Gonglu gosht

Gonglu gosht or lamb & turnip curry is a curry that takes me straight to my childhood as it's something my mum would make often as I loved any kind of vegetable with lamb curry.

I had a random craving for it a few days ago so just had to make it.

To serve 4- 6 people you will need:

1kg lamb - ideally on the bone
4 medium onions sliced
1 bay leaf
1 level tsp curry powder (hot)
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 black cardamom
3 cloves
1 tin chopped tomato
3 green chillies
1 whole bulb of garlic
1 inch peice of ginger crushed
1 small turnip par boiled & cut into chunks

• Start by placing all the ingredients ( except for the turnip ) into a heavy based pan

• Add enough water so that it just comes above the lamb. Give it a good stir then place on a medium heat and leave to simmer

• Simmer everything together until the onions & tomatoes have broken down, the garlic cloves are nice & soft & the lamb has no pinkness  - you may need to top the water up a couple of times until everything has broken down and mixed together.

• Once you have what looks like a curry sauce, add in the oil and on a medium to high heat, cook the lamb to brown all over & for the moisture to evaporate - stirring intermittently ensuring it doesn't catch & burn.

• Once the moisture has evaporated add in the turnip and cook together- again stirring intermittently- until the turnip is soft & cooked completely & the oil begins to separate

• Once the oil has separated add in enough freshly boiled water to cover the lamb & on a medium heat let it reduce & thicken up to your desired consistency.

• Alternatively you can add just a splash of water to slightly loosen the consistency & leave as a dry curry/ a bhuna.

• Garnish with fresh coriander & Serve with chappatis or naan

Rasmalai cake

Every now and then in the cake world just as with food and fashion a craze of some sort begins and before you know it that one particular thing seems to be trending all over.

For my latest recipe post this is excatly one of those things - rasmalai cake. For those that don't know, rasmalai is a classic Asian/ Indian dessert of little milk dough balls served in rose water scented & lightly spiced cardamom milk. Then garnished with pistachios and occasionally saffron

Now this in cake form in it's various versions combines all those elements in a light fluffy sponge with the addition of delicate edible rose petals and. 

Being a British  Muslim of Pakistani heritage and a lover of cake and rasmalai cake I knew I had to make my own version. 

To make my rasmalai cake you will need: 

For the sponge:

2 x 7" loose bottom sandwich tins - lightly greased 

& lined with greaseproof paper 

225 g self raising flour

20g milk powder

4medium eggs

Pinch of saffron 

3 tbsp warm milk 

250g caster sugar 

250g margarine - at room temp

2tsp ground cardamom

For the filling & decorating :

250g salted butter - at room temp

250g pistachio flavour icing sugar

250g icing sugar

4tbsp rose water

2tbsp rose syrup

50g chopped pistachios 

10-12g edible rose petals

Milk powder paste - made up of 3 tbsp milk powder & 1/4 tsp ground cardamom with 3 tbsp hot water mixed to make a speadable paste

• Start by preheat your oven to 160c fan. Mix the saffron with the warm milk and set aside.
• Cream the margarine and sugar in a freestanding mixer until light, fluffy and paler in colour.
• Add in the eggs, flour, milk powder and ground cardamom. Whisk together until fully combined, but take care not to overmix
• Whisk in the saffron milk, then pour the batter evenly into the 2 tins, bake for 25-30 mins.
• Remove the cake from the oven, whilst the sponges are slightly warm, poke holes all over the top of the both of them. Remove from the tin once completely cool
• Take one of the sponges and set onto your desired serving plate/dish
• Spread enough of the milk paste to cover the top of the sponge that you've set onto your serving plate - leave a half inch plain border all round the cake as you dont want the milk paste to drip down the sides.
• Make the buttercream by placing the butter, both icing sugars and the rose syrup and whisking together on a slow speed to incorporate it all together. 
• Once it's all mixed together,  turn up the speed slightly, pour in the rose water and beat the buttercream till light and fluffy - it should be a thick but spreadable consistency. If it is too thick, add a couple of tablespoons of milk or room temp water and beat together for a couple of minutes.
• Transfer some of the prepared buttercream to a piping bag, then pipe enough buttercream over the milk paste topped sponge. Use a spatula or breakfast knife to spread the buttercream out evenly- remembering to leave a plain edge border all the way round the cake.
• Carefully stack the second sponge on top ensuring both sponges are level.
• Use the piping bag again to pipe the buttercream all around the sides and top of the cake.
• Take your spatula/breakfast knife and smooth the buttercream all over and gently scrape off any excess. Place the covered cake in the fridge for about 20 minutes to set
• Apply a second coat of buttercream once the first layer has set. As before use a spatula to smooth and remove any excess.
• Press the edible rose petals into the bottom edge of cake using your fingers
• Sprinkle the top of the cake with the chopped pistachios, and with any left over buttercream, pipe a pattern all the way round the edge and finish off with a few petals all over the top,

