Tomato Soup

Yes, soup, again... But hey, it's almost winter and soup goes with winter!! Besides, once you've tasted this soup - and all the other on Rischlicious - you'll love soup, too!!
I never liked tomato soup. I think it's because I only ever tasted shop bought stuff and it was way too thick and rich for my taste. And my dad added stuff, like Worcestershire Sauce and pepper... I love my dad, but how he could eat that, only he knows!! Since home made food and especially if it is made from scratch, do taste much different that the shops, I decided to give it a go. And I was deliciously surprised...

Preparation Time: 10min
Cooking time: 5hours +
Difficulty Level: Very Easy
Serves: 6

Ingredients
2kg very ripe tomatoes
1liter boiling water
1 cube of chicken stock
2 bay leaves
10 whole black pepper corns
1tbs parsley
4 spring onions, chopped
4tbs sugar
1 onion, chopped
1tbs oil
1/2 cup cream

Method
Quarter the tomatoes and remove the hard piece where the stem was attached. Place in a pot. 

Dissolve the chicken stock cube in the boiling water and add to the tomatoes. Add the bay leaves, pepper corns, sugar, parsley and spring onion.  

 Cook for 2-3 hours, with closed lid, until the tomatoes are soft and you can easily remove the skin. Remove all the skins and the bay leaves. Pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour back into the pot. Heat up the oil and fry the onion until it is well browned and just starting to blacken. Add to the tomato soup. 

Now add the cream, mix well and cook on low heat for another hour or so, with closed lid. If you want it thicker, remove the lid and cook until it has reduced to your liking. This soup can and should sit for a while, for all the flavours to develop. You can serve immediately, or let it rest and just heat it up later. 

Serve with parmesan and fresh bread.

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Meatballs with Tomato

This is a variation on traditional meat balls and reminds me heavily of the spaghetti and meatballs we had in nursery school as kids!! 

Preparation time: 20min
Cooking time: 1 1/2 hour
Serves: 6-8
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

500g mince
1tbs parsley
2 eggs
Salt & Pepper to taste
1tbs soya sauce
1x 50g packet tomato paste
2tbs sugar
1/2 cup oats

Mix everything together well. 

Roll in balls. Pack into a baking dish. 

Pour in a little water, to just cover the bottom. 

Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour at 160degrees C. Remove foil and bake for another 30min until browned.  

 Serve on, spaghetti, bread or rice, with a fresh salad and enjoy!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

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

Fried Rice Cakes

These little cakes are a savoury treat. Great for snacks and kiddies lunches, it is also another way of adding some rice to your meal.

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 onion, chopped

60g cheese, grated

2tbs mayonnaise

1tbs parsley

salt & pepper to taste

2tbs margarine

1/2 cup flour

Method

Cook the rice as per packet instructions.

I used my Veri-Mark chopper thingy to chop and mix the ingredients. Add the onion and parsley and chop until finely chopped and well mixed. 

Add the eggs, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and cheese. Mix well. 

Once rice is cooked, drain and add the onion & cheese mixture. Add the flour. Mix well. 

Melt the butter in a pan. Scoop spoonfulls onto the pan and fry until golden brown on one side, then flip over and fry until golden brown. Preferably on a lower heat, to ensure that it cooks evenly through. 

Once golden brown, remove and place on kitchen towel to drain off excess oils.

And serve!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Onion & Cheese Bread

Yesterday being Saturday - even though it feels like just another day during these lovely holidays!! - I was in the mood for a lekka bread. I do love baking bread! So I decided on this flavour: Onion & Cheese. It was absolutely devine!! Soft, rich and filling - you almost need nothing else. Perfect for a braai.

Preparation Time: 10min
Rising Time: 2 hours
Baking Time: 45min - 1 hour
Serves: 10

Ingredients

6cups white bread flour
2packets yeast
2tbs sugar
2t salt
800ml lukewarm water
1 onion, chopped finely
1/4t ground black pepper
1t parsley
1/4t cayenne pepper
50g butter
150g cheese, grated

Method

Chop the onion finely. I used my thinga-ma-jig from Verimark again, because I can mix everything in it, saving on dishes. Add the parsley and peppers and mix through.

 Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the onion mixture and the water. The water has to be lukewarm and a little more warm than cold, Like a nice warm bath. Too cold or too warm and the yeast won't work properly. Add the water and mix through. It is not a dough you knead. 

Cover and place in a warm place to rise. A little heat is sufficient, full sun is best. Leave for about an hour. It has to be at least twice in size. Break the rise by mixing again, but just a quick once off mix. Spray a bread pan or pot with non-stick spray. Scoop the mixture in and cover.

