While I Was Away

It has been a little over a month now since returning to Scotland.  Here is what I have cooked/ate whilst I have been AWOL from Bendi Benri.

Feeling a lot more settled in now I am ready to embark on my new life as a student AGAIN and get back into creating more yum.

Enjoy!

First up, home-coming welcome dinner, beautifully and deliciously prepared by my wonderful mother.  It is very clear to me now that my mum is the source for my desire to cook.  She effortlessly manages to put on amazing wholesome spreads.  What a mum.

Nutty Chocolate Brownies (heaven in your mouth) & Scones with Home made Jam

Victoria Sponge

prawn & avocado cocktail

Home Made Steak Pie

Home Made traditional Scottish Oatcakes

What I forgot to capture was the Ultimate Chocolate cake smothered in Ganache! I am gaining pounds just thinking about it! I swear that cake was to die for! Here’s a link to the recipe.

A flying visit home then back to Edinburgh to meet Izumi and Sofie, friends we met in Japan.  They had never tasted Haggis before, so Andy and I decided to take them to Urban Angel to give it a try.  I love the concept of this Restaurant, stylish and delicious, “using the best local, organic, free-range and fairly traded produce available.”

To follow I visited a three-day foodies festival, filled with freebies of scrumptious organically prepared fresh food from all over the country.  Some healthy and some just down right naughty!  I was in my element.

Salmon and potato pie!

Tiger Prawn Paella

Feeling inspired from my weekend boozing and munching, I bought a nice big bunch of fresh beetroot and put together a yummy beetroot cake smothered in cream cheese icing.  Here’s the recipe I used.  Yep, I AM growing by the day! Twice the size I was a month ago. Oops!

No time to break just yet.  The Edinburgh festival brought my folks and brother up to Edinburgh.  The weekend consisted mainly of indulgence and laughter. Good times!

Below we eat at Amore Dogs another very trendy restaurant serving Italian scrum.

tuna nicoise salad on the side of a grilled sea bass on a bed of baked tomatoes.

Goats Cheese & Sun dried tomato Risotto

Wow what a month.  Loved every minute!

I really miss Japan and crave a lot of the food we ate whilst we lived there, especially Soba noodles, so I treated us to a yummy crispy tofu soba dish.   Satisfying beyond expectation! Go me!

Ingredients; serves 2 if you really have to share.

2 portions of soba noodles

150g Tofu (drained and cut into cubes)

1 small red onion (sliced into half moons)

1 stick of celery

around 12 sugar snap peas (halved)

2 cloves garlic

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 T light soy sauce

1 tsp pure honey

1 T chopped fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon chilli (from the jar or fresh)

2 T olive oil

2 tsp vegetable powdered bullion

2 T corn flour

Directions:

1.  prepare all ingredients

2. evenly coat the tofu in the corn flour

3.  heat up the olive oil in a wok or frying pan then add the tofu.  When coloured a reddish brown remove from the pan and place on some absorbing kitchen paper

4. In the same pan add the onions and garlic and cook until translucent

5. add the all of the other ingredients except the soba and basil and lemon then stir through on a medium heat.

6. In the mean time boil the soba until just tender then rinse quickly under cold water to avoid over cooking.

stir through the noodles, tofu, basil and lemon juice to the vegetable mixture then serve in warm bowls.

To finish, here is yesterdays lunch…

Chilli Squash Soup accompanied with rice crackers topped with cheddar cheese (hello my long-lost naughty friend) and cranberry sauce. yummmm…..

Ingredients; serves 4-6

I small butternut squash

4 sticks of celery

1 yellow onion

3 cloves of garlic

50g low fat soft cheese

2 tsp vegetable bullion

Directions:

1.  Saute the onion and garlic until translucent

2.  In the mean time bring a med/large pot of water (2 litre) the boil

3. cut the squash into cubes then allow to boil until tender

4.  when the squash is ready add all other ingredients except the cream cheese, then mix through

5. Turn off the heat then use a hand held blender to pulse the mixture until smooth(ish) stir though the cream cheese then serve in warm bowls

Stuffing my Face with Deliciousness

Some deliciousness from my last few days in beautiful Japan!!

