Having Fun in the Kitchen 🥘 🍳

I love cooking, especially trying new recipes. Because the college hasn't started yet I have a lot of time for cooking. So these are the things since I returned from the vacation.

Ricotta cheese and almond flour pancakes: These are so fluffy. I normally use 3 eggs, 1/2 cup ricotta, 1/4 cup almond flour, a pinch of salt and a small amount of vanilla extract. Sometimes I also add a tablespoon of flax meal, which makes the batter a bit thicker. 

Ricotta pancakes.

Last week I went to my favorite flea market. Vendors there sell lots of vegetables and fruits common in Sri Lanka. I bought a banana flower, moringa pods (Moringa oleifera) and gotukola (Centella asiatica).

Cooked banana flower:  I had to call mom and ask how to cook banana flower. I removed the tougher outer petals, cut and cored the flower. Then I chopped it finely and put it in ice water.  I  squeezed water out and sauteed it in coconut oil with chopped onions, green chilies, curry powder, turmeric powder, salt and curry leaves. At the end I added a small amount of coconut milk.  This is the first time I cooked banana flower. It was good, but not as tasty as mom's. 

Banana flower.

Moringa Curry: My moringa trees are still too small to have pods. I bought pods from the flea market and made a curry. The gravy is made of coconut milk, onions, garlic, green chilies, curry powder, turmeric powder, fenugreek seeds and salt.

Moringa.

Gotukola sambal: Gotukola is a very popular herb in Sri Lanka. It has many health benefits and is used in cooking and also in Ayurveda medicine. I chopped gotukola and mixed it with grated coconut, chopped onions and green chilies, salt, pepper and lime juice.

Gotukola.

Gotuloka porridge: When I was little, mom used to make porridge from different greens, once a week as a part of the breakfast. Because I had enough gotukola, I used some to make a porridge. I processed gotukola in the blender with a little bit of water, a clove of garlic and a small piece of ginger. Then I cooked the mixture with some coconut milk and a handful of already cooked rice (my shortcut as I didn't want to cook rice and add gotukola juice later). Sometimes I make porridge from parsley and curry leaves. 

Gotukola porridge for breakfast.

Homemade yogurt: Making yogurt at home is so easy. I heated 4 cups of whole milk slowly until the temperature was 180F (~ 82C), then cooled it until the temperature was around 115F (~ 46C). Then I added 2 tablespoons of yogurt. I keep small batches of yogurt in the freezer to use as a starter. You can also buy yogurt starter, but I have never used it.

Homemade yogurt.

Sauerkraut: After reading how Pauline at Happy Retirees Kitchen, and Sherry at Sherry's Pickings make sauerkraut at home, I also wanted to try it. It was on my 'one of these days I'll make it' list for a long time. When I saw Pauline's  Mortier Pilon Sauerkraut Crock I thought perhaps spending money on one might encourage me to finally make some sauerkraut. So I bought one, and today made my very first batch of sauerkraut. I will see in 3 days how it turns out. 😊

Sauerkraut with caraway seeds and mustard seeds.

I also tried making mozzarella cheese. But I got a very small amount of something similar to paneer. I still  ate it. 😀 

Did you try any new recipes lately?

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Nil