Date Halva

Dates are the A fruit a Month. This event is hosted by Chandrika of AkshayaPatra. This is a very quick and easy recipe, great instead of petit fours after dinner

Ingredients

250 gms Dates; seedless weight; chopped fine

1/2 cup whipping cream 125 mls

1 cups mixed nuts; almonds, pistachios and walnut; chopped into chunks

2 tblspn desiccated coconut

Method

1. mix the dates and cream, micro wave on high for 3 minutes
2. remove mix and microwave for a further 2 minutes
3. remove stir the nuts and microwave for a further 3 minutes.

Times may vary depending on the microwave.

4. stir, let it cool and make a large sausage or salami on a piece of foil, roll in desiccated coconut and freeze until hard (2-3 hours)
5. Cut into ½ to ¾ inch slices. Serve with Coffee.
   

To make them healthier you can replace the cream with water.

Masala Fish / Machi Bateta / Spicy Cod and Potato Curry

Ingredients
2 lb cod; skinned and cut in 2 to 3 inch pieces
Juice of 2 limes
2 tbl spns plain flour
4 medium potatoes; cut into circles
1 large onion; chopped fine
8 large tomatoes; blanched, peeled and liquidised
1 tspn tomato puree
4 cloves garlic; minced
1 tspn grated ginger
4 chillies; minced
2 tspn coriander/cumin powders
1/2 tspn tumeric
salt to taste;
3-4 tblspn Oil
Coriander chopped fine for garnish

Method
Marinate the fish in add lime juice and some salt for 30 minutes. Coat with plain flour and shallow fry until golden brown; set aside
Saute the potatoes until cooked; put the to one side
Heat 1 tlbspn of oil in a pan, add the onions until, golden brown.
Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, ginger, chillies and salt. Cook, until the oil floats out, then add the salt, tumeric, coriander and cumin powders, mix and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Place the fish and potatoes in an oven proof dish; pour the tomato mix (masala) over them and place in a medium hot oven (180oC for 30 - 45 minutes) or microwave for 6-10 minutes until every thing is piping hot.
Garnish with coriander, serve with chapattis

Dal / Dar Ismaili Style / Toor Dal Soup

This is my entry for Jhiva for Toor Dal hosted by Linda of Out of the Garden We call toor; tuvar, this dal is split pigeon peas or bharazi or mbaazi as we called them in East Africa.

Ingredients
1 cup tuvar / toor dal
1/3 cup masoor dal, channa dal and mung dal
4 teaspoons Vegetable Oil
4 Cloves
1 Cinnamon Stick (flat)
2 Cardamoms
8 peppercorns
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 large onions (chopped fine)
3-4 medium tomatoes (blanched, and chopped finely)
6 cloves garlic minced
1 inch ginger grated
4 green chillies chopped finely
2 heaped tspn Coriander/cumin powder
½ teaspn turmeric
1 lemon; juiced
salt to taste
3 cups water

Method

Boil the lentils with 3 cups of water. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large pan; add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and peppercorns for a 1 minute or so.
Add the onions, turn down the heat, fry until brown, that should take at least 10 minutes, Keep stir or the onion will be burnt.
Add tomatoes, garlic, ginger and chillies cook until tender the oil floats out; add coriander/cumin powder and turmeric.
Add the boiled lentils and the water, lemon juice and salt.
Bring to boil; add more water if necessary; consistency should be like a thick soup.
In this recipe you can add lamb and potatoes as well, and then it becomes ghosh wari dar.

Friday Evening Meal

On Fridays evening we normally go to khane, so eat our dinner earlier than usual. 6.00pm, in case any of you is passing by!
Since childhood we always had the same menu on Fridays, Dar (Dal), Masala Machi bateta, rice and chapatti. More recently it varies slightly, instead of Machi bateta, we may have a prawns or chicken dish, but dal, rice and chapatti are always on the menu.
The variation on the prawn dishes includes Methi Prawns and Mushrooms, prawns dopiaza, prawns with red peppers. The chicken dishes include Methi chicken, Red pepper and chicken palak.

So today’s menu
Dal
Masala Machi Bateta / Masala Fish and Potatoes
Rice
Chapatti


Recipes on the way.

Hey! It is Chachi’s Kitchen first birthday today

I can’t believe it; I have really enjoyed blogging this year. I have met so many nice people, who I feel are my friends. Thank you guys for being so encouraging in your comments, I really appreciated it. Even if you are not a blogger, please comment, this is what keeps a blogger going, know that they have an audience, in short I guess we are kind of exhibitionists or a AWs.

Going back to my blog, many of the traditional recipes are my mothers. My ma is Chachi to lots of people, that’s what she is known as. She is a brilliant cook, and I have learnt and am learning from her all the time. The other contributors to this blog are my siblings/cousins and siblings/cousins in law. This is a true family blog, containing old traditional recipes along with new fusion recipes. We are Ismailis raised in East Africa, now living in the UK, Canada and Australia. And through marriage we have acquired Pakistani, English, Irish, Italian, Canadian influence.

I wanted our 1st year birthday to coincide with entering to a blog event; this is my entry for Jai and Bees Click event

I also wanted to use another blogger’s recipe, I got this one from Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine, more or less followed as is, who in turn got it from another blogger; Hooked on Heat. I am not going to retype the recipe, as you can get it at source(s).

Bateta jo Shaak / Spicy Potatoes in Tomato Sauce

I just realised, this is my 201st post!
And Chachi's Kitchen will be 1 year old on 13th November more importantly:
Chachi (my mom and rasoi teacher) will be 75 on the 27th of November. So get ready for some celebratory recipes.

12 small new potatoes; quartered (leave the skins on)
1 tblspn oil
½ tspn cumin seeds
½ tspn mustard seeds
3 large tomatoes; blanched, peeled and crushed
2-3 cloves garlic; crushed
1 ½ inch ginger; grated
2-3 green chillies; chopped fine
¼ tspn tumeric
2 tspn coriander / cumin powders
salt to taste
Coriander leaves and stem; chopped

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the cumin and mustard seeds. As soon as the pop, the potatoes, fry them until they are almost cooked
2. Add the tomatoes, cook for a few minutes, add the garlic, ginger and chillies, mix and cook for a further 5 minutes, add the salt, tumeric, coriander and cumin powders, mix and cook until the potatoes are cooked.
   
3. Garnish with the chopped coriander
   
4. Serve with hot puries

Whole Wheat Puri

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour (chapati flour)
1/2 tblspn vegetable oil
1/2 tspn salt
¼ tspn ajma / ajwain
1/2 tspn roughly ground black pepper

oil for frying

Method

1. Mix the dry ingredients, add oil and mix, add water to form a firm dough and knead till smooth. Let it rest for about 30 minutes. Make small balls about walnut size.
2. Roll out into 4 inch diameter circles.
3. Fry in hot oil, one or two at a time, holding them under the oil on the first side until they puff.
4. Turn and fry till golden brown; remove onto paper towels
5. Serve hot with kheer or bateta jo shaak.