Horrible Photos for Carrot Cream

I know, I know...horrible pictures... My husband served us this dessert that I actually made. So do not blame me for the horrible presentation! LOL... Anyway, it was delicious either way. Ive posted this recipe in a previous post of Recipes without Photos and it can be found here:

http://sultanaspalate.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html#6942556084562836856

I HIGHLY recommend this recipe for dessert!!

White Beans and Chicken (Russian)

Between going back to language school and running a household I'm finding it takes a bit longer for me to blog! Yesterday for dinner I wanted to try something completely different from what we normally eat, so I looked up Russian cuisine and found an amazing site made by a Russian woman who is trying to finance a cookbook. Her recipes have lovely pictures to help you choose a dish and very simple instructions. I chose White Beans with Chicken, and you can find this recipe here:http://recipes.siteburg.com/all_photos.htm

I highly recommend that you take a look at her site!

Uzbek Samboosas Part 1

Uzbek Samboosas Part 2

Shred the Pumpkin
Add pumpkin to minced onion and add cumin salt and pepper, set aside a while. Squeeze out juice and fill samboosa with the pumpkin mix.

For meat filling:

1/2 kilo mince lamb

2 onions diced small

1 tbs cumin powder

salt,pepper

Mix it, then stuff samboosa with it.

BamBu! Dinner and Coffee

A lively Farewell Dinner was held for some special people in my life at a restaurant called BamBu! We had the 95 dhs buffet that the Chef chose for us. We were presented with MANY different appetizers including fish cakes, spring rolls, lettuce filled with peppers, shrimp toast, and fried seaweed(which tasted oddly familiar, even though Ive never had it!). These dishes were brought out one by one to the table and the waiter announced their names and the spice levels in them. Then came the Main courses!

There was Chili Beef, Sweet and Sour Beef, Sweet Chili Prawns, and Steamed Veggies in Sauce as well as rice and noodles. Then came the chicken portion of the main course, and this is where i found my unused taste buds! The Sweet Lemon Chicken was DELICIOUS. I will have to find the recipe for this dish! As the saying goes "It knocked my socks off"...hee hee...

Overall the food was good, but not fantastic at all. It had won the Best Chinese Restaurant of 2006 by Time Out magazine. But i couldn't see this distinction shine tonight sadly. Anywho, We all had a great time,and the food was enjoyable and the small talk even more amusing!

The views that I could see from the restaurant were terribly romantic to say the least. Well for me anyway...

There was a marina with boats dipping up and down in the water while their lights played hide and seek between the lines of boats, the giant towers of the 5 star hotel across from us was lit up beautifully and glowing down on the water below, there was soft piano music playing in the back ground and this and the gentle lapping of water was all you heard fading far away...The pool bar was nestled in a corner, and all these little lights were glowing around it, and the water fall that fell onto it and down to the pool like a liquid gold door was beautiful. I don't drink, BUT, I could imagine myself sitting there sipping an exotic fruit cocktail in the VERY "forgiving on the features" soft light and gazing across at my love! Aaaahhhh, Im a bit cheesy! yes indeedy!

Dinner tonight was a "craving for healthy" dish, even though the healthiest of you reading this would scream NO.....For me and my tastebuds, this is considered healthy! The only thing that could be really considered "bad" in this dish is the olive oil! Everything else is good for you...

In moderation of course :)

The recipe was a mix of my own desires and another from epicurious.com.

To see their recipe click here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/234431

Now what I did was this:

I fried an onion in olive oil and added minced garlic(to your own taste), then I added sliced zucchini and stirred it around for about 5 minutes, then I added "store bought vegetable seasoning"(any mix you like) and stirred it through, cooked it for 10 minutes and turned off heat. I added this to some cooked pasta(spiral kind because it grabs the zucchini pieces) and dusted over vegetable seasoning and Parmesan cheese..That's It!

Chicken in Yogurt and Grenadine Juice

Chicken in Yogurt

1 pack frozen chicken breast, deboned and skinned
1/4 cup water
1 tbs ground coriander
2 onions, sliced fine
1 tbs pepper
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tbs salt
enough corn oil to fry chicken and onions
1 cup yogurt

Fry onions in oil in a medium pot on medium-high heat, add chicken, add spices and salt and chili, stir.

Cook till chicken is done over med low heat. Meanwhile bring the 1/4 cup water and yogurt to a boil, stirring constantly, take off heat and set aside to add to chicken when done.

Add the yogurt to the chicken mix and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes until all mixed together and done. Serve with white rice or vegetables on the side.

Enjoy!

Spinach Lasagna and Lemon Tart

(Not my photo above)

The Spinach Lasagna was an original recipe by myself.

you will need:

1 pack frozen spinach

1 small carton cream cheese

1 onion

2 tbs butter

3 tsp garlic blended

8 lasagna noodles, cooked

1 maggi chicken cube

1 500g pack shredded mozzarella

2 cups of basic white sauce with sprinkle of nutmeg, seasoned with salt and pepper

salt and pepper to season spinach mix

Preparation:

Heat a pot on medium high heat and add butter, add onion and fry till transparent, add garlic, stir for 2-3 minutes, add spinach and maggi cube, and cook thoroughly. Take off heat and stir cream cheese into spinach and add white sauce to this mix, season cautiously and set aside.

