Weekend dinner - 27/02/2016

Chicken tagine with apricots and green olives

This is another great recipe my friend S shared with me. Below is my adaption.

Chicken tagine with apricots and green olives

- 800-1000g chicken pieces (I like thighs)
- 2 teaspoons of grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- 1 teaspoon of cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons of water
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 1 large onion, minced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons of tomato puree (or 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped)
- pinch of saffron (optional)
- 2 cups of water/stock
- 12 dried apricots (use less if yours are big), halved or not, it's up to you
- half cup of green olives, halved
- chopped coriander leaves

In a big container, marinade the chicken pieces with ginger, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric and black pepper for at least one hour or leave it in the fridge for overnight. You may need a little bit water to bring the spice paste together.

In a wide bottom pan, heat the oil until hot. Sear all sides of the chicken pieces. Watch out the heat so that the spices are not darkened too quickly. When the chicken pieces are golden all around, remove from the pan.

In the same pan, cook the minced onion until lightly golden. Add in minced garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the tomato paste and cook it for another minute or two.

Add in water/stock along with a pinch of saffron. Scrape the bottom of the pan to make sure nothing is stuck. When the water comes back to boil, put the chicken pieces on top, try not to overlap. The water level should be just about the level of chicken pieces. There is no need to add more water to submerge the chicken completely. Turn the heat to low, lid on, cook the chicken for 45-60 minutes.

During the last five minutes of cooking, stir in the apricots and green olives. Let the cooking continue for 5 more minutes. Heat off with lid back on for another 5-10 minutes.

When it's ready to serve, scatter chopped coriander leaves (or parsley leaves) to the top. It's great with couscous or coconut turmeric rice (as is served tonight) and a plate of roasted vegetables.

Weekend dinner - 20/02/2016

Maqluba (Aubergine, tomato and cauliflower rice)

This is another great recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi. It is an upside-down rice dish from middle east, but I assembled the dish in a pot as it would come out flipped to avoid accident. The flavor is very good, mild but tasty. It did take some effort to get each individual vegetable cooked before assembly but the end result is worth it. I served it with turkey brochette, Greek salad and Tzatziki sauce. Two thumbs up from hubby.

I make - Smoker-less Smoked salmon (final recipe)

For the past three months, I have been curing my own salmon. The first time was purely out of curiosity. Can I create something at home which still has a touch flair of luxury? It all started with my friend, S, who shared her salmon curing experience with me. I just couldn't believe this is something I could attempt at home, with so few ingredients!

Since then, I have been experimenting with the curing mix and timing to come up something we like. Below is my final recipe for home curing salmon. The recipe was inspired by a number of recipes I found on the internet and tried at home. The four main components are: smoked tea leaves, sea salt flakes, brown sugar and onion powder. The use of smoked tea leaves not only does it give a smoky flavor but also leave an attractive mark on the salmon after curing. The use of onion powder adds a very nice but subtle background savory note. If onion powder is difficult to come by for you, feel free to ignore it. The final product will still be good. After repeating this recipe a few times, I noticed that the salt particle size has an impact on how salty salmon turns out, despite of the same weight. Therefore, I strongly recommend sea salt flakes such as Maldon salt to cure salmon at home, instead of regular table salt.

Home curing salmon with smoked tea leaves

- 750 g salmon with skin, pin-bones removed
- 52.5 g Maldon salt (7% of the salmon weight)
- 35 g brown sugar (a 2/3 of the salt weight)
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder* (optional but highly recommended)
- 10 g of of smoked tea leaves, crushed (about 4 Lapsang souchong teabags; you can use other types of smoked tea leaves, such as Russian caravan)
- vodka (or brandy/whisky) to rinse the salmon

*If you can only get onion salt (like I do), add the onion salt to the Maldon salt while weighing to make it 52.5g (7% of the salmon weight).

Soak salmon in a pot of salted cold water for 10 minutes. Table salt is okay to use at this step. Rinse the salmon under cold running tap water to wash away any clinging grease. Pat dry with plenty of paper towels. I like to rinse the salmon again with vodka (as a safety measure). This is optional. If you do, dry the salmon again with paper towels after the vodka rinse.

In another bowl, mix together Maldon salt, brown sugar, white pepper, onion powder and crushed tea leaves.

 In a large surface, lay several layers of cling films, overlapping so as to wrap the salmon piece completely. Spoon a third of the salt mixture on the cling film, lay the salmon on top with skin side down. In the picture below, I sliced the salmon in half to fit my container. It's optional.

Cover the salmon flesh with all remaining curing mix, making sure all sides are covered. I stacked my two salmon slices skin side out so that the flesh and salt cure has maximum contact.

Bring the cling films together to wrap the salmon tightly. Put the salmon in a container with weight on top. Refrigerate for two days. You could flip the salmon parcel half way through but I don't find this step necessary.

After two days, remove the cling film from the salmon, rinse the fish under the cold running tap water. There is no need to wash away all tea leaves but make sure all the other curing ingredients gone. Pat the salmon dry with paper towels. Remove the skin and the brown bits. Slice thinly and enjoy with lemon wedges or with blini.