Nigel Slater Dish of the Month January Round Up

Many thanks to all the wonderful bloggers who entered Januarys Dish of the Month. This is the first blog challenge I have run, other than occasional hosting for others. My co-host Sue from A little bit of Heaven on a Plate has been very active tweeting and pinning to our shared Dish of the Month Pinterest board.  Im not promising that there will be a round up every month but as this is the first month of the challenge, I wanted to say thank you and feature the amazing variety of Nigel Slater recipes you have all made.

One of the things I like best is that many people have made the dishes their own by adapting them to the ingredients they had or their own personal tastes.  This is a feature of Nigels cooking philosophy, which I think makes his recipes so appealing to me and it seems to you too.

First up is Camilla from Fab Food 4 All with this tasty looking Bacon Wrapped Salmon

A creamy parsley risotto and delicate parmesan crisps is the offering from my co-host, Sue at A little bit of heaven on a plate

A soup of bacon and celeriac is my recipe which comes from The Kitchen Diaries II is my offering from Farmersgirl Kitchen.

This Mincemeat Cheesecake attracted the attention of Mr Nigel Slater himself when Claire at Foodie Quine tweeted about it.

 In Elizabeths Kitchen, a beautiful dish of Shetland lamb was slowly cooked, to Nigels instructions,  until it fell off the bone. 

Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog made Nigels Chocolate and Hazelnut cookies which she describes as "chocolate brownies in biscuit form".

 Karen at Lavender and Lovage made a Winter Salad and said "My salad is a VERY loose adaptation of Nigel Slater’s recipe from “The Kitchen Diaries”, the first one."

 Rachel at Marmaduke Scarlet made these delicious looking Almond, Marzipan and Berry Cakes from The Kitchen Diaries II.

Chickpea Fritters with Beetroot Tzatsiki is the entry from Jane at Onions and Paper, its a recipe in Nigel Slaters Tender volume 1 and was found by Jane in her search for a different recipe altogether!

The fabulously named Hangover Salad is the recipe made by London Busy Body which was served as an accompaniment to venison rather than with the beef in the original.

The lovely Dish Dom over at Belleau Kitchen made his own version of Nigels aubergine and bean hotpot, adding a cheesy broccoli and cauliflower crust.

These tasty looking rolls are made with wholemeal Spelt Flour from one of Nigels Guardian Lifestyle online recipes and were added to the challenge by Kate at Turquoise Lemons

Dal and Butternut Squash Soup is the warming Dish of the Month for Karen at Use it up, wear it out.

 

I love the way Kavey of Kavey Eats,  has made this Beef Stroganoff from Nigel Slaters Real Fast Food and served it in Yorkshire Puddings, I think this is such a great dish.

This zesty Lime Tart comes from Susie at Fold in the Flour, who found the recipe in the January Chapter of  The Kitchen Diaries 1.

Laura of Laura Loves Cakes was having a bit of a crisis with her new oven but came up trumps with this no bake Tropical Tumbler Trifle

Making Plans with Nigel was the clever title of this article at edible things and features a version of Nigels Bright Vegetable Stew

Cream of Mushroom, mustard and tarragon soup is a combination of two of Nigels recipes, you can find out which ones by visiting Linzi at Lancashire Food.

Maggie at Kitchen Delights whipped up a Creamy Crunchy Fruit Sundae which Nigel featured on Simple Suppers.

 

At Nyssapod blog we were treated to Onion Soup without Tears from Kitchen Diaries.

Honey and Mustard Sausages and Carrot Mash  is another Simple Supper dish, this time from Jo at Jos Kitchen.

Marzipan and Berry Cakes were featured along with Mincemeat Hotcakes and Brandy Butter at Cookies Cakes and Bakes and dont they look great, obviously a popular choice.

The February Dish of the Month Linky will be posted on 

Saturday 2nd February.

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Chettinad Special Side Dish Dangar special side dish for vellai paniyaram

All the people who have had breakfast in a chettiar marriage would have tasted this special side dish served along with vellai paniyaram.Mostly ladies will be able to make out what it is and almost how it is cooked. But this dish has always remained suspense. Many of my readers have been asking for this recipe and I was asking many about this and got different versions. Now I have managed to find out the original recipe (I believe so) tried it and blogging it for my readers. It is said to last long even without refrigeration. It goes well with dosai and idly too. As I was not sure whether the dish will turn good, I didn’t take the snap of the ingredients. It tasted fine in my first trial itself. I will insert that snap of the quantities used when I do it next time

Ingredients
Small onion-2 cups or big onion-4
Tomato-4(medium sized)
Garlic-10 pods
Red chillies-12
Tamarind-little ( 1 teaspoon tamarind extract)
Jaggery-1 table spoon (Jaggery is not there in the original recipe but I find this increasing the taste of the dish enormously)
For seasoning
Mustard seeds-1 teaspoon
Urudh dhal-1 teaspoon
Curry leaf-little
Oil-2 table spoons

Procedure
Chop the onions and garlic in a chopper or mince it nicely.
Mince tomatoes also
Dry roast the chilies and remove the seeds
Rotate the chilies once in a mixie(The cooks just crush it using hands)
Soak the tamarind in little water and take the juice.
Keep the kadai in the stove
Season with the items given in’ To season’
Put the Crushed red chilies into the oil
Add the onion and garlic chopped along with a pinch of salt and sauté till the onions turn transparent.
Now add the Tomatoes minced and cook for 5 minutes
Add the tamarind juice and required salt and cook in low fire till the whole thing turns thick.
If you like the sweet taste add the jaggery.
If you cook till the oil separates it will not get spoiled fast

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UCHHE KARELA CHA CHADI WITH POTATO AND BODI AND A PATOL PARMAL SIDE DISH

This dish is exclusively for my Vege and Vegan friends, Jain friends and temple dish friends...(Non veges are also permitted to cook and eat ).

