Monday, December 27, 2010

Isler (Ischler) Jam-filled cookies glazed with choclate

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I visit and browse No Salty on daily basis, to bookmark recipes that interest me. On 23rd , day before eve of christmas , I've done all my christmas baking but then I found this Isler cookies on the main page and couldn't resist this simple recipe.

I've no idea why the name "Isler" (correction : Ischler) . All I know is that its list of ingredients and that it is sandwiched with jam is very similar to the Linzer cookies. Also, whenever we buy Linzer cookies at the bakery we tend to add a few Isler (Ischler) to the mix.

Isler Cookies

source : No Salty

Ingredients

For cookies

280 g flour
280 g unsalted butter, soften
150 g ground nuts ( I used a mix of walnuts and almonds)
140 g powdered sugar
1 Tbsp rum
a pinch of salt
For the filling
Jam of your choice
Glaze
200 g chocolate
Method
1) Cream soften butter with powdered sugar. Do not over-mix. Incorporate flour, ground nuts, pinch of salt and rum into the butter-sugar mixture until the whole thing come together. Chill in fridge for 1 hour.
2) After an hour, roll out the pastry until the thickness of 3 mm. Use round cookie cutter to cut pastry. Cut until all pastry are used. Baked for 10-12 mins at 175°c
3) Let cookies cooled. Meanwhile, melt chocolate to get ready for assembly.
4) Sandwich cookies with jam and glazed with melted chocolate.
5) Store cookies in a tin can and place in a cool place at least overnight, to allow the flavour to develop.
Own Notes
1) I'll roll the pastry thicker next time. Mine was a bit too thin when baked, making it too fragile to handle.
2) For a more even finish of glazed chocolate , I shall coat the whole of top piece with chocolate next time by either pouring the melted chocolate over it or submerging into melted chocolate instead of spreading on top.

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Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Hungarian Chicken Stew { Csirkepörkölt }

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This stew is an easy meal to whip-up with simple ingredients but you'll be surprised that it deliver in taste,too.

Hungarian chicken stew { Csirkepörkölt }
Recipe from http://www.chew.hu/csirkeporkolt.html

Ingredients:
1 chicken or 5 chicken legs (I de-skinned mine)
1 pepper (Hungarian wax pepper)
1 tomato
1 large onion
1 tablespoon fat (substitute with fat rendered from Hungarian"chorizo")
Salt
Ground paprika

** also added 1 potato

Method:
Wash the chicken and cut into small pieces. Finely chop the onion. Heat the fat in a pot, add onion and fry until glassy. Add paprika and meat and stir. Add de-seeded and chopped pepper and tomato and salt to taste. Cover and steam for approximately one hour. If the juice evaporates too much, add a small amount of water.

Serve with home-made egg noodle or pasta.
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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Season for citrus - Orange Cake

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Tasty recipe from here

In view that the link above doesn't work anymore, I have included the whole recipe from http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/01/recipes.foodanddrink3

What I did differently :-
Halved the recipe based on 2 eggs. 
Baked using 18cm spring form.
Used plain flour (instead of self-raising) added with baking powder.

Verdict
Love it - Light at fluffy! A keeper but I'll add more orange zest the next time.


Sicilian orange cake
Serves about 8
source : http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/01/recipes.foodanddrink3

250g lightly salted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
250g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
1½ teaspoons finely grated orange zest
250g self-raising flour
85ml freshly squeezed orange juice

For the icing:
125g icing sugar
5 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Method :-
Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Grease and line a 22cm clip-sided round cake tin with non-stick baking paper.
Using an electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together for 4-5 minutes until very pale. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each one, if necessary adding a spoonful of flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. Beat in the orange zest. Add the flour all at once and mix in well, then slowly mix in the orange juice. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer, inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out clean. If it starts to brown too quickly, cover loosely with a sheet of lightly buttered foil.
Leave the cake, in its tin, to cool on a wire rack, then carefully remove the sides and base of the tin and peel off the paper. Put it onto a serving plate.
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in the orange juice until you have a spreadable consistency. Spread it over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides, and leave to set. Serve cut into slices.


Monday, November 08, 2010

Decals for my kitchen

How beautiful to have your canisters organised with these labels :)




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Wednesday, November 03, 2010

No-roll pie crust

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I love eating savoury pies and tarts but kneading is not my favourite task, plus leaves me a messy kitchen to clean after! So, when I found this recipe last week, I knew that I have to try it out immediately :)

The dough was indeed easy to prepare and ready in minutes. The taste though was a bit greasy ; perhaps I should have paired it with lighter fillings. Anyway, I'll still use this pie crust recipe again , noting to add oil gradually and blind bake for 10 minutes before adding the fillings.

No-Roll Pie Crust

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/no-roll-pie-crust-i/Detail.aspx

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup peanut oil (used canola oil instead)
1/4 cup ice water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Pre-heat oven at medium heat.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Place dough in the pie pan, and press it out evenly with your fingers. Fill with favorite pie filling and bake.

Own Notes
Used 21cm dia. baking dish, and it was too small
To add oil gradually the next time.
To blind bake for 10 minutes before adding the fillings.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Hungarian Cottage cheese spread { Körözöt }

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Körözöt is something that my FIL whipped up whenever we return to visit on weekends. He has kindly written down the recipe recently as below. Now I can make them at home !

Simply mix together the ingredients :-

100-150gm Cottage cheese (I think Ricotta cheese should be fine ,too)
165ml sour cream
3-4 Tbsp butter, room temperature
1-2 tsp sweet / spicy paprika powder
pinch of cumin, ground or whole
salt & pepper, to taste

At this point, you've already made a basic Körözöt ; however, my FIL makes it special by adding ...

Hungarian green pepper, chopped finely
1-2 hard boiled egg(s)
1-2 tsp mustard
Onion, finely chopped , to taste
cold cuts, chopped finely

Garnish with dill , parsley or paprika powder. I think a drizzle of olive oil would be nice, too :)

Note that sour cream and butter (or margerine) are crucial in this recipe ; while the rest of the additions can be to your taste.



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Friday, October 15, 2010

Poppy seed and walnut slice

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This was created by combining two recipes. The pastry recipe is my go-to recipe as it is foolproof (am not good working with pastry :( . Anyway, I've regularly used it to work with any filling that I have in mind, in this case poppy seed.

Poppy seed and walnut slice

For the pastry (recipe from here )

100 g butter, softened
85 g caster sugar - reduced and mixed in vanilla sugar
1 large egg
175 g plain flour
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

Method

First, prepare the pastry. Cream butter and sugar. Mix the dry ingredients, then mix into the butter mixture together with egg. You should chill this for at least 30 minutes wrapped in cling film. However, I prepared this and set in fridge for overnight. Just leave the dough out in room temp. about 30-45 mins. before using it.

For the poppy seed filling

from here

250 grams ground poppy seeds (added ground walnut since i didn't have enough)
120 ml milk
50 grams superfine sugar
60 grams raisins
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tbsp rum
5 tbsp honey (used only 25g , the rest compensate with apricot jam)

In a nut/spice or coffee grinder, finely grind poppy seeds.

Using a small saucepan, add the milk with the sugar. Bring to a boil and add the poppy seeds and raisins. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest, rum, and honey. Allow filling to cool for 10 minutes before using.


To assemble

1) Pre-heat oven at 180°c. Grease baking tin (20x18cm) and set aside.

2) Divide pastry in to two (top and bottom layers) . Roll out each portion of pastry to fit baking tin. For first layer, press the pastry onto the base and sides of a buttered baking tin.

3) Next spread apricot jam evenly before putting the poppy seed filling onto pastry and finish off with another layer of pastry on top.

4) Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.


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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Leftover pumpkin soup used as pasta sauce


Horrible photo; but the sauce and pasta combination was so moreish, I had to restraint myself !

The recipe is as per the title, it starts from cooking a batch of pumpkin soup (recipe below) spiced with dashes of curry powder for extra kick. Then use the leftover as pasta sauce for next day's main - just cook and mix in your favourite pasta, some grated cheese, pieces of fried chorizo, and finally sprinkle with chopped parsley - seriously good!

Pumpkin soup


Ingredients (serves 6)
    2 tbs olive oil
    1 onion, finely chopped
    1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
    1 garlic clove, crushed
    1/2 tsp ground coriander (omitted - didn't have any in the pantry)
    1 tsp ground cumin
    1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
    1kg peeled pumpkin, diced
    1 large potato, peeled, diced
    1L chicken or vegetable stock
    1/2 cup (125ml) thin cream (omitted)
    *added
    curry powder, to taste
Method
  1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat, add onion and leek and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add garlic and spices and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add pumpkin, potato and stock and bring to the boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then blend in batches.
  2. Return soup to pan, stir through cream and reheat gently. Season and add a little more nutmeg if desired.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Peas and Bacon Tarhonya

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I had planned to make risotto one day , then changed my mind due to shortage of time. Since I still wanted to use peas and bacon as the complimentary ingredients, I thought that Tarhonya (a type of Hungarian granulated pasta ... almost similar to couscous) would make a very good substitute for risotto.

This dish can not be easier while the result is so satisfying!! - I just LOVE the nuttiness from the oven-toasted tarhonya :)

Tarhonya with bacon and peas

Ingredients
Oil , for sauteing
Bacon, about 2.5cm cube - sliced
1 onion, sliced into half ring
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp smoked paprika
Tahonya pasta , I didn't measure ... it was enough for 3-4 servings
peas, 2 handfuls
chicken / vege stock - double the measure of pasta (or according to liquid required per package's instructions)
salt, pepper - to taste
Ewe's cheese

Method
1) Brown tahonya pasta in pre-heated oven at medium heat for about 10 mins or until brown. Set aside.

2) Heat oil in pan , sauté bacon until slightly brown. Add in onion and cook until translucent. Lower heat and put in the minced garlic and smoked paprika. Stir until fragrant.

3) Pour in chicken / vege stock and bring it to a boil. Once stock is boiling, pour in the pasta and stir it couple of time while it is cooking. Cook until pasta is ready.

4) When pasta is ready, adjust seasoning at this point. Next pour in the peas, stir and switch off the heat, put on the lid and let it rest for a bit. Check for readiness of peas before serving with sprinkle of ewe's cheese.

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Friday, October 01, 2010

Crčme Caramel

credit http://www.desszert.eu/karamelles-vanilias_sultpuding

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Top photo was taken from the site where I found the Crčme Caramel recipe and bottom was the result of it. Yeah, not so pretty ; however, tasted really good..yum! I shall be investing in ramekins soon :)

Original recipe is in Hungarian but with google translator, I was able to make sense of the recipe. You should still visit the site for step by step pictorial.

Crčme Caramel
from Desszert.eu


Ingredients (serves 6)

600 ml milk
100 g sweetened condensed milk
4 whole eggs
1 Vanilla pod
170 g sugar
Pinch of salt


Method
  1. Preheat oven to 180 C.

  2. Pour milk into saucepan, cut the vanilla pod lengthwise and put vanilla pod into milk. Add in in 30 g of sugar. Bring to the boil while stirring, then cover and let stand for 20 minutes.

  3. Meanwhile, pour remaining sugar into another saucepan with water and cook over low heat suntil the sugar becomes caramel.

  4. Pour the caramelized sugar into ramekins

  5. In a bowl, stir together the eggs, condensed milk, and pinch of salt, then pour into cooled vanilla flavoured milk (after removing vanilla pod) and stir until smooth.

  6. Then pour egg-milk mixture into ramekins.

  7. Place ramekins into bigger baking pan and pour about an inch of hot water. Bake in the oven for about 45mins.

  8. Remove from baking pan and let custard cool completely in refrigerator for about 2 hours.

  9. Once custard is cooled cut around the mould with flat bladed knife for easier removal of custard onto a plate.

Changes I've made :-
I took out the custard during half way baking (when the custard is firmer), then stuck store-bought sponge fingers onto the custard , cover the custard with foil and place it back into the oven and continue baking until the custard is set.

The addition worked well. The sponge fingers weren't soggy but instead added a nice texture to the custard.
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Thursday, September 16, 2010

Spicy and Sour Soup

2010-09-15 001

I guess this can be interpreted as a version of the Thai TomYum. Although not cooked with authentic ingredients, it is very satisfying especially during the gloomy autumn / winter days !

Spicy and Sour Soup
recipe from Kata Konyha

Ingredients
2 carrots , slice into half rings
1 - 2 tomatoes , quartered
100gm mushrooms, sliced - I've used champion mushrooms, but mixture of oyster mushroom would be good too
1 small onion , chopped finely
1 pc 4cm ginger , grated
1 tsp Green curry paste
1 tsp dried lemon grass
1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce - I was out of it, so replaced with dash of oyster sauce
600 - 700 ml meat stock - I used 1 fish stock cube
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
salt & ground pepper , to taste
Hungarian chili paste (erős pista)
1 Limejuice - didn't have lime juice used lemon instead

Garnishes
Coriander leaves / parsley leaves
Lime slice

Method
1) Heat oil in wok. Sauté chopped onion. Once onion is transparent, add grated ginger. Cook until fragrant. Next put in the green curry paste and lemon grass. Stir and cook for couple of minutes. Then add in mushroom, cook until slightly wilted.

2) Pour in fish stock, fish sauce, carrots, tomatoes. Let it boil and simmer until vegetable is tender.

3) Check and adjust taste by adding salt, ground pepper, Hungarian chili paste and a squeeze of lemon.

4) Serve with garnishes.

You can also eat this as main meal by adding noodles , seafood of your choice, or shredded chicken meat.

useful reference : http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/1040/making-soup

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Monday, September 06, 2010

My version of Floating Island Cake

P1180309 Hungary's cake of the year 2007 was Madártej Torta (Floating Island Cake) ; which became a favourite of ours. However, if we crave it we would have to pre-order a whole cake as our neighbourhood bakery does not include it in their daily offerings .. not a problem, but with just the two of us, it is too big of a cake :(

So, I thought I would try baking it myself. After looking at the long list of ingredients and processes, I backed out :p Then I searched for other similarly named recipes with fewer ingredients before finally decided upon combining two recipes from my recipes folder to see if I can recreate the taste that I craved.

My version of Floating Island Cake (or Egg Custard Cake)

For the base (recipe from
here )
-->
100 g butter, softened
85 g caster sugar (100 ml) - reduced and mixed with vanilla sugar
1 large egg
175 g plain flour (300 ml)
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
-->
First, prepare the pastry. Cream butter and sugar. Mix the dry ingredients, then mix into the butter mixture together with egg. Press the pastry onto the base and sides of a buttered 26 cm springform tin. Put into the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
For the custard filling
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups whole milk
100gm sugar

Pre-heat oven at 180°c.

Lightly beat the eggs, taking care not to produce any air bubbles. Stir in the milk and the sugar.

-->
Take out the base from the fridge, pour the custard filling onto chilled pastry base (over a sieve) . Bake until the custard is cooked and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean (about 35 minutes). Set aside to cool
To serve
Whipped cream and pipe or spread on top of custard and sprinkle with toasted almond flakes before serving
Verdict
This simple recipe obviously it is not going to taste like the original cake but I'm absolutely happy with my hybrid version :)

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Friday, September 03, 2010

Caramelised fruit and yoghurt cake

No Salty is a new recipes site that I like to browse when I want to be inspired by Hungarian foodies. Since discovering this site, I have been bookmarking lots of recipes as the food photos are so enticing!

Here's a recipe that I've tried recently

Caramelised pears and yoghurt cake
Ingredients
For Caramelising
5 pears
150gm sugar

For the cake
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
150ml sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
200ml yoghurt
150ml oil
300ml flour
1 sachet baking powder

Method
1) Pre-heat oven at 170°c

2) Make a light caramel from 150gm sugar. Pour the caramel onto a lightly greased baking dish (I used 18cm round cake tin). Then place cut pears onto caramel.

3) Whisk together eggs and the sugars with a pinch of salt until smooth. Next add in yoghurt and oil. Finally add-in flour (mixed earlier with the baking powder) gradually until everything is incorporated.

4) Pour cake batter onto caramel and fruit. Bake for 35-40 mins. until skewers came out clean.



Notes
I've used peaches instead of pears. As you can see I wasn't patient enough to caramelise the sugar into a deeper shade. The result was more like syrup.

The baked cake was moist and sweet. Too sweet despite that I have reduced the amount of sugar. Next time I will use a bigger cake tin as I think the batter was a little thick and in result the cake was too moist.

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Since I have another tub of yoghurt and opened jar of sour cherries in the fridge, I decided to bake the cake again the next day! This time I've halved the recipe. I skipped the caramelisation process but instead sprinkled some light brown sugar on my greased cake tin. The rest just followed the recipe above.

I like the sour cherry version more plus as this version is halved the orig. recipe, the cake portion is more balance in my opinion. The tartness of the cherries is a good contrast to the sweetness.
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Monday, August 23, 2010

Hungary's national ( birthday ) cake 2010 - Plum Dumplings Cake

Plum dumpling cake
photo and more background of this event: here

Reading the source mentioned above, I realised that the annual national cake invention started only four years ago, in 2007. That said, the first year winning recipe, the Madártej (Floating Island) Cake remained our favourite since. In fact, it was the flavour of our wedding cake!
While Sour Cherry Cake of Pánd (winner of 2009) also featured frequently on our dessert plates :)

We got around to trying the new winning recipe today (available sinced Aug 20th). I have to admit when both of us learnt that the winning cake (announced on the 4th Aug) was Plum Dumplings Cake, we doubt that we would like the cake as neither of us liked the traditional plum dumplings. Well, we're happy to say that we would definitely eat it again!

The cake consisted of chocolate sponge filled with plum flavoured mousse. In the filling itself, you will find a plum or prune dumpling (that look quite complicated to make!) . Topping was vanilla cream and finished off with (what I think is) tempered chocolate, decorated with prune wrapped in chocolate covered marcipan.

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cake we bought at local bakery.

own reference - National cakes recipes
http://www.kedvencetel.hu/orszag_tortaja.html
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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Spicy pickled vegetables { acar }

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Whenever I have excess cauliflower I like to make this pickled salad to accompany meat dishes.
To learn about its origin, please read here .
As I intend to eat the salad on the same day that it's prepared, I didn't follow the usual process of pickling. What I did was ...

Spicy "pickled" vegetables
Ingredients :-
Cauliflower
Cucumber
Carrots
ginger
garlic
vinegar
sugar
turmeric
fish sauce
spicy Hungarian chili paste (erős pista)
sesame seeds, toasted , for sprinkling


Method
1) Blanch the cut vegetable in boiling water. Start off with carrot (longer to tender) followed by cauliflower and finally cucumber. Do not over cooked as you want a little bite to the vegetables.
Set aside to drain off excess liquid on a kitchen towel. Put aside some of the boiling water to wet the salad later.
2) Grate ginger and garlic. Heat a little oil in a pan and saute the grated ginger and garlic. Once fragrant, sprinkle a pinch of turmeric and stir a bit. Next add in the spicy Hungarian chili paste, sugar to your taste and few dashes of fish sauce (not too much , as the sauce is very salty). Set aside until assembling salad.
3) Place drained vegetable into salad bowl, splash a few dashes of vinegar, and add in the cooked spiced mixture . Coat salad evenly. Taste to check the balance of sweet and sour. If needed add the water earlier.
4) Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds before serving

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Thursday, August 05, 2010

Chunky chips

From the masterchef australia masterclass

1) Blocking potatoes, producing rectangle of the same size to cook evenly
2) Cook potatoes in cold salted water on high heat. Bring to boil and lower to simmer til cooked
3) Place potatoes in the fridge for more than 1/2 day
4) Deep fry in peanut oil at 130°c
5) Once golden brown, remove and place on kitchen towel.

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Sunday, August 01, 2010

Basic crepes

P1180269
wow, these were really light (much lighter than the Hungarian type) and crispy on the edges. Like it a lot... definitely a keeper !

Stumbled upon recipe here

Basic Crepe

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup plain flour
  • 2 free range eggs
  • ¾ cup whole milk
  • pinch salt
  • 1 tbs vegetable oil or melted butter (but in cold weather, these little globules will set hard and not do their job well)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • soft butter to grease pan

Method

  1. Pop non-stick crepe/frypan on low heat to begin warming.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, eggs, a quarter of cup of milk, salt, melted butter or oil and whisk till silky smooth. Add another half a cup of milk and whisk till nicely incorporated. The mixture should be quite watery. If you have the correct consistency, the batter will split into droplets when poured from the ladle in a slow stream. If it forms a smooth band of liquid as it is poured from the ladle, your crepes will end up too thick.
  3. Heat a 20 to 23 centimeters non-stick frypan to medium. To test, ladle a droplet of batter into the pan. If it sizzles and instantly bubbly, it’s probably a bit too hot. Just grab the pan and making sure no one is around you, madly wave it around to cool it down a tad. Return to stove, and with some paper towel smear some butter onto the entire surface of pan. Start by ladling just enough (quarter cup should be perfect) of the batter into the pan to roll and cover the surface. You have to work quickly as it should begin to cook instantly. When the crepe is perfect, it will start to crisp up on the edges. At this point lift up an edge with a butter knife and with both hands, carefully pick up the crepe to swiftly flip it over. This only has to cook for literally a second on the other side and then you can flip it onto a plate. Repeat till all mixture is cooked. You should end up with crepes that are just under two millimetres thick; any thicker and you will lose that magic silkiness, which is what a good crepe is all about. This will mean that you are either pouring too much mixture into the pan and letting the excess settle instead of pouring it out, or that your batter needs thinning with more milk.


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Friday, July 02, 2010

Cottage Cheese & Sour Cherry strudel

Receipe originated from Not quite Nigella

Alterations made :-

1) switched ricotta with local cottage cheese
2) switched jarred cherries with fresh ones, sprinkled with sugar

verdict :-
- my filling was a bit liquidy ; hence , it leaked out when baking
- it was delicious nonetheless ! definitely a keeper.



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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Chocolate mousse with olive oil

From masterchef australia masterclass
300gm chocolate
500gm cream
200ml olive oil

1) Melt chocolate over double boiler.
2) Meanwhile whip cream until soft peak
3) Add olive oil into melted chocolate
4) Finally all the chocolate-olive oil mixture into whipped cream.
5) Do not refrigerate!


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Monday, June 21, 2010

Coconut and cinnamon granola


Granola is not normally featured in my diet, but I have to give this recipe a try as it seems pretty easy to make. This smelt heavenly when baking in the oven, and of course was very yummy with yoghurt, frest cherries and sunflower seeds. Will definitely make it again!

I halved the following recipe which yield a 450g-jar.

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut (mine wasn't sweetened ; so, I sprinkled some demerara sugar)
2 cups sliced almonds (didn't add any when baking , instead sprinkle sunflower seeds when serving)
1 1/2 cups dried cherries, chopped (used fresh cherries instead)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup good honey
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3.

Toss the oats, coconut, almonds, and cherries together in a large bowl. Pour the vegetable oil and honey over the oat mixture. Add the cinnamon, and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated with the liquids. Pour onto a sheet pan. Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture turns a nice, even golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. (I baked for 25 mins.)

Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. Store the cooled granola in an airtight container.




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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Coconut milk jelly with sweet corn custard

Lately I have been craving for some cool jelly desserts as the temperature sores this summer. Back home to make jelly, we normally use agar-agar but I have experimented using gelatine since agar-agar in not available to me.

Coconut milk jelly with cream of sweet corn
serves 2

Ingredients
For the jelly
150ml coconut milk (from a can)
3 level tsp gelatine powder (determined by following ratio stated on the gelatine packet)
pinch of salt
sugar , to taste

For the crème pâtissière (egg custard)

You may follow from here

or what I did was
1 egg yolk
about 150 ml whole milk
15ml coconut milk
sugar, to taste
sweet corn (from can), sprinkle as many as you like
about 1Tbsp flour

Method
For jelly
Make jelly according to instruction stated on gelatine packet
Heat coconut milk until lukewarm, add in the gelatine powder and heat mixture until boiling point. Remove from heat and pour in to desired moulds. Set aside to cool and later put in to fridge until it is needed for serving.

For custard
1) In a bowl, mix together egg yolk and flour until smooth. Set aside.
2) Heat milk, coconut milk, sweet corn and sugar until boiling point. Remove from heat.
3) Pour half of the heated milk+ coconut milk slowly into the egg yolk+flour mixture while whisking continuously. Combine well
4) Now pour egg mixture into the remaining heated milk , put it back to the heat and cook until thickens as desired.



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Monday, May 31, 2010

No-bake "cake"



Not so enticing photos (taken with phone's cam.) ; but real easy to make and tasted lovely!
This was adapted/inspired by this recipe

What I've used (quantity estimated, as you can adjust according to size of your dish) :-
27 pcs. Marie type biscuits (locally known as keksz )
250ml Whipping cream 30%
1 pkt. stabilizer for cream
3 tsp powdered sugar (or to taste) for whipping cream
vanilla extract (for whipping cream)
4 tbsp strawberry jam, heated with some fresh strawberries
fresh strawberries (for topping + heat some with jam)
chocolate ganache

How :-
1) Start by laying a layer of biscuits covering bottom of your dish.
2) spread the heated strawberry jam ; just enough for to wet biscuits.
3) divide whipped cream by 3. spread 1/3 of whipped cream just enough to cover biscuits +j am layer
4) repeat step 1 - 3
5) Place the last layer of biscuits , top with remaining whipped cream and garnish with fresh strawberries , finally drizzle chocolate ganache all over.







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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Upside-down sour cherries black forest cake

My new favourite cake recipe. So easy and delicious! I've halved the recipe and turned all just fine!


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Monday, December 27, 2010

Isler (Ischler) Jam-filled cookies glazed with choclate

P1180451

I visit and browse No Salty on daily basis, to bookmark recipes that interest me. On 23rd , day before eve of christmas , I've done all my christmas baking but then I found this Isler cookies on the main page and couldn't resist this simple recipe.

I've no idea why the name "Isler" (correction : Ischler) . All I know is that its list of ingredients and that it is sandwiched with jam is very similar to the Linzer cookies. Also, whenever we buy Linzer cookies at the bakery we tend to add a few Isler (Ischler) to the mix.

Isler Cookies

source : No Salty

Ingredients

For cookies

280 g flour
280 g unsalted butter, soften
150 g ground nuts ( I used a mix of walnuts and almonds)
140 g powdered sugar
1 Tbsp rum
a pinch of salt
For the filling
Jam of your choice
Glaze
200 g chocolate
Method
1) Cream soften butter with powdered sugar. Do not over-mix. Incorporate flour, ground nuts, pinch of salt and rum into the butter-sugar mixture until the whole thing come together. Chill in fridge for 1 hour.
2) After an hour, roll out the pastry until the thickness of 3 mm. Use round cookie cutter to cut pastry. Cut until all pastry are used. Baked for 10-12 mins at 175°c
3) Let cookies cooled. Meanwhile, melt chocolate to get ready for assembly.
4) Sandwich cookies with jam and glazed with melted chocolate.
5) Store cookies in a tin can and place in a cool place at least overnight, to allow the flavour to develop.
Own Notes
1) I'll roll the pastry thicker next time. Mine was a bit too thin when baked, making it too fragile to handle.
2) For a more even finish of glazed chocolate , I shall coat the whole of top piece with chocolate next time by either pouring the melted chocolate over it or submerging into melted chocolate instead of spreading on top.

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Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Hungarian Chicken Stew { Csirkepörkölt }

P1180444
This stew is an easy meal to whip-up with simple ingredients but you'll be surprised that it deliver in taste,too.

Hungarian chicken stew { Csirkepörkölt }
Recipe from http://www.chew.hu/csirkeporkolt.html

Ingredients:
1 chicken or 5 chicken legs (I de-skinned mine)
1 pepper (Hungarian wax pepper)
1 tomato
1 large onion
1 tablespoon fat (substitute with fat rendered from Hungarian"chorizo")
Salt
Ground paprika

** also added 1 potato

Method:
Wash the chicken and cut into small pieces. Finely chop the onion. Heat the fat in a pot, add onion and fry until glassy. Add paprika and meat and stir. Add de-seeded and chopped pepper and tomato and salt to taste. Cover and steam for approximately one hour. If the juice evaporates too much, add a small amount of water.

Serve with home-made egg noodle or pasta.
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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Season for citrus - Orange Cake

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Tasty recipe from here

In view that the link above doesn't work anymore, I have included the whole recipe from http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/01/recipes.foodanddrink3

What I did differently :-
Halved the recipe based on 2 eggs. 
Baked using 18cm spring form.
Used plain flour (instead of self-raising) added with baking powder.

Verdict
Love it - Light at fluffy! A keeper but I'll add more orange zest the next time.


Sicilian orange cake
Serves about 8
source : http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/01/recipes.foodanddrink3

250g lightly salted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
250g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
1½ teaspoons finely grated orange zest
250g self-raising flour
85ml freshly squeezed orange juice

For the icing:
125g icing sugar
5 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Method :-
Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Grease and line a 22cm clip-sided round cake tin with non-stick baking paper.
Using an electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together for 4-5 minutes until very pale. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each one, if necessary adding a spoonful of flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. Beat in the orange zest. Add the flour all at once and mix in well, then slowly mix in the orange juice. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer, inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out clean. If it starts to brown too quickly, cover loosely with a sheet of lightly buttered foil.
Leave the cake, in its tin, to cool on a wire rack, then carefully remove the sides and base of the tin and peel off the paper. Put it onto a serving plate.
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in the orange juice until you have a spreadable consistency. Spread it over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides, and leave to set. Serve cut into slices.


Monday, November 08, 2010

Decals for my kitchen

How beautiful to have your canisters organised with these labels :)




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Wednesday, November 03, 2010

No-roll pie crust

P1180412
I love eating savoury pies and tarts but kneading is not my favourite task, plus leaves me a messy kitchen to clean after! So, when I found this recipe last week, I knew that I have to try it out immediately :)

The dough was indeed easy to prepare and ready in minutes. The taste though was a bit greasy ; perhaps I should have paired it with lighter fillings. Anyway, I'll still use this pie crust recipe again , noting to add oil gradually and blind bake for 10 minutes before adding the fillings.

No-Roll Pie Crust

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/no-roll-pie-crust-i/Detail.aspx

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup peanut oil (used canola oil instead)
1/4 cup ice water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Pre-heat oven at medium heat.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Place dough in the pie pan, and press it out evenly with your fingers. Fill with favorite pie filling and bake.

Own Notes
Used 21cm dia. baking dish, and it was too small
To add oil gradually the next time.
To blind bake for 10 minutes before adding the fillings.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Hungarian Cottage cheese spread { Körözöt }

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Körözöt is something that my FIL whipped up whenever we return to visit on weekends. He has kindly written down the recipe recently as below. Now I can make them at home !

Simply mix together the ingredients :-

100-150gm Cottage cheese (I think Ricotta cheese should be fine ,too)
165ml sour cream
3-4 Tbsp butter, room temperature
1-2 tsp sweet / spicy paprika powder
pinch of cumin, ground or whole
salt & pepper, to taste

At this point, you've already made a basic Körözöt ; however, my FIL makes it special by adding ...

Hungarian green pepper, chopped finely
1-2 hard boiled egg(s)
1-2 tsp mustard
Onion, finely chopped , to taste
cold cuts, chopped finely

Garnish with dill , parsley or paprika powder. I think a drizzle of olive oil would be nice, too :)

Note that sour cream and butter (or margerine) are crucial in this recipe ; while the rest of the additions can be to your taste.



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Friday, October 15, 2010

Poppy seed and walnut slice

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This was created by combining two recipes. The pastry recipe is my go-to recipe as it is foolproof (am not good working with pastry :( . Anyway, I've regularly used it to work with any filling that I have in mind, in this case poppy seed.

Poppy seed and walnut slice

For the pastry (recipe from here )

100 g butter, softened
85 g caster sugar - reduced and mixed in vanilla sugar
1 large egg
175 g plain flour
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

Method

First, prepare the pastry. Cream butter and sugar. Mix the dry ingredients, then mix into the butter mixture together with egg. You should chill this for at least 30 minutes wrapped in cling film. However, I prepared this and set in fridge for overnight. Just leave the dough out in room temp. about 30-45 mins. before using it.

For the poppy seed filling

from here

250 grams ground poppy seeds (added ground walnut since i didn't have enough)
120 ml milk
50 grams superfine sugar
60 grams raisins
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tbsp rum
5 tbsp honey (used only 25g , the rest compensate with apricot jam)

In a nut/spice or coffee grinder, finely grind poppy seeds.

Using a small saucepan, add the milk with the sugar. Bring to a boil and add the poppy seeds and raisins. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest, rum, and honey. Allow filling to cool for 10 minutes before using.


To assemble

1) Pre-heat oven at 180°c. Grease baking tin (20x18cm) and set aside.

2) Divide pastry in to two (top and bottom layers) . Roll out each portion of pastry to fit baking tin. For first layer, press the pastry onto the base and sides of a buttered baking tin.

3) Next spread apricot jam evenly before putting the poppy seed filling onto pastry and finish off with another layer of pastry on top.

4) Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.


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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Leftover pumpkin soup used as pasta sauce


Horrible photo; but the sauce and pasta combination was so moreish, I had to restraint myself !

The recipe is as per the title, it starts from cooking a batch of pumpkin soup (recipe below) spiced with dashes of curry powder for extra kick. Then use the leftover as pasta sauce for next day's main - just cook and mix in your favourite pasta, some grated cheese, pieces of fried chorizo, and finally sprinkle with chopped parsley - seriously good!

Pumpkin soup


Ingredients (serves 6)
    2 tbs olive oil
    1 onion, finely chopped
    1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
    1 garlic clove, crushed
    1/2 tsp ground coriander (omitted - didn't have any in the pantry)
    1 tsp ground cumin
    1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
    1kg peeled pumpkin, diced
    1 large potato, peeled, diced
    1L chicken or vegetable stock
    1/2 cup (125ml) thin cream (omitted)
    *added
    curry powder, to taste
Method
  1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat, add onion and leek and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add garlic and spices and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add pumpkin, potato and stock and bring to the boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then blend in batches.
  2. Return soup to pan, stir through cream and reheat gently. Season and add a little more nutmeg if desired.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Peas and Bacon Tarhonya

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I had planned to make risotto one day , then changed my mind due to shortage of time. Since I still wanted to use peas and bacon as the complimentary ingredients, I thought that Tarhonya (a type of Hungarian granulated pasta ... almost similar to couscous) would make a very good substitute for risotto.

This dish can not be easier while the result is so satisfying!! - I just LOVE the nuttiness from the oven-toasted tarhonya :)

Tarhonya with bacon and peas

Ingredients
Oil , for sauteing
Bacon, about 2.5cm cube - sliced
1 onion, sliced into half ring
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp smoked paprika
Tahonya pasta , I didn't measure ... it was enough for 3-4 servings
peas, 2 handfuls
chicken / vege stock - double the measure of pasta (or according to liquid required per package's instructions)
salt, pepper - to taste
Ewe's cheese

Method
1) Brown tahonya pasta in pre-heated oven at medium heat for about 10 mins or until brown. Set aside.

2) Heat oil in pan , sauté bacon until slightly brown. Add in onion and cook until translucent. Lower heat and put in the minced garlic and smoked paprika. Stir until fragrant.

3) Pour in chicken / vege stock and bring it to a boil. Once stock is boiling, pour in the pasta and stir it couple of time while it is cooking. Cook until pasta is ready.

4) When pasta is ready, adjust seasoning at this point. Next pour in the peas, stir and switch off the heat, put on the lid and let it rest for a bit. Check for readiness of peas before serving with sprinkle of ewe's cheese.

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Friday, October 01, 2010

Crčme Caramel

credit http://www.desszert.eu/karamelles-vanilias_sultpuding

P1180338
Top photo was taken from the site where I found the Crčme Caramel recipe and bottom was the result of it. Yeah, not so pretty ; however, tasted really good..yum! I shall be investing in ramekins soon :)

Original recipe is in Hungarian but with google translator, I was able to make sense of the recipe. You should still visit the site for step by step pictorial.

Crčme Caramel
from Desszert.eu


Ingredients (serves 6)

600 ml milk
100 g sweetened condensed milk
4 whole eggs
1 Vanilla pod
170 g sugar
Pinch of salt


Method
  1. Preheat oven to 180 C.

  2. Pour milk into saucepan, cut the vanilla pod lengthwise and put vanilla pod into milk. Add in in 30 g of sugar. Bring to the boil while stirring, then cover and let stand for 20 minutes.

  3. Meanwhile, pour remaining sugar into another saucepan with water and cook over low heat suntil the sugar becomes caramel.

  4. Pour the caramelized sugar into ramekins

  5. In a bowl, stir together the eggs, condensed milk, and pinch of salt, then pour into cooled vanilla flavoured milk (after removing vanilla pod) and stir until smooth.

  6. Then pour egg-milk mixture into ramekins.

  7. Place ramekins into bigger baking pan and pour about an inch of hot water. Bake in the oven for about 45mins.

  8. Remove from baking pan and let custard cool completely in refrigerator for about 2 hours.

  9. Once custard is cooled cut around the mould with flat bladed knife for easier removal of custard onto a plate.

Changes I've made :-
I took out the custard during half way baking (when the custard is firmer), then stuck store-bought sponge fingers onto the custard , cover the custard with foil and place it back into the oven and continue baking until the custard is set.

The addition worked well. The sponge fingers weren't soggy but instead added a nice texture to the custard.
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Thursday, September 16, 2010

Spicy and Sour Soup

2010-09-15 001

I guess this can be interpreted as a version of the Thai TomYum. Although not cooked with authentic ingredients, it is very satisfying especially during the gloomy autumn / winter days !

Spicy and Sour Soup
recipe from Kata Konyha

Ingredients
2 carrots , slice into half rings
1 - 2 tomatoes , quartered
100gm mushrooms, sliced - I've used champion mushrooms, but mixture of oyster mushroom would be good too
1 small onion , chopped finely
1 pc 4cm ginger , grated
1 tsp Green curry paste
1 tsp dried lemon grass
1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce - I was out of it, so replaced with dash of oyster sauce
600 - 700 ml meat stock - I used 1 fish stock cube
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
salt & ground pepper , to taste
Hungarian chili paste (erős pista)
1 Limejuice - didn't have lime juice used lemon instead

Garnishes
Coriander leaves / parsley leaves
Lime slice

Method
1) Heat oil in wok. Sauté chopped onion. Once onion is transparent, add grated ginger. Cook until fragrant. Next put in the green curry paste and lemon grass. Stir and cook for couple of minutes. Then add in mushroom, cook until slightly wilted.

2) Pour in fish stock, fish sauce, carrots, tomatoes. Let it boil and simmer until vegetable is tender.

3) Check and adjust taste by adding salt, ground pepper, Hungarian chili paste and a squeeze of lemon.

4) Serve with garnishes.

You can also eat this as main meal by adding noodles , seafood of your choice, or shredded chicken meat.

useful reference : http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/1040/making-soup

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Monday, September 06, 2010

My version of Floating Island Cake

P1180309 Hungary's cake of the year 2007 was Madártej Torta (Floating Island Cake) ; which became a favourite of ours. However, if we crave it we would have to pre-order a whole cake as our neighbourhood bakery does not include it in their daily offerings .. not a problem, but with just the two of us, it is too big of a cake :(

So, I thought I would try baking it myself. After looking at the long list of ingredients and processes, I backed out :p Then I searched for other similarly named recipes with fewer ingredients before finally decided upon combining two recipes from my recipes folder to see if I can recreate the taste that I craved.

My version of Floating Island Cake (or Egg Custard Cake)

For the base (recipe from
here )
-->
100 g butter, softened
85 g caster sugar (100 ml) - reduced and mixed with vanilla sugar
1 large egg
175 g plain flour (300 ml)
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
-->
First, prepare the pastry. Cream butter and sugar. Mix the dry ingredients, then mix into the butter mixture together with egg. Press the pastry onto the base and sides of a buttered 26 cm springform tin. Put into the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
For the custard filling
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups whole milk
100gm sugar

Pre-heat oven at 180°c.

Lightly beat the eggs, taking care not to produce any air bubbles. Stir in the milk and the sugar.

-->
Take out the base from the fridge, pour the custard filling onto chilled pastry base (over a sieve) . Bake until the custard is cooked and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean (about 35 minutes). Set aside to cool
To serve
Whipped cream and pipe or spread on top of custard and sprinkle with toasted almond flakes before serving
Verdict
This simple recipe obviously it is not going to taste like the original cake but I'm absolutely happy with my hybrid version :)

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Friday, September 03, 2010

Caramelised fruit and yoghurt cake

No Salty is a new recipes site that I like to browse when I want to be inspired by Hungarian foodies. Since discovering this site, I have been bookmarking lots of recipes as the food photos are so enticing!

Here's a recipe that I've tried recently

Caramelised pears and yoghurt cake
Ingredients
For Caramelising
5 pears
150gm sugar

For the cake
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
150ml sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
200ml yoghurt
150ml oil
300ml flour
1 sachet baking powder

Method
1) Pre-heat oven at 170°c

2) Make a light caramel from 150gm sugar. Pour the caramel onto a lightly greased baking dish (I used 18cm round cake tin). Then place cut pears onto caramel.

3) Whisk together eggs and the sugars with a pinch of salt until smooth. Next add in yoghurt and oil. Finally add-in flour (mixed earlier with the baking powder) gradually until everything is incorporated.

4) Pour cake batter onto caramel and fruit. Bake for 35-40 mins. until skewers came out clean.



Notes
I've used peaches instead of pears. As you can see I wasn't patient enough to caramelise the sugar into a deeper shade. The result was more like syrup.

The baked cake was moist and sweet. Too sweet despite that I have reduced the amount of sugar. Next time I will use a bigger cake tin as I think the batter was a little thick and in result the cake was too moist.

P1180306

Since I have another tub of yoghurt and opened jar of sour cherries in the fridge, I decided to bake the cake again the next day! This time I've halved the recipe. I skipped the caramelisation process but instead sprinkled some light brown sugar on my greased cake tin. The rest just followed the recipe above.

I like the sour cherry version more plus as this version is halved the orig. recipe, the cake portion is more balance in my opinion. The tartness of the cherries is a good contrast to the sweetness.
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Monday, August 23, 2010

Hungary's national ( birthday ) cake 2010 - Plum Dumplings Cake

Plum dumpling cake
photo and more background of this event: here

Reading the source mentioned above, I realised that the annual national cake invention started only four years ago, in 2007. That said, the first year winning recipe, the Madártej (Floating Island) Cake remained our favourite since. In fact, it was the flavour of our wedding cake!
While Sour Cherry Cake of Pánd (winner of 2009) also featured frequently on our dessert plates :)

We got around to trying the new winning recipe today (available sinced Aug 20th). I have to admit when both of us learnt that the winning cake (announced on the 4th Aug) was Plum Dumplings Cake, we doubt that we would like the cake as neither of us liked the traditional plum dumplings. Well, we're happy to say that we would definitely eat it again!

The cake consisted of chocolate sponge filled with plum flavoured mousse. In the filling itself, you will find a plum or prune dumpling (that look quite complicated to make!) . Topping was vanilla cream and finished off with (what I think is) tempered chocolate, decorated with prune wrapped in chocolate covered marcipan.

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cake we bought at local bakery.

own reference - National cakes recipes
http://www.kedvencetel.hu/orszag_tortaja.html
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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Spicy pickled vegetables { acar }

P1180124
Whenever I have excess cauliflower I like to make this pickled salad to accompany meat dishes.
To learn about its origin, please read here .
As I intend to eat the salad on the same day that it's prepared, I didn't follow the usual process of pickling. What I did was ...

Spicy "pickled" vegetables
Ingredients :-
Cauliflower
Cucumber
Carrots
ginger
garlic
vinegar
sugar
turmeric
fish sauce
spicy Hungarian chili paste (erős pista)
sesame seeds, toasted , for sprinkling


Method
1) Blanch the cut vegetable in boiling water. Start off with carrot (longer to tender) followed by cauliflower and finally cucumber. Do not over cooked as you want a little bite to the vegetables.
Set aside to drain off excess liquid on a kitchen towel. Put aside some of the boiling water to wet the salad later.
2) Grate ginger and garlic. Heat a little oil in a pan and saute the grated ginger and garlic. Once fragrant, sprinkle a pinch of turmeric and stir a bit. Next add in the spicy Hungarian chili paste, sugar to your taste and few dashes of fish sauce (not too much , as the sauce is very salty). Set aside until assembling salad.
3) Place drained vegetable into salad bowl, splash a few dashes of vinegar, and add in the cooked spiced mixture . Coat salad evenly. Taste to check the balance of sweet and sour. If needed add the water earlier.
4) Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds before serving

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Thursday, August 05, 2010

Chunky chips

From the masterchef australia masterclass

1) Blocking potatoes, producing rectangle of the same size to cook evenly
2) Cook potatoes in cold salted water on high heat. Bring to boil and lower to simmer til cooked
3) Place potatoes in the fridge for more than 1/2 day
4) Deep fry in peanut oil at 130°c
5) Once golden brown, remove and place on kitchen towel.