After a wonderful 3 years it’s time to go home.  The clock was working faster than usual so I was determined to enjoy as many yum times as I could!

Below was a set lunch in a beautiful old Japanese style house/restaurant.  Kimchi dressed chicken (drowned in mayo) on a bed of salad accompanied with a kabocha salad, miso soup, fresh steamed rice and some tsukemono followed by a refreshing and revitalising yet slightly naughty ice coffee.

Regardless of the mayo overload the sugar and cream, the meal was a memorable one.  Time spent with wonderful friends always justifies the excess calorie intake.

Next up are photos from my very first experience of a Japanese tea ceremony.  I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to enjoy such a cultural experience.

One thing about the ceremony, which surprised me the most, was the attention to the detail of every movement you make during the ceremony and the many meanings behind every process from the tools used, the decor which surrounds you, the clothes you should wear right down to the words you should speak.

Our ceremony was a more relaxed one.  Hosted by Irino sensei, who has practised the art of the tea ceremony for over 30 years.  She explained her every move in such finesse. Also, her modesty in her abilities only added to the charm of the experience.

First served was a light meal which consisted of somen noodles and miso soup, onigri, grilled ebi, tsukemono and an egg wrapped processed fish (I have forgotten the Japanese name)

It is believed that eating a small meal such as this before drinking the tea layers the stomach from the harsh properties in the tea and also aids in absorbing its powerful qualities.

Shortly after the meal, we were then ushered to a waiting area whilst Irino Sensei prepared the next part of  the ceremony.

Below the ceremony is in process.  Irino Sensei skipped many parts of the tea ceremony  as it can take up to 5 or 6 hours to fully complete every step.  I wont describe every detail, but if you are interest please take a look here.  This website gives you a great insight into the traditional art form of the Japanese tea ceremony.

We enjoyed a thin macha in beautiful chawan (green tea cups).  Thin macha is apparently better drunk during the summer, due to its light texture and taste.

Wonderful 🙂

And now for the last lunch.  I couldn’t leave without spending one last afternoon in my favourite café.   The lunch there never fails to please.  From all the stresses of packing this café is my perfect place to relax.  We didn’t have a car or bike, so we walked for 45mins in the 36 degree humid heat to get there.   It was worth every minute and every cup of sweat which poured from us.

Satisfied!

What followed was a sad farewell and a 53 hour Journey back to Scotland.  Many long waits for busses, flights, connecting flights, delayed planes, planes missed, plastic plane food and numerous teas and cakes later, we are finally home.  Here is how we celebrated,

Goats Cheeeeeeeeeese 🙂 Ohisashiburi!

Yummy succulent and melt in the mouth Scottish salmon…mmm…

An Almond Obsession

An empty kitchen = empty blog posts.  I am literally living in a shell.  I’m sitting on the floor with my laptop on a tray on my knees surrounded by nothing but bags of recycling and boxed up clothes and goodies all ready to go!  This will possibly be my last post in Japan 😦

Only 8 days till I fly back to bonny Scotland and already I am having nostalgia for my Nippon loves.

The list is a long one.  I’ll probably come back to that sometime soon, but today feeling a little rough after too many good-bye drinks.  Right now, I have a huge craving for almonds!!  I want the, lovely, delicious, raw, naturally sweet fresh crunchy ones. I could eat a bucket of them just as they are…mmmm…

(image taken from planetbeauty.com)

While I fantasize over the little beauties here is what I haven’t made yet.  My mouth is watering at the thought of it.

All thanks to Joy the baker she has made the process look so easy…perfect!

What’s more, this delicious treat remains completely guilt free.  Some even say almonds are the king of nuts 😉

They ooze goodness, a one-ounce, 160 calorie serving of almonds (about a handful) stuffed with vitamin E and Magnesium, monounsaturated fat, protein, potassium, calcium, phosphorous and iron.

No need to limit yourself to only eating this power food, they contain a nourishing beautiful skin food, vitamin E, so after making the milk, you will be left with almond remains which you can use to make a body scrub.

