Frozen Sweet Labneh with Vanilla, Lemon & Blueberries

I guess we are never really ready for extreme temperatures, especially here in Romania. When it's cold, we moan it's unbearably cold, when it's hot, we ceaselessly complain about the heat. Though I am fine under the a/c 24/7 with either a glass of Saudi Champagne or frozen strained yoghurt aka labneh. :)

Some of my readers might know that I have a passion for strained full-fat yoghurt  and a quick search on this blog can unearth some amazing Middle Eastern dishes and  fusion combinations: savoury labneh, sweet labneh, labneh cheesecake with lime leaves etc

If labneh comes in endless delicious combinations, I thought to myself why not try my hand at frozen yoghurt with a touch of Middle East?

This is my version of frozen yoghurt, Middle Eastern style. :)

 Frozen Labneh with Vanilla, Lemon and Blueberries

                                                                

 900 gr of 7 % fat yoghurt      

                                                                 

100 gr double cream     

                                                                  

4 tbs of honey

200 gr of fresh blueberries coated in sugar (aprox 2 tbs)

lemon rind

2 tsp of vanilla extract

     

Method

Strain the yoghurt for 20 minutes and mix it with double cream, honey, vanilla extract and lemon rind. 

Cover the blueberries in sugar and leave them for 5 minutes to soak in all the sugar. 

The easiest part is when you pour the blueberries over the labneh mix and whisk lightly. Place in a container and freeze for 2-3 hours at -28 degrees C.

I plan on buying an ice-cream machine but until then freezing my labneh does the trick! :)

All I have to add is that it's mouth-watering and mind-blowing. The secret ingredient must be the lemon rind which imparts a delicate flavour and pairs perfectly with the blueberries and yoghurt. 

xoxo

Sweet Laban with Orange Blossom Water, Crushed Hazelnuts & Strawberries

Yesterday I bought fresh strawberries for the first time this season. Contrary to everything I believe in & stand up to, the strawberries have been...imported, not locally produced. They are big, shiny and what's worse, they must have been sprayed with chemicals and pesticides! I could resist anything but temptation! I was in the shop and I suddenly a boxful of bright red fruit eyed me. I had visions of French toasts early in the morning. I would fry them up in a sweet omelette, cover in snowy sugar & top with fresh strawberries. Once back home, I chickened out and the idea of a heavy dessert didn't sound so great afterall.

This is my own version of Strawberry French Toast Recipe that sheds drastically most of the calories and reminds you of the delicate taste of Middle Eastern desserts. xoxo

Sweet Laban w Orange Blossom Water, Hazelnuts & Fresh Strawberries

(my version of decadent French Toast with Strawberries)

Type of cusine: Middle Eastern/Fusion/Low Fat

I'll start by clarifying that laban means yoghurt in Arabic. :) When I lived in Saudi I would always buy dairy products from Almarai. I have always loved the grassy taste of fresh milk and yoghurt and it is such a pity I can't find this brand in Romania :(

I find that yoghurt inspires me to create beautiful sweet and savoury dishes and I always manage to put it to good use.

Ingredients

4 big tbs of full fat yoghurt

2 tsp of clear honey

1 tsp of preserved orange rind

2 tsp of orange blossom water

a handful of crushed hazelnuts (almonds or pistachios)

a handful of fresh strawberries

85% dark chocolate

Mix the yoghurt with the honey, hazelnuts, orange rind and orange blossom water. Top with slices of stawberries and freshly shredded chocolate.

That's it! Have you ever had such a quick and uber delicious/guilt-free dessert before?

This was the first time I have ever made it and decided that yes, it's worth blogging about it!

To make the toast however, fry a slice of brown bread or ciabatta in low-fat butter (less than 80% fat) and put the sweet laban mixture, fruit and chocolate on the bread. Pair with black coffee or green tea with mint. That's another a perfect breakfast. :))

Perfect Breakfast: Sweet Bulgur with Grapefruit Pulp Frosting & Orange Blossom Water

There is no denying that my favourite time of the day is morning and my favourite meal of the day is...guess what? - dinner! Well, I do my best not to skip breakfast and when I have more than ten minutes to spare in the kitchen, I experiment with something new. This is how my "Perfect Breakfast" series started on Lemon Love Notes.

