sima and hauskaa vappua / happy 1st of may

as my luck would have it, i'm working today so my celebration of vappu consisted of sima and tippaleipä. traditionally the eve of may 1st is the rowdiest it ever gets in finland, i bet that the parks in downtown helsinki are filled with tired people after...i'm hoping they don't wake up before i get off work.

when my brother and i were kids mom used to make sima for every vappu, with home made doughnuts. i think i've made sima once before, of rhubarbs...not my cup of tea. this year i wanted to have a go with sima and when i was looking for recipes i found one with ginger in it, recipe here. translation of the recipe:

4 liters water
3 cm piece of fresh ginger (peeled)
250 gr brown sugar
250 gr white sugar
1 lemon, thinly sliced (organic, or scrubbed really well)
1/5 tsp fresh yeast
4 tsp sugar
raisins and 4 one liter bottles


start by slicing the lemon...

...peel and slice the ginger. on hindsight i wish i had used more ginger, i would have liked the ginger to taste a bit more.

have two pots ready, one 5 liter pot where you measure the sugars (i used 500 gr of demerera sugar), and another pot where you measure 2 liters of water, add the lemon and ginger and bring to a boil. pour the boiling water on the sugars in the bigger pot.

measure the yeast and dilute it to small amount of water...

...add to the lukewarm liquid and mix well. place a lid on and let sit in room temperature for 24 hrs.

the next day, the liquid has started to bubble slightly and is ready to be bottled.

place 1 tsp sugar and a few raisins into each of the bottles.

strain the solids and pour the liquid into bottles.

as yeast and sugar tend do funny business when they meet, don't screw the lids on the bottles too tight, you'll want some of the pressure to have a way to escape. place the bottles in the fridge and wait for a couple of days. sima is ready when the raisins have risen to the top. you can eat the raisins, i never do, i don't like raisins. they feel like dead insects when you bite them. and for the record, i have not eaten dead (or live, for that matter) insects. it's just...well, i don't like raisins.

although some like to "brew" their own and sugar and yeast will eventually produce alcohol, i wouldn't advise to let sima brew for too long. first, your stomach will thank you if you don't and then there is the exploding factor...broken glass and sugary juices, not my idea of a fun clean-up job.

i love tippaleipä, or funnel cake. i like to eat it by placing it into a bowl and crushing it with a fork. the crumbles and confectioners' sugar tend to go all over, i find it easiest to eat with fork...i am very happy they sell these only around vappu.

happy spring to all!

masala chai & spices galore

it's almost 3 weeks since i returned from my trip to india. my mind still seems to wander there, remembering details of the people, places, food and whatnot. it feels like my brain is still on overdrive processing all things indian. i have 1700plus pics to sort out...some of which i will post, eventually. i had the best hosts who took me to places i definitely wouldn't have seen if it wasn't for them. thank you so much for taking care of me!

first order of things indian, masala chai. i love it, had it first thing in the morning on most mornings. little apprehensive before the first sip but i got hooked right after it. since returning home i have tried to get the flavor right, took me several tries...

...but my recipe for one cup, for now, is:

1" piece fresh ginger (2,5 cm)
4 pods of green cardamom
1 small stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove
1 tsp black tea
1½ tsp sugar
1 cup water (2,5 dl)
1/4 cup cream / milk (i use 10% coffee cream)

in the picture i've peeled the ginger, but it really isn't necessary.

you can use any old way to crush / mush the ginger and other spices (not the sugar though). measure the water into a small kettle, add the spice mush and tea leaves and bring to a boil. once boiling add the cream and sugar, turn off the heat, leave kettle on stove for 10mins to infuse, then strain into a mug (or tall glass).

there are people who say that you really shouldn't boil tea leaves, but that was the way they did it in india (and lots of recipes on-line tell you to do the same), so who am i to argue. then again, the choice is yours, i guess you could add the tea leaves after turning the heat off...