The other day SOMEONE demanded an explanation " When most of your Blog friends are vegetarian, why do I see that you are publishing non-vege dishes all the time, entertaining the minority , non vege friends??? Now get down to business and give some vege dishes which you cook every day...". But I am not allowed to give an explanation even if it is demanded. What best I can do or expected to do is to follow it as a command , else I will be barred from entering the kitchen for few days to months, depending upon the degree of the offence. It is like going to jail.

So I am giving 2 dishes at one go. The 1st one is a traditional Bong dish, I love to eat. The 2nd one is a southern fusion, experimental dish. It came out very well.

RECIPE , UCHHE CHA-CHADI 

There are many versions of this recipe, one can use few other vegetables. I will be using Potato and BoDi ( Udad dal dumplings, dried and stored). The flavor comes from the seasoning of Panch PhoDon and dry red chili. Bit of mustard paste , turmeric are added and at the end 1 tsp of mustard oil.

INGREDIENTS

Uchhe ( Karela, bitter gourd) 3 ( about 8 inch long) , cut to 1 inch long and 1/4th inch thick slices. ( leave the core)

Potato 1 large, cut to 25-30 X 8mm X 8mm pieces ( approx) 

BoDi small 12 No or large 6 No

Mustard powder 1 heap tsp , slurried in water with 1 level tsp turmeric. ( you can use 2 level tsp mustard paste) and 1/2 tsp chili powder ( optional). NOTE. It will be quite tasty even if you dont add mustard paste , so dont worry , if you dont have or dont eat Mustard paste)

Green chili 2-3

for seasoning 

Panch PhoDon 1 tsp ( if you dont have this , use 1 tsp of Methi seeds,  Fennel and cumin mixture.

Dry red chili 1 

salt 

Mustard oil 2 tbsp and 1 tsp for garnishing ( garnishing is optional and you can use any other oil) 

PROCESS

Mix salt with the cut Karela and leave aside, till water comes out. Squeeze and give a wash, squeeze. Keep aside.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil and stir fry the BoDis to light brown remove and keep aside.

Heat 2 tbsp oil and stir fry the karela so that some of them become brownish. Remove fried Karela and keep aside.

Heat and give seasoning and add the Potato and green chili 

Sauté for 5 -6 minutes.

Add the karela and keep frying for few minutes.

Add Turmeric, mustard paste , salt and little water, add the fried Bodis broken into piece, reduce flame and cook covered. ( stir from time to time and add little water if dries up).

When Potato is done, add 1 tsp raw mustard oil , (optional), mix and remove.

This dish is good for eating with rice or roti.

THE PATOL ( PARMAL) SIDE DISH ( patol Cha-chaDi with a southern touch)
I just tried a deviation from above spicing and it was good.
INGRESIENTS
*Patol ( parmal) 6 pieces ( I had that many ), scrapped and cut to small pieces. ( 1/2 inch) ( you can use other vege too, like ridge , snake gourd or Zucchini etc
*Oil 1 tbsp  ( more the merrier)
Green chili 2

coconut grated 1 tbsp.

Sugar 1/2 tsp ( this is for taste and not for sweetening)

spice ( make a slurry and soak for 10 min)
Coriander powder 2 tsp 
Cumin powder 1/2 tsp
Turmeric 1 level tsp
chili powder 1 level tsp ( more or less)
Seasoning
Mustrad 1/2 tsp
Cumin 1/2 tsp
dry red chili 1 broken
Udad dal 1 heap tsp
Curry leaves 10 
( I have not used strong spices like garam masala and methi, fennel etc. You can add more coriander powder , it is a very weak spice and good for thickening)


PROCESS
Heat 1 to 2 tbsp oil, give seasoning of cumin, red chili followed by Mustard and Udad dal. Add curry leaves and immediately add the cut parmal and green chili..
Sauté for 5-6 minutes or when some pieces starts browning due to frying.

Add the spice slurry, salt and fry. Add  sugar.
Add grated coconut, add little water and cover. 
The parmal should be done and water should dry out leaving the oil.
Eat with rice or Roti, paratha

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Potatoes and String Beans A simple side dish

Dont you just love those little bags of baby potatoes? Ive been seeing them more often lately, baby reds, baby yukon golds and a couple of weeks ago I bought a bag of mixed baby potatoes. If you recall I roasted those in the oven and they were fantastic. This time I had a bag of baby yukon golds, I just love their creamy texture. This is a dish that Ive had many different ways growning up and a few years ago I began making them with vinegar. Steve and I love it but not everyone loves that tanginess. Since we werent the only ones eating this I decided to keep it simple.


Ingredients:

1 bag of baby yukon gold potatoes
Fresh string beans ( I dont weigh them so not sure how much)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper
extra virgin olive oil


Trim string beans and boil in salted water until tender but slightly crisp and in another pot boil potatoes whole in salted water until fork tender. Drain well and toss with garlic, parsley, oil, salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature, heck, I even like this cold.

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