If you haven’t been to see us for breakfast yet, you can try this recipe out at home which is a popular dish at The Cinnamon Club. It was the Southern Indians who first popularised this simple dish and as with pizza, you can chop and change toppings to suit the occasion.

Serves 4
Ingredients
200g packet of dosa mix (available at Asian shops)
a little vegetable oil
1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
1/3 red pepper, finely diced
1/3 yellow pepper, finely diced
1 tomato, skinned, deseeded and finely diced
2 tbsps finely chopped coriander
Green Coconut Chutney to serve

Make up the dosa mix according to the instructions on the packet. Spread a little oil over a large pan or flat griddle and place over a medium heat. Pour about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the batter into the centre of the pan and, using the back of a ladle, spread it out quickly to form a pancake about 10cm in diameter.

Dot the edges of the pancake with a little oil and sprinkle with some of the chopped vegetables and coriander to form a colourful topping. Cook over a low heat for about 4 minutes, until golden underneath. Turn over and cook the other side for another 3-4 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter to make 8 panckaes altogether. Serve with the green coconut chutney.

Tags: Breakfast, The Cinnamon Club Cook Books, Uttapam 
Author: Alison

I am really excited having just returned from my first ever shoot over the weekend. We went for a day of pheasant shooting in Hopes, just south of Edinburgh. Hopes is set in 11500 acres of moors among some of the most breathtaking landscape I’ve ever seen. Not to mention the slightly sore right shoulder from having fired far too many shots to get my solitary kill- a partridge! The first one of my life, it was very special. If I were to bring it back with me and put it on the menu, it would have to be the most expensive partridge in the world selling for £1000 a portion.
Only because I used up so many cartridges to get the one bird!

 I’ve always enjoyed cooking with game when it’s in season in UK, we’ve had all sorts of game on our menus over several years and won numerous awards (including UK’s best Game Dish -2009 for our famed ‘Oisin’ Red Deer). It amazes me how versatile game can be, it has an incredible depth of flavour, handles spices really well, its extremely good for you and sustainable, it ticks all the right boxes, yet is so under-utilised in most restaurants.

Offering game on the menu gives us a point of difference and immediately sets us apart from other kitchens, and so we started using it on our menus. But the real reason that I like to experiment so much with game in our restaurants is that in India, despite our rich heritage and tradition of cooking with game, we’ve lost all those recipes because of a complete ban of any type of hunting. It’s been like this since 1947 and over the years, entire generations have grown up without having seen any game dishes in their life. My experimentation with game cooking in UK is an attempt to revive, recreate and sometimes re-imagine a genre of Indian cooking which other wise would be lost completely.

 I’ve been wanting to go on a proper shoot ( not shooting clays) for a number of years now but hadn’t got round to it, it  only made sense to see what goes on before these beautifully plucked and oven ready birds are delivered to us neatly packed in crates. Jamie Morrison, one of our investors and a friend of The Cinnamon Club always said it would be an experience I would enjoy and I was thrilled when I finally got round to it.

I must admit that going on a day’s shoot in Scotland was very different from what I had imagined reading books on hunting in India! For one, there were no jungles or woods. There were no elephants either and there seemed no apparent danger of being eaten alive by a man-eating tiger! What we had instead was a very organised shoot with a game-keeper who seemed to know exactly where we’d find the birds, an army of young men from the neighbouring villages to act as Beaters, another army of Picker-ups with their dogs to bring back the ‘kill’, a couple trucks to move them along, 9 guns, and several hundred cartridges (I used most of them).

Best of all, there were certain ground rules that I was most impressed by, you wouldn’t shoot any ground game, wouldn’t shoot grouse ( since we were out to shoot pheasants and partidges), you wouldn’t shoot anything flying low, don’t shoot if you cant see the sky…I know there is much talk about cruelty and possible ban on hunting in UK as well, but it was a revelation for me to see how much of a sport it still is. A school of thought feels, like any other sport, as long as both parties have a fair chance, hunting is OK. In my opinion, most if not all of what is shot ends up on the plate and is eaten, it’s even better!

