Charmaine Solomon’s Lamb Korma

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

 

Lamb kormaAh, korma. That sad, sad little curry that seems to exist only on restaurant menus for those that can’t or won’t eat a ‘real’ curry.

I understand how korma gets that reputation – in restaurants it is often bland and vaguely sweet. Why would you choose it when there are so many more exciting offerings?

This recipe, from Charmaine Solomon’s India and Pakistan, will ensure those kind of preconceptions are firmly put aside.

This recipe even has chillis in it so if you want it fiery, go ahead and make it fiery. The use of both nuts and yoghurt will help temper that heat anyway – and I suspect is what has led to the curry’s maligned character. Of course, you can always play it safe while cooking the curry and turn things up by adding a good dollop of hot lime pickle when you serve.

 

Print
Lamb Korma

Ingredients

  • 800g diced lamb (leg, preferably)
  • 2 onions
  • 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
  • 40g raw, unsalted cashew nuts
  • dried red chillis - to taste
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 green cardamom pod
  • 2 cloves
  • ½ tsp saffron strands
  • 2 tbsp boiling water
  • 20g ghee
  • oil
  • salt
  • 125g plain yoghurt
  • fresh coriander to serve

Instructions

  1. Begin by making a curry paste.
  2. Roughly chop one of the onions and place in a food processor with the ginger, garlic, cashew nuts and chillis. Add 125mL water and process to a smooth paste. Add the spices (if you have ground cardamom and cloves, use ¼ tsp of each, but I used the whole spices and the flavour was fine) and process until everything well combined.
  3. Put the saffron in a small bowl with the boiling water and set aside.
  4. Heat the ghee and some oil in a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Finely slice the remaining onion and cook until soft and golden. Add the spice mixture and cook, stirring, until the oil starts to separate out.
  5. Add a little water and salt and cook until the liquid has evaporated and then add the lamb. Stir thoroughly to ensure the lamb is well coated with the spice mix.
  6. Stir through the saffron (crush the strands against the sides of the bowl as you pour it in) and then add the yoghurt.
  7. Ensure the heat is low, cover and leave to simmer for at least an hour - until the lamb is tender. Make sure that the mixture doesn't boil and give it a stir every now and then.
  8. When you're ready to serve, stir through some coriander, leaving some aside for decoration. Serve with rice (and perhaps some hot lime pickle).
https://eatingadelaide.com/charmaine-solomons-lamb-korma/

Book Review: Food of the Southern Forests

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

20141019_153617

Disclaimer: I was sent a review copy of Food of the Southern Forests

So … cookbooks … something I need more of like a hole in the head but also something I can’t resist. Like wine glasses. Only I’m banned from buying wine glasses, whereas with books I feel bad because the shelves are groaning. But a review copy? Why, that’s a different thing altogether!

I did double check before accepting this book, as it is about the food of Western Australia’s Southern Forests and I was concerned that the recipes would require some foraging on the other side of the Nullarbor. Fortunately, that was not the case and this weighty, beautiful book duly arrived on my doorstep.

It turned up just before we went on holiday and so I set to picking a relatively simple recipe (despite desperately wanting to try out the semolina, almond and olive oil cake with lavender and rosemary sugar). Sadly, that diligence hasn’t actually translated into a swift review …

These days it almost goes without saying that a cookbook is beautiful and Food of the Southern Forests does not disappoint on that front. It’s a big book, with a solid cover, lovely thick pages and lots of space. Sophie Zalokar, the book’s author, is a chef based in Pemberton and has translated her passion for the region and its produce into a cookbook that champions local producers. This means that rather than being divided in sections based around courses, the book is divided by ingredients. Each chapter begins with an exploration of one or two producers of the product and I found that I learnt all sorts of interesting snippets. For example, did you know that avocado trees can require up to 150 litres of water per tree per day in summer? I am immensely grateful I decided against planting one in my own garden! The breadth of primary produce grown in the Southern Forests is also impressive. I had no idea we even grew green tea in Australia AND that we export it to Japan.

Of course, each chapter features at least one recipe which showcases the product and the photos are (predictably!) mouthwatering. Aside from the aforementioned cake, I’m also very keen to try the marron and avocado ceviche with fingerlimes and the Swiss Engadine walnut tart – and that’s just for starters …

However, with time very much not on my side I opted for something relatively simple – a cauliflower cheese. However, in Zalokar’s recipe, the cheese sauce is enhanced with caraway seeds (one of my personal favourites) and the cauliflower is cooked whole, rather than broken into florets. Of course, this means you do need to ensure you have an oven proof pot or dish large enough to contain your cauliflower!

As Andy does not like cauliflower I am always on the lookout for recipes to try to convert him. Sadly, this one failed (apparently he doesn’t really like caraway either …) but I enjoyed it. If you like caraway this is a recipe definitely worth giving a go.

