JAMUN SISTAS

  

1 1/4 CUPS MILK POWDER

1/3 CUP CAKE FLOUR

2 TBSP BUTTER, LEVELED

1/2 CUP EVAPORATED MILK

1/2 TSP BAKING POWDER
OIL FOR DEEP-FRYING

SYRUP:

2 CUPS SUGAR

2 CUPS WATER

2 TBSP ROSE WATER

5 CARDAMOMS, CRUSHED

LEMON ZEST, COCONUT AND 

TOASTED ALMONDS TO GARNISH

A while back at the Eastern Food Bazaar in Cape Town, I was introduced to these amazing little fried Indian desserts called Gulab Jamun. They were brought in fresh each week from Durban and sold at the bazaar. I have been wanting to do a Gulab Jamun recipe for a long time now, but thought I would give it a little bit of a "twist" excuse the pun :). Another amazing Indian dessert to try out is Barfi, these two desserts are most definitely at the top of my list of unforgettables ... Enjoy! 

PREPARATION  

Prepare the syrup, by bringing the water sugar and crushed cardamoms to a boil in a saucepan for one minute. Once the minute is up, add the rose water and set aside in the fridge to cool.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix together the milk powder, cake flour and baking powder. Crumble in the butter and mix well, rubbing the butter with the powders between your fingers. Next add the evaporated milk and mix; a soft sticky dough should form. Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap it in some greaseproof paper and place it in the freezer for a half an hour. 

Remove the dough from the freezer, dust a working surface with some cake flour and roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/2 cm. Cut rectangles of 8 cm x 3 cm. Making two vertical slits down the short end of the rectangles reaching to 1/2 cm from the end, plait the three strips into a koeksister and pinch together the loose ends.

Deep-fry the Jamunsisters in a frying pan on a medium heat. They should take 5 to 7 minutes to fry, remember to keep turning the Jamunsisters to ensure even browning on both sides. Fry until the Jamunsisters become dark brown, they will expand to double their size so give them enough space.

Once dark brown, remove the Jamunsisters from the hot oil and place them straight into the cool syrup. Leave the Jamunsisters in the syrup for at least 15 minutes before serving.     

Garnish with lemon zest, a sprinkling of coconut, some toasted almond slivers and serve with fresh vanilla ice cream. Makes 12 mini Jamunsisters, I would suggest doubling the recipe if you are serving more than four people.      

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JAMUNSISTERS

PANFRIED QUICHE

  

250 ML MILK

3 EGGS

2 ROUNDED DSP CORN FLOUR

2 CARROTS, CUT IN HALF AND QUARTERED

1 LARGE ONION, HALF AND QUARTERED

1 LARGE TOMATO, HALF AND QUARTERED

1 LARGE POTATO, SLICED

2 GRILLED PORK SAUSAGES, SLICED

1 TSP PINK PEPPERCORNS

1 TSP JUINIPER BERRIES

GROUND PAPRIKA, TO SPRINKLE

SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE

PREPARATION  

Grill the quartered carrots, onion, potato (dusted with paprika) and tomato till golden, you can do this under the grill in the oven or as I did on a George Forman. Meanwhile, place the egg, milk, corn flour, pink peppercorns and juniper berries in a liquidizer and blend to a smooth liquid.

Preheat a heavy based pan on the stove, setting 4. Use preferably a non-stick pan, otherwise grease with a little oil. Place the grilled carrots, onion, potato, tomato and sliced sausages in the pan and slowly pour over the egg mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and cook for about 15 minutes, until the egg on the surface turns slightly dark in colour. Using a plate, turn the quiche over and slide it back into the pan to cook the other side. Do this by placing the plate on top of the quiche, while holding the base of the plate and the handle of the pan, flip the quiche onto the plate. Next, slide the quiche off the plate, back into the pan, do this carefully as it can be messy. Once on the other side, cook the quiche for another 3 to 5 minutes, then place on a clean plate. If you are going to use the same plate that was used to turn the quiche, ensure that it is washed properly as raw egg could contain Salmonella, which could make you ill.

To serve drizzle your favourite dark Balsamic vinegar over the quiche, with some coarsely ground black pepper and sea salt.

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PANFRIED QUICHE

EGG & RÖSTI WRAP

This past week has just flown by and on top of that I can't believe we are half way through the weekend already. Well, moving on to more tasty things. I must say that one of my favourite foods are wraps, in any shape and size, be it chicken parmesan, spicy mince, rotis, just fold it in a wrap and i'll eat it.

So, I had a real brain wave this past week; I decided to try my hand at Rösti / Latkes and since I like wraps so well I thought I would wrap it up! Here is how I did it:

Heat the wrap in a microwave for 20 seconds or for a minute or two under the grill. Spread on a thick layer of cream cheese or smooth cottage cheese and place the salad leaves on top. Next place as many Rösti as you like on top of the salad leaves, I was a little greedy and went with three. Put the egg on top of the Rösti, season with garlic & chili spice, salt and cracked black pepper to taste. Wrap and enjoy! See Below for a recipe on how to make Rösti.

Ingredients

1	Large Onion, peeled and grated
2-3	Large Potatoes, peeled and grated
1	Small Apple, peeled and grated
1 6 1	Large Egg, beaten Dsp Corn flour Tsp Garlic & Chili spice Salt & Black Pepper to taste

Preparation

Step 1      Place the grated onion, apple and potato into a mixing bowl.

Step 2      Add the beaten egg and mix together.

Step 3      Slowly add the corn flour and mix till batter coats the grated onion, apple and potato. 

Step 4      Add the garlic & chili spice, salt and black pepper to taste. 

Step 5      Fry in a hot, oiled pan. Remember you don't want raw Rösti, so make sure the pan is hot.

Step 6      When removing from the pan, place on kitchen, paper towel to absorb the excess oil. 

ROSEMARY & OREGANO CHICKEN

It has been quite a hectic couple of weeks. Between studies, work and my car falling apart, I have found myself running around like a headless chicken, no pun intended. In addition our DNA extraction practical at university has proved quite a mission, having redone the practical three time with no luck. However, thank goodness for yesterday, I received exciting news that I was accepted for a research position I applied for, for next year. So, as you can see life has become very interesting, with calamity on the one hand and new adventures for 2012 on the other.

Onto other things, here is a "dummy" proof recipe, a chicken rub (come on if you mess this one up you should stay out of the kitchen), in light of the fact that I was not fully satisfied with the results of two recipe, which I came up with over the past two weeks and have subsequently not been able to post. Yep folks, we all have our moments!!!

Ingredients

1	Tsp Oregano
2	Tsp Rosemary
1/2	Tsp Black Pepper
2 1/2 6 1	Tsp Coarse Salt Tsp Garlic & Chili spice Tsp Olive Oil Whole Onion, peeled

Preparation

Step 1      Preheat an oven to 180° C.

Step 2      Mix all the ingredients together and rub in all over the skin of the chicken.

Step 3      Stuff the chicken with the peeled onion.

Step 4      Bake for a half and hour at 180° C and then for a further half hour at 200° C.

Step 5      Finally Grill for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown.

THE RESULT... SUCCULENT CHICKEN, BURSTING WITH FLAVOUR

INDIE-AFRICAN MIELIE MEAL PUDDING

I have a real treat for you guys today, a delicious recipe I tried out, which I have adapted from Maria Parloa's Delicate Indian Pudding. So, last Wednesday I was visiting a couple of friends and they were talking about organizing a couple of hope bags as a group for some of the people in the Masiphumelele settlement. One of the items that goes into the bag is a packet of mielie-meal (maize meal / corn meal), for some reason we got onto talking about how to cook and eat mielie-meal. Of course pap and wors was mentioned; then I heard an "Oh ... wow, I didn't know that you could make a pudding out of maize meal, I must try that. Look there is a recipe at the back of the bag." Funny enough it reminded me of when a couple years back, my mother used to cook up mielie-meal for the dog, with the left over gravy from Sunday roast (lucky bugger). Every now and then, I would steal some of "the dog's" mielie-meal and turn it into a pudding, much like one would make sago. Bringing it to boil in some milk, beating in an egg and sugar, and mixing in raisins, nuts and chopped cherries; it was quite delicious. 

All this thinking, brought me to the conclusion that I just had to do a post on baked mielie-meal pudding; which in addition is traditionally a staple South African food. So here is the recipe and boy will you love it, I have been eating it the whole week ... had to start gyming again.

1L MILK

3 TBSP MAPLE SYRUP

½ CUP RAISINS

2 TBSP MIELIE-MEAL, HEAPED

⅓ CUP FINE DESICCATED COCONUT

1 TBSP BUTTER

3 EGGS

1 TSP SALT

¼ TSP GINGER

¼ TSP CINNAMON

¼ CUP MARASCHINO CHERRIES, HALVED

PREPARATION Preheat the oven to 180°C. Heat the milk, maple syrup and the raisins (I used a mixture of dried sultanas and raisins) in a double boiler, sprinkle in the mielie-meal and the coconut, and stir continuously. Cook for about 10 minutes; meanwhile beat the egg, salt, ginger and cinnamon till light and fluffy. Once the mielie-meal mixture is finished cooking, stir in the butter and remove from the heat. Next slowly add the mielie-meal mixture to the beaten egg, mixing it in gently and then fold in the Maraschino cherries. Bake at 180°C for 1 hour, or until golden brown.

