Porridge of the Week 26

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Porridge of the Week 26

Karolina's Healthy Porridge- with caramelised banana

Category: Healthy
Cook the porridge as normal by mixing Scottish oats with oat bran (50:50) and pinch of salt and milk. Add about 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon and 2 tbsp of dried exotic fruits (pineapple, coconut, papaya, mango, etc. I also prepared caramelised banana. To make it heat a pan with 2 tbsp caster sugar, drop of vanilla essence and tbsp water. Leave it to bubble until dark amber in colour. Add sliced banana, toss it until covered in caramel and add tbsp of butter. Fry for another minute or so. Remove from the heat and place on the top of the porridge.

Thankyou so much to Karolina, the author of the Senses in the Kitchen blog, forsending me this great recipe- and for the amazing photos. I love it when people send me content, especially when it's new porridge ideas! I always welcome content, so feel free to send me anything of interest to loulovesfood@mail.com

Okay, so there's a bit of sugar and butter in this porridge... But the oat bran and fruits more than make up for it. I love the sound of caramelised banana, so I'm really keen to give this a go. Karolina's blog is full of really gorgeous recipes, and equally gorgeous photography. I get serious envy (and hunger pangs...) when I check it out. You should go take a look- her blog is

http://www.sensesinthekitchen-karolina.blogspot.com/

Karolina- thankyou thankyou thankyou !

Karolina says...
"This is a porridge that I cooked last weekend, improvising little bit and trying not to waste last sad, rather dark and soft banana.t seems like a great winter porridge for cold day, when I can't get decent fresh berries (my favourite ones for porridge). I am not a big fan of bananas but I found it very tasty."

xxx

Mate: A Time to Share

I am always keen to hear about food cultures and cuisines from around the Globe, with a personal passion for travel and street food. I am very fortunate to have recruited two LouLovesFood correspondents, Simon and Ayelen, in Buenos Aires, to report back on the food in a corner of the world I have yet to discover for myself.
I hope you enjoy their maiden post;


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Christmas is a time for giving and sharing, and so it seems appropriate to open our blog with the ultimate communal drink- ‘mate’.


With 98% of Argentinean homes owning the necessary paraphernalia, mate is the traditional Argentinean drink of choice. But mate is not just a drink for the home. From offices to parks, and from businessmen to bus drivers, mate is an intrinsic part of Argentinean life.

Mate is a hot herbal infusion served in a gourd and drunk through a metal straw. The main ingredient of mate is the yerba (that’s sherba to us Gringos); small dry shreds of leaves from a tree principally found in Paraguay, Uruguay, the north of Argentina and the south of Brazil.

Ingredients required for mates
1 cebador (or server)
1 gourd
1 metal straw
Yerba
Hot water (not boiling)
Group of friends and a few spare hours for talking (optional)

The cebador will prepare the mate, filling the gourd two-thirds full of yerba and any additional ingredients (more of that later). While the yerba is still dry the straw is positioned at an angle in the gourd, at which point the water is added. Some people add a little cold water first so as not to burn the leaves. When the gourd is full the cebador will take the first drink, something sometimes seen as an act of kindness due to the bitterness of the initial cup, before refilling it and passing it on to the right. Once drunk it will return to him for another refill and the process continues as the gourd makes its way around the circle, with the cebador changing a bit of the yerba every now and again so as to preserve the flavour.

Each cup should be drunk in its entirety and any English sensibilities must be resisted as regards thanking the cebador: you are not to say “thank you” until you don’t want any more! And if you get too caught up in the conversation and forget you are in possession of the precious mate, don’t be surprised to hear the words ‘no es un micrófono!’ (it’s not a microphone!)

Additional ingredients
Due to its bitter taste mate is often drunk with sugar, but that’s not the only way to have it…

Mate with orange or lemon: Warm the lemon or orange peel over direct heat and chop or grind it as best as possible, before adding to the gourd. In Paraguay it is often drunk cold with orange peel.
Mate with mountain herbs: Made of 95% yerba, 1.5% mint, 1.5% pennyroyal and 1% peppermint.
Mate with coffee: Add two teaspoons of sugar and a teaspoon of coffee to the yerba and mix.
Mate with milk: Replace the hot water with milk!

Mate language:
Bitter- indifference
Sweet- friendship
Very sweet- talk to my parents to ask for my hand
Very hot- I’m dying of love for you
Cool- contempt
Cinnamon- all I think about is you
Brown sugar- I sympathise with you
Orange peel- come find me
Coffee- offense forgiven
Milk- held in esteem
Boiling- marriage
Foamy- sweethearts

Classic accompaniments
Tortas fritas
Churros
Pastries (facturas)
Bizcochitos de grasa

I hope you've loved this post as much as I do! Thank you SO much to Ayelen and Simon for their time and knowledge, I can't wait to receive more.
If you are reading this from foreign climes and have any ideas for content that you would like to share, whether it be a national dish, recipe, tradition or local eatery, please get in touch to become a LLF correspondent too!

loulovesfood@mail.com

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International Contributer: Thai Chicken Pastry

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The last night of winter is a time for inspiration! In cold times warm food and the heat of chilli pamper the soul, but with the advent of spring food must gain momentum start to hint of the wonderful season to come. A poke around Perth’s local markets gave me all I need to do just that – Thai chicken pastry (I refuse to say sausage roll!). I love Thai ingredients, and HATE freezer pack finger foods that rear their ugliness weekly at parties. This recipe is so easy and entices with the warmth of chilli, and excites with a kaleidoscope of fresh flavour, which to me is the hallmark of Thai food.


Needed for pastry:
• Minced chicken
• An apple
• Nob of ginger
• Chilli (I used a fried dry chilli)
• Kaffir lime leaf (an absolute MUST)
• A bunch of coriander
• Cracked pepper
• An egg (or two for binding mixture, keep some for glazing pastry)
• Puff pastry (buy it pre-made unless you’ve got a spare day)
• Sesame seeds (for garnishing pastry)



Dipping sauce:
• Sweet Chilli
• White vinegar
• Palm sugar (cane is okay if you don’t have palm)
• Roasted peanuts, crushed or chopped finely


Finely chop ingredients to make filling. Add egg and mix!

Roll filling in puff pastry, glaze with egg and decorate. Bake at 200°C in oven until brown and puffed.


Big thanks to today's guest contributor, my Australian friend John. As we always meet in London and he resides in Perth I've never had the honour of trying his food, and it greives me. But listening to him talk and seeing some of the things he creates, I know he's bloody good.
I hope he graces us with his wisdom and adventures from the other side of the world soon. Thankyou!

x

Guest Post: Aarons' Guide to Home-made Mayonnaise

Homemade mayonnaise tastes so different from the supermarket bought version that it is almost criminal. I was scared to try it for a long time because of all sorts of horror stories about how difficult making mayonnaise was. But there really is no need to be afraid. I trawled through about a dozen mayonnaise recipes looking for tips and have come up with one that I think works well and tastes sublime. I hope you like it too.

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The key with mayonnaise is to use really really fresh free range eggs. The fresher the egg, the more likely everything is to turn out perfectly. Whisk one large egg yolk with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Add a tablespoon of white whine vinegar and give it a good thorough whisk for a couple of minutes. This bit is important because it helps the mayonnaise to emulsify later.

Now take some olive oil and start dribbling it in drop by drop, keeping the whisking action going. A food processor or electric whisk is very handy here. This is the stage where things can go wrong. You just need to make sure that each drop of oil is thoroughly whisked in before adding the next drop.

Once you've added about two or three tablespoons of oil and the whole mixture begins to thicken then you an start adding the rest of the oil (a total of 500ml) in a thin continuous trickle. If it starts to get too thick add another tablespoon of white wine vinegar and if that fails a tablespoon of warm water.

There are a few tricks in case you don't quite the hang of it and the mixture splits and curdles- The first is to use a 50% vegetable oil and 50% olive oil at first, thus ensuring that you don't waste vast quantities of olive oil on failed attempts.

Also, don't throw out your failed curdled mayo! Just start again with another fresh batch and then as the mixture starts to thicken, gradually add in your curdled mixture drop by drop.
After the mixture has thickened the hard part is over and you can add the juice of a lemon to give it a sharper taste.

There are a thousand things you can do with it once you've triumphed;
Mix in herbs or smoked fish, put a dollop in a fish stew, mix in some crab, add crushed or chopped garlic to turn it into aioli.... endless possibilities! It'll keep in the fridge in a jam jar for about a week.

...And once you've tasted it you'll never go back to Hellman's.

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Thank you so much to Aaron for this post! I would, if he doesn't mind, like to dedicate it to my Papa, a fierce believer in the worth of home made mayonnaise, and Hellman's arch nemesis. (My house was more tuna-yoghurt than tuna-mayo. Oh yes.)

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