Chicken Kati Roll (Chicken Frankie)

 

A Kati Roll is a style of Indian Kebab that originated in Kolkata, the original version of the Kati roll was said to be an enclosed parcel, very similar to a stuffed paratha bread. There are various versions of a Kati roll, curried chicken, paneer, vegetables, regardless of the filling they all have one thing in common, that is that they are all flippin' amazing.

 

Bizarrely I did not try this in Kolkata but in Fort Cochin Kerala, this is by no means Keralan food at all but I was advised by a chef friend that I visit a particular restaurant called Dal Roti. I had spent a long time in Varkarla, Kerala eating fabulous coconut based fish curries and to be quite honest that suited me, I had met a local chef who told me about this particular restaurant, he had explained that the owner was his mentor and had taught him to cook, I was told that if I like good food this would be a pilgrimage for me, but the food is north Indian. The restaurant itself is down a dusty lane which feels in the middle of no where, the restaurant much like most of the best restaurants that I have visited looked rough around the edges, and when we arrived we were told to leave and come back in an hour as it was ramadan, none of this put me off because I was desperate to see what all the fuss was about, that was possibly one of the best decisions that I have ever made, not only was it the best indian food I have ever tasted but it has made such an impact on how I cook Indian food that I will forever try to match the quality of food I tasted that day. 

 

For those of you who read regularly you will know that obviously I cook a lot, I blog about recipes that I feel that I could honestly share so that people who would cook it will love it, but the Kati roll is in a league of its own, it is the best recipe that I have written, now you know i'm serious when I say that! Paratha bread with fried egg on one side, then stuffed with curried chicken, green chutney and red onions, perfection.

 I cooked a huge batch of kati rolls for some friends for dinner and have since been hounded for the recipe, so here it is guys, ENJOY!

For the Paratha:

You will need:

1 cup of white bread flour

1/2 cup of chapatti flour

2 tbsp of vegetable oil

a pinch of salt

100ml water

Blend all of all of the above ingredients together and knead for ten minutes until you have a soft pliable dough. Place to one side.

For the green chutney:

1/2 cup of mint

1/2 cup of coriander

4 green chillies (seeds and all)

1 tbsp of caster sugar

3 tsp of maldon seasalt, if you are using table salt  reduce the amount

1 cup of white onion

6 tsp of lemon juice

3 tsp of water

Blend all the above items in a food processor until very fine.

For the chicken filling:

500g of boneless and skinless chicken thighs, diced.

1 pureed red onion

2 tbsp of oil

2 medium diced tomatoes

1 tbsp of garlic and ginger paste (from a jar)

1/2 tsp of chilli powder or cayenne 

1/2 tsp of black pepper powder (use Indian pepper powder only it is totally different)

a pinch of cumin powder

1 tsp of chaat masala seasoning

30ml of lemon juice

2 tsp of maldon salt

a pinch of chat masala to finish

Firstly puree the onion by blending it in a food processor until fine, you can add a little water to help it blend. Place a large frying pan on a high heat and fry the onion puree in the oil until golden brown, add the garlic and ginger paste, chilli powder, chat masala, pepper powder and cumin, fry for five minutes then add the tomatoes, cook the tomatoes until they have completely broken down, this should take 5-10 minutes, you can help the tomatoes by pressing them down with the back of a  wooden spoon. 

 Add the chicken and salt and cook the chicken on a low heat for 20-30 minutes until the chicken is super soft (chicken thighs do not dry out). Finish the chicken with the lemon juice and an extra pinch of chaat masala, place to one side.

(other things you will need)

Whisk up 3 eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper powder.

1 sliced red onion

To assemble the Kati roll split your dough into four and roll each ball out on a floured work surface until they are super thin roughly 30cm in diameter. Place a very large frying pan on the heat and add a tbsp of oil, place the paratha into the pan and whilst one side is cooking pour a quarter of the omelette mixture onto the other side of the paratha bread and spread out the egg, allow it to cook for a minute or until bubbles begin to appear in the bread, flip over and allow the egg to cook until the bread puffs up, remove from the pan.

 To assemble the roll place the fried paratha bread egg side up and place a quarter of the chicken onto the eggy bread, then a few teaspoons of the green chutney and sliced red onion, wrap the roll like a tortilla and wrap it in foil, serve immediately.

