Cook Sara's Cookbook

Thick's Pink Sugar Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box white cake mix
• 1 small box of cherry flavored Jello
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup oil
• 4 eggs
• Vanilla frosting
• raw turbinado sugar

Preparation:
Line paper baking cups in a 12 cupcake baking pan. Mix cake mix, jello mix, water and oil. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each egg. Batter will be a lovely pink color. Once all is combined, pour into paper baking cups. Bake 12 minutes in 350 degree oven or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool. Frost with vanilla frosting and sprinkle with sugar. You can tint the frosting with a little red food coloring to make it pink as well. Enjoy!

Recipe by devilandmouse.

Chade's 'Carris Seed' cakes:

Ingredients:

• One 18-1/4 ounce Yellow Cake Mix
• One 4-serving size Instant Lemon Pudding Mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoons poppy seeds
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt pan. Combine dry cake mix and dry pudding mix. Add eggs, water and oil and stir until well blended. Stir in poppy seeds, lemon zest and juice. Pour mix into Bundt pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.
If top of cake looks wet after that time, turn oven off and let it bake a few more minutes. Remove cake from oven and let it cool at room temperature for 15-20 minutes, then invert into serving plate. When completely cool, sift powdered sugar over the top, OR make a simple glaze and let it dribble over the cake.

Notes: Poppy seeds are reported to have the same kind of hallucinogenic qualities (in huge amounts only!) as carris seed, that is why it was chosen for this recipe.

Recipe by ehlana_bane.

Cook Sara's Meat Pie

A pie is essentially the same as a sandwich. They're both comprised of baked dough with some sort of filling. In both cases getting the dough right is crucial.

Pastry:

• 250g plain flour
• pinch salt & pepper
• 65g butter or margarine
• 65g lard or white fat
• water as required

Sift the flour into a large bowl along with the salt and pepper. Cut the butter and lard into small pieces and add to the flour. Rub the fat and flour together by hand to produce a homogenous mix. Slowly knead warm water into the mix to produce a firm but pliable dough. Wrap and store for at least 30 mins.

Filling:

• Boiled onions
• Boiled potatoes
• Cooked meat (boiled beef or pork)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Stock
• A good dollop of mustard

Put all the filling ingredients into a bowl and mix to produce a stiff paste-like consistency.
Take a portion of the dough and roll out thinly. Place over an ovenproof plate and trim the edges. Spoon in the meat mixture and cover with another portion of the dough, thinly rolled. Press the edges around the rim and make a few cuts in the middle. Trim the pastry from the edges. Brush with beaten egg and milk mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at gas mark 6, 200°C or 400°F for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Recipe by pandamonium.

Jamaillian Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 3 cloves
• 8 peppercorns
• 1 oz butter
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 onion
• finely chopped 3 pieces of cinnamon bark
• The seeds from 6 cardomom pods, ground
• 1/2 inch ginger, grated
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 chicken breasts, cut into bite sizes
• 3 tsp tamarind pulp
• 4 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tsp ground fenugreek
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• Dried red chillies (to taste - about 4-6 bird eye chillies will give a reasonable heat)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 4 potatoes, peeled, and cut about the same size as the chicken
• 1 red pepper, sliced

Method:

1. Gently roast the first 5 ingredients in a small pan over a low heat. When the cumin starts to darken remove from the heat and grind in a pestle and mortar.
2. Gently heat the butter and the oil in a large, deep pan. Add the onion and and cinnamon bark and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in the spices ground in step 1 and add the cardomom seeds. Keep stirring over a gentle heat for 5 mins but don't allow it to burn.
3. Add the ginger and garlic and again keep stirring over a gentle heat. The idea is to extract the flavours into the oil but not allow anything to burn. After about 5 minutes or so add the pieces of chicken and keep stirring to totally coat it with the oil, allowing it to cook but not darken too much.
4. Add the tamarind pulp and tomatoes and stir this through then gently cook for a few minutes - the tomatoes will break down and release their water into the mix. Now add the fenugreek and turmeric. (Note that some nobles use saffron here but that's just being posh for colour purposes. I prefer turmeric in this recipe.) Add the chillies and give it all a good stir. Simmer this gently for a few minutes.
5. Add the coconut milk - this should be the creamy variety, the whole can including the solids. This should provide enough moisture for the sauce, if it's too thick some water can be added. If it's too thin then wait for a step. Put a lid on the pot and simmer very gently for about 30 minutes.
6. Now add the potatoes and red pepper. Stir the pot well and allow to simmer for another 30 minutes, but check on it after about 15 for thickness. If you want it a bit thicker then use some tomato puree now, stirring it right into the sauce.
7. Serve with rice and also some naan bread if required. This recipe should serve about 4 with accompaniments.

CAVEAT! I'd experiment with this recipe until you get it right. The spice blend worked for me, although I didn't actually measure anything in - I just added what I thought was the right amount. I ended up with a runny sauce with the chicken and potatoes adding a bit of bite to it. The sauce was just perfect when it was mixed with the rice. All my measures, therefore, are approximate.

Recipe by pandamonium.

Three Ships Sausages

Ingredients:

• Minced pork (250g)
• Minced beef (250g)
• Cumin seeds (1 tsp)
• Black peppercorns (1/2 tsp)
• Bicarbonate of soda (1/2 tsp)
• Garlic (to taste, but 6 cloves at least)
• Thyme
• Dill
• Beef stock (about half a cup)
• Mustard (1 tsp)

1. Place the minced meats together in a bowl and mix together.
2. Grind the cumin and peppercorns and add them to the meat along with the bicarbonate of soda. Mix these well into the meat (there's nothing better than the hands for this).
3. Crush the garlic and pound in a pestle and mortar with the thyme and dill. Mix this well into meat mixture.
4. Mix the mustard into the stock and add slowly to the meat mixture. Keep mixing with a wooden spoon, adding more and more stock until the mixture is still a little stiff but is quite mobile.
5. Place in a cool place and leave for about 24 hours. (In our world a fridge will do!)
6. OK, now it's time to take the mixture and form it into sausage shapes, about 8-10cm long and 2-3cm thick.
7. These are meant to be cooked on the grill and are ideal for cooking on the barbecue. They should be cooked gently to avoid burning. They should be still juicy when they're cooked throughout, never dry. Alternatively use a grillpan, but again use a gentle heat. A lid on the pan will help keep them moist and they cook well in their own steam.

They're great served with chipped or mashed potatoes. Tomato salad goes well with them too.

Recipe by pandamonium.

Nighteyes' favourite ginger cake

Ingredients:

• 150 grams butter
• 1,5 dl sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3,5 dl wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3 teaspoons of ginger
• 2 dl apple sauce

Whip the butter and sugar into foam, add the eggs one at a time still whipping. Mix the flour, baking powder and ginger well together and add it to the dough. Add the apple sauce as well. Grease a mould well with butter and pour the dough in. Bake for 45 mins in 175¡C.

Recipe by Mervi.