Rice Paper Rolls

Recently I changed my diet and try to stay away from bread and pastries.However, I don't find it fulfilling to eat some spreads like hummus without bread. Thankfully I have discovered rice papers and wanted to share my first recipe with them.

Ingredients

For the Sauce

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sunflower/vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar (preferably red wine vinegar)
• 1 dessertspoon hummus
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the Filling

• 1 chicken breast
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 fresh ginger
• 2 green onions
• 7-8 medium mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon sunflower/vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin

For Rolling

• 7-8 rice papers
• 1/2 tablespoon Greek yogurt (optional)
• Sesame seeds (optional)

Preparation

Put all ingredients for the sauce except hummus in a small bowl and mix them. Then add hummus and mix it with other ingredients well. 

Heat oil in  a large pan and add chopped chicken, green onions, garlic, ginger, black pepper and cumin and roast them until chickens turn into brown. Then add sliced mushrooms and cook them until mushrooms get smaller in size.
Lastly add the sauce and simmer it like 15-20 minutes until the sauce is all sucked. 

Take a large plate and put boiling water in it. Soak one rice paper in it like 10 seconds and take it back, make sure it is soft enough to make a roll. Put rice paper on the counter, take some of the filling and spread on the bottom part. To roll it in a proper way, first close the bottom part then sides and start rolling.

Put the rolls on a baking pan. If you want it crispy, you can apply some yogurt on it. But you need to dilute it with some water first, otherwise there will be some lumps.Also you can sprinkle some sesame seeds on the rolls for decoration.
Bake it in 400 F preheated oven about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Leftover CakeTruffle

I had some leftover cake and cream from Brown Velvet Cake, the best way to utilize them was to make truffle. But it turned out to be a truffle cake.

Ingredients

• Any kind of plain cake (preferably with cacao)
• 1/2 lb cream cheese 
• 1/4 cup whole butter milk
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of walnuts

Preparation

Put leftover cake in a blender and blend until it is crumbled.

Put chocolate chips in a small sauce pan (I used coffee pot) and put this into a boiling water in a larger pot. 

Melt the chocolate.

Take a large bowl add sugar, buttermilk and cream cheese and beat. Then add minced walnuts, melted chocolate and crumbled cake. Knead it until all ingredients mixed well.

I did not have cupcake pan, so I used small glass containers to give them shape. Cover the container with stretch film, so it will be easier to take them out.Then put a layer of coconut, dough and coconut again. You can do as many layers you want. Then cover the top with the stretch and keep in the freezer all night. Your cake will be ready next day, enjoy!

Almond Milk

I had two New Year's resolution, first one was to be vegetarian and second was to do a whole30. However, I realized these two do not work together well. So, I failed both. However I lost 10 pounds, while trying. It does not look like a failure at all:) During my six days of whole30 (that is right, I couldn't even survive one week), I have learned how to make almond milk and wanted to share.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup raw almonds
• 4 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 dessertspoon maple syrup, honey or molasses (optional)

Preparation

Soak almonds in a water about one day. After one day, you will be able to peel them easily. 

Put them with one up of water in a blender and blend couple of minutes. Then add rest of the water and other ingredients and blend couple of minutes more. 

You can drain it with a cheese cloth and a strainer and squeeze. I did not do it, since I prefer a thick one. Enjoy!

Brown Velvet Cake

I have tried to make red velvet cake. Since I did not want to use food coloring, I used beet juice. But, it did not work. However it still tastes good, worth to share.

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 dessertspoon sea salt
• 1/2 dessertspoon baking soda
• 1 dessertspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups of beet juice
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 cups of confectioners' sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole buttermilk

For the icing

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 lb cream cheese
• 4 cups of confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup whole buttermilk

Preparation

Take a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until it gets fluffy, then add butter at room temperature, keep beating. Lastly add buttermilk and vanilla extract and beat until they all get mixed well. In a small bowl mix cocoa powder and beat juice and add this to the mixture and beat. 

