Welcome back To My Recipe Blog Cooking Companions!
Well, it's been a hectic couple of weeks for me cooking-wise. Between helping out with "doctor of meat" Andy Stubbs, doing a bit of entertaining here and there and, of course, enjoying the balmy summer days I haven't had time to do my blog.I really wanted to do a report from the last Low n' Slow pop up in Birmingham but it was a bit of a palaver getting set up ( trying to serve 70 people 4 courses of BBQ food from a Chinese dim sum restaurant kitchen is not easy, believe me!) It was so fraught with problems that I didn't have the time to take photos or get too much info on the food we were doing. The night went well in the end with everyone enjoying the food and even the manager of "Simpsons" wanting to put Andy's beef ribs on their menu! High praise indeed! But it was so tiring and frustrating, particularly for Andy and his "pit mrs" Donna that I thought I'd better just get on with helping them out. There will be many more pop ups for Andy to come in the future though and I really want to do the whole process justice with lots of photo's and a good behind the scenes look at what street food and the rapidly expanding pop up scene is all about.
You'll be glad to know though that this week it's business as usual and I've managed to put together a whole meal for you to try, and what a great meal it is! It's unusual, very tasty, dead easy to make and never fails to impress your dinner guests. Before we start with the recipe lets have a few words about each part of it.
Watermelon Curry.
Yep, you read that right, Watermelon curry!Now you may think that this sounds like one of those dishes that is all about how unusual it sounds and that it's more to do with surprising your dinner guests than actually being about taste, but you'd be wrong!
This is a genuine traditional curry from the Rajasthan region of the Indian sub-continent. It has been made for hundreds of years in that area and once you've tried it you will be so impressed that I bet it will become one of your favourite make-at-home-curries. It also has ZERO fat and is so healthy its better for you than a session at the gym! I've made it a few times in Summer when watermelons are cheap and plentiful (I bought a large one from Asda for £2) and people are always really surprised with how good it tastes.
One of the best things about it is that you can make the sauce as hot and spicy as you like ( I love a fiery curry myself and usually order a vindaloo when I'm at a curry house.) As the spiciness of the sauce is balanced with the cooling chunks of watermelon perfectly. The amount of spices I've used in this recipe will give you a sauce about as hot as a Madras but you can put less in if you're not a spice lover, or more if you like your curries melting-the-plate-hot.
Rice Pilaf.
This is possibly the easiest way of cooking rice to perfect fluffiness I know. You basically start the rice off by gently sauteing for a few minutes with butter, then bung it in a dish, cover it with stock ( vegetable stock in this case as I served it to my brother Sandy who's a vegetarian.) and chuck in a few fragrant spices then cover with foil and braise in the oven till its done, simplicity itself!
Katlama.
Katlama's for me are the holy grail of Indian bread accompaniments. ( well, they're actually originally from Pakistan, or Birmingham, depending on who you believe!)
They're a bit like a kind of deep fried keema nan as it has the same spicy minced meat filling but it's less "bready" and more like a pastry.
You don't seem to be able to get them in many places outside the midlands, even a lot of curry houses I have asked for them at don't know what they are and I've had real trouble trying to get a recipe for them. In the end I've kind of made it up myself by taking little bits from what recipes I have found on the net and combining them to get a very close approximation of what a Katlama is to me, although I haven't deep fried mine to cut down on the calories a bit. I suppose you could call it a Matlama if that isn't being too cocky on my part!
There's been many a time when I've staggered out of a club in Birmingham in the early hours of the morning and gone searching for a Katlama. My version is definitely less wringing in fat than the ones I've gladly stuffed into my face whilst waiting for a taxi but I think it's still a good effort and it goes really well with the watermelon curry. ( by the way, as my brother is a veggie I made him one stuffed with mushroom duxelle, like I showed you how to make in the Beef Wellington recipe from a few weeks ago, only with Asian spices instead of herbs, I've only done the recipe this week for the minced beef version but if you want to try the mushroom one, go back and take a look at the Beef Wellington recipe.)
Okay then, lets do this!
Katlama Recipe: Makes 2 portions.
Equipment:
Mixing bowl.Rolling Pin.
Kitchen scales.
Large frying pan or flat bottomed cast iron skillet or crepe pan.
Grill.
Ingredients:
300g plain flour.
2 tablespoons sunflower oil.
3 tablespoons melted butter.
About 100ml of milk.
250g beef mince, or lamb mince.
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped, or crushed.
2 teaspoons of chilli powder.
1 teaspoon of ginger powder.
2 teaspoons of ground cumin.
A good twist of sea salt or Himalayan pink mountain salt.
About 250 ml of water.
Method:
Weigh out the flour and put it in the mixing bowl.Add the oil and melted butter.
Add the salt.
Add a splash of the milk and mix it in, again using your hands. You're looking to get a smooth, non-sticky dough so if it seems a little dry to you then add some more of the milk until you can form a ball in the bowl.
Remove from the bowl and give it a good 10 minutes of kneading
until it is smooth and elastic.
Put back in the bowl and leave to rest whilst you get on with the filling.
Heat a frying pan to medium and drop in the mince. There will be enough fat content in the meat itself so there's no need to add any oil to the pan.
break the mince up with a wooden spoon and add the spices and the garlic.
Brown the mince for about 10 minutes give it a good stir to stop it sticking to the pan.
After 10 minutes add the water and turn the heat down to low. Let the mince soften until all of the water is
gone. This should take about 20 minutes.
Season to taste with salt.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Divide the rested dough into 4 equal parts.Dust a clean work surface with flour and flour the rolling pin to prevent the dough from sticking.
