Carrot cake

Introduction

It's my carbohydrate day today ... or tomorrow ... time for a cake

Materials

4 eggs

white and wholemeal fluor

sweatener

vanille

honey liquor

extra virgin olive oil

carrots

Procedure

1. Separate the egg yolk from the albumen

2. Beat the egg yolk together with sugar and some warm water

3. Add the flour and beat till you get a homegenious mixture

4. Add some liquor and olive oil and mix well

5. Beat the albumen well and add carefully to the other mixture. Mix well

6. Grate a carrot and add to the cake mixture

5. Bake at 180 degree with ventilation if possible

Results

Discussion

Soon ... it almost ready and it looks and smells perfect!

BON APPETIT!

My lovely life

Мислех ... надявах се ..., че вече няма да изпитвам необходимост да пиша ... отново. Но ... моментът дойде. И ето сега, в тъмнината на стаята, на дивана в квартирата, в която обитавам сама, аз пиша. От къде да започна? Случиха се много неща. Слава богу, достатъчно неща не се случиха. Усмихвам се, дори се засмях след предишното изречение. Животът е прекрасен, не защото е винаги хубав, а защото колкото и отрицателни емоции да ни предлага, в крайна сметка след знака равно стойността винаги е положителна. И едното неизвестно в уравнението 'живот'', което допринася може би най-много за тази положителна стойност, се нарича търпение ... или просто време. 

Да, може би наистина не изпитвам необходимост, не онази предишната необходимост да пиша, за да се освободя от натрупано напрежение, 

неизказани мисли ... не. Това вече ... или поне напоследък ... го няма. И вдруги ден е ден ... от както живея, спазвайки този принцип, за всичко имам време. Дори забравих сто е то нетърпение. Напрежение ... слава богу, или благодарение на съдбата,  или друга висша сила ... нямам основание за напрежение. Последните няколко месеца в света се случиха толкова много истински проблеми ... война, природни бедствия, безследно изчезнали хора ... Дали наистина аз, която в момента пиша това, и ти, който или която го четеш знаем какво е истински проблем, грижа ... мисля, че не ... и дано не узнаем. На фона на тези събития дори толкова коментираната финансова криза ми изглежда незначителна ... финансовата криза продължава от края на 2008 и не е довела до кой знае какви жертви - малко по-висок брой самоубийства, но за сметка на това по-малко произшествия по пътищата ... просто по-малко хора могат да си позволят да пътуват. А едно цунами,  за по-малко от месец ... един миг ... доведе до 27 000 безследно изчезнали. По време на един ден размирици в Сирия загинаха над 100 човека. Не, определено не знам и не желая да знам от собствен опит сто е то истински проблем. Невежеството в тази ситуация ме устройва напълно. 

Животът е прекрасен. Не защото 

получаваш и имаш винаги каквото искаш. Не. А защото винаги нещо липсва, винаги нещо търсиш и търсейки намираш, срещаш, изживяваш още по-красиви мигове от тези, които си си представял. Знакът по-малко в края на уравнението всъщност е нещото, което те движи напред и те кара да живееш. Винаги са ме привличали северните държави, заради по-добрия социален климат, по-високия стандарт на живот, по-високи доходи, по-руси мъже ... Не съм си представяла, че някога сте живея и сте се чувствам щастлива в Испания. Страната на Дон Кихот, който явно от жега и дехидратация, е мислил звездичките, които са му се привиждали, за вятърни мелници ... В този случай една огромна крачка назад, ме изстреля до ниво ... равновесие със себе си и света ..., до което само си бях мечтала и не вярвах, че сте постигна.

Да, животът е прекрасен. Не защото сме заобиколени от хора, който обичаме и ни обичат. Животът е прекрасен въпреки самотата. Той е като маратонско бягане. Трябва да разпределиш правилно силите си, да си благодарен за водата ... помощта ..., която ти се предлага по 

трасето и да приемеш, че колкото и много хора да започнете заедно ... равни ... на старта, всеки сте финишира сам и само един ще е първи. The winner takes it all. Но за разлика от маратонското бягане, животът се случва само веднъж ... и за това е прекрасен.

И сигурно някой пак сте си помисли '

е, не можа ли още по-разхвърляно, и накъсано, и 'за себе си'' да го напишеш?" ... Животът става прекрасен именно тогава, когато спреш да обръщаш внимание на такива въпроси, и започнеш да живееш за себе си, според твоите желания и правила!

Обичам те, прекрасни мой 

животе!


p.s. tyj kato nyamam instalirana kirilica, polzvah abv.bg za da ''preveda'' texta, poradi koeto nyakoi dumi sa stranni ...

Fruit and vegetables

Introduction

From what I read today I understood that a plantain is a banana for cooking ... it tastes different from the common bananas and it is considerably bigger in size ... but girls, please, do not try to play with them, they are tasty as well ...

Materials

Plantain
Courgette
Green beans
Garlic
Olive oil
Black pepper
Red pepper
Soya sauce
Bay leaf
Tomato puree

Procedure

1. Heat some olive oil and fry a clove of garlic
2. The the sliced plantain and the sliced courgette and mix
3. Add soya sauce, mix and cover the pan
4. Wash, clean and add the green beans ot the other ingredients
5. Add water enough to cover fruit and the vegetables, add the spices, mix and let it cook
6. When the beans are well cooked add the tomato puree, mix and let the dish cook for several more minutes
7. Serve with cooked rice ... or bread if you prefer

Results

Discussion

I think from now on plantain is my new potato replacement ... It's more expensive, but I bet the B complex content is much higher so, you safe from antifungal medicines and from psychological help ... at least.

Bon Appétit!

Grape leaves sarmi

Introduction

That's in my opinion the Balkan sushi

Materials

Grape leaves
Rice
Champignons
Leak
Butter
Cream
Black pepper

Procedure

1. Heat some butter and add the sliced leak and champignons. Mix well and let it fry
2. Add rice and water two volumes of the rice. Mix well and cook
3. Stuff 2 grape leaves with a spoon of the rice, make a roll with closed ends
4. Place the rolls (sarmi) in a boiling pan very close to each other, put a heavy plate on top of them, pour water enough to cover the plate and cook for 10 more minutes
5. Let the sarmi cool down ... then they are ready to be served preferably with fresh lemon and yoghurt.

Results

Discussion

If you cannot eat them at once it's very easy to store them in jars, just add some water, close the jar, boil for several minutes and let the jar stay up-side-down overnight ... Enjoy!

Bon Appétit !

Pizza

Pizza

Introduction

I wanted to eat pizza ...again.

Materials

For the dough - bakers yeast, water, olive oil, cream, salt, sugar and whole wheat flour

Tomato puree
Sliced chorizo
Goat cheese
Sliced champignons

Procedure

1. Prepare the dough as described in the previous pizza post but this time whole wheat flour was used and some cream was added to the yeast http://nadi4ka.blogspot.com/2010/10/some-kind-of-pizza-with-garbage-soup.html
2. Spred the dough in a baking pan covered by olive oil and butter
3. Place the rest of the ingredients on top of the dough
4. Bake

Results

Discussion

Simple and delicious.

Bon Appétit !

Home-made banitsa

Introduction

Home-made banitca with home-made goat cheese,  whole-wheat flour, olive oil and butter ... I guess this was the way it tasted before we ''knew'' the white flour type 500 and the sunflower oil ...

