Accompany with boiled or pilau rice and naan bread.
Good karma korma
You wanna make your own garam masala spice mix to bring the flavour of this korma to the next level?
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If so, here’s a simplified recipe – toss 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tsp whole cloves, 1 Tbsp black peppercorns and 1 tsp black cardamom pods over a high heat in a dry frying pan until they smell toasty and aromatic. Transfer to a spice grinder or pestle and mortar and crush to a fine powder. Store in an opaque, airtight container.
Even with my experience in the kitchen and my insatiable curiosity for other cultures, Indian cuisine is still very intimidating and difficult to simplify without betraying its roots. Multiple steps are involved to make the dishes, endless ingredients are needed and, above all, there is the delicate balance between the spices to get right. Here, I’ve done the work for you, so go for it...
Serves 4
For the nut and poppy seed paste
1 Tbsp poppy seeds
50g [1¾oz] whole blanched almonds
50g [1¾oz] unsalted cashew nuts
For the vegetables
2 large carrots
2 large potatoes, peeled
½ cauliflower
12 baby corn
225g [¾ cup] green peas
For the korma sauce
2 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
4 spring onions [scallions], finely sliced
1 Tbsp ginger and garlic paste (made by blitzing equal quantities of chopped root ginger and garlic with a little water until smooth)
2–3 mild green chillies, e.g. jalapeños, chopped
150g [¾ cup] natural full-fat yogurt
1 tsp ground turmeric
175ml [¾ cup] double [heavy] cream
1 tsp garam masala (see Good karma korma to make your own)
To finish
a few whole blanched almonds
a few unsalted cashews
raisins
chopped fresh mint and/or coriander [cilantro]
For the nut and poppy seed paste, pour boiling water over the poppy seeds, almonds and cashews and leave to stand for 30 minutes. Drain the seeds and nuts and blitz them to a smooth paste in a food processor, adding 60ml [¼ cup] water, if necessary.
For the vegetables, cut the carrots and potatoes into 2.5-cm [1-in] pieces, break the cauliflower into small florets and cut the baby corn in half. Set aside with the peas.
For the korma sauce, heat the ghee in a large frying pan, add the onions and fry until they are golden. Stir in the ginger and garlic paste and the chopped chillies. Turn the heat down to low, add the nut paste, yogurt and turmeric and stir until evenly combined.
Add all the vegetables, pour in 275ml [1¼ cups] water and stir well. Cover and leave over a low heat until the vegetables are cooked but not falling apart.
Take the pan off the heat and gently stir in the cream and garam masala.
Toast the almonds, cashews and raisins until the nuts are golden and scatter over the korma as a garnish. Finally, sprinkle with chopped mint and/or coriander.
Picture.
#HACK
The 5 essential kitchen knives you need
Chef + knife = love. This complex equation is the basis of the special relationship cooks have with the tools in their kitchen. Joking apart, having the right knives not only lets you work more quickly but also helps you feel more relaxed and comfortable in your kitchen. I’ve classified the knives I use in decreasing order of importance. P.S. If you’re on a budget, concentrate on the first three...
Chef’s knife
A 15-cm [6-in] blade is most practical; up to 22-cm [9-in] is more macho. For cutting, chopping, dicing and even breaking small bones, it is the ideal partner for all sorts of jobs in the kitchen. There’s no point in spending a fortune but it is difficult to find a decent knife for less than 30 euros [about £25/US$40]. German, Japanese, American, French… it doesn’t matter where it’s made; choose one you feel comfortable using.
Paring knife
Smaller, with a blade about 10cm [4in] long, it complements the chef’s knife perfectly, performing all those little tasks that require more precision, such as chopping a clove of garlic or lump of root ginger, as well as peeling a turnip or mushroom.
Serrated knife
There are certain foods that seem complicated or even dangerous to chop with a chef’s knife. I am thinking of melon, watermelon, squash and things like that. So, rather than exerting brute force, with a serrated knife you only need to use a sawing motion. The knife is also very practical for cutting fragile foods and anything in layers, such as a sandwich, for example.
Filleting knife
A knife that has a long, thin and – most important of all – flexible blade. This is the Number One knife for removing the fillets from whole fish and for slicing ham and all other delicate, fragile foods super thinly. For me, I find the best ones come from Finland.
Chinese cleaver
Be aware that this is not the same as a meat cleaver but a lighter and much cheaper version. It is a knife with a very wide and quite heavy blade so you needn’t worry about damaging it. I use mine for all kinds of things besides just preparing stir-fries – as a dough scraper, a worktop cleaner, a food shovel… oh, and I hack through big bones with it too.
Chocolate tart
You can recognize a good chocolate tart by the marks your teeth leave in the filling. It has to be dark, dense, rich and slightly sticky, with pastry that must be golden brown, not too thin but really crumbly. It’s an intense experience and, for this reason, I never eat as much as I would, say, of an apple tart. Well, almost never.
