Carrot Almond cake

After the success of the spiced apple almond cake, I decided to add my own twist to the recipe and turn it into a carrot cake. I did and the cake was as divine. I hardly ever like eating more than one slice of a cake, but I would dive into this one. This is definitely my kind of cake. I essentially swapped the apples for a large carrot and kept everything else together.

Recipe: Adapted from Luckynuts:

Ingredients
1 large carrot
100g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing cake pan
90g caster sugar
2 eggs
1½ tablespoons rice flour
1½ tablespoons maize cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
100g (1 cup) LUCKY ALMOND MEAL WITH CHIA
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Flaked almonds
1 tablespoon apricot jam, mixed with some warm water

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line base of a 20cm round tin.
2. Cut apples into quarters and remove core. Peel and cut one quarter into thin slices and reserve. Coarsely grate enough of the remaining apple to measure 11/4 cups.
3. Using an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift flours, baking powder and spices together over a bowl. Stir in the Almond Meal with Chia to combine well. Fold the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Stir in the vanilla and grated apple to combine well. Spread cake batter into prepared cake pan. Arrange the reserved apple slices over the surface.
5. Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center.

                                                                                     

Vegetarian Korean Pancake (Pageon)

After watching Giada at Home today which was about Korean food, I was inspired to make some Korean pancakes. They looked quite easy to make, so I decided to give it a try. I have only eaten them once and remember really liking the crispy texture. It is strange it never occurred to me to try making them at home until then.

I looked up for some recipes and all were pretty much same as Giada's. However, I decided to go for Aeri's Kitchen's one. I roughly used the same ingredients, except for the Korean frying mix which I did not have. I used 1 cup AP flour with some cornflour, 1 cup water and 1 egg for the batter. I also did not have zucchinis, so I omitted them.Otherwise, I think the pancake turn out good for a first time trial.They were crispy on the outside and the veggies well cooked. Very nice.

  

Achard de Légumes (Pickled vegetables)

Achard is among one of my favourite Mauritian cuisine dishes. This is vegetarian dish and tastes so good. It normally made with cabbage, carrots and green beans. The vegetables are cooked in a mustard-tumeric mix which gives it a yellowish finish.

ACHARD RECIPE

Ingredients:
1/2 cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1 handful of green bean, sliced half way lengthwise
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp of mustard grain
2 tbs of vegetable oil
2 tsp tumeric powder
Salt and pepper
1 tbs of vinegar

Method:
1. With a pestle and mortar, pound the garlic with 1 tsp of mustard grain. Mix in with the tumeric, the other tsp of mustard grain and oil.
2. In a pan, heat the mixture. When hot, add the vegetables and cook until they are nearly wilted.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. When cooled, stir in the vinegar.
5. Serve.

Note: I did not have green beans on hand, but it would have add a lovely green colour to the dish.

 

Dinner: Egg tofu stir-fry

This will be a really short post about what I cooked for dinner the other night. I have always been fond of egg tofu (I really like the texture and the taste). So we really like to order sizzling tofu when dining out because it looks like a really special dish to me. Well, not anymore, since I finally cooked it myself (obviously not quite like the restaurant-version) and it turned out surprisingly good. It's so easy to cook actually and I will definitely try it again (substituting/ using new ingredients). Isn't this the best thing about home cooking- you can choose the ingredients. Right, have a look.
I'll be posting recipes soon. So until then, stay tune and happy healthy eating :)

 

Throwback in the kitchen

I was finally able to get my photos sorted today and it will be a matter of days (hopefully) to post all the dishes I have been cooking since a while. Alright, this might take a lil while longer because I have my exams next week and guess - by what I'm doing right now- I'll be doing some catch-up the coming days. Anyway this dish is one of my typical stir-fry. I think I said somewhere but I have learned how to cook pulses (sometimes it's hard to believe how things are easy before actually doing it) and it is so simple. I love pulses so much; my mum used to cook it often back in the old days- right now so old but still (unfortunately and fortunately for the best) time goes by so quickly.
Right picture time:

Spiral pasta with corned beef

This is an old time favourite of the family. I personally like corned beef, it does make a tasty dish in my opinion. I am referring to the canned ones. I used to stir fry it with green peas before, when we were opting for quick and easy dish. Now since I am a lil more of an amateur cook, I am going for slightly more complicated meals. Complicating my life yes. So I cooked it with pasta. To make it balanced, I added a grated carrot and zucchini. This is absolutely delicious. If you would prefer a creamier version, I would advise eating it with avocado. A total winner.

 

Roasted Parsnip

This is my first time eating parsnip. I have seen them in the veggie section, but did not try them before because they are quite expensive- about $10/kg if I am not mistaken. Anyway, I bought them pre-pack. I have roasted them as it seems the best way to have it per my research. Verdict: I like the flavour, taste quite like sweet potato, nutty and sweet. Subtle flavour. Yum.

 

To roast the veggies, I glazed them with a honey and butter mixture. They look a little bit moist because I put them in the pressure cooker before putting them in the oven, to make them tender, and shortening the oven time. Sprinkle with rosemary to finish it off.

Chicken rice soup with celery, carrot and potato (recipe)

This is a soup that my mum usually made when I was little and would always request her to. This soup is so delicious; it is a combination of veggies that go so well together. I trust that celery is made for that soup; it would not taste the same without it. This soup is perfect on a cold night. It will definitely keep you warm.

Yesterday was my first time cooking it. Yes, I am trying a multitude of  recipes lately, learning so much. Watching or reading a recipe is not enough until you actually 'put your hands in the dough'. I can second that. Alright, so I was quite sceptical about the way the soup will turn out- you know that incertitude of doing something for the first time . Anyway I went through all the steps and despite being quite hectic in the kitchen, it tasted just quite like my mum's- which is amazing. I ended making a casserole full of it, definitely more that I expected. No complaints though.

 

 

 Recipe (I'm quite new at this but this is how I cook the soup yesterday. Writing while it is still fresh in my mind hehe)

Ingredients
 5-6 drumstick depending on the size
1 bunch of celery, sliced thinly
5 carrots, shredded
6 potatoes, cut into 1cm cube
1 litre chicken stock
2 tsp chicken stock powder
1 1/2 cup of rice, rinsed about 2 times.
salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Cook the drumstick, by putting in boiling water (about 2 litres) and let simmer for about 30 minutes, until the meat come of the bone quite easily. Remove any excess fat of the water surface.

2. In the meantime, bring you chicken stock to a simmer. Put in the celery, carrots and potatoes. Cover and let cook for about 15 minutes.

3.Once you chicken is ready, do not throw out the water. Reserve stock. Pull out the meat of the bone finely.

4. Put about 4 cups of the reserved stock in the pot with the vegetable and put you rice in, stir and let cook. Also add the chicken.

5. Once the rice starts to cook, add in the chicken stock powder. Add salt and pepper per tasting.
The soup should be ready to be served.

Other night for dinner

Two of those dishes that I like to eat. Healthy, tasty, delicious, colourful, balanced. Pure goodness.
I kind of like to cook those because they combine the ingredients that I like a lot and it is fairly easy for me because I have cooked them so many times. 
I'm of course talking of my chicken, bok choy tofu dish and brocoli dish.Yummm

Cauliflower, carrot, chicken and green pea curry

I had a cauliflower in the fridge and wondering what dish I could cook with it, the idea of making a curry popped into my head. So I just went ahead and did this. I have not had curry since a very long time. I like curry, especially the flavours from the masala and tumeric. I recently learned that tumeric is good against cancer, so while it is hard to put in your meals, try to where you can.

This meal is quite simple. First I cook my chicken (marinated with masala and tumeric powder) Then, I cook your vegetables until tender. After which I add the masala and tumeric powder (with water) to the vegetables and cook through. Add back the chicken and green peas and the meal is ready.

Sushi

Alright, I know  I will be repeating myself here, but I like to take pictures of dishes I cook and make all the time (making full use of that phone camera Yes!). I really feel proud when I put something on a plate, really. It does show that effort, patience and love make a great deal difference and pays off.
So here I am again with my sushi. This time I took pictures of every step.

Sushi rice, cooked and put aside to be cooled

All my sushi filling ready to go in the sushi

Nori leave ready as well (place the shiny side on top)

Put rice on nori sheet, leaving a little space at the bottom empty

Put your filling at the bottom

Rolled up

I made 5 rolls

Cut and ready to be eaten

So this is it.

Fooyang

This is another typical Mauritian dish. It is called fooyang (forgive my spelling- I am writing the way it is pronounced). It is basically an omelette-like dish, with carrots, bamboo shoots, shiitake mushroom and seafood. I think that it is fairly easy to appreciate this plate. To create the dish I used seafood mix (you can find them from the deli). As for bamboo shoots, I use winter ones.

This is my cooked seafood mix

Mushroom, carrot and bamboo shoot cooking

Serve with rice

Ta-da, ready to be served

More picture

Meefoon soup (recipe)

Sometimes after having a copious meal, you would rather like your next meal to be light and healthy, not oily but tasty. Solution is to have a soup. However, I reckon that some soup are time consuming to make and other too rich. The dish I am proposing today is this: meefoon. It's a typical Mauritian dish, easy to prepare and cook. It is basically a combination of bok choy, shiitake mushroom, carrots and chicken, and rice noodle. It's usually accompanied with a fried egg. I can say it's almost oil-free except for the fried chicken and egg. Some people like to add soy sauce to give colour to the dish. Personally I am not fond of soy sauce because it contains lot of sodium and quite salty. So I usually have to avoid or put as little as possible where I can. Simple and delicious.

Recipe
Ingredients:
500g chicken breast, sliced and cooked
Half a pack of rice noodle
2 carrots, chopped (see picture)
10 shiitake mushroom (I used dried ones- tip- put them in hot water about 5 min to soften them and then sliced them)
1 bok choy, washed and chopped roughly
Soy sauce
A small amount of preserved chinese vegetable (see link for more info)
Salt

Method:
Put some water, about 2 litres in a heavy pan. Put your carrots, bok choy in until the water boils. Then add the preserved vegetables, the mushroom, and the chicken. Add soy sauce, and salt per tasting. After which add the rice noodle. Let simmer about 10 minutes until the noodle is tender and smooth.
Here you go, simple as it looks.