Chana Masala

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Guest Chef No 10 - Ferdia McLoughlin

Let me present the glorious Ferdia McLoughlin who catered for up to 80 people using only beer kegs, an open fire and his manly prowess.  Well I lie, there was a gas hob as well as an open fire.


Ferdia catered for the staff and crew of Vantastival, which is a great family and campervan friendly festival located on Dunanny Estate in Co Louth. The sun was splitting the rocks all weekend, and a great time was had by all. There was music, dancing, bouncy castles, a campervan cook-off (post on this to follow) a scrap heap challenge and hidden midnight surprises in the woods.


Ferdia kept the crew well fed all weekend. I popped my head in to say hi and chop the occasional onion. His cooking gear was manufactured by the creative crew from old beer kegs - sure why not! Even including the big stirring spoon.

One outstandingly tasty dish that made it's way out of this multicoloured tent was Chana Masala. Ferdia spent a year in travelling/cycling in India. He makes some amazing Indian dishes with a great understanding of all the spices and ethnic nuances.


This recipe was written for 80 portions - Ferdia kindly scaled it down to serve 6

Ingredients
2 onions - diced
1 clove of garlic
3 teaspoons of corriander seeds
2 teaspoons of cumin
1/2 tsp of paprika
1 teaspoon of turmeric
200g of tinned tomatoes
800g of tinned chickpeas - drained
1 teaspoon of tamarind paste disolved in cup of water
3 teaspoons of amchoor powder
1 teaspoon of garam masala
1.2 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
3 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 chili
1 teaspoon ginger
100 ml of cream

Method
1) Fry onions.
2) Add in corriander, cumin, paprika & turmeric.
3) Add in tomatoes, cook for a few miutes before adding in the chickpeas, tamarind including the water.
4) Add in the rest of the spices, bring to simmer cover and cook for 10 mins.
5) Uncover and cook for a further 30 mins
6) Remove from the heat and stir in the cream before serving over boiled rice.
7) Enjoy in the County Louth sun
For a lighter option use low fat yogurt instead of cream

What a guy!

Lamb Madras

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No speel just one hugely yummy recipe. I learnt this recipe on the Cooks Academy Certificate course - it's really good, especially the next day. Worth considering if you're cooking for a dinner party reduce the stress on the day in question.

 Serves 6

Ingredients

Sunflower Oil for frying

1kg of diced lamb - trim off excess fat

2 big onions 0 diced

4 large cloves of garlic crushed

1-2 tablespoons of fresh root ginger grated

1 handful of coriander roots - chopped

400g / 1 tin of tomatoes

1 pint good chicken stock

3 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon of curry powder (depending on strength and taste)

1/2 tablespoon of ground coriander

2 tsp of cardamon pods - seeds removed and ground in a pestle and mortar (or a spice grinder if you have one - please santa - hint hint!)

a big bunch of fresh coriander roughly chopped

Method

1) Brown of the lamb in the sunflower oil. Do in batches and set aside.

2) Sweat the onion off for a few minutes after you have finished the lamb.

3) When the onion has gone clear, add in the garlic, ginger, spices and coriander stalks. Cook out the ground spices for a few minutes stirring constantly.

4) Then add in the tomatoes and chicken stock. Cook for 10 minutes.

5) Liquidise the mixture with a stick blender.

6) Return the lamb to the pan and bring to a gently simmer. Cover and cook for 1.5 hours - 2 hours depending on the size and quality of your lamb.

7) Serve with rice or naan and some nice homemade chutney - or Sharwoods mango chutney. That stuff is like crack cocaine for me honestly can't get enough of the stuff.

I made my own naans for this recipe - but the recipe is not quite perfect so I'll wait till it is before I post one. If anyone has any good naan recipes they'd like to share that would be great. I also served it with a spiced vegetable and lentil dish and rice.

Black Bean & Barley Chili

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Veggie Treat

I love a nice big bowl of vegetarian chili, it picks me up and comforts me. Winter is most definitely on the way out - so I may have to forget about dishes like these until Autumn - hurray! 
Black beans are great for you too, packed full of fiber and are also good at lowering cholesterol. I've been trying to cook with them for the last while, but haven't come up with anything with sharing until now. The colour that comes form the beans lends a really dark and 'meaty' tone to the dish.


