Chicken Pate

Again, I had never thought this was some thing to even consider making at home, but hey, its really easy. It was good the first time I made it, and I was so almost shocked it was so easy. Chicken pate is basically pureed chicken liver, cooked, with about half as much of butter or/and cream cheese mixed in. Shallots/Onions and garlic are really good also in the mix, as are cloves, cardamons, and my secret ingredient mace, which is covering of the nutmeg seed.
I'd rather, as you dear readers may have noticed, go recipe free at times-- opting for a intuitive, weighted description of the basics of the method. I think that helps a cook innovate on their own, so here goes:
Start by heating some butter, a large pat or 15g (one table sp), with large diced shallot and 4 cloves of chopped garlic. Add 2-3 cloves, cardamon pods, two pinches of shredded mace, 10 black pepper corns and two pinches of salt. When the shallots are translucent, add 250g of chicken liver. No, it doesn't have to be chopped. Just stir it around, for ten mins or so, and you are done. Puree this, with a hand held blender if you have one, and add more butter and/or cream cheese about half of the liver weight, total -- in this example, that would be 125g of butter. In the batch in the pic, I used about 70g of butter, and may be 75g of cream cheese. You can do it with out cream cheese, it just comes out thicker!
I added a teaspoon of gelatin, and poured it into a butter cake tray, and refrigerated it overnight. This helps set it, so that you can turn it out for a nice photo, but I've refrigerated this with out gelatin also -- and got a very spreadable pate.
Spread on a cracker, this has a rich, meaty taste -- and spices really gives its a very warm, rich flavor -- and goes very well, with the tart, chewy, fragrant, onion marmalade, with its lingering sweet kithul after taste.
I kid you not, you can keep eating this, until you've had too much!

Kithul Rosemary Beef - For Geethaka

It was time for beef. It took me awhile to like beef. As a child, i never did -- then i was 12 or 13 and i could not get enough. Puberty, I guess. Of course eating beef is tough (ha ha) in Sri Lanka. Its a taboo for many Buddhists and Hindus. But my mother at the time was in the grip of home science, (she has stopped eating beef now) and my father the physician had no option but to agree. We children were told to never revel the sacrilege to my paternal grandmother, and were then given it for one meal a day. In those days in the seventies, chicken was a luxury, only to be had once a week, if, and that always an if, a 'broiler' could be got. Beef was cheap, but hard to cook. Most often we had it as a curry, but at night, minced beef made up the fillings of rolls, cutlets, and even homemade hamburgers. Then there was Irish stew. That was really good, with bread and butter.
Beef is still hard to cook in Sri Lanka; there a no Sri Lankan steaks to be had of any cut that i know, what ever steaks available are imported. It is still not a preferred meat for many, but one of my close friends, the warm hearted Geetha, shares an interest in Beef. Its more of obsession with him -- I think he'd have beef for every meal if the lovely doctor allowed him to. Ha! He too remembers the meaty days at home, he says his mother had a beef roast for him, nearly every day. Wow. So it was with him in mind that i made this dish, with nearly a kilo of beef, just an ordinary cut is fine, for example 'boneless' from FC or Keels -- but of course, if you have a personal relationship with a butcher, then you are ahead of me. I simmer the beef in a pre-prepared beef stock, made of soup bones, for 2 hours. That's the deal, it comes out really succulent. No, i do not buy ready made cubes. To make Beef stock the easy way, pressure cook a kilo of soup bones in a .75l of water for at least an hour, by lowering the heat so just the steam doesn't escape. The meat that comes off the bones is very eatable, and can be re added to the strained stock, if you clean off the skin and cartilage that hasn't yet dissolved in the stock. And so, simmer the beef in beef stock. You can add red wine to this, it will be even richer. I usually do, this time i didn't. once its simmered, you can boil it down a little, so that any remaining stock is thickened.
You can save this in your fridge for several days. When its time to eat, i saute a potion in a tiny bit of sesame oil, add a capful of kithul treacle (not too much), and, say, two heavy pinches of chopped fresh rosemary (available at Colpetty market, and Keels@LibertyPlaza), and of course salt to taste. Once this is plated, i deglaze the pan real quick, with water or red wine, and toss in some cut, cleaned pokchoy, which will cook in the hot pan, in less that 2 mins. Yes, its that fast, try it, it will be super crunchy, a lovely compliment to the soft, yet still chewy texture of the beef. Kithul Rosemary, in my opinion, is one of the great fusion combination that I've ever tried -- the fragrance and flavor of the mix has real synergy.
The lovely, lovely Geethaka doesn't really cook, and doesn't get into recipes much, i do not think. (Oh but he might now).
But he liked his beef bite.
It was made with much love.