1. Fill a sealable container about 2/3 full of the left over almonds
2. add enough olive oil to make a thick paste
3. add 1-2 tablespoons of pure honey and stir well
4. This scrub will work fine on its own, but if you would like to add a little fragrance add your desired essential oil, just enough to meet your desired strength.
5. Until you are ready to use it, seal the lid of the jar and store in a cool dry place.

No more time to waste, I’m off to get some supplies and get to work on this now.

Healthy Summer Snacks

I haven’t been in the kitchen much this summer so I thought I’d put together a collage of bendibenri summer yum.  Enjoy!

Summer Time Sweetness

Kappa Cafe + My New Camera

It was a sad day last saturday when I boxed up Benri (my side kick in the Kitchen, my rice cooker).

I shipped her home with most of my dishes, books, clothes and about a kg of the best green tea in Japan.

I have been lost without her.  I haven’t been motivated to cook and when I do, my dishes seem to miss something.    Only 3 months until I see her and we can share wonderful cooking times together again.

Safe journey little one 🙂

The rainy season is here in full force and the sun is struggling to shine in my direction.  After the departure of Benri a new baby arrived.  One in the form of a DSLR.  I have been dying to take her out and show her some beautiful sights and create great memories with her.  Sadly, it has rained every day, cloudy and grey.

What I did do is take her to my favourite Cafe.   Here are some memories we made there.

Tomato & Basil Brown Rice Salad

To accompany the chilled cucumber soup, I prepared a refreshing brown rice salad.

Both of these dishes could be made ahead of time, saving you valuable relaxing evening time.

Cold dishes like these really do offer you more interesting lunches as well.

What you don’t see in the image is a side dish I also served,  pan-fried tofu stakes seasoned in curry salt and pepper mix.  A nice tip for crispy tofu steaks is after draining and marinade (30 min),  dust the steaks with a little corn flour around the edges, top and bottom right before cooking them in your hot pan for 2 minutes each side and seal around the edges.  Serve immediately with the dish/salad of your choice.

Here is the salad I made.  It’s super easy to make as you don’t need to cook anything except the rice and egg, of course 🙂 (The egg is optional)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice (1 1/2 cups when uncooked)
• 1 cup of chopped fresh herbs (I use coriander and sweet basil and fresh mint)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 8 (cut into 1/8s) cherry tomatoes
• 1 cucumber diced
• 1 red bell pepper (chopped roughly)
• sprinkle of Konbu dashi powder or bullion powder to taste
• 1 small onion finely diced
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. When the rice has finished cooking, allow it to cool.
2. In the mean time combine all other ingredients in a large salad bowl
3. Mix in the cooled rice then chill until ready to serve.

Easy Chilled Cucumber Soup

The supermarket was offering fresh cucumbers by the case load for an amazing price that I’d be silly to pass up.

The first dishes that came to mind were an Indian raita and a cold cucumber soup.

First up is the soup.

You could drink this as a savoury smoothie (after my first taste I instantly thought of gin.  I reckon this soup would work as an amazing mixer for Hendricks) in a glass, topped up with ice, or enjoyed simply in a bowl as a soup.

What better way to celebrate summer than with a cold soup and salad.

Here’s what I came up with:

Ingredients:

• 4 large cucumbers (peeled and de-seeded) or 5 Japanese cucumbers (peeled)
• 1 small/half clove of garlic (minced) (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups Low fat plain/Greek yoghurt
• 1/4 teaspoon of Konbu dashi (or vegetable bullion powder)
• 2 green onions (chopped)
• 1 tbsp fresh mint (chopped)
• The Juice of one lemon
• salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Directions:

1. Simply add all ingredients to a blender
2. Blend until smooth
3. Chill in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve
4. serve in a glass filled with Ice or in a bowl as desired.

Curried Tomato,Soybean & Rice One-Pot

I think I’ll keep this post short and sweet with a little added spice today.
Annoyingly I have come down with a nasty chest infection which has forced me to take a day off work. I suppose it’s not such a bad thing to stay at home and rest instead of spreading my smelly germs around the school. However, I really can’t handle being cooped up in the flat all day. Sadly, I have no energy to do much, but I’m sure there is a little left in me to write a post on a one-pot rice cooker dish I made last night. I really wanted to share this one. “It’s up there”, as Andy groaned in enjoyment to me last night. I hope it’s up there for you too.

