Name This Food! - Keema Paratha

Ladies and gents, you've had since April to figure this one out. I asked you what this was...

and you may know that it is a lovely thing called a Keema Paratha.

So what is a Keema Paratha, exactly?

Well, I'll tell you. Keema (sometimes Qeema or Kheema) is a traditional South Asian meat dish. Typically, it is a minced mutton curry (lamb or goat) with peas or potatoes. Keema can be made from almost any meat, can be cooked by stewing or frying, and can be formed into kebabs. Keema is also sometimes used as a filling for samosas or naan, or in this case, a paratha.

Parathas are flatbreads, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is still quite prevalent in the whole Pakistan and north of India , where wheat is grown and is the traditional staple of the area. Paratha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta which literally means layers of cooked dough. Parathas are generally stuffed with various fillings such as mixed vegetables and/or meats, much like a pasty would be.

How do we make them?

Well, first, you need to make a nice Keema Curry, and there is a fabulous recipe here:   http://thismuslimgirlbakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/lamb-mince-curry.html

Then, you need to make the parathas so that you can stuff them with the Keema mixture, and here's a recipe for that...

http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/paratha-recipe-plain-paratha-recipe/

That's all very well, Jeff, but how do we stuff them?

Well, the key is to make your paratha dough, take two circles of dough, put the filling on one and then place the other circle of dough on top. Then seal the edges by either folding or pinching them and fry as the recipe says until golden brown. It's quite labour intensive but well worth it.

Anyhoo, what's the new Name This Food! food?

Name This Food!

What The..?

I was bought these the other day by my sister. She knew I wouldn't be able to resist. I will always try a wacky flavoured anything. Now, initially my reaction was somewhat similar to yours. "How? What? Why?"

After a while I realised that this wasn't the strangest flavour combo I'd ever come across. After all, I remember the time I ate some chocolate-covered potato chips and chocolate covered pretzels. And they were GOOD!

So these I tried with gusto. The flavour of the rum and cocoa is pretty subtle, it has to be said. It's more of an aftertaste, if I'm honest. Really nice thick cut crisps, though.

I give these a definite 4 yums out of 5!

Kooshti sante!

Yummy Digest

Had some puff pastry. Had some sausage meat. Made some pinwheels.

Here's a roundup of some of the delicious treats I've partaken of recently.

Tesco's now has an American foods section where you can buy overpriced imported sweeties and Lucky Charms and stuff like that. The Butterfinger cups had been an extortionate price but there were only two left so they were half off.Still pricey but not as bad as they had been (£3 a pack, I kid you not). Had to try them and I have to say I did not notice a significant difference in taste between them and \Reese's, but they were square which was different. The plantain chips were delicious, though.

This is my new favourite pizza, known as the Sucuklu, it's a traditional Mediterranean pizza with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, peppers and Mediterranean sausage, made by the good folks at Star Pizza and Kebab in St. Michaels, Tenterden. You can order online at http://starkebabandpizza.restajet.com/ or call on 01580764290.

Another one of Jane Brown's incredible cakes.

Recently went to Bluewater where we saw this beautiful Rolls-Royce Ice Cream Van.

While there, we went to Ed's Easy Diner where the kid's meals have mac & cheese nuggets.

Another Suklucu.  I guess you can say I'm a fan.

I had a pretty decent crop of raspberries this year. These are the canes that were given to me by my friends Mandy and Kev a few years back.

We have had some seaside fun this year, and it's something of a rule in our family that if you are at the seaside, you must have an ice cream and you must take a picture of it being eaten.

My one and only barbecue this year (so far - I want to have one on my birthday even if it's bitterly cold) and I had purchased a cheap belly pork joint. I had a jar of jerk paste in the cupboard so I slathered it all over the pork and marinated it for a couple of hours, then plonked it on the grill. Once it had developed a good crust I sliced the sucker up. Mmm. 

Laura, Rosie and I took a trip to Tunbridge Wells where we found the Chegworth Farm shop, a foodie's paradise. I had to buy this as it sounded so good, despite the hefty price tag. It was worth it.

Some days you just can't beat a good old cauliflower cheese.

This is my deconstructed fajita. I just pile everything on top of the tortillas and then add the cheese.

Another pic from Tunbridge Wells. We ate at Jamie's Italian and got a free appetizer - pecorino cheese with fresh chillies, mint and chilli jam.

The large superfood salad from Jamie's.  All kinds of good stuff going on in here.

Jamie's truffle tagliatelle. Very subtle and buttery.

Last but not least. Whose crazy idea was this?

Caketastic

Rosie's Shopkins cake.

Jane Brown makes amazing cakes. She's made several cakes for us over the years,

Ewan's Minecraft cake.

Rosie's cake featuring Bing Bunny.

My TARDIS cake.

Mum's Cheshire Cat cake.

And this cool M&M's cake for our next door neighbour Gerardo.

Jane lives in Tenterden, and if you want to see more examples of her work, check out her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Jane-Browns-Cakes-114941948585385/.

Adventures In Liquid Refreshment

What follows is a compilation of some of the many beverages I have consumed over the past few months. I hope this makes up a little for the lack of frequency in my posts. 

This is, of course, me enjoying my blueberry gin and tonic (see picture below). Enjoying it a little bit too much, by the looks of things.

The aforementioned blueberry gin & tonic. Blueberry gin was made by myself. I bought a couple of punnets of blueberries in Waitrose last year. Normally, blueberries are very expensive but these were marked down so I took them home and put them in the freezer, the idea being that I would do something with them at some point. Later on,  I purchased a bottle of gin and when it was about a third empty I decided to put in the frozen blueberries. The act of thawing made the skins on the blueberries split and so the lovely juicy part inside began to infuse into the gin. After a few months, the gin was ready to consume, so I decanted some into an empty bottle and this summer,  during those really hot days, I polished it off.

A bottle of whisky my boss bought me for my 50th birthday. At first, I didn't really like it to be honest. Eventually though, I find it's actually pretty smooth and there's only a couple wee drams left!

Last month, we went to the St Michaels Party In The Park. St Michaels can be a bit of a hike especially with a 3-year-old in tow,  so we opted to take the bus. The bus stop is just outside The Vine Inn in Tenterden, and we had half an hour to kill, so we popped in for a swift one. This is a pint of Shepherd Neame's Whitstable Bay Pale Ale, and a tasty pint it is too.

When we got to the Party In the Park, the beer tent (which was run by The Crown  pub) had the lovely Sharp's Doom Bar ale on tap, so it would have been impolite not to have one.

Or two. With a gluten-free coffee and walnut cake on the side.

On a recent trip to Bluewater Shopping Centre in Greenhithe, we were planning to eat at Jamie's Italian. However, that day there was a half-hour wait and we had a grumpy teenager needing food on our hands. So we went for the nearest place we could see without a line outside, which happened to be Ed's Easy Diner. We ordered the usual burgers and fries etc. but I was delighted to see Sam Adams on the menu.

And a meal in a full-blown 5o's -style diner is not complete without a proper milkshake - Reese's Peanut Butter Cup flavour..

Later, I had a juice from Joe and The Juice, unsurprisingly a coffee and juice bar. This is the delicious and pricey carrot/apple/ginger blend.

A few weeks back Waitrose were marking down these lovely little lagers from Hells Brewery in Camden. They came in a little square red-and-white box that looked like a Christmas gift. The reason they were marked down? Well, the original price was clearly too high for the average Waitrose consumer, and being a new brewery people were not going to pay through the nose for something they had never heard of. Always the beer adventurer, I plumped for a box of these beauties. Glad I did, this stuff is delicious.  Going to try to get some more in for the holidays.

Another pint-while-killing-time-waiting-for-the-bus, Timothy Taylor's Golden Best. Served at The Woolpack and consumed outside on one of the outdoor tables while basking in the sun. Ain't life grand?

Not sure if this is even Amstel, but it's in an Amstel glass. Pint glasses are one of those things that can easily be cleaned up and put to good use, so I can say without any shame that we found this glass while out and about walking in the town, checked for cracks and chips, and when it was found to be perfectly sound, washed it thoroughly and it's now my favourite beer glass.

During the summer Marks and Spencer had some unusual and interesting imported beers available. They were expensive due to being imported microbrews, so I bought three bottles at £2 each. I would have liked more, as they were all fabulous, like this Hawaiian brew above.

As was this strong IPA from Sierra Nevada.

A couple sips of this and I was playing Dick Dale on my phone and trying out my surf moves.

Occasionally  I take upon myself to try out new products when they hit our shelves, so that I can share my findings with customers and recommend accordingly. This Wolf Blass Yellow Label 2014 Chardonnay is pretty nice, but not world-shattering. 

A nice golden ale from Badger Ales.

My son Charlie works in McMenamins in Portland, OR. They roast their own coffee, so when he came to visit in the early part of the year he brought me a bag of these magical beans.

Budweiser Budvar, the original Czech lager that was stolen by the Americans and made their own.

Tiger Lager, the perfect beer to accompany a nice spicy Indian or South-East Asian dish.

Sapporo and pizza. Why not?

Delicious Desperados Cerveza with a smidge of tequila. Nice.

Ice cold Beck's in the sunshine.

I bought some cans of this fine brew for the second day of Tentertainment. If I hadn't, I'd have been cleaned out of cash at the beer tent.

The Dutch know their beer, and so do the Germans. How fitting then, that this fine brew is called Bavaria Holland.

A fine brew from the makers of the original. Lovely smokey aftertaste with this one.