Posts in category: Recipes

Flapjacks are one of my favourite sweet treats to make (and eat). The ingredients list is lovely and short, and they’re nice and quick to throw together if you don’t have loads of time to spend baking.

I also love that you can change things up quite easily by adding in a few extra ingredients, like with my lemon curd flapjacks.

But these flapjacks in particular are simple and classic and delicious, perfect pretty much any time of the day. Here’s the recipe if you want to give them a go yourself.

Ingredients:

• 125g butter
• 125g brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 250g oats

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 and line a 7 x 9 inch cake tin with greaseproof paper
2. Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup into a pan and melt it all together over a low heat
3. Once all the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved, take the pan off the heat and stir in the oats
4. Mix everything together really well so all the oats are coated in the buttery, syrupy mixture
5. Tip the mixture into the lined tin and press it down really well with the back of a wooden spoon or a spatula
6. Bake at 180 for 18 minutes
7. Leave to cool for a few hours, or even better, over night
8. Cut into squares and enjoy

Flapjacks are one of those things that seem like they should be foolproof but so often they don’t come out quite right.

I know I’ve made them a few times in the past and they’ve ended up not coming together properly and crumbling everywhere.  Other times I’ve let them bake for a bit too long and they’ve been hard and crunchy when I really want them softer and chewy.

The best advice I’ve found for getting flapjacks right is:

• Really make sure you press the mixture down well into the tin
• Bake them until they’re just golden and still feel a bit soft when you take them out of the oven
• Leave them to cool and set in the tin for as long as possible, ideally overnight, before cutting up and enjoying

These flapjacks are classic and so tasty just as they are.

But if you want to you can jazz them up by stirring in a few spoonful’s of nut butters or by adding different seeds, raisins and/or chocolate chips.  You could also add a layer of melted chocolate to the top once they’ve cooled in the tin, then leave that to set as well before cutting into squares.

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If we talked about the most consumed foods around the world, then rice would be right up there in the top 5.

The origin of rice is a question that we don’t have a definite answer to, to this day. Although many people claim that it originated in China, some researchers claim that it comes from India. In short, it is not easy to conclude its origin, but what is certain is that it is one of the most versatile and nutritive foods we have. 

A staple food that acquire many flavours

Many recipes around the world use rice as the main ingredient. Here are just a few:

• Risotto: This is an Italian dish made with round rice accompanied by vegetable stock, chicken, mushrooms, and spices and some include a touch of wine in their recipes. It is one of Italy’s signature dishes. 
• Biryani: In India, biryani is another rice-based dish. The rice is cooked with vegetables, nuts, and of course, lots of spices.
• Arroz Chaufa: This is a famous dish from the Peruvian Chifa cuisine. It is cooked rice that is combined with a garlic and ginger stir-fry and soy sauce, vegetables, peppers, onions, chicken, pork, or prawns.

An iconic meal of the Iberic peninsula

Paella is a meal created in Valencia, Spain; its main ingredient is rice and saffron and can include poultry, seafood, and/or vegetables. Each region of Spain has its paella recipe and that’s what makes it special.  

Some styles of paella are : 

• Paella Valenciana: This is the authentic and original paella. It is prepared with a sauce of tomato, pepper, onion, and garlic. The tradition of using rabbit meat makes it a dish with a unique flavour. 
• Paella de Carne: this is a style of paella that you can eat on weekends with your family. It is usually made with chicken meat, and the use of black pepper and sweet paprika gives it a very particular taste. 
• Paella Negra: a typical dish from Galicia, it takes a black colour from the ink of the octopus or squid used. It is made with seafood such as shrimps and prawns, like traditional seafood Paella, but the black ink gives it an appearance and flavour that makes it different from the others. 

In this post, I will show you an exquisite recipe for one of the most delicious Spanish meals: Seafood Paella, cooked on a grill or bbq for a really special flavour.

Since I’m very sure you will love it, I’ve provided the next recipe for a large number of servings. Enjoy it!

Before you continue onto the recipe, you may like to know an alternative seafood paella here:  https://mahatmarice.com/recipes/authentic-spanish-paella-seafood/

Seafood Paella (6 servings)

Ingredients

• 4 ½ cups of chicken stock.
• ½ tsp. of crumbled saffron threads, (loosely measured).
• ¼ tsp. of salt.
• 3 tbsp. of olive oil.
• ½ yellow onion (finely chopped).
• ½ red bell pepper (finely chopped). 
• 3 cloves of garlic  (finely chopped or just crushed, to your taste). 
• 200 grams of rounded cut mild dried chorizo sausage. 
• 3 cups of short-grain rice (Bomba rice or Arborio will work perfectly).
• 1 can or 450 grams of fire-roasted diced tomatoes.
• 1 cup of frozen green peas.
• 450 grams of large shrimp (peeled and deveined). 
• 450 grams of rinsed and scrubbed mussels.
• 450 grams of rinsed and scrubbed littleneck clams.
• ¼ cup of chopped parsley. 