Serves 6
For the pastry
175g [1½ cups] plain [all-purpose] flour, plus extra for rolling out
90g [1/3 cup] unsalted butter, diced and softened
1 Tbsp caster or granulated sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
For the chocolate filling
150ml [2/3 cup] double or whipping [heavy] cream
200g [7oz] dark [bittersweet] chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, chopped
2 Tbsp butter, softened
a pinch of sea salt flakes
For the pastry, in a mixing bowl, rub the flour, butter, sugar and salt together with your fingertips until the mixture is like fine breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and gradually work it into the dry ingredients, kneading lightly to make a smooth dough.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/400ºF/Gas 6. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured board until 5mm [¼in] thick, and lift into a 20-cm [8-in] flan tin [tart pan] lined with baking parchment. Bake blind for 30 minutes until the pastry case is cooked (see Magic-crust quiche Lorraine). Leave the pastry case to cool and then chill it while you make the filling.
For the chocolate filling, heat the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat. When bubbles start to appear on the surface, remove the pan from the heat. Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and pour in the hot milk. Leave to stand for 1 minute – the time it will take for the chocolate to start to melt. Stir and then add the butter, stirring until the mixture is smooth and glossy. By the way, you have just made another French classic, a ganache – how about that?
Pour the mixture into the chilled pastry case and return to the refrigerator until the filling is firmly set. Sprinkle with a few sea salt flakes before serving.
Millefeuille on the cheap
SACRILEGE?
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Just because most of the ingredients come from the supermarket doesn’t mean this millefeuille will let you forget your manners. You don’t eat a millefeuille layer by layer as that would be a betrayal of what the dessert is all about. Instead, you turn it gently on its side and cut across it with a knife and fork, so that each mouthful is a small sandwich of puff pastry and custard. Or, according to one French president, you eat it without any fuss using your fingers. #TheFrenchParadox
Millefeuille is a classic French past
ry made by stacking three thin layers of puff pastry on top of each other, sandwiching them with crème pâtissière, and covering the top pastry sheet with icing. But I’m afraid I have to be honest – at the time of writing this recipe I have still never made puff pastry, crème pâtissière or icing –and I’m not going to start today.
Serves 8
1 rectangular sheet of ready-made puff pastry, measuring about 35 × 23cm [14 × 9in]
caster [superfine] sugar
thick vanilla custard or vanilla pudding mix (made up according to the packet instructions)
ready-made white icing and black icing
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/400ºF/Gas 6.
Unroll the puff pastry and lightly dampen the sheet with cold water. Prick it all over with a fork and dust with sugar. Carefully lift the pastry onto a baking sheet and place a wire rack on top to prevent the pastry puffing up as it bakes.
Bake the pastry for about 10 minutes or until it is golden brown.
Turn the pastry sheet over, moisten and dust with sugar. Replace the wire rack on top and return to the oven for a few minutes until the pastry has dried out and is lightly golden.
Using a serrated knife, cut the pastry into 24 small rectangles measuring about 4 × 8cm [1½ x 3½in] and spread 8 of the rectangles with a layer of vanilla custard or pudding about 1cm [in] thick.
Place another rectangle of pastry over each of these, spread with thick custard or pudding as before and top with the remaining pastry rectangles.
Spread the top layers of pastry with the icings. You can create a beautiful marbled pattern by swirling the icings together, which is very traditional and means you’ll be guaranteed entry into the exclusive club of top French pâtissiers. I’m joking. They will throw you out with the trash.
Tidy up and smooth the edges of the millefeuille with a knife.
Fake croissants and pains au chocolat
What are you talking about? Me, make fake croissants?? Sigh. You must think I’ve completely lost it... On the other hand, they are not that fake, or rather no more so than my other little pastries, which I make with puff pastry anyway. They are also really cheap and super–quick to make. Whew, I’m not crazy after all.
Makes about 6
2 sheets of ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
icing [confectioners’] sugar
egg wash (1 egg beaten with 2 Tbsp cold water)
flaked [slivered] almonds OR dark [semisweet] chocolate, cut into 7.5-cm [3-in] sticks (2 sticks for each pain au chocolat)
Croissants
Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan/425ºF/Gas 7.
Lay 1 sheet of puff pastry on a board and dust it with icing sugar (or, if you’re feeling really decadent, spread with chocolate and hazelnut spread). Stack the second sheet on top – using 2 sheets of dough sandwiched together will give you a better rise in the oven.
Trim the pastry edges so the stack is roughly round and then cut it into wedges like a pizza.
Arrange a wedge so the tip is pointing towards you and, with both hands, roll it up slowly from the wide, rounded end, to make a croissant shape. Repeat with the other wedges and then lift the croissants onto a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.
Brush the croissants with egg wash and sprinkle with almonds, if you like. Bake for about 15 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. You can dust them with icing sugar or leave them plain.
Pains au chocolat
Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan/425ºF/Gas 7.
Use the double puff pastry trick of stacking one sheet on top of the other (described opposite) and then cut the stack into 7.5 × 12.5-cm [3 × 5-in] rectangles.
