West African Jollof Rice

This is a dish that many will take a look at the picture and say, "that's pilaf!" ... or, "that's jambalaya!" ... or, "that's nasi goreng!".

This is a dish you already know how to make.

The blurb, from Wikipedia: "Jollof rice, also called Benachin meaning one pot in the Wolof language, is a popular dish all over West Africa. It is thought to have originated in The Gambia but has since spread to the whole of West Africa, especially Nigeria and Ghana amongst members of the Wolof ethnic group. There are many variations of Jollof rice. The most common basic ingredients are basmati rice, tomatoes and tomato paste, onion, salt, and red pepper. Beyond that, nearly any kind of meat, vegetable, or spice can be added."

Sounds great! Let's get to it ...

White rice is one of those ingredients that is peripheral to the paleo diet, tolerable, but not ideal. Beyond paleo, Perfect Health Diet authors Paul & Shou-Ching Jaminet would call this a "safe starch" and it is with this in mind that I am perfectly happy to include white rice as part of what I would call a paleo+ diet. For a deeper look at this, check out the Perfect Health Diet.

I began with some coconut oil in a skillet. Red palm oil would also be authentic, or as far as I know about West African authenticity, which is not a huge amount by any stretch of the imagination, so ... if you are reading this and screaming at the screen that I'm doing it all wrong, please do get in touch in the comments. I would love to hear from you.

So, I began with some coconut oil and softened some shredded spring onions. I don't know if spring onions are readily available in Africa, but this is a western version inspired by what I'd seen in a video about Ghanaian cuisine.

I dropped a clove of minced garlic in, too, and then a generous spoonful of shito.

Shito? Let's look to Wikipedia again: "Shitor Din, commonly called Shito is the word for pepper in the Ghanaian native language. Whilst the word for pepper is different for each of the Ghanaian native languages, the word Shito is widely used as the name for the hot black pepper sauce ubiquitous in Ghanaian cuisine. Shito sauce consists primarily of fish oil and/or vegetable oil, ginger, dried fish and/or crustaceans, tomatoes, garlic and spices. The blend of spices and fish differs between different regions and villages."

Mine, I bought from Tesco where I found it in and amongst a whole heap of Mother Africa foods and it sounded like a lot of fun! The ingredients list as oil, shrimp and chilli. I have used this before a number of times and find how fish soups with simple greens are made into a stunning meal with a good spoon of Shito. Another time, I'll try just that with fufu balls, but for now, we're making rice.

Careful! This will fill the kitchen with something close to mustard gas! Seriously! Have your rice ready to coat in the cooking oils and some water to pour over within reach.

That's just what I did ... coated the basmati rice in the oils, colour and flavour, and poured over some water. How much? Enough to cover ... and then some. The slow cooking will infuse the rice with the water and flavours, and the water level will be fully absorbed. If you put too little on and the rice dries out before it is cooked, add more water; too much, just cook the rice on for a little longer.

Back to it ...

I also tossed in some shrimp, some peas, some chopped celery and some diced carrot and a generous squirt of tomato puree. Diced tomato would be good. You could add herbs in at point - thyme would be a good choice. I didn't ... the moment passed me by ... but there'll always be a next time.

Lower the heat under the skillet and allow the water to absorb.

It's that simple. Salt to flavour and serve out onto a plate.

Naked Baltic Salad!

Naked? No, you don't need to go au naturel to make this up ...

Simple to put together and a great punch of sour goodness!

Around the Baltic, all manner of pickles can be found as favourites in all states from Sweden to Russia to Poland and everywhere in between.

The list is not restrictive, but pickled herring, pickled anchovy, pickled gherkin, pickled beetroot, sauerkraut, pickled carrot and boiled eggs are all sound ingredients.

Take a few, some or all of these and put them on a plate.

Here, I went with a small bed of sauerkraut topped with a couple of pieces of pickled herring and a couple of slices of pickled gherkin alongside.

Accompanied by a blob of soured cream; more authentic to the Baltic is smetana which has a more creamier flavour than the soured cream we're used to in Western Europe, and garnished with dill.

Astonishingly, I had neither in the house, so the salad is naked!

