Ethiopian food

I made Niter Kebbeh, Doro Wat and Injera bread on Wednesday for week 4 in "The World On Our Plates"-project.

Check out how it went + recipes HERE

Sponge sandwich cake

I do volunteer work at a missionary church nearby about once a month. I was more or less coaxed into it by the very enthusiastic pastor who thought there were way too few young people at church, so he signed my up for the Sunday church café rotational.

I don't mind, it's nice to have something to do on Sundays, and I do love baking. I work with a lady named Irene and we have decided I should bake a cake, and the waffle mix for each Sunday that I'm on duty. Two Sundays ago, I was too lazy and bought a packet of a "just add water"- waffle mix and the whole thing was a disaster. Didn't know you could fail such a basic instruction...

Anyways, during my first two cafeteria-Sundays I made chocolate muffins and no one bought them. I realised old people do not like chocolate. For the third Sunday I made a roll-up cake filled with strawberry jam and served it with a big dollop of whipped cream on top. It went down a treat. I realised old people love stuff covered in whipped cream.
With this in mind I set out to make a classic sponge sandwich with a strawberry jam and whipped cream filling for last Sunday's café. Little did I know that this Sunday most of the old people in church were away and left were the slightly younger crowd (40+) and they were apparently not too fond of whipped cream and jam... I was left with 4 pieces of cake... Irene's cake sold out. Her cake was more "modern" and "youthful", I guess.

I had no idea doing cafeteria work, once in a blue moon, required demographics.

So, here's a great recipe to make for granny's birthday.

Sponge sandwich cake
8 slices
Adapted from BBC Good Food

Sponge
200 g soft butter
200 g self-raising flour*
1 tsp baking powder
200 g sugar
4 eggs
2 tbsp milk

Filling
142 ml double cream
50 g sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
100 g strawberry jam
icing sugar, for dusting

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Grease and base-line 2 x 20cm non-stick round sandwich tins with baking parchment, then lightly grease the parchment. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, then tip in all the other sponge ingredients. Using an electric whisk, beat everything together until smooth. Divide the mix between the cake tins, then bake for 20-25 mins until cooked and golden. When cool enough to handle, remove the cakes from the tins, then leave to cool completely on a rack.

2. To make the filling, whip the cream with the caster sugar and vanilla until it holds its shape. Build the cake by spreading one sponge with jam and the other with cream. Sandwich the whole thing together, then dust with icing sugar.


*= if you live in a country where it is impossible to find self-raising flour, like Norway, you can make your own. Here's how:

For each cup of flour, add 1 ½ tsp baking powder and ½ tsp salt. I put about 4 cups flour in a big jar and added in 1 ½ x 4 tsp baking powder and ½ x 4 tsp salt. Closed the lid and gave it a good shake. It's a great store-cupboard essential.

Malaysian Meat Curry Powder

I managed to get a hold of fennel seeds in Sweden, and set out to make the Malaysian Meat Curry Powder one night when my bf had a friend over.

Making the powder was really easy and well worth the effort. However my spice grinder, an old fashioned coffee grinder, did make the actual process of grinding the spices somewhat tedious and difficult. But plans are that I'm buying an electric spice grinder in the near future. Can't wait!

Malaysian Meat Curry Powder
(adapted from Spicie Foodie)

10 whole cloves

10 whole black peppercorns

4 whole cardamom pods

1(5cm) cinnamon stick

4 whole dried red chilies

4 tbsp coriander seeds

2 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp turmeric

Roast the spices according to size on medium heat starting with cloves, peppercorns and cardamom. When the spices start to smoke and release their fragrance tip onto a plate and allow to cool. Next toast cinnamon and chilies, then coriander seeds. Last but not least, toast the cumin- and fennel seeds.

Grind the toasted spices, either in a coffee/spice grinder or in a pestle and mortar, into a fine powder. Add in the turmeric.

Homemade Tahini

With nothing else to do I found myself watching BBC Lifestyle's Chef At Home with Michael Smith. Today's inspiration was Morocco, and he made a chicken stew and some other dishes, one of them being hummus. One of the ingredients in hummus is Tahini. Tahini is a sesame paste, made from sesame seeds and vegetable oil, used alot in Middle Eastern- and some Asian foods.

My friend Hanna once gave me the recipe for hummus, and one day I decided I'd make it for a dinner party I was hosting for a few friends. As the recipe called for Tahini I went to the local Middle Eastern food shop and the only jar I found was a huge plastic thing. Well, I needed Tahini so I bought it, and then only used however much the recipe called for and then never again.... I think I threw it out when I moved here...

So, inspired by Michael Smith's Moroccan feast and Hanna's hummus in mind I decided on making my own Tahini, so that I have a batch at home when I feel in the mood for some Middle Eastern flavours.

Tahini

1 cup hulled sesame seeds
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Roast the sesame seeds in a 170° C oven for 5-10 minutes, keep an eye on them so they don't
burn. Chill



In a mixer, tip in the seeds and half of the oil. Mix to combine. Stop to clean the sides with a rubber spatula from time to time

After about 1 minute, slowly pour in the rest of the oil. Don't add all of it at the same time, as by adding a little at a time you can control how thick or thin you want you Tahini.

Store the Tahini in an air-tight jar in the fridge for quite a few weeks.

Sun-dried tomatoes

Don't you just love tomatoes? Fresh from the vine, tomato sauce on your spaghetti, or cut in half and sprinkled with salt for a fresh summer snack? I love tomatoes, and I especially love sun-dried tomatoes! It's such a versatile dish, you can have it in food, with food, or as food. I use it in my favourite Greek-inspired chicken dish- recipe will be added when I make it next.



Sun-dried tomatoes

1 kg tomatoes

generous drizzle of olive oil

a bunch of your favourite herbs, for example basil, oregano and/or tarragon

5 dl Vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic

1 dried chili

Heat your oven to a chocking 50 C. PLEASE OBSERVE, you need a fan/convection oven in order to make the sun-dried tomatoes!

1. Cut the tomatoes in slices or in halves and place on an oven tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with the herbs.

2. Bake for 12 hours or until most of the water content has vaporised from the tomatoes. Check from time to time, and be sure not to let the tomatoes go hard. It takes less time if you slice them, than if you cut them in half.

I had my oven on 80 C as it does not go as low as 50. The tomatoes then took roughly 6.5 hours.

3. Allow to cool, put the tomatoes in a sterilized glass jar layered with sliced garlic, and the chili, whole. Pour in the vegetable oil, and let the flavours mature for 1 month before use.

- Comments are love

Spices

I love my spices! I have quite a few, and I am always trying to update my spice rack with new and exciting spices. Here's a selection of the spices I have. Some are more exotic than others, but they are equally important when it comes to cooking delicious food!



Clove /Bay leaf

Dried red chili /Chinese Jasmin tea

Garam masala /Dried lime leaf

Dried curry leaf /Piper longum

Star anis /Tandoori masala

Methi seed /Cinnamon stick

Black onion seed /Cardemom pod

Red ground chili /Yellow curry powder

Black mustard seed /Fenugreek leaf

Chili-salt

I first made this salt as a trial and error. Looking through my cupboards I realized I had a whole bunch of dried chilies and a lot of rock salt that I did not quite know how to finish. Then I thought, why not combine the two? I did, and it was a big hit. I use is on my kettle made popcorn, a nice twist to my Friday treat.



Chili-salt

2 dried chili
½ dl table salt

Crush and grind the chili into a chunky powder, using a pestle and mortar. Add the salt and combine until the salt is a fine powder.

Store in an air-tight container.

Thai variation

2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1-2 fresh chili

Grind all ingredients in an pestle and mortar into a chunky powder. The fresh chilies will give the mix a pink-orange colour.

Sprinkle on fresh fruit and enjoy!

- As seen on Chez Pim

Challenge #1

The challenge for this week is to make a curry paste popular in Malaysian and Singaporean cooking:

Make Laksa curry paste

1 onion, quartered

2 tbsp ginger, grated

2 cloves garlic

2 stalks lemon grass, white part only

6 dried chillies, soaked and chopped

4 macadamia nuts

1 tbsp shrimp paste

6-8 Vietnamese mint leaves (Laksa leaves)

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1-2 tbsp sunflower oil

Mix everything together in a food processor or use a pestle and mortar. If making it in a p&m, leave out the oil unless the paste looks very dry. Store in an air-tight jar or freeze.

Vietnamese mint is also called Vietnamese coriander/cilantro, Cambodian mint, hot mint, and in Thailand it is called Pak Pai. If you can not find this at your local Asian food store, don't worry, you can skip it.

- As made by Jill Dupleix for Good Food Live

Green curry paste

Green curry paste is used a lot in Thai cooking, and it is surprisingly easy to make. I love it, and I keep a jar of it in the fridge at all times. Mix with coconut milk and add prawns, spring vegetables and noodles for an easy lunch!

Green curry paste

Makes 125 ml

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

6 green chillies, de-seeded and chopped

2 stalks of lemon grass

3 tbsp coriander/cilantro root, chopped

2 cm galangal, or ginger

1 shallot, large

zest and juice from one lime

1 pinch salt

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns

Just put everything into a food processor and blend into a smooth paste. Store in an air-tight jar in the fridge.

Freezes well up till 2 months.

- As seen in Ching's Kitchen

Pesto

I tried pesto for the very first time in London in 2003. And I instantly fell in love with this bright green sauce. I use it with pasta, just toss a spoon or two into a pan of spaghetti, add some grated Parmesan cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and olives for a quick and delicious lunch-treat.



Pesto

½ clove of garlic, grated
salt and pepper
3 handfuls of fresh basil leaves
½-1 dl pine nuts, lightly toasted
½-1 dl Parmesan cheese, grated
olive oil, optional
a squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

1. Mix garlic, salt and basil leaves in a pestle and mortar, or pulse in a food processor. Add the pine nuts and mix again.

2. Pour out into a bowl and add half the Parmesan cheese. Stir and add olive oil to make into a firm sauce.

3. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and cheese until you reach the desired taste.

4. Add lemon juice.

5. Keep in a sterilized jar, will keep in the fridge for 1-2 weeks if covered with a layer of olive oil, and ensuring you always use a clean spoon.

- As seen on Jamie Oliver

Lemon- infused ground black pepper

I don't know about the rest of the world, but in Sweden you can buy lemon-infused black pepper ready-made at your local supermarket. This one's for all you guys who don't have this luxury.



Lemon-infused ground black pepper

2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
the rind of 1 lemon, only the yellow part
1 tbsp salt
3 pinches garlic powder
3 pinches onion powder
2 pinches yellow mustard powder
1 tsp icing sugar

Mix all the spices together in a bowl. Put into an air-tight container and store in a cool, dry place.

Goes well with fish, and chicken.