I have several favourite recipes from other countries.
In some cases, like the chai recipe below, there is a little story about
how
I first encountered the dish in question.
It's the middle of the night, and through your sleep you hear the is train
rattling into a station. You turn over on your hard bunk-bed and draw the blanket over your head. All of a sudden a
sing-song voice explodes into your ear: Chai-Chai-Chai!
It's the chai-wallah, come to sell you a hot beverage. You look at him, trying to hide your
irritation, and fumble for some money. Then you sit up and sleepily drink
your first sweet, hot chai of the day from a small clay cup. You throw the
cup out of the window and resign yourself to another early wake-up.
This is a typical experience for travellers on trains in India and
Pakistan. The chai wallahs work the trains around the clock, sometimes hopping
on at one station with a container full of hot chai, and selling it on the
train until it reaches the next station. There, they fill up the container
and take the next train back.
I first tasted milk-chai in Pakistan. The bus I was traveling on
stopped in a tiny village in the Baluchistan desert. We were all thirsty
and flocked to the tiny tea stall and bought small cups of sweet, hot tea
with milk and spices. I've been hooked ever since!
Chai is at once relaxing and refreshing. It's available in various
versions all over the Indian sub-continent, and I have seen similar
recipes from Africa. The types of spices vary from place to place, but the
basic recipe calls for black tea, milk, spices and lots of sugar. Spices
commonly include cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and pepper.
This variation is unusual in that it only uses one type of spice, rather
than a mixture.
5-6
green cardamoms
500 ml.
water
500 ml.
milk
approx. 3 tblsp.
black tea (or 3 bags)
to taste
sugar
Bring the water to the boil. Bruise or lightly crush the cardamoms and cook
in the water for 5 minutes. Add the tea leaves and cook for about 2 minutes (I
prefer using tea bags - it's less messy). Add the milk. Remove from heat
when the mixture boils, strain and serve with sugar to taste. If you want
a more intense cardamom taste, pour the chai into a thermos flask with the
cardamoms and leave it for about an hour.
I first encountered Moussaka when I went on a holiday to
Greece. I can still remember the taste, smooth and soft with a
slight hint of cinnamon. Try as I may, I have never been able to reproduce
Moussaka the way I remember it from that first taste, but here is a very
good recipe that I sometimes use. I originally got it
from some women's magazine, but it has changed in accordance with my
tastes and the availability of ingredients. (When you live in a small
Icelandic fishing village, you can't always count on getting your hands on
an eggplant, and Greek yogurt isn't sold anywhere in Iceland).
1 lrg. - ca. 300 g.
eggplant, or substitute with potatoes if
eggplant is not available
1 lrg. - ca. 225 g.
potato, or 525 g. if eggplant is not
available
350 g.
minced lamb or mutton, lightly browned
225 g.
ripe tomatoes, peeled and deseeded, or use
canned tomatoes
6 tblsp.
olive oil
1 ea.
onion
2 ea.
garlic cloves
1 tblsp.
tomato puree
4 tblsp.
lamb or vegetable stock
1 tblsp.
fresh parsley, chopped
100 g.
Parmesan cheese, grated
2 ea.
eggs
to taste
salt & ground black pepper
1-2 tblsp.
olive oil
pinch
cinnamon, optional
300 ml.
Skyr
- (the original calls for Greek yogurt, but you can't get that in
Iceland, so I use Skyr, which resembles Greek yogurt enough to give
authentic results)
Trim the eggplant and cut into slices, about 5 mm. thick.
Sprinkle salt on the slices and leave to drain in a colander for about 30
minutes. Rinse with cold water and pat dry. Peel the potatoes and cut into
slices, same thickness as the eggplant.
Put 1-2 tblsp. olive oil into the frying pan and lightly
brown the lamb mince. Remove from the pan.
Heat the oven to 190°C while you prepare the following
ingredients:
Heat half the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the
eggplant for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until soft. Remove from the pan
and drain on kitchen paper. Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the
potato slices for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and drain.
Add onion and garlic to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, or until
soft.
Remove the pan from the stove, and add the pre-cooked lamb
mince. Stir to mix. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, stock and
parsley, if using. Season and mix well.
Arrange the eggplant slices (or half the potatoes if you're
not using eggplant) on the base and around the sides of an ovenproof
casserole dish (must take at least 1200 ml.). Put half the lamb mixture on
top. Top with potato slices, and cover with the rest of the lamb
mixture.
Beat together the skyr/Greek yogurt, eggs and Parmesan
cheese, add a pinch of salt and pour over the top. Bake for about 35
minutes, until the mixture is bubbling hot and the topping is golden.
Grated cheese, such as Gouda, may be sprinkled on top for a more cheesy
flavour.
