Monday Christmas Cookie (14) - Ginger Cookies

Traditional Slovakian Ginger Cookies are a bit different than the American ones. Ours are crumbly and dry, perfect for afternoon cup of tea. Traditionally baked as stars, we made these .... hm.. pea pods? ;o)

The best feature of these cookies is their longevity. Traditionally baked a week before Christmas, ginger stars are quite hard and soften as the time goes by. Then it is only a question of how many hours can you stare at them without having a bite. Here are my:

GINGER COOKIES:
(Zázvorové koláčiky)

• 220 g all purpose flour
• 220 g powdered sugar
  
• 3 egg yolks
  
• 1 egg
• lemon zest
  
• 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
  
• pinch baking soda
• milk

Mix the flour together with the sugar, add the egg yolks, eggs, lemon zest, ginger and baking soda dissolved in a splash of milk.
Make a firm dough, roll out, cut out some nice pieces and place on a greased baking tray. Let sit overnight in. On the second day, bake the ginger cookies in the oven pre-heated to 160 degrees Celsius.
The freshly baked ginger cookies are very dry and tough. Let sit for couple of days for them to soften up.

This is the last post in my Monday Christmas Cookies series. Next Monday, for the very last time, we will celebrate this whole cookieness with a glass of home-made eggnog.

Chickpea Curry

Chana Curry was the very first dish I made after deciding to start cooking Indian at home. The dish looked super easy to make, but mainly, I was lurked in by the amazing combo of spices - the sweet ones (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon) and the spicy ones (cumin, chili or bay leaf). I was convinced it was going to turn out just fine, but honestly speaking, I was amazed by HOW well the curry turned out. I know it looks like a helluva lot of ingredients to bother, but trust me, this is the best dish to start your curry making carrier:

CHICKPEA CURRY:
(Chana / chole)
Recipe adapted from Camellia Punjabi´s 50 Great Curries of India

serves: 6 hungry diners

• 250 g dried chickpeas
• 3 large onions
• 2 cm fresh ginger
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 big red chili
  
• 250 g tomatoes
• 2 black cardamom *
• 8 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 15 peppercorns
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• salt
• pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp ground chili powder
• 3/4 tsp amchoor (dried mango powder)
• fresh coriander leaves (to garnish)
  

* Note: Cooking the chickpeas together with whole spices is a really great method of absorbing all the flavors immediately, while cooking. However, at the end, the spices stick to the chickpeas which can be unpleasant during the meal (biting into cardamom pod is not particularly my favorite experience). The easiest way to avoid this is to make a pouch (a "tea bag") from a piece of thick cheese cloth with all the whole spices inside, cooking that together with chickpeas and water, so once cooked, straining becomes a matter of three seconds.

Soak the chickpeas overnight in 5 cups water.
In a blender, process 1 of the onions together with the garlic, fresh chili and ginger. Chop the tomatoes and the remaining 2 onions.

Transfer the soaked chickpeas (together with the soaking water) to a big casserole and add one of the chopped onions, all of the whole spices,* salt and asafoetida powder. Bring to boil, cover and cook for about 50 minutes or until the chickpeas are soft. Set off the fire, drain, reserving the cooking liquid.

In a heavy pan, heat up the oil and brown the third onion. Add the purreed onion-garlic-ginger-chili paste and sautee for about 10 minutes. Add the powdered spices and cook for another minute.

At last, add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they resemble a thick sauce. Mix in the chickpeas, stir well, so each of them is well coated, add the cooking liquid and cook until well absorbed. Adjust the salt to taste and garnish with coriander leaves.


Great job and it didn't even take so much time, eh? Now with this wedding of flavors, next time someone screams: "Waiter, there is something in my... Pulses", just nod your head and say, : "True, tons of spices..." This one is for you Joanna of Cook Sister :-)

(We had ours with rice topped with Peanut Podi and Vegetable Berbere )

Monday Christmas Cookie (13) - Raspberry Linzer Cookies

One hundred years ago, Slovakia still belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the second largest country in Europe (squeezed in between the Russian and German Empire). This post is not intended to lecture you in history, but simply to show the huge gastronomic influence the country had on traditional Slovak cuisine (that is Czech, Hungarian and Austrian, so to speak).

Linzer Cookies are one of the most traditional Slovak Christmas cookies you can imagine, fancy little cookies of various shapes, named after the famous Austrian City - Linz. By rule, they are round-shaped filled with raspberry marmalade sandwiched in between the circular shapes, the top one with cut hearts or other shapes in the middle.

This year, we have experimented a bit with shapes, as well as the color. As a result, we ended up with happy pinkish batch of:

RASPBERRY LINZER COOKIES:
(Linecké koláčiky)

makes: 50 cookies

• 400 g plain flour
  
• 1 package (40 g) powdered vanilla pudding
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
  
• 150 g sugar
  
• pinch of salt
  
• several drops of rum aroma
  
• 150 g butter
  
• 150 g raspberry marmalade

Additionally, for the "pinkish" version:

• 100 g powdered sugar
• 1-2 tbsp raspberry juice
  

In a big bowl, mix together the flour, pudding powder and the baking powder. Add the eggs, sugar, salt and rum aroma. Grate the butter and mix in to make a firm dough.
Wrap in a foil and chill for an hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Roll the dough out to 1/2 cm thick and with the help of a cookie cutter, cut out various shapes. Traditionally you would make 50 circles and the same amount of "fancy cuts"
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until light brown.

Meantime whisk the sugar together with the raspberry juice (omit this step if you are making the traditional version. Once the cookies are baked (while still hot), spread a teaspoon of the marmalade on top of each round and pour the raspberry juice mixture onto the fancy cuts. Combine the circles with the fancy shapes, like this:

Ants Climbing Up A Tree

Yesterday, after almost a year of living in Malmö, for the very first time I cooked meat. I am not a big meat fan, but occasionally, I have a few bites of lamb or beef to satisfy my doctor´s worries about my intake of iron.
Couple of weeks ago, I signed up for Taste & Create, a real fun event run by Myamii via For The Love Of Food. You get randomly paired to another blogger and you cook from each other. It is a great way to get to know new bloggers, or to re-discover the old ones.

For me, it meant to meet a completely new blogger KC - a wonderful Chinese lady behind Kitschow curtain. Her recipes are very traditional, homey and...... full of ......meat.
I browsed through all her recipes ever since she tarted posting in January 2008. KC focuses on tradition, her recipes feature simple everyday ingredients, her instructions are very detailed and easy to follow, turning you into a Chinese Cooking 师傅 Shi Fu (master).

Most of the recipes I remember eating on a daily basis, when living in China, dishes I used to adore. I almost forgot about them, so running through KC´s blog was like going back in time. And once I saw her 蚂蚁上树 Ma Yi Shang Shu, I was determined - went to the store and for the very first time in my Swedish life, I bought 200g ground beef.

蚂蚁上树 Ma Yi Shang Shu used to be on top of my Top 10 Every day Dishes to eat during my student life in Beijing. I never knew why the dish was called like that and I never investigated. It was KC and her lovely story that made me laugh and re-fall in love with the dish again:

...This is a dish of mung bean vermicelli stir fried with ground pork. The bits of meat stuck to the vermicelli represent ants climbing up a tree. The ground meat should be thoroughly broken up when cooked but I like to taste the meat so mine are clumps rather than bits. My version resembles ant colonies on the tree...

Cute! So here is the recipe, I only adjusted a few things - I used beef, since pork is not really my thing and I quadrupled the quantity of the chili bean sauce (after all, this is still "burnt mouth" you´re reading :-)

ANTS CLIMBING UP A TREE
(蚂蚁上树 - Ma Yi Shang Shu)

• 200 g dried vermicelli mung bean noodles
• 200 g ground beef *
  
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp cooking rice wine
• 1 1/2 tbsp 豆瓣酱 dou ban jiang - spicy fermented soy bean paste
• 1 teaspoon tapioca starch or corn starch (optional) *
• 2 stalks spring onions, chopped
• small piece ginger, finely chopped
  
• 1 cup veggie broth
• oil
• cilantro for garnish (optional)
  

*Note: I have skipped the starch, for I was looking for "single bodied ants" climbing up a tree. If you use the starch, you´ll re-create KC´s favorite - ant colonies climbing up the tree.

*Note: Some of you keep asking for the vegetarian version. Of course you can use ground TVP (textured vegetable protein, a.k.a soy mince). When marinating though, do use the starch, so they stick nicely to the mung beans.

Add soy sauce, rice wine, tapioca starch (if using) to a bowl. Mix in pork and marinate for 10 minutes. Soak the noodles in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes, then drain. Cut them into shorter pieces so that they will be easier to stir fry.

Heat the wok first. When smoking hot, pour some oil into the hot pan and swirl it around. Add the ginger and scallions and fry a bit, then add the pork and stir fry together. Add the hot bean sauce and mix everything well together.
Add the vermicelli to the pork sauce and stir fry. The noodles will become limp. Add some soup stock and let the noodles absorb the liquid. The noodles should be translucent but they shouldn't be mushy. Add more liquid if necessary. Keep tossing everything in the wok. Sprinkle some sesame oil over the noodles. Note: the whole cooking process should take less than 10 minutes.

Result? Me and Tompa were fighting for the last bite. KC thank you so much for your recipes, you have a true two fans over here :-)

Spicy Hungarian Kettle Goulash

Goulash is a typical "outdoor soup". Each time hiking, rock-climbing or simply camping, a huge kettle of Goulash - a spicy meat and potato soup would be cooked. In Slovakia, we recognize two types of goulash soup: Hungarian Goulash and Kettle Goulash.
Hungarian is traditionally chopped beef sautéed in its own juices with paprika powder and bay leaf, cooked to perfection.
Kettle Goulash is a typical garden-style soup that is usually cooked among friends while outdoors. This type of goulash usually takes up potatoes in addition to the meats. Here is my "indoor" version of it. I have also thought of Lisa, a vegetarian spice lover, who is hosting No Croutons Required, (co-hosted with Holler of Tinned Tomatoes), a monthly festival of vegetarian soups. I simply could not have not participated this month´s Spicy Soup theme. Lisa, here it is, a soy nugget:

SPICY HUNGARIAN KETTLE GOULASH:
(Štipľavý maďarský kotlíkový guláš)

• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 big red chilies
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
  
• salt
• soy nuggets
• vegetable broth
  
• potatoes
• mushrooms
• bay leaf
• mild paprika powder (I used Hungarian Smoked variety)
• 1 slice a day or two old bread (optional)
• dried marjoram
  

Boil the soy nuggets in vegetable broth until soft. Drain, reserve the water for the soup.
While the nuggets are cooking, blend the chilies with salt into a thick paste.

In a big casserole, heat up the oil and sauté thinly sliced onion and chopped garlic cloves. Once browned, add the chili mixture. After a minute, add the sliced mushroom, cubed potatoes and stir well. Let the mushroom release some liquid, so the potatoes soften a bit. Add the broth reserved from the soy nuggets, throw in the bay leaf and bring to boil. Add the soy nuggets and add enough water to cover the "meat".
Bring to boil, lower the heat and let cook until the potatoes are all soft. Towards the end, stir in the old bread and let dissolve (this will thicken the sauce a lot, giving the soup a nice hearty taste). Adjust the salt to taste and stir in the paprika powder and marjoram.

Serve still hot with a slice of warm bread.

