Pumpkin Fritters

A batch of pumpkin fritters being fried in oil

The first time I ever tried Pumpkin Fritters was when I was a child at boarding school in South Africa. They were usually served as a vegetable side dish to a main meal such as a roast. I vividly remember them being very oily, and the oil that oozed out of them was usually an orange colour – egh !

I make sure that mine are not too oily by ensuring that the oil I fry them in is VERY hot. I also always drain them on and blot them with kitchen paper after frying.

These can be served as a ‘savoury’ vegetable side dish but the way I like to eat them is as a dessert – sprinkled with a little cinnamon sugar and with some lemon juice squeezed over the top of them. (Can you tell that I have a sweet tooth ?!)

I know that Corn Fritters are popular in other parts of the world, but I must confess that I’ve never tried making any. Perhaps I should give them a try sometime, too ?

Pumpkin Fritters

2 cups Pumpkin, cooked & mashed (drain as much water off as you can before mashing)
5 heaped tbsp Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Cinnamon, ground
pinch of Salt
1 Egg, beaten
Oil for frying

Mix all the ingredients together well. (The mixture will be a bit sloppy, but don’t worry). Drop tablespoons of the batter into the hot oil and fry until golden, turning a couple of times during the cooking process. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot as either a side dish, or a dessert (see my suggestions above).

Tanzanian Chapati

Delicious Chapati - served hot with meat dishes or even as a wrap - can be found all over Tanzania

Following on from my post about traditional East African foods this morning, I thought that I would introduce you to the humble (yet immensely popular and tasty) Chapati which is commonly found on many tables here in Tanzania.

Chapati are similar to tortillas or pancakes and even in the small villages you will find them being cooked over open fires on the roadside. They are a great accompaniment to most savoury dishes like stews containing meat, beans or vegetables. They can be torn and dipped in to meat dishes and of course you can also put food inside them and use them as a ‘wrap’ (my favourite way to eat them !)

Each woman here has her own way of making chapati, usually a recipe which has been passed down from her grandmother, aunt or mother. Here is a commonly used Chapati recipe for you to try -:


Chapati

500 gm Flour
½ tsp Salt
1 Egg, beaten
Lukewarm Water
4 tbsp Oil (or 120 gm Ghee)

Sieve flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre & add the beaten egg and a little of the lukewarm water. Mix to form a dough, adding oil a tablespoon at a time and enough lukewarm water as you go along until you have a nice, manageable dough to work with. Once the dough is smooth, divide it in to equal portions (golf ball size) and roll each one into a flat round. Allow to stand for 20 – 30 minutes and then fry individually in a very hot pan (add a little oil to the pan if you wish) on both sides until the chapati begins to form air bubbles & turns a lovely golden brown colour.

Sweet & Sour Pearl Onions

Delicious, sticky, fragrant sweet & sour onions simmering away on the stove ....

Ooohhh … who doesn’t like a bit of “Sweet ‘n Sour” ?

This is a lovely recipe from another of my favourite cookbooks “The Good Food Cookbook” by Ina Paarman, who is a well known South African food writer. I first started cooking it when we lived in Arusha 8 years ago. The smell of it simmering away on my stove takes me back 8 years each time I make this recipe … isn’t it weird the way smell can do that to you ?

I have used Rosemary in place of Thyme in this recipe before, and as we cannot get ‘baby’ onions here easily, I use large red onions and simply chop them in half. (Although the recipe works better with baby onions as once the halved onions cook they tend to fall apart).

This dish is served cold (the sauce becomes even more deliciously sticky once refrigerated) and is a great side dish at a braai (barbecue) or served with cold meats and cheese.

Sweet & Sour Pearl Onions

750 gm Pearl (Baby) Onions
Boiling Water
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp Tomato Pesto (or Tomato Paste)
2 tbsp Sugar (I use brown)
3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar (I have used Red Wine Vinegar & it also works well)
1 Bay Leaf
2 sprigs fresh Thyme
Salt & Pepper
2 tbsp chopped Parsley

To skin the onions, first top & tail them, then cover them with boiling water. Leave for 1 – 2 minutes, then drain, rinse under cold water & slip off the skins.

Warm the oil in a wide frying pan & add the onions. Shake the pan to roll them & brown them, then add all the remaining ingredients except for the parsley. Pour in enough water to cover the onions. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat & cover. Simmer gently for 40 – 35 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until the onions are tender & bathed in a naturally thickened sweet-and-sour sauce. Serve cold, sprinkled with parsley.

Once cooked, they will keep, covered, in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

Easy Oven Roasted Vegetables (Great for a Tired Cook !)

