Mirza Ghasemi (Persian Aubergine Dip) - Recipe

From the north of Iran, around the Caspian sea comes this lovely light dish, Mirza Ghasemi. First time I tasted it, was during a family dinner at a Persian restaurant. We ordered the dip as a starter. It was so delicious and tasty that afterwards I could simply not forget about this dish. I had to try it myself and did some research online. Luckily I found a great videoclip on youtube (see the video below) and gave it a go myself. 

It is such a light yet meaty dip, which is usually the case when you use aubergine in a recipe. It adds great flavors to this dish especially since you grill the aubergine. Mirza Ghasemi is very versatile as you can have it as a light lunch, appetizer or side dish. It works very well as a starter in a Mediterranean menu. It is another simple dish that takes no time to make and is simply divine. 

I have to say that it was somewhat hard to find an authentic recipe online, as different people followed different recipes. Some added garlic to it, some did not add onions at all and some used eggs in it as well. This specific recipe that I am using here was chosen simply because it has the same taste and texture as the Mirza Ghasemi I had in the Persian restaurant and fell in love with it.

Ingredients

1,5 tbsp oil
1 aubergine, diced
2 small onions, diced
2 tomatoes, diced,
salt and pepper
Chili flakes
1,5 tsp tomato puree

(I also added a spice mix from Kurdistan which goes really well with fried tomatoes and onions, but can be skipped.)

Method:

1- Grill the aubergine over the fire if you use a gas cooker or grill it in the oven until well cooked.

2- Dice the onions and fry them until golden brown and then add the diced tomatoes as well.

3- While the onions and tomatoes are frying, peel off the grilled skin from the aubergine and dice it as well and then add it to the mix once the onions and tomatoes have been cooking for about 5 minutes on medium heat.

4- If the mix becomes to dry add 1,5 tbsp of water and also add 1,5 tsp of tomato puree.  Season the mix with the spices and stir well. Let it cook on medium heat for about another 5 minutes. Then remove it from the heat and mash it with a food mixer. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes before serving.

5- Serve with pita bread or freshly baked naan bread.

The following youtube clip is the inspiration for this lovely aubergine dip.

Enjoy!

Swedish Chocolate Balls (chokladbollar) - Recipe

Chokladbollar

In Sweden, you will hardly find anybody who does not like chocolate balls. This treat is one of the first dishes we learn in our cooking classes in school and usually the one that all children love to make. Why? It is easy, takes no time and it is chocolate!

I made these for work as a Swedish treat and everyone loved it. So I thought I will share the recipe here. In Sweden we call them "chokladbollar". Since you basically just mix all the ingredients and roll them into round shapes, you can make them bite-sized or into giant balls. I remember during high school, me and a close friend would buy one chocolate ball and share it as it was so big, in our favorite Cafe. Serving it with a nice cup of coffee or tea is simply delicious. I love the pearl sugar around the balls, however if it is hard to find it here in UK, you can use desiccated coconut to garnish them. I usually buy my pearl sugar in one of the Scandinavian shops in London, for instance the shop Totally Swedish.

Serves: ca 20 chocolate balls

Time: max 20 minutes

Ingredients

150 g butter

2,5 dl sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste or 1,5 tsp vanilla extract

4,5 tbsp cocoa powder

4 dl oats

1,5 dl desiccated coconut

3 tbsp cold instant coffee (if you do not like the coffee taste, you can use water instead)

Garnish with pearl sugar or desiccated coconut.

Method:

1- Mix the butter and sugar well, make sure that the butter is not too soft otherwise the batter will be runny. Give it a taste and see if more oats or sugar should be added.

2- Mix in the rest of the ingredients and roll them to rounds shapes.

3- Roll the balls in pearl sugar or desiccated coconut. Make sure they are well coated. They should be refrigerated for 15 minutes to set, before eating them.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Vegetable Stew served with Rice - Recipe

Having taken a nice break from the blog I am now ready to post really nice recipes that I have working on lately. Today, I did my lovely Chicken and Vegetable Stew served with Rice. This dish was really needed, as I went to do some shopping today and it was rainy, blustery and cloudy outside. All I could think of was warm, rich and comforting food. So it had to be a stew and rice, and this one was perfect. The vegetables complement the chicken in this appealing one-dish supper. Usually stews are done in a slow cooker, but this stew did not take a long time to put together. Stews are versatile and great for eating days in a row or freezing the leftovers. I basically took whatever vegetables I had at home.

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs with bones but remove the skin.

5 small potatoes, diced

1/3 aubergine, diced

1/2 courgette, diced

1 onion, diced

1 cup water

1/2 tbsp paprika paste

1 tbsp tomato puree

Spices:

1/2 tsp turmeric powder, garlic powder, paprika, curry powder, fenugreek powder, clove powder, 

1 tsp coriander powder, cumin powder, ginger powder, salt, dried parsley.

Method:

1- Wash and remove the skin from the chicken thighs. Put them in a casserole and put on the lid and let them cook in its own water. I am using my favorite round cast iron casserole from Le Creuset

2- While the chicken cooks, peel and dice the vegetables and measure up the spices.

3- Once the chicken has boiled and cooked through, sear the chicken thighs until browned. I salted the chicken thighs while searing. 

4- Remove the chicken thighs from the casserole and put them aside. In the same casserole put in all the vegetables and spices. Don't forget to salt the vegetables.. Fry them until browned for about 10 minutes on medium/ high heat. Then add the chicken to the vegetables and add a cup of water. Stir well and let it come to a boil.

5- After few minutes of cooking add the paprika paste as well as the tomato puree and turn down the heat and let it simmer for 30-40 minutes. Check it once in a while and stir and taste to see if it needs more seasoning. I also added 1 tsp dried parsley as I forgot to added earlier.

6 - I usually cook rice once the stew is simmering on low heat, as it usually takes 30-40 minutes to make the rice and they finish at the same time. I use Tilda rice. I love this rice as it is not to fragrant and easy to cook, and comes out well every time. I basically use 1.5 cup rice to 2 cups of water. I heat up a pot with 2 tbsp of oil and add the washed rice. Then add the 2 cups of water and let it come to a boil. Put on the lid and turn down to a low heat and let it simmer for about 30- 40 minutes. Do not stir until the rice is fully cooked.

7- Serve the stew with rice and a nice green salad.

Enjoy!

Madagascan Vanilla Paste Cupcake - Recipe

For the longest time I had issues with doing nice, well risen cupcakes. They often turned very low and flat. I told Helene about the issue and she asked which tin I use for them. I used one that I bought ages ago and it turned out to be a bun tin :)

 

I went to buy a cupcake tin and decided to make vanilla cupcakes. I was especially excited as I had recently bought Madagascan Vanilla Paste from Vanilla Mart. I usually use vanilla sugar, bought from Sweden, but Helene gave me the tip to use vanilla paste instead. I have tried a few of the cupcakes she used the vanilla past in, and they were absolutely delicious. The recipe I used for these cupcakes are Mary Berry's perfect Victoria sandwich. But halved the recipe as I used her recipe to bake cupcakes and not the actual cake.

Ingredients: 

115 g self raising flour

115 g butter

115 g sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla paste (from Vanilla Mart)

Method:

1- Start by preheat the oven on 180 C degrees.

2- Beat the butter and suger in a bowl until creamy. Then add one egg at a time and mix for 10 seconds each. Add the vanilla paste and mix well.

3- Sift the flour and baking powder and fold it gently into the wet mix. 

 

4- Spoon the mixture into paper cases until half full in a cupcake tin. 

 

5- Bake them in the oven for 22 minutes until golden brown. You can now let them cool on a wire rack and then add a frosting of your choice, but we just ate them together with a nice cup of tea and it was such a difference from any vanilla cupcake I have had before. The vanilla taste was so delicious.

.

Enjoy!

Prawn Cocktail with a twist - Recipe

Swedish egg and prawn sandwich

During the weekend, I did a 70's classic dish, the prawn cocktail. This classic retro starter was perfect to have as a light meal as we had a late brunch on Saturday. The prawn cocktail does remind me somewhat of a Swedish sandwich, ägg- och räkmacka (egg and prawn sandwich), which I have not had for sometime now and will definitely make soon. 

As I like to change recipes slightly I did this prawn cocktail with a twist. So this is by no means any classic recipe for the prawn cocktail. It is, however, a very straightforward recipe and super easy to put together as nothing needs to be cooked really. 

I was inspired to do this dish when I went with husband to the restaurant chain, Giraffe. I ordered their prawn cocktail and it had a delicious and tangy bbq-ish taste with tortillas in it and I simply loved it. Just had to give it a go myself. I love Giraffe simply because they offer a variety of international dishes and I always find something new and tasty to try out. That is really a chain that I like to visit often. Besides, the prices are quite ok.

The recipe

Ingredients:

Lettuce, few leaves, shredded

2 tomatoes, diced

1 ripe avocado, diced

2/3 cup of light mayo

1 tbsp Heinz ketchup

few drops Worcester sauce

1,5 tsp Heinz classic barbecue sauce 

0,5 tsp smoked paprika

Salt and pepper

1 cup prawns, peeled and cooked

2 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

1- I used frozen prawns so I quickly stir fried them with some smoked paprika and black pepper for few minutes and put them to aside.

2- I diced the avocado in 1 cm pieces and added lemon juice over, as it prevents it from turning brown. I mixed it with the diced tomatoes and added some salt and pepper.

3- In a bowl, I mixed the mayo, ketchup, Worcester sauce, barbecue sauce, smoked paprika and black pepper. Then I added the prawns to the mayo mix and mixed well.

4- Last step is simply to put everything together in 2 glasses. I put layers of lettuce in the bottom of the glass, added a layer of avocado and tomatoes as well as a layer of the mayo mix with prawns. Sprinkled some smoked paprika  and dried dill over it as well.  I served it with a toasted bread. 

It tasted really good and that bbq sauce added a tangy and pleasant twist to it. This will definitely be a meal I will do often when i want something fresh, light yet creamy and quick to make.

Enjoy!

Light Chocolate Cake with Coconut and Almond Glaze

Chocolate and coconut is a combination that can never go wrong and an all time favorite flavor combo of mine. Just think about the bounty chocolate bar. My next cake recipe is a light chocolate cake with a sweet and delightful coconut and almond glaze. It is quite an easy cake and doesn't take much time at all. I hope you give it a try.

Recipe:

Ingredients for the cake:

100 g caster sugar

100 g self-raising flour

2 eggs

100 g butter

2 table spoon coca powder

1 tsp vanilla sugar or vanilla paste

Ingredients for the glaze:

4 dl desiccated coconut

3 table spoon roasted almond flakes

1 dl golden syrup

1,5 dl sugar

2 dl double cream

50 g butter

1- Begin with whisk butter and sugar for the cake until creamy in the consistence, then add one egg at a time and whisk for 10 second each. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.

    

2- Sift the flour, vanilla sugar and cocoa powder and fold it in the wet mix. Then put it in a cake tin (see above photo).

3- Bake the cake for about 15 minutes until done. Check with a knife if it is done or not. 

4- While the cake is baking in the oven you can make the glaze. Simply add all the ingredients in a sauce pan and on medium heat. Let it come to a boil and then turn down the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

      

 5- Take out the cake when done and spread the coconut glaze over it and put it bake in the oven for another 12 minutes until golden brown.

                                                    I like to serve it with a glass of milk :)

Enjoy !

New Year's Day Dinner - A Bird with Side Dishes

The Christmas holiday was just what I and the family needed. Gave enough time to rest and try new recipes! On the new year's day we decided to make a big family dinner. We all had different ideas and recipes to try out and couldn't make up our minds. So, we ended up doing different appetizing dishes that would tickle everybody's taste buds.

We began by going to the butcher to pick a big and luscious turkey. Now I have not purchased a whole turkey before so I was not sure if it was a turkey or a big, massive chicken we bought.  But, it looked nice and that was enough for us. We bought it the day before and marinated it with butter, spices and herbs. The bird was in the oven for over 3,5 hours and when it was time to cut it up, there was a huge debate whether it was a turkey or a big chicken. Since I couldn't make up my mind, I simply called this dinner for: A bird with side dishes.

We roasted the bird in the oven for few hours, then added carrots and potatoes in the same oven dish. The flavors were heavenly. For the side dishes we made:

- bruschettas with tomato and mozarella cheese

- nice green salad with iceberg salad, tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumber and paprika

- stir fried tomatoes, aubergines, mushrooms, paprika and onions

- hummus and tzatziki

- salmon and cream cheese canapes

- baked pasta

Everything tasted really good and we were stuffed after the dinner. We rounded of with leaf tea and some nice sweets and played charades. It was a lovely day with family and definitely needed. 

I will at some point post the recipes we used for this dinner.