Tag: #recipe

Posted on

Hong Kong Pineapple Bun Bo Lo Bao

Hong Kong pineapple bun, also known in Cantonese as Bo Lo Bao is a very classic bread pastry. This bun is very popular and iconic in Hong Kong bakeries and is a perfect delight for a Fika time. Fika is a Swedish tradition for a coffee moment accompanied with cake or cookies that can serve upto seven kinds of cookies on a tray. However, Fika is not really relevant in my recipe but since my partner is Swedish, I’m using the terminology Fika all the time for every Coffee &  Pastry moment 😊.

Bo Lo Bao is soft and lightly sweet and it’s topped with a golden-brown sweet crumbly crust. The softness of the bread is created by the Chinese Tangzhong (water roux) technique of heating flour and water into a gel paste that is then added to the bread dough. This will improve the texture of bread in making the dough softer and fluffier.  

Despite the name, Bo Lo Bao does not contain any pineapple nor flavours. The name rather refers to the look of the characteristic topping crust which resembles the skin texture of a pineapple. It may sound unlogic if you can’t see the image resemblance….. me neither but just take that as historic food story.

Let me know how your Bol Lo Bao baking turned out and enjoy your Fika moment!

Baking time: ~3 hours, time includes about 2 hrs in rising the dough. Serving ~16 buns

Ingredients & Tools

  • Kitchen scale
  • Saucepan
  • Whisk
  • Small bowl for cooling down Tangzhong
  • Plastic wrap
  • Kitchen towel
  • Big bowl for mixing the bread dough
  • Big bowl for mixing the topping
  • Small bowl for egg wash
  • Mixer for dough and topping
  • Baking paper
  • Baking brush

Tangzhong roux

  • 25gr patent flour
  • 125gr water

Dough

  • 360gr patent flour
  • 70gr sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 25gr fresh yeast or 7gr instant yeast – I used fresh yeast
  • 120gr milk on room temperature
  • 1 large egg on room temperature
  • Tangzhong roux
  • 30gr softened unsalted butter

Topping

  • 125gr patent flour
  • 90gr sugar powder
  • 50gr softened unsalted butter
  • 15gr custard powder
  • 1 egg yolk on room temperature
  • 1 Tbsp milk
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp baking powder

Egg wash

  • 1 egg yolk to brush the topping for a golden-brown crust topping

What to do?

  1. ————- Prepare Tangzhong ————-
  2. Add 25gr patent flour in saucepan and slowly add 125gr water while stirring.
  3. Heat over medium-high and constantly keep stirring until mixture turns into a thick gel paste
  5. Transfer the gel paste into a small bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. This is to prevent the paste getting dry.
  6. Let the Tangzhong cool down to room temperature.
  7. ————- Prepare Bread Dough ————-
  8. In a big bowl, put 350gr patent flour + 70gr sugar + ½ tsp salt.
  9. Dissolve the fresh yeast block by crumbling in the saucepan with 120gr milk and stir on low temperature until lukewarm. If you use instant yeast, you can just pour it into the big bowl mixture.
  10. Then, add the egg and Tangzhou into the big bowl
  12. Mix the mixture on low speed for ~5min until everything is combined.
  13. Add 30gr butter into the mixture and mix on medium speed for ~5min until a soft dough forms. If the dough is too sticky, then add a bit more flour at a time.
  14. Finish the dough off by kneading the dough by hand, then shape it into a smooth big ball.
  15. Re-use the big bowl or take a clean one. Sprinkle some flour in the bowl and place the dough ball in and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Let the dough rest and rise on a warm spot, in a sunny or room temperature spot for 1 hour.
  16. ————- Prepare Bun Topping ————-
  17. In another big bowl, put 50gr butter and mix it until the butter turns into a creamy consistency
  19. Then, add 90gr sugar powder and mix until it turns into a creamy consistency.
  20. Then, add 1 egg yolk + 15gr custard powder + 1 Tbsp milk and mix all together.
  21. Then add ¼ tsp baking powder + ¼ tsp baking soda + 125gr patent flour and mix until it turns into a thick paste
  23. Put the paste in a plastic wrap and shape it into a small log, like a sausage
  25. Let the topping rest until the dough is ready after 1 hour rise.
  26. ————- Start making the buns ————-
  27. The dough should have risen. Punch a finger into the dough and it should slowly bounce back
  29. Take the dough out of the bowl and divide in equal pieces. Personally, I like smaller buns especially mini sizes. The smaller it is, the tastier it gets with an equal balance of the crunchy sweet topping 😊
  30. Gentle shape every piece into a ball and cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 15min.
  31. After 15 minutes, softly knead each piece and shape it into a smooth ball. See short video on the technique used in shaping the dough into a ball
  32. Put each ball on a baking sheet with space in between to let it rise for another 40 minutes.
  33. During the last 10min, pre-heat the oven on 175°C fan function. I use fan function as I have two trays I want to bake in the oven at the same time. If you only have one tray, pre-heat the oven on 190°C on upper & lower heat function.
  34. Then, cut the topping in equal pieces as the number of buns. Don’t throw away the plastic, I prefer to re-use it rather taking a new sheet of plastic.
  35. Shape each piece into a ball.
  36. Wrap each ball, piece by piece in the plastic and flatten into a round shape and cover it on top of each bun
  38. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk and brush the top of the bun. This will bring a gold brown crust in the baking process
  40. Bake the buns for ~15min but do check a bit before as you don’t want them to be burnt or bake it a bit longer if you like to have your buns more gold brown.
  41. For next day consumption, heat the bun short on low heat in the oven or microwave.

Let me know if there are any improvements can be made. Thank you & bon appetite 😊

Share this:
Posted on

Refreshing Healthy Quinoa Salmon Salad

Refreshing healthy quinoa salmon salad is delicious for all seasons but especially in the summers when you make the dressing from fresh lemon juice and honey. However, making this salad will take a bit of effort in multitasking in preparing the ingredients but you will for sure love it at your first bite.

A suggestion is to make a double portion and keep one portion for max two days in the fridge. I prepare most ingredients for 2 consecutive meals in one go but do the salmon, cucumber, tomatoes, and dressing separately when I eat it the next time again. This will save you time in making the salad from scratch. You can keep the cooked quinoa & pan-fried vegetables after it cooled off for max 2 days in the fridge. Make sure you keep it in a contained box.

Quinoa seeds are rich in fibers, protein, vitamin B and nutrients and is lower in calory than rice. When you add a small piece of salmon on your salad, it brings a healthy tasteful light meal for your body.

Cooking time 1 portion: 35min

Ingredients & Tools

  • 60gr tri-colour quinoa (60gram per person or 1/3 cup)
  • 8 stalk green asparagus or a handful sugar snaps
  • 4-5 shitake mushroom
  • 1 toe garlic
  • ½ fresh yellow lemon juice
  • 1 tsp extra verge olive oil
  • 1 tsp liquid honey
  • Olive oil & butter to pan fry the vegetables
  • Pepper & salt to taste
  • 125gr salmon with skin
  • 4 cherry tomatoes
  • 8cm cucumber
  • Optional garnish: roasted sesame seeds or garden cress
  • 1 pot to cook quinoa
  • 1 big glass/ceramic bowl
  • 1 bowl/cup for dressing
  • 1 frying pan
  • Kitchen paper towel

What to do?

  1. ————- Cook Quinoa ————-
  2. Boil water in the water boiler.
  3. Put 60gr or 1/3 cup quinoa in the pot and pour gentle boiling water in with 1,5 cm water above quinoa level.
  4. Boil the quinoa with the lid on medium-low heat and let it simmer for about 12 minutes.
  5. Once all water is evaporated, switch off the heat and put the pan aside. Stir through the quinoa and let the heat steam off.
  6. Scoop the quinoa over into a big glass bowl to let it cool off further.
  7.  ————- Prepare Vegetables ————-
  8. Rinse 8 asparagus stalks under the tap.
  9. Dispose the end (this part is often hard and not nice to eat) and cut the asparagus sideways in bite sizes.
  10. Remove any dirt from 4 shitake with a brush or rub dirt away with a kitchen paper towel.
  11. Cut shitake in medium-thin slices including the stalks.
  12. Chop 1 toe garlic very fine.
  13. Heat the fry pan with a bit of olive oil mixed with a bit of butter.
  14. Fruit the garlic in the pan and add the asparagus and shitake in the pan. If you like crunchy vegetables, pan-fry it short and try one if it’s to your texture.
  15. Sprinkle salt & pepper to taste and scoop the vegetables in the quinoa bowl to cool off.
  16. Bear in mind, the heat in the vegetables is still in a cooking process. You might not want to cook it too long if you like it crunchy
  17. ————- Panfry Salmon————-
  18. Re-use the fry pan without cleaning and add a bit butter on medium-low heat.
  19. Dry the salmon off with a kitchen paper towel and put the skin side on the pan.
  20. On the skin side, you can cook it the longest to make it crispy and easy to remove if you don’t like to eat that part.
  21. Bake on each side until the salmon is cooked.
  22. ————- Salad dressing ————-      
  23. Meantime while baking the salmon, squeeze ½ fresh lemon juice in a small bowl/cup.
  24. Add 1 tsp extra verge olive oil
  25. Add 1 tsp liquid honey and mix it well.
  26. ————- Mix the Salad ————-        
  27. Cut 4 cherry tomatoes in quarters and add into the quinoa bowl.
  28. Unseed 8cm cucumber and cut in bite sizes and add in the bowl.
  29. Add the dressing in the bowl but not everything. This is to keep a last splash for the salmon.
  30. Mix all ingredients in the bowl.
  31. Add the salmon on top and splash the remaining dressing sauce over the salmon.
  32. Optional: garnish on top with garden cress or roasted sesame seeds.

I would like to hear your feedback once you tried this salad 😊 Bon appetite!

Share this:
Posted on

Simple Grated Zucchini Spicy Mint Pasta

Simple grated zucchini spicy mint pasta within 30 minutes. It’s a quick & easy recipe with refreshing mint and spicy flavours. This recipe goes perfect with spaghetti, linguine, fettucine or fusilli. In general, any kind of pasta goes well but these are my favourites to cook in a ‘semi-dry sauce’.

My first time eating this zucchini pasta was at my friend’s home and I loved it! Her friend from Greece was on visit and cooked for us a quick meal as it was quite late for dinner 😊. She learnt cooking this simple pasta from a family in Sardinia while she explored the island. A typical home-made pasta that feeds people’s soul with happiness.     

For the refreshing taste, I use Greek dried spearmint (dyosmos). I got this from my friend after having this superlicous pasta experience, supplied directly from the farmers and no chemicals. The flavours are close to fresh peppermint but it packs a more potent punch with spicy notes and is milder than peppermint.

In addition, I will use shallots, oyster mushroom and lemon juice in my recipe for the extra texture and flavours. In the original home-made ‘Sardinian’ recipe, it contains only garlic, chili, zucchini and parmigiano topping. You can omit all additional ingredients and keep to the original flavours. The cooking method and steps are the same.

You can also make this pasta vegan and gluten-free, it all depends on what ingredients you like to cook with.

Cooking time for one regular portion: less than 30 minutes

Ingredients & Tools

  • Pasta for 1 person
  • ½ grated zucchini aka courgette
  • 1 chopped garlic toe
  • A little bit of thin sliced spicy chili. If your chili is hot spicy, use much less as you like to have a nice balance between mint & spicy flavours.
  • 1 overfull tsp cut dried mint leaves or extra to taste
  • Salt
  • 1,5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Topping: fine grated parmigiano cheese
  • Pan for pasta
  • Colander
  • 1 big bowl
  • Vegetable grater (ultra coarse grater)
  • 1 big mug

Additional ingredients for the extra texture and flavours

  • ½ chopped shallot
  • ¼ fresh lemon juice
  • 50gr or 2 handful shredded oyster mushroom

What to do?

  1. ————- Boil the pasta ————-
  2. Pre-boil water in the water boiler for 70-80°C. If you don’t have a temperature regulating boiler, no problem. Just boil the water.
  3. Spread the pasta in the pan and pour in the boiling water.
  4. Put a little bit salt in the pan and cook for 10min. It’s better to check your pasta package on how long it needs to be boiled. Cooking time may differ for different brands.
  5. Very important – do not pour oil in the pasta and stir the pasta from time to time.
  6. ————- Prepare ingredients ————-
  7. While boiling the pasta, rinse the zucchini and cut in half for 1 person. No need to peel the skin.
  8. Grate the zucchini in a big bowl.
  9. Chop 1 garlic toe.
  10. Chop ½ shallot.
  11. Shred 50gr (2 handful) oyster mushroom or tear along the stem.
  12. Cut ¼ of a lemon.
  13. ————- Start cooking ————-
  14. Once the pasta is boiled for 10min, fill 1 mug full of pasta water and keep aside for later.
  15. Drain the pasta in a colander and let it be.
  16. Re-use the pan and heat the pan with 1,5 Tbsp olive oil.
  17. Sizzle the garlic and add the shallots. Make sure that the garlic does not burn, avoid brown-ish colouring.
  18. Add the zucchini in the pan and sprinkle some salt.
  19. Stir ingredients until the zucchini gets a bit soft and add the oyster mushroom and chili.
  20. Stir ingredients and simmer light for a few minutes. Add extra salt to taste.
  21. Once all is soft and most liquid is evaporated. Turn the heat low.
  22. Above the sink, swirl ½ cup pasta water in the colander to make the pasta loose as it might stick a bit.
  23. Toss the pasta in the pan, add 1 overfull tsp dried mint or extra to taste and stir all ingredients for another 1 min.
  24. If you find the pasta ‘sauce’ too dry, you can pour in a little bit of the remaining pasta cooking water in the pan to make it moisty.
  25. Squeeze ¼ lemon juice into the pasta and stir quick & short. Switch off the heat.
  26. Serve the pasta on the plate and sprinkle grated parmigiano cheese on top.

I hope you enjoy this simple meal 😊 Bon appetite.

Share this:
Posted on

General Tso chicken

General Tso chicken is a very popular Chinese American dish and was invented by a Taiwan based chef who moved to New York in the 70’s. He named this dish as an homage to his Hunan heritage and their beloved general Zuo Zongtang. However, the name of this dish has no connection to general Zuo nor it’s known in China Hunan province. If you like to know more about the history of General Tso chicken dish, you can read this on Wikipedia.

The chicken is crunchy deep-fried yet still juicy and tender and has a sweet spicy flavour. My method of deep-fried chicken is slightly different than the original recipe and is mainly different in the batter. I also like to cook my choice of vegetables together with the sauce and chicken to serve it as a main (bowl) dish accompanied with steamed rice.

Cooking time: approx. 45 minutes for 2 persons

Ingredients & Tools

  • 300gr chicken thigh filet
  • 1tbsp cooking rice wine
  • Maizena or potato starch
  • Sunflower oil to deep-fry
  • 15cm Dutch type cucumber
  • 8x cherry tomatoes
  • Optional to add: 150gr bimi, broccoli or bell pepper – yellow bell pepper would bring a nice colour pallet)
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • Salt
  • Garnish: roasted sesame seeds
  • Steamed rice to accompany the chicken dish

For the sauce:

  • 2tbsp light soya and 1tbsp dark soya – or just 3tbsp light soya
  • 1tbsp white vinegar
  • 1tbsp ketchup (Heinz)
  • 1tbsp white sugar
  • 0,5 tsp white pepper
  • 2x small garlic clove fine grated or 1x big clove
  • 1x chili
  • 1tbsp fine grated ginger (~3cm)
  • 1x deep fry pan
  • 1x big fry pan
  • Sieve and/or wooden chopstick to get the chicken out of the deep-fry pan
  • Kitchen paper
  • Very fine grater
  • 1x medium bowl to marinate chicken
  • 1x big bowl to powder chicken or use a 3-5L plastic bag
  • 1x big bowl
  • 1x small bowl for the sauce
  • 1x small cup for maizena mix

What to do?

  1. ————- Marinate chicken ————-
  2. Remove fat and cut the chicken in bite size pieces and put in medium size bowl.
  3. Marinate the chicken with 1tbsp cooking rice wine.
  4. ————- Prepare sauce ————-
  5. Use a small bowl to prepare the sauce.
  6. Put 2 Tbsp light soya and 1 Tbsp dark soya in bowl. Or just 3 Tbsp light soya if you don’t have dark soya. Dark soya has a stronger flavour of saltness.
  7. Put 1 Tbsp white vinegar in bowl.
  8. Put 1 Tbsp ketchup in bowl. Personally, I prefer using Heinz.
  9. Put 1 Tbsp white sugar in bowl
  10. Put ½ tsp white pepper in bowl and mix all the ingredients.
  11. ————- Remaining sauce preparation ————-
  12. Put below ingredients separately on the side (not in the sauce bowl) as these will used to get aromas when we heat the oil in the pan.
  13. Grate 2x small garlic cloves.
  14. Grate 1xtbsp ginger.
  15. Chop 1x chilli fine.
  16. Use a small cup to prepare maizena mix: put 1tsp maizena and 2tbsp water and mix it well.
  17. ————- Cut vegetables ————-
  18. If you do not like cucumber skin, you can peel this off. Then slice the cucumber lengthwise in 4 and remove the seeds.
  19. Then cut cucumber in bite pieces.
  20. Cut cherry tomatoes in half.
  21. Cut optional veggie of choice in pieces. Wash beforehand if needed.
  22. ————- Deep-fry chicken ————-
  23. Powder the chicken in maizena or potato starch. There are 2 easy ways to do this. Put all the chicken in a big bowl and mix the powder bit by bit in the chicken until the meat is lightly covered. Don’t use too much maizena. Or put all chicken in a 3/5L sandwich plastic bag and sprinkle a bit of maizena in and shake the bag. Repeat this until the meat is lightly covered by the powder.  
  24. Bring the oil on heat in the deep-fry pan (stand 7). The oil is ready when you see tiny bubbles coming up on the surface.
  25. Depending on the size of your deep-fry pan, you may need to fry the chicken in batches. The chicken will not deep-fry well if the pan it’s too full.
  26. Put the chicken piece by piece slowly in the pan and fry for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, put kitchen paper in another big bowl. This is to absorb the oil from the chicken after deep-frying.
  27. Fish the chicken out the pan with a sieve and/or wooden chopsticks and put in the paper bowl.
  28. Fry next batch for 3 minutes. Repeat the process if you have a lot of chicken.
  29. Once all chicken has been fried, a second round of 3 minutes deep-fry is required. This will give the chicken a crunchy texture and keeps the tenderness. The chicken should have a golden-brown colour.
  30. Let chicken rest in the kitchen paper bowl
  31. ————- Pre-stir-fry optional bimi or brocolli ————-
  32. Heat the stir-fry pan with 1 tbsp frying oil from pan or olive oil.
  33. Stir-fry the veggies for a bit. If you like the crunchiness, then only stir-fry for about max 2min.
  34. Sprinkle a pinch of salt, stir and scoop the veggies on a plate.
  35. ————- Start cooking sauce & blend ingredients ————-
  36. Continue with the same stir-fry pan. Put 1tbsp sesame oil and heat the pan on medium (stand 6).
  37. Fry the grated garlic until it’s yellow-ish.
  38. Add the grated ginger and chili in the pan, and fry for about 30 seconds.
  39. Pour the sauce mix in the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes and keep stirring the sauce.
  40. Then re-stir the maizena mix well and add in the pan while stirring the sauce until it gets thick
  41. Add all the vegetables in the sauce and keep stirring in the pan
  42. Then add the fried chicken and stir all well in the sauce for a short time and switch of the heat.
  43. ————- Finishing touch ————-
  44. Scoop steamed rice in a bowl or plate.
  45. Scoop General Tso chicken on top of the rice or on the side.
  46. Garnish your dish with roasted sesame seeds on top.

