Mita Coco Lollies

 

 ♬ 'Magna Carta...Holy Grail' by Jay Z

Saw Jay Z last week in Stratford and he was on top form as per usual. The guy is always musically evolving and looking very healthy these days. Maybe coconut water might be a favourite drink of his!

 

 

I've gone completely COCO and now blogging about an ICE LOLLY.

 

It all started off last Thursday morning after a gruelling Bikram yoga session, as per usual I wanted to jump into a big pool of ice instead of facing the heat outside. I eyed up the coconut water in the fridge before I left the studio and knew I needed something colder to cool me down. When I got home, I found some ice lolly moulds and filled them with coconut water and fresh watermelon chunks. A few hours of freezing and BOOM I have refreshing Mita coco lollies!

 

Think about it...

Coconut water is expensive, freeze them as lollies and they will last longer. Perfect for post workouts and for children.

 

Here's a short video persuading you to make your own, sorry about the close up!

 

Next time in the lolly mix:

 

Bananas

Strawberries

Blackberries

Pineapple

 

 

 

Favourite Song:

 

'Tom Ford'

 

Enjoy.x

Christmas Samosas

♬ 'The Best Of BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge' by Various Artists

On video - 'Halo' by Florence & The Machine

Well well another GREAT video might I add, really pleased with this one, I hope you like it as much as I do.

Here is a recipe for short crust pastry:

From BBC Good Food. Everywhere else online and in my cook books were getting way too technical. This one is clear, simple and not fussy.

350g organic plain flour

225g cold unsalted butter

Jar of mincemeat

2-3tbsp water

100g caster sugar

Method:

: Preheat oven 170°c.

: Rub all the butter into the flour.

: Mix in sugar and a pinch of fine sea salt.

: Add a tablespoon of water at a time until you form a dough. At this point I tipped everything out on a table and started working into the dough.

: Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes then take out and grab small handfuls and roll out into circles, making sure you don't roll too thin.

: Cut down the middle of one circle and spoon mincemeat in one corner, pinch to seal and form a triangle. Brush with egg or milk if you want a golden look.

: Place on greaseproof paper and bake for 30 minutes, leave to cool until hard to touch. If some have opened or leaked out the sides during baking - don't stress. Try again. The first two I made opened and I rolled the pastry out too thin, I gave it a second shot and they turned out amazing.

I only made five and had loads of pastry left over, so I put that back in the fridge for more experimenting. I might be bragging on about glorified pastry in a triangle shape, but they sound and look fun! Also so much better to hold these than an actual mince pie, imagine dipping one of these in custard..yummy.

X

Guilty Pleasures

♬ 'Where I Wanna Be' by Donell Jones

Time to MIXITCOOKIT!!

 WOO!

Chilli Cabbage and Duck Salad

    

                                     

♬ 'Only By The Night' by Kings Of Leon

Finally! Another glorious salad worth making a video about, I might be ranting on about cavolo nero in this clip. The tangy bitter mother of cabbage deserves a lot of praise! Talking a lot more on these videos mean I am typing less which is great, this way you get to see my excitement instead of an exclamation mark at the end of every sentence! See what I mean.

I simply fried the cabbage lightly with a small green chilli, the duck was roasting while I was humming in the kitchen. I literally just had a call from a friend who said 'mate that tuna salad looks well good'. Which sounds great for pescetarians, so omit the duck from the above and flake over a can of tuna if you want.

Have a great weekend.xx

Song on video

ê 'Crawl'

Curry vol-au-vents

♬ 'The Suburbs' by Arcade Fire

Listen everyone I might have gone a bit crazy in this video, words are splurging out and sometimes I am stuck for words. I don't even think I made sense at the end! You will have to excuse this one, remember practise makes perfect! Which definitely reflects in my pastry making! My first attempt at puff pastry turned out fine, but I think I made the circles too wide and thin. Next time thicker rolling which will enable a higher rise vol-au-vent. Either way it turned out lovely!

