Chocolate Truffles

Love chocolate truffles but hate how expensive they are? You'll never need to buy them again with this recipe and they make greats gifts too! :)

Ingredients

For the truffles
300g of dark chocolate
300ml of double cream

For the topping/coating
Cocoa Powder
Icing Sugar
Crushed nuts
Edible Glitter
Melted Chocolate
Sugar Strands
anything that works and tickles your fancy :)

Heat the double cream in a sauce pan until almost boiling (DO NOT BOIL).
Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate

Keep stirring until chocolate has melted and you have a nice chocolate ganache
Pour into a glass bowl and pop into the fridge for about 3 hours to allow it to set.

3 hours later and you have something that could almost pass as chocolate spread!

Take a small portion and roll between your hands to make a ball.
Make them as big or small as you like.

Once you have rolled the whole mixture into balls, roll the balls in you desired topping/ coating.

I attempted to cover them in melted chocolate, with the idea that when it cooled they would have a crisp hard chocolate shell and a soft truffle centre. Nice idea, right? Didn't work out the best so I wont show you how I made them, but here is a peek at one of the very few that did turn out ok :)

Enjoy!

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Caramel Shortbread

Just a Scottish treat here that is loved by my whole family and pretty much everyone I meet!

Most people think Caramel (or Millionaires) Shortbread is difficult to make but in reality it is very simple. However it does take a few hours to make, due to the cooling periods, and that is probably why so many view it as complex.

The cooling periods are essential if you want this to turn out right - do not, I repeat, do not be tempted to skip them or continue with the next step if your shortbread or caramel is still warm!

The Ingredients

For the Shortbread
250g of plain flour
175g of butter or margarine
75g of caster sugar

For the Caramel
150g of butter or margarine
150g of white or brown sugar
1 tin (400g) of condensed milk

For the topping
200g of your preferred chocolate

Mix caster sugar with the flour

Add the butter (175g) and rub in using your fingers

After a while a dough-like paste will form like this

Spread it out into you tin with your finger or the back of a spoon and prick the top with a fork
Cook at 180C for 20min or until golden brown on top

After 20min, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.


Making the Caramel

Gently melt the butter (150g) over a low heat

Add the brown (or white) sugar

Mix well until you have a nice golden liquid

Add in the tin of condensed milk and mix well, bring to a very gentle boil (continually stirring) 

Simmer gently for 10 minutes, continually stirring, until the caramel thickens

Once thickened, pour onto your cooled shortbread

Spread out evenly and leave to cool completely

Topping with Chocolate

Melt chocolate in a bowl over and pan of gently simmering water

Pour on top of the cooled caramel and pop onto the fridge for a about and hour to chill

Nice and solid!

And I've yet to figure out how people actually cut this stuff neatly, but mess aside, look at that caramel!
Tuck in with a nice cuppa and enjoy! :)

PS - this was actually my first time making this. That's how easy it is ;)

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Ful Mudammas (فول مدمّس)

Ful Mudammas

Ful Mudammas is a very popular dish throughout the Middle East, and can be made in a variety of different ways depending on which region you are in. The first time I tried this I really disliked it - then again, it was an imported 'ready to eat' canned version of the stuff that I tried. Since all my Middle Eastern friends stood by their claims that it was a staple dish that rich and poor alike both ate, I decided to give it another try making it myself - the results were quite different!

I won't claim this recipe is from any specific region, because it is not. I searched a wide variety of recipes, all of which differed in some way or another. When the time came to try our this dish again I didn't bother with a recipe at all. I went with what I remembered from the various recipes I had found. Since I also had no sort of Arabic bread available, with which ful is usually served, I decided to be a typical Brit and make toast instead!

Ingredients

Serves: 2

Ingredients
1 can/tin of brown broad beans
1/2 a bell pepper (any colour is fine), diced
1/2 a medium onion, diced
1/2 a tomato, chopped
1/2 a tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of crushed garlic
1 tbsp of tomato puree*
1 cup of water
juice of 2 lemons (or to taste)
salt and black pepper, to taste

*In Britain, tomato puree, usually refers to what is known in America as concentrated tomato paste

Fry the onion until translucent

Add bell pepper and fry for a further 3 min

Add tomato and fry until soft

Add ground cumin and crushed garlic, fry for a futher 30s

Add 1 cup of cold water, tomato puree* and the broad beans.
Bring to the boil then reduce heat to low and cover with a lid.

Simmer on low heat for about 10min or until liquid has reduced by half , it should look as above

Mash the beans with a potato masher or the back of a spoon, for a chunky consistency
You could serve it  like this, or if you want a smoother texture give it a further whizz with an electric hand blender or in the food processor.

Once you have your desired consistency/texture, mix in the lemon juice, salt and pepper to your preferred taste
This above photo shows the consistency/texture after using a hand blender
Serve with Arabic Flat bread, or any other type of bread ;)

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Saudi Scrambled Eggs (شكشوكة‎)

Some exciting new and a new recipe today!

First off, I got a new camera which I am utterly overjoyed with. A Canon EOS 600D, perhaps not the most 'professional' camera out there, but it does what I need it to - and I'm a poor student remember ;)

I have to admit I made this blog not even having the right equipment from the start. I don't know much about HTML, but if found this wonderful template and tweaked with it a bit (from what little I could remember from my younger days) for my needs until I was happy. Then when I wanted to post some recipes I realised I didn't have a decent camera. My little point and shoot would I worked, if course, but the quality would not be great.
So I took to pinching a few photos from other blogs (you'll find all the credits below the picture though!). Despite crediting the original source, I still felt kinda bad for taking them.

But now, oh boy, ya walad! I am going to have fun with this new beauty!
So to test it out I snapped each step of making my breakfast this morning - Scarmbled Eggs, Saudi style a.k.a shakshouka/شكشوكة‎


On with the recipe!

Serves: 1-2 (I am greedy and ate it all to myself :p)
Ingredients

3 medium eggs
Half a medium onion, diced
One third of a green bell pepper, diced (other colours work too, but green will look the prettiest. I used red since there was already a third left over. No need to waste ;) )
Half a tomato, chopped
Half a tsp of ground cumin
Quarter of a tsp of salt
Quarter of a tsp of black pepper

Optional
Dash of milk
Tsp of butter

Ingredients

Lightly beat your eggs (milk and butter, if using) with a fork until mixed

Fry onion in some olive oil until they start to turn golden

Add pepper and fry for a further 3 min

Add tomato and fry for a further 3min

Sprinkle on about half of the ground cumin and fry for a further 30seconds

Add your egg mix (those lumps are from the butter which was optional!)

Sprinkle on the salt, black pepper, and the rest of the ground cumin
Tip: you could just leave to cook like this to make an omelette ;)

Mix mix mix, and keep mixing until the egg is cooked!

Once the egg is cooked it will look something like this.

Shakshouka is normally served with Arabic flat bread, which I have been told is the same a pita bread, but also been told it is not the same a pita bread. So right ow I have no clue! I was going eat it with some pita but then noticed little spots of mould on mine (oops) so I just ate it on it's own and it was still extremely satisfying! Enjoy :)

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