Recipes/Discussions on cooking from Team-BHP-Master Chefs

[LonelyPlanet]

Any chefs on this forum cooking Thai food ? Would appreciate if someone shared their recipes and experiences.

[@ri]

Chanced upon this thread and I am mighty impressed ... wondering how I missed it all these days!

Originally Posted by LonelyPlanet

Any chefs on this forum cooking Thai food ? Would appreciate if someone shared their recipes and experiences.

I have a variant to work around the requirement of a "Thai Red curry paste" not easily available.
The starting point is the red curry paste, which you can sometimes find on the shelves or you can make one by (keeping Red chillies around 10 of them in curd for few hrs, then make a paste out of them and keep this paste in the refrigerator for 2 - 3 weeks.
My variant goes without this paste ;-)
Ingredients

1. Chicken boneless 500 gm
2. Onions 4 Nos - Coarsely chopped
3. Carrots 2 Nos - cut in chunks
4. Beans - about 8 - 10 of them cut in Inch sized pieces
5. Cabbage (If you like - I omit it)
6. Button Mushrooms - 8 Cut in slices
7. Coconut Milk - 1 Pack
8. Red chillies 5 Nos
9. Curd - 3-4 table spoons
10. Olive Oil - 4 Table spoons
11. Garlic - Finely chopped
12. Salt - to taste
13. Basil Leaves - dried
14. Fresh Basil
15. Tomato - 1

Preparation
1. Mix in the chunks of chicken with curd and keep aside for a couple of hrs.
2. Dry roast the red chillies (taking care they dont turn black), subsequently grind them in a mortar - pestle
3. Heat the olive oil in an open pan and garlic and then add in the chicken. Keep stirring till they turn pink.
4. Stir in the tomato cut into small pieces and add the ground red chillies and add water (1 cup). Add salt as well
5. Once the chicken is half done, add in the carrots and the mushrooms. (I add the beans a bit later and the capsicum in the end so that they remain crunchy.
6. Add more water and finally add the coconut milk and let it simmer. At the same time add in the dried basil leaves. Cover the lid.
7. Finally after about 10 mins, transfer contents to a covered serving bowl and garnish with Fresh Basil. (Keep the cover on till the time of serving to keep the smell intact).


A good accompaniment would be Basil Fried rice which is fairly simple to cook.
Take some basmati rice, add some oil and fry the raw rice for a brief 2 - 3 mins then add warm water. Squeeze in a lemon (it helps in keeping the rice white). Water to be added will be in the ratio of 1: 1.5 and then add a cup of coconut milk followed by dry basil leaves. Garnish with fresh basil. Do remember to add in salt to the rice while cooking.

Hope this helps you ... :-)

Preparation -

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by LonelyPlanet

Any chefs on this forum cooking Thai food ? Would appreciate if someone shared their recipes and experiences.

Hehe, I do Thai food quite often!
Can't share recipes that I get from Google!!
Google has everything you wanted to know, and then some more!

[Fantasy]

Originally Posted by LonelyPlanet

Any chefs on this forum cooking Thai food ? Would appreciate if someone shared their recipes and experiences.

give this one a try. the coconut milk gives it that thai esque flavour. i've made it a few times substituting different types and brands of beer and it's turned out fabulous every time. great with naan or over rice.

St. Ambroise Chicken Curry
Serves 8

3 tablespoons (45 mL) vegetable oil
3 large onions, chopped
1/4 cup (60 mL) fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons (45 mL) curry powder
1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons (30 mL) all-purpose flour
1 cup (250 mL) plain yogurt
3 tablespoons (45 mL) tomato paste
1 cup (250 mL) Pale Ale
2 cups (500 mL) chicken broth
1 cup (250 mL) unsweetened applesauce
3 to 4 pounds (1.5 to 2 kilograms) skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed
1 package (10 oz./280 mL) package frozen peas
1/2 cup (125 mL) sour cream
1/2 cup (125 mL) unsweetened coconut milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste Fresh coriander

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Sauté onions until golden. Add ginger, garlic and sauté another minute. Mix in the curry, cumin, and cinnamon, and cook for another minute.
2. Add the flour, followed by yogurt and tomato paste. Whisk until smooth. Add beer, broth and applesauce. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens, about 30 minutes. (If making a day ahead, cool, then cover and refrigerate. Bring back to a simmer before continuing the next day.)
4. Add chicken pieces and peas to the sauce. Cook until chicken is almost cooked through, 10 minutes. Add sour cream and coconut milk. Cook another 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through, but do not bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Serve in bowls, garnish with cilantro. Serve with steamed white rice, shelled roasted peanuts, or your favourite chutney.

