Spicy Mushrooms in Coconut Sauce

A nice side dish that is easy to make and is an alternative to potatoes and rice. Recipe from here.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon oil
1 red bell pepper, cut in strips
1/4 onion, diced
1/2 lb (~200 g) mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon red pepper (or more, to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large saucepan heat the oil and sautee onion and bell pepper.
Add mushrooms and sautee.
Add coconut milk and red pepper.
Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes or until coconut milk is reduced to half.
Take off heat and add salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle with cilantro leaves.

Chickpea & Tomato Pasta Casserole

I made this up as I went along, and I'm not convinced I've got all of the ingredients, so play with the amounts and types of herbs and spices and season to taste!

Ingredients:

1 ~400g tin tomatoes (I used whole peeled Roma tomatoes because that's what I had, but diced or crushed would be fine too)
1 ~400g tin chickpeas (I threw the tinning juice in along with the chickpeas - if you don't add the liquid, double the amount of stock)
About 1 cup (250mL) chicken stock (broth)
1 medium brown onion, thinly sliced
About 1/2 cup port, sherry or red wine
About 2 teaspoons each of dried garlic powder and mixed herbs
About 1 teaspoon each of mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg
About 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
About 1 teaspoon fresh mint
About 1 teaspoon fresh oregano
About 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
Several drops of red Tabasco sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

About 2 cups wholemeal pasta (I used penne, but anything medium-sized would work)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C

2. Put everything except the pasta in a covered ovenproof casserole dish. Stir thoroughly.

3. Cook for one hour at 180 C.

4. Remove from oven, stir thoroughly, add pasta, return to oven.

5. Cook for a further 45 mins. The pasta will soak up most of the liquid.

6. This will be VERY hot, so let it sit in the serving bowls for 5-10 minutes before you try eating it, or like me you'll have a very sore mouth the next day :D This is great just on its own, or you can put some sour cream or whole egg mayonnaise on the side to add a creamy texture.

Chicken Cacciatore

This dish kept coming up on "Everybody Loves Raymond," so I finally looked it up. I can't vouch for its originality, but it's really good. I mean, chicken, bell peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms - what's not to like :). Recipe from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients (for 2 servings):

1/2 cup flour for coating
1 lb chicken, cut into pieces
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3.5 oz canned diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup fresh mushrooms, quartered
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the flour with a pinch of salt and pepper in a plastic bag.

Shake the chicken pieces in flour until coated.

Heat oil in a large skillet.

Brown chicken pieces. Remove from skillet.
Add the onion, garlic and bell pepper and saute until the onion is slightly browned.

Return the chicken to the skillet and add the tomatoes, oregano and wine.

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer for 10 more minutes.

Sprinkle with basil and serve over pasta or rice.

Ham and Cheddar Soup

Very delicious :). From here.

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed potatoes
1/2 cup sliced carrot
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup frozen peas
3 cups water
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed ham
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put carrots, potatoes, peas and water in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook until vegetables are tender (10-15 minutes).
In a separate dish melt butter and whisk in the flour.
Stir in milk.
Bring to a boil, then simmer stirring continuously until the mix starts to thicken (about 2 minutes).
Add the grated cheese and stir until it melts.
Finally, add the ham and the vegetables with their water.
Bring to a boil again, then take off heat and enjoy.

Eggplant Fan

For eggplant fans :). Source.

Ingredients (for one serving):

1 small eggplant
1 tomato
~ 100 g feta cheese
50 g oil
50 g water
thyme to taste

Directions:

Cut eggplant in 1 cm (1/2 inch) slices but don't cut it all the way:

Soak in salty water for about an hour. Take out and rinse.

Cut tomato in slices. Cut cheese in slices.

Put a slice of tomato and a slice of feta cheese (and a clove of garlic if you wish) into each cut.
Sprinkle thyme on top.

Pour water and oil in baking dish.

Cover and bake at 200 C/400 F for about an hour.

When eggplant is done, sprinkle some grated yellow cheese on top and bake it uncovered for additional 10 minutes.

Fake Sweet and Sour Pork

Sounds positively disgusting, and it's absolutely messy to eat but it's surprisingly good, especially considering the effort that goes into making it. The coke helps create a caramelly glaze and the vinegar in ketchup serves as a tenderizer.

Ingredients:

2 pork chops
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup coke

Directions:

Stir ketchup and coke together.
Poke steaks with a fork (or cut them into bitesize pieces), and cover with marinade.
Leave in fridge for about 2 hours.
Drain meat but reserve the marinade.
On high heat brown the meat for about 2 minutes per side.
Pour in the marinade, cover and simmer on low heat until meat is cooked through.
If you want more sauce, you can make more, just keep the ratio of coke to ketchup at 1:1.

Ginger Beer Pork

Another invention of mine. Make sure you use real brewed-from-ginger beer, not the soda water with ginger flavouring that is passed off as ginger beer by some companies! I used Bundaberg Ginger Beer, but I don’t know whether this is available overseas.

This will appeal to anyone who enjoys fruity meat dishes such as apricot chicken and apple cider pork. It has a sweet, spicy tang to it.

Ingredients for one person:

120g pork fillet, cut into strips or squares
1/4 brown onion, finely sliced
125mL (1/2 metric cup) ginger beer
1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)
Water

Instructions:

1. In a hot non-stick frypan, dry-fry the onion until it is turning brown and soft.

2. Add the diced pork fillet and fry, turning constantly, until meat is browned.

3. Turn the hotplate down to medium and add the ginger beer. Cover and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

4. In a glass or cup, place the cornflour (cornstarch) followed by few tablespoons of water and stir firmly until it is completely dissolved.

4. After the 5 minutes are up turn the heat back up and bring the ginger beer to the boil. As soon as it is boiling add the dissolved cornflour and stir constantly until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat as soon as it is thick.

I served this with rice, green peas and corn kernels. It was very tasty!

Mint Chicken Curry

This is a recipe that combines mint, yogurt and tomato flavors. It is not something I'd have every week, but it is definitely interesting. Recipe from my Indian recipe book.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint*
1 tablespoon grated ginger
3 tablespoons ghee
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 lb (~ 750 g) boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1/2 cup plain yogurt
6 oz (180 g) chopped tomatoes

*I cut up 4 peppermint teabags, which came up to about 4 tablespoons dried mint.

Directions:

Place onion, garlic, mint and ginger in a food processor and blend to a smooth paste.
In a saucepan heat the ghee and gently fry the paste for about 5 minutes.
Add the garam masala and chili powder and fry for 1 more minute.
Add chicken, toss to cover with spice mix and cook for further 5 minutes.
Add yogurt and tomatoes, stir well.
Simmer, covered for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Remove the cover and simmer for 30 more minutes to thicken the sauce.
Serve with steamed rice (or loads of bread :).

Quiche

This is yet another dish I use for cleaning my fridge because there are very few things that can't be put into a quiche. If you want to stick to the authentic quiches, check the Wiki article for the ingredients that go into each type.

Ingredients for one 9-inch quiche (6 servings):

For the crust:
200 g flour
100 g soft (not melted) butter
3-4 tablespoons icy cold water
A pinch of salt

For the filling:
3 eggs
200 g sour cream
100 g grated hard yellow cheese like gruyere or emental
+ whatever else you feel like - more cheeses, spinach, mushrooms, bacon, sausage, tuna, chicken breast, etc. Even Roquefort and pears :).

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).

For the crust:
With a fork or in a food processor mix butter and flour until they form a mix of buttery crumbs.
If mix is too dry, add water, tablespoon by tablespoon until it gets to the desired consistency.
Pour the mix into a 9-inch pie pan and press it to the bottom and sides with your palm.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until crust turns golden brown.

For the filling:
Beat eggs, sour cream and grated cheese together.
Add whatever other fillings you are using (cook all meat beforehand).
Pour into baked crust and bake for another 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Serve hot or cold, but cold is better!

