5 minute read
Food & Drink
Advertisement
Me Come Dine With
Chicken jalfrezi
Preparation and cooking time Prep:10 mins Cook:1 hr Easy Serves 4
Instead of calling the Indian takeaway, make Instead of calling the Indian takeaway, make your own easy chicken jalfrezi. is curry is your own easy chicken jalfrezi. is curry is also healthy with two of your ve-a-day and a also healthy with two of your ve-a-day and a dose of Citamin C.
Ingredients
For the sauce • ½ large onion, roughly chopped ½ large onion, roughly chopped • 2 garlic cloves, chopped • 1 green chilli, nely chopped • vegetable oil, for frying • 400g can plum tomatoes • 1 tbsp ground coriander • 1 tbsp ground cumin • 1 tsp turmeric
For the meat & veg
• 2-3 chicken breasts, diced • 1 tsp ground cumin • 1 tsp ground coriander • 1 tsp turmeric • ½ large onion, sliced • 1 red pepper, chopped • 2 red chillies, nely chopped (optional) • 2 tsp garam masala • handful of fresh, chopped coriander leaves • cooked basmati rice or naan bread to serve
Method STEP 1
Take 2-3 diced chicken breasts and coat in 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander and 1 tsp turmeric then leave it to marinate in the fridge while you make the sauce.
STEP STEP 2 2
To make To make the sauce, the sauce, fry ½ roughly fry ½ roughly chopped large onion, 2 chopped chopped large onion, 2 chopped garlic cloves and 1 nely chopped green chilli garlic cloves and 1 nely chopped green chilli in a large pan with a little vegetable oil, for in a large pan with a little vegetable oil, for around 5 mins, until browned. around 5 mins, until browned.
STEP 3 STEP 3
Add 300ml water to the onion mixture and simmer for around 20 minutes.
STEP 4
Meanwhile, put a 400g can plum tomatoes in a food processor and give it a good whizz (aim for a smooth consistency).
STEP 5
Heat another large pan and gently fry 1 tbsp coriander, 1 tbsp cumin and 1 tsp turmeric in a splash of oil for about a minute. Add the tomatoes to this pan and simmer for around 10 minutes.
STEP 6
Next, whizz your onion mixture in the food processor and add it to the spiced tomato sauce. Season generously, stir, then simmer sauce. Season generously, stir, then simmer for 20 minutes. You can make large batches of for 20 minutes. You can make large batches of this sauce and freeze it for later use. this sauce and freeze it for later use.
STEP 7
Fry the marinated chicken in vegetable oil and stir continuously. After a few minutes, turn down the heat and add the remaining ½ sliced onion, 1 chopped red pepper and 2 nely chopped red chillies. Stir until the onions and pepper soften.
STEP 8
Add the sauce you prepared earlier to the cooked chicken and simmer for around 10-20 minutes, adding a splash of water if it gets too thick.
STEP 9
Just before you dish it up, stir in 2 tsp garam masala and handful of chopped coriander leaves. Serve with basmati rice or naan bread.
Mushroom brunch
Preparation and cooking time
Prep: 5 mins Cook: 12 mins - 15 mins
Serves 4
You only need mushrooms, eggs, kale and garlic to cook this tasty one-pan brunch. It’s comforting yet healthy, low-calorie and glutenfree too.
Ingredients
• 250g mushrooms • 1 garlic clove • 1 tbsp olive oil • 160g bag kale • 4 eggs
Method STEP 1
Slice the mushrooms and crush the garlic clove. Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan, then fry the garlic over a low heat for 1 min. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft. en, add the kale. If the kale won’t all t in the pan, add half and stir until wilted, then add the rest. Once all the kale is wilted, season.
STEP 2
Now crack in the eggs and keep them cooking gently for 2-3 mins. en, cover with the lid to for a further 2-3 mins or until the eggs are cooked to your liking. Serve with bread.
Better to pair wine with white cheese
THE tradition of matching red wine with ‘a cheese board’ is fraught with di culty. With a plate full of cheeses covering the gamut of blue, goat’s, creamy and hard styles, red wine is rarely the optimum choice.
One of the favourite cheeses from the point of view of both taste and wine-friendliness, is quality Parmesan. With its protected designation of origin status, ParmigianoReggiano comes only from the north of Italy, its sweet and nutty avour matching so well with many wines.
But Parmigiano-Reggiano is given added interest because the cheese is sold with di erent levels of maturity, which in turn give the cheese subtly di erent aroma, avour and texture characteristics. It is sold with a minimum of 12 months of ageing, but 18-, 24-, 36-month cheeses are labelled as such, even 48-month Parmesan appears in specialist cheese shops. a cheese from Lithuania called Džiugas, produced by Žemaitijos Pienas, which is in a broadly similar style to ParmigianoReggiano. It too celebrates di erent maturation styles, with 12-, 18-, 24-, 36-, 48- and even 60-month examples. It is revered in Lithuania and comes from the town of Telšiai, where Žemaitijos Pienas employs almost 1500 people. e youngest of the cheeses has a touch of crumble and nuttiness, a few crystals just beginning to form, but the smoothness and waxiness is much more pronounced than in the more mature examples. Džiugas describe the aroma as ‘hay meadow’ and I like that: something hay-like and dry, but fresh and ower/grass-like too. at suited this unsual Sauvignon Blanc very nicely: a single vineyard wine from Spain, it is partly fermented and aged in American oak, so there is creaminess and texture as well as pristine Sauvignon aromas and avours.
Try it with a Torres, Fransola Sauvignon Blanc 2017.\As the cheese has matured it has become rmer and more friable, and Džiugas’ suggestion to snap o chunks to nibble is a very good one, especially with the right wine. e 24-month worked very well with the white wine, and with the Champagne, but was probably best with the Beaujolais. e crunch in the cheese has developed, as well as a slightly to eed quality, but the lightness, forward fruit and good acidity of the Cru Beaujolais from Henry Fessy cut through and made for a really interesting combination in the mouth. e cheese is not strong, but does have personality enough to take on a low-tannin red.
