Kerala pork curry

This is more of a Kerala inspired pork curry recipe than an actual one. We had a bunch of left over dosa batter and a piece of karré that needed using and et voila. I googled around and matched recipes with the ingredients that I had. Since I was basically making up the recipe I chose not to grind the spices but the pressure cooker was unavoidable else this would have been a 3-4 hour long cook time as opposed to the one hour in toto that this was.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg karré (or boston butt or picnicbog or pork shoulder etc)
• 3.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 250g shallots sliced, not too finely
• 2 large onions sliced, not too finely
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 2 large or 4 small potatoes, chopped
• 1.5 tsp mustard seeds
• 0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 0.5 tsp coriander seeds
• 0.5-1 tsp fennel seeds
• 0.5-1 tsp peppercorns
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• 3-4 green chillis, chopped
• 3.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 Tbps coriander powder
• 2-3 Tbsps meat masala powder (I used goan mutton masala)
• Salt

Method

1. Cut the pork into 1" ish chunks and marinate with about two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of turmeric, 1.5 tsp of ginger garlic paste and the vinegar and the soy sauce. Mix well and leave at room temperature for a bit or in the fridge if longer than an hour.
2. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pressure cooker and add the marinated pork. No need to fry the pieces. Add two cups of water and pressure cook the meat. (For this amount and this type of meat I pressure cooked for 20 minutes after the first whistle on medium heat)
3. In a pan heat up oil and add a teaspoon and a half of mustard seeds followed by half a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds, half a teaspoon of coriander seeds, 3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds and about 20 peppercorns. 
4. Now add a handful of curry leaves. Since I was using frozen curry leaves, this is a total guesstimate. 
5. Now add the onions and a dash of salt and fry until golden brown.
6. Add the chopped green chillis and ginger garlic paste when the onions are light brown and cook until the raw smell disappears and the onions and golden brown.
7. Next, add the masala powders and cook for a few minutes, then the potatoes and then the tomatoes and the tomato paste, stirring and cooking for a few minutes after each addition.
8. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes on a medium-low heat until the tomatoes and squishy and the masala is beginning to look cohesive
9. Add the pork along with the water and cook for 15 minutes on medium heat to thicken and reduce the liquid if need be. If the meat doesn't feel tender enough, cook covered for longer or pressure cook the meat again for a few more whistles
10. Mash a few pieces of the potato to thicken the gravy and cook a few more minutes
11. Serve with dosa or idli or appams or rice or roti. It's all good. 

Slow cooker Dal Makhani

This recipe satisfied two wishes for me. One was to make more desi food in the slow cooker and the second was to make more vegetarian food in the slow cooker. Since dal makhani is slow cooked to begin with, the transition to the slow cooker seems like the natural evolution. For this recipe I looked at this, this and this for inspiration. I'm not sure if the kashmiri red chillis actually do anything, but I have them and I like using them. The one criticism I had of my finished daal was that it didn't have a smokey flavour. If I do this again I will add a dash of smoked paprika to add this. This is reflected in the recipe below.

Ingredients

First Step:

• 1.5 cups whole black urad daal
• 3 tbsp channa dal
• 3 tbsp ghee 
• 2.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tsp salt
• 6 cups water
• 2 whole Kashmiri red chillis

Second Step:

• 2 cans red kidney beans
• 1 can pureed tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 3/4 tsp garam masala
• 1.5 tsp roasted cumin powder
• 2.5 tbsp kasuri methi 
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp amchoor powder 
• 3-4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp black salt 
• 1.5 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Before serving:

• 1 cup cream
• cilantro- fresh or frozen

Instructions

1. Wash the daals and add them to the slow cooker with all the ingredients in step 1. 
2. Cook on low overnight. For me this amounted to about 9 hours.
3. Mash the daal a bit with the back of the spoon and then add all the ingredients in step 2.
4. Cook on low for a further 4-6 hours.
5. The dal is now ready. I usually add the cream right before I serve.

Japanese Chinese-style fried chicken

This recipe is from Buzzfeed Japan's video, on youtube here. It is fantastically good and unlike a lot of their other yummy recipes does not involve deep frying. I've written it down so that I don't have to go to their video and play and pause it repeatedly every single time I want to make this! I only have access to bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs so I learned how to debone them from here.

