Home : The lighter side of Asynt - The Chemistry of Cooking

Did you know that we enjoy cooking up chemical reactions that are more tasty than earth shattering?

We thought you might like a peek behind the scenes at Asynt and find out a little more about your Account Manager, and the people who look after your orders so we're all sharing our favourite recipe - have a go and share your efforts with us via our Facebook or Twitter pages? We'd love to see!

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Martyn: Charismatic Curry
Serves 4

*180g potato (cubed, 1.5cm cubes)
*210g onion, chopped
*112g fresh tomato, chopped
*2 tsp cumin seeds
*1 tsp black peppercorns
*6 green cardamom pods
*1 inch cinnamon stick
*1 tsp black mustard seeds
*3 cloves
*1 tsp fenugreek seeds
*1 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
*1/2 tsp ground turmeric
*15g fresh chilli
*15g fresh garlic, finely chopped
*15g fresh ginger, finely chopped
*10g unsalted cashew nuts
*350g chicken breast, cut into chunks
*5g sugar
*50ml malt vinegar
*150ml vegetable stock
*40g garden peas
*150g spinach

- Lightly oil a large frying pan and saute the onions until golden brown, then set aside.
- Using a hand blender, bring together the chilli, cashew nuts, spices and onion to form a thick paste. Then add the vinegar and mix.
- Heat the chicken in the frying pan until it is browned on all sides. Add your paste and stir until fragrant and the chicken is completely covered.
- Add the garlic and ginger and stir, before adding the tomatoes, potato, sugar and stock. Bring to the boil.
- Stir in the spice paste, cover and reduce the heat, and simmer for half an hour.
- Place spinach in a sieve over the sink and pour boiling water over. Using hand blender again, blitz into a paste. Stir this into your curry along with the garden peas, replacing the lid and leaving for a further half an hour until the chicken is tender.
- Martyn recommends serving with 50g brown rice per person, chappatis, and chopped banana and apple as a side dish! EXTRA HINT: Martyn says if you have leftovers, stir in some flour and leave to simmer a little longer then use as a pie filling! He uses instant packet pastry and rolls it really thin for a crispy crust, and they taste great!





Kerry: Stolen Pie (blatently pinched from the Cafe Gandolfi recipe book by Seumus Macinnes)
(serves 6)
*10 or 12 chicken thighs, skin on
*15-20 new potatoes, skin on
*1 lemon
*4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
*5 or 6 table spoons olive oil
*salt and ground black pepper
**Vegetarian option is easily done using Quorn instead of the chicken! Make sure you use plenty of fresh herbs to give it lots of flavour...

- Preheat oven to 175oC
- Slash the chicken thighs 2 or 3 times and put them into a large bowl with the potatoes.
- Mix together the juice of the lemon, olive oil and crushed garlic and pour over the chicken and potatoes. Mix everthing together with your hands, making sure that the marinade coats everything.
- Put the chicken and potatoes in a large roasting pan (single layer) and cover with any remaining marinade from your bowl, and season well. Place the lemon skins in the pan to caramelise and roast with the chicken.
- Roast in the oven for 40 minutes, basting once or twice. Remove when browned and leave to rest for a few minutes before serving. Great for a crowd as the receipe can be doubled or even trebbled up! Kerry has adapted slightly and added fresh rosemary to the recipe while it's cooking - mix it up with your own herby selection!



Steve: Balti beans on toast

*one tin of beans
*teaspoon of curry powder
*2 slices bread
*butter

- Chuck a teaspoon of curry powder into your beans and heat either on the hob or in the microwave.
- toast the bread and spread with butter
- Throw curried beans on toast.
- Serve with a pint of Bishop's Finger ale



Louisa: Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Makes an 8" round cake
*2 tablespoons cocoa powder
*3 tablespoons boiling water
*225g soft margaraine
*225g caster sugar
*4 eggs
*225g self raising flour
*2 teaspoons baking powder

*1 dessert spoon cocoa for filling
*1.5 dessert spoons boiling water
*25g soft margarine
*75g icing sugar
*150g melted chocolate plus extra for decorating

- Preheat the oven to gas 4
- Grease and line 2 x 8" sandwich tins
-Blend the cocoa and water in a bowl and leave to cool slightly. Measure all remaining ingredients into a bowl and beat until smooth. Divide teh mixture between the tins and smooth out.
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until firm to touch. Leave to cool for a few minutes in the tins and then turn out onto wire racks until completely cool.
- Make the buttercream by plending the cocoa with teh water in a mixing bowl, cool slightly. Ass the otehr ingredients into the bowl and blend until smooth. Sandwich the two layers of cake together with this.
- Melt the other chocolate and spread evenly over the top. Grate a little extra chocolate over the top for decoration.
- Best served... quickly! It's gorgeous and is guaranteed not to hang about so make sure you take your slice first if you're sharing!




Kirsty: Luscious Lemon Buns
Makes 12 muffin sized buns

*150g softened unsalted butter or stork margarine
*150g caster sugar, plus 40g for syrup
*2 lemons
*3 large free range eggs
*150g self raising white flour
*half teaspoon baking powder

- Preheat oven to gas mark 7
- place 12 muffin papers in a deep hole baking tray
- Beat together butter and sugar until softened and pale.
- Zest two lemons and add to the mixture and stir in.
- Add the eggs and beat until it looks like a ribbon on the surface when you drizzle the mix over itself
- sift in the flour and baking powder, then fold in gently to keep as much air in as possible
- use an ice cream scoop and add one large scoop per muffin paper. Put tray straight in the oven and cook for approximately 14 minutes. Remove when slightly springy to touch and golden.
- in a small saucepan combine the remaining sugar and the juice of the two lemons. Heat gently until the sugar is melted.
- spoon this lemon syrup over the buns evenly while still warm.
- eat (my family do so before they have a chance to get cold but the buns pictured were for a special occassion so decorated with buttercream and sugar ladybirds and caterpillers!)