Oil-Free Granola

Granola is certainly not a low-calorie food, but it is a powerhouse of energy and is ideal for breakfast or snacking. Here in the US, granola comes in almost every flavor you can imagine. However, in the UK it’s not widely available - the closest thing I can describe it as, is bits of crunchy flapjacks. That is, British flapjacks, not American…that’s a different kettle of fish altogether.

It’s similar to crunchy British flapjacks because the base for granola is oats, brown sugar/honey/liquid sweetener, fat and optional add-ins. With the addition of dried fruit, nutritious seeds and nuts, the granola mix can be a densely-nutritious food.

Hot Cross Buns

There's a bun in the oven! Ok, not one bun, but several. And not ANY buns... hot cross buns. You know "hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one-a-penny, two-a-penny, hot cross buns, if you have no daughters, give them to your sons, one-a-penny, two-a-penny, hot cross buns".

Don't worry, I haven't lost my marbles - it was a silly nursery rhyme we were made to learn at school. It was with reference to the small and spicy fruit buns decorated with a cross, traditionally eaten on Good Friday to celebrate the religious significance of the resurrection of Christ.

Quick & Easy Pizza Sauce

I’ve been making my own pizza and pizza sauce for years. The usual way is reduce a load of tomatoes down until lusciously thick with an intense tomato-ey flavor. Because it takes a while to make a batch, I usually make a huge amount and freeze it until needed.

One evening, I had a brainwave – why can’t I make pizza sauce from tomato puree? After all, you normally reduce the tomatoes into a thick paste, why can’t you do it the other way around? I mean, tomato puree is already concentrated, surely you can do the reverse, by thinning it down to the correct consistency.

Candied Mixed Peel

It's become quite a tradition in our household, that I make panforte di Siena every Christmas. I've been doing this for almost 10 years, and it's a wonderful holiday treat for both J and I.

One of the key ingredients in panforte di Siena is candied mixed peel. No matter where I looked, I couldn’t find it in any grocery stores. The ones that I did find were psychedelic in color, and I’m definitely not using them! So the first year in the US, I made our Christmas cake with no candied peel – it just wasn’t the same.

English Beef Stew with Herby Dumplings

Winter is a wonderful time for beef stew. There’s something about this warming comfort food that makes all your troubles melt away…

The beef in this stew is tender and succulent, the vegetables cooked to perfection and the herby dumplings are exquisite - they simply are the icing on the cake. There’s nothing better than dabbing up the remaining gravy with a good ole herby dumpling!

Green Lentil Soup

This soup is delicious, although it doesn’t look it. I would rarely make this soup, because it's just protein. When J had his wisdom teeth pulled, I needed to find a way to get some protein into him. However, I’m not sure that eating soup when the temperature is 31°C/88°F is such a good idea.

This soup tastes identical to the ones we’ve tried in the Mediterranean restaurants we’ve visited. It’s mealy/floury from the lentils and is lightly spiced with a cumin seeds.

About Soy Lecithin

Before I moved to the US, I was somewhat careless or carefree about what I consumed. Although I ate relatively healthily, I didn’t mind eating things that stated that they could have been genetically modified.

When we moved to the US, J & I developed food allergies. This made me look more into what was in foods. I now cook almost everything from scratch. I am extremely careful with anything I eat or cook with, including anything that is genetically modified. I also check ingredients on all-labeled items.

Almond Cookies

This recipe was found in one my Chinese recipe books; however, I know the French also do something very similar. Almond cookies comes in all shapes and sizes, with this simple recipe, you're greeted with a crisp, bite-sized almond cookie, that's almond-infused and lightly sweet. They're delicious with tea or coffee.

Kefthedes - Greek Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Kefthedes is a popular dish served during a meze dinner. They are lamb meatballs, which are lightly spiced with cumin. Here they are served with a thick tomato sauce, and although they don’t look like much, they are bursting with flavor and have an exceptionally tender texture. This dish is wonderful with tabbouleh or a simple cous cous side dish.

Although traditionally made with lamb, you can use minced (ground) beef instead. The kefthedes are good without the tomato sauce, so feel free to try them on their own if you wish.

What is Vanillin?

Vanillin, is one of the constituents that contribute to the distinct flavor and aroma of vanilla.

It's an organic crystal that forms on the outside of the vanilla bean. Although it does occur naturally, a cured vanilla pod only contains about 2% dry weight of vanillin. The extraction of naturally occurring vanillin is not only expensive, but highly inefficient.

Oven-Baked Crispy Bacon

I can’t believe that I’m writing a blog entry on baking bacon. It sounds ridiculous to me, but I really hope that someone out there will find it useful!

Unfortunately the US doesn’t sell the typical back-bacon that the UK is accustomed to. They only sell what Brits know as streaky bacon. In the UK, streaky bacon isn’t as popular as back-bacon, but when in the US, we have to make do. You can purchase imported back-bacon from Canada or the UK and there’s even a local farm here in Washington State that produces it. The UK import goes for around $12.00 for 454 g (1 lb), but is way too thick to get really crispy and isn’t smoked (like I like).

Squidgy Bite-Sized Chocolate Brownies

I wanted to make some bite-sized brownies to go into J’s lunch bag, so today I made some using an old, tried and tested recipe. There’s nothing healthy about these brownies, other than having some dark chocolate in them. However, I assume that the addition of tons of butter and sugar, takes away that “health benefit”!

When I baked these chocolate babies, a couple got stuck in the pan. I ended up tasting them… you can guess the rest. They are totally addictive. These bite-sized brownies have a slight crisp crust on the top and the interior is a squidgy, fudgy chocolate cake. Any remaining brownies left disappeared when J got home. Suffice to say, no brownies ever managed to find their way into his lunch bag.

Fluffy Naan Bread

There are an abundance of “curry houses” within the UK. They’re dotted all over the country, with the city of Birmingham being known as the curry city of the UK. I’ve lived and worked in a number of cities in the UK, and I’m happy to say that I’ve never visited a bad curry house. It’s really hard to find a bad Indian curry in the UK!

When we moved to Seattle, I was so disappointed. I can almost count the number of Indian restaurants in this area on one hand. They’re not bad, but they don’t even compare to the British Indian curry houses. The weirdest thing here in Seattle is that they ask the customer the required heat scale. Now, to Brits, a korma should be mild and a vindaloo hot, yet, it is possible to order a hot korma and a mild vindaloo. That’s just mind baffling to me.

What is "All-Natural"?

I hate the phrase “all-natural”. When we moved to the US, we noticed that there was a lot of food marketed as “natural”. It seemed at the time, that they were promting a healthy product. However, on closer inspection, the ingredients contained all sorts of nasties. Let’s just say that “all-natural” isn’t what it’s cut out to be! The phrase “all-natural” could mean anything!

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – “a product containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed (a process which does not fundamentally alter the raw product) may be labeled natural. The label must explain the use of the term natural (such as – no added colorings or artificial ingredients; minimally processed)” [1].

Baked Gulab Jamun

Yep, gulab jamun is another one of those fried Indian delights that I love. Gulab jamuns are powdered milk dough balls that are normally fried, then soaked in syrup. Since, I’m a health freak - I wanted to see if I could bake them. It sounds like a radical idea, but I wanted to try it!

The result was pretty good! I made a batch in a day in advance at around 9:00 pm. I wanted to try one, but then we ended up eating the whole batch! I obviously had to make another batch the following day. They were soft and had absorbed a decent amount of cardamom spiced syrup.

Chicken & Cashew Curry

It’s a shame that Indian food doesn’t photograph well. Then again, Mexican food isn't that photogenic either. It also doesn't help when I shoot a photo when I'm in a rush to eat. You’ll just have to believe me when I say this curry was good!

I never knew that an Indian-style curry could take under 30 minutes and taste so good without tons of ghee. The chicken and mushrooms are coated in a rich, thick, creamy and mildly spiced curry that will work well with plain basmati rice and/or naan bread.

Equipment

Apart from my knives, I don't have any specialized kitchen equipment. I've got the usual stuff you can purchase in any store. I don’t even have the Kitchen-Aid stand-mixer, that every American household seems to own…. I refuse to spend that much money on one of those things.

Curried Lentils - Daal

We never had beans/lentils growing up. As a young child, seeing my Indian friends eat daal seemed a little odd to me, it looked like a weird, lumpy yellow mess. It’s funny how our tastes change, because now I could eat daal by the bucket-loads! It’s highly nutritious and darn tasty!

I always thought daal was quite complicated to make, but if you have an hour or two whilst you're in the house, you can whip up a batch really easily. It tastes wholesome, warming and full of spices – a real treat!

Ingredients

There are many recipes where I don’t specify certain ingredients. I have however, made a list of what I usually use or have in my pantry.

- I buy organic whenever I can, that is when it’s available. If it’s unavailable, I skip it. This includes ALL produce, cocoa, sugars, flours, meats, nuts, grains, pasta, with the exception of honey. I also buy only wild-caught fish.

- I normally have four cheeses on hand – vintage Gouda & smoked Gouda, imported from The Netherlands, Roquefort and Brie imported from France.

Lamb Bhuna

Last year we had an Indian-themed New Year’s Eve dinner. I wanted a nice range of dishes to satiate our craving for Indian food, so I dug through all of my Indian recipe books.

Baked Onion Bhajis

We love Indian food, even the fried stuff, which is really weird for me. I love all of the onion bhajis, the samosas and the pakoras - I love them all!

When I stumbled across a baked onion bhaji recipe, I knew I just HAD TO try it out! The result was actually pretty good, they were spicy, sweet and totally moreish. I'm definitely making them again!

Sesame Hot Noodles

Just this once, you’ll have to excuse the poorly focused photo above - I was in a hurry to eat.

This recipe comes from one of J’s cookery books. He cooked these noodles for me, way before we were living together. So yes, he can cook!

Char Siu Bao - Chinese BBQ Pork Buns

When we lived in London, there was a Chinese bakery, Tai Pan, that was about 10 minutes walk from our house. We would occasionally go there for a weekend raid, of course, we didn’t have room for dinner that night. They made everything on site, from the delectable char siu bao (bbq pork bun/barbecue pork bun) to the delicate daan tat (egg custard tarts), from the delicious gai mei bow (coconut bun, chicken tail bun) to the mouthwatering celebration cakes. I really miss that place.

Char Siu - Chinese Roast Pork

I remember my Father making huge batches of char siu, (Chinese roast pork) for the family business. Naturally, we’d have to sample some...

I’ve never tried making my own char siu until I wanted to make some char siu bao (roast pork buns, also known as barbecue pork buns).

I’ve attempted my own char siu 2-3 times, and the trick

Braised Shiitake Mushrooms

This dish is definitely a delicious traditional Chinese dish. Make sure you choose the high quality dried Chinese mushrooms (shiitake or dun-goo in Cantonese), with the very thick, cracked caps. They will give you a robust flavor and a meaty texture.

These braised mushrooms are delicious

Chinese-Style Stuffed Tofu

We decided to invite two couples over for dinner one night. It was the same two couples that relocated to the US, at the same time as we did. I decided to cook them a Chinese dinner. This is where the trouble began - they weren’t expecting traditional Chinese food.

My menu consisted of rice served with steamed lap cheung (Chinese pork sausage), steamed fish with ginger and spring (green) onions, stuffed tofu, braised shiitake mushrooms, stir fried choi sum (Chinese greens), jiaozi and Szechuan pork balls. For dessert - tang yuan

Prawn "Meat" Balls

Prawns have always been a treat for me. We didn’t eat them much growing up, but when we did, it would always be for celebrations, such as Chinese New Year.

Now that I've grown up, we indulge of prawns once every two weeks. They are a good source of protein, low in fat and very tasty! I usually stir fry them with a little garlic and chili to serve with rice, or cook them with vegetables for noodles.

Hello World!

… well, I’ve finally done it!

I’ve got myself a public blog, why? I don’t know, but I’m sure it’ll keep me out of mischief. So, Hellooooooooooooooo World!

Over the next few months, I hope to post numerous recipes from pork and cabbage jiaozi to chili con carne soup, from moist chocolate cake to blondies, from focaccia to fresh pasta … well, you get the general gist of it. Most of them will be recipes that I’ve used time and time again, so do not be put off by some of the dates on the photos.

The process of blogging my recipes may take some time, so please be patient. I’m working my way through my metric measurements to ensure that the US volume conversion is dead on. That is, I want people from all over the World to be able to produce the same results, whichever measuring technique is used.

That’s it for now, I’m going to try and fix this page so it looks somewhat more presentable.