simply.food

Puff pastry mini Apple bites.

2012-02-14T09:15:00.000Z

Delectable cinnamon and apples bites that will melt in your mouth.

Ingredients:

1 sheet ready to roll puff pastry
2 granny smith apples
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Method:

1. Peel the apples and grate them.
2. Add the sugar and the cinnamon to the apples and mix well.
3. Place the puff pastry on a flat surface that is dusted with a little flour.
4. Spoon the apple mixture on to the puff pastry rectangle and smooth the filling out right to the edges of the pastry.

5. Starting at the long edge of the puff pastry rectangle, start to roll the pastry tightly incasing the apple filling.Stop when you get to the centre of the pastry rectangle.
6. Roll the pastry in the same way from the opposite end of pastry rectangle to meet in the centre.
7. Slice the roll into 1 inch pieces and place on a greased baking tray. Shape the pastry so that it resembles hearts .
8. Bake in a pre heated oven 190 degrees C / 375 degrees F for 20 minutes until golden brown.
9. Remove from oven and immediately transfer the apple pastry bites to a cooling rack.
10. Dust with icing sugar and serve with a cup of coffee

Submitting to:
Lets cook for valentine chocolate/ hearts event.

Nepalese Dhal (Lentil Soup)

2012-02-12T20:32:00.000Z

Delicious and protein packed dhal with simple aromatic flavours.

Ingredients:

6 oz Moong dhal without husk, washed and soaked for 2 hours.
1 pint water
1 teapoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh ginger paste
1/2 teaspoon fresh garlic paste
3 green chillies cut into slits
2 tablespoons sunflower oil (or clarified butter)
2 tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon fresh chopped coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

Method:

1.Drain the presoaked dhal and place it in a large saucepan, cover with 1 pint water and bring to boil, turn heat down and simmer on low heat till dhal is cooked.
2. Finely chop the tomatoes and puree them in blender.
3. Add oil or clarified butter in a pan when it is hot add the cumin seeds and the garlic, saute for a minute , add the ginger and pureed tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder and lemon juice and cook for another 2-3 minutes more.Add this spice mixture to the pre boiled dhal and bring it to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes adding a little extra water if needed.
5. Turn off heat and transfer dhal to a serving pot.Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and green chillies.
Serve with boiled rice and pickle.

Recipe Idea from: Nepali-Food.com

Submitting to:
Flavours of Nepal event by simply.food guest hosted by Napurs UK Rasoi

Carrot Halwa- Blog Hop Wednesday 8th February.

2012-02-08T00:01:00.002Z

This is my entry for Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. Its a beautiful concept where not only do you get to make new blogger friends, cook from their blogs but in return they visit your blog and try out your recipes too.

If you are interested in joining Blog Hop Wednesday here is how it works:

"The plot behind this attempt is to form 2 groups and make pairs with a blogger who will be your partner for that particular month. This happens every 2nd wednesday of the month. You will then go through your partner’s blog, select, choose, cook, click and post the recipe in your blog on Wednesday and vice versa. The following month you will have a new partner. This way not only you tend to your blog at intervals but also learn some new recipes along the way and get to know a lot of bloggers and make friends."

This recipe is from Harini's blog Tamalapaku .The selection of recipes in her blog was superb and I finally book marked three recipes to try, apple salad, the brazilian orange rice and the carrot halwa. For blog hop I selected the carrot halwa recipe as it was simple and easy to make.I followed the Harini's recipe but added my personal touch of saffron and cardamom powder to the Halwa.

Sweet, aromatic carrot halwa fragranced with cardamom and saffron.

Ingredients:

8 medium sized carrots
1/2 a tin condensed milk
2 tablespoons Ghee (clarified Butter)
1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
Pinch of saffron soaked in 1 tablespoon warm milk.
1 tablespoon chopped mixed nuts(Almonds, cashew)

Method :

1. Peel and grate the carrots.Keep aside.
2. Add the ghee in a heavy bottom saucepan and wait for it to heat up.
3. Add the grated carrots to the ghee and saute them for 5-6 minutes on medium heat till they turn soft and change colour.
4.Add the condensed milk, and saffron soaked in milk and keep stirring the mixture making sure it does not stick to pan and burn. Cook 5-6 minutes more until the mixture thickens and starts to leave the sides of the pan.

5. Remove from heat and add the cardamom powder.
6. Transfer to serving dishes and garnish with nuts.
Serve as it is or with Ice cream.

Giveaway~ Wahl James Martin Food Processor White & Black

2012-02-06T00:01:00.002Z

On my recent visit to the BBC Good Food Show, I visited the WAHL stand and had the opportunity to look at their James Martin range of kitchen gadgets. I was particularly drawn to the Black and white food processor which looked neat and compact and had all the functions I was looking for in a food processor. When I was asked by WAHL to test it ,I was more than pleased to try it out.

The Black and White James Martin food processor is a powerful 900W Food Processor with turbo function. It comes complete with a 1.75 litre blender jug, citrus juicer, stainless steel chopping blade, dough blade, and an assist blade. There is also an assortment of stainless steel slicing/shredding/julienne disks.
I have used the processor in making pastry, mixing cakes, shredding vegetables for salad and using the blender jug for whipping milkshakes and smoothies and I am pleased to vouch that this machine does all that it claims to do.

Pros:

I particularly like the easy clean removable blade and the generous large bowl size which was perfect for cake mixes in large quantities.
The assist blade that enabled you to lift the original blade higher up if you were mixing larger quantities
The blender jug has a removable blade attachment for easy cleaning too.
The assortment of disks enabled me to slice, shred, and grate by changing the various disks which are all dishwasher safe.
The processor comes with an assembly booklet complete with illustrations of components that also includes three recipes in the back of it. It also comes with a DVD featuring James martin demonstrating recipes using the gadget.
The processor comes with a built in safety lock that only allows the processor to work when all the accessories are placed on the unit in the correct position. It has clear symbols on the processor showing unlock and locking position too.

Cons:

The only tricky bit was that the lid of the jug had to be fitted on in a particular way to make it work and it was not apparently clear in the instructions given.
As both the bowl and the lids have to lock, you have to unlock the bowl to open the lid if you want to push food down mid way during processing it was a little tricky to unlock with one hand.
It was tricky to clean food particles that collected inside the plastic processor drive shaft that fitted inside the bowl. A small brush was necessary which WAHL did not provide.

Overall, I an enjoying using this processor, its stylish, neat, compact, neutral in colour and it does not take up a lot of space on my kitchen top.

My only suggestion to WAHL would be that they consider providing a plastic cover for the processor, a storage box for all the components as there are many loose parts to keep safe and also include a small brush to clean the hard to get places.

Picture courtesy of WAHL

All opinions stated above are my own, I am certainly loving my new gadget and really enjoyed putting it to the test. I am pleased to announce that WAHL have kindly agreed to giveaway one food processor to one luck winner.Thankyou WAHL for such a wonderful giveaway.

Rules:

This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 who live in the UK, Europe ,USA or Canada.
The winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter (which uses random.org) and announced on this page.
The winner will be contacted by e-mail, if they do not respond within a 48 hours another winner may be chosen.
There is one prize of a Wahl James Martin range Black nad White food processor..
I am running this competition in good faith on behalf of Wahl, who will be responsible for sending the prize to the winner. Their decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. They reserve the right to substitute the prize for one of a similar type / value if the prize above is not available.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions
Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will be disqualified.
No cheating. Please do follow the instructions. I will verify the winning entry and check that you have commented / tweeted / subscribed etc. Anyone who cheats will be disqualified.
There is one main way to enter and several ways to get bonus entries, including bonus daily entries. Follow the instructions in the form above. If you already like / follow comment in the rafflecopter widget and let me know to get your entries.

To participate in this Giveaway:
Follow the instructions on Rafflecopter here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No Bake Pomegranate Cheesecake

2012-02-03T20:50:00.000Z

Crunchy biscuit base with a delicious creamy mascarpone and pomegrante topping.

Ingredients:

For Base:

60 grams butter

60 grams oats

12 digestive wholemeal biscuits

For pomegranate syrup:

125 ml pomegranate juice

30 grams tablespoon caster sugar

For cream Topping:

250 grams mascarpone cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

60 ml single cream

75 grams icing sugar icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 large pomegranate

15 grams icing sugar for dusting.

Method:

1. In a heavy bottom pan add the pomegranate juice and bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer until juice reduces to half the quantity.

2. Add the sugar and simmer until sugar is totally dissolved and a rich syrup forms. Turn off heat and keep aside.

3. Cream together the icing sugar, vanilla essence, mascarpone and cream until it is smooth and creamy. Put into a large piping bag fitted with star nozzle and refrigerate.

4. In a dry frying pan toast the oats for 2-3 minutes and remove from hot pan. Allow to cool and then crush slightly.

5. Crush the biscuits to form a coarse crumbly texture. Add the toasted oats and crushed biscuits to a large bowl and mix together.

6. Melt the butter and add it to the crushed biscuits and oats mixture and stir the mixture until it looks like wet sand.

7. Take 4 individual tartlets with loose bottoms and line them with cling film.

8. Press the biscuit and oat mixture into the tartlets case packing the mixture firmly into the sides and smoothing the tops with the help of the back of a metal spoon. Place the filled tartlet cases into the fridge for two hours to allow the biscuit bases to set.

9. Peel and de seed the pomegranate making sure no white bits are stuck to the seeds as this will make them bitter.

10. In a bowl add the pomegranate seeds and 4-5 tablespoons of prepared pomegranate syrup and mix well. Set aside

11. Remove the chilled tartlet cases from the fridge and carefully lift out the biscuit bases from the tartlets cases. Peel away the cling film and place the firm set biscuit bases onto a serving plate.

12. Pipe a ring of rosettes with the chilled mascarpone cream mixture on top of the biscuit base.

13. In the centre of the biscuit base spoon some of the pomegranate and syrup mixture.

14. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

This recipe has been featured in Take a break - My favourite recipes issue 3 February page 57.
If you like this recipe please drop by the face page and vote for it here.

Lets Cook with Leftovers ~ Roundup.

2012-02-02T19:40:00.000Z

Here is the round up for Lets Cook With left overs. There are some wonderful recipes and ideas to use up your left over food and give them a new lease of life. Thanks to everyone who participated.

The next event in this series is Lets cook for Valentine Chocolate/Hearts event.
Please do drop by and check this event out and to link up your entries.

Flavours of Singapore~ roundup

2012-02-01T21:41:00.000Z

Pots and pan packed and ready for a new challenge, the new year took us to Singapore in our "Flavours of Series 2. " A diverse range of cuisine with a mix of Chinese and some Asian influences makes Singapore food really varied. Here is the wonderful round up of Flavours of Singapore.

Camilla Sent:

Gajar Halwa

Sara sent:
Eggless Bakwan

Nayna sent:

Acar Timun - Cucumber salad.

Stirfried Tofu

Szechaun Chilli sauce

Szechaun stir fried Rice

Roti Jala- Lacey pancakes

Pisang Goreng -Banana Fritters

Coconut milk pudding

Singapore Five Spice Powder

Our next stop in this culinary journey is to Nepal in "Flavours of Nepal "guest hosted by Napur, so please do drop by her space to check out the event details and send in your entries.

Flavours of Nepal 1st Feb 2012- 29 th Feb 2012

Announcing event Lets Cook for Valentines (chocolate/hearts)

2012-02-01T00:01:00.001Z

Time is too slow for those who wait,

too swift for those who fear,

too long for those who grieve,

too short for those who rejoice,

but for those who love, time is eternity.

~Henry Van Dyke~

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, It is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards .

February brings us the theme of love, with Valentines day fast approaching, lets create some wonderful culinary delights to shower our loved ones with. As chocolates and hearts are generally associated with valentines, the theme for this event is to cook any dish for your loved one but you must feature chocolate or hearts or both in your dish in some form.You can do this by either using chocolate as an ingredient in your dish or alternatively you can use hearts in the presentation / garnishing of your food .

To Participate:

1.Prepare a dish vegetarian only (eggs allowed) please link your dish using the linky below by entering your Dish Name and Post URL
2.Please link this event announcement with your entry, this is mandatory.
3.Use of logo is not mandatory but it helps to spread the word if you can use it.

4. Multiple entries are allowed, archived are only allowed if reposted and updated with this event link.

4. In the event of problem using linky you can email me the entry at simplysensationalfood@gmail.com

Please use this format

Your Name:

Recipe Name

Recipe URL

Image no larger than 300 pixels.

Add your Lets Cook for Valentines Chocolate/ Hearts Entries here:
Dish Name and Post URL

Singapore Five Spice Powder

2012-01-31T07:00:00.001Z

Aromatic and fragranced spice powder made with star anise, cinnamon, fennel, cloves and szechaun pepper corns. Its perfect for stirfries and five spice rice.

Ingedients:

5 star anise
2 sticks of cinnamon
10 cloves
1 teaspoon szechaun peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seeds.

Method:

1. In a heavy bottomed frying pan , dry roast the spices for 2-3 minutes to release the fragrance.
2. Leave to cool for few minutes and then transfer them to a coffe grinder and grind to a smooth powder.
3. Transfer to an air tight jar and use as required.

You may Like:
Szechaun Chilli Sauce

Submitting to:
Flavours Of Singapore event by simply.food

Roti Jala- Singapore laced Pancakes

2012-01-28T17:56:00.000Z

Lacey thin pancakes that are a wonderful accompaniment to a spicy curry.

Ingredients:

4 oz /120 grams plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
Cold water or Coconut milk (I used water)
1 egg (I used 1 tablespoon yoghurt instead)
1 tablespoons sunflower oil

Method:

1. Sieve the flour and add the salt and turmeric.
2. Add the yoghurt and mix with the flour.
3. Add water a little at a time to form a batter of dropping consistency.There should be no lumps.

4. Fill a roti jala cup mould with the batter.(I used an icing bottle or you can use a ketchup bottle)

Image from Baking Frenzy

5. Heat a non stick pan and oil it sparingly with the oil.
6. When it is hot turn the heat to medium and using the roti jala cup mould quickly spread the batter in to the pan using a circular motion or forming vertical stripes as in this video.

7. Once the pancake has set after 2-3 minutes, you can fold it into three and transfer to serving place and repeat for remaining batter.There is no need to flip the pancake.
Serve with curry of your choice.

You may like :
Pudla savory pancakes

Submitting to:
Flavours Of Singapore event by simply.food

Pisang Goreng- Banana fritters.

2012-01-27T09:27:00.004Z

Sweet banana deep fried in a crispy crunchy coating ,drizzled with a flurry of icing sugar.

Ingredients:

3 sweet firm medium bananas (Do not use over ripe bananas)
30 grams / 1 oz rice flour
120 grams /4 oz plain flour
60 grams / 2 oz corn flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
180ml (approx) water to make batter
Sunflower oil for deep frying.
Icing sugar to sprinkle

Method:

1. In a bowl add the flours and salt and gradually add the water to form a thick batter that coats the back of a spoon.(It should be fairly thick so that it coates the banana and doesn't drop off)
2. Peel and slice the bananas into two .Cut each slice into three pieces and keep aside
3. Heat the oil and when it is hot, dip the banana pieces into the batter and drop them gently into the hot oil.
4. Deep fry the banana fritters on medium heat until golden brown , remove from oil and drain on kitchen paper.
5. Sprinkle some icing over the bananas and transfer them to a serving dish.

Serve with Vanilla icecream.

You may Like:
Coconut milk pudding.

Submitting to:
Flavours Of Singapore event by simply.food
Teatime snack event by Torview
ABC series desserts by Ramya

C.E.D.D Fresh Produce event by Raven guest hosted by Veggie Platter

Singapore Coconut milk pudding.

2012-01-25T22:18:00.002Z

Creamy, smooth pudding with a delicious coconut fragrance and taste.

Ingredients:

250 ml coconut milk
1 tablespoon agar agar flakes
2 tablespoons sugar

Method:

1. Add the coconut milk to a sauce pan and heat it up.
2. Add the sugar and agar agar flakes and stir on medium heat untill agar agar and sugar have completely dissolved.
3. Get two ramekin dishes and strain the mixture into them.
4. Leave the pudding aside to cool to room temperature.
5. Once cooled, place in fridge to set for two hours.

Serve chilled.

You may like:
Coconut Barfi

Submitting to:
Flavours Of Singapore event by simply.food
Teatime snack event by Torview
ABC series desserts by Ramya

C.E.D.D Fresh Produce event by Raven guest hosted by Veggie Platter

Giveaway ~ Hotel Chocolat Valentines Chocolates

2012-01-25T06:00:00.004Z

With February almost on our door step, the thoughts of love are softly filling the air. Love and chocolate are just meant to be together, hand in hand. Young or old there is nothing more pleasing than receiving a surprise box of chocolates and that is exactly what has happened to me. I received this irresistible luxury box of chocolates from Hotel Chocolat with a single message 'Try me'. Beautifully packaged, it made my heart skip a beat whilst opening the box. Next came the tasting, spoilt for choice and not knowing where to start as each and every chocolate was filled with tempting irresistible liquid caramels, melting pralines and ravishing truffles. The chocolates were simply divine and oozed luxury at its heights. What more could a girl want???..... they are heaven in box!!!

At Hotel Chocolate they take the gifting of chocolate very seriously, they genuinely know how to spoil you. With fusions of dark chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate with liquors, ganaches, spices and fruits, there is every possible combination to tease and tantalise the chocolate lover’s palate.

This year for valentines they have made a big and bold return to the golden age of romance – to a time that knew all about sweeping people off their feet and when love was never more glamorous.

Amongst the selection there are boxed Valentines Day chocolates for him and for her. To compliment these there are also irresistible truffle hearts in glamorous boxed collections and boxes of cute little chocolate hearts made with silky smooth solid chocolate with gorgeous fillings.

Romantically packaged you can set someone’s heart racing with these gorgeous chocolates, tied with satin ribbons, hidden love notes and more. So this Valentine with the help of Hotel Chocolat make your true romance really begin.....

Many Thanks to Hotel Chocolat for sending me these chocolates to try, the opinions I have expressed are my own.
To spread the romance, Hotel Chocolat have generously offered to send one luxury box of chocolates to one lucky winner of this competition. The competition is open to any reader from the UK, US, Canada and Europe .

To participate:

Please log into Rafflecopter and follow the instructions.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rules:

This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 who live in the UK, Europe ,USA or Canada.
The winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter (which uses random.org) and announced on this page.
The winner will be contacted by e-mail, if they do not respond within a 48 hours another winner may be chosen.
There is one prize of the Sealed with a Kiss Chocolates.
I am running this competition in good faith on behalf of Hotel Chocolate, who will be responsible for sending the prize to the winner. Their decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. They reserve the right to substitute the prize for one of a similar type / value if the prize above is not available.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions
Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will be disqualified.
No cheating. Please do follow the instructions. I will verify the winning entry and check that you have commented / tweeted / subscribed etc. Anyone who cheats will be disqualified.
There is one main way to enter and several ways to get bonus entries, including bonus daily entries. Follow the instructions in the form above. If you already like / follow comment in the rafflecopter widget and let me know to get your entries.

Szechaun Stirfried Rice

2012-01-23T07:00:00.002Z

Spicy aromatic rice stirfried in a chilli garlic Szechaun sauce.

