Janice Tripepi

In keeping with my effort to provide Max with tasty yet fat free food ….. not laden with carbs, I came up with this creation.  It’s known as Mr Smiths chicken in the Tripepi household.  I use fat free plain yoghurt and get the sweetness from using xylitol.  This ticks all Max’s boxes, it’s packed full of flavour, sweet and juicey meat on the bone (he loooves to chew on them bones), all the skin is removed from the chicken and can be made in huge quantities.  Once, cooked for dinner I box and refrigerate a whole lot for the next day and leave some in the fridge for when he gets home from “clubbing and partying” with mates … apparently it’s “The Bomb Mum” for soaking up too much alcohol.  I am also posting this recipe specially for our fellow blogger known as “Less Of Me” – i sent her this recipe and promised to make it and post it for her.  Here you go darling, you are a Superstar for sticking at it and pretty soon you shall be known as “The Best Of Me”.  This will fit right in with your regime angel and i hope you enjoy it.  Lotsa love Jan xxx

Ingredients:

1 large tray of chicken thighs – about 25

1L tub of fat free plain yoghurt

2 tsp  coriander

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp mustard seeds

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp of tumeric

1 dessert spoon of chopped garlic

1 dessert spoon of chopped ginger

2 onions chopped finely

1 tsp dried red chilli flakes

4 dessert spoons of xylitol

handfull of curry leaves

the juice of 4 lemons

salt

Combine all of the above in a large bowl

remove the thigh skins and drown them in the yoghurt marinade

leave this in the fridge to marinate all day ( i do this before work and leave it all day)

Remove the chicken thighs from the marinade and bung the whole lot into a roasting pan

and bake uncovered in your oven at about 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

In a pan on the top of the stove – reduce the marinade down by half ,

this results in a sweet and spicy yoghurt sauce which

you spoon over the thighs when serving.

Veg Spaghetti

4 peeled carrots cut into thin strips on a mondoline (small julienne)

4 peeled large zucchini cut into thin strips on a mondoline (small julienne)

1 clove garlic crushed

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

salt and pepper

2 tsp of olive oil

some chicken stock – about 1/2 a cup

In a frying pan – heat the oil and fry the crushed garlic and cumin seeds lightly

add the carrots first as they require a little more time than the zucchini

and give them a good stir fry for about 3 minutes

then add the zucchini salt (not too much as u r using chicken stock which is salty) and pepper and chicken stock

and cook until tender and the stock has evapourated.

Serve your spicey chicken thighs on a bed of the Veg Spaghetti with

a generous splash of the reduces

sweet and spicey curry sauce.

Walla !!

If you are not dieting – you could use full fat yoghurt and brown sugar or honey to sweeten the sauce.

Buon Appetito

Jan

xx

I could eat pork ever day of the week … well, i would alternate pork – lamb -pork.  I looooove crackling and the crispier the better.  It’s actually on of those dishes that cooks itself – i roast the pork on top of the veggies – so again, less washing up and the whole meal is cooked in one pot.  The pork is ready before the veggies – cos they need to be gooey and chewy and caramelised to satisfy my liking. 

This is another Dargle Valley Pork product – their meat is just superbe.  No shrinkage due to being pumped with water and no boar taint – that dirty back of the throat taste many people assosiate with pork.  Seved with liberal lashing of apple sauce and you have a winner.

Roast Loin of Pork with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Butternut and Beetroot

The Veggies

500g peeled and chunked butternut

2 large sweet potatoes peeled and chunked

6 par boiled beetroot

2 large onions peeled and cut into medium sized chunks

10 cloves of garlic

salt & pepper

6 sprigs of fresh rosemary

6 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 bottle of cider / Savannah Dry (it’s dry but u can cook with it … hehehe …)

Pre-heat your oven to 220 Degrees

In an ovenproof dish – that is not too big because you are going to create

a trivet with the veggies – ie. the pork will sit on top of the veggies and cook –

dripping it’s lovely juices all over the veggies and at the same time

creating fabulously delicious gravy.

 place the butternut, sweet potatoes, par boiled beetroot and onion in the oven dish

Add the whole garlic cloves – no need to peel them

tuck the thyme and rosemary inbetween all the veggies

season well – with salt and pepper

pour over the bottle of cider – or beer or chicken stock would be fine

if you don’t wish to use alcohol.

Your veggies are now ready -

The Pork Loin

It is imperative to dry out the pork skin if you want to enjoy some

crispy crunchy crackling

I leave the pork out all day – with a dome net covering it

I also add a few more scores / cuts to the skin to make sure

that lots of fat is cooked out and rendered down.