i also got into the habit of dunking toast, cookies and biscuits into the tea...i also gained 4 kg in two weeks...as much as i would love to have this every morning, i make it only as a treat, and i most certainly will not dunk cookies in it. well, not every time anyways.

this is probably my favorite souvenir ever, i got it as a gift from my hostess. besides the fact that i had been wanting one for years, it is so pretty with the colorful spices, this one has engraving so everyone will know when and from whom i got it. thank you again!

the spices came along the masala dabba, i placed them into airthigt jars once home.

the spices are, from the top (clockwise) black mustard seeds, ground turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin (jeera), cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and chilli powder in the middle. i hope i got them right...

the spice package includes also kokum that i had never even heard of. i will use to make dry okra dishes, it prevents the okra from getting slimy, i'm told.

yesterday after work i felt (for the longest time) well enough to venture to the asian markets in helsinki. i was amazed what we get these days, fresh okra among other things. long way from trying to find ghee about 10 years ago, when no one even knew what it was...

in the indian market there were mixes for jalebi, gulab jamun, dosas, dozen different types of rice, huge variety those spicy indian snacks and spices and lentils. what i found interesting is that the prices were considerably lower than in our regular stores, and coconut milk was downright cheap.

trendy as i try to be (hah!) i also got myself a pressure cooker...i'm a little nervous trying it for the first time later today, cooking indian, will post the results later on.

oven roasted lemon chicken, sprouts...& eggnog

i had wanted to roast a chicken, and make chicken soup, for a while now. brought two fresh roasting chickens with me to the cottage. i end up cooking a lot more at the cottage as there are more people to feed. had these babies for dinner yesterday and they were delish!







started with these:
2 fresh roasting chickens
8 carrots
2 yellow onions
2 red onions
brussels sprouts
1 lemon
2 tsbp soft butter
salt (yes!), crushed black pepper







peeled the carrots, sliced the yellow onions to approx 1cm slices, placed the onion on the bottom of a roasting tin, then placed the carrots on top the of onions







then grated half of the lemon and squeezed some of lemon juice onto the butter, added generous amounts of salt and black pepper to butter, halved and then quartered the lemon halves, seasoned them with salt and black pepper.







stuffed the lemon chunks into chickens, mixed butter well and smeared it onto chicken before placing them in 200C oven for 1 hr.







close to when the chickens were done, i started the side dish. first rinsed and halved the sprouts, then sliced the red onions quite fine.







started by sauteeing the onions for a few minutes, removed them onto a plate and first sauteed the sprouts in 1 tbsp butter before adding some water (in two batches) to steam them. when the sprouts were almost done, i added the onions to the pan to warm them. just before serving poured some balsamico on top.

i did take a picture of my plate but i guess i was too hungry to pay attention to its quality...

there was plenty of chicken left over but that was intentional...that was for the chicken soup that i made today (but that is for tomorrow to post about)







certain someone had asked if there was a reason one couldn't have eggnog besides christmas...well, i guess there isn't. and as there were what was needed, and plenty of booze to choose from...







mom even found nutmeg...and vanilla







i made what one of the recipes called "one portion"...it made 8 glasses...mom and i both had one, the guys ended up drinking the rest, i think they might have spiked them up, a bit...

my first attemp at eggnog, not bad but overly sweet for my taste. certain someone seemed to develop an addiction...

thai salad & sangria, my way

i had wanted to try a thai salad for a long time. i tried to get a flank steak from the grocery store...i don't think there is such a cut in finland (or maybe that store isn't a very good one and i was lazy to drive to another), anyways.

i had looked for a recipe in many cookbooks and ended up adapting one for the meat (marinated flank steak) from anna olson's fresh. didn't have all the ingredients that the recipe called for, so took the liberty to simplify it (what else is new...) and used rice wine vinegar because there wasn't any red wine vinegar







these were some sort of "guaranteed tender" steaks, i thought that i quick sear on the grill would do the trick







this certainly isn't a very ecological way to marinate but since there was garlic in the marinade, i didn't want to infuse eveything in the fridge with garlic...







