Delicious Side-Dish with Okra, Rice-Shaped Noodles, Garlic, Tomatoes and Aleppo Pepper

Okra is such a versatile and not always easy to match vegetable, especially for people like me, who didn't grow up with. As many other food-related products, I've discovered okra relatively late, but through trials and errors, I've discovered my own dish combinations. 

But I haven't try anything new for a long time, maybe for too long. It is not always easy to find the fresh product - and I am not a supporter of frozen veggies anyway - and most of the shops selling it are located quite far away from me. Sometimes, I was simply not in the good mood for paying the full attention requested by preparing a recipe with an ingredient so unfamiliar to my usual eating habits. 

The wonder happened yesterday and I was not only happy to taste okra again, but also to scribble fast the main directions of a new recipe. 

You can use this as a side dish - a good company to a meaty meal - or if you want more consistency, to add some shredded yellow cheese to make it into an autonomous meal. It suits very well white fish.

It is easy to prepare - you only need 45 minutes - and delicious for the palate, as well as healthy.

Ingredients

200 gr. fresh okra, finelly cut in rondels

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, finelly cut

5 middle-sized tomatoes, finelly sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Aleppo Pepper

100 gr. rice-shaped noodles. it goes very well with rice

2 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions for preparing the okra mix

Warm the oil in a pan at medium heat. When it start sizzling, add the okra and keep mixing in order to have them fried on both sides. After 5 minutes add the garlic and keep mixing. Sprinkle the salt and add the tomatoes. Mix well for another 5 minutes. When ready, add the Aleppo Pepper, mix well and put it on the side.

For the rice-shaped noodles

In a pot, add the oil and warm it for a couple of minutes. Add the rice noodle and mix it well with the oil. Pour water, at a ration of 2 cups of water for a cup of rice noodles. Mix it well and leave it boil for around 15 minutes.

When the noodles are ready, add the okra mixture and mix it well while heated at medium size temperature for another couple of minutes.

Now, it is ready to be served, either as an independent dish or as a side dish to meat or fish.

Serves: 3

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Bon Appétit!

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Cauliflower Cheesy Nugets

Yesterday I've mentioned an useful book with ideas and explanations about healthy foods for children. Today, I couldn't wait to prepare one of the few recipes shared in the book, although, as usual, with a personal touch and by using my favorite ingredients: cauliflower cheesy nugets.

Ingredients

1 medium-size cauliflower, shredded TIP: It goes very easy and fast to shred floret by floret. 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic power - I would have preferred the fresh garlic, but the recipe indicated otherwise therefore I tried to keep it in line with it.

3 medium-size eggs, beaten

150 gr. yellow cheese shredded. The original recipe indicated Parmesan and it was definitely a much better and finer version

300 gr. matzo flour The original recipe indicated crumbs and regula flour but I love the hard texture of the matzo flour much better. 

1/2 cup oil or more for frying

Directions

Warm the oil in the pan at 250C least 10 minutes before starting the cooking. Add the ingredients, one by one, and mix well. It is very important to have them equally distributed as it allows a good, balanced taste. With wet hands, take some mixture and roll it by hand. Add it to the hot oil and turn it on the sides. Let it rest on some parchement paper to absorb the extra oil. 

I would personally add some more spices as well, and also even more cheese. As it is a meal a bit too oily than the average, I served it with some fresh slices of tomatoes. Some avocado is a good match as well.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 18 small cauliflower nugets

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An Easy Nourishing Pumpkin Cream Soup

I am so bad with soups. I hardly have any favourite myself and I haven't cooked too many in my life. Time for a challenge! My plan is to make the next days and weeks, until mid-December, the latest, the days of soup, putting my imagination and modest cooking skills at work, while preparing at least once the week a nourishing soup for me and my lovely little family.

The first installment in the series, a nourishing pumpkin cream soup as you never ever tasted before (be aware, there are many spices involved - as usual).

Ingredients

- 1 medium sized pumpkin, without seeds, sliced into quarters

- 50 gr. unsalted cashews, turned into powder in the food processor

- 1 tablespoon salt

- 1/2 tableespoon Aleppo Pepper from Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program

- 1 teaspoon grated ginger

- 1 teasopoon turmeric

- 2 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

In one lukewarm liter of salty water at 250C, add the pumpkin and let it boil until very soft. When ready, add it to the food processor together with the ginger and turn it into purée at medium speed for at least 2 minutes. In a pan, add one by one the purée, the turmeric, the oil, salt, Aleppo Pepper, cashews and 1/3 cup water. Simmer slowly until boiling. Let it boil for another 5 minutes.

The taste of all this? Eclectic, nourishing and complex. The ginger brings some sparkle where the cashews and pumpkin and the olive oil are nourishing. The Aleppo Pepper and salt are the spicy balance that you need to lighten out, while the turmeric adds a special taste and colouring. I would bring some sesame salty crackers as a company, but maybe the next time, as this time, excitment was so great that I hardly had the patience to snap some pics for the blog.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Serves: 2

Bon Appétit!

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Mozzarella Sandwich with a Special Guest Ingredient

Who doesn't fancy a good fat sandwich, as a post-training treat? Especially if you are longing for the an afternoon healthy yet consistent snack, finding the right combination of ingredients is a challenge I will always answer positively. Especially when it involves combining relatively unusual ingredients, such as fruits with cheese. What do you think, are you in?

I was inspired by the very talented Chanie from Busy in Brooklyn to dare to use the very complex persimmon fruit not only as part of a fruit salad, but also in a savory recipe. It was a right decision to do so.

Ingredients
- 1 fresh hamburger bun, halved
- 250 gr. Mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 2 tablespoons of fresh cheese or 2 tablespoon of goat cheese spread
- 1/2 avocado, sliced
- 1/2 persimmon fruit, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon of za'atar

Directions

Spread the goat cheese/fresh cheese on the bun. Add a slice of Mozarella, a slice of persimmon, another slice of Mozzarella, the za'atar, the avocado and the other half of the bun. Feel free to make your own combination, but I would keep the Mozzarella and the persimmon in. If you love goat cheese - I personally do - it adds a strong taste to the cheese combination, as it does the za'atar, otherwise you need to find some ingredient which balances the sweetness/neutrality of the taste. Persimmon is moderately sweet therefore it needs some smoothly contrast.

You can also add a slice of tomato, instead of avocado, for instance, or some coriander/parsley leaves. Maybe I just need to continue improving my sandwich preparation skills. It makes it into a great afternoon threat and it is a lot of tasty fun for hungry active children too.

To be served fresh, with a glass of mint lemonade.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2 hungry people

Bon Appétit!

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Wraps with Oyster Mushrooms Filling. Bonus: Pasta with Truffle Oil

I love to cook with mushrooms, from the usual white/brown sortiment available on the market to the chaterelles/Pfifferlinge. As a child, I used to go often foraging and even became for a while accustomed with the edible wild types available in the old country. Nowadays, I can find a wild variety of mushrooms availble in the German supermarkets and my curiosity to try something new every autumn wins over my reluctance that I might reignite old allergies. Until it happens - hopefully never again -, I would keep experimenting and every time I am more than happier with the results.

For the opening of this autumn season, I played a bit with the oyster/Austern mushrooms mix, foraged from Poland and sold in a 200 gr. plastic box at the Edeka superstore.

The mild pastel colours of yellow and pink are delicious and they look like wild and bizarre creatures of the nature. Preferably, you have to prepare them at least 24 hours upon purchase, even if you keep them in the fridge, as they are delicate enough to alter easily.  

The filling recipe I used it both for a veggie wrap - using some perfectly thin and mouthwatering pancakes aimed for my Peking duck (recipe to be revealed in a next delicious post), but also for a pasta.

Oyster mushroom filling

- 200 gr. oyster mushrooms, finelly cut
- 2 tablespoon sunflower oil
- 1 big onion, finelly cut
- 1 big carrot, finelly cut into small cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 teaspoon of za'atar from Spice Kitchen UK which made me the honor of being their brand ambassador. (Za'atar is my favorite spice in the whole world and one of those ingredients I cannot live without in my kitchen and a full review of their variant - which is not so bold in terms of flavor as the one I am used with from the Shuk in Jerusalem, but still is doing a great job in foods - coming up soon on the blog.)

Directions

Preheat the oil in the pan at 250C. Add the onions and fry them until turned gold. Add the za'atar, the carrot and the mushrooms and mix them well.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Additional ingredients for the wraps

In order to prepare the wraps, some additional ingredients are needed. I tried to combine those that can balance the usual bitter sweet/bitter almond taste of this type of wild mushrooms. The measurements are provided for one wrap.

Although you can use any kind of wrap, those pancakes for crispy duck by Ming Foods - for the kosher conscious, the good news is they have the stamp of the London Beit Din. They are very delicate, with a predominant gluten taste, but which melts perfectly with the ingrediens of the wrap (both duck and oyster mushroom filling).

As I tried to focus on the vegetarian options, my choice was for a rich addition of fresh vegetables. Therefore, I added to the list of the ingredients:
- 1 avocado
- 2 small pigeon-hearted tomatoes, halved
On taste, you can also add a teaspoon of olive oil, black olives/halved, fresh cucumber slices, or half a boiled egg, a touch of fresh parsley or dill, some belly pepper or scallions or corns. I would dare a bit and try with some pistacchio too, as a gourmet balance to the oyster mushrooms or pumpkin seeds as well.
Use the ingredients from your kitchen closet as your oyster and you will not get disappointed!

I added one tablespoon of oyster mushroom filling in the middle, surrounded by avocado and tomatoes. 

Serving: the filling is enough to fill at least 10 fat wraps

Rolled it gently and...here we are! The Veggie wraps are ready! Fresh, tasty, ready to be eaten. 

A perfect addition to your breakfast plate or for a weekend family afternoon. If you have children, you can involve them in the choice of the fresh ingredients and the wrap setting as well. It may be a replacement for a DIY afternoon, if you insist!

Additional ingredients for the pasta

Stuffed with wraps, I went out to walk for a while to work out the filling, during which a new foodie idea pop-up into my hungry mind. What about using some little bit of filling for some pasta and another secret ingredient that I love?

All being said, I boiled some 100 gr. of shell pasta in salty water. As additional ingredient, I only added a single thing. Which is not cheese but....1 tablespoon of truffle oil. A special bottle I got from a friend, made in the North of Germany and strong as a glass of pure whisky. Perfect if you look for some culinary hardcore and to be consumed moderately - maximum once the month.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Serves: For one portion you need: 1 cup fresh pasta, 1 tablespoon of oyster mushroom filling and one teaspoon of truffle oil. Mix them well and...

Bon Appétit!

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Experiencing with Eggplant

Eggplant is one of those vegetables which are prepared in my house every couple of months but no more than once the year. It is my way to say that, in fact, I don't like eggplant as much and if not for some books which make everything simple and tasty, I would not want to deal with it at all. In fact, not long ago, there were years since I was tasting any bit of eggplant. Trying new recipes and putting my tastebuds on trial is an interesting experience anyway, therefore after a couple of weeks of thinking I decided to finally use that eggplant languishing in my fridge.

For one hour, I tried to combine one moderately sized eggplant with different tastes and ingredients. The results were satisfactory, but it was more burned smell than necessary. Not sure if I would try anything soon - maybe, finally some Babaganoush one day - as for now, I am just gathering various experiences about this mysterious and not always easy going vegetable.

Here is my short cooking story:

I started by washing the eggplant and cutting the head. Next, I've sliced it into thin rounds, allowing a fast and efficient frying. I heated 3 tablespoons olive oil in the pan at 250 for 5 minutes prior to the frying. 

I tried to use different ingredients for each batch of eggplants. I fried 3 of them at once, allowing enough space to absorb the oil. In one case, I only added a pinch of sea salt. In another I added some Osem soup seasoning. In another I added some small slice on yellow cheese on the top. Black or Cayenne pepper are also good solutions. 

From the pan, I set the eggplant slices to rest on some absorbing paper to take the oil excess out. 

As side dips, my choice was relatively simple: some plain fresh yogourt and a very spicey soy sauce. 

Despite the smoke smell, it was a relatively easy dish, with a variety of tastes. I had them in a simple way, without anything else but fresh cherry tomatoes and some avocado. 

A great meal for a lazy evening at home after a full day of work, whose creation requests a bit of imagination and taste creativity.

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Brushetta Recipe - Easy Like Sunday Morning

Good late morning everyone! Fancy something special for your brunch today? I made today my first bruschetta and very happy about it! If you want to have and eat it too, here is the easiest tastiest recipe around the world wide web:

Ingredients
2 slices of black bread
3 medium sized tomatoes
3 garlic cloves finelly minced - if you are supposed to have a lot of busy meetings for the rest of the day, you might skip this. I never do it, anyway
1 bunch of fresh parsley
2 tablespoons dried tarragon
2 tablespoons olive oil
A pinch of sea salt, on taste

Directions

Grate two tomatoes. Add and mix well the ingredients. Spread the juice on top. Slice the tomato and add to the bread.

