oh, rice boiling....thou art so beautiful

i hope it will be a beautiful year for you.

we dream of the sun on our skin…

so we layer our curly greens and juicy veggies,

decorated with little seeds and nuts,

(and a fantastic swirl of tahini-bohini)

and wait patiently for the spring to come…

taste the rainbow!

tahini-bohini salad dressing

inspired by hopes of summer!

makes enough for two small salads

ingredients

2 tablespoons tahini

1 lemon

1 tablespoon walnut oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

directions

1. squeeze lemons and sift out seeds

2. stir in tahini

3. stir in oil and syrup

4. pour over salad*!

*anything works: we had: veldsla, rucola, curly arugula, steamed sweet potato, curled carrots, toasted chestnuts, sundried tomato, cucumber slivers, toasted sesame seeds, cumin seed, walnuts…

who lived inside a soft warm date,

who liked to be wrapped in a blanket of rosewater saffron halva,

who liked to be decorated in sweet cardamom snow,

who liked to be adorned with crisp pistachios…

and they all lived together in the world of rang-e-nak!

rang means colour in farsi,

and this little story becomes a quite colourful dessert indeed,

both in sight and taste!

rang-e-nak

recipe inspired from forough hekmat’s ‘the art of persian cooking’, though halva recipe is from none other than the fantastic hands of my grandmother ‘mama joon’

makes a pie dish of little diamonds- good for a party!

ingredients

big box of dates (i like the ones from bam for this recipe)

big handful of walnuts

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup coconut oil

a few tablespoons of canola oil

pinch of saffron (stirred into a tiny cup of hot water)

1/3 cup rosewater

teaspoon of cinnamon, teaspoon of cardamom

2/4 slivered pistacios (toasted slightly- but don’t discolour them!)

directions

1. wash dates with warm water, and pit one by one, setting them on a cloth to dry.

2. toast walnuts and press each into the heart of the date, pressing each date shut.

3. place them in a tight spiral inside of an oil pie pan.

4. heat coconut oil and canola oil in a frying pan, and slowly sift flour while stirring constantly. fry on medium heat for a very long time, until the flour starts to brown into a caramel tone.

5. stir saffron water and rose-water together in a cup and add a little of the frying flour and stir.

6. add this mixture to the flour and stir until combined (to be honest, this part didn’t work out so well and it started to make little crispy bits– will update you after consulting with mama joon!)

7. pour the flour mixture over the dates.

8. combine the powdered sugar with the spices and sprinkle over the halva, pressing it lightly until the whole plate has a flate top.

9. sprinkle pistachios and press in slightly.

10. let cool completely and slice into cute little diamonds.

11. serve with tea at a party!

nush-e-jan!

and they all lived happily ever after... inside the bellies of the party-goers!

im in wien

it fits in a bowl

and it makes you really happy!

see, even she's happy!

wiener winter happy bowl

recipe from my mother: ‘the mothership’

makes several happy bowls

ingredients

1 cup brown rice

1/2 cup red lentils (toor daal)

3 cups water

1 pinch turmeric (ok, maybe a teaspoon)

6 juicy dates (washed with warm water)

1/3 cup hazelnuts

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

4 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil

coarse sea salt flakes

directions

1. add the rice, lentils, water and turmeric to a pot and boil

2. turn down heat and let simmer for 40 minutes.

3. don’t let it burn! so check every now and then and stir.

4. toast seeds and wash dates.

5. spoon yellow rice mixture into bowl, sprinkle with dates, nuts, seeds, sea salt and drizzle with oil (shall we say lather?)

happy fact: raw oils are an excellent source of omega-3's!

the beauty of this meal in a bowl is its sweet simplicity!

due to this fact,

the happy bowl is our household favourite,

so you will be seeing many more happy combinations!

to move her kitchen again.

oh, the poetry of an airplane window...

this time bidding farewell to nederland,

and joining the viennese!

so while this kid is adjusting to the new kitchen,

she offers you some sweets,

this time not for the belly,

this time for your soul:

III

excerpt from poem ‘be kafee’

from book ‘zaatar diva’

suheir hammad

my arabic weak

but when      as kids

we’d had enough rice we’d

say alhumdilallah     be kafee

place these words please

in a bowl steaming   and sticking

to your ribs    past

into your hurt

rice more precious than green

eat this poem

when you hungry

know you enough

sustaining    soul affirming

your beauty priceless

and i carry you not

in my pocket    i carry

you in my heart.

may you have a lovely loving non-capitalist day of hearts!

so we celebrated in style:

happy birthday lady!

first,

there was the pumpkin cupcake batter:

this was the actual colour with no photo editting!

then there were the chocolate chips, and some baking:

warm pumpkin and creamy chocolate, oh my!

and finally, there was the filling of the cakes with a spicy pumpkin pie creme, and a swirling of a light cinnamon cream-cheese frosting on top:

and a little red dot to finish it off!

phew!

and then there was the eating of the cupcakes rellenos by an already full tanita!

*recipe for cupcakes from vctotw, recipe for pumpkin pie filling and frosting my own..to be posted soon!*

]]> http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/pumpkin-pie-cupcake-rellenos-para-tanita/feed/ 0 thirdculturecake FEb 2 042 FEb 2 026 FEb 2 035 FEb 2 046 http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/black-bean-brownie-bars/ http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/black-bean-brownie-bars/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:36:17 +0000 thirdculturecake http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/?p=468 ]]> we had black-beans.

many many many black-beans.

gingery black-bean vegi-burgers, spicy black-bean sweet-potato soup, coconut black-beans and rice were made.

and so were black-bean brownies bars.

"bean around the world, nenananaa..."

black-bean bars

makes a large pan; around 16 pieces.

based on adapted black bean brownies

ingredients

1/2 cup oats (soaked for an hour and then squeeze water out with hands)

1/2 raw unsweetened shredded coconut

1/4 cup glucose-fructose sugar

1/4 dark cocoa

1/2 cup roasted chestnuts (roasted in some water so they are soft)

425 grams black-beans (soaked overnight and boiled)

2 ripe bananas (mashed)

8 dates

2 tablespoons almond milk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 cup chopped raw almonds

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup of shredded coconut for sprinkling ontop

directions

preheat oven to 180C.

blend oats, chestnuts, cocoa and sugar until smooth.

add the dates, chestnuts, beans, bananas and the milk until smooth (i couldn’t quite get the mixture smooth).

stir in nuts.

pour into a lightly oiled dish and smooth with spatula.

sprinkle with shredded coconut.

bake with 30 minutes (you can also experiment with not baking them…)

when firm to touch, remove and let chill for a few hours.

slice and pack into tins for friends in need of comfort!

"it's bean a long time since i rock and rolled"

…once you:

move past the idea of the bean (think red-bean-mochi!);

stop trying to present them as ‘brownies’ to the sugar-addicted masses, and;

remember how solidly nutritional the black-bean is with its high protein and fiber levels, its flavanoid anti-oxidant richness, not to mention its vitaminy-minerally tastiness (folate, thiamin, mangnesium, potassium, copper, omega-3 and 6!);

these nutty fudgey bars make for a lovely afternoon snack, along with a hot cup of (chocolate mate) tea and a pondering mind…

eet smakelijk!

]]> http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/black-bean-brownie-bars/feed/ 2 thirdculturecake Jan 24 100 Jan 24 122 http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/no-stress-fauxstess/ http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/no-stress-fauxstess/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:29:25 +0000 thirdculturecake http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/?p=467 ]]> equation for a delicious life:

real friendship

+

fake hostess

=

no stress, fauxstess!

thus, said lady friend and i abided by this lifestyle equation,

and came together over baking these quaint little cakes:

a much improved version of the million-eggs-a-year-united-states-gas-station-junk-food-snack-cake-industry.

and of course, the inner creme...

two childhood friends perched at the breakfast bar, praticing making smooth white swirlies with creamy frosting…

after some time, we deviated (ever so slightly) from the traditional design:

a lil faux-person.

and once the last cake was swirled,

and creamy mouthfuls eaten by all,

we curled up like old times and fell asleep happy.

*recipes from vctotw*

]]> http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/no-stress-fauxstess/feed/ 1 thirdculturecake Jan 24 067 Jan 24 095 Jan 24 078 http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/sugar-for-sale/ http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/sugar-for-sale/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:06:35 +0000 thirdculturecake http://thirdculturecake.wordpress.com/?p=450 ]]> my university organized a fundraiser

for hope for haiti’s emergency relief fund.

we raised a little over 4000 euro!

there were music and dance performances, indo and south-asian food stalls, hair braiding and massages, second-hand clothing sales, photographs and paintings for auction, desserts and therefore…vegan cupcakes!

earlier that day,

saima and i began the insanity of baking,

and tasting,

50 sugary items to sell:

comforting banana-almond cake swirled with apricot preserves and chocolate chips, lathered in melted chocolate and nuts.

chocolate indulgence: deep chocolate chocolate-chip cake swirled with a rich coconut fudge frosting and topped with a candy cherry.

sweet and simple lemon cakes topped with fluffy coconut frosting.

we also quickly whipped up another batch of the sparkling ginger cookies to add to the variety.

*most recipes from vctotw and vwav*

now moving on (hopefully)

from hope for haiti

to justice for haiti.

and she is a lady in the truest of the sense,

so presenting her with a tin of sugared orange peel dipped in organic fair-trade chocolate feels simply perfect!

simple ingredients... extravagant flavours

with the excesses of candy, i was able to gift a tin to my favourite professor and use some to decorate cupcakes you will be seeing shortly!

*recipe from hannah kaminsky’s ‘my sweet vegan’*