New Recipe Teaser - Chicken stuffed with Pork, pistachio and pimento

[SurferMan]

Here you go folks!

Hi guys,

Try this wicked recipe. This feeds a family of 5.

You will need:

12 nice sized thighs
100g pistachios raw and unsalted
2-3 dates, deseeded and finely chopped (Sub with an apple if you like)
Pimento spice - 1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon. (Use smoked paprika if you don't have)
500g pork mince
1 teaspoon each of - cumin powder, coriander powder
Pinch of nutmeg powder
Salt and pepper


Method:

Take the thighs, skin on and bone in. Debone the thigh and make sure you have cut out the little gristle triangle with it. Set aside.

Mix all the ingredients above in a bowl.

Place a thigh skin side down on your work surface. Take a blob of the stuffing and put into the thigh. Roll it roughly to a sort of a barrel shape. Don't worry about its look just yet, we will fix that shortly. Complete the thighs.

Take a square of tinfoil and place on work surface. Put chicken thigh on foil at the edge closest to you. Roll the thigh in the foil, making a smooth round barrel as you go. When done, twist the ends of the tinfoil like a Christmas cracker. Place in a pot of boiling water for 10-15 min to firm up. Meanwhile heat your oven (I assume convection) to about 200C. Put a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray.

Remove chicken barrels from the water and let them cool.

Tear one end off the barrel and slide the chicken barrel onto the baking tray. Season to taste and place in oven.

Cook till done to taste. Serve with a wicked walnut, peach, blue cheese and avo salad.

Bonus, the chicken barrels will leak a little into the water as well as when you open the tinfoil up, reserve this with the bones to make an awesome chicken stock at the same time. Two for one!

[Kath]

Sounds awesome. Going to give it a try. Thank you Surferman for posting this. I see in another post you mentioned samoosas. Do you have a good recipe? Think you need to start a recipe thread.

[SurferMan]

Thanks Kath,

I am busy writing a recipe book eating the Banting way. I am partnering with Prof. Tim Noakes on the little venture. Will post you a samoosa recipe shortly.

I use this one, some really cool old school recipes.

Dough
375 g cake flour
5 ml salt
250 ml cold water
5 ml lemon juice
15 ml melted butter or margarine

Filling
500 g mutton or lamb, minced
2 ml turmeric
5 ml salt
1 large clove garlic
1 piece root ginger
10 ml freshly chopped coriander leaves
1 green chilli, crushed
2 medium onions, finely chopped
15 ml melted butter
4 spring onions, finely chopped
2 ml garam masala

sunflower oil

To make the dough, sift the flour and salt together and add enough cold water to make a stiff dough. Add the lemon juice and knead the dough gently until elastic. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each into a ball. Roll out 6 balls on a floured surface and shape them into 10-cm diameter rounds. Brush each with melted butter or oil and sprinkle with flour. Stack the rounds leaving the final round ungreased and unfloured. Roll out the stack into a large, very thin, round and trim the sides to form a square. Heat an ungreased baking sheet in the oven at 230 C until very hot, remove and place the dough square on it. Turn the square over several times until the dough puffs up slightly. Remove the square from the baking sheet as soon as this happens. Repeat for the remaining 6 balls of dough.
To make the filling, cook the meat with a mixture of the turmeric, salt, garlic and ginger pounded together, the coriander leaves, and the chillies. When nearly dry, add the onions and cook till the liquid has evaporated stirring often to prevent lumps forming. Add the melted butter and allow the mixture to cool and add the spring onion and garam masala.
To assemble, cut the prepared dough squares into strips 8 cm wide and 25 to 30 cm long. Separate into layers before the pastry cools. Cover with a damp cloth to prevent drying out while making the samoosas). Holding a strip of pastry in your left hand pull the bottom corners across then fold it up to form as triangle with sharp corners and a pocket in which to put the filling. Fill with 10 ml filling then continue folding the pastry across the top of the triangle to seal off the opening. Tuck the edges round to form a neat triangle. Seal the remaining edge with a paste of flour and water and pinch the two bottom edges lightly together. Leave in a cool place for about 30 minutes before cooking. Fry the samoosas in hot oil for about 10 minutes, or until golden, turning often. Remove and drain.

[Eyebrow]

I could never lose weight the Banting way...

