Mango chutney

I make no claims to the authenticity of this recipe - but I can lay claim to its deliciousness and it's just as good with a goat's cheese as it is with a Goan curry.

In this part of the world we are blessed with a fabulous collection of farm shops and local food producers, but there is a dearth of the "ethnic" shops that make city shopping so much fun.
There being no local mango growers in Shropshire, I was obliged to turn to Sainsburys  where I got this fantasitic mango box, containing 8 perfect mangoes.

4 have been kept in the fruit bowl waiting for them to ripen and turn into honeyed balls of  juiciness and 4 have been converted into homemade mango chutney.

The only thing I will say about this is that traditionally chutneys were made to preserve food and make it last - this doesn't happen to this in our house.

It's great to eat straight away and I have absolutely no idea if it improves with age - we have yet to be patient enough to find out.

Ingredients

4 green (under-ripe) mangoes

2 tsp salt

¼ pt malt vinegar

¼ pt distilled malt vinegar

5 oz sugar

½" ginger

10 cardamom pods

2 small dried chillis

2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 tsp nigella seeds

Peel and chop the mangoes and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle over the salt, cover with a clean tea towel and leave for 24 hours.

Drain and rinse the mangoes.
Place the vinegar, sugar and finely chopped ginger in a casserole dish or large pan.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for around 10 minutes.
Add the mangoes and nigella seeds.  tie all the other spices into a muslin bag and throw that it in with the mangoes.

Cook gently for about 20 - 30 minutes until the mangoes are soft and pulpy and the vinegar has virtually disappeared.

Taste and add more sugar, if desired.

Pour into a hot sterilised jar and seal.

Now - a note about seasoning the cast iron casserole: if you buy one of our casseroles, you will receive a note explaining that you should season it if your first dish contains a lot of acidic ingredients.  Obviously vinegar is an acid - acetic acid to be precise, so this may not be the best dish to christen your casserole with.

Acetic acid /əˈsiːtɨk/, systematically named ethanoic acid /ˌɛθəˈnoʊɨk/, is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH₃COOH (also written as CH₃CO₂H or C₂H₄O₂). It is a colourless liquid that when undiluted is also calledglacial acetic acid. Vinegar is roughly 3 %-9 % acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component of vinegar apart from water.

However, I have been using my casserole for over 4 years now and this is what it looked like when I cleaned out the chutney - so you need have no fears about any lasting damage!!

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

Coconut curry

We are very fond of spiced food here and our trip to India last summer heightened my interest in creating curry style dishes.
I make no claims for the authenticity of this dish, it is simply a combination of warm, fragrant spices that I happen to enjoy.
This is not a mouth blistering curry,but has a subtle blend of flavours, with an overlay of toasted coconut.

It works well with lamb, hard-boiled eggs or paneer.

You will need:
3 onions
3 garlic
1" ginger 
50ml water
2 tblsp coriander seeds, 
1 tblsp cumin seeds, 
2 tsp fenugreek, 
1 tsp white peppercorns  
10 cloves
1 tblsp turmeric 
1 tsp asafoetida
1 dried chilli
4 tblsp dessicated coconut.
500g lamb or 4 hard boiled eggs or 1 pack of paneer
500ml water
1 tsp salt
2 chopped tomatoes
1 teacup frozen peas.

Peel and roughly chop the onions, garlic and ginger and blend to a paste with the 50ml of water.
Dry fry the coriander, chilli, cumin, fenugreek, cloves and peppercorns,  Our blini pan is perfect for this.

Allow to cool and then grind with a pestle and mortar or in a spice mill. 
Dry fry the coconut and set aside.

Put 2 tblsp oil in a cast iron casserole dish, add the onion paste and fry gently for 5 minutes.
Tip in the ground spices, turmeric, asafoetida and coconut.

Cook for 2 minutes, adding more oil if necessary.
Throw in the cubed lamb (if using) and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the tomatoes and water and 1 tsp salt.
If using eggs or paneer, add them now.

Cover with a lid and simmer for 1 hour.
Chuck in the frozen peas, cook for another 5 minutes and serve with rice or Indian breads.

You can make great chapattis in our crepe pan.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Keeping the pulses racing

We wish you all a wonderful Diwali

We wish you all a Happy Diwali

You all know how much I appreciate someone else writing this blog for me and this one is no exception.

This wonderfully detailed explanation of how to create delicious and authentic Indian dishes was sent to us following a long conversation with one of our customers.

Jas is a doctor and is learning to cook with the help of her relatives.
Her Sikh background means that she fully appreciates the benefits of cooking in iron pots and she shares our opinion that meals cooked in our cookware are superior to those cooked in other vessels.
She has a great collection of our cookware, including a cast iron casserole a couple of frying pans and a saucepan.

I adore pulses, so this is an absolute gift for me - a great blog and lots of new ideas to experiment with. As always though, we'd really like to hear what YOU think.

Over to Jas.................

The first batch of recipes are all 'one pot curries', using the following beans, pulses or lentils.  I have grouped each combination into groups A-F.  If I know the alternative name for the dal, I have added it.  Each group of dals is prepared in the same basic manner, and then is embellished individually at the end, so please follow the basic stem recipe and then refer to each recipe ending separately.  I will use the term 'dal' to refer to the dried beans of whichever recipe you are following in the dry and 'pot' stage.  Each dal has been tried and tested in the iron cookware.

I personally prefer to use either Natco or East End brands (good quality yet cheap to buy in large quantities).  


Group A: yellow split lentils and red split lentils ( masar dal)
Group B: red kidney beans 
Group C: black eyed beans
Group D: split chick peas (chana dal)
Group E: whole chick peas- many varieties, all prepared in the same way (sholay)
Group F: whole brown mung beans, chana dal, black urid beans, whole green mung beans.


Preparation

Group A dals do not need to be soaked prior to cooking so are ideal for when you need a quick emergency meal for a lot of people. 
For groups B-F:

To make the maximum amount of your end product dal, with a 4 litre pot, you will need 600ml of dry weight dal. I usually make a brimful pot of dal and we eat it until all gone and then make another!

Measure out 600ml of dry dal if using a single dal recipe, or measure out equal parts of dal to make up roughly that amount if attempting a combination dal recipe.

Transfer into a clean bowl and cover with plenty of cold water and leave to soak for at least 10 hours.  Please make sure to soak in plenty of water as the dry dal will absorb a lot.  This will reduce the cooking time and ensure lovely soft, creamy dal.  If the weather is hot, I leave the covered dal in the fridge whilst soaking to prevent it fermenting.  

The soaking stage is particularly important to soften the red kidney beans, which are potentially the most toxic type of bean, unless prepared and cooked properly.

And here is my interpretation of chana dal, following Jas's guidelines

Cooking stage

Cleaning
Boil the kettle using fresh water.
Rinse the dal very thoroughly until the water runs completely clear.
Transfer to pot.
Add hot water until dal completely covered and then half a pint more.
Prepare the kettle again.


Boiling stage
Bring the heat up gradually until you reach a fast boil.
Keep at this heat for 10-15 min for all dals, except the red kidney beans which need at least 30 min ( these are toxic unless cooked in this way)
You will notice some froth rising to the surface, this should be gently skimmed off and discarded. Using a wooden spoon, mix regularly to prevent any sticking ( using these pots, so far, I have not had food stick to the bottom of the pan)

Simmering stage
Once the boiling stage is over, cover the pot and leave to simmer for at least one hour, stirring regularly and adding more hot water if your dal is becoming dry. 

The longer you simmer for, the softer and creamier your dal will be.

Thurka stage
Thurka is what gives your dal flavour and this is how I make it using the same dal pot.  As taste is very individual, vary the amounts according to your own preferences.

Add as much butter as you feel like!

Add one large chopped onion, chopped garlic, chopped green finger chillies and a small amount of ginger.  Squeeze a small amount of concentrated tomato paste into the pot.

Add one small 'spice spoon' worth of salt.
Add the double the amount of dry garam masala 
( I use East End whole mixed spice and grind it in small batches to keep it as fresh as possible)
Add one spice spoon of ground turmeric
Add half the amount of powdered red chilli 

Stir thoroughly and continue to simmer for at least one hour for all groups of dal, except group A, which will only need 20 minutes.

This stage is complete when the onions are meltingly soft, and the dal is completely soft.

You are almost done! Taste and add spice accordingly, but ensure you continue to cook to release the flavour, rather than just add salt and spice to correct the flavour at the very end to avoid that 'uncooked' taste.

Finishing off
Red kidney bean dal goes extremely well with potatoes, and Black eyed beans go well with potatoes and mushrooms, these can be washed, cleaned, chopped and added at the end. Continue to simmer until the potatoes are soft.  Cooking times vary really, I just usually keep cooking until everything is soft.

All dals can be finished with fresh, chopped coriander and freshly squeezed lemon to serve.

Cumin toasted lightly in butter in a frying pan is perfect for masar dal.


This is pretty much what I do on a daily basis using your amazing pots and my family are all pretty happy.  I hope that my suggestions for recipes are of some small use to you.   
Jas

A trip to India

This summer we were lucky enough to travel to India - an amazing experience and one which I would love to be able to repeat.
We flew into Delhi, where we had less than 24 hours before heading north to Ladakh and the Himalayas.
However, you don't go all that way and miss out on the chance of a good look round.
Fortunately, we were recommended a walking tour of Old Delhi, by our friends at Creative Cookware in Edinburgh. Update: Creative Cookware has now closed, but you can still buy Netherton cookware in Edinburgh - head to Marchmont Hardware 
And what a recommendation!!

If you ever get the chance to visit Delhi, book a tour with Dhruv  http://www.masterjikeehaveli.com/, who took us on a walking tour of Old Delhi, up on rooftops, to the very best street food vendors, the back rooms of shops and finally back to his own home, an old style Delhi haweli, where his wife and daughter prepared us a fabulous dinner.  This was a view of the city we would not otherwise have seen, accompanied by a local resident passionate about his home city, its past and its future.

  

We also got to meet a jeweller and visited his workshops - we always like to meet other people who are making things, and who share our passion for raw materials and craftsmanship......... in this case the raw materials were Sri Lankan sapphires!
He makes a beautiful diamond ring for a jeweller in London, who sells them exclusively and whilst we could see the ring we were not allowed to know the name of the jeweller, nor the store it is sold in.  All we did know was that the mark up between Delhi and London is x 30!!

                                           

After  the blistering heat of Delhi 36ºC, we transferred to relatively temperate climate of Leh in the Ladakh region.  Another assault on all the senses and a challenge to one's views on poverty, affluence, happiness........
Life here is so very different from our own and it certainly takes an open mind to appreciate everything that is thrown at you.

This is principally a Buddhist region, with beautiful gompas (monasteries) scattered around the countryside and the Buddhist philosophies certainly appear to be imbued in every day life, without being thrust upon you.

As you can imagine the food was wonderful and I bought a local cook book

I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, there is always that worry that it will taste nothing like it should do when you try and recreate it in an English kitchen.

One thing I will not be trying is the local homebrew beer - we did try some, but it is certainly an "acquired taste"

The whole point of the trip was to go trekking - with OH and the kids also tackling Stok Kangri a 6000m Himalayan peak.  Here they are on the top - check out their personal icicles!

The trekking involved camping in remote and beautiful locations and was certainly different from scout camp.

Our meal were served in a dining tent, with a tablecloth and, on one occasion, a paper napkin carefully cut to create a doyley!

As the kit was packed away on the last day, we enjoyed some al fresco dining
We had the most delicious cooked breakfasts and 3 course dinners.
We were also treated to "bed tea" - woken every morning at around 6:30am with a cup of tea brought to our tents!

  

Whilst the other 3 tackled their mountain, I returned to Leh and stayed in a family run guest house, with the most beautiful garden.

                                     

The return home was via Delhi and we couldn't leave without scheduling a visit to the Taj Mahal; it seemed criminal to travel so far and not make the effort to add a detour to see one of the Wonders of the World.

Nothing prepares you for the astonishing beauty of this place - we have all seen so many photos and TV images, but the reality is jaw dropping.  And, after the brown and grey hues of the Ladakhi traditional dress, the vibrant colours of the clothes, worn by the Indian visitors were equally stunning.

The return to Delhi from Agra was by train - an interesting experience.  We stood in the blistering heat on the paltform at Agra station, pestered by beggars and watching the rats running between the rails and wondered what the 2 hour journey would be like.
First impressions were not promising.  The carriage was old and shabby, but at least the air conditioning was working.  Then we were give a bottle of ice cold water,  a meal of vegetable curry, dahl, rice and paratha, followed by ice cream and helped ourselves to a serving of paan.  Several notches up from the infamous "British rail" sandwich and to be honest, considerably better than a lot of airline catering!

There was also a glossy magazine, Railbhandu  - and if you look closely you will see that I have been naughty,as it specifically asks you not to remove it from the train.

The reason I kept it was the article on cooking eggs, which has given me the inspiration to create the following recipe. 

So, with apologies to Indian Railways, here is my version of Bagara Egg Masala

1 large onion
12 root ginger, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
100ml water
2 dessertspoons ground cumin seeds
1 dessertspoon ground fenugreek seeds
2 teaspoon tamarind, soaked in 450ml boiling water
2 tblsp dessicated coconut
1 tblsp sesame seeds
2 tsp turmeric
4 hard boiled eggs
10 runner beans
1 tsp salt
2 tsp brown sugar

Put half the onion, peeled and roughly chopped in a blender with the ginger, garlic and water.
Blend to a smooth paste

Put your cast iron casserole on a medium heat and add 2 tblsp oil.
Slice the other half of the onion and add to the dish.  Fry until just turning brown, then add the onion paste.
Fry for 3 minutes.
Add the cumin, fenugreek and turmeric and fry for a further 2 minutes.

In a separate pan - one of our frying pans is ideal - dry fry the coconut, and sesame seeds, until the coconut starts to turn colour.

Add to the onion and spice mix.
Stir thoroughly.
Add the hard boiled eggs and sliced green beans. Stir well to coat with the spice mix.
Strain the tamarind water and add to the pan, with the salt and sugar.

Simmer for 40 minutes and serve with rice.
This is the same sauce with paneer in place of the eggs for a friend, who can't/won't eat eggs.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk