Moroccan Tomato Soup with Chick Peas and Lentils

Nutritional value per portion: Calories 280kcal | protein: 18g | fat: 6g | cardohydrates: 38g

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely cut
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1½ tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground paprika
• ½ tsp ground clove
• 1 liter of vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 800 g diced tomatoes, canned
• ½ bunch of coriander, finely cut (save some leaves for garnish)
• 800 g chick peas, canned, rinsed and drained
• 800 g brown lentils, canned, rinsed and drained
• Greek yoghurt and toasted pita breads, on the side

• Heat the olive oil in a soup pan and fry the onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes
• Make sure the garlic does not burn
• Add tomato puree, spices, and bay leaf and mix and fry for about 1 min
• Add stock, diced tomatoes and coriander
• Bring to a boil, put the lid on the pan, put heat on low and have the soup very slowly simmer and infuse for an hour.
• Add the chick peas and lentils and have the soup very slowly simmer and infuse for another ± 30 minutes.
• Take the lid off the pan and have the soup slowly simmer for another 30 minutes
• Garnish with the saved coriander leaves
• Serve with yoghurt and pita breads

Enjoy! Smakelijk eten!

This is a translation from an original recipe from delicious. magazine in The Netherlands: https://deliciousmagazine.nl/recepten/marokkaanse-tomatensoep-linzen/

Brioche Buns (from Francesca Kookt)

Recently I made my first batch of Brioche Buns from a recipe on one of my favourite Dutch cooking & baking websites Francesca Kookt. Some of you have asked me for the recipe and so I asked Francesca if I could put a translation on my social media, she told me “Yes”, so here it is!

Prep & Mix: 45 mins + Dough rise: 1,5 – 2,5 hr + Baking: 15 mins

Ingredients

120 g full fat milk

120 g water

7 g instant yeast

60 g fine sugar

500 g flour

9 g salt

3 eggs

1 egg yoke

100 g soft butter, in cubes

(sunflower)oil

1 tbsp sesame seed

Food processor with dough mixer

Dough scraper

Tips before you start baking

• You need to take your time making these buns. Make sure you have ample time to kneed and rise the dough (twice). If you lack the time you could easily start the process a day before and put the buns in the fridge at the 2^nd rise and continue the next day.
• Baking is an exact science: follow the recipe and meticulously measure and weigh your ingredients
• The buns will freeze easily. Freeze them individually.

Instructions

Warm up the milk and water until luke warm. Stir in the yeast and sugar and leave for a few minutes.

Put the flour in the bowl of your food processor and stir in the salt.

Add 2 whole eggs, 1 egg yoke and the milk-water mixture.

Use the flat dough mixer tool of your food processor to mix everything for 1 minute.

In small parts add the cubes of butter, while you keep mixing.

Leave the food processor to mix, which can take a while, even up to 15 mins.

It is important to keep checking the dough. The dough has been mixed well, when no dough is sticking to the bowl anymore, it shines like butter, and is almost elastic when you pull it (for reference check photo’s on Francesca Kookt).

Spread some flour on your workbench and put the dough on there.

Form a round ball out of it, with help of your dough scraper. If you don’t have one, you can just use your hands of course.

Lightly grease the inside of your food processor bowl with (sunflower)oil.

Put the ball of dough in there and cover with a clean dish towel.

Leave to rise for 1-1.5 hour until the ball has doubled in size.

Again put some flour on your workbench and put the dough on there.

Gently punch the air out of the dough.

Then divide the dough in 8, 10, or 12 pieces. Use the scale to make sure the pieces are the same size.

Every time you have weighed a piece, put some flower on your hands and carefully form a round ball of dough. Handle with care, as you do not want to squeeze out the air that is still in there.

Carefully fold the dough to the bottom side of the ball and pinch it closed on the bottom (for reference, check photo’s on Francesca Kookt)

Cover your baking tin with baking paper and put the balls of dough on there. Leave ample space in between as they will get bigger in the next rise and while baking later.

Leave to rise for 0.5-1 hour until they have doubled in size.

Pre-heat the oven: 200 C for top/bottom heat, 180-190 C for fan assisted ovens.

Beat the last egg with 0.5 tbsp of cold water.

Carefully cover each dough ball with the egg/water mixture and sprinkle over some sesame seeds.

Put the baking tin in the middle of the oven and bake for about 15 mins.

