A Long and Messy Business. Rowley Leigh

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СКАЧАТЬ teaspoon fennel seeds

      200ml (7fl oz) cider vinegar

      10 garlic cloves, peeled and

      grated

      125g (4½oz) piece of fresh

      root ginger, peeled and

      grated

      2 onions, peeled and grated

      1 tablespoon tomato purée

      2 teaspoons chilli flakes

      2 teaspoons ground turmeric

      1 cinnamon stick

      2 teaspoons golden caster

      sugar

      100ml (3½fl oz) vegetable oil,

      plus extra for cooking the

      onions

      3 onions, peeled and finely

      sliced

      juice of 1 lime

      1 bunch of fresh coriander

      leaves, roughly chopped

      salt

      Trim the pork cheeks, removing any really tough sinews,

      then cut each one into three or four smaller nuggets.

      Prepare the marinade. Grind the peppercorns,

      coriander seeds, cardamom seeds, cumin, cloves and

      fennel seeds using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

      Place in a large bowl and add the vinegar, garlic, ginger,

      grated onions, tomato puree, chilli flakes, turmeric,

      cinnamon and sugar and mix to a paste. Add the pork,

      massaging the paste into the meat well. Cover with

      clingfilm and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 6 hours.

      Preheat the oven to 140°C (275°F, Gas Mark 1). Add

      500ml (18fl oz) water to the marinade, enabling you to lift

      out the pieces of meat. Dry these on kitchen paper, then

      season well with salt. In a heavy-based frying pan, fry the

      meat, in batches, in the vegetable oil, taking care to colour

      them on all sides.

      In a heavy casserole dish, stew the finely sliced onions

      gently in the extra oil for about 15 minutes, or until soft,

      then add the fried meat before pouring in the marinade,

      stirring well and bringing to a simmer, making sure there

      is enough water to cover the meat.

      Cover carefully and cook the stew in the oven for

      3 hours, or until the meat is completely tender. The stew

      must not boil but cook at a very gentle temperature. Check

      the seasoning for salt and sharpen the flavour with lime

      juice. The vindaloo should be very piquant but not

      burningly hot. Sprinkle with the chopped fresh coriander

      leaves and serve with plenty of plain boiled basmati rice.

      WINE: Whereas I don’t think chilli necessarily spoils wine

      the cumulative effect of the chilli and vinegar will destroy

      all but the most alcoholic blockbuster Shiraz or Zinfandel.

      A cold lager or lassi might be a better option.

      38

      French Nursery Food

      Far Breton, or Custard Cake with Prunes

      When we think of nursery food, most of us are acutely

      nationalistic. One cannot imagine toad-in-the-hole, milk

      pudding and junket being consumed in any other country.

      Some of us never escape the grip of the nursery and are

      happier eating very bad food than going to any damned

      foreign restaurant, while others so loathed the food of

      their childhood that they are forever sworn against it. If

      anything, I belong in the first camp, even if I have happily

      migrated from the world of club food and institutionalised

      deprivation. I liked almost everything I was given as a

      child, from Nanny’s Mess (a sort of Irish stew with scrag

      end of lamb and pearl barley) and spam fritters and, not

      even but especially, prunes and custard.

      I am always surprised by the degree of animosity the

      poor old prune provokes. Even the great Jane Grigson

      seems to have been infected with this loathing: ‘In a

      masochistic and patriotic egotism of suffering, I had

      always thought that prunes and rice pudding were unique

      to Great Britain (like strikes). Alone in the world we

      suffered, or made our children suffer.’ Yet, soaked in hot

      black tea – brought to a simmer after twenty minutes for

      an extra little nudge towards plumpness – and served with

      custard or cold double cream, prunes are a quietly enjoyed

      pleasure, each stone arranged on the rim of the soup plate

      to determine future fortunes (‘tinker, tailor…’). This is

      purely subjective, but the objection, made with a snigger,

      that prunes are unduly laxative, is a low and unkind slur

      on a discreetly helpful fruit.

      The prune is not СКАЧАТЬ