at 23:31

Mutton (Goats Meat)/Lamb and Pomegranate Tagine served with Onion and Pomegranate Relish (Moroccan)

I have been meaning to make this dish ever since I saw the recipe on TV on one of Nigella Lawson’s Christmas food shows. Finally, I made it yesterday…. For the first time. I expected this dish to be different.. do not know how…. but different.

The dish is on the verge of being little sweet. It has dates so the sweetness is explained. However, I did not use as many dates as the original recipe asked for. Yet it is little sweet. The sourness of the pomegranate sorts of make up for it but somehow I am not very keen on sweet- savory dishes. Nevertheless, R really liked it. He thought it was rather unique.

But, I must say the onion and pomegranate relish was to die for. It was exactly what I imagined it to be.  Yummy! I loved the look and color of the dish.

I did not follow the recipe to the T and made my own twists. Added bit of chili, used very little dates. I am happy that I keep doing this kind of experiments. If you are the experimentative kind, then you might want to try making this one. It was nice with couscous though.

Ingredients for Lamb Tagine

650gm Mutton or Lamb’s boneless shoulder meat

2-onions thinly sliced

1/2 -teaspoon turmeric

1/2teaspoon cumin powder

1/2-teaspoon cinnamon powder

1/2-teaspoon ginger paste

1/2chili flakes (optional)

1/2-teaspoon ground all spice (optional. I did not use it but my ma would)

Pinch of black pepper (freshly done is best)

4- dates ( use 2 date I would say….)

1-cup pomegranate juice (packed 100% juice or made from fruit)

Salt to taste

1-tablespoon of oil

 Ingredients for Onion and Pomegranate Relish

1-red onions, thinly sliced

1/2-cup pomegranates

1-cup pomegranate juice

½-cup lemon juice

Salt to taste

 Method for the relish

1.    Soak the onions in lemon and pomegranate juice for 1 hour

2.   After an hour drain the onions dry

3.   Add pomegranate, and salt

4.   Combine and serve with mutton/Lamb Pomegranate Tagine

5.   Drink the lemon, salt and pomegranate juice, it is yummy

Method for Mutton (Goats Meat)/Lamb and Pomegranate Tagine

1.    Heat oil in a pan

2.   Add the onion and fry until soft

3.   Add all the spices  with onion and fry

4.   Add the mutton/lamb and cook for 10mins

5.   Add salt and the pomegranate juice, dates to the mutton/lamb

6.   Cook on low heat for 1 hour or just pressure cook it

7.   Before serving, garnish with onion and pomegranate relish and serve with white rice or couscous

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at 18:09

Spicy Moroccan Chicken Skewer

I have not used the oven in my new home. It does not look in great shape and that is upsetting me already. So it is important that it works well. I decided to make something that is easy and quick to make and have very little chance of going bad in case the oven works up.  So I am making this Moroccan Skewers both in vegetarian and non vegetarian version. This one is with chicken. There is a vegetarian version of the dish after this post

By the way I realised that I have not written about my work for long. Well I am very busy with work and cleaning home. So soon will be back!

Until then happy cooking!

Ingredients for Spicy Moroccan Chicken  Skewer

250- Boneless chicken breast cubed

1- teaspoon coriander powder

1- teaspoon cumin powder

1-teaspoon cinnamon powder

1- teaspoon red chili powder ( optional or depending on taste)

2- garlic cloves grated

6-teaspoon plain waterless fatless yogurt (hung curd or Greek yoghurt)

1-red bell pepper cut into same sized cubes as chicken

1-onion, cut into same sized cubes as chicken

Salt to taste

1-tablespoon oil

 Method:

1.   Mix coriander powder, cumin powder, cinnamon powder, red chili powder, garlic cloves grated and yogurt and salt.

2.   Add the chicken and marinate in refrigerator as long or as little you like depending on time you have. I did not 15 mins

3.   Preheat the grill to 200c heat

4.   Remove chicken from marinade.

5.   Thread 1 chicken piece, 1 pepper piece, and 1 onion alternately onto each skewer, beginning and ending with pepper or onion

6.   sprinkle evenly with remaining salt and little oil

7.   Arrange skewers on grill rack coated with oil

8.    Grill until golden brown. In case they are cooked but not brown braise them on oiled & heated pan to make then little brown

9.   Serve with warm pitta, roti, couscous, bread or rice along with cucumber and yoghurt sauce with coriander

at 18:02

Spicy Moroccan Paneer Skewer

I have not used the oven in my new home. It does not look in great shape and that is upsetting me already. So it is important that it works well. I decided to make something that is easy and quick to make and have very little chance of going bad in case the oven works up.  So I am making this Moroccan Skewers both in vegetarian and non vegetarian version. This one made with Paneer. You can buy Paneer in Tesco or any India/Asian grocery in London. There is chicken version of this dish before this post.

By the way I realised that I have not written about my work for long. Well I am very busy with work and cleaning home. So soon will be back!

Until then happy cooking!

Ingredients for Spicy Moroccan Paneer Skewer

250 Paneer cubed

1- teaspoon coriander powder

1- teaspoon cumin powder

1-teaspoon cinnamon powder

1- teaspoon red chili powder ( optional or depending on taste)

2- garlic cloves grated

6-teaspoon plain waterless fatless yogurt (hung curd or Greek yoghurt)

1-red bell pepper cut into same sized cubes as paneer

1-onion, cut into same sized cubes as paneer

Salt to taste

1-tablespoon oil

 Method:

1.   Mix coriander powder, cumin powder, cinnamon powder, red chili powder, garlic cloves grated and yogurt and salt.

2.   Add the Paneer and Marinate in refrigerator as long or as little you like depending on time you have. I did not 15 mins

3.   Preheat the grill to 200c heat

4.   Remove paneer from marinade.

5.   Thread 1 Paneer piece, 1 pepper piece, and 1 onion alternately onto each skewer, beginning and ending with pepper or onion

6.   sprinkle evenly with remaining salt and little oil

7.   Arrange skewers on grill rack coated with oil

8.    Grill until golden brown. In case they are cooked but not brown braise them on oiled heated pan to make then little brown

9.   Serve with warm pitta, roti, couscous, bread or rice along with cucumber and yoghurt sauce with coriander

 

at 15:17

Cheering for Olympics 2012, Protesting Dow’s Involvement.And my usual -sharing recipe for Libyan Chicken Shorba

Olympic fever has finally caught me. I am glued to the TV watching swimming, boxing and of course Usain Bolt. We went for the women’s tennis final on Saturday, watched Serena William play for gold, Andy Murray at mixed double, and cheered to the heart’s content for Sania Mirza and Leander Paes. And of course one can never get bored of the beautiful Wimbledon stadium on a sunny day.

I intended to boycott the London Olympics 2012 for its association with Dow Company. But I guess sports events like Olympic has the power to bring people together positively and it also bring a sense of positive nationalism (this only get confirmed when you see how people all over world have cheered for Usain Bolt or Michael Phelp).  Moreover, it has the power to attract someone like me who has no interest in sport whatsoever, to be glued to watching swimming, boxing, archery and cheering for

However with great power comes great responsibility. I cannot shake away the discomfort I am feeling with Olympics’ association with Dow and Bhopal gas tragedy.

I would have like to believe that no one needs a reminder of that day .People will be aware of the  plight of the people ,how victims were treated back in 1984, how little or no compensation were given to them until today, how thousand continued to get effected and will continue to get effected by the toxic legacy of the disaster and how Indian state and corporate like  Union Carbide & Dow, attached to the gas leak have shaken all responsibility and people’s voices have been ignored.  

People within system, corporate and states surprise me- not because they don’t know but because they don’t care. The difference between knowing and caring seems to be increasing every day. No wonder Dow gets to sponsor a world class even like Olympic despite of protest from Indian people at large, people all over the world, survivors, academia, NGO, Indian Olympic association, people UK.

The Bhopal Death Toll:

Initial deaths (3-6 December): more than 3,000 - official toll
Unofficial initial toll: 7,000-8,000
Total deaths to date: over 15,000
Number affected Nearly 600,000
Compensation: Union Carbide pays $470m in 1989

Source: Indian Supreme Court, Madhya Pradesh government, Indian Council of Medical Research.(Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17054672)

In 1989, Union Carbide reached an out of court settlement with government of India and the company agreed to pay $470 million. The money built a hospital for those who suffered ill health and the survivor got $ 1000 each in compensation.  The agreement stand for a full and final settlement of Union Carbide of any Civil and Criminal Liabilities. Dow have merged with Union Carbide Corporation whose subsidiary Union Carbide Indian ran the Bhopal pesticide Plant in 1999. However Dow denies any liability of the leak and argues that $ 470 million as settlement is fair. This surely is a sponsor whose lack of appropriate action runs entirely counter to the Ethical Sourcing Code, says Peter Boocock an activist with https://www.change.org/en-GB/members/3040019. DOW Chemical, currently declared revenue for 2010 53.647 billion (2010), declared operating income 4.238 billion (2010, declared Profit 2.310 billion (2010). Cost of cleaning up Bhopal estimated at 135 Rs.crores = £16,735,304.804 or $26,230,145.237 cost approximation, however you measure the billions of profit that DOW makes [1,000 million US $ to a billion US $], that still leaves a substantial sum available for the directors, shareholders and DOW's day to day running costs yet they cannot clean the site or compensate the people.

Mr.Sarangi who runs Sambhavna Trust says, "what we find is a very high incidence of diseases: damage to the kidneys, the liver, the brain, the skin. The incidence of birth defects in these areas is at least 10 times what you would find in similar socio-economic populations." In a neighborhood just north of the Union Carbide plant, we found people drawing groundwater from a pump. We took a sample and had it tested at a laboratory in the United Kingdom. The test found that it contained nearly 4,000 micrograms per litre of carbon tetrachloride - nearly 1,000 times the World Health Organisation's safe limit. "Carbon tet", as it is known, is a highly toxic pollutant which is known to cause cancer and liver damage” (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8390156.stm).

In 25 years no one has been successfully persecuted for the leak or ground water contamination. On June 7, 2010, nearly 26 years after world's worst industrial disaster left over 15,000 dead, former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others were sentenced to two years imprisonment. 89-year-old Anderson, the then Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of USA, who lives in the United States, appeared to have gone scot-free for the present as he is still an absconder and did not subject himself to trial. Almost thirty years after the horrific Bhopal chemical disaster, the factory site has still not been cleared up and the survivors and their families continue to fight for compensation. If it is not Dow responsibility then whose it is?

“Speaking on Indian TV Mr Cameron said Dow was a "reputable" firm and the Games should not be used for industrial or political purposes. He said his heart went out to those who had suffered in the incident but that it happened before Dow was involved” (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17340658). If an event which has participation of over 200 countries does not included voices of the unheard, then what is the point of having such an event whose ideology is to bring nations together.  If this is not political, then what is? What would have UK said had the tragedy been in here?  

For Union Carbide or Dow the matter is legally and officially closed. For people of Bhopal it is far from close.

And for me, I continue to cheer for the spirit of the sport and continue to protest Dow’s involvement with Olympics

Recipe for Libyan Chicken Shorba (Libyan Styled chicken Stew)

Serves:  2 as main course on its own
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time:  1Hr

 Ingredients:

1. 4 chicken leg pieces (approximately 250g) washed and cleaned
2. 1 big finely chopped red onion
3. 50g Canned Chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
4. 50g Orzo (Rice shaped pasta)
5. 3-tablespoon tomato puree
6. ¼-teaspoon cumin powder
7. ¼-teaspoon coriander seed powder
8. ¼-teaspoon red chili powder
9. ¼-teaspoon dried mint
10. 1 cup finely chopped coriander/cilantro
11. 1200ml water
12. 1-tablespoon oil
13. Salt to taste
14. 2 lemon wedges to serve

 Method:

1. Heat oil in a large heavy bottom stockpot. Fry the onion until translucent, pale golden and soft
2. Add the chicken and fry for 3/4 mins. Add cumin powder, coriander seed powder, chili powder. Fry for another 5 mins. If it sticks at the bottom sprinkle little water.
3. Add tomato puree and chickpeas and cook for another few minute until the puree mixes well with other ingredients
4. Add the water to the pot and cover. Simmer over a medium heat for 30mins
5. Add the orzo, coriander and cook for another 15 mins or until the Shorba have reduced to 1000ml in total and is flavorful. Adjust seasoning.
6. Add little dried mint, lemon and serve in a bowl