Kuwaiti Katayef

Well these are my absolute favourites and if anything is going to get me fat over Ramadan, it’s these- cheese filled pancakes served with a sugary syrup…………….dream on.

  

3 cups of flour

½ cup of cream of wheat

½ tsp instant yeast

1 and half to 2 cups warm water

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

Dash of baking soda

Read more: http://middleeasterncuisine.suite101.com/article.cfm/katayef_recipe#ixzz0OrlHeQFr

 

Inside, I usually put cream cheese, but some people put cream and others walnuts.

1. In blender, add water, cream of wheat, instant yeast and sugar. Blend.
2. Slowly add flour and blend. Add baking powder and baking soda. Blend well. Cover and let rise until small bubbles form on the surface.
3. Heat griddle on high heat. Blend mixture one more time before you cook on griddle. Pour mix onto griddle into medium circles.
4. Once the cake is golden brown on the bottom, remove from griddle – do not flip over.
5. Let cool on rack.
6. Take medium katayef pancake, place one tbsp of stuffing of walnut or cheese stuffing.
7. Fold over katayef, pressing the edges of the dough together in a pirogue shape.

Read more: http://middleeasterncuisine.suite101.com/article.cfm/katayef_recipe#ixzz0Orlp51JH

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line the katayef in a baking tray. Brush each one with cooking oil.

Place in oven for 10 to 15 minutes, then flip over to brown other side for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove and let cool.

Read more: http://middleeasterncuisine.suite101.com/article.cfm/katayef_recipe#ixzz0OrlybeH8

Or you can fry them ( hint, VERY unhealthy!)…..

Then dip them in a sugary syrup and eat while hot.

Rice Pudding

2 cups cooked white rice

2 cups 2% milk

3 tablespoons white sugar

15 dates, pitted and chopped

Place the rice into a food processor or blender, and process until coarse, but not pureed. Transfer to a saucepan, and stir in the milk, sugar and dates. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until the dates are tender, about 20 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

I am going to make that right now!

Lemon chicken with figs

Chicken thighs roasted with figs and lemon slices in a lemon, vinegar and brown sugar glaze.

 chicken thighs to feed how many
2 lemons, 1 sliced, 1 halved
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 pounds dried figs
salt to taste
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the chicken thighs in oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Squeeze juices from halved lemon into a small bowl, then stir in brown sugar, vinegar and water; set aside.
Place figs and sliced lemon segments in the bottom of an 11×16 inch baking/roasting dish. Arrange chicken thighs on top, then pour vinegar mixture over chicken. Finally, sprinkle with salt and dried parsley to taste.
Bake/roast at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 50 minutes, basting frequently (turn figs if they begin to brown).
With a slotted spoon, remove chicken, figs and lemon slices from baking dish and place on a warm platter. Skim fat from juices, then pour over chicken as sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve

And that’s why we hate the French

A great parody by Rowan Atkinson from the 1980s explains why the British ( and how everyone else should ) hate the French- and here’s another reason why………….what if someone was suffering from a pigment disorder and couldn’t have any sun on their skin at all? The French wouldn’t allow them to swim? or if someone was scarred from head to toe in burns? Their embarassment wouldn’t count for anything?

A Muslim woman who tried to go swimming in a head-to-toe “burquini” has been banned from her local pool in the latest tussle between religious practices and secular authority in France.
Officials on Wednesday insisted they banned the woman’s use of the Islam-friendly swimsuit because of France’s unusually strict hygiene standards in pools – not because of official hostility to wearing overtly Muslim garb.
Under the policy, swimmers are prevented from wearing any street-compatible or baggy clothing, such as Bermuda shorts, in favour of figure-hugging suits.
The woman, a 35-year-old convert to Islam identified only as Carole, complained of religious discrimination after trying to go swimming in her burquini in the Paris suburb of Emerainville.
She was quoted as telling the daily Le Parisien newspaper that she had bought the burquini after deciding “it would allow me the pleasure of bathing without showing too much of myself, as Islam recommends.”

“For me this is nothing but segregation,” she added.

Ramadan Recipe with a twist

This is my take on the Kuwaiti dish ‘bechamel’.

I cook my macaroni with a stock cube. Meanwhile I chop up a burger and fry it with some onion and garlic.Then I add some tomato paste, a drop of water, salt and pepper, garam masala and chili pepper. At the same time I am making my white sauce ( melted butter, salt and pepper and another stock cube, add flour and then milk and stir wildly!). Put the meat mixture in the blender a little and then put a layer of meat and then a layer of white sauce on the bottom of the cooking dish. Mix all the other ingredients together( macaroni, white sauce and meat mixture). Put in the cooking dish. Now comes my added twist. I sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top and put it in the oven until the top becomes crispy.

East meets West in  ”Bechamel Macaroni Cheese”. We loved it.

How to escape punishment

Easy really, all you have to shout is ”I’m a celebrity, don’t put me in there!”

At least for Steve Gerrard and Amy Winehouse, that seems to be the key……………in an astounding affront to football and music fans everywhere, and a finger up at our judicial system, both couldn’t-care-less celebrities, who have proven to us all how free they are with their fists, have been let off by some alzheimer-threatened judge…..

Both have been ‘cleared of assault’…….now I have been a Liverpool fan all my life, but I think perhaps the ‘jury of his peers’  ( Liverpool FC captain ) may have been a little biased ( from Liverpool )…..don’t you think.

And as for Amy, well perhaps she needs as many favours as she can get with a face and body like that……

Hey Mambo…..Silvio, you old Lothario you…..

A very, very frightening thought, image, possibility has arisen…..More tapes about Silvio Berlusconi’s sleaze scandal have been released – this time apparently of the Italian leader after having sex.

I don’t even want to imagine how horrible that could be.

Sky News reports :  ”The recordings were made by high-class escort girl Patrizia D’Addario, 42, who insists she spent a night at the 72-year-old’s home. In an explicit conversation, the woman is heard praising a man, said to be the prime minister, for his “performance”.He replies she should have “sex with yourself more often”.Political insiders said the graphic nature of the recordings could prove fatal in Mr Berlusconi’s close relationship with the Vatican.”

Well yes, stating the bleeding obvious there, aren’t we…..

Silvio says she may have visited his home, but he can’t remember her ( were there so many? ) and in any case he would never have paid as this would have spoilt the conquest…….how very……”Italian”…..LOL

Oh, and guess what, the ‘girl’ in question was 42- you old rogue, you like the older women, don’t you? Well there’s hope for all of us…..I knew there was a reason I loved Italians.

Conrad Murray may be in for a bumpy ride

The dollar signs were probably flashing in ‘Doctor’ Conrad Murray’s eyes, in true Tom and Jerry fashion $$  $$ , when he was appointed Michael Jackson’s personal physician/ drug dealer. It soon turned into a farce of Disney proportions as we imagine MJ stretched out on the bed, doped to the eyeballs and the good old doctor trying to remember his basic first aid, CPR, and failing, again……

Now the police are on step away from issuing a manslaughter charge against him, as he  is the target of a manslaughter investigation into the singer’s death. A receipt for a search warrant shows that police have found : 27 tablets of the weight loss drug phentermine, a tablet of the muscle relaxant clonazepam, two hard drives, notices from the IRS and a controlled substance registration.

If there is any professional doctor governing body in the USA…….I’d be asking a ‘cardiologist’ why he had diet pills in his medicine cabinet…..wouldn’t you?

And why are there still no other pictures of him available except the smiling Bill Cosby one????

Pratt by name, prat by nature

Fortunately I have lived until now in blissful ignorance of Spencer Pratt. As I said, until now………….I just flicked on Star World and am watching the ‘I’m a celebrity get me out of here’. Who in hell’s name is that buck eejit Spencer? Did ever on God’s earth  a man have such a bad case of the verbal trots?

Oh little boy with big, big ideas above his station……I so hope that he gets his dues some day……it was embarassing to watch him. I was waiting for the ‘My Daddy is a fireman’ sentence from him…….

Tito Jackson,”The Doc killed Michael.”

Michael Jackson’s brother Tito is accusing Doctor Conrad Murray of murder.

”Grieving Tito Jackson claimed Dr Conrad Murrays dithering as he tried to resuscitate his stricken brother wasted vital minutes that might have cost him his life. He accused the physician of not acting quickly enough to get help and said his methods of revival were far from the standards expected of a qualified doctor.Tito claimed Dr Murray began flapping when Jacko collapsed at his Los Angeles home. The 55-year-old said: My opinion is that he panicked when my brother didnt wake up.I think the doctor probably figured he was in trouble and he tried to revive Michael.”

Ya figure?