Samra’s Methods

Chicken Roulade with Béchamel Sauce

Filling:

Chop half a carrot and onion. Fry the carrot first in a tablespoon of butter in a small frying pan until it caramelizes. Add in onions and fry till they are brown. Add a pinch of salt, coriander seeds and lemon juice.

Seasoning the Chicken:

Butterfly one chicken piece and flatten it. Put the filling in the middle of the filet and wrap the chicken with the vegetables inside of it. You may use a string or even a tooth pick to hold on to the seal. Season the chicken with salt, chili flakes and mustard powder all over according to the flavor you want. If you want it spicy, season with more of the chili flakes.

Garnish:

Instead of taking chopped carrots and onions, cut out julienne strips of carrot and slices of onion from the other half. Add in julienne strips of carrot and slices of in a tablespoon of butter. Put in a pinch of salt and chili flakes with a little lemon juice and your garnish is ready!

Béchamel Sauce:

Melt desired amount of butter in a deep fry pan along with adding two minced garlic cloves and sauté. Once brown, add a full table spoon of flour and stir continuously. Add milk as desired and keep on whisking. You may leave the sauce thin and cook it later. Furthermore, add coriander seeds, mustard seeds, chili flakes, salt and a pinch of mustard powder. Add the preserved amount of filling cooked earlier to add an essence of taste before serving.

Frying the Chicken:

Heat the desired amount of olive oil in a pan and fry the chicken on very minimal heat for about two minutes.  Using the stove top method, add about 150 ml of water into the pan and close with the lid. Cook the chicken until the water evaporates and the chicken is brown and ready to be eaten.

Plate up:

Place the chicken however way you want. I preferred placing it on one side and covering the rest of the plate with the garnish. Pour béchamel sauce on top of the chicken. You may use fresh coriander to decorate.

Poached Steak with Classic Veloute Sauce:

Beef and Garnish:

Take one piece of undercut beef and make an opening in the center. Cut out two three julienne strips of a carrot and assemble them in the centre of the opening made. Season the beef with salt.

Veloute Sauce:

Melt one tablespoon of butter. Once fully melted, add one tablespoon of flour and whisk. You have now made the base for the basic sauce. Pour in half a cup of chicken stock and stir. Once the desired amount of thickness is available, add in a large pinch of chilli flakes, some lemon juice for taste and a tweak of salt.

Prepping the Steak:

Once your veloute sauce is ready, you may settle the steak in the centre of the sauce frying pan and cook it till your preferred medium. Cook each side at a time. For a medium rare, you may allow three to four minutes of cooking on each side, and about seven to eight minutes of cooking on each side for a well done.

Plate up:

You may serve as you please. I did so with the steak topped over with the freshly made veloute sauce.

A little PCI report!

Hey everyone, I am happy to report that our classes and students have been absolutely amazing! If you look at some of the posts up on our site and whats happening on our FaceBook page its obvious that Pakistan has some fantastic talent.

Through our blog we aim to give you insights into our students, a little behind the scenes action! Their recipes are posted for you try out, and also shows how each student has a great personal approach to their lessons.

We will also start putting up school information that will give you an idea of our regular classes and keep you informed as to whats next.

Fun classes for the summer will be posted soon!

Sabrina goes Italiano!!

ITALIANO!!!

Antipasto:

Gnocci

Ingredients:

2 potatoes boiled n finely grated

1/2cup flour

1 tbsp salt

3 tbsp butter/olive oil

4-5 fresh basil/sage leaves

Preparation:

Knead the grated potatoes and slowly add in flour till all combined into a smooth pliable dough but not too dry. Carefully roll out the dough in a cylindrical shape about an inch thick, dusting your hands n the kneading surface with flour to prevent sticking. Cut into small balls n shape into dimsims by pinching the tops.

Class Five: Indian Heritage

by Niha Dagia

Please note that the oil used for every dish is pure coconut oil. It is essential to cook these in coconut oil.

1.  Milagai Thool  – Garam Masala, the base of cuisine in the Sub-continent.

–        Dried red chilli  > 4

–        Coriander seeds > 2 tsp

–         Black peppercorns > 2 tsp

–        Zeera > 4 tsp

–        Fenugreek (methi) > ½ tsp

–        Turmeric > ½ tsp

–        Curry leaves > 4-5

Heat a frying pan, throw in all spices except turmeric powder. Roast the spices till you can smell all of them. Take of off heat. Add turmeric powder and grind it in a mixture. Its done. Keep aside.

 

1. 2.     Rasam : a staple dish for most South Indian menus. It is very versatile. Can be had as a soup , or with rice and bread, or in fact even as a drink.

–        Tomato paste > 2-3tbsp

–        Tamarind (imlee) > ½ cup

–        Garlic > 2-3 cloves

–        Red chilli flakes > 1-2 tsp

–        Salt > 1 tsp

–        Curry leaves > 2-4

–        Brown sugar > 2-3 tsp

–        Mustard seed > 1 tsp

–        Zeera > 2 tsp

Heat oil in a pan and fry finely chopped garlic. Add tomato paste and fry till past changes color. Add water and bring it to a boil. Pour in tamarin paste and give it a boil again. Simultanesouly add salt, red chilli flakes, brown sugar and curry leaves in the end. Turn off heat and let it be.

Tarka : heat oil in a pan.  Throw in mustard seeds, zeera, curry leaves and red chilli flakes. let is cook till you can smell the spices. Pour it in the main sauce while its hot to give a sizzling sound(shhhhh).

Discovering South Indian cuisine

by Anam Amin

I’m a proud Pakistani and I love my cuisine.

Niha goes to town with chicken burgers!

Class 3 :  All things Burger!

• Mayonnaise :
  – Egg Yolk  2
  -Salt to taste
  -Lemon Drops  8-10
  -Olive Oil as needed.
  -Garlic boiled and blended ( for garlic-mayo)

Sabrina’s chicken with a béchamel!

Recipe Developed:

Ingredients (given):

1 chicken breast

1 onion sliced

1 carrot julienned

2 garlic pods minced

0.5 tbsps flour

1 cup milk

2 tsps salt

1 tsp dried mustard

1 tsp tarragon

2 tbsps olive oil

1.5 tsp butter

Method for Chicken Roulade with Béchamel (developed):

The preparation:

Butterfly chicken breast n flatten. Season with mustard powder n salt. Add tarragon/ rosemary. Let stand in fridge. Sauté the carrot juliennes slightly in a tsp oil. Remove n strain. Add another tsp oil n add the sliced onion n let it sweat till slight pink in colour. Sprinkle pinch of salt while the onions cook. Remove n strain. Let both the vegetables cool. Preheat oven on 220 c and grease a small baking dish with butter. Keep aside. Spread out the chicken breast on a cutting board, the inside facing up.lie the carrot n onion lengths in a line n fold the chicken breast like swissroll n tie with thread to secure the vegies inside.

Eman’s take on Lesson 1 and 2

Chicken with mustard sauce

Method:

-1 onion, chopped

-1 carrot. Slice in half. Julienne bottom half and chop top half

-2 garlic cloves, Thinly sliced.

-Butterfly one chicken breast. Put salt, red chillies and one chopped green chilli in the middle. Dust with flour.

Making the sauce:

-Melt 2 tbsp of butter in the pan. add 2 tbsp of flour and 1 cup of milk. Add milk in small quantities to mix properly. Then put it to one side.

The sauteed vegetables:

-First saute chopped onions. Wipe the pan clean.

-Then saute chopped carrots. Wipe pan again,

-Saute julienne carrots, and finally the thinly sliced garlic.

Bringing it all together:

-Roast 1 tsp dried mustard seeds and 1 tsp cumin seeds until fragrant.

-Braise chicken breast, brown slowly on all sides. Add water to pan and cover with lid. Let it simmer over low heat.

-Reheat sauce, add more milk if lumpy.

-Add sauteed vegetables, garlic, mustard seeds and cumin seeds into sauce.

Once sauce is ready, take chicken off the heat and plate up .

Poached steak

   1. Making the veloute sauce:

 – Melt 1 tbsp of butter, add 1 tbsp flour and 1/2 cup chicken stock. Add red chilli flakes, salt, lemon juice and honey.

– Julienne half a carrot and 1 spring onion.

    2. Prep the steak. Make an opening in the centre of the steak, put some julienne strips in the middle.

    3. Poach the steak in veloute sauce. 3-4 mins for medium rare. 7-8 mins for well done.

   4.  Plate up and garnish.

Week 1 at PCI

Week 1 at PCI was absolutely amazing. Each batch of students arrived at their respective classes on time. Even though they were a bit nervous, they showed great enthusiasm, and completed the set tasks to perfection.

Being the first classes of the course, the aim was to acquaint the students with the PCI kitchen, and get them started with some basic cookery techniques.

What they learnt in the first session:

1. Basic vegetable cuts – Julienne strips and mincing

2. Making a sauce – Roux and bechamel

3. Cooking techniques – Sauteing and braising

4. Working with meat – Butterflying a fillet of chicken breast

These are the ingredients they were asked to work with:

• Chicken Breast
• Onion
• Carrot
• Garlic
• Flour
• Milk
• Salt
• Mustard seeds
• Tarragon
•  Olive Oil
•  Butter

The results are posted for all to see..the students made a fantastic Braised Chicken with a fusion Bechamel Sauce… and just on their first day! Well Done!

Anam’s dish. Please read her blog: Class 1 at PCI

Here is an image of Niha’s dish:

Then came the Tuesday Class :

Sabrina’s dish:

Eman’s dish:

PCI

The first cookery class is set to commence tomorrow at PCI. Like an evening before a crucial cricket match nerves are jittery and there is excitement in the air.

We have a group of very talented young cooks coming in and will hope to bring you their achievements as the course commences.