Rick Stein's India trip

Rick Stein's latest series in India has been delightful to watch - I love cookery programmes that are little travelogues as well as showing local recipes - this has plenty of that.  Here are some links:
Rick's Website with recipes
Rick's BBC recipes

Here is just one of the recipes for a Breakfast Bhaji - including a recipe for Garam Masala:
Garam Masala:
1 tbls. black peppercorns
2 tbls. cumin seeds
2 tbls. corriander seeds
2 tbls. cardamom seeds (from 30-40 green pods)
4 tsp. who cloves
3" piece of cinnamon stick
1 whole nutmeg

1. Dry fry all the spices, apart from the nutmeg, over a medium heat for a couple of minutes, until toasted and aromatic. 
2. Set aside to cool.
3. Grate the nutmeg and add to a spice grinder along with the toasted spices - and grind everything to a fine powder.

Breakfast Bhaji:
9ozs. (250g) potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes - cooked for about 10 mins. until tender, drained.
9ozs. carrots - cut into small batons - cook in same water as the potatoes, until just cooked.
2 fl.oz (50ml) vegetable oil
2 tsps. black mustard seeds
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. Kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric
2 tomatoes- chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garam masala (from above recipe)
4-6 eggs - fried to serve.

1. heat the oil in a heavy based pan (or karahi/wok) and fry the mustard seeds until they start to pop.
2. Add the onion and fry over a mod. heat for about 5 mins. until softened.
3. Add the chilli powder and turmeric and fry for about 30 seconds, then
4. Add the potatoes, carrots, tomatoes , salt, garam masala and 2 fl.ozs. of water.
5. Cook, stirring, for about 3-4 mins. until the tomatoes are reduced and jammy.

Serve with Indian Bread (recipe given on BBC website), brushed with a little melted ghee (clarified butter).
Serve the bhajis with breads and a fried egg.

I usually think of Bhajis as small fried balls (usually with onions) but it would seem this recipe is a 'dish' rather than small patties or balls.  I haven't as yet tried this recipe, but will add some more notes, when I do.  However, it looks delicious!



Cherries and Plums - Jams

This dish of cherries and plums looked so lovely, I had to take a photo of it -

(- then had to find my recipes!)

 

Cherry Jam:

3 cups of Morello (tart) cherries - weighed after rinsing and pitting (don't worry if you miss any of the stones - they will float to the top while cooking)

1 Granny Smith apple - peeled and roughly chopped

A few strawberries and gooseberries - if available - they will add to the pectin as apparently cherries have very little, otherwise use extra Pectin*.

3 cups of sugar

ground cinnamon & ginger - large pinches to your taste

juice of 2 lemons (TIP: freeze the skins and use them up when roasting chicken)

 

Sterlised Jam Jars: Place jars in cold oven and bring to about 190 deg.C  - leave in for about 10 mins. then remove very carefully.

 

1 oz. of butter.

 

1. Place the cherries, apple, lemon juice, strawberries & gooseberries, in your pan.  As they begin to soften you can use a potato masher to squish them some more.

2. Once they are very soft add the sugar, stirring so that it melts well and doesn't stick.

3. Add the spices

4. Cook on a gentle boil until you have reached the setting point.  Test little blobs of jam on to a cold plate/saucer and if it sets - it's done.  Be careful not to 'overset' the jam - I think it's better slightly looser than too thick. Stir in the butter.

5. Either using a heatproof jug or jam funnel - pour the jam into your jars. 

Seal, leave to cool, label and store.  Keep in the fridge once opened.

 

Plum Jam:

1.5kg plums with the stones removed

1.5kg sugar

150 ml. water

1 tablspn. lemon juice

2 x 13g sachets of Pectin

 

Sterilised Jam Jars

 

1. Put the plums, water and lemon juice into a large (non-reactive) saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat.  Stir frequently.  Reduce the heat and simmer approx. 10 mins. until the fruit is tender.

2.Return to the boil and stir in the sugar (stirring continuously).  

3. Add the Pectin and boil for 1 minute  - don't overcook the Pectin*.

4. Remove pan from the heat, remove any scum/foam and pour carefully into the sterilised jars - (a Jam Funnel is very useful.) Lid the jars and leave to cool, label, and store.

Keep in the fridge once opened.

(this recipe is from allrecipes.co.uk)

Koftas - Spinach, Potato & Paneer - Reza Mohammad

Reza Mohammad has a series on the Food Network called Reza Prince of Spices - he has some super recipes, and the programme is really entertaining, with the wonderful colours of India, and some fabulous palaces that he visits on his culinary journey. 

Recipe for Spinach, Potato and Paneer Koftas

Here's a link to some of the behind-the-scene scenes from the series.

This spice collection is from Reza's webpage

You can substitute a 1/4 teaspoon of asafoetida with a mixture of 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder.  Asafoetida has an awful smell, but is considered healthy, and can be made from scratch with crushed garlic and onions, but it's fairly easily bought in most supermarkets.