Asian Inspired Pork Chops

I just realised that I haven't put up a single pork recipe yet. While pork isn't my meat of choice, it does make some really grand dishes. In the catholic community, pork is a celebratory meat, one that is cooked for Christmas or Easter or during extended family Sunday get-togthers.

I'm not much into pork (except bacon), but I can wolf down pork chops any day. In my opinion, it is the perfect cut. You have the lean bone for flavour, a nice thick cushion of fat to keep the meat moist, and then you have succulent meat that is almost falling of the bone.Yum! Since I don't have much experience with pork, all credits for this recipe goes to Shrey Kamerkar. This is his dish through and through.



Before I detail out his recipe, here are my two cents on common mistakes people make while cooking pork chops.

Boneless is better: No its not! The bone gives the meat a richer flavour, plus its easier to handle.
From fridge to frying pan:  Let your chops sit for atleast 30mins once out of the fridge. If the meat is too cold, the outside will overcook while the inside wont cook at all.
Trim fat: Instead of cutting off the fat, stand the chop on its side with your tongs and get that fat rendered, brown and crispy.



Serves 5

10pc Pork chops (I counted two pieces per person)

For the marinade:

3 thai or bird eye chilies (use regular red chillies if you dont find it)
2 tbsp garlic paste
5-7 Kaffir lime leaves
2 Lemongrass stems
1 medium sized root of Galangal (you can use ginger if you don't find this)
Basil (preferably thai basil)
2 tbsp Honey
2 tbsp Fish sauce
2 cups Pineapple juice
1 cup Soy sauce (preferably dark)
2 tbsp Sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste

*The first five ingredients are easily available in supermarkets (and Nature's basket) and is part of the ready made thai mix in the veggie section

In a mortar and pestle, mash the dry ingredients (galangal, chilli, garlic paste, lemmon grass, kaffir lime and bail leaves) to a coarse paste. Place pork in a large dish and gently spread and massage the marinade on the meat. Now add the rest of the ingredients, and make sure that all pieces of pork are evenly coated.

Refrigerate overnight preferably, but even 4-5 hours will suffice.

Remove from refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 30 mins. Heat oil in a sauce pan to sear the meat. Mind you, pork is a fatty meat, so please use a thin coating of oil. For chops I like the pan screaming hot, and then take it down to medium. That first blast of heat helps get a good golden crust. Searing meat might seem time consuming, but its well worth the effort in flavour.



Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Once you've seared both sides of the meat i.e. both sides have changed to a brown colour, transfer the meat to your baking dish. Pour all the marinade over the meat and bake in the oven for the first 10mins at 180 and then turn down the heat to 120 degrees. Cook for approx 2hours or till meat is fully cooked.

After the meat is cooked, don't touch it for 10mins. If you cut into it right away. all its juices will run into the pan instead of getting redistributed into the meat. Trust me, you don't wanna lose all that delicious liquid.

Serve with toasted bread, steamed beans and carrots, mashed potatoes....



...and a leafy salad. Shrey recommends a salad of rocket leaves, pea shoots, basil, chilly, honey and lemon juice.



Look how pretty Shrey's plating is! It looked so good, I almost didn't wanna eat it.

Tiramisu

For those not in the know, Tiramisu is an Italian, coffee flavoured dessert. It is made from ladyfingers (not to be confused with okra or bhindi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, sugar & mascarpone (pronounced mah-scar-pone-nay) cheese.



It is one of my all time favourite desserts, I think slowly and steadily its over taking cheesecake to the number 1 slot. I judge restaurants and patisseries based on the tiramisu they make. When made right, there is nothing more orgasmic in your mouth than a tiramisu.



This dessert has been on my cooklist for months. Unfortunately, its ingredients were pretty expensive and not easy to come by. The main pillars of this dessert are macarpone cheese and ladyfingers. On my last trip to Goa, I stumbled upon ladyfingers at Newtons, and immediately snatched it up. Now all I needed was marscapone cheese and I was sorted with the basics.

