Batata Wara / Wada / Vada

Ingredients
2 lb / 4 large potatoes
6 cloves garlic
2 inch ginger
4 green chillies
1 lime; juiced
2 tbl spn chopped coriander
salt to taste

Batter
1 cup chickpea flour; besan
3/4 cup water
1/3 tspn baking soda
salt to taste

Oil for frying

1. Wash and peel the potatoes , boil and roughly mash.
2. Puree the garlic, ginger and chillies with the lime juice
3. Add to the potatoes with the coriander and salt, mix
4. Make lime sized balls.
5. To make the batter add the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl, add the water in slowly mixing it well. The batter should be like a pancake mix.
6. Heat the oil in a frying pan / kerai / small wok, dip the potato balls in the batter and deep fry.
7. Serve with coconut chutney (recipe to come)

Baked / Roasted Chevro / Chevdo

Ingredients

4 cups thin pawa /poha , (dried cooked flattened rice)

1/2 cup whole almonds

1/2 cup whole cashew nuts

1/2 small red peanuts

1/2 melon seeds

1/2 golden raisins

1/2 cup daria / dalia (roasted split chickpeas - available in Indian shops)

2 tspn tumeric

2 tspn sugar

salt to taste

powdered red chillis to taste

1 tablespoon oil

1 tspn fennel

2 tspn sesame seeds

1/2 tspn mustard seeds

12-14 curry leaves

3-4 cloves

Method

1. Warm the oven to 150 degrees centigrade or 300 degrees Fahrenheit

2. Mix the Tumeric, salt, sugar and red chili powder in a small bowl

3. Place the pawa / poha in 2 large trays and bake for 10 minutes

4. Place in a large container and Stir in the tumeric mix. Don't worry if the mix does not look yellow, the colour will develop.

5. Place the raisins on a baking tray, spray with a little oil, bake for about 5 minutes or until the raisins swell up into tiny balls.

5. Turn up the temperature 175 degrees centigrade / 350 degrees Fahrenheit

6. Bake the Almonds, Cashews nut for 15 minutes

7. Melon seeds, peanuts and daria / dalia for 10 minutes

8 Mix the raisins and nuts with the pawa / poha

9. Heat the oil in a small frying pan, fry the fennel, sesame seeds mustard seeds, curry leaves and cloves and add to the chevro mix.

ENJOY

Tips

you can also add crisps

Use cornflakes instead of pawa / poha

Use mumbra or rice crispies instead.

Rice crispies or cornflakes don't need to be baked.

To make the colour richer add 1tspn of paprika (I did not have any)

Coming Soon... Chevro

Chevro / Chevdo / Chivda as part of my Nasta Series
This batch was made by Firoz in Edmonton, Canada. It is almost fry-free, everything was baked / roasted in the oven. Chachi and I are making this tomorrow. Yes on Christmas day, we are not cooking, we will have our Christmas Lunch (Roast Lamb and trimmings) at Shaheen and Mohsin's house. Anyway I have bought all the ingredients today ready to make some for the whole family.

Ismaili Mitha Thepla (Sweet)

2 cups whole wheat flour (chapatti flour)

½ cup gur / gor / jaggery

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

2 table spoon oil

1 tspn fennel seeds

½ ground Cardamom

½ tspn ground Nutmeg

Vegetable oil for frying

Jaggery or gur is supposed to be good for you, and certainly much better for you than refined sugar. It contains minerals and vitamins lost during refining of sugar. Likewise whole wheat flour is more nutritious than white flour.

1. Mix the flour, fennel seeds, cardamom and nutmeg.

2. Rub in the oil, so that the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs

3. Melt the gur in the microwave (2 minutes or so) and mix with the milk

4. Beat the egg

5. Add above liquid to the flour and make a soft dough

6. Roll into ¾ inch and cut into diamond shapes, or use a biscuit cutter.

7. Fry

These should keep in an airtight container for at least a month.

Aga Khan Primary School, Kampala

Photo from Harji Website
I went to Aga Khan Primary School in Kampala. My memories consist mainly of my first and last class. In the first form, my teacher was Mrs Barrato - I remember sitting on the mat humming, thinking no one would know it was me making the noise!

In my final form at this school my classmates included Naznin Virani, Meboob Jamani, Nazma Dhanani, Minaz Abji, the twins Salma and Shamshad Hajiani, Shafique Bhatia and Merunnissa ? to name a few. Teachers included my form teacher Penny Jiwani, Mrs Mascaranas and Mr Ramji the RE teacher. We had sewing classes in that room over the canteen, where I was constantly scolded by Mrs Sakar Devji, as I was terrible at needlework. My sewing always had blood stains on it from pricking my fingers with the needle! Miss Shahsultan Meghji and Miss Zarina Gulamhusein used to teach us how to cook. I can remember the queen of puddings well because I dropped it and broke the dish on the way home :(. If you are one of my classmates please do comment on this blog.