here it is...i managed to take one picture while cutting uo the salad but then i took the chili out and put gloves on, no more pics...

the recipes for the salad and salad dressing are adaptations from jamie oliver's the return of the naked chef. the salad had ½ of what we in finland call chinese cabbage (thinly shredded), one yellow bell pepper, ½ cup of green beans (frozen and thawed), 3 spring onions (roughly minced), 10 cm piece of cucumber (diced on bias), ½ red chili (minced).

the dressing called for limejuice (used lemon juice instead), olive oil, sesame oil, soya sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, fresh chili and cilantro (which i didn't have). the dressing was so good, it even earned "the best dressing ever" from certain someone.

the meat turned out more cooked than i would have like (first time on the grill at the shack this summer...) but with the crunchy salad and all that dressing on top, with whole wheat tortilla on the side, yam!







as it was so hot (once in a decade hot in finland) certain someone wanted a drink to suit the hot weather, well, actually he wanted sangria. at first i thought that we didn't have what sangaria calls for but after a quick search thru my cookbooks (that are plenty but none on drinks!!) i ended up sort of whipping one up wit a little help from PW's cookbook. PW's sangria was a bit too "stiff" for my taste so i did what i do...make it simple.

first took a look what we had as fruits, lemon, apple and nectarines







peeled, sliced and diced and put them all in a huge jar







added about a cup of ice, then poured in 7,5 dl red wine (pato amado) and one liter of pepsi max (the diet version of pepsi) that caused all those bubbles, and as a finishing touch added 1 dl of white rum








aren't they a merry mix?







just to remind you all out there in the hot weather...drink plenty, not this kind of drink but water. i only had two glasses of this yesterday, and obviously not enough water, as i almost lost my dinner in the evening, and got a massive migraine headache, as well. suffice to say, i almost died. but the sangria was nice...

tex mex and drinks

first of all, as a rule, i do not drink. been there, done that and the hangovers are a slow kill. now that we've cleared that, today i drank some, and prepared mexican food, with certain someone as sous chef, which in itself is a minor miracle. do not remember the last time he was in the kitchen preparing food, and i'm sure until today he had no idea how to use HIS stove... i could be wrong

it was his idea to have "midsummer" tonight. i'll be working on the actual date and he'll be preparing for his travel to long ways east. it was supposed to be a rainy day, it shined some, but it sure wasn't even warm. we had a drink on the deck but then it just got too chilly and we went inside

i, oops, we made guacamole, the recipe is from martha's cookbook vol II and originated at rosa mexicano. my usual guacamole is a lot simpler, but this is very tasty. cilatro/coriander, chopped jalopeno, lime, chopped onions and tomatoes, avocados and salt







this has never been seen, certain someone with a kitchen gadget!!!







final product, yam!







fried chicken with bell peppers







don't know what was going on, but he warmed up the tortillas as well







everything (tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, cheddar, chicken, bell peppers, jalopenos) on







all of the above in







the new beer brooklyn brewery local 1. i am so going to visit the brewery next time in NYC







now this is my own drink, at least i haven't seen it anywhere else. take some limoncello (which has been running out in alko), bacardi (or any white rum) and sparkling water (i had vichy novelle citronelle and ice. i used 30cl limocello, 30 cl bacardi, some ice and filled a tall glass with novelle. dangerous, would be even more so on a hot day, just a warning if want to try







this here is garlic that i got from kesäkehrääjä. i planted it amongs the lovage, chives, lavender and sage. will let you know if it produces anything







this here is dried lovage, first crop of the season. this isn't anything you might want to light up and inhale. yes, i admit it looks like it, but i assure it isn't







it has been cold and weary for the past few weeks. despite of that, the spinach shot up some greens that i cut out yesterday and made into pancakes. i'm sure by now you all know how to make them. will let you know if what i had to drink tonight was too much. that is if i'm alive to tell!

ps. it is the morning after and unfortunately it feels like it. and just as i thought, blogging while "tipsy" isn't a good idea, you make way too many spelling mistakes...