Chicken Vindaloo

Vindaloo, vindaloo, vindaloo, vindaloo, na na!

It's a bastardised Portuguese dish from Goa that was bastardised further by British Indian restaurants which tend to use the term "vindaloo" to mean "bloody hot!". We're going to retire that British version right now and consign it to the bin it belongs in. We're going Portuguese-Goan here.

Vin = wine (i.e. vinegar)
Aloo = garlic

In other words, a dish with loads of vinegar and garlic, as I'm sure the original Portuguese version would have been back in the old country. Once it hit Indian shores, however, the locals added their own little spice and magic which resulted in quite a strange yet endearing dish.

If you really want authenticity, this dish should really be made with pork. I'm not a big pig-eater so I'll use chicken thigh meat. Thigh, not breast. Why? You need to cook it longer in the pan than a breast would allow. Thighs stay juicy. Breasts dry out. No, that wasn't a metaphor.

Serves: 4
Cost: 2.88 zl per person (58 Uk pence)

What you'll need:

- around 500g of chicken thigh meat
- a glass of wine vinegar
- 1 tsp pepper corns
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- cinnamon stick
- 6-7 cardamon pods
- 5 cloves
- 5-6 large dried red chillies
- 1-2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 inch ginger (crushed)
- 6 cloves of garlic (crushed)
- 2 onions (finely chopped)
- 1 green chilli (slit)

Shall we get to it?

1. Deseed the chillies

2. Soak the chillies in a glass of wine vinegar for 30 minutes or until soft

3. Prep the seeds and dry roast for around a minute or until you can smell the aromas. DON'T burn!

4. Powder the whole spices in a coffee grinder

5. Add the chillies and vinegar to the grinder and whizz away until you've got a fine paste

6. Marinade the chicken thigh pieces overnight in this paste

7. Prep the ingredients for cooking

8. Pound the garlic in a pestle and mortar, grate the ginger and slit the green chilli

9. Oil in a hot pan. Mustard seeds in. Snap crackle and pop.

10. Onions in. Sprinkle with salt. Cook down till golden

11. Garlic and ginger in

12. Green chilli in

13. Turmeric in

14. Chicken

15. Swill out the marinade bowl with water and add. Cook down on a low heat for around 20 minutes

16. Check the seasoning. Ready to serve! Goes nicely with basmati rice.

Costing:

- chicken: 7.50 zl

- rice: 2.40 zl

- the rest: 1.60 zl

Total: 11.50 zl

Serves: 4

Per person: 2.88 zl

Tagliatelle in a salmon and leek cream sauce

I popped down the market the other day and there it was: Baltic salmon. Not fish-farmed nonsense from Norway, but real fish from the local area. Just the job! So, I came up with a simple sauce to go with it using leek, garlic and cream. It's dead easy to do and goes beautifully with a ribbon pasta such as tagliatelle.

That challenge was to bring it in under budget. If I was to do it again, I'd get a whole fish and fillet it myself - it's cheaper that way for sure. But this time I went for 3 salmon steaks weighing in at 300g which came to 12 zl. So, I had to be really economical and use only 60g per person. The sauce really came in handy when I had to pan out that 60g into a main course. 

I decided to push the boat out even more by finishing the dish with crumbled pan-roasted almonds!

Serves: 3
Cost per person: 4 zl (80 UK pence)

What you'll need:

- 180g fresh, local salmon ( I bought 300g but kept back 120g for another occasion)
- 1/2 a leek
- a handful of finely chopped chives
- a handful of lovage (optional)
- 1 clove of garlic roughly chopped
- a splash of olive oil
- a little butter
- a small pot of 18% cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- a handful of almonds
- 180g tagliatelle

Let's go!

1. Prep your stuff:

2. You'll need that salmon skinned and off the bone. An easy way is to pan fry it first - then the flesh just falls away from the skeleton. You then add the cooked flesh to the sauce later. So, pan on! Olive oil in!

3. Salmon in!

4. When the flesh turns white up to 2/3 of the way, turn over and do the other side

5. Remove from the pan and cool. Meanwhile, get your water boiling for the pasta. When it's boiling get the pasta in and cook according to the packet - you want it nice and al dente. If it's ready before the rest of the meal, drain and set aside. Refresh with boiling water from the kettle just before serving.

6. When the salmon has cooled sufficiently, get your hands in and remove the skin and bones

7. Dry roast the almonds for a minute until they just start to brown

8. Crush in a pestel and mortar and set aside

9. Using the same pan that you fried the salmon in, get a little butter in there on a low-medium heat

10. Leeks in - sweat those babies right down. Should take around 5 minutes

11. Garlic and chives in

12. Lovage in (if using)

13. Salmon back in. Warm through and season

14. Cream in. Warm through and serve on a bed of tagliatelle sprinkled with the crushed roasted almonds.

What did that cost?

