Recipe for Shatkora Lamb by Chef Abul Monsur

I've known Abul Monsur (Jewel) for almost 10 years now, ever since he was chef at the Curry Life Fusion Festival in Dhaka. Now, a veteran of the Taste of Britain Festivals in Spain, India, Bangladesh and Slovenia, Jewel is always the epitome of calm, cool and collected, whatever the situation. In fact he's so laid back that he even missed the plane on one occasion (happily he arrived in time for the festival on the next flight)! Having put fine dining Indian food on the map with his fantastic Taj Cuisine restaurants and takeaways in Chatham, Abul's son Sami has recently joined forces with his father to advance the Taj brand across Kent. This is one of Jewel's signature recipes at the Taste of Britain Curry Festival in Delhi earlier this year.
 
Serves 4 persons
Preparation time 30 minutes
Cooking time 45 minutes

Ingredients

•   800g       Lamb (cubes)
•   200g       Chopped onions
•   100g       Fresh tomatoes (chopped)
•   2tsp        Garlic and ginger paste
•   1/2 tsp    Garam Masala
•   1/2 tsp    Chilli powder
•   11/2 tsp   Turmeric powder
•   1 tsp        Cumin Powder
•   1 1/2 tsp  Coriander powder
•   1/4           Shatkora (thinly sliced)                   
• (or 1tbsp lemon juice)
•   2              Bayleaf
•   4              Cardamom pods
•   1              Cinammon stick
•   4              Cloves
•   20g          Oil
•                   Salt to taste
•                   Fresh, chopped coriander for garnish

Method:

• Cook the onions in the oil until golden brown. 
• Add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the whole spices (bayleaf, cardomom, cinnamon and cloves), and stir for 1 minute.
• Add all the dry spices (garam masala, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder) and cook, adding a little water to stop the spices from burning.
• Add the lamb and coook for 20 minutes on a medium heat.
• Add the tomatoes and sliced Shatkora and salt to taste and cook for 2 minutes, adding a little water for sauce.
• Simmer for 10 minutes until the lamb pieces are cooked and tender.
• Remove from heat and chopped fresh coriander and serve with rice or roti.

Abul at Curry Life food festival in Dhaka Sheraton

Explaining about one of his signature dishes

The Executive Chef at the Hotel Hindustan International in Kolkata, Utpal Mondal, shares some of his favourite Nawabi recipes:  

Murgh Badami Tikka

Boneless Chicken Leg - 280 gms

Ginger Garlic Paste - 15 gms

Cashew Nut - 25gms

Almond -  25 gms

Pista - 15 gms

Amul Cheese - 25gms

Ginger Green Chilli Chopped -5 gms

Salt – To Taste

Double Cream - 25 ml

Sour Curd - 50 gms

Raw Papaya Paste - 15 gms

Butter- 25 gms

Chat Masala - 10 gms

Lemon - 2

Egg - 1

Method:

Take boneless chicken leg, slit it half, flatten. Sprinkle with salt, lemon juice, ginger, garlic paste & raw papaya paste for first marination. Keep in cool place for 1 hour.

Chop half of all nuts, mix this with grated amul cheese & chopped ginger, green chilli . Make 6 small portions, now add each portion into flattened tikka. Roll it make small cylindrical shape, keep it aside.

Now make a smooth paste of remaining nut, cheese & sour curd. Mix cream & egg white with this paste. Add this paste into nut stuffed chicken.

Keep in fridge for 15 minutes. Cook the roll in tandoor till it becomes light brown in colour. Baste with butter. Again put in tandoor for 2-3 minutes, take it out. Sprinkle chat masala on it. Serve with mint chutney.

Dahi Ke Kabab

Hung Curd - 150 gms

Grated Paneer - 50 gms

Ginger Green Chilli Chopped - 15 gms

Roasted Chana Powder - 20 gms

Salt - To Taste

Cardamom  Powder - 5 gms

Saffron - 5 gms

Amul Cheese - 5 gms

Ghee - 25 gms

Chat Masala - 5 gms

Method:

Take a flat container, mix hung curd, paneer, ginger green chilli chop & roasted chana powder together.

Now add salt, cardamom powder, mix well and transfer the mixture to fridge. Take the amul cheese, rub into a smooth paste, add saffron, make 4 small balls for stuffing.

Now, take out the mixture, make 4 equal portions, put cheese saffron stuffing into each portion, make flat patty, shallow fry with ghee in a non stick pan fry till golden brown. Serve hot with mint chutney.

Recipe from Dine Bangla in Beverley

We managed to persuade Chef Mahboob Rahman of Dine Bangla in Beverley, East Yorkshire to share one of his secret recipes with us – it’s one of the restaurant's most popular dishes. 

SHAM’S SPECIAL

Dine Bangla Restaurant, 9-10 Wednesday Market, Beverley, East Yorkshire  HU17 0DG

Tandoori chicken cooked off the bone in finely chopped onions, capsicum, garlic, ginger, tomato and cinnamon. Moist and well flavoured to please the most delicate of palates.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

4 chicken legs

1tsp tamarind paste

1tsp ginger/garlic

1tsp coriander

1tsp cumin

Strand of Saffron

1tsp mixed garam masala powder

1tsp paprika

Salt to taste

500g tub of yoghurt

Mix ingredients together.  Add chicken legs and leave in fridge overnight to marinate.

Ingredients for sauce:

4 medium sized onions, thinly sliced.

1 medium onion finely sliced and chopped.

2 tsp garlic and ginger (blended together to make a paste)

4 bay leaves

4 pieces cinnamon stick

8 cloves garlic

8 cardamoms

1 tbsp Madras curry powder (Dine Bangla use their own special mix)

To garnish:

1 large red onion

1 large green capsicum

Fresh coriander

Method:

• Roast marinaded chicken in the oven for 40 minutes at 220° C/gas mark 7 (do not cover with foil).

• Deep fry the four thinly sliced onions in 2 tbsp vegetable oil until golden brown. Remove from heat and leave aside.

• After chicken is cooked, allow to cool and then strip chicken meat off bone.

• Slowly stir fry garlic/ginger, garlic cloves and onion together. Add bay leaf.

• Add cinnamon stick, cardamoms and stir.

• Add tomato puree, then Madras curry powder. Season with salt to taste.

• Add pre-fried onions.

• Stir until well mixed, then add Methi (fenugreek) and chicken meat.

• Bring up to temperature, then simmer for a couple of minutes.

• Add enough hot water to cover meat.

• Simmer but do not allow to become too dry (around five minutes).

• Garnish with fresh coriander, red onion and capsicum and serve with pillau rice.

• 

Goan King Prawns

Recipe from Mohammed Haque (Jay) of Roochi Restaurant in Forest Row

King prawns in shell, cooked in fresh spring onions, green chillies and strong aromatic spice to bring out the sizzling exotic taste of olive oil.

Ingredients:

12-15 king prawns

2 tbsp lemon juice

1½ tbsp turmeric

Salt

20 dried chillies

Fresh coconut grated

2 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 piece ginger (2.5cm peeled)

2 tbsp olive oil

Bunch spring onions, sliced

4 fresh green chillies, cut lengthways

1 tomato, chopped

Tbsp tamarind paste

Method:

• Place the prawns in a dish.  Add lemon juice, half a tbsp turmeric and salt. Leave to marinate.

• Place dried red chillies, garlic, coconut, coriander seeds, mustard seed, remaining turmeric, cumin seeds and ginger in a blender or food processor, add a little water and process to a smooth paste.

• Heat the olive oil in large, heavy based frying pan. Add spring onions and stir-fry for around four minutes until light brown.

• Add green chillies and dried chilli paste mixing well and cook over a low heat, stirring often for 20 minutes.

• Add marinated prawns and simmer until cooked through.

• Add tomato and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Add tbsp of tamarind paste and check taste, adjust seasoning if necessary and serve with steamed rice.

Unusual ingredients in curry: Shatkora

The first time I came across shatkora was in India a few years ago. We were leaving for the airport one of the hotel chefs came up to us and proudly presented us with a a bag of green and knobbly looking fruit as a gift. He explained shatkora was hard to find in the UK and much more expensive. We put the bag into our suitcase but, sadly, had to ditch it later as our luggage was too heavy. Since then, shatkora has become much easier to find in the UK and features in many dishes in Indian restaurants. From the outside it certainly is not an object of beauty but, as far as flavours go, the shatkora is a veritable swan of the culinary world. A cross between grapefruit, lime and lemon, it adds a tanginess and exotic taste to curry dishes and lifts them into the sublime.

  

Otherwise known as the citrus macroptera or ‘wild orange’, the fruit is about is 6-7cm in diameter and oval in shape with pointed ends. The variant grown in Bangladesh is called annamensis and is commonly used in the area of Sylhet. It grows on thorny trees which can reach 5m in height. Although it looks and smells more like a lime, its juice is sour and bitter and tastes more like that of a grapefruit. The pith is thick and dry and the outer skin becomes yellow when the fruit is ripe.

Delicious Shatkora curry cooked by Chef Mahbub Rahman
of Dine Bangla  in Beverley.

Preparation of the fruit is tricky and requires some culinary skill. Perhaps the easiest way is to cut the shatkora in half lengthways and then cut each half into three, also along the length. Then the main fruit can be pared away from the peel and outer pith with a sharp knife.

Chefs recommend the skin is pre cooked to soften the texture. In Bangladesh the rind is eaten as a vegetable and the pulp is usually discarded because of its bitter taste. The thick rind is cut into small pieces and cooked in beef mutton, fish curries and stews whilst the fruit is often used in shatkora pickles.

Curries cooked with shatkora are now becoming more and more popular in Bangladeshi and Indian restaurants in the UK.  The fruit can now be bought in many Asian food stores that serve the Indian and Bangladeshi community. It’s also available in frozen form.

Shatkora’s beneficial values don’t stop there – as a citrus fruit, rich in Vitamin C in India and Bangladesh, it has long been known for its medicinal value. It’s very strong in antioxidants and is reputed to be a sure cure for colds and flu when cooked in curry.

Recipe for Aromatic Venison Curry with Shatkora

from The Kennington Tandoori

Haunch of roast venison slow cooked to melting tenderness with tangy citrus shatkora in a deliciously rich, juicy sauce. 

Serves 6

Preparation time: 20-30 minutes

Cooking time: approx 3 hours

Ingredients

• 3 tbs vegetable/olive oil

• Whole spices:
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 piece cinnamon bark (not quills)
• 4 green cardamom pods, bruised
• 1tsp salt

• 1 tbs garlic paste
• 1 tbs ginger paste
• 5 large shallots, very finely diced

• 1 ½ lb venison haunch, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 ½ inch chunks

• Approx 1 ½ pints water (see method)

• Ground powdered spices:
• 1 rounded tsp brown cumin powder
• 1 ½ rounded tsp coriander powder
• 1 rounded tsp chilli powder
• Scant ½ tsp turmeric powder

• 2 slices shatkora, flesh removed and cut into pieces

Method

• Warm the oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan or casserole dish.  Add the whole spices and gently heat, swirling in the oil to heat and release their flavours, adding a tsp of salt as you do so. Take care not to let the spices burn as this will make the dish taste bitter.

• Add the garlic and ginger pastes, continuing to stir on a gentle heat. (For small quantities crush garlic bulbs and grind to a paste, fresh ginger root can be grated with a fine microplane; for larger quantities it is easier to use a food processor.) Add the diced shallots, stir and cook on a medium heat until opaque and just starting to colour, but do not brown.

• Add the meat and brown all over in the spices and onion mix (approx 7-10 minutes), whilst enjoying the delicious aroma.

• Add sufficient water to fully cover the meat, stir thoroughly to deglaze the pan and to ensure nothing sticks or burns on the base. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for ½ an hour.

• Add the mixed spice powder and stir in to the curry, using a wooden spoon or spatula (not metal – to avoid cutting the meat). Cover and slow cook on a gentle bubble for 2 hours until the sauce has thickened and the meat is meltingly tender (longer if using a cheaper cut).

• About 15 minutes before the curry is ready, add shatkora and allow it to scent the dish.

The Kennington Tandoori, 313 Kennington Rd, London SE11 4QE