Well despite all I have heard about English Cuisine, I thoroughly enjoyed the food in London. Of course when we weren't eating homemade food of Stu's or mine, we had gourmet pizza at Gabriel's Wharf, fantastic Italian at El Bordello, and great Indian food at Shampan at the Spinning Wheel in Westersham.
I have never really had much in the way of Indian food, I have dabbled a little bit, using whole spices, not generic curry powders and thought that they were OK, but unless they were spicey I could take them or leave them. Unfortunately my family isn't in to spicy foods and it just isn't as good if you just add hot sauce later, it is more of an afterthought instead of being cooked in and married to the dish.
Well Shampan changed that for Jennifer, even the items that I though she might think were to spicy for her were so full of other flavors that she enjoyed them.
We started with papadams with chutneys, a spicy lime pickle relish and cucumber raita. Then on to the appetizers, Scallops with Raw Mango Chutney, Chicken and Cheese Lafaffas, Aloo Chops, and Lamb Chops. All really good.
For Entrees we had Chicken Madras, Chicken Tikka, Chicken Murgh Achari, and Duck Hash Jhal with Garlic Nan, Sweet Nan, Lamb stuffed Nan, Mushrooms Rice, some Onion Bhaji and Wine of Course a very nice Malbec that paired wonderfully with it.
Afterwords we received some complimentary drinks that extended the night a little bit more.
so as is my habit, once we got home I had to try to duplicate some of the flavors. So far I have created the Chicken and Cheese Lafaffas which are sort of deep fried Chicken and Spinach Pies and the Aloo Chops, Spiced deep fried battered mashed potatoes.
Please Enjoy!
Chicken and Cheese
Laffafa
2
T Olive Oil
1
T Mustard Oil
2 T Fresh Ginger, chopped
1 t Cumin Seed
1 t Mustard Seed
½ c Onion, finely diced
¼ t Cayenne
1 lb Spinach, frozen and drained
1 Bunch Scallions, chopped
2 T Parsley, chopped
2 T Cilantro, chopped
Shredded Chicken
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Egg
½ lb Mild White Cheese, cut into
tablespoon sizes
1 c Flour for dredging
2 Eggs beaten with 1 cup of milk
2 c Fine Breadcrumbs
Oil for Deep Frying
1.
Heat oil in a cast iron skillet, add ginger, cumin and
mustard seeds and sauté 3 minutes
2.
Add Onion and sauté 5 minutes until translucent
3.
Remove from heat, stir in cayenne, spinach, scallions,
parsley, cilantro and chicken
4.
Season to taste with salt and pepper
5.
Mix in egg and form into patties
6.
Add a Piece of cheese to each patty and dredge in flour,
then eggwash and then fine bread crumbs
7.
Deep Fry until golden
Aloo Chop
1 T
Mustard Oil
½ t
Cumin Seeds
½ t
Mustard seeds
3
Potatoes, boiled and mashed
1 Onion,
Chopped
1 Inch
Ginger, grated
1 Green
Chili, chopped
1 t
Cumin Powder
1 I
Coriander
1 T
Cilantro
1 t
Lemon Juice
3 T Rye
Flour
1 ½ t
Rice Flour
½ t
Ajwain
½ t
Turmeric
½ t
Cayenne
Salt To
Taste
½ c
Water
Pinch
Baking Soda
2 c Oil
for Frying
1.
Heat one tablespoon oil in a non stick pan, add cumin and mustard
seeds, let it brown and splutter
2.
Add the onion, ginger and chopped green chili and sauté 5
minutes.
3.
Remove from heat and stir into the mashed potatoes, cumin
powder, coriander, cilantro and lemon Juice, set aside.
4.
Prepare the batter mixing together the rye flour, rice
flour, ajwain(if you can’t find this don’t worry, use ¼ t caraway or skip it
all together), turmeric and cayenne, a pinch of salt, the water and a pinch of
baking soda.
5.
Heat the oil for deep frying.
6.
Divide the potato mixture into tablespoon sized balls.
7.
Dip each piece in the batter and deep fry till golden brown.
8.
Serve hot with chutney or raita
