Mitha Thepla - Ismaili style

2 cups whole wheat flour (chapatti flour)
½ cup gur / gor / jaggery
1/2 cup milk
2 table spoon oil
1 tspn fennel seeds
½ ground Cardamom
½ tspn ground Nutmeg
Vegetable oil for frying
1/2 table spoon sliced almonds
1 table spoon poppy seeds

Flour Paste
1 tablespoon flour
enough water to make a thick paste (3/4 of tablespoon)


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
5. Add it to the flour and make a soft dough
6. Roll into ¾ inch and cut into circles using a biscuit cutter.
7. Sprinke the poppy seeds, and stick the almond slice in the centre using the flour paste
7. Fry

Reshmi Bhajia / Spicy chickpea flour pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup chickflour
1 tablespoon chopped spring onion
1 tablespoon chopped methi /fenugrek leaves
1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
2 cloves garlic; minced
1 inch ginger; grated
1 green chilli; chopped fine or minced with the garlic
1/4 tspn ajma or 1 tspn chopped thyme
salt to taste
1 cup warm water
oil spray

makes 10 (31/2 inch diameter); enough for 2 people. If you want to make 2 plates for khana triple the recipe.




1. Mix the onions, coriander, fenugrek garlic, ginger chilli and flour.
2. Add salt and ajma, mix
3. Add water slowly to get a runny mixture, leave for 1/2 hour.
4. Heat a frying pan, spray with oil and put a small ladle of batter
5. Turn over when bubbles appear on the surface. Cook for a minute or so and place on kitchen paper to drain, repeat until all the batter is used up.

Serve with coconut chutney. I served with carrot pickle.

Lapsi / Nutty Cracked Wheat Dessert / Pudding

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup cracked wheat
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 cup milk
2 cups water
1/2 cup gur / jaggery / brown sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 tablespoon raisons
1/2 teaspoon cardomom; roughly ground
1/4 teaspoon jaifer / nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon saffron

1 tablespoon grated coconut ; dessicated is fine



1. Heat the butter in a saucepan, add the cracked wheat and the fennel seeds. Fry until golden brown with a nutty aroma.
2. Add the milk and the water, bring to boil, simmer for 5 minutes
3. Add the gur / jaggery / sugar, cook for further 5 minutes
4. Add the cardomom, almonds, raisons, nutmeg, saffron and coconut, cook for a further 5 minutes.
Serve hot. It is lovely with vanilla icecream

Coconut Chutney-2

Ingredients
1 cup fresh coriander
2 cloves of garlic
10 green chillies
2 limes; juiced
1/2 cup grated coconut (desiccated will do)
salt to taste

Method
Place everything in a blender, until smooth.

In Kampala Chachi used to make chutneys using a flat stone and a roller. A bit like this; only ours was black and very smooth. Chachi was the expert in make chutneys with this.



Image from http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu

Crispy Potato Bhajias

Ingredients
3 spring onions; chopped fine
1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tablespoon methi / Fenugreek leaves
1 cups chickpea flour
1/2 tea spoon ajma / bishop weed seeds
(1 tspn chopped thyme is a good substitute)
2-3 cloves of garlic; crushed
1 inch ginger; grated
2 green chillis; chopped fine
salt to taste
1/2 cup water;
1/2 tea spoon Sodium Bicarbonate
2 potatoes; sliced thinly into rounds
Oil for frying

Method
1. Placed the chopped spring onions, coriander leaves and methi / fenugreek in a bowl.
2. Add the flour, ajma, garlic, ginger, chillies and salt. Mix well.
3. Add the water and mix to form a thick paste, aside for half an hour
4 . The flour paste should be smooth not too thick / or too runny; if neccessary add 1 to 2 tablespoon of water/ or flour.
5. Heat the oil in a karai / wok / frying pan
5. Add 1 table spoon of hot oil to the batter and mix, add the sodium bicarbornate and mix.
6. Add the potatoes and mix
7. Using your fingers or small tongs and a spoon add the single slice of potato coated with flour paste into the hot oil, until the pan is full.
8. Fry for 2/3 minutes until cooked. Flip over when brown. Place on kitchen paper to drain repeat until all the batter is finished.
9. Serve with coconut chutney.

