December 11, 2021. Cold autumn day. Best Ever Banana Bread Muffins. Updated March 30, 2023 I wanted to share a fabulous and easy recipe that I have been making again and again for the past few weeks since the guys can’t seems to get enough …
Retro Upside Down Four Citrus Cake Originally published on Sept 10, 2020. Updated on August 27, 2021. This Retro Upside Down Four Citrus Cake is one of the loveliest cakes I have ever made. My baking group’s weekly challenge called for an upside down cake. …
June 28, 2011. Sunny summer day. Giant Spicy Potatoes Nest & Eggs.
Jump to RecipeI love the combination of potatoes with eggs and this is one of the recipes that I’ve been obsessing over for the past few weeks. The inspiration recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi’s website and I have made around 5 variations of this dish in May. It’s an unusual combination of bold, global flavors and style that really appealed to me. The recipe is good for anytime of the day – a hearty breakfast, a tasty brunch, a lighter dinner or whenever you are feeling peckish. This particular version is my favorite and I decided it was time to write it up and share.
It’s a relatively easy recipe using matchstick potatoes – I used sweet potatoes and russet potatoes to make a giant rösti or latke or a potato pancake. My hubby calls it a potato nest, and then you crack eggs on top of the potatoes to complete the dish. Yes, it’s that simple. The thing that makes this truly stand out is the use of Korean spicy gochujang paste and Japanese creamy white Miso paste to season the potatoes. Then, fresh squeezed lime juice (together with the special sauce) is used to brighten up the entire dish at the end. This giant spicy potato nest pancake with eggs is such a fun dish to make and eat.
Let’s get cooking!
Potato Nest and Eggs
1 Tbsp olive oil (for greasing pan)
2 large Russet Potatoes peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 large Sweet Potato peeled and cut into matchsticks
salt & black pepper to taste
I Tbsp gochujang paste (Korean red pepper paste)
1 Tbsp white miso paste (Japanese fermented bean paste)
5 garlic cloves minced finely
9 large eggs, room temperature
2 limes cut into wedges for serving
Sauce
2 Tbsp Olive Oil extra virgin
Juice from 2 limes
1 tsp gochujang paste
1 tsp honey
2 stalks green onions scallions
1 tsp black sesame, toasted
1 tsp white sesame, toasted
1/2 tsp ichimi togarashi (Japanese dry chili powder) or chilli flakes, optional
cilantro for garnish, optional
You will also need an oven safe 10″ saute pan with cover as well as a kitchen mandoline slicer or very sharp kitchen knife to prep the potatoes.
Let’s start by heating the oven to 425°F (220°C). Lightly coat the oven proof pan with olive oil and put into oven to preheat for 5 to 10 minutes.
First put the matchstick potatoes into a large bowl. Lightly sprinkle with salt to taste (approx. 1/2 to 1 teaspoon). Mix the gochujang, miso, and garlic in a small bowl. Pour the mixture into the bed of potatoes and mix well so that all the potatoes are well coated.
Remove heated pan from the oven – be careful, it will be hot. Place on a trivet. Pour the seasoned potatoes into the hot pan. Carefully spread out the potatoes evenly across the pan. You will hear the potatoes sizzling on the hot pan. Return the pan to oven and bake for 25 to 28 minutes until the top is lightly brown and crispy.
While the giant potato nest is baking in the oven, let’s prepare the sauce. Mix the freshly squeezed lime juice with olive oil, honey, chopped scallions, gochujang, and the the two types of sesame seeds. Stir well to combine.
When the potato nest is ready, remove from oven. Using the back of a spoon, make 9 indentations in the potato nest. Crack an egg into each indentation. Cover the pan with the lid and return the entire thing to the oven. Bake for another 8 minutes or until the whites are opaque. The yolk will still be runny (like an Eggs Benedict).
After eight minutes, remove from the oven. Sprinkle salt and pepper lightly on eggs. Spoon on the sauce onto the potatoes and around the eggs. Serve immediately with lime wedges and optional ichimi togarashi (dried chili flakes or cayenne) and cilantro. This bold flavored dish tastes lovely served with a contrasting crunchy fresh green salad (arugula, romaine, etc) or sliced cucumbers. Bon Appetit!
I was curious what other types of pancakes are popular around the world beside the usual ones we make with wheat flour. I found these 2 short articles that listed out various types of pancakes from around the world => https://www.spar.co.uk/there-for-you/different-types-of-pancakes-around-the-world
https://www.buzzfeed.com/tashweenali/pancakes-from-around-the-world
Besides the more well known ones like French crepes, Korean Jeons and Russian Blinis, there are also Indonesian Serabi made with rice flour and coconut milk, Iris Boxty a sort of pancake hash brown combo, South Africa’s crepe-like Pannekoeke filled with cinnamon custard, Italian Crespelle made from chestnut flour, and Finnish Pannukakka which sounds like a variation on the English Yorkshire pudding. I’ll be adding a few of these delicious recipes to my list of things to make!
Which one will you be making?
Southern Style Flavorful Shrimp and Grits => Let’s Make Scrumptious AND Easy Shrimp & Grits
Japanese Green Tea Mille Crepe Cake => Let’s Make an Elegant Matcha Mille Crepe Cake!
Cute Strawberry Bunny Buns => Let’s Make Easy Adorable Strawberry Bunny Buns
Focaccia Art => Let’s Make Colorful Garden Focaccia!
May 19, 2021. Sunny Spring Day. Scrumptious AND Easy Shrimp & Grits, Having lived here in the southern part of the US for over a dozen years now, I have really grown to love delicious classic Southern cooking. The food tends to be unapologetically authentic …
April 8, 2021. Sunny Spring Day. Matcha Mille Crepe Cake. This Matcha Mille Crepe Cake has been on my bucket list for a very long time. It’s a very distinctive looking cake and has gained more popularity after it was featured on one of the …
March 25, 2021. Beautiful Spring day. Strawberry Bunny Buns.
Jump to RecipeAs the weather is getting sunnier and warmer, I really wanted to make something fun and spring-like. I was scrolling through Pinterest and these cute bunny buns caught my eye.
The inspiration recipe was from BHG.com and the original recipe uses marmalade. I thought it would be tastier to use strawberry jam instead of orange jam as the filling. These bunny buns are adorable and perfect for spring time celebrations, especially for Easter or any spring celebratory events and parties that have cute bunny rabbits or little creatures as their theme.
If you have ever made delish cinnamon rolls, like the ones I made while back, or love the taste of strawberries (check out these awesome quick and easy strawberry oatmeal cups, or this pretty strawberry pavlova), these bunny buns are a delight to make and eat! Overall, the recipe goes like this; make the dough, roll it out into a rectangle, slather on the jam, roll it up, cut, shape into bunnies, and bake. That’s it. Oh, and top with frosting for an added pop of yummy. Not too difficult, right?
Without further ado, let’s get baking!
Dough
3 ½ to 4 cups (420 to 480g) All-Purpose Flour
2¼ tsp (7g) active dry yeast
1 cup (227g) full fat milk, room temperature
1/3 cup (66g) sugar
1/3 cup (76g) butter
3/4 tsp (5g) salt
2 large eggs, room temperature lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract or strawberry extract (optional)
2/3 cup (228g) strawberry jam for filling
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
Glaze
1 cup (113g) icing confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup (112g) strawberry jam
juice from 1 large lemon
For this recipe, I used a Stand Mixer to mix and knead the dough, a medium sized Saucepan to combine the wet ingredients for the dough, a Rolling Pin to roll out the dough, a Sharp knife or unflavored dental floss to cut the rolled up dough into individual buns, kitchen scissors to cut and shape the bunny ears and finally, 2 parchment or silicone lined baking pans/trays/cookie sheets for baking.
Let’s start by gathering all the ingredients. In a saucepan stir together milk, sugar, butter, salt and heat just until warm and butter almost melts. Do not boil the mixture. Set aside to cool slightly.
In your stand mixing bowl, whisk together 3 cups of the flour with the yeast. Add the milk mixture, eggs and optional vanilla or strawberry extract to flour mixture. Stir until combined.
Then, using the dough hook attachment in your stand mixer, mix until a dough ball is formed. Add additional flour as necessary to make a soft dough. Knead for about 3 to 5 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. When ready, shape the dough into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let it rest in a warm place for about 60 minutes, or until it has doubled in size. Note: I like to use my large 4 Quarts Pyrex Bowl with lid for this step – it eliminates the need to use disposable plastic cling wrap. Or use a clean damp kitchen towel to cover the dough.
Deflate or punch down the pouffy dough. Tip dough onto a lightly floured surface. Let rest 10 minutes before starting to shape the buns. When waiting, line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
On a clean work space (or pastry mat/ counter top), use a rolling pin and roll dough into an 18×12-inch (46cm x 30cm) rectangle, with one long side closer to you. Spread the 2/3 cup strawberry jam over the dough, leaving about a 4-inch (10cm) border along the top side of the rectangle. Starting from the filled long side close to you, firmly tuck and roll up the rectangle, leaving the seams unsealed. Note: Do not press too hard when rolling or the jam will leak from the sides.
Using a very sharp knife, or dental floss, cut the rolled up dough into 12 equal pieces. Arrange the pieces on the lined baking pans/sheets or 6 buns per pan. Allow plenty of space between the buns. Note: based on all my previous bakes, using the dental floss to cut produces the cleanest cut since you do not place any pressure on the rolled up dough. Using a knife invariably would squash the dough slightly. I recommend using floss to cut in any recipes where you want to show the spiral design from the cut.
To make bunny ears, uncurl the 4 inches (10cm) of the roll without jam and cut in half lengthwise using kitchen scissors. Next, separate and bend each strip to resemble a V. Pinch the tips lightly to make them look like pointed bunny ears. Then, cut lengthwise slits inside each ear. Repeat with all the remaining buns. Cover with plastic cling wrap and let the shaped buns rest in warm place for 30 minutes or until it is pouffy.
When waiting, preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Prepare the egg wash – in small bowl beat together egg and 1 tablespoon water. When the rolls are ready, generously brush egg wash on top of each bun. Bake in preheated oven for 16 to 20 minutes or until golden.
When the buns are baking, stir together all the ingredients for glaze – icing sugar, 1/3 cup of strawberry jam and the juice of 1 lemon, to make glaze into drizzling consistency. Spoon glaze over warm buns, or leave on the side as an optional topping. Your bunny buns are ready!
Uneaten buns can be stored, tightly wrapped in airtight containers for a few days. For longer storage freeze.
One of the handiest references I use for baking measurement conversions is from King Arthur Baking. Time and again when I read an international recipe, or need the metric equivalent for a US recipe, I use this site => https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
In this yearlong baking and cooking adventures, I have found that for some recipes that are more technical, it is best to weigh the ingredients with a digital scale for an optimal outcome.
Love this colorful and delicious Focaccia Garden. See how I make this from scratch => Let’s Make Colorful Garden Focaccia!
This bread looks cool AND tastes fab. Check it out => Let’s Make the Unusual Cool Wool Bread
Fancy something spicy? Check out these samosas => How to Make Spicy Potato Samosas
Key Lime Pie with Nut Crust is the quintessential dessert that speaks of warm, lazy summer days. => How to Make Key Lime Pie with Nut Crust
March 20, 2021. First day of Spring. Colorful Garden Focaccia. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to make something colorful and happy to welcome the first day of spring. Since I have been making all these King Arthur’s Extraordinary Bread recipes, I thought …
March 13, 2021. Warm winter day. Cool Wool Bread. This ring bread that looks like pouffy skeins of sheep 🐑 wool has been making its round on social media recently. I saw it posted in one of the Baking groups I follow on Facebook. I …
March 10, 2021. Sunny winter day. Spicy Potato Samosas.
Jump to RecipeMy family loves Indian food, so much so that both of my kiddos requested Indian meals for their birthdays! One of the items we enjoy tremendously is the little packets of stuffed pastries called Samosas. The menu on our favorite local Indian restaurant describes them as “Vegetable Somosa – Spiced Potatoes and Petite Pea Turnover“. They are absolutely little yummy hot pockets of spicy deliciousness!
I decided to try my hand at making them from scratch today. The overall process is not dissimilar to making hand pies or any filled pastries (like making these crescent rolls) – first, make the dough for the crust, next the filling, and finally assemble and cook.
My homemade samosas may not look pretty, but they tastes so good! My family devoured them all within a day and asked for more. This will stay firmly in our cooking baking rotation! I hope you’ll give these a try. They are definitely worth the effort.
Samosa Dough
2¼ cup All purpose flour
3 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
6 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, very cold, cut into small cubes
2/3 cup Cold Water
Spicy Potato Filling
5 Potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 Onion, diced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
2 inches Fresh ginger, minced
1 Green chile
1 Lemon juice
3 tsp Curry Powder
1/2 tsp Tumeric Powder
1 tsp Red chile powder
salt to taste
1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
Vegetable Oil, for frying
Gather all the ingredients. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. With a pastry blender, or your fingers, work the butter into the flour until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Add 1/2 cup of water into the mixture. Continue mixing while slowly adding the rest of the water until a dough is formed. You may not need to use all the water. Knead the dough for about 5 more minutes. Form into a ball. Cover and let it rest. Next, let’s prepare the filling.
Put a large pot of water to boil. Optional: Add a bay leaf to the water.
Peel and cube the potatoes. Boil until tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Prepare the onions, garlic, ginger and green chile. Heat the vegetable oil in a large fry pan on medium. When hot, fry the onions until softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Then add in the garlic, and ginger. Fry for another minute. Finally add in the green chile. Stir until everything is soft and golden. Add in the drained potatoes Squeeze in the lemon juice. Add in the chopped cilantro leaves. Then, add in the spices – curry powder, turmeric, red chile powder and salt. Cook for another minute. Mix well to combine. Take the pan off heat. Set aside to cool.
While the filling is cooling, start to work on the samosa wrappers. Tilt the dough onto a clean work surface. Divide dough into 9 equal pieces. Roll them into little balls. Using a rolling pin, roll out a ball into a 5 inch circle. Cut in half. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls. You should have 18 half circles.
To assemble, take one piece of wrapper, moisten the straight edge (cut edge) with a little water. Fold in half, aligning the edges. Pinch together to seal and form a triangle shape. Spoon in about 1 tablespoon of filling. Moisten the top edges of the dough and pinch the edges together to create another tight seal. You have made your first samosa! Place on a tray and repeat with the remaining dough wrappers.
Video below shows step-by-step on how to assemble a samosa:
In a deep saucepan, heat vegetable oil. You should use enough oil so that the entire samosa can be submerged into the oil. When the oil is hot*, fry several samosas at a time. Depending on the size of your saucepan, do not overcrowd them. When the samosas are golden, flip it over so it can brown evenly on both sides. Drain on wire rack with drip tray. Serve hot or at room temperature.
*How to check if the oil is ready for frying? Place the handle of a wooden spoon or chopsticks into the oil. When bubbles begin to appear around the tip of the handle, the oil is ready for frying. Remember not to overcrowd when frying food. Overcrowding means it takes longer to fry and the food tastes oily. Fry in small batches for the best outcome.
My husband and I got into a discussion about the correct way to spell “Chile”. I think it should be “Chile” and he thinks it ought to be “Chili”. I did a search and found a few articles on this exact topic.
This one is from Merriam-Webster => https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/usage-chili-chilli-chile
Another opinion from a grammar blog =>https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/09/chili-chile-or-chilli.html
And this one from a website called chillipeppermadness => https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/frequently-asked-questions/how-do-you-spell-chili-pepper-is-it-chili-chilli-or-chile/
Interesting, right? Location matters.
Recipe lightly adapted from Shoba Narayan and Michelle Greenwald’s Spice Potato-stuffed Pastries: Samosas.
Want to try more curry and spicy recipes? Check this out => Jacques Pepin’s Amazing Spicy Lamb Curry with Apples and Potatoes
Dreaming of warmer weather? See how I made this Key Lime Pie => How to Make Key Lime Pie with Nut Crust
Fancy a quick and healthy snack? Check out this kale chips => How to Make Quick & Easy Kale Chips (20 Minutes)
Butter Cruffin = Croissant + Muffin =>How to Make Butter Cruffins (Croissant + Muffin)
March 8, 2021. Sunny winter day. Quick & Easy Kale Chips (20 Minutes). When Kale was all the rage a few summers ago, the only way I could get my family to eat this vegetable regularly (and willingly) was hidden in a smoothie. Then, I …