Curry Archives | National Dish

Mamma P’s Jamaican Food | Fishponds Road, Bristol | Restaurant Review

Wayne @NationalDish — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 12:16:16 +0000

The fact that I am even reviewing Mamma P’s, especially as I found it after watching the rugger, full of beer and hungry, means it made an impression.

People always talk about finding hidden gems, unassuming street food type places. Sadly these are a rarity in Britain, apart from those places that make it their business to ‘look’ that way. But I actually found one, on Fishponds Road in Bristol – nowhere near Clifton.

Keep an eye out to spot Mamma Ps sign if you want Jamaican Food in Fishponds, Bristol

It ticks the boxes:

Hidden – Fishponds is not trendy or fashionable and people don’t go out of their way to visit. Fishponds is a place where people live.
Unassuming – no wanky bollocks here, it is what is says it is and does what it says it does; and it does that superbly.
Streetfood – it serves the very heart of what you’d expect Jamaican food to be, it actually has ‘a jerk guy’, he’s the dude that makes the kick ass sauces.

Like I said, I was full of beer after watching the rugger and was heading back to play some post match Snooker and drink more beer. Obvs I needed to eat and obvs I was thinking Kebab, we all were. You don’t have to walk far to find a Kebab shop on Fishponds Road, so I thought don’t go into the first one you see, and then I found it, Mamma P’s Jamaican Food.

Rugby, Beer, Friends, Gambling and Jamaican Food = Heaven

I love spice, I love sweet heat and prefer rice and beans to flatbread (most of the time) ergo, love Caribbean Food (and Floribbean food actually). In there….alone, not caring about peer pressure, I didn’t need my mates, I felt I was about to find something great.

The chain, Turtle Bay is pretty good actually and I love West Indian food but I just knew that Mamma P’s was gonna be different.

Their menu is varied, from sit down to take away, I was doing a take away and went for a Jerk Chicken with Rice and Beans, loaded with hot sauce. It’s insane, the rice and beans were fluffy and not stodgy, the Jerk was zingy and the chicken shredded, perfect. So much so I started throwing drunken compliments at them and demanded a selfie with Mamma P.

We were lining up and they shouted out for the Jerk Guy to join us, that’s what they said, this is the Jerk Guy – I love the Jerk guy. All the staff here are so friendly, it really is a cracker.

I wish I had more photos, I don’t, so go there and take your own – but you gotta go there – say hi to Jerk Guy for me, the Jerk Legend.

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

PRICE: £

Website: mamma-ps.co.uk

MENUS: Order online, but not great selection for some reason – take a look here

TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 117 239 6718

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How do you make Vietnamese Pho? | National Dish of Vietnam

Wayne @NationalDish — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 13:00:37 +0000

Serve Vietnamese Pho will all the different elements ‘on the side’ and then build your bowl

There seems to be Vietnamese restaurants popping up all over the place – and for good reason, the food is the nuts. How do you make Vietnamese Pho (pronounced fur)?

This is one National Dish we don’t mind posting, we did this as part of a banquet, my good chum @fp_in_the_kitchen and I. I’ll focus on the Pho here though and post the other dishes separately.

Get ready for some good food from ‘The Nam‘, Cheltenham…that’s fucking terrible…

How do you make Vietnamese Pho? | National Dish of Vietnam

This is a single recipe that was part of an entire banquet - for 4-6. We’re focusing on Vietnamese Beef Phở Gỏi cuốn. The cooking times won't require you to be working non-stop - this is all about the prep. You need to prep ahead - OK?

CourseDips and bits, Main Dish, Starter
CuisineVietnamese

Servings4-6 People

Prep Time30 Mins

Cook Time10 Hours

Ingredients

1bone of beefget this from your butcher
2good size sirloin steak
1large bunch fresh corianderfinely chop the stalks and set aside (you'll need the leaves too)
2whole limecut into quarters
1litre beef stock
1cup bean sprouts
1large thumb fresh gingerpeeled and sliced finely
3medium white onionfinely chopped
5cloves garlicfinely sliced
4large fresh red chillisliced, don't both to de-seed (unless you really want to)
6tbls dark soy sauce
2tbls fish sauce
350grams noodlesyour choice, but flat rice noodles is the norm
2tsp Chinese five spice
8chopped spring onionstry and slice them at an extreme angle, they look cool
1bowl full mange toutuse any bean you like, sugar snaps would also be amaze
1handful Chinese greens