This morning I revamped half a cup of bulgur,  I sweetened it and gave it a truly Middle Eastern treatment. I simply love bulgur and surely, there must be more than one way of cooking it, apart from using it in tabouleh or Bulgur Salad with Mint & Pomegranates *delicious*

Sweet Bulgur w Honey, Grapefruit Pulp Frosting & Pistachios

Type of cuisine: Middle Eastern/Fusion

Ingredients

(for 2 persons)

half a cup of bulgur

2 tbs of clear honey

orange blossom water

the pulp of a freshly squeezed grapefruit

a handful of hydrated pistachios

orange rind preserve

la vie en rose

Method

Steam the bulgur until it becomes fluffy. 

Squeeze the grapefruit (drink the juice, keep the pulp) ;)

Hydrate the pistachios in warm water and shell them.

Once the bulgur soaks in all the water and becomes fluffy, pour a generous measure of orange blossom water and clear acacia honey, mix, cover and let the flavours mix for 10 minutes. Place the fluffy bulgur in a bowl, add 2 spoonfuls of grapefruit pulp frosting & sprinkle some pistachios. Finally, put the orange rind preserve on top for a bit of drama. 

I went for sweet bulgur this morning as I realized that I had forgotten to hydrate the wheat berries the night before. Bulgur is amazing in this combination; the grapefruit pulp boosts the flavours magically while the orange blossom water, orange rind preserve and pistachios pair so well. I will definitely repeat this experiment some time very, very soon! Maybe next time I'll follow Joumana's Sweet Bulgur with Grape Molasses or I'll spice it up with ginger, cinnamon & nutmeg. The sky is the limit :))

Perfect Breakfast: Pink Buckwheat w Rosewater

This morning I woke up at 6 and in the stillness of the house I started planning my day over a cup of black honeyed coffee. Yes, I take honey in my coffee. :) I started working for a while till I got distracted by Pintrest. It was a constructive distraction though- it inspired me to create my own beautiful space around me. There are always tiny things that can easily go unnoticed in the whirlpool of life -a  quick snapshot of the sunrise, a dried rose resting at the bottom of the jar, loose green tea, the spritz of perfume on freshly showered skin, the chill out tunes of lounge.fm.

What has inspired me today (so far)

good morning, sunshine

Roses (detail) by Tarasov

frozen in a pink universe

pretty in pink

Last week I bought buckwheat. You may hum a long: "whaaat?" :)  Don't worry, I had held back before buying a bag of buckwheat, as I had no idea how to eat it. The woman in the shop said it was good in soups, but they always tell you that. Throw anything in hot water and you'll get soup ://

But after google-ing it, I was amazed to find out how packed with all the good stuff buckwheat is!

                                                 Nutrients in  Buckwheat

1.00 cup (168.00 grams)

Nutrient%Daily Value

manganese34%

tryptophan25%

magnesium21.4%

fiber18.1%

copper12.5%

Calories (154)8%

source: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=1

While many people think that buckwheat is a cereal grain, it is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel making it a suitable substitute for grains for people who are sensitive to wheat or other grains that contain protein glutens. Buckwheat flowers are very fragrant and are attractive to bees that use them to produce a special, strongly flavored, dark honey.  

(same source as above)

To cut the story short, I must say buckwheat is absolutely delicious, both in savory and delicately sweet dishes. 

A couple of nights ago I made a buckwheat salad with mushrooms and herbs and this morning....

Pink Buckwheat with flavoured yoghurt and rosewater

type of cuisine: fusion, healthy, low fat

What you have to know about buckwheat is that, immersed in warm water, it softens quite quickly. 

Ingredients

half a cup of buckwheat 

rose tea (to flavour the water)

2 tbs of rosewater (to flavour the yoghurt)

2 tbs of yoghurt

a handful of raspberries

2 tsp of honey

Preparation & Method

Pour warm water over the buckwheat, add 2-3 rose buds and let the buckwheat soften for at least 30 minutes. 

In the meantime puree the raspberries, mix them with clear honey, rosewater and yoghurt. 

Drain the buckwheat and pour the flavoured yoghurt over it. 

It is a great combination and rosewater + raspberries pair so well. I make my own flavoured yoghurt at home all the time. I wouldn't even dream of buying it from the supermarket. 

If you recall, last year I posted Gourmet Yoghurt for Foodies which will give you an idea how easy and drop dead gorgeous flavoured-yoghurt making is :)

#inlove

snapshot on Twitter @NiTuairisc

PS. This is my 100th post. 

