Chickpeas in Glazed Tomato

CHICKPEA SOAKING TIME: 8 hours or overnight
PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes
COOKING TIME: 1 hour
YIELD: enough for 4-6 persons

1 1/4 cups (310ml) dried chickpeas
4-5 cups (1-1.25 litres) water
3 tablespoons (60ml) olive oil or ghee
1/2 teaspoon (2ml) mustard seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons (7ml) cumin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons (7ml) minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons (7ml) fresh green chillies, seeded and chopped
10 fresh curry leaves
1 3/4 cups (435ml) ripe, finely-chopped tomatoes, about 5 medium tomatoes
1 teaspoon (5ml) tumeric
1/4 cup (60ml) chopped fresh coriander leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons (7ml) chat masala
1/2 teaspoon (2ml) garam masala
1 1/4 teaspoons (6ml) salt
1 tablespoon (20ml) butter

1. Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them with 5 or 6 cups (1.25-1.5 litres) water. Leave to soak for 8 hours or overnight.
2. Pour the chickpeas into a colander and drain them. Place them in a 3-litre/quart saucepan over high heat with 4 or 5 cups of water and a dab of oil or ghee. Bring the water to the boil, reduce the heat to low and cook for 1 hour or until the chickpeas are butter-soft, but not broken down.
3. Meanwhile, in a 2-litre/quart suacepan, prepare the tomate glaze as follows: Warm the oil or ghee over moderate heat. When fairly hot but not smoking, drop in the mustard seeds. When they crackle and turn greyish, add the cumin. As the cumin darkens a few shades, drop in the ginger, chillies and curry leaves. Stir-fry the spices for 1 or 2 minutes or until the spices are fragrant. Add the chopped tomatoes, tumeric, half the fresh coriander, the chat masala and the garam masala. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5-7 mintues, or until the ghee or oil oozes out and the tomatoes are broken down and saucy.
4. Drain the chickpeas, reserving the cooking water. Stir the chickpeas into the sauce, reduce the heat to low and cook for another 10 minutes more, adding a little chickpea cooking liquid, if required, to keep the chickpeas moist.
5. Remove the savoury glazed chickpeas from the heat, add the remaining butter, salt, and the rest of the herbs. Serve hot with wedges of lemon or lime and the breads and accompaniments suggested above.

This recipe has also appeared at The Recipe Pot and the Jeffrey Online Journal.

Chicken with Green Masala (Galinha cafreal)

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch fresh cilantro (fresh coriander), leaves and stems coarsely chopped
1/4 cup firmly packed with fresh mint
5 fresh green chilli peppers, coarsely chopped
4 teaspoons crushed fresh ginger
4 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 teaspoons coarsely ground black peppercorns
salt to taste
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 lb (750 g) chicken thigh fillets, halved
4 teaspoons vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 475 deg F (240 deg C/Gas 9).

Place cilantro, mint chilli pepper, ginger, garlic, peppercorns and salt in a food processor. Process to form a thick paste, adding enough lemon juice to moisten ingredients.

In a glass or ceramic bowl, combine paste with chicken. Mix well to coat chicken and set aside to marinate for 20 minutes.

Brush vegetable oil over a large baking sheet. Place chicken on a sheet in a single layer. Bake, without turning, until chicken is cooked through, 20-25 minutes.

Serves 8-10 as part of an Indian meal.

Jeff's notes.
1. I added a few squeezes of lemon juice, which was sufficient for the paste.
2. I prepared this very early that day, so it was marinating in the fridge for a good 6-7 hours, I'm not sure if the flavour got into the chicken much more.
3. It was really spicy when I tasted the paste, but it turned out alright when spread out over the chicken.
4. I used stir-fry chicken pieces.

This recipe has also appeared at The Recipe Pot.

Beef in Chilli Sauce

The Singapore Cookbook: Over 200 Tantalising Recipes

by Hilaire Walden

BEEF IN CHILLI SAUCE

8 dried red chillies, cored, deseeded and chopped
2 small onions, chopped
5cm (2 in) piece of fresh root ginger, chopped
700g (1 1/2 lb) lean beef, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tablespoon each ground coriander and cumin
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup (catsup)
2 teaspoons each turmeric and paprika
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2.5 cm (1 in) stick cinnamon
seeds from 3 cardamom pods, crushed
1/2 star anise
sugar and salt
1 onion, sliced into thick rings

Put chillies in a small blender. Add 4 tablespoons hot water and leave until slightly softened. Add half of small onions and half of ginger to blender and mix to a paste. Put beef in a large bowl. Add spice paste from blender, coriander, cumin tomato ketchup (catsup), turmeric and paprika. Stir together. Cover and leave for at least 1 hour to marinate.

In a wok, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add remaining onion and ginger, and the garlic. Fry, stirring, for 3 minutes until lightly browned. Stir in next three ingredients for 1 minute. Add meat and marinade and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add 350 ml (12 fl oz or 1 1/2 cups) water, and sugar and salt to taste. Cover pan. Simmer very gently for 1 1/4 hours or until beef is tender. Stir occasionally. Add onion rings and cook for 3-5 minutes or until soft.

See more about The Singapore Cookbook: Over 200 Tantalising Recipes

Paneer (Cottage Cheese) with Peas

Ingredients:

200 grams Paneer
1 cup Cooked green peas
1 Onion
1 Tomato
2 Bay leaves
3-4 Cloves
1/4 tsp Black pepper powder
1 tsp Ginger-garlic paste
1 Green chilli
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1 tbsp Poppey seeds
1 tsp Roasted cumin powder
1 tsp Garam Masala powder
5-6 Vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Green coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan / kadhai
2. Cut paneer pieces into small cubes. Fry over medium heat until light brown. Turn pieces while frying. Be very careful as it splatters. Keep aside the paneer pieces.
3. Cut onion, tomato and green chilli. Grind it in mixer and make paste. Add ginger-garlic paste.
4. Heat remaining oil and fry bay leaves and cloves for 30 seconds. Add the paste and fry on medium heat until golden brown (The oil starts separating from the mixture).
5. Add red chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder, garam masala, black pepper, poppey seeds and salt. Mix well. Add green peas and fry for 2-3 minutes.
6. Add water just enough to make thick gravy. Bring gravy to boil.
7. Add paneer pieces. Stir well and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Garnish with chopped green coriander leaves and serve hot.

Jeff's notes:
1. I found that I could get away without frying the cottage cheese. It's cumbersome with all the oil splattering and can take over an hour to fry every piece on medium heat.
2. I usually double portions, which has turned out just right for a dinner party.
3. It's best to measure and mix the spices in a small bowl before cooking.

This recipe has also appeared at The Recipe Pot.