Bangladeshi Style Creamy Chicken Korma with Crisp Shallots

from Food 52 Chicken Korma, Bangladeshi Style

Chicken again ? Here’s a recipe that I was bound to try for a cardamom use, first up, modify the size of the recipe to reflect what I have on hand and the size of the servings, since I didn’t have a whole chicken around, 2 chicken thighs would be used, skin on. I’ve done recipes before that require the yogurt marinade but this recipe looks deceptively simple on the spices, I mean like where’s the curry, coriander, cumin ?

I halved all the ingredients to go with the 2 chicken thighs which weighed in at about 1 lbs.

Some processed ginger root and garlic were added to the yogurt and then mixed up, bagged with the chicken thighs, about 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of each to 1/2 cup plain full milk yogurt. (is it only me that has a hard time finding PLAIN full fat yogurt at the market?).

Gather the rest of the ingredients while the chicken marinades.

• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon ghee (unsalted butter, clarified)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (if you use chicken with the skin, you may want to cut back on the oil, my result was on the oily side, but I prefer the skin on and the result.
• 1 large onion , minced
• 4 cardamom pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon ground almond
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon raisins, golden if you have them
•  chiles, here it’s open for interpretation, I had some dried serannos, sliced thin and the amount to the level of heat that they are.
• slivered almonds
• 1 shallot thin sliced and fried

Ok the usual start, fry the diced onions in the ghee and olive oil for about 5 minutes, till golden.

Do you like an aromatic kitchen and home or are you the type to run the exhaust vent full blast when frying onions and cooking spicy dishes?

(frying onions is an appetizing odor to me) Ahem! back to the stove, add the cinnamon stick and bay leaf with the cardamom pods. Stir in and activate the aroma for a few minutes.

Add the chicken with the marinade yogurt and the salt, now raise up the temperature at least medium, and cook , not to brown, the juices will separate, keep stirring, no browning !

Mine gives off a fair amount of oils from the chicken, so I call it a more westernized style!

Keep the mixture moving, about 10 minutes, you see a reduction, add in some liquid, several tablespoons or as needed to partially submerge the chicken. I used hot stock. Now cover and stir occasionally 20-30 minutes, to an active simmer, this may be less time in this case as the recipe volume is less than the full specifications.

Meanwhile during the simmering, thinly slice the shallot, if you haven’t already, and in a fair amount of oil, fry them crisp, set on paper towelling or brown paper and reserve for garnish.

Check on the chicken occasionally and when the liquid reduces and the oil rises add the lemon juice, ground almonds, sugar, raisins, and chilis. Taste for balance, and cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Take off heat. Prepare warm plates.

It’s apparent that my result is a bit more gravy-ish than the pictures on the recipe website.

The crisp shallots and almonds make this an attractive dish.

An unlikely companion, roasted sweet potatoes fries, yes the thighs are on the dish, just covered with gravy, this recipe begs for some steamed basmati rice.

Though the recipe does not comment on fishing out the cinnamon, bay leaf and cardamom, chilis etc. I like to serve it as is. It won’t be a homogenous mix, you may bite into a cardamom pod or get a burst of spicy heat from  the pepper, that’s OK by me! Or it could be served simply as family style, bringing the hot pot to the table.

The simple additions of the spices and aromatics, both in the marinade and recipe combine for a many layered finish than seems possible. I would definitely repeat this dish with the required whole chicken and a side of rice.

Also the habit of using fruit and nuts (raisins and almonds) in a recipe such as this is appealing as the sweetness of the raisins do show through versus a sugar only sweetness for the balance, and the ground almonds give a slight nutty background and thickness to the dish.

 

 

 

 

 

coconut curry shrimp

Coconut and coconut milk is something I’ve been incorporating into my meal preparation. Yes, if you look it up there are numerous health claims about what it does but again I try not to get swayed by only by the published health benefits of certain foods. As history proves fads and “new studies” contribute to the sometime misinformation about certain foods and there are surely plenty of healthy types of diets out there to follow. Usually I am open to different types of recipes that provide different types of ingredients, again moderation is the key and often whats proposed to be good for someone may not be your cup of tea. Flavor is a key factor whether it’s a vegan dish or a 1 1/2 inch thick porterhouse steak.

