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Dry Spicy Lamb Curry
Dry Spicy Curry, Potato Curry& Chapatti
Dry Spicy Lamb Curry
#capemalaycooking
Ingredients:
Serves 6 – 8
1 kg lamb pieces
1 cup plain yoghurt
2 tablespoons garlic paste
1 tablespoon ginger paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons garam masala
salt to taste
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 green chillies, slit lengthwise
2 teaspoons koljana/coriander powder
1 teaspoon jeera/cumin powder
2 medium tomatoes, chopped fine
Freshly chopped dhanya to garnish
Method:
Mix the lamb pieces with the yoghurt, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, garam masala and salt to taste, cover and allow to marinade for 3 hours.
Heat the oil in a deep pot on medium heat. Add the green chillies and fry until it stops spluttering.
Add the lamb with the marinade and fry stirring frequently for 5 – 7 minutes.
Now add the tomatoes, koljana/coriander and jeera/cumin powder and mix well.
Sprinkle some water over the meat, cover, lower the heat and cook till the meat is done.
Check occasionally and add more water if needed to prevent sticking and burning. Ideally this dish has a minimal amount of thick gravy.
Turn the heat off, garnish with freshly chopped dhanya.
Serve with warm chapattis (Indian flat breads) or naans.
Dry Spicy Lamb Curry
Potato Curry
Ingredients:
Serves 6
4 large potatoes
1 teaspoon cumin/jeera seeds
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon coriander/koljana seeds (crushed)
1 teaspoon fennel/barishap seeds (crushed)
½ teaspoon chilli powder
2-3 slit green chillies
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Handful Coriander leaves chopped
Salt to taste
30 ml cooking oil
Method:
Peel the potatoes and cut into bite size pieces.
Boil water in a sauce pan and then add the chopped potatoes and salt. Let it cook, but make sure there is still some bite to it.
After it is cooked, drain the water completely and keep aside.
Now heat a small pot and add some oil. Add the cumin/jeera seeds, garlic and ginger. Stir until garlic ginger is cooked and slightly browned.
Now add the crushed fennel/barishap seeds, coriander/koljana seeds, chilli powder and give it a stir.
Add the cooked potatoes, green chillies, salt and stir gently in intervals.
Let this cook for about 6-7 minutes until the sides have browned, spices are coated well. Add drops of water to prevent sticking to the pot and burning.
Finally garnish with coriander leaves.
Spicy Potato Curry
200g wholemeal flour
75ml warm water
2 tbsp butter
Sift the flour into a medium bowl and make a well in the middle of the flour. Pour in the water and mix to make a dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 -8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place back in the bowl, cover with cling film and leave for 10 –15 minutes.
Chapatti (Indian Flat Bread)
Cape Malay Cooking
Roast Leg Of Lamb
Roast lamb
Serve this tender lamb with your favourite gravy and vegetables.
Ready in 2 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients:
10 cloves of garlic
10 cloves
10 bay leaves
1 whole large leg of lamb, bone in (about 2.2kg)
Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Put the lamb into a large roasting tin. Using a sharp knife, make cuts in the lamb, about 1.5cm apart, all the way to the bone.
3. Stuff 1 clove of garlic, clove, bay leave into the each of the cuts. Rub the leg of lamb with salt and pepper according to taste. Add a cup of water into the tin. Cover the tin loosely with foil and roast for 1 hour 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Remove the foil and cook for another 30 minutes.
4. Put the meat on a platter, cover loosely with foil and leave in a warm place to rest for 15 minutes before carving. Serve with gravy, roast potatoes, a selection of vegetables of your choice.
ROAST LEG OF LAMB
Mavrou
Mavrou
A Cape Malay traditional dish which is usually served at weddings, on Eid and other special occasions. Mavrou is a very colourful dish and is usually made with steak.
Mavrou
Ingredients:
1 kg cubed steak or goulash
10 ml salt
10 ml ground jeera (cumin)
15 ml ground koljana (coriander)
10 ml barishap (fennel seeds)
15 ml crushed red chillies
3 cloves
3 whole all spice
10 ml ground ginger
10 ml ground garlic
3 cardamom pods
3 cinnamon sticks
Few strands saffron (optional)
4 large onions, thinly sliced
Oil for braising onions
2 large tomatoes, grated
Method:
• Combine all spices and mix well with meat. Marinate for at least an hour.
