Chocolate Crunch Ice Cream and Chicken Tandoori

Recipe for cooking Chocolate Crunch Ice Cream and Chicken Tandoori

Parathay Hi Parathay

Parat Paratha: Qeema Paratha & Mooli Paratha Did you know? The paratha was first conceived in the ancient Punjab region, but soon became popular all over India, including southern India. The southern Indian states have their own versions of the ubiquitous paratha, the most popular being the Kerala porotta.

Syrup of Lemon

ake lemon, after peeling its outer skin, press it and take a ratl of juice, and add as much of sugar. Cook it until it takes the form of a syrup. Its advantages are for the heat of bile; it cuts the thirst and binds the bowels.

This we also serve as a strong, hot drink. Alternatively, dilute it in cold water and you have thirteenth century lemonade. All three of the original recipes include comments on medical uses of the syrups.

Roast of Meat

Roast salted, well-marbled meat [cut up] like fingertips, and put in a pot spices, onion, salt, oil and soaked garbanzos. Cook until done and add the roast meat; cover the contents of the pot with cilantro and sprinkle with pepper and cinnamon; and if you add whole pine nuts or walnuts in place of garbanzos, it will be good.

1 1/2 lb lamb or beef
2 15 oz cans chickpeas
3 small onions = 3/4 lb
1 t salt

spices:

1/4 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t black pepper
3 T olive oil
1/4 c green coriander, pressed down
1/8 t more pepper
1/4 t more cinnamon

Note: an earlier recipe in the same book calls for spices and then specifies which ones: "all the spices, pepper, cinnamon, dried coriander and cumin."

Roast meat and cut into about 1/4" by 1/2" pieces. Slice onions. Put chickpeas, onion, spices, salt and oil in a pot and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 10 minutes, turning down the heat toward the end as it gets dry; add meat and cook one minute, add green coriander and cook another minute, and turn off heat. Sprinkle with pepper and cinnamon and serve.

Roast Chicken

You will roast a chicken after it has been well plucked, cleaned and washed; and after roasting it, put it into a dish before it cools off and pour over it either orange juice or verjuice with rosewater, sugar and well-ground cinnamon, and serve it to your guests.

large chicken
1/3 c orange juice
1 T rosewater
2 T sugar plus 1 t cinnamon

Hulwa

Its varieties are many. Among them are the sweets made of natif. You put dibs [fruit syrup], honey, sugar or rubb [thick fruit syrup] in the pot, then you put it on a gentle fire and stir until it takes consistency. Then you beat eggwhite and put it with it and stir until it thickens and becomes natif. After that, if you want almond candy you put in toasted almonds and 'allaftahu; that is, you bind them. walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, toasted chickpeas, toasted sesame, flour. [apparently alternative versions]. You beat in the natif until thickens. For duhniyyah you put in flour toasted with fat. As for ... (other versions.)

Sugar version:
1 1/4 c sugar
1/4 c water
1 egg white
1 1/2 - 2 c nuts = ~10 oz

Honey version:
1 c honey
1 egg white
2 1/2-3 c or more nuts

This makes 25-40 hulwa, depending on size.

Sugar version: Bring the water to a boil, stir in the sugar, continuing to heat. When it is dissolved and reasonably clear, turn it down to a simmer and put the top on the pot for two or three minutes (this is to let the steam wash down any sugar on the sides of the pot). Take the top off, boil gently until the temperature reaches the hard ball stage (250deg. -260deg. F). Beat the egg white until it is just stiff enough to hold its shape. Pour the sugar syrup into the egg white, beating continuously. You now have a thick white mixture; this is the natif. Mix it with chopped nuts (we have used almonds and walnuts) or toasted sesame seeds, or some mixture thereof. Squeeze the mixture into balls and set them aside to cool. Note that as the natif cools, it gets harder and less sticky, so you have to work quickly; the hotter you get the syrup before combining it with the egg white (and hence the less water ended up in it), the faster this happens and the dryer the hulwa ends up. If you get past 260deg. , the syrup may crystallize on you as or before you pour it; if so, give up and start over.

