16 May - Drie hoekie, chicken koekie

In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful

First peas

Have had little time to blog or go on to Facebook. Too much work in the garden and in the house and modularising the IHYA teaching courses. Alhamdulilaah. So before I plonked myself in front of the PC, I popped a raisin bread into the oven.

So what has the garden been up to? I am searching high and low for the chameleon, I guess too many peeping toms or a tomcat or something scared it away. Everything that was planted has taken, thank you Allah. The catnip is popping up much to my daughter’s delight; the iris corms have emerged and the potato plants are growing sturdily in the bathtubs.

 

First beans

The flaxseeds are lush and green as are the poppy plants, albeit bit cluttered. In the veggie garden the radish and danya seeds have sprouted and the first peas and beans hang decoratively on its bushes. The lettuce and tomatoes drape our salad plate graciously and the celery and parsley made its way into a winter’s broth, alas the leeks, turnips and carrots are still too tiny, patience there Yasmine.

 

 

 

poppy plants

I have staggered the planting of danya so that there is full supply at all times, what with all the requests for chicken samoosas. I don’t have as much time now but there were many times that I made samoosas as a means of income. When my eldest son was about 3 years old I would make samoosas to supplement my income. I remember that clearly because between the other children he would patiently wait for my attention and sometimes that would be in the early hours when I was still folding. So I would put him on the counter and we would chat while I folded. At 6 my Dad would leave for work and take a box of fried samoosas to sell at work but before the truck stopped it would all be sold.

Ramadhan would not be the same without samoosas. Over the years I have experimented with different kinds of fillings. Corn, chives and cheese; spinach and feta; butternut, chicken. But the hot favourite of all family and customers are always the chicken, peppers and corn. When I was younger I would make the samoosas from scratch but now I buy the strips (some call it pir). I would spend half the day rolling and brushing disks of dough, stack 10 on top of each other and bake them in the oven until they fluffed up. Then I would pull the strips off one by one and stack them and cut them into strips. But nowadays I buy a stack of a hundred for R35. So I thought I would share the recipe.

If you have never folded samoosas in your life, don’t despair. Cut some paper about 4 cm wide and 30 cm long and practice folding them into triangles. Buy some strips and try folding, the trick is to keep the corners closed. It gets better as you go along. I learnt to fold from Aunty Fatim, the samoosa queen. In fact I would want to play with her daughters and so got roped in to fold and help finish their chores before the street beckoned. Quickly we learnt to race each other and try to reach the target of sometimes 500 or 1000 for the day. Of course it was all inspected and if they were sound each and every one of them we were good to go. I learnt many skills from Aunty Fatim from making the pir to making the filling of traditional mince samoosas and of course folding. A more patient teacher I could not want for. May Allah SWT reward her for all of her hard work and teaching and devotion to Him. Shukran Aunty Fatim!

 These are the ingredients for the chicken samoosas.

·         1 kg chicken fillets cut up into small cubes

·         About 75 sheets of samoosa strips

·         1 dessertspoon of cooking oil

·         A cup and a half fresh or frozen corn

·         3 large cloves of garlic

·         1 bunch of coriander leaves

·         Half a red, yellow and green pepper

·         7 medium sized chillis

·         Salt to taste

·         1 Level teaspoon of turmeric

·         2 TBSP tandoori chicken masala

 Rinse and pat dry chicken cubes and coat with tandoori masala, turmeric and grated garlic and stir fry until the chicken is just cooked and the pan has cooked dry. Remove from heat and add corn, peppers and salt and stir together well.

Transfer into dish lined with unwaxed paper to absorb moisture and to cool off completely.When the filling is cold add finely chopped danya and chillis.

In a small bowl make a thick paste of flour and water to seal the ends of the triangle. You can also fold them into spring rolls. Happy folding!

Anyway I have to wrap this up because I guess the raisin loaf is baked and waiting to be brushed with a clear sugar syrup. A warm slice, buttered and a hot cup of tea. Enjoy the rest of the evening.

Plant food and keep warm.

Yasmine



flax plants

 

Potato plants