How to Make Meva (Mixed Nut) Burfi

For more details, please visit www.rashmisrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup cashews
1/4 cup pistachios
1/4 cup coconut powder
15-16 ozs. ricotta cheese
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/8 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. cardamom powder

Chicken Korma

Ingredients:

300g chicken (I use boneless, although if you use chicken on the bone, you will need to cook this for longer)
1Tbsp Natural Yoghurt
½ tsp Salt

20g Desiccated Coconut (approx 1 heaped Tbsp)
20g Cashew Nuts

1 small onion -- chopped
3 cloves Garlic - chopped
2 Inches Ginger -- chopped
3 Green Chillies -- chopped
Handful of chopped Coriander

3 Cardamom pods (green)
1 Inch Cinnamon
5 Cloves

½ tsp Turmeric
1 Tbsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Salt

Vegetable Oil and water for cooking


Cooking:


Marinate the chicken:
0.03s Add the 1 Tbsp yoghurt and ½ tsp salt to the chicken.
0.32s Cover and set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes (this helps make the chicken really succulent and tender)

Prepare the nuts and coconut
0.40s Grind the cashew nuts and coconut as fine as possible (a blender works best for this although a pestle and mortar is also fine)

Prepare the masala:
0.58s Add 1 Tbsp vegetable oil to a warm pan
1.11s Once hot, add the chopped onion and fry on a medium heat
1.21s Add the garlic, ginger and chillies -- fry for 3 minutes
1.44s Add the chopped coriander -- fry for 30 seconds
2.19s Grind the mixture into a paste, preferably using a blender (or you can use a pestle and mortar but this may take a while!)

Crack the dry spices:
2.44s Using a rolling pin, crack the cardamom, cinnamon and cloves

Cook the curry:
3.13s Add 1 Tbsp vegetable oil to a warm pan
3.28s Once hot, add the cracked spices (cardamom, cinnamon and clove)
3.46s Fry for 1 minute
3.52 Add the marinated chicken
4.10s Fry until the yoghurt disappears (medium to high heat)
4.15s Add the salt
4.23s Add the turmeric
4.29s Add the coriander powder
4.39s Stir well to combine all the ingredients
4.49s Add the cashew nut and coconut powder
4.58s Add the masala paste
5.15s Add 1 cup of water (I used this water to get the remaining bits of the masala paste from the pestle and mortar)
5.26s Stir well and bring to the boil
5.33s Lower the heat and cover
5.36s Cook on a low to medium heat for 25 minutes (this will need to be longer if the chicken is on the bone)
5.48s Once the chicken is cooked, the curry can be served

Fish Biryani

Ingredients:

First take fish pieces.

Next maranate the fish, add Chilli powder, turmuric,oil, lime juice, salt, biryani masala mix well and keep a side for 30min.

In a pan add little oil and cook the maraniated fish and keep a side.

In the same pan add curd, biryani masala 2t mint leaves, coriander leaves, dill leaf, ginger garlic paste, lime juice,green chillies, salt,fried onions half, mix well and add half of the mixture to the cooked fish.

Now boil the Rice, half cooked rice.

Now in the masala pan add the half cooked rice spread evenly add colour, onions, then spread the Fish pieces and masala.

cook for 20 min by closing the lid in very slow flame.

How to Cook Beef Rendang Curry

Ingredients:
2 stalks lemon grass, tough outside parts removed
3cm length galangal (optional)
3cm length ginger
3 cloves garlic
5 dried chillies
2 Tbsp oil
500g chuck steak, cubed
10 red Asian onions, sliced
2 cups coconut milk
2 turmeric leaves (optional)
2 Tbsp Malaysian curry powder (see below, or use commercial preparation)
1 Tbsp thick soy sauce (kecap manis)
1 cup coconut cream
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
1/2 cup desiccated coconut, dry roasted

Ingredients for Curry Powder: (Makes 600g-800g)
2 Tbsp dried, ground coriander seeds
1 Tbsp dried, ground cumin seeds
3/4 Tbsp dried, ground fennel seeds
1/2 Tbsp chilli powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp pepper

Method:
Blend the lemon grass, galangal, ginger, garlic, chillies and 1 tablespoon of the oil to a paste in a food processor or mortar and pestle. Coat the meat well with the paste. Heat the remaining oil in a wok and sauté the onions until golden and aromatic. Add the meat and stir well. Lower the heat, cover the wok and cook for 10 minutes. Add the coconut milk, turmeric leaves and curry powder and stir well. Cover and cook for one hour, or until the beef is tender. Add the thick soy sauce, coconut cream and salt and sugar to taste. Bring to the boil and cook uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. Lower the heat, add the desiccated coconut and stir for another 5 minutes. The curry should be quite dry by the time you've finished. Remove the turmeric leaves and serve with rice.

http://www.consumingpassions.com.au/ - Full Recipe on Website
Indonesian spiced beef dish. Make in 25 minutes.
Beef Rendang - A fabulous recipe from Carol Selvarajah.
Serves: 4

Cardamom’s Moment.

Written by Donna Marie Desfor, Culinary Consultant and Chef | 

he first few weeks of each year is highlighted by scads of articles on food trends.  Rare is the article that gives me pause to stop and say, “Wow, really?  I guess I could see that.”  Well, that is exactly what happened a few weeks back when the trending reports from last year’s San Francisco Fancy Foods Show started to hit the media outlets.  Out from that show came a surprising little notation:  cardamom.  Apparently cardamom is about to have its moment, popping up in everything conventional from confections and candies to even tea.  I guess some of us have cardamom in our spice drawers, a forgotten bottle once bought for a single use recipe.  But there are a handful of clever uses for this aromatic and fragile spice that may make you take a second look at cardamom.  At least while it’s trending this year

Cardamom has long been an addition to tea and Indian coffee, and is probably how most know such a spice exists.  The third most-expensive spice in the world (following behind saffron and vanilla), it is a fragile spice, that at times can be difficult to work with.  The pods are papery and contain tiny seeds (the spice).  When split open the seeds scatter, then to use them they must be gathered and then ground before using.  However, once the seeds are ground, both aroma and flavor dissipate quickly, making it hard to store in a ground form.

