Tag Archives: breakfast

Onion cookies with cheese and chilli

 The springs has finally come bringing more sunny days, birds sing their songs, flowers are blossoming and days are becoming longer. Sun is shining and my living room now is full of light, all nature is preparing for the hot summer. I love this time of the year when it’s still comfortable to sit and walk outside in the evening, when it’s not cool but not hot yet. 
I’be been busy last days and I’m sorry for being away, days were full of life or laziness; my dearest friends came from Russia and despite they brought a huge bag of sweets, I made meringues with coconut and nuts, which were eaten immediately.
And I almost missed the awesome party, on Fridays as usual, at Angie’s place with such amazing co-hostesses as Jhuls and Selma. But ‘it’s better late than never’, isn’t it?
So, I want to serve these hot and delish onion cookies to y’all! 😀
Onion_pastry-2
 I’m pretty sure you will be absolutely amazed how well they go for a breakfast! Delicious and flavoured with chillies, which are super boosters, they will help you to wake up quicker than regular mug of coffee!
 This is a very simple recipe to make and you just have to mix the ingredients and form cookies in the round shape right on a baking sheet. Bake the onion cookies for about 20 minutes and they will be gooey, firm and bursting with incredible flavour.
 The recipe itself has undergone a number of changes since I made cookies for the first time, because there is always no limit to perfection. And the result is beautifully browned and great tasted cookies!
I’m using whether spring onion or leek, whatever is available at the moment of cooking, both are suitable and pretty good for this recipe.

Onion cookies with cheese and chilli

  • Servings: 3-4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print
Cookies should be served piping hot!
 
Ingredients:
130g flour, self-raising
50-60g butter, cold and cut into small cubes
3 tbsp corn flour
a good pinch of salt
1/3 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed chilli flakes
70g grated cheese (Red Cheddar or Red Leicester)
180ml single cream or laban
1 tbsp cream cheese
2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
1 leek or 4-5 spring onions
1/2 tbsp butter for frying
Sour cream, creme fraiche or yoghurt for garnish
 
Instructions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
  2. Chop the leek or spring onions, stir fry very lightly in butter for 3-4 minutes.
  3. Combine the butter with flours, salt and peppers. 
  4. Stir in parsley, onion and cheese.
  5. Pour the cream or laban into the batter and mix well.
  6. Spoon out heaping tablespoon of batter and lay on the ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
  7. Sprinkle with some extra chilli flakes, if desired.
  8. Bake for 17-20 minutes until golden-brown.
  9. Serve the cookies hot and optionally with sour cream.
  10. Enjoy!
Onion_pastry-3

Sunny peachy-nutty cake

Days go by and summer is slowly coming to Dubai, winter doesn’t want to give up though, giving us some cloudy days sometimes but its days are counted…
 One lovely morning I was at home, and looking at the dull skies, I decided to make something special for the afternoon tea, something sunny, sweet-smelling and new, a cake that I’ve not tried before, and it should be fruity. 
I have to say that I do not normally know what I’m going to cook this or next day, I’ve never have a master plan for a week ahead, and prefer to be inspired by details around me, whatever I see, read about food or trying something myself, rather than be organized in the proper food-blogger way 🙂 
  So, I went to a grocery to look for an inspiration. One important and remarkable thing about buying food in Dubai is that large groceries and markets here do always and really inspire me; we have no such variety of fruits in Russia, and every time I go for a shopping, whether it is some oranges for a morning juice or avocados, I never know from which part of the world these fruits or veggies would come from. And that day was not an exception. Without even roaming between fruit rows I remarked some nice peaches shortly after I entered the shop, and once I came closer and took a couple of them in my hand, I already decided that it’s going to be a beautiful peach cake!
 Peaches always remind me of summer, they share the same bright and yellowish colour of the pulp with the sun, giving the cozy feeling of warm and sunny days.
 At home I cut one fruit and tried it. I was slightly disappointed that the peaches weren’t as juicy as I expected, but that  turned into fantastic peach cake in the end… 😉Peach pie-2Ingredients for the cake:
Peaches* – 4 big 
Eggs, at room temperature – 3
Yoghurt -150g or 0.6cup
Sugar* -100g or 0.5cup 
Butter, cut into small cubes – 130g or 0.6cup
Self-raising flour – 150g or 1cup (or 1 cup plain flour + 1 tsp baking powder)
Cornmeal – 2 Tbsp
Whole walnuts – 130g or ~1cup
A pinch of salt
Lemon zest – 2tsp
Orange zest – 1tsp
Ingredients for the mandarin sauce:
3 big mandarins*
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp water
2-3 Tbsp icing sugar
1 Tbsp cognac (or brandy, or Grand Marnier) – optionally
 *Really good substitution for peaches are nectarines! 
*I used only 100g of sugar and that means the cake won’t be sweet, 
I suggest sweeten it with 150g or 3/4cup of sugar.
*I used mandarins, just because :D; oranges go well here too, as you already guess.
 
