Indian Restaurant Juboraj supports St David’s Day

The Juboraj restaurant in Cardiff’s Mill Lane will be showing their support for one of the most important days in the Welsh calendar, St David’s Day, by cooking Welsh curries.

On Tuesday, Cardiff will be putting on its eighth annual St David’s Day Parade.

The parade will begin at City Hall and the group will march past the Castle, down St Mary Street, back along Mill Street then to the Hayes -where the band will play for half an hour.

Dan Peterson, who is in charge of the restaurant’s marketing, said:

“The parade band will be eating a curry lunch with us after their performance. They will be able to taste the celtic curry that we have come up with.”

So what will be on offer?

Babaru Mehr, the manager of the restaurant said:

“Firstly we will have a welsh black beef and potato curry. It includes the traditional indian spices such as cumin and fennel, tumeric and a few other spices that I won’t give away!

“We will also have Welsh lamb biryani, which is more like a fried rice, it’s more like a stir fry.

“And the final dish is a twist on the traditional chicken korma, we will add leek to it. Obviously the chicken and leek pie is a Welsh dish so we wanted to incorporate the leek in the curry.”

I went down to the Juboraj Restaurant and tried the three dishes:

I tried all three dishes and they were delicious. I have never had a curry with beef in it and it was lovely. The beef had a moist texture, it was not over done. It definitely worked well with the traditional spices.

I prefer spicy food, so the korma would not normally be something that I would order. But if you prefer the milder option, then the chicken and leek korma would definitely be something to try. It was creamy, and the leek gave the curry an extra bite.

Babaru says he hopes that these dishes will be popular with the band and could well make the restaurant’s menu in the future.

A Welsh curry, who would have thought it?

Who said men can’t cook?

It is fair to say that we have moved from the sterotype that a woman’s role is in the kitchen. So many celebrity chefs are men, and I know from my own experience that my dad cooks as much as my mum does.

So when my guy friend invited me round for dinner, I didn’t even think twice about the roles we were taking or whether he was a good cook.

Tom had told me before that he can only cook three dishes, 1) spaghetti bolognaise, 2) sausage, basil, and pasta, and 3) lemon chicken. And he decided on the third option. I appreciated the honesty on how far is culinery skills stretched, and was glad he was cooking a tried and tested recipe. Although it did involve chicken, so maybe it wasn’t the ‘safest’ option out of the three.  Especially when he realised the chicken had not fully defrosted. So it was not a good start. Bless him.

But overall he did surprisingly well. The chicken, once it was defrosted, was marinated in lemon and thyme, and he even drizzled oil on the chicken, so it would have a crispy skin. He also made roast potatoes, which for me is something that can either go really well, or really not. Because for me a perfect roast potato is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. To make his potatoes he cut them into wedges, and then boiled them until they were soft. He then placed them on a baking tray and smothered them with oil. He seasoned the potatoes with salt and pepper.

Both were put into the oven for over an hour, and they would have been perfect, however, during the last half an hour of cooking the chicken, Tom became slightly impatient and wacked up the heat, from gas mark 6, to gas mark 8, and cremated the poor chicken. It was all going so well! But you can’t judge a book by its cover, it is all in the taste.

I must admit, after looking at the blackened chicken, I can’t say I was thrilled that I had to eat it, but I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted delicious. It was just like if it had been cooked on the BBQ. And Tom definitely mastered the roast potatoes. Really enjoyed the meal.

So yes, who said men can’t cook?

Does Alcohol and Sport Go Hand in Hand?

A Welsh charity have put drinks industry sponsorships under the spotlight. Alcohol Concern Cymru have said that alcohol sponsorship in sport is encouraging young people to drink too much.

In their recent report ‘An unhealthy mix?’  they claim that the drinks advertising in events such as rugby tournaments and music festivals, attract new drinkers, especially young people who attend such events.

Mark Leyshon of Alcohol Concern Cymru said:

“Irrespective of whether or not the drinks companies are deliberately targeting young people, there is a growing body of evidence that sponsorship and other forms of alcohol marketing negatively impact on this group – on their perceptions of what is considered normal drinking behaviour.”

The charity have found that forty percent of Welsh fifteen year olds drink on a weekly basis.

But the Portman Group, which represents drinks manufacturers, have called the charity’s findings ‘misleading’. They have said that there is no evidence which links exposure to alcohol sponsorship when you are a child and drinking alcohol.

