I wish i could begin by telling you how absurdly easy and quick  this dessert was to make, but unfortunately that was not the case. If you’re looking for a magnificent challenge in the kitchen today, you should totally try this recipe out!

 

This dessert has immaculate components like the caramel ornament, the layers of cake and oat cookies and cream coated in nuts and the fudge truffles that together make the most beautiful harmony in your mouth.

I named this recipe in Estonian and the translation is simply 'Nut in a shinning plate' inspired by 'Knight in shining amour' and the pronunciation is simply -pa-kel sa-ra-vas- pla-dis

Time: 3 hours 30 minutes

Yield: 5 dessert meals

Ingredients

¾ cups roasted and finely chopped peanuts

½ cup melted chocolate

For the vanilla cake 

1 cup cake flour

½ cup sugar

1 egg

½ cup milk

¼  cup oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

For the oat cookies

⅔ cup oats

½ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp baking powder 

⅔ cup flour

5 tsp milk

1 ½ tbsp syrup 

For the caramel ornaments

¾ cup brown sugar

½ tsp mint extract

For the shiny purple ball

1 cup cake flour

½ cup sugar

1 egg

½ cup milk

¼  cup oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp nutmeg

½ cup raisins

½ cup icing sugar

A few drops of purple food colouring 

1 tbsp silver food dust

For the fudge truffles

3 tbsp melted butter

1 ¾ cup icing sugar 

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 ¾ tbsp milk

 ¼ cup cocoa powder for the coating

For the cream

2 ½  cups whipped heavy cream

2 tbsp dissolved coffee

½ cup icing sugar

For the plates

½ cup icing sugar coloured green

¼ cup cocoa powder

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
3. Combine all the dry ingredients for the vanilla cake in a large bowl.
4. Mix all the wet ingredients and add them to the bowl with the dry ingredients and ensure that everything is well combined.
5. Place the cake batter in the prepared sheet pan and bake for 15-20 minutes.
6. In the meantime, line a loaf tin with parchment paper.
7. Now combine all the dry ingredients for the fruit cake in a large bowl.
8. Mix all the wet ingredients and the raisins before adding them to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mixing.
9. Place the cake batter in the prepared loaf tin.
10. When the vanilla cake has baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
11. Place the loaf tin with the fruit cake batter in the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes (till a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted). 
12. To make the caramel ornaments, first take a baking tray and cut out a sheet of parchment paper that is the size of the baking tray.
13. On one side of the parchment paper, draw (in pencil) the shape and size of what you would like the ornaments to be(i drew long crescent shapes) .
14. Place ¼ tsp of butter on each corner of the baking tray and place the parchment paper in such a way that the side you drew on is the bottom side and the side not drawn on is the top so the molten sugar does not get in contact with the pencil drawings.
15. Then, place the sugar and mint in a 2-quart saucepan and let the sugar melt over high heat.
16. You may stir the sugar with a wooden spoon to quicken the process. (The sugar should start melting after about 5 minutes).
17. When the sugar has completely melted, take a teaspoon and pour the sugar within the borders of each of the drawn crescent shapes. (The drawings are basically the guidelines ).
18. Let the sugar solidify for about 3 minutes before GENTLY lifting each ornament off the baking sheet.(The caramel ornaments can easily break so please be extremely careful when lifting them off.)
19. In the same 2-quart saucepan, place all the ingredients for the fudge truffles and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
20. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
21. When the 15 minutes are up, remove the bowl from the freezer.
22. Wash your hands.
23. Place a teaspoon of the thickened fudge mixture on the palm of one hand and roll it into a bowl. You may place a bit more water on your hands so the balls are perfectly shaped.
24. Place the ¼ cup of cocoa powder in a bowl.
25. Next dip the truffle into the cocoa powder and ensure that it is entirely coated.
26. Do this with all the remaining truffles.
27. When the fruit cake has baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
28. For the oat cookies, combine all the ingredients in a bowl. (It is alright if the mixture is slightly dry)
29. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
30. Get a medium-sized round cookie cutter and place a bit of the oat-cookie mixture into the cookie cutter, and press the mixture down before lifting off the cookie cutter.
31. Do the same for the remaining 9 cookies.
32. Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius till they are slightly golden in colour.
33. Next, to make the shiny purple balls, first place a few drops of the purple food coloring in the bowl of icing sugar and make sure it is entirely purple.
34. After that, use an ice cream scoop to scoop out a scoop of the fruit cake and then coat it in the icing sugar. Do this for the desired number of balls.
35. Sprinkle some of the silver food dust on each one of the balls.
36. For the cream, add the icing sugar to the whipped cream as well as the dissolved coffee.
37. To assemble the desserts, cut out 10 circles from the vanilla sheet cake.
38. Place just a bit of the whipped cream on top so that the next layer sticks on.
39. Next place an oat cookie, the whipped cream, then another circle of the vanilla cake, then a cookie.
40. After that, cover the entire mini tower you would have just made with a thin layer of whipped cream and place the nuts on a cutting board, then roll the mini tower in the nuts till it is completely coated. 
41. Then dip the top and bottom of the nutty towers in the chocolate, and let the chocolate harden for a few minutes.
42. Repeat that for the remaining 4.
43. For the plates, sift the icing sugar with green food colouring and cocoa powder  on each plate and sprinkle some of the silver food dust onto the plates.
44. Take a paper towel and wipe off some of the cocoa powder and green icing sugar in the shape of an arch to create the pattern.
45. Place the nutty towers horizontally on each plate, the caramel ornament leaning against them and a shiny ball on each of the nutty towers, as well as some chocolate fudge truffles. 