Materials

For the dough:

whole-wheat flour

baker's yeast 

baker's soda

sugar

salt

water

For the filling

goat-cheese

leeks

sauer cream

eggs

butter

olive oil

On top

olive oil

butter

egg

bakers soda

warm water

Procedure

1. Prepare the dough as described in any of the postings about pizza http://nadi4ka.blogspot.com/2011/03/pizza.html

2. Make thin layers, no more than 0.5 cm with the help of a rolling pin (... in Bulgarian точилка), a glass bottle, a jar ... as in my case, an old fashioned dildo ... make sure it's clean in advance ... the cicrular shape is important

3. Mix the cut leeks, the goat cheese, the sauer cream, a spoon of olive oil, two-three eggs and mix well

4. Spred the mixture on top of the thin layers and roll them

5. Place in a baking pan covered by olive oil and/ or butter 

6. Heat some olive oil and/ or butter and pour over the banitca

7. Beat an egg with some warm water and bakers soda and pour over the banitca

8. Let it soak for several minutes

9. Bake

Results

Discussion

I am a banitsa master! Magician!

Bon Appétit!

Pizza

Introduction

I wanted to eat pizza ... and I decided to make it healthy by using ''trigo integral'' for the dough, I don't know how to translate it in English ... whole wheat I guess.

Materials

For the dough - bakers yeast, water, olive oil, cream, salt, sugar and whole wheat flour

Butter
Tomato puree
Piri-piri
Sliced jamon, chorizo, chopped pork
Cheese - I've used three kinds - pick your favourites or the once you have in the fridge ...
Sliced champignons
Oregano
Parsley

Procedure

1. Prepare the dough as described in the previous pizza post but this time whole wheat flour was used and some cream was added to the yeast http://nadi4ka.blogspot.com/2010/10/some-kind-of-pizza-with-garbage-soup.html
2. Spred the dough in a baking pan covered by olive oil and butter
3. Place the rest of the ingredients on top of the dough
4. Bake

Results

Discussion

I wanted to add some pineapple and sweet corn but at end I didn't ... maybe next time.

Bon Appétit!

Pork

Introduction

There is a Spanish dish I once or twice ate in the Netherlands, the name is something related to mountains and it contains meat and bread so I tried to prepare something more or less similar ...

Materials

Pork
Bacon
Paprika
Pine apple
Red pepper
Black pepper
Garlic
Piri-piri sauce
Honey
Toasted bread

Procedure

1. Wash and cut the meat in small pieces
2. Mix it with soya sauce, piri-piri sauce, garlic, red and black pepper and incubate for several hours in the fridge
3. Heat some vegetable oil and fry a garlic clove
4. Add the meat and mix well
5. Add the bacon and m5x well
6. Let it fry for several minutes and then add the cut in small cubes paprika
7. Put a lid and let it cook
8. Add the pine apple and 2-3 spoons of honey
9. Mix well and cook for 4-5 minutes longer, or till the liquid amount is as less as possible
10. Add the toasted bread cubes, mix well and serve


Results

Discussion

Probably there is little in comon with the original Spanish dish but still it tastes very good.

Bon Appétit!

Chickpea with pork

Introduction

Rich in proteins dish

Materials

Pork
Chickpea
Soya sauce
Apple vinegard
Garlic
Baking soda
Olive oil
Champignons
Spinach for cooking
Black pepper
Oregano
Savory
Bay leaf
Lemon

Procedure

1. Soak the chickpea overnight in water containing baking soda and olive oil
2. Soak the meat pieces in apple vinegard and soya sauce together witch cut garlic cloves
3. Heat some olive oil and add the meat and the garlic
4. Mix and fry the meat till it start changing its colour
5. Add the washed champignons, mix and let it cook for several minutes
6. Rinse the chickpea with water and add it to the meat and the champignons
7. Add the spices and mix
8. Squeeze half a lemon
9. Add the spinach and let it cook for 10-15 min longer

Results

Discussion

It's good ... I thought of adding some cream but I didn't and now I know it was the right choice.


Bon Appétit !

Turshia with rice

Introduction

Onother ''why not?" dish ...

