Lemon chicken risotto with bell peppers

I had a simple version of this in a restaurant the other week and thought to myself: I could do that! So I came up with this. A lot of the technique here comes from watching my dad make his fine risotto over the years. 

A few things about risotto first. The main thing is to add the stock gradually and keep stirring till most of the liquid has been absorbed. Then add a little more etc. It takes time. You can't rush a risotto. One of the worst risottos I ever had was about 18 years ago and a "risotto" came out of the oven as if it was a pasta bake. No! No! No! It was bloody awful.

Rice: use Arborio rice. Nothing else will do. Trust me.

Serves: 2
Cost: 3.40 zl per person (1.04 US Dollars, 67p UK, 2.48 Brazilian Real)

What you'll need:

- 100-120g Arborio rice
- a good litre of stock 
- extra flavourings for the stock:

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp dried lovage leaves

2-3 bay leaves

1 dried red chilli

salt to taste

- a splash of white wine

- 1 medium onion finely chopped

- 1 clove of garlic finely chopped

- 1/3 each of red/ green/ yellow peppers chopped

- 100g chicken thigh meat off the bone cut into thin strips

- handful of basil leaves

- juice of half a lemon

- 2-3 tsp grated parmesan cheese

- salt and pepper to taste

Let's get grooving!

1. The stock. The easy way is to dissolve around 2 stock cubes in one litre of hot water. The harder (but tastier way) is to boil down a chicken carcass for a couple of hours with some left over vegetables. Strain. Let the liquid settle in a closed container and put in the fridge. When you take it out of the fridge, the fat will have settled at the top. Skim it off.

2. Pour the remaining liquid in a pan and heat. Get the flavourings together.

3. Get those herbs and spices into the stock! This is going to be ticking over on a low heat while you get everything else ready.

4. Prep the other ingredients:

5. A nice glug or two of olive oil (extra virgin this time) in a hot pan.

6. Onions in. Sweat down for around 10 minutes till reduced and translucent.

7. Garlic in. Give it a minute.

8. Chicken in. I've opted for thigh meat. Why? Because it retains its juice better. Breast meat tends to dry out if cooked longer than 10-15 minutes. Thigh meat also has more flavour.

9. When the chicken is almost all sealed (white - around 5 minutes), get the peppers in.

10. Give it 30 seconds

11. Rice in. Let it absorb the juices for at least a minute.

12. Give it a splash of white wine. Enjoy the "whoosh" as it hits the hot pan and starts to evaporate.

13. Ok. Now it's time to start ladling in the stock (this will take around 25 minutes). Put two ladles in first. Wait till that's absorbed and then add two more. Repeat and stir until the rice is al dente. Keep tasting - that's the only way you'll know when it's there!

14. Just around when the rice is al dente (and I repeat, this will be after around 25 minutes), add some basil leaves.

15. Squeeze in the lemon juice

16. Parmesan in. Melt through. 

17. Serve!

What did this cost?

- chicken: 2.50 zl
- rice: 1.25 zl
- peppers: 1 zl
- the rest: 2 zl

Total: 6.75 zl
Serves: 2
Per person: 3.40 zl

Easy Crispy Aubergine (smooth pakora baingan)

I have a slight addiction to pakoras - I think it's the crispiness that gets me every time. That and the subtle hint of spice. This version isn't mouth-blisteringly hot at all and uses few ingredients so I reckon it's an easy one that goes well with just about any other Indian dishes or could just be eaten on its own as a snack.

I've stripped the ingredients here to the bare minimum. You don't have to use aubergine; it's just that I happened to have one lying around. Broccoli and cauliflower would work well too. Maybe carrot? Go crazy and try!

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 1.25 zl (25p)

What you need:

- an aubergine
- a small onion
- 1-2 tablespoons of greek yoghurt
- 2 green chillies
- 3 tablespoons of gram flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of rice flour
- a good pinch of salt
- 1 tsp coarsely ground coriander seed
- 1/3 tsp chilli powder (if you want a bit of extra kick; I didn't bother)
- veg oil for deep frying

Let's boogie!

1. Get your stuff ready for grinding

2. Chop up the onion and chillies and put into a coffee grinder

3. Yoghurt in and grind to a very smooth paste

4. Get the flours in a bowl. Add the crushed coriander seed

5. Get a pinch or two of salt in there plus some chilli powder if you like

6. Onion and chilli paste in

7. Start working it, baby!

8. Wash out the grinder with some water and add

9. Keep working it!

10. Add more water till you have a fairly thin batter

11. Slice the aubergine

12. Add to the batter

13. Heat up enough oil in a wok to deep fry comfortably. Get it nice and hot. Aubergines in. Cook till golden brown (approx 5 minutes).

14. Drain on kitchen paper and enjoy. Don't worry if the batter gets a bit deformed - it's all part of the fun!

What did this cost?

- aubergine: 3 zl
- the rest: 2 zl

Total: 5 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 1.25 zl

Almost Free Chicken Soup

Ok. An easy one today. It's a bit of a "left-overs" meal, good for when you've had roast chicken or something like that or, as in my case, you've jointed a chicken and you're left with the carcass. Even if you haven't cooked chicken, you can usually pick up a carcass from the butcher for next to nothing.

Why do you need a chicken carcass? To make your own stock! Forget knorr etc. Full of chemicals. Yuck! What we want is real tasty stock from a real chicken and vegetables! We also want to get rid of those odd vegetables in the fridge that are "on the turn", if you know what I mean...

From this carcass, you can get two meals: chicken soup as I'm showing you today and later on we'll be making a risotto from the chicken stock.

Let's do the soup now.

Cost per person: 1 zl (20p UK, 24 Euro cents, 0.63 Turkish Lira)
Serves: 2

What you need for the stock:

- chicken carcass
- some old vegetables

What you need for the soup:

- an onion
- a clove of garlic (crushed)
- 1 dried red chilli
- 1 tomato
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp marjoram
- 3 bay leaves
- other herbs if you like
- salt and pepper to taste
- pieces of edible chicken salvaged from the carcass

What do we need to do?

1. Make the initial stock. Get the carcass in a big pan of water. Boil. Throw in some vegetables which are past their peak (but not rotten!). I used some bits of onion, old ginger, old garlic, one old green chilli pepper, 2 old tomatoes, a bunch of old parsley. You could use whatever's there.

2. Boil for around 2 hours.

3. Cool.

4. Strain the liquid into a container. Put in the fridge. You'll need this for in a couple of days time when I show you the risotto recipe. Yum!

5. Pick usable chicken from the carcass and put in a separate container. You'll need about half for the soup and half for the risotto.

6. Put the carcass and the veg from the stock back into the pan and add more water.

7. Bring to a boil and add the extra vegetables. I didn't add extra tomato because there was already a fair amount in the stock, but add some now if you didn't add any before.

8. Simmer for around an hour.

9. Strain the liquid out. Discard the carcass and veg. Add half the salvaged chicken pieces and hey presto! You've got your soup!

What did this cost?

- chicken: nothing at all - it was left over from a previous meal
- veg for the stock: nothing at all - I was going to throw them out the next day anyway
- veg and spices for the soup: about 0.20 zl let's say (and I'm being generous there)
- bread with the soup: 1.80 zl (again, that's generous)

Total cost: 2 zl
Serves: 2
Per person: 1 zl

Aubergine in a spicy nutty coconut sauce (bagare baingan)

There's a few reasons I'd been interested in trying this one out. Firstly, it's an authentic Indian dish from the Hyderabad region and you definitely won't see it on a restaurant menu in the UK (or at least, I never have). Secondly, it's vegan without really trying to be. I mean, it's vegan by accident and is so good that you just won't notice that it's vegan. In fact, I shouldn't have really told you. Thirdly, it gave me the excuse to pick up some baby aubergines from an Asian store when I was over in the UK recently. I'd noticed them in India and Thailand and always wanted to check them out.

Here's what the end product looks like: it's a wonderfully rich dish with a nutty spicy flavour laced with coconut and a good amount of heat from the dried red chillies.

As for the aubergines, ok I'll be frank: you could just use regular ones and chop them up into meaty strips. In fact, please do this! Don't worry if you can't get the ones I got.

The first time I made the dish, I used these:

The second time, I thought I'd try these:

Both worked well. If you're going to use this kind, keep them on the stem and make two cuts upwards towards the stem to make a cross. Keep the stem intact:

Salt them for 30 minutes then leave to soak in water while you get the rest of the ingredients ready.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? Haven't even told you what this costs yet... Or the ingredients...

Cost: 2.90 zl per person (59 pence, 92 cents, 5.5 Norwegian Kroner)
Serves: 4

What you need:

- 10-12 baby aubergines
- 2 tsp cashew nuts
- 2 tsp almonds
- 4 large dried red chillies 
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp poppy seeds
- 2 tablespoons of grated coconut - about half a coconut - (or desiccated if you can't be bothered grating a fresh coconut)
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 2 cloves
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 2 black cardamons
- salt to taste
- 2 onions finely chopped
- 2 tsp ginger/garlic paste
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- handful of curry leaves
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp tamarind concentrate in a glass of hot water (prep in advance)

One thing about the ingredients: traditionally, peanuts are used instead of the cashews and almonds, so feel free to experiment there. Like I said, use normal aubergines if you like. Chop up fairly large, though. Grating a coconut is a faff, but is worth it for the fresh flavour. 

Let's get on with it!

1. Soak the cashews, almonds and dried red chillies in a little water for around an hour. This makes it easier to grind them to a smooth paste. 

2. Prep the aubergines as above.

3. Prep the other ingredients (excluding the onions, garlic and ginger)

4. Start by dry roasting the hard spices first for a minute or two until you can smell the aroma

5. Add the nuts and dry roast for a further 30 seconds.

6. Coconut in and dry roast until the whole mixture feels dry but avoid browning the coconut too much. Take off the heat.

7. Transfer to a coffee grinder and grind to a powder.

8. You might have to do this in batches, but add the cashew/ almond/ chilli mixture along with the soaking water and grind with the coconut spice mix. Add enough water to form a smooth paste. You might need to grind for some time. Be patient - you'll get there!

You should end up with something which looks like this:

9. Oil in a pan. Hot. Mustard seeds in

10. When they splutter, aubergines in. Medium heat. Cook till the aubergines are about 90% there. Remove from the pan

11. Keep the same oil. You might need to add a little more. Onions in. Sweat down with a little salt till they start to brown slightly.

12. Ginger/ garlic paste in. 

13. Curry leaves

14. Turmeric

15. Get the paste in. Add a glass or two of water. Simmer for around 10 minutes.

16. In the meantime, prep the tamarind juice. Add 2 tsp concentrate to a glass of hot water.

17. When the oil starts to separate from the paste, you know it's cooked.

18. Time for the tamarind.

19. Get those aubergines back in and cover. Cook for a further 5 minutes or so. Add salt to taste.

20. Blimey, that was a marathon, wasn't it! Enjoy with rice!

What that cost:

- Aubergines: 7 zl

- Coconut: 1 zl

- Rice: 1.60 zl

- The rest: 2 zl

Total: 11.60 zl

Serves: 4

Cost per person: 2.90 zl