Masala Chai recipe

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This simple recipe was first published in Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking.  I believe the basic principles are broadly agreed upon but the enthusiastic chai-wallah community will offer you many variants! One common addition generally agreed upon to add warmth is a slice of fresh bruised ginger.

Masala Chai

1-1/2 cups water
1 inch stick of cinnamon
8 cardomom pods
8 whole cloves
2/3 cup milk
6 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any unperfumed loose black tea

Put 1-1/2 cups water in saucepan. Add the cinnamon, cardomom, and cloves and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again. Throw in the tea leaves, cover, and turn ff the heat. After 2 minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately.

 

An introduction to Chai

I first encountered the wonderful Indian beverage of ‘Chai’ after a meal at Imli in London. My host was shocked to discover I wanted a plain green tea after a superb lunch and said ‘No! It must be chai, hot and sweetened and served with milk!’ As I don’t usually take milk in tea or coffee and only a tiny touch of sugar in either I was reluctant to agree but accpeted his recommendation – and was pleasantly surprised. Spicy, aromatic, calming and deeply satisfying it is a wonderful drink and one I have just started to make at home as a pre-bedtime drink (it is believed to help sleep).

Basically chai tea is an infusion of classic Indian whole spices – based on cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black peppercorns (although doubtless thousands of variants exist!).

The milk and water are brought to boiling point, the spices and chosen sweetner added, then simmered for 2 minutes and then strained into cups. I have a pre-mixed pack of chai spices but will probably use my own spices once that’s used up – it’s pretty simple to prepare. In India street vendors – known as ‘Chai Wallahs’ – serve this as a local laternative to Starbucks!

 

‘Best bangers in Britain’?

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Pork and sage sausages from HMP East Sutton Park have been named as ’supreme sausage’ taking honours at the Smithfield Meat and Livestock show. The prison farm shop has become a mecca for sausage aficionados, boasting over 20 varieties from classics tp more exotic specialities – including the Caribbean Special.

The ’specialty’ recipe remains a closely guarded secret – however our local banger gourmet recommends the Pork and Hops ariety.

The prison’s 200 saddleback pigs created even greater interest when they appeared on BBC2’s ‘Jimmy’s Farm‘.  Farm Manager Chris Coveney and his wife Lorraine attribute the success of the sausages to “The quality of meat and the real care that goes into making them.”

 

A salad from a friend in the South

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To be more precise, Southern USA – Elizabeth County. So this is named The ‘EC’ salad in honour of the gal (‘K’) that shared this recipe with me (thanks again!).

The ingredients are similar to a Greek country salad – so good black (kalamata) olives, sweet geen pepper, red onion,cucumber and tomatoes. The dressing ingredients are given below and have parmesan and parsley on hand for guests to serve themselves (as it says in all the grown up recipe books!). These should be ‘chunky diced’ and the onion sliced in to thin half-moon rings. The salad could be eaten as a stand alone with good country bread (home made sourdough, focaccia or ciabatta) but K’s version is designed to be mixed into pasta – a fusilli or small-ish penne would be ideal – just try and balance the size of your pasta with the vegetables to get a nice balance of ingredients on the plate.

The Dressing

And here I quote from K’s instructions.

the dressing is made with olive oil, garlic, sun dried tomatos, capers-all mixed in a food processor. then while the fussili is hot, pour it in, mix, add kalamata olives, feta, fresh tomatos, parsley and parmesan.

A good, honest salad that would work in any season!

 

Qype: Mooli in Tunbridge Wells

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Tunbridge Wells – Eating & Drinking – Restaurants – Other Asian – Tibetan & Nepalese

Good quality Nepalese/Tibetan cuisine with pleasant, calming service from quiet-mannered and attentive staff. Well OK – it was lunchtime (late) and I was the only person in the restaurant – but there was no pressure to move me on.

I had the Sekuwa Parbat from the lunch menu. This was preceded by a small poppadum and a few chutneys which was unexpected. The main course came as a fresh side order of salad, another mild chutney, a Nepalese Nann (fresh, slightly crispy with a hint of fennel seeds) and the lamb. This was cooked in the ‘Chuli’ (clay oven) on a skewer with peppers and tomato. It was delicately seasoned – only slightly spiced – and perfect for a lunchtime. The meat was tender, fat free and presented medium rare.
Atul Kochhar is quoted on the menu but his testimonial (‘the best Nepalese I have ever eaten’) is a little dated (2006)! Nonetheless my first experience was very pleasant and I will be back to try the Sunday lunch (a steal at £10.50) and I also took their takeaway menu – which is 10% cheaper than the restaurant prices. A truly refreshing change from the trusty Indian standby. Do give it a try!

Check out my review of Mooli – I am baldrick – on Qype

 

A winter warmer – hot apple toddy

This addition to the alcohol free recipes is a straight adaptation of a Scandinavian winter ‘toddy’ that is traditionally served with alcohol. (Calvados  and cider are typical additions.) My version is alcohol free – so a good choice for the nominated driver or non-drinker.

It’s really easy – take a carton of clear apple juice or a bottle of that lovely cloudy home pressed juice you can get at farmer’s markets, and place in a saucepan over a steady heat. Grate in a 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg and add 1 – 2 tsps. of allspice berries. Bring up to a ‘just-boiling’ then turn off the heat. Do not allow to simmer – you need to retain the apple juice’s sharp/sweet balance and boiling seems to mess this up royally.

Slice a small apple into a large serving jug (heatproof if possible – or use a strong glass jug with a large metal spoon in it and stand the jug on a wooden board. It prevents the jug cracking and no – I have no idea why but it works with jam and chutney bottling so the same laws of physics apply here.

Pour hot (not boiling) juice through a strainer into the jug. That’s it – told you it was easy!

 

Qype: Barn The Restaurant Pub in Tunbridge Wells

Tunbridge Wells – Eating & Drinking – Restaurants

I make no apologies for this – somebody needs to be told…
The Barn is a centrally located pub in TW and benefits from the local businesses in the area so is usually busy at lunchtimes (when I’ve been as it’s close to our offices). I can’t comment on the evening trade however.
On each occasion the food has been appalling – not just ‘below average’ pub grub but flat out disgusting. On my first visit the pizza I ordered (‘Spicy pepper’) was actually wet…don’t ask me how they did this…and the (cheddar) cheese topping was hardly melted. Under this vulcanised crust of Cathedral City lay a AT LEAST 2 raw bell peppers sliced into chunks. As a final flourish the kitchen had garnished the entire (tepid) topping with the entire contents of a jar of Jalapeno chilies. On collecting my barely touched plate the waiter kept a stony faced experssion of total dis-interest and whipped away the plate before i could open my mouth and mutter ‘withold my compliments tothe kitchen’. I have been back several times since on ‘corporate’ get together lunches – last week the seasonal menu was launched and now features the ‘All Day Breakfast Pizza’. My homemade burger with stilton came with a side of carbonised chips 9as did the other 3 we ordered) and a burger made from low-grade watery mince which oozed industrial grease as you picked it up – tasted of nothing – and was topped off with the crusty arse end of a stilton wedge which hadn’t even melted. Oh – a colleague who went for he ’safe’ option of a caesar salad was intrigued to see the kitchen had – in typical signature style – tipped the entire contents of a jar of capers on top of the salad rendering it inedible and soaked in bitter vinegar.
It can’t possibly get any worse…but I’m going back only to see what the Christmas menu promises!

Check out my review of Barn The Restaurant Pub – I am baldrick – on Qype

 

Qype: Green Chillie in Tunbridge Wells

Tunbridge Wells – Eating & Drinking – Fastfood & Takeaway – Indian

I have to agree with steveizz – and as this is technically our ‘local’ we’ve had a few takeaways with mixed results. First – why doesn’t it smell like an Indian restaurant? I sometimes walk past during the day and would expect to get that ‘tandoor’ warm up smell – but nothing. Same inside. I suspect the food may be shipped in and microwaved to order – but that doesn’t explain the lengthy waiting that steviezz experienced (our hasn’t been too bad though). The food is ‘old school’ indan – heavy, lots of ‘gravy’ and big portions of everything. Unfortunately I also have had the old-school ‘morning after’ squits. The kids love it however and their Korma always gets good reviews from the girls. Naan’s are fresh and good quality – but – where are they making the food?
On a positive note they do free home delivery and give £2 money off vouchers for orders over £30. Unfortunately the local competition (Kirthon, Spice Club, Junaki, Langton Tandoori) will be hard to beat unless they really turn up the quality burners.

Check out my review of Green Chillie – I am baldrick – on Qype

 

Pumpkin pie

It’s getting cooler and the pumpkin we planted before summer has yielded 2 large, flat pumpkins. One has been pureed with spices to be turned into Gnocci – the other is destined to become a pie – a first attempt at this recipe.

 

Giving ’spag bol’ a twang

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The stalwart student standby spaghetti bolognese has become a standard fixture on our weekday menu – simple ingredients, cheap and usually well-received by the ‘on me knees in front of the telly’ contingent. For Italian food purists spag bol occupies that ‘no-man’s land’ territory inhabited by other equally stateless variations of national dishes including chicken tikka massala and chilli con-carne – but no aplogies to the purists – this is a great dish.

So – here’s how we do it chez Prestopronto.

Preparation: Dice a large onion, a medium carrot and a stick of celery. Heat 2 – 3 Tbs of standard olive oil in a large heavy bottomed saucepan or your pressure cooker if you like it ‘old school). Toss in a good handful of cubed pancetta or chopped bacon and let the fat render for a few minutes.

Drop in the vegetables and partially cover allowing them to sweat for 5 mins but not colour.

Take 500 gms of minced beef – low fat steak mince is good but if budgeting use what you can. Break down the mince into a loose mixture with the veg and allow to cook through (mince can be browned separately beforehand but the difference is only minimal and it’s one more pan to wash so we don’t bother).’ Get the kettle on to boil and set up a large heatproof jug – break a chicken stock cube into same and make up to a good litre with boiling water.

Take a good handful of dried porcini and drop into hot stock. Add 2 bay leaves and leave to infuse as the mushrooms soften.

Turn attention back to the pan and crumble in 2 dried chiles. If you have it – a good slug of red wine – into the pan – and let reduce for a few minutes to cook-off the alcohol.

Season well, then open a tin of chopped tomatoes – stir in to meat & veg mix. Add either (traditional) a tablespoon of tomato puree or (Prestopronto stylee) a good squirt from the tomato ketchup bottle (the sugar really helps the final flavour!)

Now add a good tablespoonful of dried oregano plus the stock, bay leaves and porcini. Grind in a  fresh nutmeg.

Add a tablespoon of mushroom ketchup or Worcertershire Sauce.

Now bring to simmer – partially covered – and let it all come together and reduce to your preferred consistency. The secret is the reduction of the stock and tomatoes to intensify the flavours and produce an unctuous glossy pasta sauce.

Just before serving add a handful of fresh Basil leaves torn by hand (don’t chop as they bruise and blacken).

Serve – ‘prestopronto!’ – over freshly boiled spaghetti and grate over fresh Parmesan.

A good, chunky red works well (Barolo).