Mandarin Pancakes

3 1/2 flour
1 cup boiling water
1/3 cup cold water
1/2 cup sesame oil
Oil as needed for greasing

Preparation:

- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. make a well in the center and add the boiling water, a little at a time, incorporating the flour by stirring it into the water with a wooden spoon or chopsticks.
-Cover bowl and let sit for 5-minutes, then add the cold water, mixing well.
-Turn the flour mixture out and work with your fingers to blend until a dough is formed. Cover with a dampened towel and set aside for 15 minutes.
-Remove dough to a board and knead for 10 to 12 minutes or until smooth.
-Divide dough into 4-equal portions. Roll each part into a rod, then divide each dough rod into 10 equal pieces.
- Grease an area of the kneading board about 10 inches square with oil to prevent sticking. Flatten each piece of dough into a 2-inch round and brush evenly with sesame oil on the surface. Place another round on top, forming a 2-layered round. Roll into a thin pancake about 6 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Grease the board with more oil if needed.
-Roll 2 pancakes, then proceed with the cooking. Continue to roll and cook, 2 pancakes at a time, until all the dough is used up.
Cooking:
- Set a griddle (or heavy skillet) over medium heat. Pan-fry each pancake for 1 minute or unti lthe surface bubbles and brown spots appear on the bottom side. Turn to brown on other side for about another 30 seconds.
- Remove pancake and pull the 2 layers apart while hot. Stack pancakes on a platter and cover with a lightly dampened cloth.
-Finish pan-frying the remaining pancakes.

Almond honey crisp

1 cup of whole almonds
1/4 cup soya margarine
1/3 to 1/2 cup of honey
2 teaspoon unsweetened vanilla extract
Process the almonds in a blender for a few seconds to chop coarsely
In a bowl mix all the ingredience
Preheat owen to 375f
Put in a cake pan and bake till golden brown
Cut into squares while still warm

Asian tofu salad

Ingredients

12 oz lowfat firm tofu
1/3 c red bell peppers; chopped
1/3 c scallions; chopped
1 tb fresh parsley; chopped
-DRESSING
2 cloves garlic
2 ts fresh ginger root; grated
1/2 ts chili paste; or to taste
2 tb soy sauce
2 tb rice vinegar
1 ts dark sesame oil

Instructions

Crumble the tofu using a wooden spoon or fork. Whisk the dressing ingredients together. Add the dressing and the peppers, onion, and parsley.Mix well. Serve at room temperature or chilled. This salad will keep for 2-3 days.

Serving suggestions: Tusk the salad in a pita with watercress. Or serve it on rice crackers, or with roasted vegetables.

Masala Puri

Masala Puri (give thanks to rakesh for this incredible recipe!)

Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes or several small potatoes
Soya yoghurt
Bombay mix - or anything similar
Chilly - hotter the better :-)
1 small onion
Fresh coriander leaves (coriander is best but if not available use dill, parsley, etc)

Tamarind sauce - See below on how to make your own tamarind sauce.
If you can't get tamarind use a combination of mustard (i.e. French
mustard) and tomato ketchup (yuck). Sounds awful, but it works!

Sultanas

1. Dice the potatoes into 1 cm cubes (I usually clean them but leave the skin on)
2. Boil the potatoes, until cooked but not too soft (nice and firm)
3. Put a few tablespoons of soya yoghurt into a large salad bowl
4. Add half the tamarind sauce (or all of the alternative mustard/ketchup mix) and stir well
5. Finely chop the chilly, and add to the salad bowl
6. Coarsely dice the onion, and add to the salad bowl
7. Add the potatoes and sultanas and mix. There should be enough of the yoghurt mix to cover all the ingredients.
8. Just before serving, add copious quantities of the bombay mix, and mix well. If you do this too early the bombay mix will get soggy, which is not a problem, but it is much better if it is crispy.
9. Serve on a plate as part of a meal or put in a bowl as a snack.
10. When serving, pour some of the remaining tamarind sauce on top,
and finish by garnishing with some finely chopped coriander leaves.

