Chilean Empanadas

There are many kinds of empanadas, fried, baked, corn, wheat, samosas, big flat pies.... This here is snucked from the Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant cookbook. If you're ever in a secondhand bookstore and find one of their books, don't think, just buy it. I'm still too cheap to recommend firsthand cookbooks. Hee. Invent your filling, this here is what they use in the book. I think this is a great dough to adapt for samosas.

Makes 8 pieces. Large pieces. 1 per person should be enough.
Prep time: 25 min
Cooking time: 25 min

Filling:

• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed. (I used 3 of those giant baking potatoes and ended up with way too much.)
• 2 small onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 cup chopped pimientos (I didn't have and result was still yummy. substituted 1 tsp paprika, but not the sweet kind.)
• 1 cup corn; fresh, frozen or canned (drained)
• 1 cup cream cheese, softened to room temp (I used goat cheese, worked as well)
• 1 cup grated mild cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (I used Trader Joe's Mexican blend!)

Dough:

• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 tbs vinegar (don't worry if you use a little less, it tasted too much of vinegar for me)
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 cups unbleached wheat flour
• 3 tbs melted butter, margarine or vegetable oil (Butter!!!)

• Vegetable oil for frying

Cook the potatoes in a pot until soft. Saute onions, peppers and season with spices. If using paprika, add now. Add corn and salt once the peppers are tender. Once tender enough, take off fire and add pimientoes. Drain and mash potatoes. Mix well with veggies and cheese.

Mix the water, vinegar and salt in a large bowl. Add flour and butter. (Yes, dry to wet, who can say why, it worked.) Work dough adding flour until it's not wildly sticky. Roll out in a long roll and divide into 8 pieces. Roll out into 6-7 inch circles. This is not easy dough cos it keeps springing back smaller. Plonk 1/8th of the filling in the centre leaving about 1/2 inch all around to fold over and seal. Scallop edges. In about 1 inch of oil (we used MUCH less. It's basically a shallow fry) fry both sides until golden. This is a good time to have a partner, one rolls and the other fries. Faster AND fun. Drain on paper towels.

Eat!

They're a FANTASTIC next-day meal, on a journey, at work, whatever. very self contained, they can be eaten with minimum fuss and attention.

Cucumber and Yoghurt Soup

And no, I don't mean raita. But it would work very well as raita I think.
A dear friend of mine produced this at a dinner party a long time ago, and after much naggging she sent me the recipe. Seriously YUM, especially in the summer.

6 cups low fat plain yogurt
3 cups chopped and peeled cucumbers
2 green onions chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
2 tbls. chopped and seeded jalepeno pepper

Combine all ingredients in food processor until smooth, but with some texture. Chill, season with salt and pepper to taste. Top each bowl with slices of grapefruit and avocado.

.....very very delicious!!!!

Edit:

Cheap diet alternative:

Grate 1 cucumber into a bowl of yoghurt. Add salt. Eat.

Enchiladas Verdes

There are two ways to do this, the cheating shortcut way and the good-'ol-start-start-from-scratch way. Comin up first, the shortcut.

Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: 10 min
Serves: 4

• 8 corn tortillas
• 1 12oz bottle of tomatillo salsa (Trader Joe's for preference!). This should have tomatillos, onions, chiles and other minor ingredients.
• 1 handful fresh cilantro leaves
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 6 tbs sour cream

For the filling:

• 8 tbs shredded cheese (Trader Joe's Mexican blend for preference)
  OR
• Mixed vegetables (peppers, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, etc) cut in long strips and grilled with olive oil and salt
  OR
• Shredded chicken
  OR
• Beans: refried, Cuban style black, Mexican pinto, whatever

Remember that filling goes inside the tortillas and make the filling accordingly.

Preheat the over to 350F.
Toss the cilantro into a blender. Follow with garlic, salsa and lastly, sour cream. Whizz until a coarse puree is formed. If too tart, add more sour cream and a little salt.
Pour some sauce to cover the bottom of a flat baking dish. Toast the tortillas lightly in a pan, with or without oil. Spread them out, spoon in the filling and fold over to form semi-circles. Lay the tortillas in the pan, overlapping. (Put the first one in so that the circular side is up against the wall of the dish and then lay the next one with its circular side over the first one's flat side.) Spoon the rest of the sauce over them so that they're are covered. Bake for 10 minutes. Serve hot!


The sauce from scratch:

• 8 corn tortillas
• 8 tomatillos
• 8 green onions
• 2 serrano chiles, seeded
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 6 tbs sour cream
• 1 handful fresh cilantro leaves
  

Whizz in blender and follow the recipe as above!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I'm back!
Apologies for the lonnnnnnnng absence, it was travel and generally not cooking.

Here's something I stole from the back of the lid of a tin of oats, and the end result was fabulous! Though I must say, who says oatmeal raisin cookies are healthy???

• 1 cup butter, I prefer salted cos I like the salted taste. Softened.
  
• 1 1/2 cups sugar. The original calls for 1 brown and 1/2 white. I find it doesn't make a difference.
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups wholewheat flour
• 3 cups oats, the normal "old fashioned" kind
• 1 cup raisins. Heck make it 1 1/2
• 1 tsp baking SODA

Beat butter and sugar till fluffy/creamy/however you like it. I find it really doesn't make a difference and when you're using a fork.... Add eggs. I advise beating them a bit in a separate bowl before adding. Add vanilla essence. Add flour and baking soda and mix well. Fold in oats and raisins. You might want to use fingers at some point, it's fun. Gooey, but fun. Lay out on ungreased but nonstick baking sheet and bung in the oven at 350F for 15 min. The original said 10-12 min, but since i like my cookies large and cooked I played it by ear.

Eat! Take to a Mets game! Cram into mouth while reading murder mysteries! You get my drift...

Yellow Rice or Arroz a la Mexicana

There are some seven billion versions of this, and here is MinCat's very own special hybrid!

1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/4 medium pepper [the first time I used green and yellow and a lot more than 1/4th, so improvise], diced
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup water [or more depending on how soft you want it]
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
less than 1/4 tsp cumin powder
1 tbs olive oil
salt to taste


In large pot heat oil. Fry garlic and onions till onions are translucent. Add peppers and fry for a few minutes. Add rice and spices. Stir. Add water, broth and salt. Cover with lid and leave to cook on very low flame. Check on it periodically to see if it needs more water.

Suggestion: Serve with Beans and Plantains

Mint Dark Chocolate Cake with Strawberries and Cream

Madness has resulted in the extremely belated post. Sorry. I haven't cooked in AGES. But I'm back! With two recipes today.

• 2 bars dark chocolate (60% cacao, 43g)
• 1 bar mint chocolate (43g)
• 125g butter
• 6 eggs, separated, with whites beaten stiff
• 250g sugar
• 2 tbs milk
• 4 tbs flour
• Sweetened whipped cream to put between layers and cover cake
• Strawberries to decorate
  

Melt the chocolate and milk in a saucepan. Add the butter and melt it in. Remove from heat and add sugar, flour and egg yolks. Fold in beaten whites. Bake at 400F in a greased pan for 45 min. Remove cake and allow to cool. Slice some strawberries longitudinally. Cut it horizontally and spread sliced strawberries and whipped cream across the bottom half. cover with top half, making sure that there is enough cream to make them stick. Cover cake with more cream. Decorate with strawberries as desired. Chill in freezer or refrigerator till serving.

This is a modified version of a recipe the Food Alchemist sent me

edit: alternative icing
chocolate truffle

Melt 100g of dark chocolate in a saucepan. Take it off the fire and let it cool a bit but not solidify. Stir in 50g of cream. Allow to cool some more, spread on cake and stick in fridge. Devour once set.

For alternative desified version, Evil Chocolate Cake Redux.

The Corn Thing

Okay I was hungry and I found corn in the fridge, so I made

"THE CORN THING"

Corn (frozen or fresh) : 1 cup
Spring Onions : 2
Cajun Pepper Powder : To taste
Salt : To taste
Lemon Juice : 1 tablepoon
Olive Oil : 1 tablepoon

Heat oil in a pan, and add onions, sliced finely. Fry until softened and then add corn. Fry for another two minutes and then add lemon juice, peppers and salt. Continue to push around the stuff in the pan until you are satisfied with their degree of cookedness, and then remove.

Voila!

Midnight snack!