Food

Chicken mince cooked with soya granules and white pumpkin 

The whole idea of this dish is to reduce the amount of meat that one would normally feel compelled to eat. This dish takes the classic kheema recipe with a green masala and incorporates soya and white pumpkin, Pumpkin as a vegetable does not have a strong taste by itself and hence it willingly absorbs the flavours of the chicken mince. If you don’t want the children in the house ( both big and small) to know you have added pumpkin cut the vegetable into a nice brunoise. Brumoise ( tiny dice) is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is first julienned and then turned a quarter turn and diced again, producing cubes of about 3 mm or less on each side, or 1/8-inch dice. This will simply mask the pumpkin in with the the mince. The soya granules too do an excellent job of masquerading as mince. 

For green masala

Fresh corriander(kothari) – one cup
Green chillies – 10
Cardamom- 5
Cumin – one teaspoon
Cinnamon- 2 inch piece
Cloves – 5
Ginger – 1.5 inch piece
Garlic – 10 cloves
Vinegar – 2 table spoons
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Some recipes also add one tea spoon of black pepper

Today I used quarter kilo of chicken mince, 75 grams of soya granules ( that’s a lot considering how light it is in weight) and half a kilo of white pumpkin. I sautéed one large finely chopped onion with four minced green chillies in a pan. I added two large finely chopped tomotoes (this gives it body as well as the tangy taste). Add a teaspoon of ginger and garlic paste. I then added four large tablespoons of the green masala and cooked this in the tomato and onion mixture for about one minute. Add salt to taste. Now add two cups of water and cook this gravy for about seven minutes on a high flame. The oil will begin to float on the surface and this is an indicator that the masala and the gravy have cooked.

Now add the mince, the soya granules that you soaked in water for ten minutes ( squeeze the excess water out ) and the white pumpkin. Cook for ten minutes and garnish with fresh coriander and if you like it spicy add two whole slit green chillies. You can squeeze a bit or lime just before serving.

You will notice that this dish has protein and roughage. The family won’t be able to tell between the chicken mince and the soya granules.

 – Fr Warner D’Souza who also goes by the name of PottyPadre

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Food

Orange Peel Powder and sun drying your herbs and vegetables. 

Many of you have been asking about celery and orange peel powder which I used yesterday.

I have been sun drying a lot of vegetables and herbs and yes even fruits like apples. As soon as something does not look too good on the shelf it is sun dried and stored; garlic and onion being the exception. You can either dehydrate in an oven on very low heat for several hours or make use of this hot summer to sun dry stuff. I dry orange peels, celery, garlic, onions, ginger, methi leaves, coriander stalks etc.

With most vegetables, it helps if you finely chop your items to be dried and then dry them. This way it dries quickly. Some items like onions may need to be dried and then put in the microvave or an oven to crisp it further but be careful as it can burn quickly. Keep your eye on it in the microwave.

I used orange peel powder to flavour food, in hot water which I drink (a pinch is enough) or even in a cocktail. Notice the colour in the image which clearly shows you how potent a pinch of orange peel powder to a cup of hot water changes the colour of the water. It does wonders for my cold. I even add a pinch to my black coffee to flavour the coffee. 

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Food

BBQ chicken

Dinner was cooked in a new cast iron pan given to me as a gift from my sister Cherida Fernandez and brother in law Craig Fernandez.

I split half the chicken that I purchased this morning and used some for the stew which I made for lunch and the remaining I marinated with some BBQ sauce made by organic larder ( also a gift from my sister ). To about four table spoons of this sauce I added one tea spoon of chilli powder and half a tea spoon of crushed pepper powder, one tea spoon of ginger and garlic paste and salt to taste.

After resting the meat for six hours I sautéd six cloves of garlic in hot oil and dropped in the chicken with the marinade. I added a little water and cooked till the gravy reduced to a thick sauce. ( alternatively you could use corn flour). I finished the dish with homemade dried celery powder and home made orange peel powder. Garnish with pomegranate to break the deep brown colour. This is best eaten with a side of white rice and grilled or boiled vegetables.

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Faith

Be bold and don’t fold – Monday, 2nd Week in Easter tide – Acts 4:23-31

The Apostles Peter and John have been threatened by the Sanhedrin not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Making it clear that they will not stand down to the dictates of men, the apostles are allowed to walk free. However we know from the Acts of the Apostles that the next time they will be beaten and Stephen will be stoned.

It is interesting to note where the apostles now head to. We are told in the opening lines of today’s text that they went to their ‘friends’ or as some texts put it, to ‘their own’. In challenging moments we may often feel tempted to find comfort in things, the apostles find their support group. But this is not just any support group; this is a group that is proactive, prayerful and prepared.

The first response of these ‘friends’ was prayer. In fact the book of Acts in Chapters 3 and 4 is simply a template of prayer for times of trial that will be duplicated all through the Acts of the Apostles. The modern world is tempted to respond to trials by garnering public opinion, not so with the Early Church; their proactive response is to go to the right court of appeal; to God in prayer. When we understand that the book of the Acts is the blueprint of the Church we will also learn to accept that this must be the response of The Church in times of trial and I don’t mean this only as a collective trial but even when we stand individually in need of God’s grace.

This prayer that they make also has a pattern. It does not deal first with the problem at hand but rather who can deal the next hand; God alone. The prayer that the Church makes reminds them of who God is; omnipotent and above all. They remind each other that God is creator and bigger than the problem they face. Often in difficult moments we tell God first how big our problem is. The next time tell your problem how big your God is.

What is also interesting is not merely the first response but that this response to cry to God was of one mind, it was a united response. We are told that the group “raised their voices together.” My professor, the late Fr Leslie Ratus would often say to us in class that the worst scandal of the Church is not its sexual sins but that we do not stand united as one. This was the prayer of Jesus, “that they may be one, just as you and I Father are one.”

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Food

Paneer and curry

½ kg paneer

¼ kg shlled fresh or frozen peas

One teaspoon ginger and garlic paste

Four red chillies

Six cardamoms

One inch piece of cinnamon

Twenty cashew seeds

Ten black peppers

One tea spoon jeera

One tea spoon coriander seeds

Quarter tea spoon haldi

One big onion

Four big ripe tomatoes

In a mixer reduce to a pulp one onion and the four tomatoes. Add some oil in a pan and pour in the mixture. Let the raw taste of the onion and tomato cook out for about seven to ten minutes. You might need to add about quarter cup water.

While this is happening fry in some oil the paneer which you have diced and set this aside. You just need to colour it a bit. You can soak this cooked paneer in warm water and use the same water into the dish. If you paneer is not great this keeps the paneer nice and moist. I did not fry the paneer in this dish.

Grind the ingredients for the masala to a paste.  Now in a pot add some oil and then the masala. Add a bit of water and cook the masala for two minutes. To this add the tomato and onion mixture which by now has lost its overpowering raw flavor and cook the two mixtures together till you get a nice gravy. When this gravy has cooked (you will know since the oil begins to float on the surface) add the paneer (with a little paneer water if you have soaked it in water as the paneer releases its flavor in the water too) and the peas

Cook this for a while till all the flavours marry. If you have used frozen peas go easy on the cooking at this stage as you will end up with a mash. If using frozen peas just drop them in a minute before the dish is done. The heat will do the rest.

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