Pan fried tandoori cod fillet

This is another one of those recipes that I've made with  a few shortcuts, but is still packed full of flavour whilst being super quick to prepare.

Lightly pan fried fish coated in tandoori masala for a bit of a spicy hit, paired with griddled asparagus, steamed baby potatoes and a side of Mexican rice.

For a bit of a treat, you could always swap the steamed potatoes for chunky chips and leave out the asparagus & potatoes.

To serve 4 people you will need

4 peices of cod*  fillet

6 tbsp tandoori masala

5 tbsp plain flour 

3 x packs of Uncle Ben's spicy Mexican rice
20 asparagus spears ( 4-6 per person )
700g herb baby potatoes**


• Preheat your oven to 100c, ( fan ) in a large flat plate, mix your plain flour & tandoori masala together. 

• Line a large baking tray/dish with greaseproof paper and set aside.

• Set your frying pan on a medium heat, add enough oil to just cover the base of the pan.

• Whilst the oil is heating up, dip each fillet of fish into the flour mix ensuring each peice is thoroughly coated.

• Place 2 pieces of fillet into the frying pan at a time and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, and transfer to the lined tray once cooked.

• Put the cooked fillets into the oven - this is to keep them warm just while you make up the side accompaniments 

• Cook the rice and potatoes as instructed on the packaging. For the asparagus, add a drizzle of olive oil to a griddle /frying pan, add in the asparagus and cook on a high heat until they are slightly charred but still have a bit of a bite. Season with sea salt & black pepper 

• Serve the fish with the accompaniments straight away once cooked

* for the fish i often swap it around. I use cod, haddock and basa 

** I love the prepacked butter and herb potatoes thar are microwaveable- so quick and easy but just as delicious 

Bread week

It's bread week on bake off which for me means having a go at something bread related or even making something from the episode itself as bread and I started off as definite frenemies when I first dived into the world of bread. 

Slowly over the past year or so I have gotten much more confident and relaxed thankfully, and am not filled with sheer dread at just the thought of bread. With that in mind i decided rather last minute, to recreate Michael Chakraverty's Keralan star bread. 

Because the decison was so last minute, at 8.30pm i had to improvise a little and make do with  what i had in the cupboards for the fillimg and I'm super pleased to say it was a hit.

My filling ended up consisting of caramelised red onions with roasted red peppers & a little bit of heat with the additon of chilli flakes & cayenne pepper

To make my tear and sheare star bread you will need:

For the dough

500g strong bread flour

3tsp dry active yeast

2 tsp salt

2 tsp paprika

300ml room temp water 

3tbsp olive oil

For the filling 

2 meduim red onions - chopped

280g roasted peppers - chopped (jarred in olive oil)