• Heat oil in large pot and braise onions until soft and golden, adding water when necessary.
• Add meat and cook covered until soft, adding water when necessary.
• Serve with white or savoury rice decorated with boiled eggs cut into quarters.
VARIATION:
Served with steamed mix vegetables of peas.
CHICKEN STIRY FRY
CHICKEN STIR-FRY
Serves 4
Ingredients:
100g broccoli
100g baby sweetcorn
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2.5cm piece root ginger
bunch of spring onions
2 carrots
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon soya sauce
Method:
Bring a wok or pan of water to the boil. Cut the broccoli into florets. Blanch the broccoli and sweetcorn in the water for 2 minutes. Drain well.
Cut the chicken into large pieces. Peel the ginger and cut into thin matchsticks. Trim and diagonally slice the spring onions. Peel the carrots and cut into matchcsticks.
Wipe the wok with kitchen pape and heat the oil until almost smoking. Add the chicken and stir fry for 7-8 minutes or until golden. Keep warm
Stir fry the ginger, spring onions and carrots for 2 minutes. Stir in the broccoli and sweetcorn and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken and heat through.
Variation: Use any fresh vegetables of choice.
CHILLI CON CARNE
Chilli Con Carne Recipe
This great chilli has to be one of the best dishes to serve to friends for a casual get-together. It’s easy to throw together using mostly store cupboard ingredients.
Chilli Con Carne
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 heaped teaspoon hot chilli powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground jeera
500g lean minced beef
1 beef stock cube
400g can chopped tomatoes
½ teaspoon dried mix herbs
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon tomato purée
410g can red kidney beans
Method:
- Put your pan on the stove over a medium heat. Add the oil and leave it for 1-2 minutes until hot. Add the onions and cook, stirring fairly frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft. Add in the garlic, red pepper, chilli, paprika and cumin. Give it a good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Brown the mince. Turn the heat up a bit, add the meat to the pan and break it up with your spoon . The mix should sizzle a bit when you add the mince. Keep stirring and prodding for at least 5 minutes, until all the mince is in uniform, mince-sized lumps and there are no more pink bits. Make sure you keep the heat hot enough for the meat to fry and become brown, rather than just stew.
- Making the sauce. Crumble your stock cube into 300ml/1⁄2 pint of hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince mixture. Open the can of chopped tomatoes and add these as well. Add the mixed herbs and the sugar, and add a good shake of salt and pepper. Squirt in about 2 tablespoons of tomato purée and stir the sauce well.
- Simmer it gently. Bring the whole thing to the boil, give it a good stir and put a lid on the pan. Turn down the heat until it is gently bubbling and leave it for 20 minutes. You should check on the pan occasionally to stir it and make sure the sauce doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan or isn’t drying out. If it is, add a couple of tablespoons of water and make sure that the heat really is low enough. After simmering gently, the saucy mince mixture should look thick, moist and juicy.
- Bring on the beans. Drain and rinse the beans in a sieve and stir them into the chilli pot. Bring to the boil again, and gently bubble without the lid for another 10 minutes, adding a little more water if it looks too dry. Taste a bit of the chilli and season. It will probably take a lot more seasoning than you think. Now replace the lid, turn off the heat and leave your chilli to stand for 10 minutes before serving, and relax. Leaving your chilli to stand is really important as it allows the flavours to mingle and the meat. Serve with boiled plain rice or my kids love it with cooked spaghetti.
MINI SAUSAGE ROLLS
This is a firm favourite in my house at anytime. So easy to prepare. I usually make a batch to freeze, so there is always something to cook when unexpected quests arrive or whenever the kids feel like nibbling.
MINI SAUSAGE ROLLS
Makes 16
Ingredients:
500g ready-made puff pastry
Flour for dusting
1 egg, beaten
8 good quality sausages cut into two
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Small handful fresh thyme leaves
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C
Roll the pastry out on a floured surface to a rectangle of about 48x32cm.
