Risoni and Wild Rice Salad

As you are already accustomed, here it is the original recipe that was translated before in Romanian. It is from a book called “Cooking for Two” , 1996 and writen by two chefs, Richard Olney and Simon Wheeler. I followed it years ago and I liked it. Simple. Now here it is.

Risoni and Wild Rice Salad

Serves 2 of course

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup risoni (a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice)
• 1/4 cup wild rice (you can replace it with other rice but remember the boiling time too)
• 2 tsp oil
• 4 green shallots, chopped (spring onions)
• 3 tsp chopped fresh lemon grass
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1/4 tsp fish sauce
• 30 g butter

Method:

• Add risoni to a pan of boiling water, boil, uncovered, until tender; drain. Add rice to a pan of boiling water, boil, uncovered, about 40 minutes or until tender; drain.
• Heat oil in pan, add shallots and lemon grass, cook, stirring, until shallots are soft. Add risoni, rice, juice and sauce, stir until heated through; transfer to serving dish.
• Add butter to same pan, cook until butter is lightly browned, pour over nice mixture; mix gently.

Enjoy your meal!

• Risoni and rice can be cooked a day ahead.
• Storage: Covered, in refrigerator.
• Freeze: Not suitable.
• Microwave: Risoni and rice suitable.

Ps: writing this it felt like a broken English to me today. I don’t know why. I may be tired but I do not realize I am. 🙂

Elena G

Chicken Curry

I know. You know. Curry is one of the tastier dishes I have ever eaten. I hadn’t heard about Indian food until I went to London. There I discovered the international cuisine. And the tastes behind it. I can’t believe how lucky I am.

I have many favorite recipes and one among them is curry. Any curry. I have cooked and eaten fish, chicken, lamb curry and other Indian recipes that are absolutely delicious. I am only sorry that in Romania I can’t cook them all. For some dishes there are absolutely no spices here and there is no way I can replace them. If I do that it will be no longer an Indian recipe. Too bad. My wish is to make accessible the recipes for those who love cooking in Romania. I know that sometimes is impossible or let’s say it is impossible for the moment. I hope for the best. 🙂

For today I have mixed two curry recipes I have, to try to make an easy one. The taste of India remains. 🙂 So

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

• 350 g skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-5 cm (1 in) pieces (or you can try with 2 chicken breasts)
• 30 g butter (or more for more chicken)
• 2 packets of curry powder (this is how you find it here and I have to say I am not at all satisfied about its quality, or about 2 tbsp of really good curry powder)
• 1 large (about 200 g) onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh lemon grass
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes (for a spicier recipe, yummy ;)) )
• 2 tsp chopped fresh coriander
• 2 tsp lime juice (or lemon juice)
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp fish sauce (optional)
• 1 tsp sugar
• a pinch of pepper
• 2 tsp plain flour
• 300 ml chicken stock
• 1 can coconut milk (you can make it by putting 75-100 g coconut in a bowl, pour over the 300 boiling water and leave to stand for 30 minutes. I have done this and I don’t like it. There is nothing as good as the coconut in the can or if you are reaaaaaaly lucky, the milk from a fresh coconut)

Method:

• Heat butter in a pan, add chicken, cook, stirring, until browned and tender; drain on absorbent paper. You can buy the chicken meat ready cooked but you will never beat the taste and smell of a freshly buttered cooked meat.
• Reheat the pan, add onion, garlic, lemon grass, chili, coriander, juice, seeds, turmeric and sauce, curry powder, pepper, cook , stirring, until the onion is soft. Stir in chicken, sugar and flour, then the stock and milk, stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens.
• Serve with the best Indian rice: basmati rice.

Bon appetite!