Recipe: Fruit Tartlets Fruit tartlets are finger food pastries as the baked tarts are small. They are filled with cream cheese, fresh cream, lemon curd or custard and lots of fresh fruit. These tartlets are ideal as dessert for parties or even as a tea time treat. Fruit tartlets never fail to wow my guests. And what I love about them is that you can fill them with any seasonal fruit. For kids I’ve filled them with jelly and fruits. If you are a bit apprehensive about making the sweet shortcrust pastry at home, by all means use ready made one. I try and avoid using ready made ones as I am not sure what kind of fat might be used to make the dough.…
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Continue ReadingRecipe: Caprese Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms Caprese Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms is piled with the key ingredients from a caprese salad on top of garlicky buttery mushroom caps and broiled. It serves as an excellent side dish. It also makes a satisfying, delicious main meal for vegetarians. Basic caprese ingredients – tomatoes, mozzarella and basil are used for this dish. Depending on the size of mushrooms I get, usually 1 or 2 or enough as a main meal served with a bit of pasta or quinoa. What Are Portobello Mushrooms? Known as Portobello, Portabella, Portabella, or Portabello, these mushrooms are basically the larger relatives of the white button and crimini. The cap can range in size from 3 inches to 6 inches. Portabella mushrooms have a rich,…
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Continue ReadingPotato Bread Potato Bread is a white, soft and fluffy homemade bread. Leftover mashed potato is added to the dough. To make it more flavourful, I have added fresh rosemary and cheddar cheese. This bread makes a lovely sandwich bread. Memories Sometime back I had baked, (well actually some years ago..) an Irish Freckle Bread whereby potato is added to the dough. That bread was really soft and delish. So next on the list was to bake a savoury version. The first time I made the bread, I landed up with a very sticky dough and because of the extremely hot weather in Mombasa, the dough over fermented resulting a dough that I just couldn’t handle. Added some more flour, and then baked them as…
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Continue ReadingLadi Pav | Indian Bread Rolls Ladi Pav | Indian Bread Rolls are homemade, soft, pillowy, buttery eggless rolls that are commonly served with certain types of street food. Easy to make, these slightly sweetish and golden pav are perfect for pav bhaji, vada pav, egg bun, maska buns and dabeli. Pav is the Hindi word for bread. It probably comes from the Portuguese word pão which means bread. And bread was introduced in India by the Portuguese. Ladi means in a line, row or group. As these bread rolls are baked in a tray by placing the rolled dough close to each other. Thus the name Ladi Pav, also known as pao buns, ladi pao. Memories – Ladi Pav vs Kenyan Scones Growing up,…
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Continue ReadingRecipe: Carrot & Apple Bread Carrot & Apple Bread is a quick bread full of raisins, nuts and seeds. Using wheat flour, jaggery powder or brown sugar this nutritious bread is enjoyed both as breakfast or dessert. We enjoyed it as a dessert with some hot custard poured over it. Though this bread can be quite dense because of all the added ingredients, trust me it is so moist and soft too. Put a slice in your or your kid’s lunch box. Take it for picnics. Sharing This Recipe With Sunday Funday Sunday Funday is a really fun group. Each week members come up with different themes and we make a dish accordingly. This week Wendy suggested we share any recipe where we’ve used…
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Continue ReadingRecipe: Breakfast Tarts These Breakfast Tarts are prepared from puff pastry with a bit of vegetables and egg. A delicious savoury breakfast idea, you can add vegetables of your choice. Can also add bacon, sliced sausages, your choice of cheese, etc. I have chosen to use spring vegetables, fruit and herbs – baby spinach, fresh basil, mushrooms, bell pepper and baby tomatoes. An Arty City – Montreal Street Art, Murals and Graffiti are very much popular in most parts of the world. When you walk around Montreal City you will notice some sort of creativity be it paintings on building walls, meaningful graffiti, different shaped benches, small gardens with blooming flowers, shop windows dressed to attract anyone, or even small balconies of apartments. People in…
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Continue ReadingRecipe: Rose & Cardamom Cookies Rose & Cardamom Cookies are so easy to bake, flavourful and perfect for any festival season. I bake these for Diwali, Weddings, Tea Parties, Eid,etc. I simply love the combined flavour of rose and cardamom. Trust me, it is so exotic. Adding a different kind of flavour to the basic nankhatai recipe. Cookie, A Must With Tea Or Coffee Isn’t it intriguing that many feel like having a cookie with their cup or tea or coffee? I am one of them. My afternoon tea is always served with cookies. I mostly stick to one cookie though I get tempted to reach out for another 🙂 But the good thing is that since hubby has retired, he has taken on…
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Continue ReadingRecipe: Egg-Free Date Cake This Egg-Free Date Cake is moist, flavourful, full of nuts and dried fruits, wheat cake. Makes an excellent teatime, breakfast or picnic cake. No icing or frosting required as it tastes so good on its own. Best part is that once you’ve got all the ingredients, the cake is so easy to make and bake. Memories Being away from family is not very nice. Most of my family live either in India, UK, US, Europe, Dubai, Canada or Nairobi. That means I hardly ever get the opportunity to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, festivals with them. Though a disheartening reality, I tend to make the occasions special by making something sweet to celebrate with my hubby. It sometimes results in something sweet within…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: FESTIVE THEME RECIPE: THANDAI RAVA CAKE Thandai Rava Cake is so soft, egg free and with amazing flavours of thandai spices,rose and saffron. A perfect bake for the Holi Festival. Who doesn’t love cakes, whatever the festival maybe. What Is Thandai Rava Cake? Thandai is a spice mixture that is quite popular during the Holi festival. Besides making thandai drink, it can be used for several other festive dishes like kulfi, mousse, cookies, muffins, chia pudding, malpua, etc. Rava is the hindi word for semolina. Semolina cakes turn out so soft and are easily to bake. Add a sugar syrup on top to keep it moist or don’t. The choice is yours. A Bit About The Group This group brings…
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Continue ReadingEvent: Sunday Funday Theme: Oktoberfest Recipes Recipe: Vegetarian Flammkuchen | German Pizza Vegetarian Flammkuchen is a crispy, thin flatbread that is topped with creme fraiche, onion and some cheese. Usually bacon is added also but to make a vegetarian version I left it out. I used creme fraiche, onion, sliced mushrooms and olive slices. Also added some cheese. A Bit About Flammkuchen | German Pizza Also known as German Pizza, flammekueche or as tarte flambée in French, you’ve got to try out this delicious crispy pizza. Flammkuchen literally translates as ‘flame cake’. Bakers would roll out a thin piece of dough and put in their wood fired ovens. The dough was a test to indicate whether the correct temperature had reached so that the baker…
