Cake House

My post of Kerala style chicken vegetable stew has been updated in Lubna’s blog kitchen flavors and this is the 10th year since I have become a member of Joy from Fasting to Feasting- X . I am really delighted to be a part of Ramadhan special, which she conducts every year without fail. This time I have posted about my all time favorite side dish along with appam, idiyappam, puttu and so on. This we can prepare without vegetables also, but as my daughter likes vegetables along with chicken, I combined both. You can see the recipe in Lubna’s wonderful blog. Hope you all will like it.

M y daughter turned 9 on may 27th and like every year I was very excited to bake her birthday cake. The preparations for the cake started 6 months back. We were looking for a different variety of cakes as last year she wanted a gravity defying cake for the birthday party and a mango cake at home and for her 6th birthday it was Barbie cake. The cakes which I made last year for her birthday.. This time she didn’t prefer anything particular. She wanted a chocolate and vanilla layered cake with white frosting and golden sprinkles on top. As there was nothing particular, I thought of making it little special by making it a lego cake as my daughter is a big lego friends fan. So I first started searching for some lego cakes and got ideas from different cakes. First I ordered silicone Lego mold from Amazon. Then when it got delivered, I started making the Lego by melting the white chocolate, adding the desired color, pour into the mold and when it becomes hard stored it in ziplock pouch. I mad

Chicken and Mushroom Cheesy Bake Another recipe from the Farmer’s Weekly collections, probably from the  70s or early 1980s. It is a complete doddle to make this brilliant and delicious recipe, but assemble your ingredients ready to use. It is especially good served with a salad, as summer approaches. [plus Cornish new potatoes!!] plus it is even good cold for a picnic or the beach.  Pre heat your fan oven to 150C and butter/line a loose bottomed or spring form 8 inch deep cake or flan tin. First make the base: scant 4 oz melted butter 4 oz crushed cream crackers [in a food processor is easiest] 4 heaped tablespoons dry sage and onion stuffing mix Mix the above ingredients together, then press into the bottom of your prepared tin. Then the filling: 2 oz sauteéd mushrooms 6-8 oz cooked shredded chicken [or finely chop] 2 oz chopped, cooked bacon 1 oz plain flour 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 10 oz sieved [plain] cottage cheese 3 eggs separated salt and fresh ground pepper 5 fl oz sour c

The problem with rettich is that they are so big. The other day I used 5 cm and was stuck with the rest. Today I thought of this solution and cut off another 12 cm. Peeled it and used the mandoline to make very thin slices. Put them in boiling water for 90 sec. to make them soft. Fried some leftover gamba's from the freezer. Wanted to use basil but didn't have any so used the blender and mesclun salad (plus some olive oil and salt) to make the green dressing that would go nicely with the mango . The cut offs from the mango were used to make mango mayo (just some Hellmans mayo with the mango and a stick blender). I made a cross of two rettich slices, put a gamba in the middle, a teaspoon of mangomayo on top and folded into a square little package. Bob's your uncle and he would love it.

For this you really homemade chicken stock. From there it's simple. Mix 1 tbsp  grated fresh ginger , 1 tbsp  miso paste  and 600 ml  chicken stock . Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins. To glaze the chicken: mix 2 tbsp  miso paste  with 2 tbsp  Mirin  and 2 tbsp  olive oil . Whisk and use to cover  2 chicken breasts. Fry the breasts in a bit of oil, 5 mins on each sid e Boil some  noodles  (mine took 3 mins) and an egg for 6 mins. Add some decorative  mushrooms  to the broth and cook for 2 mins. Seve as shown, with some  nori , Shichimi  Togarashi  (a Japanese orange/pepper mix) and some  sprouts Inspiration: Donna Hay

Each time I try out a new recipe and post it here you can get an email and have a look. All you have to do is fill in your email adress above the "LINKS" and follow instructions. BUT do it on your computer or go to the web version. For some reason it does not appear on mobile screens. Sorry

Slice 4 cm fresh ginger and add to 1 litre of chicken stock , with 2 tbsp fish sauce , 1/2 tbsp soy sauce , 1 tbsp lemon juice and the white of a lemon grass . Simmer for 15 mins. In the meantime mix 50 gr of chia seeds (or black sesame seeds ) with a tsp of chili flakes . Coat 2 chicken fillets with egg white and cover the fillets with the seed mix Fry for about 5 mins on each side till golden brown and done. Slice 100 gr of sugarsnaps lengthwise. Remove the ginger and lemongrass from the stock and add the sugarsnaps and a halved red chili . Simmer for 2 mins. Cut the chicken breasts lengthwise in strips. Serve with small  basil leaves , spring onion and lime . (Inspiration: Donna Hay)

Toast 2 tbsp of black sesame seed in a dry pan. Crumble or cut 6 leaves of nori (mine were 5x7 cm) and mix with 2 tsp of sea salt and the sesame seeds. Cover both sides of a piece (250 gr) of fresh tuna with the mix and press. Put the tuna in the fridge for about an hour. In the meantime peel a 6 cm piece of rettich (daikon, or white radish) and cut into matchsticks. Mix 3 tbsp of Mirin, 2 tbsp of lemon juice and 2 tsp of horseradish to make a dressing. Cut the tuna, serve with the rettich, the small leaves of celery. Pour the dressing over in and add a bit of sushi ginger, <Christmassy with a few mini tomatoes? (inspired by Donna Hay)

Pam’s Almond Cake My friend Pam, who lives in Joppa near Hayle has passed on a few of her recipes to me and here is another. This cake is flourless, so gluten free and fatless too. Can’t be bad, plus so quick and easy, in the oven in minutes. It is just wonderful as a dessert, alongside raspberries and even better served with clotted cream. Just three ingredients plus a little spice. Pre heat your fan oven to 160C and lightly oil an 8” spring form cake tin [not too deep]. Line the base and sides with baking parchment. 4 large eggs, separated 6 oz caster sugar a pinch of ground cinnamon 7 oz ground almonds  In one bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then whisk in about half of the caster, a little at a time until glossy. Set aside for a mo. Whisk the yolks in another bowl with the other half of the caster sugar along with the spice until very thick. Fold in the ground almonds, then gently, a little at a time, fold in the egg whites., until it is well incorporated. Tip

Mix 100 gr coarse salt (the cheap rock version, not the expensive sea salt) with 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp dill . Ask you fishmonger for a salmon fillet of 400 gr (without the skin and the grey fatty stuff) Cover the fillet on each side lightly with horseradish from a jar. Put 2 sheets of clingfilm crosswise on a dish. Put half the salt mix on it. then grated beetroot on top of it. Then the salmon fillet. Followed by more beetroot and finally the rest of the salt mix. Pack tightly with the clingfilm. Put something have on top and put in the fridge for 2 hours. In the meantime mix 2 heaped tsp horseradish with 1/2 tsp Japanese rice vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil and some pepper and salt. Cut a fennel bulb very thin and mix with the horseradish dressing. Two hours later cut the salmon into thin strips. I used broccoli sprouts as finishing touch. (Inspiration: Donna Hay)

Boil some rice . In the meantime remove the skin of the salmon filets if the fishmonger hasn't done that. If he did, but left the grey fat remove that with a sharp knife. Oil the filets and fry in a (dry but very hot) pan for just 1 min on each side. Turn off the heat and pour some ketjap or soy sauce on the fish. Shake and turn the filets quickly till covered with sauce. Then transfer them to a cutting board.      Time to cut the avocado into cubes, dribble with lemon juice to avoid them turning brown. Open a pot of Japanese Sushi ginger and use a tea sieve to catch the liquid.       Mix 1 tbsp black sesame seed with 1 tsp of chili flakes and 1 tsp of coarse sea salt. Start plating with the rice. Cut the salmon. Finish with the avocado, sea weed and ginger. Sprinkle with the sesame mix and spoon over the ginger liquid. Inspiration: Donna Hay

U rad dal fritter which is also known as uzhunnu vada or medu vada is a most popular snack of south India. They make a tasty and excellent breakfast combination along with idli or dosa. The soaked black gram dal is ground to a fine paste and mixed with all the spices and fried till golden brown and crisp. This is a mouth-watering snack which you can’t have enough of it. Water is the main ingredient, when added more the vada won’t turn out properly and will soak lots of oil and when added less, the batter won’t be smooth and fluffy. Once when the batter is done, we have to mix well with the hand this will create air inside the batter and the vada will turn soft and crisp. The traditional way of making the batter includes the grinding of urad dal in a stone mortar and pestle. These are my husband’s and my daughter’s favorite snack. Whenever I make these either it will be hard to eat or this will soak oil fully. This time it came out perfect and as I made this for our evening snack, I too

LARDY CAKES, circa early 1900s As promised, here is my Lardy cake recipe! This recipe has evolved somewhat over the last hundred years or more and there are several versions out there. I like this one!! Extremely simple and just scrumptious. Yes, it does take about 4 hours, but there is very little hands on, mostly waiting for it to rise, where you can get on with something else. The dough is very soft, quite wet, so it is easier in a mixer with a dough hook. I kneaded it for 8 minutes, in a mixer. I gave up kneading by hand years ago. These cakes are just as good the next day, or maybe even better! Pre heat your fan oven to 200C. Grease a large round tin with lard. I use a 10 inch, slight fluted. More pics of each stage on my Blog. I do hope you have a go. 1 lb strong plain flour 4 oz lard 1/2 pint whole milk 2 eggs a dessertspoon castor sugar 1 teaspoon dried yeast Fruit - about 6 oz sultanas, 2 oz mixed peel,  a few currants if you wish, or dried cranberries [not in the original rec

SPONGE DROPS A very simple recipe, so easy and baked in a few minutes, then filled with jam and cream. A change from scones or splits, light as a feather and yummy. Another recipe idea from the old pre war Be-Ro booklet, although it is a basic fatless sponge.  Pre heat your fan oven to 200C and lightly grease a couple of baking sheets. This quantity makes about 8 or 9 filled drops, using a dessertspoon as the drop measure. [ie 16-18] I decided to time myself from start to finish, including filling. It took me about 19 minutes. 3 oz Self Raising Flour 2 large eggs 3 oz caster sugar Jam [I used my own Loganberry] Clotted cream - of course! But you can use thick double cream if you are not lucky enough to live here In Cornwall! Break your eggs into a medium bowl and whisk together, then add the sugar. Continue whisking until very thick and creamy. Fold in the flour, very lightly, which you have sieved, taking care to make sure it is well incorporated. Drop rounded dessertspoonfuls onto yo