Cut the large rectangle in half lengthways, then cut both smaller rectangles into eight equal sections. You now have 16 rectangles in total. Brush one end of each rectangle with a little of the beaten egg, lay a piece of sausage at the other end, then season the sausage with salt and freshly ground black pepper and sprinkle with thyme leaves. Roll the sausage up in the pastry to enclose and repeat with all the sausages. Put the sausage rolls in the fridge for 20 minutes for the pastry to harden.
Once the pastry is hard, remove the sausage rolls from the fridge and score the tops with a sharp knife for decoration, or prick with a fork. Brush well all over with the rest of the beaten egg and bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes, or until the pastry has turned golden-brown and looks crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before serving.
Variation:
Use viennas (Frankfurters) instead of the sausage
SPRINGROLLS
Vegetable Spring Rolls
Ingredients:
1 cup mixed vegetables, chopped long and slim/shredded (carrot, beans, cabbage, peas, corn, green, yellow, red peppers, etc)
1 onion, sliced
1 teaspoon ginger & garlic paste
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 chopped green chilli
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon oil
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions until transparent and pink.
2. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for another minute.
3. Next add the vegetables and green chilli, sprinkle some water and cook closed until soft, yet crunchy.
4. Turn heat to high and add the soya sauce. Mix well for a minute on high.
5. Lower heat. Mix in salt and pepper. Remove from fire and cool.
Filling and rolling:
Defrost the pastry to room temperature before separating the sheets.
Lay out one sheet; add about 2-3 tbsp (depending on the size of your spring roll sheets) of the vegetable filling towards one corner.
Fold in the end of the corner first and then both sides.
Once these ends are firmly placed, start rolling towards the other end until fully done.
Deep fry until golden brown.
Cook’s notes:
– Add cooked, shredded chicken pieces.
– You can use any mix of vegetables you want. However, cabbage and peppers really enhance the taste.
– Arrange spring rolls in a single layer on a medium baking sheet. Brush with vegetable oil. Bake in preheated oven @ 200C for 20 minutes, until lightly browned. For a crispier spring roll, turn after 10 minutes.
QUICK MINI PIZZAS
Quick mini pizzas (savouries)
Ingredients:
1 cup chicken fillet – cooked with green chillies, salt and 1 teaspoon ginger and garlic
1 cup grated cheese
1 green pepper – cubed
1 tomato – finely chopped
2 eggs – lightly beaten
5 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup sweet corn – optional
Ground green chillies to taste
Method:
Mix all ingredients well in a large dish.
Place in greased patty pans and bake at 180C till done – 10-15 minutes.
Sprinkle with origanum before baking
Beef Stir-Fry
serves 4
Ingredients:
500g lean beef
4 spring onions
2 cloves garlic
2.5cm piece ginger
2 carrots
2 small leaks
1 stick celery
3 tablespoons oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dhanya
2 tablespoons soya sauce
Method:
Cut the beef into thin strips. Wash and chop the garlic and ginger. Peel the carrots, leeks and celery and cut into matchsticks.
Heat the oil in a wok. Add the spring onions, garlic and ginger. Cook for 4 minutes over a medium heat. Add the beef and cook over a high heat for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Season.
Add the remaining vegetables, soya sauce and cook over a high heat for 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the coriander and cook for about 1 minute.
Serve immediately.
Variation: Use any fresh vegetables of choice.
CHEDDAR SCONES
CHEDDAR SCONES
Makes 12-15
Ingredients:
200g self-raising flour, plus a little extra for dusting
50g butter, at room temperature
25g oats
75g grated cheddar cheese, plus extra for topping
150ml milk
Method:
Heat your oven to 220C. Pace the flour in a large bowl, then rub in the butter. Stir in the oats and cheese, then the milk – if it feels like it might be dry, add a touch more milk, then bring together to make a soft dough.
Lightly dust the surface with a little flour, roll out the dough no thinner than 2cm. Cut out rounds with a cookie cutter.
Transfer to a baking sheet, dust with a little more flour or grated cheese, then bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden. Cool, serve on their own or topped with mashed avocado or soft cheese.
Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights - Salwaa Smith 
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