I was never a big fan of wraps until I stumbled upon this recipe while reading cookbooks in the waiting area at the Masterchef set.

This recipe is from the book: “India with Passion” from Manju Malhi.

I quickly wrote the recipe down, made it at home, loved it so much that I bought the book on Amazon ( I always find reasons to buy certain cookbooks )

We like to eat it with mustard and coriander/mint  marinated chicken cubes and mango chutney (all made from scratch which I will write about in my next blog) for now:

 

Indian Thepla’s yummie yummie!

 

150 gr. Whole wheat flour or plain flour

¼ tsp. turmeric

Pinch of asafoetida (optional)

2 tbsp. fenugreek leaves (dried)

½ tsp. chilli powder

½ tsp. coriander powder

½ tsp. cumin powder

¼ tsp. grated ginger

3 tbsp. vegetable oil

 

Method:

 

Mix flour, turmeric, asafoetida, fenugreek leaves, chilli, coriander, cumin, ginger and 1 tbsp. of vegetable oil. Add 100 ml. of tepid water.

Knead for 5-7 min.

Cover with a damp tea cloth for 15 minutes

Divide into 6 balls (use a bit of flour on your hands to handle the dough easier)

Roll into disc (2mm. thick)

Heat a griddle or non-stick frying pan.

Add oil. Cook for 1, 5 minutes each side.

 

 

 

 

 

By now we have so many family favorite dishes that it is hard to choose one or two therefore I will just post one every week.

 

The first one is Lemon cake, enjoy

 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

5 free-range eggs

300 gr. Caster sugar

140 ml. Double cream

3 lemons, zest only

1,5 tbsp. rum

1 pinch salt

80 gr. Unsalted butter, melted

240 gr. Plain flour

½ tsp. Baking powder

 

For the apricot jam glaze:

3 tbsp. apricot jam, warmed in a small saucepan

 

For the Lemon glaze:

1 lemon, zest and juice

150 gr. Icing sugar

 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Lightly butter a 26 cm x 9 cm x 8 cm loaf tin and line it with greaseproof paper

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the, eggs, sugar, cream, lemon zest, rum, salt and butter.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl then whisk it into the egg mixture until you have a smooth batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, turning halfway through cooking. The cake is cooked when a knife blade inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the tin, turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool for 10 min. This will allow the steam to escape before you glaze the cake. Leave the oven turned on.

Brush the cake with the warmed apricot glaze and leave for five minutes while you make the lemon glaze.

For the lemon glaze, mix together the lemon juice, zest and icing sugar.

Heat the mixture in a small pan until the sugar has dissolved and you have syrup.

Brush the lemon glaze all over the cake and leave for a few minutes to set.

Place the glazed cake in the oven on a baking tray, turn off the heat and leave for 3-5 minutes to dry the glaze and turn it translucent.

Remove the cake from the oven, sprinkle with a little rum to make it moister and leave to cool to room temperature before serving.

May 11^th 2011

Indonesian Food

I’ve grown up with Indonesian food, people and ingredients; it was nearly a shock when I came to live in Ireland that the supermarket did not stock trassie, koenjit or boemboe’s.

I think that shock triggered something in me; the cooking bug!

I had to source my precious ingredients from anywhere and everywhere, once sourced they were like little treasures, when a meal was cooked from them you better enjoy it or else…

Indonesian cooking is a bit like Thai cooking, yet with deeper, subtle flavours and just yummy.

Below a translation of common foods/ingredients in Indonesian cooking.

Ajam                       chicken

Asem                       tamarind

Asin                         salt

Atjar                        pickle

Babi                          pork

Bawang                   onion

Bebek                      duck

Boemboe               spice mix, usually wet

Dadar                      omelette

Daging                     meat

Djahe                       ginger

Djintan                    cumin

Goela                       sugar

Goreng                    fried

Ikan                          fish

Kajoe                       cinnamon

Katjang                   bean, but also peanut

Kentang                   potato

Ketjap                      Indonesian soy sauce

Ketoembar             coriander

Klappa                      coconut

Koenjit                     turmeric

Kroepoek                prawn cracker

Laos                          galangal

Loempang              mortar and pestle

Manis                       sweet

Mie                           wheat noodles

Mihoen                   angel noodles

Nasi                          boiled rice

Oedang                    prawns

Pala                           nutmeg

Pangang                  roasted

Pisang                     banana

Roti                         bread

Sambal                  spicy mix, main component is chili

Sate                        kebab

Sereh                      lemongrass

Sop                         soup

Tahoe                     tofu

Tauge                      bean sprouts

Telor                       egg

Toko                       Asian supermarket

Trassie                  shrimp paste

Wadjan                  wok    

Slamat Makan!! (have a good meal)

April 15^th 2011

Roast dinner

We had visitors yesterday, Granny and Granddad and auntie Niamh, cousin Eoghan and cousin Ailis from England.

It was very nice to see them and to see how the children grow up. I also like to chat with Niamh about cooking; she likes to experiment with food just like I do.

For food we had a “Murgh Makhani” (Butter Chicken) pilau rice and naanbread. For granddad and the little children I made a typical Irish roast dinner.

When I first came to live in Ireland I never heard of or made roast dinner. My father in law enjoys the way I cook it so it must be ok then!

For this particular one I made Yorkshire puddings (a pastry type little ball that you can dip in gravy), sage and onion stuffing, melt in the mouth beef and roast potatoes.

For dessert I made lemon cake, a showstopper with incredible subtle flavours. I made that cake for the cookie-and cake sale for my daughter’s school as well, it was sold in minutes!

How to make “melt in the mouth beef”:

Buy a nice piece of sirloin, strip loin or a cheaper cut like “housewife cut” –I don’t know why it is called like that, I like the sound of it- or round roast if you like.

Heat equal amount of butter and oil in a deep roasting pot. Sear the meat on both sides for a few minutes; add a good amount of lukewarm water to the pot (enough to cover the meat) and a bay leaf. Bring to the boil; let the meat simmer for 2 hours when cooking sirloin or strip loin and 3 hours when cooking a cheaper cut. Check ever so often that there is enough liquid in the pot.

And that is it. Very tender meat, you can’t go wrong.

April 8^th 2011  

Howth!

What an amazing weather today, went to Howth to buy Black sole.  Liam, who is 3, really loves looking at the boats, he calls them pirate ships.

First I went into Beshoff’s , a stunning looking fishmonger /restaurant, they have a lot of choice, very fresh looking fish and good service, I thought the sole was a little expensive so I walked to the next shop to see what was on display.

Wright’s of Howth… what can I say…. disappointing to say the least, the fish looks sad, not a whole lot choice and no sign of sole.

Next stop: Dorans on the pier, a poster on the outside of the door revealed that Doran’s will not be able to supply fish for the seals in Howth’s harbour anymore, what a pity! We always loved looking at those magnificent animals….. looking further into it I discovered that the Howth harbour master has prohibited the feeding… see:

www.petitiononline.com/seals85/petition.html

Please sign the petition.

Dorans had no sole for sale today, better luck next time.

Nicky’s plaice… I couldn’t believe how busy it was, I suppose they offer amazing value compared to the other fishmongers in Howth but I can’t help thinking how it is possible to sell for that cheap, I have bought fish of them before and it is just totally tasteless, I prefer to have a smaller piece of fish with great flavour then a huge piece with no flavour at all.

I ended up buying 3 whole black sole and a small piece of wild cod in Mulloy’s. I also bought a side of salmon, a kg. of wild mussels, a piece of smoked cod and some trout to make chowder over the weekend.

Coming home I filleted the fish and pan-fried them, they were gorgeous with some new potatoes and butter sauce. However, the piece of wild cod was, again, totally tasteless.

April 6^th 2011

Time for a recipe!

Indonesian Influences in Dutch cuisine was and is always there.

Flavour enhancers like sweet and salt Soy sauce and sambals are common on the Dutch dinner table. 

I want to share a FANTASTIC Indonesian recipe, it is from Bali, written by Sri Owen. It is family friendly i.e.: not spicy.

Marinate your chicken for 24 hours to get the best result.

Note: if you are unable to get Kemiri nuts then macademia nuts will do.

Indonesian Bali Spinach Chicken

 Ingredients:

 250 gr. Spinach, big stalks removed and cleaned

1 whole chicken (around 1,5 kg.)

1 tin of coconut milk

 For the marinade:

 5 small shallots or 2 medium sized onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

½ tsp. Chilli powder

2 kemiri nuts or  macadamia nuts crushed

2 tsp. Coriander powder

1 tsp. Cumin powder

2 cloves, crushed or ½ tsp. Clove powder

2 green cardamom pods, crushed or ½ tsp. Cardamom powder

2.5 cm. Piece of cinnamon stick, broken up or ½ tsp. Cinnamon powder

½ tsp. Ground or grated nutmeg

½ tsp. Turmeric

1 tsp. Chopped ginger

½ tsp. Ground white pepper

5 cm. Piece lemongrass, tough outer layer discarded, chopped

1 tsp. Shrimp paste

3 tbsp. Tamarind water

2 tbsp. Vegetable or sunflower oil

2 tbsp. Water

1 tsp. Salt

 Method:

 Blend all the ingredients for the paste together until smooth.

Make deep scores through the skin of the chicken.

Rub the marinade all over the chicken (leave 2/3 tbsp. in a bowl in the fridge).

Put the marinated chicken in the fridge over night.

 After marinating put the chicken in the oven for 2,5 hours on 180 degrees Celsius.

 In the meanwhile make the sauce:

 Put the left over marinade and the coconut milk in a sauce pan, heat for about 5 min.

Add the spinach, let it wilt for about 5 minutes.

Set aside.

Take the chicken out of the oven.

Keep the cooking liquid/oil/marinade.

Slice the chicken in desired pieces.

Heat the sauce through, add 6 tbsp. Of the remaining cooking liquid, stir through, let simmer for another 2 minutes.

Arrange the chicken on a plate, cover with sauce.

Serve with rice.

My blog about food, ingredients, herbs, balance in recipes, reviews of restaurants and recipes, the best utensils and pots and pans to use start here!

In 2003 I came to live in Ireland, loved a lot about Ireland but where is the bakery with great bread, why are all the breads packed in plastic? Where is the toko (Asian supermarket)? Where are the cold sliced meats? Why do people eat sausages and beans and potatoes for breakfast? Where is the cheese, the good big pieces of cheese? Cheddar? Yuk!

Are they mad…. yet people look healthy, seem to be happy and seem to cook decent meals.

I felt lost and missed my Dutch products so much so that I had family sending me boxes and boxes with Dutch cheese, bread, beschuit (crisp bake) and lots more, I drove them mental with my requests. I could not continue doing this and decided I had to get a grip, take it on the chin and use and cook what is available here.

A new world opened up: fantastic dairy products, a good cheddar was indeed great, baking my own bread was fun and appreciated by my family, I could make my own cold meats and sausages and beans are actually quite nice for breakfast. Asian supermarkets popped up everywhere and ethnic foods came available in supermarkets. I never ask family to send me huge boxes with food anymore!

I love my roast dinners and “meat and 2 veg” but I also like experimenting with ingredients, food from the meditarean, Indian, Thai, French and you name it. I can safely say that I have a natural ability to turn anything into something and come to the point that I like to share my knowledge.