Thai Red Duck Curry (Gaeng Pet Phed Yang)

My very best friend Hayley just so happens to be Australian, before you ask NO she does not live in England she lives in Sydney, we have had what you may call a long distance friendship, thank goodness for whatsapp and viber.
 What is unusual about our meeting is that we did not meet in Australia or England, we actually met in Koh Tao Thailand and have continued to visit each other back and forth over the years.    I'm sure that my husband will back me up that when we get together we act like a couple of idiots, and we do think that we are the funniest pair on the planet much to the dismay of people in close proximity to us. Hayley recently came to visit and met the new addition to our little family and also to get up to a little mischief in the process. One of our favourite past times is cooking, I cook, she gets out her notepad and asks a million and one questions, as a regular reader of my blog she did point out my tendency to sometimes over complicate recipes by using ingredients that have to be sourced (guilty), she pointed out that not everyone has the time or energy to go to specialist stores, sometimes it is easier to buy it all under one roof, I could not agree more.

 On our very last day of mischief we decided to channel our inner goddesses by having  fantastic thai Massage (a memory of our first meeting) followed by a wonderful lunch, Red Duck Curry, an absolute classic and a much celebrated thai dish, one that I ate in abundance throughout Thailand, so it was only obvious this would be a recipe that I would recreate. 
 I have kept my promise, this recipe delivers on flavour whilst being super fast and easy to prepare and also you can get all of the ingredients at any supermarket, RESULT, this ones for you H.P!!

(All the measurements are in cups for ease)

You will need:
1 cup of Pineapple cut into large chunks (you can use tinned)
1/2 cup of french beans cut into batons
1/2 cup of red pepper cut into large chunks
1 sliced red chilli (use birds eye if you like it hot)
1/4 cup of halved cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup good quality red curry paste (easily available now)
1 bruised lemon grass
3 finely chopped fresh kaffir lime leaves or zest of two limes
20ml of lime juice
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1/4 cup palm sugar or 1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup of thai sweet basil (substitute with 2 tbsp of tarragon and 1/4 cup of normal basil)SEE NOTES
400ml of coconut milk (a can)
1 tbsp of coconut oil
2 tbsp of caster sugar
1/2 tsp of maldon sea salt
2 Cooked duck breasts (this can be cooked up to a day ahead)

Start by preparing all of your vegetables and place it on your board or a plate ready to use.
In a medium saucepan cook the curry paste in the oil until it begins to soften, Curry paste is a raw product, therefore needs to be cooked out to mellow the harsh flavours of the garlic and chilli etc. Use the back of a wooden spoon to mash the paste to soften it, at this point I usually add 100ml of the coconut milk to soften the paste even more.
 Add the lemon grass, lime leaves or zest, peppers and the remaining coconut milk, once the milk is starting to boil add the sugars, fish sauce, pineapple, salt, chilli and french beans, allow this to cook together for five minutes and remove from the heat and add the lime juice and herbs. Slice the ready cooked Duck and either serve this on top of the curry sauce or you can re-heat it in the curry sauce.
Serve with microwaveable thai rice for true ease!

NOTE:Sweet Thai basil is a very difficult herb to locate, some chefs would say to use normal basil but normal basil does not have an aniseed flavour like Sweet basil, my suggestion is to use tarragon and basil to mimic the flavour effectively.

Meen Pollichathu (fish wrapped in banana leaf)

I have made no secret of my love for Indian food, it's an obsession that is ever growing. Indian food in England is not a true representation of the real food that is available in India itself, the variety of food available due to seasonal diversity throughout the country is staggering. One of the most amazing places that I have ever been to and will always have a place in my heart is Varkala in Kerala, a cliff top hippy hide away, populated by keralans, tiebtans and of course back packers. It's a hard life watching the sun rise in a stunning location, yoga in the mornings, ayurverdic massage for lunch followed by a dip in the stunning coconut fringed sea but hey someone has to do it. The absolute highlight of my day, and the highlight of my trip in India was always when night fell, the fishermen would bring in their daily catch and it would be displayed on a table in front of each restaurant, you have to get there early for the best and freshest fish. One particular dish that I found myself eating repeatedly was Meen Pollichathu, which is a spiced fish wrapped in a banana leaf, when the fish cooks the juices and the spices combine to make a delicious sauce inside the parcel. I suspect that when I had this dish, it was usually made with shark, tilapia or tuna but I think it can work with most fish, especially white fish. Insanely easy to make with maximum flavour results.

