Sri Lankan Roasted Curry Powder

We've just come back from a week's road trip in Northern Germany. Actually we didn't go very far but we did see a lot of cool things. But a week on the road creates a craving for rice and curry when we get home. We did have some really good Indian food in Bremen but Indian is not the same as Sri Lankan and definitely not the same as home cooked.

As I was cooking up some beans and dahl for lunch I realized that I was out of Sri Lankan roasted curry powder! Now this is a bit of a disaster since although we have plenty of Sri Lankan stores for some reason they don't stock Sri Lankan curry powders. So I figured I was going to have to make it from scratch. I dived into my cookery book from Kandalama Hotel because their food is so great so must be their curry powder. Plus the editor of the book and I used to go to school together and her mum made superb curries. But unfortunately there was no recipe to be found.
My second choice was a recipe book that my mother received as a wedding present from my fathers cousin. My mum being Swiss needed all the help she could get with curries! Here's what I found and let me tell you this recipe is super easy to make. I don't know what I've been afraid of all these years. Nothing beats fresh curry powder.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp.	Raw rice
2 inch	Cinnamon
3	Cloves
2 tbsp.	Coriander seeds
2 sprigs	Curry leaves
1 tsp.	Pepper seeds
3	Cardamoms
1 tbsp.	Cumin seeds (suduru)
1 tsp.	Mustard seeds

Method:

Frying up the stuff was super easy. I pulled out my favourite frying pan which is a heavy Calphalon anodized aluminium one. I love this pan. I thought it was dying so I bought a new regular aluminium one that came highly recommended and cost an arm and a leg. But that sits at the bottom of the cupboard and is only used in emergencies. My old one hasn't crapped out yet and is wonderful. 

With the pan on medium heat (do not use a non-stick pan and no oil) I tipped in the rice and let it cook for about 1 minute. It had to be stirred all the time but this wasn't a problem since it only took a little bit. Then I added in the cinnamon, cloves, coriander, pepper seeds and cardamoms. Looks like I forgot to put the curry leaves in, Oops!! But if you do use them now would be the time to put them in. I let these fry for another minute (stirring all the time) and then added in the rest of the ingredients. Again keeping stirring. At some point I think my pan got too hot so I just took it off the stove and kept stirring. 

Oh did it smell delicious. I must admit not as delicious as my aunts curry power but pretty good none the less. Once everything was roasted (about 3-4 minutes later) I turned the spices out into a bowl. If you keep them in the pan they will keep on roasting and most likely burn so it makes sense to tip them into another container. 

Finally, the moment of truth, can I grind them as fine as I would like. Usually I'm not successful but this time my Sumeet managed to grind the spices into a fine powder. I ended up with about 4 tablespoons full of curry powder. To be used shortly in my egg plant curry (the egg plant is currently frying hence I have time to write this!), dahl and TVP curries which we will enjoy with some string hoppers and kiri hodi this evening.

Fried Bitter Gourd Curry (Karavila)

Here's an all time favourite of ours. The kids have loved this ever since they could eat it, which has many people amazed. Bitter gourd is really bitter if you don't cook it properly. In fact even with this method they are slightly bitter but that's what makes them so good! Never seen a bitter gourd? Here is what they look like:

In San Francisco we always bought them in the Chinese stores. Here in Germany we get them at the local Sri Lankan store. An old family friend of my parents taught me how to cook these (or maybe I should put that correctly: her cook/maid taught me how to cook them!). She would always deep fry a whole bunch of them, put them in a jar for emergencies. They last quite a long time if you fry them long enough and your jar is air tight.

Without further adieu here is how to prepare them.

Ingredients:

4	Bitter gourds (about 25 cm long)
1 l	Oil
2	Onions
2	Tomatoes
1/2 tsp.	Dill seeds
1 sprig	Curry leaves
1/4 tsp.	Turmeric
2 tbsp.	Tomato ketchup
1/2 tsp.	Salt

Method:

The first step is to slice them as thinly as possible. If the seeds are hard then you can try and take them out. If they are soft enough to cut through then just save yourself some work and leave them in. Once they are fried you won't notice the seeds and I'm sure they must be just as healthy as the meat. 

