When in Naiveté

When in Naiveté

In Savoury: 

Pea Soup 

For those days when you’ve realised you trusted someone you ought not to have done, for those days when you feel afraid that your own decisions could have ruined your life or happiness or made your loved ones hurt, or even made your dog cry. For those days when you realize your worth to a person was never really all that much to begin with. For those days when you were naïve, forgive yourself, and have a cup of this soup. Make it. It’ll help.

INGREDIENTS:

                     Olive                          Oil	[1 to 2 tbsps]
                     Garlic                          cloves	[7 or 8]
                     Chicken-slices[1]	[5-6 slices]
                     Extra Virgin                          Olive Oil	[For garnish]
                     Can of Peas	[2]
                     Water	[1 litre]
                     Stock Cube	[1-1.5]
                     Fresh mint	[4-5 sprigs]
                     Salt and                         Pepper	[To taste]
                     Cream	[1 cup]
                    Cheddar[2]	[a handful]

METHOD:

1. Pour a tablespoon or two of olive oil into the pan, chop up seven or eight garlic cloves and some sliced chicken mortadella (or salami or even sausage) and fry in the olive oil. Fry the garlic until soft and starting to turn golden-brown. Fry the mortadella just an ickle bit. And if you’re using sausages… which I don’t suggest, really, by the way… fry until they’re cooked and then chop up very fine. I like to use chicken meat, regardless of what form it comes in, and though it’s processed, it’s easier to work with in a soup – this won’t be floating around.
2. Take two cans of peas, open, drain and pour into pan.
3. Throw in one stock cube and pour in a litre of water.
4. Put the pot onto the hob. Let the peas boil on high for an hour.
5. Keep pouring more water in if it keeps drying up.
6. Take a sprig or two of fresh mint and throw it in.
7. Now, we want a thick soup, because this is a meal, not a starter, so make sure that you have just the right amount of water – and that is, after the boiling complete, level with the peas.
8. Now, throw in the fried garlic cloves and mortadella/salami/sausage, whatever you’d chosen in the first step. Mix and let everything sink in to each other.
9. Now I prefer using a hand-held blender but a normal blender works as well (you should just wait till the peas cool a lot before using a blender) – so if you’re using a hand-held blender, plug it in, make sure the head of the blender is well immersed or you’ll be spraying yourself and everything with mushy peas (I quite like mushy peas, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea… particularly when it’s all over your face and clothes and stove and etc), now turn it on and blend. Slowly but surely, blend.
10. If you’ve had to cool the soup, and generally during the blending some cooling happens, put it back on the hob and turn it on again. This time season it (to TASTE – the stock cube has salt content) with salt and maybe pepper.
11. After you feel the soup is cooked the way you like it, pour in half or three-quarters a cup of cream, and let simmer for another two minutes.
12. Take off the heat, and pour the chopped cheddar (or mozzarella) into the soup and mix until melted. You can heat the soup again if it’s too cold, but I think you should be good.
13. When serving, take a tablespoon of cream, put a dollop of it in the middle of the soup bowl(s), if the soup is thick, and remember, we wanted it to be thick (but if it’s not and it tastes good, then no worries), the cream ought to sit where you’ve dolloped it – take the spoon and make swirls with the cream. To garnish – a sprig of mint would look nice, and drizzle a bit of extra-virgin olive oil over the cream and mint.

Serve with toasted French bread – buttered and a hug.

DISCLAIMER: Soup can get very hot, so if you’re tasting while cooking, please take a spoon of it, blow on it a lot – and then taste – definitely don’t taste it if the spoon is steaming. Just don’t get hurt.

---

[1] You can use Chicken Salami, mortadella or sausage though I don’t advise the sausage as it’s both a very strong taste and hard to process into the soup. Ultimately, it’s up to you and what’s in your fridge.

[2] Or Mozzarella – you can mix the two if you want… 

When in Trust

In Savoury:

Honey-Saffron Chicken Roast

For when you’re in safe and warm company – even if it’s just yours.

Chicken	Whole Chicken (without skin[1])
Mace (whole)[2]	1 small bit[3]
Red Onion	1[4]
Honey	To taste (you can use Agave Nectar instead if serving someone who’d prefer a lower sugar level in the food.)
Whole Garlic	2 bulbs, skinned, not chopped
Ginger	Quarter of an inch, chopped very fine
Salt	To taste (put this in LAST because we’ll use a stock cube)
Coarse Dried Red Chilli	To taste
Whole Cardamom	5-6
Whole Cloves	2-3
Vegetable Oil	0.5 cup
Garlic Powder	1.5 teaspoons
Ginger Powder	1.5 teaspoons
Stock Cube	1 (chicken or even beef flavour)
Saffron	Two big pinches
Milk	A cup
Potatoes	4 medium sized, skinned and chopped into quarters

---

[1] You can use a chicken with its skin on, but I’d suggest not to in this recipe. It’s up to you.

