One of my friends asked me if I would bake a cake for her daughter's 18th birthday. Initially I was a little hesitant as, although I love baking (& cooking) I really hadn't delved into baking and decorating celebration cakes for other people.
She had a design in mind and wanted a vanilla sponge cake. So I started by baking 3 vanilla sponges, a lovely fool proof sponge that is also the one I used, for my next blog entry of a classic Victoria sponge.
Its been a busy few weeks, hence the lack of posts. I have been working away in the background, just finished the writing and photography for the article to be published in June for Taste magazine so look out for that in the shops soon!
With the children back at school this week, I get few minutes of breathing space.... I loveschool holidays with my children, but they are all encompassing, and life revolves around them, so writing or doing anything for myself is put on the back burner.
Having just finished writing my blurb for the article, it got me thinking to my days growing up in Malawi. We used to be picked up from school at lunchtime and brought home for a hot tasty lunch, and then dropped off for the afternoon session.
Lunches would be light, but always cooked, and served with roti. I cant ever remember eating a sandwich for lunch until we moved to the UK!
This is one of those simple lunches we used to have. Perfect for an easy evening meal during the week.
So last night was one of those evenings, when, my husband was working late, and eating out, the children had to be fed early as Adam had a basketball game at 7pm. I didn't want to eat burgers, which is what I had made for them.
I fancied a vegetarian curry, so this lovely off the cuff recipe came about, it looks and tastes divine. I make this okra curry that my mum always cooks, but I wanted to add something to it for a different, texture and flavour, okra can be a little bitter.
I bought Rick Stein's India (cookbook) when I was in the UK visiting family in July last year. (12 quid from Tescos!!) And I have been drooling over his series on TV, he showed a simple egg curry, so I got inspired and decided to create this dish.
I made these gorgeous easy chicken cakes, one day last week, when I was pressed for time ( running around for after school activities with the children) it had been a particularly busy day, and I always like to plan ahead. I usually take some sort of meat out of the freezer, either that morning or the night before and then decide what I will be cooking, or think about it during the day, and get stuck in when we get home. Usually with my daughter at the dining table doing her homework.
I had some chicken mince out, and decided to make these delicious, juicy little patties. I served this with a green salad and a tomato and avocado salad and some skin on chunky home made chips.
My daughter's primary school had an International Food Festival a week or so ago. They had tried it has a fund raiser last year and it was a real success, so this year I decided to be a part of it.
I was involved in the Indian family stall. I made two large vegetarian curries, Peas and Paneer and my dad's basmati rice. There was also a Pea and Potato curry, a chicken curry from Fiji and a Lamb curry. And we were giving roti and samosas, on the plate as an extra.
Birthday time again, they come around pretty quickly, you blink and a year has gone by! I love baking my children's birthday cakes, but as most parents, I struggle to think of ideas for cakes as the children get older. This year Zara had already decided she wanted a cake like Adam's. ( The one he had for his 12th birthday)
So I though yes great idea, but lets do a girly version. The result was great! Athree layer chocolate cake with lilac rosette butter icing with lollies on top.
I startedby baking my no fail chocolate cake x3. ( check the recipe earlier in the blog) A great cake for birthdays as it is lovely and moist. We started by icing the layers together and then applying a crumb coat.
Icing cakes is always fun with my kids as they always want to lick the bowl
The result!I also baked little cup cakes and pastel coloured meringue kisses and some popcorn and fruit, a great party at the beach.
With her big brother Adam and mum
Cutting the cake :-) Happy days!
These are the BEST spicy prawns this side of the Pacific! My mum's recipe, which is a firm favourite with everyone. We grew up eating this in Malawi, made with tiger prawns as big as your hand. Gorgeous! And so simple too, I served these when we had friends over for dinner over the weekend, along with my roast vegetables & hallomi, a couple of gorgeous home made focaccia breads and a lentil salad, it went down a treat!
This post is dedicated to my lovely mother-in-law, Wendy Singer. She is turning a grand age of 80 and we are off down south to celebrate her birthday. Lots of family and friends and plenty of memories to be made. Before we do that we are spending 6 days at Lake Rotoiti with Graham's brothers and their families, so lots of fun and food.
I was really inspired by Kim Evan's blueberry and poppy seed loaf that I decided to bake Wendy's Lemon cake and incorporate the poppy seeds and blueberries.
The result was a gorgeous moist cake, with an amazingly simple icing.
This is one of my favourite things to eat, a real treat, and one that brings back so many lovely childhood memories from Malawi, where I grew up. Cassava is a root vegetable similar to yams. It is native to Central and South America. And is also a staple food in Africa and Asia. You can use it like potatoes, boil, bake, fry and mash. Although I either fry it or use it as a base for my mum's chicken and cassava casserole.
You can buy it frozen in any Asian/Indian food store. It usually comes in a large 1 kg bag and you boil it from frozen.
This is a simple stir fry dish, that hardly takes any effort. Perfect for a mid week meal that doesn't take any time to put together. This recipe is enough for 2 adults and 2 children, you can always add more for a larger number of people
I had this yummy salad at a friends the other day for lunch, it tasted divine! It was quick and easy, so I thought I would share my version.
There is nothing more satisfying than gifting food. For me it is one of those life's simple pleasures, that comes with an abundance of love and gratitude, given to special people that make a difference in our lives.
