Duck Breast in Massaman Curry with Potatoes & Cashew Nuts & Crispy Duck Skin

• The 8'C 2'G Curry Paste Paste - Blend together
• 25g of Cashew Nuts
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• 1 red Chilli
• 1/2 tsp Coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground Cardamom
• 2 Cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground Cinnamon
• 15g of fresh Ginger
• 1 lemon Grass stalk
• 1 large shallot
• 1/4 nutmeg
• 1/2 tbsp of palm sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp fish sauce

• Slightly brown off some whole cashew nuts in a dry pan. 
• Just cook duck to very pink and slightly under (as you see fit pan/roast) then slice or dice, set aside.
• Soften 1/2 Onion, add 2 Cardamon pods and 1 Star Anise half way through
• Add 2 tbs Paste, cook for a minute.
• Add 400ml Coconut Milk - Simmer 20 mins
• Add potato & cook until soft
• Add duck to warm but not over cook then serve immediately with browned cashew nuts placed on the plate. 
• Fresh Coriander to garnish 

Curry

Here are a couple of curry dishes, a Sri Lankan Prawn Curry with tomato and chick pea Dahl.

Beef with black-eyed bean dahl and home made roti.

Seabass with Curried Veloute and Coconut Peas

I do love seabass and I hardly ever cooked fish two years ago. How things have changed. This was in a curried veloute but not too overpowering.

Clams with Panchetta in a Port Jus with Samphire

I absolutely loved these clams really sweat and went well with the port just and panchetta. Reminder to self, I really need to buy more clams.


Ah yes also found this picture, chicken and sag korma.

Sri Lankan Curry with Basmati Rice

I cook a lot of curries and decided to do something really different with this one, I wish I had written down what I did as it went down very well. I'm not sure why I have called this a Sri Lankan curry, I'm just have a feeling that their curry's are a little fruitier. I used a lot of amchoor(mango)powder, fenugreek and star anise which gave it a different flavour and I deep fried the chicken in spicy breadcrumbs.

Some basics

Home made tagliatelli with tomato and basil sauce. I have adopted a new recipe for my home made pasta and what a difference. 480g '00' flour, 2tbsp olive oil, 120ml cold saffron water, 4 egg yokes, 1 egg and pinch of salt. The secret is to add the water and oil very slowly and the essential ingredient to a good tomato based sauce is add some gastric (equal weight of white wine vinegar and sugar) to give it that sweet and sour experience.

North Indian chicken curry.

Pan Fried Sea Bass in Bengali Broth and Curried Potatoes

Getting the skin on a fillet of fish takes a bit or practice, the secret is to dry the skin well first then rub with corn flower.

This is a subtle spiced broth using mustard seeds, onions, garlic, turmeric, chilli, coriander, and tomato paste, cook with fish stock then strain the liquid for a clear broth. Cook the potatoes in spiced water with lots of turmeric to give them that lovely yellow colour.