[pjbiju]

Brain Masala


Recipe (Serves 2-3 people)

• 2 sheep's brain cleaned and washed thoroughly
• 2 medium sized onions chopped coarsely
• 1 large tomato chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• ½ teaspoon of red kashmiri red chilly powder
• ½ teaspoon of meat masala
• ¼ teaspoon of black pepper powder
• ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons of curd
• 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves
• Salt as per taste

Method

• Take 2 cups of water, add a little turmeric powder and salt and put the washed & cleaned brains to the water. Boil the water till the brains are cooked and the water is almost absorbed completely. Once cooked remove the brains from the liquid and keep it aside
• In a pan, add the oil and when the oil is hot add the ginger garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the onions and saute till they turn slightly brown (do it on low heat and this will take a while)
• Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, meat masala and the black pepper powder. Add a couple of spoons of water to prevent the masala from burning. Cook on low fire for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the chopped tomato and cook till the oil separates from the masala.
• Add the curd and mix well. Saute for a couple of more minutes.
• Add salt as per taste.
• Add the cooked brains and break them into small pieces. Toss them gently around.
• Sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves. Cover and cook on sim for about 5 minutes.
• Remove from the fire, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

This goes well with roti/chappati or naans.


-Biju

p.s. Just made this for lunch today.

Tips

• The brain of the sheep is covered with a thin transparent layer. Remove this layer carefully. Once done, wash it tharoughly and you are done with the cleaning of the brain.
• After adding the brains and breaking them into smaller pieces, toss the pan when you want to mix everything together. If you use a spatula then you are likely to mash everything up, because the brains will be very soft.

[johnda]

nice one Biju, and and appealing pic too. 2 brain would be approx 250gms? or more?

[SILVERWOOD]

@ Biju. I am gonna try out the recipe on this weekend and will come back to you with results.Looks like a very simple recipe.Thanks a lot for sharing.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by SILVERWOOD

@ Biju. I am gonna try out the recipe on this weekend and will come back to you with results.Looks like a very simple recipe.Thanks a lot for sharing.

Do let me know how it turned out. Since this would be a dry dish, you can add more onions initially and also may be one more tomato. In this case you may need to use a little more oil. The main part is getting the onions browned to perfection over low heat, stirring occasionally. If you want to make it spicier, you can also add chopped green chillies. Also if there is any water left after boiling the brains, you can use that water to the masala in place of normal water. In that case reduce the turmeric & salt (since the water already has turmeric & salt). If you mash up the brains a bit more, you will get the consistency of scrambled eggs with thick gravy.

Best of luck with your cooking.

[johnda]

Originally Posted by Blue_V

Anyone is able to get the KFC chicken style crispy coating? I have tried with corflour, rice flour. It just doesnt come out right.
Any suggestions?

I saw this at the store, the chicken on the pic looked nice, maybe this could be your next exp. besides I think you'll need a pressure broster / roaster!! (were oil is hot and can be shut too to add pressure)
anyways if anybody tries this please update - OH BTW i'm not. I have some issues with chicken fry LOL!

PS. sorry I didnt rotate the shot

[pjbiju]

I am not from Mangalore. But I have had a lot of seafood prepared in the Mangalorean style from restaurants. And since the ingredients used along the South Western Coast of India are quite similar, the base flaovour tends to be the same. But then there are subtle differences as one travels up from Thiruvananthapuram to Goa.

My son loves crab and we buy it every now and then. I have been trying to get hold of an authentic way of making Crab Sukha and I am still hopeful that I will get the recipe someday. I have tried various versions on my own (after looking at several recipes online)

So here is the recipe of one of these versions I tried yesterday.

My version of Crab Sukha (I did not let it go dry since I wanted to have a little more gravy)


Ingredients for the garam masala

• 1 teaspoon of whole coriander seeds
• 1 whole dried red chilly (Use the Kashmiri type if you want it to be less spicy)
• 2 cloves
• 4-5 black peppercorns
• One pinch of fennel seeds
• One small pinch of cumin seeds
• 1" stick of cinnamon
• One small piece of nutmeg
• Seeds of 1 black cardamom
• One pinch of mustard seeds

Ingredients for the masala paste

• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil/coconut oil
• 3 big oninons sliced very thinly
• 10-12 garlic cloves sliced
• 1" piece of ginger sliced
• 1½ half cup of grated coconut
• 6-8 whole dried red chillies

Other Ingredients

• 3-4 medium sized crabs (cleaned and cut)
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil/coconut oil
• 2-3 sprigs of curry leaf
• 1 lime sized tamarind pulp
• Salt as per taste
• ½ teaspoon of mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon garam masala (prepared earlier). You can add a little more if you want to make it spicier.
• ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder

Method

• Dry roast the ingredients for the garam masala. Cool and grind to a fine powder.
• Add 3 tablespoons of oil to a pan and roast the whole red chillies, sliced garlic, ginger, onions and the grated coconut until the onions and coconut have turned golden brown. Grind this to a fine paste adding a little water.
• Heat a large pan and add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and then the prepared masala paste. Cook for a while.
• Add the turmeric powder and garam masala powder. Cook until the oil seperates from the masala. At this stage you can add more red chilly powder if needed.
• Add the tamarind pulp (Soak the tamarind in 7-8 tablespoons of warm water and then strain to get the tamarind extract) slowly until it has added the required sourness.
• Add sufficient water to cook the crabs (1-2 cups) and bring the mixture to a boil.
• Add salt
• Add the cleaned and cut crab. Mix everything together.
• Cook for about 12-15 minutes. Cook until the gravy has become thick and has coated the crab well.
• Garnish with more curry leaves and serve with rice.

I would be grateful if somebody like Samurai or other friends from Mangalore/Udupi can share the recipe of authentic Crab Sukha.

Sliced Onions, garlic, ginger and grated coconut


Garam Masala and roasted coconut/onions/garlic/ginger. You should actually roast it a little more.


The masala paste (I did not add whole red chillies since I did not have it at home then. I added red chilly powder later on). Otherweise the masala would be dark brown in color.


The crabs cooking in the pot. The outer shells are just to show off


-Biju

[DerAlte]

Oh man! Biju, you should be arrested on charges of inciting corruption. Your stuff is good enough to corrupt the mind of anyone who is on diet!!! :

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Oh man! Biju, you should be arrested on charges of inciting corruption. Your stuff is good enough to corrupt the mind of anyone who is on diet!!! :

Thanks DerAlte. You know what the worst thing is? I need to restrict myself from eating too much of these kind of stuff (crabs/prawns/lobsters etc.), since they are not very good for those watching their calories and cholestrol.

But cooking is a passion and a way of unwinding for me. So whether the final dish turns out to be good or not, I keep doing this whenever I can.

-Biju

[johnda]

Biju, i must agree with DeAlter... like they say "you're BAD"
i went to a local "shap" for dinner and had Crab n prawn after seeing those pics, well what i ate didnt look to good but it rocked. So please refrain from causing a riot with our inner-selves

thanks, will try this soon.

Q- is this the soft shell variety? i had a total flop one time.. it tasted good but needed a hack saw LOL!!

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by johnda

Q- is this the soft shell variety? i had a total flop one time.. it tasted good but needed a hack saw LOL!!

Thanks Johnda. Do not remind me about the "Shap". I miss them.
These were not the soft shell variety. You need very strong teeth to break the claws and really throw all the table manners through the window. Or else you need to have a pair of nut crackers to eat these.

So an alternative is to cook the crabs separately (get large crabs). Break open all the claws & body and then take out the soft meat. Add this to the crab recipe. Use the water in which you cooked the crab for the recipe (if you need to add water). And then you can eat this in a civilized way

[johnda]

Do not remind me about the "Shap". I miss them.

Oh there's one near my place with 'family rooms' LOL. amazing grub!!

Break open all the claws & body and then take out the soft meat. Add this to the crab recipe. Use the water in which you cooked the crab for the recipe (if you need to add water). And then you can eat this in a civilized way


What if we crack the shells and do the same thing? like earlier this evening, there were sharpnels in the dish, i figured they cracked the shells and did the cooking... but still tasted awesome.. the meat in the shell and 'de-shelled' is two different things.. I'll try the recipe and update! thanks. Joe