I think for today's post I will refrain from typing up the pastry recipe, only until I have perfected it! The chicken and veg curry can be found here.

Since I am still left with a massive block of puff pastry, I'm thinking it's a pie night.

Until then see you soon!?

I'm really not sure what possessed me to say that at the end of the video. Someone fast forward to Friday already!

Favourite Song

ê 'The Suburbs'

Butternut Squash Salad

♬ 'Annie Mac Presents 2012' by Various Artists

Another video with my massive finger getting in the way, however this was done in less than half an hour which is a record for me! 

Right if you want to make this salad keep on reading, if it doesn't tickle your fancy - sorry! I'm working on other salad combinations and wanting to present them in a quirky Mita stylee this coming week.

Recipe for two hungry squash and bacon lovers:

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed or chopped in the same shape.

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

5 radishes

Small red pepper chopped.

150g bag of rocket, spinach and watercress.

Olive oil

Sea salt

3 thick rashers of unsmoked bacon.

Method:

: Preheat oven to 200°c, grease small tray and place chopped squash with rosemary leaves in a graceful way and season. I've whacked the heat up for the oven to perform it's magic a bit quicker for the squash. Place on the middle top shelf.

: Bake for 30 minutes until squash is tender.

: Fry bacon until slightly crispy then chop up and dry on kitchen roll.

: In a large salad bowl add chopped radishes, pepper, bag of leaves. Drizzle a bit of olive oil and mix with hands,

: Taste.

: Once squash is done add this to the bowl, also get the bacon involved.

: Serve with a burger, pie or eat on it's own.

Obviously this dish doesn't show off my crazy creative skills, purely because this salad is about combining flavours which are beautiful together, ingredients that people might not normally think go well together. Sometimes I refuse to cover up a salads flavour with dressing. This salad doesn't need it - trust me.

 The pungent rosemary loves getting on top of butternut squash, it was delicious.

Enjoy.x

ê On video - 'Shining Star' by Nneka (Joe Goddard Remix)

The Salad Diaries

♬'Pacha Ibiza Albums' by Various Artists

Here I am letting you know about this weeks video theme, bye bye cake - hello salads!

Stay tuned this week.x

Bhangra Cupcakes (Chai sponge and Mango Cream Cheese Frosting)

♬'The Album' by Punjabi MC

Hello hello I'm back this week with a peculiar and very random post about cake and bhangra. Is there a positive correlation between the two? Could you really do a few bhangra moves while holding cupcakes? Apart from gaining a stitch and a stained outfit, I think it's an awesome idea. For those who don't know what bhangra is please click here.

I actually stress out at weddings when it's time to get on the dance floor and try to look professional when busting out the moves and trust me I'm not an expert, doesn't matter if I am an Indian girl!  I tend to grab a child and pretend to dance, then wait for the aunties to say 'aaaw look at her and (kids name) dancing, she is so good with children'. Damn right, please don't fix me up with your friends son. 

Come on let's face facts, apart from the bride and groom having the best day of their lives, and family catch ups, most of the Indian weddings I have been to tend to be similar to speed dating, but with the parents doing the talking. I won't go into the questions my mum would ask on my behalf, it could turn into a sketch from 'Goodness Gracious Me'. I'm all about the food, and that's where you will always find me. 

Meanwhile in a beaten down kitchen in east London I decided to bake a beautiful batch of chai spiked cakes. If you don't have chai masala to hand, rip open a chai tea bag and crush spices using pestle and mortar, I know quite clever - one teabag should do the trick for this recipe. Another highlight of this cake is the frosting, a mango and cream cheese combo that is like licking heaven. Can I type that? I just did. Mango pulp with puri is a favourite sweet treat of mine at Indian functions. Actually anything mango based I am there with a bib round my neck.

▶ Recipe for 12 cupcakes in pretty muffin cases.

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter

125g caster sugar

2 medium eggs

125g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp chai masala (go for teabag option if needs be)

Frosting

300g icing sugar

100g unsalted butter

150g cream cheese (cold)

20g ripe mango chunks

Purple food colouring

Red food colouring

Blue midnight glitter dust

Method:

It is imperative you play the album above, otherwise you might not feel the need to dance and get excited about the cakes!

Preheat fan oven to 180°c, prepare 12 hole cupcake tin with cases.

: Cream butter and sugar for a good few minutes until pale and fluffy.

: Add eggs and keep on whisking.

: Sift in flour, baking powder and chai.

: Spoon in cases and bake for 25 minutes.

: Once golden brown and you have done the poke in the middle of cake test. Take out and let them cool completely.

: Make the frosting by combining all four ingredients in a cake mixer or electric whisk. Good luck if using your hands, you will gain new muscles tomorrow! DO NOT OVER MIX THIS FROSTING (say about 3 minutes on a slow speed should be fine) Cream cheese tends to get runny.

: Divide the mixture into two bowls and add colours. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

: Pipe on cakes and decorate with gold/silver balls and glitter. 

Beautiful.

Favourite Song:

ê 'Mundian To Bach Ke'

Gold Medal Rhubarb and Custard Cupcakes

♬ 'Tongue N' Cheek' by Dizzee Rascal

Here I am again! This time my exuberant behaviour is about the cupcake below, and Dizzee contributed some extra energy! 

Rhubarb and custard is quintessentially British and I've always wanted to put my own twist on the pair, shame I couldn't find mini custard creams they would have been extra cute. I think next time a sprinkling of pink dust and home made custard creams will be in order. 

▶ CUSTARD BUTTER CREAM

Covers 12 muffin size cupcakes

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter

400g icing sugar

4tsps Instant custard powder

1 tbsp warm water

Method:

: In a food mixer first soften the butter.

: Add the icing sugar in batches.

:Once soft add custard powder and water.

: Keep the mixer on for a further 2 minutes.

: Fill piping bag or use a small palette knife.

I think this has been the shortest post to date! The blog will be a bit quiet for a while because I am off to NEW YORK! WAAAAAAAAAA!

A trip that will induce even more crazy ideas, let me know if you try the custard buttercream. Trust me you will LOVE it.

xxx

Biscuit Themed Cupcakes

You are looking at jammie dodgers, hobnobs, chocolate digestives, cookies and mini oreos. All on their own signature sponge and my rather dodgy home made usherette tray.

Watch and don't judge the frizzy state of my hair!

                               

♬ '21' by Adele

Aren't these cupcakes just to die for! This is not a long post as the video with my chunky swept fringe explains everything. Mini versions of biscuits are available at large supermarkets and are normally used in lunch boxes, they are perfect to put on cakes, this way you can scoop butter cream without getting your mouth dirty. I would suggest to put them on last due to some of them getting a tad soft. Also in the video I showed you this:

I struggle and stress all the time packing cakes BUT this plastic fruit thing (will look into proper term soon) has been my saviour. I would recommend this in a box and the cupcakes fit and stayed securely(even muffin size) A fantastic and economical way instead of buying cake boxes just to transfer, obviously these are just pretty for transportation, still invest in cake boxes for customers.

One of my favourite images so far.

Favourite Song:

ê 'I'll be waiting'

Amazing Hot Berry Toasties

♬ 'Radio One's Live Lounge 3' by Various Artists

I actually prefer the tracks on this album than the originals. The quirky Ting Tings do an excellent cover of The Gossips 'standing in the way of control'. 

Listen love and eat!

Now this isn't exactly rocket food science on my part so I have to apologise. Lately my confidence has been bashed about when it comes to my cooking skills or to some people - lack of them. Well everyone is entitled to their own opinion and quite frankly I couldn't give two pineapples about what anyone says. A few years from now this blog will still be here and I will still be experimenting, messing up, conquering and becoming a better cook! 

