Tag Archives: Dubai

Coconut Cheesecake (flourless)

Hello guys! How are you doing these crazy days? Hope you stay home, safe and healthy. Sometimes I forget about this coronavirus situation, that I stay home not because it’s quarantine and lockdown but because I decided to bake something and spend time home… I’d love to drive somewhere and discover a new coffee shop and sit there over a cup of aromatic flat white… I miss the beach, I miss paddling in the sea I want to go to the nearest supermarket without wearing face mask and gloves, and buy a freshly baked bun there and eat it on the way back I want to go to the park with my little one and run and play with a ball there… I miss everything, I miss the world. Sigh.

I hope this will end soon somehow, and we will able to do whatever we enjoy doing.

A few months ago I’d wrote that this cake with sweet dried cherries will be tastier… but today, today everything is different. I know it’s difficult for someone to come by to Russian tvorog but if you’re lucky to find pure one – use it, better 5-9%. I make tvorog myself: boil a large quantity of plain yogurt (or 3%-kefir/soured milk). As another great alternative for tvorog, Bulgarian and Cypriot cottage cheese works well, or Ukrainian is much the same.

Moreover, if you don’t have enough coconut flakes, keep them to sprinkle the cake top, or even don’t use it at all, and use plain white flour in the cake batter. Now you can see – that this cake recipe is very simple and can be adopted very easily. Don’t miss this incredible and tasty cake! Hope you will make it soon. Stay safe guys!

Coconut Cheesecake (flourless)

Servings: 4-5
Time: 50-60min
Difficulty: very easy
Print

*dried cranberries are also good

What you’ll need

400g tvorog/cottage cheese

70g white sugar

4 egg yolks

2 tbsp dried cherries, optional*

1-2 tbsp dried pineapple cubes, optional*

100g unsweetened coconut flakes

4 egg whites

a pinch of salt

How to make it

Whisk tvorog with sugar and egg yolks.
Fold in dried fruits, if using, and coconut flakes.
In a separate bowl, slightly beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks. Carefully fold into batter.
Line the baking tin with paper, grease and pour in the batter.
Bake in preheated 180C oven for 40 minutes.
Allow to cool in the tin for some time and transfer to the serving plate. Sprinkle with some coconut flakes, if desired.

Enjoy!

Eat the World Dubai

Hello guys! How is your week going on? Today I’d love to share with you how I spent last weekend!

I visited “Eat the World Dubai” as a part of the Dubai Food Festival 2016. It was held on a green lawn (which is called Burj Park), right next to Burj Khalifa and the Dubai mall. It was all about street food. The most exciting thing was that 15 food trucks were brought from the UK, and as it was announced ‘the best ones’- winners and finalists of British Street Food Awards. Of course, some local street food there was as well.

I think nowadays street food means more than regular hamburgers and hot-dogs. There are lots of people/cooks who are passionate for food, who have a creativity for what they cook; people who desire to prepare something extravaganza in front of you. Plus, it should be affordable and don’t ruin your family budget.

One of the thing I wanted to try was “Crabbie Shack”. I imagine myself a huge, unreal ans super tasty patty made from crab meat. After a pretty long line of waiting, finally I got it. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. Crab was deep-fried (I rare eat such food) and seemed it was left in some skin.. plus the bun was too greasy and it was complicated to bite the huge burger. What I like – the combination of fennel seeds and almond flakes; definitely I will use it in the future cooking. Harissa (not spicy one) and smashed avocado was another delicious touch.

It’s worth mentioning the remarkable pizza preparation. Guys were made it in a truck! Can you imagine? Oven truck! 😀

Dark Sweet side was an ice cream! One of the UAE team trucks “from Miami to Dubai” sold gelato on a stick, that you could dip into various chocolate and cover in nuts, sprinkles or coconut flakes. I tried strawberry covered with white chocolate and walnuts. Yummy! 🙂

British crew “Milo&Hector’s” brought a cute little truck and made ice cream sandwiches. Never tasted before, it was soooo good! Especially after a sunny afternoon in the park. May be I’d reduce the sweetness of cookies..

And so much more..

I enjoyed every minute of this open-air festival. There were lots of amazing smells and flavours around. Music, cooking demos, smiling people who were eating&eating, siting on a grass, relaxing..

Hope you had a fabulous weekend too!

Veal with pink pepper and squash puree

Hey guys! What’s the autumn in your country/city? The weather here finally became amazing – only +29C! And in my home-city in Russia is -7C! Which weather do you like more?

I had the leftovers of squash in my fridge.. and I needed to come up with something to have for dinner. A very simple way to use it – make savory pancakes, but that idea seemed too boring for me. Further ‘excavations’ brought me a beet, a piece of pecorino cheese and a glass of red wine. And the idea came up! Give it up and just drink wine. 😀

So, the measurements in the recipe are given roughly, don’t be afraid to be an artist and make it to suit your own taste. The dish has a wonderful flavour, and this is a very simple way to cook. I served it over a bed of mashed squash and potatoes, and that was incredibly satisfying! Bright and slightly sweet squash and beet, mildly spicy pink pepper give that contented and warm-inside feeling which is what autumn cooking about.

