Sunday 18 October 2015

Egyptian Grilled Fish + Sweet Spicy Pizza + Chicken Tikka Pizza: 10-16 October 2015.

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful




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Ibn Al Qayyim (ra) said:

Sadness weakens the heart and diminishes determination and wanting to go forward. And, there is nothing more beloved to the Shaytaan than the sadness of the believer.
For this reason, be happy, optimistic and think good about Allah. Have trust in what Allah is able to do and depend on Him. 
You will find happiness and pleasure in all situations.

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it's been a sweet week. a very sweet week. although the weekend began with the most savoury spicy chicken potstickers served with the obligatory soy chilli dipping sauce. Egyptian-style grilled fish (keep scrolling for recipe) followed on Sunday along with a veggie rice.

Monday rolled around and my kitchen was filled with the scent of almost burning sugar. the result? a sauce filled to the brim with buttery sugary goodness. the next day, a beautiful chocolate cake (the one above!) and this sweet spicy pizza (keep scrolling for full recipe) - omg, you guys it was so simple but so good.

later, a pizza for the chicken lovers. this one, covered with smoky chicken tikka. keep scrolling for the recipe!
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Wednesday was cupcake day! these beauties were vanilla flavoured, baked, then covered with what can only be described as toffee caramel frosting. I know! to keep the savoury among us happy, there was a potato tortilla and my favourite veggie curry.
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the week finished with the sweetest of all - the arrival of the newest, most adorable member of the family! oh, and this pineapple cherry syrup classic cake wasn't so bad either.
hope you've had a good one!

here's more from my week:

 Saturday: today, we made spicy chicken potstickers. a simple dough was made with plain flour, salt and boiling water. the recipe is here.
for the filling, I thinly sliced green cabbage.
peeled and grated a carrot.
into a bowl, went the veggies and thinly sliced spring onions.
followed by chicken mince, crushed ginger and garlic, soy sauce, salt, white pepper and toasted sesame oil.
once the dough was rested, it was divided up.
and the production line began!
unlike our traditional samosas, the filling for these dumplings goes in raw.
they're sealed with water and crimped up.
before being browned in a tiny amount of hot oil.
and, then steamed under a tight lid.
once cooked, they're tender on top and crispy at the bottom.
on the side, the obligatory dipping sauce - a mixture of soy sauce and chilli sauce.
and it's time to eat! these are the best - so juicy and full of flavour, spicy from the ginger and white pepper. epic.
I used the dough from this recipe and the spicy chicken filling from here.
although later, I did have a little disaster. the rest of the dumplings were wrapped up and set on a plate - which I forgot to dust with flour. and, so they all stuck. oops.
we persevered though and carried on.
and, they were absolutely fine. crispy central.
a delicious Saturday night.
 Sunday: pancake breakfast!
we made British pancakes with lemon and sugar. total classic.
Sunday baking!
I baked a cake which was left to cool overnight.
 everything begins with an onion.
 guys! eat your broccoli stalk. it's the best bit. dice it up and throw it in with the actual broccoli.
whoosh!
cheese cracker pickle situation.
 follow me on snapchat people - muslimgirlbakes.
 rice must come with spicy coriander yoghurt.
 green things at dinner. I cooked Egyptian-style grilled fish.
 into the tiniest blender ever, went:
2 heaped tablespoons Fresh Coriander
3 Green Chillies, chopped
green parts of 1 bunch Spring Onions, chopped
1 Garlic Clove, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon Salt
 blend it up to a smooth-ish paste.
 grill 4 white fish fillets (with a little oil and salt) for 5 minutes under a hot grill.
then, spread them with the paste.
 and, grill for a further 8 minutes or until cooked.
we ate ours with rice and fresh lemon. yum. I adapted the fish recipe from here.
 Monday: before I had even had my morning coffee, I was in the kitchen.
 tackling burning sugar!
thankfully, I survived.
 and, the simplest ingredients produced something that I can only describe as liquid Werther's Originals. yep.

later, it thickened up. I considered spreading over a mid-morning slice of toast. 