Serve with pouring custard, fresh cream or my favourite, dusted with icing sugar and topped with crème fraîche. Tip: To prevent the pudding from caving in once the mielie-meal pudding is done, switch off the oven and leave the pudding to stand inside for about 5 minutes, before removing from the oven.

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INDIE-AFRICAN MIELIE MEAL PUDDING 

HONEY & ALMOND YOGHURT MOUSSE

So I was at my friends house a couple of weeks back and we wanted to make a dessert for after supper. Now, the brief that my friend gave me was to make a dessert that is not so fattening!? At this point I was already thinking why on earth would you want a dessert that isn't fattening, a dessert is supposed to be fattening ... "It's about moderation", which is my motto in life. So now I had to come up with something that tastes good, but isn't fattening ... My 'friend' if you're reading this sorry to burst your bubble fat is fat, it tastes good, fat-free is fat free and tastes "BAD", usually there is no in-between. It is all about moderation.

Well, suffice it to say, I just had to mention the word Yoghurt mousse made with fat free yoghurt, instead of chocolate mousse and she was happy. Yep, I thought why don't we add some fat-free yoghurt, with some healthy AB cultures (Even though we will obliterate them in the heating process) and add cream later on and turn the deceitfully 'healthy' yoghurt mousse into a 'death by yoghurt', 'fat breeding machine'. I think you get the point asking a foodie to make anything fat free is like trying to get a 'camel through the eye of a needle'. Don't get me wrong, 'healthy' I can do, but 'fat free', now that is something else. Anyways, enough of that below is a recipe to the best yogurt mousse you'll taste ... Now doesn't that look fat free :D.  

2 EGGS ¼ CUP CASTER SUGAR 2 TSP CORN FLOUR,      DISSOLVED IN 4 TSP WATER 125 ML FRESH CREAM 500 ML YOGHURT      (FULL CREAM OR FAT FREE) 100 G WHITE CHOCOLATE HALF THE RIND OF A SMALL LEMON 1 – 2 TBSP HONEY 30 G FLAKED ALMONDS 30 G FRENCH NOUGAT, GRATED

PREPARATION: Whisk the eggs and sugar, till light and fluffy. In a small saucepan, gently melt the white chocolate on the stove (low-medium heat). Once completely melted slowly add the yoghurt to the melted chocolate, be very careful not to allow the chocolate to seize. Next add the dissolved corn flour solution, along with a dessert spoon or two of honey, and then grate in the rind of half a small lemon. Bring the mousse to a gentle simmer for about 3 - 5 minutes until it thickens. Remove from the stove and allow to cool.

Beat the fresh cream until it holds its shape well, but has not turned to butter. Gently fold half of the cream into the mousse along with the flaked almonds and grated French nougat. Place in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours. Serve chilled, place a dollop of the left over cream onto the mouse and garnish with lemon zest or toasted almond slivers before serving. 

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HONEY & ALMOND YOGHURT MOUSSE

GRILLED CHICKEN AND RED PEPPER SALAD

So the weather seems to have changed a little, starting yesterday. It was nice and hot, one of those typical Spring, beach days... Did I say Spring (Wow slow down, its still winter). Anyways, I decided to make myself a Grilled Chicken and Red Pepper Salad for lunch. 

Well, actually I had some of my Pink peppercorn and Juniper berry sauce left over and have been trying to get my pictures into one of these 'food porn' sites. So I thought I would drizzle the sauce over 'something' and take photographs. I scrounged around in the fridge for a while, found a red pepper, chicken kebabs, tomato and some salad leaves; so I decided I would make a salad. Grilled the chicken 'cubes' and red pepper slices and voilà! To my utter amazement the salad turned out to be really tasty (just kidding I knew it would be good) and I thought I would share it with all of you. 

You may have noticed the Foodista widgets at the bottom of a few of my posts, this is because I have recently joined the Foodista community. These widgets will link you to similar recipes on the Foodista website, it's an awesome website check it out when you get a chance.   

By the way if anyone has any photography tips or critique on my photographs they are more than welcome, after all I am here to learn as well! I thought this photograph was pretty good, but it didn't make the cut on two of the sites I submitted it to... any suggestions?

Ingredients

1	Small Tomato cut in eighths
1	Large Red Pepper, cored and cut into eighths
1	small bag of mixed salad leaves
2	Chicken breasts, depending on your required protein portion

Preparation

Step 1	Cut chicken breasts into cubes, spice and/or marinate.
Step 2	Grill on a griddle pan or electric grill, until chicken juices run clear.
Step 3	Dust Red Red Pepper slices with paprika and grill till slightly charred.
Step 4	Toss salad leaves, tomato wedges, grilled chicken and red peppers together.
Step 5	Drizzle over your favorite dressing. I used the Pink Peppercorn and Juniper berry sauce made in one of my earlier posts.

Grilled Chicken and Red Pepper Salad