Hope you like this dish and don’t find it too much work. You may agree it’s worth the effort after you have tried it 😉

Share this:
Posted on

Asian stir-fried vermicelli rice noodle dish, quick and easy

Asian stir-fried vermicelli rice noodle dish is quick and easy to make within 30minutes. I make this dish often when I don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen and have cravings for a delicious Asian noodle dish.

Ingredients to use can vary on what you have in the fridge. Meat ingredients can be chicken, pork tenderloin, frozen/left-over roasted duck or shrimps. Main vegetable can be Chinese bok choy (there are different types and each type can be used in this stir-fry dish), kai-lan or easier to get from the supermarket is bimi, broccoli or tauge (bean sprouts). Side vegetables can be carrot, canned sweet kernel corn or baby maize and spring onion for the finishing touch.

Cooking time: approx. 30 minutes for 2 persons

 Ingredients & Tools

  • 250gr chicken thigh filet – I like to use chicken thigh or roasted duck meat
  • 100gr rice vermicelli – I prefer the brand Wai Wai because of the refine texture but any will do
  • 2x stalk shanghai baby bok choy
  • 1x carrot
  • 1x garlic clove
  • Optional: 1x chili
  • 2x stalk spring onion
  • 70gr canned sweet kernel corn
  • Seasoning: sesame oil, soya sauce, white pepper, salt
  • Oyster sauce
  • (Extra virgin) olive oil
  • Big frying pan
  • Bowl for marinating the meat
  • 2x spatula
  • 2x sieve

What to do?

  1. ————- Soften the vermicelli ————-
  2. Soak the vermicelli in cold water until it gets a little bit soft. Optional is to cut the noodle in approx. 10cm length, this makes it easy to stir in the pan and to eat. Drain the noodle in a sieve and makes sure it’s almost dry before you cook, otherwise it will become a moisty noodle dish. You can drain the noodle a few hours before cooking.
  3. ————- Cut the meat ————-
  4. Remove fat and slice the chicken in thin slices and put in bowl. If you use roasted duck, slice this in slices, not too thick and not too thin. You don’t need to marinate as the roasted the duck is marinated and pre-cooked.
  5. Put 1 tbsp sesame oil in the chicken.
  6. Put 1 tbsp soya sauce in the chicken.
  7. Put a pinch of white pepper and salt, and mix the marination in the chicken.
  8. ————- Cut the vegetables ————-
  9. Cut the bok choy in bite pieces. Rinse in water and drain in a sieve. Important is to dry the vegetables as much as possible, otherwise it will become a moisty noodle dish. You can wash it a few hours before cooking or dry it out with kitchen paper.
  10. Peel the carrot skin and cut in thin slices.
  11. Chop the garlic fine or use a garlic presser. If the latter, only do this when you start cooking.
  12. Optional: slice the chili in thin slices. Keep the seeds as well if you like a spicy punch.
  13. Slice the spring onion.
  14. Drain the liquid from the canned corn.
  15. ————- Start cooking ————-
  16. Heat the frying pan and put 3tbsp olive oil. Do not overheat the oil in the pan.
  17. Fry the garlic in the pan to light brown and add half of the chili slices.
  18. Start frying the chicken until cooked and put it back in the marination bowl. Keep the oil as much as possible in the pan.
  19. Stir-fry the bok choi in the pan, first the white stalks and later the leaves together with the carrots and corn. The stalks take a bit longer to cook than the green leaves. Don’t cook the vegetables too long if you like veggie crunchiness.
  20. Then move the vegetables on the side of the pan or make a whole in the middle.
  21. Put the vermicelli in the pan, half of the slices spring onion and stir it together with the vegetables for about 1 minute.
  22. Put 2 tbsp oyster sauce, a pinch of salt and stir everything in the pan for a very short time and serve it on the plate.
  23. Sprinkle the remaining spring onion over the noodle as finishing touch.

