Potato pea pakora bites

Ingredients

Peas, potato, onion, curry powder and green chilli

Preparation

Boil some potatoes. When the spuds are almost cooked add some frozen peas in the same water for a few minutes.

Drain, then mash the potatoes and peas together. Add a teaspoon of curry powder and a pinch of salt. Taste and add more favouring as required.

Add some fried onions and freshly chopped green chilli to the mash.

When the potato mix has started to cool, roll in your hand to make small balls.

Grease an oven tray, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes on medium heat 160c.

 

 

Photo not my own and no infringement meant

Quick cook Balti Biryani curry

Ingredients: Rice, Tin of tomatoes, curry paste, medium onion, green pepper, 2 medium carrots, green beans and cauliflower, ginger

Serves 2

Preparation:

This dish is very similar to the hot pepper sauce rice recipe, but the purpose of this is to make a quick Balti style Biryani instead.

Cook some rice and set aside, please make sure the rice is not sticky as you will need to have fairly loose grains when you mix the rice with the sauce.

Fry the diced onion and ginger for a few minutes.

Next add some cauliflower florets and a chopped green pepper and dice carrot.

Add a spoon or two of pre-made curry paste and stir through and avoid burning. Add a little of water in case the heat is too high.

Next add the tin of tomatoes and bring to a boil then simmer. Taste the curry as you go, and add some curry powder and/or ground coriander as appropriate.

Cook some green beans on the side and add to the dish near the end.

Finally, empty the cooked rice into a large saucepan and then start to spoon the vegetable curry to the mix. You want a consistency of the rice coated in curry sauce, rather than rice swimming in a pool of curry

Finish with a generous portion of coriander  and a couple of slices of very ripe tomatoes.

Photo by Mareefe on Pexels.com

Tandoori Quorn and Sag Aloo

There is not much to the Tandoori Quorn, as you will be using jar or Patak’s sauce, but the combination with Sag Aloo which will make a difference.
Ingredients: (Tandoori Quorn) Quorn Pieces, Ginger, Coriander, Onion, Pepper, plain yoghurt
Ingredients: (Sag aloo) Potatoes, curry powder, cumin seeds, onion, spinach, vegetable stock

Preparation (Tandoori Quorn)
Place around 250g of Quorn pieces into a bowl with some finely chopped ginger and half small pot of yoghurt and mix. Allow time to marinate, preferably overnight, but at least an hour.
Bake in an oven for around 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees (fan assisted).
Griddle some large slices of onions and peppers and then serve with the cooked Quorn and sprinkle some coriander on top.

Preparation (Sag Aloo)
Chop and slice a large onion and a chunk of ginger and start to fry. Add a teaspoon of curry powder and half a teaspoon of cumin seeds and stir. Next, add two cubed medium potatoes and coat with the onion mixture. Add a little of vegetable stock to just cover the spuds and cook for around 20 minutes or until the soft. Keep topping with stock as it cooks. When cooked, stir in some spinach until wilted.

Vegetable Balti (cheat)

This lovely Indian dish is quickly prepared and cheap, tasty and gives a takeaway a run for its money. However, this is a cheat dish as it uses a cooking sauce from Indi Grand, which is not readily available anywhere! So if you ever see a pouch of the Indi Grand, you should give it a go.

Ingredients: A pouch of Indi Grand Balti Sauce, fresh coriander, large onion, 2 medium carrots, large sweet potato, green beans, basmati rice and some cauliflower florets

Preparation:
Start off by peeling and frying the cubed sweet potato for around 10-15 minutes until they are soft. Then cut an onion into petals and fry until soft with the sweet potato. While this is happening, cook the cauliflower and green beans.

Add the curry sauce to the onion and sweet potato and then combine with the other veg. Heat together for around 5 minutes

Next, slice a couple of carrots into ribbons and place into the curry. These will cook through in about two minutes.

Before serving to add a generous portion of chopped coriander to the curry sauce and serve with basmati rice

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Paneer curry

As with almost everything I cook here, it’s usually the first time I am doing it and today was the first time I have made a curry for Jane. It’s not very difficult but looks complicated due to the amount prep and spices used. However, it is pretty much a one pot dish where you add things in as you go.

Ingredients, basmati rice, 2 medium onions, a few garlic cloves, a chunk of ginger, 3 medium tomatoes, handful of cashews, 2 tbsp garam Masala, 2 tbsp corriander powder, 2 bay leaves, 1 tbsp fenugreek spice, 2 green finger chillies, 1tbsp of red chilli powder, a good squeeze of tomato puree, a packet of paneer (220g) 150ml single cream, half small cup of milk and half small cup of water.

Blend the onions and garlic into a paste.

Soak the cashews for 10/15 mins in some water.

Blanch the tomatoes and blitz in a mixer to make a sauce.

Fry the onion paste in oil for 5 mins. Careful of splattering as there is quite a bit of water in the paste.

Add the cashews paste and continue to heat for a couple of minutes.

Add the Masala, corriander, chilli powders.

Add the blender tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes or so.

Add the fresh sliced chilli and continue to heat for 4 minutes

Add the bay leaf and the milk and water. Keep stirring. Add a little tomato puree if necessary

All the time you should be getting a Masala style slightly thick sauce but not a runny gravy. You should not see any water in the dish.

Add the fenugreek and drop the funded paneer in. Continue to cook for 5 minutes.

If you have been tasting from about half way through, you should have a good balance of flavour and heat. Remember when add the cream you will get a smoother taste and will calm down any heat you may have added.

When about to serve with rice, remove from heat and stir in the cream. Job done.

We also had some shop bought starters to go with our meal too, which was a little piggy but very nice.