Geethaka Goonawardene contemplates the simple life:
Ruwani, Good Friends, a River Bath and Beef. He didn't mention beer. Strange.
( kumbukan oya, Sri Lanka.)

Orange Chicken, with Chille Peanut Sauce

Readers of my blog know I like to use stocks as a base to secure the solidity of flavors. My lentil soups are an example of this, the idea being that lentils are cooked, reduced in a chicken stock, perhaps with a vegetable like red pepper, and then pureed and creamed. And of course, my basic chicken soup, which i make almost once a week, with stock, fresh or dried noodles and scallions, is another. Some months ago though, i thought i should 'kick this up a notch,' as that TV guy Emiril used to say. But my way.
What about marinating chicken, and then cooking it in the stock, i thought. This works really well, even with boneless chicken breast, a healthy but often flavorless cut. Marinating the sliced breast over night, in a over salted chicken stock, (which is called brine-ing -) does the trick. Even if you wash off the breasts once, lightly, before cooking, it will be super moist and flavorful as you cook it in the rest of the stock, with your favorite greens, because of the osmosis of the salted stock into the chicken.
Now that was good, but then i got ambitious. Yes, i tried to kick it up another little notch. Why not make the brine more complex, i thought, and add a complimentary flavor to the stock. Variations, no doubt abound, but i settled on a orange stock reduction brine (that just sugarless orange juice -- fresh is best, but expensive -- boiled down to a half with chicken stock, with a teaspoon of salt for a cup). I used boned, sliced chicken thighs this time, and let it marinade over night. When it was ready, i got the rest of the stock to a simmer, and added peanut butter, stirring until it was melted, and chillie pieces. Then I browned the marinated chicken, very quicky in a seperate pan, and added it to the stock, letting it simmer for 20 mins. Yes, brineing allows for shortened cooking times, which doesn't dry out the chicken as happens in 'traditional' Sri Lankan chicken dishes. Right at the end, add a sprinkling of fresh, crushed orange. A little cream, or coconut milk power is also a nice addition
I loved the flavor gradients of this dish, from the complimentary orange, to the stay invoking, smooth, nutty, hot on the mouth sauce, and the succulent chicken morsels. The critter who lives near the bar top, who claims to know about food and things said, "its bold!." Ah..well.

In the Sunday Times

Thanks to the wonderful interest and sensitivity of Smriti Daniel, I had the pleasure of one of the coolest interviews I've ever given; what's more the article in the Sunday Times is succinct, deft and makes me look a lot better than I am.

Thank you Smrithi

Sausage Rolls

I wasn't going to photograph this, much less blog it. It wasn't all that very well planed; I was craving sausage rolls though -- and I had half packet of store bought dough, and a few food city garlic sauages. It turned out fine, the sausges were ever so juicy. I've written up the method before, and its simple -- but I think Pusella lingus is much better, really.

Pan Roasted Pork Loin

this can be a really simple dish, which can also be plated impressively.
ask at the meat counter for the pork loin to be sliced into 3/4 inch slices. once this is done, its as easy as falling of a chair really! either marinate the loin medallion in balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper or brine it over night in chicken/spare-rib stock, with your favorite fruit juice added in. (now, okay, you are thinking this is getting complicated, but you don't have to do this -- but it will make the pan roast more succulent and moist, is all. quite good with out!).

pan roast, middle heat on a heavy skillet (i used cast iron) for 7 mins, 3.5 on each side, and your done! i tried a new cream chille sauce with this, which came out well: heavy cream, tomato paste, and chille pices, mixed in to taste, with some salt, and a tiny bit of sugar. heat this up a little in the microwave, or small heavy bottomed sauce pan. this reminds me of my other variation on tomato sauce, which i called, tomato nosauce! (which I paired with grilled fish).

i scalled some pok choy, to go with this, because i can't do with out its crunch for more than two weeks, if i can help it.

Sunday Extra

 
My posts on my short trip to the south of france, are being auto-posted by blogger, using the scheduling thing they have, but i couldn't resist a little some thing in between. its sunday. i didn't cook any thing special, but just reheated some roast chicken i had in the fridge.
now it was okay, but what was wonderful, was the fresh tomatoes and green chillies i added on top.
that's some thing to treasure about living in sri lanka: fresh green chillies, on any thing!

