Thai Chicken Biryani

Spicy mint sauce accompaniment

I know, I know biryani is quintessentially Indian, a magnificently spiced dish of rice and meat, or fish or vegetables, often the centrepiece of a feast. It is a generous offering, usually made in quantities that require sharing, what's not to love? This version though is distinctively thai, and just to muddy the cultural waters further is an adaptation of (Australian) David Thompson's recipe in Thai Street Food by Andrea Nguyen on her lovely site Viet World Kitchen, the yoghurt is Greek and my kitchen is in London. How fabulously multicultural can you get?

The thing is, the last time I made biryani, a lamb one, I was disappointed. It was 'nice' I decided and that, from me, is faint praise indeed! It lacked interest, had insufficient depth of flavour and spicing, a bit ordinary, really. I wanted so much more. When I came across this recipe I was delighted - though not authentic it really ticked my boxes, seemingly offering the complexity I'd missed last time. It coincided with the offer to try some yoghurt by Total - had to be tried.

It worked brilliantly, I'm pleased to say. I made a couple of small changes to the original but it is pretty much as I found it.

Thai Chicken Biryani

Serves 6-8 very well indeed

It is slow to make but not difficult, so don't be put off by the long list of instructions. It was a pleasant way to spend Sunday afternoon with great results.

Marinated chicken

3 tablespoons coarse chopped coriander stems
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/4 cup plain yoghurt, low-fat or full-fat
8 to 10 chicken thighs - I used 1 1/2 whole chickens cut into eighths

Spicy mint sauce

1 or 2 green Thai chiles
2 slices peeled fresh ginger, chopped
2 slices peeled galangal, chopped
2 teaspoons sugar
A pinch of salt
2 cups coarsely chopped mint leaves
2 generous cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and stems
3 to 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
Water

2 1/2 cups basmati rice
3 1/3 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons canola oil or chicken fat
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallot
3-inch piece cassia bark, or 1 1/2-inch stick cinnamon
3 Thai cardamom pods, or 1 green cardamom pod, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 large tomato, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves and stems
1 cup chopped thai basil leaves
2 pandan leaves, tied in a knot (optional)
1/4 cup plain yoghurt

Garnishes

1/4 to 1/3 cup Crispy Fried Shallots
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
1 small cucumber, seeded and sliced
1/3 cup Thai Sweet Chile Sauce (optional)

1. For the seasoning paste, use a mini food processor to grind the coriander stems, ginger, garlic, turmeric, salt, and sugar to a coarse texture. (Or use a mortar and pestle.) Transfer half of the paste to a bowl to marinate the chicken.

Set aside the remaining paste for the rice.

To the paste for the chicken, add the fish sauce and 1/4 cup yoghurt. Stir to blend well. Set aside.

2. Remove the skin from the chicken. (Save it for rendering instant schmaltz for the rice, if you like!) Add to the seasoning paste containing the yogurt. Stir to coat well. Set aside for 1 hour to marinate. Or cover and refrigerate for up to 4 hours, setting it out at room temperature to remove some of the chill.

3. Meanwhile, make the mint sauce. Use a mini food processor to grind the chiles, ginger, galangal, sugar, and salt to a fine texture. Add the coriander, mint, and vinegar. Grind to a fine texture. Add water by the tablespoon to create a spoonable texture. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

4. Rinse the rice in a mesh strainer and set aside to dry and drain. Put the stock in a pot and heat to a simmer. Meanwhile, heat the oil (or chicken fat) in a large wide pot over medium-high heat. Fry the shallot for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until golden. Add the remaining seasoning paste, cassia, cardamom, and bay leaf tied into a piece of muslin for easy retrieval.. Fry until aromatic, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomato, cilantro, and mint. Cook, stirring until the tomato breaks down. Add the chicken, and stir to combine. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes, until the chicken no longer looks raw. Lower the heat, if necessary.

5. Add the rice and pandan leaves, stirring to combine well. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes, until the rice turns opaque. Add the hot stock (expect sizzling) and 1/4 cup yoghurt.Lower the heat slightly, cook for 3 to 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has been absorbed and there is a glossy layer of orange-yellow liquid at the top. The stock will bubble up through little craters dotting the surface.

Cover, lower the heat to low, and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Lift the lid to make sure the rice is cooked. Turn off the heat and let the rice rest for 10 minutes. Use a spatula or large spoon to gently fluff the rice and turn the chicken. There will be delicious browned bits at the bottom. Let the rice sit for another 10 minutes before serving.

Transfer to a platter or shallow bowl, sprinkle with the crisp shallots and coriander.

Serve with a plate of cucumbers slices and the sauces.

I served it in the middle of the table, straight from the pan - but it was with friends! The final dish was better even than I was expecting with fabulous spicing, a delicate hint of creaminess from the yoghurt, good chicken and particularly tasty rice. So good I didn't get round to taking a photo.

Leftovers cold for lunches worked a treat.

Zuccini Torte Ricette

Apparently, at this time of year, people who grow zucchini are avoided by all and sundry. Not just casual acquaintance but friends, family, absolutely everyone hides from them, deliberately crossing the road at their approach, ignoring the ding dong of the doorbell, pretending in extreme cases to be on holiday. Early in the season when the first courgettes appear there is delight all round, they are crisp and small and, crucially, few in number. As the peak of the season arrives - right about now - they are prolific in every sense, each one picked seemingly replaced by 2 more next day, and each of those twice the size of the one they have replaced. The magic of cucurbitas, you really can see them grow, an inch a day every day, they are irresistable.

Avoidance is wrong. What is needed is ideas, lots of them, to use up this incredible veg. It is versatile, makes great pasta sauce with a little basil or some cream. Or both and a little Parmesan grated over to finish. It's a joy with garlic and mascarpone and a concentric delight as topping for tart They work well in vegetable curries, are simple and quick in frittata, they roast to golden perfection on their own or toss them with tomatoes and aubergine and slow roast with garlic for a great side dish or salad. Brilliant turned into ribbons with a steamed meatball topping for pasta.

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And then there is this torte. Or rice pie as the man dubbed it when asked to stir the bowl on his way through the kitchen. From the brilliant Anna del Conte it mixes thin rounds of zucchini with rice and eggs and herbs then the lot is wrapped in filo for baking.

I love the paper-thin translucent sheets of filo and the incredible crunch they acquire when baked. It's so delicate to handle, soft almost like fabric, soothing somehow. It offers a small resistance when you bite into it, then crackles into luscious flakes. And if your timing is just ever so slightly out, any burnt bits break off and still leave lots of pastry underneath.

