Weave a Thousand Flavors

Baked Prawns On a Bed of Tomato & Marsala Chutney

 
Chutney!

Just the term conjures up a spicy, sweet and tangy  assortment of ingredients like dry fruits, mango or tomatoes and is a lovely way to dress up the most mundane of ingredients.

Not that I am saying that prawns are mundane. Far from it! So here is what's called a win-win. 

It's also what I like to call organic cooking, at its best. You know when you begin with a handful of ingredients and go from there. I didn't really set out to make a chutney - I just wanted a delish base for the prawns.

And then I started pulling things out of the pantry, the last of the pine nuts, some dried cranberries, some Marsala and the list goes on. It was only when it arrived at the table that we realised - it's chutney alright!

Who knew that chutney and prawns would be the new Brad & Angelina of the culinary world - you know, sizzling hot minus all the kids! 

We can all use some sizzle now and then, non?

 

An Easter Delight ~ Pull-Apart Hot Cross Buns with Apricot Glaze

 
Did you grow up on the Nursery Rhyme? I did!

Hot-cross Buns!

Hot-cross Buns!

One a penny, two a penny, 

Hot-cross Buns!

Hot-cross Buns!

If ye have no daughters,

Give them to your sons

I can't help it!

Every year that I bake these I have the words jingling in my head. And it's nice to associate warm and fuzzy memories with food especially when the memory come wrapped up in a nice frolicky tune.

This made all the more made special  when the food itself happens to be loaves of spiced bread crusted with delicious dry fruits such as dried cranberries and golden raisins all nestled in a hint of sweetness. These are traditionally eaten at Easter with the cross on top representing the crucification of Christ.

But did you also know that there are all kinds of superstitions surrounding hot cross buns?

According to English folklore, the buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil or become mouldy during the subsequent year. Another encourages keeping such a bun for medicinal purposes.

 Sharing a hot cross bun with another is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year, particularly if "Half for you and half for me, Between us two shall goodwill be" is said at the time.

True or not, what a sweet thought! So make some this week and I hope you share it with your loved ones for a year of goodwill that will be! 

PS - I am submitting these to Sweet at Sugar Cookies for the Sweets for a Saturday, parade. How nice of Lisa to invite me! Thank You.

Lacey Chicken Kababs

 

Lacey kababs that is kababs rolled in egg are very popular with the Parsi community in India. The Parsis are India's largest Zoroastrian community - ancient Persians. The influence of Arabic led to a drop in the 'p' sound in the Persian language, changing "Parsi" to "Farsi" (the name by which the language is now known).

This peace loving genteel community are so much a part of India's secular fabric and are interwoven like colorful strands in a rich dari (rug).

Affectionately known by other communities as Paarsi baawaas they represent an entrepreneurial spirit, an overwhelming love for the Queen of England (so much so that most of them will stand up and salute at the television when the Queen shows, affectionately calling her "my Raani'), a love for western classical music and unique foods including their fish that is sweet and tangy.

These lacey cutlets traditionally made with ground goat (mutton) are just as delicious made with leftover chicken. The term 'lacey' because of the 'lace' that forms when the kababs are dipped in breadcrumbs and then in egg rather than the traditional method the other way around - egg first followed by breadcrumbs.

The result is a light airy coating that I love and makes a nice change to the crispy breadcrumb coating that we're all so used to.

Give it a go and what better way jazz up leftover cooked chicken? 

English Breakfast Tea, Date & Walnut Cake

There are days I crave afternoon tea or traditional English cream tea like a fish craves water!

There is nothing quite like a table set out with a lovely white table cloth, accented with a vase of wild flowers for that splash of color, pots of jam & clotted cream, warm scones straight out of the oven, mini cucumber bread and butter sandwiches & of course a nice cake.

A cake not overly frosted but rather something between a cake and a bread, wonderful when sliced and devoured with a slathering of softened butter and washed down with cups of strong tea or rather coffee here in the US.

I am a fan of traditional cakes the kind that is rich and dense - nothing fluffly or fake about it but the type reminiscent of our grandma's kitchen. Intensely flavored and honest in its ingredients. And when it comes to honest ingredients, its difficult to beat a traditional date and walnut cake because the name says it all. Now to this add a strong brew of English tea & it not only fulfills but exceeds everything I love about a cake for Afternoon tea.

I know you'll agree when you take your first bite!

 

Cherry Blossoms in Bloom, Washington D.C ~ Cherry, Pistachio & Rose Water Macaroons In Celebration

Washington Monument 

Just this week, the cherry blossom trees are in full bloom in Washington D.C. and there is no better place to enjoy them in all their glory than at the Tidal Basin in the heart of the Nation's Capital.

 

The Tidal Basin

 
The Jefferson Memorial thru a curtain of blooms

Each year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC. The words on a plaque near one tree states, " in the spirit of friendship and goodwill between Japan and the United States were these first trees planted".

 

Snow or blossoms?

The morning off, my day began with my rather pushy mother instincts in place trying to get my kids into the shower. Fortunately the incentive of travelling on the Metro was enough for this ritual to occur without the customary wailing.  

The mother in me was in a bout of frenzy trying to get my brats out the door. The blogger in me was more than well prepared.

You see, I have been planning for this week for at least a fortnight.

What a beautiful event to commemorate and I knew it had to be at the heart of the event - at the Tidal Basin in the crush of thousands of people and it was here that I wanted to photograph this post.

Just how to translate this into food was the pressing question of the hour. And so a parade of culinary delights all celebrating cherries such as corn cakes with cherry compotes, panna cotta, duck breast with cherry and port sauce....the list goes on, was considered and rejected.

Why? For one simple logistic and one basic concept.

The treat must travel on the Metro well and must represent the beauty of the blooms.

And so after much debate the humble macaroon became the recipient of far more exotic ingredients and in my humble opinion turned itself into a treat worthy of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

The fact that these macaroons are delicious is not the surprising element here.

What is, is that as Mr. Hubby and I ran among the trees with a bowl of macaroons photographing on the grass, on branches and among the blooms, people began to stop and ask us what we were up to and encouraged our silly antics with lovely words, "what a creative idea and how wonderful the macaroons look" and some of the them even began scouting for best photo spots for us - urging us towards a tree whorl, or one branch or one spot.

  
 And soon I realised that these little delights had just like the beautiful cherry blossom trees achieved something wonderful - for a moment, strangers as we may be, we too were joined in that spirit of friendship and goodwill.