Travels for Taste

Tales of travel and food with a touch of spice

Egg based Tea Time Treats – February 2017

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Put all your eggs into one basket for this exciting linky bloggers!

The new year seems to be hurtling us ahead in time at a lightning speed. January came and went in the blink of an eye! And before we know it we are already in Feb and the annual frenzy surrounding Valentine’s day seems to be in the air.

Every evening while I return from my evening stroll I happen to pass by a beautiful flower shop. The florist has gone a bit overboard this year with a massive heart-shaped display of red roses, red balloons and cute cuddly teddy bears! I think looking at that window display every day has subconsciously influenced me into purchasing a heart-shaped baking tray – believe me, I have resisted for many years now but this year, I just succumbed to the temptation.

So a heart-shaped cake or two will soon feature on the blog! That got my co-hosts, Jo and Karen thinking about the theme for this month’s #TeaTimeTreats linky and we all unanimously agreed on  EGGS!

lavenderandlovage_teatime

The vital ingredient to most sweet and savoury #TeaTimeTreats, eggs are not just for breakfast! Think muffins, cakes, cupcakes, sandwiches, quiches, french toast, pakodas, sweet and savoury delights! The possibilities are endless 🙂 Afternoon tea never felt so egg-citing 😉

Freshly picked Happy Eggs

Just a few reasons we at the #TeaTimeTreats team love EGGS!

  • Eggs are so versatile to cook with and they are easy on the pocket.
  • Eggs are DELICIOUS , great for kids and adults alike.
  • ONE egg has 13 essential vitamins and minerals.
  • ONE egg contains 6 gms of protein – wow!
  • Eggs are an egg-cellent source of vitamin D, vitamin B12, phosphorus and riboflavin
  • Eggs are great for those looking to loose weight as they can easily be incorporated into a healthy meal plan to support a regular exercise regime.
Egg Hopper
Chocolate Coconut Cake with Coconut flavoured Icing
Chocolate Coconut Cake with Coconut flavoured Icing
Ragi and Blueberry Pancakes , Finger Millet Blueberry Pancakes, Nachni chya god polya

So please do join in and link up with us for this month’s #TeaTimeTreats linky, can’t wait to see your cakes, pancakes, bakes, muffins, rolls, wraps, stuffed delights, crispy delights, fried temptations, based goodies, sweet treats, savoury treats and other creative recipes with egg as one of the ingredients- bring it on!

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Meanwhile, if you are looking for some recipe inspiration for leftover ingredients from Christmas that are still lurking around in your freezers, then have a look at these 7 creative ideas to have some fun cooking for tea.

7 tea time treat recipe ideas – January 2017 #TeaTimeTreats recipe round-up by Jo of Jo’s Kitchen Blog.

Just a gentle reminder of some simple rules to follow while linking up to #TeaTimeTreats

Rules:

  • Post your recipe on your blog with a link to Lavender and Lovage, Travels for Taste and Jo’s Kitchen and mention the relevant month’s host and attach the Tea Time Treats logo as shown on the event page.
  • Add Tea Time Treats in your blog post as a label/tag.
  • The recipe can be one of your own or one you’ve seen elsewhere.  You are welcome to republish old recipes/posts but please add the information about this challenge.
  • Please be as creative with the theme as you like.
  • If you put your post on Twitter please mention @KarenBurnsBooth,  @travelsfortaste, @Jos_Kitchen  and #teatimetreats in your message and we will re-tweet all those we see.
  • You do not need to enter every month to join in with the challenge.
  • Your post can be submitted for other blogging challenges, just make sure this complies with the rules of the other challenge.
  • VIP: Add your recipe link to the live linky posted at the bottom of every challenge post.
  • If using a recipe from another person, book, website, chef or blog, you must link back to the original recipe and not reproduce the recipe in full in your post. You must also use your OWN images for the recipe and not the original images, unless you have permission to do so, with appropriate links and any other information requested by the photo’s owner added to the image.

Get your creative hats on bloggers and make some magic happen with those eggs! Am so egg-cited to see what you come up with! (Don’t blame for being so egg-static!)

(Copy and paste the code below into your Text editor to embed the logo into your blog post)

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.lavenderandlovage.com/tea-time-treats" title="Tea Time
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Please add you Afternoon Tea and Tea Time Treats recipe links below!
THANK YOU and have a dreamy, happy and lovely February 2017, may every tea time be filled with inspirational recipes and eggy treats!
 Manjiri, Karen and Jo xxx

Fruity Tea at The Wallace Collection

Devilled Happy eggs

Zingy Turkish Poached Eggs

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I am a fan of eggs in any form and when I chanced upon this delightful Turkish recipe for combining eggs with thick and fulfilling greek yoghurt I just had to go ahead and experiment! Total Greek Yogurt 0% is fat-free, gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians and pregnant women – all good, no nasties! Besides these virtues its consistency is great and I have in the past few days consumed one of the smaller pots per day part in smoothies and just a dollop with my rice and curry dinner. There are so many versatile combinations that are possible with this yoghurt. From smoothies and shakes to use in cooking as a marinade or cooling dip with chopped goodies like fresh chives, garlic, chilli flakes etc.The thick and creamy consistency is a bonus if you’re trying to watch your weight too!

I made these poached eggs for brunch and served them with wholemeal pitta toasted in the same pan where I made my chilli butter – fabulous!

Traditionally this dish is called Cilbir (pronounced as chillburrr, roll the r’s!) is a Turkish dish of poached eggs with yoghurt (often with garlic mixed in). There are records of Cilbir being eaten by Ottoman sultans as far back as the 15th century. It is now common to serve the dish topped with melted butter infused with Aleppo pepper, for which paprika can be substituted. (Source: Wiki)

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Zingy Turkish Poached Eggs

Manjiri Chitnis
Print Recipe
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Turkish
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 5 – 6 cloves Garlic peeled and chopped fine
  • 500 grams Greek Yogurt
  • 50 grams Butter
  • 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
  • A pinch of chilli powder – as per your tolerance levels
  • A handful of fresh Mint roughly chopped
  • Sea Salt as per taste
  • Plenty of freshly cracked Black Pepper

Instructions
 

  • Boil water in a large saucepan, then cover with the lid and allow to simmer on a medium flame for a while
  • When the water is absolutely boiling hot, take off the lid and reduce the flame to a very low simmer. Then, carefully crack the eggs into the water one by one. They seem to sort of go ' freeze frame’ once dropped into the boiling water. Give them about 30 seconds when it seems like they have been poached carefully remove them one by one using a slotted spoon. If you suspect that the yolk will just burst open it means it needs some more time inside. Don’t worry if this process isn’t perfect the first time around , it is a learning curve and you will get it right in a few tries – in case of disaster scoop out as much of the egg as you can and after you are done with all the eggs use a sieve to save the remaining egg
  • Use two bowls or plates to serve. First, scoop some yoghurt into each of the serving bowls. Season with sea salt, a generous sprinkling of cracked black pepper and a pinch of chilli powder. Mix well
  • Create a bit of shallow space in the middle of the yoghurt mix and place the poached eggs on top
  • Heat a non-stick pan on a medium flame, and reduce flame to a simmer. Melt the butter and before it starts to brown add the finely chopped garlic and smoked paprika. Then add some sea salt
  • Quickly pour this delicious golden spiced butter over the eggs and yoghurt
  • Garnish by sprinkling some fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped for a burst of fresh flavour
  • Toast the mini wholemeal pitta bread portions in the same pan that was used to melt and spice the butter and it will give your pitta that extra kick of flavour!
  • Scoop the flavoured poached egg and the cooling yoghurt with the pitta bread. It’s a beautiful sensation on your palate as the cold yoghurt and smoked paprika work their magic on your taste buds
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Disclaimer: With many thanks to Total UK. I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. Like all my previous posts about events and reviews, ALL opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
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WHY NOT TRY MY OTHER RECIPES WITH EGGS AS THE STAR INGREDIENT?

I VISISTED A BUSY EGG FARM WHERE HENS ROAM IN RURAL ENGLAND, HAVE A READ AND BROWSE THROUGH SOME PICTURES FOR A VIRTUAL TOUR

Behind the scenes at an Egg Farm

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

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Frankie – Popular Indian street food

Tawa Frankie Roll – How I decided to re-create this popular Indian street food at home. In 2014, global flavour leader McCormick, the parent company of leading herbs and spices brand Schwartz, is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The yearlong celebration kicks off with the launch of the 125th Anniversary Edition of the Flavour Forecast (a new, annual prediction of what ‘flavours’ will be most popular in the cooking world) and the Flavour of Together programme, with the goal of connecting people around the world as they share 1.25 million stories about the special role food and flavour plays in our lives through.

To inspire people to share their flavour stories and tell the blogger community about Flavour Forecast, McCormick challenged me and a few other bloggers  to come up with a new recipe that is based on the Flavour Forecast trends :

1. Chillies Obsession: Food lovers everywhere are seeking out their next big chilli thrill.

2. Modern Masala: Indian food is finally having its moment, breaking free of its traditional confines with modern interpretations.

3. Clever Compact Cooking: Proving that big flavours can come from small spaces, cooks in urban kitchens are making the most of what’s available.

4. Mexican World Tour: Mexican flavours are making their way around the globe, with people everywhere discovering new aspects of this bright, casual cuisine.

5. Charmed by Brazil: The world’s attraction to Brazilian cuisine is heating up, thanks to its seductive mix of global and native influences.

I decide to take up Modern Masala as a flavour trend. Coming from India, using a complex mix of spices as part of our daily diet has always been a part of my life. The beautiful large open fruit n vegetable markets even in major cities are a visual treat and there is a lot of passion involved in say getting the right type of chilli powder. So I think my recipe is an amalgamation of these two big flavour trends together – Chillies Obsession and Modern Masala and of course because I manage all my culinary experiments in my tiny urban kitchen which is the size of a postage stamp I am sure my recipe also covers the theme Clever Compact Cooking!

My most vivid memory of spices being sold loose is of this huge wholesale and retail market in an area called Parel, Mumbai in India. There are many tiny shops and vendors which hand carts with huge piles of spices, bright red chillies in jute sacks, and mini yellow mountains of turmeric and ever imaginable spice being sold in the open. Of course, with our modern industries being so well developed we always used masalas out of a packet but the sheer variety available locally in any small town in India is mind-boggling.

Pune, India - spice market
Pune, India – spice market

In London, whenever I trudge to my local Indian shop and purchase Indian spices, I secretly wish that I could get an unlimited supply of aai’s homemade masalas. Her garam masala and red chilli powder where she carefully selects 2 types of chillies with varying degrees of heat and roasts them in a kadhai after they have been dried in the blistering hot afternoon sun! Then she takes it to a local mill where it is ground and packed into a large ceramic jar and then stored at home.

I have made a simplified version of Tibbs Frankie using boneless mutton and a variety of Schwartz spices which were sent to me. You could safely say that this fella ”Frankie” is a distant cousin of the Fajita and the Kathi Roll.

How this Frankie came into being is also a very interesting story which I shall share in a few lines here. These lines are from the Tibbs Frankie website

”The year 1967 Mr. Amarjit Tibb on returning back from England had a stopover in Beirut. During his brief stop there he stumbled upon a very ingenious Lebanese preparation, which was a pita bread wrap, with a variety of stuffing’s, this fascinated him. Upon his return the idea still lingered on and he kept innovating it to suit the Indian palate, after a year of research along with his wife they hit upon the perfect concoction. This Indianised wrap was soon tried among friends and family and after testing brilliantly it hit the markets. That was a new era to the term fast food in Mumbai, it caught on like fire in the Jungle, people accepted it and kept asking for more.Now came the problem of naming the product, again a number of brainstorming became the order of the day till a unanimous decision on the name was taken i.e. Frankie”

This explosion of flavours in a handy easy to eat roll which was given a  modern food truck makeover is a gastronomic delight and is available in a large variety of stuffings both veg and non-veg.I have rather fond memories of my college days and spending my pocket money which was always in short supply on these spicy, tasty rolls with a bunch of friends giggling away and then gathering any loose change we had left amongst us to buy a bottle or two of some fizzy cola to quench our thirst. Alert : have been suddenly been hit by a huge wave of nostalgia 🙂

I have created what is my version of a tawa chicken roll (tawa meaning pan in Hindi), the original Tibbs frankie filling is a tangy spicy  taste which they attribute to a secret ”Frankie Masala” – humm , well I think I got pretty close 😉 – evil laugh follows 🙂  You can go crazy and creative with the fillings and use this recipe idea to use up meat from your sunday roast, try various different veg and non veg patties with meat and masalas rolled into boiled potato casing and shallow fried. Great way to use a lot of colorful veggies and create a stir fry filling too – the possibilities are endless.

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll
Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

Tawa Frankie Roll

Manjiri Chitnis
Popular Indian street food, this was created in Mumbai and is a deliciously paratha stuffed with a variety of fillings and green chutney
5 from 7 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Fusion Indian
Servings 2 People

Equipment

  • Tawa – Flat frying pan
  • Saptula

Ingredients
  

Tawa Chicken Filling

  • 50 Grams Chicken breast
  • 1 pinch Asafoetida
  • 2 tsp Garam Masala
  • Onion salt as per taste
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Minced
  • 2 tsp Coriander Powder
  • 1 tsp Cumin Powder
  • Red Chilli powder as per taste
  • 1/2 thum-sized Fresh Ginger fresh peeled
  • 2 medium Red onions finely chopped
  • 1 tsp Turmeric
  • 2 lage Jjuicy tomatoes chopped very fine
  • 1 large Green chilli split lengthwise
  • 1 Red pepper slit lengthwise
  • 3 tbsp Cooking oil

Mint and Coriander Chutney

  • 1 large bunch Fresh Coriander
  • 1 small bunch Fresh Mint leaves
  • 2 Green chillies
  • 1/2 Lime – freshly squeezed
  • Salt to taste

For the Frankie filling

  • 1 large Red onion chopped lengthwise

For the Paratha coating

  • 2 small Eggs
  • Salt for seasoning

Instructions
 

To make the Chicken Filling

  • Heat a saucepan on medium heat and add the oil
  • Once the oil is hot, add the asafoetida
  • Then add split green chilli and crushed fresh ginger
  • Saute' and add the garlic granules
  • Saute' and add the garlic granules, when the garlic begins to give out a strong fried aroma its time to add the finely chopped red onion
  • Cook the onion till it reduces and turns a delicious brown, then add the coriander and cumin powder and garam masala and mix well
  • Then add the finely chopped tomato and add very little water and cook for 1 -2 minutes without lid
  • Stir frequently, so as to ensure the mixture does not stick to the saucepan
  • Now the spices have been thoroughly cooked along with the onion and tomato to make a thick gravy
  • Cut the chicken breasts and red peppers into lenghthwise strip and add to the gravy
  • Add onion salt to the mixture, red chilli powder and turmeric
  • Cover and cook until done

To make the Mint and Coriander Chutney

  • Wash the coriander and mint leaves, blend to a smoothpaste with a green chilli
  • To reduce the heat use 1 chilli de-seeded.Add the salt and lime juice and sblend once again
  • A smooth thick green paste is the consistency we are after – add some water to adjust the consistency
  • This chutney stores for upto 10 days in the freezer in a clean ,air tight jar – rarely lasts that much in my house though -I love making Bombay sandwich for dinner with this delightful chutney

To make the coating for the Paratha

  • Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat with a fork, add salt to taste
  • Using a plastic brush spread on the surface of a frozen ready to eat paratha
  • Place the eggy side down on a hot pan coated with some cooking oil
  • Ready to eat frozen parathas are readily available in most supermarkets and Indian grocery stores

How to put the Frankie Roll together

  • Once the paratha coated with egg has been cooked on both sides, slather it with the mint and coriander chutney and add some red onion chopped lengthwise
  • Add a generous helping of the chicken filling , roll and wrap one end with some kitchen foil or baking paper. Enjoy hot
  • Dip into the chutney or tomato ketchup as you munch along
Keyword Frankie
Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll
Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

After I received the samples and wrote up my flavour story, my left hand was operated on (unexpected rescheduling) – a minor but rather errrmmm painful surgery and I walk around most of the time with a sling (promptly remove it as soon as OH leaves home for work hehe) So I had a bit of a panic attack about getting this post up on time,I know I missed the deadline by a few days  🙁

But am really grateful to the kind folks up at McCormick for bearing with me. Also I would like to thank OH for patiently chopping and cutting all the fresh ingredients for me and helping me to click these lovely photographs – what would I do without you? Sighh…

The company has pledged to donate $1 to United Way Worldwide and it’s UK partner Focus on Food, for every story shared on the Schwartz website, Facebook page or other social channels.

Disclaimer: Schwartz Samples and voucher for ingredients purchase sent by McCormick I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Chocolate Coconut Cake with Coconut flavoured Icing

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Decadent Chocolate cake with a delicious coconut flavoured icing

Dreaming of a chocolate cake, baking it, and devouring it, is a common obsession of mine. Also, I had many excuses to bake chocolatey treats, what with Valentine’s just around the corner. Not to mention many other reasons to eat cake following in quick succession after Valentines – my dad and husband’s birthday and our wedding anniversary, woohoo!

With so many occasions all lined up one after the other, a mega celebration was in order. And as we all know any celebration, big or small is incomplete without, yes you guessed right a proper cake.

So my plan was to bake an indulgent and rich chocolate cake and how better than Nigella to look to for a good recipe! Unable to pick a recipe on my own, I asked my neighbour’s adorable 5-year daughter to flip through Nigella Lawson’s book ”Feast” – Food That Celebrates Life. Lucky for me she stopped flipping pages at Nigella’s Old Fashioned Chocolate cake recipe. Better still it is made using only the food processor – so very perfect.

Besides, no better way to bring in Valentine’s week than by baking a decadent chocolate cake with hints of coconut flavour and adding some coconut flavoured icing on the top. I love Nigella’s original recipe which I have (dared to!) modify as I had been thinking of ways to use the lovely samples sent to me by Sugar and Crumbs.

I have modified the original recipe by using three medium-sized regular eggs, thick yogurt instead of sour cream, and have reduced the quantity of ingredients for the icing because I am not a big fan of slathering a very thick layer of sugary icing in between the layers nor am I very fond of a huge layer of icing on the top but I guess even after reducing the quantities of ingredients for the icing I still managed to get lots to smother the cake with. I have used Sugar and Crumbs flavoured cocoa powder in Chocolate Coconut and Sugar and Crumbs flavored natural icing sugar in coconut flavour, result – a perfectly balanced taste of coconut without being overpowering. So am calling my cake – ”Chocolate Coconut Cake with Coconut flavoured Icing”.For the remaining part, the original recipe is perfect, basic, simple, and therefore beautiful as it is foolproof and even a novice can get an excellent delicious, fluffy, and intensely chocolatey cake – very satisfying indeed! Thank You, Nigella!

Chocolate Coconut Cake with Coconut flavoured Icing

Chocolate Coconut Cake

Easy and delicious Chocolate cake recipe
Print Recipe
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 8 portions

Equipment

  • Two 8 inch Round cake tins
  • Food Processor or stand-mixer
  • Spatula
  • Measuring spoons
  • Cake tester or thin skewer

Ingredients
  

  • 200 grams plain flour
  • 200 grams caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 40 grams Sugar and Crumbs flavoured cocoa powder in Chocolate Coconut
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 175 grams soft unsalted butter
  • 3 medium-sized eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 150 ml thick-set yogurt

Instructions
 

  • Sift the plain flour through a sieve into a large mixing bowl
  • Add the caster sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and bicarbonate of soda
  • Mix well with a spatula and transfer it into the food processor
  • Crack the eggs into the mixture, add the vanilla essence and the yogurt and mix roughly with a spatula before running the food processor to ensure that the loose flour doesn’t fly all over the place. For the first 30 seconds, I lightly covered the chute of the processor with my palm to prevent the flour from flying out in a mist. Now, this is the reason I want a Kitchen Aid 😉
  • After an initial spin, use the blunt edge of the knife to scoop out what stuck to the walls of the processor and mix well with the cake batter.
  • Don’t worry if you think the batter is very thick, another spin for about a minute should give you the required consistency to ”pour” into the cake tins
  • Grease two removable base 8-inch tins with butter and equally divide the cake batter into each tin
  • Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C/350ºF
  • Bake for 25 minutes and then test the center of the cake with a cake tester or thin skewer
  • My cakes were done in 25 minutes but you may need up to 30 minutes depending on the type of oven. The cakes rose beautifully but the top had cracks. The icing was there to save the day and make the cake look pretty
  • Remove cakes from the baking tray and leave to cool down on a wire rack

Coconut flavoured Icing

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 50 grams unsalted butter
  • 125 grams best quality dark chocolate broken into small pieces
  • 225 grams icing sugar
  • 100 ml sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • While the cakes are in the oven prepare the icing by mixing together all the ingredients of the icing
  • The original recipe calls for adding golden syrup but I totally gave that a miss
  • Why? Because I had already borrowed some butter, some yogurt, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda from my very patient neighbour H 😉 – yes, yes she did get a large portion of this cake 🙂
  • Now to ice the cakes place the slightly domed part of one cake face down and slather icing on the flat part and place the other cake flat side down on the icing and then slather icing all over the cake
  • I had some pretty pink and white sugar stars which I used to decorate my cake.

I have also been sent Sugar and Crumbs Coffee Flavoured icing sugar and a pack of salted caramel powder, maybe cupcakes need to be baked next ?:)

Need more recipe inspiration to get baking?

Why not check out my other recipes here:

Linking this post to the  We should Cocoa event hosted by Choclette who blogs at Choc Log Blog where the challenge is to use an ingredient and that ingredient is chocolate – how apt for Valentines, and with all that gorgeous dark chocolate this cake certainly qualifies!