Stock Braised Chicken, with Green Chillie

I'm kinda behind on my blog.
Not because I haven't been cooking; in fact I've been trying my hand at a few new dishes, giant orange shrimp (with a oranage reduction and blanched peel)-- which turned out a winner, is one. But I made it at night for a dear friend, and I don't really take food pictures with artificial light.
So a full account of that will have to wait.
I have also been working on various ways of braising chicken; which can keep the chicken moist yet flavorful. Which Sri Lankan chicken curry which I eat all the time, remains a great favorite of mine -- there is a way that the power of cumin, coriander and other stuff overwhelms the chickiness of the dish.
Brining, (which means marinating in a high salt solution, over night or so) is a way to infuse what ever meat you are cooking with flavor, keeping it is extra moist in the process. This is because osmosis allows for the flavors of the marinade to enter the chicken as it sits in the high concentration salt.

Some times, you have to wash the meat before you cook it, since the salt coating can be too strong, but still the soaked in flavors can work wonderfully.
Earlier, I was brining slices of pork loin, which I was pan roasting.
Rcently, it was chicken, brinined in broth and then braised in the oven.
Once you've got your stock ready, this is a easy, 20 min quick, inexpensive but resteraunt quality dish.

Jehan's Beef

Jehan's Beef
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

Last Sunday, Jehan asked me to lunch at his cool apartment on Amarasekere Mawatha (Dawson Rd).
The house specialty which is beef curry, was on offer -- its a sirloin cut, so it doesn't have to be cooked long to be as soft and succulent as it was. The special ingredient is MD ambarella chutney, which gives it a lovely tang.
He served it with a cumber yorghert ritha, and and biriyani rice!

A great afternoon, with his wonderful friends.

Dinner at Elibank

On Thursday, in pursuit food critique, I had a small dinner party - just two people, Jehan and Radhika— who thought they might enjoy my cooking, and comment on the new dishes I’ve been working on.

We started with grilled prawns, which I’ve been working on for awhile.
This time, I marinated the prawns in a prawns sauce, that I made with prawn shells and prawns, boiled for 20 mins, then pureed strained, boiled down again, until it halved, then blended, with a little olive oil, quite a lot of chili pieces and Thai fish sauce. I let the prawns sit in the marinate overnight, adding fresh pressed garlic, a tiny bit more oil, and pats of unsalted butter, right before grilling for 6 mins. (1.30 + 4.30, combo1 + grill) I think they were good; I may just declare this dish done!

The main course was pan roasted pork medallions, with a pineapple/wasabi glaze. Now, this is part of my pork roast extravaganza, that has been going on all month and I think just in time for Vesak, it may well have come to an end! Pan roasting the pork, works better in a way that oven roasting the whole cut, even though of course, nicely done dry roast has its own flavor, which is not what pan roasted gets you to. But its so much easier to manage in a way. I marinated the sliced (3/4 inch) pork in salted ( 2 teaspoons to 0.75 l --that's 3 cups) unsweetened pineapple juice over night. Then, I used a cup of the marinade, with a cup of fresh juice, and another of diced pineapples, for the base of the reduction, boiling that down, until the pineapple was soft, then pureeing it, and reducing until thick. That’s 30 odd mins of boring, hot work — but this time, I didn’t burn it! Adding wasabi to taste is easy, right at the end, once the pork has been pan roasted in medium heat for about 7 mins., total. Since I use cast iron pans, I just popped it in the oven ( at 5) for about 10 mins also, to giving it that dry roast tinge. May be that worked; but the pork was soft, succulent even, and glaze was done right. My guests suggested that I add a little unmixed wasabi on the side, which I agreed I should have. I should remember next time! The medallions were served over mashed potatoes with pepper, and iceberg lettuce, undressed, scalded spring onion shoots and pineapple slivers. Jehan suggested that the spring onions be slit, some thing Ritu also suggested, some months ago when I made a soup — but in the main, both my guests thought the glazed worked well the pork, and was well blended. I had the dish earlier in the day, when I did a trail run, and yes, I was pleased!

For desserts, and yes there was dessert; we had what called a Strawberry Bomb, soon, when its worked out to perfection to be called, Strawberry Orgasm. I’ve been on a strawberry trend for a few weeks now, so no surprises there, I guess. The base of this, is a strawberry vodka jelly, made with sweetened pureed strawberries, reduced to a cup, blended with a 1/3 cup of vodka, and jelled. On top is sweetened whipped cream, Red Man, again, and Strawberries one of which I embedded in the cream, and the others served on a small side dish. This is a dish you have to work on, dipping your strawberries in cream, waiting for zingy—tangy melt in your mouth vodka jelly below.