Back to the juicy berry toastie above, I literally lied in bed for a good hlf an hour pondering what else I could eat for breakfast instead of Bran Flakes. Then I remembered the sandwich toaster my older brother handed to me and made the above. Normally bread works really well in these machines and anyone who is or has experienced cooking at university knows that this device is essential for delicious and cheesy sandwiches! One of my all time fillings has to be ham and cheese, hands down the best. At first using tortilla wraps was a bit daunting as I didn't want a crunchy crisp texture, all in all the wrap did well and encased berries and melted chocolate beautifully. Anyone steering away from bread should try this too. I also took this chance to make a video, since it has been quite a while since my face has blessed the screen.

Right, so a small handful of blackberries, bluberries and raspberries in the middle of the wrap then grate chocolate. Alternatively adding nuts, bananas or whatever you like is cool too. I just wanted to bring the sandwich toaster to the forefront and on kitchen table because it doesn't mean you have to open a deli, you can simply make quick healthy or naughty snacks. 

Enjoy and let me know what other fillings you have tried that beat:

 Ham and cheese

Baked beans

Bacon and cheese

Spinach and ricotta

Jam

Chocolate and banana

Brie and cranberry

Tuna and cheese

xxx

Italiano Egg

                                     

♬ 'Black Light' by Diagrams

How embarrassing, there I was tweeting away about Jamie Oliver carrying the torch and it wasn't him after all, he was further up the road! It was still an inspirational David Pickup who ran well considering the downpour. I started to feel like I got stood up, similar to a feeling many years ago at the cinema, yes that's right he who must not be named left me standing like a hard rocky candy in Cineworld. Gutted. To top that I messed up four poached eggs- FOUR! Not sure what was going on, now if in doubt with poaching I'm totally baking instead.

Moving onwards and upwards to yet another baked egg phenomenon, yes I basically cracked an egg in a mushroom with two of my favourite Italian herbs, basil and oregano. Totally worth blogging and ranting about, because it tastes so damn good. Please watch, listen, laugh a bit and give this a go. Obviously mushrooms don't float everyone's boat so try a red pepper or another vegetable that will maintain its shape once baked.

The earliest memory I have of eggs was after school when I would watch my grandma put them in meat curry, she would keep the shell ON, let them boil and when it came to eating we had to peel them. A messy business but there was something quite special about peeling the egg amongst the meaty soup. These days I find the cracking of eggs occur on a Thursday when I'm near the end of my tether and itching for the weekend to kick in. A cheap, healthy and wholesome ingredient which blesses most of my breakfasts.

Get baking for breakfast!

Have a great weekend.

xxx

Next week, I'm hitting the sweet spot and getting a tad scientific by attempting to make SWEETS.

Cherry Almond Icicle Delights

                                    

♬ 'Greatest Hits II' by Queen

God bless the reduced shelf at every supermarket, my obsessive tendency to dive in the bargain bin at Topshop are now over - it's all about reduced cherries in Tesco! I was tempted to make a colossal cherry cake, in fact baking had to be paused after being covered in flour most of the week. 

Now what to do with a whole lot of cherries...

Smoothie?

Freeze?

Crush?

Blend?

Dip in chocolate and eat while watching Bridget Jones?

I wanted to keep them raw and still at their super food best, so as you can see from the video I made these cute delightful cubes. Cherry and almond is up there alongside the union jack, a peacock, and of course fish and chips as one of my most loved random things.

These are like mini cherry bakewells - but a healthier version.

300g fresh cherries

1 tsp almond essence

Few extra cherries

That's it!

A perfect icicle to pop into whatever drink you want to add cherry love to. Be warned the drink will change colour, so I would advise milk.

HOLD ON! NEWS JUST IN!

I HAVE JUST BEEN TOLD JAMIE OLIVER WILL BE CARRYING THE TORCH NEAR MY BROTHERS HOUSE.

Holy macaroni, the excitement is beyond words...what shall I WEAR?

Right I better be off and get all striped up.

xxxx