Making your own tamarind sauce:

Ingredients:
Tamarind seeds
Coriander powder
Black salt (to taste)
Jeera powder
Paprika powder
Chilly powder

Jaggery (unprocessed sugar). NB I once used molasses, and it was horrible, had to add amchoor powder to rescue the sauce

NB: All of the above ingredients are available at any Indian good shop
1.Boil the tamarind seeds until you get a nice thick sauce
2. Strain off the pulp (NB don't throw the pulp away, as you can reuse it several times - it is very strong)
3. Put the liquid back into the saucepan and keep boiling.
4. Add the other ingredients and keep boiling for 10 mins.
This sweet, sour, chilly sauce will last for about 3 months in the refrigerator. You can use it with many dishes. It's a great way to spice up a reheated meal, i.e. to bring life back to yesterdays left overs.

Ital soup (excerpt from the Rasta Cookbook)

A substantial soup that will satisfy the largest of appetites; a true “Ital” feast which requires only fresh fruit juice to complete the meal.
Ingredients:
1 lb (450 g) yam: ½ (225 g) sweet potato
1 lb (450 g) pumpkin: 1 lb (450 g) callaloo
½ small cabbage: ½ lb (225 g) carrots
1 cho cho: 1 green pepper
2 cloves garlic: 2 medium-sized tomatoes
3 spring onions: 2 pts (1100 ml) water

First prepare the vegetables. Peel the yam, sweet potato and pumpkin and cut into large die, removing the seeds from the pumpkin. Carefully wash the callaloo, trimming away any thick stems and chop. Coarsely chop the cabbage having carefully discarded the outer leaves, peel and slice the carrots. Peel the cho cho, cut it lengthways into quarters and remove the heart. Roughly dice the cho cho and green pepper, peel and chop the tomatoes and slice the spring onions. Place the pumpkin and root vegetables in a large saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes. Add to the pan the callaloo, cabbage, cho cho, pepper and finally the chopped tomatoes and spring onions. Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and simmer for twenty minutes more until cooked. Serves 4-6.

Crispy Raw Vegetable Summer Rolls

4 ounces dried rice noodles, softened with water, in 2 inch lengths
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 1/2 shredded cucumber
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
3 tbsp. peanuts (crumbled/crushed well!)
1 tbsp. soy
1 tsp. fresh ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic
6-10 rice pancake wrappers (7-8")

In a large bowl, toss together noodles, carrots, cukes, cilantro. In a small bowl, whisk the peanuts, soy, ginger, and garlic until smooth, then add to veg mix and toss. Soften the rice pancake in warm water (double them up!!!), and then wrap the veg mix like a spring roll.

Fry until golden in veg oil, then refrigerate and enjoy!

Daikon Pot-Stickers

3 tbsp. veg oil
2 tsp. mince fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups radish
1 cup carrot, grated
1/3 cup crumbled extra-firm tofu
2 tbsp. soy
20 Wanton (saltless soy) skins

In a large skillet, heat one tbsp of oil. Add ginger and garlic, add the radish and stir at a constant (very important!!!) for two minutes. Then add grated carrot. Stir constant for one minute. Add the tofu and soy. Take skillet off and allow to cool. Lay out wanton skins and place one tbsp. of the filling you've made in the center of each skin. Wet rim of the skins and fold, forming a triangle. Deep fry to the I's likeness (InI prefer a light brown fry), and allow to cool, then enjoy!

Greens, lentils and sweet potato in coconut sauce

Take a big bunch of spinach or callaloo, 1 big sliced onion, garlic and put them in warm vegetal oil about 4 minutes.

Add enough coconut milk, chopped sweet potato and cho-cho, aubergine, carrots, or vegetables of your choice, hot pepper, black pepper according to your taste. cook until done and the sauce thick.

Then, add cooked lentils. keep 5 minutes on the fire. it is ready.

Ital omelette

Ingredients:
1/4 cup chickpea flour
3/4 cup water
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 onion
1 or 2 potatoes (depends how hungry you are)
1 broccoli stalk (or other vegetable; You can experiment)
1 tsp olive oil

Directions:
This recipe sounds kind of gross, but you have to make it to appreciate how wonderful it is.
Make a mixture with water and chickpea flour in such a proportion to get an 'egg-like' batter. Start with 1/2 cup of water, add the chickpea flour, stirring constantly, and progressively increase the amount of water and chickpea flour until you get about 1 cup of batter. The amounts I have indicated above are approximate. Season it with salt and pepper. Boil the potatos 'al-dente', then slice.
In a pan, stir-fry the onion (sliced) in 1 TSP. of olive oil. Add the sliced potatos and stir until golden. Add the broccoli florets and pour the batter along the vegetables. Put a lid on top and simmer until the bottom is golden, then turn (a plate can help - if the pan is non-stick it will make the turn a lot easier) and cook the other side.

Serve hot or cold.

Ital Stew Peas (Veggie Stew Peas)

Ital Stew Peas is sometimes called Veggie Stew Peas or Vegetarian Stew Peas

INGREDIENTS :

* 2 cups red peas (kidney beans)
* 2 whole scotch bonnet peppers (if you like it hot cut the pepper up)
* ¼ cup water
* 2 cups coconut milk
* bay leaves
* 10 pimento grains (allspice)
* cloves garlic (1 crushed and 3 whole)
* 3 chopped scallions
* 1 small onion chopped
* 3 sprigs of thyme
* ½ teaspoon black pepper
* 1 teaspoon natural sea salt (sold in stores)
* 2 potatoes (Irish), cubed
* 1 sweet potato, cubed
* 3 carrots, sliced
* Veggie spinners/dumplings (See Recipe Below)

METHOD:

1. Soak the peas in water for a least 10-12 hours in the pot
2. Place coconut milk, bay leaves, scallion, pimento grain, whole garlic and whole pepper in the pot.
3. Slowly boil and simmer for 1 ½ hours or until the peas are tender.
4. Season by adding the onions, crushed garlic and thyme.
5. Add carrots, spinners and potatoes
6. Let simmer for 30 minutes
7. Remove the scallions, bay leaves and hot pepper before serving.
8. Serve hot with white rice.

Jambalaya

Ingredients

1/2 pound cooked chicken meat
1/2 pound cooked ham
1 pound cooked sausages
1 small green bell pepper
1 large yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
5 scallions
3 large tomatoes
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 bay leaves
Salt, ground black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste.
2 cups long-grain white rice
3 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, or as needed

Chop the chicken and the ham into bite-sized pieces; you should have about 1-1/2 cups of each. Cut the sausages into 1/2 inch thick slices. Seed the bell pepper, then chop the bell pepper, yellow onion, garlic, and the scallions, including the tender green tops. chop the tomatoes.

In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, warm the vegetable oil. Add the ham and sausage and saute until well browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the flour, stir well, and add the bell pepper, yellow onion, garlic, and scallions and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, thyme, cumin, allspice, bay leaves, salt, black and cayenne peppers, and chicken and mix well. Then stir in the rice and pour in the stock. The liquid should just cover the contents of the skillet. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

To serve, remove and discard the bay leaf. Spoon the rice and meats onto a platter.
Serves 6-8

Cornbread Muffins

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened 2/3 cup white sugar 1/4 cup honey 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup cornmeal 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup milk 3/4 (10 ounce) package frozen corn kernels, thawed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease or line 12 muffin cups. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, honey, eggs and salt. Mix in flour, cornmeal and baking powder; blend throughly. Stir in milk and corn. Pour or spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. I like to spread honey mixed with a little softened butter over the tops while they are still warm. You can use this same recipe for cornbread

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Carolina Country Slaw

Ingredients:

1 large cabbage, shredded
1 bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced

Mix the pepper and onion together. Layer the cabbage and pepper and onion mix in a large mixing bowl. Pour 1 ½ cups sugar over this.