To be eaten with some slices of fresh Fetta cheese. Goat cheese goes perfectly well too. Or some fried eggs. It is important to take it easy, enjoy the taste and think about the good things coming your way.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2

Bon Appétit!

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Delicious and Perfectly Easy Halwa Truffles

I love sometimes to offer myself the treat of a fully chocolate truffle, but I never dared to prepare my own batch. Maybe because the ones I can purchase from the store looks so perfectly round in their golden box that I could only dream about producing something at least half as awesome. But I believe in the changing power of books that through words therefore, after reading the Rosewasser&Granatapfel by Suzanne Zeidy I decided that after all, it might not be so difficult to create my own recipe. I was so happy with the results that I dared to bring my truffles as my foodie contribution to a party.

Ingredients
200 gr. Halwa from Koska - it is a Turkish company which do have a lot of kosher certified products
7 tablespoons Tehina spread - I bought mine from the BIO Company store

Directions

Mix and knead well the tehina with the halwa, including by hand, until it looks like a dough. It can be done in the mixer as well, probably but I haven't tried it myself. By repeatedly kneading the dough I was able to avoid any additional lumps that might make the further preparation difficult. I left the content in the fridge for around 30 minutes.

Additionally, you need some ingredients for the decorations. The original recipe recommends: cocoa, white sesame and pistachio. I personally made my own combination, with: cocoa, desiccated coconut and black sesame. For each ingredient, I used 7 tablespoons.

Rolling the little pieces of truffle was a very soothing and relaxing experience. It is very important to take your time first for rolling the little balls as round as possible, second as you are spreading the decorations all over the surface of the truffle. I was partially happy with my results, but I bet the next time I will be a better pupil, more patient and more details focused.

The preparation time is around 40 minutes - minus those when the halwa-tehina dough is in the fridge.

Serves: 30-35 truffle lovers

Recommendation: Try to keep them as much as possible in the fridge prior to serving. Serve them with some black coffee - sugarless, as the truffles do have enough natural sugar - or with a glass of mint - also sugarless - tea.

Bon Appétit!

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Cardamom Ginger Muffins for a Romantic Winter Afternoon

I love my coffee with cardamom and I rarely can breath more than one hour in the house without being sure I have in my pantry za'atar, cinnamon, pepper, vanilla and the list is longer the more I think about my favorite spices. But I rarely dare to mix my spices for creating unique recipes as I am still very unsure about the right taste match. 

However, I am becoming bolder and bolder, therefore new ideas and recipes are created spontaneously.

When it comes to preparing fast a delicious dessert, muffins is the first choice. So, why not doing some spices mix-up for the change. The following recipe suits best the long winter afternoons, with its spicey texture and natural sweetness, accompanied by a chai latte or an aromated tea. It is very easy to make, affordable in terms of ingredients and delicious too.

Ingredients

200 gr. white flour

8 g. baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

150 gr. brown sugar

1 tablespoon cardamom

2 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

100 ml. cooking oil

150 ml. cold orange natural juice/you can make it yourself, therefore you need 3 medium sized oranges

Directions

Heat the oven at 250C, at least 15 minute before baking.

Add the ingredients, one by one and mix well until a compact paste is created. The issue with the spices is that you want them well spread and a balanced taste for your final result, therefore, you need to give a little bit of additional effort when mixing.

Pour the final result in the muffin papers and leave it in the oven - at 250C - for around 45 minutes. 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Baking time: 45 minutes

Serves: 12

Bon Appétit!

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Olive Oil Cake for Your Sunday Afternoon Foodie Fix

Long time no cakes. Or better said, not good enough and photo-suited cakes, as I did have my own portion of (big) baking fail in the last two months. Apparently, my big mistke was to have used Aluminium foil pan, which involves a very crusty upper part and an unpleasant raw bottom. When you offer yourself to bring your friends their favorite honey cake, such an episode is really annoying, but what are friends for if not for forgetting your baking fails (too). Today, I was bold enough to start a new baking adventure. 