-Serve with Greek salad and crusty bread.
Simple Greek salad: Chop some fresh tomatoes and
cucumber into coarse pieces. Mix in a bowl. Thinly slice a red onion and
add to the salad, along with some black olives and pieces of feta cheese.
Grind some black pepper over the salad and add some salt to taste. Pour a
little olive oil over the salad and stir to coat. Chill for 10-15 minutes
before serving.
I first tasted this cake, which is called
"Grandfather's beard", when I was visiting friends in Denmark.
It is a delicious variation on the classic oven-pan
cake.
125 g
margarine/butter, soft
125 g / 150 ml
sugar
4 ea.
egg yolks
300 g / 500 ml
flour
1 tsp.
baking powder
150 ml
milk
Beat together the soft margarine/butter and sugar until light and
fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time. Sift together flour and baking
powder and measure out 150 ml of milk. Add to the margarine/sugar/egg
yolk mixture, alternating about one tablespoon of flour with a dash of
milk. Mix well in-between. Pour into a roasting pan (approx. 20 x 25 cm)
and bake at 175 C, for about 15 minutes, or until the top of the cake is
firm.
Topping:
100 ml
apricot jam
4 ea.
egg whites
250 ml.
sugar
Prepare the meringue while the cake is baking: Whip the egg
whites until they form stiff peaks. Add half the sugar in small doses
and mix well. Fold the rest of the sugar carefully into the mixture.
Remove the cake from the oven and add topping immediately: Spread
the jam on top of the cake, and spread the meringue on top of the jam.
Return the cake to the oven and continue to bake at 175 C, for about 20
minutes, or until the cake is baked through and the meringue is a golden
colour. This cake freezes well.
The name sounds French, and maybe it is, originally. But the Danish eat
this as dessert at Christmas. In some Icelandic
households it is served instead of rice pudding at Christmas. The first
time I tasted ris a la mande, I didn't like it at all. This is
perhaps because it was lumpy and the cook had left out the vanilla. I
have since made peace with it, and like it just as much a the
traditional Icelandic rice pudding.
50 gr.
rice (not quick-cook or instant)
600 ml.
milk
1/2
vanilla bean
30 gr.
sugar
15 ea.
almonds, slivered or chopped
370 ml.
heavy cream, whipped
6-7 sheets
gelatin (12-14 grams)
Bring the milk to the boil in a large pot. Add the rice
and vanilla bean and cook up a rice pudding (see above recipe for method).
When the pudding is done, remove the vanilla bean. Add the sugar,
almonds and gelatin (prepared as indicated on the packaging). Cool and
add the whipped cream. Decorate with slivered almonds before serving.
Like several other great artists, most famously the
ballerina Pavlova and opera singer Nellie Melba, actress Sarah Bernhardt had
some sweet desserts named after her. There is a Sarah Bernhardt cake, and
then there are these delicious confections called Sarah Bernhardt cookies,
invented by a Danish pastry chef who wanted to honour the actress.
These cookies are a great favourite of mine, and I try to make some every
year for Christmas.
400 gr.
finely ground, blanched almonds
600 ml.
icing sugar/confectioner's sugar
5 ea.
eggs, separated
150 ml.
white sugar
2 tblsp.
baking cocoa
150 ml.
water
300 gr.
butter, soft
250 gr.
coating chocolate - use dark
2 1/2 tsp.
instant coffee powder (optional)
Mix together the ground almonds and icing sugar. Stiffly
whip the egg whites and mix carefully with the almond/sugar mixture. With
a teaspoon, put small dollops of dough on a baking sheet covered with
baking paper, and bake at 180°C for about 15 minutes, or until the
cookies begin to take on a golden colour. Remove the cookies from the
baking sheet with a spatula while still hot. Allow to cool completely
before adding the crème.
Crème filling:
Put the water and sugar into a saucepan and cook until the
sugar is melted and a thin syrup has formed. Remove from the heat and
cool. Beat the egg yolks and slowly pour the cooled syrup into them,
stirring constantly. Add the softened butter and mix well. Add cocoa and
instant coffee powder (if using). Put in the refrigerator to cool.
Spread the cooled crème on the underside of each cookie,
forming a small mound in the center. Put in the refrigerator. The crème
needs to be cold and stiff before proceeding on to the next step.
Coating:
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. Cool to
about 40°C (use a candy thermometer). Dip the covered-covered part of the
cookies in melted chocolate, to coat.
Serve cool or frozen with hot cocoa or strong coffee.
-These cookies can be stored frozen.
-Try different kinds of crème fillings - any recipe for buttercream icing
can be used.
Jo's
Icelandic Recipes
