Vegetable "Lasagna"

I'm sure you might have guessed by the use of quotation marks that this is not a true Lasagna, in fact this is more a bake recipe. I've never really been a fan of lasagna, if I was going to indulge in a carb it might as well be a briyani!

The reason I decided to name this dish a lasagna is because when I visited Italian restaurants, my fellow patrons would order a pasta based dish or pizza and I would have some sort of veg bake. This dish is similar to a veg bake but is oh soo good and not that difficult to eat.

The other issue is that I do not consider a pasta a natural food, obviously its made with flour, its like limp bread when cooked.

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
1 yellow or red pepper (bell type), diced
1 spring rosemary
2 cardamon
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 clove garlic smashed and sliced
2 cups mushrooms sliced
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup cheese

Method
Place pot on stove with slow heat 20% of total stove rating
Place oil, onion, pepper, rosemary, cardamon, salt and garlic into pot
Cook until onion is "soft/glazy"
Add mushroom and cook until flavor smell is strong
Add Greek yogurt and just mix until yogurt warms up but does not cuddle
Pour mixture into baking tin and layer cheese on that (dishes, I simply do like that)
Insert in oven on grill for 10 mins or when there is a crispy layer of cheese on top
Remove, serve and enjoy

Enjoy!

"Fireball" Roast chicken pieces and "white" sauce

I'm a person of Indian origin but I cannot eat "hot" food, (from a spicy perspective). The term "fireball" reminds of the type of bubble gum I used to eat when I was younger, it had a very cinnamony flavor but also had quite abit of heat. Rest assured this recipe has that cinnamon type flavor without the burn.

The "white" sauce is also not in the traditional sense, there is no flour used in the prep of the sauce. It is quite healthy in terms of a natural foodie perspective.

Chicken breasts are really quite difficult to cook. I hate the fillet option purely because of  the way it is cut, moisture is not maintained in the piece. Hence I have developed a couple of options to ensure that the breast piece that is cooked comes out tender and full of flavor. The options are as follows:

• Ensure that the chicken piece is still attached to the bone
• Ensure that the chicken piece still has skin on it
• Cook the chicken piece at low temperatures
• Sear the chicken piece if you need to cook at higher temperature
• Place the pieces in pot that is slightly larger(in terms of size) than what you want to cook, that way evaporation is limited

I'm hesitant to use the term rules, because you cook with feeling and rules just muck up the fun. This in no way shows that I support the black caps because I used the word muck. 

Sometimes you require fillet pieces, like a thai sauce, in that case the wok shape is very helpful.

On to the recipe!!!

Ingredients
1 stick cinnamon
1 tsp pepper corns
1 tsp salt
3 cardamom
3 cloves
3 breast pieces chicken (any pieces would work really)
1 Tbsp butter (melted)
1 onion (sliced)
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp garlic
5 Tbsp Greek Yogurt

Method
Grind cinnamon, pepper corns, salt, cardamon, cloves into a powder
Marinate chicken in powder, ensure to place some spice between chicken and skin
In a shallow oven dish with lid, place and layer, butter, onions, ginger, garlic and marinated chicken
Insert dish into the oven
Switch oven onto 150 degree C for 45 mins (I prefer 100 degree C for 1 hr 15 min, so I can get in a run)
Once chicken is cooked, remove chicken and plate
Add yogurt to the remaining contents of shallow dish, mix and serve this "white" sauce

Please give me feedback when you'll try the recipe

Enjoy!

Springbok Ribs Potjie

The Journey towards this recipe is one of my own realization that a whole people, nation or race cannot be judged (something we should not be doing in the first place) based upon the actions of the past, generalizations and just shear stories. Growing up at the back end of apartheid, I did not experience the true brutality for which it is famous but one of the undeniable results is the brush with which we (non-whites) paint Afrikaans people. It was a lesson that was made possible by my parents with religion which was to be respectful of everybody and never be rude. I try as much as possible to live by these tenants. Try being the operative word.

Generally Afrikaans people have a very hard/robust exterior which might easily give the impression of an intolerant, hardhearted nation. Let me be the first to say that it is not true at all.(judge, book, cover comes to mind) I agree that there maybe plugs among them but there are plugs everywhere. These plugs are responsible for demonizing whole nations and we (as a human race) just never learn and commit the same dumbness again and again. (judging and action on stereotypes)

When I moved to our nations capital, away from the close knit world within which I existed in KZN, I think/believe I grew as a person. I met numerous Afrikaans people, some truly amazing individuals and the plugs. I am a Muslim Indian know of truly amazing people and the plugs within my own race and religion. The similarities between nations/peoples/religions is astounding.

