Coconut rice (for ricecooker)

This is a great rice to serve as a side dish with spicy indian food. It will make a great combination of flavours.

Ingredients: 

290 gr basmati rice

240 ml coconut milk

480 ml water

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 tbsp shredded coconut

If you don't have coconut milk, don't worry, it's very easy to do at home. You need 225 gr desiccated coconut and 450 ml boiling water. Put the coconut in a food processor and pour the over the boiling water. Process for 20-30 seconds, then cool. 

Place a cloth over, bring the ends together and twist it to extract the liquid. You can keep the coconut milk in the fridge 1-2 days or it can be frozen until you need it.

To prepare the coconut rice, put all the ingredients in a rice cooker and stir well. Cover and set to cook. Stir once or twice while it's cooking. Serve with some indian curry or with the food you prefer, but I think it's the best way to balance the flavours with very spicy food. 

Fried zucchini flowers

Summer is the perfect season for zucchini at my home and besides the vegetables, also the flowers are edible and very tasty! Here is a very simple recipe for deep fried zucchini flowers. 

 Ingredients:

zucchini flowers (12-15)
150 gr flour
250 ml water
pinch of salt
1 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
1 tsp sweet chili powder (optional)
oil for deep frying





Put the flour and the salt with the spices in a bowl. Slowly add the water and stir until you have a smooth dough. Heat the oil in a pan and when it's hot enough put the flowers, you've put in the mixture before. Fry until ready and let them cool a little bit.
You can serve them with some fresh vegetables and it will make a perfect summer dinner.

Banana & Pistachio Lassi

What about a cool drink for these hot summer days?
My suggestion is to have a cold indian drink called lassi. In India they drink it with the spicy food (it helps to digest it), but you can actually have it whenever you want to. :)

This recipe serves 4 people.

 Ingredients:
300 ml natural low fat yogurt
1 tsp sugar (optional or according to your taste)
300 ml milk
30 ml puréed banana
1 tbsp crushed pistachio nuts, to decorate

The preparation of this drink is very easy. Put the yogurt in a pitcher and whisk it until frothy. Pour in the milk and the fruit and continue to whisk 2 minutes. Serve in long glasses and decorate with some pistachio nuts on the top. 

Pasta omelette (frittata di pasta)

You never know how much pasta should you cook? You're never sure if you're too hungry and you put waay to much pasta in the pan? I have a recipe today that will help you to deal with all your leftover pasta. Because food is a blessing and we should not waste it! 

Ingredients:
leftover pasta (with any kind of sauce, I had some pasta with zucchini and tomato)
2 tblsp parmesan cheese
5 eggs
2 boiled potatoes
1 fresh chili (if you don't like spicy food, leave it)
olive oil
salt
pepper



Mash the boiled potatoes, add the eggs and mix well. Add the leftover pasta, cut the chili and add it with salt and pepper (according to your taste). Mix well (you should have something like the picture above).
Put some olive oil in a non stick pan and wait a few minutes until it becomes warm. Put the mixture in the pan and cook until it's crispy on one side. Then help yourself with the top of the pan to turn it over. Cook on the other side until it's crispy also there and serve still hot.

If you fell you don't have enough pasta to do it, add the vegetables you prefer. It's a great way to reuse the already cooked food and it's tasty as well! :)

Tiramisu cupcakes

A wonderful small cupcake to put in a large paper cup, Katerina's recipe that I've slightly changed. :)

 

Ingredients:

Dough: 

3 eggs

100 gr sugar

50 gr wheat starch

50 gr flour

1 tblspn vanilla pudding powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Decoration:

2 cups espresso coffees

500 gr mascarpone cheese

90 gr powdered sugar

200 ml whipped cream

bitter cocoa powder

Whip the whites of the egg and slowly add sugar. Slowly add one at the time wheat starch, flour, vanilla pudding powder, baking pouder and the yolks. Place the mixture in the muffin cups, but leave them half empty and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes. This recipe should make around 20 muffins. 

Make the coffee and when the muffins are cold, perforate them with a fork and put 2 teaspoons of coffee on each muffin. 

For the decoration whip the cream and slowly add sugar. At the end add mascarpone cheese and gently mix together until smooth. Now you can either use a knife or a sac a poche to put the cream on the top of the muffins. Before you put them in the fridge cover them with some bitter cocoa. The muffins should rest in the fridge for at least 15 hours to get the best taste. 

I hope you'll like it, me and my friend certainly did! :)

Summer salad

What about a light summer salad for the hottest days. A perfect dinner and very tasty!

Ingredients:

500 gr cherry tomatoes
15 dark olives
150 gr feta cheese
80 gr corn
oregano
salt
olive oil


Cut the tomatoes and olives and put them in a bowl. Add the corn and pieces of feta cheese. Add some salt, oregano and olive oil and serve with some wholewheat bread.

Fresh fruit

I want to eat healthier! 

And I went to the store and got only this: 

Isn't it great? 

Summer is here! :)