Mascarpone cheese is an Italian cheese that is thick and soft and has a high fat content. This richness is essential to the tiramisu, and you can also use this cheese for cheesecakes or pasta sauce. Its easily available at Nature's Basket outlets, however, its so expensive (700 bucks for 250gms). That is, until I discovered a cheaper, Indian made brand. If you are trying out this dish, please buy La Cremella Mascarpone Cheese (also available at Nature's Basket). It cost 200 odd bucks for a quart. If it still seems expensive, you can try to make it at home.



P.S: This dessert couldn't have come to fruition without the help of my Sous Chef husband, so major credit goes to you Shrey Kamerkar.

500gms Mascarpone cheese
3 egg yolks
100gms Sugar
250ml Whipping cream
1 pack or approx 25-30 ladyfingers
1 cup brewed, lukewarm espresso (any black coffee with two teaspoon sugar)
1 cup Kahlua (optional)
Cocoa Powder to sprinkle on top

In a stand mixer, whip the whipping cream till double its volume. If you don't have a stand mixer, you can use the hand mixer or even whisk with your hands, however please note that it will take more time and energy. Now add the cheese and whisk for just one minute. It is crucial that you don't over whisk at this time as the cream might start to curdle. Once combined, set aside.

In a bowl add the egg yolks and sugar and whisk. Once fairly combined, place the bowl in a double boiler. Keep whisking while alternating the bowl on the heat and away from the heat. It is important to do this step carefully as prolonged exposure to the heat will cause the egg to scramble. Use your judgement, but for those who can't take a call, rule of thumb is for every minute you whisk the egg on the double boiler, whisk it for 3 mins away from the gas. Use mitts as you will be touching a hot bowl and going in and out of gas range. I know it sounds complicated, but this process is important to eliminate the risk involved in using raw eggs. Whisking the eggs and sugar will need a lot of elbow grease. The sugar must completely dissolve in the egg. You are looking for a sabayon consistency i.e: the egg will turn pale yellow and when you lift the whisk into the air, the mixture will fall back into the bowl in ribbons.

Now gently fold the egg mixture into the cream & cheese mixture and set aside. In another bowl, mix together the espresso and Kahlua. To build the tiramisu, quickly dunk the ladyfinger into the coffee liquid. It needs to be a quick dunk so as to not get it too soggy. Lay them side by side on the bottom of the serving bowl. Spoon a layer of the mascarpone mixture to evenly over the bowl. Repeat with another layer of ladyfinger and finally with another layer of mascarpone. Use a spatula or a butter knife to smoothen out the top layer and make it even.

Refrigeratefor atleast an hour before serving. Just before serving, sift a light, even dusting or cocoa powder over the top.



Note: The traditional recipe calls for only mascarpone cheese, but I've used a half & half mix of the cheese & whipped cream, solely so that it doesn't pinch my wallet. Incase you don't find whipping cream either, you can use the remaining egg whites (just ensure to whip it till its more that 3 times its volume and add in a little extra sugar)
Ladyfingers are sweet, spongecake-like biscuits, that are long and said to be shaped like fingers. Incase you don't find it, you can use basic vanilla sponge cake.



Tip: Mixing the coffee with any kind of liqueur gives this dessert a little oopmh and enhances the flavour. I've used Kahlua keeping with the coffee flavour of the tiramisu, but you can use dark rum, port, irish cream or brandy as well.

For portion control, you can also layer up in individual serving glasses. I've made a two layered dessert. Most restaurants serve a one layered version, but be generous to your family, more the layers, better the flavour.

The Ultimate Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken is the perfect community dish. It reminds me of so many Sundays where we would just sit around one big chicken & devour it.
My idea of cooking is one that requires minimum effort but produces beautiful dishes. So when you talk to me about Roast Chicken, I can't be bothered to truss or baste the chicken. My only requirement to a perfect roast chicken is that it be moist and juicy & I think this is where most recipes get it wrong.

This recipe that I'm sharing today is a combination of bits from Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal & my very own Shrey Kamerkar's recipe.  Follow this recipe and I promised you a fail safe juicy, moist & tender roast chicken - one which takes minimal effort with finger licking results.

This is a special occasion dish nonetheless and needs some advance prep time (1 day prior).



