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Urad Dal Tarka
“U” in our Ingredients Alphabet….
We’re very fortunate to have various Chinese, Polish and Continental stores reasonably local to us. The Continental store is on the way to the doctors and on our way back yesterday we popped our heads in. We’ve been looking for something to take the slot for “U” in our latest bit of food fun and this did the trick.
Urad Dal Chilka are split Black Gram Dal with skins on.
If you have a go at this recipe please note you really won’t need Rice with it. We also roasted a Chicken which certainly wasn’t needed, that’s the foundation of today's dinner. This is a very filling dish in it’s own right and has a really satisfying depth of flavour. We’ve scaled the original recipe to suit two, but they were still generous portions to say this is supposed to be a side dish.
Ingredients:-
110g Urad Dal Chilka
1/2tsp. Turmeric powder
2-3 tbsp. ghee or Sunflower Oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
2-3 whole dried Red Chillies broken up
1/2 tsp. Chilli powder
1/2 tsp. Dried Fenugreek
1 medium sized Onion, peeled and sliced
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and shredded
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
2 tomatoes, chopped up
Method:-
(1) Wash Dal well and soak in water for half an hour. Soaking for longer will take the skin off the Dal and is not required.
(2) Drain this water off and rinse the Dal under the tap to remove excess starch.
(3) Add the Dal to a pan of boiling water with Salt and Turmeric and simmer briskly until tender.
(4) You may need to add more water, if the Dal begins to look too thick and dry. This may take 30 minutes or so.
(5) Dals, when ready, should be soft but not mashed and of a custard like consistency. Set aside.
(6) Heat the Ghee or Oil in a frying pan.
(7) Add your Cumin seeds and Fenugreek and fry gentle for a few minutes.
(8) Add whole Chillies and Chillies powder, stir quickly.
(9) Add to the cooked Dal and cover with a lid. This will infuse the flavours into the Dal.
(10) Add the chopped Onion, Ginger and Garlic.
(11) Fry until onions are beginning to turn golden brown.
(12) Add the Chilli powder, Tomatoes etc. and cooked until soft.
We served ours with home made Sag Aloe, topped the Urad Dal Tarka with a Tomato based Chilli sauce and a few Popadums.
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- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
I sometimes loiter around the Fish counter instead of the ‘Yellow Sticker Fridge’, just for a change of scenery really! But this little treat caught my eye. £1.48??? OK I’m more of a butcher than a fishmonger, but dressing an Octopoid couldn’t be that difficult…..
Ingredients:-
1 Octopus
1 Egg, whisked
Seasoned Gluten free flour ( We added Salt, pepper, Garlic Salt and Onion Salt to season)
1 large Onion, chopped
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
½ a tube of Tomato Purée
1 tin of chopped Tomatoes
1 tsp of mixed Herbs
Fresh home grown Basil
Boiled and drained Rice
Drained Capers
Pasta (Gluten free) of your choice
Olive Oil
Oil to fry
Method:-
(1) Using a sharp knife cut the head from the body and inserted the knife into the body. Remove all the innards and cut the beak out of the middle of the head.
(2) Mix the Rice, Olive Oil, a sprinkling of mixed herbs, the squeeze of half a Lemon and the drained Capers.
(3) Stuff the body part of the Octopus with the Rice mixture. It will expand to take quite a bit of filling.
(4) Wrap in foil with an additional drizzle of Olive Oil and set aside.
(5) Fry the Onion in a little oil until soft.
(6) Season with Salt and Pepper.
(7) Add the crushed Garlic.
(8) Add the tinned Tomatoes and Tomato Purée and simmer for about 10 minutes.
(9) Add the mixed herbs and simmer for a further 30 minutes.
(10) Pre-heat the oven to 170c and also a fryer to a similar temperature.
(11) Pop the stuffed body section in the oven.
(12) Cut the head section in half.
(13) Egg wash and then flour and fry until it just floats.
(14) Boil and drain the Pasta.
(15) Serve both sections over the Pasta, with the Tomato based sauce drizzled over and garnished with a little Basil.
(16) Squeeze the remaining Lemon juice over and enjoy.
I slightly over cooked the crispy coated bits. But I’ll know if we ever happen across an Octopus again. Still very tasty though.
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- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
When there are Turkey Thigh & Drummers available locally we’ll always partake and try to think of something unusual to do with them. We usually get 4 or 5 meals from one pack, which at £4.65 makes them pretty good value for us.
I cut steaks from the thick end of the thigh which Sue coated and fried.
Ingredients:-
4 thick Turkey thigh steaks
1 Egg, whisked
Seasoned Gluten free flour ( We added Salt, pepper and Onion Salt to season)
1 large Onion, chopped
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
½ a tube of Tomato Purée
1 tin of chopped Tomatoes
1 tsp of mixed Herbs
Italian style grated Cheese
Grated Mozzarella and Cheddar mix
Mixed Herbs to garnish
Oil to fry
Method:-
(1) Dredge the Turkey steaks in the flour.
