North African Tabouleh

Very common in France, but much more difficult to find in the UK, a tabouleh is a (cold) fresh and summery salad with a base of couscous. Very easy to make, it has very fresh minty notes and can be easily taken to a party or a picnic.
In the middle east, boulghour is used instead of couscous grain.


You will need for 4:
- 300g couscous
- The same volume of boiling water as that of couscous grain.
- 4 tomatoes cut in dice
- 1 diced white onion
- 1 bunch of parsley chopped finely
- 1 bunch of mint chopped finely
- the juice of a lemon
- 10cl oil
- salt, pepper.

Mix the couscous grain with the oil, salt, then add the boiling water, and set aside for 1/2h.
Then add the other ingredients, then leave in the fridge for a while.

Serve cool.

Easy no?
North African cuisine is completely integrated in French cuisine and kitchens, and you will find the dishes cooked in French homes as well as in restaurants everywhere. It is a very fragrant, fresh and full of flavours.

Enjoy the tabouleh whilst the good weather lasts!

Source: Photography, me , and recipe, the one I tend to make.

Kung Po Chicken - quick chinese fix

Kung Po (also spellt Kung Pao)was one of the grades for officials in China. The inventor of this chicken dish was a "Kung Po" official in China who named the dish according to his grade.

This makes a great hot dish that doesn't demand too much time... Don't skip the dried chilis, they are really adding something... I like this dish very very very hot!

INGREDIENTS for two

- 2 large chicken breasts cut in strips (vegetarians/vegans use Quorn)
- (1/2cup) water chestnuts (optional)
- 1 handful unsalted roasted peanuts (Monkey nuts 20 min oven 200degC then peeled) - or you can use cashew nuts
- 5 dried Chinese chilis cut in half (they are the ones looking like mini red bell peppers). Remove the seeds if you think it's too hot for you.
- a handful of runner beans or green beans cut in strips

For the sauce:
- 4 tablespoons white wine
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch (dissolved in 2 tablespoons water)
- a tblpn hot chili paste (chili oil)
- 2 tblpn rice vinegar
- 4 tsp golden syrup
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- 2 tablespoon minced ginger (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Make the Sauce: In a small bowl combine wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch/water mixture, chili paste, vinegar and golden syrup. Mix together and add green onion, garlic.

In a small wok, heat sauce slowly until aromatic. (you can use the sauce as a marinade for the chicken and then cook it if you prefer)

Saute the chicken in a large skillet until the meat is opaque and white and the juices run clear

Add dried chilis (water chestnuts and) peanuts and runner beans, cook a few minutes more.

Add the sauce,

Let simmer together until sauce thickens.

Source: my experience of the dish in restaurants + various sources

Le pâté en croute (pâté lorrain) PART 2

This post is a follow up of this one, where I had not given the recipe for the pâté lorrain. UponMarjolaine's request, I will now post the recipe.
Where I come from, we call this dish the pâté en croute, but it is recognised other parts of France as the pâté lorrain. I have eaten this pâté many times in France since I am originally from the Champagne region, next to Lorraine.

Here in Britain, I really miss it. So everytime I go back to France, I ask my mum to cook it for me.
Why don't I cook it myself?
Well, I cannot get hold of rabbit or veal very easily here, it's quite a big hassle. And rather than compromise on the taste - if it does not taste of my childhood, what's the point...- I prefer to eat it only in France. The bakeries sell it in Lorraine and we used to buy it there, but my parents have moved to the sunny south of France, so we have to cook it as it can't be gotten hold off down there...

For the stuffing:
- 500g porc neck, noix de veal, rabbit, cut in thin strips

- 2 shallot chopped finely
-2 tblsp parsley chopped - 10g sel + pepper
- 10 cl of Riesling white wine

Mix the ingredients with the hands, then marinate for 12h in the friedge, covered with plastic film.

Assembling of the pâté:
- 500g puff pastry
- 1 egg yolk
- salt
- water Roll the puff pastry, cut a rectangle, place the meat in the middle, fold the sides onto the meat.

Add a smaller rectangle on the top, and create 2 little chimneys, cut a pattern on the top.

