Becca's Bistro

Samosas

I have become way too fond of frying recently.  There are plenty of disadvantages to frying: The house smells, the smoke alarm goes off and the oil is a pain to dispose of, oh and fried food makes you fat and prone to a fatal heart attack.  But I still can't stop frying, fried food just tastes so good and crispy. 

I love Indian food and these little snacks are so moreish.  I have also become addicted to watching cookery demos on Youtube.  It is so nice to see how to create something I have eaten in a restaurant with step by step demonstrations.  I got the basic method of making these from a lady called Manjula.  Her video is in three parts and if you open Youtube and search for samosas she should appear.  I would post the link but my Youtube links don't work very well, maybe because Youtube is banned here in Turkey and watching it takes a little creativity (shush!).  Her website is www.ManjulasKitchen.com.

Although I love cooking, my motor skills are not very good and I actually hate people watching me cook, or indeed do anything with my hands, so I will not be posting any cookery demos anytime soon.

In my recipe, I used slightly different ingredients as I have no Asian store nearby.  I also doubled her dough recipe as I found her recipe made samosas which were a bit small and fiddly for a first timer.  Instead of holding the samosa like an icecream cone and filling it, I left it on the chopping board and held the end open with my thumb, I found it easier to fill and seal in this position.

Ingredients for Samosas

This recipe will make 8 Samosas. 

FOR CRUST

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon wholemeal flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons+ 2 teaspoons oil
1/2 cup luke warm water
FOR FILLING
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup green peas (cooked)
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
a good pinch hot chilli flakes
a good pinch salt

Put the flours and salt in a bowl and add the oil.  Mix with the tips of your fingers until starting to bind.  Very slowly add the water (you won't need it all, reserve what you don't use) mixing in the same way.  Then knead the ball of dough briefly.  Set aside to rest for 20 minutes or longer if possible.

In the meantime, boil the potatoes until tender.  Fluff up slightly and allow to cool off.  Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the spices, then add the peas and potatoes.  Mix together and leave the mixture to cool again.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Now divide the dough into four balls.  Flatten them slightly and with a rolling pin roll  out the first one on a chopping board to a circle of six to eight inches in diameter.  You should not need to add flour during the rolling.  Take a knife and divide into semi-circles.

Wet the edges of each semi circle.  Take the straight edge and fold it corner to corner and seal that edge, holding the round edges apart with your thumb.  Put some filling into the opening and seal up with your fingers to form a triangular shaped parcel.  Repeat for each.

Fry the samosas in medium hot oil for about 2 minutes on each side.  Drain on kitchen paper and serve with chutney.

Spicy Skewered Kebabs

I have been making variations of these for many years. They are a quick and tasty way of using minced beef.  To be honest, I have found the cheaper the mince (i.e. more fatty and squishy) the better the kebabs!  You can choose your own combination and strength of spices so the recipe below is just a suggestion.  You can also make them with minced lamb if you prefer.

I am not really sure what to call these kebabs.  Some recipe books would call them kofte kebabs.  Here in Turkey, köfte is a type of meat ball, usually with bread crumbs added, so it doesn't feel quite right to me anymore to call them köfte.  In Turkey, there are other minced meat kebabs, named after their cities of origin, such as Adnana kebabs or Urfa kebabs which are usually spiced in a certain way.  They are long kebabs formed around metal skewers.

Once a Palestinian student of mine saw me making these and he, non-cook though he was, pushed me aside and rolled them adroitly with one hand to form much nicer more regular shapes than I had.

I usually cook them on the kitchen grill.  I advise not placing them too near to the source of heat, and put them on open bars with a foil covered tray below, to allow the fat to drip through.  Watch carefully, I caught mine on fire a couple of weeks ago!  They are also great for barbecues.

Serve with plain rice and a mixed salad.

Ingredients for Spicy Skewered Kebabs (makes about 8 kebabs)

half a kilo of minced beef or lamb
1 teaspoon salt
a large pinch black pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves if making lamb kebabs
1 large clove garlic
1 small onion
1 teaspoon mild chilli powder or a quarter teaspoon hot chilli flakes
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon allspice (if you are in Turkey you can use kofte spice)

You can either combine the ingredients by hand or use a food processor.

By hand:

Grate the onion and mince or finely chop the garlic.

Place in bowl with seasonings, herbs and meat.  Knead together until minced meat is soft and all ingredients well incorporated.

Food processor:

Place roughly chopped onion and garlic clove in processor, with meat and seasonings.  Process until all incorporated.

Roll mixture into roughly shaped sausages.  If meat is too moist, refrigerate until firm enough to mould.  Put wooden skewers into the meat and press around with your fingers.  Grill, turning a couple of times during cooking.  Under a moderate grill they should take around 20 minutes to cook through.  A moderate grill is best as they cook in the centre without getting too charred on the outside.

Daktoritang (Korean chicken stew)

A few years ago, some Korean students kindly came to my house and cooked up a Korean feast for me.  One of the dishes was this chicken stew cooked by Lee Moon Gil.  Despite having really enjoyed this meal and since lived in Korea, until recently I had never attempted Korean cooking myself.

When I lived in Korea, I had no need to cook and little equipment to do so.  My employers provided me with dinner on weekdays and at weekends it was cheaper to eat out than buy groceries.  My meals at work were usually the cheapest available, comprising little meat and veg and lots of noodles.  When I left Korea I had rather tired of the cuisine.

Recently though, I came to crave it again.  It is not as well-known as Chinese or even Japanese food, but for people who like their food spicy, it is very palatable.  It has influences from other Asian nations but is not usually cooked in a wok.  One of the most important ingredients is a red spicy paste called gochujang.  On a recent visit to England I bought some, luckily I have a Korean store in walking distance of my home there.

I feel slightly apologetic about posting yet another chicken recipe, but as I have said before it is about all I can afford to buy here! My husband said he could eat this every night, so I felt it was worth posting.  Thanks to Moon Gil who e-mailed me the recipe.  I had to modify the recipe slightly to what was available and I admit I reduced the spices.  Here is how I made daktoritang.

Ingredients for daktoritang

sufficient chicken per person (I used one chicken quarter per person)
1 medium onion
1 large carrot/ 2 small carrots
2 medium potatoes
1 chilli pepper sliced
salt
large pinch black pepper
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 tablepoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons gochujang (4 tablespoons for Koreans)
1 tsp chilli powder (or 2 tablespoons if you are Korean)
3 spring onions, chopped
sufficient water to cover the chicken

Wash and dry the chicken pieces.  If you wish you can marinade in Japanese cooking wine, but I omitted this.

Place in stock pot and cover with water.  Put on the lid and bring to the boil.  Add salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic, gochujang and chilli.  Simmer for about 40 minutes with lid on.  Add potatoes, carrots and onions and chilli pepper, cover and cook for another 20 mins to half an hour.  About ten minutes before the end of cooking add the spring onions.

Serve with plain boiled rice.