Chapati

From Peter Kariuki

Ingredients

  • 3 cups Fine whole meal flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon Ghee or oil, optional
  • 1 cup Lukewarm water

Method

    Put flour in mixing bowl, reserving about half cup for rolling chapatis.
  1. Mix salt through the flour in the bowl, then rub in ghee or oil, if used.
  2. Add water all at once and mix to a firm but not stiff dough.
  3. Knead dough for at least 10 minutes (the more it is kneaded, the lighter the bread will be).
  4. Form dough into a ball, cover with clear plastic wrap and stand for 1 hour or longer (if left overnight, the chapatis will be very light and tender).
  5. Shape dough into balls about the size of a large walnut.
  6. Roll out each one on a lightly floured board (using reserved flour) to a circular shape as thin as a French crepe.
  7. After rolling out chapatis, heat a griddle plate or heavy-based frying pan until very hot, and cook the chapatis, starting with those that were rolled first.
  8. Put chapati on griddle and leave for about 1 minute.
  9. Turn and cook other side a further minute, pressing lightly around the edges of the chapati with a folded tea towel or an egg slice. (This encourages bubble to form and make the chapatis light.)
  10. As each one is cooked, wrap in a clean tea towel until all are ready.
Serve immediately with stew / vegetable dishes.

CREPES: Dinner crepes with Crepes with Chicken Filling and Desert Crepes

by Abby Temeng (pdf version)

Basic CREPES

Ingredients
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup low-fat 1% milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 teaspoons butter, melted
  • 2 large eggs

CHICKEN FILLING

Ingredients
  • Cooking spray
  • 1 cup thinly sliced onion
  • 1 (8-ounce) package pre-sliced mushrooms
  • 3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
  • 1/2 cup sliced green onions
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt (1/2 for the simple white sauce)
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 10 Basic Crepes
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Preparation
(1)
  1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
  2. Coat pan with cooking spray.
  3. Add sliced onion and mushrooms to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until mushrooms release their moisture and darken
  4. Stir in chicken, green onions, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and spinach.
(2)(Simple white sauce):
  1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Add flour to pan; stir with a whisk until blended.
  3. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
  4. Gradually add milk to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk; cook 5 minutes or until thick.
  5. Remove from heat.
  6. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.
  7. Pour milk mixture over chicken mixture; stir to combine.
Preheat broiler.
  1. Spoon about 1/2 cup chicken mixture in the center of each crepe; fold ends and sides over.
  2. Place, seam side down, in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray.
  3. Sprinkle crepes evenly with cheese.
  4. Broil 2 minutes or until lightly browned.
Yield: 5 servings (serving size: 2 crepes)

(Alternative Chicken Filling)

  • 1 chicken boiled and deboned
  • 2 tbsp. milk
  • 3 tbsp. butter
  • 1/8 tsp. pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. chives, chopped
  • 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
  1. Mix ingredients thoroughly.
  2. Place 2 to 3 tablespoon of mixture on each crepe and roll them up.
  3. Place the rolled crepes in a 7 x 12 x 2 baking dish.
  4. Pour 1 serving of re-constituted cream of chicken cup of soup over the crepes.
  5. Bake in 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Simple White Sauce

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
  • 2 Tbsp. butter
  • 2 Tbsp. flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • dash salt
  • dash white pepper
Preparation:
  1. In heavy saucepan over low heat, melt butter.
  2. Stir in flour with a wire whisk.
  3. Cook over low heat for three minutes, stirring constantly (This mixture is called a roux). Do not allow the mixture to brown.
  4. Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly.
  5. Cook over low heat for 3-5 more minutes until sauce begins to thicken. Season to taste. Makes 1 cup.
  6. To make this a brown sauce add ¼ to ½ chicken or beef stock to the mixture

Savory Desert Crepes

Ingredients
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
  • ¼-1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup low-fat 1% milk
  • 2 teaspoons butter, melted
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/8 -1/4 tsp cinnamon (to your liking)
  • 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
  • dash of All-Spice
  • 1/8-1/4 tsp nutmeg
  1. Add the eggs and milk to the flour. Then add the melted butter to the mix.
  2. Add sugar.
  3. Add final ingredients.
  4. Mix well until the batter is smooth (the key to smoothness is to add the butter after adding the milk or it will be clumpy).
  5. Add oil or butter to pan, pour in a ladle full and fry on med to med high until light brown on one side (till all the bubbles disappear).
  6. Flip and fry until lightly browned.

Top with sliced strawberries, bananas, jam, ice cream, chocolate (melted or chips), nutella spread, nuts (pecans or walnuts), powdered sugar, maple syrup, or anything else sweet!

Meat Pie(from motherlandnigeria.com)

Ingredients

THE DOUGH

  • 6 cups flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • ½ pound of butter
  • 1¼ cups water
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2-3 spoonfuls of sugar

THE MEAT MIXTURE

  • 16 oz (2 cups or .5 liter) of ground meat
  • 2 medium-sized potatoes
  • Carrots.
  • Spices
  • Water
    Preparation
    THE DOUGH:
    1. Combine the flour, butter, eggs, water and salt together.
    2. Knead the dough.
    3. Cover the dough and let it rest for 3 hours.

    THE MEAT MIXTURE:

    1. Dice the potatoes into little cubes (about .5 inch or 1 centimeter length).
    2. Dice carrots
    3. Place the potatoes, meat, very little water, and any other vegetables and spices into a small saucepan, and cook until the meat is done. You can taste the mixture to see if it is adequate.

    PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
    1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
    2. Roll out some dough...it should not be too thick.

    3. Cut the dough into a circle (use a tool if you want to).

    4. For each 'circle', add a few teaspoons of the mixture in the middle of the circle, then fold the circle over, and use a fork to press the ends together.
    5. Repeat the above steps until you are out of dough, or mixture.
    6. Brush the exterior of all the meat pies with egg yolk.
    7. Place the meat pies on a sheet with a little space inbetween each one, and bake until slightly brown (sorry, I don't remember exactly how long...next time I'll record that).

Mendazi

From Peter Kariuki

Ingredients: (To Serve 6)

  • 2 cups warm water
  • 4 cups White wheat Flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup warm milk
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • Corn oil for deep-frying.

Method:

  1. Mix the floor, sugar, bakng powder until the sugar and baking powder are evenly mixed.
  2. Melt the butter and mix into the flour.
  3. Mix the lightly beaten egg with the flour.
  4. Add milk and water and knead until the dough is smooth.
  5. Cut the dough into medium sized balls and roll these out on a flat surface.
  6. Cut the dough into whatever shapes you want and gently drop these onto the already heated oil. The dough should gradually rise and turn brown.
  7. Flip the mandazi to cook on both sides.
  8. Remove from the oil and place in a big bowl lined with absorbent paper towels to absorb most of the oil.
  9. Serve with whatever :)
When preparing the dough, bring all the liquid ingredients to room temperature and kneed them together with the dry ingredients until the dough is smooth. To make sure that the Mandazis are not oily, use hot corn oil for cooking. Test the oil by putting a small piece of dough into the pan. The dough should gradually sizzle and turn brown.

You know that you can cut whatever shapes you want for the Mandazi before throwing them into the hot oil