Slow Cooker Green Beans

A quick and easy recipe for the summer nights.

Ingredients:

4 cups green beans
14.5 oz (410 g) canned diced tomatoes
1 lb (450 g) pork shoulder or another marbled cut, cut into cubes
2 bay leaves
a pinch (or more) of red pepper

Directions:

Wash beans and remove tops and tails. Cut in half, or leave them whole.
Put beans in slow cooker.
Layer meat cubes on top, and pour can of tomatoes over everything.
Add bay leaves and red pepper.
Cook on high for 3 1/2 hours / on low for about 7 hours, or until the beans are cooked.
Serve with french bread. Or beer. Or both :)

Stuffed Bell Peppers

The idea is the same as in sarmas, but those are much faster to make.

Ingredients (for 6 servings, so adjust accordingly):

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup rice
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 pound (500 g) ground (minced) meat
diced raisins, optional
diced mushrooms, optional
salt, pepper, thyme to taste
~ 6 large bell peppers or 12 small bell peppers

For the sauce:

1 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons flour
1 egg, beaten

You can skip the meat and make them vegetarian.

Directions:

In a skillet heat olive oil.
Saute onion, raisins and mushrooms.
Add ground meat and cook until it divides into crumbs and is no longer pink.
Add rice.
Cook for 5 more min until rice gets translucent.
Remove from heat, add spices.

Wash and deseed bell peppers.
Spoon rice/meat mix into each pepper. Do not fill them more than 3/4, as rice expands when it cooks.
Arrange stuffed peppers lying on one side in a baking dish.
Poke each pepper with a fork (so that any steam may escape).
Pour enough water to cover the bottom half of the peppers.
Bake on 350 F/175 C for 60 min or until rice is fully cooked.
To ensure even cooking, rotate peppers to expose a different side on top on the 15th, 30th and 45th minute.

For the sauce:

When peppers are done cooking, spoon the leftover water into a saucepan.
Put over medium heat.
Stir flour into yogurt and carefully pour into hot pepper broth.
*Slowly* pour beaten egg into mixture, stirring continuously.
Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring continously, for 2 more minutes or until the sauce reaches desired density.
Pour over peppers before serving.

* Or, skip the sauce and use plain yogurt :).

Skillet Sausage and Peppers

This is one of my ultimate comfort foods. My mom used to make this time-intensive version but I changed it up to be a one-dish wonder.

3 mild (or spicy if you prefer!) Italian sausage links - sweet gives it an off flavor to me, but I guess you could use it; casings removed and crumbled
2 or 3 green peppers, chopped
half an onion, chopped
minced garlic or powder if you don’t have any (or fresh. whatever. just give it some garlic.)
a little over a quarter of a large jar of traditional marinara-style tomato sauce
1 small can diced tomatoes
1 cup of rice or a pouch of instant

This is really easy.
1. Brown the sausage crumbles.
2. Add veggies and saute for about five-seven minutes. Cook the rice.
3. Add sauce and simmer for another five-ten.
4. Stir in the rice.
5. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired (and you should).

This feeds two ridiculously starving people or three to four normal ones. Can you guys tell I adore onions and garlic? Yah... I promise to post something that doesn't require it. Like my favorite chocolate cake. ;)

Moroccan Honey Lamb

Early last year, after moving house, I was buying recipe base sachets pretty much at random at a little corner shop, and picked up one for a honey lamb casserole. This Moroccan-inspired recipe base was absolutely divine, but I’ve never been able to find it again. So I looked up the ingredients on the manufacturer’s website, and I’ve managed to recreate it. It’s a smooth, slightly spicy and very aromatic bake, incredibly easy to make.

Serves 4, but easy to adapt.

Ingredients:

4 lamb shoulder chops (preferably the sort with the little round bone in them, but you could use any lamb chops)
100mL tomato paste (tomato concentrate)
150mL honey
Juice of ½ lemon or orange
2 teaspoons dried garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground Chinese Five Spice (contains cinnamon, star anise, clove, fennel and pepper)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
Dash of salt
Ground pepper to taste
1 brown onion
2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
Water

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F.

