Mince Samosas

You cannot make samosas without a filling. Basically you get chicken, mince, potato and cheese fillings for samosas. And samosas are associated with hot curry, too. However, you can make any filling you want for your samosas - so have some fun!! 
This is my version of the mince samosa. It is very rich, and needs to be eaten warm. Samosas can be made a whole meal or be enjoyed for lunch. It is also a great on the road snack, for school, and can be frozen successfully. 

Preparation time for the dough: 1 hour
Preparation time for the filling: 30 minutes
Serves: +- 48 units
Difficulty level: Medium - for the dough

Ingredients for the filling

700g mince
2tbs oil
1 onion, chopped
1tbs balsamic vinegar
2tbs soya sauce
4tbs chutney
2tbs spice for mince
1tbs parsley
1/4t ginger
1t fennel
1/4t hot curry powder
1tbs salt (or to taste)
1/4t black pepper

Method
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and fry until starting to brown. Add the mince and fry until starting to brown. 

Add all the other ingredients, mix well and cook until the mince is completely cooked. 

Turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 10min, check constantly that it doesn't burn. The mince should be nicely browned and loosened. Once the mince is done, it has to cool down completely before filling your samosa cones. 

What works well, is to make the mince before you even start with the samosa pastry. The longer the mince rests, the better the flavours develop, too. 
Make your samosas as described in the Samosa Pastry recipe. (This picture just shows the Cheese Filling)

Fry in hot oil until nicely browned. 

Scoop out of the oil onto kitchen towels to drain the excess oil. 

Serve with a salad, or some fresh cream cheese &sweet chillie sauce...

And enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Samosa pastry

Making samosas is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I always felt that it was something very difficult to make and reserved for a nation who excels in their type of cooking: Indian cuisine. They make it look effortlessly... like there is nothing easier to do!!.
Well, making samosas is not complicated, but it certainly is a lot of work to achieve a small, but perfect little triangle as a result. Makes you think twice when you say they're too expensive...

There are various variations on the recipe for the dough. I tried this one:

Ingredients

2cups flour, sifted
1t salt
2tbs oil
water

Method

Mix the flour and salt. Rub in the oil, until completely blended, almost like crumbling with margarine.

However, it appears that the quality of the dough has a lot to do with how well the oil is rubbed in. So, spend a couple of extra minutes on this and make sure it is well rubbed in. Rubbing it is described as flattening the flour and oil mixture between your palms, rubbing them together like when you're hands are cold. I have found that this works best for blending the oil, anyway. Then add water, little by little, until you have a stiff dough. It needs to be a stiff dough. This you need to knead and knead and knead. (Told you it was a lot of work!!). Until it is smooth and silky. Once done, cover with some clingwrap and let it rest for no less than 15 minutes. After the resting time, you make little balls and roll it out in a circle. 

Not too small, or you will struggle with filling and folding. Cut it in half. 

For the folding, this is what worked for me: wet the left half of the half-circle, especially the bottom, with water. 

Take the right side and fold it over to leave a third of the circle on the left open. 

Take the left side and fold over the right side, gently pressing the overlapping sides and edges together to seal. 

You now have a cone.

Fill the cone with a filling of your choice, until 3/4 filled. wet the edges and seal. 

Ideally you should have a flap you can close the cone with, thus forming a perfect triangle. 

Cook in hot oil until nicely browned. This happens quickly, do not leave them unattended.

Take out of the oil and place onto kitchen towels to drain off the excess oil.   

Serve a fresh cottage cheese &sweet chillie sauce, or some mayo...

And enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Tuna & Cheese Loaf

What to give the kids to eat? This is probably one of the hardest questions to answer, especially if you don't feel like eating and will be just fine with coffee... but the kids has to eat... SOMETHING!!
I have tried several tuna pies before, and although mostly delicious, they were dry. 
This recipe makes a single batch of batter, and I had to make 2 batches to fill my dish to the level as you can see in the photo. It comes out like meat loaf - hence the name. It is filling and the kids loved it!!

Preparation time: 10min
Cooking time: 45 min to 1 hour
Serves: 6
Difficulty Level: Very easy

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 tin tuna in water
100g cheese, grated
salt & pepper to taste
1t German mustard
1/2 onion, quartered
1/2cup breadcrumbs

1 roll puff pastry

Method

Put all the ingredients in a mixer and mix until very well mixed and almost smooth in texture. If you have a big and strong enough machine, you can add all at once. If you don't - like me - then you add the chunkier ones first: cheese, egg and onion. Mix. 

