Hamburgers Indian Style

Hamburgers - Indian Style

I've made these hamburgers many times and they are worthy of joy and enlightenment.  I really hope you enjoy them.  They are really special.  Instead of using ketchup we make a special Red Pepper Chutney Sauce.  Do NOT skip the Chutney. It's what really makes it take off!  You'll use it for all sorts of different meals, not just the hamburgers.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons of chickpea flour (also called gram flour or besan)*
• 3 lbs of ground beef or ground lamb
• 1 bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
• 3 teaspoons of cumin powder
• 3 teaspoons of ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons of black pepper
• 2 teaspoons of sea salt
• 2 lightly beaten eggs

*If you don't have chickpea flour, just add 1 cup of bread crumbs.

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Roast the chickpea flour in a small frying pan over high heat till it turns brown. Stir often.

2. Put the chickpea flour into a bowl and add the spices: cayenne, cumin, coriander, pepper, and salt.  Mix well.

3.  Chop the Cilantro

4.  Crack open and lightly beat the 2 eggs.

5.  Add the cilantro and the mixed chickpea flour and spices and the eggs into the ground beef, mixing well with your hands.  

6.  Form the hamburger into 1/2 pound patties.  Grill them on the grill to medium rare.  Take them off and cut them in half.  Add them to pita pockets, adding Feta Cheese and a LOT of Red Pepper Chutney.  

They will utterly amaze you.  Unlike any hamburgers you've ever had before, and I'm convinced you'll think you had died and gone to heaven.

Red Pepper Chutney

Red Pepper Chutney

This amazing sauce is easy to make and can be added primarily to Hamburgers Indian Style.  Having said that, I think you'll find this amazing sauce useful on almost everything else you can eat.  It is THAT good!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 30-40 large fresh mint leaves or 30 smaller ones, chopped up.
• 2 lemons or 4 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 2 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of chopped slivered almonds
• 2 teaspoons of fresh chopped dill or dill paste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Chop the peppers

2. Chop the Mint Leaves

3. Slice the Lemon in half, and remove the seeds

Or use lemon juice

4. Mince the Garlic

5. Put all the ingredients, pepper, mint, lemon juice, garlic, cayenne, salt, black pepper, almonds, and dill into a blender.

6. Blend till smooth - you may have to use a spatula and push the chutney down the sides of the blender.

7.  And now you have magical Chutney for your Hamburgers Indian Style!

Teriyaki Sauce

Teriyaki Sauce

I made this home made Teriyaki sauce last night (March 22nd, 2014)  which we used to marinate chicken and beef, cook stir fry vegetables and spinach in, and used as a dipping sauce.  Everyone RAVED about it.  I'll show you what I did so you can do it yourself, and then I'll include some researched variations so you can effectively experiment and finally come up with a sauce that you can put in your tool box and always know how to make.

The basic sauce can just be made with the first five ingredients/

INGREDIENTS
Basic Sauce

• 1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup of Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon of minced ginger
• 1 Tablespoon of Mirin Wine, Dry Sherry, Saki, Rice Wine, or Shaoxing Cooking Wine (which is what I use).

Additions (optional)

• 1 teaspoon of corn starch
• 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon of Rice Vinegar (Marukan)
• 1/2 teaspoon of Mongolian Fire Oil (House of Tsang)
• 1 teaspoon of Sesame Oil (La Tourangelle)
• 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon of Gochujang Hot Pepper Paste*

*This is an amazing sweet pepper sauce, that is very good.  You usually can only find it at a specialized Korean Market.

DIRECTIONS
Put it all in a bowl and mix well.  Pretty simple. Use for marinading meat, cooking stir fry vegetables, and as a dipping sauce.

Variations

The Core ingredients of Teriyaki sauce, when you start researching it, are Soy Sauce, Sugar, and Mirin.  Here are some variations:

Use brown sugar, some use white sugar.  I use brown.
Add a little honey with the sugar
Some variations mix water into it.
You always want to add a little ginger and garlic, fresh and minced, or even powdered in spice form.  
Some people omit the red pepper flakes it's up to you
Add some black pepper
The Mirin can be dry white whine, rice wine, Saki, sherry, etc.

Corn Beef and Cabbage

Corn Beef and Cabbage

Corn Beef and Cabbage is a tradition in my family, and not just for St. Patrick's Day.  We eat it all year round.  My Mother had a classic recipe for it, but this year I tried something a little different and damn if it didn't get some rave reviews.  Everyone at the dinner table last night (we had it for Sunday dinner, instead of today) said to keep the recipe, this was the version they wanted again.

The version was inspired by some of the thinking done at America's Test Kitchen, where they use their spice mixture instead of the one included with the corn beef brisket, and they bake it instead of boil it.

INGREDIENTS
1 corned beef brisket, rinsed (4-5 pounds).  (Can can also trim the fat).
4 cups of chicken broth
4 cups of water
5 carrots, pealed and chopped
2 celery stalks
1 onion (pealed and quartered)
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon of black peppercorns
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 teaspoon of ground allspice (this is an interesting addition, and ended up working out very well).
3 tablespoons of butter
2 lbs of small red potatoes
7 onions, pealed (I keep them whole)
5 carrots, pealed
1 head of green cabbage cut into 8 parts
salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a dutch oven add the beef, broth, water, carrots, celery, 1 onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme and allspice.  Cover it and bake it at 300 degrees for 5 hours.  (Yes... 5 hours!)
2. Remove the beef and place it into a 13x9 serving dish.  Strain and discard the solids.  Put a little bit of the juice over the beef, and seal it tight with foil.  You'll let it sit for about 30 minutes.
3. In the pot add the potatoes and whole onions, and boil for 15 minutes covered.
4. Then add the carrots and cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes.
5. Take the meat out and slice it against the grain.  Serve with the vegetables and the juice.

VARIATIONS

My usual version of this meal was to boil the meat in water the whole time. Baking it this way makes it more tender and more flavorful.  You could experiment with the spice mixture, and you can always add extra onions (my family LOVES boiled onions) carrots and potatoes.  

Lamb Curry in a Pressure Cooker

Lamb Curry in a Pressure Cooker

It's funny, the absurdity of calling anything Lamb Curry.  The word curry refers to such a large swath of food as to be almost unusable.  Still, what else do I call this?  Interestingly enough, I'll be posting ANOTHER lamb curry recipe soon.  But for now, a very simple Indian Style curry with lamb made very quickly.

This recipe was inspired by

Madur Jaffery's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

The book can be found here:  Amazon

Now the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs of defatted lamb cut into 1 inch cubes
• 3 small onions
• 2 Tablespoons of ginger paste
• 2 Tablespoons of minced garlic
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon of chili powder (You could substitute cayenne pepper if you want some heat!)
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon of ground roasted cumin (or just regular ground cumin).
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 8 Tablespoons of heavy cream
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon of garam masala
• 1 Teaspoon of dried kasoori methi (fenugreek leaves) crushed in your hand
• 1 Tablespoon of butter
• salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Put everything except the garam masala, kasoori methi, and butter into the pressure cooker.  Seal it up and cook for 30 minutes on 1 bar of pressure.
2. Take it off the heat, cool it down with tepid tap water, and take off the lid.  Put it on the stove on medium heat, add the garam masala, kasoori methi, and butter.  Stir in salt to taste.  Cook over medium heat till it thickens.  This should take from 10-20 minutes.
3. Serve on rice!

VARIATIONS
Such an easy recipe and you can really play with this technique.  You can cook chicken and beef in the same way, and you can mix up the spices entirely, trying different proportions.   You can also throw in bell peppers for an easy addition.  You can try some chili peppers to make it hotter, and there are a ton of Indian Spices that you can add in different quantities to get different tastes.  This technique is so easy that it really lends itself to learning about Indian Food and experimentation.

Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

Learning how to cook Indian food properly is an extensive journey.  I started three times, giving up repeatedly after using shitty cookbooks that just confused me.  It took a truly concerted effort to really get into it and figure it out.  Having said that, if you are a beginner in the Indian Cooking realm, THIS IS THE BOOK TO START WITH.  I can't say it plainer than that.  THIS IS IS.  Buy this, devour it, and I promise you will A) learn a great deal of foundation techniques for good basic Indian Food, and B) have a huge list of family favorite recipes that you will go back to over and over again.  This book is solid gold.

Greek Chicken*****

Years ago I found a recipe for Greek Chicken in the following cookbook:

The Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook - 1997 Edition

The title above is linked to what I BELIEVE is the same book on Amazon.  The picture Amazon shows is not the same as the one above, but both are dated in 1997.

My experience with the book can be found here:  The Good Housekeeping Cookbook.

As for my version Greek Chicken, first a little background.  The first time I made this dish it was a stunning success.  I made it often, and I had friends asking for the recipe.  And yet, I haven't made it in four years.  It just slipped under the radar because I cook so many different types of meals not.  So last night, I fixed that, and my family sat to dinner with Greek Chicken again.  VERY WELL RECEIVED.   Very much worth the 5 star rating:  Now that we had it again, everyone is excited to have it repeatedly.  So here is the recipe, as I cook it, which is similar to but still different from the recipe in The Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook.

INGREDIENTS

• 8 ounces of Feta Cheese Crumbled - Really you can use more if you want, you can't have too much Feta!
• 2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
• 6 Skinless boneless chicken breast halves* (about 2 lbs)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 2 Tablespoons of all-purpose flour or a can of Wondra
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 Cups of Chicken Stock
• 1 Can of Diced Tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
• 1 Bunch of Fresh Spinach (washed and trimmed of stems)

*If you buy those huge plump hormone filled breasts you'll want to half them.  The better what to do this is by weight, which is why I included it right there: 2 lbs!  And hell if you have been paying attention you already know I'm going to say try this with Chicken Thighs instead.  I will be better! 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Take the Feta Cheese and put it into a bowl and mash it up with a fork if it's not crumbled already.  Add the lemon juice and oregano and mix and mash. Set aside.
2. Get out your chopping block and a heavy mallet.  Beat the chicken thin. About 1/2 inch is what you want.  Tenderizing like this doesn't work as well as it does with beef, the chicken tends to break apart.  If you got the thighs you won't need to pound them at all, they are already thin enough.
3. Now spread the good feta cheese mixture on the chicken and fold the pieces in half. You are essential making a feta cheese sandwich out of chicken!  You can pin them together with a toothpick.  Sprinkle both sides with flour, salt and pepper. I give quantities above but when I cook I don't use quantities. I just crack fresh pepper and crack fresh salt on them and dust them with flour.  Sometimes I add some oregano, or I'll use a Greek Seasoning from Spice Islands.  
4. Now heat your oil to just smoking in a fairly large skillet and then put in the chicken. You want to brown them, about 5 minutes to a side, get a good golden brown crust.
5. Then add the Chicken Stock, can of Diced Tomatoes, and the cleaned spinach.  Bring to a boil...and simmer for 20 minutes or so, till the chicken is all the way done.
6. Serve it hot!  

As I said before, this has become a family classic.  Very simple, and always very good.  

The Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook - 1997 Edition

The Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook - 1997 Edition - My Mom gave me this book in 1997.  And, believe it or not, I've only cooked one recipe from it.  Really,  I imagine there are many good ones in it, and I am encouraged to revisit it and find some other goods recipes to try.  But right now, the only one I've tried is Greek Chicken, though I must say, that's become a 5 star family favorite.