Monthly Archives: March 2015

8

Chicken & Gravy Pie 

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Pies are so versatile…you can always make an extra dish or two and freeze them for a later date when you can’t be bothered to cook or just had a busy day in general.  Pies also for me is like a comfort food. This chicken and gravy pie is a family fave, easy to rustle up and like I mentioned easy to freeze. The angel spaghetti used in this is exactly that…super thin and doesn’t get in the way of all the other lovely ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

1 chicken fillet (cubed small pieces)
1 medium chopped onion
2 tbsp butter
1 tspn Salt
1 tspn coarse black pepper
Handful of coriander
2 green chillies 
1 tspn ginger 
3 tbsp tomato purée
Bisto gravy granules (red container) 
Capelli d’angelo (angel hair spaghetti)
Ready rolled puff pastry
METHOD:
In a medium sized pot melt the butter and add the chopped onions, cook on medium heat until the onions have softened.
Add the cubed chicken pieces with the tomato purée, salt and pepper.
Blend the coriander, green chillies and ginger in a food processor and add to the chicken mixture and stir until well combined.
Let all this cook together until moisture has evaporated and chicken is cooked.
Separately boil a quarter packet of the capelli d’angelo spaghetti (according to instruction on pack) and then add this to the chicken mixture.
Make up around a litre of gravy (according to instructions) and also add this to the chicken mix and stir well until all the mixture is mixed properly. If the mixture looks dry make up some more gravy and add.
Pour the mix into a rectangle Pyrex dish and layer with puff pastry. Poke holes into the puff pastry with a fork and brush with egg.
Bake in oven gas mark 4/5 or electric oven 160 until the puff pastry is golden.
Roast potatoes are great as a side with this pie.

Enjoy 😊

 Chicken cooked with the coriander, chilli, ginger and tomato purée

 The pie filling with the angel spaghetti and gravy mixed in 

  Pour the Mix into an ovenproof dish

  Top the filling with Ready rolled Puff Pastry and brush with the beaten egg 

  Sprinkle some sesame seeds and it’s ready to be baked 

  Bake in oven at gas mark 4/5 or electric 160

1

‘You’d think they would’ve cancelled Monday by now’ 

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Salams my fellow cooks…hope you’re all well and ready to tackle this week head on..Monday’s *pffft* *sighs* *huffs and puffs* who even loves Monday’s ??!! I guess I’m not the only one who has a Moany Monday…one of my Twitter followers tweeted ‘You’d think they would’ve cancelled Monday by now’ which I wish would really happen and then got me thinking about this blog post.  Anyways first things first though, deciding on what to cook for the family.  My family Alhumdulillah are easygoing and they do enjoy most foods, it’s just certain ingredients they don’t like.  The hubster doesn’t eat cheese 😱 yes that’s right you did read that correctly ‘who doesn’t like/love cheese?’ I hear u all shout…I, on the other hand adore cheese, I eat it raw, chop a huge chunk from the block and munch on it….mmmmm…this makes it difficult sometimes as I love making and eating pies, pastas, lasagnes and casseroles etc loaded with cheese, there’s so many combinations you can have with cheese.  The girls are usually ok , although they do prefer veggie dishes to the meat ones although I don’t mind either.  I try to vary dishes from week to week, we don’t have a set menu which I know some families do have.  I guess this makes life easier.  I’m pretty spontaneous though, I’ll have an idea pop in my head and then I need to give it a go even if it’s on the same day with not enough time or the right ingredients.  I tend to adapt or use alternatives, yes sometimes things do go wrong but a dash of this or a dash of that soon sorts it out.  Gosh this post has started to sound like my CV, anyways what I’ve decided is that over the next couple of weeks I’m going to post some random recipes for dishes from my Instagram page which I’ve made over the last few weeks.  I’ve had requests for them and it’s been a bit hard for me to get round to sending them individually, hence one of the main reasons I decided to start this blog. I’ll try my best to post them quickly but please be patient with me but in the meantime you can always request them on instagram and Insha’Allah I will send them.

Have a great Monday and rest of the week regardless and Happy cooking 😊

 

  

39

Gazebo Chicken

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Salams my fellow cooks, this includes my dear sisters and I’m hoping brothers too.  I pray you are all well 😊 I was planning on posting a recipe each week but you know that thing called Life? Well that was happening 😔 Anyways today’s recipe is definitely one of my faves. I’ve been using this recipe for over a decade and is one of my most popular ones which ive passed on to many friends and family who have always enjoyed feasting on it. It’s a fried chicken recipe but for a healthier version you can marinate the chicken overnight in the sauce ingredients and then either cook on the stove top or bake it in the oven.  Any questions please feel free to ask on here, Instagram or if you follow my personal account on Twitter.

INGREDIENTS:

Marinade

2 washed and clean chickens (cut into 8 pieces)

3 tspn Lemon juice

2 tspn malt vinegar

2 tspn coarse black pepper

1 and half tspn Salt

Sauce

6 tbsp oil

2 cups tomato ketchup

2 tspn coarse black pepper

1 and half tspn chilli powder 

1 and half tspn chilli flakes 

1 tspn Salt 

Batter

1 medium egg (whisked)

1 cup Cornflour

METHOD:

Marinating 

Place the chicken, lemon juice, vinegar, black pepper and salt into a medium sized bowl and mix well.  Cover with cling film and allow to marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.

Sauce

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the tomato ketchup, black pepper, chilli powder, chilli flakes and salt.  Bring to the boil and allow to simmer on low heat, occasionally stirring.

Batter

Add the egg and cornflour to the pre-marinated chicken and mix well.

Deep fry the Chicken until golden brown and Cooked on the inside.  Coat the chicken in the sauce.

Serve with chips and/or salad.

Enjoy 😊

  The Marinated chicken after adding the batter ingredients of egg and cornflour

  The chicken being deep fried until golden

 

The chicken is now fried until lovely and golden and the batter is crispy, drain on some kitchen towel

 

The beautiful gazebo sauce is ready, coat the chicken piece by piece generously in the sauce

   

 Grab a plate and go tuck in!!

 

10

Ferrero Cheesecake

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Salams my fellow cooks. I pray you are all in the best of health. I couldn’t sleep this morning and I’m having serious cravings for cheesecake..most people who know me also know my love for cheesecakes 😁 so I thought maybe this would make a good first post for my blog. This cheesecake is indulgent but so easy to make. You can also make these into individual cheesecake shots which look ever so pretty, great for parties. If you do make it Please do let me know what you think either on Instagram or Twitter if you follow me on there.  

INGREDIENTS:

200 g chocolate digestives

50g butter (melted)

300g Philadelphia Cream Cheese (or any shop brand cream cheese)

150 mls double cream (whipped)

50 g icing sugar

12 Ferrero Rochers

Some melted nutella and chopped hazlenuts.

METHOD:

Crush the digestives in a food processor or you can use a plastic food bag and crush with a rolling pin. 

Melt the butter in the microwave or saucepan.

Combine the crushed biscuits and the melted butter and press the mixture into an 8 or 9 inch loose bottom cake tin. Put the cake tin into the fridge to set for about 30 minutes.

In a bowl whip the cream until you have fairly stiff peaks (do not over whip) Also in a separate bowl empty the cream cheese and whisk it slightly to soften. Add the icing sugar and the whipped cream to the cream cheese and whisk until all combined properly.  

Crush 8 of the Ferreros in their foil wrappers (this will prevent messy chocolatey fingers) Add these to the cream cheese mix and mix carefully into the mix. 

Layer the cream cheese mix onto the biscuit base and smooth out. 

With the remaining 4 ferreros, carefully cut them in half and decorate on top of the cheesecake. 

Drizzle melted nutella onto the top of the cheesecakes and sprinkle some chopped hazelnuts.

Enjoy 😘