Wednesday 24 February 2016

On coconut and inverse braising. Seitan Rendang.



Variable 3 or 4 becoming northwest 4 or 5.

Slight occasionally moderate.

Wintry showers.

Good occasionally poor.

 

 

The first time someone offers you a proper Beef Rendang you might be a bit disappointed when it is placed in front of you.
Very dark pieces of meat (sometimes with flecks of burn), no gravy at all. It looks dry and cooked to death. With some gritty bits. Your eyes search for a condiment or dipping sauce, but there is none.
You tuck in..and experience not only a taste explosion, but also a revelation in texture. Soft, juicy, spicy, sweet and savoury, caramelized and very coconutty. And before you know it, you ate the whole dish and look for more.
The beef is cooked with the inverse braising method. Normal braising is done by frying the meat until it is brown and sealed and then you add a liquid and let it simmer until soft. The Rendang method lets you cook the beef in coconut (milk) and once it is soft, you increase the heat and let all the liquid evaporate until all is left is the coconut oil. This gets hotter and hotter and fries the beef at the last step. This is also the only stage you need to stir and act quickly or it gets easily burned, however you want all oil soaked up.
The Beef Rendang is now sealed and lasts for a long time, a bit like Biltong, but of course juicier.

There is only one problem: Unless you travel in Malaysia or Indonesia, you are unlikely to get it properly done. If you google Beef Rendang and look at the pictures, you find all kinds of beef with more or less gravy. Sometimes as much that it resembles a currysometimes properly (it should look like this) , but most of the times semi-dry and a bit sloppy like this 
This is due to the coconut. In order to get the right mixture between liquid and oil, you need to get several coconuts (young but not green), clean the flesh, let it sun dry, grate it, toast it until golden and then pound it to release the oil. This is called Kerisik and if you are interested in doing it properly, here is a link. 
Most people, like me, don’t go through that process and need to make it somehow work. Yes, you can use desiccated coconut to get the Kerisik, but even that is very time consuming. So most people just use tinned coconut milk. But there is not enough fat in the tinned variety to brown it off, hence the sloppy approach (if you want to use coconut milk, may I suggest the Aroy-D brand). Even the coconut cream, which I will be using, is not perfect; hence I also added coconut oil and a bit of desiccated coconut, the latter for the required change in texture.
And Seitan? Now, if you are not familiar with Seitan just be aware that it takes quite a lot of faith to cook with it. You know Halloumi and Tofu? Well, you got Seitan: Tasteless as Tofu but spongy and gummy like Halloumi (yes, I have a knack for making Vegetarian alternatives sound scrumptious). But this texture means that during a long cooking process the chewing gum texture disappears and the pieces develop a meaty texture. The sponge and general lack of flavour means it soaks up every sauce, in fact much better than beef.  Since Seitan contains no fat, you need to add a bit of coconut butter (or oil) at the beginning in order to give the saturated fat mouth-feel.
And if you have a slow cooker, the whole cooking process is a doddle, despite the long list of ingredients. In fact it is a doodle to cook anyway, so don’t be afraid. And if I cant convince you to give Seitan a try, cut your beef (brisket) in small pieces and treat it like the Seitan in the recipe. And if you want to “Gilt the Lily”, use Venison.
Oh, and one last tip: You can, if you cant get it, replace the galangal with more ginger..but not the other way round. Too much galangal develops a slight bitter, metallic taste in a dish.

Seitan Rendang
The Spice paste
50gr desiccated coconut
2 birds eyes chillies
1tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp of turmeric powder
2 garlic cloves (I am modest here, seen it also with one or two garlic bulbs!)
2 shallots
about 3 cm of galangal, skinned and cut in 4 pieces
about 3 cm of peeled ginger, cut also in 4 pieces
a sprinkle of dried chilli seeds or 2 dried chillies

