Apple and Blackberry Turnovers

  بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

I love baking when it does spare of the moment, when you look in the fridge to find some puff pastry and blackberries and plenty of apple my wonderful father had bought for me. There was only one thing to do! Turnovers. Now I don't know about you but i love these delicious pastries! yummmmmy especially with a cup of tea. What I also love about this is that the filling can be used with french toast or to pour over porridge. My children loved these! Delicious I tell you! Hey but don't take my word for it, try it out yourself. :)

Ingredients

6 medium apples of your choice, peeled and cut into small pieces

1 punnet of Blackberries
Zest of Half of an Orange
Half a cup of Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter
1 Tbsp of plain flour
1 tsp of Ground Cinnamon
2 packets of puff pastry

1 egg for egg wash.

1 tbsn milk
Brown or white sugar, for topping

Chocolate chip to melt and drizzle on top ( Optional )

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to gas mark 4. Melt butter and add the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and orange zest. Cook for 10 minutes till apples soften.

2. Then add the Blackberries and cook together. Blackberries will release their juices. Then ad flour and combine. Sauce will thicken. Set aside and allow to cool.

3. Next roll out pastry into square and cut four smaller squares, place some of the filling in each one as shown in pic below.

4. Then fold over into triangles. In bowl mix egg and milk and wash the pastries with this egg wash. Sprinkle some brown or white sugar on top. Place in oven and cook for about 20 mins or until pastries are golden brown.

5. This part is totally optional, however a most delicious touch! For chocolate drizzle simply melt place in pan and place over pan of hot water and allow to melt. The drizzle over pastries using a piping bag or with a spoon.

6. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with a lovely cup of tea. 

Enjoy!!

Bil-hana wa ash shifa'a

Chicken Palak (Chicken & Spinach)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Chicken Palak

Chicken Palak (chicken spinach) has always been a favourite dish in my mothers household and now also in my own. The combination of greens such as spinach, dill and dried fenugreek give this curry a strong earthy flavour. The aromas waft all through the house leaving hungry mouth salivating!

Be sure to give this yummy recipe a try.

Ingredients

3lbs of boneless chicken
5-6 cloves of garlic
2 inch piece of ginger
3-4 medium onions
Half can of chopped tomatoes
3 cans of spinach leaves (You can use fresh if you prefer, cans just save time)
1 whole cup of chopped dill
Half cup of dried fenugreek leaves ( You can use fresh if you prefer)
3-4 green chilies
2-3 tspn salt
2 tspn chili powder
2 tspn of garam masala
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn turmeric powder
5 tbspn Oil or ghee 

Method

 1. Grind the onions to a paste (to make easier add a few tablespoons of water to help it grind better)
when water dries up add the garlic and ginger and continue cooking until all water has evaporated.

2. Add the chicken and cook till browning, then add the chopped tomatoes, spices and salt.

3. Stir till well mixed, cover and leave till chicken releases its own juices.

Chicken releases its own water when cooking

4. Now turn heat up and cook on high till water evaporates. When water has dried up add your spinach and combine well.

5. Cook for a about 5 minutes then add your dill mix together well. When adding the dried fenugreek leaves make sure you remove any stalks as they do not cook through.

Dried fenugreek leaves, remove stalks as can be seen in this picture above.

Fresh Dill added to the chicken give a delightful flavour and aroma!

6. Now cook for a good ten minutes for about 10 minutes until all water has evaporated. Then chop up green chilies and mix in.

7. If you wish the curry to be more saucy add about 2 cups of warm water and cook till it reaches you desired consistency.

Serve with freshly made chapatis or plain Basmati rice. Enjoy!!

Bil-hana wa al shifa'a!

Sooji ka Halwa

  بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 Dedicated to my Beloved Master, Sultan ul Awliya Sheikh Muhammad Nazim Al Haqqani (Q.S) of the most Distinguished Naqshbandi Sufi Order. 

(1922-2014)

Sultan Ul Awliya Maulana Sheikh Nazim Q.S 

I remember back in 2010 I visited my beloved Sufi Master Maulana Sheikh Nazim Q.S in Lefke, Cyprus and he mentioned to me and a few other ladies how much he liked Pakistani Halva. I remember His beautiful face smiling as he was telling us. He is the one who made and still makes everything in my life look, feel and taste beautiful, He is the epitome of beauty itself. I live my life in eternal gratitude that I was granted the gift of Love through him, my passion, my morning sun and evening moon, the coolness of my eyes and the light of my heart, the tranquillity of my soul and the wealth of a thousand generations, I dedicate this to You my beloved Murshid.

There are many different types of Halva's, but the one that is most common in Pakistani cuisine is Sooji ka Halwa, which is halva made from semolina. The recipe I shall share with you was taught to me by my mother, I tweaked it here and there slightly. However I must warn you, this recipe is not for the calorie counters out there!

I do hope you will give this a try.

Sooji ka Halva

Ingredients

250g Butter
2 Cups of Semolina (I used fine grain)
2 Cups of sugar
8 Cups of water
Handful of blanched Almonds
Half cup of dried fruit of choice ( I used Whitworths sultana and cinnamon apple)


Method

1. In a saucepan heat a cup of water and add almonds, bring to boil until, drain and cool with cold water, then carefully remove the skin of the almonds and slice, set aside.

2. In another pan add 8 cups of water along with sugar. and bring to boil till sugar dissolves, in meantime melt the butter in a cooking pan, when melted ad the semolina and cook on high, be careful here not to burn the semolina so continuously stir until golden beige in colour. This should take between 15-20 minutes.

3. On one side on hob you should have water and sugar simmering away on low and sugar should have dissolved. Now add the dried fruit of your choice to the halva and stir well for a few minutes
( Usually raisins are used but use any that tickles your fancy :) )

4. Now take the pan of water with dissolved sugar and very very carefully pour into semolina, please be careful at this point as semolina splatters a lot, maybe better to ask someone to pour water while you stir.

5. Stir for a few more minutes till it thickens.

6. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut and decorate as desired. Serve warm with a lovely cup of tea.

Bil-hana wa ash shifa! :)

Homemade Peach Lemonade

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

With the Summer months fast approaching nothing beats sipping on an ice cold lemonade, homemade ofcourse! Unfortunately I have an allergy to some fruits, which limits what fruit in can have, however cooked the fruit or poach and its not a problem. I absolutely love peaches, sadly it is one of my 'forbidden' fruits. I sit and watch others eating juicy fruits and I have to say I do feel it's tad bit unfair. So in order to beat this I try to add the fruit I am allergic to, into cooked dishes or desserts, i know its not the same as having them raw and most probably kills off many nutrients, but for me there is no choice. 

Anyway leaving that aside, I decided to make a Peach Lemonade, this drink is super easy and you can get the children involved in helping you. Serve this to your guests as a pre-dinner drink. Guaranteed they wont be disappointed. 

Fruity, refreshing and delicious, give this a try and taste the Summer!

Peach Lemonade

 Ingredients

6 riped peaches

1 cup of fresh lemon juice

1 cup of sugar

3 cups of water

zest of 2 lemons

1 sprig of mint

1 bottle of peach flavoured sparkling water, you can use plain sparkling or any soda of choice.

Method

1. Cut peaches into small pieces and add to a pan along with the sugar water and lemon zest.

2. Heat on medium till sugar melts and syrup begins to thicken.

 

3. When Peaches soften mash with potato masher.

 

4. Add the mint leaves and leave to simmer for a few minutes more. Then turn off heat.

5. Once cooled strain through a sieve.

This is the pulp that remains, now as you know I don't like to waste and I most certainly didn't want to waste all this goodness, so I had a change of plan! I decided to add the pulp to a blender along with the juice and whizz up all together.

6. When all done it looks different in colour than before (see pic below). But taste definitely intensifies.

7. Add the lemon juice and mix well, pour half into a glass pitcher, depending on size of pitcher. Then pour the sparkling peach water to the top.

8. Pour into glasses add ice cubes and garnish with mint leaves, then sit back and enjoy the sunny days sipping on  cooling peach lemonade. :)

Enjoy!

Green Masala Chicken with Feta Cheese

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Ever had one of those days when you don't know what your doing with a recipe and just try your luck and hope for the best? Well this was one such recipe, I decided I wanted to make a green masala curry but add a twist, a different flavour, couldn't quite figure out what until I opened my fridge to find some feta cheese and thought AHA! A ligthbulb moment! Wasn't quite sure where and when I would add this so I just played along and added when I thought....."Oh this will be a good time!" :)

May I say how delightful it turned out too! The feta added a subtle tangy flavour which complimented the mint, fenugreek and coriander, giving this dish an overall creamy rich texture. 

I love it when a plan comes together! :)

My cousin happened to pop in for tea as I was cooking so she ended up being my guinea pig food taster! Much to her delight she liked it so much she decided she would try it out at weekend for her family. So my lovelies, why not give this a try and see what you think!

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients

4lbs of boneless chicken

1 bunch of fresh Coriander

1 bunch of fresh Fenugreek leaves

5 sprigs of fresh mint leaves

4 cloves of garlic

2 inch piece of ginger

Juice of 1 Lemon

200g of Feta cheese

3-4 onions

11-12 green chilies (you may use more or less depending on how spicy you want it)

5 Tablespoons of Olive oil

4 tablespoons of Ghee

3 teaspoons of salt or to taste

3 teaspoons of Garam masala

2 teaspoons of cumin seeds (One to add in beginning and one to use for tempering)

 Method

1. Wash chicken thoroughly and leave to dry.

2. To make the marinade, in a blender add the mint, fenugreek and coriander leaves along with the garlic, ginger, and lemon juice, one teaspoon of salt and 2 tbsn of olive oil. Add half of the block of feta cheese. Blend to a smooth paste. 

3. Mix the marinade with chicken and leave to marinate at room temperature for minimum of Half an hour.

4. In the meantime take the onions and chop roughly, blender to make into a paste. Heat 3 tbsns of olive oil, add 1 tspn of cumin seeds and then add the onion paste. If you wish you may add 2-3 green chilies here, but this is optional. Cook till all water in onion paste has cooked out. See pics below.

5. Now add the marinaded chicken to onion paste and mix well. Cook on high heat, the chicken will release water, cover and let it cook on low heat for about 15 minutes. 

6. Now turn up heat to high and cook to dry out the water, as water is drying add the rest of the feta cheese, and mix well.

7. Keep stirring on high heat till water evaporates and the masala is sticking to the chicken. When this has been achieved turn off heat and set aside.

See how masala sticks to the chicken

8. Now for tempering, heat the ghee in a small frying pan, then add to it quarter of an onion thinly sliced, 4-5 dried red chillies, 1 tspn of cumin seeds heat until sizzling and onions are going a golden brown colour, then pour over the chicken. 

9. Garnish with mint leaves and serve with fresh warm chapatis. :)

Enjoy!
Bil hana wa ash-shifa