Layer lasagna noodles in bottom of small baking pan, add spinach mix then mozzarella cheese to cover, then add another layer of spinach(all the rest) and then lasagna noodles then the last bit of mozzarella. Bake in oven at 175c for 30-40 minutes or until top is slightly browned.

Lemon Tart

350g ready made short crust pastry

1 tbs icing sugar

for the filling:

5 eggs

200g caster sugar

4 lemons,zest of one and juice of all

100 g butter,melted

125 ml single cream

Roll out pastry and use to line a 23 cm fluted,loose bottomed tart tin allowing the sides to come above the rim. Pinch edges, prick the base and chill 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200c. Line pastry with greaseproof paper and bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and bake a further 5 minutes until just golden.

Reduce heat to 180c. Place the eggs,sugar,lemon zest in a food processor and blend for 1 minute, add the butter and blend for few seconds. Then add the lemon juice and cream and blend for just a second. Pour into tart case and bake for 30-35 minutes until filling is just set. Cool at room temperature. Top with icing sugar and candied lemon zest.

Enjoy!

Shrimp Biryani and Chicken Pasta Arrabiata

Dinner for the Last 2 days that I haven't been able to post...I'm in the middle of fighting off a cold or something wicked like that and helping my family to pack up 10 years worth of house, so, excuse my lateness and laziness to write the recipes!

If anyone would like to have the recipes listed here, please just email me and I would be more than happy to accommodate your request :)

Apple Bread

This bread is a very hearty thick breakfast bread, and would be equally delicious if served as dessert with whipped cream on top! I think it would also taste very nice if fresh ginger is added in the mixing process with the cinnamon :) The apple pieces are gooey and soft inside the bread once its baked, and, when you get a chunk of apple in your bite it is delicious!

This bread will fill your home with a freshly baked delicious apple cinnamon smell...

The only drawback is that it takes an hour and 15 minutes or so to bake! That's a long time!

This recipe from:

http://cooksrecipes.com/bread/apple-bread-recipe.html

Enjoy!

Singapore SteamBoat

So Today my mother gave me this SteamBoat from Singapore...My father had brought my mother to a restaurant a many years ago where they had used this contraption to cook a small feast of meats and veggies, and she fell in love with it...He then went to Singapore on a business trip and hand carried this machine back with him...

My mother NEVER used it....Poor dad!

ha ha ha ha ha...

So today as we were cleaning she came across it still wrapped and gave it to me as a gift, and now I am the proud and inquisitive owner of this weird steamer...

Ive found many recipes you can make with this machine online, but if anyone reading this has "the recipe" I would be beyond grateful! I would like to have a dinner party surrounding this machine, and I'm on the look out for some stunningly delicious recipes...I just love the little gold net scoopers' that you use to steam your meats and veggies in the steamboat, they are so small and pretty!

Random Stuff

Tang Orange Popsicles I made today...
Ancient Dishes from before I was born! Walmart at its finest I think...
I love these dishes for some reason...I requested my mother to give them to me because I couldnt bear to see them thrown away...
My father surprised me and gave me his prized possesion, his favorite knife... He uses this knife for everything...

Lamb Lasagna

This is a HIGHLY recommended recipe...

It is very easy to make.

all you need is:

10 lasagna noodles cooked and set aside
1/2 kilo mince beef or lamb
1 tbs curry powder
2 tsp mince garlic
3 cups white sauce
1 jar(big) of Ragu Traditional pasta sauce(reserve a bit for spreading on the bottom of baking tray)
2 packs cream cheese
6 cups shredded mozzarella cheese(reserve 3 cups;1 for topping, and 2 for cheese mix)
2 maggi chicken stock cubes

Preparation

Brown mince meat in a skillet and add garlic, curry powder and maggi cubes towards the end, mix well till thoroughly cooked and mixed evenly. Stir pasta sauce into it and set aside.

Mix 2 cups mozzarella cheese with all the cream cheese in a big bowl,set aside.

Pour a small amount of pasta sauce into bottom of small baking dish so lasagna wont stick and layer the bottom with lasagna noodles then meat mix, then cheese mix, then layer another layer lasagna noodles same as the last, making sure that you use all the meat and cheese mix evenly in these 2 layers. Sprinkle the top layer with the last cup of mozzarella cheese. Bake at 160C for 40 minutes or until top layer is browned.

Enjoy!

Random Stuff...

The best smelling "fake" roses :)

Popsicle Maker I discovered while shopping and had to have it! I'm thinking Applemints(her link is in my links list) Yogurt Pops for these!

Love the name of this stuff..."Apple Spritzer Table Water"

The word "Spritzer" makes me think I should spray it on my face,lol...we will see what it tastes like later!