Is there such a thing as too many strawberries?

Wow! I am loving it! I am loving all the berries around me! Is there such a thing as too many strawberries? I have heard that sentence before - but for chocolate. I read somewhere that when recruiting workers in a chocolate factory, people are encouraged to eat as much chocolate as they can!! Wouldn't that be like heavenly! The idea is that after eating so much chocolate, they would be put off the idea of eating it when they are working with it.

After reading it, I was like, can that ever happen?

Anyways - let us combine two of these bounties - strawberries with chocolate. These days it is one of my favourite after lunch snack. Fresh seasonal strawberries that are not too tart dipped in either whipped cream or chocolate is easily not only one of best looking but also easy to present dishes. Try these, before they disappear!

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Spicy Rice flour pancake

Think pancakes - think sweet. Maple syrup, fruit, maybe some whipped cream. Savoury pancakes - yeah, we all have heard of them, few have had it, and then some make it as well. Indian food offers some wonderful pancakes, my favourite one being dosa. Although simple, it needs a bit of pre-planning as you need to allow for some fermentation time. This one - called 'Sarva Pindi' is made with rice flour. Hence, is easy peasy! Just bring together a couple of ingredients, and cook it like any other pancake.
Apparently, this dish is losing the following it once had and is dying out. All this information, and the recipe come from a very famous Indian chef on YouTube - Sanjay Thumma - also known as VahChef for the Netaholics. You can check out his recipe here --> VahChef's Sarva Pindi
Usually had as an evening snack, I wanted to make something that's not sweet, and is easy to make in the morning. Ofcourse I am talking a weekend morning, cooking an actual breakfast on a weekday doesn't even strike as an option to me. I am lucky if I can manage to run and catch my train on time :-)
Someday I would probably do a post on the many different varieties of bread I pick up sometimes for a breakfast-to-go. But for now enjoy this rice flour pancake.
This entry goes to the Rice Feast being hosted by Aathidhyam Share

Baked Samosa

Samosa. The crispy pastry filled with spicy potatoes, served with chutney, savoured everywhere and loved as an appetiser and snack by all. An Indian snack - the original recipe calls for deep frying the stuffed pastry, but if you know me, you know how averse I am to deep frying (and also quite stingy when using butter and oil). But how can I miss out on the good things in life? Samosa being one of them! It is easy to make if you use something like a puff pastry sheet, or wonton or a spring roll wrap. I made the dough myself, but for the sake of ease, let me just suggest you to buy one of those wraps. Also, samosas are so versatile, maybe in another version I'll share how I make the dough for the wrap. So here is how I make the samosas.

- 2 large potatoes - boiled and mashed.
- 1/2 cup peas
- 1 onion - finely chopped
- 1 or 2 green chillis - very finely chopped, and de-seeded if you don't like it hot.
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons oil


For the spices,
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder - freshly ground works beautifully
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mango powder.
- salt

In the hot oil, add cumin, and chillis and saute for a few seconds. Add in the ginger, and onions, and salt and fry for a few minutes. When the onions are golden brown, add in the peas and the remaining masala and let it cook for 8-10 minutes. Mix it all with the mashed potatoes. Let this mixture cool for a few minutes. This stuff is so tasty that I make a lot more than I need, and make sandwiches with it the next day!
For the wrap, choose a wrap of your choice. Puff pastry works well and is very easy to get too. Cut it into approximately 4" x 8" pieces. Place a small amount of the mixture at the bottom of the 4" side, and fold it to form a triangle. Fold it twice and seal the edges with water-flour mixture(Add a tablepoon of flour to about 3 tablespoons water). You could make any shape you like, and also create the traditional trianglular shape many ways. You could also cut squares from your rolled out dough, and fill the potato mixture diagonally and close it so it resembles a cone. Brush some oil on the samosa and bake it in a 350 C oven for about 20 minutes. I served mine with a coriander - mint chutney and a thai sweet chilli sauce. Share

Fish and chips

I should mention at the very start that this is not the traditional 'fish-n-chips' that you find at the friendly neighbourhood take-away of every street in Britain. Those are fried and then usually fried again in a batter of flour, spices and beer for best texture, colour and flavour. I love those, but when I'm cooking at home, deep frying is first of all not the best way I would like to cook, and of course it leaves the kitchen quite messy. So mine are the oven baked 'chips'. And fish was cooked on an electric raclette grill. The recipe is as easy as it gets.

Take some russet potatoes. 4 large ones work well. Cut them into wedges of a thickness you like. In a seperate bowl, add about
2 tablespoons of olive oil,
some very finely chopped garlic - I used 2 cloves,
a teaspoon full of cumin seeds
freshly cracked pepper and salt.
If you like it spicy, add some cayenne pepper. I also added some de-seeded green chilli finely chopped. (Now that I am thinking how I had prepared it, some ready-fried onions would have done much good too!).
And as I do in a lot of my recipes with starchy potatoes, a generous teaspoon full of 'Herbs de Provence' - a mix of dried Italian herbs. Mix it all and rub the potatoes with this mixture.
Bake them in a 350 oven for about 15-20 minutes.



For the fish, take some fresh filleted fish. They are usually made with cod but any dense fish works fine. Make a rub using a tablespoon of olive oil, 1 clove of garlic very finely chopped, salt, pepper, a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon, and again some de-seeded green chilli.
Rub this mix on both sides of the fish, and cook it on medium - each side for about 5 minutes.
Plate it up, and have it as is or with a slice or 2 of some bread. Share

Baileys, Mars and a banana

Bailey's Irish Cream, Mars chocolate bar, a ripe banana, butter. Now you can't possibly go wrong with that.

So this morning I woke up earlier than my usual weekend time - I was wide awake at 7 am! It's just a weekend thing - you can't sleep on Friday night, 'coz its Friday night. And since weekends are always sooooo small, I try (trust me I do try) to wake up early on weekends - just so the day seems bigger :)
So hubby and I went to the farmers market in the morning - ate some rustic looking butter bread with cranberries from one of the stalls for breakfast, came home and wanted to try something new, different and decadent. This one is mentioned in the Baileys website, and herez how it's made.




Heat up a tablespoon of butter (the more, the better, you could add 2), slice a banana lengthwise. Toss the banana in the butter, and let it cook until you just start getting a nicely golden brown colour on it. While thats browning, start melting a bar of Mars in a heavy bottomed pan on low heat. Once its gooey, remove from heat, let it cool a bit, and then add in 1 and half tablespoons of Baileys Irish Cream. Mix it so you have a sauce like consistency. Drizzle it over the cooked banana, and dig in! As you can probably tell, this combination is heavenly! Share

Muesli Bar

Oh the pressure of a new post on a new blog! I want to impress you all, follow the blog, give me comments(only good comments allowed ;-) .. ) spread it, quote it, appreciate it....yeah right! There goes my greedy self hungry again!
Let me just start with what is almost my weekly ritual. Nah not quite, I get bored too easily. But I do make it quite often. Mainly coz its easy, and better still, healthy. We here in Switzerland (no, I am not the "extremely smart, handsome, clever and bright person, who is just a little bit too perfect to be real" - also known as 'Swiss'. Dont believe me? Check the Urban Dictionary). Ok so the Swiss call it Muesli Bar. Maybe the Germans call it the same too. (wonder who's the copy cat?). So heres how I make it
2 cups rolled oats - I use the steel cut variety
1/3 cup each wheatgerm, pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds, sesame seeds
some chopped dried fruit - dried apricot, figs, cranberries. Sometimes I use dates, but they are too sweet for my liking - at least in a muesli bar. All of this chopped to be about a cup and a half.
1/2 cup peanut butter. I have been meaning to make it at home, with good quality Extra virgin olive oil, but havent done it yet. Somehow I am never so sure about the oil used in peanut butter at the supermarkets. Anyways..
1/3 cup brown sugar. And if gets a little dry, (coz I havent measured the stuff properly), about 2 tablespoons honey.
The butter, sugar is melted in a heavy bottom pan. The dry ingredients mixed up. Then its time to get the hands dirty. Mix the butter and sugar gooey paste to the dry stuff, and lay it on the baking tin. You'd have to press it, coz the stuff is quite sticky and gooey. Bake it at 150 for 35-40 mins. Cool it, cut it, pack it, and snack on it. Share