Let it rise again for about an hour, again to about double in size.

 Cut the butter into little blocks and dot the dough - don't press on it, you don't want to break this rise. 

Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the top. 

Bake in a 160degrees C oven for about 45min to an hour, until a knitting pen comes out clean. Mine fell in in the middle, I think it was because I covered it the first 30min, which is why I am not telling you to do it. It wasn't clumpy though. Remove once done and the cheese started to brown.

Slice, spread with butter and Enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Cauliflower Bake

Now, I saw a recipe on Facebook, posted by Kris Quartermus, for Loaded Cauliflower. I made a couple of changes, which is why I also changed the name of the dish, and I have to thank Kris Quatermus for this wonderful inspiration!! We had it last night with our braai instead of a usual potato side, and it goes very well!! It is also much more filling than you would expect.

Preparation Time: 30min
Cooking Time: 30min
Difficulty Level: Very easy
Serves: 8

Ingredients

3 heads cauliflower
250g bacon, cubed
50g butter
1 onion, chopped
1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
3tbs mayonnaise
2tbs cottage cheese
2t parsley
250ml sour cream
salt & pepper to taste
cayenne pepper

Method

Cook the cauliflower in very little water and some salt, until just done. Add pepper to taste. 

Melt the butter and fry the onions, bacon and mushrooms until slightly browned. 

Combine the mayonnaise, cottage cheese, cream and parsley well. I used my stick blender. 

Mix the mayonnaise mixture, the mushroom mixture, salt to taste and 3/4 of the cheese well. and scoop into a baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and lightly dust with cayenne pepper. 

Bake in the oven at 160degrees C for about 30 minutes, until the cheese starts to brown. 

Enjoy with a tjoppie and a salad!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Scrambled Omelette

Breakfast is a very important meal of the day, and we have a quite a tendency to also make it the most uninteresting meal of the day. I guess, mostly because of time constraints. We don't have time to make a fabulous, wholesome breakfast before work in the mornings. And if we had the time, we probably wouldn't have the time to eat it!!

This was supposed to be an omelette, and I wanted it fluffy... apparently the 2 does not go together, and the omelette didn't want to bind. So, it became scrambled..

Ingredients:

5 eggs
1/2cup milk
1t parsley
1t sage
1 onion, finely chopped
3tbs mayonnaise
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 baking powder
Feta cheese
Cheddar Cheese

Method

I chopped the onions in some Veri-Mark chopper thing. I then added all the spices.

Then the baking powder, the egg, milk and mayonnaise. 

Heat some oil in a pan, add the egg mixture and let it cook a while. Add some feta to taste. 

Once it starts to brown on the bottom, whisk it up, let it fry a little, scoop onto a plate, add some cheddar cheese on the top - and enjoy!!

 Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Lemon Tuna Tartlets with Potato-Pumpkin mash

Chicken or fish?

No, we're not flying anywhere... it's our Thursday meal choice!

Last week we had the wonderful Shortcut "Sticky" Chicken, so this week has to be fish. We've had our Baked Haddock already, and I wasn't in the mood for Hake. Hhhhmmm... Oh yes!! TUNA!!

But my Macaroni Tuna has macaroni in it, and although very delicious, it is not suitable for a low-carb diet. (Don't worry, I will still post the recipe!!) So I thought of making little tartlets again, with the side of Potato-Pumpkin Mash...

Preparation Time: 30min

Cooking/Baking time: 1 hour

Difficulty Level: Easy

Serves: 4

Ingredients

3tbs butter

4 eggs

1 onion

1 tin mushrooms / half punnet fresh mushrooms

1tbs german mustard

1t parsley

150g grated cheddar cheese

1tbs lemon juice

1tin tuna in brine

Pepper to taste

Method

Melt 1tbs butter in a pan. Fry the onion and mushrooms until starting to brown. Remove from heat.

 Melt 2tbs butter in a bowl - just melted, not cooking. Add the eggs and whisk very well. Add the mustard, parsley, pepper and lemon juice and whisk well. Add the cheese, tuna and mushroom mix and mix well. 

Spray a muffin pan very well with non-stick spray. Scoop the mixture into the tins. It does not rise, so you can make it as high as you like. 

Bake in the oven at 160degrees C for about 20-30 minutes. The cooking time will depend on how big your tartlets are. 

You will notice that there is no extra salt in the recipe. The lemon and cheese adds quite a zing, which makes salt unnecessary. If you prefer to add salt, be careful to add just a pinch.

Serve warm with a little mayonnaise....

The sweetness of the Potato-Pumpkin mash compliments the zing of the tartlets beautifully!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch