Potato-Spinach Curry

Around New Year I went to London - for the first time ever (as being in Heathrow for a few hours doesn't really count). On one rainy day we went to a busy Indian restaurant and had a lunch special which included three different dishes. This is an attempt to emulate one of those dishes - and the following makes for rather a lot of it.

Ingredients:
- 2.7 kg (6 lbs) small potatoes
- 5 onions, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 orange adjoema chili^[1], finely diced
- salt
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground allspice
- 3 tbsp mustard powder
- 500 g (1.1 lb) frozen chopped spinach
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) cream

The rinsed potatoes were boiled in lightly salted water.

Meanwhile, the chopped onions were sautéed in oil in a large pan. After a few minuted the onions were softened and all the spices were added, followed by the spinach. The pan was covered while the spinach thawed. At last the cream was stirred in and left on the heat for a minute or two before removing.

The boiled potatoes were mixed with the onion-spinach mixture in a large bowl (or in this case in two large bowls) and served immediately. Goes nicely with naan - but the later will have to wait for some other time.

Update: For the bread, see here.

^[1] I happened to have one of these Surinamese chilies - in case you can't find one, a habanero would most likely work as a good substitute.

Sweet chili glazed salmon

Mrs. Throat-Erator decided we should join in on the Bon Appetit Cover Challenge (BACC) hosted by White Fluffy Icing. Although we didn't start in January, this is not the first dish from that series that we made - but it is the first one to make it to this page (so far).

We scaled the dish down a bit and decided on sherry rather than rice wine - we didn't have either of the two so we had to get one or the other. As it turns out I expect to more readily find uses for the rest of a bottle of sherry and it was also easier to locate sherry in the specific Systembolaget store we ended up in that day. Finally we decided to add some grilled asparagus and serve the whole thing with wild rice.

Ingredients:
- 4 salmon fillets
- ¹/₂ dL (¹/₄ cup) sweet chili sauce
- 2 + 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 + 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely diced
- 1 large garlic clove, finely diced
- bunch of asparagus
- sesame oil
- 150 g (¹/₃ lb) sugar snap peas- 100 g (3.5 oz) pea sprouts
- 2 tbsp dry sherry
- boiled wild rice

The salmon fillets were placed on a foil lined baking sheet and covered with a glaze made by mixing the sweet chili sauce with 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp ginger. The salmon fillets were allowed to stand at room temperature for half an hour.

While waiting, wild rice were boiled.
The rinsed asparagus were placed on a separate piece of foil in the same baking sheet. The salmon and the asparagus were broiled for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile a little sesame oil was heated in a wok. To this was added the garlic and the rest of the ginger. After stirring for 30 seconds to a minute the sugar snap peas were added and stir fried for a couple of minutes. The sherry was added together with the pea sprouts and the rest of the soy sauce and stirred for about a minute.


I quite liked the end result. A reminder that marinating salmon isn't such a bad idea - most of the time I just have it 'plain'. I also liked the stir fried pea sprouts - in the past I've used them only in salads.

Pear Pie

When I recently discovered I had never made this pie for my muse I was stunned: I didn't make this pie one single time in the past five years? Really? But I used to make it quite often..

Ingredients:
- 150 g (5.3 oz) margarine
- 240 g (8.5 oz) flour
- 125 g (4.4 oz) sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- ¹/₂ tsp ground ginger
- 1 egg
- 1 can of halfed pears in syrup
optionally for serving:
- whipped cream

The margarine was cut in small pieces and worked into the flour by hand before adding sugar, vanilla sugar and ground ginger. The dough was then completed by working the egg into the mixture. The dough was left in the fridge for an hour before parting in two and rolling each piece.

One piece of dough was placed in a buttered and floured pie shell. Pear-halves were arranged on this pie bottom (in this case as many as could be fitted in - there were an excess of pear-halves in the can I used). The other piece of dough was used to form a lid over the pear-halves, and the pie was brushed with the syrup from the can of pears.


The pie was baked at 200 C (400 F) for 40 minutes - is delicious served warm with a dollop of whipped cream, but also works quite well cold.

Bean-Onion Salad

This is a quick attempt to copy a very nice bean-and-onion salad I tried at a vegetarian buffet not that long ago.

Ingredients:
- 4 cans of beans (mixed brown, white and red)
- 1 large red onion
- 1 large yellow onion
- a large bunch flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- salt & pepper

The canned beans were rinsed with cold water and left to drip off a bit.

The onions were peeled and quartered along the axis, each quarter of an onion was further quartered to give onion wedges.

The parsley was chopped coarsely.

The oil, vinegar, salt & pepper was mixed in a large bowl and everything else was stirred in.

I like the raw onions in this salad - but they become overpowering if not balanced by a reasonable amount of beans. On this occasion I had this salad as a side to some baked potatoes and a piece of baked fish.

Red Seafood Curry

A good friend of mine concluded, after moving to Singapore, that all his previous attempts at making curries had been suboptimal at least in part due to the inferior curry pastes that has been available to him in the US. To back up his claims, he brought me over a selection of curry pastes from Singapore when we met up before Christmas - so thanks to him for providing the curry paste used here.

Generally, mini-eggplants are not available around here, so when I found some when I went to a new store, I immediately picked some up - thinking already of using one my packs of parallelly imported red curry paste.

Ingredients:
- sesame oil
- red curry paste^[1]
- 200 g (7 oz) crayfish
- 100 g (3.5 oz) shrimp
- 200 g (7 oz) squid rings
- 10 mini eggplants, quartered
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- coconut cream
- kaffir lime leaves
- salt
- large bunch scallion, chopped
for serving:
- boiled rice
- roasted peanuts
- fresh Thai basil

A little sesame oil was heated in a wok, then added a dollop of the curry paste, followed by the crayfish. After frying for 1-2 minutes, the shrimp were added and after an additional 1-2 minutes the squid rings. 1-2 minutes later, the quartered mini-eggplants were added, then the chopped bell pepper, dried kaffir lime leaves, the remaining curry paste and the coconut cream. The contents were brought to a boil before reducing the heat and letting it simmer for a few minutes. The dish was seasoned to taste with salt. At last the scallions were added and after a minute or so the wok was removed from the heat.

Served with boiled rice, roasted peanuts and fresh Thai basil.
Delicious. For my taste the spiciness of this dish was just right.
Now I just have to find out where I can buy more of similarly good curry paste - or if I can emulate it from more basic ingredients...

^[1] Curry paste brand: Dancing Chef.

Easter 'Hen'

It's funny how sometimes nostalgia creeps up on you and you end up doing things that your parents used to do. Take Easter as an example: admittedly, I don't have a whole lot by way of Easter traditions, but recently I found myself wanting to bake this hen-shaped bread that I remembered my mother making for Easter. As I recalled it, it was mostly the shape that set it apart and I suspected that my mother had simply used her standard bun recipe for the dough. Upon asking I was informed that there was a special recipe, which I would receive via e-mail later.

After receiving said recipe and reading it, I concluded that it was in fact pretty close to the aforementioned bun recipe if only half portion, less sugar, more salt.
Ingredients:
- 50 g (1 ³/₄ oz) margarine
- 3.2 dL (1 ¹/₃ cups) milk
- 1 tsp sugar
- 50 g (1 ³/₄ oz) fresh yeast
- 1 + 2 + 1 eggs
- 700 g (ca. 25 oz) flour
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 walnut piece
- white and black sesame seeds
The margarine and milk was heated on medium until the margarine had melted, then the mixture was transferred to a large bowl and allowed to cool to about body temperature before adding the sugar and the fresh yeast. One egg was added and the first 500 g (ca. 1 lb) of flour was stirred into the dough. Then the salt was added and the rest of the flour was kneaded into the dough in portions. After kneading thoroughly the dough was left to rise for 40 minutes.


A baking sheet was lined with baking paper, and a hen was shaped - (NB: this was my first attempt and I'm sure there are other ways to do it) - a piece of dough was made into a flat, roundish piece to serve as the body of the hen, while two smaller pieces were cut to make them roughly resemble a tail and a head. For the nest, two rolled pieces of dough were braided. Still having more dough a piece was cut to roughly resemble a wing and with the odd bits of remaining dough some small 'stones' were added beneath the nest.

Two whole, raw eggs were washed and then placed so it looks like the hen is sitting on them in the nest. Finally the entire hen was brushed with a beaten egg, decorated with sesame seeds and a walnut piece (as the eye), and baked at 200 C (400 F) for 20 minutes.

Served while still warm. The baked eggs in the nest are very much like hard-boiled eggs and my mother would usually add one for each person taking part in the Easter brunch. As I made it just for two people, I only used two. If one wishes, one could easily get more creative with the decorations.

'Shish Shawarma'

In the past, I resorted to buying my shawarma spice mainly because I couldn't find out exactly what went into the mix. When I recently came across a good recipe it turned out the only ingredient I didn't already have was cloves.

Although perhaps not very authentic, I decided to try out broiling the pieces on bamboo skewers after marinating - making it some kind of 'shish shawarma'.

Ingredients:
- ¹/₄ tsp ground cloves
- 1 ¹/₂ tsp ground allspice
- ¹/₂ tsp ground coriander
- ¹/₄ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground paprika
- ¹/₂ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- juice of ¹/₂ lime
- 350 g (12 oz) strips of beef
- 2 onions, cut in wedges
- 4 potatoes, sliced 6 mm (¹/₄ inch) thick
bulgur:
- 2 dL (⁴/₅ cup) bulgur
- water
- salt
- juice of ¹/₂ lime
- 12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- fresh parsley, chopped

All the ground spices were mixed (this is what I'd consider the shawarma spice mix itself), then added salt, crushed garlic, olive oil and lime juice. The strips of beef and the onion wedges were marinated in this mixture for a little over an over.

Potatoes were peeled and sliced. The marinated beef and onion were put on bamboo skewers together with the raw potato slices and broiled for 12 minutes.


The bulgur was boiled in lightly salted water, then mixed with lime juice and chopped parsley and chopped cherry tomatoes.

The end result might not be conventional: 'shish' is normally as in 'shish kebab', and I don't think I've ever had shawarma or kebab with broiled potato before - but I thought it was quite good.