Marzipan Perfect For Tea

There's nothing more indulging than a bite of a small sweet treat so refined and precise. Adapted from The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden this recipe for homemade marzipan (massapan in Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish spoken by Jews in Spain) takes minutes to make, keeps forever and will go perfect with your afternoon tea.


The Ingredients:
500g ground almonds
300g sugar
1 cup water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp ground cardamon (optional)
2-3 drop of almond essence
Powdered sugar 

The Recipe:
Boil the sugar, water and lemon juice in a pan for 10 minutes, until the syrup is thick and sticky and coats a spoon. Be aware not to let it caramelize. Now add the ground almonds, cardamon and almond essence and stir over low heat for 2-3 minutes, until the paste no longer sticks to the pan. Set aside and let cool.  Oil your hands lightly, take little lumps of paste and roll into 2.5 cm round balls. Coat in powdered sugar, and serve. A true indulgence. We like to make some extra and store it in the fridge. We roll it into a log, wrap in saran wrap and put it away for a rainy day (it will keep for months). And when some some friends come over for tea and there are no cookies, we can quickly whip out our homemade marzipan.

Kim chi (Korean Pickles)

We got stuck with a large amount of cucumbers and after many weeks of making simple pickles we had enough. It was time to find a spicy alternative. Enter kim chi, spicy Korean pickles! We had tried and loved kim chi on our last trip to Korea and were determined to have a try at making our own. They turned out spectacular, extremely spicy and addictive. They're great as a condiment, added to soup or served as a side order like regular pickles.

Adapted from  Dr. Ben Kim's recipe.

Ingredients:

15-20 small cucumbers cut into bite-size pieces
2 tbs salt
1 tbs minces garlic
1/2 cup green onions, roughly chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
2 tbs red chili powder
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tbs honey

The Recipe:
Toss the cucumbers with salt and let sit overnight.
Combine the cucumbers with the rest of the ingredients, and mix well.
Transfer to glass jars with just a little bit of brine and let ferment for 48 hours at room temperature. Place the jars in the refrigerator for safe keeping.

Red/Green Tahini (Techina) Spread

Tahini (or techina as it is called in Hebrew) is a basic ingredient in the Israeli kitchen. It is eaten everywhere and by everyone; smeared with a pita, spread on a sandwich, as a salad dressing or in our kitchen, on soba noddles. Tahini cookies are favorite sin of mine too. The core to a good tahini recipe is a good raw tahini paste (or techina golmit). You can find very good options in Israeli grocery stores, but the best raw tahini paste we found was in the Machane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem.

For the Red (Roasted Pepper) Tahini Spread
Ingredients
1/2 cup raw tahini paste (i like to use Harduf Organic Tahini from whole sesame, but any good tahini paste, like Yona or Gamal will do)
10 roasted and peeled red peppers
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 piece ginger, the size of a garlic clove, peeled
1 chopped red chili (use half if you don't love spicy)
salt and pepper to taste

The Recipe
Blend all the ingredients in a food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste. The spread can easily be turned into a salad dressing by thinning it out with a little bit of water.

For the Green (Herb) Tahini Spread
Ingredients
1/2 cup raw tahini paste
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of coriander
10 basil leaves
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 piece ginger, the size of a garlic clove, peeled
1 chopped red chili (use half if you don't love spicy)
salt and pepper to taste

The Recipe
Blend all the ingredients in a food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste. The spread can easily be turned into a salad dressing by thinning it out with a little bit of water.

Open Face Tahini and Roasted Veggie Sandwich

When faced with a serious brunch dilemma, we decided to make an Open Face Tahini and Roasted Veggie Sandwich. After a couple of days of intensive cooking we tired out and opted to piece together a sandwich made from the week's leftovers. Bread+ homemade tehini + leftover roasted vegetables, made for a very yummy brunch.

Some Changes

In an effort to consolidate our blogs we started posting our recipes on our lifestyle blog The Royal Excursion. Hope you continue to check in to see what we are cooking! Lately we have made homemade granola, an open face tahini and veggie sandwich and baked split banana.

The Royals

Egyptain Cauliflower Salad

This is a simple cauliflower salad adapted from My Egyptian Grandmother's Kitchen by Magda Mehdawy.
The Ingredients
1 small cauliflower
1 tbs. olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tbs lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs chopped parsley

The Recipe
Separate the cauliflower into medium sized pieces and steam in a steamer (if you don't have a steamer you can boil the cauliflower whole in water and then cut it into pieces). Place in a bowl. Mix the olive oil, cumin, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Pour over the cauliflower and mix. Garnish with parsley.

A Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast

We don't like eating a sugary breakfast and this delicious whole oatmeal is a healthy alternative.

Ingredients:
6 tbs. raw whole oats (not Quaker)
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup almond milk (you can also use soy, rice or regular milk)

for the topping:
1 banana. sliced
1tbs. raisins
1tbs. pumpkin seeds (not salted, we like to use organic)
1tbs. sunflower seeds (not salted)
1tbs. almonds

The Recipe:
Cook the oatmeal and liquids in a small pot over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. When done, remove from heat and top with bananas, seeds, nuts and raisins.