Mung ji kadhi / Mung Bean Yogurt Soup

Ingredients
1 cup mung beans; soaked for at least 2 hours
1 cup yogurt
3 cups water
2 tablespoons chickpea flour
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 tspn mustard seeds
1 tspn cumin seeds
6/7 curry leaves (limra /limda pan)
1 onion; finely chopped
2/3 green chillies; lengthways into two
1 large tomato; blanched and finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic; minced
2 inch ginger; grated

1/2 tspn tumeric
1/2 lemon ; juiced
coriander for garnish

1. Boil the mung beans in 1 cup water for 25 minutes or cooked, and set aside.
2. Place the yogurt, 2 cups water and the chickpea flour in a bowl and whisk until smooth and set aside
3. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the mustards seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves.
4. As soon as they start spluttering, add the onions, fry until transparent.
6. Add the green chillies, fry for a couple of minutes, and add the tomatoes, ginger and garlic, stir and fry until the mixture looks fairly homogenous. Add the tumeric powder, mix.
7. Add the mung beans, bring to boil.
8. Add the yogurt mixture and lemon juice, bring to boil, simmers for about 15 minutes, and serve in a deep bowl garnished with coriander.

I love this kadhi by itself, with crusty bread or rice. I also served it with chore ja bhajia / blackeye beans falafel.

Anyone for pickles?

Sun dried carrots, Chachi made full use of the sunshine last week. She made gur gajar jo athano

Hot and Sweet Carrot Pickle
This is a 2 litre jar! So anyone for pickles?

Kokothende / Kokotende

Kokotende (Kokothende) are originally from Zanzibar, these were smaller in size and were called "KOKWA ZA TENDE" (date'seeds), however Zanzibaris of Indian origin (Wahindi) used to pronounced it "KOKOTENDE". This information is from one of my anonymous readers (thank you)

Koeksisters (cake sisters) are similar Afrikaan version of them (any relationship?), the Anglo-Indian version are called kul kul or gul gul. All three have coconut in them, koeksisters on the outside, kul kuls have coconut milk in them and kokothende have grated or desicated coconut.

Ingredients
cup size = 250mls
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup semolina
1/2 cup desicated coconut
1/2 tspn baking powder
1 tspn roughly ground cardomom seeds
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup warm water
oil for frying

Frosting
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tspn cardomon powder

1. Shift the flour into a large bowl, add the semolina, coconut, baking powder and cardomom; mix well.
2. Add the butter, mix so that it looks like bread crumbs.
3. Add the warm water slowly to make a soft dough. You may in slightly more water.
4. Take a walnut size lump of dough and squeeze with fingers and palm of hand; make a fist (muthia), place on a tray. Makes about 30.
5. Heat the oil and fry the kokothende at medium heat, so that they cook through and are crispy.

Frosting
Place the sugar in a sauce pan with the water, bring to boil until the mixture becomes sticky. (20 minutes.) Dip the kokothende in the syrup and place on a tray.
The frosting will set when cool.

Strawberry Trifle

Ingredients

6 Trifle sponges (or 1 small swiss roll) ; bought from Waitrose

500g 1 lb strawberries; sliced; save a couple for garnish

500 ml summer berries juice

1 tspn of agar agar (china grass, falooda) powder; available in Indian grocery store

250 ml custard (bought ready made from Waitrose)

200 ml whipping cream

a couple of mint leaves

Method

Place the sponge / swiss roll on the bottom of a glass bowl

Pile the sliced strawberries on top (save a couple for decoration)

Soften the agar agar in boiling hot water, microwave a couple of times for 1 minute, until melted.

Place the fruit juice in a bowl and add the melted agar agar, mix briskly and add to the fruit

Place in the fridge, should set in 30 minutes

Pour the custard on topped

whip the cream and place on top of the custard.

Garnish with strawberries and mint leaves

Chill and enjoy

Nayaral wari Matoke - Matoke in Spicy Coconut Sauces

Ingredients
1 table spn vegetable oil
1 small onion; chopped fine
1 peeled tomatoes; chopped finely
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 inch ginger - grated
2 chillis - minced
1/2 tspn tumeric
1 200g can coconut milk
1/2 cup water
4 - 5 matoke (green bananas from Uganda); peeled and cut in 2 inch chunks
salt to taste
fresh coriander for garnish

Method
Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions and fry until golden brown
Add the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and chillies, stir until for a few minutes until it looks smooth
Add the tumeric and the coconut milk and the water, bring to boil and add the bananas
Simmer for 30 minutes or until the bananas are cooked

I served with lamb pilau and sambharo (cabbage and carrot salad)