This year, my 3rd was no exception and I decided to carry on my little tradition that I started two Christmases ago when we arrived back in New Zealand. Although this year was frantic and a weebit stressful, as we had just moved house 2 weeks before Christmas!
I have neglected my blog, although I have been taking photos of the food I have been cooking and the baking that has been done, sitting down and putting it alltogetheron my blog has just been an impossibility. Today has been the first time in over a month, that I have decided to finish all the draftsof my posts and publish them!
So apologies for my lateness, but I hope you will enjoy my posts. Idid not manage the last post for 2013 and wishing all my readers a merry Christmas, but I will post theserather late Christmas blogs in the hope that it gives you ideas for the next festive event or foodie gift that you decide to make.
I made my gifts this year of the Christmas fudge, coconut ice and mini mince pies, I found some gold star platters and tied them all up in cellophane and shimmery ribbon, perfect Christmas gift.
TheChristmas fudge has a dedicated post , the coconut ice is a yummy very sweet treat that is a must over Christmas.
Lots of versions around, this one wasthe best.
I have seen versions of this gorgeous fudge and decided that this was by far the easiest and most Christmassy. this is adapted from Natalie Oldfield. I love that it combines all the colour of Christmas and I have then added a touch of sparkle which just gives it a touch of festive decadence.
You can add any combination of berries and nuts, may be some glace cherries and marshmallow for a rocky road fudge and maybe use dark chocolate too, experiment, that is what its all about.
I made a whole batch of this and gave it away as Christmas gifts, so personal and satisfying.
I love sugar in my tea and coffee, but having 4-5 cups a day, with a teaspoon of sugar, you do the maths! I'm seriously thinking this is not good for my health and well being. So I started to look at other options, I came across coco sugar at a neighbour's house, and decided to give it a go.
So it's fine in tea/coffee, it resembles natural sugar in colour and texture, so I thought I would try baking with it, the result was great. Coco sugar is derived from the sap of the coconut palm tree, and has a lower GI (glycemic index) than sugar, so healthier for you. I would probably use it for denser cakes like banana, apple or carrot cake, and stick to the refined sugars for your sponges and light cakes. If you are watching your sugar intake give this a go. I adapted this from the Edmonds cook book as it had 1/2 cup of sugar, my other recipe I love using has 1 cup, so I used this
Wow, I cannot believe how time flies, first you have a tiny wriggly bundle in your arms and before you know it, they are taller than you!
My son Adam turned 12 last week, and he just wanted some friends over to hang out, shoot some baskets and watch movies on the media screen in the lounge. So we decided to do it over the long weekend, was it wise having six 12/13 yr olds sleep over....ummmm I don't know if any of us got any sleep! But they had a great time hanging out and being boys.
I love baking cakes for both my children on their birthdays, but I must admit it's getting harder to figure out what they like without being too childish (for a 12 yr old that is!) So when I saw something like this on a fb page, I decided to have a go.
Really simple, I used my no fail chocolate cake recipe ( in one of the earlier entries), made three cakes - using 23 cm cake tins, and sandwiched them with chocolate icing.
I made a simple chocolate icing, using butter, cocoa, icing sugar and boiling water. And crumb coated the cake. In hind sight though butter icing is also a good option.
After crumb coating I attached the chocolate wafers, and six types of chocolates, jaffas, maltesers, pebbles chocolate covered raisins and some mint balls and white chocolate drops.
I honestly haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I am here, and feeling very guilty about not blogging and keeping up with my regular posts. I do have an excuse, a valid one I might add. We are in the process of selling our home and buying another one. A very stressful process, causing me a lot of anxiety and grief, and far too much time being spent in the car going through open homes, hence the lack of posts.
But you have to eat, it really does not matter how stressful your life is, you need to feed the family, so with this in mind I turn to quick and simple dishes that are nutritious and full of flavour. I love parcel food, its a great easy concept for a busy life, it's one that I first saw in one of Jamie Oliver's earlier books. He used chicken, but you can use any meat/fish. I love this one as salmon is packed full of goodness and does not require too much flavouring.
Here I have used two marinades a simple parsley one ( for the children) and one with chilli flakes for a kick (for moi)
Spicy Lamb kebabs is one of my children's favourite meals. It's easy to prepare and perfect for a mid week "fast food" option. You can make these up and freeze them before or after cooking them, and defrost as you need them. They can be eaten hot or cold, served with warm pita bread, salad, and a yogurt dip. I also serve them with potato wedges.
A couple of great refreshing side dishes that go with any Indian meal, that needs the heat toning down.
So I have been back for just over 2 weeks and its so hard to get back to routine and normality. I miss my family, and I miss my mum's cooking! While we were away celebrating my sister, Farah's wedding, we had lots of family occasions to celebrate. One of these were the civil ceremony of my sister, where we had a vintage themed lunch, with some Indian food for good measure, I'm just going to post some photos of that special day
Well it's been great being back home, ensconced in the folds of family, tradition and food. It's been 3 weeks here and we have been busy running around helping my sister Farah prepare for her wedding ( which is next week by the way) hence the lack of blogging.
But my mum has been busy in the kitchen cooking everyone's favourite dishes, so I thought I would post some photos of some of the lovely food we have been eating. Recipes to follow.
A busy week next week with the wedding and then off to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for a resort holiday and then back to NZ. I look forward to posting some great blogs when I get back.
Enjoy!
Till next time
Ashia.