My blog post is being linked to Dom’s Random Recipes event hosted by Dom who blogs at Belleau Kitchen, where for February the challenge is to select any chocolate-themed recipe book and to make a randomly selected recipe from that book. The idea of this recipe challenge is to make us home chefs step outside our comfort zones and make something that we would otherwise hesitate to and totally avoid. Humm okay, I got off easy this time 🙂

Also for the first time. I’m joining in with Jibber Jabber’s Love Cake first-ever event where the theme for the month of love is Baking with Passion and is a cake-baking challenge.

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Disclaimer: With many thanks to Sugar and Crumbs for the generous amount of samples to test and review.I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. Like all my previous posts about events and reviews, ALL opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Demystifying Tapas – ‘TAPAS REVOLUTION’ – Chef Omar Allibhoys new cookbook

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Excited that I would be meeting the young and talented Chef Omar Allibhoy at the Launch of his Book called Tapas Revolution at his Tapas bar by the same name I couldn’t wait to get myself to The Balcony at Westfield,Shepherd’s Bush. The district Line managed to live upto its reputation of being the most non trustworthy of all the tubes lines with delays and finally after 3 changes I managed to reach the venue! Gaah!

Any feelings of angst soon vanished when the I saw familiar faces at the Tapas Bar. A few of the food bloggers I met at FBC’5 were there and as the evening progressed I met some more interesting foodies. It’s the best part of being a foodies, talking food with like-minded people and feeling totally normal discussing spices,ingredients, chefs and cookbooks, never a dry spell in conversation I say.In all we were a  group of about ten to fifteen food bloggers invited to Chef Omar’s book launch – TAPAS REVOLUTION – 120 simple CLASSIC Spanish dishes.

What followed was an evening of great food, lots of Sangria (for me), an insight into Spain’s rich culinary traditions and of course lots of picture-taking,posing for pictures and in my case eating some foods I have never dared to try until now!

If one thing is apparent as I  watch Chef Omar effortlessly dishing out one plateful of flavour after another is his passion for food. All of 29 this young man has taken it upon himself , a mission of sorts to revolutionize the Spanish Tapas and put them firmly on the U.K Map and as Tom Parker Bowles of the Mail on Sunday has said ”….with this talent,passion and dedication the revolution’s in good hands” and mind you all this and his Charm and good looks is a perfect combination for success! Lucky for us especially knowing the humble beginnings of Tapas which literally meant ‘tapa’ or ‘to cover’ and according one of the theories of their origin they were served free to cover one’s drink and save it from flies!

Chef Omar and his cheerful team orchestrated the whole evening well ,after all not a mean task to serve 14 different dishes perfectly plated and all this while ensuring that our glasses never ran dry!

Some of the mouth-watering delights we tucked into :

Jamon (Ham) Ibe’rico – Ibe’rico  ham gets its rich nutty flavour from the  pigs that roam freely in the woodlands of Spain eating acorns and herbs.

 Salmorejo – Bread served with Chilled and  divine Tomato dip called Salmorejo – a chilled tomato dip traditionally from Seville.  I am not ashamed to admit that I wiped off every last drop of the Salmorejo dip off my plate and all this with a very innocent face and while making polite conversation;)This dip is very similar to the cold cucumber soup or Gazpacho because it is served chilled.

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BOQUERONES – Anchovies Marinated in black olives,red onion,paprika and cumin (Image on the top of collage)

Pimientos De Padron‘ – Fried Padron Peppers (Image on the bottom of collage)

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Tortilla De Patatas – Spanish Omlette with Charlotte Potatoes served with a dip called ALIOLI or Mayonnaise made with – get this MILK!

tortilla, and with an aioli made with MILK

I was now feeling like a true Spaniard and was thanking the generous crew with my new favourite Spanish word ”Muchas Gracias” though instead of the quick and correct way in which they seem to gently throw this word, my tongue doesn’t oblige me and as a result I get a puzzled look to my strange-sounding word.I still firmly maintain that this is going to be my most loved word in Spanish after Jamon and Pimientos.I plan to land these words on unsuspecting subjects all of next week (shall have to refrain from doing that in public particularly on the tube for fear of getting whacked by shocked commuters who would assume I was saying naughty abusive words in a foreign tongue to make them squirm in their seats while I try to balance my errremmm not so slim self un-gainfully around the pole with 5 other people trying to get their paws on it for support) hummm

Pulpo a la Gallega – Steamed octopus with potatoes and Pimenton – This dish looked so tempting that I happily ate it and only when I was home and typing this up did I realise that it’s the first time ever I have dared eat an Octopus after a singularly scary episode of eating one years ago and breaking out in a rash before I could blink, I have since steered clear of this delicacy to avoid turning into a puffer fish and scaring fellow diners away.But no any more, Tapas Rule woohoo!

Calamares fritos – deep-fried baby squid (Image on the right)

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Pollo en pepitoria – Moorish Chicken. Chicken in saffron, cumin and vegetable sauce, honestly not my favourite  but still great depth of taste because of the saffron and cumin together some notes of taste would be similar to that of an Indian curry but with many other levels of flavour.

Chicken(Pollo) in a gracy with spices and almonds

By now our gastronomic journey had traversed from simple to exotic in about 3 platefulls and this juicy beef skewer was supremely satisfying on all counts, the sea slat hits the palate after your teeth has sunk into the meat and the spices have enveloped your mouth in an avalanche of taste – this is my clear favourite and only the Tortilla and Alioli with its surprise ingredient – Milk manage to scrape their way in as close second favorites.

Pinchos morunos con mojo picón – marinated beef skewers with a spicy dipping sauce.Everything about this dish including the dip was so perfect, I could eat this everyday and not get bored.

Beef Skewers

Breaking bread with fellow foodies today over Sangria and some Bubbly Cava ,it seemed natural to chew on a Pimento now and move onto more complex and vibrant flavours. Now am quite stuffed and happy and chatting with Li and Dee (nice ring there huh,almost musical !) and am secretly hoping no more food but they don’t seem to stop wanting to feed us!And its too good to resist anyway…

Image Below: 

Papas Arrugadas Con Mojos – Wrinkled Potatoes with Mojo – This is the Chef’s hand me down family recipe and how they do potatoes in the Canary Islands, again another spectacular dip with coriander , very tasty and appealed a lot to my Indian taste buds a lot.

Croquetas de jamón – deeped-fried Iberico ham croquettes, these look innocent but are little parcles of delight as they go from cripsy to gooey soft full throttle taste machines as you bite into them,Advance Warning – Seriously addictive and I did try and steal more than my share from the sharing platter ….obviously Unsuccesfull  and a bit let down, the crew wouldn’t have it, so they served me some Cava!!

resized - best of the evening2

The clear winner for me though was the Pinchos morunos con mojo picón which has rich, robust and full bodied taste. I am certainly going to try and cook that sometime very soon. I see a Tapas party at mine happening soon enough with a few good friends some time soon, all they need to do is bring the Cava 😉

Oh wait, just when I was about to put my camera away, we were served Crema Catalana – Catalonian Custard Pots and Churros con Chocolate.OMG! Those custard pots are bits of perfection with a crunchy caramelised top and a creamy smooth custard with hints of vanilla. And those Churros….oooooo, instantly transported me to sunny shores on a perfect summers day.It took all of me to resist not dipping my finger into the liquid chocolate.

Helen, thanks for patiently letting me attempt clicking a picture of the Churros dripping chocolate while Chef Omar urged us to give the churros a generous dunk into this brown liquid goodness.

Crema Catalana
Churros
Dripping goodness

Mind you I left the venue a convert,with Spanish Cuisine demystified and Tapas explained,many firsts for me here:

  1. First Time I dared eat Octopus Yeah!
  2. Best Calamari I ever ate
  3. First ever Book Launch
  4. 3 glasses of Sangria and was able to walk in a straight line – all thanks to how stuffed those deceptively small platefulls can make one feel! Wow

Armed with a signed copy of  Chef Omar Allibhoy’s wonderful new book – TAPAS REVOLUTION (with food pictures that give me weak knees) ,I am confident that even a novice like me can make a valiant attempt at dishing up some of the delightful tapas and learn some fun tricks along the way. The beauty of the book lies in the fact that one can source these ingredients very easily in their local supermarket or simply raid their kitchen cupboards to create something absolutely wonderful. No fuss ,no do-dah. Just pure and  simple Food – for each one of us to create a  Revolution.

2013-08-08 21.15.46
Chef,me with book

Cheers!

Muchas Gracias to the organisers for inviting me to this wonderful evening of food, fun and tipples and watch the charming Chef Omar cook us Tapas!

Vintage Frittata recipe inspired by ”Angel”

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Well as my previous blog post mentioned I am quite besotted with my latest cookbook – The Vintage Tea Party by Angel. She is such a talented lady and anyone with orange hair,a vivid imagination, a vast collection of Vintage odds and ends and a great cook to top is all is my kind of hero!

So I first ate a Frittata at my workplace where it was served during tea time,anything remotely associated with eggs and I simply must try it, I could live on fried eggs ,omelettes ,scrambled eggs and yes Frittatas!

I surfed up info about the origin of Frittata because that’s the beauty of food and recipes, they start from someplace and then suddenly are popular world cuisine and everyone’s making their own versions. Some food blogs have really well researched posts about the Frittata and I do recommend reading them:

http://www.delallo.com/articles/la-frittata-egg-dish-endless-possibilities

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2008/12/i-have-change-and-treat-for-you-today.html

http://www.thefoodadvicecentre.co.uk/reference/recipes/frittata/

Wikipedia defines a Frittata as : The Italian word frittata derives from fritto, the past participle of “to fry” (friggere),[1] and was originally a general term for cooking eggs in a skillet, anywhere on the spectrum from fried egg, through conventional omelette, to an Italian version of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, made with fried potato. Outside Italy, frittata was seen as equivalent to “omelette” until at least the mid-1950s.

Well,Angel’s recipe is an antithesis to this logic,why? well because it’s OVEN BAKED not fried and secondly is rather basic yet tasty,her recipe recommends using flower petals to decorate and also cutting it into shapes to make it more visually delightful and intriguing. Ofcourse what I’ve cooked isn’t a patch on the beautiful Angel’s creation but it’s a sort of a tribute to her, in a demi god,fan like behaviour sort of a way…!!

By all means if any one of you does create one anything close to Angel’s original, please do share your feedback and pictures !

I have scaled down the ingredients for 2 people and added a few twists here and there for experimental touches of my own!

Ingredient list to whip up a mean frittata- Vintage and all that 🙂 remember to roll up ur hair in a bun while making it and think Vintage :),Angel style !

  1. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  2. Half a white onion sliced
  3. 1 Courgette  finely sliced into half-moon slice
  4. 5 large free range eggs
  5. Salt
  6. cracked black pepper
  7. Goats cheese crumbled

Method

  1. Pre Heat the oven to 220° C /Fan 200° C/ Gas mark 7. Line a baking tin with non-stick baking paper.
  2. Heat oil in a small frying pan and fry the onions until soft for about 2 minutes, stir in the chopped courgette bits,fry on a higher flame for about 4 minutes till it’s goldenish. Angel advises not stirring or tossing this too much in her book and I do agree.
  3. Beat eggs in a bowl,season with salt and add the onion and courgette mixture.

4. Crumble some goats cheese and  then transfer above mixture to a baking tin of your choice, I simply used my small cake tin. Bake for about 15 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack and serve hot.Season with cracked black pepper sprinkled on top.

I think this makes for a really delicious and filling tea time snack and is really easy to make when time is a constraint,which is almost always in our busy lives.

Of course,Angel’s recipe differs and requires some more cooking as there is cheese and is seasoned with edible gerbera petals, I will try it once am able to lay my hands on those delicate beauties.

To check out Angel’s website click here

Trust if me if you already haven’t, her books are a MUST HAVE in everyone’s personal collection of recipe books, I for one am totally smitten!

Basic Chocolate Cake with Frosting

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What better way to celebrate a new FOODISTA Badge for my post on Shahi Khichadi than by baking a chocolate cake, I firmly believe that chocolate is the one word that instantly lifts sagging spirits and the whole baking process itself is cathartic! So sistahs let’s BAKE!

Basic Chocolate Cake with Frosting

Manjiri Chitnis
Delicious, easy must-have Chocolate cake recipe with frosting
Print Recipe
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Fusion

Equipment

  • Cake tin
  • Whisk
  • Hand-Blender or Stand-Mixer
  • Wire-rack to cool the cake
  • Probe to test cake
  • Spatula to frost the cake
  • Measuring spoons
  • Baking Parchment

Ingredients
  

  • 225 gms Butter softened
  • 225 gms Caster Sugar
  • 4 Eggs
  • 220 gms Self-Raising Flour
  • 3 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Soda-Bicarbonate

For the frosting

  • 100 gms Butter
  • 100 gms Icing Sugar
  • 1 tbsp CocoaPowder
  • Shaved Chocolate for garnish
  • Fresh Strawberries for garnish
  • Granish of choice

Instructions
 

  • Lightly Grease two cake tins and line the bottoms with non stick-parchment. I manage without parchment , it's up to you, if yo are baking for the first time use it as it prevents the sides from burning.
  • Preheat Oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
  • Ensure butter is completely softened or else use the old foolproof way – heat water in a pan ,place a vessel on top with the butter inside minus any packaging, watch it soften like a man melts when he looks onto the eyes's of his dearest ,ahem …
  • Measure the Butter and sugar into a bowl and mix well they form a creamy mix, I used a fork and gave it a good old whipping:) – think of someone you dislike – your boss , your mil, your annoying neighbour, Baba Yaga the Witch – whoever – just whip away,hehehe
  • Add 3 medium or 4 small eggs, I used 3 medium-sized eggs.
  • Swift the self-raising flour into this mix ,followed by the baking powder, soda bicarbonate ,cocoa powder and beat till really smooth , I didn’t even need a hand blender as the butter was perfectly soft and the flour well swifted , though do go ahead and use a hand blender on low setting for about a minute , have added a picture so you know the look of consistency.
  • Divide the mixture between the two tins. I used the foil of the butter packaging to grease the cake tins, no wastage in my kitchen !
  • Bake in a pre-heated oven for approximately 25-30mins.
  • While in the oven make the icing by creaming together the butter and icing sugar and add cocoa powder, mix until smooth.
  • Cover frosting and set aside
  • Allow the baked cakes to cool down completely on a wire-rack before frosting
  • Sandwich the frosting in-between the two cakes
  • Add some on the sides and sprinkle the crunchy choco balls on the top , go all crazy and add some chocolate shavings , I did !
Keyword Basic Chocolate Cake

 
 
Looking for more inspiration to get baking?

Why not have a look at my other recipes:

”POSH ”Victoria Sponge Cake

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What better way to celebrate the excitement surrounding the Olympics happening in London than sinking my teeth into a perfectly delicious soft Victoria Sponge Cake!

It’s an easy recipe and the result left me feeling like so very happy!

I tried to read up online why it is called a ”Victoria” Sponge cake and the apt answer seems that since Queen Victoria loved this soft cake with her afternoon tea! So I am going to savour the cake and afternoon tea as I cheer myself hoarse in front of the telly whilst watching the Olympics 🙂

Lovely! So let’s get baking and when your done gobbling some of it, drop me a line and let me know how much you enjoyed creating this yummy delight!

This cake serves 8 people, takes about an hour to prepare.

I choose to call it ”POSH” because that’s Victoria Beckham’s pop name, our very own British star and this cake is modernised version of a British Classic recipe with a twist as it is layered with Creme Chantilly’ – very posh sounding indeed!

Ingredients:

  • 225 g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
  • 4 medium-sized eggs, organic if you please
  • 225 g caster sugar
  • 225 g self-raising flour
  • 4- 5 Large tablespoons of Strawberry Jam, the traditional version uses raspberry Jam, I used strawberry conserve.
  • 250 gm fresh strawberries sliced lengthways
  • Icing Sugar for dusting on top of the cake
  • Soda Bicarbonate – 1 teaspoon
  • Baking Powder 1 Teaspoon

To make the  crème Chantilly:

  • 300 ml double cream – so sinful 😉
  • 25 g icing sugar
  • I tiny cap full of Vanilla essence, the original recipe inspired by The Good Food Channel advises to use – 1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways and seeds scraped or vanilla extract

METHOD :

  • Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line two 18cm cake tins with a removable based with baking paper. I inaugurated my brand new weighing scales and cute cake tins I purchased for all future cake making experiments!
  • Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and cream well until light and fluffy – this will take at least 10 minutes to get it properly aerated. Use the 10 minutes you have to wash and clean the strawberries and slice them lengthwise. This was also a first for me in terms of using my food processor to mix the butter and sugar mix. Then empty this butter sugar mix into a large mixing bowl, I also have a NEW nice bright Orange bowl!
  • Break each egg and add one at a time, whisk the mixture well after each addition to ensure it is soft and fluffy.
  • Add the self-raising flour to the above butter, sugar and egg mixtures, I added one spoon at a times and mixed it really well each time. Add the Bicarbonate of soda and Baking Powder to this mixture, I used this as I do in every cake but the original good food channel recipe does not mention these 2 ingredients. Later I used a hand blender to really get this mixture to feel like one entity and till it felt right to pour into the ready cake tins.
  • Now pour the above cake mix in equal portions into the  2 cake tins and smooth the top with a plastic spoon, the type you get with a food processor.
  • Bake for 20 minutes, with a timer, until risen and golden. Ensure you do not go over the 20 minutes, also if you are using a fan oven as I do, use only the setting that heats from below.

For the crème Chantilly:

  • Put the cream in the food processor, add the icing sugar and the vanilla essence. Whip to the soft peak stage, using the slow speed setting then refrigerate until slightly firmed.
  • Take the strawberry jam into a small pan and warm gently whilst stirring, use low flame and do not leave on pan for tool long.
  • Remove the cakes from the cake tin, on the top of one cake spread the jam from the pan and add the chopped strawberries.
  • Then get the Creme Chantilly’ from the fridge and spread generously over this.
  • Place the second cake on this and press down ever so gently.
  • Dust the top of this lovely sponge cake with a bit of icing sugar and decorate with a blob of the Creme Chantilly’ and some sliced strawberries!

Voila, the classic British cake with a twist – Posh Victoria Sponge is ready for you to savour, impress your family and friends and enjoy baking over and over again!

An Omelette with a twist

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Your regular omelette but better

Easy omelette recipe

What’s life without a bit of a twist I say!

So here’s one of my “different” omelette recipes, I love eating eggs in all shapes and forms and am more so obsessed with omelettes and scrambled eggs.

This recipe is for hungry morning times when you have a rumbling tummy and need time to hold the tummy quiet and prepare for rest of the day. It is a filling, satisfying yummy start to the day, I serve this with 2 slices of toast buttered with a generous blog of organic grass-fed butter and a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice to wash it down 🙂

Ok so you will need the following ingredients and a really easy short process to cook this yummy egg omelette

An Omelette with a twist

Fluffy, delicious egg omelette
5 from 6 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 6 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Fusion
Servings 1 person

Equipment

  • 1 Non-stick frying pan
  • 1 egg-whisk or fork
  • 1 Spatula
  • 1 Knife
  • 1 Chopping Board

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 large Red onion chopped lengthwise
  • 1/2 Garlic cloves sliced very fine lengthwise again
  • 1 Chicken Sausage
  • 2 Green chillies
  • 1 tsp Red chilli powder
  • Olive Oil as required or unsalted butter
  • Salt as per taste

Instructions
 

  • Chop the red onion lengthwise and so also the garlic clove.
  • Heat frying pan over medium heat.
  • Sauté the red onion n garlic slices in a generous blob of butter on a pan until the onion starts to reduce turns a mild brown n stays ab it soft.
  • Transfer the onion and garlic onto a creamic plate and allow to cool down a bit.
  • Crack two eggs in a mixing bowl, beat them well using a whisk or a fork until you see loads of bubbles forming and the eggs have a nice thick consistency.
  • Now mix in the onions and garlic into the eggs, add the chopped chillies, red chilli powder.
  • Roughly chop the chicken sausage and add into the egg mixture, mix well
  • Heat the same frying pan on a medium add and add some more butter if you like, when the pan is hot , pour the egg mixture into the pan.
  • Cook with a lid for a few minutes, then using a wooden spatula loosen the omelette around the eggs, flip and cook until done on the other side without a lid, reduce the heat as required.
  • Serve hot with toasted sourdough smothered in butter, a nice strong cup of masala chai and some freshly squeezed orange juice or a slice of grapefruit.
Keyword Omlette

Recipe Notes:

  • I like to chop the red onion and garlic lengthwise. Why, you ask? Because in an omelette the tiny square bits will loose themselves and vanish I like to chomp on and feel the taste of all the ingredients as I eat the omelette and appreciate each and every ingredient, it’s just so much more fulfilling and creates an immense feeling of happiness as a creator of a true mouth-watering masterpiece.
  • The red onion should be sauteed to the point it is still soft and light brown so that when you bite into it, it releases a sweet burst of onion taste on your palate.
  • Feel free to swap the butter for olive oil or an oil spray.
  • I prefer to use unsalted butter, I mean who wants to pump their body with extra sodium, not me, hellow normal blood pressure!
  • A fluffy, well-cooked omelette is a joy to cook and serve and even nigger pleasure to eat so it is imperative to get the timing of flipping it over absolutely spot-on and correct, it comes with practise and you will love it!
  • Feel free to innovate and improvise this recipe, throw in bits of sweet pepper, sweet corn, spinach that is about to go off, or some kale that is looking tired, add in your favourite cheese or not. I leave that to your imagination, creativity, and what is available at hand!

AAAHHH pure omelette pleasure.

If you do make and enjoy eating this share your partner or husband or children’s reactions, it will surely make me smile.

Egg-citing egg recipes to inspire you!

I visisted a busy egg Farm where hens roam in rural England, have a read and browse through some pictures for a virtual tour

Behind the scenes at an Egg Farm

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