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Thursday, October 12, 2017

Spicy Breakfast Rice with Walnuts, Pistachios and Raisins

 

Spicy Breakfast Rice with Walnuts, Pistachios and Raisins

I like to make some spicy breakfast dish from left over rice, and today this was what crossed my mind. Red rice, rose and red pepper salt, cardamom, cinnamon, pistachios, walnuts, raisins and cranberries and some dried green olives.
When I cook rice, I don't add salt so that I'm free to decide for rice pudding if the mood strikes.
That's very rare, though, usually I want something spicy. Or something spicy with a little sweetness added, like a tablespoon of raisins and dried cranberries.
For the salt, I used a spanish sea salt scented with dried and ground rose petals and mixed with red pepper. Fell free to use any kind of salt, or other spices.
Of course just some rice, even whole grain red rice, is not enough for me for a full breakfast, so it went along with a boiled egg, two slices of goat's cheese, some slices of cucumber and some date tomatoes.



Ingredients for the rice for 1 person:
  • cooked rice, ca. 1/2 cup (about 50 g uncooked I suppose)
  • 1 tablespoon walnut halves, broken into pieces
  • 1/2 tablespoon pistachios
  • 1/2 tablespoon raisins
  • 1/2 tablespoon dried cranberries
  • 1/2 tablespoon dried olives, optional
  • 1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • salt, to taste
  • pepper, to taste
  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil

Preparation:
  • In a hot skillet, toast walnut pieces and pistachios until lightly browned and fragrant, set aside
  • Gently fry the rice in 1 teaspoon coconut oil, then add salt, spices, nuts, raisins and cranberries and olives, if using, heat through and serve with eggs, cheese, vegetables as you like.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Gluten free Pistachio Sesame Seed Biscotti

 

Gluten free Pistachio Sesame Seed Biscotti

These biscotti are easy to make and have a beautifully oriental touch due to the sesame seeds, pistachios and cardamom. You also might try to add some rose water or orange blossom water - I know I will do it next time!
Maybe reduce the butter  a bit when you do it.
You can even make them with normal plain old wheat or spelt flour if you're not gluten intolerant. Just skip the xanthan if you do.


Ingredients:
  • 100 g ground almonds (almond meal)
  • 50 g sorghum flour
  • 50 g potato starch
  • 35 g pistachios, chopped
  • 35 g pistachios, whole
  • 80 g sesame seeds
  • 60 g butter, cold, in small cubes
  • 1/4 - 1/3 cup powdered sugar (or powdered erythritol)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. xanthan gum
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. real vanilla (or extract)
  • 1 tsp. ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp. anise seeds


Preparation:
  • Lightly beat the egg (just to break it up, not until it gets foamy).
  • In a bowl, combine almond meal, sorghum flour, potato starch, powdered sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, vanilla if using real vanilla, cardamom and anise seeds. If using vanilla extract, add it to the lightly beaten egg.
  • Preheat oven to 320°F / 160°C (fan assisted).
  • Add cold butter cubes to the dry mix, cut into the flour with a pastry cutter or a fork until crumbly.
  • Add pistachios and sesame seeds, stir, then add in lightly beaten egg.
  • Knead until dough comes together, then dump the dough onto a large cutting board. Divide into two equal pieces.
  • Shape each lump of dough into a loaf which is about 11-12 inches long, 3/4 inches high and 2 inches wide.
  • Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in preheated convection oven for 20-30 minutes (mine took 25 minutes) until golden brown.
  • Let cool for at least 20 minutes, then cut diagonally into 1/2 inch slices. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a static oven at 320°F / 160°C for about 23 minutes.
  • Let cool completely and store in airtight container for up to 14 days.

Bon appetit!

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Gluten free Lime-Raspberry Cake

 
Gluten free quick lime-raspberry cake

The beauty of this cake is it's simplicity and versatility. You can basically use any flour and add any fruit or flavour, and it will always turn out great. Just stir the ingredients together in five minutes, and 40 minutes later you'll pull a lovely cake out of the oven.
I found the basic recipe on the Romanian site Carte de Retete, performed by Adina's beautiful mini chefs - watch the video, it's too cute, even if you don't understand the Romanian. Originally, it's a cake made with yoghurt and strawberries (prajitura cu iaurt si capsuni). I've made it that way several times and then decided that it's a fantastic base for many variations.
As stated above, you can make it with basically any flour, with or without gluten, it will always turn out yummy.
Since I don't like it very sweet, I reduced the sweetener from 175 g of sugar to a total of 140 g, of which 100 g erythritol (which has only 70% of the sweetness of sugar) and 40 g raw cane sugar. That was plenty sweet for DH and me, but feel free to use the whole 175 g of sugar.



Ingredients for one 24 cm / 9.5 inch round spring form:
  • 200 g (7 oz.) flour (any suitable gluten free or normal plain cake flour; I used 100 g/3.5 oz. fine yellow corn flour, 70 g/2.5 oz. sweet rice flour and 30 g/1 oz. potato starch)
  • 175 g (6 oz.) sugar (I used 100 g/3.5 oz. erythritol and 40 g/1.5 oz. raw cane sugar)
  • 3 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. xanthan if using gluten free flour that doesn't contain any gums
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • juice of 1 lime (ca. 3 tbsp. lime juice)
  • zest of 2 limes
  • 4 eggs
  • 5 tbsp. plain yoghurt
  • 3 tbsp. oil (I used olive oil)
  • 100 g (3.5 oz.) raspberries, fresh or frozen

Preparation:
  • Grease spring form and preheat oven to 150°C / 300°F (fan assisted)
  • Place all ingredients except for the raspberries in a large bowl, stir together until well combined, pour into spring form.
  • place raspberries on top, press gently down a bit.
  • Bake the cake at 150°C / 300°F in a fan assisted oven (or slightly higher temp. in a static oven) for 40-45 minutes.
  • Let cool completely.
  • Top it with powdered sugar or whipped cream or ice cream, or have it plain like we did, just as you like!

Bon appetit!