Roll two of the quarters out to about the size of the frying pan or skillet you are using. You need it to be about the thickness of a 1p piece. It should be easy enough to do this as the dough will be well rested and flexible.
Roll the other two quarters out to about an inch bigger all the way round than the first two.
Spread the mince out but leave an edge of dough all the way round the outside.
Press the mince gently but firmly onto the dough.
Take one of the smaller rounds of dough and place it on top of the mince, making sure that it covers it completely.
Wet the lip of the bottom dough with a little water and bring it up over the lid. Gently press together and smooth over with your finger to seal together.
Roll over the top of the Katlama lightly with the rolling pin.
Lift the Katlama off the work surface being careful not to tear it. ( the pastry should be fairly sturdy anyway and should be elastic enough not to tear.)
Put in the fridge, preferably straight onto the fridge shelf, uncovered to firm up whilst you do the rice pilaf.
Rice Pilaf: ( makes enough for 4 portions.)
Equipment:
Frying pan.Gratin dish.
Tin foil.
Ingredients:
300g basmati rice.3 tablespoons of butter.
1 tablespoon of vegetable bouillon powder.
2 bay leaves.
A pinch of coriander seeds.
3 whole cloves.
1 stick of cassia bark, or cinnamon.
3 whole black peppercorns.
A pinch of whole cumin seeds.
500ml of boiling water.
Method:
Pre heat your oven to 170 degrees c/ gas mark 4.Melt the butter in the frying pan over a medium heat.
Add the rice to the pan and stir it round so it all gets coated in the butter.
Add the bouillon powder to the rice and continue to stir for a few minutes until the rice just starts to go translucent.
Add the boiling water. Be careful as the water will bubble up quite rapidly, if it starts to bubble too much just lift the pan off the heat until it calms down., Return to the heat and bring to the boil. ( this should only take about 1 minute.)
Remove the pan from the heat and add the whole spices, then pour the lot into the gratin dish.Cover the gratin dish with 2 layers of tin foil and
seal as tightly as you can.
Put the gratin dish on a roasting tray and pop it in the bottom of the oven.
When all of the liquid has been absorbed you can remove the cassia bark and gently fluff the rice with a fork, removing the other spices as you find them.
You can keep the rice warm in the oven whilst you make the watermelon curry, or, even better, start the curry 10 minutes before the pilaf is done so they're ready at the same time.
Watermelon Curry: (makes two good portions.)
Equipment:
Frying pan.Hand blender.
Measuring jug.
A good sharp long chefs knife.
Ingredients:
Half a large seedless watermelon. ( these are usually called "tiger stripe" watermelons and its what you get at supermarkets, you can use seeded melons if you like, but its a bit of a faff digging out the seeds before you cook.)
Half a lime.
2 plump cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped, grated or pressed.
2 teaspoons of hot chilli powder.
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder.
1 teaspoon of coriander powder.
2 teaspoons of ginger powder.
half a teaspoon of cumin seeds, ground. or cumin powder.
1 teaspoon of chopped chillis. ( I've used some from a jar, if you are using fresh then 2 mild chillis will be enough.)
A small handful of fresh coriander.
Salt and fine ground white pepper.
Method:
Cut the watermelon in half, then cut one half into two.
Remove the flesh from one half and chop into chunks.
( you can see from the picture that there are some seeds in the flesh, this is normal with so-called seedless watermelons, but they are only partly formed and are not hard and black and will blend up with the flesh.)
Put the chunks into the measuring jug and add the garlic and spices, apart from the fresh coriander.
Now you can go in with the hand blender, blend for a good couple of minutes so you have a smooth sauce.
With the other half of the watermelon, repeat the above but make the chunks a bit larger and as square as you can.
While the sauce is reducing you can finish off the Katlamas.
Heat a frying pan or skillet with no oil to medium.Put the katlama with the sealed side down into the dry frying pan to start it off.
Turn it over after a couple of minutes and you should get some nice brown patches, fry again on the other side for another couple of minutes. ( You're not going to cook them all the way through on the stove as they will burn easily on the outside and the filling will still be cold.)
Gently remove the katlama with a good wide fish-slice and pop it in the top of the oven. You will see it puff up and turn golden brown, it should take about 3-4 minutes, remove them from the oven and allow to cool slightly while you finish the curry.
Okay, back to the watermelon curry!Turn the heat up again and add the second lot of chunks to the sauce. Give them a good stir round and coat them all over with the sauce. Keep stirring gently so you don't break them up for about 3 minutes, just until the chunks of watermelon are warmed through.
Add a good squeeze of the lime juice and season with salt and just a little pinch of the pepper.
Now you can dish the Pilaf, the Katlama and the curry up onto plates and serve, sprinkled with the fresh coriander leaves.
Sandy absolutely loved it! ( he also promised me that he'd have a go at making it himself at home when the blog is published...) Especially with his mushroom Katlama,
It really does taste amazing, and the texture of the watermelon is still intact. It makes for a fantastic sensation in the mouth with the hot fiery sauce and the cooling crisp watermelon chunks. The buttery, scented pilaf goes with it perfectly and, if I do say so myself, the Katlama with its matching spiciness but meaty filling really does make this a good meal.
As you can see this week I've tried to plan the meal out for you so that everything is ready at the same time. It's something that I'm going to do more of in future blogs as I think it makes things easier to do for you if you're planning on cooking one of my meals.
Please let me know how you get on with cooking it yourself, You can post comments direct to the blog or I'm on twitter @matsdachef.
Thanks for looking in again blog buddies, and thanks for all the support!
Until next time then,
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