The stew
2 lemongrass sticks, outer leaf removed and sliced once in half
4 Kaffir Lime leaves, left whole
2 cinnamon sticks
1tsp tamarind paste
1tsp rock sugar or kandis
1 sprinkle of salt
1 jar of Seitan pieces (I use Biona Organic Seitan Pieces 350g , already slightly marinated in ginger and soya sauce)
2 tbsp coconut oil
about half of a pack of creamed coconut (normally 200gr, so around 100gr), just make sure it is 100% coconut, no other ingredients.
If you don’t use a slow cooker:
1 small tin of coconut milk
 (just in case)

Start with the spice paste: Put the desiccated coconut into a pan and heat it gently until it is golden brown. Tip in a blender. Grind the coriander and cumin seeds finely and add to the blender. Add all the other spice ingredients and 2 tablespoons tablespoons of water and blend to a nearly smooth paste. Add a bit more water if necessary.
Put spice paste in the slow cooker and add all the other ingredients bar one tablespoon of coconut oil. Add about 200ml of water in order to get the creamed coconut into a thick liquid.
Cook on low for about 4-5 hours. If you don’t have a slow cooker, just add all the ingredients in a wide pan and cook on the lowest setting of your oven, however you might need to watch it since the liquid evaporates much faster than in a slow cooker. The small tin of coconut milk might come handy here.
Once the Seitan is soft and you have maybe 4tbsp of the thick liquid left, remove the lime leaves, the cinnamon and the lemongrass sticks. You can now either proceed immediately or let it cool down, cover and do the final step the next day.
If you did it in a pan, heat pan now to high and add the last spoon of coconut oil. Let all the liquid evaporate ( since you used creamed coconut which will curdle on high heat, you wont get all the liquid away but end up with browned curdles clinging to it . These will also brown. If you used a slow cooker, transfer it now to a pan and proceed as above.

Serve with either rice or Roti or Paratha bread (the Shana frozen Parathas are a godsend!) and, if you wish, some kind of greens (I cooked Morning Glory, but why not serve it with green beans or spinach with garlic and soya sauce.

See, I told you, it is dead easy.
What is not easy is making a decent photo. At least not for me but my camera is crap.
Apologies for that lousy picture.

Monday 15 February 2016

Fake stories and the history of ingredients. Pizza Margherita



North 5 to 7, becoming variable 4.

Slight or moderate.

Wintry showers.

Mainly good.

 

 

Today was Pizza Margherita day (thanks to a reduction of Buffalo Mozzarella in Lidl). And a simple question turned into a journey.
All I wanted to know if the basil is under the cheese or over the cheese. If you think this is a bizarre question, try out your pizza salami with the salami under the cheese or on top (it belongs on the top). So I dug out one of my old (and very competent) cookbooks to look it up.
Read through it and they insisted that it is done with fresh oregano. WHAT? The? FUCK?
Come on..Pizza Margherita are 5 ingredients: Pizza dough, tomatoes, mozzarella, olive oil and basil. We all know this, right? So my journey started.
First thing I learned was that the charming story about Pizza Margherita is probably fake.

In fact, the only connection to Royalty and pizza, which has been documented, is with Ferdinand IV of Naples and his wife Maria; the latter (despite being Austrian) was so fond of pizza that she had a pizza oven installed in her household. Quite some decades before “Margherita“ entered the political scene. Seeing that Maria was only sixteen when she married Ferdinand (and she hated the marriage since she was only second best after the first “choice” unfortunately died), it is not a surprise that a sulking, unhappy teenager embraces pizza.

Second blow was about the basil. Basil in Italy is a “Jonny come lately” herb. Introduces from Asia it requires heat and no frost, but also wet and well drained soil. If you have ever tried to grow basil in your garden you know how much you have to water it. Basil is associated with Liguria, a province in the north of Italy, milder in climate, very much like the South of France, but not with the South of Italy. It was also considered an “ill omen” and a symbol of hate (which gives the alleged story, combined with the proudness of the people of Naples and a disdain for foreign rulers, an interesting twist). Oregano, on the other hand, is hardy and probably the true taste of Italy. Now... I am not saying that basil should not be part of a Pizza Margeritha, but it is striking that, through historical documents, any pizza in Naples (poverty food) was always quoted as having gutsy flavours: anchovies, clams, or oregano.
Never mind, I had bought basil and I was intended to use it. On top of the cheese or under.. by now I was too hungry to care.