Instructions

Right, now the prep for this easy as hell, but after that there is a 10 hour wait - and it's worth it. If you want to make a real Vietnamese Pho, packed with flavour, you gotta do it this way. Nothing wrong with leaving it over night by the way, the longer the better.
You're gonna need some beef bones, any decent butcher should be able to sort you out with these. My guy did good. Get the oven going, place the bone(s) into a roasting tray (only needs to be big enough to take it), chop up an onion or two and some lemongrass, oil it and pop in the oven for about 20 mins at 200.
Whilst the beef bone is building up some colour, add some oil to a stock pot or saucepan on a medium high heat and then add the remaining white onion, garlic (hold a little back), two thirds of the chilli, ginger, coriander stalks and Chinese five spice - give a stir and let the onions soften before.
Whip the beef bone out of the oven, it should be gnarly and brown, drop it (along with the onion and lemon grass) into the stock pot and then add enough beef stock to cover the bone. Add the fish sauce. Bring to the boil, turn it down to super super low simmer, lid on and leave it. For AT LEAST 10 HOURS.
Whilst that's going on, use this time to marinate your sirloin steaks. In a dish that you can cover, add soy sauce, garlic and lime juice and drench the steaks in it - cover with cling film and refrigerate.
Now you should have a deep broth which you'll add a load of goodies that we'll prep now. Everything will be separate, you and your guests will build their own. You'll need some Ramen or noodles bowls. Strain your stock and add it back to the pan. if you want it nice and clear, do it twice through clean muslin. Now keep it hot (do not boil).
Ok, so we're gonna have some sirloin steak, some noodles, some mange tout, bean sprouts, spring onions, coriander leaves - you can totally go off piste here, char-grilled baby pak choy would be the nuts.
To avoid running your ass off in the final moment, firstly prep the stuff that can be served cold, lay the table, put something down to take the hot stock pot - get everything ready, so as you cook and heat things up, you can just serve and sit with your guests and enjoy it. Just think it through for a mo - it's not hard - make life easy.
The main event is the steak, for that you need a very hot pan (I prefer flat bottom not griddle - bring more of the meat into contact with the heat, resulting in more gnarlyness). Get some boiling water on for the mange tout, place a sieve over that and put the greens in, cover that with a lid. Only a few mins.
Prep the noodles to time too. We're gonna cook this steak rare - hot pan, pop em in, season with some salt and LEAVE THEM THE HELL ALONE for a few mins. When you can't bear it any longer, lift and look for decent amount of charring and flip em. This will be for a 2 mins tops probably.
On a piece of wood, whip the steaks out and slice them. Take to the table.
Everything is done - build your bowl with noodles first, then stock (provide a ladle) and add what you want, finishing with a few strips of steak and sprinkle with sprint onions.

The post How do you make Vietnamese Pho? | National Dish of Vietnam appeared first on National Dish.

Indian dry spiced crispy duck breast with char-grilled peach, crusted paneer and hot green salad of spinach, peas, asparagus and beans | National Dish India

Wayne @NationalDish — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 15:45:32 +0000

This is a real head turner, impress your guests with the colour and then the flavour before you remind them it’s super healthy and low carb

There aren’t lots of recipes around for Indian crispy duck.

Most of you will know that Indian cuisine isn’t all wet curries, quite the opposite. The country is huge and the cuisine incredibly regional. I am partial to a Dhansak, and when I was in Mumbai I mentioned this, which was greeted with ‘oh, they eat that up near Delhi’. How cool is that, made me love it even more.

Britain has a wonderful love affair with Indian cuisine, with many British favourites actually coming from this very island. This Indian influences dry spiced crispy duck breast and it’s friends, I guess you can say, follows that same tradition.

This is a very healthy Indian dish, Paleo friendly and extraordinarily pretty.

I had some ingredients lying around and went for it – and it went, well.

