Category: cooking

A.k.a rolled croissant dough with Cardamom cream. Nice video.

Mistakes:

• I should have used my croissant recipe for the dough and the rest from this video.

Ingredients for 8 rolls/snails aprox.
  – 250g wheatflour (12,5g protein)
  – 125g whole milk
  – 1/4 medium whole eggs
  – 16g sourdough levain (at peak)
  – 3.7g fresh yeast / 2g dried yeast
  – 27.5g sugar
  – 6.25g salt
  *Try to keep all ingredients as cold as possible
  —
  25g butterblock
  —

For the remonce creme
    45g sugar
    45g butter (room temperature!!!)
    2.5g cardamon seeds
    5g flour (important for not leaking)

For the syrup
– 30g water
– 30g sugar
– 1 cardamon pods
– 1 star anise

Mix everything and boil for 5 minutes.

Process:

Mix all wet ingredients + yest + flour + salt + sugar + mix all

Knead until you have a elastic/strongh dough and no very sticky. The video uses a machine and my dough after a long time never got to that consistency but I thought it was good enough and put it into the plastic container and then rest in the fridge. For 1 or 2 days. Mine was 1 day.

With a rolling pin, flat your butterblock, keep it cold

With a rolling pin, flat your dough, use a bit of flour as non-stick.

Put the butterblock in the middle and fold it with the dough.

Cut the sides to release the tension of the dough (I forgot it each time…) each time you make a fold

Do two folds like the croissants. Put the dough in the fridge for 30-45 minutes

Make another fold and spread the dough as a thin layer: 3mm aprox?

Make the Cardamom cream: Mix butter, sugar, flour and cardamom.

Spread the cream over the whole surface of the dough.

Roll the dough like a giant cigar. You can put the dough back in the fridge to continue next day (I did that)

Cut each roll: 4cm thick / 110g aprox

Put then in a tray with baking paper / or spread some flour over the tray.

Let is proof for 3-4 hours

Pre-heat oven at 190C. Bake for 18m or until brown/golden

Apply syrup immediately after taking the rolls out of the oven

Before oven:

After baking! (and applied syrup immediately for the shiny touch!)

Although It was quite far from the video… it was actually tasty! As mentioned earlier, I need to try with my croissant dough recipe, I think it would be much better.

A friend of mine prepared this dish once and it was super tasty. So I wanted to try myself at some point. This is the video I followed.

For making onion tomato puree
Ingredients:

• Ghee 1 tbsp (I used a piece of butter)
• Onions 3-4 medium size (sliced)
• Garlic cloves 8-10
• Ginger 1 cm
• Green chillies 1-2
• Tomatoes 2 medium size (roughly chopped)
• Cashew nuts: 1/4 cup (I used a mix of nuts… mistake?)
• Water 200 ml
  Methods
• Set a deep pan or a wok on medium flame, add ghee and onions, cook the onions until its golden brown.
• Add garlic cloves, ginger and green chillies, and sauté for a minute.
• Add tomatoes, cashew nuts and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add water, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes, switch off the flame and cool down to room temperature, transfer it to a grinding jar and grind to fine puree, strain and keep aside for later use.

For making kofta balls
Ingredients:

• Boiled potatoes 4-5 medium size
• Paneer ½ cup (grated) (I used mozarella maybe a mistake?)
• Corn starch 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Red chilli powder 1 tsp (I didnt have all the spices so I improvised a bit…)
• Coriander powder 1 tsp
• Anardana powder 1 tbsp
• Garam masala ½ tsp
• Flour for coating
• Oil for frying
  Methods:
• Grate the boiled potatoes and add them in the mixing bowl, further add paneer, corn starch, salt and powdered spices, mix and combine well.
• Take a spoonful of mixture and shape into small roundels, coat it with dry refined flour and dust ff excess flour.
• Set a pan filled with oil on medium heat, deep fry these balls until golden brown in colour, remove it on ab absorbent paper and keep aside for later use.

For making the final gravy
Ingredients:

• Ghee 1 tbsp (I used butter)
• Turmeric powder 1/4th tsp (again, didnt have all spices)
• Coriander powder 1 tbsp
• Red chilli powder 1 tbsp
• Strained tomato onion puree
• Fresh cream ½ cup
• Kasuri methi 1 tsp
• Garam masala ½ tsp
• Kofta balls
• Fresh coriander leaves 1 tbsp (chopped)
  Methods:
• Set a pan on medium heat, add ghee, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder, add the strained tomato onion pure, add salt, stir and cook well for 4-5 minutes.
• Add fresh cream, kasuri methi and garam masala, stir and cook for another 2-3 minutes, add the fried kofta balls and stir gently without damaging the delicate kofta balls.
• Continue to cook further for 2-3 minutes and add freshly chopped coriander leaves.

Mistakes:

• My sauce was quite far from the video
• I didnt want to deep fry the balls so I just fried with a bit of oil and they kind of melt. Then when adding to the gravy, they mixed up.

My result was quite far from the video, but it was tasty anyway!

This is part of the process just as a reminder for next time.

I want to try to visit one bakery from time to time and see the new city. First some old visits for this year:

Fortitude: I went there last time I was in London…. I tried two things, they were nice. I dont remember the names though (like girls 🙂 The one below looked big but it was mainly the cream.

Arome: I went early this year I think. It was a bit late and I tried the best seller that is like a thick slice of bread caramelised. It was nice, super crispy outside and juicy. And looked simple.

From this video, you can see both places above. Although, I should try others mentioned in the video.

And this is the page I am following to plan my visits in Berlin:

Sofi: I wen there today. Really impressed with the “pain aux raisins”style pastry but it was really cardamon… super crispy.

I bought a piece of rye with seeds bread too:

It is nice, and I have similar recipe so I can do it.

Domberger Brot-Werk: I went there last week, very nice place. I didnt take any picture but I tried:

• Vinschgerl: small bread roll, rye flour and spices.

• zimtschnecke (sticky cinnamon roll)

Johann Backerei: It wasn’t in my plan this weekend but I went there and I tried a “pain au chocolate” that was good and 1/4 of big piece of bread. And that was amazing!

The bread was still warm! (and I bought it after 2pm!) I think it is wholemeal flour because it is darker than mine, very dark crust. I am not sure if it has some spieces? The webpage doesnt say much and then you just have IG……

KEIT: I tried the “Toast” bread that is not actually the standard toast bread. I got a bit late and they didnt have small pieces of the bread I wanted to try. I managed to have a conversation with the shop assistant as there was nobody waiting and she recommended that.

And too be honest, I was quite surprised. It was very tasty, spongy and moist. So definitely not the standard toast bread. Based on the webpage, the ingredients are: natural sourdough, oat porridge, spelt flour (Dinkel) 630, water, thermal salt. At some point I want to try new recipes of sourdough.

Albatross: I bought a piece of bread and a pastry (queen a). The pastry was good, but I wouldn’t go there again just for that. But the bread was amazing! It was the house bread.:

Ingredients:
80% Wheat
15% Wholegrain Wheat
5% Rye

So jealous… the crust, the crumb, the taste. Every perfect.

This is dish I wanted to try for some time. I knew about it by chance after reading about the favourite dish from a football player and then by chance, having it by lunch one day at work. It was very tasty, looked healthy and not very complicated. So finally, this weekend I tried it.

I followed this video but not to the dot as I missed/forgot some ingredients. Still, the result was quite good. I only did the tomate sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas (I didnt use because I had too much food)
• 3/4 glass of green/brown lentils
• 1 can of good pasata
• 6-7 minced garlic cloves
• 3/5 glass of rice (I used basmati)
• 1 glass of pasta
• 7 small onions, sliced (not diced)
• Pepper, salt, ground coriander, chilli flakes
• Olive oil
• 1 glass of sunflour oil for deepfrying.

Process:

• In a bowl, put the sliced onions with a bit of salt, pepper, ground coriander and chilli flakes. Toss it to be sure everything is well mixed. The idea is to make the onions to sweat a bit.

• Cook the lentils in a deep saucepan. Add two parts of boiling water for 1 part of lentils. 1 tsp of coriander and salt + pepper.
• Dont over cook it, something “aldente”
• Keep the water of the lentils to cook the pasta. Let aside the lentils.

• Cook the pasta with the lentils water. Again, till “aldente”. Set aside.
• Save the water for the last step.

• Heat up a a frying pan. Once hot, add some oil and the minced garlic. BE CAREFUL dont burn them!
• Add the tomate pasata to the garlic. Add some salt/pepper. Taste.
• Let it cook at medium heath until thickened. Set aside

• In the deep saucepan used for the lentils, heat up the sunflour oil
• Once it is hot, add a handfull of onios.
• NOTE: Leave a hand of onions without frying for next step
• Let if try for over 10 minutes or until brown (but not burned!)
• Remove the onions and let them dry with kitchen paper to absorve the oil. Separate them so they dont stick each other.
• Repeat the process with another batch of onions untill all are done.

• In the same saucepan as the onions. Remove some oil, try to clean any debris.
• Once is hot again, add the leftover onios. Fry until golden.
• Reduce to low-middle heat.
• Add the rice, mix very well so it doesnt stick to the bottom
• Add a couple of tbs of tomate sauce
• Add the pasta water. Top up if needed.
• Once the rice is done. Add the lentils and pasta. Mix all carefull

• For serving, add the rice/lentil/pasta base
• Add some tbs of tomate on top
• Add some crispy onions on top.

In the middle of the process:

Final:

It didnt taste like the one I remember but it was quite good.

For next time, I need to make the Dakkah, Garlic Vinegar sauce.

Original Wiener Apfelstrudel: (ok, this is Austrain) recommended recipe

Franzbrotchen: typical sweet from Hamburg. This recipe?

Ameisenkuchen.

Off topic: Deutsches Sprichwort

Bei drei Dingen lernt man einen Menschen am besten kennen: In der Liebe, beim Spiel und beim Wein.

There are three things you get to know a person best: love, play and wine

This is a recipe from my friend M that is super easy and tasty!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of paella rice (or risotto) – DONT TRY ANY OTHER RICE TYE
• 3 cups of boiling water (2:1 ratio with rice)
• 40g of fresh parsley (if possible, if dried, using 10gr or so)
• 7 cloves of garlic sliced
• 1/2 cup of raisins or similar
• 2 tsp of sweet smoked paprika (I used a Spanish brand)
• Olive oil to fry garlic and a gulp for the rice.
• Salt/pepper to taste

Process

• Pre-heat oven at 180C
• In a ovenproof container, put the rice, chopped parsley, raisins and paprika. Mix all well.
• Fry the garlic with plenty of oil.
• Pour the fried garlic and left over oil into the rice. Mix all well so the oil reaches all rice.
• Pinch of salt/pepper.
• Add 3 cups of boiling water. Mix all well.
• Put the container into the oven for 30 minutes.
• Taste the rice before removing from the oven.

Ready to eat!

Before putting into the oven and before adding the water:

After taking it out from the oven:

Very tasty! Although I originally used more than 2 tsp of paprika. So for next time, I will stick with just 2 and will see

I had a bag of frozen peas at home and I wanted to make “Guisantes con Jamón”. It is an easy recipe but I checked some videos as I wanted to have a better idea. These ones were my “inspiration”:

video1: using tomate sauce

video2: using lot of water and flour to thicken up the sauce

video3: using potatoes.

At the end I did a bit of a mix and I didnt use jamon but had “lomo curado”.

Ingredients:

• 400g frozen peas
• 100g lomo or cure ham
• 1 onion chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves chopped
• 1/2 medium potatoes chooped
• 1 egg

Process:

• Fry the onion and garlic
• Add the meat and fry a bit
• Add the potato and fry a bit
• Add the frozen peas.
• Stir until the peas are soft
• Add the egg and cook it with the peas, I scrambled it at the end.

To be honest, this recipe wasn’t really good as a brownie. But with a cold class of milk, could do the job.

Ingredients:

• 75g margarine plus for greasing
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed (not sure why this is needed…) + 6 tbsp water
• 120g dark chocolate
• 60g water
• 1 tsp coffee
• 125g self-raising flour
• 70g almond flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 70g frozen cherries (at room temperature)

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 170C. Grease a 20cm square tin or crystal dish.
• Mix flaxseed with 6 tbsp of water and set aside
• In a sauce pan, melt the chocolate, coffee, margarine and water at low heat. Allow to cool down a bit.
• Put flours, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Mix.
• Add the sugar to the chocolate mix. Use a hand mixer until everything is combined.
• Add the flaxseeds, vanilla and cherries to the chocolate.
• Then add the flour mix to the chocolate.
• It will very thick and difficult to manage with a whisk so use a wooden spoon.
• Pour the mix into the tin.
• Bake for 30 minutes or so until a skewer inserted in the middle comes nearly clean.
• Allow to cool down completely.

I had then for 35 minutes I think and the texture was too dry.

Last weekend made some vegan desserts for a friend. This recipe was really good. Much better than I expected.

Ingredients:

Base:

• 350g vegan biscuits (ie Lotus Biscoff)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 170g margarine + extra for greasing

Filling:

• 2x400g can coconut milk, CHILLED!!!
• 200g dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp maple syrup

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 200C.
• Crush biscuits to crumbs (I used my food processor).
• Add the cocoa powder, flour, syrup and margarine to the biscuits. Mix and create a dough.
• Butter with margarine the bottom of a 23cm aprox tart tin.
• Spread the biscuit dough into the the tin. Press it carefully so it is thick and consistent.
• Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Then let it cool, VERY IMPORTANT!!!
• Make the filling. Open the coconut cans (I put them in the freezer for a bit). They should have separated the coconut water from the cococut cream. Make a hole with a knife and save the water. You can use it later for cereals or drink it directly.
• Put the solid coconut cream in a bowl and move to the next step
• Melt the chocolate using bain-marie or microwave.
• Add the melted chocolate and syrup to the coconut cream. And whisk until fully combined.
• Pour the filling over the base ONLY if the base is properly cool down. Spread it evenly and put it in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours to set.
• Optional you can decorate the top with fresh red berries.

This is the result. Very tasty and not very sugary.

I have been lucky to try some Jamaican Rum Cake brought from Jamaica so I decided if I could make it myself. I found some recipes online like this (my main source) and this.

Ingredients:

• 200g butter at room temperature + a bit for greasing
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp lime zest
• 1 cup of blended fruits: raisins, cherries, mixed fruit, etc. Pre-soak the fruits earlier with water and a bit of white rum.
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 tbsp almond liquor
• 1/4 cup of white rum + a bit for brushing
• 1/2 cup of Port wine (I dont have red label / sweet red wine)
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp mixes spice
• 1 tbsp gratted nutmeg
• 1.5 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 3 tbsp black treacle (I dont have “browning liquid”)

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 180C. Grease a cake tin.
• Cream butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Use a wooden spoon initially and then you can use this whisk. The video use an electric whisker but I think I managed a decent mixture. You want something creamy and fluffy.
• In another bowl, mix the eggs, lime juice and lime zest.
• Add the egg mix to the butter mix bit by bit, whisking constantly.
• In another bowl, mix the blended fruit, vanilla, almond liquor, rum and Port.
• And the fruit mix to the butter/egg mix bit by bit, whisking constantly.
• Clean one of the bowl. Add the flour, cinnamon, mixes spice, nutmeg, baking powder and bread crumbs. Mix well.
• Add the flour to the wet mix, bit by bit and mixing constantly.
• Finally, add the black treacle that should bit the dark color to the cake. Mix well.
• Pour the cake mix into the tin. Shake until level.
• Put a small bowl with water in the oven or spray with water the oven to create extra moisture.
• Bake for 1h 15m aprox. Remove from oven only when a skewer comes out clean from the center of the cake.
• Once you take the cake from the oven, brush it with white rum while hot.
• Leave it cool down for 1h.

The real thing:

My thing:

To be honest, although my version doesnt look like the original one, it was tasty. I think these were my errors:

• I didnt soak the dry fruits so they didnt blend properly. I need to find more info about how to prepare this part properly. I think this is the reason the cake is not as “dense” as the original.
• I think I over baked it. I lost track of time and it was 1h 30m I think.
• The black treacle doesnt give the same black color as in the video. Or I need to put more?
• Use more water in the oven. The first video didnt use any but the second did it so I though the second version was more moist and I wanted that.
• Although I didnt use Jamaican rum neither Jamaican red wine, the taste was good.