Honey version: Simmer the honey gently until it reaches a temperature of 280deg. -290deg. F. From that point on, the recipe is the same as for sugar, using the boiled honey instead of the sugar syrup. Note that honey requires a higher temperature than sugar to get the same effect. Also note that natif made from honey will be stickier than natif made from sugar (maybe you can solve this by getting the honey up to 310deg. without burning it; I couldn't). So use a higher ratio of nuts to natif and have the nuts chopped more finely; this helps reduce the stickiness. You may want to roll the honey hulwa in sesame seeds or ground nuts, also to reduce stickiness.

Dibs version (still experimental). Stir the dibs while simmering at medium heat about 1/2 hour+, until it gets to about 250deg. . If you do not stir, it may separate out. By 250deg. there is some problem with scorching.

Note: Dibs is date syrup, available from some Middle Eastern grocery stores.

Toasted Sesame: To toast sesame seeds, you put them in a heavy iron pot over a medium to high flame, and watch them carefully. When the ones on the bottom begin to to tan, start stirring. When they are all tan to brown, take them off the heat or they will burn.

Asparagus with Meat Stuffing

Take asparagus, the largest you have, clean and boil, after taking tender meat and pounding fine; throw in pepper, caraway, coriander seed, cilantro juice, some oil and egg white; take the boiled asparagus, one after another, and dress with this ground meat, and do so carefully. Put an earthenware pot on the fire, after putting in it water, salt, a spoon of murri and another of oil, cilantro juice, pepper, caraway and coriander seed; little by little while the pot boils, throw in it the asparagus wrapped in meat. Boil in the pot and throw in it meatballs of this ground meat, and when it is all evenly cooked, cover with egg, breadcrumbs and some of the stuffed meat already mentioned and decorate with egg, God willing.

1 lb asparagus (before trimming)
1/2 lb ground meat (lamb?)
1/8 t pepper
1/4 t caraway
1/8 t coriander seed
1/3 c crushed fresh coriander
1/2 T oil
1 egg white
water
1/4 t salt
murri
1/3 c more fresh coriander
1/8 t more coriander seed
3 eggs
1 c breadcrumbs

We have not yet figured out how one ought to dress the asparagus with the meat; perhaps one could split the asparagus down the center and lay the meat inside.

The Recipe of Ibn-e-Al Mehdi's Maghmoom

Take a plump hen, dismember it and put it in a pot, and add coriander of one dirham's weight, half a dirham of pepper and the same of cinnamon, and of ginger, galingale, lavender and cloves a quarter dirham each, three û qiyas of vinegar, two ûqiyas of pressed onion juice, an ûqiya of cilantro juice, an ûqiya of murri naqî', and four ûqiyas of fresh oil. Mix all this in a pot with some rosewater, cover it with a flatbread and put a carefully made lid over the mouth of the pot. Place this in the oven over a moderate fire and leave it until it is cooked. Then take it out and leave it a little. Let it cool and invert it onto a clean dish and present it; it is remarkable.

1 chicken (2-3 lb)
1 T (4 g) coriander
1 t (2 g) pepper
1 1/2 t (2 g) cinnamon
1/2 t (1 g) ginger
1/2 t (1 g) galingale
~1 T (1 g) dried lavender blossoms ground in a mortar
1/2 t (1 g) cloves
3/8 c (3 oz) vinegar
2 T (1 oz) coriander juice = 2 T water +~1 oz green coriander
1/4 c (2 oz) onion juice
2 T (1 oz) murri
1/2 c (4 oz) olive oil
2 t rosewater
2 medium pita breads

120 dirhem = 16 oz = 1 pt; 7.5 dirhem = 1 oz; 1 dirham = approx 3-4 grams.

Chop coriander, then grind in electric spice grinder with 2 T water and strain juice through a cloth to make 2 T+ of coriander juice. Mix everything in pot, put in chicken. Put two medium pita on top, put on lid, bake at 350deg. about 1 hour, let settle about 15 minutes, invert into a bowl, and serve. Would be good over rice or bread. Note: The spices are all ground.

Cooked Fried Chicken

Cut up the chicken, making two pieces from each limb; fry it with plenty of fresh oil; then take a pot and throw in four spoonfuls of vinegar and two of murri naqî' and the same amount of oil, pepper, cilantro, cumin, a little garlic and saffron. Put the pot on the fire and when it has boiled, put in the fried chicken spoken of before, and when it is done, then empty it out and present it.

1 medium chicken, 2 1/2 lb, cut up
1/4 c oil
1/4 c vinegar
2 T murri
2 T oil
1 t pepper
4 sprigs cilantro = ~1/16 oz
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t crushed garlic
3 threads saffron

Browned chicken in 1/4 c olive oil, over medium low heat, for 10 minutes. Set chicken aside. Add to a large pot vinegar, murri, 2 T oil, pepper, cilantro, saffron, crushed garlic, cumin, and heat the pot on medium for 3 minutes. Add chicken, simmer on low for 25 minutes with the lid on, stirring often, baste with the liquid five minutes before it is done.

Chopped Liver

For the chopped liver: he who has the charge of the chopped liver should take kids' livers-and if there are not enough of those of kids use those of veal-and clean and wash them very well, then put them to cook well and properly; and, being cooked, let him take them out onto fair and clean boards and, being drained, chop them very fine and, being well chopped, let him arrange that he has fair lard well and properly melted in fair and clean pans, then put in to fry the said chopped liver and sauté it well and properly. And then arrange that he has a great deal of eggs and break them into fair dishes and beat them all together; and put in spices, that is white ginger, grains of paradise, saffron, and salt in good proportion, then put all of this gently into the said pans with the said liver which is being fried while continually stirring and mixing with a good spoon in the pans until it is well cooked and dried out and beginning to brown. And then when this comes to the sideboard arrange the aforesaid heads [reference to preceding recipe in the original] on fair serving dishes, and on each dish next to the heads put and arrange the aforesaid chopped liver.

1/2 lb calf liver
2 T lard
3 eggs
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t grains of paradise
8 threads saffron, ground
1/4 t salt

Simmer liver for about 5 minutes, drain, then chop very fine. Beat the eggs, add spices. Melt the lard, add liver and eggs, stir constantly until cooked.

Boiled Meats Ordinary

You shall take a racke of mutton cut into peeces, or a leg of mutton cut in peeces: for this meat and these joints, are the best, Although any other joint, or any fresh beefe will likewise make good pottage: and having washt your meat well, put it into a cleane pot with faire water, and set it on the fire: then take violet leaves, endive, succory (chiccory?), strawberie leaves, spinage, langdebeefe, marygold flowers, Scallions, and a little persly, and chop them very small together, then take halfe so much oatmeale well beaten as there is herbes, and mix it with the herbes, and chop all very wel together: then when the pot is ready to boile, skumme it very wel and then put in your herbes: And so let it boil with a quicke fire, stirring the meat oft in the pot, till the meat be boild enough, and that the hearbes and water mixt together without any separation, which will be after the consumption of more then a third part: then season them with salt, and serve them up with the meat either with sippets or without.

2 lb boned lamb
5 c water
3 c oatmeal
1 1/2 t salt

1 1/4 lb mixed greens = 6 c chopped and pressed down (scallions, endive lettuce, Belgian endive, parsley, spinach, and mustard greens)

Cut up lamb into bite-sized pieces. Put in a pot with water, bring to a boil. Chop greens fine, mix with oatmeal and add. Simmer about 1 hour.

Variants:

If you want the pottage green but without visible herbs, beat the oatmeal and herbs in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle. Strain it, using some warm water from the pot. If you want it without herbs, use lots of onions and more oatmeal than before.

Chicken with Mustard

Cut up the chicken and place in a pan with salt and chopped onion, green coriander, oil, dried coriander, pepper and caraway; carry to the fire until it boils, and when it has boiled gently, add liquid distilled from green coriander, vinegar, and almori, and let the vinegar be more than the almori; when it has cooked, smoothly grind peeled almond and stir with egg and some pepper, green and dried ground coriander and a tablespoon of prepared mustard; pour all this into the pan and add three cracked eggs and take from the embers to rest for a while, and serve, if God so wills.

2 1/2 lb chicken
1 t salt
1 3/8 lb onion, chopped
1/4 c green coriander leaves
2 T olive oil
2 t coriander seed
3/4 t pepper
2 t caraway
3 T coriander juice (from 1/4 c coriander + 7 t water)
3 T vinegar
2 T murri
1/4 lb blanched almonds
1 egg
1/4 t more pepper
2 T more green coriander
1/4 t more coriander seed
4 t mustard powder
3 more eggs

Total green coriander used = about 1/10 lb

Cut up chicken into separate joints; chop onion and green coriander (measure coriander packed). To make coriander juice, chop green coriander including stems, put in mortar with 1 or 2 teaspoons of water, grind to a pulp, and drain off resulting juice; you may want to wrap the pulp in cheesecloth and squeeze out the juice. Add another teaspoon of water, grind some more, and repeat until you have as much juice as you want or the pulp is used up. Cook the chicken, etc. in oil over medium high heat 10-15 minutes. Add murri, vinegar, and coriander juice, reduce heat to medium and cook 20 minutes. Grind almonds in food processor almost to flour. Mix in a bowl ground almonds, egg, and rest of spices. Stir into the pot, mixing well, and turn heat to low; crack eggs on top of sauce, cover, and let sit until eggs are poached (about 10-15 minutes).

Andalusian chicken

al-Andalusi p. C-4

Get a fat hen, cut off the head, clean it and cut it into small pieces; the legs in two, the breast in two and the same the wings. Put in a pot with salt, oil, almori, pepper, dried coriander, and oregano; fry it without water until it is gilded. Meanwhile, get onions and green cilantro and squeeze out their water into the pot, in a quantity sufficient to cover the meat, leaving it to bubble one hour. After get a little grated bread crumbs, beat them with two or three eggs, with pepper and saffron, and embellish with it the pot; leave it on the embers that the grease comes out and eat it.

1 chicken, 3 1/2 lb
1 t salt
1 T oil
2 t murri
1/2 t pepper
1 t coriander
2 t fresh chopped oregano (1/12 oz) or 1 t dried oregano
1 c green coriander packed = 3 oz + 1/4 c water = almost 1/2 c juice
1/4 c onion juice
1/2 c bread crumbs
3 eggs
1/4 t more pepper
12 threads saffron

Heat oil with salt, murri, etc. in large pot and fry cut-up chicken for 10 minutes over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Make coriander juice by grinding the coriander (stems and all) in a blender or with a mortar and pestle, adding the water a little at a time, putting it in a ricer and squeezing out the juice. Add onion and coriander juice and cover; simmer 40 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally; be careful or it will stick. Beat eggs, crush saffron with a little of the egg and add, add bread crumbs and pepper; stir into the meat; cook about 5 minutes on low and remove from heat.

The dish is a little spicy; if you are serving it for people with conservative tastes you might want to reduce the amount of pepper.

Pie Crust Recipe

3/4 c white flour
1/4 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c salted butter
2 1/2 T water

Mix flours, cut butter finely into flour with two knives or a food processor, then mix the water into the flour-butter mixture without crushing the flour and butter together. Makes a single 9" crust.

An alternative, for recipes that specify a crust but do not say what sort, is to simply knead a dough of flour and water with a little salt. The result is much tougher than a pastry crust, which has both advantages and disadvantages. The quantities for one 9" pie are:

3 c flour
about 1 1/4 c water
1/4 t salt

Almond Milk

Almond milk is an ingredient common in Medieval European recipes, particularly in Lenten dishes (milk, eggs, and meat broth all being forbidden in Lent). The recipe below is a basic one. For some recipes we make a thicker almond milk with more almond relative to the amount of water; other recipes say "draw up a good milk of almonds with broth (or wine)", in which case the broth or wine is substituted for the water in making the almond milk.

To make almond milk: Take 1/4 c (1 3/4 oz) blanched slivered almonds. Put them in a food processor, run it briefly. Add a little water, run it longer. Continue adding water and running the processor until you have a milky liquid. Strain through several layers of cheesecloth. Put the residue back in the food processor, add a little more water, and repeat. Continue until the residue produces almost no more milk. Throw out the residue.This should give you about 1 c of almond milk.