Indian dry spiced crispy duck breast with char-grilled peach, crusted paneer and hot green salad of spinach, peas and beans

There are a few things going on here, nothing that should bust your ass too much, but have a quick read through so you can get your timings right. The duck will sit in a pan for 10 mins, under a grill for 5 and rest for 5 - so really, apart from prepping and slicing it, there isn't much to do, so you can crack on with other things. The better prep, the quicker everything will be. Put the kettle on, grab a large frying pan (first for the duck quick wipe down and then to warm the salad as the end), a saucepan to do some blanching and a smaller frying pan for the paneer. Also grab a large mixing bowl and a smaller one - for coating the duck and paneer. If you want the griddle effect on the peaches, which also adds flavour, get a heavy griddle pan on a high heat now - needs to be smoking - we don't want to cook the peach, we want to char it very very fast and that means hot hot hot.

CourseMain Dish, Salad
CuisineIndian
KeywordIndian Food, Salad

Servings2 people

Prep Time25 minutes

Cook Time25 minutes

Ingredients

The quack quack

2breasts of duckskin on
1tsp cumin powder
1tsp chilli powder
1tsp coriander powder
1tsp turmeric powder
2tsp sea salt flakes
2tbls vegetable oilyou want this mixture slightly wet

The paneer

120grams paneerIndian cheese cut in to rectangular bite sized chunks - all the same size and shape
1tsp cumin powder
1tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp garam masala
1tsp sea salt flakes
1tsp vegetable oilyou want to coat the paneer in this and to cover it in the dry mix.

The warm green salad

1handful broad beansyou need to blanch them and peel (don't just take them out of the pods)
5stems asparagusslice them to about an inch and a half, do it on an angle too
1fistful green beansyou'll slice these too, same size as the asparagus
1large handful spinach leavesthis is the 'bed' and goes so well with paneer - like lovers
1handful peasfrozen ones are ace
2green spring onionssliced at an angle for garnish, the white and lots of the green
1red spring onionsslice thinly, at an angle looks nice
2whole peachesI used doughnut peaches, slice then about 1cm, not too thin

Instructions

Let's do the spice mixes first, at the same time. Two bowls, the large one is for the duck. Add the spice list to each bowl respectively and the oil only to the large one, give em both a mix.
Add the boiling water from the kettle to your saucepan on a high heat and blanch the broad beans, green beans, peas and asparagus - 2-3 minutes tops at a rolling boil.
Place your duck in to the large bowl and cover it in the mixture and let it sit there for a few minutes at room temp whilst you sort the paneer. Put your large frying pan on a medium heat. Drain your greens and let them steam.
Get your perfectly sized paneer chunks and coat them in a little vegetable oil and then add it to the spice mixture. Toss them around until they are perfectly coated all over and dry to look at. Set aside.
Place the duck breasts in to the pan skin side down and leave it for 10 minutes. Check it from time to time just in case you have the heat too high - don't let it burn, but it will pick up a very dark colour - that doesn't mean that it's burnt.
Cover the peach slices in oil and a tiny sprinkle of salt and put them neatly on to the griddle pan. Let em go, turn them once, let them go and then turn them back after rotating 90 degrees - then you get a lattice. If you're worried about that, just make them go a lovely colour without burning them all over. Put them aside, they're done. Check the duck and put the grill on.
Get two plates ready and cover them in spinach leaves. Peel your broad beans - if you decide not to, look at yourself in the mirror with disgust. Slice the beans and asparagus.
Duck is probably ready, turn it skin side up and whack it under the grill for 5 minutes - don't burn it - just go easy - medium high heat.
Give the duck pan a wipe, you don't want charred remains on your greens and add all of them to the pan, tiny drizzle of oil in first. All we are doing is warming them all through - that's the green beans, peas, PEELED broad beans and asparagus - sprinkle the pan, from a height with some sea salt flakes, little toss and all that.
In the smaller pan, add a bit of oil to medium high heat and fry the paneer on each side, you're looking for colour only, which will heat it through - keep turning it.
Plate up time - firstly, slice the duck. Then place the greens on to the spinach leaves, place the duck on top, put the paneer and peach around it and then sprinkle the spring onions over the top.
That's it - nothing should be over cooked, the greens will be super green and your duck should be perfectly pink.
Thank you India

The post Indian dry spiced crispy duck breast with char-grilled peach, crusted paneer and hot green salad of spinach, peas, asparagus and beans | National Dish India appeared first on National Dish.

