Coconut chutney

1 freshly grated coconut
half cup yellow peas (boiled, well-drained and cooled)
1 green chilli
1 pip garlic

Blend the above together.

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1 teasp mustard seeds
1 teasp white dal
2 tabsp oil

In a pan, heat the oil, add the spices and fry till the dal "pops". Remove from heat and add immediately to the coconut blend.

Serve with dosai.

Roti pratha à la Naseema

Wheat flour
Water
salt

Make a well-kneaded dough with the above ingredients. The dough should be stiff. Set aside for 2 hours. Then roll out the dough as thin as you can with a rolling pin. After that, fold the dough into a longish strip, and roll it into a "snail". Set aside again for an hour. When you want to make the roti prathas, roll the "snails" into half centimetre thick round rotis. FRy them in the pan with a little ghee/oil. Serve immediately with curry.

Dosai (Indian rice pancake)

Ingredients:

11/2 cups rice
1/2 cup urad dal (white with black hull)
salt to taste
oil

Soak rice and dal separately at least 6 hours or overnight in water. Grind to a paste. Mix them together and add salt with water to make a thick batter. Leave overnight at room temperature.


Heat non-stick pan or griddle with a little ghee/oil. Spread the batter in the pan in a circular motion to make a thin dosai. When it browns on one side, turn half of it over to make a semi-moon and remove from heat. Serve immediately with curries and chutneys.

Chinese dumplings à la Tianpei (Gyoza)

For the wrapper:
1 kg white flour
enough water to make a stiff dough

Knead the dough till it is smooth, no lumps. Set aside while preparing the filling.
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For the filling: the following proportions can be adjusted as you like
500 gm minced pork/chicken/beef
1 piece ginger root about 2 cm, shredded fine with a knife
chinese chives, cut fine (substitute with onion if chives is not available)
chinese cabbage, shredded fine, squeeze out excess water if any (usually the older leaves contain more water)
star anise
olive oil
salt
light soysauce
sesame oil

Mix the meat well with the shredded ginger, chinese chives and chinese cabbage.

In a pan/pot, heat about the star anise in 4 tbsp olive oil. When the oil is fragrant, remove from heat. Pour the oil into the meat filling. Mix well. Add salt, soysauce and sesame oil (about 2 to 3 tbsp) to the filling to your taste.

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Now work the dough to make wrappers. Form the dough into sticks of about 2 cm in diameter. Then cut them cross-section into 2 to 3 cm pieces. Flatten each piece to make a thin round wrapper. Place a teasp of meat filling in the centre of the wrapper. Close the wrapper to make a half-moon cushion. This takes practice, and is a lot of work for novices.

Gently heat a bit of oil in a pan. Place the dumplings in the pan and let fry for a minute without stirring. Than add enough water so that about the dumplings are mid-way in water. Cover the pan and bring to a gentle boil, then let simmer till water is evaporated. Then let the dumplings cook a bit in the pan till the bottom of the dumpling is slightly browned. Remove and place on serving plate. Important: do not stir the dumplings at any time till they are ready to be removed from the pan.

Serve with shredded fresh young ginger and soysauce.

Sweet sour pork

500 gm pork diced into bite-sized pieces (use a cut that has a bit of fat)
1/2 teasp 5-spice powder
2 heaped tbsp cornstarch/potato starch (Staerke)
salt
oil for deep frying

For the sauce:
1 piece squeezed garlic
1 teasp tomato paste (Konzentrat)
1 tbsp cornstach
250 ml water
4 tbsp vinegar
2 to 3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp dark soysauce

Prepare the meat by salting the diced pork slightly. Mix the 5-spice powder and cornstarch together so that you get a slightly reddish/brownish powder. Roll the meat in this powder so that the pieces are well-coated.

Heat enough vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, canola, ... but not sesame or olive) in a pot, pan or wok to deepfry the meat. The oil has to be hot before the meat is placed in the oil. Deepfry till the coated meat is light brown. Remove from oil and drain on kitchen paper or a metal mesh sieve, then place in a serving dish in a warm oven to keep warm.

To make the sauce: mix the tomato paste and cornstach with the water so that there are no lumps. In a small pot, heat a tbsp of the oil left over from deepfrying the meat. Brown the garlic, then add the tomato paste emulsion while stirring all the time so that there are no lumps (yet again). When the sauce has thickened, add the vinegar, sugar and dark soysauce. You may have to adjust the proportions to your taste. If the sauce is not thick enough, add a bit more cornstarch which has been mixed with water.

Pour the sauce over the meat or serve separately in a saucier. If available, garnish with shredded fresh coriander and spring onion.