For a couple of weeks I've read about a famous chocolate olive oil cake by Nigella Lawson, and kept thinking over and over again. Even had once a wake dream about preparing my own hot cocoa with a dash of olive oil but was lazy and not adventurous enough to try. Today, I went even further and made up completely an olive oil non-chocolate cake. Because this is how usually I work in the kitchen: I am either too shy to boil an egg or bold enough to dare and succeed making from scratch a delicious  heimishe kokosh cake.

The ingredients I used suited a 25-cm diameter Aluminium pan.
Ingredients
2 cups white flour
25 gr. baking powder
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon zest
1 medium size egg
1/2 cup orange blossom
1 pinch of kosher or sea salt
1 cup desiccated coconut
Directions
While you are preparing the batter, warm the oven at 250 C.

Add the sugar, olive oil, egg, lemon zest and egg and mix well. Pour the white flour, little by little and mix well. Continue pouring the orange blossom and the salt. Mix well. If needed, add a little bit of warm water to help the batter mix better and be more fluid - just a little bit, as you don't wait it watery. 

Pour the content in the pan. Add the desiccated coconut as decoration.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 45 minutes to one hour, depends of how smart your oven is. 

Serves: 7

You can have this cake with a cuppa of English tea, or a lemonade, or a black coffee. 

Bon Appétit!

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Experimenting with Wraps

I haven't been a big wraps fan, with all my experiences being the results of some fast food vegetarian attempts to calm down my hunger in a very fast and easy way. I never tried it at home, but I started to consider this lack of experience later and as usual, it leads me to the decision to try to experience with my own wraps recipes too. 

My experiment started the last week, while trying to understand various textures of wraps and ingredients that can go in. As for now, I only tried the vegetarian options, but I consider also expanding a bit my experience with some meaty versions as well. Which means that it will continue.

My first try was with some vegan tortillas, but the best satisfaction was by using basic corn wraps purchased from my Edeka store. The first ones were too stuck together which means that when I wanted to take the layers one by one I ended up with pieces from the other glued on the sheet. The taste was not so great either, therefore I will avoid those products. Their advantage was that they were small enough therefore I was able to fry them on both sides in a small pan in one tablespoon of sesame oil, which gave a unique taste. 

Instead, the corn wraps were big enough to use my pizza grill and no oil. I left them in the oven - heated at 250C - for around 5 minutes, with some Gouda cheese spread on the top. You can also use some original Parmigiano cheese, for a stronger taste.

When it comes to ingredients, the options are open to your imagination.
I tried to have a moderate mixture of fresh vegetables, fish - salmon -, sorts of cheese and some sauce too. In one occasion I tried a spicey mixture of thuna with red beans, which was hot enough to avoid using any other Mexican hot sauce.

The veggies I used in various combinations are: white medium-sized mushrooms, halved; avocado, sliced; tomatoes, sliced. You can also use slices of cucumber, or some roasted zucchini. It is important to do not overload the wrap, therefore, 2-3 slices of each might be enough.

Sauces: tomato sauce, spread on the wrap; Mexican hot sauce; sweet soy sauce; one drop of teriyaki sauce if you are looking for some special Asian blend; garlic sauce; pestp

Spices: a pinch of salt; a pinch of red/black pepper; one pinch of za'atar; red chili; dill; coriander - especially if you are having your wraps with salmon, some coriander will beautifully outline the taste;

Fish: simple salmon, 2-3 slices. I also used some red pepper salmon; mashed thuna

Cheese: blue cheese - to be used moderately and not in combination with too many ingredients, as it has a heavy taste anyway. gouda cheese - one big slice halved; sour cream can also be used as a base spread; goat cheese is always welcomed.

Other ingredients: red beans, if you want to get a full Mexican taste; for a dinner and lunch wrap, some mashed potatoes can also be added; peas - one tablespoon; corn - one tablespoon; baby carrots - 3 sliced; one teaspoon of black sesame; one hard boiled egg, sliced;

Oils: You can spread on the wrap, before you warm it, one tablespoon of olive oil or sesame oil. 

I am personally for a minimalistic approach, and I am also careful to keep the ingredients at a basic average in order to be able to wrap the wrap properly. I also love the mixture between spices, fresh taste and some cheese. For a meety wrap I would probably increase the amount of veggies and sauces and maybe add some tempeh altough not sure about it.

Anyway, I am just at the beginning of the experimenting journey, therefore I am looking forward to more creative wraps in the next weeks. Can't wait to test and share it here soon!

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