As this is a rolled loin – i couldn’t resist the need to

add a little more flavour and i

pushed some fresh thyme and rosemary with some salt and

pepper into the middle of the roast.  That’s it.

Salt the skin liberally – place it on top of the veggies

and bung it in the oven at 220d

uncovered.

Cook the pork and veggies for 40 minutes at 220 and then

turn it down to 180 for about 15 minutes

If the skin is not crispy enough – just flash it under the

griller for a while – i can’t give u a time for this

for every oven has it’s own personality and you just

DON’T WANT TO BURN THE SKIN.

Remove the meat and losely wrap in some tin foil.

Continue to cook the veggies until they are caramelised

and the gravy has achieved the desired consistency.

I must tell u that the beetroot does bleed it’s beautiful

pinkiness into the veggies – and your gravy also

has the most beautiful colour.

I seved the roast with apple sauce.

Buon appetito

By now I am sure that you have all seen the post on the Food24 website – the one where WE get to vote for the most SIZZLING HOT chef around town???  Yesterday I was surfing around the website and to my utter joy i found this fun and feisty competition – and to my COMPLETE AND UTTER JOY I FOUND ………………….. drum rolll

………………………………………………………………………………………………………… WAIT FOR IT …………….

Our very own blogger Kobus van der Merwe  aka.  nom de blogger-plume … alias extraordinaire SARDINES ON TOAST!!!! 

The way I see this fellow bloggers … we should be supporting our own – strength from within – in unison we vote for our

boy ………… Kobus.  Let us stand together – a nation of bloggers – fight off the contenders on the beach, in the trenches bla bla bla … a carry our fellow blogger over the winning line.

How about it ???

Are you up to it?

Are you equal to the task?

AND ABOVE ALL DEAR BLOGGERS REMEMBER!!!!!!

YOUR “CLICK” COUNTS……………….

I HAVE VOTED 39 TIMES ALREADY ……hehehe

jan

xx

I must apologise to all of you – i promised part 2 of my delicous Gujarati vegetarian curry meal recipes two days ago!!!  I shan’t bore you with the sad details of my life that resulted in this delay.  Let’s get right back into this wonderful meal – these two recipes, the Khitcheri and the Kari – are the rice component of the meal and a sauce to spoon over the rice on your plate.  Again, the exquisite balance of flavour with the palest buttercup yellow of the rice are immensely appealing to both my stomach and my eye.  This is food that is deeply satisfying with no competing flavours – one of the principals of Ayurvedic food – and  very very light on our ever decreasing pockets.  We are all looking for foods that are nourishing – enjoyable and not too expensive.  What a wonderful way to meat this criteria.

I asked Nalini about the order of the meal – in the west we serve courses ie. starters/ entrees – mains and dessert in a normal meal- this cuisine does not follow such rules.  The meal is served all at once – allowing everyone to enjoy one vegetable at a time with rice or rotalis or chappatis  (a flat pancake like bread).  In the south of India – food is served on banana leaves, whereas in the north a Thari – a large round tray with many Katori (small individual bowls) each containing a different curry, and no cutlery is used.  The rotalis or rice is used as a carrier and accompaniment to each vegetable.  What i found very interesting is that usually the sweet is served at the beginning of the meal.  Reason – your digestive system is better able to digest the food as it is at its strongest at the beginning of the meal.  Undigested food results in heart disease and diseases of the arteries!  Food for thought …. scuse the pun!

I shall start with the Khitcheri – most of us have heard of an English Kedgeree – well this dish was anglosized by those brits that spent years whilst the British Empire held India firmly in it’s grip – as a British Colony.  Can you imagine the delight of those English women when they landed in India – to discover a world of flavour and spice such as they had never even heard of before!  It brings to mind those Victorian Tea and spice Caddies – beautifully made in India and transported back to England by the hundreds – for the gentry to lock up their expensive and sought after Indian teas and spices.  It would seem that they valued their tea and spices very highly.

Khitcheri

3/4 cup basmati rice

1/4 cup oil lentils

1 tsp spoon finely chopped ginger

1/4 tsp tumeric

1 1/2 tsp salt

Soak the rice and lentils for about an hour – rinse it and put in fresh boiling water in a pot

and the ginger – tumeric and salt

bring to the boil and allow to simmer

when soft – cover the pot and allow to steam on a low heat until

all the water has been absorbed

and the rice is a nice soft consistency.

The rice should be softer than your normal consistency for this dish.

Remove from the heat and lightly mix in 1 dessert spoon of ghee.

Transfer to a serving dish.

Kari

500ml buttermilk  (MAAS)

the tip of a teaspoon of tumeric (less than a 1/4 tsp)

1/2  tsp of salt

1 tsp crushed green chillis

 1/4 tsp garlic

1 heaped dessert spoon gram flour (chick pea flour)

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

10 curry leaves

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Beat all the above ingredients together with a hand beater to avoid the gram flour

making lumps

To a pot add a tbl spoon of ghee – add 1/2 tspn black mustard seeds

and 10 curry leaves and a half tsp of whole cumin seeds

when they start to sputter add in the sour milkmixture and

keep stirring continuously for about 5 minutes until it comes

to the boil  – DO NOT STOP STIRRING AS THIS MAY CURDLE -

remove fromt heat to a serving dish and garnish with fresh green coriander.

And there you have it – the pumkin and green pepper curry recipes – click  here 

  and the kitcheri and kari accompaniments.

I do hope that you try these – I enjoyed the cooking just as much as the

eating of these exotic dishes. 

Buon Appetito

jan

xx

Last Wednesday i had the absolute pleasure of spending my morning in Nalini Hannooman’s kitchen.  There is nothing I like more than learning new styles of cooking and boy oh boy did I have a wonderful time learning all about Gujarati vegetarian cooking.   I am soooo chuffed – here are three absolutely fabulous curries.  Being a voracious meat eater – i am guilty of having often scoffed at the notion of eating totally meat free meals for ever and ever. 

This style of cooking scores a solid ten in all of my “must have” departments.  In my world food must 1. Get the maximum flavour and texture out of each ingredient 2. It must be appealing to my eye and 3. Satisfy my creative and “cook” needs – that is to say, I need to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of cooking the dish.  This food follows the ethos of Ayurveda – a science developed by the great masters and seers of ancient India.  Medicine and diet are seen as complementary, “No one can expect to retain vitality, recover from disease, or succeed in the practice of Yoga without the appropriate knowledge of the powerful effect diet has on physical health, mental clarity, and spiritual progress.” 

The moment we got into the kitchen it became instantly apparent that these dishes would be exotic in taste, bursting with eastern aromas, texture sensations and visually inspiring.  The dishes were spicy but not too hot – no chilli hitting the back of your throat.  I could not wait to taste the curries and I certainly experienced a deep sense of satisfaction from my lunch on many levels.  I was transported into the land of exquisite flavour and satisfied that in the process of eating this meal no animal had forsaken itself and comforted that the very ingredients, the parts of each curry had been masterfully combined centuries ago by those with the knowledge to creat a dish specifically to improve the health and wellbeing of the individual eating it.  I was blown away – and very interested to read more about this food with more than a cullinary purpose.  I have always believed totally that food definitely does more than just keep us alive, the nurturing side of my personality gets more than a kick when one of my children snuggles up to me – while imploring me to cook a certain dish and who hasn’t tucked into a good curry to clear blocked noses or sipped down piping hot tea with ginger and camomile flowers to tame and angry tummy. 

This is not the last you will hear from me on this – I have asked dear Nalini, a woman whose vitality and generosity shines brightly through her crystal clear sparkling eyes – if I may go into her beautiful calm and inviting homeagain  to cook some more vegetarian Gujarati food and discover a little more about a new and exciting cuisine.  I cannot thank her enough for allowing me into her home and kitchen – a kitchen and one’s food is a sanctuary and I am so grateful to her for sharing her time and knowledge with me.

We made three curries and a relish in less than an hour – from prep work to on the plate and in

my tum.

Pumpkin Curry

Green Pepper Curry

Khitcheri (the authentic version of the Colonial English Kedgeree!)

Cucumber Relish

Kari

Pumpkin Curry

500g of cleaned chopped pumpkin cut into bit sized pieces

1/4 tsp black mustard seeds

2 stalks of curry leaves

1/4 ginger

1/4 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp coriander powder – 1/4 tsp cumin  (avb at spice shops and known as dhania/jeera powder)

1/4 tsp tumeric

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp green chilli minced

1/2 tsp red chilli minced

1 tsp of sugar

a sprinkle of garam masala

chopped fresh dhania for garnishing

In a pot add just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan

add the mustard seeds and curry leaves cook until they start popping

then add the 

separately in a bowl add salt, turmeric, coriander/cumin powder and

the green and red chilli, ginger and garlic  to the pumpkin and give it a good stir

add the spiced pumpkin to the pot and give a good stir

cover and allow to cook on medium to high heat.

