Chicken Shashlik with Chapatis

It's when I cook dishes like this, that I wish so much I had a tandoor oven. Maybe one day in the mists of time when we move out of London to sunnier climes, we'll build one. I know I could now, but in London it doesn't make sense as we just don't have enough hot weather to eat outside often enough. Yes the grill worked perfectly fine and this was absolutely yummy - but I know it would taste so much better done properly in a 480 C heated tandoor!

However, for now - this is a lovely recipe that you can prepare in the morning before work by marinating the chicken and when you get home pop it on a skewer and grill as hot as you can, with onions and tomatoes. Its a dish cooked all over the world but I like the Indian spiced ones the best.

You may notice that I haven't added a sauce as I normally would...or a dollop of natural yoghurt. But it just doesn't need it! The chicken was juicy and the tomatoes just about collapsing so it was juicy and perfect just as it was.

Ingredients:  (Serves 2-4)

4 chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
200g natural yoghurt
1 tbsp. garum masala
1 tbsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. ground coriander
3 tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. chilli powder
juice of a lemon
5 tomatoes, quartered
1 large onion, cut into chunks
1/4 tsp. salt
4-5 skewers

Method:

Combine the spices, yoghurt and lemon juice and add the chunks of chicken. Marinade for anything between 1 and 12 hours.

Heat the grill to its hottest setting and skewer the chicken, onion and tomatoes evenly. Sprinkle with a little salt. Grill for 8-10 minutes until cooked.

Serve hot with chapatis (you can use flatbreads or tortillas if liked) and a side salad. Delicious and rather low in fat.

For the chapati:

280g chapati flour (or wholemeal flour)
170ml tepid water
1 tbsp. olive oil

Tip the flour into a bowl and add the water & oil. Knead well for 5-10 minutes until smooth. Pick golf ball sized pieces of dough and roll out into 15cm circles. Cook both sides in a dry non stick frying pan and repeat with the remaining dough. Cool on a tea towel.

Serve the chapatis with the Chicken Shashlik and enjoy!

Blackberry Crumble Cheesecake

This is a dessert I have been cooking for years. It started as a baked cheesecake. I then added fruit. Finally I decided to put a crumble on the top and baked it again. It was lovely and I love trying different fruits on the top from rhubarb to apple to strawberries in the summer.

The original recipe was the blackberry version, so this was one of the two desserts I made this weekend, as we had friends over.

Ingredients:

150g digestive biscuits
50g melted butter

2 x 280g tubs cream cheese
2 medium eggs
1 lemon (zest only)
90g caster sugar

250-300g blackberries
85g caster sugar

100g plain flour
75g butter
50g caster sugar

Method:

Set oven to 180 degrees C. Make the base of the cheesecake by putting the biscuits in a sealed bag and crushing into crumbs with a rolling pin. Or whatever is to hand! put into a bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave or a spall pan and add to the biscuits. Mix well and press into the bottom of an 8" loose bottomed cake tin. Put in the fridge while you make the cheesecake.
Mix the cheese, eggs, zest and 90g sugar in a bowl until well blended. Pour onto biscuit base and bake for 45 minutes.
Put the blackberries in a saucepan with 85g sugar and 1 tbsp. water. Simmer until fruit broken down, but still with the majority keeping their shape and leave to cool.
In a bowl mix the flour and 50g sugar. Add the cold butter in cubes and rub with your fingertips until crumbly.
When the cheesecake is ready, remove from the oven. With a slotted spoon, spoon out the berries onto the top of the cheesecake adding just a tbsp. of the juice, reserving the rest. Scatter over the prepared crumble and return to the oven for 25 minutes.
Leave to cool and serve in a huge slice with a drizzle of the reserved juice. Delicious!