We discuss food at lot in the office; a subject we love, we’re not all great cooks but we have a mutual love of good food. Our latest discussion had the office split: Should fruit ever be used as an ingredient in savoury cooking?
I really don’t mind a bit of fruit in my dinner. I pour over food images daily online; a specific pizza topping combination seems to have caused quite a controversy of late, the “food of the Hawaiian’s”, pizza with pineapple toppings. I am not a fan, but folks have taken to social media to express their utter disgust that this combo is even a thing?
Outspoken celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay defiantly isn’t a fan, he’s vowed online to consume one of the “monstrosities” live on Facebook if his fans made 500 charitable donations. Ramsay’s not alone in his opinion. Obscurely, the Icelandic president has suggested a total ban on such toppings, and this would be a national disaster for the Nordic island. I have visited pizza-loving Iceland in the past, I was astonished by the number of pizza outlets there are. Icelanders’ loves a pizza! After a quick stopover, my flight from Iceland to the US that night was delayed for eight hours. Stranded on the island we stayed up all night in daylight and guess what was on the dinner menu?
A lot of Middle Eastern dishes as we know have fruit as an ingredient, and it works. The hype of the pineapple pizza travesty may have gone a little too far. Although, I still believe certain fruits should never be included in a savoury combination.
My sister Emma and I still laugh about the days she used to cook for me. I used to visit her regularly and she always prepared food. One weekend, I was served a simple chicken curry. She knows I love spicy food, but a mild-spiced, slimy chicken curry, dotted with raisins, should be a thing that never happens.
In the early 90s, the UK saw a huge sway of timesaving tinned or jarred ‘cook-in/pour over’ sauces in stores. They were sweet, salty and not at all tasty, advertised with catchy jingles like, ‘I feel like chicken tonight’. The nation embraced the TV ads, complete with a clucking chicken dance. And they loved the time-saving convenience, my sister included. So, not to offend, I agreed to eat the ‘cook-in curry’ on the condition she removed the raisins!
As the discussions continues I still have never eaten a pineapple topped pizza, but I have made prawn and pineapple Thai curry, and it was delicious, another favourite dish I made recently was a chicken and apricot curry. It’s a dish I have been preparing for over 20 years, a tried and tested winner. Slow cooked, spicy and sweet, topped with potato straws, it’s been a classic dinner party dish many times over — simple to make, free of a catchy jingle and crazy clucky chicken dances.
CHICKEN & APRICOT CURRY WITH POTATO STRAWS
Serves six, prep time 40 minutes, cooking time 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE PASTE
1 tsp of dried chilli flakes
3 cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
8 cardamom seeds
10 cloves
1 tsp of turmeric
2 tsp of grated ginger
2 crushed cloves of garlic
FOR THE CURRY
15 dried apricots halved
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 onions chopped
4 chicken breasts, cubed
2 tbsp of tomato puree
1 can of chopped tomatoes
Salt & pepper
2 tbsp of white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp of sugar
FOR THE POTATO STRAWS
2 large potatoes grated
500ml of vegetable for deep frying
Salt & pepper
TO SERVE
Steamed Basmati rice
Coriander sprigs
METHOD
Bring 300ml of water to the boil, simmer the apricots for about 10 minutes until they soften. When done, turn off the heat and leave to one side. In a pestle and mortar or food processor, blend the dry ingredients with the garlic and ginger into a paste. Place the cubed chicken in a large bowl and coat with the paste. (It’s good to do this and leave the chicken to marinate overnight.)
Next, heat the oil and sauté the onions, add the chicken and brown. Pour in the tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, season and simmer for fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, grate the potato with a medium cheese grater. Rinse under cold water until it runs clear. Place the grated potato onto a tea towel, spread it out evenly, cover with a second tea towel and press down hard. Add the apricots, sugar and vinegar, to the pan and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Next, heat the oil in a deep pan over a medium heat. Add a handful of potato, stir once and leave the straws to brown. With a mesh, spoon remove the straws and place on some kitchen towel to drain the excess oil. Repeat until you have fried all the potato. Shake and add salt. Remove the curry from the heat and serve with some steamed rice, and top the dish with the potato straws.
— Recipes, food styling and photography by Mark Setchfield, follow him on Instagram @gasmarksix.
