Minced Lamb and Lentil Patties

Shami Kebab Recipe - Makes 8 large or 24 cocktail size patties
	Ingredients: 750 g (1 1/2 lb) finely minced lamb 1 medium onion, finely chopped 3 tablespoons yellow split peas (mattar dhal) or red lentils (masoor dhal) - Spices - 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger 11/2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic salt to taste 2 cups water 1/2 teaspoon garam masala 1 tablespoon yoghurt or thick cream 1 small egg, beaten ghee or oil for shallow frying Filling: 1 fresh green chilli, seeded and finely chopped 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro I spring onion, including green leaves 1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
Put lamb, onion, dhal, ginger, garlic, salt and water into a heavy saucepan and bring io the boll. stirring. Cover and mok over low heat until meat. lentils and onions are soft, about 45 minutes. Then uncover and cook, stirring now and then, until all the liquid has been absorbed. This may take at least I hour. Leave to cool, then mix in the garam masala and yoghurt or cream. Add I tablespoon of beaten egg and mix well. If mixture is not too moist add more of the beaten egg. Knead very well for I 0 minutes or until mixture is completely smooth.Divide into 8 portions and form each into a flat circle. Put 14 teaspoonful of filling in the middle. close the meat mixture around it, pinching edges together. Flatten gently to form a small round patty. Shallow fry on a heavy griddle or frying pan lighth greased with ghee or oil. Serve hot. If serving these as cocktail snacks and making them bite-size, it is easier not to use a filling but to serve with mint chutney from our Chutney section for dipping.

Samosa Recipe

For the pastry:
    2 cups flour
    1/2 tsp. salt
    4 Tbsp. oil
    4 Tbsp. water

For the stuffing:
    4-5 medium potatoes, boiled in their jackets and allowed to cool
    4 Tbsp. oil
    1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
    1 cup (175 g) shelled peas
    1 Tbsp. finely grated peeled fresh ginger
    1 fresh hot green chili, finely chopped
    3 Tbsp. very finely chopped fresh green coriander (cilantro)
    3 Tbsp. water
    1 1/2 tsp. salt
    1 tsp. ground coriander seeds
    1 tsp. garam masala
    1 tsp. ground roasted cumin seeds
    1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
    2 Tbsp. lemon juice
    oil for deep frying

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.  Add the 4 tablespoons on oil and rub it in with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Slowly add about 4 tablespoons water -- or a tiny bit more -- and gather the dough into a stiff ball.

Empty the ball out on to clean work surface.  Knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until it is smooth.  Make a ball.  Rub the ball with about 1/4 teaspoon oil and slip it into a plastic bag.  Set aside for 30 minutes or longer.

Make the stuffing.  Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1/4 inch dice. Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a large frying pan over a medium flame. When hot, put in the onion.    Stir and fry until brown at the edges. Add the peas, ginger, green chili, fresh coriander (cilantro), and 3 tablespoons water.  Cover, lower heat and simmer until peas are cooked.  Stir every now and then and add a little more water if the frying pan seems to dry out.

Add the diced potatoes, salt, coriander seeds, garam masala, roasted cumin, cayenne, and lemon juice.  Stir to mix.  Cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring gently as you do so.  Check balance of salt and lemon juice.  You may want more of both.    Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool.

Knead the pastry dough again and divide it into eight balls.  Keep 7 covered while you work with the eight.  Roll this ball out into a 7 inch (18 cm) round.  Cut it into half with a sharp, pointed knife. Pick up one half and form a cone, making a 1/4 inch wide (5 mm), overlapping seam.  Glue this seam together with a little water.    Fill the cone with about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the potato mixture.  Close the top of the cone by sticking the open edges together with a little water.  Again, your seam should be about 1/4 inch (5 mm) wide.  Press the top seam down with the prongs of a fork or flute it with your fingers.  Make 7 more samosas.

Heat about 1 1/2 to 2 inches (4-5 cm) of oil for deep frying over a medium-low flame.    You may use a small, deep, frying pan for this or an Indian wok.  When the oil is medium hot, put in as many samosas as the pan will hold in a single layer.    Fry slowly, turning the samosas frequently until they are golden brown and crisp.  Drain on paper towel and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Indian Tea

- 

Masala Chai Recipe -

Serves: 4 
Ingredients:
4 whole cloves
2 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
3 cups water
1/4 inch fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups milk
2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons strong tea
Method:
Add spices, water, ginger and pepper and bring to a boil. Simmer on low for 5 minutes. Add the milk and sugar to the pan and bring to a boil again. Add tea and bring to a boil again. Strain it into a warmed teapot or directly into teacups and serve with Indian savory snacks or cilantro chutney sandwiches.

Spiced Chai Recipe

Serves 2 
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups water
1 stick cinnamon
4 cardamom pods
4 cloves
1 cup milk
3 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons strong tea
Method:
Add spices, water and bring to a boil. Simmer on low for 5 minutes. Add the milk and sugar to the pan and bring to a boil again. Add tea and bring to a boil again. Strain it into a warmed teapot or directly into teacups and serve with Indian savory snacks or cilantro chutney sandwiches.