How do you make Nepalese Lamb Pakku? | What is the national dish of Nepal?

Wayne @NationalDish — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 22:31:25 +0000

Nepalese Lamb Pakku – not the national dish, but ace none the less
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017

I’ve done this to accompany a Dal Bhat, a match made in heaven, or as near to it as you can get in the Himalayas.

In Nepal they would use mutton or goat rather than lamb, but it makes for a close substitute in the UK. Not that mutton is that hard to get, if you really want it, lamb is plenty good enough.

It starts with marinating and as always, the longer the better, but even if you can only manage an hour, take it, it’s totally worth it. How do you make Nepalese Lamb Pakku?

How do you make Nepalese Lamb Pakku | Nepali style slow cooked lamb, mutton or goat

Whilst this is a slow cook dish it is low maintinence. Don't get me wrong, it's not a 10 hour roast job, it's about 60 minutes cooking time (plus marinating) - but slow is the key. The good thing is, you barely touch it as it cooks, leaving you plenty of head space to cook it some friends. It's not a complicated dish, but much like climbing Nepals highest mountain - good preparation is the key to achieving something amazing.

CourseMain Dish, Side Dish
CuisineNepalese

Servings2 people

Prep Time20 minutes

Cook Time60 minutes

Ingredients

Main bits

4 lambchops
2tbls vegetable oilolive oil is fine

Spices and stuff

2tsp cumin powder
1.5tsp coriander powder
1.5tsp chilli powder
2tsp turmeric powder
1tbls fresh gingergrated
5cloves garliccrushed
4 bay leaves
4 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
4 cardamom pods
1pinch saltMaldon is the best

Instructions

Get a good size mixing bowl ready, it's about to take more flavour that it may have in a long time.
On a chopping board, and please be careful, get the lamb and chop it up in to bite size pieces, some on the bone and some not and place in the bowl. Keeping the lamb on the bone helps with the cooking process and also gives it a feeling of authenticity. Use kitchen shears (meat scissors) if you have them.
Next, take all of your spices and a dash of oil and throw the lot in to the bowl, get your clean hands in there and mix it all thoroughly - coating all the meat. The smell alone at this point should have you wetting yourself, let alone the colour.
Cover and place in the fridge. If you can only manage an hour it's still worth it - it's like Everest Base Camp. Stretch that to three or four hours then we're talking Everest Camp Three and way more depth. If however you can do 12 hours plus (overnight would be smart) then we're basically at The Hillary Step about to summit the highest point on earth.
When you're sure that you are as prepared as you can be, get a large saucepan with a lid (not frying pan) on to a low heat and add the lamb.
Over the next 30 minutes slow cook it and stir only three times, all you need do is prevent it from catching. What started as a rather dry looking dish will suddenly start to release fats and water, sitting the lamb in a shallow but bubbling sauce.
Now remove the lid, again stirring only to keep it from catching on the bottom, cook for another 30 minutes and evaporate as much as the liquid as possible.
When done you should have a slightly glistening, deeply coloured and wonderful smelling Nepali Lamb Pakku.
Remove the cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamon pods and cloves (if you can find them - don't bust a gut, just get rid of the obvious stuff) and in a bowl or very white plate, make a nice little mountain of lamb.
This is an easy dish with lots of passive time to create some other dishes to go with it - your mates will think you've actually climbed Everest...maybe.
Thank you Nepal

धन्यवाद

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Nepalese Dal Bhat with Cauliflower Rice | दालभात | What is the National Dish of Nepal?

Wayne @NationalDish — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 16:29:10 +0000

The national dish of Nepal is Dal Bhat – a lentil curry with rice, this is a low carb version with cauliflower rice.
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017

Cooking Himalayan food is nowhere near as difficult as climbing Mount Everest but the result is equally enjoyable…ok, safer.

Dal Bhat (Lentil Rice) could be argued as a side dish here in the UK rather than a main and the meat eaters among you will probably want something else other than lentils and rice. To help you why not add in a Nepalese Lamb Pakku (in Nepal they would use mutton/goat) which you can prepare at the same time and uses some of the base spices from this dish – although on a much grander scale, seriously, it’s mental.

You’ll appreciate that rice forms part of the staple diet for much of the world, especially those areas that are heavily impoverished. Our western bodies aren’t geared up for such an energy rich diet, so for those of you wishing to manage that, I’ve replaced the rice with cauliflower rice – which quite frankly, adds to this dish. Don’t forget, the lentils carry a fair old whack of carb energy themselves, so this avoids doubling up.

But, if you must use rice, use white basmati rice – why not give this one a whirl first eh?

दालभात | Nepalese Lentil Curry with Cauliflower Rice

If you cook the Lamb Pukka with this, then head over there and start that first, it's best to get that going whilst you prep this as it only takes about half the time.

CourseMain Dish, Side Dish
CuisineNepalese

Servings4 People

Prep Time10 Minutes

Cook Time35 Minutes

Ingredients

Main stuff

1cup lentilsyou can use any kind, I went for red split lentils
1diced white onion
2sliced spring onionsslice them at an angle
1400g tin chopped tomatoesItalian is best, everyone know's that right?
300ml vegetable stockmake 500 ml and then you have some more if you need to top up
1tablespoon olive oilEnglish rape oil or ghee would be better

Spices and stuff

3cloves garlicchopped or crushed
2tsps chilli powder
1fresh fresh red chillisliced at an angle
2tsps turmeric powder
1tsp cumin powder
1decent bunch fresh corianderyou'll use the stalks and the leaves
1fresh limeif you do the Lamb Pakku then you can share the lime across both dishes

Instructions

Heat the oil or ghee in a pan over a medium high heat. Finely chop the coriander stalks and add them to the pan with the onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add a little salt, just to stop them from browning.
If you are cooking rice, start it now - follow the instructions on the packet - ugh! If you are doing the cauliflower rice, the instructions are below - just have a quick look, really straight forward.
Then add all the lentils and stir them round for a couple of minutes before adding the stock (you can use just water if you like but the vegetable stock will left it a little more) - let it simmer on a low to medium heat for 10-15 mins - don't let it dry out - low and slow.
Whilst this is cooking down, slice your red chilli and spring onions, looks nicer at an angle, chop all your coriander leaves and cut the lime in to 4 wedges - set aside.
You should now have a slightly gooey mixture that may have lost a bit of colour, that's about to change. Bang in all the spices, give it a good mix and add the whole tin of tomatoes, mix again and leave to simmer for another 10 mins, again if it needs more stock/water, add it.
Grab a handful of coriander leaves and throw them in (keep a generous pinch back to garnish), stir and it's almost ready to serve. Hopefully you have been tasting throughout, now's the time to season, carefully.
The rice should be ready, create a little pile in the middle of a plate or bowl, spoon the Dal over the top, garnish with a little pinch of coriander leaves, the sliced chilli's, spring onions and wedge of lime.
If you also cooked the Lamb Pukka, serve on the side, that's right, the meat is the side.
So not only do Nepali people have a brilliant mountain, they also have deeply spiced and comforting food.
Thank you Nepal

धन्यवाद

Recipe Notes

For the cauliflower rice

Remove the outer leaves and stalk so that you are left with the whole head. A medium sized cauliflower will feed about 4 people. Cut it in half and you can either use a food processor to bung it through and chop - go for a rough blade or get the course side of a cheese grater and run it up and down that. You want it slightly chunky, rather than like Cous Cous.

Put it in to a microwavable bowl - that's right, don't panic, used intelligently the microwaving can do clever things. Cover with cling film, don't add any water pierce it a couple of time and then microwave on full for 6 minutes for an 850w.

Best thing to do is microwave for 3 mins and then when you think you are 3 minutes from the end of the main dish, finish it off.

What you'll be left with is an al dente rice substitute that is actually better than rice. Your kitchen may smell a little like farts, but that's fine, it tastes nothing like it.

The post Nepalese Dal Bhat with Cauliflower Rice | दालभात | What is the National Dish of Nepal? appeared first on National Dish.