Category simple

50/50 Week 33: Vietnam Rau Câu

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This was a little bit of a fail. But I think moreso in technique, not recipe.

  1. Coffee Jelly
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tsp agar agar
  • 1 1/2 cup minus 2 tsp coffee
  • 3 Tbs + 1 tsp sugar

2. Coconut Cream Jelly

  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tsp agar agar
  • 3/4 cup + 4 tsp coconut milk
  • 1/3 cup minus 2 tsp milk
  • 1/3 cup minus 2 tsp heavy whipping cream
  • 3 Tbs + 1 tsp sugar

I know the measurements are a little weird, but they were translated from ml & grams

To start off, grab 2 separate pans and dissolve your agar powder in your water. Let it sit for at least and hour.

Place your jelly mold in the freezer to make sure its nice and cold.

Put one of your pans on high heat. When the water starts boiling, the agar powder has completely dissolved and the liquid becomes clear, remove the pan from heat.

Add in coffee and sugar and mix until well blended. If there are still clumps of agar powder or sugar, put the pan back on medium heat and stir until they completely dissolve.

Discard any foam on the surface. Keep the pan warm by putting it on the stove at the lowest heat setting; stir every now and then to prevent the surface from setting.

For the coconut jelly:

In a bowl, pour in coconut milk, milk, and whipping cream. Note that this mixture has to be at room temperature.

Put the other pan on high heat. When the water is boiling and the agar powder has completely dissolved, start to add in sugar and the coconut cream mixture with the pan removed from the heat. Again, if there are clumps of agar powder or sugar, put the pan back up on medium heat and stir until they completely dissolve.

Discard any foam on the surface. Keep the pan warm by putting it on the stove at the lowest heat setting; stir every now and then to prevent the surface from setting.

Now assemble. Take your mold out of the freezer. Pour a thin layer of coffee jelly in the mold, way a couple minutes until it just starts to set up. Use a spatula to break the stream as you pour in the coconut layer. Repeat process until you’re out of jelly.

I let mine set up a little too much. You need to add the next layer when its set, but still tacky. Otherwise you’ll end up like me with completely separate layers haha

50/50 Week 32: Denmark Vaniljekranse

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Hard to pronounce, easy to eat

Ingredients:

  • 75g almonds
  • 250g AP Flour
  • 200g softened butter
  • 175g sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean

This comes together super easy…until the piping.

Use a food processor to grind up your almonds to a flour-type consistency. Don’t use almond flour here. You want the flavor.

Mix everything together. You should get a soft, but thick dough. Now, here’s where I went off the rails. It’s worth mentioning I was mostly down a hand because I broke up a dog scuffle and had a decent bite or two on my hand so probably wasn’t the best idea to try and squeeze this thick ass dough… Alas, earwax.

Anywho, you’re supposed to use a large star nozzle and pipe out rings. Apparently if you have a meat grinder.. you can use that to make your ropes and go from there…that should tell you how THICC this dough is. A meat grinder.

Once you’ve formed what you’re gonna form, bake at 400F for 6 minutes or until light brown.

Mine came out ugly as sin, but were so damn tasty. I’ll have to play around with the recipe to figure out the best extraction in the future..who knows, maybe I’ll break out the meat grinder.

50/50 Week 30: Russian Zephyr

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Ingredients:

Blackberry Puree:

2 cups blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 egg white, room temperature

Agar Agar Syrup:

1/3 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tsp agar agar
Powdered Sugar (to dust)

1. In a medium saucepan, bring blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp lemon juice to a simmer. Mash berries (a potato masher works great!) and simmer uncovered 10 min then strain through fine sieve, pressing on solids with a spatula. Scrape the back of the sieve to get 1/2 cup of puree. Chill the puree over an ice bath until cooled.

2. Once puree is chilled and slightly thickened, combine it with 1 egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk. Beat 8-10 min on high speed or until thick and stiff peaks form. While the blackberry/egg white mixture is whipping, proceed with step 3.

3. In a medium sauce pan, combine 1/3 cup water, 2 tsp agar agar and 1 cup sugar. Place over medium heat, bring to boil then reduce heat to a low boil and cook 5 min, whisking constantly until syrup has thickened and pours from a spoon without dribbling. Remove from heat.

4. With mixer on the LOWEST speed, and as soon as agar syrup is off the stove, immediately pour it in a thin stream into the whipped blackberry mixture. Avoid getting syrup on whisk and bowl. Scrape down the bowl and beat another 2-3 minutes on high speed until stiff peaks form.

5. While everything is still nice and warm, transfer your mixture to a piping bag and pipe onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You can use whatever type of tip you like, but I would stick to larger ones.

6. Let stand in a draft free, low humidity, room, uncovered 6-12 hours, or overnight. Marshmallows will form a glossy film on top and will come off the parchment fairly easily, then match 2 halves together and roll sandwiched marshmallows in powdered sugar. I had to leave mine overnight.

Overall this was a pretty simple recipe. Definitely not quick as it took 2 days to make, but they’re so delicious and the fresh blackberries are amazing. They just melt in your mouth..a little too easily so make sure you share them with friends.

50/50 Week 29: Lithuanian Balandeliai

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Difficult to pronounce, easy to make 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 1 head green cabbage
  • 1 large carrot peeled and chopped
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 large onion chopped
  • 1/2 bell pepper chopped
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1 cup cooked rice
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 egg beaten
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup tomato sauce
  • 1 cup chicken or beef stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 tablespoons sour cream
  • In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil and gently add entire cabbage. Boil for 3-5 minutes, until outer leaves soften slightly, but not falling apart. Remove as many leaves as you can easily, careful not to tear them. Boil the cabbage up to about 3 more minutes, as needed to remove the leaves. Discard the core and coarsely chop the extra cabbage leaves. Mix the chopped leaves with the carrot pieces and line the bottom of a large pot.
  • Once the leaves are cool enough to handle, cut off as much of the center stem on the outside of each leaf as possible without cutting into the leaf.
  • In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, fry the onion, bell pepper, and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Once cooled, mix in a large bowl with the rice, ground meat, egg, and salt and pepper.
  • On a work surface, place a large spoonful of the meat and rice, about 1/2 cup, onto the cabbage leaf close to the bottom of the stem. Fold in the sides over the meat and roll up the leaf tightly to close. Repeat with remaining leaves until there is no meat and rice left.
  • Place the filled rolls seam side down on the chopped cabbage and carrots in the large pot. Sprinkle each layer with salt and pepper.
  • In a medium bowl, stir together tomato sauce, stock, and bay leaves. Pour over the layered cabbage rolls. Bring the sauce to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for about an hour, until meat filling is cooked through.
  • Remove the cooked cabbage rolls from the pot. Stir the sour cream into the remaining sauce. Serve the cabbage rolls hot with the sour cream sauce.

So the original recipe only called for salt and pepper to be added when you layer the rolls in the pot. Do yourself a favor and season your meat mixture. In the end, it was still good, just bland.

50/50 Week 28: Madagascar Malagasy Cake

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Finding a recipe for this one was slim pickins. This was a fail for sure. I think. I need to find a Madagascar native for reference.

This recipe turned out…odd for me, but maybe you’ll have better results

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 4 Tbs sugar
  • 1 pinch nutmeg, grated
  • 1 pinch clove
  • 5 Tbs tapioca
  • 2 Tbs cream
  • 4 very ripe bananas
  • 4 eggs

In a pan, mix milk, vanilla, sugar, nutmeg, and clove. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the tapioca. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat, stirring frequently.

While that mixture is cooking on the stove, preheat your oven to 350F

Remove your mixture from the heat and add cream. Smash your bananas and add to your tapioca mixture. Add eggs one by one and mix well.

Pour mixture into a buttered baking dish and cook for 15 minutes.

Here’s where mine got weird. When I opened the oven it looked.. wet. It was set, but moisture had accumulated on top in a not-so-appetizing looking way.

If you’ve ever made keto banana pancakes (literally just banana, egg, and vanilla) that’s what this tastes like. Its not bad, but it’s not that great either. Just like eggy-banana..or banana-y eggs.

50/50 Week 25: Italian Almond Biscotti

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Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole almonds raw
  • 2 1/4 cups AP flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 Tbs almond extract
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp lemon zest

My aunt used to make almond biscotti for the holidays and it was always my favorite. Sadly this isn’t her recipe because we don’t really speak much nowadays but this is just as good so I’m not mad about it. 🙂

Start by preheating your oven to 325F

Toast your almonds on a baking tray for 12-15 minutes. You’ll know they’re ready when your kitchen smells deliciously of almonds.

In a bowl, whisk your dry ingredients together. In a large bowl, whisk your eggs and then add the rest of your wet ingredients together (including your lemon zest)

Once your almonds are toasted and cooled a little, roughly chop them and set aside.

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or the always versatile silpat

Add your dry ingredients to your wet and mix with a wooden spoon until just mixed. Fold in your almonds.

Separate your batter into 2 loaf shapes on your baking tray. Dampen your fingers to shape them into a smoother shape. Bake for 30 minutes until nicely golden. Let cool for about 10 minutes and then slice 1/2 inch- 3/4 inch thick slices and place the slices back onto your baking sheet. Don’t worry, they’ll fit. Bake for 10 minutes, flip and then bake another 10 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and then enjoy alone or with a lovely cup of coffee.

50/50 Week 24: Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake

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Everything should be room temperature!

Ingredients:

  • 5 eggs
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1/2 cup sugar, divided
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup AP flour
  • 2 Tbsp corn starch

8 inch cake pan (you’ll want it to be decently deep)

Line the bottom and sides of your pan with parchment paper. If you’re like me though..and you ran out, just butter like hell and hope for the best. If you’re using a spring form pan, wrap the outside with several sheets of foil to ensure its sealed completely.