Mix the following ingredients together and bring to a boil:

1 cup of vinegar
3/4 cup of oil
1 tsp. of Salt
1 tsp. of celery seed
2 tsp. of Mustard
1 tbsp. Plus 1 tsp. of Sugar

Pour this over the cabbage, pepper, and onion and do not stir. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 4 hours. Tastes better if refrigerated overnight.

serves 8

Cornbread Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (8 ounces) of cornbread stuffing mix
2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables slightly thawed
1-1/2 cups of cubed cooked ham
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups of milk
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

In a microwavable baking dish (12×8x2-inch) mix together the stuffing, vegetables and ham. In a bowl mix together the eggs; milk, salt, and pepper pour this over the cornbread mixture and cover with plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator and leave for at least 5 hours or overnight.

Next day, remove the plastic wrap and cover with waxed paper and microwave for 6 minutes rotate 1/4 turn. Continue microwaving for another 7 to 9 minutes or until a knife inserted in middle comes
out clean. Sprinkle with the cheese.

serves 4

Carolina Country Hobo Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of raisins
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 cup of boiling water
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of chopped nuts
3 tablespoons of shortening
1 egg, beaten
2 cups of flour
1/8 teaspoon of salt

Pour the boiling water over the raisins and baking soda and let stand until cool. Combine the other ingredients with the raisin mixture and bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until done.

Easy Chicken Pie

Ingredients:

4 large, boneless chicken breasts, cooked
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of chicken broth
1 cup of self-rising flour
1 cup of milk
1 stick of butter, melted

Cut the cooked chicken into small pieces. Put chicken into a shallow casserole
dish and add the cream of chicken soup and chicken broth. In a separate bowl
mix the flour, milk, and the margarine. Pour mixture evenly over chicken and bake
at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Add any vegetables you like to the pie, if you like.

Low Country Red Rice

Ingredients

1 small yellow onion
1 can (14 ounces) crushed tomatoes
3 thick slices bacon
1 cup long-grain white rice
Salt, ground black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste
1 cup chicken stock

Chop the onion. Have the can of tomatoes opened and ready to use. In a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, fry the bacon until crisp and the fat is rendered, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pan.

Return the pan to medium heat and add the onion. Saute until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and saute until the grains are coated with the bacon fat and are very hot, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt, and black and cayenne peppers, mixing well. Pour in the stock or water and bring to a boil. Cover tightly, reduce heat to low, and cook until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Do not stir the rice during this time.

Spoon the rice into a serving bowl and crumble the bacon over the top. Serve at once.

Serves 4-6

Charleston Traditional Creamy She-Crab soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 quart milk
1/8 teaspoon ground mace
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups white crab meat (try to find fresh crabs with roe, but canned will do)
6 tablespoons dry sherry
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Fill the bottom of a double boiler halfway with water. Bring to a low boil. Melt butter in top of double boiler, add flour and stir until smooth.

Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until smooth. Add mace, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and crab meat, add roe . Cook over simmering water for 20 minutes.To serve, place 1 tablespoon of warmed sherry in each of 4 or 6 soup bowls (depends on how much soup you want). Ladle soup into bowls, top with a dollop of whipped cream, and sprinkle with fresh snipped parsley.

Makes 4 -6 servings

CALDO DE PEIXE (FISH SOUP)

6 white potatoes
3 sweet potatoes
l bunch fresh parsley
l green pepper
l red pepper
3 medium onions
2 medium tomatoes
4 scallions
3 lbs. fresh, whole, cleaned saltwater fish (examples: tautog, cod, bluefish or sea bass).

In a large kettle, gently saute chopped onions, tomatoes, scallions and green and red peppers in oil. Next, add fish cut into small pieces and water. Cover and bring to a gentle boil. Add peeled potatoes and chopped parsley to kettle. Reduce heat and simmer. A little may be added to make a thicker broth.

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Jag (Jagacida)

3 medium onions
9 cups of rice
3 pounds of frozen lima beans
salt, pepper and paprika to taste
6 bay leaves
1 bunch fresh parsley
12 tablespoons of oil

Chop onions and place in a 2 qt. pan. Simmer until golden brown. Add 18 cups of water to onions and season (to taste) with salt, pepper, paprika, bay leaves and parsley. Bring to a boil and add 9 cups of rice. Lower heat, add beans, cover pan and simmer for 25 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is cooked. Turn off stove and let stand. Serve with linguica.