Author: zebono2

Category: Dessert

Area: British

Ingredients:

• 250g Plain Flour
• 135g Butter
• 400g Golden Syrup
• 150g Breadcrumbs
• Zest of 2 Lemons
• 1 beaten Eggs

Instructions:

First make the short crust pastry: measure the flour into a large bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (alternatively, this can be done in a food processor). Add about three tablespoons of cold water and mix to a firm dough, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and put a heavy baking tray in the oven to heat up. Grease a deep 18cm/7in loose-bottomed fluted flan tin with butter.
Remove about 150g/5½oz of pastry from the main ball and set aside for the lattice top.
Roll the rest of the pastry out thinly on a lightly floured work surface and line the prepared flan tin with the pastry.
Prick the base with a fork, to stop the base rising up during baking.
Place the reserved pastry for the lattice top on cling film and roll out thinly. Egg wash the pastry and set aside to chill in the fridge (the cling film makes it easier to move about). Do not cut into strips at this stage. Do not egg wash the strips once they are on the tart as it will drip into the treacle mixture.
To make the filling, heat the syrup gently in a large pan but do not boil.
Once melted, add the breadcrumbs, lemon juice and zest to the syrup. (You can add less lemon if you would prefer less citrus taste.) If the mixture looks runny, add a few more breadcrumbs.
Pour the syrup mixture into the lined tin and level the surface.
Remove the reserved pastry from the fridge and cut into long strips, 1cm/½in wide. Make sure they are all longer than the edges of the tart tin.
Egg wash the edge of the pastry in the tin, and start to make the woven laying lattice pattern over the mixture, leave the strips hanging over the edge of the tin.
Once the lattice is in place, use the tin edge to cut off the strips by pressing down with your hands, creating a neat finish.
Bake on the pre-heated baking tray in the hot oven for about 10 minutes until the pastry has started to colour, and then reduce the oven temperature to 180C/350F/Gas 4. If at this stage the lattice seems to be getting too dark brown, cover the tart with tin foil.
Bake for a further 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden-brown and the filling set.
Remove the tart from the oven and leave to firm up in the tin. Serve warm or cold.

Category: Beef

Area: Canadian

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Potatoes
• 60ml Butter
• ½ cup Milk
• 450g Minced Beef
• 1 finely chopped Onion
• 500ml Creamed Corn
• to taste Paprika
• to taste Parsley
• Dash Salt
• Dash Pepper

Instructions:

In a large pot of salted water, cook the potatoes until they are very tender. Drain.
With a masher, coarsely crush the potatoes with at least 30 ml (2 tablespoons) of butter. With an electric mixer, purée with the milk. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F).
In a large skillet, brown the onion in the remaining butter. Add the meat and cook until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.
Lightly press the meat at the bottom of a 20-cm (8-inch) square baking dish. Cover with the corn and the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Finish cooking under the broiler. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Category: Chicken

Area: Moroccan

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 chopped Onion
• 200g Chicken Breast
• pinch Ginger
• 2 tblsp Harissa Spice
• 10 Dried Apricots
• 220g Chickpeas
• 200g Couscous
• 200ml Chicken Stock
• Handful Coriander

Instructions:

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion for 1-2 mins just until softened. Add the chicken and fry for 7-10 mins until cooked through and the onions have turned golden. Grate over the ginger, stir through the harissa to coat everything and cook for 1 min more.

Tip in the apricots, chickpeas and couscous, then pour over the stock and stir once. Cover with a lid or tightly cover the pan with foil and leave for about 5 mins until the couscous has soaked up all the stock and is soft. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and scatter over the coriander to serve. Serve with extra harissa, if you like.

Category: Vegetarian

Area: Egyptian

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Broad Beans
• 1/3 cup Parsley
• Dash Olive Oil
• 3 Lemons
• 4 Garlic Clove
• Sprinking Cumin

Instructions:

As the cooking time varies depending on the quality and age of the beans, it is good to cook them in advance and to reheat them when you are ready to serve. Cook the drained beans in a fresh portion of unsalted water in a large saucepan with the lid on until tender, adding water to keep them covered, and salt when the beans have softened. They take 2–2 1/2 hours of gentle simmering. When the beans are soft, let the liquid reduce. It is usual to take out a ladle or two of the beans and to mash them with some of the cooking liquid, then stir this back into the beans. This is to thicken the sauce.
Serve the beans in soup bowls sprinkled with chopped parsley and accompanied by Arab bread.
Pass round the dressing ingredients for everyone to help themselves: a bottle of extra-virgin olive oil, the quartered lemons, salt and pepper, a little saucer with the crushed garlic, one with chili-pepper flakes, and one with ground cumin.
The beans are eaten gently crushed with the fork, so that they absorb the dressing.
Optional Garnishes
Peel hard-boiled eggs—1 per person—to cut up in the bowl with the beans.
Top the beans with a chopped cucumber-and-tomato salad and thinly sliced mild onions or scallions. Otherwise, pass round a good bunch of scallions and quartered tomatoes and cucumbers cut into sticks.
Serve with tahina cream sauce (page 65) or salad (page 67), with pickles and sliced onions soaked in vinegar for 30 minutes.
Another way of serving ful medames is smothered in a garlicky tomato sauce (see page 464).
In Syria and Lebanon, they eat ful medames with yogurt or feta cheese, olives, and small cucumbers.
Variations
A traditional way of thickening the sauce is to throw a handful of red lentils (1/4 cup) into the water at the start of the cooking.
In Iraq, large brown beans are used instead of the small Egyptian ones, in a dish called badkila, which is also sold for breakfast in the street.

Category: Beef

Area: British

Ingredients:

• 300g Puff Pastry
• Beaten Egg White
• Beaten Egg Yolks
• 2 tbs Vegetable Oil
• 70 ml Beef
• 200g Lamb Kidney
• 2 chopped Onions
• 30g Plain Flour
• 85 ml Beef Stock
• pinch Salt
• pinch Pepper
• Dash Worcestershire Sauce

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7
Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan, and brown the beef all over. (You may need to do this in batches.) Set aside, then brown the kidneys on both sides in the same pan. Add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Return the beef to the pan, sprinkle flour over and coat the meat and onions
Add the stock to the pan, stir well and bring to the boil.
Turn the heat down and simmer for 1½ hours without a lid. If the liquid evaporates too much, add more stock.
Remove from the heat. Add salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce and allow to cool completely. Place the cooked meat mixture into a pie dish.
Roll out the pastry to 5mm/¼in thick and 5cm/2in larger than the dish you are using.
Using a rolling pin, lift the pastry and place it over the top of the pie dish. Trim and crimp the edges with your fingers and thumb.
Brush the surface with the beaten egg mixture and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden-brown and puffed.
Serve with creamy mash and steamed vegetables to soak up the gravy.

Category: Vegetarian

Area: Filipino

Ingredients:

• 4 Egg Plants
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Salt
• 4 tsp Olive Oil

Instructions:

0. Grill the eggplant until the color of skin turns almost black
1. Let the eggplant cool for a while then peel off the skin. Set aside.
2. Crack the eggs and place in a bowl
3. Add salt and beat
4. Place the eggplant on a flat surface and flatten using a fork.
5. Dip the flattened eggplant in the beaten egg mixture
6. Heat the pan and pour the cooking oil
7. Fry the eggplant (that was dipped in the beaten mixture). Make sure that both sides are cooked. Frying time will take you about 3 to 4 minutes per side on medium heat.

Category: Seafood

Area: Indian

Ingredients:

• 4 Mackerel
• 18 dried Red Chilli
• 1 inch Ginger
• 8 cloves Garlic
• 1.5 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp Cumin
• ½ tsp Turmeric
• Cinnamon stick
• 4 Cloves
• 2 Cardamom
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 2 marble sized Tamarind ball
• 2.5 tbsp Vinegar
• for frying Oil

Instructions:

Soak all the spices, ginger, garlic, tamarind pulp and kashmiri chilies except oil in vinegar.
Add sugar and salt.
Also add turmeric powder.
Combine all nicely and marinate for 35-40 mins.
Grind the mixture until soft and smooth. Add more vinegar if required but ensure the paste has to be thick so add vinegar accordingly. If the masala paste is thin then it would not stick to the fish.
Rinse the fish slit from the center and give some incision from the top. You could see the fish below for clarity.
Now stuff the paste into the center and into the incision. Coat the entire fish with this paste. Marinate the fish for 30 mins.
Place oil in a shallow pan, once oil is quite hot shallow fry the stuffed mackerels.
Fry until golden brown from both sides
Serve the recheado mackerels hot with salad, lime wedges, rice and curry.
Notes
1. Ensure the masala paste is thick else the result won't be good.
2. If you aren't able to find kashmiri chilies then use bedgi chilies or kashmiri red chili powder.
3. You could use white vinegar or coconut vinegar.
4. Any left over paste could be stored in the fridge for future use.
5. Cinnamon could be avoided as it's a strong spice used generally for meat or chicken.

Category: Vegetarian

Area: British

Ingredients:

• 1 Rapeseed Oil
• 1 Onion
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 tsp Paprika
• ½ tsp Cumin
• 1 tblsp Thyme
• 3 Medium Carrots
• 2 small stalks Celery
• 1 Red Pepper
• 1 Yellow Pepper
• 2 x 400g tins Tomato
• 250ml Vegetable Stock Cube
• 2 sliced Courgettes
• 2 sprigs Thyme
• 250g Lentils

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan. Add the onions and cook gently for 5 – 10 mins until softened.
Add the garlic, spices, dried thyme, carrots, celery and peppers and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, stock, courgettes and fresh thyme and cook for 20 – 25 minutes.
Take out the thyme sprigs. Stir in the lentils and bring back to a simmer. Serve with wild and white basmati rice, mash or quinoa.

Category: Seafood

Area: Portuguese

Ingredients:

• 8 Sardines
• 2 tbs Olive Oil
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 tbs Paprika
• 1/2 Lemon
• 4 sprigs Rosemary
• 1 Red Chilli

Instructions:

STEP 1

Put all of the ingredients, except the sardines, into a bowl and mix together with some seasoning. Pour into a baking dish, add the sardines and toss really well. Cover and chill for a few hours.

STEP 2

Heat a BBQ or griddle pan until hot. Cook the sardines for 4-5 minutes on each side or until really caramelised and charred. Put onto a serving plate, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with a little more paprika and squeeze over the lemon wedges.

Category: Beef

Area: Polish

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Flour
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 Yolk Egg
• 1 Egg
• 5 tbs Butter
• 6 tblsp Butter
• 1/3 cup Onion
• 1/2 cup Swede
• 1/2 lb Beef Brisket
• 2 Beaten Eggs
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Pepper

Instructions:

Sift flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
Use a spoon to push the egg yolk through a fine sieve into the flour.
Add the raw egg and mix well.
Beat in butter 1 tablespoon at a time.
Place dough on a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, then wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate until firm (at least 30 minutes).
In a heavy skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat; saute the onion and rutabaga until the onion is soft and transparent (5 minutes).
Put the onions, rutabaga, and beef through a meat grinder twice if you have one, if not just chop them up as fine as possible.
Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat, and add the meat mixture.
Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until all of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick enough to hold its shape.
Remove from heat and let cool, then stir in 1 egg, and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a 13×8" rectangle (1/8" thick).
Spoon the filling down the center of the rectangle lengthwise, leaving about an inch of space on each end.
Lightly brush the long sides with cold water, then fold one of the long sides over the filling and the other side over the top of that.
Brush the short ends with cold water and fold them over the top, enclosing the filling.
Place pastry seam side down on a baking sheet and brush the top evenly with the remaining scrambled egg.
Bake in preheated oven until rich golden brown (30 minutes).
Slice pastry diagonally into 1.5" long pieces and serve as an appetizer or with soup.