Maldon Sea Salt - Travels for Taste

Chicken and Red Lentil Stew – a complete ONE POT meal (Suran & Red Lentil Stew)

February 3, 2014 by manjirichitnis 33 Comments

There are times when I really want a hearty meal but don’t have the energy to stand and cook an elaborate meal. It is at times like that I turn to One pot meals, served with a warm baguette it is a filling, healthy and easy and quick to meal option which NO compromise on taste whatsoever! Moreover, its homemade, has flavour and is a satisfying experience to make .

I had been meaning to try and cook a stew using red lentils (masoor – Marathi for red lentil )for some time , they are my most favourite lentils and I am ALWAYS stocked up on a large 2 kilo pack of dried red lentils split and without skin , from my local Indian grocery shop at Tooting called Dadu’s. Also since all the other fresh ingredients were procured from my local LIDL this dish is GREAT value for money too! Am totally in love with the FRESH fruits and vegetable selection at LIDL right now.I bought some bright red long crunchy sweet peppers, a pack of medium hot chillies, fresh chicken breast fillets, a very cute packet of garlic, mixed pack of cauliflower and broccoli florets and a packet of gorgeous looking Shallots.( I have always wondered why the lentils are called RED when clearly they are a lovely light orange colour !)

I love inventing a recipe as I go along and when I got my vegetable tray out on Sunday morning I had all these lovely vegetables staring at me and I just threw in what I thought would taste good together and VOILA ! A Steaming hot , thick, wholesome and tasty chicken and red lentil broth was born.

I love having some baby potatoes in stock and they are always handy in a stew , besides being quite the self-proclaimed ”queen of curries” I always am well stocked on Indian spices so bay leaves and cinnamon sticks aplenty in my kitchen larder – oh yes

Please don’t feel put off by the ingredient list , trust me they marry well together in the taste department and the end result is well worth your time and effort!

The biggest bonus of this stew recipe is that you can create your OWN vegetarian version by replacing the chicken with Quorn or if you don’t for some reason like or have never tried or have no access to Quorn then try replacing the chicken fillets with Suran/Elephant Foot Yam, it can be chopped into big chunks and it takes up flavours very easily. But with the yam the cooking time drastically will reduce as it can go from just right and chewy to soft, goeey or totally disappear into the stew ! My aai (mum) always used suran as a meat replacement and marinated it well in the spices we would use for chicken or lamb and made a thick gravy dish with it, when I was younger she has managed to fool me many times over thinking it was mutton 🙂 – Aai I miss you and all the food you cook – sigh…. no India trip in sight anytime soon 🙁

(Dangerous though it looks the elephant foot yam is very very tasty! )

Serves:4 Preparation Time: 10 minutes Cooking time:35 minutes

Ingredients:

Red Lentils / Massor Dal -3/4th cup
Chicken breast mini fillets – 750gm / Comparable Quorn fillets
5-6 baby potatoes
6 shallots approx 200gm
2 large sweet and crunchy pointed Red Peppers – approx 200gm
2 short medium hot chillies
2-3 bay leaves dry
red chilli flakes as per taste
sea salt as per taste
1 veg stock pot
3 dried red Kashmiri chillies
1 large roll of cinnamon
4 tbsp sunflower oil
a handful of Broccoli and Cauliflower florets
2 large tbsp of tomato puree or half of a large tomato finely chopped
Red chilli powder
Sugar 2 tsp

Method:

Wash and soak the red lentil in water to soften them so they cook more quickly then get on with all the other chopping and cutting prep’s.
Chop the shallots lengthwise.
In a large stew pot or huge saucepan heat the oil and add the bay leaves,cinnamon stick and dry red kashmiri chillies which I have a very big packet of and am trying to finish , they only add colour and no heat so if you don’t have these you can totally leave them out – no harm done here.
Now add red chilli powder and sugar and just when the sugar starts to caramelise add the shallots and shallow fry them till they reduce and begin to turn a lovely brown colour.
Now add the 2 large tbsp’s of tomato puree or half of a large tomato finely chopped and stir till it mixes well with the shallots.
Add the roughly chopped long red peppers and baby potatoes and saute’ for 2 minutes.
Add the washed chicken fillets/suran (elephant yam), soaked red lentils with the water it was soaked in.
Add the washed and roughly chopped Broccoli and Cauliflower florets and now add enough water.
I did not measure the water I added but add enough to get a nice thick stew , while the ingredients are cooking together on a low flame ,feel free to top up with more water as the lentils easily soak up as much water as you feed it with. Having said that you don’t want to end up with a watery stew so don’t add more than 3/4th cup at one go.
Season with sea salt , I love MALDON SEA SALT which I use and I have a few packets ALWAYS stashed away, great n salads it is!
Then sprinkle red chilli flakes and gently place a veg stock cube on top on this lovely pot of goodness bubbling away. I prefer the KNORR veg stock cubes , they have a great bouquet of flavour and are very handy at times when am exhausted and need to quickly cook up something tasty!
Stir well, cover with a lid and cook on a medium flame.
The red lentil will froth as they cook not to worry simply stir now and then and mix well, don’t allow the stew to get too thick we want enough lovely gravy to slurp this stew and dip the baguette into!

