Recipes from the book:
MASALA WALE ALOO - Spicy Bombay potatoes
KARAI CHICKEN (2) - Chicken cooked in a karai
Pinky's quick spicy vegetables
Pinky recipes in the press:
Pinky Lilani's Karhai Chicken Curry
Coriander Chicken
Chicken Do Piaza
MASALA WALE ALOO - Spicy Bombay potatoes
4 large potatoes, weighing about 1.25kg (2lb 2oz)
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 1/2 tablespoons coriander-cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon tomato puree
4 tablespoons oil
6 curry leaves
1/2 tablespoon black mustard seeds
2 teaspoons pureed garlic
2 green chillies split down the middle
1 tablespoon lemon juice
15g (1/2 oz) finely chopped coriander leaves
salt
First cook the potatoes in their skins in a pan of boiling salted water until tender.
Drain, cool, peel and cut them into 2.5cm(1in.) cubes. Set aside. Mix the chilli powder, coriander-cumin powder, turmeric and tomato puree with a tablespoon of water ands set aside.
(This is the masala mixture.) Heat the oil in a large frying pan and, when it is very hot, drop in a curry leaf. If it sizzles and turns a darker shade, add all the other leaves and the mustard seeds.
If the leaf turns very dark, reduce the heat and add the remaining curry leaves and mustard seed after a minute. As soon as the seeds start to pop, add the garlic, the masala mixture and 125 ml (4oz.) of water.
Stir for a few minutes over a high heat. Add the potatoes, salt and green chillies, then lower the heat and cook for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, garnish with the fresh coriander and serve immediately.
KARAI CHICKEN (2) - Chicken cooked in a karai
An easy, tasty dish that takes its name from the utensil in which it is cooked. The technique required is similar to stir-frying, and if you don’t possess a karai, any wok-like pan will do. Serve this with parathas or chapatis (flat breads), or naan bread.
7 tablespoons oil
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon pureed garlic/15 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
900g (2lb) chicken on the bone, divided into small pieces
400g (14oz) tinned chopped tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 sweet peppers, deseeded and cut into 5cm (2in) squares
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeeds
1/4 teaspoon garam masala powder
15g (1/2oz) finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
salt
Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a karai or wok-like pan and fry the onions until golden brown. Add the garlic and chicken and fry for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes and leave to cook over a low heat until the chicken is tender (about 30 minutes). Now add salt, the chilli powder and turmeric and fry over a very low heat, adding tablespoons of water to prevent sticking and burning. After about 5 minutes you should start to see the oil begin to separate from the spices at the edge of the pan.
Meanwhile, in a separate pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil and fry the peppers for 2-3 minutes. Add them to the chicken. In a third pan (a small one), heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and, when it is very hot, add a couple of the cumin seeds. If they pop immediately and turn a darker colour, add the rest. If they turn a very dark colour, reduce the heat and add the remaining cumin seeds after 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat immediately, pour this tarka over the chicken and serve garnished with the garam masala powder and fresh coriander.
Pinky's quick spicy vegetables
Add a twist to your favourite vegetables with this no-fuss recipe - frozen veg are perfect.
Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a pan, then add 450g (1lb) chopped or frozen vegetables and 1 tsp cumin seeds,
2 chopped garlic cloves and a handful of freshly chopped coriander leaves.
Sauté, stirring until vegetables are tender.
Pinky’s recipes in the press
Pinky Lilani's Karhai Chicken Curry
Good Housekeeping/March 2004
What busy women cook for dinner
With just over 13 million women working full or part-time, it's a wonder anyone has time to cook meals from scratch during the week. We asked six women in the public eye what they rustle up when they get home from work
THE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
Pinky chairs the Asian Women of Achievement Committee
This dish gets its name from the pan (Karhai) in which it's traditionally cooked. It looks like a Chinese wok, but it's a bit smaller, with a thick base - good for quick cooking. During the week I have very little time but I sill like to cook very night - it just needs planning. It may seem crazy but I make fresh soup every day - just a clear soup made by simmering chicken bones in water to make a stock, to which I add chopped carrot, leek and celery and a knob of ginger. It takes 15 minutes to cook, so I start it off, then prepare the main meal while it's simmering way, and it's all ready at the same time.
Preparation time: 15 min; Cooking time: 15-20 min; 310 cals, 21g fat, 4g carbohydrate per serving; serves 4
5 tbsp oil
450g (1lb) boneless skinned chicken, cut into bite-sized cubes
2 level tsp crushed garlic
2 level tsp freshly grated root ginger
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 level tsp each of ground coriander and ground cumin
1/2 level tsp hot chilli powder
2 green peppers, deseeded and chopped
15g (1/2oz) chopped fresh coriander leaves
1. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan and fry the chicken with the garlic and ginger for 2 min. Add the tomatoes, coriander, cumin and chilli powder and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Fry for a further 2-3 min.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer for 7-8 min or until the chicken is tender and sauce has thickened a little. Add the peppers and cook for a further 5 min. Add the chopped coriander leaves just before serving.
3. Serve with vegetables (see recipe below) and crusty bread, rice or potatoes.
Coriander Chicken
Evening Standard/Spring 2003
Lindsey Bareham's Recipe section features Pinky Lilani's Coriander Chicken
Preparation: 20 minutes. Cooking 30 minutes. Serves 4
Pinky Lilani smiles out from the back cover of her new cook book with a twinkle in her eyes. She has much to smile about. Pinky, born and brought up in Calcutta but domiciled here since 1978, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, chair of the Asian Women of Achievement Awards, a development consultant with some of the major food companies in Europe, and adviser on a range of Indian food products stocked by Sainsbury's, Safeway and Tesco.
She also finds time to give Spice Magic Indian cookery seminars, and it is their success that led to writing and publishing an idiosyncratic book by the same name (Development Dynamics, £12.99). The slim and charmingly designed paperback - subtitled An Indian Culinary Adventure - is written with a clean, fresh style, packs in a guided tour to the food of the different regions of India, singles out popular dishes such as jalfrezi, korma, pilau and vindaloo for special attention, and gives useful tips on cooking technique and ingredients. The actual recipes are family favourites and blessedly easy to follow.
My copy of Spice Magic is peppered with yellow stickers denoting dishes I plan to cook, but my first effort was this delicious so called dry dish (which I've made wetter by doubling the amount of tomato and slightly reducing the quantity of coriander). Pinky suggests serving it with parathas or chapattis or other flat bread such as naan to scoop up the chunks of red and green chicken. I also served a lazy version of raita made by stirring Greek yoghurt with grated cucumber and a diced tomato. For convenience sake, I used skinned and boned chicken thighs rather than the 900g chicken cut into 8-10 small pieces that Pinky suggests.
To cook - Coriander Chicken
8 boned and skinned chicken thighs
Salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp pureed garlic (about 10 cloves)
1/2 tsp pureed ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric
8 tbsp cooking oil
4 green chillies
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
150g finely chopped coriander
1. Combine a generous pinch of salt, the black pepper, garlic, ginger and turmeric in a bowl and leave the chicken to marinate in it for at least 30 minutes and as long as 24 hours.
2. When you are ready to cook, heat the oil in a lidded frying pan and fry the chicken, a few pieces at a time, until crusty and browned.
3. Set aside. Remove most of the oil from the pan, leaving approximately 1 tablespoon.
4. Return all the chicken pieces to the pan, cover and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes until cooked through.
5. Meanwhile split the chillies, scrape away the seeds and chop finely.
6. Add the chillies, tomatoes and coriander to the pan, stir well, reduce the heat to very low, and cook for 10 minutes before serving.
Chicken Do Piaza
Irish Independent / November 2005
Star of India
Pinky Lilani, a UK-based cookbook writer and TV chef and advisor to Sharwoods in Indian cuisine, was in Ireland for the celebration of the Indian Festival of Light. She was born in Calcutta and educated at the Irish Sisters of Charity convent, which has left her with an Irish lilt.
In 1977, after having married, she moved to London. When she was growing up, her family's brilliant cook was very secretive about his recipes. But as she was leaving home, worried she might starve, he gave her a crash course in cooking.
This spurred her interest in Indian food culture. She is now an acknowledged expert in this field.
Last week Pinky offered to cook dinner in my kitchen. In just two hours, she set before us a delicious fish stew called Machi Ka Salna along with Masala Wali Aloo - Bombay spiced potatoes - chicken do piaza, pilau rice, a pile of naan breads, and a dhal made from three lentil types.
We started with an innovative smoked salmon dish, in which bite-size chunks of fresh salmon are marinated in a spicy chilli and coriander mix. After half an hour a piece of red-hot charcoal is placed in the bowl and cardomom pods and oil poured over it. The charcoal starts to smoke furiously, and a tight-fitting lid is clamped on for 15 minutes before the salmon is cooked off in a pan. Amazing.
Chicken Do Piaza - Serves four
This, Pinky says, is a very popular dish, and one where onions are the dominant flavour. 'Do' means two and 'pyaz' means onions. Serve with chapatis (flat bread) or naan bread.
Ingredients
6 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra if needed
900g chicken on the bone, divided into 8-10 pieces
2 large onions
6 shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tbsp puréed garlic / 15 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon puréd ginger
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 tbsp coriander and cumin powder mixed together
1 cardomom pod, cinnomon stock, bay leaf and clover (whole garam masala)
1 tbsp tomato puré
5 tbsp natural yoghurt
pinch garam masala powder
15g (1/2oz) finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
salt
Method
First quickly peel and prepare the two onions - one is finely chopped as normal, the other sliced lengthways from root to tip. Heat the oil in the pan and fry the chicken for three minutes on each side. Remove and set aside. In the same oil fry the onion you have sliced lengthways. Remove when light brown and drain on kitchen paper.
Now, adding more oil if needed, fry the finely chopped onion until golden brown. Then add the shallots, garlic, ginger, salt, turmeric, chilli powder, corainder-cumin powder and the whole garam masala.
Fry over a high heat, adding tablespoons of water to prevent the mixture sticking and burning.
When you can see the oil beginning to separate from the spices at the edge of the pan, add the tomato purée and chicken, followed by the yoghurt and 100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) water.
Leave to simmer until the chicken is tender, which will take about 30 minutes. To serve, garnish with the fried sliced onions, a pinch of garam masala and fresh coriander.
Chef's tip
Spice up your rice by stirring in 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, a bayleaf, a couple of cloves and two cardomom pods which you've fried in one tablespoon of oil until the seeds have popped.
Sample Menus
Pinky will choose a standard or bespoke menu to suit you, from her vast repertoire of dishes. Here are just a couple of examples:
Sample Menu 1
Fresh Salmon Tikkas, Karhai chicken or Lamb Rogan Josh
Spicy Bombay Potatoes or Corn in creamy coconut, lemon and fresh coriander
Tarka Daal
Pillau rice
Mango Mousse
Sample Menu 2
Chicken Tikka Masala or Salmon Tikkas
Rogan Josh
Spicy Bombay Potatoes
Pillau rice
Mango kulfi