 Once they are sliced you now have to extract the bitterness. It is quite simple to do. Put the bitter gourd in a large bowl, boil a kettle of water and pour the boiling water over the gourd. Let it sit for a few minutes then drain the water and rinse in cold water. Repeat this procedure. You  will be able to smell the bitterness in the water vapour. Pat the vegetable dry with paper towels.

Heat your oil to around the same temperature you would to fry chips (fries) and deep fry the gourd until brown. Careful not to burn them but they should be pretty dark.

While you are frying you can get the rest of the ingredients ready i.e. slice the onions finely, dice the tomato (1 cm). You also need a sprig of curry leaves and half a teaspoon of dill seeds.

Add a teaspoon of oil into a wok and heat on high. Once the oil is hot add the onions, curry leaves and dill seeds and fry until the onions are soft. Then add the tomatoes and the turmeric and keep stirring! Once everything is a soggy mess you can add in the fried bitter gourd and mix everything up.

I like to add some ketchup at the end, a couple of tablespoons would do. Add some salt to taste then it is ready to go! Of course you can add chili powder at any time.

Makhouda D'Aubergine (or Batu Quiche)

After spending the whole day in the kitchen I must say I'm relieved to be able to sit down and type instead. It's not like a whole lot of cooking was going on. No, I was stacking away all the groceries from last nights run and decided to clean out one of my drawers. Then my kids decided to clean out my baking drawer, now that was like opening up a can of worms. But it was finally clean and the girls were very proud of themselves. Except that the counter tops had all kinds of stuff that had to be washed or trashed, that was of course left up to me!

For dinner tonight we are having an eggplant quiche. It's the kind of quiche that has everyone in the house salivating when I just mention that it's on the menu for dinner. Well worth the time it takes to make it and very forgiving.

Preparation time: 45 min. + 45 min. baking; Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 ~500g	Eggplant (large)
	Salt for sprinkling
3 tbsp.	Oil
1	Onion, finely diced
1	Red bell pepper, finely diced
8	Eggs (L)
1/4 cup	Minced fresh parsley
1 tbsp.	Minced garlic
250 g	Emmental cheese
1/2 cup	Bread crumbs
1/4 tsp.	Ground rose buds
1/4 tsp.	Ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp.	Salt
1/2 tsp.	Chili powder
1/4 tsp.	Coriander powder

Method:

The tough part about this recipe (and the main reason why I don't cook it more often) is the dicing. It does take a bit of time to get everything cut to the right size. Today I spent about 30 minutes just dicing the eggplant, onion and peppers! I dice everything to around 5 mm.

If you are using Asian eggplants then you should use at least 2 of them and maybe even 3. What is wonderful about this recipe is that you can have more or less eggplant and it doesn't change the taste all that much. If you have the time, once you've diced the eggplant sprinkle it with salt and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Then wash it and pat it dry. Needless to say I usually skip this step.

Instead of red bell pepper you can use other peppers. I've used green bell peppers and capsicums as substitutes and the quiche still tastes great.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the eggplant, onion and pepper and cook until they are golden brown. Stir the vegetables occasionally.

While this is cooking you can get the rest of the ingredients ready. Chop the parsley, mince the garlic and dice the cheese into 7 mm cubes. Sometimes when I cook this dish I don't have all the proper ingredients. Instead of parsley I've used coriander leaves and the cheese varies according to what is around. In Sri Lanka I use the local Gouda, in the USA Swiss. If I want to be fancy I use some Gruyere.

Then lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl and add ALL the ingredients to it. Make sure that the vegetables have cooled down a little bit before you add them. If they are too hot the egg will get cooked and the quiche will not be as tasty.