Hope you enjoy this easy vermicelli dish 😊

Share this:
Posted on

Walnut Banana Bread

I hope you are doing well in this bizarre and impactful period, in which everybody still has to find his or her way of life in this pandemic outbreak. I have been isolating myself for weeks. I work from home, do my necessary errands every 4-5 days, cook daily three meals, sometimes taking some fresh air and spend lots of time with my savior mister Netflix.

To kill my isolation time with more fun, I baked a delicious walnut banana bread for my tea breaks. Shopping was not required as I had all the ingredients at home. So let’s have some Fika-Time if you are up for baking. 

Baking time approx. 1hrs and serves 6-8 slices.

Tools & Ingredients

  • 1 sheet baking paper
  • 3 bowls (large, medium and small)
  • 1 cake dish ~28cm
  • Whisk (electrical or manual will do fine as well)
  • Wooden chopstick or long bamboo pick
  • 200 gram all purpose flower
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 115 gram unsalted soft butter (or melt the butter)
  • 110 gram brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder or pure vanilla extract
  • 4 (half) ripe bananas
  • ¾ coffee cup crushed unsalted walnuts

What to do?

  1. Cover the bottom of your baking dish with the baking paper and along sides.
  2. Pre-heat oven on fan grill function at 175°C.
  3. Whisk 200gr flower + ½ tsp baking soda + ½ tsp baking powder all together in a bowl.
  4. Whisk in a separate big bowl 115gr 110gr melted butter + sugar until well blended.
  5. Add 2 eggs + 1Tbsp vegetable oil + tsp vanilla powder into the butter/sugar bowl and whisk until well blended.
  6. Mash all 4 bananas fine with a fork and mix into the egg mixture.
  7. Add the flower mix to the egg mixture by intervals and stir it until well blended.
  8. Mix ½ cup walnuts to the mixture.
  9. Pour the batter and flatten the mixture into the cake dish. 
  10. Spread remaining walnuts on top of cake dish.
  11. Put the dish in the middle oven section on fan grill function at 175°C for 45 min.
  12. Prick the wooden pick into the center of the bread and see if it comes out dry. If wood comes out sticky and moisty, then bake the cake a bit extra longer and check again after 10-15min.

Finally: let the bread cool down for 15-20min outside the oven before serving for tea.

Enjoy your Fika-Time ☕️

Share this:
Posted on

Asian Pumpkin Soup

Quick and easy in cooking pumpkin soup with an Asian spicy flavour. Serve it for lunch and have some toasts on the side or serve it as starter with a nice home cooking dinner meal. Hope you like this dish.

Serves 4P and cooking time 40min

Ingredients

  • 1x small golden nugget pumpkin
  • 5x tomatoes
  • ½ shallot
  • 200gr shitake mushroom
  • Drizzle of olive oil
  • 1x tea spoon Thai red curry paste
  • Garnish with beetroot or red cabbage sprouting seeds or coriander
  • Sea salt to add to taste
  • Potato peeler
  • Soup pan or a big pan
  • Measuring cup
  • Colander
  • Food blender

What to do?

  1. —— Prepare Pumpkin ——
  2. Put the pumpkin in microwave for 2min/900W. This is too soften the skin so you can easily peel the skin.
  3. Remove top and end of pumpkin.
  4. Cut pumpkin in half and remove fibers and seeds with a spoon.
  5. Cut pumpkin in blocks.
  6. —— Continue With Cutting ——
  7. Wash and cut tomatoes in quarters and remove stem/core.
  8. Fine dice shallot 
  9. Cut shitake mushrooms in thin slices.
  10. Wash and drain the garnish on a kitchen paper towel.
  11. —— Start Cooking ——
  12. Fry shallots in olive oil.
  13. Add pumpkin and tomatoes in pan.
  14. Add curry paste and stir well.
  15. Add 400ml water.
  16. Cook for 20min on medium/high heat.
  17. Blend ingredients in pan into puree.
  18. Add shitake and cook 10min on low/medium heat.
  19. Stir from time to time.
  20. Pre-taste and add pinch of salt to taste

Finally: fill up soup bowl and garnish with sprouting seeds or coriander.

Asian Pumpkin Soup

Eet smakelijk!

Share this:
Posted on

Beetroot salad & Carrot-Ginger dressing

This dressing is delicious! Years ago, I tasted this in a Japanese restaurant in Vancouver. Since then, I haven’t been able experiencing this unforgettable salad dressing in any Japanese restaurant I go. A mystery and at some point I gave up. Probably it has no relation to the Japanese cuisine. Recently, I found this salad dressing recipe at one of my favourite food blogs where I explore cooking inspiration. I was so happy, I wasn’t imagining in my head! And yes, it is related to Japan but created in the States.

The combination of carrot and ginger is so refreshing with a light flavour of spiciness. You can dress it up to most simple salad creations. The original carrot-ginger dressing I tasted was much more fine in texture. I think the chef used a rasp grater. Anyhow, the food blender is much easier and still tasty 🙂

Cooking time 30-40min with raw beet. You can also buy pre-cooked beet in saving time. Personally, I like cooking beet fresh. This taste so much better then the preserved beetroot you get from the supermarket. Salad dressing takes 10min.

Ingredients Salad

  • Raw yellow beetroot
  • Iceberg lettuce
  • Alfalfa sprouting seeds
  • Drizzle of olive oil
  • Few sprigs thyme
  • Plastic sandwich bag
  • Aluminium foil

Note: you can preserve the beet for a few days in the fridge. Serve it cold or warm it up next day (1min/600W)

Ingredients Carrot-Ginger Dressing

  • 3x giant carrot ~20cm each
  • ¼ red shallot
  • Fresh ginger ~1,5cm block, not too much as it will make it too sharp
  • 1x table spoon sugar
  • 5x table spoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2x table spoon white miso paste
  • 1x tea spoon sesame oil
  • ½ coffee cup of rice vinegar ~100ml
  • Pinch of fresh ground pepper
  • Food processor
  • Potato peeler

Note: you can preserve the dressing for about 1 week in the fridge by using a containment food box. Recipe is up to ~10 portion.

What to do?

  1. —— Prepare Beetroot ——
  2. Pre-heat oven on fanned function at 180°C/356F
  3. Mix beet, thyme, olive oil in a sandwich bag.
  4. Pack beet and thyme in aluminium foil. You can pack them in pair or per portion.
  5. Heat in oven for 30-40min. Beet is cooked when you can fork in.
  6. Unpack foil and cool down for 10min. The extra package, just open the foil a bit to cool down and re-pack for next day.
  7. Peel beet, the top and the end.
  8. Cut beet in slices or blocks.
  9. —— Prepare Carrot-Ginger Dressing ——
  10. Peel and cut carrot in pieces.
  11. Cut shallot in pieces.
  12. Peel ginger skin with a knife.
  13. Put all ingredients in food processor.
  14. Blend for 5min until all ingredients are smoothly mixed.
  15. Pre-taste dressing, add extra vinegar or pepper if required.

Finally: mix the beetroot, salad and the carrot-ginger dressing in a bowl. Dress up all ingredients on a plate and bon appetite!

Beetroot salad with carrot-ginger dressing

Eet Smakelijk!

Share this: