My brother's Kashmiri Aloo Dum (Potatoes and Chickpeas in Indian Spiced Yoghurt Sauce)

This is another delicious dish my brother prepared. Everyone who knows me, knows how much I love Indian food. This dish really surprised me as it tasted incredibly authentic. My brother put a lot of effort into it and also used his new mortar to pestle a fresh masala spice paste. He mentioned the bell pepper were cooked too long, but for  me it just added to the flavor. I really enjoyed eating it and hope to be able to try more of his Indian dishes :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lbs small potatoes - peeled and halved
• 1 liter salt water
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 onion - chopped

       Masala spice mix:

• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon tumeric powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 2 red chilis - sliced

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cardamon seeds
• 2 cloves
• 1 cinamon stick
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste 
• 2/3 cup red bell pepper - diced
• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 cup plain yoghurt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• salt to taste

• chopped coriander for garnish
• serve with Basmati Rice

 

Preparation

1. Use a tooth pick to prick each potato piece so that they can absorb the salt water. Let them soak in salt water for about 1 hour.
2. Heat up oil in a frying pan. Sauté onions. When gold brown, set the onions aside, keep the oil in the fying pan.
3. Prepare the Masala Spice Paste: Add the masala spices (coriander seeds, cumin seeds, tumeric powder, garam masala and red chilis) to the used frying pan. Fry for a couple minutes on medium heat, stir frequently to prevent burning. Then, transfer them into a mortar and pestle to a paste.
4. In a clean frying pan, heat up oil with bay leaves. Add the cardamon seeds, the gloves and cinoman stick. Fry for a minute. Add the ginger-garlic paste, the onions you had set aside, the bell pepper and the chickpeas. Fry for another minute. Add the masala spice paste with a few tablespoons of water. Stir frequently and let cook for 6-8 minutes.
5. Add the yoghurt, salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the potatoes, cover the frying pan with a lid and let cook for 15 minutes. If it gets too dry, add a little bit of water. At the end, remove the cinamon stick and the cloves (if you are able to find them).
6. Sprinkle fresh coriander on top and serve with Basmati rice.

Note: If you do not have a ginger-garlic paste ready to use, just prepare it yourself similar to the masala spice paste. Heat a little oil, add chopped fresh ginger and garlic (e.g. 4 ounces of each), fry for a couple minutes and keep stiring. Transfer to a mortar and pestle. Add a few drops water if too dry. Alternatively, you can also put the garlic and ginger in a blender, add a few drops of oil and blend till it is smooth. You can refrigerate or freeze the paste for later use.

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Sunny Side Up Eggs a different way - a B-Day gift

So, this post is about a birthday gift - one I really wasn't quite sure about and almost didn't go through with it. A while back a friend of mine posted on Instagram a sunny side up egg in form of a skull during Halloween time. I thought that so funny and it looked quite pretty. I thought this would be a perfect gift for a friend of mine, especially as he has a little girl at home. At that time I didn't know that he had developed some kind of food allergy to eggs... my bad...

Anyways, I talked to my friend with the egg skull mold and she told me that the egg skull turned out quite okay at the second try. I did a little more research and googled youtube videos/reviews. Unfortunately, these did not convince me too much, especially not "Fred and Friends" review. They did not look pretty and the people complained that it is not easy. And furthermore, the silicone molds were so flimsy, I started doubting it...  So, I was a little in a pickle and stuborn as alway... Despite the reviews, I really did like the skull form and the idea, especially because I found this box with three cute egg molds which seemed really nice for the little kid (skull, bunny and owl), and my friend who had actually tried it out said it would be okay. I decided to trust her. Good decision!

I never expected this outcome. Look how gorgious these turned out! And that was his first try. I guess he is just a natural ;)

Cook's Tips:

I asked him whether he did something special or has some tips, but for him it seemed easy. Just use two eggs :) After I showed him the reviews, he was surprised how much could go wrong. He added a few more tips. First, seperate the egg yolk from the egg white so that you can transfer the egg yolk easily into the eyes of the molds. Then, grease the molds, use a teflon frying pan and use chopsticks to remove excess egg white (that runs out of the mold) before it turns solid. Also, don't heat up the frying pan too much to prevent brown egg white and blisters and don't use a lid as some reviews suggest. Loosen the egg yolks before you remove the mold and transfer the eggs to the plate. And maybe use pepper on the plate, after you take the picture ;)

I post this to show that these egg molds can result in eggs that look as perfect as on the commercials. Don't get discouraged by some of the youtube reviews.

Picture courtesy of N.K.

Berlin's "Zuckerfee"

Everyone knows the Sugarplum Fairy from the famous ballet "The Nutcracker", which is especially great for little kids around the Christmas time. I watched it in Portland, OR and I loved it. This time we tried a completely different Sugarplum Fairy. This one is actually a breakfast/ brunch place in Berlin. The real name of this little restaurant is "Zuckerfee", which is German for Sugarplum Fairy. I wanted to try this place because they serve their breakfast on three tier etageres which I just cannot resist. I even went so far to take two of my male friends to this very manly place :)

The place is cute with a small outdoor seating area for the summer with nice little colorful chairs. Inside, they had decorated each table with fresh tulips and there were huge chandeliers on the ceiling. And the breakfast was just amazing. You can order single dishes such as omlettes, pancakes, etc. or one of the three etagere breakfasts: The "Sugarplum Fairy" which comes with pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon or the "English man in New York" which comes with baked beans, sunny side up egg and bacon, or the "La Fee Dragée" which comes with croissants, cheese, salami and jam.

My friend definitely wanted to have some scrambled eggs and bacon, so we went for the "Sugarplum Fairy" etageré breakfast and my other friend ordered the omlette with bacon. To sum it up we ordered fresh pressed orange and grapefruit juice. Delicious.

Taco Flautas with Homemade Salsa

I love Mexican food. It started in Germany, during my college time, when I used to work in a Mexican restaurant. Then I discovered "real" Mexican food in the USA :) This dish is inspired by the Taco Flautos we served at the restaurant I used to work in. I of course did not have the original recipe, but I gave my best and it tasted delicious :) I made everyything from scratch, the sals, the spanish rice...

Ingredients:

My Homemade Salsa:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 onion - diced
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 1/3 cup jalapenos - diced
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper - diced
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper - diced
• 1 tablespoon harissa
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 4 teaspoons mexican spice mix (or subsitute: 1 teaspoon coriander, 2 teaspoons oregano, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, extra salt and pepper)
• salt, pepper

Taco filling:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 onion - diced
• 300 gram ground beef
• 2-3 cloves garlic - minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3 tablespoon salsa 
• 2 teaspoons mexican spice blend (see above for substitute)
• salt, pepper 
• corn tortillas 

Option 1: Serve with Spanish Rice and Black Beans

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 onion - diced
• 125 gram cooked rice
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 can black beans

Option 2: Serve over Salad

• lettuce
• 1/2 tomato - diced
• 1/4 cup bell pepper - sliced
• 1/4 cup corn
• 3 tablespoons yoghurt dressing

Preparation:

1. Prepare the Salsa: Heat the oil. Sauté the onion till translucent for a few minutes. Add the garlic, jalapenos, bell pepper and harissa. Stir and cook for 3-5 minutes. Be careful to stir, so that the garlic doesn't turn brown and bitter. Add the tomatoes, the mexican spices and salt/pepper to taste. Let cook for 20 minutes. Then remove from heat and set aside.
2. Prepare the Spanish Rice and Black Beans: Heat the oil. Sauté the onion till translucent. In the meantime warm up the black beans in another pan and set aside. Add the cooked rice to the onions. Fry for 3 minutes, stir frequently. Add the salsa and stir, cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Prepare the Taco Flautas: Heat the oil, sauté the onion. Add the ground beef, stir and fry for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste, stir and fry for another 3-5 minutes till the meat is cooked fully through. Add the salsa and mexican spices. Stir. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Now, spread a little oil on the corn tacos. Fill with 2 tablespoons of beef filling and roll up. Heat up a griddle pan (no oil needed), place the taco flautas with the open side face down in the pan. Fry for 1 minute, turn around and fry for another minute. Be careful, as it doesnt take long to burn.
4. Prepare the Salad: Wash, dry and slice the lettuce. Place on a large plate. Sprinkle with diced tomatoes, sliced bell pepper and corn. Sprinkle the dressing over everything. 