Materials

Turshia http://nadi4ka.blogspot.com/2011/01/turshia-or-fermented-vegetables.html
Soya sauce
Piri-piri sauce
Sweet hot chilly sauce
Olive oil

Procedure

1. Heat some olive oil in a pan
2. Pour some soya sauce
3. Add the turshia and mix
4. Add some piri-piri and sweet hot chilly sauce and mix
5. Let it cook covered by a lid for several minutes
6. Add rice, mix well add water enough to cover the rice and cook till the rice is not too soft
7. Turn off the heat and let it stay 10-15 minutes covered with a lid ... (standard rice cooking I guess)

Results

Discussion

The turshia saves a lot of time, you go to the store, by, cut and prepare several kg. of vegetables only ones and you use them till they finish and additionally they have been already naturally flavoured in a very good way. Great!

Bon Appétit!

Creamy steak

Introduction

I have read creamy steak recipes ... I've never learnt how to spell this word ... recepies that take as much as 3-4 even 8-10 hours wow ... It took me less than 20 minutes to have one of the best steaks I have ever eaten ... and it was melting in my mouth ...

Materials

Steak(s), in my case they were pork
Butter
Cream
Salt
Savory
Black pepper

Procedure

1. Melt the butter in a frying pan
2. Place the steaks
3. Spread salt, black pepper and savory on top of the frying steaks
4. Turn the steaks several times
5. Pour some cream and turn of the heeat in 1-2 min
6. Mix the cream and the butter and serve ...

Results

Discussion

Great for your mood ... fatty, spicy ...


Bon Appétit!

Eggless cake

Introduction

At 10 p.m. I was dying for a cake ... and I had no eggs.

Materials

1-1/2 cups flour 
1/2 cup intensive olive oil 
1 cup sugar 
1-1/2 tsp baking soda 
1/4 tsp salt 
1 scant cup cream
1 sp sangria
vanille
7-8 digestive bisquits


Procedure


1. Mix well all the ingredients till you get a homogenous mixture
2. Pour the mixture into a well greased baking pan
3. Bake for about 1 hour in a non-preheated oven


Results

Discussion

When it is ready I will be able to tell more ...

After half the cake is already gone ... or not yet, it's still with me ;) ... I might say it's very nice, with delicate taste and a sense of softness ... quite abstract descriptio of a cake, isn't it ...

24 hours after I had baked it I thought it was the best cake I have ever eaten, better than my ( already ex-) favorite hotel cake sold at c1000 in the Neterlands ...

Bon Appétit!

References:

http://www.ochef.com/218.htm

Hot spicy pork with orange

Introduction

Another ''why not?" - dish ...

Materials

Mince
Orange
Sweet-hot chilly sauce
Piri-piri sauce
Soya sauce
Tomatoe puree
Garlic
Rice
Olive oil
Hot red pepper
Black pepper
Parsley

Procedure

1. Boil the rice in salty water together with several cloves of garlic, some black pepper and some parsley
2. Heat some olive oil and fry few garlic cloves
3. Add the mince which has been soaked in soay sauce in advance, mix and fry
4. Add the peeled orange pieces and mix
5. Add one or two spoons of sweet hot chilly sauce and a spoon of piri-piri sauce and mix
6. Add the hot paprika and the black pepper, keep mixing
7. Add the tomatoe puree, mix well, reduce the heat and let it cook for few minutes
8. Serve on top of the rice

Results

Discussion

It was good enough. However, with pine apples it would have been much better ... next time.

Bon Appétit!

Sauerkraut leaves sarmi

Introduction

This is a tradicional Balkan dish, very special and easy. Actually, I can't remember at least a Bulgarian dish which is difficult to prepare, obviously we are quite practical and pragmatic in the kitchen.

Materials

Sauerkraut leaves - nowadays you can buy them from the big grocery stores or from a Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian ... goods store, unless you are in a shitty place in the middle of nowhere or in a poshy place where they do not eat anything that makes their bellies float. I wonder to which one of the two Wageningen belongs because there were no sauerkraut leaves there. However, since there was sauerkraut, I guess is the first option ... Anyway, if you cannot buy sauerkraut leaves you have two options. First is not to cook this kind of sarmi and second is to prepare sauerkraut yourself by letting lettuce ferment anaerobically in 20% salt solution. And now back to materials

Sauerkraut leaves
Mince
Rice
Black pepper
Red pepper
Bay leaf
Vegetable oil

Procedure

1. Mix the rice and the mince together with the black and the red pepper, the proportion between the first two depends on your own taste and on how many people you plan to feed with the sarmi.
2. Place one or two sauerkraut leaves on a flat surface, put some of the rice-mince mixture in the middle and wrap it with the leaves, putting the free ends on the bottom of the sarma (in Bulgarian sarmA is in singular, sarmI is in plural)
3. Put the sarmi very close to each other in a bowl for boiling covered with oil
4. Add the sauerkraut liquid and or  water enough to cover the sarmi. In the first case the sarmi will become more sauer, the taste will be much stronger.
5. Add red pepper and bay leaf.
6. Press the sarmi with something heavy, so they do not move while boiling.
7. Boil on a weak fire for a long enough time, it depends on the rice you are using, in any case let it boil for at least 40 minutes.

Results

Discussion

I think this dish is good for people who would like to lose weight and stay fit, because I have read that lettuce is one of the foods that ''burn'' stomach fat and I guess we all have heard about the famous lettuce soup diet, so if you use high quality beef, lamb, goat or turkey mince it must be very good for your diet. However, traditionally I prefer pork ... And if you serve it with freshly baked loaf of white bread you will be in heaven ...

Bon Appétit!

Turshia ... or fermented vegetables

Introduction

It's a way to keep vegetables eatable for a long long time no matter what the atmospheric condtions are. Morever, the vitamin content is kept the same and the taste is just great!

Materials

I. Green tomatoes
   Green peppers
   Small green hot peppers
   Carrots
   Garlic
   Bay leaf
   Black pepper
   Oregano
   Dill
   Salt
   Honey
   Apple vinegar
   Water

II. Cauliflower
    Carrots
    Green peppers
    Small hot green peppers
    Cucumbers
    Garlic
    Lemon
    Salt
    Sugar
    Honey
    Vinegar
    Parsley
    Bay leaf
    Black pepper
    Water

Procedure

1. Wash and cut the vegetables
2. Put vinegar that covers 1-2 cm of the bottom of the container where you are going to make the turshia
3. Put several full spoons of salt and two-three spoons of sugar (for a 5 l. container)
4. Add 1-2 spoons of honey
5. Add the vegetables
6. Fill with water till all the vegetable are covered by liquid.
7. Add the spices
8. Close the containers tightly and incubate for several week at a relatively sunny place.

Results

Discussion

Of course you may choose different combinations of vegetables and spices ... the result is always good. Anyone who would bring pork steaks and high quality rakia (Slivenska perla, Troyanska slivova, Burgas63 preferably) is welcome in 1-2 months to try the turshia together with me!

Bon Appétit!  

Fish with tomatoes

Introduction

I almoust made a fire in the kitchen but at the end it was OK ...

Materials

Some kind of fish, preferably sea fish fillet
Dill
Olive oil
Tomatoes
Oregano
Mustard
Water

Procedure

1. Heat some vegetable oil in a frying or grill pan and place the fish
2. Turn the fish every 2-3 minutes
3. Pour some dill and salt on each side of the fish
4. Take out of the pan when it is ready
5. Pour some mustard in the pan, add some water, mix and let it boil
6. Pour the mustart sauce over the fish
7. Spice cut tomatoes with oregano and olive oil and serve together with the fish

Results

Discussion

Very healthy unless you put too much salt ...

My flatmate's friend has collected oranges from the trees in the town Xativa and he has shared with us more than 20 kg of them ... Since the first day I came to Spain I have been wondering "Are these fruits growin on the trees on the sidewalks and in the city parks eatable or is it only a colourful decoration?" ... well now I know that they are indeed eatable and the orange juice is no comparable to anything I have drunk before!

Except of the 75 cm high fire in the kitchen everything else was good.

Bon Appétit!