dinner for two - Friday 8th October 2010

Dinner for two? Just mother and daughter on a Friday evening together after a long long day. Felt too lazy to cook just for two. Deli food sounded good but some soup was in order to bring warmth to the body as the cold crept into my old bones in the evening.

Menu de jour pour deux

tomato and mascarpone soup

multi grain bread croutons

cornish brown crab

tetilla cheese from spain

chorizo iberico

bread

A quick trip to Waitrose in Sheffield and then we were on our way home. Picked up a carton of Covent Garden Tomato and Mascarpone Soup, brown Cornish Crab meat, free range Chorizo Iberico de Bellota, some tetilla cheese ( a cone shaped cheese) and a French bread called petit mange blanc! . The cheese was very mild and a perfect accompaniment to the slightly 'spicy' melt in the mouth chorizo. The crab meat was overkill - GG refused to even taste it.

Daughter GG insisted that we had to have croutons with the soup. So despite not wanting to cook anything, I ended up 'baking'! Turned on the oven, cut some multigrain bread into chunks, coated them with a good dash of olive oil and in they went into the oven. The soup got warmed up in the meantime and the croutons were ready in about fifteen minutes. One of the easiest dishes I know of. Of course, the bread need not be multigrain, but that was what was at home and needed eating. For the two of us, I used six slices of bread! and all of the croutons finished. Greedy or hungry? Only a few slices of the french bread got eaten with the crab meat by me!

Croutons

Equipment

large oven tray

Ingredients

six slices of ready sliced multi-grain bread, crusts removed, cut into roughly one cm cubes

about 100 ml olive oil - I used extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. 'Sprinkle' the olive oil all over the bread ensuring that the cubes are fairly evenly coated.
3. spread the cubes on the oven tray and bake for about 15 minutes until the cubes of bread are crunchy.
4. Remove from the oven tray into a serving bowl, sprinkle just a dash of sea salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper all over the croutons and serve. Delicious!!

dinner Saturday 9th October 2010

Dinner for three tonight. Husband arrived from a day trip to London late at night. Needed some food that would stay warm in the oven without too much loss of flavour as personal taxi service had to be provided.

There was a quarter of a piece of butternut squash that needed eating. Not enough to make a vegetable sabzi or much of anything really . Dal and pumpkin combination seemed a good choice - the dal would keep warm in the oven and the butternut squash would not end up a mush in the dal either. Toor / tuvar dal is quite earthy in taste and I find that this dal combined with coconut adds richness and flavour.

Menu for the evening

Dal with butternut squash and coconut

Courgette and potato stir fry with sardinian spice mix

Tribal belly pork with onion, ginger, garlic and chillies 

Plain rice

Dal with Butternut squash

serves more than three!

Ingredients

1 cup toor / toovar dal

quarter of a butternut squash, chopped into 1 cm cubes

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin (jeera) powder

few curry leaves

handful of grated coconut - fresh or frozen

1 red chilli, slit in half but not cut right through

Method

1. Boil the dal in two cups of water with the turmeric in a pressure cooker until about three quarters cooked. Some say about three whistles in an Indian prestige pressure cooker.
2. Add the butternut squash and cook until the dal is mushy and the butternut squash is soft but not mushy. The dal should be like pouring double cream so add some more water if needed. Set aside.
3. In another large pan, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds to the hot oil, turn down the heat, and wait until the mustard seeds stop spluttering.
4. Turn up the heat, add the curry leaves and the red chilli followed by the cumin powder. Let the mix fry for about a minute, then add the grated coconut and stir it through the spice mix.
5. Turn down the heat, pour in the lentil /dal mixture and then let it come to a boil once again.
6. Remove from heat, pour into a serving dish.

Tribal belly pork with onion, ginger, garlic and red chillies

SImple tribal food always seems to bring out the flavours so much more and reminds me of childhood days in Shillong and the taste of  doh-neiong - pork - with red rice.  The pork in the UK is so much more different than the pork in the north-east of India - somehow the pork back home has a fatty texture that is a pleasure to bite into.  Some time ago, NG, entered into a discussion lamenting the taste of pork in the UK to a friend who took offence that pork in the UK is not as tasty as it could be.  Rare breed pork is available in the UK but sourcing it is not that easy - we are lucky to have a farm shop in Rothwell, near Leeds where rare breed pork is sold to local people.  Most of the belly pork is ordered by local pubs and restaurants and not much is left for those not in the food business.

In Shillong, the pork was always boiled first - and then it would be cooked accordingly.  In the UK, the pork cooks quickly and I guess there is little risk of worms in the meat!  The ginger, garlic and red chillies would be ground into a paste on a sil- batta - a flat granite stone and a 'pestle' that glides and rolls over the spices rather than a crusher.  Here, it is difficult to make a wet spice mixture in a coffee grinder or make a wet spice mixture in a pestle and mortar easily.  So the ginger and garlic is grated and the chillies are soaked in hot water - they disintegrate when cooking!  In rural areas, the chilli most likely to be used is the very hot Bhoot Jolokia or Naga chilli!

Ingredients 

500g belly pork, cut into 2-3 cm pieces

2 onions - about 250 grams in weight, chopped finely

1 large knob of ginger, grated

4 cloves of garlic, grated or pureed in a pestle and mortar

1 tbsp oil

6 Kashmiri dried red chillies or to taste, tear it up into smaller pieces and soak in hot water that covers it and softens it

salt to taste

Method

1. Heat the oil and fry the onions until golden brown in a medium to low heat.
2. Add the ginger, garlic and red chillies and fry for a few seconds.
3. Add the pork, turn up the heat to high and turn the meat pieces so that they are evenly coated with the mixture.  Add the salt.
4. Turn down the heat to a low setting, cover the meat and cook for about 30 minutes.
5. The pork will release some water and this needs to dry out by the end of cooking.  Keep stirring the meat every five minutes to ensure that the water does not dry out and the meat does not get stuck.  Once the meat is cooked, oil/fat will be released which is more like a spiced sauce with a beautiful vibrant red colour.   
6. Turn out the meat into a serving dish and enjoy.

This pork makes a good combination with steamed sticky rice as well.  The onions add a touch of sweetness which combines well with the spiciness of the ginger and garlic and is a perfect match to the heat of the chilli.  

dinner with the chahal family - 1st October 2010

An entertaining evening with friends to say goodbye to the university girls. Poor Arnav!  Girlie company for him once again. But the two of us did have a few games of Jenga and Snakes and Ladders till Arnav realised that I kept making up rules as we were playing Snakes and Ladders - for instance, if one landed on a square with a 'pillow', it meant losing a turn because the player had fallen asleep; if one landed on a square with a bin, another lost turn and so on. Prolonged the game and kept him very busy as he never knew what new 'trick' I would play on him.

Starter Menu

Nepali chicken cutlets

potato and paneer tikkis

Main meal

Chicken biryani

raita

My contribution

Pear and frangipane tart - elder daughter BG's request.

Tried out James Martin's recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry from his book 'Desserts' but was very disappointed. Despite the rest in the fridge, the pastry was very difficult to handle. So went back to a recipe from the French book - Tartes au Maison . Thought I would see what Google Translate would make of the translation French into Hindi. So typed in the French imagine the translation for softened butter! Ganda makkhan - Dirty butter!!

5th august 2010

Anniversary of father-in-law’s death – twelve years since he passed away. Big ‘hokaam’ was being held in Dibrugarh by mother-in-law and the ‘children’, apart from husband. By the time our family had woken up and got ready, rituals in Dibrugarh were over!!

Quite a hectic day for me as the girls and I had returned from London late on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, the car had to go in for a service and it was only on Wednesday afternoon that we could go shopping. Also, husband was working all day on Thursday and I knew that no help would be available. I was on my own!! Washing machine also decided to break down on Wednesday afternoon. Feeling rather jinxed – it seems that every time we invite friends, some household disaster inevitably takes place. Could do with an ‘ESC’ button in my life – then I could start all over again from scratch.

Eight-thirty and still waiting for one more family to turn up. Rang the Chahal family and they had forgotten about the dinner – thought it was at the weekend!! Anyway, they arrived half an hour later while the starter plates were just being cleared up and the main meal was being organized. Phew!!

Turkey koftas with tomato and prune ‘tok’

Since we last made meatballs in a Spanish style tapas starter in March and which was devoured by the teenagers as well as the adults, I thought that it was time for a new twist. In our household, the only time we seem to consume turkey is around Christmas. Turkey mince is widely available in supermarkets and though not free range, I still felt that it would be good to give it a try. So turkey meatballs it was going to be. All who ate thought it was lamb! The turkey meat was dark, hence the conclusion of several diners.

Ingredients

500 grams turkey mince

handful of fresh coriander – chopped finely

1 egg

4 cloves of fresh garlic –finely chopped or pureed with a little salt in a mortar and pestle

1 tbsp freshly ground coriander

1 tbsp home made garam masala

Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Mix the mince with the other ingredients and let it ‘marinate’ for a few hours so that the flavours of the spices can develop.
2. Make golf balls sized meatballs and deep fry for a few minutes until the meatballs change colour. Drain and serve while still warm with the ‘tok’.

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Gingered Fresh tomato relish with prunes

Tomato tok with prunes

In the Turkish shop in Welling, London, I bought a whole crate of vine tomatoes – a real glut of tomatoes which needed to be used up. I thought that the sweet, salty, sour and hot flavour of the relish would be ideal company for the turkey meatballs. Indo-Spanish, Indo-Mediterranean – seems to me that most cuisines have some sort of meatballs and some serve in a tomato sauce. Also had some Agen prunes from France. They needed using up too. So here is the birth of an Assamese style twist to this tomato relish for the turkey meatballs or kofta.

Ingredients

1 kg Vine ripened tomatoes, roughly chopped into 1 cm pieces

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp kalonji (nigella seeds)

2cm piece of fresh ginger, julienned or grated

1 tsp crushed chillies or more

1 tsp salt

1 cup gur or ½ - 1 cup dark brown sugar (to taste! depending on sweetness of tomatoes)

200 grams prunes

Method

1. 1. Heat the oil over a medium heat. Once it is hot, add the nigella seeds and then follow it with the ginger. Let it sputter for a few seconds and then add the crushed chillies. Do not let it fry for too long otherwise the fumes from the chillies can be a real killer with its vapours.
2. 2. Add the tomatoes and the salt. Bring it to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes. The tomatoes will have softened and also leaked out their juices. Do not worry if the mixture looks watery. Once the sweetener is added, the mixture will thicken and will look more jammy.
3. 3. Add the gur or sugar and the prunes. Simmer for another ten minutes or so. Taste the relish and add more sugar or chillies if required.
4. 4. Remove to a serving dish. The prunes will plump up as the mixture stands.

Serve at room temperature. The relish can be made a few days ahead and kept in the fridge or frozen.

Any leftovers tastes delicious with puris or chapattis.

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Deep fried anchovies tapas style with fresh lemons and mayonnaise

Went to a Bangladeshi shop in Plumstead, London, over the weekend and though they had a good selection of frozen Indian freshwater river fish, I am rather suspicious of their stock – stock tends to be re-frozen after being thawed and and so it is not always of the best quality. In a Turkish shop in Welling in London, I found frozen anchovies, sardines and herrings! Would have preferred whitebait but last time I tried to order whitebait through a well-known supermarket for dinner with friends, the order was so messed up that I was reluctant about ordering and also it was too late for me to place the order. So anchovies it was. No problem for starters then.

The pack of 1 kg anchovies was more than enough for twelve and all with generous appetites. I think the starters was a slight overkill with so much fish.

Ingredients

For twelve with hearty appetites and who also love fish.