Brush the yolk mixed with salt and a bit of water over the pastry.

Leave to rest for 1h30 in the fridge

Place in oven at 200degC for 45 min and at 175degC for 15 Minutes. The pâté can be eaten hot and cold. Serve with a salad and a pinot noir red wine.

Source: my mum...

Marinated pork noodles

Another improvisation on the Chinese theme... Easy, and effortless....However If you don't have the Asian ingredients at home, forget it, the marinade is balanced but quite complex.

Ingredients for 2:

- 1 1/2 pork loin slice per person

- 1 slab easy cook noodles per person

- 1 head of broccoli

- 7 mangetout

- 7 mini sweetcorns cut in thick slices

- 4 sliced spring onions

For the marinade:

- 2 dashes of ketchup

- 2 dashes of oyster sauce

- 1 dash dark soy sauce

- 1 dash light soy sauce

- 1 big dash Thai fish sauce

- 1 dash dry sherry

- juice of 1 small lime

- 2 big cloves of garlic finely chopped

- 1 big thumb of ginger finely chopped

- 1/2 small tsp of tamarind paste

- 1 tsp full of chilli oil

- 1 tblsp Chinese 5 spice powder

Place the pork in the marinade, and leave minimum 1/2 hour.

Cook broccoli in the steamer for 12 minutes. Add the mangetout and sweet corn 5 minutes before the end of the 12 minutes to blanch them.

Cook the noodles, pass them under cold water and drain, reserve.

Cook the meat in a hot wok with the marinade.
When cooked, add the vegetables
and the noodles,
stir well and make sure the noodles are hot by cooking it 1 or 2 more minutes. serve in bowl with chopsticks and sprinkle with spring onions!

This dish went down a treat, the meat absorbed the dark and sweet flavours of the marinade, whereas the noodles absorbed the tangy tastes, delicious and very light tasting!

Source: the inspiration of the day

Lamb Handi and mango lassi

A few years ago, I tried the lamb handi for the first time in an Indian retaurant on the curry mile (Rusholme in Manchester, where Indian restaurants stretch on a mile of road, on both sides!). It dawned on me it was the best Indian Curry i'd ever had. BUT, never ever I tasted it that way again. So I decided that the best way to taste it again was to try and reproduce it at home. What got me in this curry is a particular and perfect tanginess, where I recognised fresh ginger, cardamon, tomatoes and tamarind (and maybe lime?).
To start it off, I looked on the internet for handi, and I hardly found anything. I used as a base the cooking method found in a recipe called mutton handi althought it missed the ingredients I had guessed.

So here's what I concocted in my kitchen:

Ingredients for 4
- 1 kg of lamb with bones
- 2 large onions
- 1 bunch of fresh mint leaves or a big spoon of dried mint
- 2 tsp mustard oil (or vegetable oil)
- 2 pieces of green cardamom)
- 2 pieces of black cardamom: I did not have any when I made the recipe....
- 2 pieces of cinnamon (or 1 tsp of powder)
- 1 thumb of fresh ginger
- 3 garlic cloves (remove the germ)
- vegetable oil
- fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)
- 2 tsp garam masala powder
- 1tsp chili powder or 2 fresh chilis or chili flakes, or chili oil... to taste
- 1/2tsp tamarind
- 2tsp turmeric powder
- 1tsp coriander powder
- 1 can chopped tomatoes (fresh tomatoes in season)
- salt to taste
- 1 small pinch of salt

Marinate the washed, dried lamb with the salt, the mustard oil, the turmeric powder, the chili powder and the coriander powder for 2 hours.

In a blender, place the onions onions, the garam masalas, the fresh coriander leaves, the mint mint leaves, the ginger and the garlic cloves and blend not too finely.Heat some vegetable oil in a wok.
Add in the blended mixture and saute for 5 mins.
Add the marinated lamb pieces. Cook for 10 mins.
Add a pinch of salt, turmeric and chilly powder.
Add water tomatoes and tamarind and cover cook till the sauce is dense and lamb pieces are tender.Garnish with freshly cut coriander leaves. Serve hot with plain rice, roti or paratha.
I really enjoyed this dish. It was not exactly exactly as I remembered it, but still, I will do it again and will strive to perfection!! and I'll add some fresh lime...