Zuccini Torte

Serves 4

The rice is used raw, but then it sits in the rest of the filling for 2 hours, thus becoming soft. An interesting way to treat rice

350g courgettes
1 white onion or 1/2 small spanish onion
125g/4oz Italian rice, preferably Arborio
8 tbspn extra virgin olive oil
3 tbpsn freshly grated Parmesan
1 tbspn finely chopped fresh herbs, marjoram, thyme and parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
125-150g filo pastry, defrosted if frozen

Cut off and discard the ends of the courgettes, then slice them very finely indeed. put the courgettes in a baol.

Peel the onion and slice it paper-thin. Add to the courgettes together wiht the rice, 5 tablespoons of the oil , the Parmesan, herbs, salt and a good grinding of pepper.

Beat the eggs lightly and add to the bowl. Mix the whole thing very thoroughly. (I find the best tool for this is a pair of clean hands.) Cover the bowl and set aside for a couple of hours. Mix again and again whenever you remember during this time, becasue the liquid sinks to the bottom and you want the rice and the courgette to sit in it equally.

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

Pour the remaining oil into a small bowl. Use a little of it to oil a 20cm/8in spring form tin.

Unfold the filo pasty leaves carefully,one at a time. Keep the rest covered while you work oneach leaf because filo pastry dries out and cracks very quickly. Lay one leaf of pastry over the bottom and up the sides of the tin, allowing the ends to hang over the outside of the tin.. Using a pastry brush, brush the pastry with a little of the oil, then lay another leaf of filo across the previous one so as to cover the sides of the tin completely. Brush with oil, and cover with 2 more leaves, brushing each leaf as before. You will then have 4 layers of filo pastry.

Stir the courgette meixture thoroughly and spoon it into the prepared case. Fold the over hanging pieces of pastry over the top, one at a time, brsuing with oil between each leaf. If necessary add another oiled sheet across the top.

Place the tin int he oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Turn the heat up to 200C/400F/Gas 6 to crips the top until it becomes a lovely golden brown colour.

Let the tourte cool slightly in the tin, then unmould and transfer to a round serving dish and serve warm or at room temperature.

To cut, use a very sharp knife or the pastry will crumble.

This pie is very quick and easy, produces a very moreish array of textures as well as flavours when baked, with a moist filling inside that crispy crust. We ate it warm Sunday night for dinner with a crunchy celery, fennel and carrot salad and cold for lunch for a couple of days after that.

It is possibly perfect for picnics.

A big thank you to Sue whose garden was the source of the very fine zuccini used in this recipe.

Chicken & Courgette Risotto

Made risotto for dinner and it turned out smooth, delicate and soothing. Lovely flavours, great textures, seriously good. Got me thinking about cheffy tricks, the little things chefs have up their collective sleeve that makes a dish work really well or takes it from one level to the next with a piece of magic generally unknown and unrecorded. But if you trawl as much as I do for good food an occasional nugget will fall into your cooking pot that adds that extra something to the dish du jour.

The reason risotto ended up on the menu at all was that I'd bought and roasted a chicken on the weekend for a fine Sunday dinner, and then had it cold for the next few days in lunchboxes with salad. Having paid £14 for the bird it had already translated into £1.75 per meal and there was still the strong boned carcass and a reasonable amount of meat to be picked from the bones and a fair amount of skin from the underside. I had stock in the freezer, carnaroli rice in the cupboard and courgettes and celery in the fridge. Had risotto written all over it!

It is true that the rice needs lots of stirring for a creamy finish but that is generally well known and the only decision to be made is just how long you will stand stirring smoothly - for ages if you find it relaxing or no time at all if you mostly find it irritating. But the things that took this one from nice to amazing was the stirring in of butter and Parmesan at the very end, off the heat, then covering the pan and leaving it to 'fluff' for about five minutes. Marvellous the difference that makes.

My other trick was crispy chicken skin. It really is something I saw a sleb chef - sorry can't remember which one - do on the tv. Chicken skin, particularly the skin on the back and the thighs can be transformed by simply shredding into thickish strips then warmed through in a dry pan over a low heat. The fat rends, the skin turns a rich gold, and the flavour is essence of chicken. Serious wow. Scattered over the top of the risotto it adds a brilliant finish.

Chicken & Courgette Risotto

2 tbspns olive oil

1 tbspn butter

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

2 stalks celery, washed and finely sliced

200g carnaroli or other risotto rice

1 litre of stock, warmed to simmering

1 medium courgette, quartered lengthways, then diced

About a cup of cooked chicken flesh

As much skin as you can strip from the carcass

2 tbspns butter

3 tablespoons Parmesan, freshly grated

2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Heat the olive oil with one tablespoon of butter in a large heavy based pan, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally over a medium heat till the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and celery and stir for a minute till the garlic changes colour. Add the rice and stir to coat with the onion/butter mix.

Pour one ladle of stock over the rice and stir continuously till it is absorbed by the rice, which will be fairly quick. Keep adding the stock, one ladle at a time, stirring a lot, adding a new one each time the previous one has been absorbed.

After about 15 minutes of ladling and stirring add the chicken and courgettes and stir through. Taste and season. Continue adding the stock gradually till all the stock is used. Taste the rice - it should be creamy, not chalky, but still with a tiny resistance to your bite. If it has not reached this point and all the stock is gone add boiling water till it is perfect.

Leave the pan on the hob but turn off the heat. Stir through the butter, cheese and parsley, cover the pan and leave to sit for a few minutes.

Meanwhile put a small fry pan over a low heat and add the shredded chicken skin. Warm through, stirring, until the fat rends and the skin crisps.

Take the lid off the risotto, check the seasoning, then scatter the crisp skin over the rice and serve.

Thoroughly delightful. Good next day for lunch.

And I still have a carcass for more stock...

Paella de cerdo con chorizo y espinaca

Otherwise known as rice with pork, chorizo and spinach. I am having a bit of a spanish/moorish/possibly most specifically Moro-ish phase at the moment. I love the rich complexity of chorizo served any which way - anything from plain grilled, or sliced fresh and especially mixed into rice dishes like this one. It is one of those ingredients that somehow makes a dish greater than the sum of its parts.

I was googling the other week looking for stuff for a tapas style Saturday night special and came across this recipe from The Moro Cookbook. I was immediately taken with it because it says at the very beginning This rice is very Spanish in taste. A complex and comforting dish. And I thought - what is a very Spanish taste? I genuinely don't immediately know beyond a mix of rice and paprika which seems a bit too reductionist. Took me only a second to think jamon - the Spanish seriously love their ham and indeed all things pork (this could be one reason for my current fetish) and then to remember some of the best olive oil in the world comes from Spain. Perhaps I know a little more than nothing.

I made this Sunday night with the plan to have it for lunch Monday/Tuesday. It is seriously good - cooking the pork separately at the beginning and adding it back at the end with the wilted spinach made it stand out in the finished dish. I bought my noras peppers from Brindisa.


Paella de cerdo con chorizo y espinaca

7 tbsp olive oil
12oz/340g pork fillet, halved lengthways, then sliced across roughly into 7mm strips
4oz/110g mild cooking chorizo, cut into little pieces
2 large Spanish onions, finely chopped
1 large green pepper, halved, seeded and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
8oz/225g calasparra (paella rice) or arborio rice
1 tsp sweet smoked Spanish paprika
2 ñoras peppers (or dried peppers, not too hot), soaked in hot water
1.75 pints/900ml hot chicken stock or water
1lb 2oz/500g spinach, washed and drained
Sea salt and black pepper

In a 30-40cm paella pan or frying pan, heat the olive oil over a high heat, stir-fry the pork for a few seconds so it is still a little undercooked. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and put to one side.

Turn down the heat to low, and fry the chorizo for a minute. Add the onion and green pepper and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the garlic, and continue cooking for a further 5-10 minutes. At this point, the mixture should have caramelised and taste sweet.

Stir the rice into the pan to coat in the mixture for a minute. Up to this point, everything can be cooked in advance. The next stage requires about 20 minutes' more cooking time.

While the garlic is cooking with the onions and peppers bring the stock to a simmer in a separate pan.

Now season the rice with salt and a little pepper. Add the paprika and noras peppers, drained of their water and chopped roughly, followed by the hot stock, and simmer for 15 minutes or until there is just a thin layer of liquid around the rice.

Meanwhile, briefly wilt the spinach with a little salt, either by braising or steaming, and put to one side with the pork fillet.

When the rice is done, evenly scatter the pork over it, followed by the spinach. With the back of a spoon, gently push the pork and spinach partially into the oily liquid that remains at the bottom of the pan.

Cover the paella tightly with foil and let it sit for 3-5 minutes.

It was indeed a comforting dish on a cold Sunday night and a lovely thing for lunch next day. If this is the taste of Spain I will happily eat a lot more of it.

It's not cheap initially - this cost about £8 and it is really special. We got six meals from it so in fact it's quite reasonable. Positively a bargain when it works out to be just over a pound per serving!

Wild Mushroom & Hock Risotto

Wild Mushroom & Ham Hock Risotto

Am adding this post because it is where I used the last of my spoils from the hock I bought recently and also because it was really really good to eat.

I had a litre of thick jellied stock from the hock in the freezer as well as about 150g cooked meat. There was celery in the crisper and a couple of sweet onions in the vegetable rack that needed using soonish if they weren't to sprout. There was Parmesan in the door of the fridge as there almost always is. And butter of course. Rice in the pantry along with a jar of dried porcini. I had myself a deconstructed ready meal.

Wild Mushroom & Ham Hock Risotto

50g dried porcini, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes

250g risotto rice like vialone nano

50 g butter

2 tbspns olive oil

2 sweet onions or shallots, peeled and finely chopped

2 ribs celery, thinly sliced

150g shredded ham

1 litre of ham stock

Celery leaves from the centre of a bunch, finely shredded

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Bring the stock to a simmer in a pan. Drain the mushrooms, adding the soaking water to the simmering stock.

Melt half the butter and the oil in a heavy frypan and gently sweat the onions till they are translucent. Add the celery and stir to coat for a minute, then add the rice and stir thoroughly.

Add a ladle of hot stock to the rice and stir till it is absorbed. Keep adding stock and stirring till you've used about half the liquid. The rice will still be quite chalky.

Stir in the ham and mushrooms along with about half a tablespoon of salt and a good grinding of black pepper. Then continue to add the rest of the stock one ladle at a time, stirring fairly continuously - this is where it's good to have someone else who likes to help to do a little stirring too. The man is a joy at such moments.

The rice is cooked when there is only just the slightest resistance at the very heart of the grain - which should be about the same time as all the stock has been added and absorbed. If it is still a little hard, add some boiling water (NEVER cold) till the rice achieves the right consistency. Turn off the heat.

Stir through the rest of the butter, the grated Parmesan and the shredded celery leaves. Cover the pan with a lid and leave for five minutes before serving in deep bowls.

Now I had myself a perfectly reconstructed meal, taking about half an hour to make and costing about £2 with enough leftover for our lunchbox treat next day.

Risotto with borlotti beans and chorizo

Not entirely convinced that, strictly speaking, this is risotto though it does follow the conventions of that dish softening garlic and onions in butter and oil, then coating vialone nano in the oil before adding wine and then ladles of hot stock. But as well as the rice it has borlotti beans that have been soaked to swell them, then cooked before they are added, with the liquid that they were cooked in, to the pan with the rice and all that lovely starchy bean flavouring is incorporated into the finished dish. Obviously risotto is Italian, and chorizo is not - so that too gives me pause on the naming front.

Whatever you call it this is a lovely dish, rich and soothing with gradations of texture and flavour from the beans and the chorizo.

'Risotto' with borlotti beans and chorizo

3/4 cup borlotti or other speckled beans, soaked overnight
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
50g butter
150g chorizo, skinned and chopped coarsely
1 1/2 cups Italian short-grain, such as arborio, vialone nano, or carnaroli rice
1/2 cup well-flavored dry white wine
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

Drain the soaked beans then put them into a saucepan with 2 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a simmer and cook on a very low heat, covered, until the beans are tender—about 45 minutes. Add a little more boiling water from time to time if necessary. About five minutes from the end add some salt. When the beans are done, set aside, but do not drain.

Bring the stock to a simmer in another pan.

In a large saucepan, melt half the butter with the olive oil and add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, over a low heat until the onion and garlic are softened, about 15 minutes.

Stir in the chopped chorizo and the rice. Cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes until the bits of chorizo are softened and the rice is well coated with the fat in the pan.

Add the white wine, raise the heat slightly, and cook rapidly until the rice has absorbed the wine.

Stir in the beans with their cooking liquor and continue cooking until most of the bean liquid has been absorbed.

Add a ladle or two of the simmering stock, stirring to mix well. As the rice absorbs the broth, keep adding more, a ladle or two at a time, stirring pretty much continuously, until the rice is just cooked all the way through and the dish is creamy.

When the rice is done but still al dente, remove from the heat, taste and add season. Then stir in the 2 tablespoons of cheese and the rest of the butter.

Cover the pan and set aside, away from the heat, for 5 minutes or so to combine all the flavors well.

Serve in deep bowls.

Perfect Sunday night winter dish.

I had everything to make this at home - stock and chorizo in the freezer and the rest in the cupboard - but it would be cheap to enough to make. Around £5 I'd hazard, and you have the rest of the sauvignon blanc to drink, which puts it into a different budget!

Pilaff Rice

This is quick, simple and fabulous.

I wanted our dinner Saturday night to be special so I'd dug out my copy of Gordon Ramsay's Secrets for inspiration. It's a great book, with some easy to follow recipes that usually end in a delightful meal. I decided we'd have fish, and was tempted by steamed aromatic cod. He suggested pilaff rice as an accompaniment - and I could see how good that would be.

We had a roasted chicken last week, hot Sunday and then cold in lunches for the week. By Saturday morning all I had left was the carcass. So, with two minutes effort and an hour on the hob while we breakfasted, this was the source of stock to make this rice dish. Gold star to me for frugality resulting from integrated cooking.

And that was as difficult as it got. By cooking this in the oven there is as close to no work involved and almost no chance of anything going wrong. You end up with delicately scented perfectly cooked individual grains of rice.

Pilaff Rice

250g basmati rice

50g ghee or clarified butter

1 small Spanish onion, chopped

2 fresh bay leaves

2 cinnamon sticks

4 cloves

6 cardamom pods, seeds only

Pared zest of ½ an unwaxed lemon

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

600ml chicken or vegetable stock

Preheat the oven to 160C/Gas 4. Tip the rice into a sieve and rinse well under cold running water until it runs clear.

Cut a circle of greaseproof paper slightly larger than the dish you are planning to cook the rice in, and make a small cut in the centre of it to act as a vent. This is called a cartouche - knowing that may one day win you £1million on millionaire.

Melt two thirds of the ghee or clarified butter in a heatproof casserole dish and sauté the onion until soft.

Add the rice, then stir in the bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom seeds and cook for 1 minute. Throw in the lemon zest with some seasoning and pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then cover with the greaseproof. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 5-10 minutes before removing the cartouche. Dot the remaining ghee or clarified butter on top. Fork through to separate and fluff up the rice, removing the whole spices before serving.

It was lovely with the steamed fish and would be equally good with just some dahl or vegetable curries, or alongside tandoori chicken - in fact it is so easy and tastes so good it is a really useful dish to have up your sleeve.

Rice & Bean Pulao

They say you learn something every day. Some day's it's even true. My most recent increase in knowledge comes courtesy of Alexx's blogsite. Idly surfing I checked a link she had for a dinner she'd made of a rice dish called pulao. One of it's positives was that it was good next day for lunch, definitely a quality I like. I had vaguely heard of it but was quite sure it was a south American rice dish - information I confidently imparted to the man when I was explaining what treats lay in store for the nights dinner.

The finished dish was indeed a delight, though possibly the cuisine of south America didn't immediately spring to mind. Wishing to share my discovery with the world I did a quick google to find out a little more about it. And discovered it is a very well known - by most people - Indian rice dish. Which made a little more sense. At Maa Inti Vanta I found an interesting comparison between pulao and biryani - an Indian rice dish I do know. She explains that in a biryani, the parboiled rice is layered twice or more between the spices and the meat, and they are all cooked together. In a pulao, the stock forms the base and the rice is cooked with the spices so that it absorbs all the flavor, whereas biryani is made by the draining method of cooking rice. The end result though is pulao a more lightly spiced dish, its strength definitely in its subtlety.

Here's the version I made last night - the only curry powder I had was Korean and it worked a treat. I think you could be pretty free and easy with the vegetables you include, so long as they are fairly fresh. Don't forget to finish it with a little lemon juice - it lifts the dish. I suspect it would be very good with yoghurt.

Rice & Bean Pulao

200g of basmati rice
500ml stock or water, I used chicken stock
400g tin borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion peeled and finely sliced
100g of frozen peas
2 courgettes diced
1/2 head of cauliflower cut into small florets
Juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoon of sunflower oil
2 cinnamon sticks broken in half
2 cloves, 2 green cardamom pods (both spices crushed)
2 teaspoons of curry powder - of whatever complexion
1 teaspoon of sea salt
fresh coriander leaves to sprinkle over the top

Leave the rice to soak in a bowl of cold water while you chop the vegetables. Heat a large saucepan on a moderate heat and add the sunflower oil. Once the oil has slightly heated add all the spices and stir briefly. Then add the sliced onions and sweat for 10 minutes till they are translucent and smell good. Add the peas, cauliflower florets and courgettes. Continue to cook gently for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drain the rice and add to the pan, along with the borlotti beans, salt and stock. Turn up the heat and bring the pulao to the boil. Then turn the heat down to low and cover with the pan with a lid. Leave to cook until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Once ready, check the seasoning - it may well need more salt - and add the lemon juice.
Serve in a suitable warm bowl with fresh coriander sprinkled over the top.

The final dish is a fabulous gold colour laced with green peas. A great lesson to learn - it looks good, smells great, tastes even better!

Dill Rice

I've been making this on and off for a while and was sure I had included it on feast with bron. Then last week I bought a big bunch of dill, some of which I used to flavour the pork roast and some of which I planned to use making dill rice. Only, when I looked, the recipe wasn't on here. Disaster! I use this blog as my recipe store - or one of them, I have gazillions at home and another gazillion saved on the hard drive - and often and refer back to them. In fact, if I lost this site not sure what we'd be eating.

Anyway, I googled and came up with lots of persian dill rice recipes - some of which sounded very nice - but it wasn't this one. And I really wanted this one. Finally, after trying a few different variations on the request I found it again on rice gourmet. Any time you need a little inspiration for a rice dish, this is the place to go. They love the stuff.

Dill Rice

1 cup (7oz/200) rice

3 tbspn oil

4 cloves

½-1 green chilli, finely chopped (optional)

1/3 cup fresh dill, finely chopped

1 cup of frozen green peas

salt

Soak the rice for 15 minutes. Wash well and drain.

Heat the oil in a pot and fry the cloves and chilli. Add the peas, dill and rice and saute for 1 minute

Add salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon) and 13/4 cups boiling water, and cook for 9-10 minutes until the rice is perfectly cooked.

It is very quick and easy to prepare. The finished dish has interesting flavours, the cool dill balances the little prickle of heat from the chilli and the cloves adds an interesting background note. We had it with a spiced mutton stew, which it complemented perfectly, but it would also make a simple central dish on a hot day (like we see any of those !) with just some cucumber raita and warm naan.

Caribbean Chicken and Rice - Pelau

One of the many good things about volunteering to cook for Food Chain is learning to make things I've never heard of before. We have a fair proportion of service users who are of African or Caribbean descent who look, like all the rest, to find food they know when they open their lunch on Sundays. Given that part of the ethos of the charity is to feed people well to add a little joy to their week we need to send out food that is familiar to them. I am fine on regular dinners, the hardest thing with them is deciding on which particular meal to cook. Vegetarian and Indian food I have a lot of experience making, eating and enjoying.

But African and Caribbean? No.

I have bought food at Notting Hill Carnival from street vendors and had an occasional meal from African kitchens and tiny Brixton restaurants but, despite the fact that London has a quite sizeable population from these countries the food has a very low public profile. There has been no parallel spreading of these ethnic foods into mainstream life to match the reach of, traditionally, Indian and Chinese or the more recent proliferation of Thai and Japanese - albeit bastardised versions of such. There are probably more shops selling Polish food now than African. There is the magnificence of Brixton market - and I do shop there a lot - but it hasn't spread more generally. Tesco sells no ready meal version of groundnut stew in the way they shift billions of chicken tikkas. The information and recipes are out there but you have to search. Cooking for food chain has led me to look.

What I found recently was a one pot meal called Pelau that sounded very tasty with the added advantage that we could make it on a Sunday morning and have it out on time. Pelau is one of Trindad’s signature national dishes. Chicken is seared in caramelized sugar after being steeped in a garlicky marinade then cooked in coconut milk until it is falling off the bone soft and subtly sweet. Sounded good.

I found the initial recipe on Aidan Brooks blogsite - in his favourite recipes section. Then I googled it and came up with many subtle variations on the original - the one thing they had in common was all of them extolling the pleasure in the eating. The other ting needed for the making of this was the need for green seasoning. Never heard of it. Apparently it is essential to the final dish. So I took myself to Brixton to one of the big Afro-Caribbean shops and checked the shelves. Sure enough there were rows and rows of bottles of different sizes.

Looked interesting.

Bought some.

After all I did want this to work.

The following recipe is my version that I made at home for the man and me - it is so good there is now a bottle of green seasoning in the pantry waiting for the next time.

Rice, Chicken and Pigeon Peas - Pelau

For the marinade
2 chicken quarters
1 tbsp mixed green seasoning
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp tomato purée
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

For the rice and peas:
1/2 cup rice
1 large onion
1 green bell pepper
1 tin cooked pigeon peas (or gungo peas)
1 hot chilli pepper
1/2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cups chicken stock or water
1 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil

In a bowl, mix together the green seasoning, crushed garlic, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, tomato purée, salt and pepper.

Cut the chicken pieces through the joint to make two legs and two thighs. Remove the skin from the chicken pieces and rub in the marinade. Cover and leave for an hour.

Prepare the vegetables by finely chopping the onion and hot chilli pepper. Dice the pepper into 1cm pieces.

Heat the vegetable oil in a lidded pan big enough to hold the finished meal and add the brown sugar. Keep it moving, as the sugar will dissolve after a few minutes and turn toffeeish. Add the seasoned chicken pieces - be careful they will spit - and cook for about 5 minutes all over until they have a golden brown surface colour.

Now add in the chopped onion and pepper and the pigeon peas and continue to cook, stirring for a few minutes. Stir in the rice. Mix thoroughly. Add in the chilli pepper and then pour in the coconut milk and the chicken stock. Stir all of the ingredients together well, bring to the boil then reduce the heat so the mixture is just simmering. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes until all liquid has been absorbed.

Add more liquid if needed until the rice is cooked. The final dish should be nicely dry, but not dried out.

Served in big bowls it was a great summer supper - and with very little washing up at the end!

Jollof Rice

I had been looking for an African dish to make for my next foodchain Sunday. Knowing almost nothing of the food of this continent I needed to approach an expert - so I asked Abi, a Nigerian woman who is in my french class, what her favourite dishes are. Instantly she said Jollof Rice! - then gave me a rough outline of what's required but not a recipe as she makes it the way her mother makes it and that's how she knows it is right.

So, as ever in these situations, google came to the rescue. Once I'd worked out how to spell it properly.

Jollof rice is a popular dish all over West Africa, with both Ghana and Nigeria laying claim to having been the original source, though the name comes from the ancient kingdom of the Wolof people of Senegal. It involves cooking rice with tomato paste and spices and adding meat and vegetables but not in any rigid way - whatever is to hand. The end result is always red. I went through a few sites and settled in the end on Congo Cookbook - partly because it is an interesting site and partly because the recipe given was very vague - many variations could be made from this one source.

This is the version I made last night - and it was really very good. Let me recommend it.

Jollof Rice

2 Tbspns oil for frying
One chicken, about 1.5 kg, jointed into 8
Two onions, finely chopped
Salt, black pepper,
1 tspn cayenne pepper
2 chilli, chopped
1 bay leaf,
Knob of ginger about two inches, finely sliced
800 ml water
400g tin tomatoes
1 green pepper, chopped into 2cm squares
½ cabbage, shredded into 1 cm ribbons
2 cups rice
3 tbspns tomato paste
Large bunch coriander, washed and finly chopped

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Stir-fry the chicken in the oil until it is browned on all sides. Season well. Remove the meat from the oil and set aside. Add the onions, the salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, chopped chillies and ginger to the skillet and fry the mixture until the onions begin to become tender. Remove the onion mixture from the skillet and set aside with the meat.

In a large covered cooking pot, bring the water to a simmer. Add the chicken and onion mixture and the bay leaf, turn the heat down and cover.

In the same skillet used for the meat and onions, stir-fry the tomatoes and the cabbage and peppers. Continue frying the mixture until the vegetables are partly cooked, then add them to the meat, onions, and broth in the big pan.

Again in the same skillet, combine the rice and the tomato paste. Over low heat, stir until the rice is evenly coated with the tomato paste. The rice should end up a pink-orange color. Add the rice to the pan and stir gently.

Cover the pan and cook the mixture over a low heat until the rice is done and the vegetables are tender (maybe half an hour). Stir gently occasionally and check to see that the bottom of the pot does not become completely dry. Add warm water - a quarter cup at a time - as necessary to help rice cook.

When the rice is cooked, check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary. Stir through the chopped coriander and serve in big bowls.

It only took about 90 minutes to cook - definite possible for mid week. And it makes a huge pot of food - easily enough to feed six very generously. It was good for lunch next day and later for supper but I'm not really sure you could freeze it successfully. Best to get your friends round.

Cold White Rice

I am always pleased to have some cooked rice left over. It has possibilities and so gives me options and I like that. I find that it is best to leave it in the colander and put it into the fridge overnight, without covering it. This way the rice loses excess moisture and is unlikely to go claggy when it is used again. Sometimes I make fried rice - hot, tasty and easy to accommodate a variety of bits and pieces. Another good way to use cooked rice is in fishcakes - simply mix with fish, mashed potatoes and chopped onions and herbs. The rice adds texture in two ways - the bits that are on the outside go golden and crunchy when cooked and the grains on the inside add a little toothsome bite mixed in to the softness of the other ingredients without altering the flavour. A good thing.

One of my favourite things is to make a rice salad. Most of the white rice I cook is either basmati or jasmine and so it is very delicate when cooked. It balances well with sweet or sour and shows off the dressing to advantage. With about two cups of cooked rice I add two celery sticks, very finely sliced, a green pepper chopped small and a small tin of sweet corn. Mix together 3 tablespoons of olive oil with one of lemon juice and season generously then stir through the rice and vegetables. Fast, easy, looks great, tastes even better. And frugal.

