Carrot
Salad Indian
Few
years ago I spent four wonderful weeks in India. I traveled with my son Tomas
and his friends. One evening we had been invited to a dinner by relatives of a young
man who traveled with us to India. Our hosts were so friendly and welcoming that
after few minutes I almost forgot that I just met them. Everything on the table
was incredibly tasty, but I liked the most the carrot salad. And here is my
version of that wonderful dish.
2
lb carrot
2
long green chili peppers
2
tbsp cumin
1
tbsp mustard seeds
2
tsp olive oil
Lemon
juice
Salt
Sugar
Peel
the carrots. Using coarse vegetable shredder shred the carrots. Seed the chilies
and chop them. Heat a little bit of oil; add chopped chilies and fry them a
little. Add cumin and mustard seeds and fry until spices become fragrant and
begin to pop. Pour this mixture over shredded carrots; mix well, add salt, lemon
juice and sugar to taste. Do not be stingy with the lemon juice; what you want
is to create refreshing juicy
French
Green Beans
This is an excellent green beans recipe.
The small amount of pickled
peppers the recipe calls for gives the dish a nice, sour taste. It is best when
served at room temperature. If you have to put the salad into a refrigerator,
warm it up in
microwave for a few seconds before serving or let it stand outside the fridge
for a while until it comes to a room temperature.
1 lb green beans
3
tbsp sour cream
2
tbsp pickled red bell peppers cut into small pieces
Salt
to taste
Black
pepper to taste
1/2
tbsp
butter
Cut
the beans into 1-inch pieces and throw them in salted water. When cooked, drain
the beans and place into a bowl. Add butter and cover the bowl to allow the
butter to melt. When the butter is completely melted add chopped red pepper,
sour cream, salt and black pepper. Mix well.
Chocolate Rum Cheesecake
Below
is my version of a recipe I found at Williams-Sonoma.
I made some alternations to the original recipe and this is the result.
Follow
the instruction and you will get perfect cheesecake.
The
crust:
1-cup
vanilla wafer crumbs
¼
cup cocoa
¼
butter melted
The
filling:
6
oz bittersweet chocolate
¼
cup white rum
1
lb cream cheese
¾
cup granulated sugar
½
cup sour cream
1
tbsp vanilla
4
large eggs
Butter
9 in spring form and cover the outside with aluminum foil. Preheat the oven to
325 F. Place the rack in the center of the oven.
In
the food processor combine the wafers, cocoa and butter. Press the mixture into
the bottom and about 1 in high up the sides of the pan.
In
a small saucepan, over low heat combine chocolate and run and melt. Take from
the heat, set aside.
With
the help of electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add gradually
sugar; beat in sour cream and vanilla extract. Place the bowl (must be heat
proof) over a pan of simmering water but not touching the water. Warm the
mixture for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Pour
1 ½ cups of the batter into another bowl and set aside. To the remaining batter
add the chocolate mixture and mix well to blend. Set the bowl back over
simmering water and mix until the batter is creamy and smooth. Remove from heat.
Pour
the chocolate mixture in to the prepared spring form. Pour gently the plain
mixture over the top and with a knife or a fork make swirls.
Bake
45 to 50 minutes. The cake will be set around the edges but the center will be
still loose. Let cool, remove the rim and place into refrigerator over night
Garlic
soup
This
is a very simple soup, but it will surprise you how tasteful it is.
 5 C water
4 large
garlic cloves
¼ tsp
caraway seeds
½ tsp
marjoram
¼ tsp
powdered ginger
4 large
red potatoes
1 tbsp
oil
Salt and
pepper to taste
5 oz
bread
2 tbsp oil for croutons
Peel the garlic and
mince it. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Heat the water; add
salt, pepper and minced garlic, caraway seeds, marjoram and ginger and potato
cubes. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender. When the soup is
finished, taste for salt and pepper. While the soup is cooking, prepare the
croutons. Using large frying pan, heat the oil and when hot add the cubed bread.
Fry and stir frequently to ensure the bread is evenly brown on all sides.
To
serve: ladle soup into soup plate and add tablespoon or more of croutons
Pork
tenderloin with pineapple
The
combination of a curry powder, pineapple and pork may look little bit strange
but I believe that after you prepare this dish you will agree with me that the
taste of it is excellent.
1
Pork tenderloin
5
slices caned pineapple
½
medium onion
Salt
Black
pepper
Curry
powder
½
tbsp olive oil
2
tbsp sour cream
1
tsp cornstarch
½
cup white wine
Remove
silver skin from the meat and slice the meat into ¼ inch slices. Salt and
pepper them. Heat little bit of oil, fry the meat on both sides. Remove meat
when done. To the same oil add sliced onion and sauté. Dissolve cornstarch in
half of the wine, and add the mixture to onions, add curry powder, and mix.