Timing: Best to prepare the salsa first. At the same time, you can already cook the rice. While the salsa is cooking, you can start with the taco filling. As soon as the filling is done, prepare the salad. Filling and frying the tacos should be the last step.

Serve the taco flautos with a side of spanish rice and black beans with a small side salad. For a lighter version, serve the taco flautas on top of the salad. Sprinkle the salsa on top of the tacos.

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HAPPY EASTER: Easter Tea-Sandwiches

This is a cute Easter idea I got from pinterest. As I love tea time, these little sandwiches are perfect :)

Ingredients:

• bunny cookie cutter
• 1 loaf white bread - extra thinnly sliced
• 8 oz softened cream cheese
• 1/3 cucumber - very thinnly sliced
• 3 tablespoons carrot - shredded
• 1/2 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley 
• 1/2 tablespoon freshly chopped chives
• 1/4 garlic-herb seasoning
• salt, pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. With the bunny cookie cutter, cut out an even number of bunnies out of the bread.
2. In a small bowl, add the cream cheese, shredded carrots, parsley, chives and seasoning. Mix well and season to taste with pepper and salt.
3. Now, spread the cream cheese mix on half of the bunny sandwiches. Place thin cucumber slices on top of the spread. Top the sandwich with the matching bread cut out.
4. Additionally, you can place a little shredded carrot where the eye of the bunny would be :)

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Cheese Bunnys

Here is a little recipe fitting for the Easter time :) I bought some bunny cookie cutters and prepared this little Appetizer for a work brunch.

Ingredients:

• Bunny cookie cutters
• 150 gram flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 90 gram butter (room temperature)
• 90 gram "Speisequark" (plain curd, similar to cream cheese)
• 2 tablespoon milk
• 100 gram parmesan - freshly grated

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven at 200 degree Celsius (390 degree Fahrenheit)
2. Mix the flour with the salt and baking soda in a bowl. Add the butter and Speisequark (curd) and mix everything, either by hand (which works fine) or with a electrical handmixer with a dough hook. Knead the dough till you have a smooth ball.
3. Refrigerate the dough for 30 min. Then roll it out (about 3mm thick) on a floured surface. Cut out the bunnies with the cookie cutters and place on a baking tray that is lined with a cookie sheet. Drizzle a little milk on top of the unbaked cookies and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 
4. Bake for about 12 minutes.

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Red Cous Cous Salad

This is another little fast recipe from my work colleague. I don't really like cold cous cous salad because most of the times it is really dry, but this one is very juice with all the paprika paste. It tasted delicious :) We made it for our work brunch right before Eastern.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups uncooked cous cous (medium grain size)
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 tablespoon oil
• 4 tablespoons paprika paste (or similar, e.g. Ajvar - eggplant/pepper paste)
• 2-3 tablespoons harissa (depending on how hot the paprika paste is)
• 1/4 cup tomato paste 
• 1 bunch spring onions - sliced
• 1 orange bell pepper - diced
• 5-8 cocktail tomatoes - halved
• 1 cup freshly chopped parsley
• 3/4 - 1 cup oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon herbs de province
• 1 tablespoon coriander
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• salt, pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Put the cous cous in a large bowl. Heat up the water and pour over the cous cous with 1/2 tablespoon oil. Cover the bowl and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Then fluff up the cous cous with a fork.
2. Add the paprika paste, harissa and tomato paste and stir till the cous cous is all red or orange. Add the vegetables (spring onions, bell pepper, tomatoes) and the parsley. Mix well. Pour the oil and lemon juice over the cous cous and stir.
3. Add the seasonings (hebs de province, coriander, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper) to taste. 

Note: You can add or subsitute other vegetables such as chickpeas, kidney beans or cucumber as well. 

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