Pickled Fish for Good Friday

Howzit

It is my family tradition, and a few other South Africans, to have pickled fish on Good Friday. It is an onion curried pickle with fried white fish, which we prepare the day before because it needs 24hrs for the flavours to develop. Pretty simple to make. Here's my take on pickled fish. Adjust to your liking.


Ingredients

• 1kg Hake fillets or any firm white fish                          
• 2 large onions
• 400ml brown cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 150-200ml water
• 3tsps curry powder
• 1tsp tumeric
• 1tsp chili powder
• 8-12tsps sugar
• 5 bayleaves
• 5 pepper corns
• Flour
• Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Serve cool with rice or bread

Prepare the fish to be fried. Salt the fish and cover with flour.

Fry the fish in oil until golden brown. 

Place the fish in a deep pyrex or glass dish with a lid, there should be enough space for the fish and sauce. Let the fish cool while preparing the sauce. 

Chop onions into thin rings and add it to a deep pot (saucepan) together with all the rest of the ingredients, vinegar, sugar and spices

Bring the sauce to the boil for 5-10minutes until flavours are well combined. Adjust amount of sugar and water to your taste. It should be a well balanced sweet sour sauce enough to cover the fish. 

A tablespoon of flour or cornflour can be added to thicken the sauce.  

Cover the fish with the pickled sauce and set aside to cool before refridgerating for 24hrs

Happy Days

Nutrition

The beautiful bright yellow spice turmeric, which comes from the root of a curcuma longa plant, is known to have great anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. It can be used to to heal wounds and skin deceases, it also has good effects on cancer, arthritis and diabetes.

Carnival in Italia

Howzit

Carnival, or in Italian 'Il Carnevale', is a traditional Italian festival celebrated before the beginning of Lent. It is celebrated in many regions across Italy each with their own significance, the most popular being the Carnival of Venice (Carnevale di Venezia). A celebration with parades, masks, wine, fried pastries, all ending on Shrove Tuesday (Martedì grasso)  preceding Ash Wednesday (Mercoledì delle Ceneri) the beginning of Lent (Quaresima), a period of forgiveness, penance, fasting, prayer and new beginnings.

In short 'Il Carnevale' generally signifies revelries, entertainment and feasts which are given up during the Lenten period.

It's a tradition that dates back to medieval times, times when pagans wearing masks danced around fires, praying for rain and warding off evil spirits and curses. All that remains today are the masks and amusements.

Frittelle

I'm not getting into all that celebrations only enjoying some crostoli and frittelle, typical carnival pastries, and I will enjoy a pancake or two on Shrove Tuesday, (Pancake Day) which is celebrated in the UK, then for 40days I will give up some luxuries, like chocolates and reality tv :p

Happy Pancake Day to all! 

12Feb13

Banana Walnut Muffins

Howzit

So its my mother-in-laws birthday and I baked her one of her favourites Banana Walnut muffins
Happy Birthday Mamma
Enjoy xoxox

Ingredients

100g walnuts, toasted, chopped and cooled
230g cake flour
130g sugar
1tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
pinch of bicarbonate of soda
1tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
120g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
450g ripe bananas, mashed
1tsp vanilla extract

                                    

Preheat oven at 180°C

Grease a 12 cup muffin pan with butter or non stick cooking spray (or insert paper liners)

Bake for 20-25min

Makes 12 muffins

                                     

Toast the nuts on a baking sheet in the oven for about 10min, let them cool

Combine all the dry ingredients together

flour

sugar

baking powder

salt

bicarbonate of soda

cinnamon

cooled nuts

In a seperate bowl combine all the wet ingredients

eggs

vanilla extract

melted butter

mashed bananas

                                  

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and lightly combine together with a wooden spoon, just until the dry mixture is covered. The batter should be chunky NOT smooth.

                                  

Spoon the batter into the greased muffin pan. 

                                   

Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 20-25 minutes.

Check with a toothpick if the muffins are ready, toothpick should come out dry and clean.

                                     

Let the muffins cool

                                    

*When I mix together muffin batter I count 10-15 folds, this way the muffins do not end up dry.
*Grease the pan with some butter using wax paper
*Use eggs that are room temperature

Happy Days

Nutrition: 100g Banana 

Bananas are good for the heart, bones, digestion, and high blood pressure. Bananas are also a good energy booster.

• Vitamin C 14%
• Vitamin B6 19%
• Folate 5%
• Potassium 10%
• Manganese 14%
• Fiber 10%

% Daily Intake Value* (these are approximate amounts)

Romany Creams

Awe Awe

Romany Creams are popular in South Africa and are coconut chocolate based biscuits. It is sold there in all supermarkets and used in many dessert recipes. So as it is one of my favourites, I have decided to make my own since I cannot find it  anywhere here in Italy, "for the love of lemons!" Here is my take on it. Found this recipe in a cook book and tweaked it to my liking. Made 84 biscuits and 42 romany creams. Wow! Mind you, this was my first attempt at baking Romany Creams!

Ingredients

200g sugar

200g butter or margerine

65ml corn oil 

2 eggs

500g cake flour

65ml cocoa powder

5ml baking powder

pinch of salt

200g desiccated coconut

200g dark chocolate

Set oven to 180°C

Cream together sugar, butter and oil then mix in eggs, combine well.

In a seperate bowl sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt then add coconut

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed sugar mixture and mix until you have a stiff dough

Roll out on a floured surface to about 5mm thick and cut out rounds about 5cm in diameter. I used a tot glass. Scrape the top with a fork for a rough texture. 

Place on a baking sheet with baking paper and into the heated oven for 12-15minutes

Cool the baked biscuits on a rack

Melt the chocolate on a pot of boiling water

Between a pair of cooled biscuits add about a teaspoon of melted chocolate.

Set aside and let the centres to cool or place in the fridge for 10minute. And then nom nom!

CHE BON!

Happy Days

Nutrition: 100g dried coconut. It is very high in saturated fat 285%

• Fibre 65%
• Total fat 99%
• Iron 18%  

% Daily Values* (these are approximate amounts)

Capetonian

Awe, howzit!

*Awe - pronounced 'ah weh', is South African slang for hello; yes; or an expression of excitement.
*Howzit - South African slang for how are you; hello; or what's up.

Let me define what capetonian is and a bit about where I come from. Capetonian is the name for locals living in Cape Town, the 'Mother City' of South Africa, which is where I am from, the city in which I was born, grew up and spent most of my life living in.

As you can see the header of this blog is a photo of Table Mountain, the most prominent landmark in the city. Oh what a facinating city it is with its mediterranean climate, several beaches, vast and vibrant culture, precious flora and fauna and much more. Anyone who comes from or has been to Cape Town will tell you, it is a place that takes a piece of you, there's no place like it and you will always want to return. It is a bustling city with lots to see and do but the city also has a tranquil and chilled out(relaxing) vibe. I love my motherland.

And this is only the beginning, only a part of my beautiful country,  it is a dream of mine to thoroughly travel my country, I have yet to see it all...

*In future I plan to blog about my favourite recipes which I grew up with and more on Cape Town and its surroundings.
Stay tuned

                                                                                                                                        Happy Days

Just Peachy!

Finally I have arrived in the world of bloggers. Finding my feet won't be easy however I feel the time has come to find my own space on the World Wide Web. Still deciding on what the content might be based upon because I am a lover of many things : Travel, Cooking, Yoga, Nutrition, Fashion, Beauty, Dogs, Gardening, Psycology etc. So perhaps a general lifestyle blog. By no means am I an expert on any of these subjects, it will be based off of my personal experiences and knowledge, an honest overview and opinion. Here we go!

Lets start off with one of my many favourite recipes, Peach Cheesecake

Ingredients 
 350g Condensed milk
 200ml Fresh cream
 250g Philadelphia cream cheese
 420g Canned peach slices, drained
 2 Lemons
 2 tsps Gelatine
 80ml Hot Water
 200g Digestive biscuits

Combine condensed milk, fresh cream and cream cheese in a bowl.
Puree the sliced peaches in a blender and add to mixture.
Squeeze the juice from the lemons, removing any pips and add to mixture.
Soften the gelatine in hot water and mix well, then add to mixture.
Mix cheesecake until smooth  *Adjust sweetness to your liking
Crush the biscuits

Place a layer of biscuits then cheesecake mixture in tall glasses or dessert bowls (as I have done) and allow to set in the fridge for an hours or more. *I filled up 10 dessert bowls

Enjoy!



Nutrition: 100g peach                                  

•  Vitamin A 7%
•  Vitamin C 11%
•  Calcium 1%
•  Iron 1%
•  Potassium 5%
•  Fibre 6%

 %Daily Value*