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Soji

Quick and Easy (serves 6)

Even though it seems the recipe has too much butter, believe me it is
necessary. As long as you follow the recipe using the exact amounts, you
will have perfectly soft and delicious soji

Ingredients

250g Butter
1 cup Taystee Wheat or Semolina
1 litre Milk
1 extra large egg
1 tin condensed milk
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut (optional)
1 teaspoon elachi powder (freshly ground)
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon egg yellow or pinch saffron
2 tablespoons sultanas (optional)
1 tin Nestles Cream
Almonds and pistachios (slivered)

Method:
In a large bowl whisk together the milk and egg. Melt butter in a pot on medium
heat. Add the cinnamon stick and taystee wheat and stir continuously until it turns
a pinkish colour. Remove from stove. Add the sultanas, coconut and milk/egg mixture, whisking to prevent lumps forming. Now place the pot on low heat whisking
continuously. When the milk heats up and it starts to thicken, remove from stove and
add the condensed milk, elachi powder and saffron/egg yellow Place on stove again
and allow to thicken further.
Preheat your oven to 180C and place pot (covered) in oven for approximately 10 to
15 minutes. It must be soft and sticky (not grainy) when done. Garnish with Nestles
cream, and slivered almonds/pistachios I promise you, this recipe is superb!
PS: Using freshly ground elachi powder makes a huge difference! Simply toast the
elachi seeds in a frying pan, cool and crush with a rolling pin.

Kheer
Ingredients
1 1/2 L milk
1/3 cup of rice of choice
1 tablespoons slivered almonds
2 tablespoons coconut
1 teaspoon ground elachi
1 tin condensed milk
1 tin Nestl cream
Few strands saffron

Method
Soak rice in cold water for about 30 minutes. Bring milk to boil and add rice.
Lower heat and simmer slowly till rice
is cooked and mixture has a consistancy
of a thin porridge. Add the almonds,
coconut,saffron,condensed milk and Nestl
cream. Serve hot. Although some prefer it
chilled.

Aloo Fry
Ingredients
5 meduim potatoes ( cut into circles or diced)
1 green pepper diced
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 teaspoon jeera seeds
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon tal (sesame seeds)
1 teaspoon of each: salt, tumeric powder, red
chillie powder, dhania/jeera powder.

Method
Braise jeera, mustard seeds, and tal( sesame
seeds) in oil. Add the potatoes, green peppers
and spices with a 1/4 cup of water. Steam on
meduim heat till done.

Khitchri
Ingredients
2 cups rice of choice,
1/4 teaspoon tumeric powder (arad)
1 cup oil dhal
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4 black peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt
5 cups water

Method
Soak the oil dhal in cold water for about an
hour. Wash well. Boil water, add the oil dhal,
boil for 15 minutes. Wash rice and add with
the other ingredients to the oil dhal and boil.
Test the grain of rice. When there is a hint of
kernel, drain and rinse well. Place the rice
back into the pot, and add 1 cup of water
and add a green chillie. Steam until done.
Saut a little onion with ghee and pour over
the rice. Serve with Khuri.

Khuri
Ingredients
500 ml Inkomasi or Greek yoghurt
1 Tablespoon chana flour*
1 small onion *
1 teaspoon salt*
1 small bunch green dhania *
2 green chillies *
1 tablespoon coconut *
1 teaspoon crushed garlic *
1 tablespoon ghee
1 teaspoon fresh ginger *
1 teaspoon dhania powder*
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
6 black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon methi (fenugreek) seeds
1/2 teaspoon jeera seeds
Curry leaves

Method
Liquidise together all ingredients marked with an asterix. In a pot, add the ghee
and the rest of tbe ingredients, and saut. Add the sour milk mixture and allow to
boil, stirring constantly to avoid curdling. Serve with Khitchri.
This dish can be served with a host of side dishes
Aloo fry, fried brinjal, bhinda(okra), chicken or mince curry, fish curry or fried
fish,tin fish chutney and steak chutney and a green chutney completes the meal.

