Potato wedges, Indian style

This twist on potato wedges isn't as loopy an idea as you may initially think. It was inspired by a recipe in one of my favourite cooking books, Camellia Panjabi's 50 Great Curries of India. This little book has done more than any other to increase my understanding of Indian cuisine and curries.

Anyway, enough praise for Ms. Panjabi's writings. She has a recipe for potatoes that are briefly boiled in turmeric-infused water and then fried in chilli- and coriander-infused oil. While her method of cooking is the undeniably more authentic way of preparing Indian 'potato wedges', I prefer to roast my potato wedges.

Ingredients:

500 g small potatoes, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp amchoor (mango powder)
1/2 tsp coriander, freshly ground
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp hot curry powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
sea salt
oil



Pre-heat oven to 220*C.

Place the potatoes, tumeric and a pinch of sea salt in a saucepan. Add water to cover and bring to boil. Simmer for 7-8 minutes or until potatoes can be easily speared with a skewer.

Meanwhile, prepare the seasoning. Combine all of the spices, plus a little sea salt, in a cup or other small vessel. Lightly oil an oven tray and scatter the crushed garlic cloves over it. When the potatoes are able to be speared with a skewer, take them off the heat and drain. Add the potatoes to the tray. Toss in the oil and spice mix. Roast for 20-25 minutes, turning every so often.

Buffalo meatballs with a mustard and pepper coating

Ingredients:

500 g buffalo sausages
1/4 cup flour
1 tbs mustard seeds, crushed
1 tsp powdered mustard
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp tumeric (optional--I use it purely for the colour)



Combine everything but the sausages in a cup or other small vessel. Set aside.

Slit the sausage casings open with a paring knife. Extract the filling. Pull pieces of the filling off and roll into meatballs. Place in a bowl, add the seasoned flour and cover the bowl well with cling film. Shake until meatballs are evenly coated. Fry over a gentle heat until cooked though.

Buffalo meatballs with a spicy tomato and whisky dipping sauce

Ingredients:

500 g buffalo sausages
1 cup tomato ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup whisky
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tbs honey mustard
1 tbs sweet paprika
1 tbs chilli powder
1 tsp freshly ground allspice
1 tsp freshly ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
a generous grind of freshly ground black pepper
sea salt, to taste

Combine the tomato ketchup, apple cider, whisky, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, honey mustard, sweet paprika, chilli powder, allspice, cumin, garlic, onion powder, black pepper, sea salt and 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan. Heat over a low flame until sauce starts to bubble. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.



Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs by slitting open the sausage casings with a paring knife. Extract the filling and tear into portions. Roll each portion into a meatball. Fry over medium heat until cooked through.

Crispy Cajun wings

I love chicken wings. A lot of flavour in them, with all that bone. They're fun to eat. And, yeah, they're cheap. A major selling point for a student. With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

This isn't a liquid marinade, obviously. Rather, it's a dry rub that comes out all crunchy. I only made this recently and, at present, I'm not 100% happy with it. I reckon turning the mix into a paste with rum or even halving the amount of mix and combining it with flour or quality bread crumbs would improve things greatly.

Take 2 tbs smoked paprika, 2 tbs sweet paprika, 3 tbs dried basil flakes, 2 tbs garlic powder, 2 tbs onion flakes, 2 tbs salt, 2 tbs freshly ground black pepper, 2 tbs ground fennel seeds, 3 tsp dried parsley, 3 tsp ground cinnamon, 3 tsp dried thyme, 2 tsp ground white pepper and 1 tsp chilli powder and combine. Rub into the wings.

Garlic, lemon and parsley wings

I love chicken wings. A lot of flavour in them, with all that bone. They're fun to eat. And, yeah, they're cheap. A major selling point for a student. With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

Take some fresh, flat leaf parsley and chop it finely. Combine it, some minced garlic and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Mix with olive oil.

Peri peri wings

I love chicken wings. A lot of flavour in them, with all that bone. They're fun to eat. And, yeah, they're cheap. A major selling point for a student. With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

In a food processor, blitz a few fresh chillies, a little chilli powder and some garlic. Add lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix with olive oil.

Tip: you could also add some semi-dried tomato or use rice wine vinegar in place of olive oil.

Louisiana chilli wings

I love chicken wings. A lot of flavour in them, with all that bone. They're fun to eat. And, yeah, they're cheap. A major selling point for a student. With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

A while ago I ordered a six pack of Louisiana-brand hot sauces from the online store USA Foods. They're all really nice and, yeah, I've done the natural thing of using them to marinate chicken wings. I combine equal parts red chilli hot sauce, chipotle hot sauce and roasted garlic hot sauce. The jalapeno one is nice too.

Smokey Tabasco wings

With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

Cover the wings in maybe three or four tablespoons of Tabasco per kilogram, along with a teaspoon of chilli powder, a teaspoon of smoked paprika, a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper and some sea salt. Rub everything into the wings. Allow to sit in the fridge, covered, for a couple of hours.

Tip: if you have a Middle Eastern, East African or South Asian grocery store nearby, duck in to see if they sell Rana brand chilli sauce. It's a Saudi-made sauce and tastes similar to Tabasco. The large bottles are about half the price of large bottles of Tabasco.

Buffalo meatballs with a spicy coating

This is a simple recipe I came up with when introducing both my students and myself to buffalo. I wanted something simple, something the kids and I could knock together in the space of a few minutes. I ended up settling on a spice rub. You can use this spice rub on buffalo steaks, but we used it on meatballs made from buffalo sausages. The sausages can be ordered at any good butcher or poultry store, although you'll find some places might have them kicking around the freezer already. The sausages, at least at the places I go, come frozen in a one kilogram pack.

1 kilogram pack buffalo sausages, thawed
1/4 cup plain flour
1 tbs sweet paprika
1 tbs allspice
1 tbs black pepper
1 tbs sea salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp chilli powder

Use a paring knife to slit the sausages open. Peel the skin away from the meat. Take a pinch of meat and roll it into a meatball with your hands. Repeat until all of the sausages are gone.

In a cup or other small vessel, combine the flour and spices. Dip the meatballs into the seasoned flour one by one, rolling them around to ensure they get an even coating.

Heat some oil in a fry pan. Cook the meatballs over a medium flame for 5-8 minutes.

Camel meatballs with a mint/yoghurt sauce

Yeah, camel. Lovely stuff. In the northern parts of Australia, camels--an introduced species--are a real problem. So yeah, do your part for the environment and eat camel. Serious.

A lot of people I know, they wouldn't eat camel because, you know, 'eww'. But really, a chicken--even a free-range, organic one--is a dirty animal. Oysters, mussels and all those crustaceans--crabs and lobsters and bugs and yabbies--are all dirty animals. They're bottom feeders. So what's bad about a camel, really, in comparison?

For the curious, camel is, in flavour, a bit like mutton. Which, seeing as not many Westerners eat that any more, is like strong-flavoured lamb. The big difference between camel and mutton, though, is the aftertaste. Camel has this unique and wonderful sweet aftertaste. It's most apparent in the steaks, but here, in this recipe, we're using the sausages. Many butchers and poultry stores can order camel sausages, but you'll find that some places in the market have them kicking around in the freezer. When serving camel to a group as finger food, the sausages are brilliant.

Ingredients:

1 kilogram pack of camel sausages, fully thawed
250g Greek-style yoghurt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Lebanese cucumber
a pinch of fresh mint leaves, finely chopped (more to taste)
a few drops of lemon juice (more to taste)
a little freshly ground black pepper (again, more to taste)

In a bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, crushed garlic, sea salt and a little of the mint. Take the cucumber, slice it in half lengthways and use a tiny spoon (I find one of those 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoons to be perfect for the task) to scoop out the seeds. Grate both halves of the cucumber into the yoghurt mix, whisk and taste. At this point, you might want to add a little mint. Don't just throw in a stupid amount, as fresh mint is very strong. Whisk in the lemon juice and a little freshly ground pepper. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for a while.

Take a sausage and, using a paring knife, slit the skin open. Peel the skin away and remove the meat. Take a good pinch of the meat and roll it into a ball. Repeat with the remaining sausages. Season with a little sea salt and black pepper, before pan frying over a medium flame until cooked. Don't overcook, as camel is quite lean.

To serve, simply jam a toothpick into each meatball, so people can dip it into the mint/yoghurt sauce.

Tips and ideas:

The sauce, of course, would go well with mutton or lamb or any meat, really, that has a similar flavour. Try it with goat, for instance. You could, of course, serve it with a grilled camel steak.

If you don't like mint and want to pair the camel with another sauce, well, be careful. The sweet aftertaste makes matching difficult. From experience I can tell you that mustard doesn't work at all. Consider something with rosemary. I can't say I've tried it, but I reckon it could work. Experiment, experiment, experiment.

Potato wedges

Yeah. Potato wedges. I make my own. Those frozen ones you buy, they're just crap, really. My potato wedges go well as a side for steak, but you could also serve them at a party as finger food.

First up, you need to buy the right kind of potato. Use Sebago potatoes. For the Australians reading this, the 'brushed potatoes' available at many supermarkets and green grocers are Sebago potatoes. Now, if you're serving these as a side, about one decent-sized potato per person is the way to go

Pre-heat the oven to 220*C.

Give the potatoes a good rinse and then slice them into wedges. Drop the wedges into a saucepan. Fill saucepan with enough water to cover the potatoes, add a pinch of sea salt and then bring to the boil over a medium-high flame. Reduce the temperature. Cook for maybe seven further minutes or until you can easily drive a skewer through the potatoes. Drain the potatoes and pour them into a roasting pan. Take care to pick a pan of the right size. The wedges shouldn't be piled on top of each other, yet at the same time there shouldn't be massive gaps between them. Toss the potato wedges in sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Be generous. Throw three or four crushed garlic cloves into the pan, before tossing everything in a little olive oil. You could, if wanted to experiment, use a little duck fat instead. Certainly it's not worth buying some specially for potato wedges, of all things, but if you have some on hand you may as well give it a go.

Place the potato wedges in the oven for 25 minutes, removing regularly to turn and toss. Just before serving, give a final sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper.

The perfect prawns

I've seen a lot of prawn recipes that are very elaborate. And that's unfortunate as, really, prawns are nice enough to stand up on their own. So long as you buy good ones, I mean. Or have the facilities and the opportunity to catch them. So far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't bother working with prawns unless you can get fresh, local produce. Buy them on the day you plan on cooking them. Don't buy them on days when there's no way they could've been brought in fresh, like Sunday and Monday or after a public holiday. Don't buy the pre-cooked ones. They're rubbish. Don't buy the pre-shelled ones, either. They're terrible. When you're making a dish that only has a couple of ingredients, when you're allowing the ingredients to speak for themselves, the quality of your purchase is immediately apparent the moment you start eating. I mean, recently, a friend dropped by with a pile of prawns he picked up from one of the big supermarkets. In terms of freshness and quality, they paled in comparison to the prawns I picked up for less at one of the nearby Vietnamese fishmongers. Clearly, the customer base of the fishmonger is fussier than that of the average supermarket. Particularly during the summer holiday period, when many people are barbecuing.

So, yeah, buy good prawns, is the point. They need not be the most expensive, but they look and smell fresh. They shouldn't be all battered, physically. And they shouldn't smell too bad. If they smell kind of like a cleaning product, like ammonia, then refuse to buy them. If they smell really, really, really fishy, then yeah, don't buy them. If you're like me and live in a multicultural area, you'll probably have many butchers, fishmongers, delis, green grocers and spice stores within a reasonable distance of your home. Or if you live near one a fresh produce market, the same advice applies. Shop around.

Too, while you're out shopping, pick up some lemons. Seafood and lemon juice are a timeless and winning combination.

To prepare the prawns, take a sharp paring knife and drip the tip into the shell just behind the head. Carefully work your way along the prawn's 'spine' until you reach the tail. Now, gently pull the prawn open. You'll see an intestine. If the prawn's eaten lately, it'll be dark. Other times, it'll be a very pale green. It's very important you fish out the 'poo tube', as it does have a significant and negative impact on the taste of the flesh. Once you get used of the process of removing the 'poo tube', you'll be able to work your way through even a large pile of prawns in no time. This can be done ahead of time. Removing the 'poo tubes' of larger prawns is much easier than removing the 'poo tubes' of smaller prawns, so keep that in mind when shopping.

Place the freshly gutted prawns in a shallow bowl of olive oil. You can, if you want, add a crushed clove or two of garlic to the oil (remember the garlic oil will be even more flavoursome if you allow the garlic cloves to infuse in the oil overnight before adding the prawns). Cut the lemons into wedges. You're going to need them very soon.

When you're ready to cook, pre-heat a barbecue, grill pan or fry pan until the smoking point. Seriously, if you're using a pan, pre-heat it for a good five to ten minutes. Then add your prawns. Now, if you have a large amount of prawns, add only a few at a time. If you crowd the pan, the temperature will drop. Immediately squeeze lemon juice all over the prawns. Cook for maybe 45-60 seconds. Working quickly, flip the prawns over and squeeze more lemon juice over them. After 45-60 seconds, remove the prawns from the pan and place them on a serving platter.

And that's it. You can experiment, of course. If you really wanted, you could jam a thin sliver of chilli into the back of each prawn. You could add roughly chopped fresh parsley to the marinade, as they do in the MoVida cookbook. But whatever you do, keep in mind the whole point of the exercise is for people to be able to appreciate the lovely fresh prawns you've picked up. The last thing you want to do is to kill the flavour with a strong sauce or dressing.