Some of my best memories are of standing in the Assembly in the hot sun while Mr Jinnah and Mr Hinchcliffe stood high up on the terrace (where the man with the bike is standing in the picture), and singing Bhali Bathowo ginan. At morning Recess time we would buy boiled mogo sprinkled with red chilli powder and salt; so delicious. We would go home for lunch and come back in the afternoon. No food in the afternoon, Chachi use to give us a flask of Ribena which we would drink in the break.

When we got home at about 4.00 o’clock, we would have chai and nasto. Chachi and Malek used to make enormous quantities of various nasta. The store / larder had huge tins about 2 feet high and 1 foot wide full of sev, ghatia, puri, thepla, chevro, mogo katri etc. Then at 6.oo o’clock the men (Bapa and Chacha) would come home from the factory. Special nasta were made for them. Samosa, batata vara, bateta champ, chane atta ja bhajia, dal ja bhajia, kebab, mayai waro pao etc. We children would join them and eat again.

We would have our supper at about 8.00, kitchri and doodh or gosh jo shaak. So much eating but we were very slim (they used to call me a scarecrow, because I was so thin and lanky with big feet!).

All these memories flooded back when I saw this picture of my primary school.

My next project is to make some of those nasta, starting with Thepla.

Kerala ne dungri jo shaak / Spicy Bitter Gourd with Onions

5 bitter gourds / kerala - should be firm to the touch

4 medium onions; sliced fine

2 tblspn vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves; minced

2 inch ginger; grated

2 green chillies; minced

3 medium tomatoes; blanched, peeled and liquidised

1/4 tspn tumeric

1 tspn coriander / cumin powders

Method

1. Scrap the kerala / bitter gourds, and slice into 1/4 inch slices. Discard the ripe ones (with red seeds). Or remove the seeds. The seed in unripe kerala are tender.

2. Soak in salty water for at least 30 minutes

3. Heat the oil, a add the onion, fry until golden brown.

4. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli paste, mix and fry for about 30 secs.

5. Add the bitter gourd and stir for about 5 minutes

6. Add the tomatoes, stir and cook for 5 minutes, add the tumeric, coriander and cumin powders, mix, reduce the heat and cook for about 20 minutes or until the bitter gourd is cooked.

The sweetness of the onions counteracts the bitterness of the kerala, delicious!

We had it served with methi rotlo

Szechuan Green Beans

We had this dish at a Szechuan Restaurant on Leigh Street . Zayn and I discussed that it would go well with Lamb Pilau so we cooked it on Chachi's birthday.

600 gm french long beans; topped and tailed and cut into two

10 cloves garlic; crushed

4 inch ginger; grated
1 onion; chopped finely

1 tablespoon oil

Mix the following ingredients

1 tsp red chilli flakes

1 tablespoon soya sauce

1 tables sesame oil

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1. Steam the beans for 4 min

2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan / wok, add the onions and fry for 1 minute

3. Fry the garlic / ginger,

4 Add the beans and stir fry for a 2 minutes;

5. Add the mixture of chilli flakes, soya sauce, sesame oil and vinegar, mix, and cook for a 30 secs, the beans will be spotted with brown but still crunchy

4 Serve.

I served them with lamb pilau

Eid & Chachi's Birthday Dinner

I am back! It was Chachi's birthday on Eid day so we had a double celebration, no a triple celebration as it was Shaheen's birthday on Sunday. We really missed our Australian family after getting used to them being here this summer, Ben and Dylan were also missed.

• Chilli and Garlic Olives
• Papad / papadum
• Sambharo (stirfried carrots and cabbage with whole green chillies)
• Chicken samosa
• Sichuan Green Beans (made by Zayn, recipe to follow)
• Vagharelo mogo (Spicy Casava)
• Lamb akhni (pulao)
• Kachumbar (tomato and onion salad)
• Greek Salad sans cheese
• Almond cake (made by Muni)

It was a feast.

Asparagus Spanish Omelette

I made this using leftover roast asparagus and potatoes.
To make from scratch

Ingredients
1 medium onion; chopped finely
8 small new potatoes; boiled and sliced
8 asparagus shoots; cut into 3 inch pieces and blanched
1 tablespoons olive oil
5 eggs; beaten
salt and black pepper to taste

Method
1. Heat the oil in a 8 inch frying pan, fry the onions until soft.
2. Add the potatoes and stir fry for a few minutes, until the potatoes are completed coated with oil, and begining to turn brown, now the asparagus, stir well.
3. Turn down the heat and add the beaten eggs; cover the pan with a lid, and leave for about 15 minutes, making sure that the heat is very low.
4. Carefully invert onto a plate and put back into the pan, cook for a 2-3 minutes.
5. Serve with a salad and crusty bread.

Cheese and Spinach Samosa

These samosas are adapted from Greek Spanakopita or Turkish Borek

Ingredients
1 cup thawed frozen chopped spinach
1 cup finely chopped spring onions
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
2 cloves garlic; crushed
1 inch ginger; grated
2 green chillies; crushed
1/4 tspn garam masala
200 gm /8 oz Feta cheese; crumbled (mash using a fork)
NO SALT (feta cheese is very salty)
20 samosa pastries (or filo pastry)




Method
1. Drain the spinach in a colander
2. Mix the spinach, spring onions, coriander and cheese
3. Add the garlic, ginger and crushed chilies, mix
4. Add the garam masala and mix. There is no need to cook the filling as it gets cooked during frying or baking
5. Fold the samosa as shown here
6. Fry the samosa in hot oil, or brush with oil and bake in the oven at 200 degrees centigrade for 25 minutes.
ENJOY

Roast Asparagus and Salmon

Adapted From BBC Good Food

Ingredients
400g new potatoes, halved if large
2 tbspn olive oil
8 asparagus spears, trimmed and halved
2 handfuls cherry tomatoes
2 salmon filletsabout 140g/5oz each
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Tip the potatoes and 1 tbsp of olive oil into an ovenproof dish, then roast the potatoes for 20 mins until starting to brown. Toss the asparagus in with the potatoes, then return to the oven for 15 mins.
2. Throw in the cherry tomatoes and vinegar and nestle the salmon amongst the vegetables. Drizzle with the remaining oil and return to the oven for a final 10-15 mins until the salmon is cooked. Season with salt and pepper
   

VEry easy and really delicious!!
I made Spainish Omelet with the left over vegetable - recipe soon

Summer Fruit Jelly

I had this at Malcolm and Naomi's house the other week, I could not wait to try it, I have made it twice now, delicious



Ingredients
Mixed summer fruit consisting of strawberries, blackberries, rasberries and blueberries, I used a pannet of each (200gm)
500 mls cranberry juice
100 mls sparkly water
100 mls plain water
2 tablespns of agar agar (china grass, faloda) flakes

1. Soften the agar agar in boiling hot water, microwave a couple of times for 1 minute, until melted.
2. Place the fruit in a 2lB loaf tin
3. Place the fruit juice and water in a bowl and add the melted agar agar, mix briskly and add to the fruit
4. Place in the fridge, should set in 30 minutes
5. Serve chilled, Turn out the jelly by placing the tin in hot water for a few minutes, and on to a plate. Cut it into slices
I served with vanilla ice cream, but you can serve with cream or creme fraiche.

Spicy Mashed Matoke (Green Bananas)

Served with chickpeas and tomato and red pepper salsa.



4 - 5 matoke (green bananas from Uganda)
1 200g can peeled tomatoes; liquidised
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 inch ginger - grated
2 chillis - minced
1 table spn vegetable oil
1 tspn mustard seeds
1/2 tspn cumin seeds
1/2 tspn tumeric
2 teaspoons coriander/cumin mix
salt to taste
fresh coriander for garnish



Method
1. Peel the green bananas, slice that into 1 inch chunks and place in water and boil with some salt.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard and cumin seeds, as soon as they start to splutter, add onions and fry until golden brown
3. Then add the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and the minced chillis, stir and fry for a few minutes.
4. Add the cumin, coriander and tumeric, fry for a few minutes. Add the bananas (reserve the water) and mash using a wooden spoon.
5. Add the reserved banana water (2 cups) and mix so that it blends in with the bananas.
5. Garnish with coriander and serve. I served it with chick peas and tomato and red pepper salsa.

Home made pizza

Dough made with plain flour, yeast, egg and salt.

Napolina Tomato sauce with herbs, red onions, olives,

jalapenos, mushrooms, romano pepers, fresh basil and parsley.

Topped mozzarella cheese and baked in 180 deg C for 13 mins.

Lamb Chops

New Zealand Lamb Chops marinated with garlic,

chillies and lime juice.

Served with chips and rocket salad, cucumber,

tomatoes and red onion

Beef Burger

Half pounder char-grilled beef burger from waitrose served

in rustic roll with rustic chips.

Letuce with romano pepper, red onions and cucumber.

Freshwater Trout

Grilled freshwater trout marinated in garlic, chilli and lime.

Served with Roast potatoes in skins and avacado salad with

romano peppers, lettuce and cucumber