Wednesday, November 16th - Happy Birthday Patti!

 

 

Conditions at 6:15 am: 6' and clear skies, heading for a sunny 10' later

I had a lovely chat with Patti yesterday, as she was hanging around the St. John's airport. She's heading there again today. It's really too bad that she doesn't get to fly into Charlottetown because then I could take my lunch hour when she's waiting for the flight back and we could visit. The airport here is so close to my work. Hopefully I'll be able to catch her today to wish her a happy birthday, but I did wish her one yesterday just in case we don't connect today.

Well, we did our Lebanese food last night. It was my first attempt and for the most part it was definitely a learning experience. We were happy with the results but there are a few things that we can improve upon the next time. We needed more filling for the quantity of bread and we also need more sauce. I'm not sure what kind of sauce is on the meat at the restaurant because it was much more yoghurty than ours turned out but they were still not bad. The rice turned out pretty good as well. It was a good first attempt and the girls were impressed with themselves.

We also made samosa and they were good although the amount of salt in the dough needed to be reduced. But the filling was good. We did deep fried ones although I think the oil needed to be a bit hotter. They were not quite as dark and puffy as the ones I've had before but they were tasty. We also did a batch in puff pastry. They were quite good as well.

So only one more class left before the pot luck. Brenda and I were talking last night on the way home and while we've both really enjoyed it, we're kind of glad to see the end get here. It is quite a bit of work and of course taking on another job didn't help either. But it really has been fun this year. Next week we're going to try out hand at cabbage rolls and pierogies. Stay tuned for updates.

In the meantime, here;s the recipe for the samosa. They were a bit fiddly but tasty. The rest we still need to work on.

Vegetable Samosas

Filling

The cooked filling 

1 Potato finely diced (5 to 10 mill cubes)
1 carrot finely diced - as above
2 cloves of crushed garlic.
1 Onion finely chopped
1 Cup of frozen peas
1 tblspn vegetable oil
2 tspn curry powder or your own spices according to taste
Salt, Pepper to taste.
100ml of vegetable stock.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic, mix in  the spices and fry until soft. Add the vegetables, seasoning and stir well until coated. Add the stock, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until cooked.

Now it's time for the pastry.

Making the Samosa Pastry

You don't have to make your own pastry. You can simply buy some ready-made pastry from the shop. For samosas you want to fry, use Filo Pastry and for samosas you want to cook in the oven use Puff Pastry.

This recipe will make enough pastry for 24 samosas and you will need:

The deep fried ones

225gm. plain flour
2 tspn. salt
2tblspb. vegetable oil
80 ml warm water.
Mix flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well into the centre and add the oil and enough water to make a firm dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth and roll into a ball. Cover in plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Divide the pastry into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and roll out into a circle of 15 cm. Divide this circle into two equal pieces with a knife.
Brush each edge with a little water and form a cone shape around your fingers, sealing the dampened edge.
Fill the cases with a tblpns of your chosen mixture and press the two dampened edges together to seal the top of the cone.
Deep fry the samosas in hot oil until crisp and brown take out and drain

Baking Samosas in an Oven

While samosas are traditionally fried, many people prefer to bake them in the oven as it is more convenient and healthier. (although I'm not sure puff pastry is necessarily healthier!)

The puff pastry version

When using an oven buy ready-made Puff Pastry.
Divide the pastry into 12 equal pieces.
Roll each piece into a ball and roll out into a circle of 15 cm.
Divide this circle into two equal pieces with a knife.
Brush each edge with a little water and form a cone shape around your fingers, sealing the dampened edge.
Fill the cases with a tblpns of your chosen mixture and press the two dampened edges together to seal the top of the cone.
Put the samosas on a lightly greased baking tray.
Beat one egg and lightly brush over each samosa.
Cooking times should be displayed on the Puff Pastry packaging.
Cool on a wire tray after removing from the oven.