Monday Christmas Cookie (12) - Home-Made Marzipan... Mushroom

Sounds pretty gross, eh? Yet these cute little shroomies are very friendly and tasty (supposing you love marzipan as much as I do).
Here I am tempted to share one funny love-and hate marzipan relationship, an annual gift from my mother to her "demanding" husband:

In Slovakia, we have been making these every Christmas for decades, which ended up in a general aversion towards these cute little shroomies as such. My mum revolted several times claiming that they suck and she s not going to make them again. How unfortunate, my dad (and myself) are in love with them, so mother (regardless of her personal feelings and verbal threats of her determination of NOT making them AGAIN) - she is ready to fulfil her husband´s (who cares about the daughter?) every wish. Each December towards its end, she still throws herself into a huge pile of home-made marzipan and starts folding and molding and thus surprises my dad with a nice happy family of:

HOME-MADE MARZIPAN... MUSHROOMS:
(Marcipánové hríbiky)

• 200 g ground almonds
• 150 g powdered sugar
• 1 - 2 egg whites
• 30 g chocolate or cocoa powder (I use carob powder)
  

Set aside a tablespoon or two egg whites.
Combine almonds, sugar and egg whites and mix well to for a firm dough. Set aside about two thirds of the dough and to the rest, add finely grated chocolate or cocoa powder. Mix well, so the brown color spreads evenly.

From the brown part, form the mushroom caps. From the white parts, roll out the stems. With a help of the remaining egg white, "glue" the mushroom caps to the stems. Once standing, sprinkle them with cocoa powder.

Super easy, no baking, drying, anything. Holds for weeks (gradually getting hard and tooth-breaking friendly).

These cuties march to Danielle´s Habeas Brulee, who is a hostess of this months´s Sugar High Friday (oh, yes... forgot to mention, mushrooms are sooooooo high in sugar :-S, too bad, but too good). The theme is Sweet Gifts.

During my time of hosting A Spoonful of Christmas event, I have received tons of gift-friendly food items. Here is the round-up for further inspiration.

Sichuan Aubergine

Ever since Tompa returned from his latest San Francisco trip and brought me all those wonderful kitchen gifts (I must have been a pretty good girl for getting a brand-new iron casted wok, superb-quality rice wine, Chinese Wok cookbook and other stuff), I went Chinese food nuts. All the time, I am thinking, 麻婆豆腐 — ma po dou fu, 鱼香茄子 — yu xiang qie zi, some crazy hot-ass hot pot and other spicy treats. This Chinese craze has, once again, re-discovered a hidden supply of Sechuan Pepper (麻花 ma hua - numbing flower) - my favorite Chinese spice:

These roundish, bumpy shells have of a very distinctive aroma are best when heated in oil and added to chillies and veggies, making a simple spicy wok stir-fry. Once bitten into, they release their powerful almost liquorish aroma and make your lips go numb for a second, while your mouth starts producing saliva. Fun, eh?

Here is one of my favorite, earthy:

SECHUAN EGGPLANT:
(麻辣茄子 ma la qie zi)

• 500 g aubergine (eggplant)
  
• bunch of coriander (roots and stems included)
• 3 tbsp oil
• 5 cm fresh ginger
• 3 shallots
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 tbsp soy sauce (or mix dark and light variety)
• 5 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 5 tbsp rice wine (Shaoxing type is the best)
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp chilli oil *
• 1 tsp Szechuan peppercorns, dry-fried and pounded
  

* Note: To make your own chilli oil, finely chop 4 large fresh chillies, sprinkle with salt and pour over 200 ml hot oil. Let cool down, strain and use.

Prepare the aubergines. Cut them in half lengthways and then into smaller cubes. Place in colander, sprinkle with salt and set aside for 20 minutes.
Meantime, separate the stems and leaves from fresh coriander, chop the stems roughly and pound them, together with the roots, in a mortar.
Pat the aubergines with a clean paper towel.
In a wok, heat the oil until smoking hot and shallow fry the aubergine cubes. Set aside on a kitchen paper.
Return oil to the wok, fry the onions, garlic and ginger for a minute. Add the pounded coriander roots and stems and fry for another minute or two.
Add the liquid and sugar, allow to bubble for a minute. Lower the heat, and cook for another minute. Add the aubergines and toss them, so they are well coated in the sauce. Add the chili oil, Szechuan pepper, mix well and turn off the heat.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve while still hot.

This one goes to Vegetable Of The Week Event over at Creative Pooja. This month´s theme being Brinjal, Eggplant, Aubergine, 茄子 - Qie Zi, Baklažán, however you want to call it :-)

Monday Christmas Cookie (11) - Layered Honey Cake

Another one of traditional Slovak sweet treats on our Christmas table. It is generally everyone´s favorite since it is the softest and the most delicate dessert that everyone feels like trying. One of the few cakes that makes it on our tables throughout the year as well on festive occasions like one´s birthday, dearest guests or simply when mum is in a good mood and we are really obnoxious with our straightforward wishes to taste some.
One can never get tired of my mum´s amazing:

LAYERED HONEY CAKE:
(medové rezy)

• for the dough
• 1 egg
• 200 g plain flour
• 30 g butter
• 100 g powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 250 ml milk
• 2 tbsp coarse flour
• 100 g sugar
• 120 g butter
• vanilla
• raspberry jam

Mix all the dough ingredients in a bowl to a smooth dough. Divide into 4 parts, roll out each into a thin long strip (about 15 cm wide) making sure they all are the same size. Bake them at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes on a baking paper. Let cool down.

As for the filling, boil the milk, add the flour and mix well into a poridge-like consistency making sure there are no lumps. In a separate bowl, whisk the butter with the sugar and vanilla. Gradually add to the cooled porridge.

Spread the raspberry jam onto each strip and top with a third of the filling. Layer the cake bases one on top of another, but very carefully, since the strip tends to break.

Once ready, cover with a foil and place in a cool place (or fridge) to soften up. The following day, the filling should be fully absorbed into the cake base, making it incredibly soft and tasty.

Decorate the top with melted chocolate. Cut the uneven edges and slice.

Traditional Chinese Spring Onion Pancakes

Everyone who knows that I spent two years in China would know that due to my time there I turned into a complete spice-addict. And all that out of a pure fact. Zlamushka could not cook. I dotn mean cooking non-spicy or Western dishes, I mean nothing... zero, nadah. I even called my mum one desperate day to ask her how to boil pasta. I know,... I was 19 years old.

So in order not to starve to death, I ate out every day (or more accurately - 3 times per day). No worries, Chinese street food is more than just affordable, let alone student canteens or street stalls.

My first account with spicy food was an unbearable experience. I never even seen anything apart from A black peppercorn in our FAMILY Sunday soup. Now I was standing there, with a mouthful of different spices, coughing and sweating.

Gradually things went better, I even learned how to make dumplings and fried noodles, even spicy eggplant.

And then, after I returned back home, schnitzel and mashed potatoes simply lost its taste. I found myself dumping chillies and peppercorns onto my plate, which my parents found quite disturbing...

So I got myself a proper Chinese Cookbook and returned "back home"... One of my first attempts (the one that my parents actually fell in love with) was:

TRADITIONAL CHINESE LEEK PANCAKES:

( 葱油饼)

• 3 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 tsp oil
• salt
• 1 cup finely chopped spring onions (I used leek)

In a bowl, mix the flour with the hot water until crumbled. Gradually add the cold water, oil and a pinch of salt. Form a big ball, wrap into foil and let sit for about 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough into a thin square, cover with a layer of chopped spring onions and sprinkle with salt. Start rolling. Once rolled up, cut into 8 pieces. Take each piece and flatten. Take the outer part of the dough and cover the cut sides, so the onions would not fall out. Carefully, roll out to a circular shape (I somehow ended up with squares, never mind) and dry-fry* over high heat (just like flat breads).

* Note: A proper Chinese would shallow fry them, which makes them crispier and tastier, but we do mind our health and shapes, eh?

Serve still hot with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and chili oil.

I made mine for Tompa and for beautiful Bindiya´s These Are a Few of My Favortie Things - with Chinese Food as this month´s theme. You have no idea how excited I am about round-up. It will be fun to remember all the foods I used to eat so often.

Monday Christmas Cookie (10) - Bear Paws... and awards

Bear Paws are a lovely non fatty dessert that has earned its cute name due to its popularity among Slovakian kids (brown, small, paw-shaped soft cookies). Yet, their quite harmless, even from the calorie point of view. Traditionally baked around Christmas, they are one of my favorites.

You will need a special cookie baking form to make these, but dont worry if you re lacking one. Why not make "bear cupcakes" for a change?:

BEAR PAWS:
(Medvedie labky)

• 140 g butter or margarine
• 350 g plain flour
• 70 g ground hazelnuts or walnuts
• 100 g sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• lemon peel
• cloves
• cinnamon
• vanilla sugar for coating
  

Sieve the flour into a bowl and crumble the butter or margarine, add the sugar, nuts, cocoa powder, grated lemon peel, spices and egg. Make a firm dough, form into a roll, wrap into a foil and let cool for an hour in the fridge.

Pre-heat the oven into 200 degrees Celsius. Take the dough out, cut a chunk and press firmly into the baking form. Bake until golden. While still hot, turn the form upside down, carefully take the cookie out and roll in vanilla sugar.

These Bear Paws go to lovely Purnima, who has awarded me with two wonderful awards - Nice Matters Award and an ´E´ Award (as in Excellent) - blushing heavily.

“Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

These awards are not keepers. There are so many people out there that deserve them. I know most of you have these already anyway, so I am going to pass it on to one girl that I know would be extremely pleased and deserves the prizes just like the rest of us.

Bindiya, enjoy the awards, sweetheart. I know you worked hard on your blog.

Update March 6th: I just was told that lovely Glamah of Coco Cooks just passed me the ´E ´award as well. Wow, I never thought I was that (r)e(a)dible :-)
Thank You, thank You.

Shrimp Salad with Tomato Raita Dressing

I have always enjoyed a small bowl of raita with my fiery hot curries. I loved the way the yoghurt cooled the heat in my throat and kept me ready for another bite.
Yet in summer, I felt like indulging myself in such mind-blowing ritual every night was definitely not good for my shapes. So I figured out another way of enjoying the sensational yoghurt mix - as a dressing to a vegetable salad.

There are several ways of making raita. For a basic one, whisk some yoghurt with salt, pepper and cumin powder. Should you find it too sour, add a bit sugar. Then add chopped cilantro and sprinkle with paprika powder or chilli. Raitas can be further combined with chopped veggies, such as boiled potato, tomato, onion, grilled eggplant, blanched spinach with raisins or dates. Ramki of One Page Cookbooks compiled 1001 Raita - a wonderful one-page matrix of different raita ingredeitns and flavors. My favorite one is:

TOMATO RAITA

• 1 tomato, chopped
• salt, pepper
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 onion
• 1 tsp fresh coriander leaves
• walnuts, chopped
  
• sweet paprika powder (try the smoked kind)
• chilli powder

Whisk the yoghurt with spices, add a little water, if desired. Combine with the rest of ingredients and sprinkle with paprika powder. Garnish with cilantro.

Raita makes a wonderful accompaniment to hot curries as well as cooled salads.

How to make raita different every time:

- Try chopped baked potatoes or chopped fresh cucumber instead of tomato and walnuts.
- This raita can also be topped with a tablespoon of date chutney.
- Right before serving, enrich the raita with some tadka.

Here is one with a simple vegetable salad (tomato, lettuce leaves, cucumber and olives) topped with shrimps (roasted with garlic, salt and black pepper).

My healthy contribution to you, Andrew. Nice to see you hosting Waiter, there is something in my Salad. I am looking forward to the round-up.