Which greatly saddened me. Since the food is divine. I did so many things from the Cookbook and we loved it! ( But it doubled the monthly food expenditure.!)

Anyway my OH lost so much his clothes started dropping off. And he was only eating that way because I am the cook, and he didnt actually need to lose a gram.

And I happily gained on Banting. Kilo after kilo while in ketosis!

I have often wondered whether it only worked for men.

[SurferMan]

Hi Eyebrow,

My goose is a pro on this stuff and advises people, esp. those who dont lose weight. Ill put her in touch with you. I wont change from that way of eating, I feel like Superman. The other day I went to the tip to get rid of some garden rubble, and this bloke walked up to me and said "Hey mate, I see you got a stump in the back of your ute, do you want me to call 2 other blokes to help you offload it?" I was like nah, Im good. Put my gloves on and proceeded to toss the 120kg stump onto the pile. He was like, Damn!!!

That from eating this way, a year ago there was NO chance I could move that stump, let alone lift it.

[LizzC]

Thanks Surferman, here to help Eyebrow.

There is Keto and then the right way of doing Keto for weight loss. Being in ketosis does not mean you are losing weight, it just means you are using fat for fuel and not glucose. Ketogenic diet was originally developed for medical purposed to aid conditions like Epilepsy. For these conditions fat intake needed to be extreme. Many people will still lose weight but eventually stall because an extreme amount of fat prevents you from using the fat from your body. Unfortunately many of these who start off losing weight lose most of their weight from muscle tissue because they still believe that moderate protein causes you to get kicked out of ketosis which is bogus. You can safely eat up to 3g of protein per kg Lean Body Mass. This looks like a huge amount of meat from your plate but when they say low carb, moderate protein and high fat they don't mean what you can physicaly see on your plate they mean the amount of energy (calories) each provide. Protein in its natural form will provide more than enough fat for health purposes. A very clever friend of mine started a group on Face book called Optimal Ketogenic Living. The macro's and information there is based in science and on the Volek and Phinney research. Before I changed my macros to less fat and more protein I was also gaining weight and honestly feeling sick, but I was in ketosis. Ill copy and paste my story here so I can save time, hope that is ok. Anyway, I suggest joining the group, grab your macro's and read read read. It is a little bit different from Banting, Banting is based on Low Carb Paleo which can be very expensive. At OKL there are many different ways of doing Keto, some do the real food whole food thing, we have vegetarians and some do it the fake food take-out way. The easiest way to get into it is to adapt what you do currently and tweak from there. I hope this helps. Here is the FB group link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OKL4Vitality/

OK, Here is my Keto journey.

We have now been Keto for 1 year and I have learnt so much. I am not a great writer so please bear with me, but I am sure you will understand where I am coming from.

I was at a point where I realised something needed to change or I will not see my children grow up. No one could diagnose me with anything even though I have done many, many tests but I was getting heavier and heavier despite my best efforts. I was depressed, out of breath, cramps in my legs and feet, my back in agony and worst of all I could hardly use my hands. I could not even hold a pen to sign my name properly....but nothing was wrong with me, no arthritis. Hubby sent me an article via email about Tim Noakes' new diet taking South Africa by storm, LCHF The Banting way. Naturally my ears pricked up as he is the author of many of my uni books. I could not believe what I read and had to look into it. I had to hear it coming from his mouth. I search for You Tube videos from him and many of the big players in the Keto/LCHF world. I literally sat on my bottom in that couch sobbing for a whole weekend. I felt betrayed and lied too. I studied Sport Science and almost everything I have learnt about nutrition was a lie. This lie caused me to get fat. As a student I had a eventful Hypo and a dietician prescribed a regular diabetic diet and that is where the problems started with my adult weight issues. As a child I had weight issues too but because I was active I was mostly able to keep it under control. After watching those videos I realised I was carbohydrate intolerant and needed to cut carb really low.

