Christmas Rocky Road

Christmas is here...and the perfect excuse for some more baking. I love Nigella Lawson's recipes of all things baked, may it be sweet or savory. One of my favourite recipes is the Rocky Road Crunch Bars. Very easy to make and absolutely delish!!! Plus the recipe can be modified to everyone's liking :) So here is my very own version of the yummy Rocky Road.

First of all, the ingredients:

125g  unsalted butter
300g  dark chocolate (min 70%)
3 tbs  golden syrup

100g  biscuits (I used 50g rich tea biscuits and 50g ginger snaps)
80g    mini marshmallows
50g    chocolate covered raisins
30g    flaked almonds
50g    glace cherries
50g    chocolate wafers
100g  white chocolate 

And here are the steps to making delicious Rocky Road ;D

1. Combine the butter, dark chocolate and golden syrup and melt in a heavy-based saucepan on low heat. It's important to keep the heat low, otherwise the chocolate will burn before it melts. Once all the ingredients have melted, put this mixture to a side. 

2. Roast the almonds on low heat until golden brow. 

3. Break the biscuits into smaller pieces. You can do this by hand or put the bisucits into a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin.

4. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl (mini marshmallows, raisins, almonds, glace cherries, chocolate wafers and biscuits).

5. Add the melted chocolate mix to the bowl and mix all the ingredients thoroughly together, ensuring all the ingredients are covered in the chocolate mix.

6. Line a 24 square cm baking tray with cling film and fill the tray with the mix.

7. Melt white chocolate on very low heat and pour over the mix and smooth the top.

8. Refrigerate overnight and cut into 24 squares.

Voila...and they are ready to eat!

I made 2 batches yesterday, and they make great Christmas gifts!    Obviously you can substitute the ingredients with other nuts, biscuits, sweets as you like :) If you try out this recipe, do let me know jhow it turned out. And of course if you have any useful advice, feel free drop me a message :) 

 

Check out my facebook album for more pictures! Rocky Road Pictures


Merry Christmas to everyone who's celebrating!!! xxx

Bi Bim Bap avec Nee

Been slacking on writing my blog posts the last couple of weeks, with a lot of deadlines just before Christmas :( . But here I am done with all the assignments, enjoying my nice cupa hot chocolate :) 

Couple of weeks ago, I went to Bi Bim Bap SoHo with my friend Nee - a Korean restaurant in the heart of London, serving delicious Korean food in a modern environement. It's located on 11, