Cooking Journal

Pearl Barley Risotto

2012-01-26T11:34:00.000+01:00

Hungarian style Pearl Barley Risotto
serves 4 pax

Ingredients
150gm pearl barley
150gm smoked sausage
oil, if needed
1 Onion, finely chopped
ground smoked paprika, to taste
ground cumin, to taste

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp tomato puree
2 fresh tomatoes, peeled sliced or chopped finely
splash of white wine
1 hungarian pepper , sliced
1 carrot, chopped
1 bay leaf
300gm chicken stock

salt & pepper, to taste
sugar, to adjust the acidity if needed
parley, finely chopped, to sprinkle

Method
1) Heat sauce pan with little oil, and fry smoked sausage to render out some fat. Remove smoked sausage from sauce pan and set aside
2) Use this fat (remove excess if desire) to sauté onion until translucent. Put in the pearl barley and cook it for a bit. Remove sauce pan from heat and sprinkle to taste ground smoked paprika, ground cumin & chopped garic. Stir it and add a little bit of the chicken stock before putting back sauce pan to the heat. Let it boil.
3) Next add in chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and splash of white wine. Cook off the alchohol.
4) Then pour in the rest of the chicken stock, followed by carrot, Hungarian pepper & bay leaf. Cook for 25 mins. but stir on and off to avoid sticking.
5) After 25 mins. stir in the parsley and smoked paprika, check for seasoning, remove from heat. It is ready to serve

Quick & Easy Donuts

2012-01-25T19:21:00.001+01:00

Quick & Easy Donuts
Source : Ste/ A te recepted Sep 2011
Makes 12-16 donuts

Ingredients
150gm plain flour (changed to 130gm)
pinch of salt
1 sachet x 10gm baking powder (half baking powder + baking soda)
1 egg
150gm yoghurt, natural flavoured (changed to 1x130gm tub)
Oil for frying

To serve with dips
sweet option Good quality fruit preserves/jam or dust with powdered sugar,
savoury option sour cream and grated cheese

Method
1) Whisk together egg and yoghurt, then mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until well combine. Let it rest for 10 mins. Meanwhile , heat oil in frying pan
2) Make sure oil is hot enough, or it will be too greasy. Use a spoon to scoop out batter and fry 1.5 mins. each side until golden brown. Drain fried donuts on kitchen paper.
3) Serve while still warm with preferred dipping sauces.

Quick Herb Aioli

2011-10-25T18:12:00.002+01:00

Quick Herb Aioli
serves 2
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3746/open-swordfish-burgers-with-herb-aoli

Ingredients
4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp Dijon mustard (used regular mustard)
1 tbsp lemon juice
shallot, chopped (to taste)
garlic clove , crushed (to taste, I used a squirt of garlic paste)
3 tbsp tarragon, chives, parsley , use 1 or a mixture (used only 1 small bunch of parsley)

Method
Mix together all the ingredients for the herb aïoli in a small bowl and set aside. Serve at room temperature.

Easy baked potatoes

2011-10-18T13:59:00.002+01:00

Easy baked potatoes
serves : 4-5 pax

Ingredients
4 large pcs. potatoes, slice thinly
butter / oil to grease pan
200ml milk
4 tsp. sour cream
Garlic paste, to taste
vegetable seasoning (vegeta) , to taste
bunch of parsley, chopped finely
salt and pepper to taste
100gm morzarella cheese
1 slice of cheddar cheese

1) Pre-heat oven at 200°c (400°F, Gas mark 6)
2) Grease medium-sized baking pan with butter or oil
3) Whisk together milk, sour cream, garlic paste and vegetable seasoning. Stir in the finely chopped parsley and set aside.
4) Place a layer of thinly sliced potatoes, tear pieces of cheddar and morzarella cheese and sprinkle over the layer of potatoes , next sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
5) Repeat step 4 until you finish the potatoes (3 layers). Once layering is done, pour the milk-cream mixture over the potatoes.
6) Bake covered with alum. foil for 30 mins. After 30 mins., remove alum. foil from baking dish, lower temp. to gas mark 2 and continue to bake for another 20 mins. until the top layer is nicely browned. Check for doneness, let it rest a bit and serve warm.

Chocolate swiss roll with coconut butter cream

2011-10-11T12:06:00.002+01:00

Chocolate swiss Roll
source : Hungarian cookery

Ingredients

For sponge cake
4 eggs, separated
salt
90gm sugar
90gm flour (minus 2 Tablespoons)
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder, unsweetened
1tsp baking powder
1 sachet vanilla sugar

For coconut butter cream-
100gm butter , softened
100gm powdered sugar
50gm desiccated coconut

For Glazing
Apricot jam, heated
60gm chocolate, melted
cooking oil, as need if chocolate is not spreadable
1 tsp Rum

Method

To make sponge cake
1. Pre-heat oven to 180°c.

2. Whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until it become stiff foam. Set aside

3. In a bowl combine together dry ingredients - flour, cocoa powder, baking powder. In another bowl beat egg yolks with sugar (+vanilla sugar) until creamy. When eggs mixture is creamy, add in the dry ingredients and combine well.

4. Fold egg white into egg yolk mixture carefully.

5. Prepare baking dish by lining it with parchment paper. Pour in the cake mixture and bake for 10-12 mins. It is ready when cake is springy when touched.

6. Remove cake from oven. Let it cool for a while ; but roll up cake when it is still hot. When cake is cooled completely, unrolled it and spread with your favourite jam or whipped cream.

To make coconut butter cream
1. Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Fold in desiccated coconut.
3. Fill cake as mentioned in point 6. above.

To finish
1. Heat apricot jam in microwave (30 seconds) for easier application.
2. Brush heated apricot jam all-over rolled cake
3. Melt chocolate using microwave or double-boiler, once melted, if consistency is not spreadable, add cooking oil (vege. oil) to loosen and give a nice shine. Spread all over roll-caked and let it set before serving.

Hungary's national (birthday) cake 2011 - Peach cream millet cake

2011-09-05T12:24:00.004+01:00

When this year's winning cake was announced , I was curious of the millet cake base. I like millet as substitute for rice but in a cake? Turns out the texture of the cake is very similar to semolina (sugee) cake ; which I love!

Taste wise was much better than I've anticipated considering that it is a "healthy" dessert. The cake is not too sweet as it was created with diabetics in mind. Personally, I can do away with the peach cream and tempered chocolate. I would have simply paired the millet cake with toasted almond flakes.

source : http://magyarorszagtortaja2011.hu/

Simple sweet and sour salad dressing

2011-08-03T19:44:00.004+01:00

Simple sweet and sour salad dressing

whisk together
2 Tbsp olive oil
1.5 - 2 Tbsp sugar (brown, white or palm)
5 - 6 dashes of white vinegar (or half - 1 lime, adjust to balance sweet and sour)
a pinch of salt
freshly ground pepper
few dashes of chilli flakes , to taste
1 spring onions, finely chopped - green part only
few leaves of parsley, finely chopped

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (without an ice cream maker!)

2011-07-25T18:34:00.001+01:00

Simply combine whipped cream (soft peak) with custard. Pour onto freezer proof container freeze for at lease half a day and that's it!!

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (without an ice cream maker)
makes about 300-350 ml

For vanilla custard
3 egg yolks
1 sachet vanilla sugar
1 Tbsp flour
150ml milk
60gm icing sugar

250ml Whipping cream (30% fat content)

Preparations

Mix together all custard ingredients well in a non-stick sauce pan, and cook it until it is thick custard like texture. Let it cool before adding into whipped cream (soft-peak)

Just pour the mixture into container and freeze for at least half a day.

Hungarian sour cherries cake

2011-07-07T07:45:00.002+01:00

My favourite cakes are still simple yellow cake such as this :)

Hungarian Sour Cherries cake

No salty

Makes – 12-16 pcs

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated

140gm sugar

2 x 8 gm sachet vanilla sugar

100ml water

100ml vegetable oil

250gm flour

1 tsp baking powder

300-400 gm sour cherries , deseeded

Method

Pre-heat oven at 180°c. Grease and lightly flour baking tray (35x25cm)

Beat egg white with a pinch of salt until stiff peak. Set aside.

Mix together flour and baking powder.

Beat egg yolks with both sugars until creamy. Pour in oil , water and combine well. Next, add-in flour+baking powder and mix until you get smooth consistency. Fold-in egg white gently until well incorporated. Dot sour cherries onto cake batter.*

Pour cake batter into the baking tray and bake for 15 mins or until skewer comes out clean.

* To prevent cherries from sinking, you can dust sour cherries with a little flour prior to dotting into cake batter.

Malay cuisine ~ Paprik-style chicken & Pattaya fried rice

2011-07-03T19:49:00.002+01:00

I needed to use up some chicken breasts and thought of Nasi ayam paprik (Paprik style chicken rice). I don't know why as I hardly eat it back home in Malaysia. Then I combined the chicken dish with another Malay favourite - Nasi goreng pattaya (Pattaya fried rice).

It was hard to make this plate photogenic ; but you can view here for some delicious looking photos.

Paprik-style chicken
Adapted from petitchef

500gm Chicken breast fillet , cut into chunks/strips
1 stick of carrot , sliced
1 lemon grass (1 used 1 tsp dried lemon grass)
2 kafir lime leaves , slice finely (didn't have any, substitute with dried bay leave)
1 Small Onions, chopped finely
2 Garlic
1 tsp Chili paste, or to taste (I used Hungarian spicy paprika paste)
1 Tbsp Tomato ketchup (added 1 fresh tomatoes, quartered)
1/4 tsp Oyster sauce (didn't have any in the pantry but substitute with anchovy paste)
2 Tbsp Chili Sauce (omitted)
1 tsp Soya sauce
Salt as taste
Oil

Method

Heat oil in pan,add chopped onion and garlic,fry till brown .Then add chili paste,fry till it leaves the oil ,now add lemon grass and chicken.

Fry for few minutes,then add carrots, bay leave and all the sauces and some water.Close with lid and cook simmer till chicken and veggies is cook.

Remove from heat and serve hot.

Meatless day : Tofu croutons

2011-06-21T14:11:00.003+01:00

I often use tofu as meat substitute whenever I cooked them. It is such versatile food that can soak up any flavour you cook them with. This time I've made tofu croutons to go with my asian salad (pasembur or Indian rojak)

Tofu croutons
Inspired by batter recipe from http://kuali.com/recipes/view.aspx?r=1231

Ingredients
300gm firm tofu, cubed
50g plain flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp sugar
62.5ml water
oil for shallow fry
1 tsp sesame seeds

Method
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and sesame seeds in a mixing bowl. Mix in water gradually to form a dough. Leave aside for 30 minutes.
Add in cubed tofu into batter to coat.
Heat oil in fry pan shallow fry tofu until golden brown.
Leave aside for use for salad etc.

Focaccia

2011-06-13T20:06:00.002+01:00

I hardly bake bread because the result is never as good. Thank goodness I come across this recipe as when this recipe says it is the easiest focaccia ; it really is! It has restored some confidence in me to continue to try baking bread :)

Easiest Focaccia

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/easiest-focaccia-recipe/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

4 g white sugar

7 g active dry yeast

80 ml warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

250 g all-purpose flour

30 ml olive oil

2 g salt

Directions

In a small bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with flour; stir well to combine. Stir in additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all of the flour is absorbed. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly for about 1 minute.
Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface; knead briefly. Pat or roll the dough into a sheet and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the dough with oil and sprinkle with salt.
Bake focaccia in preheated oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on desired crispness. If you like it moist and fluffy, then you'll have to wait just about 10 minutes. If you like it crunchier and darker in the outside, you may have to wait 20 minutes.

Eclair recipe in the shape of profiterole ...

2011-05-29T18:36:00.005+01:00

I made a mistake in the photo as it should have read "profiterole". Anyway, majority of the choux dough I did piped the Éclair shape but not photographed.

Can't believe that this is only the second time I've baked them as last time I did was for my FIL's name day , five years ago! There are so easy to do as dessert and feels lighter especially in the summer heat.

Basic Éclair recipe from A series of kitchen experiment

Notes
Add a packet (1x10g) vanilla sugar to the orig. recipe
I did the dough few days in advance and freeze it in freeze-safe bag. Thaw the dough in the fridge a day ahead and leave in out in room-temperature 30 mins. - 1 hour before you want to bake them as per recipe above. It may be still cold but you can start piping the dough onto the baking dish.

Pastry cream - I've used left over instant pastry cream (the reason why I decided to bake this the first place)

Chocolate glaze - just melt chocolate with some milk in the microwave. I microwave for 30 seconds. Let it sit a bit in the micro. and take it out and mix until glossy.

Caramelised sugar - also microwave !! I used this method with success.

Salsa Verde

2011-05-19T19:42:00.002+01:00

Yummy recipe from here !

We spread it on roti, topped with ricotta cheese and dill.

Broccoli Lemon chicken with toasted sesame seeds

2011-05-09T13:15:00.004+01:00

Bikini season is soon ; so, time for lighter foods!

Broccoli Lemon Chicken with Toasted sesame seeds
Inspired by BBC Good Food

Ingredients
1 tbsp groundnut oil or sunflower oil
340g pack of chicken breast fillets , sliced into strips
2 garlic cloves , sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
200g broccoli florets
200ml chicken stock
1 heaped tsp cornflour
1 tbsp clear honey or 2 tsp golden caster sugar
the zest of half a lemon and the juice of a whole one
a large handful of toasted sesame seeds

Method
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the chicken and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden. Remove from the pan and add the garlic, ground cumin and broccoli. Stir fry for a minute or so then cover and cook for 2 minutes more, until almost tender.
Mix the stock, cornflour and honey or sugar well, then pour into the pan and stir until thickened. Tip the chicken back into the pan and let it heat through, then add the lemon zest and juice, and sesame seeds. Stir, then serve straight away with basmati rice or noodles.

Chocolate mousse & cream triffle cake

2011-04-17T21:24:00.010+01:00

I intended to bake this Hungarian chocolate butter cream sponge cake (aka Ludlab) again for my FIL since I received favourable reviews the last time I made it. As the butter cream in that recipe was a bit heavy for my liking, I searched for a chocolate mousse recipe to replace the butter based one. I know the portion of chocolate mousse would not be enough to satisfy my FIL preference of more creamy filling less cake and so I added chocolate flavoured whipped cream to it. Finally, when I was deciding on presentation of the cake, I have to take into account on the convenience of travelling with a layered cake ; presenting it in a triffle cake form would be much easier to carry around - done!

Everyone loved the cake. It was chocolaty and light at the same time. There's plan to bake it again next week for another celebration.

Chocolate mousse & cream triffle cake

Ingredients

For Sponge cake ( source : flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/elfrieda/sets/72157601094692691/ )
3 eggs,
3 tbsp caster or superfine sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
3 tbsp cake flour {substitute with 3 tbsp plain flour + 1 tsp baking powder}

For the filling :-
for Chocolate mousse (source http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/330616/really-easy-chocolate-mousse )

75g dark chocolate , chopped and melted (use a standard dark chocolate for this rather than a high cocoa one as it combines better)
2 eggs, separated
25g butter , melted
2 tbsp golden caster sugar
1 tbsp coffee liquor (optional)- I used rum

for chocolate flavour whipped cream
125g dark chocolate
250ml whipping cream
1 sachet cream stabiliser
powdered sugar, to taste

For the syrup
200g sour cherry preserve, with juice (roughly divide into 3 portions)
a pinch of cinnamon
sugar, to taste
2 tsp rum

For chocolate ganache
45g chocolate
a little cream or milk just to loosen chocolate

Processes

For sponge cake (I baked this few days earlier before and kept in freezer)
Grease 18cm cake tin with a small amount of butter and sprinkle a bit of cocoa in the pan to prevent sticking.
Separate eggs, cream yolks with sugar until pale.
Mix flour, baking powder and cocoa in a separate bowl.
Beat egg whites separately until stiff.
Gently combine wet and dry ingredients.
Bake in 180°c/350°F oven in round cake tin for 25 minutes or until cooked.
Set aside to cool. Once cool, cut across horizontally to create 2 cake layers.

For syrup (this can be prepare earlier as well and kept in the fridge)
Place sauce pan over low heat, pour the juice from cherry preserve into sauce pan, and sprinkle 1 portion of the sour cherry preserve, sugar and cinnamon. Cook it down until a thick consistency. Not too thick as this will use to moist the cake

For chocolate mousse
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave for 30 seconds until melted. Mix together melted chocolate and butter until well combine. Then quickly mix in the egg yolks.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and whisk in the sugar gradually until mixture is shinny and stiff
Fold in the two mixture and along add in coffee liquor if using (I used rum).

Start assembling cake

In a glass bowl, put one of the the layered cakes in the bottom of glass bowl. Brush some sour cherry syrup on the cakes and sprinkle with pieces of sour cherry (cooked together with juice)

Pour in the chocolate mousse, sprinkle with 2nd portion of sour cherries. Let it set in the fridge for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate ganache simply by microwaving the chocolate and a little bit of cream or milk til loosen and melted. Melting chocolate in microwave needs to be done by heating gradually, if chocolate is stiff add cream/milk to loosen.

For second piece of sponge cake, again brush the sour cherry syrup to moisten , let it soak up of the syrup before spreading the chocolate ganache prepared above, finally dot it with the 3rd portion of sour cherry. Set this cake layer aside while waiting for chocolate mousse to set.

For chocolate flavour whipped cream
Once chocolate mousse is set,
Melt chocolate set aside.
Start whipping the cream with sugar and cream stabiliser.
Half way through the whipping process, pour in the melted chocolate and whipped until it holds. Don not over whipped.

Pour this whipper cream over the set chocolate mousse, finally topped with the 2nd layer (the one with chocolate ganache)of sponge cake prepare earlier and it is ready.

Serve cold.

Vanilla custard "Pie" using Dr.Oetker Házi Krémes krém

2011-04-10T18:58:00.003+01:00

Vanilla custard slice or Francia Krémes (in Hungarian) is quite a favourite over here in Hungary. I've tried making vanilla slice using one of the recipes found on the www without success ; the cream just not as stiff and stablised as those we buy from confectioneries. So, when Dr. Oetker launched this new product Házi krémes krém I was intrigued and bought it immediately.

Of course in future I would like to try my hand in making the custard from scratch again but this product is very convenient by just mixing cold milk and instant powder. This is definitely something you can use when short of time.

Vanilla custard "pie"

Pie Crust recipe from Joy of Baking
While waiting for pie crust to cool, whisk together the custard powder with milk (as per packet's instruction)

Pour the custard onto pie crust. Let it set in fridge for 1 hour.

I make basic toffee (butter, cream and brown sugar) to drizzle on top.

YUM!

Chocolate cake in-a-minute cooked using microwave !

2011-04-05T15:45:00.002+01:00

Chocolate cake in-a-minute {cooked using microwave}
Recipe from collaborative curry

Ingredients
4 Tbsp plain flour
4 Tbsp white sugar (changed to 1 Tbsp white + 1 Tbsp brown)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
a pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 large Egg, room temp
3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
a dash of vanilla extract (switched to rum)
2 microwave-safe coffee mugs (I cooked it in mini casserole microwave-safe dish)

Method
1. Mix together dry ingredients
2. In another bowl beat the egg lightly, next add-in the rest of the wet ingredients ; mix well with a fork.
3. Mix in the dry mixture , mix until well combined.
4. Pour the batter into your microwave-safe baking dish
5. Microwave on high for a minute (my microw. is 900w). At this point the centre of the cake is gooey, it is cooked. Just keep in the microwave for another 10 seconds. Do not overcook or you might end up with a dry cake.
6. Let it cool before digging in!

No bake biscuit cake

2011-03-25T09:10:00.007+01:00

This is going to be a great recipe for the hot summer months especially when I crave Gerbeaud cake / slice . To me this is a cheat version of the classic Hungarian confection ; one of my favourite sweets from Hungary!

No bake biscuit cake
source : Local Hungarian cooking mag

Ingredients
250gm biscuit crumbs
200gm powdered sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar / or use vanilla extract
120gm margarine (I used butter, melted)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp rum
100gm ground walnuts
grated zest of 1 orange (I used lemon)
Milk, as needed to combine

Chocolate icing
100gm dark chocolate

Method
1)Mix together dry ingredients and then combine in the wet ingredients. Press the mass into a rectangular tin and spread to get 2cm thickness

2)Melt chocolates and cover the top of cake.

verdict
I like it! need to be brave with milk! the "cake" base was a bit loose. Perhaps next time I'll try with vanilla cream filled biscuit crumbs.

Dim sum ~ Chinese steamed bun

2011-03-16T13:08:00.004+01:00

I have left over baked meat balls in the fridge and wanted to use some as filling for Chinese steamed buns ; one of my favourites dum sum. Searching my bookmarks I decided upon Lily's layered pau's dough as I have all ingredients in my pantry.

I have tried making chinese steamed buns before without much success. I think it was due to my lack of natural touch for kneading. However, I'm satisfied with how this dough turned out. The scent of the buns when freshly steamed was very much like the ones I had at home. One negative was the dough wasn't leaven fully ; perhaps due to the old instant yeast I had in the pantry.

Chinese steamed bun

Dough
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp baking powder*
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk, warm
1 tbsp oil

To make the dough:

1) Mix together warmed milk, sugar and yeast. Set aside to ferment. It is ready when mixture is frothy.

2) In another bowl, mix flour and salt. Create well in the centre of the bowl and pour in the yeast mixture and oil.

3) Knead dough. let dough rise until it is double in bulk.

4) Before you divide the dough, roll the dough into a rectangle and mix baking powder with a little water and spread it onto the surface, roll it up and knead dough until it is well mixed and smooth. Then divide dough in to dough into 4 portions.

5) Spray or grease a pan with oil and line with parchment paper.

6) Roll each portion into thin circle and put in your choice of filling (it can be sweet or savoury) . Seal by pinching the edge together and place of steaming tray.

7) Brush top of dough with oil to prevent drying out.

8) Let it rest for 30 - 45 minutes and in the meantime, bring the water in a steamer to the boil.

9) When dough has rested and risen, put into steamer and steam on high heat for 35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when pricked into the middle of the bun.

10) Let cake cool a bit and serve warm.

Read Lily's how-to on pleating bun

Lemon cottage cheesecake

2011-03-14T09:19:00.006+01:00

With lemon in season, I've been addicted with lemon curd since I made my first batch about a month ago. In fact, this batch is the third I've cooked consecutively!

Lemon cottage cheesecake
source : credited respectively below as I was combining 3 recipes

Crust ~ adapted from Joy of Baking

100 gm crumbs of vanilla cream biscuits

57gm unsalted butter, melted

* sugar was eliminated as vanilla cream from biscuits should give enough sweetness. You can add sugar if you will.

Lemon curd ~ from Joy of Baking
Makes 360 ml

3 large eggs

80 ml fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons) (do not use the bottled lemon juice)

1 Tbsp finely shredded lemon zest

150 grams granulated white sugar

56 grams unsalted butter , at room temperature

Cottage cheese filling adapted from Not quite Nigella

250gm local cottage cheese
2 eggs
24 gm vanilla infused caster sugar

Method

Pre-heat oven at 180°c

For crust
In a bowl combine the biscuit crumbs and melted butter. Press the  crumbs evenly over the bottom and about 1 inch (2.5 cm) up the sides of  the springform pan. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

For lemon curd

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) (160 degrees F or 71 degrees C). This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for up to a week.

For cottage cheese filling

In a bowl, mix cottage cheese, eggs, , vanilla sugar until smooth using hand blender. Mix with 3/4 of lemon curd, set aside

Assembly (text as per http://homecookingrocks.com/coffee-cheesecake/)

Take the crust-lined springform pan out of the fridge. Place the pan in a larger pan. Pour the cheese mixture over the crust.

Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to reach halfway up the height of the pan. Bake the cheesecake for an hour and 45 minutes. The center should be jiggly. Leave the cake in the oven to cool completely. Decorate top of cake with remaining 1/4 of lemon curd. Then, chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Filling ~ Walnut butter cream

2011-02-22T13:39:00.003+01:00

Walnut butter cream frosting
source : http://www.nosalty.hu/gazdag_diotorta_recept_1659

Ingredients
200gm ground walnut
1 Tbsp plain flour
250ml milk
100gm sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
lemon zest from 1 lemon
100gm margarine , room temperature ( I used butter)

Method
1) In a sauce pan, mix together milk, sugars, lemon zest. Heat it just until boiling point.
Add in flour and walnut mixture. Bring it to boil again. and set aside to cool

2) Beat margarine (butter) with elec. mixer. When butter is light and fluffy, add in walnut mixture cooked earlier. Combine well and it is ready to be used as cake filling.

Lemon curd cream tarts

2011-02-17T13:47:00.003+01:00

Lemon curd recipe from Joy of Baking

Easy no roll pie crust from Joy the baker

I've just combine 200ml of whipped cream with lemon curd (add gradually until you get the desired taste)

Tomata cream sauce

2011-02-15T07:41:00.004+01:00

My search on google for "tomato cream sauce" yield me this recipe by The Pioneer Woman . I have made this sauce twice now since last week - of course it was good !

As usual I 've adapted the recipe to what I have in the pantry. So go to the link above if you want the exact ingredients and methods. Here are what I've cooked with...

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
pinch of dried basil
4 medium very ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
Salt And Pepper, to taste
Brown sugar , to taste
1 cup cooking cream (22% fat)
Fresh parley, Chopped
250g pasta

Chocolate Truffles for your valentine

2011-02-12T08:03:00.003+01:00

A gorgeous looking plate & simple recipe from BBC Good Food

Swedish Almond Cake inspired by Ikea

2011-02-02T14:24:00.005+01:00

Ikea swedish almond cake....mmmm yumm, right? I thought it would be rather easy to find a compatible recipe to recreate at home ; but my google search gave too many different kinds of swedish almond cake. In the end, I gave this one a try.

Erm... look nothing like the ones I ate in Ikea ; however, taste wise it was pretty close! So, next time I'll just need to search for an icing to go with this cake.

Swedish Almond Cake
http://www.danlepard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1914

75g unsalted butter
2 tbsp dry white breadcrumbs
1 large egg
125g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp double cream
100g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
50g flaked almonds (didn't have any, sub. with roasted snack type)

Melt 50g butter and use some to brush inside an 18cm flan tin then dust generously with breadcrumbs.

Heat the oven to 180C (160 fan).

Break the egg into a large clean bowl and whisk until frothy. Slowly add 100g sugar and beat until thick.

Stir the vanilla and 2 tbsp cream in evenly, sift in the flour and baking powder and fold through, followed by the remaining melted butter.

Spoon into the tin and bake for 25 minutes until the middle is barely firm{*}. Meanwhile melt 25g butter in the same saucepan then add the almonds, 25g sugar, a tsp of flour and 1 tbsp cream and stir over heat until bubbling.

When the cake is cooked remove from the oven and turn the heat up to 210C (190C fan). Spoon the almond mix over the cake, return to the oven and bake another 5 - 7 minutes until golden. Remove from the tin while warm.

{*} the cake was already cooked after 20 mins. , I'll adjust baking time to 15 mins.

"Carbonara" with spinach

2011-01-06T20:16:00.007+01:00

Recipe adapted from TheKitchn

Ingredients
3 portions of (3x75gm) Fettuccini - or pasta of your choice
1 x 400g frozen bag of Spinach , drained
ewe's cheese, to taste
2 eggs
chilli flakes, to taste
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
bacon, optional ( I didn't use)
salt & pepper , to taste

Method
1) Cook pasta as per packet's instruction. Set aside a few tablespoons of pasta cooking liquid.
2) Meanwhile, beat eggs together with ewe's cheese, add in a little of hot pasta cooking liquid and set aside.
3) When pasta is almost done, heat oil in a sauce pan, sauté garlic for a bit followed by chilli flakes, stir in the spinach, season with salt and pepper to taste and cook for a few minutes.
4) Drain pasta and toss together with egg-cheese mixture and finally stir into sauce pan with spinach. Use pasta cooking liquid to loosen if needed. Mix well and serve.

Isler (Ischler) Jam-filled cookies glazed with choclate

2010-12-27T21:56:00.008+01:00

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.

Tripple chocolate cupcake kit

2010-12-23T07:21:00.002+01:00

Last minute (or not) gift idea via BBC Good Food

Hungarian Chicken Stew { Csirkepörkölt }

2010-12-07T20:39:00.008+01:00

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.

Season for citrus - Orange Cake

2010-11-28T21:52:00.004+01:00

Tasty recipe fromhere

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.

Decals for my kitchen

2010-11-08T07:41:00.003+01:00

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

{source } Just something I made

No-roll pie crust

2010-11-03T17:37:00.007+01:00

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.

Hungarian Cottage cheese spread { Körözöt }

2010-10-28T11:25:00.009+01:00

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.

Poppy seed and walnut slice

2010-10-15T13:59:00.010+01:00

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.

Leftover pumpkin soup used as pasta sauce

2010-10-13T17:09:00.006+01:00

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

Taste.com.au

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

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.
Return soup to pan, stir through cream and reheat gently. Season and add a little more nutmeg if desired.

Peas and Bacon Tarhonya

2010-10-03T19:47:00.007+01:00

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.

Crčme Caramel

2010-10-01T11:15:00.006+01:00

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

Preheat oven to 180 C.
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.
Meanwhile, pour remaining sugar into another saucepan with water and cook over low heat suntil the sugar becomes caramel.
Pour the caramelized sugar into ramekins
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.
Then pour egg-milk mixture into ramekins.
Place ramekins into bigger baking pan and pour about an inch of hot water. Bake in the oven for about 45mins.
Remove from baking pan and let custard cool completely in refrigerator for about 2 hours.
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.

Spicy and Sour Soup

2010-09-16T13:57:00.006+01:00

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

My version of Floating Island Cake

2010-09-06T20:17:00.008+01:00

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 :)

Caramelised fruit and yoghurt cake

2010-09-03T13:15:00.007+01:00

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.

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.

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

2010-08-23T14:24:00.009+01:00

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.

cake we bought at local bakery.

own reference - National cakes recipes
http://www.kedvencetel.hu/orszag_tortaja.html

Spicy pickled vegetables { acar }

2010-08-19T15:50:00.003+01:00

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

Chunky chips

2010-08-05T07:37:00.003+01:00

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.

Basic crepes

2010-08-01T21:49:00.004+01:00

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

Cottage Cheese & Sour Cherry strudel

2010-07-02T21:34:00.005+01:00

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.

Chocolate mousse with olive oil

2010-06-22T14:19:00.003+01:00

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!

Coconut and cinnamon granola

2010-06-21T17:57:00.002+01:00

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.

Coconut milk jelly with sweet corn custard

2010-06-17T12:59:00.005+01:00

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.

No-bake "cake"

2010-05-31T05:49:00.002+01:00

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.

Upside-down sour cherries black forest cake

2010-05-23T21:14:00.003+01:00

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

Chicken stuffed with spinach and dates

2010-05-22T06:56:00.001+01:00

yummy ! recipe from BBC Good Food

Roasted cauliflower & curry soup

2010-05-19T07:06:00.001+01:00

A new favourite at our household ... simply delicious! Just follow the recipe at Recipezaar

Stuffed chilli peppers II

2010-04-27T19:04:00.003+01:00

After 3 years I finally get to make this recipe again ; with the availability of garam masalathis time round ( Bombay masala by Kotányi )

The masala really boost the fragrance and taste of this dish... wow, what a difference it makes! I think I'll cook only the potato filling next time ;)

Stuffed chilli peppers
Recipe from Spice Hut
(link no longer active...)

Ingredients:
8 chilli peppers
2 large potatoes
1 small onion
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp MDH Pav Bhaaji Masala (used locally available Bombay masala)
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste, oil for saute

Method:
Peel the potatoes, wrap them in paper towels and cook in the microwave for 8-9 min. Remove, crumble them. Keep aside. Place coriander seeds in a ziploc bag& pound roughly with a rolling pin. Finely chop the onion.

Hold the chilli pepper in the palm of your hand and make a long slit along one side, using a small knife. Remove the seeds & white part inside the pepper with your fingers or spoon. Repeat with all the peppers. When done make sure to clean your hands with soap. Preferrably wear gloves.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add the onion, saute till translucent. Add the Pav Bhaaji Masala, red chilli powder, cumin seeds, crushed coriander seeds, salt to taste. Saute for 2 min. Add the crumbled potatoes & adjust salt. Mix well till potatoes are coated well with the masalas. Turn off stove. Cool this stuffing for a bit.

Pack the stuffing in the prepared chilli peppers. In the same non-stick pan, heat more oil. Once oil is hot, reduce heat to medium low &carefully (use tongs) place the stuffed peppers into the oil, slit side up. Let it cook like this for 5 min.

Turn off stove, remove stuffed chillies and place them in a baking dish. Bake for 15-20 min in a preheated 325 degrees oven. Serve hot.

Hungarian chocolate cream sponge cake a.k.a Lúdláb

2010-04-25T19:43:00.004+01:00

For my husband's name day I made him this classic Hungarian chocolate sponge with chocolate cream and sour cherry filling a.k.a Lúdláb ; which translates to "Goose foot". Not sure how the name came about , perhaps the shape?

Thank you Elfrieda for posting an English version of the recipe. I found your version only after translating a Hungarian version...

I'm re-posting her recipe below with my own notes and alteration in brackets { } for my future reference.

Lúdláb

Sponge cake batter:
3 eggs,
3 tbsp caster or superfine sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
3 tbsp cake flour {substitute with 3 tbsp plain flour + 1 tsp baking powder}

Filling:
400 g sour cherry preserves or compote {with some drops of essence of rum}

Chocolate buttercream:
300 ml cream {used only 200ml}
4 tbsp icing sugar
150 g bittersweet chocolate {used about 80g bittersweet (70°%) + cooking choco}
1 tbsp cocoa powder
200 g butter

Fondant:
200 g bittersweet chocolate {omitted - as I decided leaving it out should be fine}

Prepare sponge cake:
Grease 9" cake pan with a small amount of butter and sprinkle a bit of cocoa in the pan to prevent sticking.
Separate eggs, cream yolks with sugar until pale.
Mix flour and cocoa in a separate bowl.
Beat egg whites separately until stiff.
Gently combine wet and dry ingredients.
Bake in 180 C/350 F oven in round cakeform for 25 minutes or until cooked.

For the chocolate buttercream:
Heat cream with sugar, add chopped chocolate and mix until chocolate is melted. Add cocoa. {Beat butter until light and fluffy}
When completely cool, mix with butter(room temperature).

Preparing the Ludlab:
{With cake} still in the cake pan, {spread half the choco. butter cream on sponge}, pour the sour cherry preserves onto the sponge cake, then spread the {remaining} chocolate buttercream on top. Cover with chocolate fondant (simply melted chocolate).

While in the pliable stage, cut the cake into pieces with a heated knife. I waited until the chocolate fondant had hardened and I had a heck of a time slicing the cake.

Allow cake to cool to room temperature or refrigerate for cold Ludlab. It is an extremely rich cake so a small piece for each person is all that you will need. In a regular sized cake pan, count on 14-16 slim slices.

Variation:
Heat sour cherry preserves in small pan and add a tablespoon of brandy or kirsch. Cook for a few minutes to allow alcohol to evaporate, remove from heat and let cool. Smooth over sponge cake as directed above.

Notes
1) With increase sugar by a little
2) will add vanilla extract to buttercream instead of rum.

In search of good frosting - Vanilla Buttercream

2010-04-19T06:48:00.003+01:00

Most of the frosting I've made have not been successful . The following recipe and the reviews have been encouraging ; so, this weekend I'm giving this a try.

Vanilla Buttercream

source : Foodnetwork

Ingredients

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Tip {from on of the reviewers}

I followed the original recipe exactly as listed. It was a little too sweet for my taste so from there I added and tweaked it till I found what I liked. I added a pinch of salt which tells me to use salted butter next time. I also add a tablespoon of pulp free orange juice and that seemed to help cut the extreme sweetness too without compromising the consistency. I also found I had to add a 3rd tbs of whipping cream. In the end, when I was satisfied with it.....

cocoa and smoked paprika rubbed pork burger

2010-04-16T22:14:00.003+01:00

Love the deep smoky flavour... feels like eating dessert on a burger bun!

Just follow recipe here ; although I've substituted chilli powder for smoked paprika

Homemade Chinese Pork Jerky (Bak kwa) 肉乾

2010-03-01T10:53:00.007+01:00

Wow! Homemade Pork jerky needs only 6 ingredients!
If you cook Asian food at home, my guess is you'd already have 5 of the 6 ingredients in your pantry.

The ingredients are :-
1.Ground pork 2.Light soy sauce 3.Dark soy sauce 4. Fish sauce 5. Cooking wine (I used white wine) 6.Sugar

above : Pork jerky fresh out of oven!

For the exact recipe check at Little corner of Mine

Jerky all stripped and ready to be devour! You may also make a sandwich with these meat garnish with cucumber

Risotto with peas - Risi e Bisi

2010-02-27T06:30:00.003+01:00

I've read that risotto is quite an intimidating dish to cook. After a few recipes cooking risotto, I am really getting the hang of cooking this grain ; it is quite enjoyable!
How creamy the end result should be is still a a question mark for me, but this last risotto was a real treat.

I simply used the previous recipe as a base and substitute the squash with peas, served with camembert and sprinkled fresh dill .... yum!

Squash Risotto

2010-02-17T21:15:00.002+01:00

In an effort to learn to cook risotto, we've been eating it once a week for the past three week! I have to say, this recipe is the best tasting thus far. I already planned to cook it again next week ;)

Simple Squash Risotto

recipe from BBC GoodFood

Ingredients

1 butternut squash

4 tbsp light olive oil
600ml vegetable stock
50g unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped **omitted, not avaulable
2 garlic cloves , crushed
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, picked ** used a pinch of dried thyme instead
140g risotto rice (we like carnaroli) ** used 100g of arborio rice
100ml white wine
50g Parmesan, finely grated ** sprinkled with feta instead
** added fried bacon for sprinkling

Method

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6. Peel the squash and separate the bulbous seed-bearing section from the slender end. Chop the slender end into 2cm cubes, toss in half the oil, season lightly and roast in the oven, stirring occasionally, until golden brown on the outside and soft in the centre, about 30 mins. Cut the bulb in half and scrape out the seeds with a spoon - you can keep these to toast in the oven and sprinkle over salads. Chop the flesh into 2cm pieces. Warm the vegetable stock in a small pan, set over a low heat. Drop in squash and leave to gently poach.
While the squash is roasting, warm a medium-size frying pan over a gentle heat. Add the remaining olive oil and half the butter, followed by the onion. Cover and cook for 3 mins until the onion turns translucent. Stir in the celery, garlic, herbs and a few turns of pepper (no salt at this stage). Cover again and cook for a further 2 mins. Increase the heat slightly and stir in the rice. Stir, uncovered, for about 5 mins - this will help to develop the toasty aroma of the rice without burning the veg.
Turn up the heat, stir in the wine and let it bubble away to almost nothing. Reduce the heat and start adding the stock. Add one ladle at a time, stirring gently but constantly during each addition. The idea is to encourage the rice to absorb the liquid and soften, but also give up its starch to thicken the remaining broth. Don't stir too aggressively or you will end up with a pan of mush. When the stock has been absorbed, it's time to add the next ladleful and so on. It will take about 15 mins to reach the final ladle of stock. By this time the squash in the stock should have softened. Mash it up with the remaining stock and stir into the risotto.
Turn off the heat, dot the top of the risotto with remaining butter and most of the Parmesan, cover, leave to rest for 2 mins, then stir through and check the seasoning. Spoon the risotto into shallow bowls and sprinkle the roasted squash and leftover Parmesan on top.

Savoury Glutinous Rice (Lor Mai Kai) but using Arborio rice

2010-02-11T20:09:00.005+01:00

Arborio rice was used in the absence of glutinous rice. In result, the dish doesn't have the sticky texture that cooked glutinous rice gives ; which helps bind the rice. But individual arborio grain does have that chewy-ness. Not bad at all.

Recipe from here

Poppy Seed Cake

2010-02-08T20:31:00.003+01:00

This was gorgeous and still nice without the vanilla butter-cream icing as stated in the recipe. I have reduced the amount of sugar and it worked out fine. Made it for MIL who is a fan of poppy seeds and she loved it too!

Recipe from here

Walnut cookies

2010-02-05T22:53:00.003+01:00

Chinese new year is fast approaching, this year falling on valentine's day! This cookie is one of the must treats during the festive season. Coarsely ground peanuts are the main ingredients ; however, I have substituted it with left over ground walnut which worked out fine .

Recipe from here

Millet

2010-01-26T17:11:00.005+01:00

Wanting to add more varieties of grains in our diet, I decided to check out quinoa at the bio (organic) foods section of my local supermart. But I didn't find any and so I bought a pack of millet instead. Later, I read that it is also a good substitute for rice and it is gluten free!

The taste was neutral , at least we didn't dislike it :D I can see myself cooking it again and substitute it for rice once in a while.

How to cook millet from goodness.com

Simple Milk Buns

2010-01-22T21:35:00.007+01:00

Snaps of my first successful batch of bread were posted on my flickr but somehow I didn't write about it here. The recipe was through the food blog The cocoanut . Since the link to the blog is inactive currently, I've pasted the recipe below for anyone interested in trying out this lovely loaf (made into buns).

Simple Milk Buns
Source : The cocoanut

500 g plain white flour*
350g milk (I used skim milk)
20 g honey, about a tablespoon-and-a-bit’s worth
25g warm melted butter
1 x 7g sachet instant dried yeast
1 tsp salt

In a large bowl, whisk the yeast with the milk and honey. Add the flour and salt, and combine until you get a soft, sticky dough. Pour over the warm melted butter, and mix this into the dough. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, or if you have an electric mixer like me, you can use that instead. Simply attach a dough hook and let it do all the work for you, around 7-10 minutes.

Leave the dough in the bowl for an hour to proof. After an hour has passed, punch down the dough to release all the carbon dioxide. Transfer the dough to a loaf tin, and let it proof for another hour. The dough will rise again to about twice its size, and this time you want all that gas inside to remain. At this stage, I like to brush the top of the dough with water and sprinkle poppy seeds. This is entirely optional, and I only did it because I happen to have a jar of poppy seeds in the pantry.

Set the oven to 210oC, and when hot enough carefully place the dough into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 180oC and bake for another 25-30 minutes, or until the top of the loaf is dark brown. Remove from the tin, and leave to cool on a wire rack.

*I used all purpose flour, because that’s what I had at home. However, you might want to try using strong white flour or bread flour, which are more glutinous and will ‘jump’ over the top of the tin much more than normal flour.

I filled some buns with homemade red bean paste. Yum!

Basic sponge cake

2010-01-16T15:09:00.003+01:00

Variation from this recipe . The result is very fluffy sponge cake!

Ingredients
4 eggs, separated
4 tbsp sugar, combine with a bit of vanilla sugar
4 tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
pince of salt

Fillings
Hazelnut cream spread (example nutella)

Method
1) Pre-heat oven at gas mark 3.
2) Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt. Beat until stiff. Set aside
3) Beat egg yolks with sugar (including vanilla sugar) until creammy. Combine flour and baking powder into egg yolks -sugar mixture and mix well. Next, fold in the egg white (beaten earlier) carefully into the until well integrated.
4) Pour cake batter into lined baking tin and bake for 15 mins.
5) Spread hazelnut cream spread or any other fillings you like when cake is completely cooled.

Bejgli { Hungarian walnut / poppy seeds roll }

2009-12-18T14:37:00.005+01:00

The real thing doesn't look anything like what I took out from the oven haha!!
My pastry was flaky unlike the traditional christmas treat. Whatever it is, I am happy with the taste! Also, surpsingly, I enjoyed the poppy seeds filling this time ; which normally is not my first choice .

see step by step instructions here .

My poppy seed fillings , mix together:-

100g poppy seeds, grounded
50g honey
50g water, heat and add to honey before combing with other ingredients
a bunch of dried cranberries or raisins - soaked in water
some grated lemon peel

mixture should not be too watery and should just be easily spread on dough

Potato stew { Krumplifőzelék }

2009-12-13T17:31:00.007+01:00

I can't say I'm ever excited about any kind of stews until this recipe. Living in a seasonal country, stews are winter warmer and keep your tummy full during the winter months. In Hungary we have a kind of stew called főzelek which is made of either vegetables or grains. I've cooked this potato stew based on ingredients listed on desszert.eu and did not follow the steps.

Potato Stew ( Krumplifőzelék )
Ingredients
Potato, peeled and cubed
onion
garlic
smoked paprika powder, to taste
majorom, a pinch
bay leaves, few leaves
sour cream
flour
water, enough to cover potatoes
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Sauté onion in a little oil until soften, next add in garlic and cook for a bit (not browned). Then add smoked paprika powder, stir for a bit until fragrant (not too long or it will be bitter) . Pour a little water to not over heat paprika and followed by cubed potatoes. Add water again enough to cover cubed potatoes. Season with pinch of majorom, bay leaves, salt and pepper and let it boil and simmer until potatoes is soft.
3. Mix together sour cream and flour. Spoon out some of the stew and combine with sour cream mixture, next add this to the stew and cook until boil point and again. Remove from heat and it is ready to serve.

Optional
you can sprinkle with some vinegar.

Creamy Masala Chicken

2009-12-06T19:55:00.002+01:00

This taste rather authentic considering the simple list of ingredients, a definite new favourite curry recipe for me. I used the left-over for samosa and wow, its just lovely!

Creamy masala chicken
Recipe from BBC Good Food

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts , cubed
3cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
2 garlic clove , chopped
1 tsp mild chilli powder
2 tbsp fresh coriander , chopped {replaced with parsley}
juice of 1 lime {replaced with lemon}
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
1 red chili
1 tsp ground turmeric
284ml carton double cream {replaced with 150ml of coconut milk}
juice of ˝ lemon
basmati rice and naan bread, to serve

additional spice - Hungarian paprika

Method
Put the chicken, ginger, garlic, chilli powder, coriander, lime juice and 1 tbsp of oil in a bowl. Stir, and set aside. Chop the onion, and seed and chop the chilli.
Heat a large shallow pan. Tip in the chicken and marinade and fry for about 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a pan and fry the onion and chilli for 3-4 minutes until just soft. Add the turmeric and stir fry for 1 minute. Lower the heat, pour in the cream and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add the chicken and simmer for 5 minutes, or until cooked. Season and stir in the lemon juice. Serve with rice and naan bread.

I served the curry with simple Sambal made with

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium-sized Onion
a touch of erős pista (hunagrian ground chilli)
a touch of fish sauce
sugar (to taste)

Chestnut Chocolate Cake (flourless)

2009-11-29T20:34:00.003+01:00

A bit rich but definitely yum!
Recipe from here as seen on the F word

Note to self :-
Based on 3 eggs and portion according to this 0.75.
Used sweetened chestnut puree ; hence have reduced sugar to only 50gm.

Apple tart

2009-11-10T08:21:00.004+01:00

Perfect for apple season

Fillings recipe from my kitchen snippets ; however, next time I'll cook melt the butter in sauce pan to caramelise the apples with sugar, apricot preserves, with additional cinnamon and raisins.

Crust recipe from nami nami ; I think I'll use this crust's recipe again and agina..Love it !

Basic pasta made into wonton { 雲吞 }

2009-10-07T21:20:00.007+01:00

see Basic pasta recipe & learn more about wonton

Obviously I have to roll the pasta thinner next time but I am pretty happy!!

Barley & Sausage

2009-10-01T19:33:00.004+01:00

Barley is usually prepared as sweet drink back home, never have I seen it being used in savoury dishes until I came here. I have to say that it took me some time to get used the savoury barley. Then last winter, I came accross this recipe and I am loving the savoury option more and more :)

I've just eliminated potatoes from the original recipe but added zuchinni and roasted pepper (not added yet in the photo). Simple ingredients but full of flavours !

Coconut yellow split peas "dhal" with flat breads

2009-09-20T15:47:00.005+01:00

I've always dreaded making bread; however, this recipe is so easy I know it will be featured frequently on our dinner table. The breads were to accompany the coconut dhal (recipe below) but we had some left over of which we sandwiched the flat bread by spreading cucumber tzatziki and baked beans .... simply yummy!

Flat breads
adapted from BBC Good Food
Serves 8

Ingredients
140g plain flour
140g bread flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil
200ml water

Method
1) Put the flours and 1 tsp salt into a large bowl and mix. Stir 1 tbsp vegetable oil into 200ml water into , then mix this into the flour, stir until you have a smooth dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 mins, then return to the bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to rest for 20 minutes.

2) Divide the dough into 8 balls. Roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface to a rough 18cm circle the thickness of a 10p coin. Prick each one well with a fork to stop them rising. To cook on a barbecue: put the breads on the centre of the grill. Cook for a few mins, then turn and cook the other side.

3) Brush the breads with more melted butter. Reheat the griddle between batches and stack them on top of each other to keep warm

Coconut Yellow Split Peas "Dhal"

Receipe from BBC Good Food

I've substitute red lentils with yellow split peas which works fine. This recipe is also a keeper :)

Hungarian Milk Custard { Tejes Pite }

2009-09-13T22:12:00.004+01:00

photo credit : Puszta.com (my shot just turned out crappy...)

When I saw the photo above at the mentioned site, I knew I have to make this dessert. It looked delicious plus I haven't tasted one before :) Another reason I like this recipe is that the ingredients could be easily available in one's pantry.

So, yesterday I woke up early morning (4.30am) to make this custard cake in order for it to cool in time to bring along with us when we visit my M&FIL.

The recipe has been scaled down based on 2 eggs instead of five. Just do simple math to get the approriate portion of each ingredients. Also, the baking time needs to be shorten in view of lesser liquid involved.

Verdict
It was indeed an easy dessert to whip up but with satisfying result. In fact, my MIL loved it! She told us that it brought back some childhood memories when her mom used to bake it for her. We found out that she doesn't have the recipe (No wonder she hasn't baked this for us!) So, I'll be printing the Hungarian version of this recipe for her to try out.

For full recipe visit:-
Puszta.com

Hungarian sweet bread { kalács } with cinnamon fillings

2009-09-09T04:53:00.006+01:00

This is a result from stumbling upon this link How to make kalács (Hungarian sweet bread) http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Kalacs-%28Hungarian-Sweet-Bread%29

Kalács is usually braided ; but I have simply rolled it to form a huge piece of sticky bun.

Hungarian sweet roll (Kalács)
Ingredients
3-1/2 Cups Flour
1 Package Active dry yeast ( I used 7g packet)
1-1/4 Cups Milk
1/4 Cup Butter
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Egg

Preparation

Combine 2 cups flour and the yeast in a large mixing bowl.
Heat milk, butter, sugar, salt in a pan until the butter is melted (about 115°F).
Add the milk mixture to the flour and yeast. Mix well, add the egg and beat well.
Add remainder of flour. Knead, if you wish, or don't knead, just make sure that everything is well mixed.
Transfer to a greased bowl. Cover and put in warm place to rise for 1 hour to 1-1/2 hrs. The size of the dough should about double.
While the dough is rising, prepare filling (if you make it from scratch, see recipe below, but if you have the sweetened chestnut puree already, then it's easy)
After dough has risen, put it out onto a floured bread board and allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes.
Divide the dough into two halves.
Pat out or roll out each half with a rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thickness.
Spread half the filling on the dough and roll the dough up like a jelly roll. Tuck the ends over to close the loaf. Repeat with the second half of the dough and the rest of the filling.
Place each loaf in a greased loaf pan and let rise about 30 minutes. Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes until lightly browned.

*Note - Please check link provided above to see ingredients for fillings. As I have altered the filling to an easier alternative - sprinkle of melted butter, followed by sprinkle of brown sugar , next spread cinnamon all over and finished off with raisins.

Swiss Roll

2009-06-29T20:18:00.010+01:00

Swiss roll is one of my favourite cakes. The humble eggy and light sponge cake filled with whipped cream and fruits can be very satisfying! I've used the following recipe many times with more failures than successes . Often it is due to the high room temperature the egg whites just didn't want to stiff as it should be; of which resulted in a heavy as rock cake :s

But last weekend all the failures were wiped out from memory as my swiss roll turned out fluffy and light ..even after two days!

Swiss Roll
source : Hungarian cookery

Ingredients

For sponge cake
90gm flour
4 eggs, separated
salt
120gm sugar
1tsp baking powder
1 sachet vanilla sugar

For fillings - as you wish ...but in this case
250ml whipped cream with 2-3 tsp powdered suger, or to taste
Apricot jam
Apricot fruit

Method

To make sponge cake
1. Pre-heat oven to 180°c.

2. Whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until it become stiff foam. Set aside

3. In a bowl combine together dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar. In another bowl beat egg yolks with sugar until creamy. When eggs mixture is creamy, add in the dry ingredients and combine well.

4. Fold egg white into egg yolk mixture carefully.

5. Prepare baking dish by lining it with parchment paper. Pour in the cake mixture and bake for 15 min.

6. Remove cake from oven. Let it cool for a while ; but roll up cake when it is still hot. When cake is cooled completely, unrolled it and spread with your favourite jam or whipped cream.

Crunchy Peanut Slaw

2009-06-13T15:20:00.005+01:00

Yummy new recipe from here !

Alterations :-
1) I didn't follow the quantity exactly but based the quantity on my own preference. For example, I dislike using too much of sesame oil which I've reduced to only a few drops.
2) Replaced rice wine vinegar with white vinegar
3) Replaced corriander with parsley. Not available in the shops near me* sigh* ..with corriander the taste would have been more interesting for sure.

Baked sausage on a bed of sauerkraut

2009-06-02T16:48:00.002+01:00

The magazine where I saw an appetising photo of Káposztaágyon sült kolbász (meaning as per title) didn't accompany a recipe with it. So, I literally just put

a bed of sauerkraut (rinsed and drained water) on a lightly oiled baking dish,
season to taste
sugar, salt, freshly milled black pepper and
a few bay leaves,
top with Hungarian sausage.

Bake it at 140°c (gas mark 1) for 30 mins. turning the sausage once. You may add a little water if it is dry.

The juice from the sausage will soak in the sauerkraut giving it a wonderful flavour!

Red onion relish

2009-05-06T19:40:00.005+01:00

We just had this very simple and refreshing relish for the past 2 days.. with our hamburgers. Yeah I know it is not a healthy diet but I was thinking about this relish so much that I had to make the hamburger again for dinner tonight. Of course you can accompany it with other meat dishes but hamburger was the easy way for me ;)

I tweaked the ingredients a little based on what I have in the fridge. Here's the recipe

Red Onion Relish
adapted from BBC Good Food

Ingredients
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 pickle red chillies (an asian brand-vietnamese specifically) , slice finely
small handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 small red onion, cut into wafer-thin slices
a few dashes of fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
freshly milled black pepper

just toss all ingredients together and top it on the hamburger!

Custard cake

2009-03-15T21:36:00.007+01:00

I knew baking this perfect custard cake would be a minor challenge with my novice baking skills. Sure enough the egg white didn't turn out right! Hence, when pouring the cake mixture on to the custard mix, the cake mixture sank right to the bottom... I proceeded to baking it nonetheless.

After 25 minutes (shorter time due to reducing of custard topping), the cake came out nice and brown. It appeared ok after all ! We enjoyed this cake very much and sure that it will be a regular for special occasions :)

Thanks Pinoy Cook for sharing!

Velvety broccoli and feta pasta

2009-03-05T23:22:00.015+01:00

This has to be one of the best new recipes I'Ve tested in a long time. So simple yet surprisingly pleasing :)

Here I've used Hungarian curly pasta and halved the lemon instead of whole and it works fine :)

Read recipe here

Chinese Radish Cake (萝卜糕)

2009-02-13T15:51:00.004+01:00

After whatching this episode of vacsoracsata ( a local tv celebs cooking challenge show) and based on the reviews , I had wanted to try the retek salátá (radish salad). I bought a small radish since winter is the best season for radish but after a week of constant searching for the recipe online, I couldn't find the recipe used on the show! (until after i've cooked it , of course). Then I decided to make this chinese dim sum radish cake. My version is without any meat, mushrooms or dried shrimps as most of the recipes would use. Still it tasted fine and I love it as light diner :)....Read more on Wiki

Chinese Radish rice Cake
recipe from here (the link doesn't seem to work...)

Ingredients
2 c radish
4 tsp salt
4 tsp oil
8-10 strips bacon or ham **omitted**
1 1/2 c rice powder
2 c chicken broth or water

Serve with
Hoisin sauce
Shreded carrots
Chopped spring onions

Method
Shred radish; add salt. Heat oil, add radish and cook until half done. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and pour mixture into a round or square baking pan. Steam for 40 minutes.

My alteration :
1) After steaming , I deep fried the cake until golden brown.
2) The texture of my radish cake (see close up below)is different. As I have coated it with rice flour before deep frying it.

Baked fish with spicy stuffing

2009-02-03T21:42:00.008+01:00

Seafood is rather expensive here as Hungary is a landlock country. On top of that the current economy only result in even higher prices for "fresh" sea fish. So I've opted for frozen fish from the hyper mart to sooth my craving for sea fish. Last week, I tried this "HEKK" brand and it tasted fine; unlike some of the frozen fish on sale, this doesn't smell and taste too fishy. Sorry I couldn't recognise and name the type of fish that I ate (!) because I just realised that it only says tengeri hal (sea fish) on the packet ... hmm..

If you can find fresh mackerel in your market, this recipe would work well with it! If not, you can always trial on other fish available to you.

Baked fish with spicy "salsa" stuffing
Serves : 2

Ingredients
450gm Fish, washed and cleaned
salt & white pepper, to taste
rice flour (or plain flour) , for coating
oil for frying

Spicy "salsa" stuffing
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
parsley, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste
soya sauce, to taste
sugar, to taste
erős pista (or sambal oelek), to taste

1) Pre-heat oven
2) Blend together ingredients for salsa.
3) Pat dry fish after washing and cleaning. Slit the top part of fish for stuffing.
4) With high heat, heat oil in a non-stick pan or wok. *oil must be hot otherwise fish will soaked up oil*
5) Season fish with salt and white pepper to taste
6) Stuff the salsa into the slit, keeping aside some for topping *do not over stuffed as it would result in stuffing spill out during frying*
7) Lightly coat fish with rice flour (or plain flour)
8) When oil is hot, carefully place fish in pan/wok and fry until lightly golden
7) Remove lightly golden fish from frying pan/wok, drain away access oil and place fish in baking dish. Top remaining salsa on fish. Bake until salsa is browned and crispy.
8) Serve immediately with rice.

** You can also grill fish in banana leaf. Even more YUMMY!

Easy Chicken Curry

2009-02-01T18:14:00.008+01:00

For the cold winter days, I think curry is a good additon to the daily dinner aside from the traditional főzelék (a type of Hungarian vegetable stew) .

The following recipe doesn't require as many spices as other Indian curry recipes yet still manage to satisfy my curry cravings! It goes well with this roti (Indian bread) recipe :)

Chicken curry

Recipe from BBC Good Food

serves 4

Ingredients

4-6 medium tomatoes

1 medium onion

4 tbsp vegetable oil

3cm/1in piece root ginger

2 garlic cloves

1-2 mild green chillies

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

salt and freshly ground black pepper

100ml/31fl oz water

1 free-range chicken, jointed into 8 pieces, or 8 thighs and/or drumsticks - replaced with chicken breast meat instead

2 tbsp yoghurt

1 lime (or lemon)

a small bunch of coriander leaves

cooked rice, to serve

Added frozen peas, carrots and potatoes for colour and nutritions .

Method

1. To skin the tomatoes, nick the skin of each tomato with the point of a sharp knife, then put the tomatoes in a bowl next to the sink and pour over some very hot water from the kettle to cover. Count to 20, then carefully pour away the water. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel away the skin, halve the tomatoes, squeeze out most of the pips and juice into an empty bowl, and discard. Chop the flesh roughly and put it down on a plate to one side.

2. Peel and finely chop the onion. Fry the onion in the vegetable oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over low to medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring from time to time so that it turns an even golden brown. Watch carefully to make sure it doesn't burn.

3. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the ginger and the garlic.

4. Slit the chilli using a sharp knife. Slice the flesh away from the cluster of seeds in the middle. Avoid touching any part of the chilli with your fingers if you can, as it is very easy to get chilli in your eyes, and that will sting. You can use a fork to hold the chilli down or wear rubber gloves. Chop the chilli finely.

5. Measure the ground spices into a teacup. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli to the pan, stir them around and fry for another minute or so. If you want your curry to be hot as well as spicy, include some or all of the chilli seeds. Then add the spices in the cup into the onions. Fry the spices for a minute or two, stirring all the time so that they do not stick. Add some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

6. Pour in the water and the tomatoes, bring to the boil, turn down the heat a little and let the sauce simmer for 5-10 minutes.

7. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and stir them around so they are covered with the sauce. Put the lid on the pan, turn the heat down and let the chicken cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chicken thighs will take longer to cook than breast pieces.

8. Now add the yoghurt to the chicken and stir it in. When the sauce is gently bubbling again, scoop up a little in a teaspoon, blow it cool and taste it. The sauce will probably taste quite sweet because of the tomatoes. Cut the lime in half and squeeze its juice into the sauce. Stir and taste again, and decide whether you want to add the second half.

9. Finally, chop the fresh coriander leaves and sprinkle them on to the curry just before you serve it with the rice.

My first Guacamole

2009-01-29T22:00:00.006+01:00

And my first purchase of avocado!
The last time I had mexican food was about eight years ago (I think..). Although it was a nice experience , it didn't inspire me to cook it at home (also because I hardly cook those days!). Tortilla chips during movie sessions don't count ;)

The recipe for the dip is from Recipezaar. It was good! However, I'll probably leave out the onion the next time. It's just too overpowering for my taste.

Easy Guacamole

Ingredients
3 ripe avocados (ripe as in really dark in color and super soft when squeezed)
1 small onion, finely diced
1 medium tomato, diced
sour cream *optional
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
1Take avocados and cut into the avocado until you come to the large seed inside.
2Cut around the circumference of the seed.
3With both hands twist the two halves in opposite directions and pull apart.
4Now if your avocados are ripe enough they will separate easily.
5Now carve out each half with a tablespoon.
6Place avocados into a medium bowl and mash and stir until moderately creamy.
7Some people like the avocados more chunky than others-- either way it tastes great.
8Add diced onion and tomatoes to the avocados.
9Add your preference of salt and pepper and taste to see if salty enough.
10In a separate small bowl put in 2 tablespoons of the dip.
11Add 1 tbsp of sour cream and salt again.
12Taste it.
13And decide if you prefer your guacamole with or without sour cream.
14If you like with sour cream add 4 tablespoons or more to the avocado mixture and salt again.
15If not, do nothing and leave it like it is.
16You can do the same with the Tabasco sauce if you like Tabasco sauce.
17Serve chilled with chips or add a little to your taco salad.

Madártej (Hungarian floating islands) again!

2009-01-20T21:47:00.004+01:00

Ági posted on my previous post on madártej :

My mom and grandma also prepares very good and creamy madártej, but they never put salt and flour at all. Egg whites they simply beat with about 1 tablespoon sugar.They boil ALL the milk, cook the eggwhite foam in it the same way as you did. Once the foam is done, they put the vanilla sugar or vanilla in it. In between they mix the egg yolk with sugar and little bit of milk, then they pour this into the boiling milk, then cook it on low flame, until it's bit thicker. As I realized, if you keep it in fridge for more time, it will get more and more creamy.

After reading her comment, I retried the same recipe (the next day!) but eliminated the salt and prepared according to Ági's directions. I'm happy with the results. Many thanks Ági! :)

My first Madártej (Hungarian floating islands)

2008-10-19T17:23:00.010+01:00

Whenever we return to my in-laws, my m.i.l make this delicious Hungarian dessert for us. Although I love the dessert, I resisted from making it at home because I didn't want to know the calories which go inside it. But I was craving it very much today! So, I quickly checked online for a recipe. It is a good thing to know that it requires simple ingredients which is easily available at home and not as high-calorie as I thought.

As I am typing this, the floating island is still being chilled in the fridge. I did have a small sample of it. It is definitely not as good as my m.i.l's. oh well...it is my first attempt after all.

I found the process of boiling the beaten egg-white (island) a bit too delicate for me to handle; which created a mess. The "island" tasted salty ; while the milk is not thick enough ..may be it is due to that I halved the recipe... However, I do see myself making this again :) Just that I won't be serving it to any Hungarian guests soon..haha.

If made right, the island should be firm and light and the milk should have a consistency of light cream and give a scent of vanilla.

Madártej (Hungarian floating islands)
recipe from here

Ingredients for 6 portions: (I halved the recipe)

1 l milk
4 eggs
100 g + 2 spoonfuls sugar *** too sweet for me
1 teaspoonful flour
1 pinch of salt
1 pod of vanilla *** you may substitute with vanilla sugar

Method :
Divide the eggs and whip the whites with the salt. When it is rather stiff add 2 spoonfuls of sugar and whip until glossy.

Warm the half of milk with the vanilla pod in a shallow saucepan and put dumplings of egg white into it with the help of a tablespoon. Boil the both sides of the dumplings for 1 minute each, then take them out on a sieve. Repeat it until all the egg whites are consumed. Don't overcrowd the pan because the dumplings grow during boiling.

Mix the egg yolks with the rest of sugar and beat until light and foamy. Add the flour, bit by bit the cold milk and in the end sieve the hot milk into it.

Boil the cream with continous stirring on low heat until thickens. Don't let it boil.

Divide immediately into small bowls and top with the white dumplings. Serve chilled.

Rum Balls

2008-10-15T20:41:00.007+01:00

I have been wondering how to make the Hungarian kókusz golyó (coconut balls) for quite sometime. My search online brought me to this recipe . Looks easy enough for me. And I'm telling you now it is very easy to prepare! Just make sure you make it a day in advance of the day you plan to serve it.

I've scaled down the recipe to suit the quantity of biscuits in hand (about 110g crushed) ; which yield about 18 balls. The end result I think is quite similar to the original and B said so ,too :)

Note to self
Replaced Nice biscuits to local Győri (Albert) biscuits - scale down to 110g
Replaced sweetened condensed milk to home-made sugar syrup -50g sugar + 20ml hot water
Used essence of rum instead
Soaked raisins (sultanas) in sugar syrup, rum and vanilla extract before adding to dry ingredients.

Chow Mein 炒麵

2008-09-26T21:58:00.001+01:00

I think every chinese household has a different version of chow mein. This kyliekwong 's version (as seen on Tv Paprika) uses ginger, which I've never included in my version before this. Also, her soy base sauce was much more straight forward to prepare than mine. Anyway, here's how I tweaked her recipe based on what is available in my kitchen .

Chow Mein 炒麵

Serves : 1

Ingredients :-

One serving of spaghetti pasta (kw's recipe uses flat rice noodles)

few slices of ginger

2 cloves of garlic

half of red onion

cabbage (kw's uses chinese cabbage)

spring onions

white pepper to taste

thick soya sauce

light soya sauce

oil for stir-frying

* sesame seeds omitted (totally forgotten about it!)

* bean sprout was omitted (not available in my kitchen)

* You may also add any kind of meat / seafood of your choice.

Preparation :-

1) Cook spaghatti pasta according to your brand's instruction.

2) In the mean time, prepare sliced ginger, chopped onion , garlic, spring onions.

3) Heat oil in a wok, sauté ginger, onion and garlic until fragrant. Next in the same wok, put the dark soya sauce (enough to cover the pasta) , simmer it for a bit. Then toss-in the cooked pasta and stir-fry until soya sauce colour pasta fully. Next , toss-in cabbage, spring onion and neam sprout and continue to stir-fry for a bit. Add light soya sauce and white pepper to taste. Stir-fry for a about 3 minutes and it's ready.

4) Serve with toasted sesame seeds.

Rice noodle roll 猪腸粉

2008-09-16T08:30:00.004+01:00

I finally did it! I'm mostly happy with the taste despite that the recipe was actually for making Vietnamese version of rice noodle roll, Bánh cuốn .

As you can see, the texture wasn't smooth at all .. in fact it was disastrous :p I'll need to improve on the tecnique and I'm looking forward to practice making it again :)

Thanks Lily'sWaiSekHong for posting the Step-by-step tutorial in her fabulous blog !

Read more about Rice noodle roll

Mango and apple salad

2008-09-08T10:32:00.005+01:00

This salad was adapted from salt n tumeric 's recipe with couple of substitutes. The combination of aroma of lime , spiciness of Erős Pista , sweet and soury apple and mango make this a great dish as an apetiser.

Mango and apple salad :-

1 mango , roughly grated or julienned
1 apple , roughly grated or julienned
1 red onion, chopped
1 juice of lime
sugar , to taste
fish sauce , few dashes
Erős Pista (Hungarian sambal oelek ?) , to taste - substitute for Thai chilli
Peanuts , roughly ground

Prepare all ingredients and toss them together. Voila!

Hainanese Chicken Rice 海南鸡饭

2008-05-16T09:55:00.002+01:00

" Hainanese chicken rice is a Chinese rice dish most commonly associated with Malaysian cuisine or Singaporean cuisine , although it is also commonly sold in neighbouring Thailan , and found in Hainan, China itself. So-called due to its roots in Hainan cuisine and its adoption by the Hainanese overseas Chinese population in the Nanyang area, the version found in Malaysia/Singapore combines elements of Hainanese and Cantonese cuisines along with culinary preferences in the Southeast Asian region. The Hainanese chicken rice originated from China, and is Chinese in origin. " - < wikipedia >

These chicken thighs couldn't have tasted better! Simple comfort food like this is really what I enjoy most. Further, it reminds me of home :) Just follow the very easy recipe by A Malaysian Kitchen in Manchester .

Vadai , savoury snack from South India

2008-05-06T13:18:00.004+01:00

oh wow.. I could not believe that I managed to whip this up! Thanks to this easy recipe by My Kitchen Snippets.

The only difference in ingredients were instead of lentils (dhall) , I've used split peas (made a mistake :p) . Red dried Hungarian paprika in replacement of red chilli. Also, curry leaves was omitted since it is not available in my kitchen. Obiviously with curry leaves the taste would be sharper.

The result fortunately was still quite similar to the vadai I'm familiar with despite the changes :)

I ate them with a cup of chai tea.... heaven!

Soy milk pudding (豆腐花)

2008-03-25T20:57:00.006+01:00

Out of the blue I have this strong urge to experiment instant pudding powder with soy milk. I imagined it would taste very much like tofu fa (in canotonese 豆腐花) , a popular asian dessert. True enough I found that it is possible at Recipezaar .

What you'll need ...
1) 1 packet of instant pudding powder
- I used Dr.Oetker's vanilla flavoured pudding w/bourbon packet, simply because I couldn't find non-flavoured pudding powder.. anyway, the vanilla flavour and bourbon was too light to be noticed)

- cook according to manufacturer's instruction but substitute milk to soy milk instead and no sugar added.

2) Make sugar syrup, to taste

- since I ran out of brown sugar, castor sugar was used instead for the syrup. Brown sugar give a more attractive contrast to the dessert as seen in this photo unlike mine :p

- add syrup only when serving.

Verdict
Obviously I didn't expect the texture to be as smooth as the original. But the taste is near enough for me. I like it !

Next round I'll reduce the amount of soy milk, so that it will set easier and nicer.

My version of mille crepe

2008-02-29T16:09:00.007+01:00

The long list of ingredients required for mille crepe puts me off from trying out the recipe. It is far too complicated for my attention span :p Perhaps some other time...
So, the next best solution for me was to use the Hungarian crepe (palacsinta) recipe by June meyer instead and by stacking up layers of palacsinta to imitate the mille crepe look ;)

Pancakes (Palacsinta)
Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients
4 whole eggs
2 cups milk
2 tsp. sugar
2 cups sifted flour
Butter

1) Mix flour, salt and sugar.Combine well beaten eggs and milk.Add egg and milk gradually to flour mixture, beating to a thin smooth batter.Let batter sit for 1/2 hour. This gets rid of the raw flour taste.

2) Spoon 3 Tbls. on hot buttered skillet. Will be very thin. Tilt skillet quickly in a circular motion to distribute batter over skillet. Brown lightly on both sides.Continue this until batter is used up.

To make Chocolate syrup
1 bar of dark chcolate

1) Break chocolate into pieces and melt it using double boiler.

Assembling the cake

Almond flakes or grated walnut and powdered sugar for sprinkling

1) spread melted chocolate lightly on every crepe, meanwhile stacking it up til the desired height.
2) Finish off with more melted chocolate on top, sprinkle almond flakes all over.
3) When serving, sprinkle with some powdered sugar and a dollop of cream.

Peanut pancakes ( Mi Jian Kueh )

2008-02-24T16:47:00.007+01:00

I was deprived of food blogs for 3 weeks! Thank goodness the internet service is up and running again :)

Thanks food blogger Aunty Yochana for sharing this recipe. If you read the comments in her blog, you'd realise that many malaysians/singaporeans living abroad miss it ; something which used to be easily available at their neighbourhood morning market and never thought of making it at home!

As advised by Aunty yochana I've replaced the fruit salt with instant yeast since Eno (a kind of fruit salt) wasn't available here. And I've apportioned the recipe acording to 200gm of plain flour i.e. 2/5 of the original recipe which yield 5 pancakes.

Verdict :-
I couldn't stop munching !
Texture wise it is not very near to honeycomb surface that I'm familiar with, perhaps that is due to the substitution of Eno.
Anyway, I'll definately make this again :)

Sausage on a bed of sauerkraut

2008-01-29T22:47:00.000+01:00

The magazine where I saw an appetising photo of Káposztaágyon sült kolbász (meaning as per title) didn't accompany a recipe with it. So, I literally just put

a bed of sauerkraut (drained) on a lightly oiled baking dish,
season to taste : sugar, salt, freshly milled black pepper and
a few bay leaves,
top with Hungarian sausage.
a little water

Bake at 140°c (gas mark 1) for 30 mins. turning the sausage once.

The juice from the sausage will soak in the sauerkraut giving it a wonderful flavour!

Cottage cheese strudel

2008-01-06T18:44:00.000+01:00

Each Friday I'll bake something for my partner's parents when he goes home for private classes. I tell you, it's a great way to experiment with lots of recipes and not having to gain the extra inches on the waist *evil grin*

This week there's left over cottage cheese in the fridge, so it's easy to decide on what to bake. Originally I set my mind on cottage cheese cake but when I saw some strudel at the convenient store I changed my mind ;)

For someone who hasn't acquired the taste of cottage cheese, I find the end result quite appetising!

Note :
Conincidentally, my fave. Hungarian food blog baked something similar. With the use of canned peach pieces ; which I'll definitely incl. in the future.

Cottage cheese strudel
Yield : 8 square pieces using 32x21cm baking pan

Ingredient for fillings
adapted from Allrecipes

300 g cottage cheese
80 ml milk
1-1/3 eggs
15 g all-purpose flour
20 ml lemon juice
3 ml vanilla extract
90 g white sugar
1 g salt
handful of raisin, soaked til soft

Ingredients for Strudel Layers (estimates)
6 pcs Filo (Strudel) sheets (size slightly larger than baking pan)
60 gm butter, melted

Method :-
1) Pre-heat oven gas mark 3.

2) In a blender, combine cottage cheese, milk, eggs, flour, lemon juice, vanilla, sugar and teaspoon salt. Blend until smooth. Mix in the soften raisin. Set aside

3) Grease a baking pan. Put two filo sheets inside, then spread metled butter on them, then put Put half of the cottage cheese filling on it, followed by 2 new filo sheets, again spread with melted butter. Next spread the other half of the filling, finish off with remaining 2 pcs. of filo sheets and melted butter.

4) Grease knife and cut pre-bake strudel according to your liking.

5) Bake for 25 mins. or until golden brown.

6) Dust icing sugar before serving.

Beginning of new cycle!

2008-01-03T23:21:00.000+01:00

Happy new year , again!

For 2008, I'll want to learn more about Hungarian cuisine and also test it out myself as often as possible. I think especially meals for the winter months example stews, stuffed paprika / cabbage and goulash. Usually these dishes are accompanied by salads ; so, I'll include them in my 2008 plans :)

Right now, I'm particularly interested to know more about a type of cheese spread named körözött (photo). It's great as party food, serving them on crackers. However, searching the recipe online only made me confuse ..there are so many varieties of cheese used in diff. household! For now, we're happy with the store-bought version. Guess the best guide would be my partner's father. He is the only one who prepares it..and I haven't eaten his version for long time!

Meanwhile, does anyone have any good körözött recipe to share?