Indian spiced shepherd’s pie

It has been a while since my last post from BBC’s GoodFood magazine. This one is one of my all-time favorites, it is not unlike layered potatoes, which is a real Hungarian comfort food, and comes with tasty Indian spices. Easy to make, perfect for lunchboxes, all together a really nice dish to feature.

What you will need:

• 500g pack minced meat (turkey or beef)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 tablespoons garam masala
• 200 ml hot stock (beef or chicken)
• 300 g frozen peas
• 800 g potatoes, diced
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• salt and pepper to taste
• small bunch of coriander, minced
• juice half lemon

How to make it:

1. In a large frying pan, cook the meat, onion and carrots, stirring often, until the meat is browned and vegetables start to soften
2. Add the garam masala and some salt and pepper and cook for a further 2 minutes until fragrant
3. Pour in the stock, bring it to a boil, tip in the peas and cook for a further 2 minutes until the peas are cooked and the liquid has evaporated
4. Time to cook the potatoes. Using a large pan, and salted water, cook them until tender
5. Drain the potatoes, return them to the pan, and stir in the turmeric and the coriander
6. Heat the oven to 200 °C
7. Transfer the mince to a casserole dish, and top with turmeric potatoes
8. Squeeze over the lemon juice, then bake for 30-35 minutes until the potatoes are golden

The fact, that most of its ingredients are items that can be found in any kitchen, and its easy and fast preparation make this an ideal food to be cooked “in a pinch”, and the exotic spices guarantee that you will serve something that people don’t eat every day.

Lemon-coriander turkey burger (Burger Friday)

Every month I hold sort of a “diet” week, during which I do not cook, but order healthy weight loss menus from a food delivery company. Part of the reason behind this is lazyness (not having to wash up the dishes kind of rocks), part of it is checking out ideas for new recipes and a huge part of course is the aim to lose weight. This week is one of those weeks, but I did not want to leave you guys without a Burger Friday, so I thought up some real “light burger”. Kind of. 🙂

What you will need:

For the burger:

• 250 g turkey mince
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon fresh coriander, minced
• zest 1 lemon (the juice we will use with the coleslaw)
• 2 baguettes

For the coleslaw:

• 250 g shredded cabbage
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 small onion minced
• 1 dl mayonnaise
• 50 ml milk
• 50 ml kefír
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• a pinch of white pepper

How to make it:

1.  Put the cabbage in a bowl, pour some salt on it, mix it, and put it in the refrigerator for an hour, covered
2. Enjoy your one hour free time, because there really isn’t much to do at this part 🙂
3. Cut the carrot into really fine pieces
4. Get the cabbage out of the fridge, press the water out of it by hand
5. Mix the coleslaw ingredients together in a bowl, cover the bowl and refrigerate for another hour (at least…if you can, give it two)
6. Mix the turkey mince together with the spices, the coriander and the lemon zest, and put it in the fridge for an hour
7. Once the hour has passed, start heating your grillpan, toasting your baguettes on both sides
8. Form patties out of the meat, and altering the heat between low and medium, grill the patties until well done
9. Assembly is really easy with this one, you just put the patty in the baguette, top with some coleslaw and you are done

The portions described here are enough for 2 burgers. I decided to go with baguettes this time, to change things around a bit, and also, I feel that baguettes go better with turkey and chicken than regular buns.

As you can see, the recipe is not a complicated one, but you need to get started with it in time because of all the refrigeration. Of course you can leave that out, but I personally would advise against it, it really boosts the flavor if you give it time.

 

Fake Wok Noodles

One of the best foods I had while in Indonesia, was the “mie goreng” or fried noodle. While I also like to make that, I rarely have the time to get all the ingredients for it (the version I like requires one specific type of instant noodles). The ingredient to this version are easier to obtain and/or can be stored for a long time, so let’s consider this the “easy mie goreng”. 🙂

What you will need:

• 250 g spaghetti
• 100 g turkey ham, sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled
• cabbage leaves (aiming for a handful when chopped)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (and some for pasta cooking)
• 1 tablespoon salty soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ground white pepper to taste
• 100 g salted peanuts

How to make it:

1. Cook the pasta in a pot, adding olive oil and salt to the water
2. While the pasta is cooking, cut the vegetables to julienne, and crush the garlic cloves
3. Once the pasta is done, just drain it and put it to the side
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the garlic for 1-2 minutes, add the turkey ham right after
   

   Turkey ham and garlic

5. Add in the vegetables and sauté for another 5 minutes or so
   

   Carrot and cabbage

6. Add the soy sauces and the spices, cook for roughly 5 minutes
   

   Salty and sweet soy sauce

7. Add in the spaghetti, starting the “to taste” part of the recipe. I for one, like to fry the noodles well, even before adding the eggs (that means about another 5 minutes)
   

   The noodle

8. Beat the eggs into the noodle, mix and fry it until you have little pieces of scrambled eggs all over the noodle (or, you know, you can leave eggs out alltogether if you like 🙂 )
9. Serve in bowls with salted peanut as topping
   

   The extra crunch

   I find that with the salty soy sauce, and the peanuts, you don’t really need added salt, but in case you feel the need, salt away. 🙂