Episode 8 Rachel Allen: Home Cooking

You can't beat home-cooked food.

In this series, I'm going to make every meal you cook at home a real treat.

Today on Home Cooking, I'm giving you a taste of the Middle East

with my spiced lamb koftas with dips and spicy pittas.

I meet award-winning Indian chef Vivek Singh

and help him prepare a gorgeous family lunch.

And I teach my cookery school family how to make a delicious,

Mexican-inspired dish, perfect for the whole family to share.

I love Middle Eastern food, with its Mediterranean influence and warm, spicy undertones.

I'm going to make spiced lamb koftas with baba ghanouj and cumin and chilli-roasted pitta breads.

Baba ghanouj is an aubergine dip with yogurt.

It's lovely and light. Going to cut the tops off the aubergines.

Split the aubergines in half.

And I have an oven heated to about 180 degrees, or even 200 degrees,

to roast the aubergines.

Drizzle them with a bit of olive oil.

Spread it over the top. A few cloves of garlic. Sea salt.

OK.

This is going to go into the oven to roast. It'll take about 20 to 30 minutes,

by which time the aubergines will be completely soft in the centre.

Now, while they're roasting in the oven, I'm going to get started with the little pitta crisps.

These are just little wedges of pitta bread.

If the pitta bread is a couple of days old, if it's slightly stale, that's absolutely perfect.

I want to coat all the pitta bread in olive oil. Not too much.

And also some chopped red chilli, which is good for flavour but also for a bit of colour,

and some toasted, ground cumin seeds.

Some sea salt. I like to use a crunchy sea salt for this for little bit of texture.

OK.

Just pop those onto a tray, spread out like so,

until I'm ready to cook them.

I'll take the aubergines out.

They've been roasting for half an hour, so should be soft.

When you squeeze them, they should be lovely and tender, like that.

So allow them to cool down for a couple of minutes, and just scoop out the centre,

and the centre of the aubergine goes into a liquidiser or a food processor.

Put the little roasted cloves of garlic into the liquidiser as well.

And then squeeze in the juice of a lemon.

Juice of one lemon for two aubergines. I'm also using some tahini paste.

Tahini paste is basically the paste of sesame seeds.

This is a light tahini paste.

You can get light or dark, and I like to use the light one for this.

So turn it on and just whiz it up to a nice thick puree.

So...this needs to be allowed to cool at this stage,

because all I have to do next is to season this,

put in some chopped parsley and some natural yogurt.

While I'm waiting for that to cool, I can make the spiced lamb koftas.

In here, I've got the minced lamb.

I've got some very finely chopped onion, or even grated onion, and it's not cooked before it goes in.

Finely grate in the garlic, or you could crush the garlic.

In with the lamb, onions and garlic I'm going to put cayenne pepper,

just for a little bit of heat - not too much -

some ground coriander seeds...

..some ground cinnamon...

..some turmeric, which is wonderful for the colour, and ground cumin.

Mix this all together. Add in some salt and some pepper.

Some salt...and some pepper.

Keep mixing it until it comes together.

It just needs a little bit of chopped, fresh coriander.

Smells incredible!

I've got the pan on the heat already, because I want

to taste a little bit before I shape all of these.

It's a good idea to fry a little bit off,

taste it and then you can adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Mmm! Oh! It's absolutely delicious.

I'm going to shape these into little fat sausage shapes,

like that...

and keep dipping your hands into the water, as it makes it easier to shape them with wet hands.

Once they hit the hot pan, turn the heat down to about low to medium.

You don't want to burn the outside before they're cooked inside.

I'll turn them over a couple of times during cooking. They'll take about eight to ten minutes to cook.

While the lamb koftas are cooking on the pan,

I'll pop the cumin and chilli pitta crisps into the oven.

They will take only four, five minutes to cook,

200 or 220 degrees. Keep an eye on them.

They tend to go from quite pale to too dark within about the space of half a minute, so just keep an eye.

I'm going to finish the baba ghanouj.

I've got the aubergine puree in here with the tahini paste,

the lemon juice, and I need to add in some natural yogurt

and some chopped parsley.

Keep an eye on the lamb koftas. You might just want to turn them over.

Lovely.

OK, so now the chopped parsley can go into the baba ghanouj,

with some salt and some pepper.

That's gorgeous.

It's really light, it's really fresh-tasting, zingy, and citrusy.

There is baba ghanouj.

The koftas are cooked now. They're golden brown, and I know they're cooked through

because when you press one, there is a firm spring.

I like to just sit them for a little bit on some kitchen paper, just to drain them slightly.

Now it's time to get the pitta bread out of the oven.

You see these are nice, golden brown and toasted.

The koftas have cooled ever so slightly.

It's quite nice to serve them on a satay stick.

And...I've got the baba ghanouj in one bowl.

In this little bowl, I've got some coriander and mint salsa.

It's fresh coriander leaves and small stalks,

and some leaves of mint whizzed up with olive oil and a little bit of garlic, which is fantastic.

Lastly, the little pitta crisps.

A few leaves of coriander scattered over the top, just to finish it off.

So there are my spiced lamb koftas with baba ghanouj

and cumin and chilli-roasted pitta bread -

perfect for sharing with lots of family and friends.

'Today's cookery school students are the Dudley family from Exeter.

'They love experimenting with different flavours,

'so I'll be showing them a tasty, Mexican-inspired dish they will have lots of fun making and eating.'

-You like Mexican?

-Fantastic.

-Great!

-OK, that's lucky.

-Yeah!

-Today we are going to make chicken tostadas

with guacamole, tomato salsa, refried beans,

and this is a really great thing to make with lots of friends.

It's great kind of convivial eating.

We're all going to do the chicken part first of all.

We eat together every night. We sit down and have a family meal.

And generally, I would say

-about 50-50 with the cooking, isn't it?

-Yeah.

What I'd like to get out of today is the combination of food, how to put different types of food together.

So we'll let the pans heat up a little bit.

Then we'll just add into the pans a little drizzle of olive oil each and cook the chicken breasts

all the way through, so they're golden on both sides.

So season the chicken now, while it's cooking, with salt and pepper.

When you're cooking something like this, make sure

that you always cook it on one side completely, and then turn it over, cook it on the other side.

Don't keep tossing and turning it.

If it's sticking a bit, that means it's not ready to turn.

Once it kind of sears on one side, then it will turn.

OK, this one's nearly golden. Turn it over. Lovely.

So once you've turned it over, then turn the heat down to a bit lower.

There's enough heat in the pan to colour the underside,

but you don't want it to burn before the centre is cooked.

Today I'd like to learn something I can cook for my friends when they come over,

and just to improve my basic knowledge.

How do you know when the chicken are done?

This smaller chicken breast, I can feel it's cooked because it feels firm, but it's not bouncy.

Do you want to feel this one with a spoon?

Can you feel there's quite a spring?

-And actually...

-It's softer.

-..if we put a spoon in,

-can you see there how it's...?

-Pink flesh.

-Pink flesh.

Once your chicken's cooked, it needs to cool down to room temperature

before we mix it with the mayonnaise.

So while the chicken is cooling, I'm going to make the tostadas, or the tortilla chips.

I have a deep fryer heating up, so obviously, with younger children,

that needs to be kept out of the way...

and I'm just cutting the tortillas into little wedges.

I'll pop them in. Lift the basket out first.

You don't have to have a deep fryer for this.

You could literally just toss these in olive oil in a bowl,

lay them out flat on a tray and roast them in the oven,

200, 220 degrees.

-Once they're golden, take them out.

-Just a couple of minutes?

-Not even that. What was it, a minute?

-I guess so. So they'll crisp up now, will they?

-They will crisp up now.

OK, so just toss those around like this,

just to get rid of the excess oil.

You could sprinkle salt over them if you like.

So they're our tortillas. What I want to do now is shred the chicken.

Essentially, what we want are just lovely little...shreds.

-(Faster! We have to beat them.)

-This isn't a competition, honey.

-You're not competitive, are you, Alexander?

-Very!

Now, what we can do is just add in some mayonnaise,

just enough to mix it all together, and some lime juice.

Roll your lime and lean down heavily to really break up the membrane to make it more juicy.

In we go with some mayonnaise.

And then add the lime juice.

A little bit of the crunchy sea salt will be nice, and some pepper.

Now, let's see how this is tasting.

Mmm! Perfect!

Later on, I'll show the Dudleys my recipes for some tasty Mexican dips to go with their chicken tostadas.

Coming up, chef Vivek Singh shares his tip for perfect pilau rice,

cooked in a microwave!

And the Dudley family make some delicious dips

to go with their Mexican feast.

Since first opening its doors in 2001, the Cinnamon Club

has been redefining expectations of Indian cooking.

-Service!

-The man taking curry to new culinary heights is chef Vivek Singh,

whose dishes fuse Indian flavours with high-end Western cuisine.

New order - one goat kebab, one veg selection for starters.

Vivek puts the success of the Cinnamon Club

down to the fact that he sources all his spices direct from Jaipur.

'I wanted to know whether his home-cooked food enjoys that same attention to detail.'

-Lovely to see you.

-This is Archana, my wife.

-Lovely to meet you.

-Lovely to meet YOU.

-Maya.

-And Eshaan.

-Hello. And how are you?

-I'm fine, thank you.

-Shall we go in?

-OK. Thank you.

-Right.

-OK.

-Are we ready to cook?

-Yes. What are we cooking?

-Great.

-Fish?

I've got a spice-roasted sea bream, and we'll do

-a really easy pilau rice, but we'll do it in a microwave, so quick.

-OK.

My wife doesn't eat meat and she was a vegetarian until very recently.

-She's only just started eating fish, which is fantastic.

-Yes.

-Makes life easier for everybody.

-I'm all for that.

-Yeah?

So we'll just score the fish very, very lightly, not too deep.

What I'm putting on the fish is red chilli powder, turmeric,

some salt, and I'm going to do a ginger and garlic paste.

-So ginger, garlic and...

-Just peel a bit of garlic and a bit of ginger.

MACHINE WHIRRS

And so we add a little bit of the ginger and garlic paste.

All the spices go on the outside, none on the inside?

Now we're going to smear it with a little bit of oil and lemon juice and leave it for ten or 15 minutes.

-Shall I rub it in?

-Please do, if you don't mind.

Yeah, just rub it in, both sides of the fish.

-OK.

-While you do that, I'm going to make the second marinade with yogurt.

Just some plain, simple, sort of Greek yogurt.

-Yeah.

-A little bit more red chilli powder, a little bit more turmeric.

-And...

-Oh, and nigella seeds?

Yeah, nigella seeds, yeah, nigella seeds.

I think they work brilliantly with fish. And then...

the last bit of the ginger and garlic paste that we just made - fresh ginger and garlic paste.

Squeeze of lemon.

I'm going to chop some coriander. It doesn't have to be fine.

Again, it's quite sort of off the cuff.

Is that how you cook all the time, off the cuff?

-Just adding in...

-Yes, yes, I mean, you know, it's all about...

-The feel for it.

-The feel for it, exactly.

-I am now going to add chickpea flour.

-Why?

The yogurt, as a marinade, is going to stick much better onto the fish.

-Oh, that's really interesting.

-It thickens it.

-What sparked your interest in food?

-I remember going to weddings,

growing up in Bengal, and the spread, it used to be amazing.

Such lovely food - loads of different dishes and people kind of egging you on to eat more.

I have such fond memories of those sort of weddings that I think my love for good food

started from there - Bengali weddings.

Right, the fish is in the oven. It's going to cook for 20 minutes or so.

-OK.

-We'll get on with the rice.

-Do you always microwave your rice?

-Oh, yes.

When we tried it out with the microwave, I realised it was very simple,

because you don't have to do anything.

That's some clarified butter or ghee I've got.

You notice I'm using cardamom, cloves, a little bit of mace,

-some cinnamon, bay leaf...

-Smells fantastic already!

-..and also a little bit of cumin.

And some salt.

-Fair bit of salt, yeah.

-Right.

-And the onions.

-Oh!

The smell is amazing! Straight into the rice.

-Straight into the rice.

-Oh, wow!

This must be an incredible flavour.

-There we've got...

-And some whole mint?

-Yeah, just some fresh mint...

-Ah.

-..into the whole thing.

So that's done.

-That'll go into the microwave for about 15 minutes.

-This is so simple.

The fish cooks for 20 minutes, it takes five minutes to prepare the rice,

-that's in there for 15 minutes...

-It's got to be simple, so we can spend some time with the kids.

Oh, it looks great!

Oh, it's lovely out here.

Oh, that looks gorgeous.

Mmm! Great food, isn't it? Yummy!

Archana, what kind of food do you find yourself cooking for the children?

Mixture of different cuisines, actually.

We do cook Indian food as well, so, you know, really simple curry with some lentil soup and rice.

That's a favourite with kids. And they are also very much into pasta.

Sometimes I get lazy, and pizza, as well, ready-made.

I work full time, so I don't have a lot of time,

so whatever is easy and very quick-fix things.

Rachel, when I was growing up, my mum used to cook three meals a day every single day.

-And so eating as a family was a fantastic thing, but we almost took it for granted.

-Mmm.

I think now more than ever it's important to seize every opportunity

and eat with the family, as a family, when one can.

-So, Eshaan, would you like to be a chef?

-Yes.

-Definitely a chef.

-Yes.

-Oh, my goodness!

-Wow!

-Wow!

-This is really delicious and it's been really interesting.

-It's been a pleasure.

-Thank you.

-Thanks for coming along.

-Thank you so much for inviting me.

It's been lovely.

'It's back to cookery school and time for the Dudley family to learn how to make some Mexican dips.'

I'm going to show you how to make refried beans - a classic Mexican thing.

I'm going to use a red onion and I'm going to chop the red onion.

I'm using, for sheer convenience,

-a tin of red kidney beans...

-Right, OK.

..which I've drained.

So refried beans is literally kidney beans?

-Yeah.

-I would have never known that.

If you didn't want to use kidney beans, you could use a black bean, like a black turtle bean.

I've got a pan on the heat.

-Right.

-Add a little bit of butter and also some garlic.

We need to cook the onions and garlic for eight to ten minutes

until they're completely soft, and even a little bit golden around the edges is good.

OK, I was going to season this with some...salt...and some pepper.

I tend to be a little bit more adventurous - you know, try new recipes,

maybe add something a little bit unusual to it.

I really enjoy spicy food, which the kids complain about. They go, "Ho', ho'! Too spicy!"

We also need to make a guacamole and a tomato salsa.

-Chop up the tomatoes, but do make sure that you cut this bit out.

-OK.

The core there. I don't want it to be too fine.

-Maybe a little bit chunky. What do you think?

-Yeah! Great.

So, tomatoes. And if you want to slice...

-How are you at slicing? Want me to show you?

-Yeah, yes, please.

Hold it so one part of the blade is always on the board.

Small slices, cos you wouldn't want to eat big chunks of onion.

In Mexican cooking, you can never have enough coriander.

Chop it really quite vigorously.

Sean, I could give you a red chilli. So if you want to cut the top off,

and then you can actually roll the chilli upside down, whole.

-Like that?

-Yeah! And you'll actually squeeze out the seeds.

-That's a clever way of doing it.

Excellent, Isabella.

-A good thing to do, though, is to taste a tiny bit of the chilli.

-OK.

Ooh! That's quite big.

RACHEL LAUGHS I thought that was a tiny bit!

-Is it hot?

-It's OK.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

Well, then you might end up using half, or all of it, even.

-Do you want to chop it quite finely?

-OK.

-A little bit of garlic, too.

-Isabella...would you like to add some salt and some pepper?

-OK.

-And also some sugar would be a good thing to add, just to help...

-Why do you add the sugar?

A pinch of sugar will help the tomatoes and balance all the flavours.

-OK.

-With tomatoes, I would always add a pinch of sugar.

OK, the garlic's going to go in in a second.

You could add a drizzle of olive oil into this if you like.

I quite often add a pinch of salt.

That helps create a little bit of friction, so it makes it more easy to crush the garlic.

Some lime juice.

Great.

I don't really worry about what I eat. Um...

I'm not too fussy. I just don't like red meats, or skin, or bones, or fat, or meat.

I just need to finish the beans.

The onions and garlic are completely soft and also a little bit golden,

which will just add to a natural sweetness.

So in go the cooked kidney beans.

I'm going to just cook them in the pan here.

And I have a masher.

Keep mashing them and cook them for about ten minutes,

also adding in a little bit of stock.

So what type of stock are we talking?

You can use vegetable or chicken stock.

Mmm! So I'm turning it down. Way down. While this is cooking,

what we can do now is make the guacamole.

-Cut the avocados in half.

-Mmm.

-Peel them.

-Mash the flesh.

-This is where we get really messy.

-I thought the tomato was going to be messy.

And then I saw that and I was just like, "Oh!"

-Yeah.

-But also, Alexander, you could make a lovely face mask.

That would be quite messy.

You don't need it cos you've got perfect skin, but...

Do you want to stop messing and cut that lime in half?

Careful of your fingers there.

And juice it. If you want to start mashing the avocado with the fork,

and then we're nearly there.

Some sea salt,

some pepper and then lime juice, and that's it.

So, we've got the refried beans. Fantastic. We've got the guacamole.

And...a big, full bowl of tomato and coriander salsa.

And then we can put the chicken in here,

and, of course, the tortilla chips.

OK. We can sit in the sun - pretend we're in Mexico.

Great!

-Enjoy, everyone.

-Mmm, thank you.

-Fantastic!

Mmm! Mm-mm! Are you enjoying this, Alexander?

-Yes, very much, actually.

-Good.

I really enjoyed today and I realise that some complicated dishes weren't actually that complicated.

Rachel was really nice, showing us and helping us through each step.

-Would you children enjoy this if I made it?

-Yeah.

-I would definitely eat it again.

Today has been a fantastic experience.

Learnt some great stuff about cooking - how simple ingredients can make some fantastic food.

Thank you all so much for coming.

-It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much.

-You were great sports.

-We had a wonderful time.

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