Turn the mixture into a 2-quart souffle dish or into ramekins or muffin pans and bake at 180 C in a fan oven (200 C/400 F conventional). A 2-quart souffle dish will take around 45 minutes to bake, while the smaller dishes take less time. You'll know that it's done when the top is golden brown and puffed and when you insert a knife it comes out clean. Be careful if your knife hits a melted piece of cheese it won't come out clean even if the quiche is done!

It can be served pipping hot with a fresh green salad and bread or just by itself. Wonderful to use to fill sandwiches the next day! Can also be cubed up and served with cocktail sticks as an appetizer or snack.

This recipe was adapted from "The Vegetarian Table North Africa" by Kitty Morse

And here is a Chef friendly version

Bi Bim Bap

Frequently the weather dictates what should  be cooked for dinner. And as it grows cold, grey and wet there is nothing better than a hot, hot bibimbap. This Korean dish is the great for warming the soul. Plus you can make it chili hot too.

It's pretty easy to put together but it's really tough to get all the ingredients hot onto the table. What I really like is when it is served in a stone bowl which has been pre-heated. Unfortunately I've never been able to get my hands on 4 such bowls :( So we just use regular serving bowls. It's also time sensitive so you've got to know when everyone is going to be there (if you want it hot, that is). This is usually hard for us to achieve on a week night but we still try. And if you really need your meat fix, you can make this with meat too.

I'm never quite sure how many people this recipe serves. I think my kids might eat a full adult serving but then again, maybe they don't. To be on the safe side I'd say it serves 4 but you might find it serves 6.

Ingredients:

	2 cups	Rice
Marinade
	2 cloves	Garlic, minced
	2	Green onions, chopped
	5 tbsp.	Soya sauce
	2 tbsp.	Sugar
	2 tbsp.	Vegetable oil
	1 tsp.	Sesame seeds, roasted
	1 tbsp.	Sesame oil
	1/8 tsp.	Black pepper, ground
Meat!
	500 g	Tofu
Vegetables:
	300 g	Carrots
	300 g	Frozen spinach
	1 tbsp.	Sesame oil
	1 tsp.	Sesame seeds, roasted
	2 cup	Mung bean sprouts
	4	Eggs
		Kimchee

Method:

The first thing to do is get the rice ready. I use sushi rice but you can use any type of Korean rice. You just need to be careful and make sure that you soak the rice ahead of time else it will not taste good. So wash your rice as usual and then add an equal amount of water as rice and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Longer is better. And then cook it.

Put together the marinade for the tofu (you can substitute for any type of meat or fish) well in advance so that the tofu has time to absorb the flavour. You probably know that tofu is pretty bland, so you've really got to let the sauce get into it. The best way to do this is to squeeze the water out of the tofu by wrapping it in paper towels and putting a weight on top of it. Place it so that the water can drain out and leave it for around 30 minutes. Then when you put the tofu in the sauce it will have plenty of space to absorb marinade. Of course I don't always do this, because as you all know I'm ALWAYS short on time. Once you've drained the tofu cut it into bite sized cubes (1 - 2 cm dice).

The marinade is pretty easy to make. Just make sure you slice the spring onion finely and mash, crush the garlic well.

Mix all the marinade ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved.

And then put in the tofu and carefully mix it all up.

Leave this to sit for at least half an hour (or as long as it takes you to chop up the rest of the ingredients).

Next take the carrots and cut them in to matchsticks. This is about as tough as it gets with this recipe. It takes a while to cut them up. I'm sure you can buy some type of gadget to do the cutting for you. I cut mine to be about 2 inches (5 cm) long and then set them aside.

If you are using fresh spinach it will have to be cooked. Fresh spinach tastes much better than frozen but it takes a considerable amount of effort to prepare it. For fresh spinach, put it in a large pan, without water, put the lid on and heat until the spinach becomes limp (a couple of minutes). Then drain the water and chop. If you are using frozen spinach defrost it (I use the microwave) and drain the water. You don't need to get paranoid about draining the water. Just get out what you can. No need to squeeze it or anything fancy like that.

