Honey lemon ginger cordial

400 gm lemon juice
450 gm honey
350 gm ground fresh ginger
450 gm water

Boil the ground ginger in the water for about 5 minutes. Strain the mixture through a sieve. Put the ginger "juice" back into a pot, add a tbsp of the ground ginger to it. Bring to boil again. Then add the honey and lemon juice and bring to boil again. Bottle.

As this is a cordial, dilute with 4 to 8 times hot or cold water before serving.

I can usually keep my cordial for up to 4 months in the fridge.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

for two people:

4 chicken thighs, rubbed in salt

1/2 onion

1 shot-glass sized ginger root

peanuts, salted

cucumber, peeled and scored with a fork

2 hard boiled eggs

For the sauce:

1 spicy red chilli

1 paprika

2 cloves garlic

1/2 shot-glass sized ginger root

vinegar

sugar

salt

Bake the chicken thighs with the skin side up in oven at 200°C for around 45 min (until crispy).

Cut the ginger and 1/2 onion into wedges and place them into rice when boiling it.

Blend all ingrediens for the sauce, adding vinegar, sugar and salt to taste.

Carciofi al latte

This is a dish I learned from good Italian friends (Hero and Carla) back in our Addis Ababa days - artichokes stewed in milk. It's a lot of work cleaning the artichokes, but the cooking itself is simple although it takes at least 30 minutes of stewing.

I do not add herbs to it as many other recipes do. I find the artichoke has a delicate aroma and taste that is easily overpowered by herbs and spices.

Recipe for two

6-10 young artichokes
3 pips garlic, chopped
150 ml milk
oliver oil or butter
salt

Clean the artichokes by cutting away the stalk and a bit of the bottom of the artichoke. Pull away the outer leaves till the bud appears lighter in colour. Trim the rough part where the leaves have been removed. Then cut away the top part of the bud leaving about half of it. The idea is to trim away the hard and stringy parts leaving behind only the tender heart and inner leaves.

Cut the chokes in half, scoop away any hairy seeds. Artichokes brown immediately when cut. You can leave the trimmed hearts in a vinegar or lemon solution. I do not mind the dish looking brownish.



Heat olive oil or butter in a pan. Add chopped garlic, brown slightly, add the choke hearts and fry a bit. Then add salt, 10 ml water and the milk. Stew the chokes till tender and the milk and water have boiled away to a thick creamy sauce.

Serve hot with garlic bread.

Pizza con patate

Für den Teig:
150g Mehl
10 g Hefe (tocken)
Olivenöl (ein oder zwei schuss)
Salz
Rosmarin
Kümmel (ganz)
Oregano
Lauwarmes Wasser (ca 70ml)

Für den leckeren Belag:
Kartoffel (ca. 5 Mittel große, geschält)
Salz
Pfeffer
Rosmarin
Olivenöl
Emmental Käse (gerieben)

Zubereitung:
Hefeteig zubereiten. Erst Mehl, Hefe und Gewürze in eine Schüssel. Mulde in die Mitte eindrücken, anschließend das Wasser und Öl in Mulde geben. Mit Löffel umrühren so dass immer nur von den Seiten der Flüssigkeit Mehl mit genommen wird. Anschließend mit den Händen kneten und an einem warmen Ort ruhen lassen und mit einem feuchten Küchentuch abdecken. Nach 1er Stunde aus der Schüssel nehmen und für die Pizza flach ausrollen. Noch einmal 30 min ruhen lassen.

Wärend dessen die Kartoffel schälen und mit Küchenmaschine oder Brotschneidemaschine in hauch dünne Scheiben schneiden. Öl und Gewürze mit den Kartoffel scheiben vermischen. Die Scheiben auf den Teig auslegen. Im Ofen bei Umlufft und Oberhitze, 150°C und mittlerer Schiene für 20-30 min Backen. Allerdings nur bit die Kartoffeln leicht Golden sind, danach den Emmental Käse darauf streuen und fertig ausbacken, ca. weitere 5 min.

Enjoy!

Tiramisu- alla Nonna di Stefano

Buona giornata bambini! Oggi vi faccio vedere come fare il tiramisu:

For a 'small' portion (in my case only good for myself ;-P ):

• 5 eggs
• 500 g mascarpone
• 100 g white sugar
• 300 g Löffel biscuits
• coffee/espresso (about a cup to two cups)
• Amaretto (just a shot)
• choco powder

1. Prepare the coffee. Set aside to let it cool.
2. Separate the eggs, putting the egg-whites into a large bowl, and the yellows into another large bowl.
3. Beat/whisk the egg-whites till stiff (Eischnee). (Make sure the bowl and whisk are super clean, or else the whites wont properly stiffen)
4. Beat the egg-yellows together with the sugar till stiff. Then, add the mascarpone into the bowl and combine.
5. Gently 'lift' (Herunterheben) the stiff egg-white-foam into the mascarpone mixture using a rubber spatula. Set mixture aside. 
6. Add the wanted amount of Amaretto to the now cool coffee.
7. Dunk the biscuits into the coffee till slightly soaked, then place into the glass dish. Do this till the entire bottom is covered.
8. Add some of the mascarpone mixture onto the biscuits. Place another layer of soaked biscuits on top with some more mascarpone mixture following that and so on, until the dish is full or rather the mascarpone mixture is used up.
9. Sprinkle some choco powder on top of the final mascarpone layer (but only directly before serving).

Banana Bread

Since I don't have Nene anymore to bake me some yummy Banana Bread, I had to go look for a recipe and found a pretty good one. Here it is:

250 g all-purpose flour
5 g baking soda
2 g salt

115 g soft butter (unsalted!)
110 g brown sugar/ palm sugar
2 eggs, beaten
525 g mashed, overripe bananas (about 5 medium sized bananas)

Preheat oven to 175°C. Butter your loaf pan/cake pan and sprinkle it with some flour.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.

In a separate but also large bowl mix together the soft butter and brown sugar till creamy. Next, add in the beaten eggs and mashed bananas and stir till homogenized.

Add a the flour mixture into the banana mixture bit by bit making sure no flour pockets develop. Then, pour the batter into the pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 60 to 65 min and check with a bamboo skewer wether it is done.

Enjoy!

I don't own a loaf pan, so I used an Auflaufform ;-)

Beef rendang

This recipe takes time, about an hour to prepare, but it's easy peasy.

1kg beef in bite-sized pieces (a cheap cut will do)
4 packets Brahmin rendang paste
2 packets coconut powder

Mix the coconut milk with 2 cups warm water. You'll need a whisk to mix the powder with the water so that there are no lumps. Put the coconut milk aside.

Put the rendang paste in a big pot and fry on medium to high heat for three minutes. Add the beef and keep frying in the paste till the beef is half done. Add the coconut milk and keep cooking for an hour on low heat, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent sticking. The rendang is done when the oil separates.

Brahmin's Kuah Rendang is the most authentic I have ever come across. Available in Davis Trading in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.

I prefer to use coconut powder instead of tinned coconut milk - it makes a creamier milk.