A pizza Margherita is simple food. And like all simple food you ought to get the best suited ingredients you can afford. No, a piece of dough covered with a ready made tomato sauce is not a pizza Margherita. Save you money and get the best quality tin of tomatoes you can afford. If you cant afford Buffalo Mozzarella, opt for the normal one. In my opinion it doesn’t make a huge difference. But for the love of food, get the really best olive oil. Honestly, I calculated my ingredients and spend, with a very high (priced) quality tin of tomatoes about £3 on the pizza. No, it is not cheap food. You get a pizza Margherita at ASDA for 99 pence and it tastes vile. But curbs hunger. But you also pay in a pizzeria about £6-8 on the simple Margherita. It might be still lacking in taste.

Pizza Margherita
150gr of simple flour (yes, you can make it with 00 flour but you don’t have to, just don’t do it with bread flour)
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of dried yeast
about 90-100ml liquid, either just water or water and a bit of oil

one (360-400gr) tin of whole, peeled tomatoes (may I recommend either the Cosi Come or the Mutti brand?)
One ball of Mozzarella (preferable Buffalo but really don’t bother with Burrata)
A glug of really, really good olive oil
Torn basil leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

The dough is dead simple and very forgiving. In fact you can throw, in the evening, all the dry ingredients into a breadmaker and put the wet ingredients aside... and while you have your shower in the morning or sip your coffee, throw all together, let the hook do the dough and once it is done (after 15minutes), oil it and put it in the fridge (covered with cling film) for the evening. Or just do it now. Just take all the ingredients and knead into a dough. Dont feel tempted to add more flour, just give it a good workout. Let it rest (or take out of the fridge) while you deal with the other parts.
Preheat your oven as high as it gets and put a baking sheet into the oven so it is searing hot (well done if you have a pizza stone, I dropped mine on the stone kitchen floor).
Open the tin and cut the tomatoes (while in the tin) with a scissor in small bits. Put into a sieve, add a sprinkle of sea salt and white pepper, mix it and let the fluids drip away (you can save the juice for another dish). About 10-15 minutes. Give it a good stir once in a while.
Cut the mozzarella in very thin slices (astonishingly difficult).
Once the oven sheet is really hot, shape the dough. Very thin. As thin as it gets. According to tradition you are not supposed to use a rolling pin but do it with your hands..but what is tradition? The story of Margherita? I use a combination of rolling pin and hands to get it in some kind of shape. Perfectly round? Are you mad? Artisanal touch!
Get your oven gloves ready and be prepared to work quickly. Open the oven and slap the flat thin dough on the searing hot sheet. It should start to cook while you reach for the rest. Spoon the (raw) tomatoes into the middle and spread it out from there. As in a circle motion. You don’t want (and get) a thick sauce, just enough to cover the dough. Distribute the mozzarella pieces on top and sprinkle the pizza with a good, healthy glug of olive oil. Give it a grind of black pepper and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes.
If you have some olive oil left, brush the edges of the dough after about 10 minutes.
Take out of the oven and distribute the torn basil leaves on it. Eat and enjoy!

And think about Maria. The unhappy teenager who was carted off in an arranged marriage to a distant country and spend her evenings with pizza.

Saturday 6 February 2016

A Savoury Bread Pudding. Strata!



South veering southwest later 5 to 7, occasionally gale 8.
Moderate or rough, occasionally very rough.
Occasional rain or drizzle.
Good, occasionally poor.