Next wash your bean sprouts and get a pot of water ready to boil them in. So as I said before everything has to be hot when it goes into the bowl so a cooking frenzy is about to start in the kitchen. Get everyone out of the way and boil yourself a kettle of water. Pour the boiling water into the bowls you are going to use to eat the bibimbap to heat them up.

What I do next is lay the table! There are three essentials (and one non-essential). You need to have Sirachara sauce (the one with the chicken on the bottle is the original and the best, it's made in california!), Hoisin sauce and Kimchee. You could make your own Kimchee but I haven't tried it myself. I buy fresh stuff from the local Asian store. You can also get packets that come from Korea. As you can see, Kimchee is hot but it is delicious. My daughter has been whacking it since she was 3 years old. Don't forget to lay the table with small side dishes to put the Kimchee in.

The non-essential item is some type of Korean tea. Green or Jasmine would do although in Korean places you usually get a barley tea. Make sure you have plenty of water at the table for all those who underestimate the strength of the Sirachara sauce!!

Now time to go back and cook. Ideally you would have 5 burners going at the same time. C'est un petit probleme ... most cookers only have 4. I acutally only use 3 burners because I don't have enough woks to cook everything in. I start by putting a pan full of water on the stove for the bean sprouts. I'm not too picky if they are a bit cold! Then I stir fry the carrots in a small wok. I sprinkle them with salt while they are frying. I've found that I have to keep turning them otherwise they will burn, so it's a bit labour intensive. They get fried until they turn limp i.e. are no longer crunchy.

By the time the carrots are done the water for the bean sprouts is boiling so I throw them in. Then I put on the frying pan to fry the eggs. While that oil is heating up I fry the spinach. For this I use a tablespoon or so of sesame oil and add salt, pepper and sesame seeds. Then I fry it all up until it's nice and dry because, remember, the spinach is already cooked. By now the bean sprouts are done (boiling for 2-3 minutes) so I turn them out into a colander.

Then start frying the eggs. Make sure your egg yolk is soggy, it adds to the taste of the dish. While frying the eggs I finally fry the tofu until it's just cooked. None of this stuff is an exact science. The tofu doesn't need to cook very long but on the other hand you can cook it for longer and it will be fine. Just make sure you don't burn it.

Now once you are done juggling the eggs and the tofu everything is ready. I put the eggs into the bowls in the kitchen and serve the rest in individual bowls. Traditionally the egg should go on top but that would mean I'd have to serve everything in the kitchen and I'm bound to give one too much and the other too little.

At last it is ready to eat! But you have to remember a very, very important step. So first of all serve yourself everything in the required quantity.

Then add the Sirachara and Hoisin sauce to taste and then MIX EVERYTHING TOGETHER!!

And although this might look like a big mess to you, it tastes awesome. There is no other way to eat it so if this grosses you out don't even try making it.
Enjoy your Bibimbap with Kimchee on the side.

Apfelkuchen, Apple Pie or Apple Tart!

Oh it is really too early to be baking, although it IS already 8 a.m.! Having been woken by the alarm at 6:15 (which is usual), I was followed by that feeling that I just don't want to get up. So I lay in bed and hoped that my husband would awake. Okay, I do this most mornings and usually nothing stirs from the other side of the bed, but today I was lucky and up he got. He's like an energizer bunny in the morning! Ah few more moments to lie in bed.

All good things must come to an end and at 6:30 a.m. I rolled out of bed and started getting the kids lunches ready. Thank goodness for the rice and curry left overs from last night!

It was my turn to walk my eldest to the bus stop. Absolutely necessary since it is pitch dark when she leaves the house. But the problem with going out in the cold and the dark is that when I come back in again I'm ready to curl up in bed with a cup of hot chocolate. So now at 8 a.m. I'm still tiered.