Ingredients - Serves 4
1 tin of black beans
I large onion - finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary - finely chopped
1 teaspoon of fresh thyme - finely chopped
2 carrots - finely cubed
1 cup of pearl barley
1 tin of tomatoes
1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of paprika
Dried or fresh chili to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil


To serve
Fresh lime juice to taste
Cream Cheese - I used Yeats County Cream Cheese 
Freshly chopped parsley


Method

1. Put the peel form the onion, outer layer and the gratings from the carrots in a pot - cover with a small amount of water and bring to a boil, simmer while you make the rest of the dish.
2. In a large high sided frying pan, gently sweat your onion in the olive oil. After a few minutes add the garlic. Once the onion is translucent, add in the fresh herbs (if you have fresh oregano all the better!) Cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Then add in the paprika and chili and stir briefly. Next stir in the tomatoes, beans, vinegar, carrot and pearl barley. Add in the stock you made with the onion and carrot. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes until the barley is cooked. You might need to add a little more water so check on it every so often.
4. To serve top with a good dollop of yummy cream cheese, add a good squeeze of lime and a healthy sprinkle of parsley. I'm sure that cream cheese and barley aren't traditional ingredients in a chili - but I don't care this was so satisfying.

You can serve with some rice, in Quesadilla, with corn chips - or anything else that is vaguely Mexican. 

Chicken Rice

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Inspired by a meal I never ate in Singapore

On my travels in Thailand there were some anti government demonstrations that closed down all the airports. I had to travel overland through Thailand and Malaysia to get to Singapore to make a flight. The trip down was great fun and met some great people along the way, who were all in a similar position to me. So really felt like a bonus as I got to visit Kuala Lumpur and see parts of Malaysia. Also I got to visit my friend Alan who was living in Singapore at the time. This is the most incredible city for food - every corner is overflowing with amazing places to eat, every kind of food imaginable - super extra bonus food!

Alan's friends insisted on taking us to eat 'Chicken Rice' that she'd always had growing up. After some driving we arrived at the place only to discover it was closed, we found something else equally delicious to eat in an old golf club. The idea of the dish however never left me. This recipe is based on what I think chicken rice would have been like!

Ingredients

1 chicken

2 onions - peeled and halved

3 carrots - peeled and halved

2 sticks of celery - halved

1 thumbs length of ginger finely sliced

6 cloves of garlic gently crushed

1 red chili finely sliced
2 cups of rice (I used basmati) but any fragrant rice would be good

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 scallions finely sliced

1) Put the chicken, onions, carrots, celery, ginger, garlic and chili in a large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Leave to simmer gently covered for about 2 hours.

2) Remove chicken and veg from the pot. Discard pieces of ginger, celery and most of the garlic.

3) Add the rice into the stock then bring to the boil. Simmer until the rice is cooked. 

4) Meanwhile shred the chicken, and chop up the carrots.

5) When the rice is nearly cooked add back in 4/5s chicken, carrots and add in the soy sauce. Serve scattered with some scallions and the remaining shredded chicken.

Perfect for a grey wintry day - oh yes! This dish is only a little Asian but very delicious

Braised Ham Hocks with lentils

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Lu has been talking about cooking ham hocks for weeks now. I have been seeing them in butchers windows for around €1 each so I thought it would be a challenge to figure out what on earth to do with them. I couldn't find any recipes for what I had in mind. On Mothers day we went for lunch in The Arch in Churchtown, and I had the tenderest shreds of ham hock with lentils and lambs lettuce and a piece of crisp pancetta for a starter and it was oh so delish. This recipe does not quite make the grade, its not nearly as refined as they managed to make it in the Arch, but its cheap, easy and delicious in a much more down to earth way.

