Cooking Club - The Inaugural Meeting

My friend Emma had the great idea to start a cooking club for all her foodie friends. She was inspired by her parents who live somewhere that where there are no decent restaurants so they and their friends started a dinner club where they take turns in cooking a fancy three course meal for the others. Emma did some research and pared down some other ideas for cooking clubs and went for the following format; We take turns hosting the club with a few wildcard restaurant dinners in between. The host picks the theme which could be anything from an ingredient to a national cuisine. The host cooks a dinner on that theme and everyone else brings a recipe on the same theme.

The theme of the first one was “Curries”. I contributed my Pakistani Haleem King of Curries recipe. (ADD LINK) Emma went down the South East Asian route and served beef satay skewers for entree followed by Indonesian Grilled Chicken for mains. For dessert lime and white chocolate cheesecake which was fabulous. The big hit for me was the chicken - the delicious taste combined with the quick and easy recipe had me already cooking it for Mr Jen and the Monkey three days later.

I came away from a lovely evening with a folder full of nice new recipes – perfect – bring on the next one!

Emma's Indonesian Chicken

8 chicken thighs (on the bone)

8 drumsticks (on the bone)

Marinade:

4 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves discarded and roots trimmed

a large handful of fresh coriander leaves

6 French shallots peeled and cut in half

8 large garlic cloves, peeled

2 thumb size pieces of fresh root ginger, shopped

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tsp pepper

½ tsp salt

4 tbsp Thai fish sauce

400ml coconut milk

Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it becomes a rough puree.

Place the chicken in a suitable container and pour the marinade over the chicken covering well. Chill overnight or for at least 4 hours. Remember to turn once or twice.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cook chicken (covered) in oven for 40 minutes and then remove foil. Cook for 30 – 45 minutes until tender and golden.

Serves 8