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Sunday, August 01, 2010

Basic crepes

P1180269
wow, these were really light (much lighter than the Hungarian type) and crispy on the edges. Like it a lot... definitely a keeper !

Stumbled upon recipe here

Basic Crepe

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup plain flour
  • 2 free range eggs
  • ¾ cup whole milk
  • pinch salt
  • 1 tbs vegetable oil or melted butter (but in cold weather, these little globules will set hard and not do their job well)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • soft butter to grease pan

Method

  1. Pop non-stick crepe/frypan on low heat to begin warming.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, eggs, a quarter of cup of milk, salt, melted butter or oil and whisk till silky smooth. Add another half a cup of milk and whisk till nicely incorporated. The mixture should be quite watery. If you have the correct consistency, the batter will split into droplets when poured from the ladle in a slow stream. If it forms a smooth band of liquid as it is poured from the ladle, your crepes will end up too thick.
  3. Heat a 20 to 23 centimeters non-stick frypan to medium. To test, ladle a droplet of batter into the pan. If it sizzles and instantly bubbly, it’s probably a bit too hot. Just grab the pan and making sure no one is around you, madly wave it around to cool it down a tad. Return to stove, and with some paper towel smear some butter onto the entire surface of pan. Start by ladling just enough (quarter cup should be perfect) of the batter into the pan to roll and cover the surface. You have to work quickly as it should begin to cook instantly. When the crepe is perfect, it will start to crisp up on the edges. At this point lift up an edge with a butter knife and with both hands, carefully pick up the crepe to swiftly flip it over. This only has to cook for literally a second on the other side and then you can flip it onto a plate. Repeat till all mixture is cooked. You should end up with crepes that are just under two millimetres thick; any thicker and you will lose that magic silkiness, which is what a good crepe is all about. This will mean that you are either pouring too much mixture into the pan and letting the excess settle instead of pouring it out, or that your batter needs thinning with more milk.


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Friday, July 02, 2010

Cottage Cheese & Sour Cherry strudel

Receipe originated from Not quite Nigella

Alterations made :-

1) switched ricotta with local cottage cheese
2) switched jarred cherries with fresh ones, sprinkled with sugar

verdict :-
- my filling was a bit liquidy ; hence , it leaked out when baking
- it was delicious nonetheless ! definitely a keeper.



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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Chocolate mousse with olive oil

From masterchef australia masterclass
300gm chocolate
500gm cream
200ml olive oil

1) Melt chocolate over double boiler.
2) Meanwhile whip cream until soft peak
3) Add olive oil into melted chocolate
4) Finally all the chocolate-olive oil mixture into whipped cream.
5) Do not refrigerate!


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Monday, June 21, 2010

Coconut and cinnamon granola


Granola is not normally featured in my diet, but I have to give this recipe a try as it seems pretty easy to make. This smelt heavenly when baking in the oven, and of course was very yummy with yoghurt, frest cherries and sunflower seeds. Will definitely make it again!

I halved the following recipe which yield a 450g-jar.

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut (mine wasn't sweetened ; so, I sprinkled some demerara sugar)
2 cups sliced almonds (didn't add any when baking , instead sprinkle sunflower seeds when serving)
1 1/2 cups dried cherries, chopped (used fresh cherries instead)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup good honey
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3.

Toss the oats, coconut, almonds, and cherries together in a large bowl. Pour the vegetable oil and honey over the oat mixture. Add the cinnamon, and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated with the liquids. Pour onto a sheet pan. Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture turns a nice, even golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. (I baked for 25 mins.)

Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. Store the cooled granola in an airtight container.




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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Coconut milk jelly with sweet corn custard

Lately I have been craving for some cool jelly desserts as the temperature sores this summer. Back home to make jelly, we normally use agar-agar but I have experimented using gelatine since agar-agar in not available to me.

Coconut milk jelly with cream of sweet corn
serves 2

Ingredients
For the jelly
150ml coconut milk (from a can)
3 level tsp gelatine powder (determined by following ratio stated on the gelatine packet)
pinch of salt
sugar , to taste

For the crème pâtissière (egg custard)

You may follow from here

or what I did was
1 egg yolk
about 150 ml whole milk
15ml coconut milk
sugar, to taste
sweet corn (from can), sprinkle as many as you like
about 1Tbsp flour

Method
For jelly
Make jelly according to instruction stated on gelatine packet
Heat coconut milk until lukewarm, add in the gelatine powder and heat mixture until boiling point. Remove from heat and pour in to desired moulds. Set aside to cool and later put in to fridge until it is needed for serving.

For custard
1) In a bowl, mix together egg yolk and flour until smooth. Set aside.
2) Heat milk, coconut milk, sweet corn and sugar until boiling point. Remove from heat.
3) Pour half of the heated milk+ coconut milk slowly into the egg yolk+flour mixture while whisking continuously. Combine well
4) Now pour egg mixture into the remaining heated milk , put it back to the heat and cook until thickens as desired.



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Monday, May 31, 2010

No-bake "cake"



Not so enticing photos (taken with phone's cam.) ; but real easy to make and tasted lovely!
This was adapted/inspired by this recipe

What I've used (quantity estimated, as you can adjust according to size of your dish) :-
27 pcs. Marie type biscuits (locally known as keksz )
250ml Whipping cream 30%
1 pkt. stabilizer for cream
3 tsp powdered sugar (or to taste) for whipping cream
vanilla extract (for whipping cream)
4 tbsp strawberry jam, heated with some fresh strawberries
fresh strawberries (for topping + heat some with jam)
chocolate ganache

How :-
1) Start by laying a layer of biscuits covering bottom of your dish.
2) spread the heated strawberry jam ; just enough for to wet biscuits.
3) divide whipped cream by 3. spread 1/3 of whipped cream just enough to cover biscuits +j am layer
4) repeat step 1 - 3
5) Place the last layer of biscuits , top with remaining whipped cream and garnish with fresh strawberries , finally drizzle chocolate ganache all over.







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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Upside-down sour cherries black forest cake

My new favourite cake recipe. So easy and delicious! I've halved the recipe and turned all just fine!


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