The book can be purchased (with free postage) from University of Western Australia Publishing, for $59.99. A little thing called Christmas is just around the corner …

20141018_204324

Print
Cauliflower Cheese with Caraway

Ingredients

  • olive oil
  • 50g unsalted butter
  • 1 tbsp caraway seeds
  • 4 tbsp plain flour
  • 500mL milk
  • 100g cheddar cheese, grated
  • 1 whole cauliflower
  • salt & pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 220°C.
  2. Remove the ribs and leaves from the cauliflower and cut out the thickest part of its core, but leave it whole. Steam until a knife can cut into the thickest part of the cauliflower. This may take up to 20 minutes. I did this in the microwave but you may find it easier to do on the stove, perhaps using a bamboo steamer.
  3. Once steamed, place the cauliflower in a baking dish in which it fits reasonably snugly.
  4. To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in saucepan, add the caraway seeds and then stir in the flour. Cook the flour out thoroughly - the butter will absorb the flour and the mix will start to appear crumbly.
  5. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring all the time to ensure there are no lumps. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes to thicken. Stir through the cheese and continue stirring until the cheese is completely melted. Adjust the seasoning.
  6. Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden and bubbling. You may want to finish off under the grill.
  7. Serve piping hot.
https://eatingadelaide.com/book-review-food-southern-forests/

The Reliance, Leeds

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

Black Pudding Salad at the Reliance
date of visit: Sunday 26 October 2014

In what feels like a lifetime ago, Andy and I lived in the beautiful city of Leeds. Since moving back to Australia we’ve managed to return to the UK on a semi-regular basis – helped in no small part by the excuse that is taking a small child to see its grandparents – and we have always made time to top in Leeds. This time around it felt like a flying visit, fewer than five days in a neat little flat in Burley. Of course, it wasn’t enough time to catch up with everyone and one old friend found his allocated slot wedged in between our checkout time and our drive across to Cumbria.

This meant brunch.

Brunch is meal we don’t enjoy often enough. The occasions when all three of us are up, awake and functioning in time for anything before lunch are few and far between – but on holiday things are always different and in this case we made it to the Reliance well ahead of 11am opening*. I’d called in advance to make a booking as the suggestion on the internet was that brunches can be a bit busy but on the morning we were there we would have snagged a table easily.

The Reliance is some kind of hybrid between bar, café and restaurant. Although it’s in a somewhat out of the way corner of town (parking on a Sunday is easy though!) this hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of Leeds’ eaters and drinkers and The Reliance is fast becoming a stalwart on the scene. My old blog tells me that my own first forays there were back in 2006 – so an impressive effort for an independent bar.

We settled down and the small child immediately asked “where’s my food?” (clearly the early morning Weetabix had worn off by this point). For him, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on sourdough and a babycino. For me, the warm salad of black pudding, bacon, potatoes and spinach, topped with a poached egg and for Andy a full English. My friend was waylaid by car troubles, but when he did arrive, he opted for a bacon bap.

20141026_112021 Like father, like son …

While waiting we listened to the chorus of “where’s my food?” while enjoying coffees and reading the newspaper. Sitting in pubs and reading papers (ones that have actual content) is definitely one of the things we both miss about England. The variety of quality newspapers available far tops anything that Mr Murdoch offers the Australian reader. The food arrived and we tucked in.

My salad was pretty good indeed – although not flawless. There was definitely an argument for some of the potatoes being slightly underdone and the salad was dressed a little unevenly, meaning that some mouthfuls were too heavy on the Balsamic vinegar (in general, I find this an overused ingredient). However, the combination of ingredients was spot on with a great mix of textures and flavours: the bursts of saltiness from the bacon, the smoothness of the egg, the slight spiciness of the black pudding. While not perfect, definitely something I’d order again.

The full English got a big tick (the mushrooms which were donated to me were good!) and while I didn’t get to try the scrambled eggs (ahem) the sourdough toast was delicious. The bacon bap also looked good (I’m not sure how you can go wrong sticking bacon in a bap … but I guess it’s always possible, and to be difficult my friend did specify that he wanted the bacon well done!).

I’m pretty sure that the small child would comment that the babycino was perhaps not up to standard – it was predominantly milk rather than froth, which did cause a raised eyebrow.

But while England as a whole may have a long way to go in the babycino stakes … anywhere that can dish up a solid breakfast with the Sunday papers deserves its loyal and enduring clientele. The Reliance remains somewhere that exemplifies many of the best things about the Leeds bar scene.

* during winter it looks like the kitchen is opening at noon and they head straight into lunch, rather than brunch

The Reliance (the-reliance.co.uk)
76-78 North Street
Leeds
LS2 7PN
phone: 0113 295 6060