Pilaf Rice with Chickpeas... and the winner is...

Thank you to all of you who took part in my little giveaway. I copied your names (53) on a list in order of appearance and put them through a list randomizer.

So the winner is Mairi!

Congratulations Mairi, please get in touch to let me know your address (I will also contact you, just to make sure!)

Sue at Couscous and Consciousness and Sasa from Sasasunakku, you came second and third, send me your addresses too, I will send you a little consolation token :-).

List Randomizer

There were 53 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Mairi
2. Couscous
3. Sasasunakku
4. Astrofiammante
5. Colleen
6. Fantasie
7. Merendasinoira
8. Pommer cannelles
9. Manu
10. Barbara
11. Red Nomad OZ
12. Sunflowers8
13. Barton
14. Barbara GF
15. Swati
16. Sweet Snow Flakes
17. Madama Bavareisa
18. Lucy
19. Jennifurla
20. Ananda
21. Agnese
22. Cinzietta
23. Nigel Olsen
24. EliFla
25. Marydap
26. Bhumika
27. Victor
28. Rosemary
29. Francesca
30. Natalia
31. Jodi
32. Pam
33. Eleonora (B&M)
34. Lusks
35. Elena
36. Tami
37. Turista di mestiere
38. Laura
39. Holly Springett
40. Ambra
41. Koralee
42. Michelle
43. Eleonora (Peggy)
44. Civette
45. Ilaria
46. Mary
47. Claudia
48. Saretta
49. Zoe
50. La Gaia Celiaca
51. HeyHarket8
52. Duck
53. Adelina

Timestamp: 2011-01-31 00:39:38 UTC

To all others, it was great to read your messages, and to meet new people, keep in touch and I will do another giveaway next month too! And now for the recipe:

Pilaf rice with Chickpeas

I am still very ‘timid’ when it comes to Indian spices: I am always scared to burn them, or to use too much, or too little. In particular I am so used to have cloves and cinnamon in sweet dishes that I never know how much to use in savoury dishes.

For this pilaf I just filled up a tbsp of spices, as you can see there are plenty of cumin seeds, but just a little cinnamon and a few cloves, plus a few cardamom pods), still, just the right amount for me to flavour a pilaf for four.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp mixed whole spices (cumin seeds, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom)

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 generous pinch of salt

300 g basmati rice

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 Wash the rice and soak for 30 minutes.

2 Heat 1 tbsp of oil, sizzle the whole spices and garlic.

3 Add turmeric and salt.

4 Add rice, chickpeas and water (just enough water to cook the rice by absorption)

5 Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Sweet As Book Giveaway, seguimi e vinci il mio libro di dolci

(continua a leggere per la versione italiana)

I am on holiday and traveling, so I am not really able to blog these days. At present I am in Christchurch, we had quite a big earthquake this morning, 5.1! Six more tremors followed, but we are all OK. Still, an interesting experience, and I may post some photos on a later day.

I will be away for about two weeks, so in the meantime I thought that I could leave you with a giveaway to consider: my dessert book Sweet As... (New Holland Publishers). All you have to do to enter is:

1 Follow me (put you avatar under the blog title)

2 Leave a reply to this post.

The competition is open to all and I will choose the winner by random number generator, and remember: it doesn't matter where you live in the world, I will post the book to you :-)!

The book is in English, there are over 100 recipes, (vegetarian, not vegan, although some are vegan), dairy free and wheat free recipes are listed in the index. below are some sample pages.

And if you already have the book you could present it to a friend, I can write a dedication on it :-). You have two weeks from now so... Good Luck

Alessandra

Sono in giro per la Nuova Zelanda per due settimane e non ho molto tempo per il blog, quindi ho deciso di fare un piccolo giveaway del mio primo libro di dolci: Sweet As...

Per vincere il libro basta diventare un follower e lasciare un commento in questo blog. Il concorso è aperto a tutti, vi spedirò il libro in Italia o all'estero. Vi ricordo che il libro è in inglese, ma è molto facile da seguire ed ha moltissime foto. Ci sono oltre 100 ricette di dolci, torte, biscotti, gelati, dessert ecc., tutte le ricette sono vegetariane e molte sono senza latticini e/o senza glutine (chiaramente indicate nell'indice). Avete due settimane di tempo da oggi: Buona fortuna!

Cauliflower and Borage Curry

This turned out to be a fantastic vegan curry, and quite innovative too: I have never seen a curry made with borage!!!

Yes, borage again! I have tons of it in the garden, you can eat the flowers, the stems and the leaves, but I limit myself to the smaller tender leaves. They are prickly, but that goes away with cooking.

The only thing to remember is to discard the pods with the seeds that have already formed (they are too hard), like the one in the photo below. Flowers and flower buds are soft, and can be cooked.

Sizzle one tsp of fenugreek seeds and one green chili with one tbsp of vegetable oil.

Add one small tsp each of turmeric, ground coriander, ground fennel and paprika, and also a good pinch of salt.

Add one onion, chopped, and sizzle for two minutes, and then add half cauliflower, cut into florettes. Coat the cauliflower well with the spices.

Add one can of coconut milk, and then one can of water (to rinse the coconut milk can). Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the borage, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add one tsp of masala powder and simmer for other five minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft. At the end decorate with fresh borage flowers.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Great Barrier Island, fuori dal mondo!

