Mangoes and Curry Leaves

Mangoes and Curry Leaves, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

If you ever wanted to make Indian food, but found it daunting, then this is the book for you. I got this as a Christmas gift from the G* and it's a fantastic book. It has recipes from all over the subcontinent, with anecdotes from the authors' travels, great pictures and some delicious, foolproof recipes.

A selection of tried and tested below:

Katchhi Village Potato Curry

Zinet's Chicken with Tomato and Greens
This recipe is fantastic. I wish I could tell you what it involves, but the G* made it, so I have no idea. I can only vouch for the fact that it tastes really good

Aromatic Slow-Cooked Chicken
On the face of it, this recipe looks pretty dubious. Anything that involves boiling chicken for half an hour makes me suspicious, but this is really tender and flavourful. The rice vinegar and fresh coriander make all the difference.

Smash don't mash...

Steamed haddock with ginger, garlic and spring onion, and smashed potatoes with Boursin

So I have to thank indiagirl for this one, since it was she who suggested the whole Boursin thing, which on the face of it doesn't seem that appealing. But trust me, this is a great way of making something from bland boiled potatoes.

Marinate the haddock with some light soy sauce, oil, balsamic vinegar, Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry), garlic, pepper and finely chopped ginger for at least 20 minutes. Sprinkle some chopped spring onion and steam in a bamboo steamer or other method of your choice for about 5 minutes. For the potatoes, boil them in salted water until soft (I'm told I should use red-skinned potatoes for best effect, but I don't think I offended anyone by using white-skinned ones...). Drain and smash (not, I hasten to add, mash - indiagirl didn't specify how one should smash potatoes, so I just squashed them with the back of a wooden spatula, but there are probably more fun techniques, like pelting them against the wall or something). Add a generous helping of garlic and herb Boursin and mix into the smashed potatoes.

Roast chicken

Having just fed four people, I thought I'd share my thoughts on roast chicken. No doubt everyone has their own way of roasting chicken, so here's mine. The worst thing about a roast chicken is dry, bland breast meat (although I don't usually eat chicken breast anyway), so you have to stuff the thing with something to prevent it from drying. Get your preferred choice of chicken (free-range, corn-fed, or whatever works for you). Wash and pat dry. Stuff with: wedges of lemon, small onion, crushed garlic cloves, your choice of herb (mint or thyme work well), butter. Rub olive oil and salt all over skin.

I served roast potatoes with the chicken. Wash and peel the potatoes, and cut into bite-size chunks. Parboil for 5 minutes, drain and shake in the pan to fluff them up. Spread over the bottom of a deep roasting tin lined with aluminium foil. Halve two small onions, and cut each half into quarters. Crush some garlic cloves. Spread evenly among the potato chunks. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and cumin seeds. Place the rack on the roasting tin and set the chicken on top, breast side up. Cook in a pre-heated at 190C (about 75 mins. for a medium-sized chicken). You shouldn't need to baste it, and the fat and juices will be soaked up by the potatoes, giving them extra flavour.

Et voilà: