OVEN BAKED WHOLE LEG OF LAMB

 


The festive season is over, I have not updated my blog since 2008, and it is winter. We are in the month of January 2014. Weather outside is cold, rain and dark and gloomy. Not a single soul in the street outside. Not even a bird stirring in the trees. 

So whether you live in the city or in the country , and if you have live log fire the better, sitting with your family or loved ones, with soft lights and your favorite music, thoughts naturally turn to food and drink.

Many of us drink our favourite tipple without giving it much thought. Beer is the normal drink during the day, unless you have the habit of drinking a gin & tonic, a whisky soda or a campari soda, at any time of the day. Or you drink a coke or an orange or lemon drink. May be an alcoholic beverage is not your usual drink and only water, God's free gift, bottled and tasting of nothing, is for you. Salute.

Actually cooking is for those who love or even like it, they themselves enjoy good food, have time to do it. People who think that cooking is not time lost but time gained. Otherwise it is a chore just to gather the ingredients, mix them, marinate or cook the dish and then to enjoy it.  All takes time. 

So while you are drinking your favourite tipple, and are thinking of making some special food which goes with the wintry weather, you  want to have beef or pork and not fish and saurkraut or red cabbage  and cold bee-troots from the bottle. Unless you want to have chinese or a pizza from the takeway or bake a frozen one, eat it in ten minutes and then watch TV.

So how about lamb? Lamb is the best choice, and if you get it fresh the better. A leg of lamb weighs around 1.8kgs. So you have to have company. Your family and/or  friends. So let us start.

1 leg of lamb, trimmed of fat and sinews ( cut into three-four pieces).
(I always dip the lamb or game in boiling salt water for  two minutes. This seals the juices and flesh remains tender). Pat dry it with kitchen paper.
1 tbl.spoons each grinded corriander, cumin, termeric, cloves, cardamamm, (1/2 spn cinnaman), garlic & ginger  powders. (Fresh garlic and ginger are preferable)
1 tbl.spoonful salt.
300ml natural yoghourt
Beaf broth (2 cubes dissolved in half cup water)
Fresh coriander leaves.
Fresh rosemary twigs.
Juice of half a lemo.

Mix all the ingrediant in a large bowl, soak the lamb and marinate for one to two hours, from time to time pinching and turning the flesh in the marinate.

Heat a heavy bottomed pan, fry the lamb in oil for five minutes until brown.

Now pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees, put the lamb with its juice in a heat proof oven dish, cover it with aluminium foil and put it in the oven.

 Reduce the heat to 200 degree. Check the lamb after 30 minutes, you will find more liquid than when you put it in the oven. Now uncover the lamb, reduce the heat to 180 degrees and gradually the liquid will turn into thick juice. Grill the lamb for further fifteen minutes or until it is tender. Now it is ready to eat.

You can have the lamb with boiled brocoli, coliflower,  baked or boiled potatoes, sweet peppers, green beans and or with garlic bread. Rice too goes well with this succulent dish and beer, red wine are ideal companians.

Bon Appetite.
 

 
Keywords: Lamb, Beef, chicken, Foul,  Fish,  Spices, condiments, Food & Drink, Wine, Sauce, hot sauce, adobo, marinate, curry sauce, vegetables

CHICKEN JALFREZI

Key words: Spices, hot spices, sauce, hot sauce, cooking ingredients, recipes, chicken, lamb, beef, pork, wine, lemons, 


The word jalfrezi, I think, is the anglicized word for colloquial Bengali word jhālpharezī: in Bengali, jhāl means spicy food; in Urdu/Persian, parhezī means suitable for a diet.^{[4] ikipidia}

We know about Chicken Tika Masala much more than chicken  jalfrezi. In the UK, chicken tika (pieces) masala has become the national dish, replacing the traditional fish & chips. In Netherlands, it is the second favorite dish of the Dutch. However, in the U.K, chicken jalfrezi was rated the most popular dish in 2011 (Wikipidia).

In Sind province (now Pakistan) where we lived before the partition of India, in winter months,  chicken or lamb jalfrezi was one of the favorite dishes of the family. Traditionally it is hot and spicy and to dull the sting of green chillies, fresh yoghourt and cream are used. Cool Lassi (sweet or salted) was the delicious way of savouring this tasty dish.

This method of cooking chicken pieces is dry, ingredients blended in a thick sauce,  popular in Bengal, central India and Punjab rather than in Gujarat or Maharashtra, although now a days,  it is popular everywhere. It is eaten with rice in Bengal,  in Punjab eaten with tandoory nan, roti and chappati, as rice is not a staple food with Punjabi and Sikh people.

Well then, to prepare this dish, you will need the following ingredients:-

For 500gm Chicken breasts (cut in 5cm cubes):
If you want to use chicken drum sticks, peal of the skin.

 For the marinade:
150ml fresh yogurt
Juice of half fresh lemon
 chicken broth (1cube dissolved in half cup hot water)
1/2 spoon saffron powder (or strands soaked in hot water together with chicken cube)
500gms  onions cut in thick pieces ( I use equal weight in onions to the weight of chicken or lamb. Onions make the sauce thick).
 5cm piece of fresh ginger root cut thin lengthwise
2 large fresh tomatos (skinned and cut in pieces) or tomatoe puree
1 red pepper (or half green and half red to give colour)
5-6 teeth of fresh garlic (also thinly cut)
1 fresh green chili pepper (if  you like it hot) also cut in thin strips OR red chilli powder
1 tbl.spoon whole cumin seeds (bruised slightly)
Black pepper (crushed) to taste
1tbl spoon turmeric powder
4-6 tbl. spoons olive oil/butter for frying. ( Many people fry the meat in butter, I prefer olive oil)
Half cup sherry or red wine(optional)

Heat a frying pan, pour oil and fry all the ingredients, except yoghourt,  under high heat for about two minutes. Add chicken pieces and fry for five minutes. Add sherry or wine. Now lower the heat and let the chicken simmer for further five minutes.( Frying under high heat seals the juices and makes meat tender).

Now the juices from onions and tomatoes will swim to the surface and it is time to turn and turn the chicken in the pan until the ingredients disolve into a thick sauce. Pour in the yoghourt and let it simmer for a few more minutes. Now the chicken is ready and pour in the cream and turn it a few times until completely disolved in the sauce.  Chicken Jalfrezi is ready.

Buen Provecho.