Lovebirds Pashi Reddy and Kamish Naidoo won the hearts of the nation, and fellow Durbanites in particular, when the dashing Pashi popped the question in front of the cameras after the two were runners up in MNet’s My Kitchen Rules SA. The culinary stars will be celebrating their love with a veritable feast on Christmas day and shared their festive menu with us.
“At the top of our list of favourites to cook on Christmas Day are a main of Slow Braised Spiced Lamb Shank with a Pistachio Crumb, accompanied by a Butter Masala and Aloo Fry. Dessert is never a let-down when we make our Spiced Poached Pears with a Cardamom Cream and a Ginger Bread Crumb. We hope you will enjoy these dishes as much as we do.”
Lamb Shank with a Pistachio Crumb, accompanied by a Butter Masala and Aloo Fry
(Serves 4)
Lamb Shank Ingredients
4 medium lamb shanks, Swiss Cut
2 bottles of red wine
2g star anise
2g cinnamon sticks
2 cloves garlic
2 large bay leaves
2g green cardamom pods
1 large carrot sliced into rounds
1 large onion roughly chopped
2 celery sticks roughly chopped
1 teaspoon whole black pepper corns
10g salt
10g cumin powder
10g turmeric powder
10g Kashmiri masala
10g ginger powder
10g garlic powder
10g cardamom powder
10g coriander powder
10ml sunflower oil
Lamb Shank Method
Create a spice rub by combining all the spice powders listed. Coat the lamb shanks and sear in a hot pan until the desired colour is reached. Remove the shanks and throw in the aromatics, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom pod and bay leaves, along with the Mirepoix (carrot, celery and onion) and garlic. Sauté until soft and there is a bit of colour. Add the lamb shanks back into the pot with two bottles of red wine and place uncovered into the oven at 170°C for three hours. Total cooking time is about 3 hours and 30mins.
Aloo Fry Ingredients
1kg baby potatoes
10g turmeric
10g salt
10g pepper
10g cumin
5g Kashmiri masala
5g curry leaves
5g coriander leaf
2g mustard seeds
20g butter
10ml oil
Half an onion sliced fine
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
Aloo Fry Method
In a pot add water and salt and boil unpeeled baby potatoes for around 30 mins until cooked.
Once cooked, strain and add to a non-stick frying pan with oil and butter. Throw in the mustard seeds, onion and garlic. Let the onions soften and then add spices, frying and tossing the potatoes as you cook. Continue to add curry leaves salt, pepper and masala, and fry, but be careful not to burn the spices. Finish off with coriander leaves. Total cooking time is 40 mins.
Butter Masala Ingredients
500ml fresh cream
150g butter
20g ghee
1whole onion
1 can tomato Puree
5 cloves garlic
2 tsp ginger powder
3tsp cardamom powder
2 Tsp onion powder
2 Tsp coriander power
3tsp cumin power
2tsp chilli powder
2tsp mustard powder
1.5 tsp fenugreek
1 tsp mustard seeds
3 chillies
2tsp turmeric powder
Black ground Pepper
Salt to taste
Pinch of sugar
Oil
10g Coriander
5g curry leaf
5g Thyme
Butter Masala Method
Sauté finely chopped onions in a pan with some oil for about 5 minutes till slightly soft, then add in the mustard seeds. Add in the chopped chilli, the finely chopped garlic and curry leaf, followed by a can of tomato paste, let it reduce for about 3 to 5 minutes and add in a pinch of sugar. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add in all the spices listed above, let them cook out for about 5 minutes; add the butter/ghee, followed by a handful of chopped coriander. Deglaze with fresh cream and cook for a further 20 min before adding salt to taste. Finish off with fresh coriander
Pistachio Crumb Ingredients
1.5 cup of flour
100g butter
20g pistachio
5g salt
5g thyme
Pistachio Crumb Method
Mix the butter with the flour until it forms a crumb. Add the salt. Grind the pistachio with the thyme. Add the ground pistachio and thyme mixture into the flour crumb mixture and mix until it forms a short dough. Place broken up crumb on a greased tray. Leave in the oven to bake at 180°C for about 10 to 15 minutes until you see the crumb turn slightly golden. Remove from oven and leave to cool, then crush to desired texture.
Plating
Dip shanks into the butter masala and roll into crumb before serving on a bed of butter masala with the aloo fry placed next to the beautiful and tender shank. Finish off with some fresh coriander.
Spiced Poached Pears with a Cardamom Cream and a Ginger Bread Crumb.
Poached Pears Ingredients
4 pears
1bottle of red wine
3 cinnamon sticks
3 star anise
150g sugar
2g green cardamom pods
1g nutmeg
Poached Pears Method
Peels pears keeping stalk intact and remove the cores. Poach in red wine on a gentle boil with spices for about 60 minutes until soft and spiced wine is absorbed.
Ginger Crumb Ingredients
1.5 cups of flour
100g butter
20g of ground ginger powder
50g sugar
Ginger Crumb Method
Mix the butter and flour together until it forms a crumb like texture. Add in the ginger powder and the sugar. Mix all the ingredients together until it forms a short crumbly dough. Place the dough on a greased tray and then into a preheated oven to bake for about 10 to 15 at 180°C or until slightly golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Cardamom Cream Ingredients
1 litre fresh cream
30g castor sugar
5g cardamom powder
Cardamom Cream Method
Whisk the cream, sugar and cardamom powder together until the cream becomes stiff.
Plating
Serve poached pears on a bed of the crumb along with the cardamom cream.