Position one rectangle so a short side is facing towards you and lay a stick of chocolate across the pastry, 2.5cm [1in] from the top. Start rolling the pastry from the top: after one turn you won’t be able to see the chocolate any more – that’s good. Flatten the top of the roll gently with your fingers so it becomes oval-shaped. Give the roll a second turn, flattening it slightly again and place a second chocolate stick close to the roll. Give it a final roll and a last press, ensuring the join in the pastry is tucked underneath. Trim off any excess and repeat with the other rectangles and chocolate sticks.
Brush the pastry with egg wash and bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
Salted caramel
For me, it’s the salt that makes this dessert so addictive. Not the sugar or the butter the latter certainly helps but don’t make me say something I didn’t. With the salt, a balance is created and magic happens. If you think I’m going overboard, make the recipe and let’s talk again.
Serves 2
100g [½ cup] granulated sugar
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
about 150ml [¾ cup] milk
a pinch of sea salt flakes
Put the sugar and butter in a frying pan [skillet] over a medium heat and sprinkle in a few drops of water. When the butter is completely melted, bring the mix to the boil (warning: it’s mega mega hot) and cook until smooth, thick and caramel coloured.
Take the pan off the heat and mix in the milk to stop the mixture from over-cooking. Put the pan back over a low heat this time and stir gently until the mixture is the consistency you want. Using slightly less milk will give a spreadable texture; a little more and it will be like runny honey.
Add the pinch of salt. Transfer to a clean jar, leave to cool and store in the refrigerator. Use it on pancakes, in cakes, on tartines, stirred into yogurt, straight from the spoon…
"Thanks, Alex, you’ve ruined my saucepan..."
No need to panic. Just fill the pan with water, chuck in any sticky spoons as well and bring the water to the boil. Go and surf the web in which case can I suggest a YouTube channel? ‘et voilà ‘. Without doing a thing your saucepan and utensils are clean again.
Drunk strawberries
This dessert is amazing. My mother used to make it when I was a child and – confession – I adored drinking the very cold, wine-flavoured syrup straight from the bowl. But don’t panic: although it contains hardly any alcohol, the flavour of the red wine – refreshing, mature, spicy and tannic – is still very much there. Perhaps that helped develop my taste for good wine these days. Who knows?
Serves 2
½ bunch of fresh basil
3 glasses of red wine
100g [½ cup] caster or granulated sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
250g [9oz] strawberries
freshly ground black pepper
Separate the basil leaves from their stalks.
Heat the wine in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring lightly until it comes to a gentle boil. Add the sugar and stir until completely dissolved.
Continue cooking the wine until the smell of alcohol has disappeared (5–10 minutes). Turn off the heat under the pan and add the vanilla extract and the basil stalks. Set to one side.
Cut the strawberries into pieces and add to the wine mixture. Leave to cool and then chill in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, grind in one turn of black pepper from the mill and add a few basil leaves.
Which strawberries to choose?
The wine, the sugar and the vanilla all have very distinctive flavours so there’s no point in buying small fragrant strawberries plus they’ll be overpriced. Much better to go for bigger strawberries that are deep red and will be very juicy, as the syrup will be better.
Sweet summer rolls
Picture the scene – mid-summer, blazing hot sun. Your small son pulls your arm and for the second time you drop a messy pulled pork and slaw sandwich. MMH. Not so sure that the sticky butterscotch buns planned for dessert are going to be any more successful. If only you’d thought of making my fresh sweet summer rolls...
Makes 10 rolls
100g [3½oz] dried rice noodles
100ml [1/3 cup] full-fat coconut milk
1 Tbsp runny honey
10 rice wrappers
Fruit, vegetable and fresh herb comb
inations that work well in the filling
EITHER mango, avocado and chopped mint
OR strawberries, red peppers and chopped basil
OR cucumber, pineapple and fresh chopped coriander [cilantro]
Serving suggestion
natural yogurt
runny honey
Cook the rice noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain and set them aside in a bowl. Mix in the coconut milk and honey.
Cut one-quarter of the fruit and vegetables you are using into attractive, thin slices (carpaccio, anyone?) and set these aside for decoration. Cut the rest of the fruit and vegetables into thin sticks – you are going to use these to fill the rolls.
Fill a large dish with warm water, dip a rice wrapper in the water and then place the wrapper flat on a board in front of you.
Put a few noodles and then some chopped herbs and fruit and vegetable sticks on top, laid horizontally, one-third of the way from the edge of the wrapper nearest your navel. Top with fruit and vegetable slices so they line up with the sticks.
Roll the rice wrapper around the filling, folding the sides in as you go to seal the summer roll. If you’ve done the job properly, you’ll see the fruit and vegetable slices through the transparent wrapper.
Mix together some yogurt and honey and use as a dipping sauce for the rolls.
No-machine ice cream
I adore ice cream but I don’t have an ice–cream maker. However, I do have a freezer so I make my ice creams in that. Logical – non?
Serves 4–6
For the ice cream
Just a French Guy Cooking Page 11