Quantities enough for one whole chicken 

For the chicken:
1ltr brine or salt water
1 ltr Buttermilk

For the stuffing:
1 cup sausgaes
1 tsp Mustard
1 tsp HP sauce
1 tbsp worcestershire
3 cloves garlic
1 cup mushrooms
1 cup cheese
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
a few leaves of fresh basil
1 tbsp Butter
Salt & pepper to taste
1 large potato

For the outer flavouring of the chicken:
1 cup butter
2 tbsp paprika or chilli powder
Salt & pepper to taste

Wash the chicken throughly in water. In a large pot, add cold water and salt. For every 2 cups of water, add 1 tablespoon of salt. Immerse the chicken in this salted water and let it refrigerate for atleast 6 hours. This technique is called brining. Brining is a very neat trick which ensures you get a juicy chicken everytime. Brining makes the meat moist by hydrating the cells of the chicken's tissue before cooking. It locks in all the lovely juices and flavour and will give you a fabulous juicy chicken once the meat is cooked.

After 6-10hours, remove the chicken from the brine and throw out the water. In the same pot, now add in the buttermilk. Soak the chicken in buttermilk and refrigerate overnight. The buttermilk works to cleanse and tenderise the chicken.

To make the stuffing:

Chop up the sausages to tiny bits. In a pan, add a tablespoon of butter followed by sausages, mushrooms and the garlic. Sautee for 2-3 mins. Add in the mustard, HP & worcestershire sauce. Add in the seasonings i.e. oregano, thyme, basil, salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and add in shredded cheese. Set aside and let it cool.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and throw out the butter milk mixture. Rinse the chicken well to remove the buttermilk from the inner crevices. Stuff the inside of the chicken with the stuffing mixture. Do not over stuff. Add enough stuffing to fill out the chicken, not to spill over. Add the whole, large potato at the end. The potato acts as a stopper. It will let the chicken hold its shape and also prevent the stuffing from falling out.



Rub the outside of the chicken with butter and paprika. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Place on a baking dish.



Add half a cup of water around the chicken in the baking dish. Cover with aluminium foil. The aluminium foil will help the chicken steam in its own juices, making it even more flavourful. Before placing in the oven, reduce temperature to 150 degrees Celsius.  Roast for 1 hour.

You may think that 150 degrees is too low a temperature to cook the chicken, and you are right. But cooking the chicken at a higher temperature initially will result in drying it out. You want to slowly cook the chicken and gradually raise its temperature. At the last 10 mins of the cooking process we will blast out the heat to its maximum setting. This will give the chicken a nice golden colour and will crisp up the skin.

After an hour, raise the temperature to 200 degrees. Remove the chicken from the oven, spread a blob of butter around the top and skin, re-seal with foil and put it back in the oven. Bake for another 30mins-45mins until the chicken is fully cooked. To test if the chicken is cooked, Insert a knife at the thickest part of the chicken (usually the breast), and touch the knife to your lip. If the knife feels hot, it means the chicken is cooked.

Now turn your oven to the maximum heat setting. Remove the foil from the dish. Add a generous amount of butter on the chicken and put it back into the oven for 10 mins.

Remove from oven and let it sit for half an hour before chopping it up. At this point I also add in spring onions around the chicken as it soaks up all the beautiful juices in the dish.



To serve, scoop out the stuffing in a bowl. In another bowl, pour all the baking juices from the baking dish. For those of you who don't know how to cut up a whole chicken, follow this video

Serve up pieces of chicken with a bowl of the stuffing and roasting juices on the side.

I wasn't kidding about my chicken...look how juicy that is!

Tip: Once you've carved and chopped up the chicken, preserve the leftover bones. These are packed with flavour and make a killer stock when boiled with water.

Spicy Chilli Garlic Prawns

This dish is my dad's spin on the popular Indo-Chinese dish called Chilly Chicken. And full marks to my dad! It is exactly like what we get in Chinese restaurants. And its so deliciously addictive, I can polish off a bowlful at the blink of an eye.



