Recipes

Mary Berry’s Cornish Fairings

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

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Last Friday the small child and I were heading out for an afternoon play date so I decided that we should make something to take along. As there was no way I was going to the shops in the morning (in my defence, we’d been shopping on Thursday afternoon) I had to make do with what was in the house. So what follows is a genuine store cupboard recipe.

I first made Cornish fairings a few years ago but never blogged the recipe and, of course, couldn’t for the life of me remember which one I’d used. However, Mary Berry’s 100 Cakes and Bakes offered a recipe and one for which I had all the ingredients. I was a bit concerned because her biscuits looked nothing like Cornish fairings (in my opinion) should.

However, you can never really go wrong with a ginger biscuit, can you?

My biscuits turned out looking exactly like Berry’s, so a big tick there. However, I’ve done some research and have some ideas what needs to be done differently to get a much more distinctive cracking pattern on the biscuits. Disappointing, because last time I made them they were picture perfect … but it’s provided me with an excuse to make more.

These biscuits are full of ginger spice and are hard and crunchy, so they’re perfect for dunking. A big hit at home, with the small child demanding a biscuit for breakfast on Saturday.

Rest assured, he didn’t get it!

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Mary Berry’s Cornish Fairings

Ingredients

  • 100g plain flour
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp allspice
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 50g butter (I used salted as that's what I had)
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 75g (roughly 2 generous tablespoons) golden syrup

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C fan.
  2. Mix the dry ingredients with the butter until crumbly. Add the golden syrup (warmed, if it is very cold weather) and mix to a soft dough.
  3. Either divide into 24 or, using a teaspoon, scoop out small walnut sized portions, roll and gently flatten on a baking sheet (lined with baking paper).
  4. Cook for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, remove and tap the tray firmly on the bench before returning to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
  5. The biscuits should be golden.
  6. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container. They will easily last 3-4 days.
https://eatingadelaide.com/mary-berrys-cornish-fairings/

Charmaine Solomon’s Lamb Doh Piaza

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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On first moving to the UK I remember being amazed by the range of curries available in curry restaurants. I lived in Rochester, in Kent, and at least ten curry restaurants within walking distance of my flats. And every single one had at least one curry I hadn’t heard of before. Having (almost literally) grown up on a diet of rogan josh, vindaloo, butter chicken and raan, curries like jalfrezi, dhansak and phal seemed positively exotic.

I put in some hard yards and after serious research I had the distinctions under my belt and could negotiate my way around a menu in my sleep.

I’m pretty sure that a doh piaza was something with which I was not conversant before heading to the UK. The key thing with a doh piaza is that it’s all about the onions. Indeed, ‘doh piaza’ means ‘two onions’. As with all curries, a long slow cook is in order, so don’t try to whip this up after work. I made this on Monday for Wednesday night’s dinner. I kept aside the second batch of onions, ready to add (along with the garam masala) as the curry was heating up.

This is not a super spicy curry (I ate mine with plenty of hot lime pickle!) and it doesn’t have a scary list of spices so if you’re something of a curry novice, or don’t cook curries often, then this is a great recipe to have in your repertoire.

The basis for this recipe comes from Charmaine Solomon’s classic Complete Asian Cookbook and, perhaps less so than usual, I apologise for what is probably an uninspiring photo. But we all know curries are tough to photograph!

 

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Charmaine Solomon’s Lamb Doh Piaza

Ingredients

  • 700g diced lamb
  • 500g onions
  • 3 large cloves garlic
  • chunk of fresh ginger, peeled
  • ~ 30g plain yoghurt
  • 1 heaped tsp chilli flakes (or substitute chilli powder - but always to taste)
  • half a packet of coriander, roots included
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • ghee
  • oil
  • 4 cardamom pods
  • ½ tsp garam masala

Instructions

  1. Heat some oil and ghee in a heavy based pan that has a lid.
  2. Finely slice half the onions and cook until golden. Then set aside.
  3. While cooking the onions, roughly chop the remaining onions and put in a food processor with the garlic, chopped ginger, yoghurt, chilli, fresh and ground coriander and cumin seeds. Process until smooth.
  4. Once the sliced onions have been browned, add the chopped lamb to the pan and brown. You may need to do this in batches. Set the meat aside.
  5. Add a little more ghee to the pan and then add the onion and spice mix. Cook, stirring frequently, until it darkens in colour and oil starts to appear at the edges. Be patient.
  6. Return the meat to the pan, add the cardamom and stir well. Turn the heat down to low, cover and cook slowly until the lamb is tender. Allow at least a couple of hours.
  7. When ready to serve, stir through the sliced fried onions and garam masala. Cook for a further fifteen minutes and then serve with rice (or naan).
https://eatingadelaide.com/charmaine-solomons-lamb-doh-piaza/

Super Quick and Easy Chicken Wraps

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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Action shot! Another awful photo but I have just acquired a new phone … will you be able to tell the difference?!

I’m not sure whether I should be putting a disclaimer on this piece or not … I received this product in a goody bag at a totally unrelated event (albeit one that celebrated South Australian produce). So while I didn’t pay for it, I have no relationship with either the producer or its marketing/PR people.

Anyway, wraps in one form or another are always a great hit for an easy dinner here. You do have to make sure you buy a decent wrap: the wrong form of carbohydrate can either ruin the flavour of your dinner or leave it all over your lap. But once you have sorted the bread part, you just need to cook a little meat, chop a little salad and find a dollop of yoghurt and you are good to go.

Of course, you do need to get flavour into the meat (or filling). Making felafel – especially if you decide to crack out the deep fat fryer – can be time consuming and even whipping up a Mexican inspired filling can take a little while.

I am not normally a fan of pre-prepared spice mixes because you are, by and large, paying for salt, salt, a bit more salt and then a few other bits and pieces. I’m fortunate to have a well stocked spice drawer and the inclination to mix-my-own which is not only more satisfying but also more cost effective.

However, Outback Pride’s Tanami Fire is a spice mix that I am not inclined to make myself and that both Andy and I have decided we would definitely part with our hard earned for.

For those not in the know, the Tanami Desert is 26 million hectares of desert in Australia’s Northern Territory and it is home to several endangered species.

Tanami Fire is described as a ‘hot spice sprinkle’ which is made from a variety of native Australian plants I can almost guarantee you won’t have kicking around your spice cupboard. The list of ingredients reads: ground Tanami apples, native pepperberry, lemon aspen, garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, salt and saltbush flakes. The label notes that the native Australian ingredients have been grown in a bio-dynamic environment. Outback Pride is a South Australian company that involves the state’s traditional communities in production and provides not only jobs but training in associated industries such as horticulture.

So it’s an all round feel good story.

Of course, that matters not a jot if the end product is not tasty. But tasty it is. We’ve used it several times now in different capacities, but by far the easiest has been to create a quick and tasty filling for a wrap.

No proper recipe today – simply dice or slice your meat (in our case, chicken) and sprinkle generously with the spice mix. A marinade for half an hour or so, if you can afford it, and then fry up. Serve in the wrap on top of salad and with some yoghurt. If you really want to do a bit more chopping, mix some finely minced garlic through that yoghurt!

The Tanami Fire mix has a citrussy spicy flavour – it is quite hot so if you’re a bit averse to chilli go easy. We’ve been thrashing it a bit and come BBQ time it will be perfect as a marinade or to use after the fact to jazz up some meat.