but resisted knowing that it was going to end up as part of something more epic than toast.
 then, a ganache was made.
 it rippled beautifully. 
 before the sauce was added and the whole thing got thrown into the fridge overnight. it was that or get the electric mixer going during the late hours of the night - I don't think the other occupants of the house would have thanked me for that. no matter how delicious things were turning out.
but one cannot survive on sweet things alone. tonight, it was vegetarian night with veggie rice and this amazing bitter gourd (karaylay) curry. 
Tuesday: a night in the fridge and a good whip later, my frosting was finally ready.
it was spread over a cake.
and by accident, I ended up decorating it with this rather-pretty feather pattern thing.
we could resist no longer.

it was time to finally slice and taste this thing!

sliced up.
and, eaten with hot coffee. the frosting was epic but the cake still needs work.
today was pizza day! it was randomly chosen and I think it suited this gloomy Tuesday perfectly. first on the menu, a sweet and spicy pepper pizza. I made this dough, let it rise then divided into two. the dough was stretched (or you could roll) into any pizza shape on an oven tray. I like this oval shape.

the toppings were very simple. this no-cook tomato sauce, sweet cherry peppers and spicy pickled jalapeno slices.
a little tomato sauce was spread over the base.
followed by a small sprinkling of grated Cheddar.

I used 10 of these sweet cherry peppers.

they were sliced through the middle to create those pretty rings. also, I thinly sliced some chicken salami for the meat-lovers side of the pizza.
on went both the salami and peppers.
finished with a small grating of Cheddar.
then 20 minutes in a very hot oven at 220C / Gas Mark 7 until all the cheese had melted and the crust was golden underneath.

guys, you must give this pizza a try. without the salami, it's completely vegetarian and the peppers, being the stars, make a real change. plus you can't beat the sweet and spicy combo.
we dug in straight away!
pizza. the perfect Tuesday lunch.
onto the second pizza - a smoky chicken tikka pizza. for the chicken tikka, I used this recipe. here it is before I dried it out.

to make the tikka smoky, we use coals.
the coal was heated over a gas flame.
placed over foil in the chicken pan.
oil is poured on top.
and, it begins to smoke.
cover with a lid and let the smoke settle.
the chicken was cooled and then sliced up.
for the pizza, dough was stretched out.
no-cook tomato sauce was spread on top.
a little grated Cheddar.
the chicken.
sweet cherry peppers.
baked at 220C for 20 minutes until melted and golden.
so good with coriander green chilli yoghurt.
 Wednesday: porridge with cinnamon to begin a busy day.
vanilla cupcakes were baked - using this recipe without the food colour.
vanilla buttercream was whipped up - using this recipe.
chocolate caramel sauce was stirred through.
before chocolate ganache was rippled through.
some of the ganache was piped into the cupcakes.
then, using an ice cream scoop and palette knife ..
... buttercream was spread over them.
pre-sprinkle.
post-sprinkle.
tonight, it was breakfast for dinner night.
we made a potato onion tortilla.
I adapted this recipe ...
... and served the tortilla in wedges with stir-fried broccoli + carrots + cabbage.
 Thursday: curry night! we ate my favourite okra curry with roti --> here is the full recipe.
for dessert, half of one of those cupcakes above!
Friday: guys, the tomatoes are confused.
they still think it's summer.
we're not complaining though.
time to bake!
cherries, pineapple ...
... and plenty of golden syrup.
can only mean one thing. I was baking a firm family favourite - the pineapple upside-down. on the bottom, golden syrup, glace cherries and tinned pineapple chunks.
covered with a sweet vanilla batter.
baked to golden brown perfection.
then, flipped to reveal the syrupy bottom in all its glory.
not pictured: the giant vat of hot custard that this was enjoyed with. here is my cake recipe.

but as any good home baker knows, the bottom of the tin is where it's at.

this time one year ago:
comfort food + nasi goreng + autumn salads

lately, on the blog:
lentil shepherd's pie + sweet chilli chicken + battle of the cakes
spicy salmon + potato fishcakes
lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream


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have a beautiful week everyone! keep me in your duas please,

Wasalaam!


Spice Enthusiast
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