(2) Dunk in the Egg wash and the dredge in the Bread crumbs.
(3) Fry in a little Oil until golden brown on both side and set aside on kitchen paper to drain.
(5) Fry the Onion in a little oil until soft.
(6) Season with Salt and Pepper.
(7) Add the crushed Garlic.
(8) Add the tinned Tomatoes and Tomato Purée and simmer for about 10 minutes.
(9) Add a little water if the sauce seems too thick.
(10) Add the mixed herbs and simmer for a further 30 minutes.
(11) Pre heat the grill.
(12) Add 2 Turkey steak per serving to an oven proof bowl.
(13) Pour the Tomato based sauce over the crispy coated steaks.
(14) Add a good amount of Grated Mozzarella and Cheddar mix and sprinkle with the grated Italian style Cheese and mixed Herbs.
(15) Place under the grill until the Cheese has melted and the Turkey is evenly heated.
We served ours with hand cut chips, Peas and a little home made Coleslaw.
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- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
We were given some ‘End of life’ Potatoes in Garlic Butter so this was the outcome.
Ingredients:-
1 x 350g pack of Potatoes in Garlic Butter, sliced
Milk
100ml of Chicken Stock
1 Leek, sliced
Salt & Pepper
Grated Mozzarella and Cheddar mixed Cheese
Italian style grated hard Cheese
Mixed Herbs
Method:-
(1) Layer the Potatoes and Leek in an oven proof casserole.
(2) Add the Milk and Stock so that the top layer is covered.
(3) Add the Grated Cheeses.
(4) Season to taste.
(5) Place in a pre-heated oven at 180c for about 45 minutes until the Potatoes have softened.
(6) Add the grated hard Cheese and mixed Herbs and pop back in the oven to brown.
There was actually too much for us to eat as a side dish, so we wuzzed it up the remained in the food processor to make a hearty soup to freeze for another day.
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- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
Yes, yes I know it sounds dreadful! But actually this turned out to be a remarkably tasty and filling meal. Ideal Autumn fodder and as the Liver, Heart and Carrots came to 79p between them, we had plenty in the ‘Budget’ to play with and dress our dinner up a bit….
Ingredients:-
Beef Liver
Lamb Heart
Milk
Seasoned Gluten free Flour (Garlic salt, Onion Salt and Mixed Herbs, Salt & Pepper)
Method:-
(1) Our Liver and Heart were already sliced. But if not slice them so that they are a reasonable size to fry.
(2) Soak the Liver and Heart in Milk for a couple of hours in the fridge.
(3) Mix your seasoned Flour. The seasoning is really up to you.
(4) Pre-heat a fryer to 180c.
(5) Drain the Milk and coat the meat in the seasoned Flour.
(6) Fry in small batches until golden brown and drain on kitchen paper.
We served ours on a bed of mashed Potatoes with Onion Gravy. Surrounded by battoned Carrots, Kale & Bacon, topped with crackling Kale with some crispy Seas weed as a side.
- Details
- Written by Tony Carson
- Category: Recipes
We’re still using up the Pineapple Juice I bought in error, because we hate waste! Also Turkey isn’t really a Chinese traditional ingredient but we had some cubed Turkey thigh in the freezer from the last one I butchered. So the Turkey got battered!
Ingredients for the battered Turkey:-
300g of cubed Turkey thigh
250g of Cornflour
50g Self raising Flour ( Gluten free in our case )
Chilli flakes
Turmeric
Onion Salt
Garlic Salt
Sparling Water
Method:-
(1) Mix the dry ingredients and dredge the Turkey cubes.
(2) Add sufficient Sprinkling Water to make a thin batter.
(3) Heat the fryer to 170c.
(4) Fry in small batches until they float and are golden brown. If you have a probe you are looking for 76c in the middle, but not much more.
(5) Drain on kitchen paper.
Ingredients for the Sweet & Sour Sauce:-
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Red Pepper, chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic, grated
Tomato Ketchup
Vinegar (We used Malt & Spirit)
Pineapple Juice
4 Spring Onions, sliced
Chilli Flakes
Cayenne Pepper
Soy Sauce
Salt & Pepper
Oil
Method:-
(1) In a large pan or Wok fry the Onions and then add the Garlic with the dry seasonings.
(2) Add The Red Pepper.
(3) Add the Soy Sauce, Tomato Ketchup and Vinegar.
(4) Simmer and add the Pineapple juice.
(5) Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes to reduce.
(6) Add the Spring Onions are stir in.
We’ll probably not be going back to Chicken for this recipe as the Turkey had much more flavour and a better texture. Odd combination sometimes work – This was one of those occasions!
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