Lamb Korma and Masoor Dahl Recipe

Image Credit: icookFood.com

Korma is a dish originating in Southeast Asia, in India specifically. It's main ingredients are yoghurt, cream and coconut milk. Nut and seed paste are also introduced. If you like curry recipes, you will surely love this one, Korma is considered a type of curry.

Masoor Dahl, on the other hand, is actually a type of legumes. In this recipe, we'll gonna be using red lentils or legume. For those soon-to-be-mom out there, you'll be glad that lentils are one of the best source of iron in vegetables! So, here we go.

Lamb Korma

For a Korma enough to serve 3, you'll need the following;

• 500g Lamb Pieces
• 6 Tablespoons of Natural Yoghurt
• 5cm Piece of Ginger, grated
• 4 cloves of Garlic, chopped fine
• 1 Medium Onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves of Garlic
• 4 Green Chilies, seeds removed
• 3-4 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 1 Large Onion, finely sliced
• 5cm Cinnamon Stick
• 4 Green Cardamoms, broken
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Coriander
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• Half teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
• Half teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Half cup of Hot Water
• 1 can of Coconut Milk
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
• 2 tablespoons Almonds, finely chopped
• Handful Fresh Coriander, chopped
• Juice of half a Lemon

Image Credit: icookFood.com

Marinate the lamb pieces in the yoghurt, grated ginger and chopped garlic for a few hours at least (preferably overnight). Put the roughly chopped onion, garlic cloves and chilies into a blender, blend to a fine paste and set to one side.

Heat up the oil in a heavy bottom pan and fry the onion slices for about 5 minutes, until turning golden. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set to one side. Add a little more oil to the pan and add the cinnamon stick, cardamoms, ground coriander, turmeric, cayenne pepper and black pepper and stir. Now put the lamb and marinade into the pan, stir to ensure they are coated in the spices and cook for about 10 minutes. Next, add the paste and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add a little hot water to help de-glaze the pan a little, and add the coconut milk and the fried onions. Cook for another 30-40 minutes, or until the lamb is tender. Stir last of the ingredients and serve!

Massor Dahl

For the Masoor Dahl that will serve for 3, here's what you'll need;

• 1 Cup of Red Lentils, washed
• 1.5 Pints of Water
• A few thin slices of Ginger
• 1 teaspoon of Turmeric
• 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• A pinch of Asafoetida
• 1 teaspoon of Cumin Seeds
• 1 teaspoon of Mustard Seeds
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Coriander
• Half teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
• 1 teaspoon of Salt

After washing the lentils, put them into a heavy pan along with the water, ginger slices and turmeric. Bring the pan to a simmer, then cook for an hour and a half, making sure to stir in the last half hour to make sure it doesn't stick. Remove the slices of ginger.

Heat up some oil in another pan and drop in the pinch of Asafoetida, cumin seeds and mustard seeds and once they start popping, add in the ground coriander and cayenne pepper, stir a couple more times, then pour into the lentils. Finally add salt to taste, and garnish with fresh chopped coriander.

Credits: iCookFood.com

Lamb Korma and Masoor Dahl Recipe

Meatballs with Ricotta in Tomato Sauce Recipe

Photo Credit: elise.com

If fresh basil is not available, add a tablespoon of dried basil to the tomatoes before adding to the meatballs. Alternatively, Muir Glen makes a canned tomato with basil in it which would also work.

Print Options

• Print (no photos)
• Print (with photos)

Ingredients

• 10 ounces ground pork shoulder
• 10 ounces sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
• 2 ounces prosciutto or pancetta, minced (helps to put in freezer for 15 min first, before mincing, will make it easier to cut)
• 4 cups cubed white bread, crusts removed first.
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 2/3 cup ricotta cheese
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• Olive oil
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (high quality, either San Marzano or Muir Glen)
• 1/4 cup chiffonaded* fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

* to chiffonade basil leaves, stack leaves on top of each other, then roll up leaves lengthwise like a cigar, slice thinly starting at the end.

Method

1 In a large bowl, add the pork, Italian sausage, bread cubes, parsley, oregano, fennel, red pepper flakes, and salt. Use your hands to mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Do not over-work.

2 Whisk the beaten eggs and ricotta together in a separate bowl until there are no more large clumps of ricotta. Pour into the bowl of the meat mixture. Mix with your hands until just incorporated. Again, do not over-mix.

If you want, to test seasoning, you can take a small bit of the mix, form into a patty, and heat in a small skillet on the stovetop until cooked through. Depending on how this test patty tastes to you, add more herbs, chili, or salt to taste to the meat mixture. Keep meat mixture in refrigerator while doing this.

3 Preheat oven to 425°F. Coat the bottom of a large roasting pan with olive oil. Form meatballs in your hand, about 1 1/2-inches in diameter, using about 3 Tbsp of the mixture to form each meatball. Arrange in pan so there is some space between them. If too crowded they will steam and not brown.

4 Roast meatballs in the oven for about 30 minutes, turning the meatballs after about 20 minutes, until the meatballs are beginning to brown.

5 Remove pan from oven. Use a metal spatula to dislodge meatballs from being stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the crushed tomatoes to the pan. Carefully cover the pan with aluminum foil (carefully because the pan is still hot!) Return the pan to the oven. Lower the heat to 300°F. Cook for an additional hour to 1 1/2 hours.

Sprinkle basil into sauce before serving.

Makes about 24 meatballs. Top with grated Parmesan.

Serves 5-6.

Recipe from elise.com

Meatballs with Ricotta in Tomato Sauce Recipe

Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

Deep Dish Pizza Trivia
(source: J.J. Schnebel)

Chicago. That's the first thing you are going to think of with regard to Deep Dish Pizza, and you are right. There seems to be no argument about that. It's Chicago where it was first created and it's Chicago where it's most popular. In fact, in Chicago, Deep Dish Pizza is literally and figuratively, numero uno.

There's a wonderful story about the creation of Deep Dish Pizza, which goes like this: after World War II an American soldier who had done duty in Italy went home to Chicago, got a job in a bar and grill, and began experimenting with the recipe for pizza, which he had first tasted during his war service. Nice story, except for one thing. Deep dish pizza appeared in Chicago in the early 1940's and the war didn't end until 1945.

Actually, Deep Dish Pizza is to Chicago what chili is to Cincinnati. There are more than 2,000 pizzerias in Chicago, most of them serving "deep dish" and many of them offshoots of a small original kitchen in an old part of town. The story that has not been disputed is that a Texan named Ike Sewell created the dish at his bar and grill named Pizzeria Uno in 1943. The pizza was so popular that to handle the crowds he had to open another place nearby called Pizzeria Due. By 1955 a restaurant just east of Michigan Avenue began serving deep dish pizza in a place called Gino's East, and it became popular with the fashionable crowds along Chicago's "Magnificent Mile." Meanwhile, two of Ike Sewell's employees were Rudy Malnati and his son Lou. In 1971 Lou and his wife Jean opened a pizzeria in the suburb of Lincolnwood, north of Chicago. The rest, as they say, is history.

images credit: Southern Plate

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1lb Italian sausage
1 med onion, chopped
1 C flour
1 bell pepper, chopped
15 ounce jar pizza sauce
1/2 C Parmesan (Parmesan is not as easy to spell as one might think…)
8 ounce mozzarella
1/2 tsp salt
dash black pepper
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 T oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 cup oregano (I leave out garlic salt and oregano and just put in two tablespoons Italian Seasoning)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Brown hamburger, sausage, onion, and bell pepper. Drain well. Add garlic salt and oregano (or Italian Seasoning). Add pizza sauce. Stir well. Grease a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle mozzarella over bottom of it. Spread meat mixture over the cheese. In mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, flour, oil, and salt. Pour over meat in pan. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over batter. Bake 30 minutes.

Recipe Credit: Southern Plate

Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

Spicy Chicken Nuggets (Chicharrones de Pollo) Recipe

Wikipedia Trivia of Chicharrón

Chicharrón is a popular dish in Andalusia, Spain, and Latin America and is part of the traditional cuisines of Guatemala, Belize, Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Brazil (where it is called torresmo), Peru, the Philippines and others. The singular form, chicharrón, is also used as a mass noun, especially in the Philippines where words do not have a pluralized form. They are usually made with different cuts of pork, but sometimes made with mutton. In Puerto Rico chicharrones are also made with chicken, in Argentina with beef, and in Peru with chicken or fish.

Image Credit: www.elise.com

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• Vegetable oil (canola oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil or other high smoke point oil)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika (hot or sweet)
• Lime wedges
• Hot sauce

Method

1 Prepare marinade, stirring together lime juice, rum, soy sauce, and sugar in a bowl until sugar has dissolved. Add the chicken to the marinade and let marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature (can marinate longer chilled, but allow to come to room temp for 30 minutes before cooking).

2 Pour enough oil in a skillet so that it comes up the sides at least a half an inch. Heat oil on medium high until it is shimmering, and a little pinch of flour sizzles when you drop it in the pan.

3 While the oil is heating, whisk together the flour, paprika, and salt in a bowl. Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture and transfer to a plate.

4 Fry the chicken in batches (about 3), about 3 minutes on each side, until deep golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. (If the chicken is browning too quickly, reduce the heat a bit). Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil.

Where you can find the equipment used above...

Commercial or Home Fryers

Skillets

Visit KaTom Restaurant Supply website for more commercial restaurant equipment.

Useful Links:

Elise Simple Recipes

Wikipedia

Spicy Chicken Nuggets (Chicharrones de Pollo) Recipe

Beef Bourguignon Recipe

Beef Bourguignon is a classic French stew of cubed beef, slow cooked in red wine and broth, and served with sautéed mushrooms and pearl onions. This is a family favorite recipe, adapted from Julia Child's approach to making Beef Bourguignon.

Image Credit: www.elise.com

Ingredients

• 6 oz bacon
• 2 to 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 lbs trimmed beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups sliced onions
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 bottle of red wine (such as a zinfandel or Chianti)
• 2 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
• 1 medium herb bouquet (tie 8 parsley sprigs, 1 large bay leaf, 1 tsp dried thyme, 2 whole cloves or allspice berries, and 3 large cloves of smashed garlic together wrapped and tied in cheesecloth)

• Beurre manié: 3 Tbsp flour blended to a paste with 2 Tbsp butter

• 24 pearl onions
• Chicken stock
• Butter
• 1 1/2 pounds of button or cremini mushrooms, quartered

Method

1 Blanch the bacon to remove its smoky taste. Drop bacon slices into 2 quarts of cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer 6 to 8 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water, and dry on paper towels.

2 In a large frying pan, sauté the blanched bacon to brown slightly in a little oil; set them aside and add later to simmer with the beef, using the rendered fat in browning. Brown the chunks of beef on all sides in the bacon fat and olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and put them into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or covered casserole pan. Cut the bacon into 1-inch pieces and add to the pan.

3 Remove all but a little fat from the frying pan, add the sliced vegetables and brown them, and add to the meat. Deglaze the pan with wine, pouring it into the casserole along with enough stock to almost cover the meat. Stir in the tomatoes and add the herb bouquet. Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer slowly on the lowest heat possible, either on the stove or in a preheated 325°F oven, until the meat is tender, about 1 to 2 hours.

4 While the stew is cooking, prepare the onions. Blanch the onions in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Slice the end tips off of the onions, peel the onions and score the root end with 1/4 inch cuts. Sauté onions in a single layer in a tablespoon or two of butter until lightly browned. Add chicken stock or water half way up the sides of the onions. Add a teaspoon of sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes or until tender. The onions should absorb most of the water. If there is water remaining after cooking, drain the excess. Set aside.

5 Prepare the mushrooms a few minutes before serving the stew. Sauté quartered mushrooms in a few tablespoons of butter and olive oil until browned and cooked through.

6 When the stew meat has cooked sufficiently, remove all solids from the sauce (except the beef) by draining through a colander set over a saucepan. Return the beef to the casserole. Press juices out of the residue into the cooking liquid, then remove any visible fat and boil down the liquid to 3 cups. Off heat, whisk in the beurre manié, then simmer for 2 minutes as the sauce thickens lightly. Correct seasoning and pour over the meat, folding in the onions and mushrooms. To serve, bring to a simmer, basting meat and vegetables with the sauce for several minutes until hot throughout.

Serve with rice, bread, or potatoes (unless you are doing the low-carb version!).

Serves 6 to 8.

Beef Bourguignon Recipe