Green Cardamom Chai Recipe

Serves 2 
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups water
2 cardamom pod, whole, split
1/4 inch fresh ginger
1 1/2 cup milk
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoon strong black tea
Method:
Add cardamom, ginger, water and bring to a boil. Simmer on low for 5 minutes. Add the milk and sugar to the pan and bring to a boil again. Add tea and bring to a boil again. Strain it into a warmed teapot or directly into teacups and serve with samosa or cilantro chutney sandwiches.

Masala Chai Recipe 2

Ingredients:
3 tsp loose tea, usually black
1 piece of dry ginger
3 cardamom pods, crushed
3 whole cloves
1 piece of cinnamon stick
Milk and sugar to taste
Method:
Boil 3 cups of water, then add tea and spices. Bring to boil. Let sit for 1 minute. Strain out the spices and serve, with milk and/or sugar.

Common Chai Recipe

4 cups water 1-2 whole cloves 1 stick cinnamon 1-2 cardamom pods (cracked open) Bring these to a boil; let stand as long as possible. Then add: 4 tsp. loose Assam Summer Tips for a strong robust flavor. and let steep. Then add: 2 cups milk to the tea-spice mixture and heat but do not boil. When hot, strain and add: 4 tablespoons of sugar (or a little less) Stir and keep hot. Variations: The beauty of making chai is you can vary the ingredients according to your taste. Some Chai lovers enjoy the taste of ginger in their chai. Add ginger flavor either by adding fresh ginger pieces or alternatively use our ginger assam tea, an exceptional blend of Assam leaf tea and natural ginger root. Variety is the spice of life. Try incorporating some of these spices in your chai, according to your taste preferences: anise seed, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and nut meg. You may also want to substitute different types of black tea. For subtler chai flavor use a high quality darjeeling or premium nilgiri tea.

Garlic Bread recipe

Makes 8 servings (one large loaf)

Ingredients
1 loaf Italian bread or French bread, unsliced
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 garlic clove, smashed (add another if desired)
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano

Preparation
1. Slice loaf, LEAVING CRUST INTACT, into slices.
2. It is important NOT to slice through the bottom.
3. Set aside.
4. Mix butter with other ingredients.
5. Allow to sit on counter a while, so flavors travel all through the butter.
6. Take a length of foil, and place loaf lengthwise on the foil.
7. Very gently, spread slices apart, being careful not to break bottom, and spread with butter mixture.
8. When all slices are spread, use any leftover butter to spread the top of the loaf.
9. Wrap sides of foil up.
10. Leave top UNCOVERED.
11. Twist ends of foil.
12. Bake on tray for about 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
13. This is great with spaghetti or lasagna.
14. When baking lasagna, just put it in with the lasagna for the last half hour of baking time.

WW POINTS per serving: 5
Nutritional information per serving: 212 calories, 13.4g fat, 1.0g fiber

Red, White, and Blueberry Cream Cheese 4th of July Cake

2 sticks (225g) unsalted butter, softened, but not quite room temperature
1 8 ounce (225g) package of cream cheese, softened slightly
1 1/2 (285g) cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups (250g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
6 ounces raspberries
6 ounces fresh blueberries
lemon glaze (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (165 degrees celsius). Spray four mini loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray, and place on a cookie sheet.

2. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese. Pour in sugar and mix until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well until each is incorporated. *Mix in vanilla.

3. While ingredients are mixing, whisk together four, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients.

4. Divided batter into two bowls. Fold raspberries into one, and the blueberries into the other. (Or you can skip dividing the batter and just fold both kinds of berries into one batter).

4. Distribute batter evenly among the four pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35-50 minutes.  Drizzle with lemon glaze and let cool completely. Wrap any extras tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to one month.

Lemon Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar
juice of 1 lemon
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Add more juice or cream as necessary to achieve desired consistency.

Salmon...cheese stacks

• 6 tbsp mascarpone
• 1 tbsp capers , rinsed and drained and chopped
• 2 tbsp chives , chopped , plus extra for decoration
• 1 lemon , juiced and zested
• 8 thin slices wholemeal bread
• 4-6 slices smoked salmon
1. Mix the mascarpone, capers and chives, lemon zest and enough lemon juice to flavour it, but not enough to make it runny. Season really well.
2. Spread the mascarpone mix over all the bread slices, then cover completely with a layer of salmon. Put one bread slice on top of another, so you have a four separate stacks, each 2 deep (with smoked salmon on top).
3. Carefully cut each into 6 bite-sized squares with a serrated knife. Dip the ends of the squares in chives and decorate with extra shreds of lemon zest if you like.
• 48 kcalories, protein 2.7g, carbohydrate 4.4g, fat 2.3 g, saturated fat 1.2g, fibre 0.5g, salt 0.44 g

Bluberry Cream Tarts

Ingredients

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 12 vanilla wafers
• 1 (21-ounce) can blueberry filling, or other pie filling

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a paper cupcake liner in each cup of a muffin pan.