Ingredients:

8 oz cold precooked boiled rice
3 tablespoons Szechaun sauce (Home made recipe here)
8 button mushrooms thinly sliced
1 red onion thinly sliced
1/4 red capsicum diced (small)
1/4 yellow capsicum diced (small)
1/4 green capsicum diced (small)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic cut into thin slices.
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok, when it is hot add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.Add the onions and saute for another minute.
2. Add the mushrooms and pepppers and stirfry for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the salt, szechaun sauce and mix well.
4. Add the boiled rice and toss until rice is evenly coated with sauce and vegetables and heated through throughly.
5. Transfer to serving dish.

You may like:
Singapore stirfried Tofu

Submitting to:
Lets Cook with Rice event by Radhika of tickling palates
Flavours of Singapore and Lets cook with Left overs events by simply.food

Szechaun chilli sauce

2012-01-18T19:50:00.001Z

A spicy chilli sauce that is versatile in all oriental stirfry dishes.

Ingredients:

10 Red dried chillies
1/2 red sweet pepper(long one)
2 cloves garlic finely minced
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon sesame paste
2 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
10 szechaun peppercorns finely ground.
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon sweet chilli garlic sauce

Method:

1. Soak the red chillies in hot water overnight.
2. In the morning drain the red chillies remove stalks, seeds and membrane and chop roughly.
3.Finely chop the red sweet pepper.
4. In a blender jug add the sweet red pepper and the chillies and blend to a coarse puree .
5. Heat oil in a pan when it is hot add garlic and ginger and saute for 30 seconds.(take care not to burn the garlic)
6. Add the blended chilli paste, salt and chilli powder , chilli garlic sauce , sesame paste and saute till sauce thickens .
7. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar.

Add to stir fried rice or vegetables as required.

NB- I added the sweet pepper to keep the heat less, however if you dare replace it with an extra 10 red chillies instead.Also for cooking with the sauce works well with coarse texture , however if you want to serve as dipping sauce blend it smoother.

You may like:
Sweet red chilli sauce

Submitting to:
Flavours Of Singapore event by simply.food

Detox with Green Tea.

2012-01-17T22:26:00.002Z

With the recent festivities and today’s fast paced lifestyles we are all indulging in rich processed foods,eating too much fast food and living very hectic stress full lives.We eat at odd times, sleep less, exercise less and consume too much caffeine. All these habits have a detrimental effect on our bodies.These bad habits break the body's natural power to combat illness as we introduce more harmful toxins into our body bringing on diseases as well as illnesses. Many people on realisation and guilt of over indulgence binge diet after festivities. These are short lived and rarely successful. The only way to help our bodies to detox is by cutting out fat and over processed food, cutting out ready meals and introduce a well balanced healthy diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates and proteins.

Cutting out caffeine is a major part of this detox. A good way to do this is to introduce our bodies to healthy drinks such as green tea and fruit teas. There are many benefits of drinking Green Tea . Green teas are made solely from the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures throughout Asia. Green tea is processed and grown in a variety of ways, depending on the type of green tea desired. As a result of these methods, maximum amounts of polyphenols and antioxidants are retained, giving maximum green tea benefits.

Twining have introduced green tea to the western world. At their Tea Shop there is a vast selection of aromatic flavours, there is a taste to suit each individual palate . You can find flavours such as green tea with cranberry, ginger, blackberry and raspberry, pineapple, mango and many more. All these teas are refreshing, healthy and perfect to start your Detox. Furthermore at only £ 1.39 for a box of 20 teabags they are not only delicious, but amazingly good value for money too. Just think this is 20 cups of flavour some tea at only 7 pence a cup!!!!

To check out the full range of flavours you can visit the Twining’s tea shop where you can buy Green Tea at a click of a button

Being spoilt for choice you are not sure which tea flavour to purchase??? Don't worry Twining’s will also send you free samples of this wonderful tea to try it out.. To get your free samples visit here. (Tea samples available in UK only)

My ideal way to enjoy the tea I found is to choose your flavour, add the teabag to your favorite mug, top it with hot water. Leave for 2-3 miutes after which discard the tea bag and add a squirt of runny honey just to sweeten it slightly and finally ............Enjoy and be assured that you are helping your body and protecting it from all these conditions:

• Cut stroke by up to 80%

• Recommended by Cancer Society as a “High Priority for Cancer Prevention”

• Protects the prostate from cancer

• Proven to help with weight loss

• One of the strongest anti-oxidants available

• Helps digestion and reduces bloating

• Normalizes healthy bacteria in the intestines

• Proven to help prevent heart disease

• Helps stop dental decay and gum disease

• Helps with bad breath

Thankyou to Twinings for the free samples that they sent me , I am still undecided as to which is my favorite flavour.This post has been sponsored by Twinings

source:

http://www.greenteatruth.org/green-tea-facts/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea

photo source:

Green tea leaves

Twinings tea boxes

Exercise person

Pather Pheni ( Indian sweet pastry dish) ~ICC January 2012

2012-01-15T21:07:00.000Z

Royal dessert , crispy, flakey sweet pastry that melts in every mouthful.

This post is for the Indian cooking challenge, event by Srivalli recipe by Harini

Ingredients

8oz fine semolina

2 teaspoons ghee

A pinch of salt

Water to knead the dough

Sunflower oil for frying

For paste:

2 teaspoons ghee

2 teaspoons rice flour

Sugar Syrup:

8oz sugar

1/2 cup water

Decoration:

Coarsely chopped pistachios nuts

Blanched almonds coloured red.

Method:

Sugar Syrup

1. Add the water and sugar in a heavy bottom vessel and bring to boil, cook the syrup till it reaches 1 thread consistency. Once it reaches that immediately take off heat and keep aside to cool.

For the Pheni:

1.In a mixing bowl, add the fine semolina, 2 tsp of ghee (in solid form) and work it up to result in crumb like texture.

2.Add a pinch of salt and knead into a soft dough adding water gradually. (The dough needs to be softer than the regular chapati/puri dough. )

3.Cover with a muslin cloth and set aside for a minimum of 1 hour. (The more the resting time the better the quality of the phenis.)

4.In a smaller bowl, whisk the solid ghee and rice flour until they form a smooth paste.

5.Divide the dough into 5 parts and roll out thin puris out of each of those and cover them to stop drying up.

6.On each rolled out puri, apply the rice flour-ghee paste and layer them one on top ofeach other.
7. Once you have layered the last puri spread some more flour-ghee paste and roll the layered puris into a tight log like a swiss roll.
8.Cut the log into 1 inch pieces and roll out each piece with light hands into a thin puri and keep them covered until ready to be fried.

9.Heat the oil in a pan and allow to heat to medium hot.
10.Fry each of the puris, they should be fryed on medium heat and should crisp up but not change colour they should remain white.
11.Drain them onto paper towel until cool.

12. To decorate the pheni , dip a pastry brush in the cooled sugay syrup and brush the pheni on both sides with the sweet syrup.(Pheni and sugar syrup both must be cool when decorating , if decorated whilst either is hot will result in soggy pheni)

13. Sprinkle some pistachio and almond decoration on the pheni and place on some parchment paper to dry.

14. Store in an air tight container to keep crisp.

NB- It is not necessary to coat these pheni is sugar syrup, they can just be dusted in icing sugar and served with badam milk instead.

Acar Timun (singapore cucumber pickle)

2012-01-13T19:20:00.002Z

Acar Timun is a tangy crunchy pickle is commonly available is Singapore as an accompaniment to main dishes.It has a sweet and sour and tangy taste and it is served as a cold relish. The original recipe is from here but I have made some changes to here to suit my taste.

Ingredients:

1/2 cucumber
1 large carrot
1 small red onion
1 inch piece fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green chilli finely chopped

Method:

1. Cut the cucumber in half and remove the seeds. Cut it in to 2 inch very thin julienne strips.
2. Peel the carrot and cut it into 2 in very thin julienne strips.
3. Peel the onion and slice it very thinly and separate all the slices.
4. Pel the ginger and cut it into fine julienne strips
5 Heat oil in a pan , when it is hot add the mustard seeds and wait for them to crackle. Add the onions and stir fry for a minute.
6.Add the carrots, ginger,cucumber and chillies and stir fry for a further two minutes.
7.Add the salt,sugar, chilli powder, turmeric powder and the lemon juice and toss.(vegetables should remain crisp and retain shape)
8.Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar and mix well.
9.Transfer to a serving dish and chill the pickle.
Serve with any main dish as an accompaniment.

You may like

Carrot pickle

Submitting to:

Flavours of Singapore event by simply.food

Tomato Chappati~ Blog hop wednesday 11th Jan 2012

2012-01-11T08:05:00.000Z

This recipe is from Hema's Blog. Looking through her blog there were many recipes that I had never tried before, but finally I settled for the tomato chappati recipe you can find here.
I had to make a few basic changes as I did not have any tomato gojju and as I had never prepared it before so I improvised.

Healthy delicious chapattis with a subtle flavour of tomatoes.

Ingredients:

250 grams whole Wheat flour
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
4 tablespoons oil for cooking the chappatis
1 teaspoon salt
Water to make Chappati dough
6 tablespoons passata (blended sieved tomatoes)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

Method:

1. In a bowl add the flour, salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, 2 tablespoons oil and mix well.
2. Add the passata and start to mix it into the flour, add water if required to form a soft pliable dough.Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
3.Divide the dough into walnut sized balls and using a little dry flour roll out a thin chappati approximately 6 inches in diameter.
4. Heat a frying pan and place the chappati on it, after a minute flip it over and brush the top side lightly with some oil. Flip the chappati over so oiled side is on the bottom.
5. Brush lightly the top side and once again flip it to cook this side too.Remove from pan and place in a foil wrap to keep warm.
6. Repeat for remaining dough.
Serve tomato chappati with any curry or pickle of choice.

You may like spinach paratha.

Singapore sweet and sour stirfried Tofu

2012-01-03T22:05:00.000Z

Singapore style stir fried tofu in an aromatic sweet and sour sauce.

Ingredients:

480 grams tofu

1 red onion thinly sliced

3 spring onions thinly sliced on the slant

2 cloves garlic finely sliced

2 green chillies finely chopped

2 tablespoons plum sauce

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

2 tablespoon chilli sauce

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon corn flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons water.

3 tablespoons sunflower oil.

Method:

1. Remove the tofu block from the wrapper and pat dry with kitchen paper to remove excess water.

2. Cut the tofu into thin strips 1cm wide and 2 cm long.

3. Add 2 tablespoons of the sunflower oil in a wok and let it heat up.

4. Stir fry the tofu in small batches till it takes on a golden colour. Remove from wok and keep aside.

5. Add 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil to the wok and wait for the oil to heat up. Add the garlic, chillies, red onion and the spring onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

6. Add the prepared tofu strips to the wok and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes with the vegetables.

7. Add the corn flower to the water and mix well, add this to the wok together with the vinegar, salt, chilli sauce, tomato sauce, plum sauce and stir fry until tofu strips are totally covered with the sauce.

8. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with sliced spring onions.

Serve with Rice.

Announcing event ~ Flavours of Singapore.

2012-01-01T18:35:00.001Z

We are are packed and ready to move on to our next leg with our journey in "Flavours of" Series 2 .We have enjoyed wonderful stay in Sri Lanka at Priyas blog and we are now resident in Singapore for the month of January to sample and cook this wonderful cuisine.

Singapore cuisine hosts a world of flavours,with its rich multicultural heritage, it portrays an array of local cuisines such as Chinese, Malay, Indian and Peranakan among others. Due to the long history of immigration in Singapore, Yusheng as well as traditional Malay cuisine like The Laksa, Satay, and Goreng Pisang have all integrated themselves into the cuisine of Singapore.In addition to these flavours English and some Portuguese influenced Eurasian, known as Kristang is also commonly found.
The cuisine is rich in flavour using aromatic spices such as cumin , cinnamon, coriander, cardamom,clove and nut meg. Other flavours and ingredients commonly found are pandan leaves, kaffir, lime,lemon grass, galangal and many others. Cooking in a wok is very common,and dishes prepared which incorporate many different types of rice and noodle.

So if all this is tickling your taste buds and making your mouth water then please do check out these sites below for some mouthwatering recipes ideas.
http://asiarecipe.com/sinveg.html
http://www.vegetarian-society.org/recipe
http://singaporelocalfavourites.blogspot.com/2009/09/singapore-indian-food.html
http://www.ifood.tv/network/singapore_fusion_dish/recipes

To Participate:
Sharpen your knives, put on your apron,don't forget the chefs hat and then :

1.Prepare a dish (vegetarian only - eggs allowed) .
2.Please link this event announcement with your entry, this is mandatory.
3.Use of logo is not mandatory but usage is appreciated as it helps to spread the word visually.
4. Multiple entries are allowed, archived are only allowed if reposted and updated with this event link.
4. Email me the entry at simplysensationalfood@gmail.com

Please put in subject box : Flavours of Singapore
Please use this format
Your Name:
Recipe Name:
Recipe URL:
Image no larger than 300 pixels.

Event Round up ~Lets Cook for christmas red/ green event.

2012-01-01T15:32:00.001Z

Thankyou to every one who participated in this Festive event and made it so very successful. It received a total of 65 amazing entries .
Here is the round up of all the delicious entries:

The month of January we have Lets cook with left overs event , to send your entries and find out more details click here.

Event Announcement ~ Lets cook with Left overs.

2012-01-01T00:00:00.004Z

With the festive season ,we have all cooked a variety of dishes to indulge in over the last few days . But I am sure that with so many dishes that were so lovingly prepared and eaten, there are many leftovers of the same dishes that are now sitting in tupperwares in your fridges.
This event is all about being creative and using up leftovers and giving them a new dimension by preparing a new dish with them in order to avoid food wasteage.
To participate in this event you must prepare any dish using leftovers. You can add other ingredients to your dish to complete it .Only vegetarian dishes allowed although eggs are permitted.

To Participate:

1.Prepare a dish (vegetarian only - eggs allowed) please link your dish using the linky below by entering your Dish Name and Post URL
2.Please link this event announcement with your entry, this is mandatory.
3.Use of logo is not mandatory but usage is appreciated as it helps to spread the word visually.
4. Multiple entries are allowed, archived are only allowed if reposted and updated with this event link.
4.Only in the event of problem using linky you can email me the entry at simplysensationalfood@gmail.com

Please use this format
Your Name:
Recipe Name
Recipe URL
Image no larger than 300 pixels.

Urad dal Ladoos ~ Blog hop 28th December 2011

2011-12-28T16:24:00.001Z

This is my entry for Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. Its a beautiful concept where not only do you get to make new blogger friends, cook from their blogs but in return they visit your blog and try out your recipes too.

If you are interested in joining Blog Hop Wednesday here is how it works:

"The plot behind this attempt is to form groups and make pairs with a blogger who will be your partner for that particular week. This happens every alternate Wednesdays. You will then go through your partner’s blog, select, choose, cook, click and post the recipe in your blog on Wednesday and vice versa. The alternate week you will have a new partner. This way not only you tend to your blog at intervals but also learn some new recipes along the way and get to know a lot of bloggers and make friends."

This recipe is from Nisha's Kitchen. Looking through her post, there was a huge variety, but finally I decided to try this ladoo recipe. The recipe was simple to follow. The only changes I made were that halved the quantity and I added mixed nuts instead of just cashew .I also added some saffron strands into the mixture to add colour the ladoos.
The original recipe can be found here.

Delicious and delectable ladoos that tasted wonderful and nutty.

Ingredients:

8oz Urad (Black Gram) Dal husked
4oz Powdered sugar
4oz Coarsely chopped mixed nuts, pistachio, almonds and cashew
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/2 teaspoon saffron strands soaked in 2 tablespoons milk.
1/2 cup clarified butter (ghee)
Method:
1.In a large pan dry roast the urad dal until golden and grind to a coarse powder.
2. Transfer the ground dal to a large bowl and add the powdered sugar, followed by the cardamom powder and saffron soaked in milk.
3. Dry roast the nuts for 2-3 minutes then add them to the bowl with the dal. Mix well
4. Melt the clarified butter and add it gradually to the mixture until it forms a sand like texture that will come togeter when pinched into a ball in your fist.
5. Form small walnut sized balls on the mixture and place on a serving plate.
Ladoos are ready for serving.

You may like:
Semolina ladoos

Submitting to;
Lets cook for christmas red/ green event.

Christmas Pudding Cake Pops.

2011-12-23T18:00:00.001Z

Delectable little Christmas pudding shaped cakes on sticks, coated in chocolate and edible decorations.

Preparation time – 2 hours
Cooking time- 30 minutes
Chilling time – 45 minutes
Makes 18

Ingredients:

For Cake
420 grams / 14 oz Plain flour
240 grams / 8 oz Sugar
60 grams / 2oz Cocoa
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
75 ml Sunflower oil
1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
250 ml Water
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

For Butter cream
60 grams / 2oz Unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
240 grams / 8oz Icing sugar

For Decoration
Cake pop sticks
Ready to roll fondant icing in white, red and green
240 grams / 8 oz Milk chocolate candy melts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 º C / 350 º F.
2. Grease a 10 inch x 15 inch baking tray and keep aside
3. In a large mixing bowl sieve together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add the sugar to the flour.
4. In jug add the oil, water, vinegar and vanilla and mix together.
5. Make a well in the flour and gradually add the wet ingredients.
6. Gently fold the mixture taking care not to over mix.
7. Pour the batter in to greased baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes. Check if cake is done by inserting a skewer in the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is ready.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool.
9. Remove the cake from baking tray and cut off the crusts from all four sides. Cut the cake into small pieces and put it into a food processor and whizz to form crumbs. Transfer the cake crumbs to a large mixing bowl.
10. In a mixer add the butter, vanilla and icing sugar and whip the butter cream till smooth and creamy.
11. Add half the butter cream to the cake crumb mixture and mix well to form dough like consistency. (Reserve remaining butter cream for future use)
12. Divide the mixture into 18 parts and roll each part into a ball. Place the cake balls onto a baking tray.
13. Melt a small handful of the chocolate candy melts in the microwave. Dip approximately 1 cm of each of the lolly stick into the melted chocolate and push it into the ball of rolled cake, repeat for remaining balls to form lollipops.
14. Place the cake pops into the freezer for 30 minutes to set.

To make decoration:
15. On a flat surface dust with icing sugar and roll out the white fondant to approximately 2mm thickness. Using a 1 inch flower shaped cookie cutter cut out 18 flowers.
16. Roll out the green Icing and using a holly leaf cutter cut out 36 holly leaves.
17. Pinch the red fondant icing into small red balls the size of peppercorns and keep aside
18. Melt the remaining chocolate melts in the microwave.
19. Remove the frozen cake pops from the freezer and in turn dip each pop into the melted chocolate. Tap the cake pops gently to remove any access chocolate and leave to set up right. (Push the chocolate dipped cake pops into a block of polystyrene to keep them up right whilst chocolate is setting.) Repeat for all cake pops and once they are all coated place in refrigerator for chocolate to set for 5 minutes.
20. Once chocolate is set, decorate the cake pops. Wet the back surface of the white fondant flower and place it on top of the cake pop. Wet the back surface of the holy leaves and place two opposite each other on top of the white flower, finally wet the centre of the two holly leaves and place three red fondant berries. Repeat for remaining cake pops.
21. Leave the decoration to set before eating.

Submitting to:

Christmas Delicacy event by Juls

Lets cook for christmas red/ green event @ simply.food