Roast pork, with fruit relish

Me? I've been roasting a lot of pork lately.
Trying to really understand how to do it well -- and make a memorable dish of it. Can't say I've got there yet, but hey its fun to try.
-- this loin was marinated in red wine vinegar, pineapple juice, over night, then stuffed with fresh pineapple and roasted. The meat was subtly flavored, I wonder if I could make that stronger.
Since not even I can eat a whole loin of roast pork at a sitting, I've been having this in sliced helpings over a few days.
When I warm it, I add a little sesame oil, and that really gives it fine, nutty overlay.
The relish is diced pineapple and mango with red chilli pieces -- some thing I've done with black bean beef earlier, on the blog.

Would you like try some? Seriously, if you are into food, and like the kind of stuff I cook (meats predominate right now) -- I'd like to hear from you -- if you can offer thoughtful comments on what you taste.
Really.
Leave a note on the blog or let me know on facebook, and I'll get back to you.

Beef with mango relish.

I’ve been working on the mango part of this for awhile. The first time was with pork, but it wasn’t a success. But this time, the whole dish came together!
The idea in this particular line of meat dishes I’ve been doing is to contrast the rich, chewy meatiness of beef, lamb or pork – with sharp, hot, and slightly sweet fruity taste that makes you end each bite, with soft gasp for more. That’s a tall order, for sure. For one, sharp tastes can over power, and then while the dish may still be tasty, it won’t be memorable – it will end up like every other over sauced South Asian or American Chinese dish you’ve had. So subtly is also important, and since I have a difficult to control sweet tooth, that’s some times hard.
Its also harder with paws, but that’s a whole another thing.
In the pineapple wasabi lamb, the sharp taste works as a glaze, which clings to the outside of the cubes of meat, layering each bite with a hot, sweet tingle and then a full, rich meaty core. In the Beef dish I did today, the tastes are kept separate, and the diner is invited to mix between the two, just we do with a chutney when we eat rice and curry.

For the beef, I started with 500g of cubed beef, which I seasoned with one teaspoon of salt, fresh ground pepper, teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, and two teaspoons of brown sugar. After about an hour, I browned in the beef in a caste iron skillet, deglazed with arrack, added water, to about half away, and let it simmer for two hours.
Then I had a beer.
Later, (obviously – one must never cut anything right after a beer J ). I peeled a sour, that is half ripe, mango, and sliced one half of it length ways, and then mixed one tablespoon of white vinegar, one tablespoon of white sugar, and a teaspoon of red chillie pieces (not power), and reduced in down with the mango. I did this in the microwave one time (3 mins on hi-700w), and another time in a heavy bottomed pan. Basically, you’ve got it get it boiled down, but not burned. Taste for balance. If you like it subtler, keep to the proportions, but add less of every thing.
Once that was almost ready, I stir fried, in the tiny bit of sesame oil, 150g of the well cooked beef, with two teaspoons of black bean sauce. You can do the beef well before hand, and then refrigerate it. It will taste even better the next day!
Then I scalded the sliced leeks, in salted water for a minute, and plated it.

Moving between the succulent, yet lightly flavored beef and the hot, sweet, sour and still meaty mango was marvelous. I've blogged about chillie mango before, and it is as any school child in Sri Lanka knows, some thing to die for, especially when its half ripe.
The leeks gave the whole thing a nice, crunchy punctuation – with of course, a hint, a vague hint, of onion.

Red Cooked Chicken

Red cooking, is a technique of braising -- Chinese, as we barberians say -- that uses lots and lots of dark soya sauce. I was leafing through a relatively new cook book I had got, by who is, arguably, the most productive and well recognized Sri Lankan foodie there is, Charmaine Solomon.
In Asian Favorites, which is a selected set of recipes from the massive and magisterial, Complete Asian Cookbook, the red cooked chicken, caught my attention. I was worried by the price of soya sauce, if I liked it the dish, wanted to do it several times -- but I found an inexpensive brand, Turkey, which turned out fine. You can pay Rs. 800 for a large bottle of soya sauce, so be carefully -- unless you want to!
The chicken is simmered, in loads of Soya Sauce, a little wine, water, sugar and spices -- add your own. Now the nice part is you can do it once, I did it with the whole chicken as Solomon describes, and then preserved the resulting, sauce which is now chicken 'soaked' left in the fridge for a few days, and did it again, with chicken thighs (see the fast talking, 'kick-it-up-a-notch' American TV Chef Emeril's take here) -- using the previous sauce. Now that was rich, and right at the end, I took the chicken out, and thickened the sauce a little by boiling it down carefully.
It was a big hit with critters that eat stuff, where I live.

Beef & Bokchoy

This takes a little planning; but its really really simple and quick to make, in the end.
I used about 300 g of Ox Tail, with a few cubes of beef added, since there wasn’t enough Ox tail, I thought. This I seasoned and browned, and then simmered for near a day, about 20 hours, on low heat. Yes, that’s a lot preparation, in a way, but if you have burner that can be left on low, for while, with out disruption, then its no bother. And once you get organized on that part of things, the rest is so easy.
Wash and slice the bokchoy lengthways, and stir fry, with a tiniest bit of oil, of course, and crushed garlic, removing that in a two mins, adding some of the meat, drained of the lovely broth, stir frying with oyster sauce, soy sauce and a bit if kitul treacle. Add a ladle full of the beef broth, at the end, into the wok, and as it thickens, plate it.

Pork, Sour Mango & Bokchoy

Pork, Sour Mango & Bokchoy
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

This dish isn't well worked out yet. Another work in progress!
The pork loin is marinated in an arrack brine; the sour mango is supposed to be a sweetish relish, and the bokchoy scalded in pork broth.
The texures worked well with each other, but the mango relish was too sour. Needs to be tweaked.

I used my new tall tripod with the magic Canon 50mm/1.4.
No flash.
Looks colourful, so thats nice!

Grilled Chicken Wings

Grilled Chicken Wings
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

Street Food, Kl, Malayasia. December 2006.
Well flavored, dripping, hot, and very inexpensive.

Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

I had lunch at the Star Dust, Arugam bay on the 14th of December It was quite amazing. The chicken salad is dressed in yogurt, which is really well complemented by soft, succulent stalks of asparagus, and sautéed mushrooms. It is attractively plated, as you can see, with a topping of julienned Tomatoes. I only had one dish here on this visit, but I look forward to more.

Orange & Brown

Orange & Brown
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

Yes I’m back to cooking!
I’ve been working on this oxtail stew for a few days now; I season the oxtail, about a kilo, then let it marinate in balsamic vinegar, kitul treacle and minced garlic, adding a tiny bit of olive oil to bind it. Then I brown it, removing it, and bring it a boil in a large heavy pot, with more than a liter of water, skimming off the scum several times, then let it simmer for more than 24 hours. Oxtail can take that, that’s the beauty of the all that work the cow’s tail does over the years! It falls of the bone, almost, but it still holds together. But it melt in your mouth. Once that’s well simmered, reduce it, and let it sit in the fridge; its good for more than a few days.
And then, each day, you can have a bit of it, with a different sauce or glaze. The day before I tried a mango/tamarind/wasabi glaze, which was okay, but I thought it over powered the flavor of the meat.
So today I tried a papaya/white wine sauce and it was terrific!
To make this, I pureed papaya cubes in the blender, adding a little water, and about half bottle of white wine (mine was a random bottle of Pinot Grigio), and then reduced that in a heavy pan, for about 15-20 mins, adding a little salt, and some sugar, just a little to adjust the tartness upwards, right at the end. The reduction gets a little frothy, a little bubbly, like strawberry jam in the middle of a omelet. That’s the consistency of the papaya I guess; so you can’t really thicken it enough to be a glaze.
But that’s okay!
Now spoon it over the stringy, succulently meaty Oxtail stew, and the smooth, soft tang of the papaya, deepened by the wine reduction, blends in wonderfully to the space between the strands of taste.
Or, in other words, I had a good dinner. I wish you the same.

Soup Brown

Oxtail Soup.
A very simple dish, really.
Grows tastier by the day, after you've made it.

marinate the ox tail in season the ox tail, marinate in a little vinegar, for as long as you like, and then brown it in some olive oil. then simmer it, on low heat for as long as you can, at least 2-3 hours, and then add carrots, onions, and what ever else you like, 20 mins before you want it to be done.

that's it. Ox tail, the most used muscle in the cow's body, is really tasty like this; it doesn't need much else.

Meat!

Meat!
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

Mutton Kebabs are a Hyderabadi delicacy.