Guilt-Free Carrot Cake w Sweet Labneh & Spices

Lately I have been baking quite a lot. Basically (as lame as it might sound), the same cake with minor modifications: The Best Banana Bread in the World- with and without spices, followed by The Most Delicious Brownie in the World- with spices and without spices, just plain & extra chocolaty with orange rind preserve, all inspired by the wonderful Rachel de Thample. Rachel wrote a beautiful gem of a book called Less Meat More Veg which is jam-packed with great tips & ideas, fabulous guilt-free recipes, drooling photographs & amazing low-fat desserts that seemed to have been written just for me!!! :))

Guilt-free carrot & orange cake w nuts, sweet labneh & spices

Inspired and adapted from Rachel de Thample's Less Meat More Veg

Type of cuisine: low fat, healthy, fusion

This cake is a loose adaptation of The Best Banana Bread in the World, in the sense that we use carrots instead of bananas. Needless to say, honey, spices, nuts & rich coconut milk go into this delicious recipe. 

It's so ridiculously easy and once you taste it, you are in heaven & back to share it with the one(s) you love. 

I altered the quantities, the shape (loaf instead of cupcakes), and added a squeeze of orange juice, a handful of chopped almonds & a dollop of sweet labneh with orange blossom water. 

 Ingredients

1 medium-sized carrot, thinly grated

250 ml of creamy coconut milk

3 tbs of honey

orange rind from one orange

the juice of 1/2 orange

~~~

a cup of flour

2 sachets of baking powder

1 tsp of freshly ground cinnamon

1 tsp of ginger powder/ or freshly grated ginger

a generous handful of raisins

a handful of chopped almonds and walnuts

~~~

labneh mixed with honey and orange blossom water

Preparation & Method

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C.

Mix together the honey, orange rind, grated carrot, coconut milk & the juice of half an orange. Use a vertical blender to puree all the ingredients. 

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, spices & nuts. 

Mix the two lots and whisk lightly. 

Grease a tin with butter or olive oil and bake the cake for around 30-40 minutes. 

My impressions

Carrot cake has always been one of my top favourite cakes ever, though originally, the list of ingredients included in carrot cake would always make me have second thoughts... I don't like the amount of oil that carrot cake should contain and every time I tried my luck with it (and skimped on the oil), I failed abysmally 

:(

...Until today when I baked my version of "Honeyed carrot cupcakes" (page 216) which is absolutely mind-blowing & totally addictive, by the way & it encapsulates everything I believe a cake should be endowed with:

* a great personality - check

* a fabulous taste - check

* a healthy & guilt-free element - no oil, no eggs - check

* honey/instead of sugar - check

* spices to give it a fusion boost - check

For these reasons and many more I warm-heartedly recommend this beautiful book Less Meat, More Veg which has inspired me to create beautiful things in the kitchen and has unlocked my creativity to play along with recipes & ideas.

Thank you, Rachel sweetie for bringing these dishes to light and give me so many reasons to enjoy the beauty of simple pleasures...called life. xoxo

My vegan carrot loaf with spices

 

and the original from Less Meat More Veg #endlesslove

xoxo 

Labneh Cheesecake with Honey & Lime Leaves Matcha

I have been meaning to put together a cheesecake since...last year when I made and blogged about Cheesecake a mi manera, if you remember. In the meantime, after discovering that I can actually make labneh at home, I have been dreaming of a labneh cheesecake.  Labneh is strained yoghurt cheese, which is very light, smooth, soft, and velvety.  

Call it Cheesecake a mi manera 2, if you want, this cheesecake has some of the ingredients I like the most:  labneh, lemon juice, honey, kaffir lime leaves. 

Labneh cheesecake with mascarpone, honey, matcha lime leaves and vanilla powder

Type of cuisine: Fusion/Low Fat

Ingredients for the base: digestive biscuits, 20 gr of Danish butter, warm water

Ingredients for the cheese cream: a cup of mascarpone cheese, 2 cups of strained yoghurt cheese (7% fat), lime leaves powder, vanilla powder, lemon/lime rind, 4 tbs of honey, the juice of two slices of lemon, dissolved gelatin.


Start by taking care of the cream: strain the yoghurt beforehand. Grind the kaffir lime leaves. Mix the mascarpone with the labneh and add the honey, lime zest, vanilla powder, the juice of half a lemon and the lime leaves matcha. Finally add the dissolved gelatin in milk.

Pulverise the biscuits with the melted butter and a small cup of warm water and a pinch of lime leaves powder and transfer the smooth base onto a circular dish. Press with your palms and fingers to stick it to the bottom and bake it for maximum 10 minutes @ 150 degrees C.

Take the dish out of the oven and pour the cheese cream. Chill for a couple of hours and enjoy with a cup of earl grey.

The lime zest, rind and kaffir matcha will impart a lemony, fresh flavour to the cake and the honey will make the cake taste delicately sweet. Really loved and will certainly repeat the experience. :)

The Most Delicious Brownie in the World

Some time ago I made The Best Banana Bread in the World :) No bragging, this is indeed the best banana bread in the world and let me tell you what were the criteria to label this delicious cake as "the best":

* it's healthy

* it's mildly sweet; it contains one spoon of honey and the natural sweetness of ripe bananas

* it's spicy :)

* it's vegan (no eggs, no milk)

* it's fat free (no oil, no butter) - yes, it's possible to bake an awesome banana bread without the obiquitous cup of oil

There is no secret that I love relatively guilt-free desserts and I have a pet hate for oil and animal fats. 

I adore brownies. They are so moist & smooth as a result of the packet of butter at the core of their velvety texture. Fair enough. I once made a brownie following the text book, and I must say it was divine. But is there a brownie to appeal to my taste which doesn't compromise on the flavour, the moisture and the deep chocolaty taste?

So I looked, I browsed, I searched, I scrolled down until "butter" cropped up in the recipe and then I gave up. 

But it just occurred to me to add melted bitter chocolate and ganache to The Best Banana Bread in the World and there I had The Most Delicious Brownie in the World, inspired by Rachel De Thampe who wrote a wonderful book called Less Meat, More Veg. I hope you will try this version and enjoy it in the morning with a cup of strong coffee with cardamon. 

so delicious and soft it melts into your mouth

brownie crumbles

Bulgur Salad with Mint & Pomegranates

I discovered bulgur the first time I ordered tabouleh @ El Bacha restaurant in Bucharest. I thought, wow, what a great salad, so fresh and bursting with all the good stuff. Parsley does wonders when you have a flu, for instance, as it's packed with vitamin K and vitamin C. 

There was a time when I was going around the shops here in Bucharest desperately looking for bulgur, to no avail...the magic ingredient was nowhere to be found. Things changed in the meantime and recently I found bulgur in some small specialized shops. Needless to say, I stocked up on it and used to the full!

Bulgur Salad with Mint, Parsley & Pomegranates and a hint of Zataar

Type of cuisine: Middle Eastern/low fat/Fusion

This is a variation of tabouleh, basically we use 3/4 bulgur and 1/4 parsley and mint, plus we skip the tomatoes and replace them with pomegranate seeds. 

Ingredients

 half a cup of bulgur

a handful of fresh mint leaves

a handful of parsley

1/2 pomegranate 

a pinch of salt

lemon juice

extra virgin olive oil

zataar 

Method

Steam the bulgur until it becomes fluffy. Chop the mint and the parsley. Seed the pomegranates.

Once you have all the ingredients at hand, it's time you assembled the salad. Mix the bulgur with the mint & parsley, season with salt, add two tbs of extra virgin olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Finally, add the pomegranate seeds and stir gently. Decorate with zataar.

I usually make this salad for parties. It goes well with the usual Lebanese dips such as moutabal, baba ganoush, labneh with cumin and mint & laban with garlic and olive oil. But it pairs well also with Beetroot raita with garam masala, recipe I promise I will post soon.

Until then, enjoy life, love and good food. xoxo

Ready for the party

A typical meal @ El Bacha should start with dips and salads, followed by hot meat dishes: beef sharhat, kebabs, dej jawaneh, and delicious mildly sweet Middle Eastern desserts. 

taken with Instagram

El Bacha Alba Iulia Square, Bucharest

The Best Banana Bread in the World

A basic convention in formal and technical writing states that we should never use opinion and non-definable adjectives & expressions, such as: big, too much, the best. How big is "big" and how great is "the best"?

Well, I will willingly break this meaningful rule by claiming that yes, this is the best banana bread I have ever had! That yes, it is possible to bake an amazing banana bread without using eggs and drowning it in oil. 

Baking is a challenge for me as I will never come to terms with the amount of butter, eggs and oil used in most cakes.   

Without being a butter control freak, I am always on the look for the perfect recipe which substitutes or at least reduces the amount of fat, sugar and cholesterol. Though many times I cheat white sugar by replacing it with honey, agave syrup or brown sugar, switching butter with olive oil, I have found it hard to do without eggs...until yesterday. 

I came back from Ireland with a string of some great little treasures aka cookbooks: Harry Eastwood's Skinny Kitchen, Ross Dobson's Wholefood Kitchen, My Kitchen - Vegetarian and Less Meat More Veg by Rachel de Thample, among others. I am not entirely vegetarian, so I don't master well terms such as "vegan" and "raw cuisine", but incorporating a variety of seasonal fruit & vegetables in our diet is something I always do. I have an iron deficiency and I need proteins and meat on a daily basis, otherwise I get dizzy and sick :/

"Vegetarian is not all beans and tofu" and I couldn't agree more. Cooking & eating healthy and balanced dishes is a priority for me, something that you've probably noticed going though my blog. I am not saying that eggs, oil and butter are bad by any means. I am advocating for balance and moderation and if and when we can replace them, why not just do so? 

The Best (Chocolate) Banana Bread Ever

adapted from Less Meat More Veg by Rachel de Thample *love*

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas

250 ml coconut milk

a sachet of baking powder

1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda

a cup of flour  (approx 250 gr)

mixed with

spices: cinnamon, cardamom pods, grated ginger

and 

golden raisins, crushed walnuts & preserved orange rind 

honey

2 tbs of Whittard of Chelsea hot chocolate with ginger

Method

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C.

1. Puree the bananas and mix them with 2 tsp of honey, orange rind and coconut milk. 

2. In a deep bowl mix the flour with the baking soda and the baking powder, a handful of walnuts, golden raisins & spices: 2 freshly ground cinnamon sticks, 4 cloves of cardamom, and a small square of freshly grated ginger. 

Pour the puree of banana & coconut milk over the flour mix, keeping aside a small quantity of batter that you will mix with the coco powder. 

Grease & flour a tin and pour the batter into it. Decorate with the chocolate batter and extra preserved orange rind. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes @ 160 degrees C.

My conclusion

Finding out this amazing recipe proves that it is possible to indulge in an absolutely delicious treat in a great guilt-free style! Yes, without compromising on the taste and texture, this cake is egg-less and oil-free (apart from the tiny drip you use to grease the tin).  The coconut milk replaces here regular oil wonderfully. It makes the bread incredibly moist.  It is an explosion of flavours; the cardamom and the ginger bring Arabian and Indian influences to it, just the way I like it. A bit of fusion is always welcome :)

Because I used a shallow tin (my mistake, next time I'll know better), the cake almost overspilled in the oven and I also had enough batter to bake two extra muffins. 

It pairs well with Indian tea with spices. 

a bite of yummyness

Mung Bean Salad with Prosciutto & Pomegranates

My husband invited a friend over for dinner and on the spur of the moment I cooked some I mung beans.  Actually, I had bought them a couple of hours earlier. I had read about them in the past and I assumed they had to taste like lentils, so I began by boiling them. 

I drained them, salted them a little and added chopped parsley & spring onions, a squeeze of lemon juice, the seeds of half of a pomegranate and 2 thin slices of prosciutto. 

Mixed all together and tasted to see what it's like. Absolutely divine. Took some quick shots before I dished it on the plates. Sorry for the presentation, I will remake this salad asap and post new (more handsome) photos, but if you decide to give it a try, you will not be disappointed. :)

PS. If you want to go for the vegetarian option, discard the prosciuttto. It will be equally delicious.

Sweet Couscous with Baked Figs & Lebnah

Figs just do the trick for me. They give such an oomph to so many sweet or savoury dishes, taking them to new heights. They should be fresh and ripe to spice up & complement the following dishes:

* figs and prosciutto ruccolla salad

* honeyed fig scones

* sticky cinnamon baked figs with rosewater, labneh & pistachios

* savoury couscous with fig cubes, lemon and chives

* plum & fig  chutney

*labneh with figs, pistachios & honey

..... and many more.

Sweet Couscous with Baked Figs, Honey & Rosewater Labneh

adapted from Wholefood Kitchen by Ross Dobson

Type of cuisine: Moroccan with strong Middle Eastern influences

Ingredients

(for 2 people)

a cup of couscous

1 tbs of (unsalted) butter

2 tbs of honey

1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon

3 fresh figs

(brown) sugar to sprinkle over the figs

------

4 tbs of home-made labneh

1 tbs of condensed milk (or honey)

2 tbs of rosewater

Method 

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees C. 

Wash, halve the figs and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle some sugar over them and bake for around 20 minutes. 

Put the butter, honey, cinnamon, and couscous in a large bowl, pour enough hot water over to cover all and cover tightly with clingfilm or a lid. 

Mix the lebnah with honey/condensed milk and rosewater and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Return to the couscous and fluff it up with a fork and cover again. 

When the figs are soft & caramelized, take them out of the oven.

Serve in small bowls as in the picture above. 

This is a healthy and delicious option if you don't want to bake a cake. As a variation of this dish, in case you don't have figs, you could marinate sultanas and jumbo raisins in honeyed water with orange blossom water and mix them with couscous & chopped pistachios.