[2] I think it’s called Jodhri in Urdu… not sure, really…

[3] You can get mace as a powder or as a semi-dried spice that’s a bit soft and bendy… it looks and smells really mild, but in actuality, if you go too far with mace, and a tiny bit more than necessary is going too far, you’ll barely be able to stomach the dish. Be careful, be wise. ‘Less can be added to, more can’t be taken away from’.

[4] Yes, just the one, don’t put more in. Don’t. Just don’t. Because I said so.

Method:

1. Ok first off, prepare the chicken – take a fork and mark the chicken all over – this might make you feel like you’re stabbing a dead chicken, don’t worry: you are.
2. Crush half the garlic and mix it with one pinch of the saffron, both the garlic and ginger powders, half of the oil and half the stock cube. Massage this mixture for about ten minutes onto the whole chicken and then leave it to sit for a few hours in the fridge in a big bowl (which is covered with cling-film).
3. Chop up the onion. Finely chopped or diced, it’s not an issue. Place the chopped onion then into a pan (choose a pan that leaves about two to three inches between its sides and the chicken once you place the chicken in it), throw in the rest of the garlic and all the ginger. Pour the rest of the oil onto the onions, garlic and ginger in the pan. Note: Use a non-stick pan or if you don’t have a non-stick one, line a pan with foil and use that.
4. Heat the milk – until it’s quite hot but not boiling, put the saffron in and let it melt. Mix it to help it along, but don’t keep heating it. Add the whole cardamom and cloves. Finely cut the mace – mash it even, and add it to the milk as well. Put this flavoured milk to one side and let it steep (can you use ‘steep in this context?).
5. In a small bowl, mix some of the honey and coarse ground chilli – do this mixing for a little while so the flavour of the chilli really mixes in with the honey. Try and use a significantly larger amount of honey than chilli. Remember, the chilli will be tempered by the honey, so you don’t need to be too afraid of it. As always, however, know your limits.
6. Once the chicken’s been sat there waiting in the fridge for a few hours, preheat the oven to about 220^oC (No I don’t do Fahrenheit, figure it out yourself, I’m sorry. Always thought Fahrenheit was for the weak). Take out the chicken from the fridge, and place it in the pan (on top of the garlic, onions and ginger – don’t move them aside to make space for the chicken – just dump the chicken on top of them. Place the potato quarters around the chicken (also on top of the onions and whatnot).
7. Pour the flavoured saffron-milk mixture (with the all the bits – so let the cardamoms and cloves pour in as well) over the chicken – try to only cover the chicken. If you feel you need it, put in another pinch or two of salt. Pour in half a cup or one whole cup of water. (Purists will be upset about the water, but tell them to be quiet and let you do the cooking).
8. Cover the chicken with either foil or if the pan comes with an oven-proof lid - use that, and place it in the oven.
9. After about 20 minutes, take out the pan and see how the chicken is doing and smelling. You can sometimes tell salt content and taste through smell, if it smells too salty then put in another chopped potato and pour half a cup of water over the chicken.
10. Cover again and put back into the oven. 10 minutes later, turn the heat down to 200^oC and let it keep going.
11. After a half hour passes, take the pan out, uncover the chicken and pour the honey-chilli onto the chicken. Make sure it’s well coated, use a basting brush if you want to get to every part (if you’re using chicken with the skin on, I suggest use the brush). Put it back into the oven.
12. Check the progress after another half hour. Uncover and let cook at 180^oC for another half an hour, checking every five minutes to make sure it’s not burning. If it’s getting too crispy, cover it again and continue until you feel it is done or the time is up.

Note: Total Oven time is about 1.5 t0 2 Hours[1]. If at any point it seems to be drying too much, pour in a little bit of water.

---

[1] Shouldn’t be more than 2 hours in my opinion.  

The making of the Sauce:

1. Once the chicken is done… Everything should smell nice. Put the chicken onto an oven-proof plate along with the potatoes into the oven, preferably covered and the oven better be turned off! This’ll keep it warm.
2. Now turn back to the pan with its contents. The garlic ought to have gone all mushy and so should have the onions and to some extent, the ginger. Get a potato masher or the back of a fork, and mush everything left in the pan.  In a glass of lukewarm water, put the remaining half of the stock cube and the remaining honey and mix. Pour this into the pan and mix with the contents. Take the mixture and pour it into a frying pan and heat until you have a sauce – don’t be afraid to taste to check, just don’t burn your tongue or your finger.