Serve with a mango lassi:

In a blender, mix 500g yoghurt, 1 ball vanilla ice cream, 1fresh mango peeled and boned, 3 or 4 ice cubes, and adjust the texture with water and serve quickly to keep it fresh. It is great to calm the fire of Indian dishes.
Bon apetit!

Source: inspired from the handi mutton recipe on http://food.sify.com/

Inspiration: Franco-Thai beef

To make a change from the usual steak tartare and to suit my cravings of Thai food, I created this recipe, a mix between French ideas and Thai ingredients... It is pretty easy, and the most demanding is chopping the ingredients, as always.

Preparation time: 15 min
Cooking time: 10 min

For 1 or 2 pers:
- 250g Fresh lean mince beef
- 1 tomato (cut in 1/2 slices)
- 1/2 broccoli (Cut in small bouquets)
- 2 red peppers (cut in squares)
- 1 clove garlic (cut thinly)
- Ginger (same amount as garlic, cut thinly)
- 1/2 lime juice (squeezed!)
- Fish sauce (same amount as lime)
- 4 mushrooms (cut thinly)
- 2 spring onions (cut thinly)
- 1 big red chilli pepper (or 2 small ones for those who like it hot, cut in 1/2 slices)
- Kaffir lime leaf (optional: it's hard to find, 2 or three whole leaves to be removed once the dish is ready. Do not eat them!)
- 1 spoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Mix the meat with the lime juice, the fish sauce, the spring onion cut in slices (green stem included), the mushrooms and half the chilli pepper. Mix with the hands, briefly, so as to get buns. Sprinkle the top of the buns with the sesame seeds.

Mix the rest of the ingredients: tomato, broccoli, red pepper, garlic, ginger.

Heat the sesame oil in a pan, brown the beef buns sides well, then add the mix around the buns. Cook on high heat (+ 1/2 a lid to soften the vegetables) add the kaffir lime leaves just before the end. Do not over cook the vegetable so that they keep a vibrant colour.

After you dish, de-glaze the pan, and pour over the beef.

Serve hot, that's it.

I sometimes cook the meat in the oven on a grid which allows the fat to drip away from the meat.

Source: my own cravings

The Succulent Duck

What I love about preparing food is the last minute decision, and cooking with what is available in the cupboards... Even better when I can produce fantastic food on the cheap at the last minute...
It's all about challenge and optimisation really...

The other day I was in a local Sainsbury's after work, looking for ideas . To my great surprise, I found amazing bargains. So I chose 3 items to make my meal:
- a packet of fresh salad at 15 pence,
- an avocado nicely ripe at 59p and grab a seat,
- a fabulous looking duck breast at a maddening 89p - reduced at the till-,
all that because the sale by date was on that day (not the eat by date..).

I'm not even going to add up to the total cost, it's too ridiculous.

So I decided on a simple salad with french dressing:
- 1 tblsp balsamic vinegar,
- 1 tblsp Italian Olive oil,
- 1 tblsp water
- 1 pinch of salt flakes
- 1 turn of grinder of black peppercorn

With the sliced avocado sprinkled with salt flakes and topped with one of my home-dried bird eye chili for the photo.

Now the duck.
I slashed the skin side at several places so that during the cooking, the fat can escape and the skin go all crispy, and the heat penetrate the meat better.
Then I massaged the duck with some honey and some soy sauce (coeliacs use glutenfree alternative).
I then Proceeded to cook the duck in a hot pan in a bit of oil on the skin side. I seared the other side, but mainly it has too cook on the skin side.
It takes approx 15 min dependent on the thickness - the breast shrinks and increases thickness as it cooks.
It should be beautifully crispy and caramelised outside and pink and juicy in the middle.

That day, it was absolutely perfect and it tasted fabulous. the breast usually costs £2.99, and I'd say it is well worth it at that price, it is of superb quality.
I'd have to pay A LOT MORE to get that in a restaurant.... So this time, I met the challenge with great success. Ahh that feels so good!

Source: my own pea-brain