Chicken with green beans

Serves 8 - 10

Ingredients:

Dough:

* 1 passata package

* 1/2 cup olive oil

* 2 onions

* 2 carrots

* 1 bunch parsley 

* 1kg green beans

* 1kg chicken

*a pinch of cinnamon 

*salt and pepper

*smoked paprika 

*2 bay leaves

Preparation:

Cut the onions and the carrots, finely cut the parsley and clean and cut the green beans. 

Cut the chicken in parts and use half of the oil to softly grill the chicken in a pan. 

Put the chicken in a bowl and use the rest of the olive oil to grill the onion in the same pan. 

Add the green beans and give it a steer. 

Add the passata, some water and all the spices and herbs (salt, pepper, smoked paprika, cinnamon, parsley and bay leaves).

Cover the pot and let it slowly cook until the beans are soft.

Add water if needed.

Finally, add the chicken in the pot and let it boil one more time.

Serve it with a generous piece of feta cheese, a slice of warm bread.

Enjoy your meal!

Mike & Leda

Lahmacun

Serves 8 - 10

Ingredients:

Dough:

* 1kg flour

* 50g butter

* 42g east

* 4 teaspoons salt

* 300ml warm water

* 300ml milk

* 2 teaspoons sugar

Topping:

* 300g ground lamb meat (I used beef)

* 2 tomatoes

* 1 big onion

* Parsley

* 3 red paprika's

* 35g tomato puree

* 4 tablespoons sunflower oil

* 180ml water

* 4 teaspoons salt

* 4 teaspoons chili flakes

Preparation:

Combine all the ingredients of the dough in a bowl and knead it well until it is hardly sticky and starts to form a ball. Cover the bowl with a teacloth for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile we will make the topping.

Cut the tomatoes, onion and paprika in small pieces and chop the parsley. Put it in the blender and blend.

Take the ground meat in a bowl and add the blended vegetables. Also add the tomato puree and sunflower oil. Sprinkle the salt and chili flakes over the ground meat mixture and add the water. Knead it thoroughly until everything is blended together nicely.

Now we shall make the pizza's. Start to preheat the oven to 220 C, make small balls from the dough the size of a tennis ball and use a rolling pin to make nice flat circular "wraps". Use some flour on the kitchen counter to make this step easier and less sticky. 

Since my oven is rather small I had to make the pizza's one by one, which cost me a lot of time. Take the pizza on an oven sheet and put some of the meat mixture on top spreading it well on the surface. Put in the oven and cook for 5 - 7 minutes. The sides should be crispy and the bottom should be cooked. 

Repeat this step to finish all the pizza's. I got about 14 - 15 pizza's from this.

After all the pizza's are done, serve them with garlic sauce and a salad of choice.
Enjoy your meal!

Mike & Leda

KFChicken with Coleslaw

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

Chicken

* Chicken pieces

* 1 Cup of flour

* 1 Cup of Panko
* Salt to taste
* Black pepper to taste
* 1 Teaspoon of cayenne pepper

* 1 Spoon of oregano

* Buttermilk

Coleslaw
* 0.5 Cabbage
* 6 Carrots

* 1 Handful of raisins

* Mayonnaise

* Buttermilk
* Apple vinegar

* 1 Spoon honey or castor sugar

* 1 Teaspoon cumin powder

Preparation:

You can deep fry the chicken (180 C) or bake it in the oven (200 C, 35 minutes), the latter is healthier.

Mix the ingredients for the chicken in a bowl except the chicken and buttermilk. Mix well, so the spices gets evenly blended. In a separate bowl pour 1 cup of buttermilk (or enough to coat all your chicken).

If you are using the oven, coat an oven plate with tin foil and preheat the oven on 200 C. Now grease the tin foil with either oil or butter. Put the chicken in the buttermilk and put it in the flour mix, coating it evenly. Place on the oven plate.

Once you are done with the chicken, put the plate in the oven and cook a total of 35 minutes, taking the chicken out every 10 minutes to spray it with a bit of oil, not too much, or the coating will let go!

Keep in mind that if you keep the skin on the chicken, it melts and wets the coating from the inside. Leave alone for the last 15 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the coleslaw. Make a marinade of the mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, honey and cumin powder. Put the raisins in hot water and let them soak for a while. Rasp the carrot and add to the marinade, mixing it well. Now add the drained raisins. Cut the cabbage in thin strips and add to the mix. Stir so everything gets coated evenly with the marinade, and leave alone.
The salad tastes best if it is made one night before.

Once the chicken is done, serve with the salad and some fries.

Enjoy your meal!

Mike & Leda

Tikka Mahala Chicken

serves 4 - 6 

Ingredients:

* Coriander (optional, for garnish)

* Boiled Rice 

Marinade

* 600g Chicken Breast

* 1 Cup Greek yogurt

* 1 Spoon lemon juice

* 1 Spoon minced ginger

* 2 Teaspoons cumin powder 

* 1 Teaspoon cinnamon powder

* 2 Teaspoon cayenne pepper powder (more to taste)

* 2 Teaspoon black pepper ( more to taste)

* Salt to taste

Sauce

* 2 Tablespoons Butter

* 2 Teaspoon minced garlic

* 1 Spoon of lemon juice

* 1,5 Teaspoon turmeric powder

* Sambal Oelek (to taste)

* 2 Teaspoons Cumin powder

* 2 Teaspoons paprika powder

* Salt to taste

* 1 Package of passata

* 250g Creme fraiche

* Meat juices from the grilled chicken (optional)

* 3-4 Large carrots

* 1-2 Potatoes

Preparation:

This recipe is famous from the game Ni No Kuni, and I made it with the help of the amazing blog: Fiction-Food. The real recipe (also the in game recipe) uses beef, and can be found here.
I used chicken in this recipe because it is cheaper here.

Mix the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. Cut the chicken in 1 cm pieces and mix with the marinade. Leave for a few hours.

Meanwhile cut the potatoes and carrots in 1 cm cubes and boil the until they are tender.
Now put the chicken on skewers and grill the chicken. You can use a grillpan, the grill of the oven, or the oven on 200 C and cook them for 30 minutes, turning them after 15 min.

Now make the sauce by melting the butter. When the butter is hot enough, add the garlic and sambal. Simmer for 1 minute, after that add all the herbs. Simmer for 1 minute more, and then add the passata, lemon juice and creme fraiche. Leave alone for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally.

Now boil the rice.
After this add the chicken (and the optional meat juice) to the sauce and mix well. Cook for 10 minutes more before adding the carrot and potatoes. Mix well and leave alone for 2 minutes.
The food is ready now!

Server with rice and optionally decorate with coriander.

Enjoy your meal!

Mike & Leda

Leda's Tzatziki

Serves a party

Ingredients:

* 1 Kg Greek Yogurt (10% fat)

* 1 cucumber, grated

* 4 Garlic cloves (or to taste)

* 20g Dill

* Vinegar to taste

* Olive oil to taste
* Salt to taste

Preparation:

Cut the cucumber however you like, and press the water out of them using a sieve.
Finely cut the dill and press the garlic in a garlic press and add everything to the yogurt. Now add the salt, vinegar and olive oil to taste and mix. For the best taste, leave alone for one hour so the flavours can blend.

Use it as a sauce and/or side for a lot of dishes.

I hope you like it.

Regards,

Mike & Leda

Chili con carne

serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

* 4 cans of kidney beans

* 2 cans of tomato cubes

* 1 can of corn

* 4 sweet pointy paprika's

* 3 middle sized onion

* 4 garlic cloves

* 350g minced meat (I used half and half)

* 1 beef stock cube

* 2 Spanish peppers or red jalapeño

* 1 spoon of brown castor sugar

* 1 package of passata (optional)

* Chili seasoning

* Cumin powder (optional)
* Chili powder (optional)

Preparation:

Cut the onion and paprika in cubes and mince the garlic with a rasp. If you use whole peppers, cut them in slices.

Heat up a casserole and stir fry the minced meat until it falls apart. Now add the paprika, onion, garlic and the chili seasoning. and stir fry until the meat is browned. Now add the tomato cubes and keep stirring. Add the stock cube and the sugar. Bring to the boil stirring occasionally.

Now add the kidney beans, along with the juice of 2 of the 4 cans and stir to blend. Add the corn and stir again.  If your sauce is watery you can add passata until the sauce has your preferable thickness.

At this point you can serve it, or adjust the flavour to your liking by using cumin powder and/or chili powder.

Serve with rice, nacho's or a salad as a side.

Enjoy your meal!

Regards,

Mike & Leda

Pasta funghi e pomodori secchi

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

* 750g mushrooms

* 3 cloves of garlic

* 3 spoons of fresh basil

* 200 to 250 g sun dried tomatoes

* 150 g stock (I used chicken, but mushroom stock tastes better).

* 250g creme fraiche

* 100g grated Parmesan

* Pepper and salt to taste

Preparations:

Cut the mushroom and tomatoes in slices. Finely chop the garlic and the basil and boil the water for the stock. When the water is boiling, add the stock cube and let it dissolve under occasional stirring. Set aside.

Cook the pasta according to the package.

Heat up a saute pan and add some olive oil. Stir fry the mushrooms on medium heat for 1 minute and add the garlic. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes more and add the tomatoes. Put the heat on low.

Now add the stock to the mushrooms and stir to blend. Let it cook slowly until the stock dissolves a little. Now add the creme fraiche and bring to boil, but immediately put the heat on low when it boils.

Add the Parmesan and stir until dissolved.
Now it is time to add the basil. Stir to blend and taste. Add salt and/or pepper if you prefer.

The pasta should be done by now. Rinse with cold water to cool it down a bit and add it to the saucemix.

Stir to blend and serve.

We hope you like this recipe, we definitely enjoyed this dish.
See you soon!

Mike & Leda