 

Serve. 

Warning about Spices

Please note: Spices and herbs can negatively influence our bodies and minds if taken in large amounts. A large amount of Nutmeg or Mace can give you a heart-attack. Too much of any spice or herb is bad for you. 

Try to avoid putting in too much of any spice, I know a lot of my recipes have a lot of spice, but I've been having spices like these since I was in the womb. I can handle a lot more than most. 

Please be careful: take care of yourself and those you happen to be feeding. Know both your limits and theirs. 

When In Serenity

In Savoury:

Land Before Time Chicken Salad[1]

---

[1] Yes I am referring to the cartoon ‘Land Before Time’. I like the name, get over it.

Ingredients: Salad

Chicken breasts	[4-5 and cubed]
Olive Oil	[Whatever you like]
Ice Berg Lettuce[1]	[1 unevenly chopped[2]]
Fenugreek Leaves	[a bunch[3]]
Red Bell Peppers	[ 2-3 sliced long]
Carrots	[3-4 sliced thinly]
Cucumbers	[2-3 sliced thickly]
Maple Syrup	[4 tbsps]
Balsamic Vinegar	[2 tbsps]
Toasted Bread Slice	[1 toast[4]]
Dried Rosemary	[1tspn]
Dried Thyme	[half a teaspoon]
White pepper[5]	[to taste]
Black pepper	[to taste]
Salt	[to taste]
Oranges	[1-2]

---

[1] Or any lettuce that you prefer if ice berg isn’t available.

[2] One big one or 2-3 small ones

[3] These are strong flavoured as compared to the lettuce in this recipe. Make sure the leaves are mostly whole and just chop at the stems – the salad will look pretty. This is also called ‘Fresh Methi’

[4] Just normal bread that you tend to toast in the morning.

[5] You can use black pepper, instead.

Method: Land Before Time Chicken Salad

1. Take the cubed chicken and fry it on low heat in the olive oil for about 10 minutes. Put a dash of water in from time to time, but don’t pour a lot in [in one go].
2. Squeeze out the oranges into a glass, pick out the seeds [with a fork, not your fingers] and pour onto the frying chicken.
3. Fry. Now if it needs some more water, pour some in.
4. Dump in the white pepper, salt, rosemary and thyme.
5. Pour a little bit more water in [only if there isn’t a lot of liquid left in the chicken], cover, and let cook on a low heat.
6. Slice the carrots thinly and place on a covered oven tray. Drizzle some olive oil and salt and pepper on them. Place in the oven [110ͦc] for about 10 – 15 minutes, or until they look all brown and caramelized. Then take them out and pour the extra oil into a cup and pour onto the chicken. Place the carrots in a bowl and also put them aside.
7. The chicken should be done now – check it… switch it off if it’s done. Make sure that there’s still some liquid left in it. Now pick the chicken pieces out of the liquid and set aside. Pour half a glass of water into the liquid that is still left in the pan and stir until the mixture dissolves. Put the pan back on low heat and keep stirring. When you have a little bit left, pour in the Balsamic Vinegar and keep stirring.
8. Just as the liquid starts to look like a sauce [i.e. creamy (though there isn’t any cream in the recipe)  and tasty], put in the maple syrup. Cook down until everything smells nice.[1] Then put aside. This is the salad dressing.
9. Take the toasted slice of bread, and cut the edges off. Now cut into small cubes. Take a clean frying pan, and oil the pan ever so slightly – I like to use olive oil – if you want to use flavoured oil [I’ve heard garlic-infused oil tastes nice with this], go ahead. Now toss the toast cubes around in the pan. They should get lightly toasted all around – keep them moving, otherwise they’ll burn and taste/look funny. After you like how your croutons look, put them aside. In the same pan put the sliced red bell peppers in and do the same thing to them. You might want to add in a dash more of oil.
10. Now slice the cucumbers into big chunks [think land before time while slicing].
11. Cut the Lettuce into big pieces, and when cutting the fenugreek leaves, try to keep the leaves attached to the stalk – it looks nicer. In fact, I barely cut the fenugreek leaves as it is.
12. Now toss everything together and serve.

---

[1] If the sauce isn’t tasting right, put in some more black pepper and maybe a pinch of red chilli powder – if you use red chilli powder, add some more water and cook a little longer as you shouldn’t eat raw spice. You might have to then put in a little bit extra Balsamic Vinegar – but only the smallest of dashes. THE SMALLEST.

I often place the salad dressing in a container next to the salad so people can decide how much they want.