Salams my fellow cooks…sooo alhumdulillah the beautiful month of Ramadhan has finally started…there’s just no other month that gives you a feeling like Ramadhan does..I pray everyone’s first fast has gone ok…

First post of Ramadhan is for these delicious Chicken and potato pastries…past couple of Ramadhans I had been trying out new pastry recipes that was passed on through friends and family but this one is a classic one…and I thought I should just make these this year as they’re easy to make, tasty and is something that the whole family enjoys.

INGREDIENTS:

2 chicken fillets (cubed small)

4 medium sized potatoes (cubed and parboiled)

2 medium sized onions (chopped finely)

50g butter

1 and half tspn ginger/garlic paste 

Handful of coriander and 2 green chillies (chop together in a food processor) 

1 and half tspn Salt (add to taste)

2 tspn coarse Black Pepper

Some more chopped coriander 

Puff Pastry Sheets (ready rolled)

1 egg (beaten) 

For the sauce:

2 mugs water and 4 tbsp Plain Flour

METHOD:

In a large pot add the butter and let it melt on medium heat.  Once melted add the cubed chicken and to that add the the chopped Coriander and chilli mix, salt and pepper and ginger garlic paste. 

Let this all cook together on medium heat until most of the water has burned off.  When there is still a little water remaining add the boiled potatoes and mix gently until everything is combined.  Allow the mixture to cook for a few minutes until the potatoes are cooked and then add the chopped onions and cook together until no moisture remains in the mixture. 

For the sauce bring the 2 mugs of water to the boil in a saucepan (or just boil water in a kettle) make a paste of the plain flour separately with a bit of cold water, once the water is boiled add the plain flour paste and let this sauce thicken, making sure you are stirring all the while and ensuring no lumps remain.  If there are any lumps in the sauce just give it a whizz with a hand blender or a whisk.

Once sauce has thickened add this to the chicken and potato mix, add the chopped coriander and gently stir everything together.

Let the Mixture cool before filling into the puff pastry.  

Bake at gas mark 4/5 or electric 180 degrees until golden brown and puffed up 

Enjoy 😋
 Cook the Cubed chicken with butter, salt, pepper, ginger/garlic and the coriander/chilli mix

When a little water remains add the cubed potatoes and cook until potatoes are thoroughly cooked

  After adding onions and letting that cook for a while add the White sauce and coriander and mix well.  Let the mix cool completely 

And now I’ll show how I filled the pastries..I had a large sheet of ready rolled puff pastry which I bought from a local Asian grocers but you can use any you like and fill them however u like 

  Take some of the pastry filling and layer it in a neat row as show, leave some puff pastry on the left side to over lap the mix 

  Over lap the left side of the puff pastry over the mix as shown and then cut, with a knife the right side neatly, leaving some puff pastry on the side 

  Over the right side of the puff pastry ensuring the mix is completely covered and seal well, you can use water or a flour paste to seal of you are a bit wary of it opening up while baking
  Cut into pieces as shown, mine are about 3 to 4 inches wide but you can cut as small or big as you like
  Make small slits on the top with a knife or some holes with a fork and brush with a beaten egg for the glaze and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top
  I also filled some like this, but you can fill however you like 

 All baked and ready for Iftaar…..mmmm 

A few weeks before Ramadhan us Mums, wives, sisters (I’m sure some of you brothers too 😝) start to fill up our freezers with savouries ready to be baked or fried. Some people start a couple of months before Ramadhan but I tend to start just a few weeks before. My family needs fried or baked savouries at Iftaar.  We tend to break our fast with dates and Zam Zam and have a few snacks, pray our salah and then enjoy our main meal, Alhumdulillah.

This recipe is for bread rolls, to be honest I’ve only started making these a few years ago, the recipe was given to me by a close friend…there’s only one thing I’ve changed and that is that I don’t dip in egg and breadcrumbs although this is optional if you do want to try it out. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 and half pound Chicken Fillets (large cubes)

2 tbsp butter

2 tins sweetcorn (drained)

2 Tubs 300g Philadelphia cream cheese

Half bunch coriander 

1 tbsp ground green chillies

1 and half tsp salt (or more to taste)

2 tspn coarse black pepper 

1 and half tspn ginger and garlic (blended)

1 and half tsp cumin powder

Egg and breadcrumbs (optional) 

4 packets white bread (I used Hovis medium)

Paste made with plain flour and water (to seal edges)

METHOD:

Clean and wash the chicken fillets and cut in to large cubes.  In a large pot melt the butter and add the chicken fillets with the salt and pepper and cook on medium heat until all of the water burns off.  Keep stirring every so often. While chicken is cooking in a food processor chop the coriander with 1 tin of sweetcorn. 

Once chicken is cooked and water has completely burned off, turn off cooker and let it Cool slightly and by hand shred the chicken. Once shredded turn on cooker again to medium heat and add the green chillies, the chopped coriander/sweetcorn mix, ginger/garlic and cumin powder. Let this all cook together making sure it’s not sticking to the bottom of the pot. Once any moisture has disappeared, turn off cooker and while still warm add the Philadelphia and the other tin of sweetcorn (drained) and mix all well until everything is nicely combined and creamy. Taste for salt and add if necessary.  Let the mixture cool completely before filling. 

I will also show you in pictures how to fill the bread rolls.  Any questions please feel free to ask. 

 Cook the chicken in butter and add the salt and pepper

  Once cooked and slightly cool shred with your hands

  In the meantime chop the coriander and sweetcorn in a food processor 
  Add the coriander/sweetcorn mix and the other spices and mix well
  Cook again on medium heat until all moisture has evaporated
  Once you turn off the cooker add the Philadelphia cream cheese and the other tin of sweetcorn and mix all together until well combined and now it’s ready to be filled

Now the pictures will show you how to fill the bread rolls 

  Cut off all crusts of the bread, I take 3 at a time and then heat in the microwave for 10 seconds 
  Take one bread and roll it completely flat making sure the edges are completely rolled flat
  Put a couple of teaspoons of the creamy chicken mixture into the middle of the bread slice and generously apply the flour paste on the edges of the bread (not on the bottom edge)

  Fold over the bottom half of the bread one third of the way so it covers the mix
  Fold over the top half to overlap and seal the edges properly ensuring no gaps 
  All prepped and ready to be frozen or deep fried 

  Obviously I had to sample a few 😜

Salams all hope you’re all well..I wasn’t planning on making this one a blog post…but have had a few requests for it…I’ve just started my Ramadhan preps today and thought to start off with something easy to get into the swing of it..the fact that these are 2 favourites combined and that there’s no cooking involved will appeal to a lot of people…these actually do taste like pizza as it has all of everyone’s fave pizza toppings…you can omit or add any other ingredients if you like…I found that spring onions made the mix a bit soggy so don’t add that anymore…also there’s no specific measurements..add more or less of whatever ingredient you like the most.

Enjoy 🍕🍕🍕

INGREDIENTS:
3 coloured peppers 1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow (cubed small)

1 jar Sundried tomatoes (chopped)

Olives (chopped)

Polony (cubed)

1 tin Sweetcorn (drained) 

Grated Mozzarella and cheddar cheese (as required)

Black pepper/salt/oregano

Cheese & onion crisps (optional)

Spring onions (optional)

METHOD:

In a large bowl mix all the above. Season well. Fill samosa pastry as usual.

  All ingredients in a bowl before seasoning and adding the cheeses 
  Pizza Samosa filling after adding seasoning and cheddar and mozzarella cheese