BRAZILISH FOOD is the pleasure of my life translated in my favourite recipes, from UK (the home I chose), Brazil (my home) or from any other place that the food makes me feel at home.
BRAZILISH FOOD é o prazer da minha vida traduzido em minhas receitas favoritas, do Reino Unido (a casa que eu escolhi), Brasil (minha casa) ou de qualquer outro lugar em que a comida faz com que eu me sinta em casa.
I love rice pudding, the Brazilian one "arroz doce" or the English one, it doesn't matter, I love it!!!
The main difference between them is that the Brazilian is very sweet (too sweet) and the English is more bland (the reason why it is normally served with fruit compotes, I believe). And I thought it was time for me to mix these two versions of the same desert and do my own, the Brazilish one...
My ingredients:
200g of rice 650ml of water 1 tbsp of butter 75g of sugar 500ml of milk 150g (1/2 can) of condensed milk 200g of double cream 1 clove 1 tsp of grated nutmeg Cinnamon to serve
Boil the water, add the butter and rice and cook in low heat for about 20 minutes or until soft (add more water if necessary, even though it should not be).
Caramelise the sugar in another pan, add the milk carefully with the clove, and boil until all the caramel has melted.
Lower the heat, add the condensed milk, the cooked rice and the nutmeg. Simmer for about 15 to 25 minutes until all the ingredients are well combined and the rice pudding is thicker.
Turn the heat off, add the double cream, sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.
If you fancy the skin over the pudding, put yours in a ramekin and take it to a 180 degrees preheated oven until golden brown on the top.
There are many different recipes for pancakes and, obviously, my favourite is my mum's one!
As I've said before on the "Food and I" post, my mum is a chef and one of the best I've ever known, and her recipes always work for me! Even though sometimes I adapt them to my taste.
The pancake recipe can be used for sweet and savoury fillings. Here is the ingredients list:
250g of plain flour 100g of corn flour 2 cups of milk 2 eggs 1/2 tsp of salt A pinch of baking powder Butter - to grease the frying pan
Beat all the ingredients in a blender and leave it to rest for, at least, 30 minutes, meanwhile it is a good idea to prepare the fillings and sauces you want to have with your pancake.
Here I've done chicken, spinach and mozzarella filling with bechamel sauce for main course as well as nutella and double cream for desert. But I would also recommend a ham, cheese, tomato (all finely chopped) with oregano filling and tomato sauce. Delicious!!!
I am posting the video of how I cook the pancakes, but if you're not as confident with flipping them in the air, just do it with the help of a fork.
I am not "listing" the fillings ingredients, as I believe you will do as you like, but I will describe what I've done anyway...
For the filling: Fry 2 chicken breast chopped in 1 tbsp of butter and 1 of olive oil. Mixture 1 tsp of garlic paste and fry until the chicken pieces are golden brown. Add one medium onion finely chopped and fry all until onion goes soft. Turn the heat off and add about 100g of spinach and 1 ball of mozzarella, both chopped.
For my bechamel sauce: Fry 1 finely chopped onion in 2/3 tbsp of butter and 1/2 of olive oil. Add a clove, a pinch of nutmeg and a full tbsp of garlic paste and fry until golden. Add 3 cups of milk and in another cup of milk dissolve 1 and 1/2 tbsp of corn flour. Season to taste. Remove the clove, blend the sauce and sieve it, if you prefer your bechamel nice and soft (I don't mind the texture of the onion, but if you're doing for other people I would recommend you to do so).
Fill the pancakes with your mixture.
Fold the sides.
And place them in a baking tray.
Cover with cheddar cheese.
Put the bechamel over the pancakes and sprinkle Parmesan cheese and some black pepper.
Bake in a preheated oven on 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes.
Serve hot. The picture below does not look so appetising but I can guarantee it was delicious!
For the desert one I spread 2 tsp of nutella on the pancake, folded and served with a tbsp of double cream (could have been ice cream if I have had any on my freezer)! Yummy!
I have been desperately researching for interesting recipes to share here with you and I think this one is great!
The practicality of this muffin recipe is impressive as you can do it your own way, add whatever you like to give it your favourite flavour (sweet or savoury).
The basic recipe is as it follows:
"DRY" ingredients 2 cups of plain flour 1 cup of sugar 2 tsp of baking powder 1/2 tsp of salt
"WET" ingredients 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp of vegetable oil - I know that the measuring is wierd but it does the trick 1 egg 3/4 of milk - apporximately as you will need to adjust as you go
"YOUR" ingredients 1 cup of whatever you would like to put on your muffins - I have divided the basic batter in 3 and added to each third my experiments:
1/3 cup of chopped dried figs and blue cheese for the first third of batter,
1/3 cup of chopped pistachio nuts and blue cheese for the second third, and
1/3 cup of dark and milk chocolate chips for the last third
Heat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius (180 fan).
Sieve the plain flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and stir them all together.
In another bowl, beat the egg with the oil. Make a well in the "dry" ingredients and pour the egg and oil mixture. Mix them well and add half of the milk. Stir until combined and add "your" ingredient.
If your choice of ingredient is wet (such as fruits like banana or pineapple) you might not need much more of the milk but if it is dry (such as nuts or dried coconut) you might need to add a little bit more than stated on the ingredients list. Remember that the batter should not be too runny or too solid.
Grease your muffin tin or just scoop the batter into your cupcakes (2/3 of the cupcake) and bake for about 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
PS: If you chose a savoury ingredient to your muffin I would recommend to put only 1/3 of the sugar and add another pinch of salt to your batter.
Enjoy them! From my experience, my husband's favourite was the pistachio nuts and blue cheese ones and mine was the dried fig and blue cheese. Which one is yours????
This is the laziest ice cream recipe there is, because it is a recipe that does not need to be cooked, does not use eggs, does not need to be stirred from time to time. Ready? So, go for it:
200ml of double cream (or whipping cream) 150ml of condensed milk 3 tbsp of drinking chocolate - the ones you will use to do your hot chocolate. Don't use cocoa powder, it won't mix properly.
Blend the double cream until it makes peaks (you will feel the mixture becoming resistant because of the consistence will change from liquid to creamy).
Pour the condensed milk and the chocolate powder together with the stiff cream and blend again until well mixed.
Pour the mixture into a pot with a lid and put it in the freezer for around 3 hours and it will be ready to serve!
Last week I went to the library looking for a nice book to read in bed, something inspirational! I also had a look at some recipe books and this one came to me.
I cooked this brownie recipe last week and it was beautiful!!! I have promised to put it on the blog this week and Mihaela made it clear that she's been waiting for it! I have done it by the book, because my husband was taking some brownies to his colleagues at work to try and Roger is allergic to nuts (which would be my twist to the recipe), so:
50 ml of vegetable oil 150 gr of white sugar 2 eggs well beaten 1 tsp of vanilla extract - although is not on the picture, it was used!!! 4 tbsp of cocoa powder 1/2 tsp of baking powder 8 tbsp of plain flour 1 1/2 tbsp of the nut of your choice - I would use pecan or walnut, but I am sure that almond would also be delicious
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Mix together the oil, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a bowl, stirring until well combined.
In another bowl put the cocoa powder, the plain flour and the baking powder and sieve them into the oil, sugar and egg mixture mixing well. Add the nuts and combine. Grease and flour or just grease and use a baking parchment in a 20x20cm baking tray.
Pour the mixture into the baking tray and bake it for approximately 15 minutes. Leave the brownie to cool down and then cut them. If hot serve with ice cream or cream, or have it cold, or do it your way! But do it!!!
Hello people! Hope you've been trying some of our recipes so you can give me some tips!
I tried to find out about the history of apple crumble. The British claim it was invented here, the Americans also say that it was created there but called it apple crisp. I prefer not to comment as I don't know who to believe... All I know is that I love it!
For my apple crumble, I have named it in honour of my husband, as most of the things I cook are specially for him!
Ok, let's go to the recipe:
5 Bramley apples cut in cubes 1 ramekin of sugar 1 ramekin of rasins Juice of 1 lemon 2 tbsp of butter 2 tbsp of Disaronno (Amaretto)
In a frying pan disolve the sugar with the lemon juice over a high heat. When melted, the mixture will look like a foam (refer to picture below).
Add the butter and the Disaronno and switch off the stove. Add the apples and the raisins and share the apple mixture into the ramekins (serves 9) or in a oven proof dish.
Reserve, heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 fan), and prepare the crumble:
2 ramekins of plain flour 1 ramekin of porridge oat 1 ramekin of ground Brazil nuts
1 ramekin of sugar 1 ramekin of dry grated coconut - it's not on the picture because I ran out, but makes all the difference :-((( 2 tbsp, very full, of butter - I always use the salted one 1 tsp of cinnamon
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with your fingertips. It will end up with a "beach's sand" consistency.
Spoon the mixture over the apple mixture and bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Serve with double cream. I love it!!!!
IMPORTANT: If you are more of a sweet tooth, add more sugar (another ramekin) at the first step (with the lemon juice).