Dhal Gosht
Ingredients:
350g mutton or chicken (cubed, preferably on
bone)
1 teaspoon ginger/garlic
2 teaspoons dhunia/jeera powder
3 teaspoons chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to tast1/2 teaspoon whole jeera seeds
1 teaspoon gharum masala
2 pieces cinnamon sticks
3 whole elachi
3 whole cloves
teaspoon crushed black pepper
cup cooking oil
1 large onion (sliced)
cup chopped or grated tomatoes
OR 1 sachet tomato paste
1 bunch dhunia (chopped)
A few sprigs curry leaves
1 bunch shallot (spring onions) chopped
1 cups oil dhal or pea dhal
cup whole or split masoor dhal
1 tablespoon chana (gram) dhal
cup whole moongh dhal

Method:

seeds. Add meat and all spices and whole seeds.

Allow spices to fry on low heat until you get the
aroma of the fried spices and it starts to catch at
the bottom of the pot. Now add tomatoes and
allow to cook a further 10 to 12 minutes, until
tomatoes softened and cooked through. If using paste, cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Now add
the cooked dhals and some boiling water (if too
thick) and allow to simmer on a low heat for
45 minutes to 1 hour (stirring often to prevent
scorching). Add gharum masala, greens and vagaar

VAGAAR:
3 tablespoons ghee or butter
1 small onion (sliced)
2 whole green chillies (Slit)
1 teaspoon whole jeera seeds
1 teaspoon crushed garlic

Method:
Fry onions and jeera until golden brown, add
garlic and chillies. Fry further 1 minute and
add to pot together with greens and gharum
masala.

Serve with braised rice and salads. Boil 2 to 3 taWash and drain lentils (dhals) and boil in salted blespoons chana (gram) dhal in water until soft
water in a pressure cooker until completely soft. but still whole (not mushy). Boil rice in salted
Use a stick blender to make smoother.
water. Drain. Add boiled chana dhal. Toss well.
Fry 1 medium onion in 3 tablespoons butter unBraise onion in oil together with whole jeera til golden brown and toss over rice.

Aloo Paratha (makes 4)

This is my take on Aloo Paratha (South African Style). The traditional method is to boil the
potatoes, then add spices and finely chopped onion to the boiled, mashed potato. I prefer doing
it the following way:

Ingredients: Filling
4 to 5 medium potatoes (peeled and chopped
into cubes)
1 medium onion (finely sliced)
1 teaspoon garlic (finely ground)
teaspoon whole mustard seeds
teaspoon whole jeera seeds
Salt to taste
1 sprig curry leaves
bunch dhunia (washed and finely chopped)
2 green chillies (finely chopped
teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red crushed chillies
3 tablespoons cooking oil

Ingredients: Dough

2 cups Wheat Flour

teaspoon fine salt
1 tablespoons butter ghee / cooking oil
Water to make dough (room temperature)

Method: Filling

Heat the cooking oil in a pot. Add mustard

and jeera seeds. When it starts popping, add
the finely chopped onions and braise until
softened and golden brown. Add ground garlic, curry leaves potato and spices (not green
chillies and dhunia) Add a little water to allow the potatoes to cook. When potatoes are
cooked through, remove the curry leaves and
crush the potatoes with a potato masher until smooth, then add the finely chopped green
chillies and dhunia. (Please make sure these
are finely chopped or they will cut through the
dough when rolling). Make sure there are no
potato lumps as this will cause problems when
rolling

Method: Dough
Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the salt and rub
in the ghee/oil. Make a soft, pliable dough with
the water. Wrap in some lightly oiled cling

wrap and set aside for an hour.

Method: Rolling
There are 2 ways that this can be done I prefer method 2
Method 1: Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each out to about 5 to 6 inches in
diameter. Place a large lump of filling in the
centre and bring the sides together around the
filling, twisting and pinching the dough together on the top, ensuring that the dough encloses
all the filling and there are no gaps. Flatten this
on a floured surface and gently roll out. Repeat
with the rest of the dough.
Method 2: Divide the dough in 8 pieces. Roll
each out into a circle (4 to 5 inches in diameter). Place a large lump of filling in the centre, spreading the filling to within 1 inch of the
sides. Now place the 2nd roti over this. Gently
fold the sides over (about 1cm of dough around
the sides), sealing the edges. Roll out to about 6
inches in diameter.
Cooking process: Preheat a griddle/skillet/
tawa on medium heat. Lightly grease and add
the paratha. Cook until golden brown, dab
lightly with ghee, turn over and cook the other
side until golden brown as well.
PS: Make sure the griddle is on medium heat
because if the heat is too low, the parathas will
be stiff and if it is too hot, it will burn.
Serve with yoghurt, Chillie sauce or mango/
lemon pickle.