Finally add remaining wine,
sour cream, chunks of pineapple and the meat. Salt and pepper to a taste. Serve
with pasta.
Puff
Pastry Cheese Sticks
Puff
pastry is very versatile pastry and can be used for sweet as well as for savory
dishes.
Puff
pastry
Parmesan
cheese
1
egg
Salt
Red
paprika
Black
pepper
Roll
out puff pastry until it is about 5mm thick. In a mixing bowl mix together
Parmesan cheese, red paprika, salt and pepper. Beat an egg and using pastry
brush, brush one side of the dough with the egg and generously sprinkle with
cheese mixture, and press down into the dough. Turn the dough carefully over so
now you have the cheese side down. Repeat the same thing with the egg and the
cheese. Cut the dough into 1-inch strips and lightly twist them before placing
them on baking sheet, which you have rinsed with cold water. (Remaining water on
the sheet will turn into a steam when you put the sheet into a hot oven and will
help to puff the pastry). Preheated the oven to 450 F and bake until golden
brown.
Crème
Du Barry
This
soup has interesting history. It is being said that the famous mistress of
French king Louis XV Comtesse Marie Jeanne Du Barry served this soup every time
she hosted a dinner for her king.
1
cauliflower
Salt
Pepper
1
C milk
1/8
C butter
1/8
C all-purpose flour
Nutmeg
Cook
the cauliflower in salted water until it is tender. Remove the cauliflower from
the cooking liquid, and save the cooking liquid, you will need it later. Divide
the cauliflower into florets. Put aside several nice cauliflower florets.
Prepare the Béchamel sauce and put the rest of the cauliflower into Béchamel
sauce. Mix and puree in a food processor. Return the soup into a pot. The soup
will be very thick and you should add cup or two of the cooking liquid you
saved. Bring the soup to a boil again. Adjust the seasoning and add rest of the
cauliflower into the soup.
Béchamel
sauce:
bring the milk to a boiling point. In
another saucepan melt the butter and add the flour. Mix well with wooden spatula
or a whisk. Cook for a few minutes but make sure the roux will not brown. Pour
the boiling milk on the roux. Whisk and bring the mixture again to a boiling
point. The béchamel sauce will thicken. Cook for a few minutes. Season with
salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Shrimps with
Almond Sauce
This
dish may look complicated but in fact it is very easy to prepare and it also
takes very little time to finish it. I like to serve it with the Spinach
Rice or a plain rice.
2
lb uncooked medium shrimps
3
tbsp whole coriander seeds
5
whole black pepper corns
2
tsp red paprika
½
tsp turmeric
5
shallots
5
cloves garlic
1-inch
fresh ginger
1
C slivered almonds
1
tbsp tamarind paste
½
tbsp whole mustard seeds
Curry
or bay leaves
1
C coconut milk
Cayenne
pepper to taste
Salt
Olive
oil
Roast
coriander seeds and black pepper corns. Stir until they are lightly toasted. Put
them in a spice grinder and grind them as fine as possible. Transfer spices into
a food processor, and add turmeric, shallots, garlic, red paprika and ginger.
Add some water and mix. Add almonds and more water and mix to make nice paste.
Heat the oil and add mustard seeds (cover you pan because the mustard seeds will
pop). When the mustard seeds stopped to pop add the spice mixture, more water,
tamarind paste, salt and cayenne pepper. Cook about 10 minutes and add coconut
milk. Cook for another 2 or 3 minutes and add peeled shrimps. Cook briefly and
serve with rice.
Lentils
with Eggs
You can
serve this dish with heated sausages, barbecue kielbasa, smoked meat or sunny
side up eggs. In that case scoop on a plate lentils and place one egg on top of
it.
½ lb lentils
3 strips of bacon
8 oz of smoked meat or polish kielbasa
1 small onion
Vinegar
Salt
Back pepper
1 tsp red paprika
Pick the lentils over to make sure there
are no small stones in it. Wash the legume in cold water. Put enough water into
a pot, add lentils and bring to a boil. Check often to make sure there is enough
water in a pot. While lentils are cooking, slice bacon and put it on a frying
pan. Fry bacon for a few minutes and than add chopped onion. You can remove some
of the rendered fat if you want to. Cook until the bacon is crisp and onion is
brown. At this point add smoked meat or kielbasa, which you first cut into small
pieces. Fry little bit longer. When lentils are soft, drain excess water, lower
the flame and return pot back. Mix in onion mixture, salt, pepper, red paprika
and vinegar. You have to add enough vinegar and other spices to get slightly
sour taste.
Copyright © by Apina Hrbek. All rights reserved.
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