Take another bowl and put a strainer on it. Put flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder into the bowl through the strainer. This will help them to mix better. 

Finally add this flour mixture to the other mixture and beat until it becomes a soft dough. Take a baking pan and put some butter and flour on the surface and pour the dough in it and bake in a 350 F preheated oven about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes stick a toothpick into the cake, if it comes clean, your cake is ready. If it is not, bake another 10 minutes.

In the mean time to prepare icing, beat butter and sugar in a bowl, then add buttermilk and cream cheese. Keep beating unless it gets creamy. Keep this mixture in the fridge about 1 hour. 

When your cake is baked, take it out of oven and let it rest about 30 minutes until it gets cold. Take it from the baking pan and with the help of a glass make round pieces. I preferred to do in that way, because I had a wide pan with short edges. But if you use a higher pan, you can do it all at once. 

Take a dental floss and cut the pieces in half.

Put the icing in the middle and close them. You can put icing on top or allover. You can decorate with cinnamon or cocoa powder.

Enjoy!

Beet Salad

Ingredients

• 3 medium beets
• 2 cups of plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Boil the beets until they get soft but not too much and grate them.

In a small bowl mix yogurt, minced garlic and salt. Put the grated beets in a glass pan, add yogurt mixture and mix. You can decorate with dill or parsley.

Enjoy!

Quince Dessert

I am excited to share this recipe. I was waiting for a long time to try it out, but it is not easy to find quince in US. Finally I found them in Middle Eastern farmers market.

Ingredients

• 4 Quinces
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 2 cups of water
• Turkish clotted cream or whipped cream
• Cloves (optional)
• Couple drops of lemon juice

Preparation

Peel quines and cut them in half, don't throw away the seeds.Take a large bowl, put some cold water and lemon juice, keep the quinces in this bowl about 15 minutes. Then take a medium pot and lay quinces at the bottom, add the seeds (this gives them red color), 2 cups of water and spread sugar on top of the quinces. You can add cloves at also if you want.

Cook it on medium heat until it boils, then lower the heat and simmer it about 2 hours until quinces get soft and red. 

It is best served with Turkish clotted cream. You can find the recipe for that here Turkish Clotted Cream. But if it is too much trouble, you can use ice cream or whipped cream as well. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I wanted to try pumpkin cheesecake for long time and finally gave it a shot. In the meantime, I was curious about this delicious dessert's history and made a little research. 

Cheesecake has a long history to Ancient Greeks to Romans who named it 'Placenta' in 1st century A.D. Then it spread to Great Britain and Western Europe around 1000 A.D and US around 20th century. 

Ingredients

For the Crust

• 2 cups of crumbled crackers or oat cookies
• 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

For the Filling

• 1 egg
• 2 packs of cream cheese (16 oz)
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 1/3 cup of whipping cream
• 1 cup of mashed pumpkins
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon flour or corn/wheat starch
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

To make the crust I prefer to buy oat cookies and crumble them myself, but you may use crumbled crackers. Take a large bowl and mix crumbs, melted butter, sugar and cinnamon.

After mixing well, spread it on your baking pan, press really hard so it sticks to the pan. Then put it in the freezer and wait one hour.

To make mashed pumpkins, you can boil or roast it, then mash. You need 1/4 of a pumpkin approximately. In the mean time, take a large bowl and start beating eggs and sugar (I used brown sugar), then add whipping cream and continue beating.Add cream cheese, after it mixed well add sour cream first, then mashed pumpkins, lastly add vanilla extract, lemon juice, flour (I used flour because I did not have starch, but I recommend to use starch) and all the spices and beat one more time.

Take the base from freezer and add the cream filling. Bake about 15 minutes in 500F  preheated oven, then take it from the oven and lower the temperature to 300 F. Bake at this temperature about 40-45 minutes. Do not take it from the oven, just turn it off and keep it in the oven about 3 hours. It is better if you keep it in the refrigerator one day and then serve it. Enjoy!