Lawang - Afghan braised chicken

Not a single piece left behind for photos.

Ingredients

• 500 ml(2 cups) Greek-style yoghurt
• 1 x 1.5 kgchicken
• plain flour, for dusting
• 80 ml(⅓ cup) vegetable oil
• 2onions, finely chopped
• 4cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbspfinely chopped ginger
• 2 tspground turmeric
• 1 tbspground coriander
• 8cardamom pods, bruised
• 1cinnamon stick
• 185 ml(¾ cup) chicken stock
• 1 bunch coriander, chopped
• steamed basmati rice and lemon wedges, to serve

Instructions

Bring the yoghurt to room temperature while you prepare the chicken. Place the chicken on a board, breast-side up. Using a large, sharp knife, remove the legs by cutting through the thigh joint, then cut through the leg joint to separate the thighs from the drumsticks. Cut through each side of the back bone and discard backbone or reserve it for making stock. Place the chicken, skin-side down, on the board then cut through the breast bone to give two whole breasts, with wings attached. Cut each breast in half on a slight diagonal through the bone, about two thirds of the way up the breast.

Dust each piece of chicken in flour, shaking off excess. Heat half the oil in a large heavy-based casserole  pan over medium. Add the chicken, in batches if necessary, season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and cook, turning often, for about 10 minutes or until golden all over. Carefully pour off any excess oil and remove the casserole pan from the heat. 

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring often, for 6-7 minutes or until the onion has softened. Add the spices and cook, stirring, for another 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add the stock and bring to a simmer, then pour the mixture over the chicken in the casserole pan. Return the casserole pan to medium-low heat and bring the liquid back to a simmer; the chicken will not be in any way covered by liquid but it will produce extra liquid as it cooks. Cover the casserole, then cook the chicken for about 30 minutes, turning once, or until cooked through. Remove from the heat.

Combine about half the hot cooking liquid with the yoghurt in a bowl and stir to combine well. Pour into the casserole and stir to combine with the liquid in the casserole. Heat briefly and gently, taking care not to let the yoghurt mixture get too hot or it will curdle. Serve immediately scattered with coriander, with steamed rice and lemon wedges.

Leeks in white sauce

This one I'm just copying pasting because I'm still digesting the leg of lamb.
I found this recipe here (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/preformleeks-in-white-sauceb-preform-663639.html) and I've been using it for quite some time. It is the best one I've found. Enjoy!

500ml milk 
2 cloves 
1 onion, peeled and chopped 
1 bay leaf 
salt and pepper 
75g butter 
50g flour 
150ml single cream 
freshly grated nutmeg

8 large leeks, trimmed of almost all their green parts, sliced into 5cm lengths and thoroughly washed.

Heat together the milk, cloves, onion, bay and a little salt. Simmer for a few minutes, cover and allow the flavours to mingle for 10 minutes. In another pan, melt the butter and stir in the flour. Make a roux and gently cook the butter and flour together for a minute or so, but don't allow it to colour. Strain the milk into the roux and vigorously whisk together until smooth. On the lowest possible heat (preferably with a heat-diffuser pad), set the sauce to cook.

You might think that the sauce is very thick to begin with but, as it simmers, the texture will become silky and unctuous. Remember, cream is added later, too. Do not cover the sauce as it cooks, but stir from time to time with a wooden spoon and continue in this fashion for 20 minutes or so. Finally, add the cream, nutmeg and pepper, mix in thoroughly, check for salt and cook for a further 5 minutes. Cover and keep warm.

Switch the kettle on and put the leeks into a pan. When the water has boiled, pour it over the leeks and add a little salt. Bring back to the boil and cook them for between 5 and 10 minutes, depending upon how thick your leeks are; test with a small, sharp knife for tenderness. You don't want crunchy leeks; nor do you want sloppy ones. Drain, lay in a preheated, shallow, oven-proof dish and pour over the white sauce.

Roasted leg of lamb

This is a biggie! It's been such a long time since we had lamb. We moved back to Brazil and here people don`t really appreciate lamb... or goat.... or veal.
Anyway, I found lamb under "exotic meat" in our local supermarket and grabbed myself 2kg of a nice leg of lamb. Here's the way we roasted it today... It was marvelous.