Back to the recipe, as I learn from another blogger some coconut and water is all you need to make a coconut milk type liquid.

prep for saute: ginger,onion, dried hot red pepper,parsley

Let’s make the coconut milk , some shredded coconut, a splash of heavy cream, and water processed in a food processor. The heavy cream gives the fluid some clumps which will cook smooth later.

Saute the prepped ingredients.

Meanwhile since I have frozen shrimp, thaw in water.

Added fresh home-grown hydroponic tomatoes  (I don’t really brag that often)

Cook and mash tomato… you can reinforce  the mix with added ginger and garlic pastes.

Added some habernaro paste, very concentrated

spices, curry powder and cardamom powder

Add the coconut milk mixture, heat to a slight boil, add the shrimp, cook only a few minutes at simmer, cover and turn off heat and set aside so residual heat will finish cooking shrimp.

Serve over rice, garnish with parsley or coriander

Meatballs

 

Adapted from recipereminiscing.com via cookite2bn.org

 

https://recipereminiscing.wordpress.com/pumpes-meat-balls/

http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/866-pumpes-meat-balls.html

Having some beef chuck, some meatballs would be good to have available for future recipes.

Grind  the beef if not already done, prep the ingredients ….

Ground beef, cinnamon, ground cloves, cardamom, parsley and ginger.  (The parsley was missed ! I have fresh parsley outside that was not included.)

I let the mixer do the work…

I drew a 2 inch guide on parchment when forming the meatballs.

Fried instead of boiled as the recipe suggest.

Beefy taste with a slight background of spice.

One of the uses of the meatballs is in a soup, just some stock, boiled fresh noodles frozen from a previous batch, mushrooms and green onions, possibly a dash of soy sauce, herbs and seasonings. I would usually make the meatballs smaller , but followed the recipe. In this application, the meatballs were quartered.

 

apple egg pudding

Having some apples to use, this recipe coincided from a blogger with  the question of what to do with them.

http://nimmiafzal.com/2014/08/06/super-easy-apple-egg-pudding/

This is similar to another recipe German Apple Pancake, that I have made often. https://pmetro.wordpress.com/2013/10/13/german-apple-pancake-apfelpfannkuchen/

This recipe has a bit more body to it. I used more apples that 1/4 and also added some grated ginger for spiciness. The cardamon  is a pleasant flavor for usually expecting a cinnamon apple pie flavor.

Easy ingredients:

6 eggs

apples , sliced

butter or gee

cardamon

Nuts, and/or raisins (I used a variety of nuts on hand)

sugar

First toast the nuts

Then saute the apples in butter

 

Extract some cardamon with some grated ginger root.

6 eggs

 

Arrange the apples and some of the toasted nuts in a buttered baking pan… I sprinkled the sugar on top of the apples here.

 

After beating together the eggs with spices and some nuts, add atop the apples.

Ready for a 400 degree oven..

 

Bake,  turn out, slice and enjoy with coffee or tea.

 

 

 

 

sweet & hot rice

with the addition of raisins, and cardamon seeds, and dried hot pepper flakes, this rice give the sweetness and fire at the same time.

amounts are to your preference….
cover the bottom of the cooking vessel  with chopped leeks
add the rice (one cup)
add the liquid (two cups)
consisting of
vegetable broth
ginger garlic paste *
cardamon  seeds, about 5 pods, broken open
a dash of curry powder
a dash of cinnamon
a dash of smoked dried hot peppers.
dual stage microwave cook 10 minutes full, 10 minutes 1/2 power
when complete fluff, and stir in chopped raisins and nuts.

*in a small food processor, fill the bowl with good sized pieces of ginger and garlic, I buy extra to store for future recipes. (of course peel both). I eyeballed about equal amounts of both, add a small amount of vegetable oil. Process and slowly add more oil till the grinding produces a paste. Store in a small mason jar container and refrigerate. I chose the vegetable oil for neutrality versus olive oil. Much more efficient than buying either ginger and/or garlic paste from the market.

 

 

Labor Day weekend spiced muffins

Ok!, It’s Labor Day Weekend so if you consider cooking and baking a labor, read no further…. Happy Labor Day !

Baking and Cooking can be considered relaxation  for me , not all the time, but when the kitchen is clear even in hot and humid weather and I peruse recipes, something good can be cobbled together from different recipes.

I found several different version of a muffin recipe and since I like a varying degree of spices, I though I’d give this a shot.

But the buzzword is donut muffin, why, I don’t know.

Spiced muffins is the name because , well really , I would ‘t be caught calling them Chai spice muffins because men don’t usually drink Chai tea (let alone, eat quiche !) ,and probably the man on the street doesn’t know what Chai is anyways.

One other tidbit I found is that always check different versions and origins of the recipe. Ingredients and amounts can vary and errors can be included even though others claim to have made the recipe.

http://www.kitchendaily.com/recipe/chai-spiced-doughnut-muffins?ncid=txtlnkusfood00000070&ts=1408282855

http://jellytoastblog.com/2014/01/chai-spiced-doughnut-muffins.html/

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/doughnut-muffins-recipe

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425 Fahrenheit oven , yield was about 16 muffins

This is what I ended up with for my recipe:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

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2 eggs

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Chai spice (actually I mortar and pestled some chai tea spice mix  that contained the said ingredients).

1 tsp cinninmon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon cardamon

reserve some of the spices for topping

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1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/2  cups or more white flour

1/3 cup more or less ground spent grain

you can wing the amounts of flour till you get muffin batter consistency when mixing.

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1 cup milk

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cream the oil and butter with the sugars

whisk the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

add the eggs to the creamed butter mixture

alternate in the milk and the dry ingredients

mix till just blended.

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bake at 425 fro 10-13 minutes, test with a cake tester.

cool, melt some butter, and dip the tops in melted butter and then in the reserved spice mix.

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In pictures :

 

 

SHRIMP N’ CURRY

Serves on white rice, prepare now.

Actually, the ingredients for  the  curry and the blend of Indian spices varies widely, this is what I used. (had available)

Curry Seasonings:
In a Mortar and pestle add,
1 teaspoon curry power
Dash ground ginger
Dash of cumin seeds
That’s it from the spice cabinet,but some chai tea mix gave me a couple of other items for flavor.

Cardamon pod
Allspice pod
1 clove, dried
Grind and mash the above , add other spices to preference.
The recipe calls for sour cream, substituted the following.
1/2 can evaporated milk, about 6 fluid ounces.
Whisked the milk with lemon juice and vinegar, let stand in the fridge to sour and thicken.
Didn’t really measure the amount of juice and vinegar, it should thicken up a bit.

Soak, if frozen , shrimp in a bowl covered with water, this is made for a single serving so the count depends on how big the shrimps are and your appetite.

Peel and clean the shrimp when thawed, leave the tails on. You can reserve the water to add to the sauce if necessary.

Chop onion and sauté in olive oil / and or butter.

Add the shrimp and cook no more than several minutes till pink and opaque. Remove from the pan and set aside. (You could probably cook the shrimp in the sauce by leaving them in the pan, but I choose to set them aside at this point.)

Add the sour cream sauce to the pan, with the onions

and add the mix of spices from the mortar.

Cook till bubbly and fragrant.

Plate a bed of rice,with the  shrimp.

…….and sauce.

add a dab of hot sauce if you like it spicy, or add hot pepper flakes to the spice mix.

Cardamon plum crumble

Adapted from http://kiranscookingclub.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/cardamon-plum-crumble/.
With a bag of plums from the local orchard it would be good for a sweet dessert. A plus is the flavoring of cardamon . This is a fairly easy recipe for those already familiar with a crumbly fruit-baked dish. I won’t reiterate the recipe.
The only misgivings is that I used old store bought ground cardamon, which in the future, I will order some pods to have that fresh ground flavor. Also I could have reduced or probably omitted the addition of orange juice. The finished dish was a bit on the juicy side , even when cooled, something a spoon solved by bailing out the extra juice out from the dish.

The plums prepared in the baking dish.

crumble ingredients, MMMMM… Butter

crumble mixed

baking, don’t mind the oven , I’ll get around to cleaning it soon

maybe the crumble topping could have been more crumbly but what the hell, it’s good! Wheres the vanilla ice cream ??