Mince And Potato Curry Pie

Salam everyone ;)

I made this pie for last night's dinner as I've got no idea what to cook.  Yes, no rice/bread/noodles, no side dishes and not even a main dish.  Hb is off for 5 days since last Saturday till this coming Wednesday.  I find that time is always not on my side whenever hb is not working and the day just ends too quickly too.  We will usually laze around in bed until after 10am even though we are wide awake.  Jannah will turn on the tv and watch her kid's programmes that usually ends at 10am.

We will than drag ourselves out of bed, have breakfast, have lunch...do a little clean up and laundry and without realising, it's time to prepare for dinner.  Time really flies too quickly that I don't even have time to do baking or will not be in the mood to cook or bake at all ahaaakkkkkss :D  It's either that or we are out and about and by the time we finished dinner and clean up, it's usally time to prepare for Jannah to go to bed.  I still accompanies her to sleep at night.  Sometimes emmmm actually most of the times :D, its me who fall asleep first instead of her.....*yawwwwnnnss*  wonders why its hard for her to go to sleep @_@

Back to the pie and a little conversation that I had with Jannah last night while I made them....

Jannah :  Mama...ni saper tu? (She still ask 'saper' insteads of 'apa')
Me : Pie lah
Jannah : Pie apa arh mama?
Me : Ka Pai (means good in Te Reo Maori)
Jannah : Ka Pai E Hoa??  (means good my friend?? in Te Reo Maori)

Me and hb had a laugh, she knows how to korero (speak) in Maori through watching her kid's programme.
She got shy when we laughed and start praising her for being able to speak in Maori and so she said "Ni bukan Ka Pai E Hoa lah....ini curry pie lah mama'  hahahahaz....tu lah dah tau still want to ask kan!!!

Ingredients for filling :
1 onion finely diced
2 garlic finely chopped
Abt 1 cm ginger finely chopped
1 stalk curry leaves (optional)
500gm prime beef steak mince
5-6 medium potatoes diced
1 tblsp curry powder
1 tblsp cumin powder
1 tblsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
Enough water
Enough canola oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Method :
Preheat a large skillet on medium high heat and add oil (abt 2 turns of the pan)
Add onion, garlic, ginger & curry leaves and fry till fragrant.
Add curry, cumin, corriander & tumeric powder and some water until spices turn into paste consistency and fry until fragrant.
Add minced beef and cook until meat turns brown and are crumbly.
Add potatoes, season with salt and pepper and add enough water to cover potatoes.  Cover skillet.
Once potatoes are cooked thoroughly, remove cover and cook further until there's no excess water/moisture.
Remove from heat and let filling cools down.

Ingredients for pie :
Enough ready made puff pastry sheets
Egg Wash (1 egg lightly beaten with 1 tblsp milk)
Above cooled filling

Method :
Preheat oven to 180 deg C ~ fan forced
Cut pastry puff sheets into 4 squares.
Add filling and seal the sides using a fork.
Make a few slits on the pastry.
Brush pastry with egg wash.
Baked in a preheated oven for abt 15-20 mins.

Let see what tomorrow brings, insyaAllah.....TTFN ;)

Shepherd's Pie

Weather for Te Awamutu today

Season :
Summer
Forecast :
Clear
Temp : 28°C | 14°C
Current :
Partly Cloudy With Extreme UV(11) Warning
Temp : 26°C

Salam, Kia Ora...

Its another beautiful sunny day today.  Not too hot, just nice.  I'm sure its gonna be scorching hot from 2pm onwards.  Don't really like it bcos I usually cook dinner at abt 4.30pm, can imagine how hot and sweaty it will be slaving in front of the stove.  Not complaining in fact,  alhamdullilah, thank God, with this beautiful sunshine weather, my washing gets dry in no time.  Only thing is that I still have that laundry basket filled with clean clothes from my previous washing which are still pending, to be folded and ironed....huhuhu.

Yesterday, I defrosted some minced meat planning to make shepherd's pie.  I've never make SP before.  So, I went blog walking to look for SP's recipe.  I know its easy to make but I just want a rough idea on what the ingredients will be.  Went to a few famous blogger's blog and it was unbelievable for me to know that none of them has this recipe in their collection...hehehez :D

So, I googled the recipe and decided to use Rachel Ray's recipe.  I did make a few amendments to the ingredients and used a 2 litre baking dish to bake the SP.  At the end of the day, we really enjoyed the SP and before we knew it half of the SP was gone.  Packed half of the leftover for hb's lunch and the other half for mine and Jannah's lunch today ;) 

The 1st picture is hb's hand, not mine...hahahaz.  He was enjoying, playing around with the potato ricer....aiyayayayay

Adapted from Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals with a few amendments by me towards the original recipe.

