Molokhia

This post is waaaaaaaaay overdue.
Upon posting a few of these shots of the delicious traditional egyptian dish (national dish?) I realized that I hadn't posted or taken any molokhia shots before, which was a shocker considering how it's up there with some of my favourite meals like Dolma (stuffed grape leaves) and stewed bamia (okra in tomato sauce) ..

We'll here it is anyway! The green herby garlicy stew that scares a lot of people off by it's gooey slimy consistency but you have to try it, it's delicious!
If there is no goo then it's just not molokhia, cooking the leaves beyond a certain temperature destroys the goo and you don't want that but it is realistically the simplest thing in the world to make and every time I make it I'm reminded of how easy it is.

Steps:
-Boil some chicken in stock or water
-Flake the chicken meat and set aside.
-Add the frozen purchased thawed molokhia leaves to the hot stock and melt it down cooking just until the mixture is all warmed up if the greens are still "cold" and remove from the heat.
- In a teeny sauce pan grate a few cloves of garlic, add a bit of butter, samna (ghee) or oil and 2 tbsp of dry ground corriander spice and sauté on medium low until garlic is fragrant but not burnt.

- Dump the garlic spice blend into the molokhia stew and mix it up. It's ready to serve with rice! I always squeeze some lemon over it too and pickled peppers, turnips or any pickle goes well on the side.

Molokhia can be purchased from middle eastern grocery stores in the west, it is frozen in a thin slab, you can get it ground up (which is what is required for this recipe) or in leaves which is used in Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian recipes.
If you want to try growing it by all means it would be a fun experiment, the plant grows tall and is a bit "weed" like, the leaves are also used in Japanese cooking which I learned recently. My mother used to say that we had a garden filled with fresh molokhia when I was a little girl growing up in Pakistan and in my late teens in Yemen where it is also popular (not sure how they cook it though) I purchased some fresh and tried my hand at it. The issues with that is the washing, grinding it smooth and fine into a paste, which in egypt is done traditionally using a Mezzaluna knife, which looks like a crescent with two handles,

Go for Tea

I've been eying this place for a while. It looks very modern and gorgeous from the outside and I was curious if they had anything other than asian styles teas but as soon as I read a review about the great condensed toast I decided to give it a try, after all they had bubble tea too and who doesn't love that!!
The inside of the cafe surprised me, it was beyond gorgeous and a fun hip place to sit and grab a quick bite, order an appetizer or just eat dessert. They have lovely cakes and all their desserts go on sale for half price in the late afternoons. The condensed toast was thick and sweet, to die for, I could only finish half because it was that rich!! Lychee slushie was refreshing and the appetizer hot pot was a great little "snack/meal"

They have two locations in the GTA, so if you're ever in the area and wonder what to do I say to you "Go for tea!"

^_^

Crepe dinner

crepes
Originally uploaded by Adventuress Heart

French Crepes

Ingredients
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon butter to brush the crepe pan

Add milk and eggs to blender and combine. Add the flour 1/2 a cup at a time, blending after each addition to ensure there are no lumps. Add pinch of salt and melted butter then blend for 30 seconds until you achieve a smooth, silky consistency. Set aside in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to rest.

Dip a piece of kitchen paper in butter and grease a small frying pan. Ladle a spoonful of batter into the pan. With a flick of the wrist swivel the pan in order to get a nice even covering all over. A good crepe should be paper- thin.

Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence from foodtv.com

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Strawberry sauce is just a few strawberries blitzed with a freshly squeezed orange and mixed with the chopped berries and some sugar, it's absolutely delicious and refreshing!

Goulash

Goulash
Originally uploaded by Adventuress Heart

They say not to mess with a good thing, and my german grandma's goulash is good, no it's VERY good actually!

I was surprised with the results the first time I decided to try my hand at it, and I'm proud to say it tasted just like hers. My childhood memory of her putting some together and vaguely describing the process to us while we were on our housekeeping morning routine paid off.

We love the stuff and I did not dream of messing with her recipe ...

until today.. even so I hesitated with the idea of throwing carrots in but I knew by time dinner rolls around I wasn't going to be making any veggies so in they went with some button mushrooms and a dash of tomato sauce for richness.

It was pretty good but it won't happen again grandma ;)