Bis Keemiya

Bis Keemiya is such a lovely marriage between eggs and cabbages. The fried pastry on the outside is quite crunchy and yummy too.

We’ve sautéed the filling, but some folks do not do that, opting to simply mixing the ingredients together. You too, can do that if you like.

Makes: 10

Ingredients:

• ½ onion
• ¼ githeyo mirus (or to taste)
• 2 hardboiled eggs
• 1 tbsp. oil (for frying the filling)
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 2/3 tsp. salt (or to taste, for the filling)
• ½ tsp. ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 tsp. salt (or to taste, for the dough)
• 2 tsp. oil (for the dough)
• 12 tbsp. hot water
• 1 ½ cups oil (for frying the keemiya)

Instructions:

1. Slice the onion and the githeyo mirus (scotch bonnet pepper) thinly.
2. Slice the eggs into small cubes.
3. Heat the oil in a pot and add the onion slices, githeyo mirus, shredded cabbage, salt and pepper.
4. Cook until the onions and the cabbage soften and you can see just a hint of brown on them.
5. Add the eggs and mix gently.
6. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set it aside so that it can cool down.
7. Combine the flour and the salt in another bowl.
8. Add in the oil and use your fingers to mix it together with the flour.
9. Gradually add in the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time; also, every time you add in the water mix well using your fingers.
10. Knead the dough until it is soft and elastic. It shouldn’t be sticking to your fingers and it also shouldn’t be too dry.
11. Divide the dough into 10 equally sized balls.
12. Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a circular shape. The size is going to be around 4 inches in diameter. When you are rolling it, it needs to be a little bit thicker than a regular ‘roshi’.
13. Place 2 teaspoons of the egg and cabbage mixture in the center of one of the rolled dough portions.
14. Fold in two opposite edges, one over the other over the egg filling. You might want to dip a finger into some water and wet the edge of the side on top to make it hold well.
15. Now fold in the other two opposite edges in a similar manner. Now you should have a pillow like shape. Just make sure that it’s well closed and sealed.
16. Repeat the steps 13, 14 & 15 until you run out of dough and filling.
17. Heat oil in a deep pot.
18. Make sure the oil is well heated and then place a couple of keemiyas in the oil. You can test the oil by dropping in a little ball of dough. The oil is hot enough when the ball floats and you can see bubbles forming around it. Keep the temperature of the oil at a medium throughout the frying process. If the bubbles are too rapid it means the oil is too hot and if they are too slow it means the oil is too cold.
19. Fry until they take on a light golden colour and then remove them from the oil.
20. Drain off the excess oil by spreading them over some tissue papers or using a steel strainer.
21. Repeat steps 18, 19 & 20 until you are done with all the prepared keemiyas.