Keema Pie with rosti topping

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

 

I’ve had a keema pie recipe from a really old issue of Delicious magazine sitting in my recipe folder for quite a while, but never got around to making it. It’s basically an Indian version of shepherds/cottage pie. What prompted me to try it was seeing another recipe in the April issue of Delicious which had a rosti topping instead of mash. Steve isn’t a huge fan of potatoes, so I consulted him on what his preference was and he decided that the rosti topping would be the lesser of two evils!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

The new recipe uses lamb mince, but the old recipe uses beef mince, so it seems that they’re interchangeable. I used beef mince as that’s what I had available, but I only had 500g instead of the 750g the recipe said to use. I also substituted the 5 large skinned vine tomatoes for a tin of plum tomatoes as it was more convenient.

 

I only used about 1½ green chilies as they were really hot when I tasted a sample, so I also omitted the ½ teaspoon of hot chili powder as I have a tendency to make food too hot! But the finished dish wasn’t all that hot and I think using all the chili and the powder would have been OK.

 

MY SKIN IS ON FIRE!

I suffered really badly from the chili burning the skin on my hands, so I did a search on Google and I found the solution of rubbing salt onto my hands. I used coarse sea salt and I rubbed it on dry, which worked quite well and removed the really stinging burning sensation. But I discovered there was still some chili on my skin when I went to take my contact lenses out and my eyeballs started burning! So I used the salt again using wet hands and it seemed to have worked as it didn’t hurt when I put my contacts in this morning. So next time I will chop the garlic, ginger and chilies in my mini chopper to avoid so much contact with my skin!

 

TASTE TEST:

We both really liked the flavour of the mince as the spices were really nice, but it was a bit too watery. Next time I will leave the lid off the pan when simmering. I would also leave out the spinach, as even though I squeezed out the water I’m sure it released more water when baking. The old keema pie recipe uses peas instead, which is a much better idea and actually more traditional.

 

We were both disappointed with the rosti topping as it didn’t go very crispy, even though I’d also shoved the pie under the grill. Steve thinks the sweet potato was to blame. Making this topping was sooooo much extra work and totally not worth the effort! So next time I would just use a mash potato topping, or even just serve the mince with some rice.

 

The recipe below is how I made it and not the actual recipe from the magazine.

• Serves: 4
• Takes: 1 hour 45 minutes to make
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C

 

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• Knob of fresh ginger, grated
• 2 long green chilies, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoon coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon hot chili powder
• 500g beef mince
• 300ml beef stock (I used Knorr Touch of Taste)
• 400g tin peeled plum tomatoes, discard the juice
• 200g spinach
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 medium potato, coarsely grated
• 1 medium sweet potato, coarsely grated
• 1 medium onion, finely sliced

 

Directions:

1. Heat 2 Tablespoons of the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped onion, season well and fry until softened. Add the finely garlic, ginger and green chilies and fry for a couple of minutes.
2. In a separate pan, dry-fry the cumin and coriander seeds until fragrant, then crush in a pestle and mortar with the turmeric and chili powder until finely ground. Add to the onion mixture and fry for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the mince, increase the heat and fry for about 10 minutes until the meat is brown, Drain off the excess fat, then add the stock and tomatoes, breaking them up as you mix them in. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the meat is cooked and the sauce has thickened slightly (remove the lid if it’s too watery).
4. Put the spinach in a colander over a large saucepan and pour over a kettle of boiling water, then refresh in cold water. Squeeze out the excess water. Stir through the curry with the lemon juice and garam masala and season to taste.
5. Put the pan of hot water that you used to wilt the spinach on the heat and bring back to the boil, then place the potato, sweet potato and onion into it and blanch for 30 seconds. Drain, then tip into a clean tea towel and squeeze out all the excess liquid. Place in a bowl and toss with the remaining oil and season.
6. Tip the keema into a large ovenproof dish and top with the blanched rosti topping.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C until the rosti is golden on top – place under a hot grill for 5 minutes if it’s still not brown enough!

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• This dish can be frozen at stage 6. Bake for 40 minutes from frozen at Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C.

Curried Potato Pasties

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

I made these ages ago but I didn’t take a photo because I couldn’t wait to eat them! Luckily I kept some in the freezer and we had them for lunch today. They were just as nice cooked from frozen.

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:
This recipe is from BBC Good Food, but I tweaked the recipe and added sweet potato, which adds a lovely sweet flavour and compliments the curry flavour. Because I added an equal quantity of sweet potato to normal potato, I had some leftover potato filling so I’m going to use it to make fish cakes.