The cake preparation:
  • In a bowl beat the butter and sugar together;
  • Stir in one by one eggs;
  • Add yoghurt and citrus zest, combine;
  • Ground the walnuts, add to the batter and mix;
  • Sift the flours and salt into the batter mixture;
  • Grease the baking dish with butter or oil. Pour the cake batter into it;
  • Cut the peaches into wedges and stick into batter;
  • Bake in preheated oven 210C/400F for 45-60 minute;.** 
  • Meanwhile prepare the mandarin sauce for the cake;
  • Let the cake cool a bit. Pour the mandarin sauce over it. 
Mandarin sauce preparation:
  • First of all, squeeze the juice out of mandarins; 
  • Combine citrus juices, water and sugar in a small saucepan; bring to boil;
  • Reduce heat to low, add cognac and simmer for 10-12 minutes;
  • Remove from the heat and cool.
**When I’m using a glass dish for the cake, it takes me little bit longer to bake it. 
Thus after 40 minutes, pls check the cake is done or not yet.
To check the cake’s readiness – tuck into a toothpick, if it comes out dry –  the cake is ready.
Peach pie-1
  The final result overcame all my expectations –  the cake tasted fantastically! The peaches became tender and even more sweeter, and because they were not so juicy they kept their integrity. Needless to say about aromatic mandarin sauce.. I’ll definitely be making it again!
 I also suggest to sprinkle some icing sugar on the top along with the citrus sauce.
P.S. Several days back I didn’t even know that there is such type of flour as ‘cake’, thanks to dear fellow-blogger Suzanne, now I know about it and adding cornmeal everywhere…Haha 
Hey, are you still here? 🙂 Go and bake the cake!
 Have a sunny and bright day, guys!

Russian cured salmon

 As I promised the recipe of classic Russian cured salmon. 🙂

We need around 400-500g salmon without skin, 2 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar and 50ml vodka (the best quality you can afford).

Salmon-1

Combine salt and sugar in a small bowl, mix it with a spoon. 🙂

Salmon-2

Take any dish (usually I use a food container with lid), sprinkle half of the mixture on the bottom, place salmon fillet over it.

Salmon-3

Salmon-4

Sprinkle the fish with the remaining mixture, and rub some into sides of the fish.

Salmon-5

Salmon-6

!!! And above all – pour 50ml vodka over the salmon. It will help to cure the salmon.

Salmon-7

Put the lid or plastic wrap on the dish/container and refrigerate.

Salmon-8

Turn salmon 2 times a day (if you don’t have time-don’t worry, once a day will be enough also), until it’s cured throughout – about 2 days. After a day of curing you will see some liquid, don’t pour it out!

Salmon-9

Take the salmon out of the fridge after 2 days (it’ll be done even in 1 day). Now you can pour the liquid out. Wipe the salmon with paper towel. Slice it thinly.

Enjoy this marvelous Russian-style salmon with blini (thin crepes) and vodka. It’s also perfect on a piece of bread with a cup of tea. Great for breakfast or lunch. 🙂

Salmon-10

 

Oladushki – small Russian pancakes

Olad’i, oladushki – are small, thick, round pancakes prepared from batter and fried in a hot oil. 

Olad’i have always been much loved in Rus’ (Russia) and still remain popular in a menu of Russian cousine.

Prepared on kefir (sour milk or laban in Arab countires), a yeast-raised batter, with semolina, carrots, apples..

On one version, word “olad’i” came from the name of Slavic goddess of beauty and love – Lada.

pancakes-2

They are perfect for a weekend breakfast, served with your favorite toppings.

Yield: Serves 3

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

  • sour milk or kefir/buttermilk/laban, full fat, 300 ml
  • 1 egg
  • sugar 2 tbsp
  • salt 1/2 tsp
  • soda 1/2 tsp or baking powder 1 tsp
  • plain flour, around 150-200 ml 
  • sunflower oil, for frying

Preparation:

Whisk together the egg and sugar (with hand whisk). Add salt, sour milk, soda and blend until you have a smooth mixture. The batter should be like a thick sour cream, so to get the right thickness – better to use a full fat kefir (sour milk or buttermilk). If the mixture seems too thin, add some more flour.

Heat some sunflower oil in a skillet (frying pan), thus olad’i (pancakes) will be cooked fast and well browned.

For each pancake, spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the batter onto skillet. Cook until bubbly and a little dry around the edges. Turn and brown another side.

If you used too much oil-transfer pancakes to a paper towel to remove rests of fat ( or you can use non-stick skillet and fry without any oil).

 Usually oladushki (pancakes) are served with plenty of sour cream, honey or jam.

Or on a modern way – with chocolate sauce. Enjoy! 🙂

pancakes-3

1 … 4 5 6
Blog at WordPress.com.