Fill a large baking pan halfway with water and place in the lowest rack of your oven. Preheat to 315F

Separate all of your eggs and place the whites in a mixing bowl and the yolks in a small bowl. Beat your egg whites on low for 30 seconds until foamy. Add cream of tartar and increase speed to medium and beat until whites start to thicken. Add 1/4 cup of sugar gradually. Beat until whites reach soft peaks~about 3 minutes

In a separate bowl, mix milk and cream cheese on low speed unitl creamy and smooth. Add butter, remaining sugar, and lemon juice, mix. Sift in your flour and corn starch and mix for another minute. Add your egg yolks and mix. Push your batter through a sieve to make sure you don’t have any clumps.

Add 1/3 of your eggs whites and gently fold into the batter. Continue adding and gently folding in the rest of your mix.

Pour into your pan and spread batter evenly on top. Very gently tap your pan on the counter to get out any big air bubbles.

Place your pan in the water bath and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Check with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, its done, but you may need to cook an additional 10 minutes or so. Once its done, turn off your oven and leave the door cracked. Leave your cake in the cooling oven for another hour.

Gently remove your cake from its prison and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Optional: take about a tablespoon of honey and put in microwave for a few seconds to thin it out and brush it over the top of your cheesecake. Simple addition and so so yummy!

50/50 Week 23: South Africa Tameletjies

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This was a super fail on my part. I got excited and forgot to take it off the heat. Sugar pounces on weakness.

Ingredients:

  • 500g brown sugar
  • 250ml water
  • 125g butter
  • 2ml vanilla
  • 1 cup nuts ( traditionally pine nuts but I used what I had, which was pecans)

Dissolve sugar and water over low heat, add butter. Boil steadily without stirring until the miture starts frothing, test a drop in cold water to see if it hardens. Once it passes that test, REMOVE FROM HEAT. Then add your vanilla and your chopped nuts, stir. Pour into a shallow, well-greased pan and park off squares with a wet knife. Let cool and then break into squares.

Tameletjie is supposed to be like a nut brittle. I made…a disaster. Good luck!

50/50 Week 22: New Zealand Jelly Slice

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Ingredients

  • 2 packs of strawberry jell-o
  • 3 cups boiling water
  • 1 packet (250g) superwines or any plain sweet biscuit
  • 175g melted butter
  • 2 Tbs gelatine
  • 1/2 cup boiling water
  • 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
  • juice of 1 lemon

Hooray for no-bake desserts! I’m not going to lie, initially when I was reading about this dessert it struck me as that weird jell-o pretzel dessert that shows up at every redneck cook-out. After tasting it though, its so much better!

Line your desired dish with parchment paper and set aside. Grind up your biscuits in a food processor and combine melted butter and optionally, the zest from a lemon. (I highly recommend bc its delicious) Press into your dish to form the crust and place in fridge for 30 minutes to chill

In a medium bowl, combine gelatine and 1/2 cup boiling water and mix until dissolved. Add the sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice and mix well. Pour over the crust and place back in the fridge for 30-40 minutes until completely set.

Mix your jell-o with the 3 cups of water and let cool- don’t let it set. Pour it on top of your milky layer and then place back into the fridge until set.

Once its all set up, slice into squares and serve. It can be easier if you use a hot knife, but I think that depends on the pan you’re using.

Keep leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge, though, I don’t think leftovers will be much of a problem.

50/50 Week 21: Morocco Seffa Medfouna

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A literal mountain of food! Delicious, delicious food.

For the Seffa:

  • 2 pounds of dry broken vermicelli
  • 3 Tbs vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup golden raisins, soaked in water for 20 minutes
  • 4 Tbs butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

For the Saffron Chicken

  • 1 whole chicken, disassembled
  • 2 large onions chopped
  • 1 Tbs ground ginger
  • 1 tsp white pepper
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 small sticks of cinnamon
  • 1 tsp saffron threads, crumbled
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 1/2- 2 tsp salt- to taste
  • 4 Tbs butter
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Toppings

  • 1/2 – 1 cup almonds (blanched, fried & ground)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbs ground cinnamon

I will warn you that this is time consuming. Not a casual weeknight meal, definitely a special occasion- lots of people over- type meal.

I bought an instant pot for this haha If you have a steamer, you’re good. I’ve had so many recipes that require a steamer and I made due, but for this recipe in particular, I knew I needed to bring out the big guns.

Fill the base of your steamer with salted water and proceed to steam the broken vermicelli 4-5 times (add the raisins for the 4th steaming)

For exactly how to do the steaming process, go here: https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-make-seffa-medfouna-2395009

Mix the chicken, lamb or beef with the onions, spices, butter, oil and cilantro in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Gently brown the chicken over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Cover the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the meat is very tender. This will take about 1 hour. When the chicken has been cooked, reduce the liquids until a thick sauce has formed. Discard the cinnamon stick, and taste for seasoning. If desired, remove the chicken from the bones.

To Serve:

Gently toss the steamed broken vermicelli with the butter and powdered sugar. Place about 1/3 of this mixture on a very large serving dish. Arrange the chicken in the center, and cover with the sauce. Pile the rest of the vermicelli on top of the meat, using your hands to shape a dome.

Decorate the mound of seffa in a vertical pattern with the cinnamon, ground almonds and powdered sugar. Serve immediately, with small bowls of powdered sugar, ground almonds, and cinnamon on the side.