When it is cooked and soft and nicely browned

add the sugar and give it a stir and cook for a further minute

until all water is gone.

Remove from heat and sprinkle with garam masala and chopped green

Coriander. 

I must add here that the tsp of sugar just balanced this dish beautifully – it’s not

over spiced and is delicious in the mouth.

Green Pepper Curry

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp dessicated coconut

1/4 tsp of red and green chilli

500g (6 green peppers)  diced into bite sized chunks

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp dhania jeera powder

1 dessert spoon gram flour

 1 tsp sugar

chopped fresh dhania for garnishing

In a bowl combine the green peppers, chilli, salt, dhania jeera powder and tumeric and

give it a good stir.

Cover the bottom of a non-stick pot with vegetable oil.

When it’s hot sprinkle in the sesame seeds and dessicated coconut

brown very lightly and then

add the green peppers and give it a good stir

cook over a medium heat until tender stirring occasionally

when they have softened

add the dessert spoon of gram flour and stir allow to cook for a further

3 to 5 minutes and lastly sprinkle over the sugar and stir and cook until the liquid has

been absorbed.

Garnish with chopped green coriander and serve.

OOps – it seems that i have run out of space …. I will post the

Khitcheri , Kari and relish dishes

tomorrow.

Sorry about this!

A domani!!  Till tomorrow

xxx

jan

Reference: The Ayurvedic Cookbook 1995 Amadea Morningstar Urmila Desai 

I am a hopeless romantic – really I am.  All food at the moment is falling into the Valentines Day cagegory and well, that would mean anything that is red.  I don’t for one minute believe that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, BUT i do believe that once cupids arrows have been slung – the way to KEEPING that man IS through his stomach. 

 This is actually a greek recipe that I have Italian-ized!!  The greeks make this dish with origanum – I have added the anchovies and use rosemary as my main herbal aromatic – i have also added a bottle of red wine to the recipe……. in Italian there is a saying “vino fa sangue” and basically it means that wine makes good blood!!  and good blood we will make!!

This is a hearty dish – i make it a day before we are going to eat it, to make sure that the meat is all but falling off the bone.  Again, this is a meal in a pot dish.  The shanks bubble away in red wine and tomatoes until tender – once removed the sauce is reduced and pastina is added.  Pastina – is small pasta in various shapes.   Every little baby Italian’s first plate of pasta is pastina with some mild cheese such as bel paese and a knob of butter.  Pastina is added to soups or stews and in this case the sauce of the lamb shanks.  All you need prepare is a quick salad and you have a meal that gets many ooooh and aaaahs.  Guaranteed.   Husbands will be kissing and hugging wives and children will be sainting their mothers …. it’s a good one.

Ingredients

8 lamb shanks

6 carrots – 4 sticks of celery – 4 onions – chopped nice and fine in the food processor

8 anchovies

10 cloves of garlic

6 – 8 nice sprigs of rosemary

4 tins of Woolies cherry tomatoes

3 chicken stock cubes

3 tsp of black pepper

1 bottle red wine – i used a Diemersfontein Pinotage

1 packet of pastina – i used the rosmarino shape

In a nice big heavy pot – using just enough olive oil to coat the bottome of the pot -

 brown the lamb shanks all over in two batches so as not to

crowd the pot and remove them and set aside

In the same pot – brown the onion – garlic and stock cubes well

Add the rosemary and anchovies and coat with the oil

Add the whole bottle of wine

Add back the shanks, carrots and celery, tinned tomato and black pepper and give it a good stir

to amalgamate everything nicely

you need to cover the shanks with liquid  so add some water if needs be.

Bring the pot to the boil for about 30 minutes and then

reduce to a slow simmer for 4 hours or so – the bubbles should plop

every now and again – looooooooooooong and slow

guarantees tender tender meat.

If you can do this and leave it for a day – i cooked this on a Saturday

afternoon – when it was cooked i just put the lid on and left it to mature

and then  fed it to my family and guesst for a Sunday lunch – then do.

The flavour just goes wild.

Aboutf an hour before you want to serve it – gently remove

the shanks and place them into a serving dish – or two.

Bring the sauce that is left in the pot to the boil and reduce by half.

You are left with a nice tomatoe sauce – it must not be too thick

as you now add the pastina to soak up the sauce.

The pastina sucks in the liquid and flavours like a dream.

Bubbling away in the sauce!

And here it is – served with a simple green salad.

Buon Appetito!

xx

jan