*I know this was a long recipe, so a big WELLDONE to you for pulling it off!

One of the unquestionable splendours of the culinary world is the amount of diversity encapsulated by each cuisine all over the world. You do not personally need to be a globetrotter, to experience every corner of the world. Let your food take you there!

This  is an Asian inspired dish, obviously with a few personal touches and I kid you not, the flavour combination is as magnificent as the dish looks. It is one of my recipes that does take some time to prepare, but your tastebuds will THANK you at the end!

Time: 2 hours 30 minutes 

Yield:5

Ingredients

For the baked dumplings:

• 1 ½  cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup water(at room temperature)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 ½  tablespoons oil
• 1 beaten egg

for the filling

• 2 large carrots
• 1 large onion
• 1 tsp garlic 
• 150g steak (i used skirt steak)
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground coriander

For the kebabs

• 150g beef (chuck)
• ¾ cup tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 4 medium- sized chicken breasts
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• ⅛ cup peri-peri sauce
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1tsp black pepper
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 2 medium- sized potatoes cubed and roasted (see my recipe on Chicken Crepes or Beef Tacos for the preparation of the potatoes)
• 1 large beetroot
• 1 large onion
• 1 red onion(sliced)
• 1 large orange(sliced) 
• 10 wooden skewers

For the dots

• ½ cup hoisin sauce
• ¼ cup sriracha sauce
• ⅛ cup oyster sauce
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup milk
• Yellow food colouring
• Blue food colouring
• Red food colouring

For the plates

• 2 lemons
• ¼ cup greek mozzarella cubes 
• Barbeque chicken spice

1. To make the dough for the dumplings, sift the flour into a bowl.
2. Add the salt to the bowl and mix.
3. Slowly add in the water and mix with a spoon till the dough forms.(You may add some water if needed,although the dough must not be too sticky).
4. Place the oil into the bowl and ensure that it coats the dough.
5. Dust some flour onto a board and transfer the dough to the board.
6. Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes and then cut it into 20 equal portions.
7. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.
8. In the meantime, slice the onions and cut carrots into thin sticks for the filling.
9. Slice the steak into thin strips.
10. Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes.
11. Add the onions, carrots and garlic to the pan and fry them for 4 minutes.
12. Place the sliced steak into the pan as well as all of the spices listed below for the filling.
13. Fry while flipping the steak after every 4 minutes until it is completely cooked. (This will probably take 20-25 minutes).
14. Remove the pan from the heat.
15. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
16. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
17. Roll each of the 20 balls into small, thin circles on a floured surface. (The circles don’t have to be perfectly round.)
18. When you’ve rolled all the circles, place about 2 tsp of the filling in the center of each circle and lift the edges of the circle, bringing them all to the center and press them slightly below the top of the ‘little parcels’ you would have made so that the filling does not escape.
19. Do this with the remaining circles. 
20. Arrange the dumplings onto the baking tray leaving some space between them.
21. Brush each of them with the beaten egg before placing them in the oven.
22. Let them bake for 40-45 minutes till they are golden-brown in color.
23. To make the kebabs, first cut the beef into medium sized cubes.
24. Heat oil in a pan over high heat and fry the beef for 15-20 minutes till it is completely cooked.  Season the beef with salt and pepper while it cooks.
25. Cut the chicken breasts into cubes, season them with salt and pepper and fry them till they are golden-brown in color.
26. Cut the large onion into cubes and fry them over high heat for 4 minutes.
27. Slice the beetroot into fairly thin slices and fry the slices for 5 minutes on each side.(You might want to wear kitchen gloves while cutting the beetroot to avoid the colour sticking to your hands).
28. Mix the sauces and spices listed under the beef for the kebabs into a small bowl and place the bowl in the microwave for 3 minutes so the sauce thickens.
29. Do the same for the spices listed under the chicken, in a separate bowl.
30. Coat the beef with its sauce and the chicken with its sauce and place the meat aside.
31. Place the ingredients for the dots in a blender and pulse for 25 seconds.
32. Divide the mixture into 5 equal portions and color each portion with a few drops of the food colorings listed.
33. Place each coloured mixture in five different parchment paper piping bags with a small round nozzle in each one.
34. To assemble everything, first place two chives on each plate in the shape of an X.(basically criss-crossing)
35. Warm the baked dumplings in the microwave for 2 minutes.
36. Place one dumpling in each of the four segments created by the X shape of the chives in each plate.
37. Pipe different colored dots around each of the dumplings in each of the plates.
38. To make the kebabs, first place one beetroot slice on each of the wooden skewers, then a few pieces of the fried onion, a potato cube, beef cube, piece of red onion,slice of orange and repeat that. You may change the order if you like.
39. Place the kebabs on the plates, place a few lemon slices around the baked dumplings and mozzarella sticks. 
40. Sprinkle some bbq chicken spice on one side of each of the plates and your meal will be ready to serve!

 

If you are planning to go MAD in the kitchen, this recipe is dedicated to you. It is the definition of ‘Guilty pleasure at its max!!!!!’  I know it is not the healthiest dessert, but hey your tastebuds do not mind indulging in a little crime once in a while.

This epic dessert is composed of magnificent layers that combine carrot cake, with coffee and chocolate heavy cream, jelly, ice-cream, golden syrup and more chocolate. What’s not to love about that! I will tell you right now that you should not think twice about trying out this dessert. YOU NEED IT.

 

Time: 2 hours

Yield: 5 desserts

Ingredients

• 1 litre tub of vanilla ice-cream 
• 160g cherry jelly (2 small packets)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons boiled coffee
• ¼ cup roughly chopped chocolate
• For the carrot cake
• 1 cup cake flour
• ¾  cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 ½  tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 eggs
• ⅜ cup canola oil
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely grated carrots

 For the top

• ¼ cup golden syrup
• ½ cup chopped chocolate
• ⅛ cup finely shredded chocolate
• 5 flakes

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare the jelly according to the instructions on the packet.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
3. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper.
4. Sift the flour into a large bowl.
5. Add the baking powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon and ginger to the same bowl and whisk.
6. In a separate bowl, crack the eggs and beat them for 2 minutes using a whisk or handheld mixer.
7. Add the oil and vanilla extract to the bowl and whisk for 3 minutes.
8. Gently fold the carrots into the bowl using a spatula.
9. Transfer the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and fold the batter for about 2 minutes using a spatula.
10. Transfer the cake batter into the baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes (until a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted).
11. In the meantime, place the heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
12. Whip the heavy cream for about 4-5 minutes until stiff peaks form when you lift the mixer.
13. Carefully fold in the boiled coffee, icing sugar and roughly chopped chocolate and place the bowl in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
14. When the cake has baked, remove it from the pan by first running a dinner knife around the tin before tipping over the baking tin.
15. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes.
16. Place ⅛ cup of the syrup in a plate and place ¼ of the chopped chocolate in a separate plate.
17. To assemble the desserts, dip the rim of each of your long dessert glasses into the plate with the syrup and immediately dip each of them into the plate with the chopped chocolate.
18. Cut the cake into tiny cubes.
19. Place 5 tablespoons of the tiny cake cubes into the bottom of each dessert glass and use a long spoon to press the cake cubes down, so you have a flat top.
20. After that, place two tablespoons of the whipped heavy cream into each of the glasses.
21. Repeat those last two steps (5 tablespoons of cake and two tablespoons of heavy cream.)
22. Put ¼ cup of the set jelly into each of the dessert glasses.
23. On top of the jelly layer, add 4 scoops of ice-cream to each glass.
24. Place the remaining ¼ cup of chocolate in a bowl and melt it in the microwave for 90 seconds. (Remove the bowl from the microwave after every 30 seconds and stir the melting chocolate for 5 seconds before placing the bowl back into the microwave, so that the chocolate does not burn).
25. Place the melted chocolate in a small piping bag and quickly pipe a few swirls on top of the ice-cream in each dessert glass.
26. Finally drizzle the golden syrup and sprinkle each dessert glass with the finely shredded chocolate before immersing the flake into each dessert glass and diving into the bliss you would have created!

 

If there is a dish that is savory, fresh and unbelievably succulent it has to be my 'Piatto de Viçi Curry'! I am not a huge fan of curry but after having this spectacular dish, i have officially become a permanent member of the League of Curry (if it exists).

I deliberately did not use tinned tomatoes when i came up with this recipe because fresh tomatoes add a whole new dimension to the dish that cannot be replicated by tinned tomatoes.

Note: This recipe makes a mild curry but if you are able to handle the heat well then go ahead and add as much curry powder and chilli powder as your tastebuds can deal with!

I named this dish in Italian and Albanian and the English translation is Beef Curry platter. (piatto -platter(Italian) and viçi (pronounced vi-chi)

-beef(Albanian).

Servings:5

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes 

Ingredients

• 20 regular sized tortillas
• 3 lemons
• 100g fresh coriander
• 2 red onions sliced

For the mild beef curry

• 500g beef (i used chuck) 
• 1 chopped onion
• 7 medium sized tomatoes grated
• 1 ½ cups beef stock (homemade or store-bought)
• ½ cup hot water
• 2 tablespoons corn flour or plain flour
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 ½ tsp ground coriander
• 1 ½  tsp paprika
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 5 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tablespoons curry powder

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut the beef into small cubes.
2. Add oil to a large saucepan and let it heat over high heat.
3. When the oil is hot, place the beef cubes into the pan and season them with salt and black pepper.
4. Cook the beef cubes till they are brown and entirely cooked, remembering to toss them after every 3-5 minutes. (This will take about 15-20 minutes).
5. Remove the beef cubes from the pan. Place them in a large bowl and cover them with aluminium foil till they are needed.
6. Add more oil to the same pan and let it heat up for a few minutes over medium-high heat.
7. Place the chopped onions inside the pan and let them cook for about 5 minutes until they are slightly golden in color.
8. Then, add the grated tomatoes, beef stock, hot water, corn flour, sugar, soy sauce, tomato sauce and all the spices listed.
9. Stir everything together until the simmering starts.
10. Once the simmering begins, let it go on without the lid for about 10 minutes. You may stir after 5 minutes.
11. After the 10 minutes place the lid on and let the simmering carry on for 10 more minutes.
12. After that, add the beef cubes and make sure they are all coated.
13. Place the lid back on, reduce the heat and let the stew cook for 15 minutes on medium-low heat.
14. In the meantime, cut the lemons into wedges(in half lengthwise, then each half into half again lengthwise).
15. When the cooking time for the beef stew is almost up, warm the tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds.
16. Remove the pan from the heat and dish the beef curry into small bowls.
17. Place two bowls of the beef curry on each plate (towards the edge of the plate).
18. Slightly fold the tortillas and place four in the middle each plate. 
19. Finally, add a generous amount of fresh coriander to each plate, about 3 lemon wedges and a few red onion rings and the meal will be ready to serve!