 
A series of 6 different drives shooting pheasants and one last drive for partridges in different parts of the estate spaced out between breaks for elevenses and sumptuous lunch served in a beautiful log cabin in the midst of the mountains…I know it does not sound like a bad life at all! Actually it wasn’t, I haven’t really been on any other shoots but I am told it only goes down-hill from Hopes. Yet, I look forward to the next one with much anticipation!

Tags: Game, Grouse, Hopes, Jamie Morrison, Pheasant, Red deer, Scotland, Shooting, Vivek Singh 
Author: Vivek

Following on from last month’s post about matching wine and Chicken Tikka Masala, I thought we could stick to the ‘Curry House’ themed dishes. So this week is the big one: Vindaloo. How on Earth, I hear you shout, is it possible to match such a spicy curry with wine? Well, it’s possible. First a note from Vivek about Vindaloo. Did you know that it was the Portuguese who first pickled their meat in wine vinegar, chillies and garlic to preserve it on the journey to colonise India. When they reached Goa, the mixture was then cooked up and named Vindalho – vinho meaning wine vinegar and ahlos meaning garlic – now the famously hot Vindaloo which is usually served with an ice-cold lager on hand. Our wine buyer, Laurent Chaniac, recommends a beautiful Italian Sauvignon Blanc with delicate acidity to balance out all the vinegar in the dish. If all those chillies are just too hot for you though, try a spoon full of sugar on your tongue washed down with some water – it works!

Tags: chilli, lager, Laurent Chaniac, Sauvignon Blanc, spice, Vindaloo, Vivek Singh 
Author: Alison

One of the comments we frequently hear is about the depth of flavours in Executive Chef Vivek Singh’s food. How you we manage to keep the flavour of one ingredient when it’s surrounded by other strong flavours? Well in this week’s recipe, by cooking the lamb separately to the corn sauce, and combining the elements of the dish at the end, you too can succeed!

Serves 4
4 x 200g lamb chops
1 tbsp vegetable oil

For the marinade:
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil

For the corn sauce:
100g ghee or clarified butter
8 cloves
2 black cardamom pods
1 bay leaf
2 onions, finely chopped
3 green chillies, chopped
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
tbsp garlic paste
100g lamb, finely diced
200g sweetcorn
4 tbsps plain yoghurt
150ml lamb stock
6cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
50g fresh coriander, chopped
juice of 1 lemon

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade and rub them over the lamb. Set aside for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the ghee or clarified butter in a heavy-based pan and add the cloves, cardamom and bay leaf. When they start to crackle, add the onions and cook of a medium heat until golden. Add the chillies and cook for 1-2 minutes. The add the turmeric and salt and saute briskly for a minute taking care that the dry spices do not start to burn. Add the garlic paste and cook, stirring for a couple of minutes. Ass soon as the fat starts to separate out at the side of the mixture, stir in the diced lamb. Cook for 4-5 minutes until browned, then add 3/4 of the corn and all of the yoghurt. Cook gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the corn is nearly mashed and the sauce is becoming very thick. Add the lamb stock and bring back to the boil, then add the ginger, coriander and remaining corn. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Check seasoning and add lemon juice.

Now on to the meat. Heat the oil in a large oven-proof frying pan over a medium heat, add the lamb and sear for 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a preheated oven at 180˚C and roast for 6-7 minutes. Leave the meat to rest for 3-4 minutes, then cut into slices. Divide the sauce onto 4 plates and place the lamb on top to serve.

Tags: flavour, lamb, marinade, rajasthani, sweetcorn 
Author: Alison

Happy New Year! It’s only the 4th but the holidays already seem a distant memory. If you are feeling the January blues coming on, head down to see us. We’re back to our normal hours now so why not start the day with a calming Indian breakfast? We’re open from 7.30am so there’s plenty of time to browse through the broadsheets before heading off to the office or if the thought of getting up in the dark is too much to bear, head along later (we serve breakfast until 9.30am) – either way, inject some spice into your day and banish those blues!

Tags: Breakfast, January blues, Uttapam 
Author: Alison

The Cinnamon Club wishes you a very happy and prosperous New Year. We hope to see you soon!

Tags: Happy New Year 
Author: Alison