Malaysian Beef Rendang

Apparently  CNN poll said that it thought that Malaysian Beef Rendang was the most delicious food in the world.
I'd eaten it in a Malay restaurant in China Town in London and enjoyed it there but had never tried to make it.
I spent some time browsing the internet for recipes, tending to focus on Indonesian and Malay sites to keep things as authentic as possible.
What I did then was to amalgamate a couple and here is the recipe:-

Ingredients

1.25 kg Stewing beef or a roasting joint cut into 3-4 cm pieces ( I used a topside joint)

Rempah or Curry paste

2 medium brown onions, peeled, roughly chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly sliced

2 1/2 Tbs ground coriander

1 1/2 Tbs ground fennel

1 1/2 Tbs ground cumin

1 tsp ground black pepper

3-5 red chillies - depending on how hot you like it

4 stalks lemongrass, white part only, dry outer layers removed, finely sliced

3 cm galangal (fattest part), peeled and finely sliced (if you can get it)

3 cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced

1 Tbs tamarind paste – easily found in a jar at supermarkets or Asian grocers

2 Tbs brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Other

1 cinnamon stick

4 cloves

6 cardamom pods

800 ml coconut milk

150g kerisik (150g desiccated coconut required - see method)

Extra brown sugar and salt to balance at the end

Method

Combine all rempah ingredients in a blender and blitz into a smooth paste. Pour into a large mixing bowl together with beef and mix thoroughly. Cover, refrigerate and leave to marinate overnight or for 2 hours at minimum. I poured it all into a zip-lock bag with the beef - sealed it and left it over night in the fridge.

To cook, transfer meat into a large non-stick saucepan. Add remaining ingredients except kerisik and cook uncovered on a low to medium heat until half the liquid has evaporated. Stir occasionally to check the mixture is not catching on the bottom. Again it depends how you feel about it but I did this all in a slow cooker on low for about 6-7 hours, then emptied it out in to a hot wok to reduce the sauce. I also added a sliced red pepper at this stage to add a bit of colour.

To make kerisik, simply dry toast 150g desiccated coconut in a medium frypan, tossing regularly until it develops a deep golden brown. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder to grind into a grainy paste.

Add kerisik and cook until the rendang develops into a dark brown with most of the liquid evaporated and beef tender. This should take 1 - 1 1/2 hours (when not in a slow cooker).

Check seasoning, add salt/sugar if necessary 

Serve immediately with steamed jasmine rice and fresh cucumberand another drizzle of coconut milk.

 

Indian Dinner Party

A couple of weekends ago we had friends over and I did my take on an Indian banquet.

I tried to make it an interesting experience in my own words the look I went for was 'oriental opulence'.
 

I chose a selection of coordinating crockery and cutlery. The plates were a selection of white porcelain mixed with some Imari China (Royal Crown Derby of course!) and a few serving dishes from Grotaglie the local pottery town near our house in Puglia, Italy.

These were inter dispersed with a few vases of spring flowers to add height as well as some plates on stands again offering a little height.

We had three families (including ours) for lunch so were short of some places, so we pushed two tables together, one for the adults, one for the children, but kept the theme flowing with matching table clothes and crockery.

To make things a little easier we had drinks and a little appetiser in the lounge and then went through to the dining room to sit down and eat the starter, main course and sweets.

Again I didn't want to be up and down all the time so to stick with the 'opulent banquet' theme I presented all of the starters and main courses in one go and allowed people to pick 'n' mix as they chose.

To start we had Prosecco with wild hibiscus flowers in syrup. The flowers were placed in the sparkling wine for a visual treat and it also gave somewhere for the bubbles to begin their journey up into the open from.

With this I served 'pani puri' (Gol Gappa in Punjabi) which are an Indian street food snack. The pani means water which is a flavoured liquor poured into the pani - small puffed up balls of fried semolina paste. With these was a sambal of fresh herbs and vegetables, a simple chick pea curry and a tangy mint and tamarind chutney.