I started immediately with loads of enthusiasm. For the first time in a very long time I had hope. I immediately cut grains and sugars and improved my diet daily. I was eating much the way I am now and lost over 5kg's in my first month. I felt great, my IBS improved and I could use my hands and brain again. Then, I joined my first keto FB group and I was introduced to the work of a few self proffesed experts. I thought I was doing something wrong, protein is now the enemy and fat needs to be added at all cost. I was referred to all kinds of keto calculators none of them had the same values so I reduced my protein as low as I could because every time I complained that I am gaining and feeling sick I was told up the fat down the protein. I was living off BPC's, not really eating food and gaining weight at a stupid rate. Brain fog was back, PMS symptoms 3 weeks out of a month, grumpy, sad, out of breath and very hard to live with. Everything LCHF related I have read and research said high fat, I was very confused. I wanted to go back to those first few weeks but I could not remember what I did, all I know is I stopped calculating macros but by this time I had set new bad habits, like the BPC and everything swimming in butter. My husband threw a mini man tantrum and told me he can no longer eat this way, the food is making him feel sick.

I started noticing Raymund's very insightful posts with science backup, he had me listening. I followed his posts like a creepy stalker!!!! I probably drove him nuts with all my questions and when he started his group Optimal Ketogenic Living I was NOT going to miss out. His macro table was a heaven sent!! I did not lose weight immediately it took about 8 weeks for me to gain all my lost Lean Body Mass back but I immediately started feeling better. My thinking became crisp, my muscles came alive and I could feel I was getting stronger with no extra effort (boy did I like the weights now...macho woman). My skin also became softer and smoother and my hair stopped falling out as much. At around week 2, I reached the dreaded Keto flue...again, but it only lasted a day. I now feel more able to control my diet because I am really not hungry all the time. I am so passionate about this because the change was not only in me but my whole family, we all eat this way adults and children. I lost 14 kg and hubby 20kg and going strong. We are not fast losers but we have our health and lease on life back what more do you want?

[SurferMan]

As for me Eyebrow...here is my story.

I did not lose anything like Storm either, in fact I piled it on initially. But after the 2nd month I started feeling better and the weight started to come off slow but sure. My muscle mass has picked up and i can lift stuff now that was not possible in my 30's. I sleep like a baby (had bad insomnia) have ZERO midday slumps as my concentration is flat out all day. Energy levels way up, I have done more DIY projects in the last 6 months than in the last 13 years! I play with the kids instead of just lying about feeling crap and wanting to sleep.

My next step to break the plateau is to start lifting weights, swimming and cycling. I will never go back to eating grains, pulses, bread, pasta etc. My kids are worth the few food sacrifices. Plus I love the meat! I only eat when Im hungry rather than gorging all day and then wondering why Im hungry an hour after I washed down 3 pies and a sausage roll.

Edited December 27, 2014 by SurferMan

[DXB2OZ]

Hey Surferman,

Really keen to try this - can you give an idea how long you need to bake the chicken barrels? Also, do you perhaps have the wicked salad recipe to hand? Does it have a dressing? Mouth is watering while I type?

Have you had any success with oven baking the samosas? Not a fan of frying as I get stuck with all that blasted oil afterwards.

Cheers

[SurferMan]

Hi DBX2OZ,

Sure here we go..

The barrels are dependant on their size/thickeness, but as a rule if you have had them in the water for 10-15 min, then you can bake them for the same time. It never hurts to take one of the smaller and bigger ones out and slice to check for doness....Use the oven window to see how they are crisping up, YUMMY!!!

Here is Surfermans wicked salad: Walnut, peach, blue cheese and avo salad.

Grab a bag of Woolies salad leaves. Wash!

100g walnuts

1 peach - slice n dice that bad girl

100g of blue cheese or any cheese you like, my kids love the almond n apricot one, one round is enough for the salad.

1 -2 avos - slice n cube them.

50-75g pinenuts, they are absolute gems in the salad

I do not do the salad until seconds before I serve....i will coat the salad leaves with a splash of olive or macadamia oil (per your taste) and then add all the stuff bar the cheese. Toss well. Add the cheese on to and serve with the chicken.

Right now the samoosas...The trick is 2 things. oven temp and making sure the pastry bakes and does not boil. Here we go!

Oven super hot, 220-260C. Makre sure the stuffing is already cooked as you are only going to cook the pastry.

Put them on a baking tray and brush with either butter or spray with coconut oil.

Bang their asses in the oven and go for 10-15, based on their colour, using oven window. When crsipy, remove and let cool.

Serve with a lovely mango chutney and/or coriander patachie.

Gotta love life!