Veal with pink pepper and squash puree

Servings: 1
Time: 20-30mins
Difficulty: easy
Print

Ingredients

100-150g veal, cut into cubes

5 pink peppercorns, crushed

few sage leaves

1-2 Tbsp dry red wine, optional

80-120g squash or pumpkin, cooked and mashed

1 Tbsp beet, cooked and cut into cubes

1 small potato, cooked and mashed, optional

1-2 Tbsp pecorino cheese, grated

sea salt, to taste

1 Tbsp olive oil

Method

In a bowl put veal cubes, pink pepper, some salt and chopped sage. Pour in wine and stir well. Cover and let marinate for 10-20 minutes.
Make vegetable puree for the garnish. Combine mashed squash, potato and cheese together. Season to taste.
Heat an oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When oil is hot, add meat and fry it. Turn occasionally until done as desired and browned on all sides.
Mix pan-fried veal with beet cubes.
Put the squash puree on a serving plate. Arrange veal on top. Sprinkle with sage and pecorino cheese, if desired.

Of course a great glass of red wine goes hand in hand with this delicious veal. 😉

Enjoy the dinner!

A touch of summer. Radish salad with goat cheese and black salt.

I know! It’s autumn out there.. and most of you would like to see hearty, meaty dishes with lots of roasted vegetables.. When I think “autumn and hearty” I always imagine stew and potatoes! Or that’s because I love potatoes! 😀 You know, in Russian potato is ‘kartoshka’, and we consume it a lot. But today’s hero is a fresh salad!

The temperature in Dubai slowly but steady going down.. I was pretending again that it’s kinda autumn while did my shopping, and was looking for pumpkin and beets, when stumble upon beautiful radishes! They literally told me – buy us, eat us! 😀 Certainly, I had to buy them!

I love simple salads, when you can cut cucumbers and radishes, dress it with sour cream or olive oil, season with sea salt, and that’s it! This salad is one of such variations, but with a small twist – pungent goat cheese, fancy black salt and crunchy sesame seeds! Oh, they work super here! The salad looks so bright and cheerful, that I bet you want it right now! 😉 I hope you can get fresh radishes and make it.. Otherwise, welcome to the UAE, the country of eternal sun!

Ingredients for one person

Radishes 5-6, or as many as you like

Cucumber 1

Cherry tomatoes 4-5

Goat cheese 1-2 Tbsp

Coriander or parsley 2-3 Tbsp, chopped

Chives 1 Tbsp, chopped

Sesame seeds 1-2 tsp, roasted

Walnuts 1 Tbsp, roasted and chopped

Black salt and pepper, to taste

Extra virgin olive oil 1 Tbsp

Balsamic vinegar or cream 1 tsp

Method

Thinly slice radishes and cucumbers. Cut tomatoes into haves. Put all vegetables in a serving bowl, add all remaining ingredients.

Enjoy!

Spiced Plum Cake with streusel

What could be better than a moist and sweet cake that takes minutes to put together? I always like to explore different butter cake recipes; I’ve tried to use different types of flour, with milk or yogurt.. Actually, most of the recipes turned out good. But for the seasonal autumn recipe, I decided to add spices and crunchy streusel to make it more rich. Spiced plum cake with streusel topping The cake is warmly spiced, plus ripe plums make it more soft. It is so delicious and yet so easy. Perfect as a midday treat! It’s also good and tasty on the next day, in case if you got any leftovers, though it never lasts long. 🙂 It goes really well with a dollop of mascarpone. You can sprinkle the cake with icing sugar, or pour over a maple syrup, but for me the cake has enough sweetness.

Spiced Plum Cake with streusel

Servings: 6-8
Time: 45-50mins
Difficulty: easy
Print

* In stead of store-bought almond powder, I suggest to buy whole almonds, dry-roast them and then blend into powder. Walnuts are also nice and can be used instead of almonds.

Ingredients

7-8 plums, firm but ripe, pitted and cut into fourths or sixths (I used dark and yellow plums)

110g butter, at room temperature

70g brown sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

100g plain flour

20g cornflour

50g almond powder*

1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1/2-1/3 tsp cardamom, finely ground

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg, finely ground

1/6 tsp cloves, finely ground

60g yogurt (I used lowfat, but full fat is ok too)

Streusel

40g wholewheat flour or fine oats

15g butter, soft

20-30g demerara or white sugar

1-2 Tbsp walnuts or pistachios, roughly chopped

For serving

mascarpone or whipped cream

maple syrup, if desired

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 18cm cake tin (you can use 10-15cm cake tin also, the cake will be higher; or 20cm round tin is ok too).
Cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time (don’t over-beat, just stir to combine).
Mix together flours, almond powder, salt and all spices. Add to the egg mixture a little bit at a time. Finally add yogurt.
Spoon mixture into the cake tin. Individually place plums at an angle to make rings, using gentle pressure to push them slightly into batter. Leave about 2cm between each plum.
For the streusel, mix the butter into flour. Add sugar, nuts and combine until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the cake.
Bake for 45-50 minutes. Once baked remover from the oven and allow to cool 10 minutes before serving.
Slice and serve with a dollop of mascarpone or whipped cream. If it’s not enough sweet, pour over the cake maple syrup.

Enjoy the cake with a nice cup of hot tea!