Saturday, May 26, 2012

Finally Namibian-produced Chicken is on Shop Shelves

Hello every one (especially Namibians), let us support our farmers and buy the three brands of Namibian-produced chicken. These are "CountryChoice Chicken", "Realgood Chicken", and "NamChicken".

Let me know once you've tried them out if "local is really lekka"!

Addi :)

Cheese Cake, Chocolate Mini Cakes and Cupcakes

This weekend, it is just us the offspring (I shall not call myself a child!!!) at home! As awesome as that sounds, that is not really how it pans out. There are no sudden bouts of freedom - no parties at home, no parties anywhere else and no trashing the house either. I have to say we are, for the most part, well behaved when left home alone. So early in the morning we went grocery shopping. My sister and I went crazy for dessert ingredients, much to the annoyance of our brother. Having two very hyper dogs also means the grocery money has to be split between human food and the ever expensive dog food and treats. But we managed well.

So home we came with our purchases.  I must say I was in such a good mood and proceeded to do some work on the CAD designs I've been busy with all week. Midway through my drawing my computer crashes and I lost all the work I had added onto it :(.

For no other reason then to get myself in a better mood (actually so as not to scream at my siblings and cousins or bash things about) I did some baking with my sister. While she made a gorgeous cheesecake I made chocolate mini-cakes, vanilla cupcakes and caramel cupcakes.

Cheesecake

Beautiful Cheesecake 

I have to say, I suck at a cheesecake and it is something I doubt I will ever master. My sister on the other hand just does this beautifully and effortlessly. I watched her blitz some tea cookies in the blender before adding melted butter to them and lining a baking dish with her blitzed goodies and placing them in the refrigerator to set. Then she worked on her filling - this bit I must say I found daunting and do not quite remember how she did it.  After putting the filling bit on the base, she then garnished the top with grated dark Swiss chocolate.



Chocolate Mini Cakes

Chocolate mini cakes

I made the ever favourite, among kids anyway, chocolate cake. I did not want to go through the hassle of assembling a cake and icing it. So I used brownie baking equipment to make mini cakes instead. After turning them out and allowing to cool, I made a chocolate butter icing which I layered on top of each mini cake before decorating with smarties sweets and mini eggs.







Vanilla and Caramel Cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes and Caramel cupcakes

I also made two types of cupcakes, a vanilla and a caramel one. Firstly I made the vanilla cupcakes and then made a white royal icing for the topping before finishing them off with flowers made with multi coloured sweet balls and miniature eggs.



Since my brother and my little cousin made cupcakes last week, I ran out of vanilla and used caramel as a substitute. For the frosting bit of the caramel cupcakes, I made pink and blue royal icing and decorated the cupcakes the same way as the vanilla cupcakes.



In hindsight, I think I might have gone a little overboard with the baking. But I'm sure a sugar high (or a downward spiral for me) is just what we need to get us to the parent's return. We do plan to save them some.

Welcome home cupcakes?
Or this for "Welcome home cupcakes?

As always, let me know what you think and also let me know of any suggestions for new recipes and decorating tips.

Till we bake again. Addi :)

Boys' Cupcakes

So last week, my baby brother and little cousin decided to do a bit of baking. I must say this was unaided and is their second attempt at baking. The last time they made a blue-ish (do not ask me why it is blue) coffee cake which tasted beautifully but just looked odd!

This time they made choco-vanilla (their own making) cupcakes. They had me in giggles, I entered the kitchen to find two little boys trying to stuff an already cooked cupcake into cupcake papers. After having told them they should have baked the cupcake in the paper before and not put it in after it is baked they looked rather surprised. So their batch number 2 of cupcakes was then baked in the proper way.

choco-vanilla cupcake
 They then made a green cream icing to top the cupcakes with.

choco-vanilla cupcake with green icing
 And decorated the top with maroon cream icing and silver decorating balls.

Ribbon choco-vanilla cupcake

Face choco-vanilla cupcake

another face choco-vanilla cupcake
These were delicious and I can't wait for their next round of cupcakes or cakes or whatever they decide to make. 

Let me know what you thought of these.

Till next bake (my brother's). Addi :)

Monday, May 21, 2012

Sushi Dinner

For dinner, on Mother's Day, we decided to have sushi! Yay!!

Smoked Salmon, Cucumber and Sushi Ginger sushi with light soy sauce
Before we could begin, my cousin and I decided to whet our appetites with a glass of red wine each :)


The way one makes sushi is so fast and requires one to have one's ingredients to be conveniently on hand.

Sushi Rice "Shari"

So first all I made the sushi rice. Sushi rice is round and can be bought at most supermarkets like Spar or Fruit Lover's Market in Windhoek. The "shari", as the Japanese call sushi rice, I used was bought by my cousin in the Czech Republic.


 To make the rice, measure out the rice (1 cup makes 3 rolls) that you will require. Then wash it with running water for about two minutes until the water runs clear. You then place it gently in a pot, add some water (1 part rice to 1.5 parts water). Be sure not to use too much water or you will get a clumped mess. Cook the  rice on high heat, stirring after one minute intervals until the water boils. Then  reduce the heat to minimum and cover the pot and allow to cook without stirring. Check the rice occasionally to see the water level - if there is no more water, and grains in the pot are bigger, then the rice is done.
Using a wooden or plastic spoon, as the rice as it is very delicate, remove the rice from the pot and place into a plastic or wooden bowl. Make sure to only take out the rice that comes out easily because the rice stuck to the bottom is dry and won't taste good.

To get your rice to taste like sushi rice, you will have to season it immediately after taking it out of the pot. To make the seasoning for 3 cups of rice you will need: ½ cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons salt that you will mix together in a small pot on medium heat until all the solids have dissolved. Then just pour the mixture onto the rice, stir well and allow to cool to room temperature.

The rest of the ingredients

Sushi ginger



Sushi Nori (Roasted Seaweed), this was also bought in the Czech Republic but you can get nori from Spar or Fruit Lover's Market or the market in Klein Windhoek.


 Soy Sauce


 Smoked Salmon


Cucumber


I've decided not to use wasabi this time. But next time I shall use it.

The Method

So first you lay out your mat . Then you feel the nori sheet on both sides and place the nori on the mat with the rough side facing upwards. Since I was making a thick roll, with more than 1 ingredient (Futo maki) I used the entire nori sheet without cutting it.


Next, you wet your hands, and with one hand take a handful of rice and gently shape it like a ball. Gently place the rice ball in the middle of the nori sheet and spread it equally on the nori.


You then place a two slices of cucumber, a few slices of sushi ginger and a few slices of smoked salmon on the edge of the nori. If you put too much filling on, the sushi might be unrollable.



Starting from the closer edge of the rolling mat, close the filling with the nori to make a rectangular shaped hill and tighten it from above. Move forward and continue rolling, keeping it tight with every move until you reach the end of the nori. Put slight pressure on the roll from all three side at all times going from the edges to the centre as you go.











When you open the rolling mat you should find the sushi roll is sealed and ready. If the nori didn't stick properly to close the roll, you should use a bit of water to close it with your fingers.







Wet a sharp knife and cut into sushi segments



Arrange on a plate and serve with soy sauce. Enjoy!


As usual, let me know what you think and how it went for you. Till the next recipe brings us together. Addi!

Mother's Day Lunch

This Mother's Day, for lunch we decided to make an unusual sort of dish - in that you couldn't really name it as, say, African, Italian, Japanese, etc.

I made and cheese, chives and mint potato bake, boiled sweet corn (with olive oil butter), cucumber and sushi ginger, and salmon sushi served with light soy sauce. I'll post how I made the sushi later.


For dessert, My sister made chocolate mini cupcakes with Nutella topping and pink, white and silver decorations. As usual, I can't post cake recipe's as they are family secrets :)


From this view the mini cupcakes can be seen well.


Mint Tea

When I first started this blog I really wanted it to be about all sorts of tea that I could make. Then I thought I'd incorporate different types of liquor and how they I tasted in order to pick the right one to accompany a meal. Fast forward a couple of years and the blog is now more about cakes and desserts. I must say, even though the majority of the post are about desserts, this blog is really about my in Namibia but told through the different food (be it liquid or solid) that I eat.





So, after years (or maybe months) of neglect I have made a "tea", if you can call it that. I have been feeling a bit under the weather and have overused the "ginger and honey" and "lemon and honey" pairings for tea and decided to make mint tea. All you do is take a bunch of fresh mint leaves and put them in a cup then add freshly boiled water and let it infuse for a few minutes before drinking. It is as simple as that and soothes the throat and helps decongest the nasal passages. If you prefer you could sweeten the tea.


Monday, May 14, 2012

Chocolate Caramel Cake

We, NK Just Desserts, have sold our first cake! 

Chocolate Caramel Cake

I am so very excited.
We, my cousin and I, have toyed around with the idea of desserts sale for so long, and were convinced we have doomed ourselves. 

I got a phone call one morning last week for a request to make a square chocolate caramel cake. This  I did as fast as I could to reach the "tomorrow" deadline accompanying the request. 


Chocolate Cake
All in all I think the it turned out all right considering the short notice. Decoration and lettering is something I still need to practice though.

Let me know what you thought and maybe hints on ways of improvement. Till next bake. Addi