The most common variety is the Green Cardamom, brown (sometimes known as black) cardamom is also popular and widely available.  Hailing from the ginger family, the intensely aromatic green cardamom is complex with hints of ginger, lemon, lemon verbena, and a bit of floral sweetness.  The brown cardamom aromatics are similar but with a distinctive hint of smoke and mint.

What makes cardamom really so appealing though is its versatility.  It provides a warm sweet spice to coffee cakes or pastry (by adding Green Pods or grinding the cardamom seeds) or transforms savory dishes with its addition to other spices to create aromatic blends, such as Garam Masala, for curries or Ras el Hanout for roasting meat), and then be ground and added with coffee or tea leaves for a distinctive and flavorful experience.

But in my estimation, if you really want to be a trend-setter, you’ll grab your cardamom and start combining it with your stand-by salt and pepper.  Combine them and start using the combination to season meats, fish and poultry.  Then, when you turn your attention to baking, combine your cardamom with a bit of lavender, or rose petals and add in to neutral platforms such as sugar cookies, or shortbreads; pound cakes and chocolate ganache.  As you get more comfortable with the intensity of this spice you’ll begin to see the endless possibilities and combinations.  Cardamom loves anything that is aromatic, so when you combine it with other aromatics your chances for success go up exponentially.  Just take care not to go with a heavy hand.  If ever there was a case to be made for subtlety and sleight of hand, this is it.  A little goes a long way.  So does balance.

I keep a bottle Parfum de Sel in my baker’s basket for just that reason.  Made by my go-to purveyor of fine spices, salts, herbs and teas, The Spice and Tea Exchange, this extremely fragrant salt blend combines the intense aromatics of lavender and cardamom with sea salt.  As a finishing salt, or when used in baking applications, such a shortbreads, pound cakes or cookies, it’s the subtle blend of aromatics that make this salt work. 

A note about that bottle you have in your drawer:  cardamom should be richly aromatic and intense when ground. If you have a bottle on hand you need to determine whether it needs to be replaced before using it.  Open the bottle, or crush come pods, and wait a moment.  If your spice is fresh the rich aromatics will find its way to your nose within seconds.  If you have to go in search of the aroma, that is to say you have to hold the bottle up to your nose and smell; it’s time to replace it.  Buy high quality, low quantity when it comes to cardamom.  I recommend The Spice and Tea Exchange, as your best source for quality and price. 

Recipe:  Pistachio Cardamom MacaroonsMakes about 4 dozen

Ingredients4 cups confectioners’ sugar, divided use
2 cups slivered (or whole) almonds
1 cup shelled pistachios
½ cup flour
2 teaspoons TSTE Cardamom Seed, ground fine in a spice grinder
1 ½ teaspoons TSTE Red Rose Petals crushed and then ground in spice grinder with cardamom seeds (optional)
5 egg whites

PreparationPreheat oven to 400° F.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.  Place a large mixing bowl in the refrigerator to chill. 

Place almonds, pistachios, and 1 cup of the confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until the nuts are ground to a powder and the mixture is just beginning to bind (look for the mixture moving up the sides of the work bowl).  Scrape the sides of the bowl, and then add the flour and the ground cardamom and rose petals, if using.  Pulse to combine.  Add the remaining confectioners’ sugar.  Turn the food processor on and add the egg whites.  Process until a thick tacky dough begins to form. 

Remove the mixing bowl from the refrigerator.  Turn the dough out into the chilled bowl and with a sturdy wooden spoon mix until the dough is well combined.  The dough will be tacky and thick.  Prepare a finger bowl of ice water.

Spoon the dough onto the prepared sheet in about 1/2-tablespoon mounds, spacing the mounds about 1 ½ inches apart.  Once the cookie sheet is filled with mounds, dip fingers and a kitchen teaspoon (not a measuring spoon) into the iced water.  Form mounds into rounded discs about 1 1/2-inches in diameter, dipping fingers and spoon into ice water as needed to make working with dough easier. 

Bake cookies 1 sheet at a time until cookies are dry and cracked on the tops, about 10 minutes.  Slide parchment to a cooling rack and allow cookies to cool on parchment.  Remove cookies from parchment.  Repeat with remaining batter, using new parchment for each batch.

Store completely cooled cookies between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container and refrigerate.  Serve at room temperature.

Recipe and Photo Copyright © 2012 by Donna Marie Desfor and There’s a Chef in My Kitchen, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2012 WITF, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Cardamom remains up on rising festive demand

The November delivery added Rs 3.90, or 0.43%, to Rs 906.60 per kg

Press Trust of India / New Delhi Oct 19, 2012, 13:27 IST Cardamom rose for the second straight day adding Rs 3.90 to Rs 906.60 per kg in futures trade today as speculators enlarged their positions, driven by rising festive demand. Tight stocks availability in the physical market following less arrivals from producing region also supported the uptrend. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, the November delivery added Rs 3.90, or 0.43%, to Rs 906.60 per kg, with a business turnover of 182 lots. The December cardamom gained Rs 2, or 0.21%, to Rs 945 per kg in 10 lots. Marketmen said speculators enlarged their positions, tracking a firm spot market trend on rising festive demand against tight supplies mainly kept cardamom prices up at futures market. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/cardamom-remains-uprising-festive-demand/192023/on

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