Ingredients

For Mashed Potato:

• 1-1.5 kg potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For Minced Meat Base:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1/2 kg minced beef or lamb (I used beef) 
• 3 handfuls of frozen mixed veggies
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped 
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup beef stock or broth  (I used half a cube of beef stock and add 1 cup water)
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 cup grated cheese (I used Colby)

Method:

- Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl.  Add butter and milk into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth.
- While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with beef or lamb. Season meat with salt and pepper.
- Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. If you are using lamb and the pan is fatty, spoon away some of the drippings.
- Add mixed veggies, garlic and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes.
- Whisk in broth and add Worcestershire Sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables.
- Preheat broiler to high. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable mixture.
- Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with paprika and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned. Top casserole dish with chopped parsley and serve .


How I assembled the Shepherd's Pie :

1. Fill the baking dish with the cooked minced meat. I used a 2 litre baking dish.
2. Spoon half of the mashed potatoes on top of the meat.
3. Sprinkle the grated cheese.
4. Piped the rest of the mashed potato on top of the cheese or you can just spoon the rest of the mashed potato on top of the cheese.
5. Bake in a 190-200 degrees fan forced oven for 15 minutes or until cheese melts.

Me Te Aroha...With Love,
Anie ;)



Shabsuka

Weather for Te Awamutu today,
Season :
Spring
Forecast :

Chance Of Rain

Temp : 18°C | 14°C
Current :
Fog

Temp : 10°C

Salam, Kia Ora....

I've never eaten or heard of Shabsuka....tks to 'pest' book....hahahaz.  Got a few friends that were promoting and showing photos of this mouth watering yet unusual dish to me and I was tempted by it ;p.  This is the 2nd time that I made this dish.  Hb really liked it and gave his thumbs up when I first made it and he did say that he will look forward to having this dish again.

Today, hb invited one of his work mate, Pat, over to our home for dinner & watch cricket (yeah that boring sport).  I wonder how ppl can watch a cricket test and not get bored of it.  At first, I couldn't understand how they can score 500+ points for a game.  I know now that some test takes 2 days to finish.  I don't mind watching a 20/20 game....but not a 50/50 or a test....bbbbbboooooorrrrinnnnggg *yawnzz* hehehez

Decided to make shabsuka for dinner tonight...didnt make it too spicy as I don't want Pat to be on fire.  It was a 4 thumbs up dish, 2 frm Pat and 2 frm hb.  I suka...u suka, shabsuka!!!  hooorrreeey.....


Source :  Kak Fida, myresipi.com thank u Kak Fida for sharing this recipe.

Shabsuka

Ingredients :

• 500gm beef mince (clean and drained)
• 4 tbsp chilli paste (add more if u like it spicier)
• 2 tbsp ginger paste
• 3 tbsp garlic paste
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 4  tbsp tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp chilli sauce
• 2 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 4 onions - sliced and fry till soft
• 2 tomatoes - diced
• 1/2 cup fried shallots*
• coriander leaves* chopped (or substitute with chinese celery and spring onion)
• 1 red & green chilli each (I did not add)
• salt & sugar to taste
• 3 -4 eggs (I used 5 ;p)
• Enough canola oil or ghee for sauteing

Directions :

• Heat oil in a wok and saute the chilli, ginger and garlic paste till fragrant.
• Add beef mince and stir until mince has changed in colour.
• Add all the sauces, onions, cumin and black pepper powder.
• Stir until well incorporated then add salt & sugar to taste.
• Add in half of the ingredients that are marked (*) & diced tomatoes.
• Turn fire off once mince is fully cooked.  Dish should not be too dry, add some water if its dry.
• Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
• Place the cooked beef mince in a heat proof container.
• Garnish with the rest of the ingredients that are marked (*)  and chillies.
• Dig 'holes' in the cooked mince for the eggs.  Making sure that they are not too closed together.
• Bake for 15 mins or until eggs are cooked.
• Serve with pita breads or any bread that u fancy or rice.....

My thoughts and prayers are with all the family members of the 29 miners that are still trapped after the Pike River Mine, Greymouth-NZ, explosion almost 5 days ago.  There is still no contact as it is unsafe to launch a rescue mission.  A robot was deployed but it malfunctioned half way while digging a tunnel today.  As time passes by, the chances of survival is very, very slim. 

To all the miners, families, friends and rescue workers : Kia kaha, kia tau te rangimarie... Stay strong, may peace prevail.  It is a very, very sad event....my tears were rolling when I watched the news & live updates. (strett, strett....so sad)

Me Te Aroha...With Love,
Anie :'(