Each oven is different so keep checking: when the buns are golden brown on top they are done.

Let them fully cool, preferably on a wire rack.

Enjoy! If I can do it, you can do it!

Huge thanks to Francesca from Francesca Kookt for allowing me to translate and publish the recipe.

This recipe is in metric measurements. For cooking conversions and equivalents, see Basic cooking/kitchen tips in the menu.

Meatballs in Belgian Beer

Ingredients 

• 400 g minced beef
• 2 tbsp ketjap manis
• 2 tbsp of coarse mustard
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 small eggs
• 80 g bread crumbs
• 3 tbsp of butter
• 1 tbsp of flour
• 1 bottle of Belgian beer (or a similar very dark slightly sweet beer)
• 1 -2 tbsp applesyrup
• salt & pepper

Instructions

Mix the minced beef, ketjap, mustard, cayennepepper, eggs and bread-crumbs in a bowl and kneed well

Divide the meat mixture into 5-8 pieces and form them into meatballs

Put the meatballs in the fridge for min. 30 minutes

Heat up 1 tbsp of butter in a frying pan and brown the meatballs on the outside in just 1-2 minutes

Take the meatballs out of the pan and set aside

Add 2 tbsp of butter and the flour to the pan and stir with a whisk on a low heat for about 2 mins until the flour is cooked

Add the beer and the apply sirup and bring to a boil

Stir with a whisk until the apple sirup is fully dissolved

Taste the sauce and bring up to taste with salt, pepper, and maybe a little more apple sirup if you like

Put the meatballs back into the beer sauce and turn down the heat

Have the meatballs cook for about 20 minutes on a low heat, regularly turning them

Eet smakelijk!

This recipe is in metric measurements. For cooking conversions and equivalents, see Basic cooking/kitchen tips in the menu.

Goulash soup

Ingredients

• 75 g bacon
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 400 g braising steak, in small pieces
• 1 large onion, in small pieces
• 1 clove of garlic, finely diced
• 2 red paprikas
• 1 tbsp of spicy paprika powder
• 1 small tin of tomato puree
• 200 ml red wine
• 1 liter beef stock
• 300 g potatoes, diced
• 200 g string beans, sliced in half
• 1 tsp of caraway seeds
• 1 cup of sour cream

Preparation

In a soup pan bake the tiny strips/dices of bacon until crips.

Add the oil and fry the pieces of meat for about 2 mins

Add the onion, garlic, paprika, paprika powder and tomato puree and fry with thee meat for another 2 mins

Add the wine and stock and bring it to a boil

Leave the soup to boil on a low heat for about 2 hours

Add the potato and beans and boil for another 20 mins

This recipe is a translation of the Dutch ‘Hongaarse goulashsoep’ recipe on okoko recepten

Miljuschka’s Best Banana Bread Ever

This recipe is one of one of our most wonderful Dutch TV chefs: Miljuschka. I have started using it in the past month and l.o.v.e. it. At the request of some of my non-Dutch friends I am offering you an English translation of the recipe below. The original recipe -in Dutch- can be found at  Miljuschka’s website.

Preparation: 10 minutes – Baking: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 125 g of butter, melted
• 200 g of sugaer
• 2 large egges
• 60 ml of milk
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 4 ripe bananas, 3 of them pureed with a fork/1 cut through in length
• 250 g of flour
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• pinch of salt
• (if you want: a handful of chopped chocolate and/or nuts)
• Oven – 25 cm cake tin – baking paper

Now let’s get to it!

• Warm up the oven at 160C
• Put baking paper in the cake tin
• With a mixer/blender/kitchenaid mix the melted butter and sugar together
• Add the eggs one by one and mix through
• Now mix in the milk and vanilla extract carefully
• Mix in the pureed bananas and add them to your batter and mix in
• If you are adding chocolate and/or nuts, this is the moment to mix them in
• to the batter
• Now push the 2 pieces of banana you have left into the batter with the cut side on top
• Put the batter in the cake tin and bake in the oven for 50-65 minutes
• Test the cake by sticking in a wooden skewer. As soon it comes out  without an
  y residue, the banana bread is done
• Let the banana bread cool in the cake tin for 10 minutes
• Then take it out and let it cool further

Enjoy!

This recipe is in metric measurements. For cooking conversions and equivalents, see Basic cooking/kitchen tips in the menu.