Colleen's Spicy Chicken Soup

 

 

 Ingredients.

8 Chicken thigh portions. Bone in but skin removed.

1 leek halved and thinly sliced

3 carrots chopped

3 celery sticks chopped

3 garlic cloves chopped

1 onion Chopped

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1  tsp tumeric

1 tsp chicken spice

 1 can of coconut milk

2 tsp grated ginger

2 or 3 chili's finely chopped

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

 1 Tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp salt

5 cups of chicken stock

1 cup lentils

fresh coriander either roughly chopped or torn.

Method.

Cook the onions in a large pot slowly on low heat until soft.

Add the rest of the vegetable and carry on cooking until soft.

Add the garlic, ginger, chili's and tomato paste.

Add the salt and spices.

Add the stock and coconut milk

Add the chicken pieces.

Simmer slowly for 30 minutes

Add the lentils.

Simmer until the chicken is just staring to fall off the bones.  

Remove the chicken from the pot and separate the meat from the bones taking care to remove all of them.

Add the chicken back to the pot.

Add the coriander.

Serve with a nice sourdough bread.

John Kirkwoods English Crumpets

 

Pickled Fish Recipe that I fancy to try

Salwaa's Cape Malay Cooking

From My Kitchen To Yours - keeping our heritage alive 

Ingredients:

About 10 pieces of firm fish of choice. 

Traditionally snoek or yellow tail fish are used. 

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup sunflower oil to fry fish 

1 cup brown vinegar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

3 large onions, sliced

1 – 2 tsp whole peppercorns

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

2 tsp ground coriander 

1 tsp ground cumin 

1/2 tsp turmeric 

1/4 tsp dry ginger

2 tsp fish masala to spice the fish

Few green chillies slit in half optional

1 lemon sliced in rings without skin optional 

5 bay leaves

Method:

Clean and drain the fish. Wipe the fish dry with a clean kitchen towel. Season fish with salt and fish masala. Heat a large saucepan over medium to high heat. Add the ¼ cup of oil. When the oil is warm, fry the fish five minutes on each side or until the fish is cooked thoroughly. Remove and set aside.

Wipe the pan with kitchen towel to remove the residue from the pan. Add the liquids, sugar and spices, bring to boil. Add sliced onions and turn heat low and simmer for about five minutes. Turn off heat and jet it cool down. 

Arrange the fish chunks and sliced lemon in a Pyrex or glass dish, and pour the sauce over. Cover, and refrigerate for a day or two before eating for the flavours to develop. The flavour improves the longer it’s left before eating and will keep up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Serve cold with crusty buttered bread however my children love to warm it in the microwave. 

Enjoy

Repost: Lekker eet resepte 

Pizza Dough for one Pizza.

 Ingredients.

180g white bread flour (Stone ground)

120g water @ 40 degrees C. (66% hydration.)

1/3 tsp Instant yeast 

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt.

1 tsp Olive Oil 

Methods.

Disolve the sugar in the water by stirring in a jug

Add the yeast to the water and stir until well mixed in.

Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes for a layer of foam to develop on top. This will tell you if the yeast is active. If it doesn't foam, repeat with fresh yeast.

Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.

Add the Olive Oil and yeast mixture.

Combine well. I use a silicone spatula for this but you can also use a wooden spoon or your hands.

Cover with plastic wrap or I use a plastic shower cap and allow to stand in a warm area to rise for 12 to 72 hours. In warmer weather it's best to put it in the fridge after 8 hours or so. Then take it out a few hours before you use it to come to room temperature.

After it has risen for at least 12 hours I turn it out onto a work surface and knock the air out and then put it back into the bowl for a second rise, covering it again 

Turn the risen dough out onto a flat surface, knock it down and roll into a pizza base using a rolling pin or stretch it with your hands 

If it tends to shrink back to a smaller size, just let it stand for 30+ minutes covered with a tea towel for the dough to relax before rolling out again.

Sweetcorn and Cheese Savoury Muffins

 

 

 Ingredients.

Dry.

250g self raising Flour

1 tsp Bicarb

200g grated Cheddar Cheese

Kernels from two cooked sweetcorn

(You can use a tin of Sweetcorn kernels if you don't have fresh)

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper (Optional)

1 to 2 tsp Dried Thyme

1/4 cup chopped chives 

 

Wet.

250ml Milk

2 Eggs

100ml Oil

 Method

 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Whisk together all the wet ingredients in a bowl

Mix all the Dry Ingredients together in a separate bowl. 

Mix all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, taking care to not over work but ensuring that there are no patches of dry flour remaining. 

Using a spoon, put the batter into greased muffin tins (I got 6 large and 4 small muffins out of this recipe).

Place in the oven for 30 minutes.

Serve cut in half with butter. 

Award Winning Lamb Curry Potjiekos Recipe

Ingredients.

1.5kg lamb leg chops cut into bite size pieces. Leave bones on for added flavour. Trim some fat if you want but I think fat = flavour

1Tbsp cooking oil

10 whole cloves

6 cardamon seed pods

1 tsp cumin seeds

a few broken up cinnamon sticks 

2 onions chopped

2 Tbsp garlic and ginger paste

1 and 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp tumeric powder

2 tsp masala powder (Your choice. I like mother in law or Leaf).

1 and 1/4 tsp chili powder or more if you like hotter

1 can coconut milk  

1 packet of mixed vegetables (Carrots, beans, baby marrows and butternut were in mine from WW) I avoid potatoes as they do not freeze well and there are always leftovers.

Method

Heat pot on the fire or gas and add oil. When this is hot, add onions, cloves, cumin seeds, cardamon pods and stick cinnamon and cook for about 5 minutes until onions are soft and starting to brown. 

Add meat to the pot, stirring occasionally to ensure even browning.  

Add garlic and ginger paste and salt and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring to ensure even coating. 

Add the rest of the dry spices and cook into the meat stirring quite a bit for about 10 minutes. This is the secret trick told to me by an Indian work colleague to avoid the curry giving you heartburn.

Add the tin of coconut milk and reduce heat and simmer for an hour.

If the sauce is too runny, leave the lid off or ajar for it to reduce.

Add the vegetables on top of the meat. Do not stir and cook for another hour with the lid on.

Remove lid and check for seasoning and consistency. Should be o.k. if you have used enough salt.

Sir the vegetables into the curry and serve with rice.

 

White Bread Loaf No Knead

 

Ingredients.

450g Stone ground white bread flour (550g large loaf)

320g/ml water at 40 degrees C (390g/ml larger loaf)

1 teaspoon instant yeast (1and 1/2 large loaf)

1Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt 

Method. 

Stir the sugar into the warm water until dissolved. Add the yeast to the jug of water and stir until dissolved. Let stand for 15 minutes and if your yeast is active a layer of foam will form on top.

Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl and add the olive oil and the water/yeast mixture. Stir until well combined. I use a silicone spatula for this.

Cover with clingfilm or a plastic shower cap and let stand for a minimum of 8 hours for the dough to ferment/prove.

Turn out onto a floured surface and using well floured hands lift into a well oiled bread tin and cover again. Let it rise for an hour or two.

Bake in a 200C oven for 45 minutes.

Let stand on a wire rack for it to cool a bit.

Enjoy.