until the dough is soft but not too sticky.
Knead for a few minutes until the dough feels springy, then add the tbsp of ghee and knead well to incorporate.

Wrap in film and set aside for half an hour.

Cook the Rotis...
Heat a heavy frying pan to high.

Divide the mixture into 4, and roll one of them into a smooth ball. (Keep the other ones covered to stop them drying out!) Gently roll it out into a circle (or weird misshapen blob if your rolling skills are anything like mine ;)

Drop a wee bit of ghee into the pan and swirl it about with the back of a spoon (ok, so I *know* that isn't authentic - but I was starving and it worked for me!) Lay the roti into the pan and cook for a minute or two, or until you can see it's mostly changed colour, then flip... Now this is how I know it wasn't authentic - mid-flip, when it was balanced on my spatula, I reached under and swirl a bit more ghee on the pan!!

Meh - whatever, it worked!

Fry for a minute or two until browned and crispy at the edges.

Serve!
Serve with whatever you like! They are quite flavourful, so would probably work with tarka dhal, plain chana masala or something similar. I used mine as part of a somewhat unusual breakfast dish... I'll be posting it soon!

Indian Spiced Tuna Fish Cakes

Following on from the success of my Thai spiced tuna cakes, I was looking forward to having some spare mashed potato to have another go... but in the end I got fed up with waiting (it's almost summer now - why would I mash potato?! Especially when I can cook with gorgeous Jersey Royals!)

So anyway, I toddled out and bought some old floury potatoes. Came home and boiled them whole in their skin before passing through a ricer. Now here's a good tip for you: If you're using a ricer you don't need to peel the potatoes first! Just chuck em in and squish! Yay! And although it's much quicker to dice up the potatoes before boiling... don't do it. The potato gets waterlogged and loses starch, therefore the dough doesn't work as well. And if that wasn't enough, they don't even taste half as good! So - boil whole, then rice without peeling. Easy peasy!

Anyway - on from the mashed potato preparation... Oh, hang on, one last thing! If you do rice them, then spread them out on a chopping boil after ricing and leave for at least 10 minutes. This lets excess water evaporate away, and also lets them cool down. Both these thing will give you better tattie dough!

Riiiight... deep breath, step away from the mashed potato!
So anyway, this time I decided I wanted to go with more Indian flavours - and I used chickpeas to bulk them out into a main meal rather than an appetizer.

Hey, whaddya know - turns out I don't actually have anything else to say!

Indian-Spiced Tuna Fish Cakes

Don't be put off by the long ingredient list - it's mostly spices!

• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
• pinch fenugreek leaves
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 cup mashed potato - preferably cold
• 400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 tin tuna, drained
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1" piece ginger, grated
• 2 banana shallots, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 egg yolk
• 5 heaped tbsp plain white flour
• Ghee
• Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the chickpea mixture...
Heat a tablespoon of ghee over a medium heat and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fenugreek leaves. Fry until mustard seeds start to pop, then add the shallots, ginger and garlic and fry until soft.

Add the rest of the spices and a few tablespoons of water, and continue to fry for another couple of minutes. Add the chickpeas and cook out for 5-10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Once the cooking is finished, lightly crush the chickpeas with a masher - don't mash them though as you want to save some of the texture!

Also, don't let the mixture dry out - but make sure you don't add too much water. This is going to be part of your dough, if it's wet it'll be messy!

This can be made in advance - along with the mashed potatoes to throw together at the last minute. I wouldn't advise preparing the whole dough in advance as it may go sticky...

This is the chickpea mix just before crushing - it was so tasty!! I'd have been quite happy to just have eaten this as it was with naan bread!

Make the dough...
Add the mashed potato to the chickpeas, along with the egg yolk and flour. Mix well, flake in the tuna and mix again. Have a little taste and adjust the seasoning as required. If the mixture is very soggy add more flour.

Cook!
I used cookie cutters to mould my fishcakes - a bit of a palaver, but they looked pretty! Make sure you oil them first!
Heat a dab of ghee over a medium heat and place the ring into the pan. Spoon the mix into the ring and cook for 3/4 minutes. Ease the cake out of the ring, and turn - cooking for another 3/4 minutes on the other side.
Repeat until they're done - keep finished ones in the oven until ready.

Serve!
I served mine with salad - they were flavourful enough not to need a sauce. However, a nice raita and a spicy tomato and chili sace would have worked very well!

Spinach Chana Dhal

Dhal, Dal, Daal, Dahl... They're all the same thing you know!

And that's tasty, cheap and healthy - no wonder they gave it so many names :)

I asked a friend to get me some dried chickpeas the other day - I've had an urge for home-made hummus since I had some at another friend's recently. But instead of chickpeas, I got a pack of chana dal (dhal, daal, dahl...)! There was a rationale - but I can't remember what it is now.

So I decided to make a dhal. As in the thick, spicy lentil stew - rather than the pulse itself...

And some naan bread to go with!

Spinach Chana Dhal

• 1.5 cups chana dal
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 slices fresh ginger (skin on)
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 100g spinach, washed
• 1 tsp garam masala

Place the chana dal in a pot with twice as much boiling water and simmer for 30 minutes. (Alternatively you could pre-soak them for 2/3 hours... if you remember!)

Melt the ghee in a saucepan, and fry the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, garlic and ginger for 2/3 minutes until the mustard seeds start to pop.

Add the chana dal, the rest of the spices (except the garam masala!) and the tomatoes. Top up with boiling water and simmer, covered for 45 minutes to an hour - or until the chana dal is tender. Top up water as required, and stir every so often to prevent sticking.

When the chana dal is tender, remove the ginger slices and use a fork to mash some of the dal against the side of the saucepan. This gives a more interesting texture and consistency - don't skip it!

Add the spinach and garam masala and cook for another 3/4 minutes until the spinach is wilted.

Serve with rice - either plain or pilaf, or with naan bread!

Excuse the lurid photo - it looked better in real life!

Naan Bread - from scratch!!

I am not a baker. I've tried, but it really just doesn't come naturally to me. My first ever home-made bread tasted of beer. My bread machine bread could probably be used as a weapon to kill small animals. Flat breads seemed to be just about acceptable - but I wasn't sure if that was due to the lack of yeast, or because I was being supervised by a chef!

Yet, last week, when I was preparing my dough for the berber pizza, something felt a bit different. It started to make a bit more sense. So last night, I put my neck out and decided to make some naan bread... and it worked! It just worked!! No beer smell. It rose as I wanted it to. I burnt a couple... but that's because I got distracted...

I don't know if it is using active dried yeast instead of the sachets. When I see the yeast foaming at least I know something will happen! Or maybe I'm just getting more used to cooking in general...

And so, the intrepid baker presents you with...

Naan Bread

• 1 1/2 tsp active dried yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 cup hot water
• 3 cups white bread flour
• 1 tbsp salt
  
• 3 tbsps ghee - room temperature, so liquid form!
  
• 3 tbsps natural yoghurt
• 3 tbsps melted ghee for brushing
  
• garlic salt (optional)

Mix the sugar and yeast with the hot water until dissolved, then leave to stand for 10 minutes until foamy. (Woo hoo - I now know that the hot water wakes the yeast up - and that the sugar is its breakfast!)

Meanwhile, sieve the flour and salt together, add the ghee and yogurt and the activated yeast mix. Mix with a spoon, then by hand until it forms a soft dough, then turn out and knead for 10 minutes. (I even like kneading! It's great seeing the ingredients form a dough... that you just know will work!)

Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with film and place in a warm place for an hour or so until doubled in size.

Remove from bowl, divide into eight pieces and flatten each one into a round circle - I just used the palm of my hand to do this - you want an uneven surface!

Now, I worked this out as I went through the eight pieces, but I think the best thing to do here, is to make the circles, then cover with a damp cloth for 15 minutes. Oil a baking tray, then take a circle and gently tug it downwards - ideally you want a teardrop pattern. Place this on the tray (you might be able to fit a couple on!). Brush with ghee and sprinkle on a little garlic salt if you like. (Or you could mix a bit of crushed garlic into the melted ghee!) Put it under a medium/hot grill for 2 minutes until puffy and browned. Bring it out, turn, brush with ghee and grill for another 2 minutes on the other side.

Serve immediately!

Anyway, I think I'm getting a bit over-excited with all this baking stuff - stand by for my next baking post... if it stinks of beer, or weighs more than I do, then it could well be the end of the intrepid baker!

Leftover Curry Soup Curry!

This isn't much of a recipe, but it tasted sooooo good I thought I better share! Seriously, this is one of the best curries I've ever made - and it was by accident!!!

A couple of days ago I made a Spinach and Chickpea Curry soup for No Croutons Required. It was very tasty, and I had it for lunch the next day too.

There was still vats of it left. I seem to be still cooking for two - even though there is just me to eat it!

Anyway, wasn't too interested in eating more soup last night, so instead decided to convert it back to a curry...

Beef, Spinach & Chickpea Curry

I got a nice piece of rump steak, and sliced it before quickly browning it in a little oil. I added some of the soup - trying to add the sauce only so the potatoes/chickpeas didn't cook any more! Then I let it simmer for a few minutes. I added some potatoes and chickpeas, and heated it through.

I dished up some fennel saffron pilaf, then spooned the potatoes, meat and chickpeas over the top - adding a couple of spoonfuls of the base soup as sauce.

Sprinkle with some cilantro and I was ready to eat. I even had seconds, and that hardly ever happens! It is the never ending pot of soup!

Fennel Saffron Pilaf

This is one of my favourite accompaniments to Indian curries - so I thought I would give it a post of its own instead of sharing with another dish!

I made this last night to go with my left-over curry - excuse the rubbish dark photo, I don't know why it turned out like that... but was so hungry I was rushing too much to try to fix it!

You can use a stock instead of water - but I am usually too lazy - and it doesn't really need it!

Fennel Saffron Pilaf

• Basmati rice
• 1 tsp fennel seeds per portion
• 1/2 tsp tumeric per portion
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch saffron (it is a strong flavour, be careful not to go overboard with this!)
• Olive oil
• ghee

Heat the ghee and olive oil in a saucepan with a tightfitting lid. (Using ghee on it's own can be a bit overpowering, but it's nice to use a bit!)

Add the fennel seeds and fry until they start to brown. Add the basmati and fry for a couple of minutes. Keep it moving so all the grains get coated, and to stop it sticking or burning.

Add the tumeric, saffron and salt then mix well. CAREFULLY pour boiling water over the rice (it will spatter!) In my pot the water should come about an inch above the surface of the rice - you might need to experiment a little til you get it perfect with your pot. Don't worry if you add a bit much or little - it can be fixed later!

Cover and leave to cook for 10 minutes. After this time is up, remove the lid and check how cooked the rice is. You also want to check the water situation - using a fork, pull the grains away from the side of the pot and see if any water is left at the bottom.

Hopefully the rice is perfectly cooked and the water is pretty much gone (a little bit left is ok). In which case, mix well, replace the lid, turn off the heat and leave for 5 minutes. This really helps the rice fluff up.

If the rice isn't cooked yet, add a bit more water if required, replace cover and cook for another couple of minutes.

If its cooked but there is water left, pour the excess off, mix rice well, replace lid and leave for 5 minutes.

Voila!

Mixed Pakora

Pakora are a deep fried south asian snack that were available at any Indian restaurant in Scotland when I lived there. (And I'm sure still are!) We even used to get haggis ones - they shouldn't work, but they soooooooo did! Now that I am down on the South Coast of England pakora are much more difficult to get a hold of - the closest thing you can get is onion bhaji... though I personally don't think they even comes close to pakora!

Pakora can be made from various different food stuffs - onion, spinach, chicken, fish, potato, cauliflower, mushroom etc - and is often made from a combination of two or three. The veg is bound by a gram flour spiced batter and deep fried.

I had an urge to make some last Friday night as I was staying at Boyfriend's (who has a deep fat fryer!), and chose onion, mushroom, courgette and carrot, and potato and pepper. Now I admit the last two varieties are not traditional, but I thought they might work... and they did!

Pakora keep for a few days in the fridge, and can also be frozen.

I don't weigh anything out when making things like this - so much depends on the size and wetness of the veg you use - and the spicy flavour you want from the end result. I made up the batter slightly different for each type - though each of them had garam masala and dried fenugreek leaves. Over all I think I used about 600g gram flour, 2.5 large onions, 1 large potato, 3 chillies, 1 carrot, 2 courgettes and 12 mushrooms. They made about 36 large pieces of pakora - I reckon they would have fed at least 12 people as a starter :)

Serve with a wedge of lemon to squeeze over and a simple green salad.

There are many different sauces you can get to accompany pakora. I often just buy them in from the Indian deli round the corner. However, if I don't manage that, I have two simple ones that I can knock up in minutes. (Again, I apologise to the traditionalists!)

1) Raita - mix plain yogurt with finely diced cucumber (remove the seeds), a handful of mint and a squeeze of lemon juice for a cooling dip.
2) Mix tomato ketchup with lemon juice, tabasco sauce and dried red chile flakes for a hotter sauce to dip into.


Before you start, preheat your deep fryer to 175 degrees celcius.

Onion Pakora

2 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
gram (chickpea) flour
water to mix (not too much!)
garam masala
dried fenugreek leaves
ground cumin and coriander
small handful roughly chopped coriander
dried red chile flaked to taste
1/2 tspn baking powder
salt

Place onions in a large mixing bowl.
Sprinkle over 2 large handfuls of gram flour, the baking powder, a good pinch of fenugreek leaves, all the spices you want to use. Give it a good stir, them add a bit of water to make a fairly thick paste. You want the batter to be thick enough to cling to the onion, but not so thick that it clumps together too much (otherwise it will go stodgey in the middle). And if it's too thin the pakora won't stick together in the fat, and will separate into pieces... You might want to add another bit of flour, then another bit of water if you want more batter.



Make sure you salt the batter at this stage - as you can't really add it afterwards. To check the seasoning you'd have to deep fry a little bit of the batter for a minute or so and taste. I probably added a teaspoon.

Carefully drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot oil, and cook for about 6 minutes. They can be kept warm in the oven til ready to eat.

Mushroom Pakora

This time, start off by mixing the gram flour with a bit of water to mix to a thick batter, then add the baking powder, spices, fenugreek and salt. I kept my mixture quite similar this time - but added more dried red chillies for a bit of extra heat. Remember, there is much more veg to batter in this one, so you can flavour it more strongly.

Add the mushrooms and stir to thouroughly coat.

Drop the mushrooms into the hot oil, and again, cook for about 6 minutes.

Courgette and Carrot Pakora

Mmmmm - I absolutely loved these - they were gorgeous and moist in the middle, with a proper crunch on the outside!

Grate the courgette, place in a sieve and sprinkle with salt to draw out the excess juices. Squeeze them dry and place into a bowl with the grated carrot. As before add gram flour and water until you have a thick batter. Add the fenugreek, spices, baking powder, and a handful of chopped coriander. For this one I omitted the dried red chile, but added one scotch bonnet chile pepper, finely chopped. I even left the seeds in as I wanted some heat! ;)

Cook as before.

Onion and Red Pepper Pakora

Chop a large potato into 1cm dice, and par boil for 3 minutes until slightly softened. Thinly slice half an onion and add to the drained potatos. Finely dice a red pepper and add to the other veg.

I then added 2 thai red chiles - finely chopped, a large handful of coriander, and one crushed clove of garlic.

For spices, I added garam masala, fenugreek leaves, tumeric, cumin and coriander.

Mix all the above with gram flour and baking powder to form a thick batter - adding water as required.

Deep fry as above.