Easy recipes from Apple Tree

Tag: spicy (Page 1 of 4)

Stir Fry – Easy Version

You can make many different versions of this based on different meats as available. For four people:

Mix together

  • 4 tbsp    black bean sauce (or Hoisin sauce)
  • 2 tsp      soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp    Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
  • ½ tsp     chilli flakes
  • Pinch of Chinese five-spice powder

Set aside. Meat can be raw or cooked leftover sliced beef, pork or chicken. Now heat your wok or large frying pan with

  • 2–4 tbsp vegetable or groundnut oil
  • 2 large   garlic cloves, sliced
  • 20g root ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

Cook in hot oil for 30 seconds. Add

  • 400g meat, cut on the diagonal into slices about 5mm thick

Stir fry until golden, then scoop out onto a plate and keep warm. Now add a mixture of all or some of the following:

  • onion, sliced
  • red pepper, deseeded and sliced
  • tenderstem broccoli, cut into short pieces
  • Baby corn, halved lengthwise
  • Sugarsnap peas

Stir fry until still firm but not soggy

  • 4 nests  dried egg noodles, cooked according to the packet or 400g Straight to Wok noodles
  • 2 tsp cornflour, mixed with 60ml water

Add to the wok with the reserved meat and sauce mixture and stir around to coat and thicken. Add a splash more water if needed. Serve into four bowls and garnish with

  • spring onions, sliced
  • fresh coriander, roughly chopped
  • sesame seeds

Instant Pot Lamb Tagine

Quick and easy, serves 2-3 people

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 3 small new potatoes, cubed
  • 1 large carrot, cubed
  • a dash of rapeseed oil

Use the Saute setting in your Instant pot, and soften the vegetables. Add

  • 600g cubed lamb

Stir about until coloured. Add

  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tbs Ras-al-Hanout (or Moroccan curry powder mix)
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped

Stir about until fragrant, about one minute. Then add

  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 250ml stock
  • 100g dried apricot
  • 0.5 preserved lemon, skin only, chopped

Put on the Meat setting fo 40 minutes, and seal the lid. After 40 miutes, allow to depressurise for 10 minutes. If the tagine is too watery, put on Saute for 5-10 minutes but keep an eye on it and keep stirring from time o time so it doesn’t burn. Excellent with couscous and a Moroccan vegetable side.

Ooni Oven Tandoori/Chicken Tikka

Placeholder recipe:

Create a marinade by mixing the following

  • 250ml yogurt
  • 1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger
  • 1 tbs fresh garlic
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp red food colouring
  • 1 lemon or lime, juiced
  • 1/2 Tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/2 Tsp extra hot chilli powder
  • 1/2 Tbs tandoori masala powder
  • 1/2 Tbs cumin powder
  • 1/2 Tbs coriander powder
  • 1/2 Tsp ground pepper
  • 1/2 Tsp citrus powder

Cut 600g chicken breast into skewerable chunks. Add to the marinade and stir about until coated. Marinate at least 6 hours. Cook in a pan in the Ooni at high temperature. Make naans too.

Garam Masala Spice Mix

I’m not too fond of excessive cinnamon in savoury dishes, although I like a hint where appropriate. Unfortunately the last few jars of garam masala I have bought have been too heavy on the cinamon, so I decided to mix my own. This is adapted from a BBC Good Food recipe and it is perfect (in my opinion).

Heat a dry skillet and dry-fry the following whole spices:

  • 2 tbs coriander seed
  • 1 tbs cumin seed
  • 2 tsp black peppercorns
  • 1 tsp cardamom seeds (you’re going to have to open 20 pods with your fingernails here)
  • 1 tsp fennel seed
  • 0.5 tsp whole cloves
  • 4 dried bay leaves (or fresh, they will dry in the cooking)

Haet until they give off a fragrant smell, but don’t burn them. Add

  • 0.5 tsp to 2 tsp ground cinnamon depending on cinnamon tolerance

Tip the lot into a spice grinder and grind to a powder. Perfect in Chicken Biryani

Jerk Prawns and Salsa

Very quick and easy. Serves 4.

For the salsa:

  • I avocado, chopped (or frozen, defrosted)
  • 1 mango, chopped (or frozen, defrosted)
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 0.5 red onion, chopped
  • small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
  • juice of 1 lime

Mix it all up and put to one side while you prepare the prawns.

  • 800g large raw prawns
  • 1 tbs jerk spice blend
  • 2 garlic loves, crushed
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 2 tbs honey
  • 2 tbs dark rum

Mix that lot together and leave for at least 10 minutes. Clever people will do this before making the salsa.

  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 50g butter

Heat the butter and oil in a pan until sizzling. Put the prawns in the pan, reserving the marinade. Sizzle one side of the prawns for a few minutes until pink, then flip them over to do the other side. Add back the marinade and bubble away until thick and glossy.

Serve with coconut rice and the salsa.

(Dog)Fish Tacos

Dogfish (huss) is a good meat for this dish. It is firm and holds its shape well, and can take a strong seasoning. Some would say it needs strong seasoning – I’m not going to argue with that. Nor am I going to argue about freezing dogfish. I always freeze dogfish for at least a week before cooking and have never experienced an ammonia taste. Let others argue for or against!

Quite simply, these are marinated, spicy, flash-fried fish strips served on a flour tortilla with all the trimmings. One small dogfish makes a generous meal for one. Simply scale up for more people. Here goes.

First prepare your fish strips: take your skinned dogfish and cut two fillets from either side of the central bone. Then cut prawn-sized strips from the fillets. Now make your marinade:

  • 1 tbs tomato puree
  • 1 tbs honey
  • 1 tbs cider vinegar
  • 0.5 tsp paprika
  • 0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
  • pinch salt
  • pinch garlic powder
  • pinch dried oregano

Mix well and toss your fish strips in the marinade. Leave to infuse while you prepare the rest of the meal. Make some garlic sauce:

  • 3 tbs mayo
  • 1 tbs cold water
  • 1 tsp garlic puree or 1 clove of garlic, grated
  • pinch salt.

Mix well and set aside. Now shred a few lettuce leaves, slice half an avacado, slice a small tomato, chop some fresh coriander, slice some red onion and find a quarter of a lime. Now warm two or three small tortillas or one big one ready for the final cook-off.

Heat 1tbs oil in a frying pan. When smoking hot, tip your marinated fish strips in the pan and spread out. After about a minute flip the strips over, they should be nice and charred. The honey in the marinade will help. As soon as the strips are cooked – literally a minute or two – you can assemble your fish tacos as pictured above.

Karahi Chicken Curry

Next time I’ll take a photo before the family tucks in. Authentic and simple. This serves 4 if you include rice, naans and a vegetable side. You can use any cut of chicken, bone in our out, but I prefer boneless thighs for flavour and convenience.

  • 1 onion, sliced and chopped
  • glug of oil

Gently fry the onion until transluscent. Add

  • 1 crushed garlic clove
  • 1 tbs grated fresh ginger

Cook for another minute. Add

  • 4-6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, chopped into bite sized chunks

Cook away until coloured. Add

  • 2-3 tomatoes, chopped.

Cook for a few minutes. Add

  • 1 green pepper, halved and seeds removed
  • 0.5 tsp chilli flakes
  • 0.25 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1.5tsp garam masala or chaat masala
  • 1.5 tsp cumin powder

Stir in and cook for a few more minutes. Add

  • 1 cup /250ml boiling water

Stir, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Add

  • 2-3 tbs chopped coriander
  • salt to taste

Cook for another ten minutes. At this point it is ready. If you like thicker sauce, you can add a bit of cornflour to thicken to your preferred consistency.

Instant Pot Lamb Madras

This is a delicious curry made quickly in the Instant Pot. This serves 6.