You'll need

For the rosemary butter
3 big cloves of garlic
4-5 sprigs of rosemary
about 50g of butter
salt and black pepper

For the gravy
135mL of red wine
about 35g of butter
the same amount of flour
The meat juices from the roast

For the mint sauce
4 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar

For the side dishes
check leeks in white sauce!
About 6 big potatoes
cooking oil
Carrots
Brussels sprouts

Start by removing the leg of lamb of the fridge about an hour before you roast it, to get to room temperature. Meanwhile prepare the rosemary butter by chopping or grating the garlic.Preheat the oven to 350C or gas mark 6. Mix it with the butter and add the finely chopped rosemary sprigs to the mix. Add salt and butter to taste. Mash it all with a fork to be very smooth. With a sharp knife or skewer make about 30 to 40 deep incisions on the meat, wide enough to fit your finger. Rub the butter mix all over and put it inside any crevasses and the incisions, to make sure the it penetrates deep.

Put it on a tray and cover loosely with tin foil for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and let it roast for another 50 minutes for red meat of over an hour 15 minutes for thoroughly cooked lamb.

Remove the lamb and let it rest for 15 minutes before serving. Meanwhile prepare the gravy:

Heat up a heavy based pan and add the meat juices. Be careful for it will sizzle. Add the wine, the small knob of butter and the flour to thicken it. Reduce and stir until happy with the consistency.

If you want Auntie Bessy style potatoes:

Peel and cut the potatoes into big chunks. Cook it for 10 minutes. Drain the water, return them to the pan and shake it to round the edges. When you are half way though your roast put a tray on the bottom with cooking oil until really hot (be really careful!). Add the potatoes and be careful, it will sizzle. Stir then to get the oil all around and put it back on the bottom of the oven. After about 20-30 minutes turn them around to get that crisp layer all over. Remove them when the meat is ready.

When I add the potatoes, I like to add carrots to the tray with the leg of lamb, to give them the meat flavour.

Farm chicken with polenta

Another traditional recipe from my region. I had a huge craving this week and had to make it. The family loved and although I cooked a lot of food, there's nothing left.

This recipe asks for farm chicken or cock. Since I didn't have any of those at home and my craving wouldn't allow me to wait for the next day, I cooked a regular chicken, but instead of using a pressure cooker, I cooked it for 2 hours in low heat.
The chicken/cock:

1 big pan
2 onions, finnely chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 cubes of chicken stock
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tbspoons of soy sayce
1 tspoon of cumin
1 tspoon of pepper
1 tspoon of ground nut meg
1/2 tspoon of safron
1 lime, squeezed
3 chilli peppers, chopped
parsley and chives (as much as you want)
salt
the chicken: dismembered
Put all the ingredients on a pressure cook (if using farm chicken or cock) for 20 minutes. Don't add water or oil.

Polenta

2 cubes of chicken stock
500g of cornmeal
1 onion, finnely chopped
1 tomato, choppoed
2 chilli, chopped
200mL of coconut milk
parsely, chives and spring onions (as much as you want)
salt

Mix all the ingredients with 1/2 littre of  water to boil the 2 chicken stock cubes, 1 tbspoon of butter and 1 tspoon of salt. Add the cornmeal little by little until it is dissolved. Lastely, add the coconut milk and mix it up until it's time to serve (30 min of mixing at least). This polenta tastes very differently because of the coconut flavour. The other ingredients you use to top the polenta and decorate the dish.

Okra and corn stu

6 corn cobs - remove the corn from the cobs
1 tbspoon of oil
250g of chopped okra (about 1cm each piece)
1 onion, chopped
2 cups of water
1 tspoon of paprika
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
parsley, chives and spring onions (chopped)
salt

Cook everything for 15 min. I tend to add a lot of ground pepper for it releases the flavour of the fresh corn.
Serve it all with white rice
 
Pic: http://stat.correioweb.com.br/arquivos/divirta/materias2007/dondurica_interna_menorrr.jpg

Navarin de mouton

I found this recipe here and cooked it yesterday, for lunch. Really delicious

Long, slow cooking ensures that the stewing lamb or chump chops become very tender in this lamb stew.


ingredients

serves 4

Dripping or lard for frying

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed with 1/2 tsp salt

1 - 1 1/4 kg (2 - 2 1/2 lb). stewing lamb or 4 chump chops, trimmed of fat

Flour for coating

Freshly ground black pepper

396 g (14 oz) can tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced

2 turnips or approx. 1/4 kg (1/2 lb) swede, peeled and chopped

1 bouquet garni

1 tsp spoon sugar

Freshly chopped parsley to finish



method

1. Melt a knob of dripping or lard in a flameproof casserole. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently for 5 minutes or until golden.



2. Coat the lamb in flour seasoned with black pepper. Add to the casserole and brown quickly on all sides. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato puree, then add the remaining ingredients except the parsley.



3. Bring just to the boil, then cover with a lid and transfer to a warm oven (160‚°C/325‚°F or Gas Mark 3). Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on the cut of lamb used (stewing lamb will take longer) or until the meat is tender and almost falling off the bones.



4. Taste for seasoning, discard the bouquet garni and sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.



5. Serve with creamed or jacket baked potatoes with soured cream and snipped chives.

American apple pie

Dough:

2 cups of flour
2 tbspoons of sugar
150g of butter
4-6 tbspoons of water


Mix the flour, sugar and butter with 2 forks or a potato masher. Add the water little by little until you get a soft, homogeneous dough.

Filling

4-5 acid apples, cut in thin slices
cinnamon
1 cup of sugar
butter
1/2 lime

Put the slices on a bowl and squeeze the lime on them (to prevent them getting brown). Add the sugar, cinnamon and butter mix it all very well.

On a pie tray (better if it has removable bottom), spread the dough with your fingers (remember to leave some behind to make the cover). On a clean counter, sprinkle flour and open the left over dough, in the shape of a circle, big enough to cover the pie.

Fill the pie tray with the apple slices, putting them all in the same direction until you fill the bottom. Procede in the same maner until you are out of slices. Spread the juice that is left behind in the bowl on top of the apple slices. Cover with the dough circle and merge the edges of the pie in the tray and the cover. With a knife, cut little incisions in a radial fashion (about 5 to 7 will do) so the vapour can escape. To make it look better, you can spread some egg yolk on the cover, to give it a brown look after it's baked

Bake it in medium heat (170C) for about 45 min or until golden

As an alternative, you can use bananas and walnuts for the filling and serve it with squirty cream.

Pic: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8OjlgwDpYONTe6I_7oWGCmxV2XdqXYTG61jBEc8lGDlgz4o3QHG2X58zy3mKfj2jNB5R-p635cZiH9FYZrCQaJHyFDwaI4G3G1dSmNgGJDUhr_FLiU5HRBACPnUjSF37cE3q2ug3Psim/s400/torta+de+ma%C3%A7%C3%A3.jpg

Spaghetti carbonara

20 min
Serves 2

250g of spaghetti
butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
6 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped
2 eggs
140ml single cream
25g of parmesan, grated

Boil the pasta following the instructions in the bag. Heat a knob of butter in a small frying pan and cook the onion, garlic and bacon for 5-7 minutes, until golden. Turn off the heat and add the cream.

On a bowl, crack the eggs and stir it with a fork. When the pasta is done, drain it and put it on top of the eggs, while hot. Stirr it with a fork so the eggs mix with the pasta and cook. Add the cream with garlic, bacon and onion, stirr it and finish with the parmesan and some black pepper on top.

Pic: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-eJrtHpJ1WYCsDt2nLywrZidgC7j_MwApzu_y2BRL_1-zJQUmpo7Xkv7Svux5uzfufMk_YLpkzALYYA3Gqba91EHeMXZjYKJXTp_kCWF_wsJUlE7TbobKvhBufnQg-BHKO4p1UbHOYI/s320/carbonara+prato.JPG