I actually wasn’t so sure how this meal would turn out as I was purely experimenting, but not in an extremely adventurous way though. In saying that, I think I have a fairly good idea on ingredients and flavours which work well together without following a recipe so kind of knew it might taste half decent. I also hadn’t made a full dish in my rice cooker for a while, so thought, since I was feeling out of energy and steam, it was the perfect meal to make, offering me the goodness I need to get better.

By the time the dish was ready the sun had completely set leaving me no natural light to show off my food in a photo. Dull cooker hood lighting is what I settled for. This made my dish look not to dissimilar to a rice and baked beans combo. I swear to you though, baked beans were no where near this dish or my house thankfully.

I would have preferred to use chick peas, but I just had to use what I had on hand. Since I have been asked to make it again there will be ample oportunity for modification. Hopefully, by then, the sun will be shining to show off the goods with a mouth watering snap. For now, here’s an Idea of what it looked like last night.

This dish was so full of flavour you don’t even notice an absence of meat. It contains enough protein and nutrition without adding meat. In saying that I never miss meat, but I’m sure Andy does.
This dish was just too easy. With having such a heavy schedule at times, it’s perfect for me.

The aroma it releases whilst cooking really waters your mouth, but the true joy is in the eating. Give it a go, you’ll see what I mean. What you can’t see in the photo above are the crunched almonds I sprinkled on top before serving. They really make this one memorable for me. Those and the cottage cheese, Yummmm…

What I enjoy most about cooking is when dishes are easy to prepare, but offer amazingly delicious results good enough to impress. I also love knowing what’s in my food and the benifits it can give my body. Got to stay beautiful and healthy if I want to continue traveling the way I do.

I don’t know if it’s because of the restaurants I choose to eat in, but I never feel satisfied after a meal. Of course I’ll feel full but I either leave with over powering guilt that I’ve gone way over my calorie limit, or annoyed that there wasn’t enough goodness in what I had eaten due ti it being destroyed with butter, oil and salt. Living in Japan, does offer a lot of healthy option in restaurants adding soba noodles, sashimi and tofu and an array of salads. However, even Japanese chefs can take short cuts by adding unnecessary oil or lard to their soups for flavour, or over dress and drown their salads or by deep-frying and over seasoning their vegetables. I have found a couple of cafes which offer the goodness I look for especially he one I visited on my birthday. But finding cafes like those are like finding a needle in a hay stack.

For me I prefer to cook at home, more satisfaction for the money in my opinion. Living in the country offers you the freshest of vegetables, which you’d be a fool to pass up.

So, back to the one-pot, this dish couldn’t be easier. If you have a rice cooker and love to experiment like me, give this one go. I have never used a pressure or slow cooker before, but I’m sure it would also work in any of those. If you do like the sound of it and try it out, please let me know what you think. Or if you have suggestions to make it even better my coments box is always open.

Oops I must have had more energy than I thought as this post is possibly longer than the others I’ve written.

Appologies if I went on a bit too much.
Happy cooking 🙂

Here you, go;

Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 1 cup white rice
• 1/2 cup brown rice
• 1 tin of organic plum tomatoes
• 500mls water
• 2 sachets of Konbu Dashi
• 1 inch of fresh root ginger (chopped)
• 2 plump cloves of garlic
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 100g soy beans (Garbanzo/chick peas would also be fabulous)
• 1 cup chopped spinach
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 2 tbsp crushed almonds (they make the dish. They beautiful flavour and texture)
• 2 tbsp cottage cheese

Directions:

1. Simply put all ingredients into the rice cooker leaving out the spinach and coriander
2. Set to the porridge setting and press cook.
3. After 20 minutes, open the cooker to stir the ingredients again. Close and wait for the music. (My cooker plays twinkle twinkle little star when the food is done :D)
4. Stir though the herbs and spinach
5. dish up the risotto style dish on smallish plates
6. Top with the cottage cheese and crushed almonds and enjoy.
7. I also squeezed a little lemon juice on my portion (only because I love citrus flavoured curries)

Thai Mushroom Soup with basil & olive bread

Benri is back! At last a dish I feel is more than worthy of a post.