I was so hungry that I didn’t click any photos of my lovely fresh ingredients but it was a brilliantly sunny day yesterday and after this wholesome stew for lunch we had to really force ourselves to go and get some much needed fresh air at Morden Hall Park – I happily left my smartphone behind so photos to share but suffice to say that it was a gorgeous walk through the huge grounds and we saw many happy families ,happy couples and cute old folks and even happier kids and dogs romping around in the muddy park fun! And because we were so good we treated ourselves to hot tea and a sandwich at a local Turkish Cafe 😉 hehehe

Am very happy and proud of this new original recipe creation from my experimental kitchen. Next time I make this stew I will smoke the sweet and crunchy long red peppers and peel off the skin , to add a deep smoky flavour to the stew and not have the skin floating around – double whammy I say 🙂

Caramelised Red Onion Chutney with Feta and Chickpeas Salad

October 20, 2013 by manjirichitnis 3 Comments

On a trip to one of my favourite supermarkets I purchased my first jar of caramelised red onion chutney. Coming from India my palate is well -acclimatised to red onions and their sharp sweet taste. The tangy taste and deep rich colour and versatility of this chutney got me hooked on this dish and I was using it ever so often.

Since then I had been planning to make this chutney at home and after scouring for recipes online, I found this interesting recipe by Fraser Doherty – The Super Jam Cookbook. It’s a basic and simple recipe yet perfect in proportion and that’s exactly what a great recipe should be.

It’s a perfect accompaniment for a good roast or in toasted sandwiches with a light soup during a cold wintry day. This chutney goes well with feta cheese and chickpea salad as it does with cheese and crackers. This is also my way of using all those empty glass jars that have been stacked behind various shelves in my tiny kitchen.

Averse to consuming chickpeas in popular Indian fare like ‘’Chole Bhature’’( a chickpea masala gravy with ‘’Bhature’’ which is huge, puffed fried fermented wheat bread). I find this a much healthier alternative to get my husband to eat chickpeas and get a nod of approval from my biggest critic 😉

Caramelised Red Onion Chutney

Ingredients:

8 red onions
1 red chilli
2 bay leaves
25ml olive oil
200g brown sugar
150ml balsamic vinegar
150ml red wine vinegar

Method:

Chop the red onions into fine long slices. Slice the chilli into long thin slits. Heat the olive oil in the saucepan and add the bay leaf and chilli followed by the red onions. On a low flame stir continuously and cook for about 20 minutes.

The onions will change colour now and turn dark and the mixture will have reduced in volume. Now stir in the sugar first followed by the vinegar, I used dark muscovado sugar as I love the rich dark smoky flavour. Simmer this mixture for 30 minutes and the chutney now turns sticky and thick.

While this is simmering, sterilise all those glass bottles and store the chutney in them. It takes a month for the flavour to mature fully.

Chutney close up in tiny bonne mamon jar

Feta Cheese and Chickpea Salad

Serves 4 as a side with a main meal

Ingredients:

120g chickpeas (That’s half a can of tinned chickpeas ready to eat)
120g packet of crunchy salad leaves
100g feta cheese
A pinch of Maldon sea salt
Half a red onion sliced thin and lengthwise
Few cherry tomatoes
Few small boiled potatoes
Some slices of colourful peppers

Method:

Create a bed of leaves and throw in the chickpeas and other ingredients. A generous dollop of the caramelised red onion chutney in this salad will offset the feta cheese beautifully. It’s great for a meatless Monday lunch or a perfect accompaniment for a big family Sunday lunch.

The best part of making this chutney is that I get to give some to my friends, sharing is fun isn’t it?

FBC’12 – A Flashback!

July 4, 2013 by manjirichitnis 4 Comments

It’s a few hours to FBC5 , time seems to have flown by since I first went to experience the FBC.I managed to only attend the last day but what a power packed day it was with workshops , sessions and of course the vibrant street party. I do hope to soak in all this and sooo much more this year and really ”connect” with the bloggers.

I walked in to attend a session on Niche Blogging by Summaya Jamil of Pukka Paki ,thanks Summaya for this pic with moi.

I most enjoyed the Seychelles Inspired Street Food stall – Vinn Goute

And these moustached boys from Gourmetti kept hungry bloggers coming back for seconds with their ”Fiodena” – Wild pig slices & onion jam in crackling focaccia.ummm

The photography workshop had all the eager bloggers gathering around to get some photography tips and up their skills and taste some delicious Indian fare made by private chef Maunika Gowardhan who blogs at Cook in a Curry.

Monique’s session on starting a food business was very engaging full of great advice,insights and had a very good question answer session.

Tea time was great for interacting with the sponsors, loved chatting with the head chef at Vitamix.

Thanks to Rekha Mehra from Pistachio Rose for smiling for my cam!

Just ONE of the many attractive food stalls at the street party.

Tummy full, satiated with being amongst so many like minded foodies, Food Blogger Connect lived upto its name of connecting us all. Kudos to Bethany and her team and FBC 5 is just going to be bigger and better!Oh yes and the goody bag was bursting with so many goodies I had to call hubby over to get me from the station 😉

Nitey nite, can hardly wait for tomorrow!