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade:

• 8 Skin-on, boneless chicken thighs
• 4 tsp Minced ginger
• 4 tsp Minced Garlic
• 3 tsp salt
• 8 tbsp rice wine vinegar or Sake

Sauce:

• 8 tbsp light soy sauce
• 8 tbsp vinegar (I've used everything from rice wine to apple cider)
• 4 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 4-5 scallions, finely diced
• 2-3 red peppers finely sliced

Potato flour
Frying oil

Method

1. Debone the chicken and cut off excess skin and fat. Cut small gashes through the skin and meat.
2. Marinate the chicken with the other ingredients under marinade for ~30 minutes. I marinate covered in the fridge if its going to be longer
3. Mix the ingredients under sauce together to make the sauce
4. Coat the chicken thighs in potato flour. 
5. Add a couple of table spoons oil to a frying pan and heat.
6.  Fry the thighs on medium heat, first skin side down for 5-7 minutes and then flip for 5-7 minutes.
7. Cut into slices and serve on rice with the sauce on the side or on top.

Ottolenghi's Chicken Pilaf

This is from Ottolengi and Tamimi's book Jerusalem which we bought a few years ago but didn't actually like until we found this recipe recently! For modifications on the recipe I looked at this and other pages but ultimately came up with my own proportions.

The recipe calls for bone-in, skin-on chicken but I've used boneless skinless chicken thighs both times I've made this and its worked very well. I suspect bone-in would work better. I don't like chicken skin. The original recipe calls for about 2 cups of rice and 1.8 times the amount of water cooked for 30 minutes on low, but I've found I've needed to add a little more water and cook for a little longer, averaging 45 minutes both times.

Ingredients

• 75g Cranberries
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 3 onions, finely sliced 
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1.5 kg chicken thighs
• 14 cardamom pods
• 0.5 tsp whole cloves
• 2 long cinnamon sticks, broken in two
• 2.5 cups basmati rice
• 5 cups boiling water
• 5 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 5 tbsp  dill, chopped
• 5 tbsp coriander, chopped
• 100g Greek yoghurt, mixed with 2 tbsp olive oil (optional)
• 1/2 cucumber grated and drained
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Marinate the chicken with the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, a tsp of salt and 1.5tsp of pepper and the olive oil
2. Fry the chicken in a dutch oven or large cooking dish for about 5-7 minutes on each side until you get a nice brown crust and the meat is about half cooked (Medium-high heat 7).
3. Remove the chicken leaving behind the oil and most of the spices.
4. Add the onions to the oil and fry for about 10 minutes, adding the garlic about halfway through (medium heat 5)
5. Now add in the cranberries and rice and fry around for a few minutes. 
6. Now add in the hot water and the chicken and about 2.5 tsp salt.
7. Push the chicken into the rice, cover the pot and lower the heat (3) and leave for ~ 30 minutes
8. Check a few grains of rice and if needed add a few tbsps more of water and cover and cook for another 15 minutes.
9. Once done, quickly place a clean dish cloth over the top of the pot and recover with the lid and leave for 10 minutes
10. Add the dill, parsley and coriander and turn the rice and meat over gently to incorporate evenly
11. Add the cucmber and a dash of olive oil to the yogurt and each on the side

Brazilian Feijoada

I've made this recipe 3-4 times now and it is this rich, fatty stew that is perfect for cold fall or snow days. It is very flavourful but has very little spice. I followed a couple of different recipes for this over the years but this is a good basis. Major differences are that I usually use this recipe as a vehicle for goan sausage and I use canned black beans instead of fresh. We also love the braised kale/collard greens recipe that is traditionally served with this.

Ingredients

• 3-4 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 pack streaky smoked bacon, cut into slices or 1 pack of smoked pork belly, cut into chunks
• 500g-1000g pork rib or pork shoulder or some other cheap, tough cut of pork
• 3 chorizo cooking sausages/ 1 pack goan sausages/ 1 pack chorizo
• 800g-1.5kg brined bone-in pork leg (rimmat fläsklägg), soaked in water for a few hours, skin removed, cut into a few large pieces
• 3 onion, chopped
• 8 garlic clove, smashed
• Few pinches of chilli flakes
• olive oil, for cooking
• 4 bay leaf
• 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
• To serve: steamed rice, chopped parsley or spring onions and wedges of oranges

Method

1. Heat a large heavy-based dutch oven and add the bacon/ pork belly and fry until crisp. Remove and keep the oil in the pan. In batches sear the brined pork, sausages and pork shoulder/ribs. Season with pepper, but because of the brined pork, do not salt until the very end. 
2. Remove the meat and set aside. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaves to the dutch oven and fry for 8-12 mins or until soft. 
3. Add the meat, bay leaves, white wine vinegar, chilli flakes and half the beans. Cover with just enough water to cover, about 1000ml. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 2 hrs, or until the meat is tender. If there is too much liquid in the pot take the lid off in the last hr. Add the remaining beans for the last hour. 
4. In the last 15 minutes, remove the meat pieces and shred them into large chunks and remove the bones and bay leaves. Spoon a few table spoons of th
   e beans into a bowl and smash with a fork or pulse in a blender and add back to the stew. 
5. Taste and add salt as needed (I've never needed to add salt) 
6. You can also use a slow cooker (4 hr) starting at the end of step 3.