Rice, Spinach and Cheese Loaf

As I am catering only for myself this week I wanted something tasty for my lunch box but, as I was humping all the shopping home on the bus I wanted it to not weigh an awful lot. Which kind of ruled out a Sunday roast - a shoulder of lamb or rolled leg of pork tends to be heavy. I already had an unopened box of vialone nano rice in the cupboard and there was cheese in the fridge that wouldn't last another week so I thought I'd make a sort of rice loaf with all the cheese grated into it. That way I had no great weight to carry and I got to be frugal.

Rice is not a richly flavoured grain in itself but it is a generous host to others, infusing easily with aromatics. There's lots of herbs in the garden at the moment and they are always a good place to go when a dish needs some subtle interest. I also fried some onions and garlic in a little olive oil till just golden to add a soft sweetness. On Saturday Tony had a mountain of deep green spinach and that was my final ingredient - it might fill a standard carrier bag but half a kilo of spinach is definitely light.

As it is all about me this week I didn't much want to make a mountain of washing up - usually I make a mess and the man washes up - which certainly works for me! When he's not there I try as far as possible to follow the one pan principle which simply requires a bit of logic applied before you start to cook and you will make the smallest amount of dirty things possible.

Rice, Spinach and Cheese Loaf

250g/1/2 lb vialone nano or arborio rice

500g/1lb fresh spinach, preferably not baby leaves, washed and large stalks removed

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tbspn olive oil

3 or 4 tbspns chopped fresh herbs - basil, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley - choose a selection you like

1/2 tspn freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup grated cheese, something at least a little sharp works best

3 eggs

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Choose a lidded pan that is large enough to cook the spinach. Wash the rice then cook in boiling salted water till just al dente. Drain in a colander and rinse in cold water. Rinse the pan out then put it back on a high heat. Add a little olive oil and when it is hot toss in the spinach with just the water that clings to the leaves from washing it. Cover with the lid, reduce the heat and allow to wilt.

Put the cooked rice into a large bowl. Drain the spinach into the colander. Rinse out the pan and add some more oil. Return it to the heat and add the chopped onions and garlic. Fry gently till tinged with gold. Chop the drained spinach roughly then add it to the rice. Add the finely chopped herbs, grated nutmeg, grated cheese and the fried onion and garlic. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly - use your hands if you like, it is quite a pleasurable sensation and it is probably the most effective way to achieve an even distribution. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as reqired.

Oil a loaf tin then pack the rice mixture in. Cook for half an hour in a hot oven, gas 6, till the loaf is cooked and flecked with colour. Allow to cool slightly in the tin before turning it out onto a plate.

The mix of herbs and cheese are not hard and fast - what you have or what you fancy.

This made a delicious supper with just a rocket and tomato salad dressed with basil oil and is perfect sliced into my lunch box with roasted butternut and salad. I really am treating myself but it would be good to share - perfect fare for a picnic.

Fried Rice

Fried rice is, at its starting point, a means of using up leftovers and the last bits of things. Not enough of the individual ingredients to make a meal of any of it, more like culinary bits and bobs. Put it all together with a soupcon of imagination and the joy of it is that you end up with a dish that is much greater than the sum of its parts - tasty, nutritious and very quick to make. It's great late in the week when you can't be bothered to necessarily spend a lot of time cooking but you still, as ever, want to eat something desirable.

The following is my version from last night, decided on because I had some steamed basmati rice left from dinner the night before as well as couple of small pieces of bacon and some celery in the fridge. I like to put some capsicum in usually but I'd cooked them all the night before so I added some peas for sweetness. It's not hard and fast - what recipe is? - use whatever goes together but do try and have variety in texture as well as flavour in every final mouthful. The measures are all approximate.

Fried Rice

2 cups of cooked white rice

2 eggs, beaten

Medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

3 rashers of unsmoked bacon, cut into slivers

3 stalks of celery, sliced a bit thicker than a pound coin

1 tbspn light soy sauce

2 tbspn vegetable oil

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a wok till very hot then add the beaten eggs, swirl round the base till they set - should be almost immediate - then take the omelette out and chop into squares. Heat the rest of the oil then add the onion and garlic and cook till translucent and fragrant. Add the bacon and cook till softened and the fat starts to rend. Add the celery, stir briefly then add the rice and stir thoroughly - I find my little chinese shovel indispensible for this. When all the elements are well mixed add the eggs and the soy sauce to season and serve when it is steaming hot.

There are lots of variations on this theme - use ginger and tuna instead of bacon, add roasted cashews or slivers of almonds, spring onions are good, even thinly sliced discs of carrot for more colour. And sliced chilli of course if you fancy a little heat.

If there's enough it's good cold for lunch.

Spiced Rice

After our chicken class at the Ginger Pig a couple of weeks ago I still had many treats in the freezer. Chris and Karl patiently taught us to bone out the legs and then stuff them, skewer them and tie them with string. We stuffed one pair with ham and cheese and the other with a mousse of minced chicken breast seasoned with chilli, garlic and coriander. We had the spiced legs last night - simply roasted till golden in the oven. They needed accompaniments.

I have a foolscap book into which, a few years ago, I taped the masses of recipes from magazines and newspapers that had been building up. Having started I was convinced that I would continue with this practise as it made finding all the stray bits so easy. I would, from that moment on, be an organised and tidy keeper of recipes and by extension my whole life would be transformed into a neat and orderly existence.

Sadly that's not quite how it turned out. I do still have the foolscap book - it is a bulging mass of loose bits of paper torn from magazines and newspapers interspersed with loose pages stuck with earlier recipes that have come free from the binding over the years. Though it's a mess it is also a treasure trove of ideas and a kind of history of what attracted me, foodwise. Some things I wonder what on earth I was thinking but others are a joy. Some things I have cooked, most I haven't but it's always interesting to leaf through. Some of the bits in there are recipes my mother has written out for me over the years and it was one of these that was seemed to me the perfect pairing with our chicken dinner.

Spiced rice! I remember mum serving it years ago when I was home on a visit and how thrilled she was with how good it tasted, the way that everybody enjoyed it. So I thought it was time to revisit it and see if I could recreate the pleasure.

Spiced Rice

1 tbspn butter

1 tbspn olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped

1 tspn cumin seeds

1 tbspn fish sauce

1 cup rice

2 cups water

Melt butter in a large saucepand. Add onion, chilli and cumin seeds and fry gently over a moderate heat for a few minutes till the onion is translucent and the seeds start to pop.

Stir in the fish sauce, rice and water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low as it will go, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let it stand, still covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

And that's it. Quick, simple, elegant and utterly delicious. Much like the style of my mother's cooking.

Pilau Rice

Have got to a point where the freezer seems to be permanently full. Of good things it must be said but full, always full. So I am trying to use what is there ahead of buying more at the market. This works to an extent but not always as planned. This week I took out some veal bones to thaw and thence to make a blanquette only to be unable to get fresh veal at Borough so I bought a kilo of beef instead to make an ultra rich daube and have enough now for three meals, two lots of which will go back into the freezer. Probably use the space where the bones had been.

After our evening class boning and rolling bits of lamb and pork we brought home lots of lovely meat which went, of course, into the freezer. Another of my plans this week involved using the lamb shanks we'd separated off from the shoulder in class to make a pilau for Sunday supper and leftovers cold with a boiled egg or some cucumber and yoghurt for lunches for a few days. Almost genius - but not quite. I made the stock then cooked the rice with onions and spices and the meat from the shanks and finally studded it with bright peas and toasted almonds and garnished it with boiled eggs and a side dish of cucumber with yoghurt and chopped coriander. The result was nice - not a whole hearted endorsement I'm sure you'll agree. It lacked sufficient depth of flavour and a half remembered complexity from the last time I made it. Cold next day was better, but still ever so slightly disappointing. Though it undoubtedly provides a challenge to do it better next time, and there will certainly be pleasure in researching another version, it infuriates me to make a dish that is only fair to middling. I want all my food to be amazing. Have to keep working at it I guess. Please help me if you can.

Pilau Rice

2 meaty lamb shanks

4 cardamon pods, lightly crushed

10 whole black peppercorns

4 1/2 tspns salt

1 onion, peeled

3 whole cloves

2 1/2 cups basmati rice

5 tbspns ghee

1 large onion, finely sliced

1/4 tspn saffron strands, soaked in a tbspn of boiling water

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 tspn garam masala

1/2 tspn ground cardamom

1 tbspn rose water

1/4 cup sultanas

1/4 cup dry fried almonds

1 cup hot cooked green peas

3 hard boiled eggs, halved

Make a strong, well-flavoured stock by simmering the lamb shanks in water to cover, with cardamom pods, peppercorns, 2 teaspoons salt and the onion stuck with cloves. Bring to a boil, skim then simmer for around 2 hours. Cool slightly, strain stock and measure out 4 cups. Strip the meat from the bones, breaking it into small pieces and put to one side.

Wash rice thoroughly and leave to drain in a colander for an hour. Heat the ghee in a large saucepan (rinse out the stock pan and use it to cut down on the washing up) and fry the sliced onion till softly gold. Add saffron, garlic and ginger and fry for a minute, stirring. Add rice and fry for 5 minutes over a moderate heat, stirring with a metal slotted spoon to avoid damage to the grains. Add hot stock, garam masala, cardamom, remaining salt, rose water, sultanas and reserved meat and stir well. Cover pan with a tight fitting lid and cook over a very low heat for 20 minutes. Do not open the lid or try to stir the mix during this time.

When the rice is cooked, remove from the heat and stand, uncovered for 5 minutes. Fluff up rice gently with a fork and garnish with almonds, peas and eggs and serve with cucumber in yoghurt and coriander and some papadoms.

I think some more fried onions, more ginger and the addition of some cinnamon stick to the cooking rice would help to make this a tastier dish.

My only complete success last night was removing something from the freezer that wasn't turned into something that needed to go back into the freezer!

Roasted Butternut Risotto

After a few weeks of holidays and no cooking it's back to real life and not an awful lot in the house. Risotto is always a good standby - a little stock from the freezer, some rice from the cupboard, something interesting to focus the attention and the 'usually I've got some inthe fridge' combination of butter and Parmesan. I'd bought a butternut squash with not very clear intentions of what to do with it then decided I'd try roasting it with some whole cloves of garlic to make a properly autumnal dish. The result was a pan of rice the colour of a glorious tropical sunset flecked with deep green basil, its peppery tang offsetting the sweetness of the rest.

Roasted Butternut Risotto

1kg butternut squash, peeled and cut into small pieces
2 tbspns olive oil
6 unpeeled cloves garlic
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
200g/6oz arborio rice
2 tbspns butter
1 cup vermouth
1 l/1 1/2 pints stock
Freshly grated nutmeg
50g/2oz grated Parmesan
Good handful fresh basil, chopped

Put one tablespoon of olive oil in a baking dish and add the butternut. Season and roast for 50 mins - 1 hour till tender, turning occasionally. At the same time wrap the unpeeled garlic cloves in aluminium foil with a little drizzle of olive oil and roast alongside the squash.

Bring the stock to a slow simmer in a pan on top of the hob. In a large flat pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of butter. Gently fry the celery for a few minutes, then add the rice and stir till it glistens. Add the vermouth and stir till it is absorbed then squeeze the softened hearts of the garlic cloves into the pan. Add the stock a ladle at a time, stirring till it is absorbed before adding more. When half the stock is used generously grate in some nutmeg then continue adding stock till it is all used and the rice is creamy with just a hint of 'bite' in the centre.

Mash the softened butternut and stir through till it is incorporated into the rice. Season with salt and black pepper. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the Parmesan, cover and turn off the heat. Leave to sit for a couple of minutes then stir through the basil and serve in large bowls.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

I have read occasionally of the difficulty of making risotto but I love them and have never really had a problem. You just have to keep stirring until it is perfect. The simple rule of using the best ingredients applies here as elsewhere.

For a delicate, creamy risotto you must use short grain rice. I find Vialone Nano is the best. Grown only around Piedmont in northern Italy, it was created by the Vercelli Rice Experimental Station. First cultivated in 1937 it was introduced into the province of Verona in 1945. It turned out to be a marriage made in heaven. The even climate, rich soil and the plentiful springs of pure sweet water combine to create fine, pearly grains of rice. The spring water allows for crop rotation, reducing the need for and use of chemical fertilisers. It is well worth the effort to search out this stubby little grain which keeps its shape while absorbing the stock, creating a creamy risotto for your pleasure.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small onion, very finely choppped
2 sticks of celery, finely sliced
2 tbspn butter
1 tbspn olive oil

200g/8oz arborio rice
25g dried wild mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes
1 litre/ 1 1/2 pints chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 tspn freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbspns fresh basil, chopped
50g/2oz freshly grated Parmesan

Put the stock into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Strain the mushroom soaking water through a very fine sieve into the stock. Set the mushrooms to one side.

Melt one tablespoon of the butter with the olive oil in a large, shallow, heavy based pan over a medium heat. When it starts to foam add the onion and garlic and fry for about 5 minutes till translucent. Add the chopped celery and the rice and stir to coat in the oil. Add a ladle of hot stock and stir with a wooden spoon until it is absorbed. Continue adding the stock a ladle at a time and stirring till about half is used, then add the mushrooms and a grating of nutmeg. Add more stock in the same way till most of it has been soaked up by the rice then start checking the rice for doneness - it should be creamy on the outside and firm in the centre. This takes about 20 minutes altogether.

When it reaches this point stir through the Parmesan and the basil, adjust the seasonings and finally stir in the other tablespoon of butter. Serve in large bowls.

The amount of stock that is absorbed varies a little - if you run out before the rice is completely cooked add hot water till you reach the desired consistency. This is a lovely meal to have mid week as it is simple and quick to prepare and ready to eat in about half an hour.

Spiced Lamb, Dill Rice and Beetroot Salad

Sounds like a lot to make for a mid week meal doesn't it, and I made cucumber, coriander and sheep yoghurt dip to round out the flavours. It is in a way but it didn't take vast amounts of time - it was all done in less than an hour incuding about twenty minutes cooking - and the results were very good indeed.

The starting point was the dill rice. I found the recipe on a sister site to the lentils and beans site that I used last week that is entirely about rice. It examines the culinary genius of ethnic cuisines from around the world by looking at the way they use rice. It's an interesting site - I was looking for other ways to cook rice - basmati specifically - that were light and flavourful and were a dish in their own right rather than just background support. The rest of the meal flowed from that. The lamb burgers were fairly lightly spiced and the beetroot added an earthy sweetness and the cucumber yoghurt brought it all together.

I like to cook and though this was a bit more complicated than I would normally make on a Wednesday night I enjoyed the process and was well rewarded with a lovely dinner and an interesting new dish to add to my repertoire. And enough leftovers for lunch Thursday.

Spiced Lamb Burgers
500g/1 lb lean minced lamb - only use meat from a well reared animal
1/2 cup cooked rice
1 tspn ground cummin
1 tspn ground coriander
1 small chili, deseeded and finely chopped
Juice from half a lime
Salt and pepper
3 tbspns ground nut oil

Mix all the ingredients except the oil, and form into patties. Put them on a plate in the fridge for 20 - 30 minutes. Heat the oil in a heavy based pan, and cook the patties, covered over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes, turning half way through, till lightly crusted on the outside. Drain on kitchen paper before serving.

Beetroot Salad
2 x 250g packs of pre cooked beetroot, vacuum packed
2 tbspns walnut vinegar
1 tbspn strawberry vinegar + 1 tspn
Salt and pepper

Drain and cut the beetroot into slices about the thickness of a pound coin. Put into a bowl with the other ingredients and mix well.

This is a good stand by salad all year round. I buy prepacked beetroot at Total Organics and usually have some in the fridge. They are simply cooked and packed without vinegar or any other additives and last for about 6 months. Once the salad is made it will last for a week in the fridge. It goes very well with bbqs in summer and salads in general anytime. I have sometimes added a few drops of truffle oil to make a decadently luxurious salad but, if you do this, eat it within a couple of days as the truffle oil makes it go mouldy after this.

Dill Rice
1 cup (7oz/200) rice
3 t oil
4 cloves
½-1 green chilli, finely chopped (optional)
1/3 cup fresh dill, finely chopped
1 cup of frozen green peas
salt

Soak the rice for 15 minutes. Wash well and drain.

Heat the oil in a pot and fry the cloves and chilli. Add the peas, dill and rice and saute for 1 minute. Add salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon) and one and three quarter cups boiling water. Cover and cook over a low heat for 9-10 minutes until the rice is perfectly cooked. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Brown Rice Salad

Hooray - the sun is shining! And it's actually hot. Flaming June at last.

I had planned on a salady kind of week when we went to Borough Market on Saturday but Sunday turned into a lazy day - possibly related to the excess of wine I consumed on Saturday night - and things gots a bit out of kilter. I watched The Great British Menu occasionally when it was on BBC2 - a shamefully dull programme, particularly given the amount of talent they had in the kitchen - and was really taken by the food that Atul Kochhar made.

Using many of the same ingredients as the other chefs as his starting point he created a whole other world of food. Being Indian allowed him to see the 'challenge' completely differently as well as being the one chef who most accurately reflected what might be being eaten across the country (though obviously at a statospherically higher level when prepared by him). Seriously, when was the last time you made pan-fried turbot with cockles and oxtail for a midweek supper? But rice, lentils, chicken, curry sauce? Definitely in the repertoire. I didn't get as far as making the tandoori but we did have a wonderfully aromatic pilau rice and with simply roasted chicken with chilli and ginger. The leftover rice was fabulous cold for lunch next day - easily as good as it was hot. All the recipes from the series are in the lifestyles/food section of the bbc website.

Unplanned I also bought two buffalo mozzarella. I buy milk and often bread and yoghurt from Neal's Yard every week and every now and again they have overstocked on something and sell it at a bargain price. This week they were offering bogoff (buy one get one for free) on mozzarella and, having feasted before on this creamy delight I just could not resist. We went to a 6 o'clock screening of the risible Latin American film 'Secuestero Express' on Tuesday so we went home to a quick dinner about 9 o'clock of fennel salami, rocket picked fresh from the garden, crusty bread from Paul and - the highlight even in the midst of such brilliance - a ball of buffalo mozzarella. It was so good, we had the same on Wednesday night after I came home from my french class - c'est parfait and not much washing up.

Today it's grilled pork chops for dinner. They need a couple of side dishes to make a proper meal and given that it is properly hot it has to be salad. The first is one that Georgio Locatelli wrote about in his column in the Guardian last week - simply slow roasting red onions till they're caremalised then mixing them with blanched green beans and oil and balsamic - a pretty sounding dish. Brown rice salad adds substance as well as pleasure. This a great salad, the toasted seeds adding luscious depth and the raw vegetables a kind of jewelled brightness. It's quick, it's cheap, it's probably good for you but best of all it is always a treat.

Brown Rice Salad

250g/1/2lb short grain brown rice
1 tbspn sesame seeds
1 tbspn pumpkin seeds
1 green capsicum, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small can sweet corn niblets

For the dressing
3 tbspns olive oil
1 tbspn roasted pumpkin seed oil (or another of olive oil)
1 tbspn lemon juice
Salt and fresh ground pepper

Cook the rice in salted water for 20-25 minutes till tender but still slightly chewy. Drain and wash with cold water and allow to cool. Separately toast the seeds in a dry pan until golden. Add to the rice along with the vegetables. Mix the ingredients for the dressing, pour over the salad and toss well.

Do try and find roasted pumkin seed oil - bigger supermarkets sell it as well germanic delicatessans - as it really adds another element of flavour to this dish. Not sure what else it could be used for - but I find this is so good it's worth having in the cupboard for this salad alone.