A spokesperson from the Portman Group:  ”There are very strict rules in place that makes sure that alcohol producers can only market or sponsor things in a very certain way. They are not allowed to target young people, they are not allowed to make content that would appeal to underage drinkers and they must be  careful in the way they promote their products to make sure they do not encourage irresponsible drinking.”

They also say that the majority of people do drink responsibly and that for the small group that don’t banning all alcohol sponsorship will not solve the problem. Instead there needs to be better education, better intervention, and stricter enforcement of existing laws, such as not serving alcohol to underage people.

France is one country where alcohol sponsorship in Sport is illegal. This was why in 2005 the Welsh Rugby Team had to have “Brawn” written on their shirts, not “Brains”.

Statistics show that since 1990 the amount of alcohol drunk by eleven to fifteen year olds has doubled.

Alcohol Concern Cymru do admit that the link between alcohol marketing and people drinking more is not conclusive, as there are many factors that affect how much people drink, such as our upbringing, how much our friends drink etc. But they maintain that young people are vulnerable to alcohol and they question the relationship between alcohol and sport and alcohol and music.

But as to whether the UK will follow France’s example, it seems unlikely, as alcohol sponsorship brings in a great deal of money which helps nurture the next generation of sporting talent.

Can kids really become dumber eating Junk Food?

According to new research from Bristol University, yes they can!

The School of Social Community Medicine have based its findings on participants in the Avon Longlitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), which tracks the long term health and well being of around 14,000 children born in 1991 and 1992.

They were asked to complete a questionnaire.

And the information was then quantified to produce a dietary pattern score for three different types of diet: 1) processed or high in fats and sugars;  2) traditional or high in meat and two veg; and 3) health conscious or high in salad, fruit and vegetables, rice and pasta.

What they found was those kids eating the chips, cookies, and cakes had a lower IQ than those who ate the fruit and veg.

The IQ of around 4,000 children at the ages three, four, seven and eight, and around 20 per cent of children with the worst diet at age three were found to score, on average, five IQ points lower than the group with the best diet.

Even though the authors admit that the results are modest, they show a scientific link between what you eat and your brain power.

Dr Kate Northstone, Research Fellow in the School of Social and Community Medicine, said: “Our research suggests that any cognitive/behavioural effects relating to eating habits in early childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes (including improvements) to dietary intake.”



Simple recipe for Chicken Kiev

Ingredients  – serves four

Chicken Kiev:

Firstly to make the garlic butter, you need to crush the garlic and mix it in with the butter.

Add juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt and pepper. Then add a tsp of dried rosemary and a few basil leaves.

Slice the chicken breast and spread the garlic butter.

Then you need to coat the chicken with flour and egg and cover them with bread crumbs.

After that, you must fry the chicken pieces for a few minutes before putting them in the oven for around 30-35 minutes.

Ingredients:

4 x 150g chicken breast

Breadcrumbs

3 tbl spoons of flour

2 beaten eggs

5 cloves of garlic crushed

100g butter

one lemon

dried rosemary

fresh basil

salt and pepper

Simple as that!

You can serve it with mange-tout and potatoes.

Enjoy!

Tags: chicken, chicken kiev, recipe

Cholesterol

A recent report by the Royal College of Physicians have found that people at risk of inheriting high cholesterol are not being routinely screened for the condition.

They have found more than one-hundred-thousand people in the UK are at risk from an undiagnosed heart condition, as a result of a fatty diet.

Even though relatives of patients with high cholesterol are screened by the NHS, the report says more people need to be checked.

They are urging people who have relatives with high cholesterol to be screened and that procedures across the UK need to be improved.

Even though Cholesterol is a naturally occurring fat, excess of it, will block your arteries and can lead to heart attacks at an earlier age.

Nutritionist Rhiannon Harris, from UWIC University, Cardiff, gives advice on how you can cook your food to lower your cholesterol.

How to make Indian Jeera Chicken

This is how to make Jeera (Cumin) Chicken and Pilau rice.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

For the Jeera Chicken:

4 skinned chicken thighs

1 lemon

olive oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 flower garlic

1 tbsp ginger

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

salt

For the Pilau Rice:

2 tsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 onion

medium sized cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

1/2 cup Basmati rice

salt

Serve with natural yoghurt and cherry tomatoes

ENJOY!