Foodie Fridays: Fruit Jelly

My aunt brought me packets of Agar Agar from Singapore, so i decided to use some up!  I googled a few fruit jelly recipes with agar agar as an ingredient so it’ll be vegetarian.  I quite liked this youtube video where this guy mixed agar agar fruit with a cake layer.

I had just made Nutella Cake 2-3 days ago and had some left overs which I could use in the jelly – so this recipe became an instant winner.  A picture of the final product!Image

I put the jelly in small moulds as it made nicer individual treats.  Although next time I want to try it in a cake mould.  A jelly cake with real cake!

B’s Jelly Agar Agar with Strawberries

Makes: 4 small moulds

Ingredients:

  • 2 tsp agar agar powder
  • 3-4 tbsp sugar (you can just omit it if you want)
  • Handful of cut strawberries
  • Some leftover cake cut into cubes

Method:

  1. Arrange strawberries in the mould facing downwards.
  2. Boil half the water and add 1 tsp agar agar and 2 tbsp sugar.  After the powder is dissolved, pour into the mould.  Freeze for 10 mins.
  3. Remove from freezer and pierce the top jelly a bit with a fork.  Add the cubes of cake on top of this layer.
  4. Repeat step 2 for another jelly layer.  Add it.  Freeze for 10 mins.  Refrigerate till you want to eat it.  Remove it from the mould and serve it inverted!

Easy and a great summer delight.  This would make a healthy snack if you omit the sugar out completely.

xx

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Foodie Fridays: Sago Custard

I’m going for a BBQ at a cousins’ house later in the evening – so thought I’d take something along, just because I’m quite nice that way 😉  Wanted to make something easy (ok so I’m not THAT nice 😉 but nice enough!) What was imperative was that I didn’t have to go hunting for ingredients.  I hate that.  My criteria for being nice was: something basic but tasty.  So I looked through my recipes and came across sago custard.  Sago Custard is a family recipe, my aunt’s to be precise.   I haven’t made it since I lived in Australia.  So really has been ages.

For those of you who have never made sago.  Don’t fear as B is here!  🙂  I’ll guide you step by step.

Firstly, you need sago (made from tapioca FYI) seeds!  If you need to go buy these little tapioca seeds, they look like this:

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Secondly: Boil water and add 1/4 cup sago seeds after water is boiling.  Leave it to simmer for 10 minutes.  Keep stirring so the starch content does not stick.

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It should like the above after 5-7 minutes.  Where you can still see white dots.  Keep simmering.  The aim is to make it translucent.  After 10 minutes, switch the heat off and cover with a lid for another 10 minutes.  It will then become completely translucent.

Thirdly:  Sieve it with running cold water to remove excess starch.  Keep aside.  The sago is ready to be added to the simple dessert.

Aunt’s SAGO CUSTARD

Makes: One bowl

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of milk
  • 1/4 cup evaporated milk
  • 3-4 tbsp custard powder
  • 1/4 cup sago
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • vanilla essence

Method:

  1. Boil milk and sugar.  Add evaporated milk.
  2. Dissolve custard in water.  Add mixture to milk.
  3. Add in pre-boiled and washed sago.
  4. Refrigerate to set.

**It is nice hot as well.  A good dessert for Winter!  I decorated it with strawberries – just cause its prettier that way!

Here’s the final product!  Hope everyone enjoys it at the BBQ 🙂

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xx

B

Foodie Fridays: B’s Mediterranean Lettuce Cups

Hope everyones doing well.  It’s Friday so I’m sure the weekend makes everyone smile. 🙂

Foodie Fridays have been pretty fatty, should be called Fatty Fridays honestly.  Today was pretty healthy – I have to admit.  Well so far at least!  I had leftover hummus (the link will direct you to my recipe) from yesterday and thought I’d eat it differently.  Had Baby Gem Lettuce in the fridge which made me think of lettuce cups!  Baby Gem Lettuce are the best for lettuce cups as the shape holds very well as opposed to other types of lettuce – just FYI. I strongly recommend it!

hummus cups

Don’t they just look absolutely yummy?  They were better than good enough to eat, as far as the aphorism goes.  Very refreshing for a hot day in London (rare to have hot days here!).  Surprisingly, even my husband loved it for lunch.  For him it was more of a snack to be honest!

B’s Mediterranean Lettuce Cups

Makes: As many as your leftover hummus can fill!

Ingredients:

  • Hummus (home-made) or store bought
  • Baby Gem Lettuce
  • Olives

Method:

  1. Wash lettuce with cold water and assemble in a plate.  Leave it in the fridge for 10 mins if you want it nice and chilled.
  2. Spread hummus on it.  Top it off with olives!
  3. Voila! Eat and enjoy 🙂

So simple.  Yet so delicious and pretty!

xx

B

Foodie Fridays : Afternoon Tea

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So there I was, gracefully stuffing my face with scones and tea.

My love for food extends to tea.  London’s traditional Afternoon Tea is the icing or rather clotted cream to my scone.  One of the perks of living here!  I met a friend on Wednesday in the city to catch up over tea.  We both love Afternoon Teas and have tried various ones around the city.

The picture above illustrates the beautiful way in which we were served.  I especially liked the modern three tiered serving style as opposed to the traditional type.  We went to Marylebone Hotel.

There was a vast variety of tea.  I enjoyed the citrus lemon tea and the hibiscus fruit tea the most.  My friend indulged in Earl Grey.  The tea was unlimited in case you were wondering.  We were both given a variety of sandwiches and they catered to my veterinarian request with a variety (grilled veggies, cream cheese and chives, mozzarella with vine tomatoes).  I was satisfied.  However,  I simply could not make it to the top.  The second tier was my limit, and I knew the next day I had to go for my workout without any excuses.

Let’s have a moment of silence for my over-indulgence.

X
B

Foodie Fridays – Chewy Brownie Cookies!

Hello food lovers!  😉  I LOVE food – which honestly makes it very hard for me to go on a diet.  Being a vegetarian (this year is my 10 year anniversary) – it’s ironically very easy to become overweight contrary to what some may think.  Many vegetarians do NOT like vegetables. This statement throws many off track – but its true.  My vegetarian friends (okay -and so do I)  love cheese, potatoes, bread etc – essentially food that turns into FAT.  So to combat all that – I regularly detox and try to go to the gym thrice a week. 🙂 Luckily though – I love fruit and veggies – which makes me the ultimate foodie.

My love for food makes me enjoy cooking.  I’m not talking about the before and after which consists of:  cutting, cleaning and washing up!  I enjoy the actual cooking – the mixing of flavors which has the potential to create something absolutely delicious! I usually view different recipe sites while watching TV with my husband at night on Paprika (my previous Technology Tuesday post was on this app).  I recently came across this recipe and thought I must give it a go.

Chewy Brownie Cookie

That’s the snapshot of my Paprika Recipe.  As stated in my notes, I made half the recipe – that’s because of the amount of sugar and calories these little bites of heaven had!  Although, I must admit – they were really yummy.  It’s that bit of brownie that everyone fights for – the chewy bite.  Every cookie was that exact bite.

Things to note if you are vegetarian:  you can substitute ONE EGG = 1/4 cup carnation milk + 1 tsp custard powder.  It always works for me.  I did this for these cookies too – and it would be impossible to tell that they are eggless. Also I didn’t have margarine at home – so I substituted it for unsalted butter and it worked fine 🙂 Happy Baking!

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Bon Appetite! That’s my end product – even the batter was divine.  And yes the next day I went to the gym.  Guilty as charged.

XX

B