Author: Alex

Ras el Hanout

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I’ve commented before on how keen I am on making my own spice mixes. Our most recent batch of garam masala was bought from a spice store, in a huge quantity, and turned out to be far too rich in cinnamon for my liking. Is cinnamon even supposed to be in garam masala?

Ras el hanout is a Moroccan spice blend that you may struggle to purchase, leaving you with no option but to make it yourself. It’s ultimately a personal blend and in Morocco no two shops are likely to sell the same product under its banner.

I have based this recipe on that found in Made in Morocco but did a little tweaking because I was in a bit of a rush.

In my spice grinder, I put the following:

1 tsp fennel seeds
1 (generous) tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
a good shake of turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
2 scant tsp ground ginger
a good shake of smoky paprika
scant ½ tsp ground chillis
a good grating of nutmeg
2 cloves
½ tsp allspice
seeds from 2 cardamom pods
salt and pepper

Give it all a good whizzy up, so that it’s a uniform mix, and store in a jar. This will make about ¼ cup: with spice mixes it’s always best to make them in small quantities unless it’s something you use tons of. Also, if you’re working on finding your perfect blend, make sure you write down what you did so you can make adjustments next time.

I was pretty happy with this – I could have faffed around toasting spices (and the original recipe does mandate that) and I probably will do that in future, if I’m less pushed for time, but other than that, there aren’t any adjustments I’d look to make.

Once you have this, you’ll find plenty of uses for it … but the most simple perhaps is to mix a couple of generous teaspoons through some plain flour and use that to coat garfish fillets before quickly pan frying them. Not only does it add a subtle flavour but the turmeric adds a gorgeous golden glow to the fish.

Legacy of India, Blackwood

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date of visit: Sunday 6 January 2013

Our first meal out for the year and a chance to flex the Entertainment Book’s muscles! Andy chose Indian (as you do, on a 36°C day) and as his first choice was closed on a Sunday we opted for this little restaurant in Blackwood. This decision was largely based on its opening time of 5pm and the fact that that sits very well with when the toddler usually decides he wants to eat.

It’s hardly surprising that when we arrived at about 20 past 5, there was no one else in the restaurant. It’s actually a lot smaller than it looks from the outside and it was pretty unfortunate that on a rather warm day the only air conditioning in place was a portable unit, placed by the bar.

The tables are covered with butcher paper and you’re provided with crayons so if you or your children are so inclined you can doodle while you wait (or eat). Our child was more inclined to hoover up the pappadums – we couldn’t work out if he was saying “nice” over and over again or if it was “eyes” (I guess the cumin seeds could seem like eyes when you’re two). Either way, he demolished the first lot and the restaurant manager very kindly brought him out more.

We started with onion bhaji for Andy and vegetable samosas for me. The samosas weren’t that great: the pastry was really heavy and slightly undercooked and the filling was a bit homogenous in texture. The bhaji were much nicer but still only rated OK. The mint sauce was a somewhat scary green colour and too much on the sweet side for me. The toddler rated the centre of the bhaji but much preferred the cucumber and red onion from the salad.

The main courses were much much better. I chose to just have dahl with a plain naan and Andy opted for the beef do piaza which he reckons you don’t see on too many curry house menus here. The beef do piaza was a big hit with the toddler and it was really delicious: the beef was incredibly tender and the sauce was rich and full of onion sweetness. My dahl also hit the spot. At first I was a bit concerned that the lentils were slightly undercooked but I think that’s because I’m conditioned to dahl either being red lentils or cooked to a pap. I’d guess this was chana dahl (the yellow split peas, which hold their shape much better than red lentils) and it actually meant that the dish had some texture and distinction between lentils and sauce. It was tempered with tomato and was creamy, spicy and did a good job of being soaked up by my naan (which was good too – deliciously buttery!).

Andy had a couple of beers and there was plenty of water on hand throughout the meal. We only really dealt with the restaurant manager but she was lovely. While no one else dined in for the hour or so we were there (you learn to eat quickly with a toddler, because as soon as they’re full, they think it’s meal over for everyone!) the restaurant was doing a cracking trade in takeaways. And a lot of those seemed to be regulars, which suggests that the Legacy of India is consistent.

The final bill came in at around $62 ($46 after Entertainment Book discount) which we both felt was a little on the expensive side. Many of the main courses hover around the $17-18 mark so by the time you add sides, entrées and drinks, two people can spend quite a lot of money. Having said that, I would go back – but I’d definitely choose a different entrée!

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Pavlova

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No arguments today about whether the pav is Australian or Kiwi but I think I can posit that it’s a quintessentially Australian summer dish, found on tables from Christmas onwards.

Another dessert contribution at our Christmas meal, I liked the idea that it was something I could prep in advance and wouldn’t require huge amounts of oven heat. Mum almost always has egg whites in the freezer (they freeze brilliantly, last for ages and work perfectly once defrosted) so she donated 5 egg whites and instructed that “well, I always use Stephanie’s recipe”.

My idea was to do my usual 1 egg white, 55g of caster sugar mix (that’s thanks to Gordon Ramsay) but mum looked a bit doubtful and went on about Stephanie Alexander (again). Had it not been for Jules writing about meringues and the key to a chewy meringue being corn flour, I might have ignored both mum and Stephanie, but she did, so I duly noted the recipe from The Cook’s Companion.

Stephanie’s recipe uses 4 egg whites and 250g caster sugar, which I think is too much per egg white. So I scaled back and for my 5 egg whites I used 275g of caster sugar. I guess if you like things sweet, use more sugar!

Begin by heating the oven to 180°C (conventional) and draw a 20 cm diameter circle on a piece of baking paper. Get a very very clean bowl (grease of any type is your enemy here – make sure whatever you use is clean and dry) and whisk your egg whites, with a pinch of salt, to soft peaks before slowly adding the caster sugar. Whisk until your meringue mix is stiff and glossy. Naturally, for this part I was using my stand mixer, and I was ably assisted by my toddler (who, I suspect, thought we should have spent all afternoon adding mounds of sugar …).

This is where I’d normally stop and consider job done. However, Stephanie’s recipe calls for sprinkling over ~ 2 tsp corn flour, 1 tsp white wine vinegar and a few drops of vanilla extract. I didn’t bother scaling these small quantities up. You then fold these into the mix (gently, gently – you don’t want to knock out air!) and then mound the meringue onto your reversed baking paper, following your traced outline. Use a few dobs of meringue to hold the baking paper to the tray.

Place in the oven (which is at 180°C) and immediately reduce the heat to 150°C and cook for about 1¼ hours. Then turn the oven off and leave the meringue in until it’s all cool.

When you’re ready to serve, whisk ~ 300mL pure cream and arrange your choice of fruit on top. I used strawberries and halved cherries. I finished with some passionfruit pulp in syrup (I had to buy this last minute in a tin at the supermarket which is actually a really handy way of doing it): this adds some much needed acidity and also gives the pav and fruit a lovely glossy finish.

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This served 9 people easily, and there was a little bit left over too. And as pavlova has fruit on it, it’s kind of like health food …