How to prepare

1. Preheat the grill to 190°C if using a gas grill. If wood-fired, light the wood until a grey layer of ash covers it.
2. In a saucepan, put the chicken stock to a boil, add the saffron and salt. Turn off the heat and reserve for 15 minutes. Add more salt if necessary.
3. To prepare the sofrito, heat the oil in a large-sized skillet over medium heat. Sauté the red bell pepper and the onion for 7-8 minutes until they’re soft. Then add the chorizo and the garlic. Stir fry for 3 minutes. 
4. Take the skillet to the grill and add the rice to the sofrito. Cook it for about 5 minutes, then add the stock, the peas and the tomatoes. Sprinkle a little more salt if it’s necessary. 
5. Close the grill. Let the rice cook for 15 minutes or until the stock is absorbed (do not stir). 
6. After 15 minutes, open the grill and place the mussels and clams hinge side up. In this position, they will release their juices over the rice. Add the shrimp around the mussels clams.
7. Cover the skillet with foil and leave cooking on the closed grill until the rice and shrimp are ready, and the mussels and clams are open. 
8. Check to see if the bottom of the skillet has a golden colour. If not, keep cooking for a few minutes more until the bottom lightly caramelizes. Add the parsley on top.

Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Mussels and clams should be discarded if they have not opened after step 7 of the cooking process.

Disclosure: this is a collaborative post

In case you’re not familiar with Southeast Asian food, nasi is the Indo-Malayan word for “rice”, a very common ingredient in Asian cuisine.

But this recipe has a trick, and what makes this dish different from other rice recipes is the goreng part of it: in this preparation, the grains are fried and so the final result has a very characteristic smoky taste.

One dish, many possibilities

Nasi goreng is widely eaten in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, and every country has their variations, depending on the ingredients particularly used in each specific area.

This traditional dish is so popular and easy to make that you can find it almost everywhere if you visit any of these countries. Some more glamorous and expensive variations might be only available at restaurants, but others are easily found when you go sightseeing and look for some street food. Frozen and ready to microwave versions are sold in supermarkets as well!

And outside the Asian area, you can try a pretty good nasi goreng in the Netherlands if you happen to live there or go for a visit. Thanks to the big Indonesian community living in that country, this dish has become extremely popular in this part of Europe. 

Unveiling the magic

As a rule, it is said that the secret to any tasty nasi goreng is the combination of animal-derived ingredients, such as eggs, seafood or meat; a spicy touch, given by some garlic, spring onions, some chili or turmeric, sweet soy sauce, and a pinch of salt and black pepper; and finally some condiments, like krupuk, pickles, fried shallots, and some cucumber and tomato, to create a unique flavor blend each time.

Crispy and affordable

Another great thing about nasi goreng is that leftover rice is preferred over freshly cooked rice, because it is less moist and so the result is crispier.

Apparently, the story says that this dish comes from a Chinese fried rice tradition that was invented to avoid wasting the extra rice. This makes total sense if we come to think that Malaysians typically have this dish for breakfast, using the leftover rice from the night before. Can you imagine having such a tasty and healthy filling breakfast? 

What are you waiting for? Give your frozen rice a chance with this easy egg fried rice recipe and be ready to experience all the flavors from Southeast Asia!

Ingredients

• 1 cup of left-over white rice.
• 2 beaten eggs.
• ¼ cup of shredded chicken.
• 3 prawns.
• 1 stick of spring onion.
• 1 shallot onion.
• ½ red bell pepper.
• 1 carrot.
• 1 clove of garlic.
• 1 tbsp. of sambal oelek (Malaysian chilli sauce).
• 1 tbsp. of sweet soy sauce.
• Some krupuk or prawn crackers (if you fancy).
• Salt to taste.
• Cooking oil.
• Some sliced tomato and or cucumber (for freshness and decoration).

 Preparation

1. Chop your clove of garlic and add it to a big pan or wok at medium heat with some cooking oil. Add your prawns and your chicken and stir fry until they look ready and have acquired some taste from the garlic. Set aside.
2. Chop your spring onion, shallot onion, red bell pepper and carrot and add them to the pan. Add some extra cooking oil if necessary. Stir fry and add the beaten eggs and a pinch of salt. Whisk vigorously to prevent the eggs from getting an omelette texture. You want your eggs to be rather scrambled.
3. Add your left-over rice and let it fry a bit. Set your stove to high heat and add the chicken and the prawns previously cooked. Mix well and add the sambal oelek.
4. When you see everything is nicely mixed and done, that is, your rice has acquired a nice brownish colour, add your sweet soy sauce and mix one last time, just before turning off the heat.
5. Let it cool down a bit and serve with some tomato or cucumber slices on top. Include some pieces of prawn crackers if you like it as an extra snack.

If you happen to try this recipe but you don’t have any leftover rice, don’t worry! You can totally cook your rice as you would normally do. It’s better if you let it cool down for a while before frying it.

Disclosure: this is a collaborative post