Agri Park, Kandy - Fantastic day out

Last summer we visited the Eden project in England and we had a long discussion as to how it would be so easy for someone to come up with something like this in Sri Lanka. After all they don't even need the green houses. Everything would grow just fine outdoors. A few months later when I visited Kandy, I found that there was something vaguely similar. In fact it could be as good as the Eden project if someone had remembered to put in the infrastructure and remembered that people don't necessarily want to see acres of different types of paddy! But if you remember to take a lot of water and some snacks this can be a most wonderful place to visit.
Just across the river from the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens is the much cheaper Agri Park. To get here take any bus heading towards Peradeniya or Penideniya and get out at the Dangolla Junction. Walk over the Mahaweli, Sri Lanka's longest river, and the ticket office is about 250 m on your left.
As of this month the tickets were 10/20 LKR for locals and 100/200 LKR are tourists (child/adult).

I so think that it is worth seeing that I made a little map in google so that you could find some of the nicer things. There are lots of things missing because I just have never had the time to see everything.

Hanging over head as you head to buy your tickets

Dragon fruit on the fence to the road by the ticket counter

Humungous ladies finger in the home garden

Crazy sign board telling you what is good for you when you have heart disease

What is good for oral health?

We were told by one person that we could climb up but then someone with more authority told us that it was not allowed. It looked quite dangerous. It's the kind of hut the farmers sit in to stay out of the way of elephants.

Feeding the goats

A kid with its mother

Paddy fields with the trash sculpture in the background

End of your tour with a visit to the Hela Bojun food stalls where you can buy all kinds of traditional foods. Sweet and savoury. Try the ulundu wade if there are any left by the time you get to the front of the line. They are amazingly good. If the ladies at Hela Bojun are not working (you are either too early or too late) go around to the back of the building where you will find a small eatery. The food there is good and freshly prepared. At the end of the Hela Bojun food stalls are some basic toilets for a fee.

Once my husband has gotten round to getting our vacation photo's off his camera I might be able to upload some nicer pictures!

Channa Masala (chickpeas) with spinach

So one of my daughters was on a class trip and my husband was away on business so I agreed to inviting two of my little ones friends over to spend the night. I was a glutton for punishment! But better a full house than an empty one. At some point in the afternoon I realized that I had not planned dinner and that I did not want to go out shopping for fresh vegetables. No fear, I figured, a pot of dahl always goes down well, except, of course, when you are out of lentils!! Luckily the pantry was not bare and I found a couple of cans of chickpeas. So I put on a simple meal of chickpeas and rice. It was such a hit (there were not enough left overs for a second meal!) that I reproduced it last night for the rest of the family (and wrote down the recipe to share).

Preparation time: 1 hour; serves 4 if served alone with rice 

Ingredients:

1 (75 g)	Onions, chopped
1/2 tbsp. (4 cloves)	Garlic pulp
1/2 tbsp.	Finely chopped ginger
50 g	Butter (or ghee)
1 tbsp.	Ground corriander
2 tsp	Cumin seeds
1/4 tsp.	Chili power (or to taste)
1 tsp.	Tumeric
2 tsp.	Ground cumin
1 tbsp.	Amchur or lemon juice
14 oz	Canned tomatoes (or use fresh ones)
480 g	Cooked chickpeas (= 1 large can of chickpeas)
150g	Frozen spinach
2 tsp.	Garam masala
1/2 tsp.	Salt

Method:

The method is relatively simple and I'm guessing if you are not being neat and pretty and taking photographs that you can probably put this together in less than an hour. The big time consumer is letting it simmer at the end for 30 minutes, but this gives you time to make other delicious things (and if nothing else at least your rice).

Since the first part of this recipe is cooked pretty fast, and because I didn't want to burn anything, I got most things ready before melting my butter. I had two piles. One of chopped onions, garlic and ginger

and one with all the spices

There are heaps and heaps of spices here because I made two cans of chickpeas i.e. I doubled the recipe. Here is everything except the salt and the garam masala. Once I had these two piles set up I put the butter in a heavy bottomed pan and melted it over medium heat. Then added the onions, garlic and ginger, increased the heat, and cooked them until they were soft.

You should stir them every now and then so that they are evenly cooked, but in between there should be enough time to crack open the canned tomatoes and roughly chop them. I first made this with fresh tomatoes and it came out fine. It's just a bit less... well ... tomatoey! 

Once those onions are done it is time to add the spices. I again reduced the heat because I did not want to burn the spices and over a low heat cooked them for 1-2 minutes. Keep stirring them so that they don't burn. Then in go the tomatoes and their juices. Now I put this up to around medium and heated it through. 

While this was happening I drained off the chickpeas and then added them to the pot and gave it a really good stir. On went the lid and I allowed it to simmer while I put together our now favourite potato masala and some rice. After 15 minutes of simmering I added the frozen spinach. I am sure you can use fresh spinach as well but I would cook it and drain the water first (else the masala will become watery). 

Continue cooking for another 15 minutes. Add the garam masala and salt to taste and enjoy!

Deliciously Simple Home-made Croutons

When I first moved to Germany from the USA I could not find croutons in the store so when our good friends from San Francisco came to visit I had to figure out how to make some, and quick! A few years ago I found some in the supermarket, but they are nothing compared to my homemade, fresh, crunchy ones.

Preparation time: 30-40 minutes; Makes 2 bowls full (see above) 

Ingredients:

6 slices	White bread
1/4 cup	Olive oil
2 tbsp.	Oil (canola, sunflower, etc.)
1 tsp.	Salt
1 clove	Garlic, small (optional)
1 tbsp	Rosemary, finely chopped (optional)

Method:

Unlike many other recipes this one you really need to put the oven on before you start preparing stuff. It's that quick to prepare. I used a fan oven at 180 C, so 200 C for a regular oven (400 F). 

You could use any type of bread for this. I like to use white bread that is pre-cut. It is called "American Sandwich" here in Germany and "Sandwich bread" in Sri Lanka. The main thing is that it is pre-cut to save you some time and to make it nice and regular. I cut my bread so that cubes are formed.

Then put them in a big bowl and pour over the oil and mix quickly so that the oil gets evenly distributed. Crush the garlic and add it to the bread with the salt. I personally think that this recipe is a bit too salty but my family assure me that it is the perfect amount. So adjust according to your own taste. You will probably only know if there is too much or too little after you have finished making it! Given that you will be making this more often than you think this is not such a bad thing. Mix well. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out the bread evenly. Put in the hot oven. Now finely chop the rosemary. If you put it in in the beginning the rosemary will burn so you have to wait. Every 5 minutes you should stir the bread so that all sides get evenly toasted. After 10 minutes or so sprinkle on the rosemary.

Bake until the bread is golden brown, 15 - 20 minutes in total. If you have a well disciplined family you can wait until it is cooled and then use it on your salad. We use ours immediately. What ever croutons are left over my kids have for dessert!

Don't forget to adjust your croutons to your taste. Pepper, chili of any other spice or herb will taste great. Just remember that more fragile herbs should be put on very near to the end and some probably after you have taken the croutons out of the oven. 

Mexican (Spanish?) Rice

There is a controversy in our household as to whether this is a Mexican recipe or a Spanish one. I'm guessing you could eat it with either type of food. Our main use of this rice is to stuff it into burritos which is why I claim that it is Mexican! We love burritos and I am a bit bewildered as to why I have not posted our favourite burrito fillers yet! I shall have to look into this. If I ever get round to posting instructions on how to put a burrito together I will link it here.

Preparation time: 1 hour; Serves 8 (with side dishes) 

Ingredients:

350 g	12 oz	Tomato (the riper and redder the better)
75 g	1 medium	Onion
3		Jalapenos (optional)
400 g	2 cups	Basmati rice
75 ml	1/3 cup	Oil
4 cloves	1.5 tsp.	Garlic, minced
475 ml	2 cups	Water
1		Veggie cube
1 tbsp.		Tomato paste
1.5 tsp		Salt
0.5 cup		Cilantro, chopped
1		Lemon

Method:

Take your tomatoes and onions and put them into your favourite food processor. Puree them and measure out 2 cups (a little under 500 ml). Don't worry if you have small pieces of tomato skin in your puree. It makes the rice look nicer in the end. If you have more than 2 cups of puree do not be tempted to put it in the rice. The rice will get too soggy. Of course you could reduce the amount of water and substitute it with any left over puree.

Mince your chilies (if using) and garlic and then wash your rice. Wash it under cold water and keep washing until the water is only slightly milky. The more starch you get rid of the less sticky your rice will be (at least if you are using basmati). Drain well.

The rice needs to be baked in the oven so make sure you pick a pan, with a fitting lid, that can be put in the oven. Make sure it is large enough to deal with the expanding rice. Now heat this pan on medium high and add the oil. Now is also the time to put your oven on at 160 C for a fan oven or 180 C (350 F) for a conventional oven.

Now back to your oil. You will know if the oil is hot enough because the oil will sizzle when the rice is added. Add a grain to check. Once the oil is hot add the rice and fry. Keep on stirring it to prevent it from burning. It should be fried for 6 - 8 minutes, until some of it is golden brown.

Reduce the heat to low and stir in the garlic and chili. Stir continuously until it is well distributed. It always takes me forever to get the garlic well combined, but it is quite essential so that no one ends up with a clump of garlic in their rice.

Now stir in the water, vegetable cube, puree, tomato paste and salt. Just for the record: tomato paste is highly concentrated tomato. I don't know what you could substitute it with if you could not get it but I personally would just omit it rather than use some other tomato product. Mix everything well and increase the temperature to medium high. Bring the whole thing to a boil.

Once it boils take it off the stove top and put it in the oven. The rice should bake for 30 minutes and it needs to be stirred in the middle. So set your timer for 15 minutes, take the pot out of the oven and stir it. Replace the lid and pop it back in for a further 15.


Once you take the rice out of the oven (be careful someone always burns themselves on the hot pan!) add the cilantro and the juice of 1 lime and mix well.

Your rice is now ready to serve. You can add it to a burrito or just use it as your main staple. Try mixing other things into it to turn it into a one pot meal.

Rome itinerary 7 days, 6 nights with kids

Our latest vacation took us to Rome. I've always wanted to go to Rome. Even before I transited there on my way to Sri Lanka back in 1981. I imagined that I could see all the ruins from the large windows in the transit area. So it was no wonder that Rome was first on my list of places to visit once we got to Germany. Unfortunately it took 7 years to get there! It was amazing and definitely worth the cost, yes Rome is expensive especially during school vacations.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast near the Vatican City. It was nice but not great, it was the best we could afford!

So here is our itinerary:

Day 1:  We arrived at our B&B at around 5 pm and headed back out at around 6 pm. I advise a quiet walk around where ever you are staying. This will give you a good feel for the place and not overload the kids senses. Flying is stressful enough. We took a stroll along the Tiber and visited Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere. After this we had some awesome pizza at Bir & Fud. The best I have tasted in a long while. Totally fresh ingredients, totally delicious.

The Tiber

Day 2: The Vatican Museums. Don't forget to book your tickets in advance and to book a slot early in the morning. It might cost you more, but really when you have kids in tow you do not want to be waiting for hours in line. They are going to be tiered out before you even get to the first exhibit.

Bramante Staircase

We spent half a day here and then went on to visit St. Peters Square. No chance of getting in after 10 am without standing in a long line, in the hot sun. We took a traditional siesta and then went back out in the evening and walked into town. We walked around Castel Sant'Angelo (going in would have been total overload for us). There is a cool playground round the back. Across Ponte Sant'Angelo and into "town". Here we just got lost in the streets and ended up at an ice cream place. After a shot of ice cream we headed to a little restaurant that served tiny but delicious portions of Italian food. We found out that small and expensive is just how food is in Rome.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Day 3: The Colosseum, Palatino Hill and the Roman Forum. Here again make sure you book tickets in advance so that you can skip the lines. Even if you have a pre-booked ticket you cannot avoid the lines to get through security. So get there early. We booked a tour for 5 Euro. The tour guide was nice but she was not very informative.

These 3 sites were amazing and took us all day. We packed a picnic and I would seriously advise you to do this because the whole thing takes so long and there are no eateries near by. The biggest problem being that you have to leave the sites to get food and then go back through the long security line if you want to get back in again.

Roman Forum - my favourite

On our way out we visited Altare della Patria. Offers fantastic views of the city (and has public toilets!).

Day 4: St. Peters Cathedral. GO EARLY! We got there at around 7.10 am. Almost no lines! We went up to the top of the dome which gives you fantastic 360 degree views. In the morning its a bit hazy but there is no one pushing or shoving and you can take your time and enjoy it.

View of the Vatican Gardens

On the way down there are immaculate toilets, a gift shop and a cafe. Great place to have breakfast before getting to the church itself. The cathedral is quite amazing and you need to have some kind of guide on you to appreciate all the art. It can get really crowed! We needed 2.5 hours for the whole cathedral and when we came out the line snaked halfway across St. Peters Square.

A light shaft

Next stop was Trevi Fountain, Piazza Colonna, Il Tempio di Adriano, the Pantheon ending up on Piazza Navona. All of which are free of charge.

Trevi Fountain

Day 5: Spanish steps, Villa Borghese (park), Borghese Gallery and Museum, shopping. Make sure you have pre-booked your tickets to the Borghese Gallery. You can only get in with pre-booked tickets. It is an amazingly small gallery with amazing pieces of art. Due to the timed tickets it is not crowded at all and you can really appreciate the pieces. Mind you the explanations are horrible. I wish we had bought an audio tour.

Borghese Gallery and Museum

Day 6: Well you could do a lot of things but it happened to be Easter Sunday so we went and listened to the popes Easter mass. Which was a lot of fun. We didn't understand anything but that was fine, we got to see the pope (in small, as my kids would say!). Then we went off to explore the pyramid, find some more ice cream and have our last dinner at Bir & Fud so that we had a nice taste in our mouths leaving Rome. If it had not been for the mass we would have gone to the catacombs in the south of Rome and then gone to Trastevere to check out the churches and street life.

The Pope (somewhere up on the balcony)

Pyramid of Cestius

Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere

Day 7: Sleep in and get ready for the trip home. Do some shopping in the local area.

Covering cake with fondant

This blog post is mainly for myself but may just be useful for others as well. My husband always laughs when I open up my own blog because I can't find the hard copy of  a recipe  that I posted! Bookmarks work well but I thought it would just be easier to have everything in one place. The motivation for this came yesterday as I was making a cake for one of my best friends birthdays. I was flattening out the fondant and wondering why it looked so irregular. Then my beloved husband asked, "Don't you have this white plastic thing to level it out?" How could I have forgotten? I have no idea. After that the cake didn't look quite so bad but it would have looked better if I had never touched it in the first place!

Cake Recipes 

These are the recipes I use if I am covering it with fondant:

1. http://www.glorioustreats.com/2011/07/perfect-vanilla-cupcakes-recipe.html - twice the recipe gives a good sized 9 inch cake. Best to bake in two 9" spring forms and then split each into two so that you have 4 layers.
2. https://vinitasfamilyblog.blogspot.de/2015_12_01_archive.html - Red velvet (chocolate) cake - easy to make, stays moist.
3. http://www.food.com/recipe/spagos-chocolate-chiffon-cake-37811 - Chocolate cake - easy to carve, stays moist, difficult to make, tends to deflate if you over beat it.

Butter Cream

For the inside of the cake. 1:2, butter: icing sugar plus a dash of milk or cream, flavouring and colouring. Beat it until it is light and fluffy.

Ganache

A very important part of a fondant cake. The best underlay for fondant. Here are somethings that will help:

1. The ganacherator - to calculate how much ganache you will need (note the values here assume that you are filling the cake with ganache too. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/28726919/The%20Ganacherator.xlsx 
2. How to ganache a cake - absolutely wonderful tutorial. Only thing I have trouble getting right is the consistency of the ganache. Usually dries up before I can really smooth it out. http://sweetnessandbite.com/2014/10/how-to-ganache-a-cake/

Covering with Fondant

If only I had a tutorial for this one. I have used a multiple of different sources over the years. One thing I can say is that you must have the correct equipment. A non-stick rolling pin is a must as is the cheap plastic tool to flatten the final product (a smoother). I never use icing sugar to roll out my fondant. It makes a mess in the kitchen and everything gets sticky. I use cornstarch instead. Some advice ⁠⁠though from my wonderful cousin... never use cornstarch if you are covering a fruit cake, it might explode! My cousin does this professionally so she should know. 
I have an old tea towel which I have filled with corn starch and secured the ends with a rubber band. This creates a corn starch puff! I use this to dust the surface of everything to prevent sticking. 

This video shows you pretty clearly how to put your fondant onto the cake and get a round cake covered. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vecmy4nKT-A (note the little white things she/he uses to smooth the surface!

Paneer Tikka Masala

When we lived in San Francisco this was one of our favourite dishes at our favourite Indian place "Naan and Curry". We were introduced to this, then hole in the wall restaurant, by a American colleague of mine whose wife was Indian. We were quite amazed at how bad the place looked but after eating there, well, we never went anywhere else (for Indian food that is). The food was amazingly good, amazingly cheap and there was free chai, as much as you could possibly drink.
Since that first visit the restaurant branched out and we were lucky enough to have a large branch open up a few blocks from where we lived. So we would dress up our kids in yellow, orange or red attire and walk down the street to get our naan and curry fix. The dress was very important given that there was so much turmeric (note that there is none in the recipe below but the tomato will do the trick) in everything, that the kids ate with their hands, there were no booster seats and our kids were under 4 years old! Any mistake with the dress code meant that piece of clothing was destroyed for life.
Once we moved to Germany we found that not only was there no Nann and Curry (which we fully expected) but there was no decent Indian food. We finally found one that had decent food but the price has gone up by so much that the only decently priced item on the menu is "suicide water", which is just a fancy word for tap water (price 0 Euro). There was no option but to start cooking Indian food at home. After much research and much tweaking I settled on this recipe.
There is one problem though. My kids do not like the taste of the paneer that we get in Germany. We substitute with feta made from cows milk, which is a much cheaper option than paneer so everyone is happy.

Preparation time: 40 minutes (can be made in advance and refrigerated or frozen); Serves 4 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp.	Butter or ghee
2	Cloves of garlic, minced
1	Chili, minced (optional)
2 tsp.	Ground coriander
1 tsp.	Ground cumin

1 tsp.	Chili powder
1 tsp.	Garam masala
1/2 tsp.	Salt
8 fl.oz.	Tomato puree
1 cup	Whipping cream
1/4 cup	Cilantro, chopped
200 g	Paneer (or feta or tofu or anything you like!)

Method:

This is a majorly simple recipe it just takes a while because the longer you cook it the better it tastes! So first melt the butter over medium high heat. Once the butter is melted add the garlic and chili and fry them until they become fragrant (usually a few seconds). Then add the coriander, cumin, chili, garam masala and salt and continue to fry stirring all the time. Do this also until fragrant. Do not burn the spices! Talking about fragrant, be aware that after you fry all this stuff you are going to have to air your kitchen really well to get rid of the lingering spice smell. 

Now add all the tomato puree, stir and cook on low heat for 15 minutes. I actually don't use tomato puree but something called "Tomatenmark" it is very highly concentrated tomato and comes in a tube as a paste. I put around 2 - 3 fl. oz of this and make up the rest with water. How much I put depends on which particular brand I am using because they all claim different concentrations.

Now add the whipping cream (or full cream or heavy whipping cream) and bring to the boil again. Reduce the heat and simmer for another 5 minutes. I don't have any photos after this stage because I turned off the cooker and ran out of the house to pick someone up. Instructions were then sent via Whatsapp as to how to heat up the dinner. 

Finally add the cheese and the coriander leaves, heat everything through and serve with any type of bread or rice. 

I have found that the sauce re-heats and freezes very well but the cheese doesn't. So what I do is I make a double batch of gravy and only put in the amount of cheese that can be consumed in one meal. The left over gravy can then be reheated and new cheese put in. 

Left overs from the next day!

Enjoy!