I've promised a German style apple cake and fried noodles for my husbands office party this evening and since we also have to go to a musical performance of the kids it's got to be done early. Oh and I almost forgot the chocolate chip cookies that I promised for the after school care teachers, all 12 of them!

But this post is primarily about the Apfelkuchen.

This is probably  not a real Apfelkuchen because I merged 3 recipes. The only one that's on the internet is the pie crust. But they use American units and a food processor. 

Serves 8; Preparation time: 3 hours (including "sitting" and baking)

Ingredients

Pie Crust:
	170 g	Flour
	40 g	Sugar
	125 g	Butter, chilled
	1	Egg yolk
	<1 tbsp.	Whipping cream
Caramelized Apples:
	850 g	Peeled and cored apples
	40 g	Butter
	100 g	Brown sugar
	2 pk.	Vanilla sugar
	1/4 tsp.	Cinnamon, ground
Cake:
	125 g	Butter
	125 g	Sugar
	2	Eggs, seperated
	125 g	Flour
	1 1/2 tsp.	Baking powder
	1/4 tsp.	Salt
	75 g	Ground almonds
	60 ml	Milk

Method: 

The dough I made yesterday and put it in the fridge to rest. The technique used to make it is the same as the basic pastry. Unfortunately I forgot and put the sugar in with the flour and the butter and my fingers got exfoliated. Something that I've tried to avoid in the past.

The egg yolk and the cream get mixed together with a fork until they are well mixed. They don't have to be fluffy. And I used just under 1 tbsp. of cream and it was enough. If you have a larger egg yolk you should probably use a bit less.

I then mixed this in first with a fork,

which is probably a good idea if you have warmer hands. Then plop it was tightly wrapped in cling wrap and put in the fridge.

Today I'm starting with the apples. I peeled and cored them before realizing that I should weigh them so that's why the weight of the apples is after peeling and coring, which is a bit weird. Then I sliced them. My apples were largish so after cutting them in quarters I quartered each quarter.

I put my butter in a large skillet and melted it quickly. Then threw in the apples, sprinkled over the sugars, tossed and then allowed to cook on medium-high heat.

I think I have the wrong apples because they let a lot of water but in the end it all evaporated and things are looking good. The apples need constant turning especially after the water has dissolved and the sugar starts to caramelize. At this stage the apples will start glistening and maybe even brown (which mine didn't). The important thing to keep in mind is that the apples are now cooked and thus very fragile. So if you don't want to put apple puree on your cake be very, very gentle with the apples. Remove them from the heat and then set them aside.

If you want you can sprinkle some ground cinnamon on your apples. This will make them more Christmassy. I used 3 pinches on mine. My cinnamon is very strong because I have the real stuff, fresh from Sri Lanka.

Usually I would have gotten the pastry ready while the apples were cooking but today my judgement is a bit wonky due to me almost falling asleep. So when I started with the apples I thought, "what shall I do while they are caramelizing?" and came up with the answer "I can just write about it" So now I have apples and no pastry shell to put them in :( Ah but my post is getting along well.

I rolled out my pastry to fit in my 10", non-stick, springform pan and tried to pick it up and it all fell to pieces. I've never had this happen to this dough before. I contemplated just putting it in piece by piece but then I couldn't have taken a nice photo to share with you. So I opted to knead it all together again and re-roll it. I gave it a good knead because it seemed like it needed it! The second rolling came out perfect, so my guess is that a good kneading was exactly what it needed. Anyways when you do knead your pastry just remember you are NOT making bread and if you over knead it or are too hard on it your pastry will not be light and fluffy. So just push it around enough that it holds together.

I trimmed the edges with a plastic knife, which you can see in the picture. The only reason it is there is because my camera refused to focus on the pie dough so I had to put something inside to get it to focus!

Anyways, now the pie crust is in the oven at 190 C in a fan oven and is baking blind. That is, I pricked the dough, covered it in aluminium foil, poured in my baking beans and put it in the oven for 20 minutes. Voila!

Now I just have to make the filling which is pretty simple. I used a hand mixer to beat the butter and sugar together because I felt like there was not quite enough batter for my big mixer. Once they were fluffy I added in the egg yolk and mixed it until just combined, i.e. I couldn't see any egg yolk anymore! Then I added in the milk and beat that just a tiny bit. Next came the flour, salt, baking powder and ground almonds.

These dry items I mixed in with a spatula.

Then I beat the egg whites. I like to do this in a tall, thin "bowl" because they beat quicker. Turn the bowl upside down for a quick check to see if the egg whites are beaten enough ...

...and then add them to the mix. Now extremely gently fold in the egg whites. You want to keep as much air in there as possible.

Finally, I put the cake together. First the cake mix went in and then I arranged my apples on top (which I gave a quick stir before hand). Last time when I tried a similar cake the fruit all moved to the middle of the cake so I made sure that the apples went all the way to the edges. I'm hoping that I didn't over load the cake because that would mean I can't post this :( Now the cake went in the oven at 160 C (fan oven) for 40 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes and remove the sides of the springform. Then put it on a wire mesh to cool further. Once it's cooled (it doesn't need to be completely cold) carefully remove the base of your springform. If you use a non-stick spring form do not cut the cake on the non-stick surface. The coating will come off and that stuff is carcinogenic (since I first wrote this this fact has been proven wrong!). You don't want to be eating it.

I can't wait to try it this evening with some whipped cream.

Advent

And so the year is slowly coming to an end and the days here are getting shorter and shorter. Not to mention that it is getting COLD. As I always say, "I come from the tropics, I don't like this weather", but there are some advantages to the cold, grey weather in Germany and one of those is the ability to celebrate advent.

In Germany advent goes on for at least 4 weeks and starts 4 Sunday's before Christmas. The first thing that you have to do is get yourself an "adventskranz" (advents wreath). This year I made one using some of the evergreen that our landlord chopped down a few days before the first advent.

Then once December the first comes around you have to have an "Adventskalendar" (advents calender). Easier said than done. When I first got to Germany I thought that this was a great idea and so I made one for my daughters. Now every year I have to come up with 24 (times 2) gifts to put in the calendar. Which reminds me that after tomorrow their calendar is empty so I'd better get on with it! If only they would agree to a shop bought Adventskalendar, so much cheaper and less work!

An angel washing peg to hold up the presents

On the 6th of December St Nikolaus arrives leaving the children chocolates, sweets and presents. Hmmm more presents? Yes! I've gotten mine used to getting just sweets. Every year they get a large chocolate Santa put in their stocking. Okay, it's supposed to be put in a boot, but then what am I going to do with the stockings that I embroidered when we were in the USA!

Chocolate Santa's

Well Nikolaus has come and gone and we still have to buy the kids presents for Christmas. It's a stressful time for the present buyer i.e. me! But I get my kick out of it because Advent means that I can bake to my hearts content and distribute it to all and sundry.

The first advent we were supposed to celebrate at a friends but they fell sick :( That meant I was left with a huge cheesecake and only 4 people to eat it. So I decided, what the heck, lets just have it for dinner together with some lime cookies, macaroons and pancakes. Here is our spread:

Table with advent calendar in the background

Vanilla Chocolate Cheesecake

Lime Meltaways

Macaroons

Snowflake Pancakes

The second advent came around and my girls decided they wanted to make biscuits. My youngest received some cookie cutters and a recipe for performing with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra. So these just had to be used. I decided to try the recipe out and it turned out to be perfect. I've been looking for the perfect recipe to use with cookie cutters for years and now I've found it. I'll share it with you some time soon.

But then I had some pastry left so I tried out a new cake. It's a very German type of cake and I topped it with frozen blueberries, the only berries I had at hand. It turned out delicious and I'm going to try making it with caramelized apples next. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them.

So that's all I wanted to do today, share some of our yummy advent Sunday tea's. I hope you all have a very warm and bright Adventzeit and that those of you celebrating Christmas have a wonderful time.