Date Cinnamon Bagels

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Bagels2
I was not a fan of bagels until I went to New York. Daniel and I went to America in May last year for two weeks to have our second honey moon and catch up with one of my besties who moved to NY a couple of years ago. I wasn’t that impressed for the first few days maybe because I didn’t find it that exotic. I am from Seoul originally, a big capital city in South Korea. So going to a big busy city like NY does not really attract me, but Europe does. I made a daily schedule where to visit and where to eat, etc. One of the things to try on my list was NY bagels at different places e.g. Ess-a bagels, Murray bagels, H&H Midtown bagels. We walked so much to try to find those bagel places that everyone said nice on the internet. It was okay. Well that didn’t live up to my expectations though and geez rude staff really put me off. Then we were on the way to World’s Trade Centre memorial. We got off the train and started walking just out of the subway station. It started pouring out of blue. We had to get in somewhere to avoid rain, which was “Zucker’s bagels and smoked fish”. Thanks to the rain! I had the best bagel in town, which was a pumpernickel bagel with walnut& cinnamon cream cheese. Fluffy and chewy dark pumpernickel.. generous thick layer of cream cheese inside.. coffee was nice, too. Such a good find 🙂 We were going to go back there though didn’t get a chance. I’ve never been able to find a nice bagel like Zucker’s ever since then. Oh well I will just have to make myself there again to NY.

Daniel and I went to this cafe called “Antz in ya pants” near our place on the weekend. We go there almost every weekend to have coffee. Daniel orders their bagels now and then. It looks dense, dry, boring, a paper thin layer of cream cheese…what can I say? So I decided to make some for him this morning and it turned out to be amazing. The cream can be made with cream charger aka nang or nangs shop. I will have to try GF version next time so I can have some too. I’m going to serve this with whipped cream cheese with maple syrup and cinnamon powder. Sounds delicious!

BagelsIngredients

For the starter
100g flour
a teaspoon of dried yeast
a cup of warm water

Dough
200g flour + extra for kneading
a teaspoon of dried yeast
a teaspoon of brown sugar
a pinch of salt
2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
5 chopped dates
1 teaspoon of coconut oil
water

Mix the starter ingredients in a bowl and leave it covered for an hour. Then you will see all bubbles on the surface – yeast is doing their job! Add the dough ingredients into the starter and mix all together. Knead the dough until smooth. Cover up and allow the dough to double in size in a warm place (on the kitchen bench for me) for a couple of hours. Then punch the dough down gently and divide the dough into three pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and then a circle (the bagel shape). Place the bagels on a baking paper, cover up and let it rise again in a warm place. When it’s ready to be baked, put the bagels for a minute each side in a large pan of boiling water with a teaspoon of salt and brown sugar. Pat-dry and place the bagels in a baking pan and bake in the preheated oven (200) for 20-30minutes until they are golden brown.
Bagel3

Posted in: Baking, Breakfast, My recipes, Snack, Vegetarian

Plum Galette

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Plum GaletteSummer fruits are out! Plums, nectarines, grapes, mangoes, etc. Bright red plums caught my eyes at the shops today. It is of course yummy eating by itself, but this tart stone fruit gets incredibly sweet when used in baking. This plum galette is perfect for light summer dessert and is super quick to make.

Nutritional benefits of juicy plums
– full of antioxidants (beta carotenes and anthocyanins) preventing you from cell damage and different types of cancers
– rich dietary fibre helps in digestion and alleviates constipation
– minerals such as potassium, fluoride and iron are good for your heart and blood pressure
– vitamin A for healthy eyes and good vision

Ingredients

For the crust
50g buckwheat flour
50g raw cashew nuts
5 medjool dates or dried dates
a teaspoon of cinnamon powder
a pinch of salt
cold water

For the filling
1 red plum sliced
a teaspoon of brown sugara teaspoon of cinnamon powder

Put all ingredients for the crust in the food processor. Blend all up and add cold water a little by little until you get a dough consistency. Knead the dough and rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes so that it is not crumbly. This technique, I learnt from one of the people who work at Creamsta. Then roll out the dough on the baking paper. Put slices of red plum with sugar and cinnamon powder in a ring form. Fold the edges around the fruit. Bake in the preheated oven (180) for about 30 minutes until crust is golden and crispy. Let it cool slightly before cutting up. Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or yogurt on top.Plum Galette2

Posted in: Baking, Dessert, Gluten Free, My recipes, Vegetarian

GF Loaf On The Go

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Breakfast loaf

It was about 9 years ago when I moved to Perth by myself. I never lived overseas before and didn’t know what to expect. I was living in a share house with a couple of other people. Having to share a kitchen, fridge, and every other things out of my own room was very uncomfortable. But I had to deal with that for a couple of years as the tuition fee was ridiculously expensive as an international Uni student (about 3-4 times more than local students). I didn’t care much about what I ate back then, so I had a bit of weird addiction to one food, which I ate every day every single meal until I got bored of it. I used to live on breakfast cereal, Crunchy nut, at some point. Although it was so sugary and had absolutely no nutrition, it was quick and convenient to just fill up my stomach. After that, weet-bix, breakfast bars, frozen peas, etc. This bad eating habit continued after I finished Uni and got a job just because I was too busy to eat my lunch or dinner at work. I was working long hours without proper breaks and just had to shovel down something quick between patients. Thinking back now I deeply regret and feel sorry for not caring my health for years. I cannot blame anyone but me >.< So no excuses everyone and make this loaf!!!!

Great thing about making this awesome breakfast loaf is healthy, easy and has everything you need. So if you are going out somewhere, busy at work, traveling, getting on the plane, etc, take this loaf in your bag as a snack or even simple meal. You can be creative and put other ingredients that you like. To make one loaf (about 4-5 servings) I used 150g grated green apple, 1 knob of grated ginger, 1 tea spoon of cinnamon powder, 2 table spoons of maple syrup, 1 table spoon of coconut oil, 100g eggs, 1 tea spoon of baking powder, 75g coconut flour, 30g of LSA, 25g maca powder, 25g mequisite powder and a pinch of Himalayan salt. Simply combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, transfer to a loaf tin and bake in the preheated oven (180) for 45 minutes or until it’s all cooked. I put these ingredients because I just love a combination of apple, cinnamon and ginger. But you can make your own recipes using different flavour combinations such as banana and chocolate, coconut and blueberries, cranberries and pecans, dates and apricot, strawberry and rhubarb, etc.

Posted in: Baking, Breakfast, Gluten Free, My recipes, Snack, Vegetarian

Why I burnt my arm today

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We haven’t been to many picnics this summer. Too many hot days with strong sun makes me stay in the house more with air-conditioning on. Totally opposite to other people who enjoy the sun and swim at the beach. I get sunburn pretty easily. Even walking around with sleeveless top during the day does enough for me. I remember when we did a walking tour for a few hours in Sydney, no matter how much I tried to hide from the sun and stayed in the shade, I got sunburn on my shoulders and neck. Ah so painful when you have a shower and put the clothes on >.<

Zebra cakeMy dear friend who has two little boys always takes them to either a swimming pool or the beach on the weekend so that kids can play in the water. Daniel and I decided to join them to Mettam’s pool beach tomorrow morning. I was thinking of making some snacks for the boys (always hard to come up with something for kids since they are fussy eaters). I’ve seen some photos of Zebra Cake on the internet before. I thought it would be perfect for them cause it looks fun as well as tastes good. Zebra patterns might look a little daunting and hard to make, but trust me, they are not at all.

Ingredients
100g Self-raising flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
50g brown sugar
1 table-spoon of coconut oil
150g milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of cacao powder

Firstly beat eggs and sugar until the mixture is pale in colour. Add milk and coconut oil and continue beating. Then add sifted flour, baking powder, vanilla extract into the mixture. The batter should be soft and runny otherwise add more milk or flour to get the right consistency. Divide the mixture to two portions. Add cacao powder to one portion. Now a fun bit starts! Put two table spoons of batter into the centre of the baking pan, alternating vanilla batter and cacao batter on top of each other. The batter will spread itself to the edge of the pan and create nice rings. Bake in the preheated oven (180) for 40-50 minutes.

Chocolate Beet Cake

Then my second baking started to make something for my morning/afternoon snack. My choice is GF Chocolate Beet Cake! There is no technique required in this cake. Just mix all ingredients and bake in the oven. I already finished a slice with a cup of tea – delicious!

Ingredients
1 cup grated beetroot
4 eggs
1/2 cup of maple syrup
100g coconut flour
1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon of ginger powder
a teaspoon of vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Back to the title… I was busy baking all the cakes this morning. About an hour of baking I was taking the cake out of the oven for a final check. Yes, I was wearing a mitten but somehow I managed to burn my arm. Ouch! Quickly had some cold water running on my arm and put a papaw cream on, but it looks like I’m going to get blisters and probably a nice oven scar. Oh well, it’s not the first time. I think I need a bigger oven?! 🙂

Posted in: Baking, My recipes, Snack

Gorgonzola and Honey Pizza

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Gorgonzola Pizza

If you’ve never put honey with blue cheese, you will get pleasantly surprised how wonderful it is. I tried this pizza when I was in Korea, one of the Italian restaurants. They put just two ingredients on top of paper-thin pizza, Gorgonzola cheese and pesto, and serve with honey in a dipping bowl. What you do is grab a slice of pizza and dip in honey. It’s a delectable sweet and salty dish. Easy to put together yet complex in flavour! This combination works really good served as a starter on crostini or salad with slices of pear or apple or figs. Yum!

Red Salad: Mix cumin, grated beetroot and carrot with coriander. Season with salt and pepper. Dress with  coconut vinegar, lemon juice and e.v.o.o.

Stuffed Green Capsicum: Cook minced beef in a pan with garlic, ginger, chilli and soy sauce. Clean the inside of the green capsicum and fill up with cooked beef. Put it in the preheated oven (180) for 20 minutes until capsicum is soft and tender.

Gorgonzola Pizza: Roll out the pizza dough nice and thin. Spread pesto at the bottom and arrange caramelised onion, slices of figs, Gorgonzola cheese, Parmesan cheese, garlic chips and walnuts. Put it in the oven for about 15 minutes. Add a drizzle of honey just before serve.

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Posted in: Baking, Dinner, Lunch, My recipes