Dopo il viaggio su barca a vela a Waiheke abbiamo preso il traghetto per Great Barrier Island. Mentre Waiheke è piena di turisti, l'isola Great Barrier è rimasta isolata. Naturalmente Waiheke è a soli 30 minuti di traghetto dal centro di Auckland, mentre per Barrier ci vogliono due ore e mezza per il traghetto veloce e quattro per quello lento (e adesso c`è solo quello lento https://www.directferries.com/ferries_from_new_zealand_to_great_barrier_island.htm), e raramente si vedono turisti stranieri, sono quasi tutti Kiwi che hanno la seconda casa qui. Confronto a Waiheke, pieno di vigneti e caffè, Great Barrier rimane un posto... fuori dal mondo (anche se tecnicamente fa parte di Auckland!).

The day after sailing in Waiheke we took the ferry to Great Barrier Island. While Waiheke is well patronized by tourists, the Great Barrier has remained a bit 'isolated'. Naturally Waiheke is only 30 minutes by ferry from central Auckland, for the Barrier you need two and a half hours (on the fast ferry, four and a half on the slow ferry) (updated, now there is only the slow one https://www.directferries.com/ferries_from_new_zealand_to_great_barrier_island.htm)  and you don't really see foreign tourists there, mostly Kiwis who have a batch there. Compared to Waiheke, full of wineries and cafes, the Barrier has remained kind of... relaxed (even if technically it is part of Auckland!).

Bye bye Auckland (seen from the ferry)

Arrivederci Auckland (vista dal traghetto)

La traversata è molto bella e a volte si possono vedere balene e delfini, ma purtroppo questa volta non siamo stati fortunati.

The sea crossing is very beautiful, sometimes you can see whales and dolphins, but unfortunately this time we didn't.

A terra! Che posto tranquillo! Abbiamo affittato una macchina e ci siamo diretti alla 'capanna' di Steve. La macchina ci è servita fino ad un certo punto, e poi abbiamo dovuto proseguire a piedi, provviste in zaino, per il bosco per arrivare a destinazione.

Landed! What a tranquil place! We rented a car and moved towards Steve's batch. The car was good up to a point, then we had to walk in the bush to get there.

The bach
La 'capanna'

La cucina era fuori. Non ho fatto foto di piatti stavolta, ho solo preparato spaghetti e insalata la prima sera, e una frittata con gli spaghetti avanzati la seconda sera.

The kitchen (outdoors). I didn't take pics of the food, basically I just made spaghetti and a salad on the first night, and a frittata with the leftover spaghetti on the second night.

Sala da pranzo e soggiorno all'aperto. Tre padri, una madre (io), sei bambini (dormito in tende) e tutto all'aperto!

The dining/living room (also outdoors). Three dads, one mum (me) six children (slept in tents) and the great outdoors.

The view
Campeggio con vista!

La fonte. Niente elettricità, bagno (c'era un long-drop, buco scavato nel terreno con un baracchino sopra, peccato non aver fatto una foto, era uno dei migliori che abbia visto in NZ); l'acqua per bere, cucinare e lavarsi doveva essere portata (in salita) con dei secchi.

The water supply. No electricity, no bathroom (there is a long-drop but I forgot to take a photo, pity, it was a well built long-drop!); the water for drinking, cooking and washing, had to be carried up to the batch with buckets.

The beach. Great Barrier Island has some lovely beaches.

La spiaggia. Great Barrier ha delle spiagge molto belle.

Siamo rimasti tre giorni e due notte, e siamo tornati ad Auckland in aereo. Ci vogliono solo 30 minuti e gli aerei sono piccoli (questo era per 10 persone, incluso il pilota).

We stayed 3 days and 2 nights, and flew back to Auckland. Flying only takes about 30 minutes, but the planes are very small (this was for 10 people including the pilot).

Le cuffie sono necessarie in aereo, e il viaggio può essere turbolento (per fortuna è stato calmo).

You need to wear ear muffs in the plane, and the ride may be bumpy (fortunately for me it wasn't).

Ma che fantastica opportunità di vedere Hauraki Gulf dall'alto!

But what a great chance to see the Hauraki Gulf from above!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Ritorno a Waiheke, a bordo di Timetama

Senza parole

Photo by Alessandra Zecchini © (except the first one)

Cape Gooseberry Cake, and a gardening surprise

When I got back to New Zealand, in October, I noticed that the tomatillo had self-seeded in the veggie garden. I thought "good!" and left it there. At first there were just a few little plants, then they took over half of my top terrace garden bed, and became a forest. I though "oh!" but I left the plants there, imagining a surplus of Mexican green sauce for the summer.

The plants grew, but the pods remained small. Initially I thought that this was due to the fact that I didn't actually plant them, or looked after them. Then I got suspicious, and I tasted one.

They are NOT tomatillos, they are Cape Gooseberries!!! How did they get there I have no idea!

Usually I pick Cape gooseberries from my neighbor, but he is too far away in the bush... the only explanations is... birds??? I am not sure.

Anyway, we like them, and pick some every day now. I decided to improvise a dairy free cake.

I mixed 3 eggs with 200 g of sugar, 200 g of self raising flour, 100 ml of vegetable oil, a little vanilla essence and a few cut Cape gooseberries. Not much of a recipe really, I made it in 5 minutes, and baked it for about 30.

And here it is, my cake, fruit of my surprise crop!!!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©