Chicken tikka masala recipe

Tikka masala is a ubiquitous dish, so much so that nobody is quite sure where the concept and recipe originated. Whether it was India or the UK, there’s no denying that it is a delicious curry.

Serves 4
natural yogurt 250g
garam masala 3 tbsp
ground coriander 2 tbsp
ground ginger 2 tbsp
ground cumin 1 tbsp
smoked paprika 2 tsp
garlic 6 cloves, crushed to a paste
fresh ginger 5cm piece, peeled and grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
chicken breasts 6, chopped into 4cm pieces
sunflower or vegetable oil 4 tbsp
onions 2, peeled and pureed in a food processor or grated
cloves 6
tomato puree 2 heaped tbsp
chopped tomatoes 1 x 400g tin
double cream 100ml
flaked almonds 75g, toasted, to serve
coriander 1 small bunch, chopped, to serve

Place half the yogurt in a large bowl along with half the ground spices and half the garlic and ginger. Add a generous pinch of salt and grind of pepper. Mix well with a spoon until you reach a smooth consistency.

Add the chicken pieces to the marinade coating them well, then cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of 4 hours but preferably overnight.

When ready to cook, heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the pureed onion to the oil along with a large pinch of salt. Leave to cook, stirring regularly for 12-15 minutes, by which time the onions should have taken on some colour and become very soft. Add the cloves and the remaining ground spices, garlic and ginger. Continue to fry for a further 2 minutes, stirring almost constantly.

Add the tomato puree and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Increase the heat and add the tinned tomatoes and marinated chicken. Stir all the ingredients while bringing them to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked through. If unsure, pick out the thickest piece and cut it open to check. It’s cooked when the flesh is white throughout.

Stir in the double cream for a little luxury before serving topped with the toasted almonds and chopped coriander.

Lamb doner kebab recipe

 Spiced succulent pieces of grilled lamb served in soft pittas and topped with crunchy salad is similar to the takeaway version in concept, but completely different in terms of flavour.

Serves 4
ground cumin 1 tbsp
olive oil 3 tbsp
garlic 3 cloves, minced
freshly ground black pepper
lamb leg or shoulder steaks 1kg, chopped into 3cm chunks
red onion 1 large, roughly chopped into thin wedges
salt
pitta breads 4 large, to serve
iceberg lettuce ½, shredded, to serve
chilli sauce to serve
garlic and onion dip to serve

Spoon the ground cumin into a bowl along with the olive oil, garlic and a generous amount of pepper. Mix the ingredients together until combined. Add the lamb and red onion. Work the marinade into the meat and onion: this is easily done with a spoon, but I find getting your hands in the mix works best.

Leave the meat to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours but preferably overnight. If marinating overnight, ensure the meat is removed from the fridge at least 1 hour before cooking to warm up to room temperature.

When ready to cook, preheat the grill to its highest setting.

Tip the meat and onion onto a tray lined with tin foil and pour over any residual marinade. Season the meat generously with salt at this point and slide the tray under the grill as close to the hot element as possible. Grill for 6-7 minutes on each side, before removing and allowing to rest for 5 minutes – just enough time to prepare the pittas.

Toast the pittas, cut them open and stuff with the shredded lettuce. Fill the pittas with the cooked meat then drizzle with the chilli sauce and garlic and onion dip. Serve your kebabs with not a drunk in sight.

Nadine Ingram’s giant Anzac biscuits

Nadine Ingram, the founder of Sydney’s cult-status bakery Flour and Stone, likes her Anzacs slightly crispier, extra coconutty and XL-sized. “There are many inferior competitors to rival the Anzac biscuit, but none that evoke such a sense of home and country,” she says.

“The pleasing warm smell of golden syrup as they come out of the oven is something I have always loved about them, surpassed only by my occupational advantage of always being able to eat them straight off the baking sheet.”

Makes 12 giant or 24 soldier’s-pocket-sized biscuits

250g unsalted butter
300g golden syrup
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
2tbsp boiling water
250g plain flour
150g light brown sugar
150g desiccated coconut
100g shredded coconut
300g rolled oats
Preheat the oven to 150C and line three baking sheets with baking paper.

Combine the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan and place over medium heat to melt the butter, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, tip the bicarbonate of soda into a small bowl, add the boiling water and mix them together with a small spoon. Place this bowl near the stove, at the ready.

Once you see the butter and golden syrup just beginning to boil remove the pan from the heat and, stirring with a wooden spoon, immediately add the bicarbonate of soda mixture. Mix well, then set aside to cool until just tepid.

Place all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix them together thoroughly. Pour over the cooled butter syrup and mix it through with a wooden spoon until the dough becomes sticky and everything is well combined.

Flour and Stone cook book cover

For the giant biscuits, scoop half a cup of dough for each biscuit directly on to the prepared baking sheets, then use your fingertips to flatten the dough to a thickness of 3mm, trying to keep them as round as possible. Leave a 5cm gap between each biscuit to allow for spreading. For the pocket-sized biscuits, use a quarter cup-sized measuring cup to portion out the dough. Bake the giant biscuits for 30 minutes and the smaller ones for 20 minutes or until golden. If you prefer your Anzacs crisp, leave them in the oven for a further five minutes.

Remove the biscuits from the oven and slide them on to a wire rack to cool. They will keep in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for tarka dal

There’s a lot to love about ceramicist Maham Anjum. Her hands that move with well-practised grace on her pottery wheel, moulding large, unfriendly-looking boulders of clay into elegant bowls and biryani pots. Her rickety, wooden studio in the midst of an overgrown garden that’s filled in summer with hollyhocks, butterflies and a curious little fox.

Her work, of course, out of which we ate this heavenly dal. And the manner in which she introduced it: ‘I just put it all in a pot and stir it.’ It’s that simple, and now it is one of my favourite things to make and eat most weeks.
Maham’s dal

This dal, which has been photographed in one of Maham’s handmade bowls, is made with the very quick-cooking mung dal, which are the de-husked, split yellow insides of green mung beans – look for it in big supermarkets or Asian food shops. Since this recipe was first published in East, I’ve adapted it by cooking out the tomatoes and garlic first, though Maham just throws them into the pot with everything else.

Prep 10 min
Cook 45 min
Serves 4

Rapeseed oil
3 fat garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
250g vine tomatoes, (ie, 3 medium ones), chopped
300g mung dal
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli flakes
12 fresh curry leaves
1½ tsp salt
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp black mustard seeds
1 green finger chilli, very finely chopped
1 handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped, to serve

In a large saucepan, heat two tablespoons of oil over a medium heat and, when hot, add the garlic and ginger, and cook for three minutes, until they turn a pale shade of gold. Add the tomatoes, cook for five to six minutes, then add the dal, turmeric, chilli flakes, four of the curry leaves and a litre and a quarter of water. Put a cocked lid on top of the pan and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer, leave the dal to cook, stirring every now and then, for 30-40 minutes, until soft and fairly thick, then stir in the salt.

When the dal is nearly cooked, make the tarka. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat and, when it’s smoking hot, add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, green chilli and remaining eight curry leaves. When the leaves crisp up and the seeds crackle, which should happen within the first minute, take the tarka off the heat and pour into the dal. Stir to mix, sprinkle over the coriander and serve with freshly steamed basmati rice.

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for lamb ragu with pasta

As my butcher bones out a leg of lamb and cuts the meat into pieces with a precise “thwack thwack”, or joints a chicken, we talk. About the lamb or chicken; how old it is and where it came from; the nature of the cut and the goodness of fat. We talk about what I plan to do with whatever I have bought when I get home. She is generous with advice when I ask for it, in that moment shifting roles from butcher to the sort of confident home cook who inspires trust. We also talk about being the mums of difficult eight-year-old boys, and swing between big headlines and the minutiae of every day: dry hands and cold mornings.

Manuela’s hands are worth watching: like her brother, mother and grandmother before her, she is incredibly skilled, with the strength of a lumberjack and the precision of a surgeon. The other day she cut a gallina (boiling fowl) in half to reveal eggs; one almost at full size in its opaque sack, the rest a bunch, like tiny grapes, only bright yellow. It was a shock, to be honest; I wanted to turn away. It was Manuela’s reaction that made me turn back, her practical admiration of the animal before her and then the way she carefully cut away the cluster of eggs and lifted them into a tub and told me to poach them in the broth I was about to make. Again, I was shocked by her suggestion; the familiar comfort of my morning shop and cooking plans disturbed by the reality of the meat I chose to eat.

It was the same the other day as she carefully boned a leg of lamb and reminded me that the animal was four months old. But then, as she worked carefully, her knife easing the meat from the bone, we talked about the trusted farm the animal came from and how the price reflects the nature of the way that farm works. In that moment, I was reminded of Hattie Ellis’ book What to Eat?, and her reminder that meat is not just any food, but a tricky business that requires much self-questioning; that it should be more of a cherished treat than convenience.

There is convenience, though, in having a butcher bone and dice your lamb. More convenient is the rosemary bush in the park on the way home, when the one on the windowsill has not survived the winter. As well as resinous rosemary and sweet marjoram, this week’s recipe for lamb ragù includes sage, whose domineering and musty scent and astringent flavour are well matched by the rich and distinct braised lamb.

The recipe has much in common with the classic Roman abbacchio alla cacciatora, lamb hunter’s-style – so braised with wine and many herbs. Today’s version also contains tomato and chilli, and is cooked until soft and collapsed enough to use as a pasta sauce for both dried shapes – rigatoni, paccheri or conchiglioni – and fresh ones – tagliatelle, pappardelle or gnocchi.

As my pan of ragù splutters and burps like a drunkard, I pull What to Eat? from the shelf and re-read Hattie’s conclusions to the meat chapter. She suggests that if we choose to eat it, we should eat less but better quality. That, when we can, we should shop at butchers and visit farms; meat is a privilege and a pleasure.

Lamb ragù

Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr 30 min
Serves 4

1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 stick celery, finely diced
6 tbsp olive oil
2 sprigs marjoram
2 sprigs rosemary
8 sage leaves
Salt and pepper
450g boneless lamb suitable for stewing, cut into 2cm cubes
200ml white wine
1 x 400g tin peeled plum tomatoes
1 small dried red chilli
500g pasta (rigatoni, paccheri, tagliatelle, pappardelle)
1 handful grated pecorino

Put the diced onion, carrot, celery and olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan. Finely mince half of each of the herbs and add to the pan along with a pinch of salt. Gently fry over a low heat until soft and fragrant – about seven minutes.

Raise the heat a little, add the lamb, and cook, stirring, until browned on all sides. Raise the heat another notch, add the wine and let it bubble for two minutes.

Add the tomatoes, remaining whole herbs, chilli and a good pinch of salt, lower the heat, cover and simmer gently for an hour and a quarter, lifting the lid to stir from time to time and adding more wine if it seems dry.

Toward the end of cooking time, cook the pasta in plenty of fast-boiling salted water. Drain, tip into a bowl, sprinkle over a handful of grated pecorino, tip on the sauce, toss well and serve immediately, handing round more cheese to top.