A small drizzle or spoon of each of the above are dropped into the open and waiting pani, then the whole thing can go into your mouth in one go creating a taste explosion.

 

Pan Fried pork chops with apple and cider sauce

 

This is a classic recipe that most people should enjoy, it gets the most out of good pork pairing it with its best friend the apple, whilst not being that sticky sweet apple sauce out of a jar,

For this recipe I went to our local butcher (still a five minute car journey away) and chose two good sized outdoor reared chops from a rare breed pig with a good dry skin on the edge.
The sauce was a 'reduction'  (a 'cheffy' term meaning to boil the sauce away to improve flavour and intensity, as well as its consistency.) of cream and cider (as you can see I used a Swedish one - it was non-alcoholic - left over from when my brother and his family had been around).

To make the dish I first prepped the veg in this case I trimmed and par-boiled some asparagus spears and three large white baking style potatoes to make mash. The asparagus I dropped in boiling water for about five minutes and then fished it out and refreshed it (another cheffy term simply meaning I put it into iced water to stop the cooking and keep the colour.

 

The potatoes I peeled and diced and boiled in plenty of salted water. After about fifteen minutes the potatoes were tender and cooked through, I drained them and put the pan back on the stove with the drained potatoes for about a minute to dry them out a bit (there are few things worse than wet mash!).

After this I added double cream, milk and butter and mashed them down with a hand potato masher (unless your making it for hundreds it's still the best way!) After creating a well seasoned and creamy mash I added two teaspoons of whole grain mustard and mixed that through.

During this time I'd put on a frying pan to warm through to cook the pork chops, I also got four apples and just cut them through the centre.

Pan hot I added a little oil and then the seasoned chops after about four minutes I turned them and added the apples cut side down. The whole pan I then put into a pre-heated oven (around 200*C) - don't do this if you have pans with plastic handles!! Also remember when you take it out the metal handle will be 'Very Hot!' I did forget this with a chatty nine year old and ended up with a good burn on my palm! :-(

If you don't put your pan in the oven it may be a better idea to cut the apple up a bit smaller and then give the chops another five or so minutes on the top of the stove.

After about ten to fifteen minutes of cooking - depending in how well done you like your meat - also allow a bit of extra time if you have a very thick chop!

Take the meat out of the pan with the apple and place it on a plate to rest. Meanwhile add half a finely chopped onion to the (hot!) pan (add a little butter too if you feel it's needed) allow this to sweat out a little without too much colour. After a few minutes when the onion is softened add about a third of a bottle of cider - allow this to reduce with the onion,butter and meat and apple juices. When it looks as though the liquid is just covering the onions add a good splash of double cream and allow to reduce again by around one half, check the seasoning and flavour - turn off the heat.

Now you can start to 'plate-up' - a portion of vegetables leaning against the mustard mash, two apple halves the pork and then a covering of the sauce - you may if you wish strain the sauce before this point to remove the onions (or leave them in?!) 

Now all you have to do is sit down and enjoy it!

 

The Black Cow

The Black Cow
The Green
Dalbury Lees
Derbyshire DE6 5BE
theblackcow.co.uk

On Friday a group of us set out to Dalbury Lees to the Black Cow to celebrate a Birthday.
We had booked and reserved a table in advance as on a previous attempt to visit we'd had to go somewhere else as it does get busy, and right enough it was again on Friday night.

We were asked if we'd like to take a drink in the bar first but thought it would be easier to choose from the table, so we were shown to it promptly and were then given ample time to take in both the menu and the wine list.
The pub boasts an AA Rosette 'for culinary excellence' and a 4* AA rating for it's rooms which are also available.
The menu itself was large and easy to get on with offering a selection of European food and
'gastro-pub' classics.

Menu

Table setting

As a group we decided to order starters to share, so we all plumped for whole baked Camembert with garlic and honey, served with sour-dough bread. After seeing one arrive at another table we decided two would suffice.
They arrived on rustic wooden boards served in the cheese's own box, with possibly a garlic oil and some honey on the top. our waiter had informed us that unfortunately there was no longer any sour-dough left so they would substitute this for a similar bread - it was an olive one which was fresh and crusty and dotted with bits of black olive - fine for all of us except for one member of the party who didn't eat olives and therefore had plain white sliced.

Baked (or microwaved?) Camembert

It all looked good garnished with a dressed salad of mixed leaves, but on attacking it, we found it to be cold and solid, not oozing and baked as stated. As soon as we mentioned this the boards were removed and sent back to the kitchen, to be placed (we thought) in a large old black range with a fire licking the edges of our garlic laden cheese. In reality it was returned to us within the minute so we had to assume it had been given a few circuits of the microwave. Still at least then it was oozing and tasted fine with the bread. Almost a French fondue. I didn't get much from the honey, until I started mopping up what was left of the second one which really benefited form the flavour of the honey, so perhaps the first one had missed out a bit?

For main course, there was a bit of a split, two supreme of chicken marinated with lemon and thyme, two lamb shanks with a rosemary and garlic jus, and for myself half a crispy duckling with an orange and ginger sauce.

A good lamb shank

The presentation across the board was good and a lot of reviews I'd looked at on Trip Advisor had said the portions could be quite small, this however was not really the case, I think they were fair.
The main problem we had as a group was the saucing, in some was or another.
The chicken was quite a solid piece of breast and as such was quite dry (sorry, I didn't get a picture of it) the sauce was either not there or had soaked into the 'root vegetable and potato rosti'. The lamb was 'sauced-up' but had little or no taste of garlic and rosemary (it was also pretty short on the red onion marmalade).


Duck a l'orange (no ginger!)

As for mine it was a pretty good 1970's 'Duck a l'Orange', a nice crispy duck served with fresh veg and (a lot!) of new potatoes in a reduced orange juice sauce, it's just that there was no hint of ginger either fresh or ground and dried which was a shame as that would have just made the difference and moved it on form the 70's version. Still it was a good retro dish.

Not all of us took dessert, I did though!
I went for a vanilla Crème Brulee (sorry I'm not sure where all my accents are yet?!) served with shortbread biscuits. This was thick and creamy and flecked with vanilla beans. the biscuits however were not actually shortbread but looked like some Bronte oat biscuit they'd taken from one of the tea/coffee trays in the bedrooms.
The other sweets chosen included a banoffee crumble tart and a sticky toffee pudding with a butterscotch sauce.
The tart was crisp and filled with a toffee base and some banana but was slightly overpowered by a thick dusty layer of 'crumble crumbs'.
The pudding though was a good size swimming in a pool of sauce, not for the 'faint-hearted', sticky and sweet.
All in all it was a good night out, whether I would put it in the AA culinary excellence bracket is another matter but it was a good well cooked meal if a bit lacking in the sauce dept.

My finished (sorry) Crème Brulee

Review of 'Lady Walk Tea Rooms' @ Shugborough Hall (National Trust)

Shugborough Hall

Stafford

Staffs.

Lady Walk Tea Rooms

Shugborough estate is a lovely National Trust property situated on the edge of Cannock Chase Staffordshire. It was the ancestral home of the Earls of Lichfield and as such where the photographer the late Patrick Lichfield lived.

 Within the grounds is the Lady Walk Tearooms, a pretty 'usual' National Trust type of café/restaurant. On first glance it seems fairly small for such a large estate and it's visitors but out buildings have been converted as an overflow eating area.

The room is cosy (almost over filled) with pine tables and chairs and a small kitchen serving area serves a selection of sandwiches, hot meals, cakes and drinks.

The walks are decorated with photos of days gone by and 'object d'art'' from Shugborough.

We both ordered the sausage and mash (as you can see from the photo)

The sausages were made on the estate from Shugborough pigs and had a good tasty and firm bite. The skins were natural and there was black pepper and nutmeg running through them.

We got two good sized bangers on a mound of fresh mash, we were then offered veg of the day to complement it as well as plenty of fresh gravy. The veg was firm and fresh although we didn't really need more potatoes (in the form of roasted new ones).

For around £7 it was a good hearty home cooked meal. 

 

The dessert fridge also presented well, with brownies, Bakewell tarts and our choice of the day a five or six inch high lemon meringue pie.

The pastry was firm and crisp holding a good tart set lemon custard. The meringue on top was cloud-like pillows of sweetness just offsetting the tartness below. 

Lovely!

Review of 'The Bonnie Prince'

The Bonnie Prince

166 Swarkeston Road
Chellaston
Derbyover cooked and had dried out somewhat.
DE75 5UE

 

 

 

We met friends here last week as it was midway between where we both live. We chose it because of its location and the fact that it has a soft play area as we were both with children.

It's part of the 'Hungry Horse' chain and has a large menu of 'pub classics'.

The children's menu is good and allows you to 'pick 'n' mix' different mains and sides.

 

Our children chose burgers with mash, salad and chips, one also had pasta with tomato sauce.

All of these seemed to be of a fair quality and size and were quickly 'wolfed down'.

The adults meals were a bit more hit and miss. My partner ordered beer battered fish and chips which looked good served on 'fake' newspaper with peas and tartare sauce, but the fish was overcooked and had dried out.

 

I went for a burger (pictured below) - it was a 'Jumpin' Jack Jalapeno Burger.

The bun was quite a soft brioche style one filled with a beefburger, chicken breast, cheese, onion rings and their own 'Jalapeno Inferno' sauce. It was all very tasty although the amount of chips on both meals was rather meagre -I think the children's meals had a similar amount!

 

The problem with the meal was the sauce, I like spicy food (that's why I'd ordered it?!) but it was ridiculously hot and ended up killing the rest of the taste of the meal, which was a shame.

The one problem on the day we visited was the service, things seemed quite muddled, after ordering ice creams for the children they seemed to 'loose' the order for quite some time and then did the same when we came to order the adult sweets. (which were quite poor- for the price). 

 

The other issue we had was with the soft play as even though there were nine of us paying for our dinner and drinks we still had to pay extra for it. the cost was £2.50 which is not too bad but it was just for one hour which seems a bit steep really

 

All in all it was ok for a snack or a drink but not somewhere I'd make a habit of visiting for food.

 

 

Gulab Jamun

These are some Indian sweets I made at the weekend for friends who'd come around for Sunday lunch.

I did a full Indian menu and these were one of the sweet meats that rounded it off.

They are a milk enriched doughnut like affair that are fried and then soaked in a spiced (in my case!) syrup.

Ingredients:

1 cup dry milk powder 3 tablespoons flour 2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) - melted 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup warm milk 1 pinch ground cardamom 1 quart vegetable oil for deep frying

1 1/4 cups white sugar 7 fluid ounces water 1 teaspoon rose water 1 pinch ground cardamom

Directions:

1.	In a large bowl, stir together the milk powder, flour, baking powder, and cardamom. Mix in the melted ghee, then pour in the milk, and continue to mix until well blended. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
2.	In a large pan, stir together the sugar, water, rose water and a pinch of cardamom. Bring to a boil, and simmer for just about 5 minutes. Set aside.
3.	Fill a large heavy pan halfway with oil (or deep fat fryer about 170') . Heat over medium heat for at least 5 minutes. Knead the dough, and form into about 20 small balls. Reduce the heat of the oil to low, and fry the balls in one or two batches. After about 5 minutes, they will start to float, and expand to twice their original size, but the colour will not change much. After the jamun float, increase the heat to medium, and turn them frequently until light golden. Remove from the oil to paper towels using a slotted spoon, and allow to cool. Drain on paper towels and allow to cool slightly.
4.	Place the balls into the skillet with the syrup. Serve immediately, or chill.