• Take about tablespn blachan. Wrap in foil. Heat in wok for a while. Take out. Grind to powder.
• Take tablespn shrimp paste. Mix with blachan. Set aside.
• Cut 1 onion (pref brown, not red) into small dice.
• Crush 2 or 3 garlic.
• put about 3 tablspns oil in wok and heat.
• fry onion and then garlic (later) until brown. put in blachan and shrimp. stir for i minute.
• Put in 40 gms crushed chilli – nothing special, just from the packet. Stir in for 1 minute.
• Add 1 to 2 tablespns sugar (pref palm, but brown or raw is fine). Stir for 1 minute.
• Decant into clean jars. Add more oil to cover the top of the chilli.
• You can also add lime juice if you want, but not much.

Keep in fridge. Keep it cool!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 small fresh pineapple – not overripe
• ¼ cup water
• 1 cup coconut milk
• ½ teaspn ground turmeric
• ½ teaspn chilli flakes or dried chillies, crushed
• 1 teapsn salt
• 2 teaspns sugar (granulated), white or raw
• 1 Tablespn peanut oil (or canola)
• 1 teaspn black mustard seeds
• ½ teaspn cumin seeds
• 1 smallish onion, finely chopped
• 3 dried red chillies, broken
• 8 curry leaves (pref fresh, but dried is OK)

METHOD

Quarter the pineapple lengthwise. Peel these boat-shaped segments, remove the eyes and cut out the central core. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

Put the pineapple pieces into a wok, karahi or large pan, along with the water, coconut milk, turmeric and crushed chillies. Bring to a slow simmer over low heat, cover, and cook for 10 minutes or until the pineapple is soft, but not mushy.

Add the salt and sugar. Cook, uncovered, until sauce thickens.

Heat the oil in another pan, add mustard seeds and fry for a few seconds. When they start to pop, add the cumin seeds and onion. Fry for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring regularly, until the onion is soft.

Add the chillies and curry leaves. Fry for another couple of minutes and pour the oil and seeds and onion over the pineapple. Stir well, carefully, and set aside.

This dish should be eaten at room temperature, but is great hot as well. If refrigerated, it tends to lose flavour.

Take a couple of bundles of dry egg noodles and break them into small pieces (break the nest – bundle – up about 4 times) into a bowl. Bring plenty of water to the boil and toss in the noodle pieces and boil for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drain. Tip noodles into a broad (warm) bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce, a pinch of garam masala, a pinch of roasted sesame seeds and a few drops of Chinese sesame oil. Add a pinch of sugar if you like.

Put onto individual plates or serve in the bowl with chopped coriander or mint leaves as a garnish with a small sprinkling of deep fried shallots (the store-bought kind) or deep fried chillies (again, the store-bought kind).

A whole lot easier and quicker than going through the drama of stir-frying the noodles in oil, this is simpler, delicious and healthier, complementing many main dishes. Try it.

 AN EDIT….

I was wrong. I discovered that there’s a Chinese dish very much like this; so I’m not the big inventor I thought I might be.

But here’s a great additional treatment to the above. Instead of adding oyster sauce and sesame seeds as I’ve said above, make a “dressing” for the noodles, put the cooked noodles in a warm bowl, and just add the dressing and lightly toss….

 Here’s the dressing.

Mix together 2 Tablespoons of sunflower (or veg) oil, 1 Tablespoon sesame oil, 1 crushed garlic clove and 3 teaspoons smooth peanut butter. Stir until smooth.

Add to this, 1 chopped green chilli, 2 Tablespoons roasted sesame seeds and 2 Tablespoons light soy sauce. Mix.

Add a splash (few drops) of fresh lime juice and season with salt and pepper.

You can carefully warm this dressing if you like, but be careful; just warm it, don’t heat it too much, and it’s not absolutely necessary if the noodles are kept hot.

Pour the dressing over the noodles, add 2 Tablespoons chopped coriander and mix.

Voila!

INGREDIENTS

• 150g basmati rice (jasmine rice will do)
• 300 ml (½ pint) natural yoghurt
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 Tablespoons Hara Masala (see below)

This dish takes about 30 minutes to prepare, but the rice also has to be cooled, so make it quite some time before the meal.

Hara Masala

This is simply a mix of herbs. Simple, but you have to have them on hand. For this recipe (100 gms rice) you’ll need the following:

• 2 – 3 Tablespoons of chopped fresh coriander leaves
• 1 Tablespoon of chopped mint leaves, 3 to 5 chopped (de-seeded) green hot chillies.

Make sure all ingredients are well-chopped, without “pasting” them and use in this recipe as per instructions below.

METHOD

Cook the rice by the infusion method, drain it thoroughly and leave until cold. Ideally, spread it out flat on a large plate.

Mix the cold rice with the yoghurt, seasoning (salt & pepper), the Hara Masala, and put in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
…simple!

Note: If you want to make this more festive (read; more complicated!) you can insert the following procedure BEFORE mixing together the rice and yoghurt.

Heat 1½ Tablespns oil in a wok and fry 1 teaspn mustard seeds, 10 dried curry leaves and 3 dried red chillies until the mustard seeds begin to pop.

Immediately add scant ½ cup broken raw cashews, ½ cup chopped onion, ½ cup capsicum (green, preferably), 2 teaspns minced ginger and light-fry for 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and put aside, draining and cooling on kitchen paper.