You can use whatever vegetables you have on hand, & vary the flavour by using either balsamic vinegar or lemon juice

My daughter’s first day at Pre School today went well ! It has been a long day for us all though, with 3 hours on the road and a 5.15 am wake up call. (Those of you who know me, know that I am not an early morning person – at all !!) Needless, to say, we will all be getting an early night tonight *yawn*

Tonight for supper we are having Chicken Picante with pasta and oven roasted vegetables in balsamic vinegar. This is a great vegetable dish to throw together when you are short of time. It is not so much a recipe as a way of combining ingredients and throwing them in to the oven -:

Take whatever vegetables you have on hand and chop them into chunks (if they are sliced too finely they just end up cooking in to a mush). Today I used (pictured) carrots, baby marrows (zucchini), red cabbage, leeks, onions and tomatoes. Then add as much fresh, sliced garlic as you like and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add whatever fresh herbs you have on hand – I used thyme today (rosemary also works very well) and mix the whole lot up together, then splash some olive oil and balsamic vinegar* over and mix well so that all the veggies are coated. (You could also use lemon juice in place of the balsamic vinegar). Place in a deep baking tray and bake at 190'C/375'F/Gas Mark 5 for 30 – 45 minutes, turning the veggies every now and then to prevent burning.

This is really a delicious way to eat a variety of vegetables in one sitting …. these also taste great, cold, the next day.

*Top Tip - I keep my Balsamic Vinegar in a glass spray bottle. This makes it so much easier to ‘apply’ to the vegetables or to spray on to a salad in place of a salad dressing.

Garlic Bread

Slice the rolls in two places each (as pictured), being careful not to cut completely through to the bottom of the roll

Who doesn’t like garlic bread ? I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t eat the stuff and I know that it is always a big hit at a barbecue (braai), especially when ‘cooked’ in the coals. It’s not very common here amongst the Tanzanian expat community – I don’t think I’ve ever eaten it at anyone’s house ? (I also don’t remember us ever serving it in the safari camps.)

Anyway, I often make it and it is just so simple … you have to try it …. it’s so easy it’s not even a recipe, really !

First you need to get yourself some bread rolls. You could use my basic white bread dough recipe here, or if you are lucky enough to live within a stone’s throw of a bakery/supermarket (and feeling a bit lazy) you could go out and buy some (which, let’s face it, is much easier than all that kneading !) -:


Garlic Bread

3 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Garlic, finely grated
6 round Bread Rolls (you could also use a French Loaf, if you prefer)

Mix butter and garlic together with a fork. Slice each bread roll in 2 places without cutting right through it. Spread the butter/garlic mixture on both sides of each ‘slice’. Wrap each roll individually in tin (aluminum) foil and heat at 190’C/375’F/Gas Mark 5 for 5 to 10 minutes or until the butter has melted & the rolls are heated through.

Oriental Stir-fried Vegetables

You could use any combination of vegetables which you happen to have on hand for this dish

I rarely cook my vegetables by boiling them in water anymore. I just feel that by steaming or quickly pan-frying them (or even roasting them) they retain so much more of their natural colour and flavour – not to mention nutrients !

Here is a quick and simple way to prepare vegetables, especially when you are short on time (and you can also substitute the Baby Marrows and Carrots for any other veggies that you happen to have on hand) -:


Oriental Stir-fried Vegetables

+- 6 Baby Marrows (a.k.a. Courgettes or Zucchini), sliced in to slivers
2 Carrots, sliced in to slivers
1 bunch Spring Onions, finely chopped (tops & tails)
1 Red Onion, sliced
3 cloves Fresh Garlic, sliced
1 cm piece of Fresh Ginger, grated
+- 3 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Chinese Five Spice Powder (optional)
Sesame Oil

Place a saucepan on very high heat and add some sesame oil. Then add all the vegetables as well as the garlic, ginger & Chinese Five Spice powder (if using). Toss all together in the pan and keep the vegetables moving so that they don’t stick and burn. Towards the end of the cooking process, add the Soy Sauce and continue to cook for a few minutes before removing from the heat. Serve immediately.

This is a meal on it’s own, served over a bed of rice or noodles - or you could serve it as a side dish to a Chinese meal.

A Different Way To Serve Potato

The yellow colour of the finished product can be attributed to the very yellow yolked eggs I used

Potatoes are a staple here in Tanzania, and can be easily bought in even the smallest, most remote African villages. Red potatoes, that is. The white ones are harder to come by, although sometimes in the cities you can buy the large white ones imported from South Africa. I always opt for the local red potatoes over the imported white varieties though, because I prefer to support Tanzanian produce wherever I can.

This recipe is a simple yet interesting ‘spin’ on the good old baked potato or potato bake recipes. It could almost be called “Potato Pie”, but of course it does not have a pastry crust.

It’s quick to make and contains maximum flavour for minimum effort. It’s also great served either hot or cold.

This recipe is taken from the book “Cook and Enjoy It” by S.J.A. de Villiers


Baked Potato Dish

½ cup Milk
2 cups roughly Mashed Potatoes
2 Eggs, beaten
1 tsp Salt
½ cup grated Cheese

Add the milk to the potatoes & mash well (I like the potatoes a little lumpy as it adds to the texture of this dish) . Add the beaten eggs, salt and blend well. Stir in the grated cheese and turn into a greased oven dish. Bake, uncovered, for 30 to 45 minutes at 180’C/350’F/Gas Mark 4 until golden brown on top. Cut in to squares to serve.

Mealie Meal "Crumble Pap"

"Crumble Pap" with sweetcorn, served with a tomato & onion gravy

Mealie Meal (which is similar in taste and texture to Polenta) is made from ground maize/corn. It is part of the local staple diet all over Africa, and is served in slightly different ways – and has different names - all over the Continent. For example, in Zimbabwe it is called “sudza”, in South Africa it is called “pap” and in Tanzania it is called “ugali”. It is filling, nutritious and cheap – not to mention easy to cook as the only 'ingredient' you need to make it is water. It can also be served in a variety of ways – both sweet and savoury.

It can be cooked in to a stiff consistency and rolled in to balls which are then dipped into stews or gravies and eaten whole. It can also be cooked into a smooth, porridge like consistency and eaten with milk, sugar and butter (one of my favourite ‘comfort’ foods but shhhhh …. don’t tell a soul !). It can also be layered in a casserole dish and alternated with almost any vegetable or mixture of meat, then baked and served in slices much like a pie. You can even use it to make bread and I have a recipe for that here.

One of my favourite ways to eat mealie meal is when it is served as “Crumble Pap”, which is how my Mum cooked it for us as an accompaniment to our braai over the weekend -:

Crumble Pap

2 cups of Mealie Meal
4 cups of boiling Water
1 cup tinned Sweetcorn, drained

Bring water to the boil, & gradually add the Mealie Meal. Stir with the handle of a wooden spoon until a course, crumbly texture is obtained. Add more mealie meal if required (as the mixture should be dry and non sticky). Once all the meal has been added, reduce the heat and continue stirring. Cooking time is approximately 5 – 6 minutes. As the meal retains the heat, it must be attended to constantly otherwise it can stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.

Add the sweetcorn & mix well in the last minute of cooking.

Delicious served with a tomato and onion gravy.

Some Carrot Ideas ...

Grated carrots quickly stir-fried with fresh ginger & soy sauce. You can also add some chopped coriander.

Now, because man simply can't live on biscuits, cakes, and meat alone, I thought that I'd better do a few healthy vegetable posts (!!)

I enjoy carrots – in fact, they’re one of my favourite vegetables. I couldn’t bear eating them the same way all the time, so I’ve experimented with different ways of cooking them-:

• Peel whole carrots & then spray them with non-stick spray (or use olive oil), sprinkle fresh thyme and salt over and bake in a hot oven, turning frequently. (Thyme & carrots go really well together).

• Peel and slice the carrots into rings. Add a sliced leek to the pot as you boil them in the usual way – the leek adds so much extra flavour !

• Stir-fry grated carrot over a high heat with some finely grated ginger. Add some chopped coriander, and a little soy sauce – cooked in their own juices quickly like this, helps to retain a lot of the nutrients. (Pictured above – without the coriander though, as I’ve just replanted it so had none to add !)
  
  I usually keep a big re-sealable bag of grated carrots in the fridge. That way I can quickly pull out a handful to throw in to a casserole or stew, make a coleslaw, sprinkle over a salad, or cook up my “stir-fry grated carrots” above. They also make a quick & healthy toddler snack (& look quite pretty sprinkled over floors, carpets and sofa’s … as I discovered the other day why my toddler had been so quiet for about half an hour after I gave her her carrot “snack” !)

Butternut Squash

Butternut Squash with thyme & garlic - before being popped into the oven

There was a time when we could not get Butternut Squash in Tanzania. Then suddenly, it started appearing here and there in some of the little roadside market stalls. (I must remember, the next time I am at my local “Mama’s” market stall, to ask her where she sources them from.) Anyway ….

It is one of our family’s favourite vegetables. I usually slice it in half, scoop the seeds out (with a serrated grapefruit teaspoon – easier than using a knife !) and either spray it with non-stick pan spray (diet friendly !) or pour liberal splashes of olive oil over it and then season it with salt, pepper, garlic flakes, fresh herbs (I used thyme in the picture above) and bake it, uncovered, at 200’C/400’C/Gas Mark 6 for about an hour - or until done.

Another way I serve it is stuffed with a mixture of finely chopped spinach and garlic, a little salt and then wrapped in tin foil. I bake it in the same way and this method “steams” the butternut and the filling – delicious !

I refer to vegetables like pumpkin and butternut squash as “end of the month vegetables” as they keep really well in a cool pantry for weeks. I use all my “beginning of the month” vegetables soon after a town trip … things which don’t keep that well like spinach, for example. I also have “middle of the month” vegetables like carrots - as, stored in re sealable plastic bags they keep for ages in the fridge.

After years of living in remote locations I have learnt how to stretch out our food supplies. When we are eating tinned foods and pumpkin night after night, and are greedily cracking open the expired jars of condiments and actually quite enjoying them (!!) … we know that a town trip within the next couple of days is imminent.

There’s a limit to the amount of butternut squash and pumpkins a girl can eat, you know !