Anyhow I was invited by a set of Afrikaans friends to go hunting, they were hospitable for my dietary requirements (halal), did not force alcohol on me, thought me how to use a gun (for the first time) and I shot 1 springbok (I believe it was by fluke). I knew that was it for me, because what am I going to do shooting more animals than what is required for me and my better half. This action also thought me to respect life no matter what it is draped in, both figuratively and literally.

On the evening I experienced one of the best rugby matches ever, Springboks vs England, on Radio 2000, playing in the Kalahari as the sunset and brought on the cold night, with a blazing fire going and we prepared meat and enjoyed each others company. Curiously enough I made another fascinating realization about a Braai or potjie and that it is NOT the act of cooking meat on a fire or making food in a cast iron pot but rather the whole ritual of preparing the fire, snacking, drinking (non-alcoholic for me), interacting (joking, discussing pressing issues, learning) , then preparing the main course and ultimately closing out the event with something sweet. A Braai or Potjie is an entire event centered around food and camaraderie, it is a way to bring togetherness, understanding and peace. For my international readership a Braai is a barbecue.

Maybe that's the solution to world peace, a Braai! Would love to hear a miss world contestant say that, "the key to world peace is a braai."

When I googled game meat recipes, many required the meat to be soaked in alcohol before the marinade is applied. This is done to remove the gamey flavor because not many people can enjoy that sort of flavor. One recipe that I got on the website, allrecipes.com, reported that the meat can be marinated in apple cider (non-alcoholic) with salt and pepper. Since this sort of apple cider is not available in South, I used apple juice. It worked and was nice but this recipe below is a little different and the meat came out really nice and tender.

Ingredients

1 rack of game ribs
5 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp pepper
Water to cover ribs

1 red pepper
1 onion
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp coconut oil
3 cardamom

Method
Treatment to remove gamey flavor
Soak ribs in water,salt,pepper solution for 2 hours

Prepare marinade
Liquidize all remaining ingredients into paste

Marinate ribs in paste and place in potjie pot (the awesome thing about a potjie is that it more bakes food within the pot than cooking it as if on a stove, and the flavors are remarkable)
Place potjie pot over hot coals (no flame)
Cook for 2-3 hours
Enjoy once meat is tender

You might notice that I had modified an older potjie pot to contain the coals of a fire and concentrate it onto the underside of another potjie (where I cooked the ribs). The modification entailed grinding openings onto the potjie pot to allow for air intake to fuel the flame and allow heat to escape through the top (as heat rises). This is just an idea to make the using of coals more efficient and works wonderfully when camping or at picnics.

I would invite family and friends before I made the marinade and let the camaraderie begin!

Enjoy!!

Soaked meat in water, salt and pepper solution for 2 hours

Liquidize pepper, onion, coconut oil, garlic, salt, turmeric, cardamon and chilli powder into paste

Add marinade to treated ribs and pace in Potjie pot

After the ribs cook in the potjie, cut and enjoy, preferably in a plate because I'm not sure about the effectiveness of washing powders in removing turmeric stains from clothes

Project LOL: Location, Location, Location

Project management and project managers is one of the voodoo sciences of the professional world. They are like opinions everybody has one. This is close reference to the appendage that wants to be the boss. Don't get me wrong there are people within this breed of PM that are really good and understand their purpose but the vast majority are F#@%ing useless. There are protocols within project management that are applicable to project LOL and that is the overarching stages which are as follows:

• Concept - This is where the requirements, stakeholders and scope are defined
• Pre-feasibility - where the various options are explored with an appropriate cost
• Feasibility - where the detailed design and cost is confirmed 
• Construction - the building/development of the project
• Close out - defects of the installation are complete and the project moves on to the user client to use and maintain

For our purposes we are going to combine concept and pre-feasibility stages into one.

• Stakeholders - my better half, looseal (cat), Ginghaan (cat) and myself - major stakeholders. Neighbours and body corporate - minor stakeholders.
• Scope: To create a fruit and vegetable area where the family unit can live ALMOST entirely of. Protein sources and unsustainable fresh produce must only be procured from local organic suppliers

The next step is to determine the timeline for completion of the various stages. I'll take the liberty (my own, how dictator is that!!) of a little more time before I confirm the project milestone dates in a later post.

Plants generally need light, soil and water to grow. All these requirements have and can be manipulated but it is always best to use freely available options. I have identified 2 areas to start my vegetable patch and whether a greenhouse is required shall be determined in the course of this phase of the project.

Refer to the photo above
Site A (Located at the corner of the 2 boundary walls, left hand side of picture)

• Pros
• No height restriction, or blocking of view
• Unused space within the property
• Cons
• Trees will need to be cleared out
• Lowest point in the yard hence, water gathers at this point
• Storm water manhole within the vicinity of the site

Point B (located underneath the window, right hand side of picture)

• Pros
• can be made into a feature
• all pots fit within a 2 x 1.5m area
• Cons
• Roof drainage in the area
• Electrical manhole on the site
• The area is paved
• height restriction because of the window

I also looked at the sun position and how much sun can be received at the 2 sites. This can be determined using the website www.findmyshadow.com. The process I used was as follows:
go to the bespoke shadow plotting

• Select location - Google maps interface
• Select date - since this program gives the shadow cast on a specific date. It would be very time consuming to workout the shadow being cast for 365 days. I picked the middle for every month and noted total daylight hours and total hours cast on the selected sites. I placed this information in Microsoft excel and directly extrapolated to determine light cast on a spot. The table below is the collated information.
• Drew up location taking into account buildings, awnings and fences. The interface is very easy to use and monitor. The drawback was that values inserted are in increments of 0.5m, so if the size of the wall is 1.65m the height that is allowed is either 1.5m or 2m. 
• I ran the calculation for the specified date. If your internet is fast enough all the images for every hour are loaded on the main results page but since my internet was really slow, I opened each image in its own tab and printed from there. The other issue is that when you update the date to be evaluated you have to go back and forward a step for the shadow line images of the buildings to show up. 
• On the whole this program was very useful in determining how much sun is supplied to either site. 

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Number of daylight hours	13	12	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	12
Number of sun hours in area: Site A	8	8	3	2	2	1,5	1	2	2	7	8	7
	62%	67%	27%	18%	20%	15%	10%	20%	20%	58%	67%	58%
Number of sun hours in area: Site B	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	8	9
	69%	17%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	8%	67%	75%

The table above shows total daylight hours and hours of light at the 2 sites. Both sites are on the south side of the building and this is proof by the dismal winter light readings. Summer there is a fair amount of light but it is also not very good. 

Looking at the information above I have to make a few decisions. Which are as follows:

• Use the site with more light throughout the year
• Use both sites, i.e. Site A for bigger plants and Site B for herbs
• Create a green house intervention
• Create a light intervention
• Cost each option
• Choose plants that require minimal light
• miscellaneous options (these might come up between now and the next post)

These are considerations I shall follow up in my next blog post. I hope this has been useful. 

Yours in "natural" living

Total Print out of results of shadow cast on the sites from the website program

"Fried Chicken Wings"

Well this week I've shown glimpses of my inefficiencies and this post contradicts my high horse rant of the last Friday post (AND I contradicted the rant within the post). Essentially I am one day late with my "weekly" recipe post and I did not upload a post related to Project LOL. I have let down my readers and for that I am sincerely sorry. I cannot promise it would not happen again but at least I hope to convey how serious I take my breach of trust. I have essentially taken my (metaphorical) high horse shot it and preparing it for a future recipe.

Enough self depreciating fluffy stuff, on to the recipe! This recipe was born from my indulgences in hot wings. I have featured this recipe on my previous blog, but I do not want to deny my new readers the joy for "Fired" chicken.

I use the devious marketing gimmick the "Airfryer". The recipe itself is very simple and I sincerely hope you enjoy. The only draw back to this recipe is that you might create a few more extra dishes and make a little mess on the preparation table.

Ingredients:
8 Chicken Wings
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 heaped table spoons of desiccated coconut

Method
Crack and beat egg and place in bowl
Combine salt, pepper and desiccated coconut in another separate bowl
Dip chicken wing (hopefully washed and dried) in egg and then in dry coconut mixture
Place in air fryer and cook for 40mins at 220 degree C
Check on the wings 10mins before time to ensure that the outer crust is crispy

Voila and enjoy!