Add this to the Hara Masala at the moment of mixing in with the rice and yoghurt.

…….YUMMO!!!

Well, it’s not such a secret. I suppose almost every Asian cook would know this, but here goes……. we all know that sliced or diced chicken breast meat can dry out pretty rapidly when stir-fried without any further treatment. We end up with fairly arid pieces, and sometimes not as tender as, say, thigh meat.

The trick is to not allow the juices to escape in the cooking.

So; for every 500 gms chicken breast meat, mix in a bowl, 2 egg whites, 3 Tablespoons of cornflour and about 1½ Tablespoons of peanut or vegetable oil. Mix together gently. Season this mix with about 1 teaspoon of salt.

Fold the chicken pieces or slices or shreds into this mixture and proceed with the stir-fry dish. When the chicken pieces hit the hot oil in stir-frying, the pores immediately seal, locking in the cornflour and egg white and not allowing the juices to escape. Try it. It makes a Hell of a difference.

Note: The perfectionists would say “only the egg whites.” I don’t bother, and use the yolks as well. Perfect.

But last night I made a slightly simpler version of a fairly complex Indian dish, Murgh Roghni (chicken in cashew sauce) and it was so goooooooood, I am posting the recipe in the recipe section. Give it a go. Not so complicated, just a little more in the preparation of the sauce. Go to the “recipes.”

This makes about 6 servings. Use a large pan, as this is a “plenty” dish.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large onions, cut into quarters
• 3 Tablespns tomato paste
• ½ cup cashew nuts (or half and half almond/cashews)
• 2 teaspns garam masala
• 2 teaspns crushed garlic
• 2 teaspns chilli powder (more or less, depending on hotness of powder)
• 2 Tablespns lemon juice
• ½ teaspn ground turmeric
• 1 teaspn salt
• 2 Tablespns natural yoghurt
• 3 Tablespns oil
• 2 Tablespns chopped coriander leaves
• 1 red chilli, chopped
• 1 green chilli, chopped
• 1 Kg chicken breast or thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 200 gms button mushrooms, halved, stalks removed
• 2 cups water

METHOD

Put onions into blender and blend to a paste for 1 minute

Add cashews, tomato paste, garam masala, garlic, chilli powder, salt, turmeric, lemon juice and yoghurt and process for a further 1½ minutes.

In a karahi or large pan, heat oil, lower the heat and fry gently the contents of the food processor or blender (the onion/spice mix) for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the fresh coriander and chicken and stir-fry for about a minute until all ingredients are well mixed.

Add the mushrooms and measured water and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan, lower heat and simmer for up to 20 minutes. Uncover and check that the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened. If necessary, cook for a while longer.

Transfer to a warmed serving dish, garnish with fresh coriander leaves, a small sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds (optional) and serve with plain basmati or jasmine rice.

OPTION

Serve Roghni in a single warm bowl and decorate with 6 hard-boiled eggs, halved, a swirl of cream or yoghurt and coriander leaves and/or toasted sesame seeds to garnish

Ingredients

• 1 cup basmati rice, washed and soaked for 30 minutes
• 3 Tablespns vegetable oil
• 4 teaspns granulated sugar, white or raw
• 5 green cardamom pods, bruised
• 3 cm piece cinnamon stick
• 4 cloves
• 1 bay leaf, crumpled
• ½ teaspn salt
• 2 cups hot water

Method

Drain the rice in a colander or sieve.

In a heavy, large lidded pan, heat the oil. When oil is hot, add the sugar, and wait until it is caramelised. No need to stir.

Reduce the heat to low and add the spices and bay leaf. Let sizzle for about 20 seconds, then add the rice and salt. Fry gently, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes.

Pour in the water, raise heat and bring to the boil. Let boil for 2 minutes, then turn heat right down to very low.

Cover the pan and cook for 8 minutes.

Take the pan off the stove without touching the lid and let stand for 8 minutes.

Remove the lid and gently fluff the rice up with a fork.

This recipe calls for ghee – the Indian clarified butter – rather than cooking oil, and it’s the ghee that gives it its distinctive taste. Use ghee.

When you’ve initially cooked the rice, spread it out on a flat, relatively large plate, and put in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.

Ingredients 

• 1 cup basmati rice, cooked, cooled and rested
• 2 Tblspns ghee
• 1 teaspn fennel seeds
• 2 bay leaves or 6 curry leaves
• 4 cm cinnamon stick
• 3 cardamom pods
• 2 large onions, finely sliced
• 2 green chillies, sliced lengthwise
• 1 teaspn salt
• ½ teaspn sugar
• 2 Tblspns raisins (optional) – (I hate ‘em)

Heat the ghee in a large frying pan, wok or karahi over medium high heat. Add the fennel seeds and fry until brown. Add the bay leaves (or curry leaves), cinnamon, cardamoms and let them sizzle for a few seconds.

Add the onions and chillies and fry until the onions are golden brown.

Add the rice, salt, sugar (and raisins) and continue frying until the rice is thoroughly heated through.

Options (for a Thai taste)

You may put in a tablespn of red curry paste after the onions are browned, and stir fry for a minute or two.

Near the end of cooking, stir in 2 teaspns fish sauce and 3 Tablespns mixed fresh coriander leaves and sliced spring onions (scallions).