Lemon and limeade

This drink is so good with a nice BBQ or even when you have a cold, its packed with vitamin C.

LEMON AND LIMEADE

Recipe:

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 sugar

4 cups water

lime and lemon slice to decorate

Mix all the above ingredients together in jug, add the lemon and lime slices and serve. I decorated the rim of my cup with sugar, because I thought it looked pretty. I know it's not a usual thing to do for lemonade, but it looks nice. Enjoy!

2nd day of Ramadan

As promised I am back with more recipes. Last night I made a dish inspired by my mother in-law, and I say inspired because I do not have the recipe she uses, so I made it up and some of it I found online.

So here it is, the pictures do not do it justice, the dish is so good I could have it everyday.

STUFFED AUBERGINES

Serves 5

Recipe:

500g minced turkey or minced chicken

4 medium sized aubergines / eggplants

1/4 cup chopped spring onions

2tbsp light soya sauce

1tsp monosodium glutamate (msg) optional, but it adds a great flavour

oil for frying

Sauce:

2 cups water

1tbsp dark soya sauce

2tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

2tbsp water mixed with 1tsbp corn starch (this is for right at the end before you serve)

In a bowl, add turkey or chicken mince, spring onions, light soya sauce, msg and mix well. Put aside. Cut the aubergines /eggplants on a slight angle, about 1 1/2 inches thick, keep going until you have cut up all four aubergines/eggplants. Take one of the pieces and cut in half, BUT do not cut all the way down. You are only make a slit almost, because in that goes the meat. you are creating almost a sandwich like result. 

 As you can see from the picture above. Continue stuffing the aubergines/eggplants. You might have some meat leftover, but not too much. Make sure the aubergines/eggplants have a good amount of meat. 

Once all done, fry the aubergines until slightly browned. They will require a bit of oil, aubergines/eggplants tend to suck up all the oil, but believe me it will not be oily once cooked. You need to fry them because you need it to go soft during the cooking process later. If you don't fry it and just cook it in the sauce, it will not go soft and it will not have that special flavour you get from fried aubergines. 

In a wok, add the water, soya sauce, sugar and salt and bring to a boil. Once the sugar and salt have dissolved, add your aubergines, making sure majority of it are covered with liquid. Especially the larger sizes. Leave to cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes, then turn some over and the ones not covered with liquid should be swapped around with ones that have been covered in the sauce the previous 15 minutes.  Cook for another 15 minutes or until all the aubergines/eggplants are soft and tender. Remove from the heat. Take the aubergines/eggplants out very gently and place in a bowl. Add the starch mixture to the left over sauce in the wok and put it back on the heat just until the sauce has thickened whilst stirring so nothing sticks to the bottom. Pour the sauce over the aubergines/eggplants. Serve with white rice, not basmati, maybe a Thai rice and enjoy!

Ramadan Cooking

Ramadan Kareem to you all. I have been away for a while, but I am back now with even more recipes as I have been building up to this moment. As you may know, this month is Ramadan. Ramadan is the 9th month of the Islamic Calender. It's a month where Muslim all over the world are going to be fasting from sunrise to sunset in order to re-focus on what is spiritually important in their lives. Every night when it's time for Iftar (when we break our fast), a date is used to break our fast with as it was believed to have been done with our Prophet Mohammed p.b.u.h. 


I will be cooking different food every night and I will be posting it up on my blog for you all. Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan. Below is the recipe and pictures of what we had for Iftar.

Feta cheese and spinach in filo pastry

Recipe:


Filo pastry sheets (6 sheets), room temperature
200g Feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped spring onions, white bits too
350g frozen spinach, defrosted and juice squeezed out by hand
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
100g melted butter
2 eggs lightly mixed
2tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste


Put the spinach in a medium sized bowl and add salt & pepper, crumbled feta cheese, parsely and put aside. Gently fry the spring onions in olive oil until soft, when cooled down, add to spinach mixture. Slowly add egg, little bit at a time, only until the mixture has a little moisture added to it.


Get the filo pastry, lay it down on  a work surface, one sheet a time. The first sheet, brush melted butter on it, not too much, just enough for the second layer to stick to it. Repeat this process with all six layers. Now add the spinach mixture at the bottom end of the filo pastry, almost forming a sausage shape. 

Then gently and slowly, roll it up and cut in half in a slight angle. Put the two pieces in a greased oven-proof pan. Get a sharp knife and make slits, portion sizes, so it is easier to cut when it's taken out of the oven. 

Brush top with melted butter and put in the oven on 175 degrees (Celsius), 350 Fahrenheit, gas mark 3, for 40 min, or until top is golden brown.  

FASOLIA (cannelloni beans with lamb)  

This is a dish prepared and eaten with Jasmine rice. I grew up on this, my mum used to make it for us every so often and it's one of my favourite dishes. I even had to call her last night to make sure I had the recipe exactly like hers. 

Recipe:

serves 4 adults, (large portions)

500g lamb shoulder cut into medium sizes

1 1/2 cups cannelloni beans, dried ones which you need to soak overnight in water

2 heaped tbsp tomato purée

1 medium onion chopped 

3 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

black pepper

Boil the meat in plain water for 1 1/2 hours, always keeping an eye on the water level being just above the meat. When finished, the water level should be just covering the meat. 

Boil the cannelloni beans in water without stirring it at all for 1 hour in a non stick pot. Once time is up, put aside. You need to keep an eye on this as well and make sure the water is just above the beans. Fry the chopped onions in olive oil till just soft. Add the meat and all its juices to the cannelloni beans, alongside that add the onions as well. Bring back to a boil, lower heat to simmering, add salt, tomato purée and black pepper, do not mix with a spoon, just close the lid and let the boiling of the water mix it all for you. If you mix it, the beans stick to the bottom of the pan. Let this cook until the liquid has thickened. Do not add more water, if you add water, you will lose that thickness of the sauce. You do not want watery sauce, you want it to be thick. 

Serve with basmati rice and enjoy!