Refreshing Melon Cups ©
After the hot curry recipes, a cooling dessert is just the thing and this is so easy to make!
Easy
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 small melon per person
Raspberries or other soft fruit for example, kiwi, blueberries, blackberries etc.
1 Mango
Nasturtium flowers and leaves or other edible flowers, pansies, jasmine, geranium, camomile, rosemary lavender.
Sugar syrup: 1 tbs sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water.
Method
1. Choose small fragrant smelling melons, about 10 cms in diameter. These melons come from the beautiful island of Crete.
2. Wash melons and cut a zig-zag line around the center of your melon, cutting about two centimeters inwards, with a sharp serrated knife. See picture.
3. Pull the two halves of your melon apart and remove seeds with a teaspoon. Rinse under running water.
4. Wash and drain raspberries and peel a ripe mango and cut out mango balls, using a melon-ball cutter. Fill center of melon- half, with fruit and stand on serving plate, having cut a small slice off the base of your melon, so that it stands firm.
5. Garnish with Nasturtium flowers and leaves. If not serving straight away, cover with cling film and spray with a little water, just before serving, or your melon will look dry. Alternatively prepare a little sugar syrup and spoon over, just before serving. Do this very sparingly, just enough to make the fruit look fresh.
Choose fragrant small melons, about 10 cms in diameter.
Using a sharp serrated knife, cut a zigzag line around the diameter of your melon, stalk end uppermost.
Pull both halves apart.
Remove seeds with a teaspoon and wash out cavity and any remaining seeds under the running water.
Cut a thin slice off each end of your melon, so that it sits firmly on your serving plate.
Wash and drain your raspberries and peel your mango.
Using a ‘Melon Ball’ cutter, cut enough mango balls to fill your melon halves. Press the cutter down into the fruit first and then twist.
Beautifully ripe Mango!
Fill the centers of your melon halves with soft fruit of your choice and garnish with Nasturtium flowers or other edible flowers from the garden. Pansies, Jasmine, Geraniums, Lavender, Rosemary Camomile etc.
Stand each melon half on a Nasturtium or Mulberry leaf.
Here I have filled my melon with raspberries, blueberries and kiwi.
Delicious!
Nasturtiums come in different colors the orange colored ones go particularly well in this recipe.
Perfect for a hot Spring Day!
My Indian Curry ©
This is my favourite ‘Beef Curry.’ If you have the good fortune of having a friend traveling to the East, ask them to bring you back freshly ground ‘Curry Mix’ from the ‘Souks.’ It is the best!
This curry was created after a visit to Qatar, a few years ago and on visiting the ‘Spice Souk,’ I purchased 500 g of their ‘Curry Mix.’ I will never forget the Souk, with all its colour and fragrance and bustle of life and sealed tightly in a jar, it is still good today!
Cooking curries always involves lots of ingredients, so you need to devote your day to preparing this feast! It is well worth the effort and perfect for a special occasion!
If you have never cooked a curry before and this is especially for my young cooks, here is where to start! Do ‘all’ your shopping the day before! And choose a nice calm free day to really get into your cooking!
I had a lot of fun cooking and photographing this one!
An Indian Feast!
Here you see the two vegetarian curries, potato and aubergine, which you will find under curries. I am now adding the Beef Curry, Basmati Rice and Churri, which is a very nice cooling accompaniment.
Churri.
For six persons
Preparation time 1/2 hour
Ingredients
1 kilo cubed fillet steak
4 medium onions finely grated
1 thumb sized piece of ginger finely grated
8 cloves of garlic chopped
8-10 green cardamons bruised
2 bay leaves
1-2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp whole cloves ( place in cotton muslin bag )
1 tsp peppercorns ( place in cotton muslin bag )
2 tbs tomato purée
200 g Greek ‘Fage Total’ yogurt
2 tbs curry powder mix : made from powdered cumin, coriander, turmeric and cayenne pepper in equal quantities.
2-3 tbs olive oil
Salt
Method
1. Have your butcher prepare your meat into 2 cm cubes.
2. Peel and grate onions and fry in oil until transparent, 2-3 minutes.
3. Peel and chop garlic, add to onions along with your spices and fry until golden and aromatic.
4. Add your cubed meat and cook until sealed and brown all over. 5-8 minutes.
5. Dilute your tomato puree in a cup of water and add to your meat. Season.
6. Add your cloves and pepper corns, tied in a little cotton muslin pouch and simmer for half an hour. The liquid should be mostly absorbed by the end of the cooking time, giving you a thick sauce. If it is too liquid remove the lid and simmer until liquid has reduced.
7. Remove from the heat and add the yogurt. Taste for salt before serving.
Basmati Rice
400 g Basmati Rice
Enough water to come 1 cm above the level of the rice ,when placed in the saucepan.
1 level tsp salt
2 cloves, stick of cinnamon, saffron: all optional the saffron gives the rice a pale yellow colour. Soak Saffron in a little water first.
Method
Every one has their own way of cooking Basmati rice and I find this method works well.
1. Place rice in sieve and rinse under cold running water, until the water runs clear.
2. Place in saucepan and cover with water, so that the water is about 1 cm above the level of the rice. Add 1 tsp salt.
3. Bring to the boil and then turn heat down to the very minimum, replace lid, half on at first and leave until rice has swollen and ‘all’ the water has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.
4. When ready to serve gently ease rice out of saucepan using a ‘fork’ and fluff up rice in your serving dish.
Churri
1 tsp cumin seeds
10 g fresh mint leaves
15 g coriander leaves
2 cm piece of ginger peeled and finely grated
2 green chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped
600 ml Greek ‘Fage Total’ thick yogurt
1 onion diced
Salt
sweet paprika for garnish and coriander leaves
Method
1. Dry roast cumin seeds until aromatic, 1-2 minutes, keeping the pan moving so they do not burn.
2. Grind seeds in spice grinder, or in pestle and mortar.
3. Chop mint, coriander, ginger and de-seeded chilli to a fine paste in blender, or by hand.
4. Add yogurt and blend until a beautiful pale green.
5 Add chopped onions and check seasoning. It does not want to be bland, so add enough salt!
6. Place in serving dish and sprinkle with sweet paprika, ( the non hot kind ) and garnish with coriander leaves.
Beef Curry
Have your butcher prepare your meat into nice small 2 cm cubes.
Prepare your finely grated onions, using the smallest holes of your grater, chop your garlic and grate your ginger. Measure out your cayenne, green cardamons (bruised) and bay leaves.
Measure out curry powder, in this case ‘Qatari Curry Mix.’
Place pepper corns and cloves on a piece of cotton tulle or cotton muslin.( Not nylon!)
Tie together with kitchen string.
Sauté onions in oil until transparent, 2-3 minutes, add chopped garlic and spices and fry until golden and aromatic, stirring all the time.
Add your cubed meat and ‘seal’ on all sides, until no pink is visible. 3-5 minutes.
Dilute your tomato purée in a cup of water and add to meat. Place on lid and simmer over a gentle heat until meat is tender and nearly all the liquid has been absorbed.
Attach your muslin spice bag to the handle of your saucepan, so that you can remove it easily at the end of the cooking time.
Season.
Final result!
You can see here how all the liquid has been absorbed and the sauce is thick. Remove from the heat, add yogurt and check seasoning, it may need more salt.
Basmati Rice
Churri
Dry roast coriander in small saucepan, tossing, so the coriander doesn’t burn. 1-2 minutes.
Weigh out fresh mint and coriander leaves.
Grind coriander in pestle and mortar.
…..until finely ground.
Chop fresh herbs in blender and add the rest of your ingredients.
Blend until pale green.
Final result!
Egg Marjoram Salad ©
Eggs eggs and more eggs! The tradition for Greek Easter is to dye your Easter eggs and give them as presents on Easter Day. The result is a wonderful collection of dyed Easter eggs and many are cracked and eaten at the Easter Feast. Inevitably though and most fortunately, there are always some left over to make this simple, but delectable egg salad which, so much does my son John like, that I always find him in the kitchen making it, on the second day of Easter!
For John, his favorite and ours too!
Easy
4 Persons
Ingredients
4 Hard boiled eggs
Small bunch of Marjoram, leaves only
Olive oil
Vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper, or Sweet Paprika ( The ‘non hot’ kind)
Method
IMPORTANT : Take eggs out of refrigerator, one hour before!
1. Wash your freshly laid eggs, place in egg saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Turn heat down a little, so that the eggs don’t crack while cooking and simmer for 8 minutes. Otherwise use left over Easter Eggs.
2. Once the time is up, place saucepan under the tap of cold running water for 1 minute. This is very IMPORTANT so that the egg yolk does not form a ring of green sulphur around the yolk, which looks unappetizing.
3. Remove the egg shells and cut in half, long ways. Place halves on suitable dish, add salt and pepper, sprinkle with a few drops of vinegar and drizzle with olive oil. Finally, just before serving, wash your Marjoram in salted water, drain and pat dry with kitchen paper. Chop finely and sprinkle over eggs.
4. Mix up a little extra dressing with the same ingredients, to be served along side.
N.B. If you make this ahead of time, be sure to cover tightly with cling film, so the egg yolks don’t dry out and crack and add Marjoram at the last minute, freshly chopped.
Always have one sauce pan that is exclusively only used to boil eggs. This is a “Hygiene rule” and stops the spread of any germs that might be carried on the egg shells from the Chicken Coop to your cooking equipment and so to you.
Place eggs in egg saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Turn down heat a little and simmer for 8 minutes.
Once cooked ‘IMPORTANT,’ put saucepan under cold running water for a minute, so no sulphur ring forms around yolk.
Cut in half with a sharp serrated knife.
These eggs are just a little softer in the center, which gives a perfect consistency. If you over boil, they become too hard.
Arrange on suitable dish. If you don’t have a special egg dish, cut a sliver of white off the base of the egg, so that they don’t
slide around the dish.
Wash your Marjoram in salted water, drain and pat dry with kitchen paper. Remove the leaves and chop finely just before serving so that the leaves don’t discolor.
Make up a little extra dressing and serve along side in a small bowl.
This makes an excellent addition to your lunch, the day after Easter, together with any left over Lamb, Salad and Tsadsiki.
Final result!
What's Cooking In Jane's Kitchen 