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp chilli flakes

1/2tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp salt

To garnish

2 tsp nigella seeds 

• Start by making the filling. Take the oil from the jar of roasted peppers & add to your frying pan. Add to the oil, cook them on a medium heat until soft & beginning to caramelised.
• When the onions are almost cooked, add in the the rest of the ingredients and cook the spices for a couple of minutes on a low heat- This will stop the spices from burning. Once cooked, set aside and leave to cool 
• Whilst the filling cools, prepare the dough. Place the flour in a bowl, add in the paprika and stir through ensuring its mixed in well with tne flour.
• Add the yeast to one side, salt to the other, and olive oil into the middle.
• Slowly pour in the water, mixing the flour to form a soft dough.
• Drizzle a little olive oil onto your work surface, and then knead your dough on your work suface until smooth and elastic- this will take about 6-8 minutes. If you prefer you can use a freestanding mixer using the dough hook - this should take 3-4 minutes
• Place your dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to prove till doubled in size- about an hour
• When the dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, knock the dough back and divide into 4 equal portions and leave for a couple of minutes - this helps the gluten to relax and makes rolling the dough easier.
• Take one ball of dough, and roll out to the size of a dinner plate, and place onto a baking tray lined with greasproof paper.
• Mark the centre of the rolled out dough using a small cookie cutter, then take one third of the filling and spread all over the rolled out dough being careful to avoid the centre, and to not go too close to the edge as you dont want the filling spilling out.
• Take the second ball of dough, again roll out the same size as the first ball, carefully place ontop of the filling and again mark the centre with the cookie cutter. Take another 3rd of the mixture and again spread all around the second circle avoiding the middle as befrore
• Repeat this process with the remaining 2 balls of dough. The 4th layer of dough should be plain - no filling should be used.
• Carefully seal the layers together by going around the edge and pressing together with your fingers and finally mark the centre of the circle again 
• Cut the circle into quarters ( as if you were cutting a pizza) nut do not go over or through the middle of the circle - cut from the centre down to the edge.
• Cut the 4 quarters into half, to make 8ths, then cut the 8ths in half to make a total of 16 pieces
• Take 2 strands of dough, 1 in each hand,  and twist 3 times away from each other and pinch the ends together to seal them
• Repeat this with all the remaining strands, carefully brush the top with water then sprinkle over the nigella seeds and leave to prove for 35-40 minutes.
• Preaheat the oven to 200c fan and bake for 20-25 minutes
• 
  

Killing 2 birds with one stone

For this recipe post I thought I would kill the proverbial 2 birds with my proverbial stone - in this case, 2 recipes in one post as the main ingredients and the basic steps are identical

The 2 recipes are pizza dough and naan. Both of these use the basic method of a simple bread dough, left to rise long and slow giving you an almost over fermented dough producing lots of lovely air pockets which results in a delicious deep pan style pizza base or fluffy beans perfect with whatever curry you desire


To make 3 pizza bases OR 4 naan you will need:

530g bread flour
7g dry quick active yeast
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
10 - 12 fl oz lukewarm water

• Start by placing your flour in a bowl ,then to one side add your salt and sugar. To the opposite side add your yeast, and pour the oil into the middle

• Slowly begin to add in the water, mixing with your hand. When the dough comes together you should have a soft and slightly sticky dough. Ensure all the flour has been incorporated, use a spatula or bread scraper to bring the dough together as it may be difficult to handle, and place in a large clean lightly oiled bowl.

• Cover  the dough with cling film, and leave to rise for at least 4 hours. Ideally you can prep this the night before, leave covered in the fridge and then remove 4 hours before you need it. If you are short on time, leave the dough for a minimum of 2 hours.

• Once the dough has proved, it will have almost tripled in volume and it will have lots of lovely air pockets ready to turn into delicious naan  or perfect pizza






To make the naan:

• Start by lightly flouring your work surface, and as gently as possible put the dough from the bowl onto the work surface.

• Divide the dough into 4 equal peices, and gently roll each peice into a smooth ball and leave to sit for 10 minutes.

 • Place a large non stick pan on a medium heat and turn your grill on full.

• Take one of balls of dough and carefully with a rolling pin roll the dough out into a 1/2 inch thick circle, then carefully lift the rolled out dough  & onto the pan to cook the bottom of the naan.  You'll know the bottom is cooked when the top begins to form bubbles on top.*

• Transfer the naan to a baking tray and place under the grill and leave until the top begins to turn light - golden brown and very slightly crisps up. Remove from the grill, brush lightly with butter.

• Repeat the process with the remaining dough, and keep the cooked naan warm by covering with foil & serve as needed.


To make the pizza bases:

• Start by preheating your oven to 200c ( fan assisted )

• Divide the dough into 3 peices, take one of the balls of dough and roll out to your desired thickness - I rolled mine out to about 8 inches wide, placed it onto a lightly floured baking tray then used my finger tips to press out the edges of the dough till the base was about 10 inches wide.

• Once you have your base rolled out to your desired thickness it is just a case of adding whatever toppings you like - whether you want to keep it classic and stick to a margherita or mix it all up it's up to you

• Place your pizza in the oven for 12- 14 minutes or until the pizza has risen, almost doubled in size and th crust is lightly golden and tuck in immediately*










*  I use a fish slice to check the bases. They should be light in colour and not soggy 

Channa chaat

Channa chaat is a popular Asian street food very similar to a potato salad, but with the additions of chickpeas, spices and condiments. It is often served as a starter to accompany a main meal and is traditionally made during Ramadan or on Eid. 