1 kg anchovies, defrosted if frozen

oil for deep frying

plain flour seasoned with salt and creole seasoning

some milk

lemon quarters

mayonnaise

Method

1. Heat the oil in a deep fryer.
2. Dip a handful of anchovies in the milk first and then immediately into the seasoned flour. This first dunking in milk helps the flour to somewhat coat the fish lightly. Toss the fish around for a few seconds and then gently lower them in to the hot oil.
3. Fry for a few minutes – until the fish curl up and are crisp. This ensures crunchy bites. Drain onto kitchen towels and then serve immediately with lemon quarters and mayonnaise.

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Sundal with Granny Smith apples

No ‘hokaam’ is complete without ‘boot mogu’ prokhad – raw chickpeas and mung beans. Not too popular in this raw state in our family. So a nibbly starter with a mouthful of flavours with the chickpeas was pencilled in to the menu. Green mangoes are not readily available and the only fruits I could think of for a slightly tart flavour were kiwis and granny smith apples. Originally planned to add kiwis but felt that they were too soft to withstand the robust flavours and also younger daughter, GG, never forgets to remind me that her tongue tingles when she eats kiwis. So Granny Smiths won.

Do not use tinned chickpeas. Freshly soaked and cooked chickpeas have the texture that this dish demands.

Ingredients

250 grams chickpeas, soaked overnight and then cooked until soft but not falling apart

½ fresh fresh coconut, grated or chopped into small bits

1 Granny smith apple

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

few curry leaves

1 tsp urad daal

2 dried red chillies, whole

2 green chillies, chopped finely

salt to taste

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan till it is smoking hot.
2. Lower the heat and add the mustard seeds. Cover with a lid – mustard seeds can jump high and they hiss and spit! Once the seeds stop spluttering, add the curry leaves and the urad daal.
3. Fry the mixture for a few seconds until he urad daal grains are golden brown in colour.
4. Add the chopped chillies and stir the mixture around.
5. Add the chickpeas and toss them around until they are coated with the seeds. Take off the heat, add the coconut and salt to taste.
6. Once the mixture has cooled, add the chopped apples and serve at room temperature.

Cooked apples are not desired.

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Still a lot of chickpeas and mung beans – soaked and waiting for something magic to transform them. A very Assamese style dish would suit the menu. But how does one cook a truly Assamese dish?

Just returned from shops with fresh sea bass. By now lunchtime was fast approaching and I did not have any dishes ready – apart from the dessert of ‘kalakand’ and ‘bhappa doi’. Girls were instructed to organise lunch themselves while I was getting ready to hit ‘panic’ button. Mum was supposed to have arrived in London from Gothenburg that afternoon and brother AB was collecting her from the airport. Rang her at two pm – luckily she was on her way home in the car. Instructions were given over the phone for the khar and the fish curry with spinach.

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Chickpea and mung bean ‘khar’

This very Assamese dish does require mustard oil to deliver that authentic kick with its pungency. Do source it – available in most ethnic shops with a Bangladeshi group nearby. The kol-khar can be replaced with bi-carbonate of soda without too much loss of flavour. Now in most Assamese villages, it is said that ‘khar’ should only be eaten in the daytime but unfortunately, lunch is such a hurried affair, that dinner-time is the only time that this dish can be enjoyed. The ‘khar’ is also the first course of a meal but we seem to enjoy it throughout the meal. Rohit, a Delhi-ite, certainly enjoyed this very earthy Assamese dish and so did younger daughter GG.

Every Assamese lady will debate about the correct way to cook khar – mother-in-law cooks khar differently as do my other aunts in Assam. I do not think there is any one correct way of cooking this very traditional dish – an artist interprets the dish according to the ‘palette’ available.

Ingredients

½ cup chick peas, soaked overnight

½ cup whole mung beans, soaked overnight

¼ cup chopped fresh coconut (just because I had some leftover)

2 cm piece of fresh ginger, crushed with mortar and pestle

2 tsp kol khar, or 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 green chilli, split in half

salt to taste

mustard oil

Method

1. 1. Boil the chickpeas, mung beans and the crushed ginger together until tender.
2. Add the kol-khar or bicarbonate of soda and the green chilli. Simmer for another five minutes.
3. Add salt to taste.
4. Transfer to a serving dish, drizzle in the mustard oil and let it coat the top of the ‘khar’. Just before serving, stir the mustard oil in.

warn diners about the large pieces of crushed ginger!! In case they are not used to the hidden fire of fresh ginger.

¡¡

Fish curry with spinach

I normally avoid cooking fish for various reasons. Scaling is a messy business and supermarket fish assistants are normally awful at this task. I hate the taste of cooked scales with a mouthful of delicious fish. Of course in Assam, the cleaning of fish would be meticulous – fear of sharp tongues and loss of a good customer ensure that fish will be the best.

This curry is normally made with rahu fish or any other freshwater river fish with few bones in them. Sea bass or sea bream make perfectly acceptable substitutes and are fresher in flavour than the frozen Indian fish available in England. The fish can be cut into steaks but diners need to be aware of fish bones. It is an incredibly simple dish to make with very few ingredients too.

I added a few dried ‘bogori’ – similar to sour cherries (ber in Hindi) - to the dish just because they were lying around in the kitchen and also wanted a slight tanginess to balance the taste.

Ingredients

2 fresh sea bass, filleted and fillets cut into smaller pieces (about 5cm pieces), or cut into steaks, head and bones reserved and left in big pieces

oil for shallow frying

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp salt or more to taste

1 tsp cumin seeds

fresh spinach, washed and chopped finely by hand for texture

1 green chilli, split in half

handful of washed and chopped fresh coriander leaves

handful of dried bogori (sour cherries) - optional

Method

1. 1. Rub turmeric and salt all over the fish fillets/ steaks and let them ‘sit’ for an hour or two.
2. Next, heat some oil in a sauté pan and pan fry the fish lightly for a few minutes on each side. Remove from the pan.
3. To the same oil, add the fish heads and bones and fry them for a few minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.
4. Add a tbsp of oil to the sauté pan. When the oil is hot, season it with the cumin seeds and the green chilli and let it sputter for just a few seconds.
5. Add the spinach to the pan, stir it gently and let it collapse. Now add ½ litre of water, bring to the boil.
6. Add the fish bones and simmer gently for about five minutes.
7. Add the fish fillets and the bogori if using, and let it all simmer for another five minutes. Taste for seasoning.
8. Remove from heat and ‘fish’ out the head and bones.
9. Transfer to a serving dish and scatter the freshly chopped coriander over the top and serve hot.

The fish head and bones add flavour to the gravy. In England, the head and bones would be transformed into a stock first. My method combines a bit of the east and a bit of the west.

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barbecue evening with ranji, anna, pori and miku

Hot spring day. Rather impromptu barbecue get-together of Gogoi's in England when Anna rang at lunch time to confirm that she would visit us in the evening - Anna and Ranji (sister and brother) originally from Coventry, and Miku and Pori (husband and wife of just over a year) from Leeds. Pori is a grand-daughter of one my father-in-law's younger sisters (Pehi). Yep - relationships in Assam remain firm through generations. And Pori happens to be the name of Anna's mother too!

A real explosion of flavours from different corners of the world. Meats were marinated only after Anna rang - but they still got about four hours wallowing unashamedly with fresh chopped herbs and freshly ground spices. A coal barbecue adds that definitive summer touch but an electric or gas grill will do the job perfectly. And if some smoke flavouring is available for the kitchen alternative, pour it on. Found 'smoke' flavour in a bottle on a trip to New York but have not come across it in English or French supermarkets as yet.

Unfortunately, this was the only picture that was taken that evening. Somehow, ended up relaxing too much to even remember to take pictures.

menu

chicken in a lemon and olive oil marinade

lamb kebabs in a spicy yoghurt marinade

pork ribs in a soy sauce and ginger marinade with a secret ingredient

sea bass with spices (recipe another time!!) - picture missing as we started to eat while the fish was being barbecued

grilled aubergine slices brushed with olive oil and garlic, in a pomegranate molasses dressing

green leaves salad drizzled with olive oil and raspberry vinegar

fennel and apple straws in mayonnaise

steamed couscous with barberries

thai fragrant rice with coconut milk

tomato 'tok' - tomato relish with raisins

Jersey royal new potatoes with olive oil and sea salt

and to satisfy the sweet toothed

mango mousse

zarda - sweet rice with nuts and raisins

Recipe for Chicken in a lemon and olive oil marinade

Family find chicken breasts too dry. So drumsticks and thighs are perfect for us. Size of lemons vary - so if the lemons are small, use two.

8 chicken thighs (or legs), boned

grated zest of one lemon

juice of one lemon

3 tbsp olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

salt to taste

Marinate the chicken with the other ingredients and barbecue for about fifteen minutes - cooks quicker since the bones have been removed.

Recipe for lamb kebabs in a spicy yoghurt marinade

I like shoulder of lamb for kebabs that need to be barbecued. It does not get dry as the marbling of fat keeps it moist and tender. Be careful not to overcook them either. You do not want to be chewing on a piece of overcooked meat.

Ingredients :

1 large shoulder of lamb, bone removed and cubed into 5 cm pieces

1 tbsp freshly ground cumin

1 tbsp freshly ground coriander

1 tbsp garam masala

Greek yoghurt

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp red chilli powder

Method

Mix the spices and the yoghurt together. Marinate the meat in this mixture. Once the fire in the barbecue is ready, thread the meat onto skewers interspersed with pieces of pepper and red onions ( I used red, yellow and green peppers). No hard and fast rules!!

Barbecue each for about ten minutes turning often - depends on heat of barbecue!!

Recipe for pork ribs in a soy sauce and ginger marinade with a secret ingredient

The secret ingredient is - tomato ketchup!!! We used Heinz. (Not endorsing any products; it's just that we have been using the same brand for years and know that it has never let us down on taste). Using kethchup means that a whole lot of other ingredients are not required. They are sticky and finger licking good.

Ingredients

1 kg meaty pork ribs

3 tbsp soy sauce

5 to 8 cm piece of fresh ginger, grated

1 tsp dried crushed red chillies

salt to taste

Method

Boil the ribs first for about ten minutes in the kitchen. Drain and dry with kitchen towels. Boiling the ribs means that the cooking time on the barbecue is reduced and ensures that the ribs will cook properly.

Mix the soy sauce with the ginger, ketchup and chillies and lather this mix all over the ribs. Use a flat dish to marinate in so that all the pieces can enjoy the 'mud bath'. Barbecue on a hot grill brushing the pieces with the left over marinade in the dish.

Recipe for grilled aubergine slices brushed with olive oil and garlic, in a pomegranate molasses dressing

Pomegranate molasses is wonderful - it is sweet and tart at the same time and has a pure rich viscosity that manages a caressing touch. We love it. We love aubergines too. And if fresh pomegranates are available, sprinkle the seeds over the aubergines. They make a fantastic combination.

Aubergines are 'greedy' when it comes to oil - be generous.

Aubergines come in different sizes - so if they are small, use two or three. Most supermarkets sell what I would term small ones, whereas the ethnic shops often sell quite large ones.

Ingredients :

1 large aubergine or two small ones, cut into 1/2 cm round slices

2 tsp pureed garlic (mash up about six fat garlic cloves with some sea salt in a mortar and pestle)

125 ml - 150 ml extra virgin olive oil

salt to taste

2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

a handful of fresh parsley, chopped finely

Method

Mix the garlic with the olive oil and salt. Brush the aubergine slices generously on both sides with this mix. Grill the slices on the barbecue turning them every few minutes until the slices are cooked. They will become creamy soft and you will notice 'holes' in the flesh. There is nothing worse than uncooked aubergines.

When the slices are cooked, transfer to a serving dish. Add the pomegranate molasses all over the slices and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Ranji is a first year Physics student. A 'doggy' bag with some of the leftovers was immensely appreciated.

isabella's first birthday - 'clan' get-together 5th June 2010

Get-together of the 'clan' to celebrate the first birthday of the youngest member - Isabella.

Long slow boring drive to Norwich through some of the flattest but now greenest landscape that is Lincolnshire. And the worst part - the asparagus bunches that were being sold in some of the roadside 'stalls' were more expensive than in local shops!! One would have thought that with little food miles for these spring vegetables, they would be a bargain. But no.

Are there any PYO (Pick your own) farms where one can go and pick vegetables on the A17 and A46? Needs investigating. Hmmm ... will definitely break a boring journey to acceptable chunks. No dearth of farm shops though along the route. Freshly picked vegetables and fruits on a warm summer's day - ahhh!!!! life is full of little pleasures that one can dream about.

The warm weather held. Children had a lovely afternoon of games and fun. Children? Ladies and girls had fun too.

jelly treasure hunt with mouth - no hands!!

hoops all around

the grown up boys - keeping pace with the girls

even more merriment for the audience!

grandfather grandson - sharing a moment in time together

I may be the youngest but .....

But even better was the food as usual. Started off on arrival with home made potato samosas and lamb samosas with mint chutney and a chilli chutney. Cousin Fiona made the samosas using a Gordon Ramsay recipe, home grown mint chutney was the creation of my uncle, Bipin Dada, and mother made the green chilli chutney. Samosa pastry was delicious - just like the ones made in India. Not the filo pastry that is used by restaurants, supermarkets and countless others. Those made with filo pastry cannot be classified as real samosas - so say the 'connoisseurs' in the family. At least the children are being 'educated' as to what can be classified as a real samosa.

Children had an early 'tea' at about six in the evening - still find difficulty with Yorkshire dialect - the word 'dinner' is used to signify the lunch time meal and 'tea' for the evening meal. Anyway, a wonderful child friendly spread that even the adults nibbled - ham sandwiches and jam sandwiches in the shapes of dinosaurs, mini sausages, hot dogs in buns with tomato ketchup, cucumber crocodile speared with cheese and pineapple cubes, heart shaped jam and white chocolate biscuits, apricot cookies, pink and white layered coconut 'ice', a range of cupcakes including egg free chocolate ones, Swedish rosette cookies, hula hoops, quavers, bacon bites, orange, strawberry and lime jelly boats in fresh orange shells and the grand finale - a beautiful castle cake with pink icing. Birthday baby too enjoyed the spread - she has eight teeth and is only a year old!!

never smile at a crocodile .....

crocodile getting ready to ......

Dinner for the adults was a grand affair. Auntie Sue and Uncle Bipin Dada cooked the Assamese meal. Here follows the menu :

Masoor daal with tomatoes and green beans

Urad daal assamese style - maati daal

Chicken with potatoes

lamb curry

potato and tinda fry

ladies fingers with dried green mango powder - bhindi with amchoor

sea bass fish curry - masor tenga with tomatoes and potatoes

tomato and red onion salsa with coriander, fresh lime juice and finely chopped fresh green chilli

after the babies were in bed!

the dessert 'trolley'

Tomato and Red onion salsa

No definite measurements - make as much as you want. As long as the ingredients are the freshest possible. Most Assamese meals are accompanied by little portions of salad or relish and some are sometimes seasoned with raw mustard oil - a rarity in this country. Feel free to use extra virgin olive oil but the salad is simply delicious even without any oil - totally healthy and fat free if one desires. The heat of fresh chillies make this salad utterly delicious and is a must. Forget the oil, remember the chillies. Can serve upwards of four people as part of an Indian meal

Ingredients

500 grams sun ripened or vine ripened tomatoes - chopped

200 grams red onions - chopped finely

1 bunch of fresh coriander - chopped finely

4 fresh red or green chillies

sea salt to taste

fresh lime juice - for this amount, at least one, more can be added to taste

1 tbsp mustard oil or 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - optional

Method

Mix all the ingredients together gently and serve as soon as possible.

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end of the weekend partying ....

Auntie Sue, as I have mentioned in previous entries, is a fantastic cook. She has mastered Assamese cooking and will make many a native Assamese woman cringe. We never fail to recall how on one of her visits to Namti, Sibsagarh in Assam, many years ago, she was lucky enough to have sampled red ant eggs (amloi tup) scrambled with duck eggs. It made her sick and then the family dogs licked up the vomit!! Yaaaarghhhhh!!