Koon Chung from Hongkong is a good brand for plum sauce. This sauce is normally affiliated to Chinese cooking, a good dip with rolls and stir fries or duck. It is very advantageous for me to have a couz in Singapore who believes in my food and proactively stocks up my larder for me. Thanks N.
Envy me all you want, but please try this not-at-all-Chinese-but quite-Continental grill with plum sauce.
Take chicken breast pieces on the bone and create some incisions for the juices to permeate through. Now rub some butter, crushed garlic, a bit of crushed pepper, salt and plum sauce generously all over the chicken. Marinate for 24 hours in your fridge. When you are about to cook it, keep it out at room temperature for an hour or so. Then set it on a baking tin, sprinkle rosemary on the top, you can use the dried variety. Now grill for an hour at 120 degrees. When your needle goes through the chicken easily and the baking tin fills up with juices released from the chicken, spike up the temperature to 250 degrees for the last five minutes or so. This will help give a lovely reddish gold tinge to the chicken and also reduce the volume of the juice by about half. I like to keep a generous amount of juice in the tin so that everyone can keep spooning the juice out as they progress through the chicken.
Enjoy with some home-made wine!
I met Nisha through Shalina. We all went to The World dance Centre - Ratika's dance classes together. Nisha and Shalina were fit and happening while my struggles continued. This state remains present continuous as we speak(!). I must say I found Nisha to be a rather quirky person and therefore a fun person right from the start. She has a tea fetish, a privacy fetish, a perfection fetish and I am sure some more if we decide to interview her spouse. All of the above adds to a gorgeously done up home which boasts of professional competence and personal pride.
At the exhibition that she hosted for peppercorns recently, she taught me this recipe. It is absolutely unique and mouth-wateringly tasty.
So, you need about 1/2 a kilo of flat beans (papri or sem), 1 large aubergine and 1 large tomato. The beans are to be cut in 11/2 inch rectangles and the aubergine in similar sized cubes. In a warm oiled wok, toss the beans with a dash of salt for 3 mins or so. In the same wok, with the beans taken off aside, toss the aubergine in the leftover oil, again with a dash of salt and a small dash of turmeric for 3 mins. Set this aside too. In the same warm wok, add 1/2 a tsp of oil and throw in the full tomato. Cover and allow it to cook in low heat for 5 mins. Now skin the tomato and squish it roughly. To this add the beans and the aubergine.
While the above is being done, you need to coarsely blend a bunch of coriander leaves, 1 or 2 green chillies and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic.
Add the coriander chutney to the vegetable medley. Check for salt and stir for 4 mins and you are good to go.
Anecdote
Samantha, the mother of my boy's best friend is someone I live in fear of. Whenever there is a plan of leaving home and running away from parents who have probably garnered up some courage to lecture or to scold on some burning issue, Samantha aunty and Johnny Uncle's house is the best option! They are the best parents in the "whole universe". Their house is the quintessential happy home. Johnny uncle plays football. Sleep-overs at their place are the best! And Samantha aunty makes us amazing food!
Well, on a serious note, agree with all of the above. A piano teacher, a lovely home-maker and a great friend, Samantha is like a gentle zephyr. Spending time with the Lewises always leaves one with a feeling of calm and goodness. A few holidays, many lunches and dinners, some coffees and get-togethers down, I can vouch for Sam's niceness and her wholesome approach to life. I can also vouch for a bottomless wardrobe where interesting eclectic 'new but old' clothes come out every single time! It is truly like magic!
One such potluck a few evenings back, Sam got this delicious Tex-Mex Lasagne, an improvised recipe from Nigella Lawson's kitchen. It was devoured by all with gusto and delight.
Stuff that you must have
One packet of sweet corn
4/5 tortillas
4 large red onions, 2 chopped finely for the sauce and 2 chopped similarly for the filling.
1 kilo of boiled minced chicken (optional if you want to keep it vegetarian)
4 large tomatoes
1 cup of soaked and boiled kidney beans or 3/4 can of baked beans
A sprig of coriander stalk
2 green chillies
1 tbsp of vinegar
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp of sugar
2 tsps of red chilly powder or red chilly flakes
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp tomato ketchup
Salt to taste(optional)
What to do
To make the sauce; Boil 2 tomatoes and grill 1 tomato for 2/3 minutes each. Skin the tomatoes and chop them. In 2 tbsp oil, fry the onions till pink. Pop in the chopped tomatoes. Add finely chopped green chillies. Stir for a min and add finely chopped coriander stalks. Now add salt, pepper, sugar, ketchup and vinegar. Add 4 tbsp warm water. The sauce will taste like tomato salsa. To this add the boiled sweet corn. After 2 mins, take the sauce off the heat and keep aside.
To make the filling; In another warm wok, add 2 tbsp oil. Add the onions and fry till they are transparent. Add the chicken and stir for 4 mins in low heat. Next add the beans. If you are using baked beans, Just add salt to taste and a dash of chilly powder or red chilly flakes. However If you are using kidney beans, stir in one chopped tomato, add 1/4 cup of warm water, a dash of ketch-up, salt to taste and a dash of chilly powder. For both cases, keep the filling in a low flame for 4/5 minutes.
To construct; in a round baking dish, place one tortilla and spread out some sauce and some filling, sprinkle some grated Cheddar cheese. Cover with another tortilla. Repeat till you have 4 or 5 layers. Finally on the top sprinkle some cheese.
Bake for 15 mins at 150 degrees C. Serve hot.
How to serve
Layered nicely in a transparent round bowl is just perfect.
Trivia
There are interesting theories about the origination of the Lasagne. Though famed as an Italian pasta there is a story that it was a Greek word which meant that it was a flat pasta dough cut into strips. Yet again one dates it back to 14th century England as a recipe in the reign of Richard II.
Quick breads are made using baking powder, baking soda, beaten eggs or other leavening agents instead of yeast. They are 'quick' because they do not need to be left in a warm environment for several hours to rise. As the name suggests quick breads are easy to prepare, but none the less delicious to eat.
First pre-heat your oven at 400 degree C. Then grease your baking dish, a 5 by 9 inch rectangular or a 3 by 3 inch square will be great. Instead you can use cooking paper to line the baking dish. Now take 3 cups wheat flour, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sweet or normal paprika and 1 tsp baking soda(bicarbonate of soda) and mix well. Gradually add 2 cups of plain yogurt and 1 tsp molasses or malt extract. Stir in as much milk as you need to make a moist dough. I used 1/3 cup milk and mixed the dough with my hands. The consistency is sticky.
Now wash and dry your hands well and dust them with dry wheat flour. Then keep taking portions of the dough and set it into the baking dish. Repeat process for the complete dough. When done, make a long gash in the centre and throw in pumpkin seeds. Spread some on the top too and set for baking at 180 degrees C for 45 mins or more until brown and crisp on top. Cool on a wire rack for 10 mins.
Serve hot from the oven. Your kitchen will smell absolutely divine and so romantic, enjoy!
I had watched an episode of Nigelissima a couple of weeks back. Always a sucker for the colour RED, her red lipstick, red candles and red luscious plums looked as attractive as it did appetizing. Since then I was on the look-out for some lovely plums which I picked up as soon as I spotted them. In this recipe, I have added a small twist which heightened the sublimity element in the dessert.
Take about 10 clean plums and cut them into large rounded chunks. In a warm pan melt a tbsp of butter and fry a large stick of cinnamon(my twist). When the cinnamon stick turns dark brown, remove it and add the plums. Toss for 2 mins in low heat and add powdered sugar to sweeten the plums mildly. So, I should say 3 tbsps of powdered sugar should be good but please taste for sweetness. The plums will stew a bit and release some juices. Now set this whole thing, please includes the juices, onto a baking tray.
Take 3/4 cup of flour(weight watchers, you can use half and half flour and wheat-another twist) in a bowl. Add 3/4 slab of a 100 gram frozen butter and half a cup of sugar. Mix this with your finger tips to get a crumbly consistency. Now take about 6 digestive biscuits in a zip lock bag and bash it on your kitchen counter and get the biscuits into a crumbly powdery consistency. Add this to the flour-butter-sugar mix well.
Now pat this onto the plum base, patting it on as you go along. Once set, bake in an oven for 45 minutes at 150 degrees C. Please check for baking and only then take it out. If required bake for some time more at lower heat. The colour should be like it is in the picture.
A lip-smacking seasonal dessert for your dinner party is ready!
