One thing which I really have come to love are Indian spices and flavours. They were not something I grew up with. In fact my mother could not stand to even smell them.
I gained an appreciation for them as a young Bride in Calgary, Ontario and have been in love with them ever since. I love their colour and warmth and their smell as well. Spicy and aromatic, they can really get the tastebuds tingling.
For those of you who don't know Suffield is a small Hamlet in South Eastern Alberta and it is where the British Army do a lot of their training in ideal conditions.
I became acquainted with many British people while we lived there and one thing the British do love is their curries!
This is not a creamy curry, but a dry curry. East Indians/Asians eat a lot of vegetarian dishes.
This recipe works beautifully as a side dish for an Indian dinner which has several dishes involved, for 4 or more people, or as a tasty Vegetarian main for two or three. (which is how we enjoyed it on this day.)
I have never eaten actual Tandoori in India, or even been to India for that matter, but my brother has. He could tell you if this had authentic flavours or not. I can't.
I can only tell you that it was flipping delicious! The cauliflower was well flavoured and crispy tender, some of it cut into steaks and the remainder broken into florets.
The steaks were dipped into a flavourful yogurt mixture prior to being browned in a skillet, and the florets were rolled in the remainder of the yogurt mixture.
Both the browned steaks and the florets were finished off by baking them in a moderate oven for about half an hour or so to perfection.
They smelled really good in the cooking and got our tastebuds really tingling with anticipation!
Beautifully coloured and wonderfully flavoured . . .with just enough zip! Indian food can often be incredibly spicy and hot, depending on the area of India it comes from.
It is much spicier in the Southern part than it is in the North.
Personally I could never eat a Madras or a Vindaloo. Chicken Tikka is as spicy as I get!
I served this with sticky jasmine rice and drizzled with some thinned yogurt to help cool down the spiciness a bit . . .
I also sprinkled my husband's portion with a few extra red chilies as he loves the extra heat . . . he could easily eat a Madras, without even blinking!
I presented them with lime wedges, ready to squeeze over every thing adding a lovely tang . . .
This was quite simply delicious. There is no other word for it. Healthy too!
Tandoori Cauliflower
Yield: 3 - 6
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 40 Mtotal time: 50 M
A simple yet incredibly delicious way and easy to cook cauliflower. You can use this as a side dish with a more substantial meal for six, or as a main dish for 2 to 3.
Ingredients:
- 1 medium cauliflower, leaves trimmed off and discarded
- 125g plain thick unsweetened yogurt (1/2 cup)
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
- 1 TBS of grated ginger
- 1 TBS of tandoori spice (see note below)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 TBS light olive oil
To serve:
- Thinned yogurt
- red chili flakes
- lime wedges
- steamed jasmine rice
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line a baking tray with some aluminium foil. Spray lightly with low fat cooking spray. Set aside.
- Trim the cauliflower and cut 3 (1/2 inch thick) steaks out of the centre, slicing down horizontally. Break the remainder into florets.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet.
- Whisk together the yogurt and all of the spices and seasonings. Dip the cauliflower steaks into this mixture on both sides. Place cut sides down into the hot oil. Cook for 1 minute per side, flipping them over. Remove to the baking sheet. Take the cauliflower florets and stir them into the remaining yogurt mixture and scatter them over the baking tray.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the point of a sharp knife slips easily without much force into the cauliflower.
- Serve hot with hot steamed rice. Drizzle with some thinned yogurt and red chilies (optional) and accompanied with lime wedges for squeezing over top. Delicious!
notes:
To make your own Tandoori Spice: Mix together until well combined, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon turmeric, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves. Store in an airtight container out of the light. Makes about 2 TBS.
This sure has been a weird summer weather-wise. It has fluctuated between being hot as hades and oddly autumnal. I suppose that old saying about the weather in the UK is true. It is very changeable and totally unreliable.
Thanks for visiting! Do come again!
I think one of my absolute favourite flavours is that of lemon. I could eat lemon anything until it comes out my ears and then some.
One of my favourite lemon desserts has always been Buttermilk Lemon Puddings. These are delicious lemon puddings which upon baking, just like magic,
separate into two distinct layers . . . one a lush lemon custard and
the other a fabulously tart lemon cake.
Lemon Sponge pudding is another. People can get quite fanciful with their naming of it, but it is all just the same thing. An exquisitely delicious lemon pudding, meant to be enjoyed!
There is nothing about that not to love. Nothing. My husband, he's not so fussed about lemon anything. I think he just tolerates it, which means when I make lemon anything I am stuck with lots of leftovers.
I know, it is hard for me to believe as well. How could anyone on earth not enjoy lemon??? It just doesn't seem natural.
Having lemon leftovers should not really be a problem, unless you are trying to watch your weight and maybe even take off a few pounds.
An extra couple of servings of anything lemon in this house is dangerous to me. I am always trying to watch my sugar intake and my waistline. Like any woman I suppose.
Whats a gal to do but to try to downsize things and that has been my labour lately. I have really been trying to get things down to feed just two so that I can cut down on our household waste and on my own "waist."
Its not that hard to do if you know what you are doing, and I do know what I am doing. Thankfully.
This is a dessert I used to make fairly often when entertaining at the Manor down south. I think lemon is a common love of ladies.
I did lemon desserts more than anything for their dinner parties and luncheons. I think one of the favourite ones I did was Frozen Lemon Souffles. They were magnificent.
For the regular sized dessert, you can find it here. Lemon Puddle Pudding. That serves 4 to 6 people. You can see how that would be rather dangerous in a house where only one loves lemon.
Its not exactly the same, I'll admit, but close enough . . .and sometimes close enough is good enough.
This differs in a couple ways. One, in that it uses buttermilk instead of regular milk. Using buttermilk lends a particular dense richness to the dish.
Butter milk also has a lovely tangy quality which goes very well with lemon.
If you have no buttermilk, take one TBS of lemon juice and put it in a cup along with 5 TBS whole milk and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes until it clabbers.
This makes for even more lemony flavour I think. Can there ever be too much? Perhaps but in this case, it works well.
The other difference is that this uses plain flour instead of self rising flour. Because it is only for two servings, it did not need the oomph of any leavening.
The beaten egg white is enough to make it puff up beautifully, almost souffle like. It will sink when it starts to cool down however, so don't be alarmed.
The cake on the top is nice and buttery, and beautifully lemony. Mine cracked a bit on the top, which is not at all unsual.
I probably baked it for just a touch too long. You want it to have a gentle wobble. Not alot of a wobble, just a tiny bit.
The cake itself is nice and light in texture . . . and beneath . . .you have the pudding layer, with an almost curd like finish to it.
Don't get me started on Lemon Curd. It is just about my favourite thing on earth. If I could only bring one thing to a dessert island it would have to be a jar of lemon curd. No argument.
A rich creamy lemon curd . . . so lush and so delicious. There is a perfect layer of this on the bottom of this dessert. Cake on the top, lemon curd on the bottom.
The two together are heavenly bliss. This should be called Heavenly Bliss Lemon Cake for Two . . . .
Normally I would have a dollop of cream or clotted cream on top but
today we had none, so settled for a sweet dusting of icing sugar and
some raspberries.
Oh boy but this was some good. And it gave me a
chance to use my ceramic spoons. I only ever very rarely use them
because I don't want to risk them breaking!
Buttermilk Lemon Puddings for Two
Yield: 2
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 20 Mtotal time: 30 M
A favourite lemon pudding, lush, creamy and now . . . built just for two. It bakes like magic into two layers, one cake and one cream.
Ingredients:
- 1 large free range egg, at room temperature and divided
- 6 TBS granulated sugar
- 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 2 TBS butter, melted
- 3 TBS plain flour
- pinch fine sea salt
- 6 TBS buttermilk
- icing sugar to dust
- berries to garnish (optional)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready two 240ml/8 ounce ramekins or custard cups ready.
- Place the egg white in a scrupulously clean glass bowl and set aside.
- Place the egg yolk in another bowl and whisk together with the sugar, lemon juice and zest. Whisk until light in colour. Whisk in the melted butter. Stir in the flour and salt.Whisk in the butermilk just until smooth. Don't over whisk.
- Whisk the egg whites with a clean whisk until soft peaks form. (If you lift the beaters from the bowl, they should mostly stand but the top will slightly fall over.) Fold these carefully into the lemon mixture without overmixing.
- Place the ramekins onto a small baking sheet for ease of transfer.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. When done they will be mostly set, but still a bit wobbly in the centre, and slightly golden brown around the edges.
- Let cool slightly before serving. Dust with icing sugar and garnish with berries to serve. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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I will be the first one to admit that I am hopeless at sugarcraft. I was going to take a course once a very long time ago, but we ended up moving to where my job as a chef was beginning so that course never did happen.
I can use a piping bag however so I can capably pipe on some icing and with a few odds and sodds you can pretty up just about anything. The most important thing is the flavour and consistency of the cupcake when it comes right down to it, alhough admittedly we eat first with our eyes, so pretty does get out attention!
The important thing is the flavour and texture of the cupcake, and these Vanilla Cupcakes are the absolute best! They are nice and moist from the use of thick greek yogurt.
If you really want a vanilla bang you can use vanilla flavoured Greek yogurt, but that is not available here in the UK. We only get it plain, or as far as I can see . . . I could be wrong. I have just never found it anywhere I have shopped.
Other than that it is a pretty basic batter which bakes up beautifully into a light, moist and flavourful cupcake. Oh, it is also a small batch, so it only makes 6 cupcakes.
The buttercream is a simple ordinary buttercream as well, nothing fancy. Just butter beaten together with some sifted icing sugar and milk, a few drops of vanilla. Easy to make. Easy to use and easy to eat! Do make sure your cakes are completely cold before you ice them.
I could have just sprinkled them with sprinkles, but I decided to get a bit fancier today and I used some fresh berries, daisies (tis the season and they are so pretty) some silver balls, a few marshmallows, and some sprigs of rosemary because I thought they would be nice and green and go with the blackberries and red currants. OH, and I drizzled a bit of caramel sauce over some of the berry ones also.
The Best Vanilla Cupcakes (small batch)
Yield: 6 cupcakes
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 25 Mtotal time: 35 M
These cupcakes are moist and delicious, due to the use of yogurt in the batter. They are finished with a lush buttercream. The two together are amazing!
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes
- 60g butter, melted (1/4 cup)
- 95g sugar (1/2 cup)
- 122g plain full fat Greek yogurt (1/2 cup)
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 105g plain flour (3/4 cup)
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
- 2 TBS milk
For the Vanilla Buttercream:
- 6 1/2 TBS butter
- 130g icing sugar, sifted (1 cup)
- 1/2 TBS milk
- few drops vanilla
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line 6 cupcake tin holes with paper liners. Set aside.
- Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl. Beat in the yogurt until well mixed then beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Sift together the flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Add to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk, beginning and finishing with the dry ingredients.
- Spoon into the prepared cupcake tin, filling them 2/3 full.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until well risen, golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Remove immediately to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the icing, beat the butter until fluffy, then beat in the icing sugar, vanilla and milk until you have a light and fluffy icing.
- Frost the cooled cupcakes with this mixture and decorate as you wish.
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
These turned out really nice. Do warn your partner not to eat the rosemary, lol. I forgot to tell Todd and he was not fond! You should have seen the look on his face! Same with the daisies. Not sure if they are edible or not, but they sure do look pretty. Mint leaves look rather nice also with the berries.
Just a flight of fancy to begin August with.
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