You will need (for the fish marinade):

500g of haddock fillet
1 tsp of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp of indian pepper powder (trust me it's totally different)
4 tsp of garlic and ginger paste
1 tbsp of lemon juice
2 tsp of maldon sea salt
2 tsp of kashmiri chilli powder

Firstly place the sea salt into a pestle and mortar with the garlic and ginger and pound until it is a paste. Add the lemon juice and spices and then spread this all over the fish, allow this to marinate for at least an hour.

Mean while make the curry sauce.

You will need:
150g of chopped indian onions (or use shallots)
2 tsp of grated ginger
3 chopped green chillies
15 curry leaves
1/2 tsp of turmeric
1 cup of thick coconut milk
1 tsp of maldon sea salt
2 tbsp of coconut oil
3 tsp of jaggery (indian sugar)

Firstly fry the onions in the coconut oil until the onions start to turn golden brown, add the curry leaves, chilli powder and turmeric, fry this for a further five minutes, then add the ginger and chillies, fry for five more minutes, then add the coconut milk, salt and sugar, cook the sauce until it starts to split, this is when then oil returns to the dish and is usually an indicator in Indian cooking that it is done, this should only take 5 to ten minutes on a high heat. 

 Mean while take two large banana leaves and soften them over the gas flame until they turn a vivid green and become soft to handle, this way they will not break when you wrap the fish.

In a frying pan fry the fish on either side for a couple of minutes in coconut oil, it does not need to be cooked through. Place one banana leaf horizontally and place another on top vertically so that it looks like a cross, place half of the curry sauce in the centre of the banana leaf cross and then add the fish on top of the sauce and then the remaining half of the sauce on top of the fish, wrap the fish up in the leaves and then secure the parcel with cocktail sticks. 

Cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees c.
Heavenly with fluffy pilau rice and an indian salad.

South Indian Coconut Chutney

There is no better Chutney for Samosas, Dosas or Vada (lentil patties) than South Indian coconut chutney. If you love Indian food this is an absolute must to make. At one stage in Kerala I think I was eating more chutney than curry because I became that obsessed with it. There are many variations of coconut chutney, but this is the one that I love, spicy, sour, sweet, creamy and earthy with roast chana dal. Heavenly!

You will need:
(to grind)


50g of roasted chickpeas
2 green chillies
1 1/2 tsp of maldon sea salt
75g of freshly grated coconut
7 tbsp of natural yogurt
1 tsp of sugar

(for the tempering)

1 tbsp of coconut oil
1/2 tsp of asafoetida
1/2 tsp of mustard seed
10 curry leaves
2 dries red chillies split in half

Firstly soak the roasted chickpeas for about an hour and then drain. Combine the chickpeas, coconut, green chillies, sea salt, yogurt and sugar in a food processor and blend until smooth. meanwhile in a sauce pan heat the coconut oil and then add the black mustard seed, curry leaves, asafoetida, and red chillies and cook then together until the mustard seeds pop and the curry leaves begin to infuse the air with their aroma, take it off the heat and then decant the coconut mixture from the processor and combine the tempered oil and yogurt mixture. 

Parippu vada (lentil Patties)

 Train journeys throughout India are not for the faint hearted, if you are expecting air conditioned plush carriages you will be sadly dissapointed. I know that british trains are very comfortable and clean but in all honesty I would prefer to be on an Indian train any day of the week, yes they are hot, smoggy, terribly dirty, and a western face usually attracts a crowd of deep brown eyes to become fixated on you, but the food is possibly some of the best indian food I have ever tasted, whats more is that it costs pence.

 On British trains you are lucky if you get a half filled undercooked bacon sandwich, so to get a full meal and snacks, and an amazing tasting meal at that on an Indian train was over whelming. I travelled from Goa to Cochin in Kerala and feeling particularly peckish I bought some snacks, I was given a newspaper parcel which costed 10p, when I opened the parcel I saw what looked like six large fritters, I had never seen them before or heard of them but I will never forget the taste as long as I live, lightly spiced lentil patties with a crisp sandy crumb and smooth fragrant interior. If this is the quality of food you can get on an Indian train that quite frankly didn't even have toilet paper, then why cant British trains pull their fingers out and get some decent food onboard? This is the perfect picnic snack, and tastes far more complicated than it actually is to make. I urge you to try it. Serve with my coconut chutney

You will need:

100g split chana dal
1 finely diced red onion
3 chopped green chillies (birds eye will be perfect)
1 1/2 tbsp of finely chopped ginger
1/2 tsp of asafetida
1 1/4 tsp of maldon sea salt
10 finely chopped fresh curry leaves (don't even think about using dried)
1/2 tsp of fennel seed
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Soak the dal in cold water for at least 2 hours. Drain the soaked dal onto kitchen paper and dry it as much as possible. Place the Dal in a food processor and blend until it is a course paste, not a smooth paste. Remove the blended dal from the processor and decant it into a bowl, add all of the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Form the dough into five patties or ten small patties and then deep fry until golden brown. Drain onto kitchen paper and serve immediately.

Char siu Bao

This has to be one of my favourite little things to eat, it brings back incredible memories of Singapore, the culinary melting pot of south east Asia. Have you ever had a pre concieved notion of a country prior to visiting? I think in my mind I had already written off Singapore, I know it's crazy but before I travelled I thought that I hated big cities, I just want to publicly appologize to all you Singaporeans out there and mention that not only do I love big cities/ countries, Singapore was my favourite country in south east asia. If you love food this is the culinary epicentre of Asia, every cuisine that you could possibly think of is cooked here and is either completely authentic or has a Singaporean twist on the classic. For me breakfast in Singapore was a total revelation and I was instantly converted to the Singaporean way of starting the day, forget your toast and cereal, Singapore does breakfast how it should be. Each morning I would go to a local hawker stalls and peruse the many delights on offer, I did try a few various dishes, noodle soups, rotis, rice porridge, but I always came back to this dumpling, I became absolutely obsessed to the point where I would wake up a couple of hours earlier to get my fix, fearful that there would be no more and I would be left dumplingless. I know that this dumpling is most definately chinese in origin but this is my point i'm trying to make, you can get any cuisine you want in Singapore and it will be just as good if not better than the real thing. I will hold onto my days of sitting in a Hawker centre with a brightly coloured tray covered with dumplings forever, in the hope that I get back there some day. I have shown the traditional look of a char siu dumpling and also the American way of filling an open Bao, either way is delicious but I think the traditional is always best.

For the Filling Marinade:
You will need:

500g of belly pork 
1 tbsp of five spice powder
1 tbsp of yellow bean paste
1 tbsp of hoisin sauce
1 tsp of ground white pepper
1 tbsp of shao xing rice wine
2 tbsp of honey
1 tsp of sesame oil

Add all of the above ingredients into a bowl and allow it to marinate for at least an hour, transfer onto a baking tray lined with foil and cook for two and a half hours at 170 degrees c. Half way through the cooking you may have to cover the pork with foil to stop it from burning. When the pork is cooked remove the crackling and dice it into a small fine dice.


                   For the sauce for the pork:

1 tbsp of shao xing rice wine
2 tsp of runny honey
1 tsp of hoisin sauce
2 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of black rice vinegar
1 finely minced Garlic clove
70ml of water

Combine all of the above ingredients in a pan and cook it for five to ten minutes on a high height until it begins to thicken to a syrupy consistency. Add the diced pork and stir it so that it is well coated. Set aside for later.

For the dough:

325g of strong white bread flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of maldon salt
100g of caster sugar
100g of melted lard
200ml of lukewarm water
25g of fresh yeast

Combine the sugar, lukewarm water and melted lard and stir well, this should be blood temperature, by this I mean you should be able to dip your finger into the liquid and feel virtually no change in temperature from the temperature of your body. When it is blood temperature add the yeast and stir well to dissolve.

In a bowl or mixer place the flour, salt and baking powder and then slowly pour in the yeast solution, mix this either by hand, then knead for 10-15 minutes or mix in a mixer using the dough hook for 5-10 minutes, the dough should become elastic, by this I mean it should be able to be stretched without tearing, if it is tearing knead for a further 5-10 minutes. When the dough is ready place it back into the bowl and cover it with cling film, allow it to rise for and hour or until it has doubled in size. 

 When it has doubled in size knock it back by punching all of the air out of the dough. Take a ping pong sized amount of dough and roll it out to a 3mm thick disc, take a tablespoon of cooled belly pork filling and place it in the middle of the disc, using the side of the edge and pull it and create a crimp 5mm along, carry on pulling, crimping until the top begins to close, give it one last twist to close the dumpling. Steam the dumplings four at a time in a chinese bamboo steamer for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!