Blueberry Cheesecake

I am not quite sure how I completed a weekend full of baking, while also having a 10km race to run. But I made a no-bake Rose Tres Leches and two cheesecakes. One was a Chocolate Cheesecake, which was devoured by all of my running team mates. Second, is this delicious Blueberry Cheesecake, which was a hit with friends and family.

I had to purchase 1kg of cream cheese, so wanted to use up the cream cheese as soon as possible and the cheesecakes are so easy to make. Making up different flavours are so easy. I do love making a marble cheesecake with a mix of chocolate and vanilla cheesecake batter. And other flavours such as mango, strawberries and lemon can be made easily once you know the base ingredients.

Rose Tres Leches

Once I tasted the Rose Tres Leches, there was no going back. Using Rose Syrup to flavour the milk mixture, the cake has a beautiful, fragrant rose smell with pale pink colour. Topping it with some strawberries and dried rose petals makes this cake something you keep going back for seconds, and thirds.

Chocolate Cheesecake

While I prefer regular cake over cheesecake, it’s hard to walk past a decadently chocolatey cheesecake. I always prefer my cheesecakes baked. The texture is just so much more creamy and delicious. And easier to make as well, without the hassle of gelatin.

Pirini

Making pirini is ridiculously easy. And it is so delicious to eat. It’s the perfect dessert to end a spicy meal like a good chicken biriyani or curry.

Pirini is basically a South Asian rice pudding, made with ground rice and condensed milk, with a hint of rose water, topped with ground cinnamon and nuts.

Queen of Puddings

The recipe for Queen of Puddings is a slightly modified recipe I got from my first ever cookbook. Actually this cookbook was never even really my cookbook to start with, it was just there at my house and because I just loved that single recipe in this book, I’ve lugged it around with me (while moving houses, cities and countries). It’s a really thick, old English cookbook which was printed in 1991 (the cover boasts that it is an ‘All Colour’ Cookbook). I’ve spent hours just browsing the different recipes in this cookbook (it has hundreds) and dreaming of cooking or eating the different dishes.

This Queen of Pudding is delicious to eat and very easy to make. I love this recipe because this was the first ever recipe I made and the nine year old me was given a lot of grief by the meringue and the pudding base. The only thing I probably got right was probably the jam, but I have a vague memory of burning that at some point too.

Focaccia with Onion, Rosemary and Chilli flakes

 

I have made made this focaccia and I have had a lot of people asking me for the recipe. This recipe is taken from SBS Food, and I absolutely love making it. Mixing the dough is easy, the hard part is waiting around for it to prove.

To serve, you can slice the focaccia in half and fill in with your favourite sandwich fillings. I enjoy eating with sardines or sliced roast beef and cheese. You can simple dip it in some olive oil, or if I am having it a few days after I’ve made it, I toast it and eat it with some salad.

You can find the video of making it on my Instagram story Highlights here.

Ingredients:

• 500 g strong (bread) flour
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 14 g dried active yeast
• 30 ml olive oil, plus extra for kneading and drizzling
• 400 ml water
• 2 tsp salt flakes
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp rosemary leaves

Method:

• Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl. Combine the olive oil and water in a small jug and slowly drizzle the oil mixture into the flour, mixing with your hands to create a sticky and shaggy dough. Knead the dough by stretching and folding it on itself. Don’t worry if the dough is super sticky at this stage.
• In a 30cm x 20cm rectangular pan, drizzle olive oil generously. Place the dough in the pan, and then knead the dough for about 5 minutes, in the oil. Cover the tray with a tea towel and leave it to prove in a warm place for about 30 minutes.
• After proving, fold the dough on itself again. You can add a bit more olive oil in the pan if desired, and fold in the dough, absorbing all the oil. Leave the dough again to prove, for about 30 minutes to up to an hour, until it has doubled in size.
• Turn the dough over in the tray to cover it in oil. Press the dough down in the pan to fill it in. Make small dents in the dough with your fingers and drizzle with olive oil. Then gently press the onion into the dough and top with chilli flakes, rosemary leaves and salt flakes. Cover and rest again, for further 30 -45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Bake the focaccia for about 20 minutes, until golden brown, and is hollow when tapped.
• Serve warm. It will store in an air-tight container for about 5 days (toast it if it lasts this long) but best eaten within 2 days.

Pumpkin Curry (Baraboa Riha)

Making the havaadhu (spice mix) from scratch is laborious, especially when ready made spice mixes are easy and convenient to buy and use. Trying to make my own havaadhu came out of necessity (I had run out of all Maldivian havaadhu) and also out of feeling inspired after the success of recreating the havaadhu for my Grandma’s Rihafolhi (you can find the recipe for the rihafolhi here).

If you are making this pumpkin curry, you can certainly substitute the homemade havaadhu and use a ready made roasted spice mix (hanaakuri havaadhu). I once used a roasted Sri Lankan spice mix (again, I didn’t have any Maldivian havaadhu on hand) and it tasted lovely. But the feeling of making your own havaadhu from scratch is so rewarding.

Chocolate and Coconut Granola

I first shared my gutsy granola recipe almost three years ago (you can find the recipe here) and with warmer weather approaching, I fancied making some granola. I was thinking of ideas for gifts for my wonderful work colleagues and thought some granola would be universally liked, so I set to work on this chocolate granola recipe.

I like eating granola during summer. It’s perfect to eat for a cold breakfast, to top some yoghurt or eating with some fruit and cold milk. It’s nice to indulge and have some chocolate for breakfast, and you can top it with some dark chocolate chips if you’re wanting something even more decadent. While it feels over the top indulgent, in reality, all the sugar in the recipe comes from the honey and the dried fruits.

Chocolate and coconut granola

Chocolate and coconut granola

One of the things I found when making this recipe was how quickly the coconut toasted in the oven. I almost burnt the batch which was on the top layer of the oven. One minute they had just the slightest tinge of brown and then the next time I checked it was getting to a really dark brown I had to get it out quickly. So keep an eye on your coconut when toasting in the oven. You could also toast them separately and then add it when you mix the dried fruit.

I used dried cranberries, but you could add any fruit you fancy, be it dried apricots, blueberries or prunes. One of the things I like about making granola is how versatile it could be. Instead of almonds, you could add macadamias or hazelnuts. Add chia seeds or cacao nibs, you can do whatever you like.

Chocolate and Coconut Granola

Ingredients:

• 400g rolled oats
• 150g almonds
• 100g pumpkin seeds
• 100g sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 100g dried cranberries

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line 2, 20cm x 30cm trays with baking paper.
• Add oats, almond, seeds, cocoa powder and salt to a large bowl and mix until combined (cocoa powder covering the oats and the seeds). Then add the oil, honey and the vanilla and mix until combined. Mix it until there are no oats clumping together in the honey.
• Spread the mixture on the pre-prepared trays. bake in the oven for about 15 minutes and stir the mixture and bake for further 10 minutes. Add the coconut flakes and then bake for 3-5 minutes or until the coconut flakes have turned golden.
• Remove the trays from the oven and let the granola cool completely. Once cooled, add the cranberries. Serve with yoghurt, as a topping for a smoothie bowl or just eat it as an afternoon snack!

Food in England

Visiting London has been a balance between sight-seeing and also trying to get to the best food in London. I had done the research of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to eat and it also helped having a friend who is very savvy about all the good cafes and restaurants to go to in London. Having only 3 and half days was not enough to get everything in; I probably needed just a week of food visitations to get through it all. Good food is everywhere in London, from delicious Indian to great bakeries. Here are some of my favourite food memories in London.

Tres Leches Cake

People either love this cake or love to hate it. I’m not sure why this cake seems to divide people. I only recently ate it for the first time and it was a winner for me.
The most complicated part of the cake is separating the eggs. Don’t feel tempted to skip this step because the whipped egg whites gives the cake a really light texture, which works perfectly when it is then soaked in milk. Because the cake is so light, I don’t think it matters if you soak the cake when it is hot or once it’s cooled down. It will have plenty of cooling and soaking time when you make it the day before anyway.

Feel free to play around with the toppings. Some recipes just sprinkled cinnamon powder one top. But this cake went really well with sour fruits that have some bite to it. Berries are perfect (I loved the combination with the strawberries). I also don’t put sugar in the whipped cream on top. There is already a lot of sweetness in the cake, so the unsweetened cream really helps balance the sweetness. But that being said, this probably is a cake for people who have got a sweet tooth.
Make this cake the day before so you can leave it to soak over night. Also, bake the dish in which you are going to serve in. I thought I could cut out lovely pieces once it had been soaked, but it was really hard. The first piece came out in such a mess (I had at this point put the whipped cream AND the strawberries so the top was heavy and sliding down everywhere), but it was a delicious mess.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 5 eggs, separated
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 can condensed milk
• 1 can evaporated milk
• ¼ cup thickened cream

For topping

• 3/4 cup thickened cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g strawberries, thinly sliced

Method:

• Pre-heat oven for 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and flour a 9×13 oven proof dish. Or prepare two 8inch
• Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix. Next place the eggs yolks, vanilla and ¾ cup of the sugar in a bowl and whisk until it turns pale and creamy. Add the egg yolk mixture into the flour and whisk with milk until combined.
• Next place the egg whites in a clean bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add ¼ cup of sugar and beat until the mixture is glossy and white.
• Fold in the egg white in the flour mixture gently until combined. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake in oven for about 30 minutes or till skewer comes out clean.
• Meanwhile, combine the condensed milk, evaporated milk and cream in a jug. When the cake is cooked, poke holes in it with a toothpick.
• Pour the milk mixture over the cake. Cool the cake in the fridge over-night. The cake is best baked in the dish that you plan to serve it in as removing the cake from pan once it is soaked with milk is difficult.
• When ready to serve, prepare the topping. Place the cream and vanilla in a bowl. Whip the thickened cream with an electric beater until soft peaks form. Spread the cream over the cake and top with strawberries.