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It would be a bad job if I couldnt come up with a dish for my own blog challenge!  However, its not too much of a hardship to make one of Nigel Slaters recipes for Dish of the Month.  The April chapter of the Kitchen Diaries II is full of lovely recipes including quite a lot of prose from Nigel too.
He waxes lyrical about olives and states that it is rare to find an olive he does not like, only those tossed in garlic, stuffed with anchovy or red pepper or marinated with chilli get spat out!  Well, I have to say, my favourite olives are the ones stuffed with anchovies but I wouldnt put them in this dish.

This is a very simple dish to make, starting by making a paste of spices, salt, oil and garlic.  I realised as I started that I still didnt have any turmeric, so that got left out.

Nigel uses chicken thighs for this recipe (are you listening Dom?) but I find it more economical to buy a whole free range chicken and joint it myself, then cover it with the paste and leave to marinade.

After a couple of hours, or overnight if you are well organised, fry off the chicken in olive oil and add to the casserole with lemons and onions and water.

The dish is finished with a handful of olives and a bunch of torn coriander.  I served it with couscous to soak up the delicious juices.

If you would like to join us for Dish of the Month, here is what you need to do:

• Make a Dish of the Month from ANY recipe by Nigel Slater
• Link to Farmersgirl Kitchen or A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate
•  Use the Dish of the Month logo in your post
• If you use twitter, tweet your post with @serialcrafter or @Heavenona_plate and #DishoftheMonth and we will re-tweet it to our followers. 

Rules:

• If you own The kitchen diaries II please do not publish the recipes on your blog without permission, they are copyright.
• If you are using recipes from the BBC Food website, please link to the recipe on BBC Food rather than publishing the recipe.  Likewise recipes on the Guardian Lifestyle website.
• One entry per blog.
• Recipes must be added to the linky by the 28th of each month.

);

We love eating out. My latest favourite Chinese joint is Dynasty on S.V. Road, Santacruz. For one, its close to home and secondly, the aroma of soy sauce and schezwan sauce beckons you inside. The only downside is that, on weekends there is a minimum wait time of 45 minutes, and they take reservations only upon arrival.

Its happened on so many Sundays that we end up going to a new place to eat, and on our way back, I say, Isse toh achcha hum ghar par hi khaate -Loosely translated, it means, we would have been better off eating at home. Either the food wouldnt be all that great or the server would have been off-putting. A Chinese meal at made at home is fast, flavourful and filling. Hows that for an alliteration?

A real super-fast menu would start with a Knorr Vegetable Soup modified into a lip-smacking Veg Mein Chow soup-ask me how? Actually Im all eager to share this idea with you. But more about that in some other post. The salad would be Ginto. Ok, ok, I admit this is Thai and not Chinese. But what the heck-it goes fantastic with the spicy soup. I think Ill write about this salad and soup together sometime.

Now on with the rice. Ive seen the kitchens in some of the Chinese restaurants, all in Bombay ofcourse. Havnent made the trip to China yet. I have been thinking if I will ever be able to make it, especially after hearing an episode where my vegetarian friend was served a little snake (yeah snake, not snack) all coiled up as a garnish on top of his veg rice. I didnt find that amusing at all..

Getting back to kitchens in Chinese restaurants, their Wok is filled with oil 1/4 th of the way to the top. They quickly dump in the customary green chillies, ginger and garlic, almost deep fry the veggies and add the cooked rice or noodles with the sauces. And all this happens while you were blinking. While I do like the tastes, this kind of cooking, doesnt do much for my health-conscious soul. If I wanted to eat deep fried food, Id go for a samosa guys, not fried rice.

Anyway, so thats how I end up making my own version of fried rice that tastes as good if not better and feels good to be eating too.

Feel free to use any vegetables you have on hand. The day I made this, I had some fresh green beans that I had stringed, cut and saved. So green beans fried rice it was. And because I always have onions and frozen peas on hand, it wasnt a bad idea to add those too.

I prefer putting in a whole lot of vegetables into the rice, so that each spoonful gives me almost as much of vegetables as much as rice. You may cut down on the veggies if they dont excite you much.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked rice, separated with a fork( I used regular kolam-a short grained rice)
1 generous cup of finely chopped French beans
1/2 cup frozen green peas
2 medium onions halved and sliced

6 cloves garlic, 1/2" piece of fresh ginger, 3 green chillies- All finely chopped
1 T sesame seeds (This one makes the rice taste extra yum)

2 T dark soy sauce (adjust according to strength of sauce)
1 T vinegar
1/2 tsp of Chinese 5 Spice powder (Optional)

1 T oil (See I told you this was healthy! )
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper


In a wok, heat the oil. Throw in the sesame seeds first. Once they start turning golden, put in the ginger, garlic, chillies. Saute for 30 seconds, dont let the garlic brown please.

Now, put the veggies in. Add a pinch of salt. Saute them for 2-3 minutes, until their rawness is gone but crunch is maintained. Mix in the rice, soy sauce, vinegar, spice powder, pepper. Check for salt and adjust.

You may garnish with freshly chopped coriander if you wish.

Eat just like that or with a salad.

Note:

~While making this may take a little more time than what the chef in your local Chinese take-away does, it is still very quick. The only effort is in cleaning and chopping the beans. If you have a pack of frozen beans-then this wont take you more than 10 minutes :)

~It is also a great way of finishing up left-over rice.

Green beans are a great source of Beta-Carotene, Vitamin C, copper and Manganese making it a super-anti oxidant food. I could go on and on about the benefits of this humble vegetable, but thats matter for my weekly column. After a long break, Id like to send this for Cates ARF Tuesdays.

Do check the update on WBB # 4, Pavanis looking forward to your entries.

Related posts:

~Ginger Sesame Hakka Noodles
~Mango Pudding

Tags: Indo-Chinese food, Fried rice, French beans, Rice, low fat cooking, Leftovers, Anti-oxidant rich food

When I started this blog I really didnt think that far ahead. I never thought of my 100th blog but now that Im here Im really excited! I wanted to make something special and decided homemade pasta would be perfect. Ive tried making homemade pasta on my own in the past and was semi-happy with the results but that was a long time ago. I cannot begin to tell you how I felt trying it again this time. I dont know if it was that I felt more confidant this time, or if I was just thinking a lot about Nanny but I was really overcome with emotion. Once the dough was made I was constantly reminded of how it felt when I made it with Nanny. The smell of the took me back to that place about 20 years ago when I kneeled on her dining room chair and got my hands in the dough. When I asked Steve to smell it he couldnt really smell much but for me it was very familiar. I have to say I was filled with regret at never really having the patience to learn everything that Nanny knew about cooking. I watched and touched and tasted but never tried to do it on my own when she was around to help me and guide me. If you have someone in your life who you admire and want to learn from, whether its cooking or baking or anything else, do it now. It may be hard to imagine but there will be a time when you wish you could ask a question or need their opinion and its too late. Ask everything while they are still around.

Okay, now that I depressed you all (sorry!) lets get to the recipe and my results. I had a lot of fun making this and probably got a little carried away with making sure it was thin enough. When Nanny rolled it by hand and when I got impatient and wanted to cut it she always said it wasnt thin enough. So I think I made the pasta too thin. I used my pasta attachment for my kitchen aid mixer and put the pasta through twice through each setting 1-6 and then once through 7. I put it through twice because I remember watching Mario Batali doing that but the directions of the recipe I followed said NOT to do that. I loved using the attachment, its so much quicker and easier than rolling it out by hand. However, if you can knead it and roll it out by hand go ahead and do it, Im sure its a very cathartic experience. You can also make the dough in a food processor.

Pasta Dough

Recipe from Bibas Taste of Italy

(makes a little over 1 lb of fettuccine)

Ingredients:

5 eggs
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt (I added this on my own - not sure if it makes a difference)


Directions:

In bowl of stand mixer beat eggs and salt. Attach dough hook and flour a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase the speed and knead the dough for 5-6 minutes, until smooth, soft and pliable.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured wooden board of other work surface. Flour your hands lightly and knead the dough for a minute or two. If the dough seems too firm, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20-30 minutes, then knead the dough again for about a minute.

Bibas tip: Making the dough with a machine requires a little less flour than making it by hand. Reserve 1/2 cup or so of the flour called for in the recipe. After the dough has been kneaded, touch it. If it is silky and slightly moist, it is ready; if it is too sticky, work in the reserved flour.

This tip was great. I did not need to use the 1/2 cup reserved flour. If I used it the dough would have been too dry.

To roll out the dough with pasta attachment:

Set the rollers of the pasta machine at their widest setting (1 - for Kitchen Aid) Cut off a piece of dough about the size of a large egg and flatter in under the palm of your hand. Keep the rest of the dough wrapped in plastic wrap. Dust the flattened piece of dough lightly with flour and run it once through the machine. Fold the dough in half, pressing down on it with your fingertips, and run it through the machine again. Repeat this step four to five times, dusting the dough lightly with flour if needed, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky; the dough will become firmer since the machine is actually kneading the dough. Do not skimp on this step, or, as you think the pasta, it may stick to the rollers.

Adjust the rollers to the next setting and run the dough through once; do not fold the dough again. Adjust the rollers to the next setting and run the rollers once; continue to adjust the rollers and roll the pasta through the machine until it reaches desired thinness.

If you are making stuffed pasta, cut and stuff the dough immediately, before rolling out another piece. For string pasta or ribbon noodles, roll out the remaining dough and allow the sheets to dry before cutting them into noodles.

Bibas Tip: If the sheet of dough sticks to the pasta machine, dust it lightly with flour. Be sure to run the sheet of dough once through each setting; dont skip a setting or the dough may tear.






To cut pasta using attachment:

Spread a clean tablecloth on a large work surface and lay out the rolled-out sheets of pasta on it. Let dry for 8-10 minutes, depending on the temperature of the room, until the sheets of pasta are no longer sticky and are beginning to curl up slightly at the edges.

