Happy Moanday (that’s not a typo) all! 🙂 It’s my last Monday part of team marcusbrewster…bittersweet to say the least. Thought I’d kick off this emotional-rollercoaster of a week with a yummy post…sharing my recently discovered, super-easy recipe for the traditional summer-hit dessert…Pavlova. Continue reading
I thought I’d just share some pics of the individual trifles and cheesecakes I made this Eid and mention in the Basic Fridge Cheesecake post to give you some inspiration and to get your creative juices flowing 🙂 Continue reading
I’ve always said my blog would just be to document my kitchen “escapades” and that I wouldn’t pressure myself if I didn’t have time to post anything, but I feel so guilty…it feels like forever since my last post. I’d just like to thank everyone who has been encouraging/sweetly nagging me to post more recipes, it helps me slip out of my land of procrastination and laziness 🙂 Continue reading
One of my many baking missions is to find the perfect choc chip cookie recipe. There are countless methods and takes on this “classic biscuit” leaving you with endless options, depending on your preference. They vary from crunchy to chewy and from sweet to salty. For me personally, as long as the choc chips are delicious and not “baking chocolate” I am satisfied 🙂 For this reason I always use chopped up Cadbury dairy milk when a recipe calls for some choc chips as it tastes divine and you’re able to decide their size. Continue reading
Wow it feels like it’s been forever and a day since my last post. Since Ramadaan ended it feels as though my time has just escaped me. Well it’s that in combination with the flu and a frantic workload. With that, I haven’t really had a chance to slap on my apron and whip up something in the kitchen…that could be the reason why I’ve been feeling so stressed 🙂 Continue reading
A belated Eid Mubarak to all! It was my second Eid-ul-Fitr as Mrs Hendricks *happy dance* and what a busy yet exquisitely beautiful day it was. The only problem is, there’s simply not enough hours in the day to get to everyone I’d like to see – I’m sure most of you with large families would concur. Nonetheless, I had a lovely day with both my families (Marks and Hendricks) and glad I got to see some of my dearest friends.
On Eid, it’s tradition to get together with the rest of my siblings and have lunch at my parents place and thereafter supper with my husband Raaziq’s, family. For lunch, I took what seems like the easy route and made two desserts, a Pavlova and a baked cheesecake 🙂
When making cheesecakes, I usually opt for the classic refrigerated version and therefore decided to attempt a baked vanilla cheesecake.
With it being my first attempt, I thought it would be best to follow the recipe quite diligently and to find the best ingredients. I found it quite difficult and somwhat aggravating to get my hands on a premium cream cheese which was both halaal and not low-fat/fat-free – but after running around the manic mall (day-before-eid, last-minute shopping) I finally found my saviour – the Lancewood Superior Cream Cheese. This recipe also requires a vanilla pod – this I found at Simply Spice in Kenilworth Centre for only R6 and my oh my did this just transform the recipe. Vanilla pods are magical!
Ingredients:
Base:
Melted butter, for greasing
250g plain sweet biscuits
125g butter, melted
Filling:
3 x 250g tubs cream cheese, at room temperature
250g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
1/2 lemon, juiced
6 eggs
3/4 cup cream
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 150°C. Brush a springform pan with the melted butter to lightly grease.
2. Place the biscuits in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely crushed. Add the butter and process until well combined.
3. Press the biscuit mixture over the base of the greased pan. Place in the fridge while making the filling.
The magical vanilla pod
4. For the filling, beat the cream cheese, castor sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until the mixture is light and creamy. Add the lemon juice, eggs and cream. Beat until well combined and the mixture is light and fluffy.
5. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until golden and just set in the centre. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
6. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight to firm. Remove from the fridge 10 minutes before serving.
NB: The great thing with this recipe as that you can go wild with the filling (add chopped chocolate, nuts, etc.) and the decoration…
Shukran for reading and enjoy!
Sadie xxx
These chilly wintery days and nights have me constantly craving chocolate and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Something that always manages to hit the spot is a piece of warm chocolate brownie topped with a thick and silky layer of chocolate sauce and two scoops of vanilla ice-cream (it’s never too cold for ice-cream! 😀 )
This recipe always produces a winning batch of brownies, because seriously…who can resist that much chocolate?! 🙂
This is dedicated to everyone who has ever asked me for this recipe and to everyone looking for a quick and easy dessert to entertain guests or something to spoil yourself after a long day or week. Enjoy and let me know how your brownies turned out!
Sadie xxx
PS: Sorry to all my colleagues for bombarding you with these brownies all week 🙂
Ingredients:
125g butter
1 cup water
1/2 cup oil
2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 sugar
4 heaped Tbsp cocoa
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
Topping:
125g butter
4 heaped Tbsp cocoa
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
75ml buttermilk
Method:
Heat butter and water on stove till melted.
Remove from heat, stir in oil and allow to cool.
Sift flour, sugar and cocoa.
Add cooled oil mixture and mix thoroughly.
Add eggs, vanilla essence, bicarbonate of soda and lastly buttermilk and mix.
Grease and line flat pyrex dish with wax paper.
Bake at 180ºC for 25-30 minutes.
Domingo licking the bowl instead of taking pics…tisk tisk 😀
Remove from oven and pour topping (method below) over cake.
Optional: Sprinkle with almonds
Topping:
Melt butter, cocoa, sugar and vanilla essence in a pot over medium heat.
Whisk with hand whisk till mixture is very thick
Still on heat, add buttermilk and stir till mixture is thick and runny.
