DISHOOM BLACK DAAL AND SOME CRISPY BHINDI

I have been trying to eat at Dishoom for ages but I am not a natural queuer (is that a word?) and as I never seem to be in the right place at the right time the joys of their delicacies have been denied to me.  And then the stars aligned...

My good friend Buz and her man Euan had promised to buy Mr Redding and I dinner at Tom Kitchin (which was utterly delightful) and we thought this would be a good time to catch up with some of the people I was at Stirling University with - people I haven't seen for over *cough* 30 years.  So we had a big enough party to book a table!  O frabjous day!  Between the seven of us we got through four bowls of Dishoom's trademark black dal as well as their crispy okra, squid, chicken, lots of other stuff - it was all delicious.  I was very struck by the daal so began to try and find a recipe - this is my most recent version, and I thoroughly recommend it.  I use a pressure cooker, a utensil I am using increasingly to cook both meat and pulses.  Meat seems to retain more of its flavour whilst becoming beautifully tender and both meat and pulses take a fraction of the time.  The pulses you need are Urid beans - KTC Foods do them, I bought mine in Morrisons.

Ingredients

200g Urid beans
Twice the amount in volume of water
Tsp. grated ginger
Tsp. grated garlic
1/2 tsp. chilli powder
Tsp. ground cumin
Tsp. ground coriander
Tsp. turmeric
Knob of butter
Tblsp. cream
Tsp. salt
Good couple of grinds of black pepper

Method

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil. If using a pressure cooker it will take around 25 minutes, if conventional cooking probably a good hour.  Once the lentils are soft take off the heat and mash half the beans.  Stir together then add another knob of butter and maybe a splash of cream before serving.

This also responds well to being stuck in a low oven for further cooking - seems to add to its unctuousness!

Last night I served this with pork with garlic, vinegar and chilli (a vindaloo) from Madhur Jaffrey  and crispy fried okra. 

The okra are so delicious and so easy - just mix 1/2 teaspoon each of ground coriander, ground cumin, chill powder and turmeric with a couple of tablespoons of gram flour.  Cut the bhindi in four lengthwise and toss in the mixture.  leave for half an hour than heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and shallow fry in batch.  The finishing touch should be a sprinkle of amchur, dried mango powder, which add an amazing tartness.

CHEEKY PORK VINDALOO

Pig cheeks have been a bit of a revelation to me. They are inexpensive (I get them at Morrisons for around £2.70 for 500g), meaty and when properly cooked have a yielding gelatinous quality that gives all the unctuousness of a fatty bit of pork belly without the fat. I’ve braised them plainly with onions and beef stock, and also Chinese stylee, but the lovely Mr Redding suggested that next time I felt like making a vindaloo I use them – and Reader, I did.  Vindaloo likes a reasonably long cooking time, which suits this cut, and they turned out rather deliciously. I don’t like my curries very hot so only used 3 dried red chillies but if you like it hotter then use more, and add a whole green chilli (or 3!), slit up the middle, to the pan when simmering.

This needs marinading overnight, after an initial 2-3 hour rub, so be warned!

And I don't know what happened with my camera but this is the only photo I have, so use your imagination!

500g pigs cheeks, each cut into 3

1 tsp salt

3 tblsp red wine vinegar

Spice paste

3 (or more) dried red chillies

½ tsp. cumin seeds

3inch cinnamon stick

6 cardamom pods

7 cloves

½ tsp. black peppercorns

1 tsp. turmeric

1 tblsp. red paprika

5 peeled garlic cloves, crushed

1 inch piece of ginger, grated

3 tblsp. red wine vinegar

2 tblsp. vegetable oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 large onion, finely sliced

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp.sugar

1 or more whole green chillies slit in half lengthways

 Rub the salt and vinegar well into the pork and set aside for 2-3 hours. 

Grind the chillies, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and peppercorns to a fine powder in a coffee grinder, or mortar if you’re feeling strong.  Combine with the turmeric, paprika, garlic, ginger and vinegar to make a thick paste. Add to the pork, rub in well, cover and refrigerate overnight (seal tightly because it’s quite pungent). 

When you are ready to cook, heat the oil in a wide frying pan until medium hot. Add the garlic and onions and fry until brown (but not burnt!).  Add the tomatoes and the green chilli if using. Stir until the tomatoes start to soften, add the sugar then the marinated meat and all the spice paste.  Fry on a fairly high heat for 5 – 10 minutes until the meat is browned and the spice mixture is cooked out.  Turn down to a medium heat, add 500ml water, and once the pan has come to the boil lower heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours.  Remove cover for the last 30 minutes so that the sauce thickens and coats the meat.

I served mine with some dhall.....

Spinach cooked with finely sliced onions and ginger, and rice with cardomom pods....