Update 2023: I have now made this many times, most recently with sausage I picked up in Lisbon, fresh sausage, without rimmat fläsk, just fläsk karre. Also, apple cider vinegar instead of white wine. Made no difference, it was still delicious. 

 

I followed this recipe and we had yummy collard greens on the side with slices of orange.  

Kerala Egg Roast / Egg curry / Mutta Curry

This stuff is awesome and super easy. It pairs beautifully with neer dosa, paratha, porotta, appam as well as plain white rice. The basic recipe is from here. I don't make the neer dosa in the same way (I use rice flour) so I usually only follow the recipe for the mutta curry. The ginger in this is amazing and I usually add more than the original recipe recommends.

Ingredients

• 5 boiled eggs
• 4 Onion (sliced)
• 2-3 Tomatoes, chopped
• 1 largish piece of Ginger (1-2"), finely chopped
• 2-3 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
• 0.5 tsp Garam masala
• Handful of Curry leaves
• 0.5 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1tsp Kashmiri chilli powder or paprika, basically red colour but no spice
• 0.5 tsp Chilli Powder
• 2 small Green chillis
• Water
• Salt
• 2 green cardamoms
• 1" piece of cinnamon
• 2 cloves

Method

1. Hard boil the eggs, cool and shell. Make 3 gashes in each egg and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in deep bottomed pan and add the cinnamon,cardamom and cloves and saute for one minute. Turn off or turn down the heat and add the ginger and saute for a minute and then the garlic for another minute. The garlic should not brown at all. 
3. Add the curry leaves and the green chillis. Then add the onions and salt and cook on medium heat till the onions are translucent and beginning to brown. 
4. Now add all the powers and saute for a couple of minutes until they smell less raw. 
5. Then add sliced tomato pieces and mix well. Cover the pan for a couple of minutes and cook on high. Then uncover and cook on medium. Do this until oil separates from the masala, stirring occasionally. 
6. Now add the eggs and mix well, then add 1.5 cups of hot water and cook the curry for about 15 minutes on medium heat.

All done!

Aloo Gobi Ka Pulao

This is from Tarla Dalal's blog originally.

 Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups long grained rice (basmati) 
• 1 cup potato cubes
• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 2 bayleaves (tejpatta)
• 5 to 6 cloves (laung / lavang)
• 25 mm (1") piece cinnamon (dalchini)
• 2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
• 1/4 tsp dried ginger powder (soonth)
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

Method

1. Clean, wash and soak the rice for approx. 15 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon.
3. When they crackle, add the turmeric powder, dry ginger powder, chilli powder, garam masala powder, potatoes and cauliflower.
4. Sauté for 2 minutes and then add the rice.
5. Sauté for 2 more minutes, add 3 cups of hot water and salt and pressure cook for 1 whistle.
6. Allow the steam to escape before opening. Separate each grain of rice very lightly with a fork.
7. Garnish with the mint springs and serve hot.

Harpal Singh Sokhi's Chicken Biryani

This we got from Sanjeev Kapoor's Youtube channel.

Rice:

• Rice 1-1.5 cups soaked for 30 minutes
• In cheese cloth:
• Black cardamom 3
• Green cardamom 6
• Cloves 6
• Black Pepper 6
• Bay Leaf 2
• Cinnamon Stick 1 inch

Tie up bag, add to boiling water. To water, add shahi geera (caroway seeds 1tsp), salt to taste, and then cook the rice till it's 3/4 done.

Marinade:

• Chicken 800 g (w bone for extra taste)
• Ginger garlic paste 2 tbsp
• Red Chili Powder 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Yoghurt 1 cup
• Garam Masala 1 tsp
• Green Cardamom powder 1 tsb
• Brown Onions 1 cup
• Pure Ghee 4 tbsp
• Freshly chopped coriander 2 tbsp
• Mint leaves 10-12
• Green chili 2 broken ones
• Turmeric
• Lemon juice from 1 lime

Massage chicken with marinade and let sit for 1 hour.

When the rice is 3/4 done, layer the half rice over the chicken (and let some of the water come along). Sprinkle some coriander (1 tbsp) , mint leaves (6-8), brown onions (2 tbsp), garam masala (1/4 tsp), green cardamom powder (1 tsp) over the rice, and then layer the rest of the rice on top after straining it. On top, add brown onions (1 tbsp), garam masala (1/4 tsp), cardamom (1/4 tsp), saffron soaked in milk (1 strand). Finally, 5 tbsp of melted ghee on top!

Put the biryani on the stove, and seal the pot using dough. Once the steam escapes from the dough seal (about 15 minutes) the biryani is done.