I get at least one unsolicited email per week from PR companies asking me to spend my free time writing about their latest product/restaurant/book. I host and maintain this blog for my own amusement. Unless your email is accompanied by an offer of something free (and ludicrously expensive), please don’t bother asking me to help shill your products. If the product is good enough, people will create their own buzz. Thanks.
This dal has a bit of a South Indian vibe. It uses the same recipe as my Tadka Dal but with the addition of lemon and coconut milk. Serve with some chapatti and poppadoms.
Ingredients
- 225g toor dal
- 750ml water
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 green chillis
- 1 tbsp sunflower/groundnut oil
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced/finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 12 curry leaves
- 4 tomatoes, chopped
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lemon
- fresh coriander, a handful
Method
- Rinse the lentils and check for little stones. Rinse well using a sieve, then place in a large saucepan along with the water, turmeric and salt. Make an incision in the green chillies and add them too.
- Bring to the boil and skim off any scum that rises to the top of the cooking water. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes. Stir regularly as the lentils will stick to the bottom of the pan as the liquid evaporates.
- While the lentils are cooking, make the tadka in a separate pan. Heat the butter and oil, then add the whole spices and curry leaves. Stir-fry until the mustard seeds start to pop. Reduce the heat then add the onion and garlic. Cook gently for about 10 minutes or until the onions are soft and browned. Add the chopped tomatoes and ground spices, then cook gently for another 5 minutes.
- The lentils should now be fully cooked. Squash the lentils using a potato masher (or use a stick blender) to achieve a creamy consistency. You can add a little extra water if you want a thinner consistency.
- Add the tadka to the lentils, then add the coconut milk. Simmer very gently for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Stir through the fresh coriander and a good squeeze of lemon juice, then serve.
Serves 2-4.
Ok, first of all: “Irish Stew”, in the traditional sense, is never made with beef and it does not involve Guinness! (See here for a delicious Beef & Guinness Stew.) Traditional Irish Stew is the most simple of dishes, consisting of lamb, vegetables, stock and little more. It’s a perfect example of how good quality ingredients can taste amazing when cooked very simply. Some purists might baulk at the idea of putting carrots and thyme in an Irish stew but that’s my version. Give it a try.
I roasted a shoulder of lamb recently and got it together to make an excellent stock from the bones, which I then put in the freezer for later use. Lamb stock has quite a strong flavour and is not as “all-purpose” as chicken or beef stock; it is generally used only in lamb dishes. The stock is well worth the effort and you can use it as a base for this stew. If you don’t have any, just use light chicken stock.
Serve with some soda bread on the side.
Ingredients
- 12 small lamb chops ( I used loin chops, you could also use an equivalent amount of neck or gigot chops)
- 10 medium sized potatoes, halved
- 4 sticks celery, quartered
- 4 large carrots, washed but unpeeled and quartered
- 1 litre lamb or chicken stock
- 2 tbsp pearl barley
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Trim some of the excess fat from the chops. Melt the fat in a large cast-iron casserole and add the chops. Fry until golden and reserve. Por the fat out of the casserole and de-glaze with some of the stock.
- Place all of the ingredients in the casserole, then top up with water to just cover the meat and veggies. Season with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
- Cover the casserole, bring to a gentle simmer and leave for 1½ - 2 hours. Check the seasoning and add some chopped fresh parsley.
Serves 4.
Leftovers
- If treated right, leftovers can be more impressive than the original meal. To the leftovers of this stew I added 500ml of hot vegetable stock and whizzed with a stick blender. I added some frozen peas, broad beans and some chopped flat-leaf parsley. The results were superb.
This dish is great for Sunday lunch, you have to try it. I use a full litre of stout and gently simmer on the hob for around two and a half hours. The sauce reduces and meat becomes really tender. No stock cubes needed here! Eat with plenty of floury spuds, a cut of bread, or a pint of the black stuff.
Ingredients
- 125g streaky bacon, cubed
- 1kg stewing beef (such as round steak), cubed
- 2 tbsp flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
- 1 litre stout
- 2 onions, sliced
- 3 celery sticks, sliced
- 3 large carrots, washed but unpeeled, cut into large chunks
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
- 1 tbsp tomato pureé (optional)
- 2 tsp light brown sugar (optional)
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Add a little oil to a frying pan and fry the streaky bacon until golden. Transfer to a large cast-iron casserole or heavy stewpot.
- Brown the beef. Toss the beef in the seasoned flour. Add a little more oil to the frying pan and fry the beef in batches until caramelised. Make sure you do this in batches so as not to overload your pan. Transfer the browned beef to the casserole.
- Add a little more oil and fry the onions until caramelised. Add to the casserole.
- Pour some stout into the hot frying pan to de-glaze it. As the stout bubbles, scrape at the bottom of the pan to remove any caramelised juices from the bacon and the beef. Add the rest of the stout and de-glazed juices to the casserole.
- Now, assemble the rest of the dish. To the casserole, add the celery, carrot, tomato pureé, Worcestershire sauce, stock, herbs, salt and the rest of the stout. Season with plenty of freshly ground pepper. Stir well and place a lid on the casserole but leave a large crack to allow the sauce to reduce. Bring up to a gentle simmer and leave for about 2½ hours (check after 2 hours). Give the casserole a stir every so often to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the casserole. Taste for seasoning and add a little extra salt if you need.
Notes
- You could use shin beef for this. Just trim a little of the fat from the meat and add at least an hour to the cooking time to allow this tough meat to tenderise. The extra fat in the meat will melt out, giving a rich and unctuous sauce.
Serves 4.