1. Cut the onion into rings and spread them out in a shallow microwave dish. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the dish and microwave uncovered on medium high for five minutes.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the tomato paste with 400mL water. Stir until it forms an even mixture.

3. In a small jug, combine the honey with 300mL of very hot or boiling water and stir until dissolved. Add to the tomato mixture and stir in thoroughly.

4. Add lemon/orange juice to the tomato mixture.

5. Once onion has finished microwaving, pour off the water into the tomato mixture and reserve onion rings.

6. Add all of the spices to the tomato mixture (including salt and pepper) and whisk or mix thoroughly until spices are evenly distributed.

7. Place the cornflour in a dry glass or jug, add 200mL of cool water and stir firmly until cornflour is dissolved. Add to tomato mixture and stir thoroughly.

8. Take a casserole or baking dish large enough to spread out all of the chops. Pour a small amount of the tomato mixture into the base, enough to cover the bottom of the dish. Arrange onion rings across base, then place chops on top (do not overlap unless necessary). Pour all of remaining tomato mixture into the dish. It should cover the chops completely.

9. Bake in the middle of the oven for 1 hour. It will fill the house with the exotic spicy aroma while it’s cooking – delicious!





Serve a chop with sauce and onion over rice, with some green veggies (I had green peas).

I made the full amount of this along with four serves of rice, and froze the chops, onion, sauce and rice together in individual serves for future easy meals. There was a lot of sauce left over which I’ve frozen to use as a stock base for a future casserole or stir-fry.

PS: The sides of your casserole dish won't be as messy as they are in the pic . . . unless you're like me and repeatedly drop the lid into the sauce while serving!

Cabbage Crockpot Dinner

Cabbage (both fresh and sauerkraut) is big in Bulgaria and though it's allegedly easy to cook, I've never been able to replicate my mom's cabbage dishes. Then I found this recipe that I've adapted for my own use. The original recipe has potatoes, which we didn't like in combination with cabbage, so I've skipped them since.

Ingredients:
For 1.5 quart/1.4 liter crockpot

4 cups* (about 470 g) cut/shredded cabbage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 3/4 teaspoons salt**
1/4 teaspoon pepper
5 oz (150 ml) broth
1 pound (450 g) fully cooked sausage***, cut into serving size pieces

Edited to add: the sausage is of this type, sans the grill marks :).

* About 3 cups, or enough to fill a 1.5 qt crockpot to the brim (cabbage cooks down).
** Cabbage takes in spices very well, and it's really easy to make it poisonously salty! So try it with this amount of salt first and then decide if you need more.
*** It seems that the sausage leaks some of its oil and spices onto the cabbage, so if you substitute tofu, it might be a bit bland.

Directions:

Cut cabbage. Chop onion.
Put cabbage and onion into crockpot.
Arrange pieces of sausage on top.
Stir spices into broth. Pour on top of the cabbage.
Cover and cook on low until cabbage is tender, about 6 hours.

Makes about 3 servings.

Hoppin' John

I made this because we had left-over brown rice and left-over black-eyed peas. It's amazingly good, with a few alterations. I also mixed in left-over tofu, because it was there and going bad. And I'm posting it because so far, ya'll like your meat. :-D

Ingredients:

• 2 cups quick-cooking brown rice - whatever rice you have laying around. We had long grained brown rice already cooked.
  
• 16- to 20-oz. can black-eyed peas - I used dried beans that I had already cooked. Except for canned tomatoes I avoid canned foods.
  
• 1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 medium clove garlic, minced
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped - alas, they're not in seasons. We substituted fire-roasted with garlic. Much better.
  
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil or 1 Tbs. dried - we didn't have any and skipped it
  
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp. dried

Instructions:

1. Cook rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, drain black-eyed peas, reserving liquid. Rinse peas under cold running water and set aside.
2. In large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 12 minutes. Add garlic, and cook, stirring often, until onions are golden, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in tomatoes, basil, thyme and 1/4 cup water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tomatoes have softened, about 5 minutes.
4. Stir in rice, tofu* and black-eyed peas until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until flavors have blended, 5 minutes. If necessary, add a little reserved liquid from peas as needed to keep mixture somewhat moist. Serve hot.

*If you're using tofu, cube it and fry it in a bit of olive oil, then toss it in. Or crumble it if you want.

Notes: I used a wok frying pan, I did not bother waiting the entire 12 minutes, and instead of using the water I used the tomato juice. It was delicious, and the pictures are below. I served it with sweet potatoes (cubed and boiled with a bit of molasses) for a perfect southern dinner.

Hot Pot

This scrumptious winter dish is one of my mother’s specialties, and I only hope that someday I can make it as well as she does! It’s a rich meaty casserole topped with lightly crisped potato slices. Perfect for the end of a cold day, and much healthier than its rich taste would suggest.

Serves 6 people

Prep time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 2h 55 mins

Ingredients:

400g shin beef (gravy beef)
400g lamb cutlets
4-6 tomatoes, sliced thickly
2 onions cut into rings (we use brown onions)
4 carrots, sliced into rounds
6 potatoes
1 teaspoon (5 mL) each of oregano, thyme and sweet basil
A few tablespoons of plain flour for browning
A little oil or margarine for browning
1 tablespoon cornflour (US: cornstarch)
Good stock (broth), enough to cover all ingredients in the pot. A good low-salt liquid stock from the supermarket is fine, but we usually use stock or gravy left over from a previous meal and frozen for future use, which makes for a much more flavoursome meal. If you’re using store-bought, I suggest a mixture of varieties – beef, vegetable and chicken stock together. You can also throw in other liquids such as left over drinking juice, juice from tinned fruits, and red wine, to add to the flavour.

Method:

1. Cut beef into 2-3cm (1 inch) cubes, and coat in plain flour.

2. Heat margarine or oil in the base of a large saucepan, add beef and stir quickly until browned.

3. Add lamb, tomatoes, onions, carrots and herbs to the beef in the saucepan, add just enough stock to cover, and simmer on the hotplate for 2 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 100 C / 210 F.

5. Remove the meat and vegetables from the stock with a slotted spoon, retaining the stock in the saucepan. Place meat and vegetables in an open-topped oven-proof dish (such as a pie dish). Place in oven and proceed immediately to next step.

6. Peel potatoes and cut into thick, round slices. Place potatoes in the stock in the saucepan, and boil for 15 mins. Remove potatoes from stock and reserve stock in saucepan.

7. Remove dish from oven and pile or layer the boiled potatoes on top of meat and vegetables. Pour in as much of the stock as will fit without overflowing the dish. Reserve remaining stock.

8. Place dish back in the oven, increase heat to 180 C / 350 F and cook for 40 minutes. Watch potatoes carefully in last 10 minutes to prevent burning.

9. Just before the dish is ready, reheat the stock remaining in the saucepan to use as gravy. You can thicken the gravy by using a tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in half a cup of water, and poured into the boiling stock while stirring briskly.

10. Serve immediately. We usually have this with some boiled or steamed vegetables such as peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, silverbeet etc.

Chilli con Carne

Chilli con Carne is easy, cheap and filling. The best thing about it is, that, as long as you have some mince and a jar of chilli sauce, you can knock a batch out from almost any leftovers you have knocking about the kitchen.

There are many ways to make chilli; this is just one of them, and the one I've personally found to be the most delicious. I customized it after watching a friend make it and then forgetting most of the ingredients, so it may be a little unorthodox (I always get told off for not buying a separate tin of kidney beans or for draining the bean juice from the beans). Most of the ingredients are exchangeable according to taste; in face, probably the only one completely necessary is the chilli sauce, and there are many varieties of that.

One last thing: I am English, and, contrary to popular belief, we don't stoically follow the metric system; the measurement systems used as usually a mixture of metric and imperial. So I'm sorry if the recipes get confusing, but it should be pretty easy to convert measurements.


On with the actual recipe!

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Minced beef, 500g
Chilli sauce, 500g (about 1 jar)
Red onion, 1 half
Baked beans in tomato sauce, 200g (about half a tin) (student tip: I'm usually fussy and only buy brand-name beans like Heinz, but in chilli you can't really taste the beans, so don't worry about using a cheap own-brand)
Sweetcorn, 150g (one small tin)

1. Firstly, prepare the half-onion by cutting it into small chunks about 2cm long.

2. Put the beef in the frying pan and cook until it's nearly all brown

3. Add the chopped onion to the beef and fry them together until the beef is completely brown - you could probably add the onions later with the other ingredients but I just love the smell of frying onions!

4. Once cooked, pour the beef and onions into a large saucepan.

5. Open the tin of baked beans and drain out the tomato juice (I find if that if you don't, it makes the chilli too sloppy).

6. Drain the sweetcorn, if need be (i.e. if they're in water)

7. Pour the sweetcorn, baked beans and chilli sauce in the saucepan and stir all ingredients til they're mixed together.

8. Cook the mixture together over the hob on a medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring regularly to avoid it getting stuck to the bottom.

9. Finally, pour the chilli onto two plates and serve!

You can eat chilli on it's own or with rice or bread (my personal favourite is naan bread).

I'm going to make this again tomorrow so I'll try and remember to take some pictures to whet your appetites! :)

-- Natla

[ETA] I've added more exact measurements and edited the recipe a little for clarity. Picture coming soon!

Chicken Potato Patties

Basic Information on the Recipe:
I found this fabulous cook-book at the library - The Best Recipes in the World - while it's a mammoth cook-book, it looks really good. The author is a real cook, though, and expects one to have cheesecloth laying about. When I get my own home, I'll have those items around. Right now, I don't. :-D So after cutting many recipes out because I'd have to buy too many unnecessary ingredients that wouldn't be used, I found this one. While this is a North African recipe, it's an American cookbook. So the measurements are American.

I made it tonight, with a few changes. First, I couldn't get it form patties, and it was a LOT of oil anyway. The potatoes weren't cooked throughly as well. I ended up dumping all of it into a skillet with a half-cup of flour and 12 ounces of stock (chicken broth), simmered for about 30 minutes, and it worked out perfectly. Makes quite a lot of food, is incredibly filling, and fairly good for you.

Chicken Potato Patties - North Africa
These are chicken croquettes with North Africa Flavors. Leftover mashed potatoes and chicken are absolutely acceptable (and will make it far easier to mash - siri) and you can use cooked cod or other white-fleshed fish in place of chicken.

Ingredients:
Salt
1.5 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (or at least 2 cups of left-over mashed potatoes)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced. (Or be like me and add twice as much. ;-)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or cilantro leaves, plus more for garnish
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground turmeric
Pinch of cayenne, or to taste
black pepper
Flour, as needed
Neutral oil, like corn or grapeseed, for shallow frying

Instructions:
1) Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Cook the potatoes until easily pierced with a knife, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, then add the chicken; cook until it is done, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the chicken (reserve some of the cooking water), cool it, then dice it finely.
2) Use a fork to mash the potatoes - they should remain a little chunky - in a bowl with the garlic, onion, and egg, then the chicken, parsley, cinnamon, turmeric, cayenne and salt and black pepper to taste. If the mixture seems dry, add a little of the cooking liquid; then add enough flour to enable you to shape the mixture into patties. (If you chill it first, this will be easier, but it isn't necessary)
3) Wet or flour your hands and shape the mixture into patties of any size, or simply scoop large spoonfuls of the batter into the pan, flattening them with the back of a spatula.
4) In a heavy skillet, heat about 1/2 inch of oil to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit! 176 degrees Celsius!) when the oil is ready - a pinch of flour will sizzle, and the oil will thin and start to shimmer (don't let it smoke) - slide in the chicken -potatoe patties and cook until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Do not crowd the pan; work in batches if necessary. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately, garnished with the parsley or cilantro.