- salmon: 7.2 zl

- leek: 1 zl

- pasta: 2.20 zl

- cream: 1 zl

- the rest: 0.60 zl

Total: 12 zl

Serves: 3

Cost per person: 4 zl

Potatoes flavoured with mustard and cumin seeds

Are you ready to transform the humble potato into something more magnificent?

The concept is simple: boil the potatoes then pan fry them with flavourings of your choice. Today I'll be mainly using mustard and cumin seeds (as the title suggests) plus garlic and turmeric. In this version I've added a slight twist by garnishing with fried onions. Nice!

As this is really a side dish to accompany a main meal (any meal - just replace the mash with these) I won't be giving an exact cost breakdown except to say that it won't cost much more than the potatoes themselves: in other words, cheap as chips!

You'll need:

- potatoes (no surprises there!) boiled in their skins till done
- 1 onion cut into thin slices
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/3 tsp turmeric
- some oil

Let's boogie!

1. Boil the potatoes in their skins in salted water for around 15 minutes (prod with a fork to check they're done - the fork should go in easily). Drain and slice into halves.

2. Oil in a hot wok. Mustard seeds in. Crackle. Cumin seeds in.

3. Onions in. Fry until a deep golden brown.

4. Remove the onions with a slotted spoon leaving the remaining oil in the pan for doing the potatoes.

5. Garlic in. 30 seconds to cook out the rawness.

6. Turmeric in.

7. Potatoes in. Do for 5 minutes until they slightly brown on the outside.

8. You're done!

Escalope of Chicken with a Sourdough Breadcrumb and Herb Crust

Yeah, ok - it's a fancy title for a pan-fried chicken and mash dish... Packed with flavour, though, it certainly punches its weight.

Why the sourdough breadcrumbs? Because I was baking some sourdough and left it too long in the oven. I cut off the black exterior and managed to rescue the inside so I decided to whizz it up into breadcrumbs. Use ordinary breadcrumbs, though, why don't you? Slightly stale bread works well. You'd throw it out anyway so why not convert into breadcrumbs?

It's the herbs and the subtle undercurrent of garlic that make the dish. I reckon fresh herbs will work best and I used a combination of basil, coriander, rosemary and chives. There are certainly other combinations which could work as well - just experiment!

Cost per person: 3.25 zl (65 UK pence, 77 Euro cents)

What you'll need for the breadcrumbs:

- some bread past its peak (but not mouldy!), sourdough in my case
- a couple of handfuls of chopped up herbs

1. Whizz up the bread in a blender till quite fine

2. Grab some herbs

3. Chop them up

4. Add to the breadcrumbs

What you'll need for the mash:

- 600g of peeled potatoes
- water
- salt
- a dollop of butter and cream

1. Peel the spuds (that's what we Northerners call potatoes, you young budding English students out there!) and cut in half. Add to a pan of water. The water should just cover the potatoes. Add a tsp of salt. Always put potatoes in water after peeling - they'll discolour otherwise.

Now that it's all prepped, let's get cracking!

What you'll need for the chicken:

- 500g chicken breast
- the breadcrumb mix
- 2 eggs
- a little flour
- a clove of garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil

1. Trim the chicken breasts. Put inside a plastic bag. Flatten with a kitchen mallet. 

2. Remove from the bag and cut up into medium sized pieces

3. Flour on all sides

4. Dip in the egg

5. Coat in the breadcrumb mix

6. Get the potatoes on. Bring to the boil covered then turn the heat down to a rolling boil. They should be soft after around 15-20 minutes. 

7. Bash a clove of garlic under the blade of your chef's knife.

8. Olive oil in a hot frying pan. Chicken in

9. Add the garlic to a free space in the pan. The idea is to infuse a subtle garlicky nuance to the dish. Remove the garlic as soon as it starts to brown - we don't want the bitterness of burnt garlic to spoil the flavour.

10. After 5 minutes, turn over the chicken and fry the other side. After 5 minutes, turn over again to the original side and season well with salt.

11. Season with a good dose of black pepper

12. Remove the chicken onto some kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil. 

13. Check the potatoes are done - if a fork passes through easily then they're there! Drain the water. Add a dollop of butter and cream.

14. Mash very well. 

15. Serve with a salad and enjoy!

What did this cost?

- the breadcrumbs: the leftover bread was free. The herbs, a negligible: 0.20 zl
- the potatoes: 0.90 zl
- the chicken: 7.50 zl
- the eggs: 1.40 zl
- the salad: 2.50 z
- the rest: 0.50

Total cost: 13 zl
Serves: 4
Cost per person: 3.25 zl