Beat cream cheese with a handheld electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Place a vanilla wafer, flat side down, in each muffin cup. Spoon cream cheese mixture over wafers. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow tarts to cool completely. Serve with blueberry filling on top, or pie filling of your choice

A Paula Dean Recipe

Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Hot dog

Ingredients:
4 hot dogs
4 slices of bacon
1 large tomato (seeded and diced)
lettuce (shredded)
Mayonnaise
4 hot dog buns (toasted)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Heat a medium skillet to medium heat. Add strips of bacon and fry until crispy. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels. Add hot dogs to the pan and fry in the bacon fat until heated through and a little browned.
Step 2: Place hot dog into a toasted bun, put a slice of bacon next to each hot dog inside the bun and top with mayo, tomato and lettuce.

Pie...Key Lime

The pie is so simple to make the filling only consists of three ingredients; sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and egg yolks. To save time you can use a prepared graham cracker crust and just pour the filling into it. 

Ingredients:
5 egg yolks (beaten)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
½ cup key lime juice
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl combine egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lime juice. Mix well. Pour into the unbaked graham cracker shell.
Step 2: Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Top with whipped cream.

Cheese Steak Sandwich....

Ingredients:
4 Italian sandwich rolls or Kaiser buns (split in half lengthwise)
1 onion (thinly sliced)
1 green bell pepper (thinly sliced)
½ package fresh sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
1lb rib-eye steak (sliced thinly as possible)
¼ cup water (or more)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
8 Slices Provolone cheese (or cheese whiz, or sliced American cheese)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Add oil to a large sauté pan over medium-heat heat. Add vegetables and sauté until tender. Season vegetables with salt and pepper while cooking if desired. Remove vegetables from the pan and transfer to a large bowl.

Step 2: Add steak to the hot pan. Season steak with salt and pepper. Quickly stir fry steak until browned. Deglaze the pan with water scrapping up any bits of steak stuck to the pan. Simmer until steak is tender.
Step 3: Place split rolls onto a baking sheet, top each evenly with sliced steak, vegetables and 2 slices of cheese. Place under a broiler until cheese has melted.

Chicken Wings In Different Sauces...

These are perfect for Game Day.

The first thing you are going to want to do is bread the chicken pieces and fry them. This is a universal breading that will work perfectly for all of the sauces in this post. The sauces can be prepared in advance or while the chicken tenders are frying.

Ingredients:
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1” chunks)
Oil (for deep frying)
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon paprika
1 egg
1 cup milk

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 375 degrees. In a large bowl combine flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. In a small bowl whisk together egg and milk. Dip each piece of chicken in the egg mixture, and then roll in the flour mixture. Repeat so that each piece of chicken is double coated. Refrigerate the breaded chicken for 20 minutes.
Step 2: Fry chicken in the hot oil in batches until the outside is nicely browned and the juices run clear (about 5 minutes per batch). Drain on paper towels. Repeat until all of the chicken is gone.
Step 3: Mix fried chicken bits with your favorite wing sauce (sauce recipes found below).

Now, here are the sauces. The sauces can be prepared in advance or while the chicken bits are frying. I have recipes for 5 different types of delicious wing sauces. Most of these sauces will make a lot, so they will be able to cover large batches of boneless wings.

Buffalo Wing Sauce-

Ingredients:
¼ cup hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon butter

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Combine hot sauce and butter in a small bowl. Microwave on high until the butter has melted (about 20 to 30 seconds). Mix well. This recipe can easily be double if you are making a large amount of wings.

Honey BBQ Wing Sauce-

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups ketchup
1/3 cup white vinegar
¼ cup molasses
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon chili powder

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a small saucepan over medium heat combine all of the ingredients. Stir until well combined and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes.

Parmesan Garlic Wing Sauce-

Ingredients:
4 garlic cloves (peeled)
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
5 teaspoons grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon dried marjoram
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Toss garlic cloves with olive oil in a small oven safe dish. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the garlic cloves began to turn light brown. Remove from the oven, cool garlic, and finely mince with a sharp knife.
Step 2: Combine garlic and the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Stir well, cover and chill for several hours before using.

Asian Wing Sauce-

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
½ cup corn syrup
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup chili-garlic sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon garlic (minced)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a small bowl mix cornstarch with rice vinegar. Set aside. In a small sauce pan combine remaining ingredients. Add the cornstarch and rice vinegar mixture and mix well.
Step 2: Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat the simmer until it becomes thick. Remove from heat, allow it to cool then cover and chill it until ready to use (you can also use it right away if the chicken is ready).

Caribbean Jerk Wing Sauce-

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons green onion (minced)
1 cup water
¾ cup ketchup
½ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons hot sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoons nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon sage
1/8 teaspoon thyme

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a small saucepan sauté onion in butter over medium heat. Whisk in the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.