Shemka Muaremi's recipes

Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound ground beef

1 green pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

1 can Bush's Red Chili Beans (your preference of spiciness)

1 6 ounce can tomato paste

1 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes

1 packet chili seasoning

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon cumin

Pour olive oil to bottom of pot, brown ground beef. Add diced onion and green pepper, cook until veggies soften (3-5 minutes). Add canned ingredients and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add chili seasoning, chili powder, paprika, and cumin, and stir together well. Set on low heat for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Serves 4

Enjoy!

Albanian Bean Stew (Fasule)

1 package (16 ounces) of dried Great Northern Beans

2 tablespoon oil (I prefer olive oil)

1-2 pounds (depending on how meaty you want it) beef shanks with the bone

1 large onion

1 medium sized red or green bell pepper

1 tablespoon parsley (fresh or dried)

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon no-MSG Vegeta All-Purpose Seasoning

½ a 6 ounce can of tomato paste

Water

Soak beans in a pot of cold water overnight. This will help decrease the cooking time. Chop onion and peppers. (If you are using fresh parsley, chop that as well). Pour oil into pot and sauté beef shanks on both sides. Once sautéed, add the chopped veggies, paprika, and tomato paste and sauté all together for 3-5 minutes or until veggies soften. Drain the beans that were soaking overnight and rinse. Add the beans to the pot. Add enough water to cover everything in the pot. Pour in Vegeta and parsley, and stir. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium to allow stew to continue boiling at a lower temperature. Close the lid and cook for about 1 hour. After 1 hour has passed, check that beans are soft to eat. If not, continue cooking. If water level has lowered and is no longer covering the meat and beans, add more water, bring to boil again, and continue cooking covered for another 30 minutes to an hour, or until the beans are soft.

Serves 4

Flan Recipe

½ cup sugar

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 package cream cheese (softened and cubed)

6 eggs

1 can evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Set oven to 400 degrees. Caramelize the sugar by heating the sugar in a sauce pan until the sugar melts and liquefies into a dark golden brown caramel and pour it into a glass Pyrex 9-inch round glass pie plate.

Using a mixer, mix the cream cheese and condensed milk in a bowl.

Then add the eggs and mix.

Lastly, add the evaporated milk and (optional) vanilla extract and mix until everything is well blended. If there are little chunks of cream cheese, it's OK. They won't be there when you bake the flan. Carefully pour the mixture into the glass pie plate layering it on top of the caramelized sugar.

Create a Bain-Marie or water bath by setting a much larger pan, such as an oven-safe cake pan or roaster in the oven. Then place the glass dish holding the flan in the middle of the pan. Carefully pour water into the pan up to about ¾ the height of the flan. Bake for 30-45 minutes (time may vary depending on your oven) or until the flan is golden brown and does not jiggle when you touch the top. If the flan turns a light brown on top but still jiggles, lower the oven to 200 degrees and continue to bake until it does not jiggle.

Take the flan out of the oven and let it cool. When the flan is cool enough to handle, run a knife completely around the edge and flip onto a serving dish. Enjoy!

Kifle (Albanian Feta Cheese Dinner Rolls)

6 cups and 2 tablespoons of flour (I prefer Red Roses Flour)

2 cups lukewarm milk

1 package active dry yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

3 eggs (1 whole for the mixture, 2 separating the yolk and whites)

½ cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

2 cups of crumbled feta cheese

½ stick of melted butter

Sesame seeds

In a large, deep mixing bowl, pour in the milk, dry yeast, sugar, and 2 tablespoon of flour. Stir together. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let stand for 10 minutes. Add 6 cups flour, baking powder, salt, 1 (whole) egg, and oil to milk mixture. Stir ingredients together. I use my stand mixer for this part, but you can also mix it by hand.

The dough should be soft, but not sticky. Knead the dough (using a mixer or your hands) for 5 to 10 minutes.

Keep your kneaded dough in your mixing bowl, cover with kitchen towel, and let it stand for one hour.

During this time, separate the yolk and whites of the remaining eggs.

Mix the egg whites with the crumbled feta and set aside. Lightly grease your baking sheet.

After 1 hour has passed, uncover the dough and knead for another 5 minutes.

Separate the dough into 5 or 6 equal ball pieces and cover with your kitchen towel. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sprinkle some flour onto a working area and roll out 1 ball of dough into the size of a medium-sized pizza. Cut the rolled dough into 8 equal 'pie' or triangle slices using a knife.

Place a teaspoon of the egg white/feta mixture into the widest part of slice. Starting at the widest part, roll the dough to the narrowest point. Place the croissant shaped dinner roll on your baking sheet. Continue to do this with the rest of the dough.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and brush the eggs onto each dinner roll. Sprinkle each roll with sesame seeds. Take your melted butter and brush onto the rolls. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Take out of the oven and cover with kitchen towel while cooling. This will help them stay soft. You can enjoy once they are cool enough to eat.

Makes about 40 rolls