Then add the tuna, salt, pepper and mustard. Lastly, add the crumbs to mix. 

Do not roll out the puff pastry. Just cut it to size for your baking dish, to form a bottom and top layer. Place the bottom part of the pastry in a sprayed baking dish. Scoop the mixture in and level out. 

Add the top layer of the pastry. Cut in little slithers, to let some steam out. 

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180degrees C until the pastry is puffed up and a tester comes out clean. The sides will start to lightly brown, too.

Dish up with a salad, maybe some mayonnaise, or as is....

...and enjoy!!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Quick Onion Pickle

Sometimes you want to add something to a dish. Just a little bite to add something extra to a meal. This is a very delicious alternative and it is quick. You can make it ahead of time, too. 
This Onion Pickle is great with steak and stew, on baked potato with sour cream and cheese.... hhhmmm... getting hungry all over again!!

Ingredients

1 large onion, quartered
1 cup brown vinegar
1tbs brown sugar
10 whole black pepper corns
3 whole cloves

Method
Add the onion, vinegar, pepper corns and cloves in a saucepan and cook uncovered until the vinegar has reduced by half. 

Add the sugar and cook on low heat until it is completely cooked off, but not burning. Stir constantly throughout the cooking. Remove from heat, cover and let it rest until you dish up.
And enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

White Wine & Honey Chicken

I bought beautiful chicken breasts for a bargain the other day, and wondered what I was going to make with it. I couldn't quite decide what flavours to use - honey & mustard... sticky... and decided to do something different... It worked beautifully!!

Serves: 5

Ingredients

5 chicken breasts
2tbs olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
pinch nutmeg
3tbs honey
1/2 cup white wine

Method

Place the chicken in a frying pan. Drizzle over the olive oil, sprinkle over the salt, pepper and nutmeg, cover and let it simmer on medium heat. 

Turn over every now and then. Cook for about 30 - 40 minutes. The chicken should be almost done. 

Pour off the chicken stock. Pour over the wine and drizzle over the honey. Fry on high power, turning over often. Let the skin fry and caramalize, but be careful not to let it burn.

Dish up and enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Melon Juice

I love melons. Not paw-paw. I really don't like paw-paw... But I really, REALLY love my melon! So I bought some. With the idea of making a smoothie. But we don't have ice-cream. Or Ice. And I don't have a lot of experience with smoothies, so I kept this simple. And it came out really great!!
It is not soft and smooth, as it still has all the fibres and fleshy bits. If you want, you can strain it, to remove all those bits.

Ingredients

1 Melon , diced
3tbs honey
1 cup soda water

Method

Place the diced melon in the blender, Add the honey and the soda water. 

Blend it up...

...and enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies... and fruit!!

Risch

Cheese & Onion French Toast

Lunch for the kids is always an issue in my house. Normally we would just have some bread with spreads, but I do like to give them something nice every now and then. I planned French toast, but then I thought of spicing it up a bit, and the result was this Cheese & Onion French Toast.

Remarkably, it is not as salty or strong as I was afraid it was going to be, but rather it was quite an interesting taste and it went perfect with syrup!

Ingredients:

3 eggs

¼ cup milk

½ onion

80g cheese

Pinch cayenne pepper

Pinch mixed herbs

Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together in a blender to finely chop it up. 

Heat up some oil in a frying pan. Take the slice of bread and dip it quickly into the mixture, both sides and into the hot frying pan. 

Fry until done and golden brown. 

Lower heat is more efficient, as it does need to fry a little longer than with normal French toast.

This mixture made 5 slices of toast. Enjoy with syrup or honey!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Coconut-Honey Chicken

Sunday. Lunch. Need I say more?

Preparation time: 30min

Cooking time: 5 hours

Difficulty Level: Easy

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

2tbs olive oil

2tbs coconut oil

2tbs honey

Salt & Pepper

Method:

Place the chicken in the slow cooker, add the oils and honey, cover and let it cook. 

Turn over every hour ...

...until it is completely done and you are actually unable to turn it over, because it falls off the bone. You can season with salt & pepper to taste, if you like, but it is not necessary.

Pour off the sauce into a saucepan. Add a teaspoon of bisto, beat well, heat up. Be careful not to reduce it too much. It just needs to thicken.

Dish up and enjoy with some Spinach & Feta Baked potatoes.

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch