Chai Malai Cake and Brick Lane Cookbook

I made this delicious Chai Malai Cake on one of those when I wished I could go back to bed and start all over.  

Its started off whilst making this cake.  Whilst bashing my cardamom I broke the mortar! How does that even happen (it was a cheap one), then I could not find my proper granite pestle and mortar gifted to me by my mother years ago.  No doubt stuck at the back of a kitchen cupboard!

Then I crack eggs for the whites, except a yolk falls in. I manage to scoop it out before it spreads. 

Sugar goes all over the floor.  I brush it up, don't want an army of ants in the kitchen (not that its ever happened to me in my new home).

The hand whisk throws up the self-raising flour into my face like dust...

Like I said, it was one of those days that I wished I could to go back to bed and start over again, but I persevered and this was the delicious and pretty result.

I don't eat much in the way of South Asian sweets and desserts, but the one that I do really like and indulge in when the opportunity arises is Ras Malai.   So I was completely sold when I saw Dina Begum's Chai Malai Cake.  It's a light masala spiced cake with a rasmalai inspired frosting with cardamom and rose.  I have something to admit though. I am not that partial to cardamom and regular readers will note its lack of absence in recipes on my blog.  The reason I have avoided this green pod with highly flavoured and scented seeds is rooted in my childhood.  My mother always made spiced chai at home, and when we had guests she would go mad and include extra cardamom.  Cardamom was also thrown in most recipes, sweet rice and even savoury rice.  I found cardamom overpowering for my palette and have avoided it with a vengeance in my adulthood.  I had momentarily considered omitting it from the Chai Malai Cake recipe, but upon gathering the ingredients, I decided to put my childhood prejudices aside and stick to the recipe.  I am glad I did.  The cardamom was delicate and nothing like the chai tea my mother used to make.    

The Chai Malai Cake was a triumph enhanced with rose petals. It was everything Dina promised it would be...Yum! 

The recipe, if you haven't guessed it comes from Dina Begum's Brick Lane Cookbook: Food From Everywhere. The cookbook also includes contributions from street food traders and restaurants including The Boiler House, Beigel Shop and Kahala a not for profit community café. The cookbook is a snapshot of the ethnically diverse cuisine found in  the East End of London. If you want to make the Chai Malai Cake you can also find the here. 

By the way, I have been to Brick Lane - see here - but it was mostly about the graffiti art. However, I look forward to going back again and checking out some of the culinary contributors to the cookbook.

Vegetarian Scotch Egg

I've mentioned before that my darling husband gets excited when I speculate that I may make some vegetarian Scotch eggs. 

Well there are no plans to make some this Easter weekend, I am just taking the opportunity to share some that I made some time last year, but never got round to sharing.

I think the reason I never shared these was because I never got round to taking a photograph of them when they had been deep fried and served.  

Still here they are...ready to get their golden colouring and crisp coating. 

Have a good and restful Easter Weekend.

Other Vegetarian Scotch Egg recipes
Vegetarian Jerk Spiced Scotch Egg (2014)
Beetroot Scotch Egg (2013)
Welsh Glamorgan Eggs (2013)

The Vegetarian Scotch Egg (2009)
Chocolate Scotch Eggs  

Wild Garlic, Cauliflower 'Steak' and Chickpea Curry

I haven't been that adventurous in the kitchen, sticking closely to familiar dishes that I can knock up with ease from memory.

I am hoping come the long Easter weekend, I will be able to play in my kitchen, but I already have plans to meet with friends and leave D home alone; and then when I am home - I have to turn my attention to the allotment garden plot.

One of these easy dishes was this Cauliflower Chickpea Curry.  I did put a little seasonal twist on the Cauliflower Chickpea curry and stirred through a handful of wild garlic.  Obviously if you don't have wild garlic, spinach, chard or kale will be fine too.   

While I still can, I will also pretentiously call the cauliflower slabs - 'steaks' !

I often make this dish vegan, but this time in place of the vegetable/olive oil, I added salted butter and D loved the unctuous richness.  

I am sharing this with My Legume Love Affair #127 which is being hosted by Motions and Emotions this month.  The food blog challenge was started by Susan from The Well Seasoned Cook and continues thanks to Lisa's Kitchen.  Adapted from this recipe Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry in place of the runner beans is a good handful of wild garlic; and in place of the vegetable/olive oil - salted butter, but feel free to keep it vegan if you wish.  

Toasted Lavash Bread in My Kitchen

Joining in a little late with what's in my kitchen, but here goes for what it's worth.

Too be honest, the miserable weather, and distractions at home and work have meant that I have not been out and about, finding new food products or ingredients to try, so here are some things that I found in my kitchen and some recently made.

We have a bottle of non alcoholic Sparkling Red Grape still to be opened.  

Those of you who read my blog regularly may remember that last year I shared a jar of homemade preserved pears in star anise.  Well we finally tucked into them this week, served with a slice of parsnip raisin cake and thick cream.  Very nice it was too.

I picked up some lavash bread.  

These were used in a Middle Eastern recipe called Aubergine Fatta - Iraqi Salad with Toasted Bread.  I am recipe testing for a cookbook and all the recipes are written by asylum seeker and refugee women.  I will hopefully write more in the future when I buy a copy of the cookbook, but let me tell you this Aubergine Fatta was delicious. 

I made quite a lot of the toasted bread, that I was glad to find a jar of Baba Ganoush dubbed here as Aubergine Meze in my kitchen cupboard.  

I got tempted by this Hot Jalapeno Sauce - how bad can it be?!

I made a Butternut Squash Lasagne a couple of weeks ago, hence the lasagne sheets.  As I was putting the lasagne box in the cupboard, I found a bottle of Smoked Beetroot Ketchup.  I am really terrible in making fancy purchases and then putting them away in cupboards, only to be rediscovered close to their expiration date.  I need t break this habit. 

This pinhead oatmeal was also in the cupboard.  I picked it up to make early in the year, when I made vegan Johanna's Haggis Sausage' Rolls to take into work. They were popular. 

With work being busy, we decided to try these beetroot and supergreen sausages.  We will not be getting them again, I am happy to try things once and this definitely will be once.  It looked interesting, but it lacked flavour and texture. 

In my kitchen we had lots of wild garlic dishes.  I made a number of dishes including:

Wild Garlic Scones

Shepherds Pie with Wild Garlic Mash and Wild Garlic Cauliflower Curry (yet to be shared)

I am sharing this In My Kitchen blog post in the nick of time with Sherry's Pickings for In My Kitchen series.  A splendid way to meet bloggers around the world, as well as have a poke about in their kitchen