I used the other 340g block of puff pastry (from the pack that I bought for the Duck Puffs) to make these tasty little pasties. I have changed the method for rolling out the pastry to make it easier.

• Makes 8 and I would serve 2 per person
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C
• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 30 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 300g/10oz potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
• 300g/10oz sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1cm dice (optional)
• 100g/4oz frozen peas
• 2 teaspoon oil
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 1-2 teaspoon curry paste (I used 2 tsp curry powder, ½ tsp chilli powder and 1 Tbsp tomato ketchup instead)
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds (I didn’t use these)
• Juice of ½ lemon (About 1 tablespoon)
• handful coriander, chopped (I hate this stuff so didn’t use it)
• 340-375g block of ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten 

Directions:

1. Heat a large pan of water, add the potatoes, then cook for 8 minutes until just soft. Add the peas 1 minute before the end of cooking time. Drain, then set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until soft and slightly coloured. Add the curry paste/powder mix and mustard seeds, then fry for a few minutes more until the mixture smells fragrant. Carefully stir in the potatoes and peas, trying not to mash them. Add the lemon juice and coriander, then leave to cool.
3. Heat the oven to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C. Place your pastry block onto a lightly floured surface and cut it into 8 even sized rectangles. Roll each rectangle flat until it is approximately 3x5 inches in size. Place about a tablespoon of the potato filling onto one half of the rectangle, then brush the edges with beaten egg and then fold the pastry rectangle in half to cover the filling. Pinch the edges together along the 3 open edges to seal the parcel.
4. Place on a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper and brush with more egg and bake for 20 minutes until puffed up and golden brown. 

COOK'S NOTES:

• If you need to re-roll your puff pastry, stack the trimmings on top of each other to keep the layers. 
• Freezing: don’t brush with beaten egg if you want to freeze the pasties and cook for 30 minutes if cooking from frozen.

You might also be interested in: Duck Puffs

Winter Vegetable Soup

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

I used a recipe for Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup from the BBC Good Food magazine as a basic template and I added butternut squash, cumin and chili powder as I really like those flavours. I got lots of compliments for this soup as it has a velvety smooth creamy texture and lots of lovely sweet flavours from the different root vegetables. Steve's Dad even said it was better than New Covent Garden soups! This is only the second soup I've ever made in my life, but it's definitely one I'll be making again.

• Serves: 4
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• You will need: a large pan with a lid

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 1 heaped teaspoon cumin powder
• ¼ teaspoon chili powder
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• ½ medium butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 2 knobs butter
• 300-400ml stock (I used vegetable Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon)
• Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan on a low-medium heat and fry the onions, garlic, cumin and chilli powder for 8-10 minutes until softened.
2. Add the sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash and the butter. Season well with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and let the vegetables sweat down until they start to soften, for about 20 minutes.
3. Add enough stock to cover all the vegetables and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 20-25 minutes until the vegetables are really tender.
4. Tip the soup into a blender or use a stick blender to whizz up the soup until it is really smooth, for about 5 minutes.
5. Transfer to warm bowls and serve with lots of nice bread.

Yasai korroke (Japanese vegetable cakes)

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

This is a recipe from the Wagamama cookbook which I've made before but not actually tried in the restaurant.

In San Francisco it's easy to find ingredients like Panko Breadcrumbs, I got mine in Safeway so I didn't have to make a special trip to Japantown for them.

• Makes: 6 cakes

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil, for deep frying
• 1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• salt and white pepper
• 25g (1oz) frozen peas
• 25g (1oz) canned sweetcorn, drained
• 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped (or use spring onion and skip step 4)
• 1 red chilli, trimmed and finely chopped (or some chilli flakes
• 3-4 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 50g (2oz) panko breadcrumbs

Directions:

1. Put the potato and sweet potato in a pan of boiling water and cook for 10-12 minutes until tender. Add the peas for the last 2 minutes.
2. Drain, return to the pan, then crush slightly with a wooden spoon to create a lumpy mash.
3. Stir in the sweetcorn.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and chilli over a low heat for 6-8 minutes until soft.
5. Combine the onion and chilli with the mash in a large bowl, season and mix evenly.
6. Allow to cool slightly, then divide into 6 equal portions and shape into flat cakes.
7. Place the flour in a bowl, the beaten egg in another and the breadcrumbs in a third.
8. Dip each cake first into the flour, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs.
9. Fill a pan two-thirds full with oil and heat to 180C/350F or until a cube of bread added to the oil browns in 30 seconds.
10. Deep fry the cakes for 2-3 minutes until golden brown and crisp, then drain on kitchen paper. Alternatively you can shallow fry them, carefully turning them on all sides until golden brown - takes a bit longer but just as tasty!