  • 3/4 tablespoon coriander seeds
  • 1.5tsp black peppercorns
  • 3/4 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1/4 tsp fenugreek seds
  • 3 cloves
  • 2 – 3 dried peppers

Dry-fry until they release their fragrance (i.e. start to smell). Then pound to dust in a pestle and mortar or wizz in a flash in a spice mill. I use a cheap coffee mill just for spices.

  • 1.5 onions chopped
  • dash of oil

Saute in your Instant Pot until translucent

  • 1.5 tbs grated ginger
  • 6 garlic cloves, chopped

Add to the pot and cook for another minute

  • 800g dice lean lamb

Add to the pot and turn around until coloured. Add the dry spice mix and cook for another minute. Add:

  • 2 tbs tomato puree
  • 100 ml passata
  • 200ml yoghurt
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Stir and cook on Meat setting for 40 minutes. Allow to depressurise for 15 minutes. If it is to runny, put 2tsp cornflour in a tablespoon or two of water, and stir in briskly. We ate this with saffron rice and Josh’s Dhal

Chicken Pakora

Great for an appetizer for an Indian meal, on their own or even as a side. Serves 3-4 as a starter

  • 250g chicken breast, cubed into bite sized chunks
  • 1 egg white
  • 1tsp garlic paste
  • 1 tbs grated fresh or frozen ginger root
  • 0.25tsp tumeric
  • 1tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 0.5-1 green chilli, seeded and chopped
  • 1tbs chopped fresh coriander leaves
  • 0.5tsp salt
  • Juice of 1 lemon

Mix that lot up and leave for a few minutes while you heat up a pan of oil for deep frying. Warm your oven and have a plate with kitchen towel on handy.

Go back to your chicken and add

  • 2tbs gram flour
  • 1 tbs rice flour or plain flour

Mix into your marinating chicken. Add a bit more gram flour if necessary to make a sticky coating. When your oil is about 160C, drop pakora individually into the hot oil and fry for 3-4 minutes until brown and crispy like the photo abouve. Do this in batches so the pakora don’t clump up and the oil remains hot. Removewith a mesh or slotted spoon and drain on your kitchen towel. Keep warm on the plate in your oven while you fry the remainder.

Great served with a dipping chutney or riata.

Prawn, squash and coconut curry

This is a very liquid stew really, so get ready with bowls and spoons! This is for four people, easily halved. There might seem a lot of ingredients but it is a quick and easy dish once everything is prepared.

  • 1 onion, halved then sliced
  • 1 tbs oil

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and gently ccok the onion until soft and golden

  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
  • 2 red chillis, deseeded and sliced
  • 3cm of ginger, grated

Add to the pan and cook two minutes

  • 400ml can coconut milk
  • 750ml chicken or fish stock

Add to the pan and bring to a very gently simmer. Don’t let it boil or it will go curdly.

  • 350g squash or pumpkin, cubed
  • 150g new potatoes, halved or quartered

Add to the liquid and simmer until cooked 915-20 minutes). Watch it doesn’t boil away, you may ned to partially cover with a lid. If you want to thicken the stew you can mack some of the squack/pumpkin.

  • 400g prawns, raw preferably or or cooked
  • 300g baby spinach

Add to the pan and cook until the prawns are pink and the spinach wilted (about three minutes)

  • Juice of 1 lime
  • .5tbs golden caster sugar
  • 1tbs fish sauce

Add to your stew and stir. If it is not salty enough add more fish sauce.

  • Coriander leaves, chopped
  • red chilli, sliced

Serve into bowls and top with the coriander and chilli. You could serve with more lime wedges. This is fairly substantial already but you could serve with jasmine or basmati rice to help soak up the juices.

Alternatives (you will need to adjust cooking times):

Fish balls, salmon pieces, shellfish mix instead of prawn.

Green beans, peas, sugar snap peas, baby corn instead of spinach

 

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