Ingredients

2 ham hocks

200 grams green or puy lentils

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic

2 sticks celery

2 carrots

1 bay leaf

1 tbsps fresh thyme leaves

water

Begin by steeping the ham hocks in water overnight for at least 12 hours to get rid of some of the saltiness. Then in a big pot with a lid, cover them with fresh cold water and bring them to the boil. When the water has begun to boil, drain it and cover again with fresh cold water. Bring this to the boil and simmer continually for about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 250c

Chop the onions finely and dice the other vegetables. Drain the ham hocks and reserve some of the cooking liquid (about a pint) Fry the onion, chopped garlic and thyme in the same pot you used to boil the ham hocks (just needs to be big enough to fit everything and have a tight fitting lid). Then add the chopped vegetables and cook for a minute, followed by the lentils and bay leaf. Cover this with a mixture of water and the cooking liquid until you have covered everything by about an inch of liquid. Add the ham hocks and cover with tin foil and the lid, and place in the oven for 1 hour and 30 mins. Check every half and hour in case the liquid is running low, you don't want it to go dry!

When cooked, the meat should be falling away from the bones. serve with the lentils and some cabbage.

You can use any leftovers to make a delicious lentil soup with ham!

Yum yum pigs.... foot?

Valentines Dinner for Two

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Guest Chef No 4. Lamb Stew and Gratin Dauphinoise

Guest Chef Number 4 is David Delahunty (it’s his first official guest chef title but he’s been involved in lots of the previous posts!)

So Valentines Day was started in a most romantic of ways - waking up in the back of the van, after Chinese New Year. Then it was off to the Stilorgan shopping centre for a fry. Nothing says I love you more than eating sausage and beans in the finest example of mid-80’s retail architecture!

After a nice walk on Bull Island - it was home to the couch and the fire, and successfully releasing Stephen (the canary) for his first flight around the sitting room, after 30 mins he was hungry and just hoped back into his cage.

Then we whipped up this, and it cooked and bubbled away in the oven, while we got our fill of rom-coms on the TV!

Lamb Stew - made by my valentie

Ingredients 
2 lamb chops - cubed - or stewing lamb
1 red pepper
a large sprig of fresh rosemary
2 sticks of celery - finely sliced
3 large tomatoes - chopped
A glass of red wine
I red onion - cubed
Seasoning

Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan, and brown cook the onion and celery until the onion is translucent.. Then add in the lamb to brown a little. Then stir in the red pepper and tomatoes and rosemary and cook for another 3/4 minutes. Add a dash of wine - bring up to a simmer and then remove.

Place the meat mixture into separate dishes - or one large on and place on the centre shelf of the oven at gas mark 6 for one and a half hours.


For Gratin

2 large potatoes
1 cup of cream
1/2 cup of milk
2 cloves of garlic crushed
Seasoning

Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can. I have a small handheld mandolin, which makes this easy. Rinse them under the tap and then pat dry. Mix the remaining ingredients together. Layer the potatoes into your dish and pour the cream mixture - 3/4 of the way up the edge of your dish. 

Cover and bake also in the oven for one and a half hours at gas mark 6. Remove the lid for the last 10-15 minutes if you want to get the top a little browner (I didn’t and it still looks good)

Serve with a nice glass of red wine, and some Barry White. A special thank you goes out to Pamela Quinn for buying me these awesome dishes for my birthday - thanks Pam - my first Le Crueset - very brilliant present

Lancashire Hotpot

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Its Snowing!

This was one of the first dishes I ever learned how to cook when I was a kid. My mother used to make it all the time and I loved to do the layering bit as a wee-un. Anyway, my mum is not from Lancashire, in fact she is from the south of England, but Im sure she knew what she was doing.

So in the midst of the recent snowy weekend after coming home wet and cold from making a snowman in the Phoenix park (pictured below!) I decided this would be perfect dinner for a sunday night in in front of the fire. It was.

Ingredients

2 potatoes per person

2 lamb chops per person

1 onion

1/2 litre water per person

1 tsp worcester sauce per person

1 tbsp flour per person

Thyme sprigs

1 bay leaf

First, heat a tablespoon of oil in a casserole and brown the lamb chops off until they have a good brown crust. Se them aside. Chop the onion. In the same pan, saute the onion, put the lid on and cook for about 10 mins until the onion is soft. Add the flour to the pan and stir for a minute until all absorbed. Then slowly add the water, stirring all the time. The sauce should thicken a bit, but not too much. Pour it into a jug or some other vessel temporarily.

Slice the potatoes finely, leaving the skins on. Place one single layer of the potatoes on the bottom of the pot you used to make the sauce, then put a layer of meat and season, then another layer of spuds. repeat until it is all used up. Pour the sauce over the whole lot.

Cover the pot with a lid and place in the oven at 180c. Cook for about an hour or until the top is crisp and bubbly.

Serve.

Tasty Filling Barley Stew

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Come share with me your pearls of wisdom, and give us some of your soup while your at it

I have loved pearl barley ever since I was a kid and my mum would put it into Irish stew. I wanted to make a nice barley filled chunky soup, this soup however got so thick it turned into a stew!

Ingredients
2 onions finely diced
2 cloves of garlic
3 carrots diced
3 sticks of celery finely sliced
3 small potatoes cubed
1 cup of pearl barley
1.5 pints of stock
6 leaves of sage shopped (can use dried if you like)
Sprig of rosemary - chopped
Salt and pepper
Oil of choice

Fry up your onion for 1 minute in your oil over a medium heat, then add in your garlic, rosemary and sage- cook until soft and translucent. Stir in your barley and fill up with stock, bring to a gentle boil. You can now use this time to prepare your vegetables. After about 20 mins of simmering pop in your veg and potatoes. Leave to simmer for another 20 mins until the barley is soft with a little bite and the potatoes are cooked. Serve!

Of you want a more soupy consistency - just add more stock

Aloo Gobi

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This turned out very exotic - with left over cauliflower & garlic from France and potatoes from my Dads garden in Limerick. Well maybe exotic isn't quite the word for it...

Anyway - curry and potatoes are a match made in heaven and I was keen to use some of the fenugreek and asa foetida I had bought recently and not had a chance to experiment with yet.

Ingredients
1/2 head of cauliflower - cut into florets
4 potatoes medium cubed
4 cloves of garlic sliced thinly
Fresh chilli finely sliced to taste
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 table spoon of ghee (or use oil)
1 teaspoon of fenugreek
1/2 teaspoon of asa Foetida
1 teaspoon of medium masala curry powder
3 onions

Heat your ghee in a pan along with the mustard seeds when they start to pop add in your ground spices and stir for a minute, before adding in the onion and garlic and chilli. Cook until they are soft and translucent. Then add in your potato cubes and florets of cauliflower, add a dash of water to the pan, and then cover. Cook for 10-15 mins, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick, until the potatoes are cooked and the cauliflower is cooked with still some bite left.

Serve with your favourite naan, spiced rice or dahl. Like this yummy tomato dahl. Sprig of rosemary was for photo purposes only!

Pulse Heavy Vegetarian Chili

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Veggie Chili – pulse racing stuff

I saw a post on yesterday 101 Cookbooks and as I had just found some pearl barley the week before I was keen to put it to good use. Also I love a big bowl of chili, very satisfying. I love my pulses, especially when they’re accompanied by a good kick of chili

1 huge onion (1cm squares)
Several carrots
3 sticks of celery – finely sliced
1 cup of brown lentils
1 cup of bulghur wheat
1 cup of pearly barley
1 big red chili
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
Several bay leaves
1 teaspoon paprika
Cayenne pepper
1 tin tomatoes
Veg stock
4 cloves of garlic - minced
1 ½ inch of ginger finely grated

Soften the onion and garlic in some oil along with the chili. Then stir in the spices, after 1 min or so, then add in the carrots. Fry off for about two mins before adding the lentils, barley, and tin tomatoes and bulghur wheat, mix thoroughly then add in enough stock to cover entirely.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 35-45 mins until the lentils are tender. Add in some cayenne pepper to taste.

If I was making this again – I’d like to add in a cup full of orange lentils – and maybe reduce the pearl barley a little to possibly ¾ of a cup. Maybe substitute red peppers for the carrots –but alas I had none. This actually produces a HUGE amount of chili – so possibly half the ingredients if you‘re not feeding a small army. The above amounts serves around 6/8

Serve with some grated cheese and baked tortilla chips like these babies