RCP: Egyptian 'Paella' with with green mangoes

[Jenise]

Yesterday I mentioned watching a travel program wherein the host got into some kitchen in Cairo and made this dish, explaining that cooked rice dishes in the manner of paella were common to Egyptian cuisine. They would not be saffron-based, however, rather the sofrito would be based on "excessive" amounts of onion and garlic plus various seeds and chiles for seasoning. At the end, he added shrimp and mangoes that he'd sauteed separately, plus cilantro.

No amounts were given, but based on the visual description I built my own version of the dish for last night's dinner and I have to say, we both thought it was just exquisite: unusual, and easily the most flavorful version of 'paella' either of us has ever eaten. And though I used both shrimp and mangoes as prescribed, though the ingredients didn't fight each other in any way we both agreed that the shrimp was almost superfluous and mango the real keeper here because the fruit's tart and exotic flavor and texture set it so very far apart from the Spanish paellas and Cajun jambalayas where shrimp and rice are commonly combined. We found ourselves seeking out the chunks, which could be cut smaller and because I deliberately chose a green, underripe mango for this dish. Though Mr. Floyd used riper mangoes in whole slices, I use ripe mangoes in a chicken curry where the fruit just melts away. Didn't want that happening here.

For similar reasons to the shrimp issue I ditched the cilantro in favor of parsley--I use a lot of cilantro, and so completely associate it with Mexican, Thai and Portugese cooking that it would trip all the wrong sensors for me. And too, I lived in the Middle East some time ago and parsley was very common to Arabic cooking. Cilantro? Never saw it.

Another deviation: Mr. Floyd used cardamom and cumin seed alone. Lacking the latter, I used a healthy pinch of powdered cumin and both kala jheera and coriander seed.

Without the shrimp, though I used chicken broth the dish, with one more substitution the dish would be a fabulous vegetarian preparation.

This recipe feeds four.

In a paella pan or shallow saute skillet, start the sofrito:

Peanut or olive oil
1 cup finely diced onion
8 large cloves of garlic, finely diced
8 green cardamom seed pods, whole
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp kala jheera seed
1 tsp coriander seed
1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes (or more, mine are astonishingly hot)

Saute until the onion's limp. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, bring about 4 cups of broth to a simmer. To the sofrito add:

1 cup diced fresh tomato (or a 14 ounce can of diced tomato, well drained)
1 cup short grained rice (I use Spanish bomba rice, or when I'm out as I was last night, a sushi rice like Kohuko Rose works perfectly)
1 tsp salt

Stir to coat all the grains of rice with the sofrito mixture. Add about 1/3 of the broth and let simmer gently on the stovetop, uncovered. Stir occasionally and add another third of the broth when the first has mostly evaported. When that has mostly evaporated, add more ladlefuls as needed to finish cooking the rice and have a moist dish.

Lastly, add:

2 firm green mangoes
1/2 c chopped parsley

While the rice cooks, cut the mango away from the seed and slice. Remove peel from the slices and cut into large 1" dice. In a hot nonstick skillet, lightly color the mango in a bit more oil--it will only take about a minute. Add to the rice pan along with the parsley. Stir through, serve.

Jenise, that sounds DIVINE. Tell me what kala jheera seed is though, please ? I love the Floyd cooking shows - he's such a character. I once saw a wonderful episode where he cooked a complicated dish, and tried to serve it to his young son, who completely pooh-poohed it. Very funny stuff... :)

Thanks for letting us know how it went !

Tell me what kala jheera seed is though, please ?

This is also called black cumin or imperial cumin. A good place to find it is in Indian grocers.

Aaah, thanks Cynthia. Is that the stuff known as nigella ?

Hi,

I just wanted to say that after seeing Keith Floyd (+RIP+) do this on TV the other day, we decided to have a go, and so naturally I searched on the web to see if there was a published recipe. There wasn't, but I did find your post here. So based on our memory of the program, and your method here, we had a bash tonight. Jolly good it was too, and we'll be making it again.

However we did remember that he added some chickpeas, which you don't have. We also felt that it could do with a little more spicing, so we'll be doubling the cumin and increasing the cardamom by 50%. We used basmati, because it was just about all we had - apart from Arborio - and it didn't want to absorb anything like as much broth. We found that 2:1 broth to rice give a recipe that was fairly sloppy. When we've done it once or twice again and are really happy with it, I'll post our version here, if that's OK with you.

Aaah, thanks Cynthia. Is that the stuff known as nigella ?

Apparently not: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-kala-jeera.htm

[Jenise]

Hi,

I just wanted to say that after seeing Keith Floyd (+RIP+) do this on TV the other day, we decided to have a go, and so naturally I searched on the web to see if there was a published recipe. There wasn't, but I did find your post here. So based on our memory of the program, and your method here, we had a bash tonight. Jolly good it was too, and we'll be making it again.

However we did remember that he added some chickpeas, which you don't have. We also felt that it could do with a little more spicing, so we'll be doubling the cumin and increasing the cardamom by 50%. We used basmati, because it was just about all we had - apart from Arborio - and it didn't want to absorb anything like as much broth. We found that 2:1 broth to rice give a recipe that was fairly sloppy. When we've done it once or twice again and are really happy with it, I'll post our version here, if that's OK with you.

Ian, first of all, welcome to the group. I'm delighted that you commented on this recipe, as I'd kind of forgotten about it and this is an excellent time to be reminded, having bought a new bag of bomba rice just two days ago.

You know what, I don't remember the chickpeas at all so I'm glad you caught that. Had I remembered, I would have mentioned it out of deference to Floyd even if I had not had them on hand to use them. Good call! Re basmati, I'll bet that gave the dish great flavor. Adding to all the other flavors and aromatics in the dish, the smells in your house must have been just amazing. You're right that basmati wouldn't need as much moisture as a short grained rice, plus I should mention that I would never advocate 2:1 water to rice ratio. I'm a fan of drier, more toothsome rice, but in an open-pan cooking method like paella or risotto, one does use quite a bit more and one needs to have basically more than enough standing by hot, so my recipe called for more than one should actually end up needing.

Anyway, I know you didn't mean to be critical nor am I taking it as such, I'm just making sure we're on the same brain wave here. As for perfecting the recipe and posting it, yes yes yes, by all means do. We'll look forward to it.

Hi Jenise,

Thanks very much! I have to confess that after Googling very carefully, I have a suspicion that Mr Floyd was being rather "creative" with his recipe. Doesn't bother me one bit, though maybe if I were Egyptian and knew the way the dish should have been cooked, it might! That reminds me of a hilarious episode of "Floyd on France" where he was cooking something - might have been a pipérade, might have been chicken basquaise, in a lady's kitchen. Anyway it was one of her specialities and all the way through, she was tutting and muttering "No, you don't do it that way". "No, that's quite wrong" with Keith translating her comments faithfully. When she was invited to taste it, she said "Dreadful, just what you'd expect from a dish cooked all wrong" - which again he translated faithfully. You know... you have to admire a guy like that!

Anyway, although I'm a great fan of basmati - as I said, it's all we have in the house apart from Arborio, but you rightly remembered that his recipe DOES call for round grain/short grain rice and I think that basmati wasn't quite right. I'll have a look to see what suitable rice I can find. As you said, the smells were, however, fantastic with the basmati!

As for the chick peas. I used a can (14 oz or whatever) and IMO that was a bit much - I'm still a bit gassy 24 hours later!! . We used a random mango that wasn't completely ripe, but certainly not green and fried it flat out, and it kept its shape nicely. As for the sloppiness, I'm no great expert on Paella, though I've had a few in my time, and my recollection of Keith's dish was that it was fairly moist, possibly moister than ours was.

We're certainly going to have another go, and following your charming invitation, when we're really happy with it, I will post the recipe we end up with here. I've already made notes on my "working copy recipe"!

Now to work out whether a Butternut squash and gruyere pasty (a bit like a baked empanadita) is going to be good when we try it out tomorrow for the first time.

Ian,
At the risk of telling you things that you are already quite familiar with, I'll mention that the japonicus rices traditionally used in paella and risotto are quite essential to the process because, as you say, other, long grained rices don't absorb the same amount of liquid (or have nearly as much gluten).

Jenise: one thing that surprised me in your recipe was no mention of the time needed to cook the rice before the liquid is added. When I make paellas, I cook the rice over medium-high heat with much stirring until the grains go transparent, then back to chalky opaque and just begin to brown before adding any liquid (in risotto, I add the liquid at the chalky opaque stage -- one of several critical differences). I find that doing so guarantees that the grains take up the requisite amount of liquid and achieve the correct texture in the finished dish.

And, with that, I'll stop telling cooks far more accomplished than myself things that they most likely already know
Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

Hi Jenise,

Thanks very much! I have to confess that after Googling very carefully, I have a suspicion that Mr Floyd was being rather "creative" with his recipe.

Oh, I'm sure of it! Btw, this show was the first show of his I'd ever seen, didn't even know of the man before watching this. I set my DVR to record all further it found, including a re-play of this episode, and it only came up with about five. But I watched them all! I loved his snarky comments, and the way they left all the oopsy stuff and swear words in, a refreshing almost verite way of making TV us Americans aren't used to. There was one episode somewhere on the Med where they got chased off their chosen location for an outdoor cookout by the police, and Floyd didn't hold back in telling them (or us!) what he thought of them. So fun. Oh, and when I made this dish a few days later, I timed it such that we ate dinner in front of the TV (very rare here, unless it's one of my themed "dinner and a movie" nights). Bob wasn't pre-warned, just served this food and left to realize for himself that the dish he watched Floyd, who he'd never seen before that night, make was the very dish he was eating.

I'll have a look to see what suitable rice I can find. As you said, the smells were, however, fantastic with the basmati!

Spanish Bomba or Calrose, if you can find either, are perfect. Otherwise repair to an oriental store, if you have them, and buy a Japanese short grain.

work out whether a Butternut squash and gruyere pasty (a bit like a baked empanadita) is going to be good when we try it out tomorrow for the first time.

Do report back!

[Jenise]

Jenise: one thing that surprised me in your recipe was no mention of the time needed to cook the rice before the liquid is added. When I make paellas, I cook the rice over medium-high heat with much stirring until the grains go transparent, then back to chalky opaque and just begin to brown before adding any liquid (in risotto, I add the liquid at the chalky opaque stage -- one of several critical differences). I find that doing so guarantees that the grains take up the requisite amount of liquid and achieve the correct texture in the finished dish.

Two things: 1) I very much tend to underwrite recipes. That is, in this forum I generally presume I'm talking to people who already have a solid handle on technique and I'm not very detailed in describing each step unless it's something uncommon or I know I'm talking to a beginner. But if I were to have done so, 2) yes it is important that the rice actually cook somewhat in the sofrito but my take on what's important about that and what it takes to achieve it are slightly different than yours. That is, whether it be a paella or a pilaf, or to put it another way no matter what the underlying rice or eventual dish is, unless I want just plain steamed rice, I always, ALWAYS, saute the rice in some sort of fat, typically olive oil, at the start of cooking. But my goal is to seal each kernel of rice in a sufficiently impermeable barrier which prevents the over-absorption of liquids and delivers a denser, chewier fully cooked rice, and about a minute is generally ample. (In the world of rice I detest nothing more than the classic American 2:1 water to rice ratio so-called "fluffy" rice--closed pot method, not a risotto or paella--that is to my tastebuds meally, soggy and dilute of flavor compared to rice cooked at a lower ratio which is, depending on the rice, generally 1:1 for a basmati or jasmine rice that goes into the pot wet from rinsing and no more than 1.25:1 for some shortgrains that absorb a bit more.) I have never found that the rice actually has to change color for me to know when long enough is long enough, but in the case of this particular dish, something like a minute is plenty, and it's important NOT to overcook this stage lest one burn the generous amount of garlic in the sofrito.

All that said, and actually to a separate issue than you bring up, I don't think my recipe reflects what I'd have written for instructions today. That is, I think my words about adding the rice conflict with each other. What I'm thinking may have happened (Ian might be able to confirm having more recently watched it) is that Floyd added the rice and the tomatoes at the same time, so out of deference to the author I introduced the next step that way but then in my more detailed (scant as that is) instructions I said saute the rice first, because I can promise you no matter what Floyd did (because that's how he cooks rice, or for the sake of speeding up the segment) I would have pre-cooking and coating the rice a mandatory step, only after which I'd have added the tomatoes.

Hi
Where to begin,

Mark, I did know that the right kind of rice was essential to risotto, and suspected - without knowing in as much detail as you - that a similar rice was used in Paella. Jenise, I don't think I've ever seen Bomba rice, but there's a Spanish/Portuguese food stall at Brive market and it's entirely possible they might have it. What was and still is less clear to me was what rice would possibly be authentically used in Egypt, and whether Keith did in fact try to use it! I was wrong to use basmati, and will certainly try a round grained rice next time. I totally take your point about not dotting every i and crossing every t. I am exactly the opposite, not because I want to talk down to people, but because throughout the years when I taught cooking as a freelance chef, I was astonished just how many elementary mistakes experienced cooks make. So when talking about a cuisine with which they are very probably somewhat unfamiliar, I want to enable them (if they want to) to get a dish that will taste as if it had been made by a good cook from that country, using the right ingredients. I am absolutely not saying "I'm right and you're wrong" If anything quite the reverse. Lovely story about giving Bob the very dish that he was watching on TV. Brilliant!!

Lastly the pasty. As I worked through the preparation of the filling I had ever increasing misgivings about it. frying Serrano ham so it's crusty (I in fact used our local country ham from Marielle's pig)? It was incredibly salty. 2 tbs of sage? Goodness me that's completely overpower everything. A whole thinly sliced uncooked onion? All that gruyere? Raw squash? It really can't work. Well it did. I don't think I'd want to change one single thing about the recipe, except to add at the end "I know this recipe looks insane, but trust me, it's gorgeous." Because it is. One small detail we did that was different. The recipe called for two 365 g sheets of ready rolled pastry! You can imagine what we thought of that, so Jacquie made extra when making some for our Tarte Tatin tomorrow. We decided to use some pasty molds (empanadita molds, really) and the largest one, which we used, was only about 18 cm diameter. With the amount of pastry we had, Jacquie made 9 pasties, instead of the 4 in the recipe. Here's a link to the recipe. Oh... we found we didn't need to add any salt. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/datab ... 0352.shtml