Minced Lamb & Okra

This is a Syrian recipe that my mum learnt from my grandma (my dad's mum).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okra



- 500g mince lamb
- okra (lady's fingers)
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 large onion
- 6 spring onions
- chopped fresh garlic (lots)
- Mixed herbs
- Salt, pepper
- 1 tablespoon of gravy granuals
- tin of chopped tomatoes (or a jar of bolognese sauce if you don't have a lot of time).
- 1 mug of rice
- olive oil

Cooking Method:
- Chop the onion, spring onions and garlic, then fry in some olive oil in a large pan.
- Add the minced lamb, salt and herbs and cook until browned
- Mix in the gravy granuals.
- Add the okra and red pepper, then add the tomatos and cook for 20 minutes.
- Add a bit of water if required.
- Meanwhile cook the rice in a separate pan.
- Serve with rice and sald and olives .. yummy!

Prawn Stir Fry

Quick, easy and healthy .... Prawn stir fry is ideal for a healthy meal home-made in minutes ... here's what to do:



- 1 leek, sliced
- 2 carrots, thinly sliced
- 6 spring onions
- 1 large courgette, sliced
- fresh prawns
- noodles
- salt
- pepper
- mixed herbs
- basil
- soy sauce
- olive oil
- garlic, chopped

Cooking Method:
- slice the vegetables
- heat olive oil in a wok, and stir fry the spring onions, leek, corgette, carrots and garlic.
- add salt, pepper and herbs, and continue stir frying. Add soy sauce and fry for a further 3 minutes.
- In a separate pan (or work) add olive oil and stir fry some garlic, then add the prawns and basil. Stir fry for 3 minutes. Add soy sauce and fry for a further 2 minutes.
- cook the noodles in a 3rd pan. (follow pack instructions).
- Serve noodles topped with vegetables, topped with the prawns.
(please note: you can replace any of the vegetables with your favourite veg, you can also use rice rather than noodles).

Chicken Salad

Stir fry some chicken with white onions and spring onions. Add some basil, salt and pepper. Then serve on a bed of mixed lettuce leaves, cucumber, red pepper and green olives ... with toasted wholegrain bread (bread not in photo). Yummy :)

Feta Cheese Pastries

This is both a Greek and an Arabic (Syrian/Lebanese) recipe.
It's quick and easy to make ... and a very tasty snack.

I only made a few as a test .. and they came out really good.



- 100g Feta cheese
- 50g Cheddar cheese (or cottage cheese)
- Your favourite herbs, I chose Basil
- Sheets of filo pastry.
- Olive oil

Method
- Crumble the feta cheese and cheddar cheese and combine with the herbs (basil) and some olive oil (some recipes say to beat in an egg, but I didn't do that).
- Cut the filo pasty into strips.
- Take each strip, put a heaped teaspoon of the cheese mixture on the bottom left corner. Fold over the corner with the filling so that it meets the long side edge and forms a triangle. Continue folding the filling up and over from side to side to form a neat triangle.
- Place the pastry on an oiled baking try and brush with oil.
- Continue until all the filling has been used.
- Nake the pastries in a preheated oven (190C, Gas Mark 5) for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot as a snack, or part of a mezza.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

It's my father-in-law's birthday on Tuesday, so I baked him a birthday cake this weekend.
The cake sunk in the middle as I got it out of the oven, so I turned it upside-down and spread the chocolate fudge icing on the bottom of the cake instead of the top. It looks good, until you slice it and notice the wonky bottom haha.



Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
375ml brown sugar
3 eggs
150ml sour cream
300ml cake flour (self raising flour)
5ml baking powder
2.5ml bicarbonate of soda
125ml cocoa powder

For icing:
50g butter
40ml water
60ml castor sugar (fine sugar)
250ml icing sugar
30ml cocoa powder



Cooking Method - for the cake:
1- cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.
2- beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the sour cream.
3- sift the flour, baking powder, soda and cocoa together then fold into creamed mixture.
4- spoon the mixture into a 20cm greased cake pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180c (gas mark 4) for 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the cake pan before turning onto a cooling rack.

For icing:
5- place the butter, water and castor sugar into a saucepan and melt over a gentle heat.
6- Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder and stir into the melted butter mixture.
7- Mix well, then cool until starting to thicken, then beat with a wooden spoon and spread over the cooled cake. Decorate as you like.