[DXB2OZ]

Fabulous - will definitely be trying this

[Eyebrow]

Thanks so much for posting that. I have Phinney and Volek's books and Dr Westman and many more. But there are so many versions of the diet that I didnt know what to believe...

Question: What do you guys drink while on Banting?

[SurferMan]

Hi Eyebrow,

Just use the Noakes Real Meal Revolution. We don't drink any fizzy cooldrinks or the like, except as a treat every few months. (I had a Stoney last month, first fizzy in about 6 months) We drink filtered water, kefir that my missus makes. I will get her to reply.

As for me, whiskey and soda, or Big Head no-carb beer.

[LizzC]

Hi Eyebrow, I am a whole food kind of girl. We stay away from the diet soda kind of drinks. Low Carb drinks that contain alcohol is ok but you will not burn fat while the alcohol is in your system but it wont kick you out of ketosis, it gets processed first. As for non alcoholic drinks I make water Kefir and let it stand for much longer to reduce the sugar but I do not have that often it is mostly for the kids. I like water with lemon or just some soda water with lemon. We use research by Tim Noakes which is based on Phinney and Volek's research. Phinney and Volek are the ground breaking researchers in this field. You can also look at Dr. Layman and Layne Norton's research on Protein. Some wonderful stuff. Jimmy Moores book Keto Clarity is based on Dr. Westman's research that promotes extreme amounts of added fat and very little protein. There is a reason South Africans are bigger and stronger than most other nations, we like our protein.

[LizzC]

PS. Eyebrow, how long were you on Banting and gaining? Sometimes initial weight gain is due to increases in Lean Body Mass, which is a very good thing. Men has a natural tendency to have more protein than us, so his Lean Body Mass did not need to repair and he just lost fat from the get go. The other reason men lose faster and easier than we do is they have more muscle and testosterone which is a match made in heaven for weight loss, we have hormones that can make it hard for us. There can also be other medical issues other than too much fat and Lean Body Mass repair such as Thyroid that can make it hard or it could be something as easy to fix as low Vit D. I would go and have a look on the link I posted for you, there is so much to read and learn.

[SurferMan]

Hi Eyebrow,

Just eat more meat lol. I wont change my way of eating, even if its just for the way I feel.

[SurferMan]

Here is another recipe - perfect for a morning on the beach with energy burning kids!

Surferman's Beach Brekkie:

Feeds a herd of 5 or your money back!

Goodies:

14 eggs - 2 eggs each for the kids, four for the adults

1 kg thick homemade boerewors - recipe to follow

250g - 500g thick sliced home made smoked bacon - recipe to follow

3 vine ripened home grown tomatoes, finely diced. (NEVER refridgerate them!)

10 large field mushrooms, just brushed clean with a brush.

5 bananas

1 cup cooked chickpeas

1 cup finely chopped spring onions

Parsley

Method:

Start a large pot boiling with 1 cup vinegar added. Start poaching the eggs to individual taste. In my house i have three poached egg "orders"

We don't use any non-stick kit anymore. All cast iron or stainless steel.

You will now make the relish.

Fry the tomatoes and onions until soft and reduced. Add the chickpeas and gently crush about half of them to thicken. Spice to taste with smoked paprika, salt n pepper, pinch of cumin, coriander and 1 crushed juniper berry. When you have a nice thick relish, dish into bowl for microwavng later.

Brush the mushrooms with butter and fry in the plancho once you have it smoking hot. Set them aside.

Now grill the bacon in the oven (about 200C) and start the wors off in the cast iron plancho. (http://image.darty.com/petit_electromenager/barbecue_plancha_gril/accessoire_barbecue_plancha/weber_plancha_57_c011024h2a_1305029095047.jpg

Please do not overcook the wors, it should be slightly pink in the middle and DON'T poke it. On the outside it should be golden with a nice colour to it.

Remove meat and let rest while you finish off the banana. Use my party trick, you can line the plancho with baking paper to stop sticking and ease cleanup. Add some butter and fry the bananas till golden. garnish with tiny dusting of cinnamon.

Heat the ingredients up and serve, garnish relish with fresh parsley and serve right away. This may seem odd but believe me, once you tried this combo, you won't look back.

The brekkie was designed to have all the major macros you need for the morning ahead in the sun n surf.

Enjoy people!