Cooking with Music

Another one of my favorite surinamese recipes "pastei" Its a pastry dish filled with a chicken stuffing. Traditionally one large pie is filled but I like the more bitesize versions. You can use ready made pastry (shop bought) but thats a no-no for me ever since I have een creating the most scrumptious pastry right in my own kitchen.

 The secret like with many fine recipes lies in the pastry. The filling has to be equally amazing,.....but the pastry is where its at.

  WHAT YOU NEED

  For the pastry
*200 grams of margarine left out to soften
*300 grams of plain white flour
*2 teaspoons of baking powder
*1 dl of ice cold water
*A pinch of salt
*An egg (needed to brush of the pastries)

  For the filling
*2 small pieces of chicken fillet /or one large piece
*Half a madam jeanette pepper(for the kick)
*Small pot from HAK mixed peas and carrots (any other brand will be fine as well)
*3 tablesoons of chopped pickled gherkins
*tablespoon of capers
*large chopped onion
*tablespoon of tomato paste
* 3 tablespoons of Heinz kethcup (secret ingredient .. :-p )
*2 bailey leaves
*2 maggi cubes

*tablespoon of piccallili (any brand will do....original, sweet , spicy you decide)
*salt and pepper
*2 sticks of fresh celery

 STEP 1
Prepare the dough. take a large container and put in the 200 grams of margarine

If you use a pack of blueband you will have exactly 50 grams left which you can use to fry up your chicken later on ;-)

STEP 2
Take your electric blender and while slowly adding 1 dl of cold water blend the margarine and water till you get a smooth and creamy mix.

STEP 3
Add your pinch of salt and the baking powder then proceed to add the flour in bit by bit till your blender cant mix it no more.

Then add the remaining flour.was your hands and start kneading he mix. For a better grip put the dough on a clean smooth surface and kneed until it is a smooth doughy ball.

Return it in the bowl and over it with a clean towel and let it stand for an hour.

STEP 4 
Now to the filling. Ideally I would prefer making the filling the night before ,give a chance for the spices and flavors to deepen in taste.I will explain both versions.

 First take your chicken and chop it up in tinyyyy blocks. If your as lazy as I am put them in a blender to chop. Not to mincemeat structure just finely.

Then chop up your onions in small blocks or alternatively buy ready chopped onions from the supermarket(why make it hard when it can be soooo easy) chop your celery in the blender with half a madam jeanette pepper drain your peas and carrot mix. We almost there now...

STEP 5
Take a large frying pan and heat up some margarine or sunflower oil just a bit to coat the pan and when heated add your onions, fry until they are lightly caramelized.

example of caramelized onions

Then add your chicken and fry quickly for a min does not have to be thoroughly cooked then add your celery and pepper mix. Stir and fry and add your tomato paste , the maggi cubes and 2 table spooons of water.

Add the bailey leaves and leave to simmer on a low fire. for 5 minutes. Then switch it off and allow to cool.

chop up the carrots in smaller pieces so you get tiny carrot slices , make sure you dont turn it into mush as they are very soft. By the time you are done your meat mix is cooled down.

Now for the cheeky part squirt 2 or three squeezes of heinz ketchup in the mix add your piccalilli, chopped pickled gherkins some salt and pepper to taste and stir well.

Then add your carrot and pea mix and gently stir once or twice so it is all in.
You can decide to leave the mix in a tupperware container overnight. If you decide to use it immediately fish out the bailey leaves first and throw them away.


 STEP 6
 Heat up the oven to 180 degrees. Now take your dough and place on a flat clean surface coated with some flour. Get a baking tray ready and some baking paper on it so it doesnt stick.

 What I do is take a chunk of the dough and knead again then I use a roller to flatten it out and cut out rectangles with a knife.

I like smaller pies so not too big and not too small rectangles. Proceed to place a small mixture of the filling on ons side of the rectangle as in the picture.

Make sure u keep the sides free so you can seal them. use a fork to press the sides so the pies stay tightly closed.

 Repeat this until your baking tray is neatly full with pies. Then take an egg whisk it up a little and coat the pies with the mixture using a brush.
Place the pies in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes untill they turn golden brown. (if they are not golden brown leave for 10/15 minutes longer)

 OK people here is where the confession part comes out .....I have no picture of the outcome.
 They smelled and looked so good that I proceeded to eat them and forgot all about taking pictures.

 Look at tit from the bright side thats a good sign right???....Right?? When I make them again I will paste some pics ,.promise :-)

*Tip: to get both sides crispy and crunchy turn the pies after 30 minutes in the oven and set to 200 degrees for the last 10 minutes.

*Tip: sometimes the pies stick to my baking paper way to deal with this is by LIGHTLY coating the baking paper with some sunflower oli before placing the pies on them.

*Tip: remember you can freeze pastry for the next time, just defrost at room temperature, so take it out on time

Oooh yeah and last note ,..pies always tast even better the day after. I store them in a airtight container.


 And the songs below?,...well its from surinam and its fun :-) ....ENJOY!!!


 

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Simple sandwiches I made for tea time.

With white bread, cornbread for the ham, salmon, goat cheese salami sandwiches
and hard buns for the steak sandwiches.

Fillings (Random)

*Butterfried chicken fillets
*Spiced & grilled steak
*ham
*salami
*pancetta
*bacon
* fresh salmon slices
*goatcheese
*cumin cheese
*cheese spread
*philladelphia spread
* fresh pesto
*cherry tomatoes
* cucumber
*baby bell peppers
* advocado
*onionrings
*rucola salad
* fresh dille (for seasoning and decoration)
* fresh green olives
* green pickles
* low fat mayo
*mustard
* heinz ketchup

Think thats about it ......

Plus I made some american cupcakes with a ready made makes (TIP: to get that american fluffiness replace the butter with sunflower oil), are not as pretty as I usually have them but thought I would still share :-)

cute sandwichy cupcakey songs to go with it ;-)

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A typical ghanaian dish. best thing ever!!!
Added a some leaves of bitawieri, a typical surinamese leaf vegetable hence the sranan twist.

WHAT YOU NEED

For the stew
*Okro
*Bitawieri
*cuts of goatmeat
*cuts of pork parts (with skin)
*3 large tomatoes
*half of a madam jeanette pepper
*2 cloves of garlic
*4 large onions
*red palm oil
*6 maggie cubes
*4 bay leaves
* celery

Banku

*banku powder
*non stick pot
*wooden spoon


STEP 1

First wash the cuts of pork and the cuts of goat very well. Put the pork and the goat in seperate pots , fill them each with water so the cuts just about stick out.

Add to each pot 3 maggie cubes, 2 bay leaves, diced clove of garlic and a large onion(diced), some cut celery add half a (small) madam jeanette to each pot (NO SEEDS). If you have a large madam jeanette peper only put a quarter of it_to each pot.

IS NOT SHOWN ON THE PICTURE BUT COVER THE POTS WITH LIDS!!!

Leave this all to boil until tender ( took me about 1 hour for the pork and goat to be tenderized). keep adding water if it vaporates in the meantime. at the end there should be only a little liquid left in the pot (see last picture)

STEP 2


Whilst your meat is cooking, wash and clean your okro cutting the tips off , then cut your okro up as on the picture. Put in a container and store in the fridge until ready to use.


STEP 3

Once the meat is cooked put the fire off and scoop the goat and pork meat out. Drain and scoop into a bowl. MAKE SURE NOT TO THROW THE STOCK AWAY LEAV IN THE PAN.
Throw away the bay leaves from the pots and the madam jeanette peppers.


Then heat a a large pan (make sure is large enough , because eventually it will have to hold all your meat and okro.

Pour approximately 4 table spoons of Palm oil in the pan and when hot add the drained meatcuts. and let them fry shortly for about 4 minutes on medium heat.


STEP 4

Once the meat is browned add 2 diced onions and fry with it until they are light golden brown


Dice 3 tomatoes and add to the mixture and fry along



Add a small tin of tomato paste and stir fry with the rest



STEP 5


Now add the the liquid from the meat and let it simmer for 2 or 3 minutes.
Season the sauce with maggi cube, salt, cajun powder, paprika powder or pepper.
The sauce is the most important part, making a tasty sauce it essential to a good okro stew.





STEP 6


Add the okro now and let it simmer on slow heat for about 15 to 20 minutes to soften the okro. if necessary add a bit of water (REMEMBER YOU CAN ALWAYS ADD MORE WATER AND NEVER REMOVE WATER ONCE ADDED!!)



STEP 7

Cut up the bitawieri ( surniamese vegetable) and add to the stew for the last 5 minutes with the rest.







BANKU

Now I explain how to prepare your banku


STEP 1

Add 2 parts of banku powder to water. So 2 cups of banku powder to 1 cup of water.
DONT PUT ON THE HEAT YET!!!
stir with wooden laddle until a smooth mixture




STEP 2

This is the hard part ( the arm auch part ;-)

Stir the mixture on a low heat until it thickens keep stirrin add bits of water and a pinch of salt (NOT TOO MUCH WATER)
All this takes about 15 to 20 minutes until the colour of the paste turns glazy. As the banku gets thicker it gets harder to stir
, put more effort into it and continue stirring as it lumps if you leave it unstirred for a while.

make sure there are no lums in your banku keep it smooth.


STEP 3

Watch out you dont butn your fingers. Switch of the heat and take a small clean plastic bag and scoop in a handful of banku (as in picture) . then dip the bag in ice water for 15 seconds and mould the banku into round balls.

Make as man balls as you can with the banku.




AND NOW ENJOY!!!
NOT NECESSARY BUT YOU CAN ADD SOME SHITO TO SPICE IT UP, I ALWAYS ADD SOME KETCHUP ON THE SIDE AS WELL. :-)

THE OKROSTEW ALSO TASTES GREAT WITH SOME BOILED RICE AND BANKU CAN BE COMBINED WITH ANY SAUCE OR SARDINE, CORNED BEEF ETC.



LEAVING YOU WITH SOME AFRICAN TUNES TO EAT YOUR BANKU AND OKRO WITH

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One of my favourite dishes and a must at all surinamese parties and major get-2gethas. An oven dish with major ingredient a mashed root known as "pomtayer".

WHAT YOU NEED

* 1 pak of pomtayer (preferably brand lufo)
* 2 or 3 large pieces of boneless chicken
* small pack of salted beef "zoutvlees"
* 2 large onions
* 2 lemons
* 1 madam jeanette
* 3 large tomatoes
* 2 small tins of tomato paste
* couple of branches of celery
* small piece of ginger
* large table spoon of picallily
* teaspoon of paprika powder
* 3 cubes of maggi blocks
* 2 large bay leaves

STEP 1


Put the frozen pomtayer in a container with a little bit of water to defrost, be careful not to throw the water that collects in the bowl you will need it later

Cut the chicken into chunks.Marinade the chicken. You can buy a ready made marinade as you see here. makes life much easier.
If you dont have it mix a bit of soya, ginger paste, madam jeanette, onions and garlic together in a blender and use that as a marinade. keep it in the fridge for at least 3 to 5 hours.



After 3 to 5 hours once the chicken is marinated and the pomtayer is defrosted. boil the salted beef in a large pan filled with water and add a bay leaf. Boil throw the water out and boil again with fresh water do this 3 times to cook the water out.

Take the salted beef out and let it cool. then dice it into cubes.



STEP 2


Pour some sunflower oil in a large pan and fry the salted beef till dark brown and crispy.
Take out the salted beef and use the same oil to fry the marinated chicken on a medium high fire untill the outside is brown. (keep in mind that it will cook further in the oven later on).

Take out the chicken and put in some foil or on a separate plate.




STEP 3


Step 3 is the sauce. The most important part of the pom. That's where the secret lies , if your sauce is amazing your pom is 90% perfect! Another tip make sure you make enough sauce, better to have too much than too little.

In the same oil you used for the chicken and salted beef( oil should still be reasonably clear)
Put in 2 large diced onions. Or buy them readily diced (makes life easier).



Fry onions until golden brown and add two tins of tomato paste. Stir through well.

Blend together 3 large tomatoes,piece of ginger, 1 madam jeanette and a 4 or 5 branches of fresh celery.



Add the blended mixture to the pan and stir well.
Add a bit of water and a bailey leaf to it and lit it simmer on a low fire season with paprika powder, 3 small cubes of maggi cube and a bay leaf or two

STEP 4


Switch off the sauce and now move to your defrosted pom.
pour the pomtayer into the bowl it was in. DO NOT POUR OT THE DEFROST WATER!
Squeeze out two lemons, make sure no lemon seeds fall into it.

Add a large table spoon of picalily and add some grounded black pepper. MIX WELL!



Pour half of the sauce in your pomtayer and mix well.MAKE SURE TO REMOVE THE BAY LEAVES!!


STEP 5


First of all pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees.
Grease an oven dish with butter. I use fluid butter for this.

Pour a layer of pom in the oven dish so it covers the bottom.

Then arrange your chicken and salted beef on top of the layer.
Pour the remaining sauce over this layer making sure to leave maybe a teaspoon of sauce so you can use it to coat your pom.

pour the remaining pom over the sauce and coat it with the little bit of pom you have left.

Put the dish in the 200 degree preheated oven for 60 minutes.
If you notice that the top is not cooking properly cover it with aluminium wrap and let it cook for another 30 minutes.

You can check with a toothpick. If its dark yellow color its done.




STEP 6


Let the pom cool-off for a while before you eat it.

Pom is nice to eat with boiled rice or in a sandwich with some mixed chinese pickles on the side (see picture).







And ofcourse a nice vibe to leave you with .......sranan style ofcourse :-)

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