A slightly more upgraded version is samosa chat which basically involves piping hot samosas topped with the channa chaat. The combination of cooling yogurt colliding with crispy filled samosa is a real treat for your tastebuds 

To easily serve 4-6 people you will need

4 large potatoes 

2 tins of chick peas ( drained )
1 medium red onion
2 medium size tomatoes
1 level tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 level tsp of chilli flakes
2 small green chillies
Squeeze lemon juice
2 tbsp chaat masala
1/2 a cucumber
6 tbsp imli ( i buy the ready made type in the squeezy bottles )
Chopped coriander

2 1/2 500g tubs of yogurt

Cayenne pepper paprika - to garnish

• Start by chopping the potatoes into meduim size chunks & par boil them. Drain and let them cool

• Chop the red onion finely, then cut the cucumber and tomato into small chunks. Place them all in a bowl along with the chick peas.

• Finely chop the green chilli, add to the bowl along with the cumin, salt, lemon juice, imli, chaat masala and small handful of chopped coriander. Mix everything together until combined well.

• Add in the cooled potato chunks and give it one final stir.
Put the chick pea & potato masala into a serving dish, spreading out evenly.

• Add a splash of milk to the yogurt to loosen it slightly, mix togther till smooth & pour the yougurt over the chaat ensuring all top is evenly covered, sprinkle with a mix of cayenne pepper and paprika,

• Drizzle over a little more imli and finish with a little bit of chopped coriander. Refrigerate until ready to serve

• For samosa chaat, you can either pour the channa chaat over freshly made samosas then finish off with the yogurt and garnishes or make up the chaat fully, then let your guests pour the made up chaat onto the their samosa portion themselves

Chicken Tikka wraps

This is a dish that's always a hit no matter how many times a week i make it, as well as being super easy and you can always switch up the wraps for a mixed salad instead if you're wanting something lighter but just as tasty


For my chicken tikka wraps to serve 3-4 people you will need

700-750g boneless chicken - cut into medium chunks
5 tbsp yogurt
1/4 tsp salt
4 -5 tbsp tandoori masala powder/paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp lemon juice
2-3 tbsp olive/vegetable oil

To dress :
green leaf/ mixed leaf salad
cucumber
tomatoes
sauces of your choice

• Simply mix all the ingredients into a bowl (apart from the dressing)
• Leave to marinate for a minimum of 1/2 an hour or if you can overnight to let the tikka masala absorb into the chicken
• Bake the  chicken in the oven for 35-40 mins at 200c fan / 180c conventional oven till completely cooked through and the chicken starts to char slightly 
• Serve in your choice of naan, pitta bread or tortilla wraps, garnish with the salad and your choice of sauces. Alternatively serve with just a load of salad for a lighter meal.  
• My kids love the chicken once it's completely cool in bread as a sandwich for their school packed lunch or shredded in cous cous

My 'Kinda Red Thai' prawn curry

So this is one of those recipes that i threw together, and didn't follow any kind of set recipe or instructions and hoped for the best - hence the 'kinda thai' title as i used ingredients and flavours typically found in Thai curries. The husband thoroughly approved so I'm happy with that  


 For my Kinda Thai curry to serve 2 -3 people you will need 

200-250g cooked prawns
2 medium onions
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp ginger paste
100g red thai paste
2-3 lime kafir leaves
1 lemon grass stalk
2 tbsp tomato puree
1-1 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes 
1 tin coconut milk
300g pre cooked egg noodles

To garnish:
spring onions
bean sprouts
1-2 red chillies
ginger 
fresh coriander

• Start off by finely chopping the onions and saute in a little olive till lightly brown, then add in the salt, garlic paste & ginger paste.

• Add in the lemon grass stalk (i peeled off the first outer leaves, snapped the stalk in half then added)  and the kafir lime leaves, stir for a couple of minutes to let the flavours absorb, then add in the chilli flakes, red thai curry paste and the tomato puree. 
• Finally add in the cooked prawns, the coconut milk & enough water to just cover the prawns. 
• Leave to simmer for a few minutes on low heat then add in the egg noodles
•  Just before serving finely slice all the garnishes except for the beansprouts - i just snapped them in half, chop the coriander then sprinkle all the garnish over the curry and tuck in

Chicken Khawse

This is one of those recipes where Ive only had the dish twice at the most but it's one that I love as it's a curry that's got depth with spices without being too hot as well as being light and refreshing with the addition of coconut milk and yogurt. 

I failed in my efforts searching Pinterest and Google to find the actual recipe since i couldn't remember what it was called, and thanks good old Facebook a friend knew what i was looking for an came to my rescue. 

This is a perfect dish for this time of year, when it's dark gloomy and freezing cold - a proper winter warmer of a dish.

To serve 4- 6 people you will need:
2 medium onions
3 chicken breasts (thinly sliced) 
2 x 500g tub natural yogurt
200ml tin coconut milk 
250ml chicken stock
2tbsp gram flour 
2-3 tsp ginger paste
2-3 tsp garlic paste
2 green birds eye chillies 
2 red bullet chillies (de seeded )
1 1/2 tsp salt 
1 tsp garam masala 
1 bay leaf
1-2 kaffir lime leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds*
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 teaspoons curry powder 
2-3 spring onions finely chopped 
fresh coriander chopped 
crisped fried onions
fresh finely sliced ginger 
200g egg noodles 
juice of a whole lime 
1-2 limes cut into quarters

• Start by heating a little oil in a heavy based based pan, add in the onions finely sliced, and cook till the onions soften and just start to colour. Add in the garlic ginger salt and the 2 green birdseye chillies. Continue to cook on a medium heat until the chillies have slightly softened and the onions have gotten slightly golden brown.
• Add in the chicken and continue to cook till the chicken just starts to colour, add in the curry powder, garam masala, bay and kaffir lime leaves and cumin seeds. Cook through until the chicken is almost completely cooked, then remove from the pan and set aside.
• In a bowl mix the gram flour with 2 tablespoons of the yogurt to make a smooth paste, then add in the remaining yogurt, then the chicken stock and coconut milk. Stir it altogether till its all combined and there are no lumps
• On a high heat, add the milk to the pan, continuously stirring till it reaches boiling point.* Reduce the heat, add the chicken to the pan along with the soy sauce. Leave to simmer on a low heat for about 10 minutes
• Add in the noodles and stir through. At this point i like to taste test to see if it needs more of either yogurt or coconut milk or wether it needs to simmer for longer. If it gets too thick for your liking, all you need to do is add a little fresh boiled water till its at the consistency you like.
• Add the coriander and red bullet chilli just before serving, and as an extra serve the crisped fried onions, fresh ginger slices**, spring onions and lime wedges separatley and your guests can help themselves.

*stirring the milk until boiling point prevents the yogurt from splitting and ending up from looking like curds/ cottage cheese. I tend to stir in circular clockwise motions at a slow speed so i can see the bubbles form as it comes to boil

** for the ginger i use a vegetable peeler to get really thin slithers and that way it's perfect to bite straight into and gives a really nice kick

Dial up or dial down Beef noodles

I don't know about you but I'm a nando's fan and I love that I can get my hands on them from practically any supermarket now and play around with recipes to my hearts content.. As well as saving a few pennies and keeping my purse that little bit heavier !



This one is a twist on my Sweet Chilli Chicken & Noodles and uses their hot peri peri sauce .. Question is are you one to crank up the heat or turn the heat dial down ?


To serve 4 people you will need :

500g cooked egg noodles
400g Beef Strips
1 red onion
1 x red & green pepper
handful mini corn on the cob
Nando's hot peri peri sauce

• Start by finely slicing your onion, and frying in a large frying pan till they soften, add the beef strips and cook on a high heat for about 5-8 minutes 
• Add in the mini corn on the cob and cook for a further 3-5 minutes- i like mine to have a slight crunch and not cooked all the way through. Finally add in the sliced peppers, and again just till they still have a slight bite to them .. soggy cooked peppers are a no no for me
• Add in the noodles and lower the heat as they just need heating through and they will burn quite quickly on a high heat, and stir in the  Nando's sauce to your  liking. Are you dialling up the heat or turning it down ?
• Finish off by garnishing with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and fresh chopped coriander