Dress it if you're prudish :)

Turkey Curry

Happy New Year, guys and gals!

I do apologise for not putting up any new recipes for a while, but I have to confess to an over-indulgence in sensible indulgences on New Year's Eve and ... you guessed it ... there was an incident. I will spare you the details, but the result of these shenanigans left me with a bruised coccyx! Brutal pain!

So, we've been eating simple, easy to make food (all good paleo food, don't think a busted tailbone would turn me neolithic) which is not all that inspiring; let alone wanting to photograph it.

But here we are ... 2012!

Will the world end? I don't think so - I seem to recall a fleeting glimpse of 2015 in 'Back to the Future', so we know we get through this year.

First post of the year, and what better than curry?

I love curry! I don't care what's in it, so long as it is meat, fish, shellfish, vegetables and fat, good fat: ghee. Many restaurants are turning to "healthy" oils and there's even one restaurant here in Bradford which does not use any fat or oil at all!

From Goan Fish to Mussel Masala to the heady concoctions from Kashmir, curry is King!

My hometown of Bradford has a sizeable Pakistani population and a notable Kashmiri population. The tastes that I've picked up in forty years of eating curry inspired by the tastes of these countries gives me a rather specific spice blend which might or might not be authentic and might not even look anything like a traditional curry blend, but it's mine and I like it.

Here it is ...

4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon Indian black salt
1 onion, caramelised in ghee
Squirt of tomato puree
Inch square of ginger
Chillies

To caramelise an onion, drop some ghee into a pan, sprinkle the powdered spices over and fry on high for a short while - less than a minute, but more than a few seconds.

Shred an onion and toss it in the ghee and spices. Set the heat down low and let the sugars in the onion darken in the ghee. Ghee has a good smoke point, so can tolerate harsh frying later on, but in this case it's slow and steady - this can take half an hour, or so.

Blend the onions together with the garlic, ginger and chillies. Add a squirt of tomato puree.

Okay, we've got the curry paste ready, let's look at the meat ...

I understand that the Pakistani, Kashmiri and Northern Indian method is to simply drop the raw meat into the paste and let it cook. I have tried this method and it comes out well. In fact, Chef Rick Stein was introduced to this very method at the Karachi here in Bradford.

It comes out as well as any other method, like pre-marinating or browning off.

I like to brown off meat, especially chicken or turkey.

Here, I'm using turkey - a couple of pounds of turkey meat in strips that I've diced. Turkey has a really good meaty texture and here in the UK, we tend to only see it at Christmas, but it is getting more popular as a lower fat alternative meat.

Lower fat? Come on ... man up! You're paleo! Think on ... we're using ghee here ...

In a sauté pan, drop some ghee in, let is soften and drop the turkey meat in. Just colour the meat and then pour the curry paste in. Add some water. Lid on ... done!

Actually, one thing I do like to drop into the cooking at this point is a good couple of tablespoon of dried methi - that's fenugreek leaves.

Let it simmer for a good hour, topping up water when necessary. The paste might look a little anaemic due to the blending, but it will colour back to a nice deep red/brown as it cooks.

This is a basic curry.

You've seen all those exotic descriptions on menus like Korma, Rogan Josh, Jalfrezi, Dopiaza and so on. This basic curry can be made into all these with the inclusion of a few ingredients at the end of the cooking.

Korma - add cream and coconut milk
Dahi - add yoghurt curd
Rogan Josh - add more tomato
Jalfrezi - add some chopped peppers (capsicum)
Dopiaza - fry off some more onion and sprinkle over when serving

You get the picture ...

Once cooked, I like to let the curry sit, cool and then fry to serve. More ghee, spoons of curry and any of these ideas above can be implemented at this point.

Actually, this curry got a few things added. I had some red and yellow pepper sitting in the fridge, so they went in, I also had a pan of poaching liquor from a large salmon joint so the carrots and onion from that went in, too. Kind of a sweet jalfrezi?

I made a lot of this, so one meal was served over white rice and the rest, I ate for breakfast with some shredded chicory. White rice? Yup! I'm happy with it. Cauliflower rice would do just as well, or some greens like tenderstem broccoli, shredded cabbage, anything, really ... curry is awesome with anything.