Saturday 30 May 2009

Chorizo al Vino

Don't get carried away by the name..its just chorizo in red wine and a very very easy dish to make. We discovered this at a Spanish tapas joint called La Tasca and fell in love with it. I was on the look out for chorizo and couldn't find fresh ones at the supermarket, so on one of our regular trips to Borough market we picked up a few at the Spanish stall. Here is the recipe:

Chorizo- 3, cut in small
Garlic pods- 3, thinly sliced
Dry red wine- 1 cup or even more depending on your taste
Olive oil- 1tbs
Parsley- a handful

Sizzle the olive oil in a hot pan. Once it starts to smoke, throw in the garlic and chorizo and sautee till they are slightly done. Pour the wine and mix well on low heat. The mixture should be semi gravy-like and the chorizo should take in the colour of the wine. Take it off the heat and garnish with parsley.
It can be served on its own or with small cubes of bread to dip in.

Note: Oil oozes out of the chorizo as well, so don't overdo the olive oil.
Be careful when you pour in the wine, it can flame up.

Friday 29 May 2009

String bean Mezhukkupuratti

We picked up a bunch of string beans from an Indian grocery store since we were kinda getting fed up with the usual cabbage, carrot and beans. I depend entirely on the Internet for recipes and since i couldn't find a good enough (read simple) recipe for string beans thoran, here i am posting my own recipe with the outline from one i found online.


String beans- 1 bunch
Dry red chilli- 5 or 6 depending on your spice intake. Crush these with the back of a ladle or spoon
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
salt- to taste
oil- about 3 tbs (I use as little as possible)

Heat some oil in a frying pan, add mustard seeds and curry leaves. As soon as they start to splutter, add the crushed red chillis and sautee for a minute or so. Add the string beans (diced into 1inch pieces) and sautee well. Add enough salt and if its not spicy enough, at this stage you can add some chilli powder or paprika. Cook covered till its done (about 5minutes) and make sure you do not add any water.