Toor Dal

This toor dal dish is also a sweet and sour dish - just like the parsi chicken with apricot dish.

What you need:

• 500 gr yellow lentils (soaked in water for 2 hours)
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp black mustard seeds
• 7 curry leaves
• 5 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• green chillies to taste, finely chopped
• 400 gr tin tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 tsp ground tumeric
• 10 gr molasses (from pomegranate)
• coriander leaves

How to prepare it:

1. Drain the soaked lentils and put them in a saucepan with 1 litre of water and the tamarind. and simmer for about one hour or untill the lentils feel soft.
2. Fry the coriander seeds until you can smell the aroma. Remove from the pan and fry the cumin seeds. Grind the roasted seeds in a mortar to a fine powder.
3. Heat the mustard seeds and allow to pop up. Add the cloves, cinnamon, chilli, tumeric, curry leaves and the roasted spicemix and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add the tomato and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Add the molasses and pour the spice mixture in the simmering lentils and cook for another ten minutes.
6. Season with salt. 
7. Delicious with parsi chicken with apricots.

Parsi Chicken with Apricots

The use of dried apricots, sugar and vinegar gives this delicious Mumbai dish a sweet and sour flavor. I made side dish of lentils. You can see the Toor Dal in the next recipe.

What you need:

• 1 kg chicken (in pieces)
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 3 cm ginger, finely chopped
• 2 dried chillies, crushed
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 tblsp tomato puree
• a pitch of salt
• 1,5 tbps clear vinegar
• 1 tbsp palmsugar
• 10 dried apricots

How to prepare it:

1. Cut the chicken in 2 cm pieces
2. Heat the oil in the wok and add the onion untille starting to get brown.
3. Add the garlic, ginger, dried chillies and garam masala., then add the chicken.
4. Fry and stirr for 5 minutes untill brown. Keep strirring to prevent from burning.
5. Add the tomato puree, salt and 200 ml water. 
6. Bring to the boil, put to low heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
7. Add the vinegar, palm sugar and dreid apricots and simmer for antother 10 to 20 minutes.
8. Serve hot with steamed basmati rice and Toor Dal.

Stuffed creamy turkeyrolls

This is a delicious turkey dish - an idea for a simple quick Christmas meal.

What you need:

• 500 gr turkey
• 75 gr creamy cheese
• 30 gr dried apricots (diced)
• 30 wallnuts (crushed)
• 14 slices of bacon

How to prepare it:

1. Preheat the oven on 200 degrees Celsius
2. Slice the turkey in two pieces of 10 x 20 cm and put each one between foil and flatten them by a meatcrusher. You can also slash them with a heavy pan. Make them as thin as possible (about 3-4 mm).
3. Mix the creamy cheese, dried apricots and wallnuts.
4. Put 2 spoons of the mixture on the turkey and roll the slice.
5. Cover the roll with the bacon. the bacon gives extra taste and keep th turkey from drying.
6. Put the two rolls in the oven for about 20 minutes. Turn the rolls half way.
7. Serve with potatoes.

Japanese style Summer Salad

A nice summer salad with mirin.

 
Mirin is an essential condiment used in Japanese cuisine. It is a type of rice wine similar to sake, but with a lower alcohol content and higher sugar content. The sugar content is a complex carbohydrate formed naturally via the fermentation process; it is not refined sugar. The alcohol content is further lowered when the liquid is heated.
There are three general types of mirin. The first is hon mirin (literally: true mirin), which contains approximately 14% alcohol and is produced by a forty- to sixty-day mashing (saccharification) process. The second is shio mirin, which contains alcohol as low as 1.5% to avoid alcohol tax. The third is shin mirin (literally: new mirin), or mirin-fu chomiryo (literally: mirin-like seasoning), which contains less than 1% alcohol yet retains the same flavor.
In the Edo period, mirin was consumed as Amazake. Otoso, traditionally consumed on Shōgatsu, can be made by soaking a spice mixture in mirin.
In the Kansai style of cooking, mirin is briefly boiled before using, to allow some of the alcohol to evaporate, while in the Kantō regional style, the mirin is used untreated. Kansai-style boiled mirin is called nikiri mirin (literally: thoroughly boiled mirin).

November 30 has been designated the Day of hon-mirin by the mirin industry because in Japanese wordplay the date words sound like '11'(good) and '30' (mirin).

 

What you need

 

For the salad

• 3 tomatoes in 1 or 2 cm slices
• 3 small cut in 1 or 2 cm slices
• other vegetable you like to add 
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped

For the dressing

• 1 tbsp white sesame seeds
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• pinch sea salt
• pinch soft brown sugar

How to prepare it

1. Mix the ingredients for the dressing
2. Mix the dressing with the cut vegetables

Persian lamb with saffron and rosewater rice pilaf

Rosewater: The cultivation of various fragrant flowers for obtaining perfumes including rose water may date back to Sassanid Persia. Locally it was known as golāb in Middle Persian, and as zoulápin in Byzantine Greek.

The modern mass production of rose water through steam distillation was refined by Persian chemist Avicenna in the medieval Islamic world which led to more efficient and economic uses for perfumery industries. This allowed for more efficient and lucrative trade.
Since ancient times, roses have been used medicinally, nutritionally, and as a source of perfume. The ancient Greeks, Romans and Phoenicians considered large public rose gardens to be as important as croplands such as orchards and wheat fields.
Rose perfumes are made from rose oil, also called attar of roses, which is a mixture of volatile essential oils obtained by steam-distilling the crushed petals of roses, a process first developed in Iran (Persia). Rose water is a by-product of this process.

What you need:

For the lamb

• 30g honey
• 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 200ml warm water
• 500g lamb rump, cut into 2cm thin strips
• 150g lean minced lamb
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 3 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped finely, plus four sprigs to serve
• 100g dried figs
• 100g prunes, stones removed
• 75g whole blanched almonds
• 150g apple, thinly sliced
• 20ml rosewater
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the rice pilaf

• 40g butter
• 200g basmati rice, washed and drained
• 200g whole almonds, blanched
• 2g saffron, soaked in 20ml rosewater for a few hours
• 30g honey
• 200ml vegetable stock

How to prepare it:

1. For the lamb, mix together the honey, pomegranate molasses and warm water in a bowl.
2. Dry fry the lamb rump strips in a pan over a medium heat.
3. Add the honey mixture and more water if needed and bring to a simmer. Cook very gently until the meat is very soft and almost melting, about 45-60 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, place the minced lamb, cumin and chopped oregano into a bowl and mix well. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and then shape into very small meatballs.
5. When the lamb rump is very tender, add the meatballs to the pan with the figs, prunes and almonds. Simmer for 20 minutes over a low heat, then season, to taste, with more salt and pepper.
6. Add the sliced apple and, finally, add the rosewater.
7. For the rice pilaf, add the butter to a pan and melt gently, then stir in the rice and cook for a minute or so.
8. Add the remaining ingredients, reduce the heat and simmer gently until the rice is tender and the liquid is all absorbed.
9. To serve, pile the rice onto each plate and spoon the lamb alongside. Garnish with a couple of sprigs of oregano.

Bombay Biryani

The word "biryani" is derived from the Persian language, which was used as an official language in different parts of medieval India, by the various Turkic and Mughal ruling dynasties of Central Asian origin. One theory is that it originates from "birinj", the Persian word for rice. Another theory is that it derives from "biryan" or "beriyan" (to fry or roast). A rice pilaf with meat, called büryan is made by the Turkish and other Muslim communities of Macedonia.

I just used Bombay Biryani spice mix from Laziza. Very easy.

 What you need: 

• 300 gr chicken (or lamb)
• 400 gr basmati rice (soak for 30 minutes)
• 200 gr onions, chopped finely
• 200 gr tomatoes, chopped
• 200 gr potatoes, cut in cm cubes
• 1 cup of chick yoghurt (beaten)
• 90 gr Ghee or cooking oil
• 1/2 bag of Laziza Bombay Biryani

How to prepare it:

1. Fry onions untill they become golden.
2. Add the tomatoes and fry untill ghee separates
3. Add the meat, Laziza spice mix, potatoes and yoghurt and fry for 10-15 minutes.
4. Add 1 glass of water, cover and cook on low fire till meat is tender.
5. Then stirr fry on high flame to thicken the masala and the ghee separates.
6. Separatly boil the soaked rice in salted water till halftender. Drain water thoroughly.
7. Form one layer of rice in a pan. Spread the meat masala. Then form another layer of rice on top. Cover the lid and cook on l;ow flame till the rice is fully tender.
8. Mix well with a flat spoon and serve with flat bread and chutney.

Kosambri salad

This salad is from Mysore and you can use carrots and dal. A wonderful sidedish for many Indian menus.

What you need:

• 50 gr moong dal
• 200 gr carrots, grated
• 25 gr grated coconut
• 25 gr coriander leaves
• 1/2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
• 2 dried chillies, crushed
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

How to prepare it:

1. Soak the dal in a pan filled with hot water for three hours, then drain.
2. Finely grate the carrot and combine with the dal, coconut and coriander leaves in a bowl.
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the sesame seeds and the mustard seeds and cover untill the mustard seeds start to pop up.
4. Add the chillies, remove from the heat and add the lemon juice.
5. Let is cool down and add the chillies and seeds to the bowl and mix well.
6. Season with salt.