Run the sheets of pasta through the widest setting for tagliatelle or the narrow setting for tagliolini. Arrange the noodles in bundles on a wooden board or tablecloth. They can be cooked immediately or allowed to dry, uncovered and cooked later; they an be kept at room temperature uncovered for several days.

I got this recipe in a great magazine, a special Italian edition of Fine Cooking.  This was delicious but there is one thing that is way way off.  The claim is that this recipe serves 2 as a main course.  Absolutely not.  Not two Italians who like to eat, thats for sure! This filled two very small bowls and I gave half of mine up to give to Steve bc he was still hungry.  So Id say it serves two as a first course but definitely not a main course.  Double this recipe if you want to get 2 nice servings.  Aside from that this was so good!  The flavor was amazing and I love that I got Steve to eat broccoli rabe, one of my favorite things (even if it was a little sneaky). 

Risotto of Sweet Sausage and Broccoli Rabe
The Best of Fine Cooking No. 36
Real Italian

Ingredients:

3 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup arborio rice
1/4 lb. sweet italian sausage, skinned and crumbled
1 small garlic clove, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne
1/4 lb. broccoli raabe, boiled for 5 minutes, drained, squeezed dry and coarsly chopped
2 tbsp freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano

Directions:

In a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil; lower the heat to a simmer.  In a large, heavy-gauge saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter.  Stir in the rice, toasdting just until it starts to sizzle and pop, about 1 minute.  It should not color.  Add the sausage and garlic.  Stir, breaking up the meat into small bits, until the sausage has lost its pink color, about 1 minute.  Pour in teh wine.  Stir occasionally, cooking until the liquid is almost gone, about 2 minutes.  Add just enough hot broth to cover the rice.  Lower the heat to maintain a vigorous simmer; stir occasionally.  When the likid is almost gone, add just enough hot broth to cover the rice, along with a pinch of salt and cayenne.  Check the risooto every 3 or 4 minutes, giving it an occasional stir to make sure it isnt sticking to the bottom of the pan and adding just enough broth to cover the rice when the liquid has almost dissappeated.  After a couple of additions of broth add the brocccoli rabe.
Continue adding the broth and checking until the rice is just al dente, about 20 minutes from the first liquid addition.  Bite into a grain; you should see a small white pin-dot in the center.  Take the risotto off the heat and stir vigorously for a few seconds.  Fold in the Parmigiano, pepper to taste and a pinch of salt if needed.  Stir in a few tablespoons of broth to loosen the risotto, if you like.  Serve immediately.  

Here are the other 23 posts from the "24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blog Posts" Event. Check out the amazing variety of themes, ingredients, and locations. Enjoy!

24, 24, 24: Chocoholic Heaven
from Culinary Escapade

24, 24, 24: Farmers’ Market Iron Chef: Battle in the Kitchen/ Spicy Salty Sweet
from Spicy Salty Sweet

24, 24, 24: Farmers’ Market Iron Chef: Battle in the Kitchen/ Food Woolf
from Food Woolf

24, 24, 24: Welcome to the Chateau - An Evening of Wine, Food, and Art
from Chateau Petrogasm

24, 24, 24: Criminal Tastes - An Illegal Supper
from The Nourished Kitchen

24, 24, 24: First Annual Farm to Table Dinner
from Miami Dish

24, 24, 24: `Aha`aina - Recapturing the Global Flavors of the Luau
from Accidental Scientist

24, 24, 24: A Tomato Garden Party
from Jersey Bites

24, 24, 24: Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet
from Red Cook: Adventures From a Chinese Home Kitchen

24, 24, 24: No Menus: an Underground Restaurant Affair
from No Recipes

24, 24, 24: From Provence to the Catskills - a Voyage from David to Bertolli
from Constables Larder

24,24,24: Eating Art: A Tasting Menu Inspired by Masterworks of Art
from Feeding Maybelle

24, 24, 24: The Four Corners of Carolina BBQ Road Trip
from Hugging the Coast

24, 24, 24: A Sweet Trompe l’oeil
from Cake Spy

24 24 24: From Matambre to Empanadas: An Argentine Dinner
from La Vida en Buenos Aires y Afines

24, 24, 24: The Very Best of British
from Food Stories

24, 24, 24: Hot Weather Lunch
from Food Junkie Not Junk Food

24, 24, 24: Eating with Tuscan Locavores
from Wandering Italy

24, 24, 24: Medieval Cuisine Of Serbia
from Palachinka

24, 24, 24: A Spanish Menu - My Gift to the Winners of the Olympic Games
from Spanish Recipes

24, 24, 24: Eat Like a King- Feast For a Maharaja
from Passionate About Baking

24, 24, 24: East Meets West in A Tropical Garden City
from Noob Cook

24, 24, 24: Behind-the-Kitchen with Chef Hu-nam Kim of Star Chef
from ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal

24, 24, 24: Aussie BBQ Bonanza - Celebrating Diversity
from Fig and Cherry