My Asian Noodles Bowl

I wish I can call this bowl of noodles more specifically - like Japanese, or Chinese, or Singapore or Korean...- but unfortunatelly, I've built up everything with my European mind, by using a variety of ingredients that probably covers the entire Asian continent - while adding some flavors suited for the Western Europe palate as well.

As a big lover of Asian food, I always dreamed to build up my own bowl of noodles, using a variety of ingredients and creating that umami effect that calls you back over and over again. 

In setting up this bowl, I've used for the first time in my life lotus roots. I bought mine as frozen and sliced and therefore, boiled it before serving. Rich in nutrients and assigned health benefits such as reducing stress and improving blood circulation, it can be consumed either boiled - although a bit tasteless - deep or stir fried. Right now, I am trying it in various variants thus wait for a coming post fully dedicated to this versatile Asian food that can be so smoothly integrated into local recipes.

Ingredients

2 big slices of lotus roots halved

1 small egg boiled at 5 minutes

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon black sesame

3 shiitake mushrooms

1 portion of dried potato noodles

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon black sesame

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Directions

Boil the egg for 5 minutes and halve it. 

In a pan warmed at 250C, add the sesame oil, 1 tablespoon black sesame and the shiitake mushrooms. Fry them on all sides for around 10 minutes.

Add around 250 ml. hot water on the noodles and, if the case, add the seasoning.

Add to the bowl the lotus roots, the egg, the sesame seeds, the soy sauce and the shiitake. Mix it a couple of times.

Serve it warm.

Serves: 1

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Bon Appétit!

How to Make Faloodeh Persian Dessert

Keeping in mind the resolution of trying every week, at least, some new recipe or challenging my tastes with something out of my comfort zone, I was inspired by some Tweet posts to give a cooking try to the popular Persian dessert Faloodeh. I must confess that I haven't heard about it before, but it was looking both tempting as a taste and easy to make therefore I went on with my plan to prepare it.

Apparently, Faloodeh is a very popular dish, introduced on the menu in the 16th-18th century, during the Mughal kings who also ruled India and the Indian subcontinent. Nowadays, it is served in ice cream stores, with an addition of pistacchio and saffran, which might taste as delicious as it sounds.

I used a recipe found on the www.aashpazi.com, a site dedicated to Persian cuisine.

The list of ingredients looks very easy and affordable too:

100 gr. vermicelli rice noodles, break into small pieces

1 cup white sugar

1 lime

1/4 cup rose water

1 cup warm water

However, as it is often the case, I had to cope with some particular problem that those familiar with the recipe would usually avoid. My issue was related to the choice of the vermicelli. I went first for some bean-based one, which after being soaked in cold water was still looking like some glass hair impossible to break. Therefore, I had to throw up everything and return to the Asian store for something more breakable.

This time I was luckier, buying original rice vermicelli from Singapore. I've read later that in fact, the best is to make your own vermicelli batter which is an aim I still have to figure out how to reach. After finding the right vermicelli noodles, the rest of the recipe went as fast as expected - preparation time 30 minutes.

In the cup of water, add the sugar and the rose water and stir well. Pour the composition over the noodles and leave it to rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, add the lime juice and stir it again. If you want a stronger sweetness, you can leave it even more, but I've found that the half of hour was perfectly well for my taste. After that time, take out the extra liquid.

The citrus sparkling taste is a perfect match for the overwhelming sweetness and therefore it makes it a good balanced taste in the end.

Leave it in the fridge for around one hour. You can serve it adorned by a some mint leaves or some pistachio. I personally added a teaspoon of rose jam, because the smell of rose water was so strong that I needed to have a taste of the roses too!

Bon Appétit!

Having upma for breakfast

After patra, I continued my Indian food experience with what seems to be a favorite Bengali breakfast dish: upma. As in the previous case, I completely trusted the recommendation of my friend, plus the attactive picture on the box. This Southern Indian breakfast dish is 100% vegetarian, and contains gluten and mustard. It was provided as a bag with all the ingredients: semolina, lime juice powder, green chilli, ginger powder, among others. I personally added 100 gr. green peas and 2 tablespoon flowerseed oil. 

The preparation process is very simple: pour the ready made content into 600 ml. warm water, add the peas, and keep mixing well at 250C for the next 5-7 minutes, or until a compact puree is formed. 

I love the consistency, but once I've tasted, I also fell in love with the spicey taste. At first, it has a very neutral semolina taste but soon it becoming more and more spicier, as the ingredients need a contact with the palate to further develop. For more fresh, green taste, adding a couple of leaves of coriander could be a good move. 

If you have the semolina, you can prepare it by yourself. It serves 4 and the preparation time is less than 30 minutes.

What surprised me was how such a consistent meal can be served at breakfast, but actually, it is a very good idea when you need a lot of energy for the rest of the day. We, the Europeans, we are used to have our bread and cereals, but it seems that in Souther India, a simple bowl of upma can be more than enough. 

My Indian food tour will continue in the next days, now that Pesach and all its high restrictions is over.

Keep in touch with more foodie news!

A culinary invitation to visit Sicily

I am almost convinced that I should visit Sicily soon and in the last months I've read a couple of good books about the food, culture and travel opportunities in this part of Italy, but a short reminder is just another incentive to keep up with my bucket-list. 

In Etna's Shadow is a book that covers the personal experience of the writer of discovering the Eastern part of Sicily through the everyday life interactions, particularly the food habits. Although there are a couple of recipes shares, this book is not a cookbook, but rather an introduction to the culture and a collection of short stories about foods and vegetables and fruits too. You can read it as a culinary adventure and an incentive for wanderlust and this angle helps to appreciate the book more than expecting it to correspond to a specific frame.

'Destructive, yet nurturing, Etna's fertile soils support vineyards, fruit orchards, and citrus groves, in addition to fields of artichokes, what and strawberries'. The pictures amplify the feeling of wanderlust and the desire to take the first plane until you land in one of those little villages portrayed in the book. It has also a lot of useful information about how to find the best blood oranges, how to pick, clean and cook caper and some interesting cheese histories.

A reading recommendation for your travel planning weekend!

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange of an honest review

Easy recipes: Stuffed mushrooms

The last year, because pregnant and very busy and with limited resources of any kind in general, I had a crush on stuffed mushrooms. For many reasons: easy to prepare, delicious especially when eaten cold, very cheap ingredients.

In a couple of minutes, everything is ready and you can even invite some friends to share with. You can eat them in the morning - if you and your work colleagues do not mind garlic or if you eliminate my favourite ingredient completely - but also for lunch or in the evening. 

The list of ingredients:

250 gr. of brown mushrooms - white mushrooms are also good

one bunch of fresh dill

250 gr. fresh yogourt or cottage cheese

100 gr. za'atar or dried oregano

one pinch of salt, on taste

5 garlic cloves, finelly chopped - this is again, de gustibus, given the concerns previously mentioned.

The directions:

Clean and emtpy the mushrooms

Fill it with the cheese or yogourt

Add the salt and garlic and zaatar

Adorn the entire composition with some dill

Put in the oven - 250C - for 5 minutes, in order to allow all the ingredients to get together well.

Let to rest and serve it, eventually accompanied by a tomatoes salad.

What you need to know about London food culture

Out of many city and foodie choices in the whole world, London is one of my favourite places to discover new cultures and tastes. With a high diversity of gourmet restaurants that turned every simple foodie item into a piece of art, this exquisite city developed in the last decade a high culture of good food and pleasure of tastes. Thus, a book fully dedicated to its delicious stories makes a lot of sense and brings a significant amount of inspiration. 

In the author's words: 'London has become a city of passionate eaters and beloved restaurants'. The mission of the book is to discover and reveal these culinary secrets. Although it has a big share of presenting recipes, success stories of different restaurants, this book has the merit of going beyond the pure gourmet curiosity. It introduces the history of British tastes - with an initial bad reputation, by the way - as well as the city itself, with all its fancy or less known corners. 

It happily combines careful and inspiring food writing with beautiful travel recommendations, for any writer with a tasty heart. 

The book is organised up to various meal categories: vegetarian soups, sea food, fowl etc. The recipes are presented in the finest detail, most of them easy to make at home - including the famous food staple of fish&chips or the inspiring tahini cookies introduced by the well educated chef Ottolenghi. 

Overall, it is an inspiring book, recommended to both the travel and foodie writer, as well as to anyone keen to known the gourmet history in the making of a city that is much more than its politics. 

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange of an honest review

Foodie movie review: Julie&Julia

When I am not langurously waiting for the spring and eventually summer, I am fighting to keep my writing mood at a good level. Although I did not keep too much the pace with my blogging schedule, at least I assume that I am voraciously preparing for new professional writing challenges. Especially in the field of food writing when I was pretty lazy lately.

Julie&Julia I wanted to watch for a long time. When I first watched the short add in a movie theatre, I instantly added Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking on my 'To read' list on Goodreads, but in the following years I forgot both about the book and the movie. Till this Sunday when I finally got into the right mood for the movie (I hope I will not need the same impressive amount of years till will catch up with the book). 

It is an easy, not badly played movie, a contemporary commedy about the final success of an unhappy cubicle worker, Julie, that made her way through the 524 recipes of Julia Child's first book within 365 days. The blogging struggle of Julie - I wonder why it seems she never makes photos for her Salon.com blog - interwins with fragments from the life of Child, from the beginning of her life in Europe as a US diplomat's wife during the Cold War, till her return and the beginning of her cooking career in the States. Child wanted to bring the French cooking to the American kitchen, while Julie wanted to push forward her efforts of becoming a writer, an alternative to her unbearable professional life, besides cooking delicious dishes to forget about working in a cubicle. Although the two of them will never meet, they both succeed because were able to follow with obstination their hobbies. Both fight more or less diplomatically with family or political pressures, various insecurities or the terrible standards of the famous French Cordon Bleu cooking school. 

Especially for those trying to juggle with many professional and personal hats, this movie is an encouragement to go fast forward and keep following your passions. Doesn't matter where you are now, depends how do you see yourself in the near future and how you plan to reach your goals!