Rum Raisin Cheesecake Style Pancakes

These are perfect as a breakfast treat. I came up with this recipe on a cold Chrismas Eve morning, at approximately 4:46 am, I kid you not. I was severely jett-lagged and could not stay asleep past 3am , so to let my hard working hubby enjoy his very deserved sleep I left the comfort of my bed and dragged my poor body to the kitchen. Now , it's a bit of a weird tradition in our household for me to make pancakes  when I'm jett-lagged. It usually goes : "Morning, honey, here is your breakfast. I'm off to bed, please wake me up before 2 pm." Perfect wife, as far as I am concerned. I have tried this recipe since with slight variations, originally I used Philadelphia cream cheese but later I tried cottage cheese instead (the eastern european pressed variety, low fat). To tell you the truth I do prefer the cottage cheese one, the pancakes come out more sturdy. Also, if you will be using raisins , do soak them in alcohol of your choice overnight, I do believe it improves the flavour! One of my closest friends simply cant stand any fruit in her pancakes,so if you feel the same , simply put a handfull of chocolate buttons instead.
250 gr of pressed cottage cheese or full fat cream cheese
2 large eggs
200 gr self-raising flour
50gr of soft light brown sugar
zest of 1 orange
100 gr of raisins , soaked overnight in rum
30-40 gr of peanuts, toasted and crushed
Beat the eggs with sugar for a good 5 min.

Add the cream/cottage cheese and mix well,add the flour, mix well.
Stir in the raisins, orange zest and nuts.

Get your pan nice and hot, I use regular vegetable oil , 2-3 min. each side should be enough.

 

 

Serve with a chocolate sauce and a cheeky Buck Fizz/Mimosa!





 

 

Miso Ramen.

Here is a very simple recipe for a miso ramen, the trick is to prepare all the ingredients beforehand, so you will need a few small dishes to accomodate them. The noodles and the miso paste are shop bought. The recipe is for 2  , or you can serve a smaller portions for 4 people if you have other courses.
400 gr chicken thighs
1 carrot
1 pack choi
a small bunch of spring onions
2 cloves of garlic (optional)
a small piece of ginger(optional)
2 soft boiled eggs
3-5 black peppercorns
half a red chilli pepper
1 onion
Miso paste
Ramen Noodles
1 tbsp of sesame oil

Firstly we need to make a stock for the soup. Put the chicken, onion, red and black pepper, 1 clove of garlic,half the ginger in the pot, add about 2ltr of water, bring to the boil, simmer for about 1 hr.

Strain the stock, put the meat aside.

Grate the carrot, chop up the pack choi, set aside.

Slice the spring onions as thin as possible, set aside.

Grate the rest of ginger, add crushed garlic to it(this will add extra heat to the noodles).

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the wrapper, set aside in water.

Heat up the stock , add the carrot, pak choi and sesame oil to it, bring to the boil and simmer.

Put a heaped tbsp of miso paste inside a ladle, lower it in the stock and slowly stir it in with chopsticks (if you put miso paste directly in , it's rather difficult to stir in). Simmer for 3 min or so, don't bring to the boil as it will destroy the miso goodness!

Now it's time to assemble the dish; firstly drain the noodles of water and put them in, add chicken, egg, pour a generous amount of miso soup on it, serve with spring onions and if desired the hot garlic/ginger paste!

I also love toasted sesame seeds with it.

 

Veggie Samosas.

You know the feeling, when you've spent some time at a foreign land and enjoyed their cuisine so much, that when you return home you just can't stop recreating the dishes. Every time I come back from Russia, we end up eating Russian food for a week.So it was no surprise , that when I visited India for a first time, I returned home with a suitcase full of spices and pashminas and my head full of ideas. This is an easy recipe , as I'm using a shop-bought samosa pastry (filo pastry is also good), you can obviously substitute the filling for a meaty one. The recipe makes enough filling for about 30 samosas.I served them together with a roasted red pepper sauce.
1 packet of ready made samosa pastry/ filo pastry
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
half a tsp of ground ginger
half a tsp of mustard seeds
1 chilli pepper
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3 medium potatoes
2 carrots
1 onion
half a cup of frozen peas
half a cup of frozen sweetcorn
half of a medium cauliflower

Cook and crush together potatoes, carrots and cauliflower.
Put all the spices and the chopped up onion in the heated up pan, fry on medium heat, till the onions are nice and brown. Stir in  the peas and sweetcorn, after about 5 min add the crushed vegetables to the mix . The filling is ready.

 

Get the pastry out, make the parcels, by folding it in the triangular shapes.
Some people deep fry the samosas, I prefer to bake them. Heat up the oven 200C or oven mark 6, brush some oil over the samosas , sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Bake for about 20 min or untill golden.
As for the sauce , I got the recipe from a russian food blogger Belonika and slightly changed it.
Take 3 large red peppers, roast and peel them. Blend together with 1tsp of ground coriander, 3 crushed cloves of garlic,1 tbsp of sweet chilli pepper, juice of half a lemon, 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of sea salt.

Bortsh/Борщ.

Winter this year is not giving up easily, this calls for a hearty dinner. Bortsh is perfect for the freezing conditions we are currently enjoying. With bortsh , there are as many recipes as there are families. There is no right or wrong recipe , it is simply a matter of taste. It can also be made as a veggie option, just replace the stock with the vegetarian one. This recipe serves 6 with leftovers.I use my LeCreuset 24 for this, approximately 4 ltr.
For the stock we need:
500gr beef brisket
1 carrot
1 onion
2 garlick cloves
4-5 black peppercorns.
Put all in the saucepan fill up with  water, bring to the boil, remove the foam, simmer for about 2-3 hours. Take the meat out, strain the stock, discard the carrot, onion.
For the bortsh:
3-4 medium beetroots
half a medium green cabbage
1 red pepper
1 small hot pepper
4 tbsp of tomato puree
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 carrots
2 potatoes
1 tbsp of red wine vinegar
a pinch of sugar
salt and black pepper to taste

 Grate the carrots, sautee them together with the tomatoes , tomato puree, chopped up red pepper, hot pepper(if you don't want it spicy, forget the hot pepper) for about 15 min. Cube the beef add it to the  vegetables, sautee for a further 10 min., add vinegar and sugar. Set aside.
Bring the stock to the boil add cubed beetroot, followed by chopped up cabbage and potatoes (allow 5min. interval between them). Simmer for further 10-15 min, or untill the vegetables are cooked, add the sauteed vegetables to the pot,add salt and pepper to taste, simmer for further 5 min. Switch off. Let it stand for at least 3 hours before reheating and serving or ideally let it stand overnight.
Best served with a generous dollop of soured cream(I love to squeeze a couple of cloves of garlic in it) and plenty of fresh bread! If you have a chance to get a proper rye bread loaf, fry a few slices to go with the bortsh. It's naughty but ever so nice.

Mango and Passion Fruit Tiramisu.

 5 ripe passion fruit,
1 tin of mango in light syrup,
4 tbsp of icing sugar, 2 tbsp of jam sugar,
4 large eggs,
 250gr mascarpone,
 1 packet of "boudoir" or "lady fingers" biscuits,
 rum to taste.
 Firstly  we need to make the fruit puree: drain the mango, save the syrup for later, sieve the passion fruit , this might take a bit of time but will get rid of the seeds. Add the jam sugar to the passion fruit juice and reduce it in the pan , if it's not "sharp" enough squeeze a bit of lemon in it. Blend mango and passion fruit till you get a nice puree, set aside.
Whisk egg whites till stiff, set aside.
Whisk egg yolks with icing sugar till light in colour, add mascarpone and puree and whisk some more till mousse-like (5 min.). Fold in egg whites till it is evenly mixed.
Heat up mango syrup, add rum to it, start by soaking biscuits in the syrup and layering the dish. Spread half of mousse on top of it, follow by another layer of soaked biscuits, layer of mousse.

Use a bit of mango to decorate.

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