Thursday 23 June 2011

Blueberry Muffins



Looking for a fab blueberry muffin recipe that would really blow me away i came across Chef John's from foodwishes.com 






Here's the recipes:
Ingredients for about 16 muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white granulated sugar
1 (1/2 cup) stick butter, softened
finely grated zest from one lemon
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract, optional
2 cups fresh blueberries



As i was out of Lemon's i used vanilla extract instead and i used homemade yogurt instead of the sour cream. And i can tell you ppl this is the most amazing blueberry muffins i have ever tried love love love love em!!





Monday 13 June 2011

How to make Greek Yogurt!

I finally made Home made Yogurt!
Such a satisfying feeling i cant even put it into words.
To be honest this was my second attempt my first attempt didn't
really make it lol!

I guess it was a rather chilly night and i didn't wrap the pot in a rather
light cover so it was my bad. I have to admit i almost didn't want to give
it another try. But, fortunately enough i did! This time i wrapped my pot
in a plastic bag then wrapped a blanket around it then put two heavy
bath towels on top and put the pot next to the radiator lol!
Talk about precautions lol! Then again i really hate being disappointed lol!

Recipe is very simple.

1 Litre of Milk
1/2 Cup Store Bought Yogurt

and thats it!

Oh well there's a couple of things you have to keep in mind. For the first time you make yogurt you need to get a yogurt with live cultures or what we call here with active bacteria! Then after that make sure you keep some for next batch you make.

Step 1:
Pour Milk into slow cooker and switch it to low for 2 1/2 Hours

Step 2:
Switch Slow cooker off and let milk cool for 3 Hours

Step 3:
Take out 2 cups of milk and mix it with the store bought yogurt and then mix it up with all the yogurt you had.

Step 4:
Wrap the slow cooker in as many blankets as possible and put it somewhere warm. Leave it for atleast 8 hours. You can leave it overnight.

Step 5:
Wake up in the morning and enjoy some beautiful tangy yogurt for breakfast!

If like me you like rich thick yogurt all you got to do it strain it!

A lot of people online recommend the use of cheesecloth or a coffee strainer
As i 'cannot' find a cheesecloth anywhere near me or in any grocery store
I decided to use my clean cotton kitchen cloth. Worked great for me.

 So basically i got a strainer and a kitchen towel poured the yogurt on top and let it strain. As i wanted to know how much whey would come out i used a measuring
jug!
This is when i first poured some into i just never measured it out to be honest :s
And this is after a couple of hours on the strainer. You can notice that the yogurts level has gone down a bit.


Here's the whey.

That's almost 200ml of why i poured the Yogurt into the empty store bought Yogurt container which was originally 500ml.



Now don't throw that whey out! I used it to make bread. Yum Yum!

Btw, you don't need to make your own yogurt to make Greek Yogurt! You can use store bought yogurt!

So lets do the maths, 4 Pints of milk from Aldi cost me 74p and the 500g regular 
Yogurt costs around 55p
Store bought Greek yogurt costs between £1.50 - £2.20
So basically home made is cheaper tastier and healthier!
Watch ya waiting for?



Sunday 5 June 2011

Manakeesh (pronounced ‘m-naeesh’)



Is a popular Levantine food consisting of dough topped with thyme, cheese, or ground meat. Similar to a pizza, it can be sliced or folded, and it can either be served for breakfast or lunch.


The Dough:


2 Cups of Flour
1 Cup Water
2 tsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Sugar


Dead simple isn't it?


and this is how it ended up looking :



 As i cant be bothered to make sure if ive got equally
sized dough balls. I just cut the dough out as i would with slicing a pizza. And then i get 8 equal dough parts!




And Voila!


At this point i'd preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190C/375F

I had a couple of filling in hand

Feta with dried parsely












    Za'atar






Take on dough and
Try to roll it into a perfect circle. If you couldn't, dont worry i couldnt either lol!




 I really felt like cheddar so i grated some sprinkled some parsley and
black pepper.


Look at that right out of the oven yum yum!
15 mins later


Bonne Apettite!



Friday 3 June 2011

Sheesh Chicken (Chicken Skewers)

I saw this recipe a couple of weeks ago on Syrian Foodie in London. I've always been for the look out for something tasty authentic and most importantly FAST!

This seemed to answer all what i asked for.

So what do we need?

Chicken breasts cubed i used around 500g
1 Onion
1 Red/Green Pepper

You need to marinade them for a wee while. Preferably, the night before if you couldn't 20 mins would do.
So for the Marinade you need.

2Tbs Yogurt
1tsp  Vinegar
1tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Chili Flakes
1tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
Salt to taste
2Tbs Olive Oil


Give them a little bit of color on the griddle


Then Pop em in the oven for 15-20 mins at Gas Mark 5/190C/375F


Then there ready

I've tried stir frying them after marinading them . And they turned out amaazing!
Served with some rice.



Bonne appetite!