Roti…sigh…oh how I love you! The smell of it sizzling on a hot tawa (concave iron griddle used to fry roti‘s)…yummy! Shukran to my father AKA popsickles for buying me a tawa – it’s any roti-maker/roti-addict’s dream!
Roti is one of the many types of indian flat breads originating from the Indian subcontinent. In India it is a staple accompaniment to most of their meals….I could completely live on roti too, but gosh I’d have to say bye to any trace of a waist I have.
Of all variations, my absolute favourite type of roti is the deliciously crisp, flaky roti. I made a batch to accompany and complement my butter chicken dish on Sunday and knew I just had to share the recipe and method with you! There’s certain steps which need to be followed when making a roti, to achieve the flaky effect.
Ingredients:
4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
125g butter/margarine or ghee (clarified butter)
For frying:
1/2 cup oil
3 Tbsp butter/margarine
NB: instead of the above you could just fry your roti’s with ghee
Method:
Combine flour, salt and oil and rub together to form breadcrumb consistency.
Add water gradually until a soft pliable dough forms.
Dough will be soft but after allowing to stand covered for a while (approximately 30 minutes) the moisture will be absorbed.
Make balls and roll into a circle to approximately a saucer size.
Spread rolled out ball with butter/margarine/ghee and sprinkle with flour.
From the centre of the circle, make a slit using a knife.
Using both hands, pick up the two sides of the cut circle and roll into a long ‘sausage’
Roll up both ends of the sausage, one side clockwise and the opposite end anti clockwise (two circles will meet in centre)
Flip one circle on top of the other and press lightly
Repeat this procedure with each of the dough balls.
Allow the finished roti balls to rest or refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes before frying.
Melt butter and oil together if not using ghee to fry
Roll out roti on lightly floured surface
Heat an appropriately sized pan to fry roti
Use about 2-3 tablespoons butter-oil mixture to fry roti until it is golden on each side
After removing from pan lightly pat it between the palms of your hands so that roti can be fluffy.
One of my favourite dishes of all time is Butter Chicken. This is a dish I frequently crave along with a hot-from-the-pan roti….this is not the easiest thing to think about while you fasting *wipes drool*
There are so many butter chicken recipes out there, some include cashew and fresh cream whereas others include plain yoghurt or sour cream and tomato paste. Definitely on my bucket list is to learn to make authentic Pakistani butter chicken, preferably by a Pakistani 🙂
Yesterday I had my best friend, Tasneem AKA Domingo and her husband Waseem over for iftaar (meal eaten by muslims to break their fast). Domingo and I were on a mission to find Eid clothes Saturday morning and while driving we took about 2minutes to decide on the menu for our iftaar together the next day – I find it incredibly easy to decide what to make during the fast, as each day comes with its different cravings.
Yes, the obvious choice was the heavenly combination of butter chicken and roti and for dessert, Domingo requested I whip up a batch of chocolate brownies.
The blog is definitely tickling my adventurous bone, pushing me to try new recipes, so I thought because I was sticking to my old-faithful choc brownie recipe I should definitely be audacious with the butter chicken. I remember seeing Deena Naidoo’s (winner of MasterChef SA) butter chicken recipe in the MasterChef and You magazine collaboration. With baking being my passion, majority of the posts would fit under that category but due to special requests, I will be including some “foodie recipe”. With that said, please see below (and try out!) my first “foodie” recipe:
Butter Chicken – (MasterChef winner Deena Naidoo recipe)
Ingredients
20ml oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 stick cinnamon
1 medium onion chopped
300g chicken fillet (cubed)
1/2 tsp whole jeera (cumin)
1/2 tsp bori (turmeric)
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2/3 cup liquidised tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp garlic & ginger
4tsp ground cashew (I used ground almond)
1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
1/2 cup fresh cream
Method:
Fry mustard seeds and cinnamon stick in oil until seeds start popping.
Add onions and cumin seeds, heat until onions become translucent.
Add remaining dry spices.
Add tomato, garlic & ginger and cashew (I used ground almond simply because I had no ground cashew) then simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Remove from heat and remove cinnamon stick.
Blend this mixture with a hand blender.
Add cubed chicken and simmer for 5-7 minutes.
Add salt to taste and pour cream in pot allowing to simmer over very low heat for 3-4 minutes or until cooked.
Serve with rice, roti or naan.
Enjoy and please feel free to share your butter chicken recipes in the comments section below or drop me a line via email.
PS: will be posting my flaky roti recipe tomorrow
Happy cooking!
Sadie xxx
The best part of any cupcake is definitely the frosting and there are just so many options and variations, from melted chocolate to traditional buttercream icing. To give the traditional frosting a bit of a twist I decided to try the White Chocolate Buttercream frosting, and here’s how I did it…
Ingredients:
125g butter
4 cups icing sugar
3 tbs milk
100g white chocolate (I used Cadbury Dream)
Method:
1. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave (remember to keep monitoring and stirring). Set aside.
2. Cream the butter with an electric mixer until soft.
3. Gradually add two cups of icing sugar and the milk, and mix until combined.
4. Add the rest of the icing sugar and mix thoroughly.
5. Lastly, stir in the white chocolate.
NB: Add more milk if the icing is too thick.
Remember to have fun with your piping and decorations!
Happy Frosting! 🙂
Sadie xxx
Working mom of two little girls with a deep love for baking and all things delicious. Join her as she shares, recipes, tips and all-things-foodie related reviews!
Sadie's Bubble of Yum 