As I mentioned in a previous reply to a comment, Andy gave me a cookbook (one by the Weightwatchers team) as part of a birthday gift. I don’t think it was because he thinks I need to lose weight (I hope not) or I need more practice (which I do) or thinks my style of cooking doesn’t meet his expectations (his mmms & ahhhs confirms he’s satisfied). We have always enjoyed the recipes from the weightwatchers books as they are usually full of variety, so perhaps he is worrying I run out of ideas and stop cooking for him, so this gesture may be a gentle nudge to keep on doing what I’m doing.

I have been dying to get back into the kitchen for weeks. I was beginning to feel like I was going to burst if I didn’t get a post out there soon. Is that sad? Do I yearn for the life of blogging more than I do the outside world? I’m pretty new to this world of blogging, which I have found can be quite addictive. I’m quite happy to make it become a part of my life. However, not my life. What I love about blogging is the thought of other people loving and talking about the same interests I have. I just want to share what I love. One thing I do need to do is post more often. I’m thinking perhaps twice a week will be more doable.

Being so far away from close friends really does influence more activity on the net. If I can’t feed them, I feel the next best thing is to share what I feed myself in this blog and talk about it.

I love this hobby and it’s here to stay.

Anyway, before I run off the point, which is my last nights dinner; a creamy Thai mushroom soup served with basil and olive yeast free buns and a tomato side salad.

This one wasn’t taken from the book. It was only inspired by a recipe title in the book. I suppose you can say the ingredients share a similarity, but the taste is on a different level. A lot more to my liking. I also just wanted to use up what I had in the fridge. I’m terrible at following recipes actually. I always seem to be missing then substituting ingredients.

Due to the coconut milk this version isn’t as low in calories as the weight watchers recipe, but it still oozed fresh delicious nutritiousness (is that even a word? Well it works for me).

This one is a keeper. I hope you like it. If you’d like to check out the original recipe which caught my attention, I’ll post it in a comment below this recipe.

Creamy Thai Mushroom Soup

Ingredients;

• 1/2 a tin of coconut milk topped up with water making one pint
• 1 cup soy beans (or any white bean)
• 200g mushrooms (a mixture of your choice)
• 1 tbsp red Thai curry paste
• The juice of one lemon/lime/1tbsp rice vinegar/1tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 plump cloves of garlic
• 1 red onion
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 sachet of konbu dashi/ 1 1/2 tsp

Directions:

1. In a medium sized sauce pan, saute the chopped onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is translucent
2. add a little water to avoid sticking
3. add the beans
4. add the chopped mushrooms stir the contents together.
5. mix the Thai paste, coconut milk, water & Konbu together
6. pour into the sauce pan
7. bring to the boil then turn to low and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.
8. In the mean time prepare your side salad
9. I used 2 chopped tomatoes, 2 cup of chopped spinach and salad leaves, 3 chopped umeboshi (pickled plums) and 2 green onions, chopped.
10. The bread recipe is below
11. When the soup is ready stir through the lemon juice
12. blend the soup in batches then return to the sauce pan and heat through before serving in warm bowls.

Yeast Free Bread Buns

Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1tsp salt
• 5 chopped green olives
• 4 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 -3/4 cup water

Directions:

1. sieve the flour, baking powder,soda,salt together in a medium sized mixing bowl.
2. add the basil
3. make a well in the center of the flour and mix in the water little by little until it forms a dough and the texture is a little gluey.
4. transfer the dough onto a floured surface then separate into 4 equal parts and form into small bun shapes.
5. grease the rice cooker pan with some of the olive oil
6. insert the buns
7. brush the buns with the rest of the olive oil
8. close the rice cooker lid and set on cake for 45mins.
9. When they are done, crisp them up a little under the grill before serving. (best served hot)

Red Thai Curry Paste ~krung Kaeng Phed