Serves 4

1/4kg prawns that have been cleaned and de-veined
1 whole bulb of garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, cubed
2 large bell peppers, de-seeded and cubed
4 large green chillies de-seeded and cubed
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 white pepper powder
Whites of two eggs, whisked
4 tbsp light soy
1 tsp corn flour
1 tsp chilli sauce
Spring onions to garnish
salt to taste



Whisk the egg whites in a big bowl till fluffy. Add in a pinch of salt and cornflour. Mix in the prawns and set aside for an hour. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the prawns till golden and set aside. In the same pan fry the cubed onion, peppers & chillies for approx.3-5 mins and set aside.

In another pan, heat some sesame oil. Add all the chopped garlic and lightly toast. Add the sugar, vinegar, soy and chilli sauce. Sprinkle cornflour to thicken. Toss in the prawns, peppers, onion and chillies. Add salt to taste.

Garnish with spring onions

You can obviously substitute prawns with anything. Chicken or pork would work well. If you are vegetarian, opt for paneer.

You can eat it as is or serve with some egg noodles.

Beetroot Gnocchi

I have a little treat for you guys today. Shrey Kamerkar, Sous Chef at Hyatt and my future husband, has been kind enough to guest blog for me.

He's created some simple gourmet dishes which will make your plate look spectacular, and your cooking skills seem 5star ready. I will be sharing his recipes in a 3 part series starting with this Gnocchi recipe.

For those of you who are wondering what on earth gnocchi (pronouced nyo-kki) is, it is a kind of pasta made from potatoes. In its essence, it is a boiled potato dumpling which you can serve with a variety of sauces.

Makes enough for 6 people

4 Potatoes (approx 250gms)
2 Beetroot
2 Egg yolks
1 cup Flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Fill a large pot with water & bring to boil. Peel & cut the potatoes & beet in half and add it to the water. Add in salt to taste. Bring to boil and cook till extremely tender (approx 40mins to an hour). Once done, scoop out the veggies with a slotted spoon. Save the water to recycle later.

From now on, you would have to work relatively quickly. Mash the veggies immediately. I used a masher and passed it on a sieve so that I got a really fine end product. Don't over mash, just aim for an even consistency with no noticeable lumps. Also, take a minute and admire the beautiful colour!

Now let this mash cool long enough so that its warm, but won't cook the egg when you add it. Get ready to get your hands dirty. Put the mashed veggies in a large flat surface. Make a 'well' in the centre. Add the egg yolk in this 'well'. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients across the top. With your hands, mix to incorporate all ingredients until its like a sticky crumble. Now dust some flour on your hands and the flat surface, and knead to a dough. Add some flour if its too sticky. The final dough should be moist, not sticky.

Now I made rough 'tubes' out of the dough by rolling it on my palms. This is quick and easy if you aren't too fussy about shapes. But traditionally the dough is rolled to a snake like log and thumb sized pieces are cut using a knife. You can also shape the gnocchi with a fork (but seriously...who has time for such fancy work?).

Dust with some flour if needed, and add to boiling water. I reheated the potato & beetroot water and used it instead (more eco-friendly). If you are starting afresh, make sure your pot is salted. Cook the gnocchi in batches by dropping a handful at a time. You know they are ready when they pop to the top. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon a minute after they pop up. Ideally I would recommend making the sauce before hand and dropping these babies in the ready sauce. Since I was too lazy to have some sauce ready, I dropped them in cold water to stop them from cooking.

For the sauce:

100gms butter
2tbsp finely chopped Garlic
1 cup White Wine

There is absolutely nothing better that gnocchi in some pesto. But since this isn't traditional gnocchi I'm going to make a simple yet delicious, butter garlic sauce. In a sauce pan, melt the butter and add in the garlic. Sauté for 2mins. Turn up the heat to high and add in the white wine. Swivel the pan to incorporate. Don't panic if it flames up. Now reduce the heat and add in the gnocchi. Toss in veggies if you like. I added broccoli, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Sauté for another minute or two. Serve immediately.

Such beautiful colours in one dish! Its almost too pretty to eat.

You can obviously add meat, but don't divert the attention of this dish from the gnocchi dumplings.