Dont know about you, but I tend to “forget” food. If I encounter a new method or dish and like it, I tend to cook it for weeks on end and then it somehow slips my mind. I was once talking to my brother and mentioned my favourite vegetables. He then told me that his taste is somehow simpler and that he likes cauliflower. My jaw dropped, not because he has a simple taste (he hasn’t), but I have forgotten about cauliflower for years.
Same applies to Strata. I used to cook it a lot when I was much younger and I remember cooking it for my children when they were young. But somehow I forgot about it. Probably for 15 years or so. But yesterday it came back to me.
I looked in my fridge and gathered all loose ends of the last week. Since I am off work due to a nasty cold with fever and a horrible cough I did not want to go out- or if I did, not wanting to go shopping. And when I noticed the three slices of dried out sourdough bread, I remembered Strata.
It makes perfect sense since Strata has written Saturday all over it.
1. You can do it in advance on Friday night and have a hassle free Saturday brunch.
2. You do it on Friday night before you go out drinking and have the suspicion that Saturday means nurturing your hangover and even cheese on toast could provide a challenge.
3. You prepare it Saturday morning, take the dogs (or kids) for a long walk and come home and just need to bang something in the oven.
4. You can tie up all loose ends, from the sorry looking last slice of bacon to the dried out fennel in your vegetable box.
5. If you have neglected your kitchen and need to spend hours cleaning it, you don’t want to destroy your hard labour again by cooking a few hours later.
6. It is comfort food with a T and easy to eat for children without teeth, old people without teeth, after a dentist appointment or when you are too lazy to chew.
7. You can manage it if you have a cold and cough your little heart out. Poor me.

Strata is, I believe, NOT an Italian dish but has American roots and the name derives from the geological terms of layers. And this is what you do, you create layers. You can basically add what you want, but bread, eggs and cheese are a must.
In the past I used up chorizo and jalapeƱo peppers, spinach, leek and onion, barbequed leftover sausages, chicken leftovers with leek, smoked salmon, ham, just plenty of onions or made an English Fry-up in a casserole dish. No vegetables? Pear, some tarragon and blue cheese (trust me on this one, it is ace).
In short: Everything but the kitchen sink.
It is a good dish to use up the rest of your baguette, but be bold with the flavours. Anything smoked goes, strong cheeses or added ingredients like chillies. All filling ingredients need to be cooked in advance, unless they are already cooked, like ham or leftover chicken.
This recipe are today`s leftovers and it was bloody delicious.

Strata with mushrooms
3 slices of good quality white bread; slightly stale or dried out
5 brown mushrooms
3 stalks of spring onions
1 garlic clove
120gr grated smoked cheese (in this case around 2/3 of Applewood smoked cheddar and 1/3 Bavarian smoked cheese)
2 eggs
100ml milk
Dijon mustard
Butter
Salt and pepper

Slice the mushrooms and cut the garlic very fine. Heat a pan, add butter and the mushrooms and garlic. Fry for about 5 minutes until soft (it helps if you add a lid if the mushrooms are slightly dried out to begin with). Add the chopped spring onions and cook for a further 3 minutes, this time without lid, you don’t want liquid.
In the meantime spread the mustard thinly on the bread and let sit for a few minutes. Cut the bread into small cubes and use one third to cover the bottom of a small dish. Add half of the mushroom mixture, top with 1/3 of the grated cheese, add another layer of bread, add the next half of mushrooms and another third of cheese, top with the rest of the bread. Press it down.
Beat the eggs and the milk, add salt (not too much) and pepper (you can also add nutmeg or paprika) and pour over the bread mixture. Press it down again, everything should be submerged.
Let it rest for up to 8 hours or overnight (actually I once prepared it 24 hours in advance and it was as good as prepared a few hours earlier). By this time the bread will have soaked up the egg mixture.
When you are ready to cook, heat the oven to 180C, put the dish in and add the last third of the cheese on top.
Bake until brown and bubbly, about 30-40 minutes.
Serve with a green salad, a beer, or, as I did, with a rather spicy “Virgin Mary


This recipe might be a bit too much for one person (the first picture represents about a third and I ate twice that amount) but it tastes nice cold too, so lunch for today was sorted.



In fact, after having it cooked now again for some time (I told you I get a bit obsessive with “new” cooking ideas), I believe it is better cold. Warm is comfort, cold an extremely quick high energy snack. And easy to use as an office lunch.