Curry Pies & Sprout Bhaji

Well as I posted on Facebook while I was cooking this Monster “Tonight we are having Chicken, Chorizo and mushroom Madras Pies. The Saag Aloo is reasonably traditional. But Sue has been wanting Spouts - So Sprout Bhaji has been invented” - Yes Monster, but an unexpectedly good tasting Monster.

Behind every recipe I’m sure there is a story. In our case often a little insanity as well. We had ½ a roasted Chicken from Friday and ½ a stick of Chorizo in the fridge. The Chorizo was beginning to get a bit dry at the cut end and chilled roast Chicken is best used sooner rather than later. So that was the foundation. But Sue has been fancying Sprouts for a while now. We try to stick to our budget of £4 per day (Including a little plate for Smooh the cat) but at £1.50 for about 6 sprouts they have been out of the question until yesterday. 60P for 500g seemed more reasonable….

I’ll not bother with the recipe for the Curry Pie as such. Basically I Chopped the Chorizo into 5mm crescents added a chopped Onion and at good shake of Chilli flakes to a 49p Madras sauce. I simmered it for 20 minutes and then added the cubed Chicken. Once heated through I lined the cast Iron glazed skillets we got from a charity shop for £1 each with Gluten free pastry and spooned the filling in. Add a top of pastry and an Egg wash and in the oven with it!  It was really tasty, but not the star of the show. Spout Bhaji – Really these were supposed to be a joke, but it’s unlikely we’ll even have a plain boiled Sprout again…..

Sprout Bhaji

Ingredients:-

200g of Sprouts, boiled and drained to soften
100g Gram flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp Chilli powder
Juice of ½ a Lemon
Garlic Salt
Onion Salt
½ tsp Turmeric
Salt

Method:-

(1) Mix all the dry ingredients with just enough water to make a thick batter.
(2) Pre heat a deep fat fryer to 180c.
(3) Coat each Sprout in batter and fry in small batches.
(4) When they pop up and the batter is golden brown drain on kitchen paper.
(5) When you are ready to plate up drop them all back in the fryer for 20 seconds and drain again.

We served this concoction with Saag Aloo and home brewed Kimchi. Because at this stage any semblance of food tradition respect had clearly been forsaken!!!!!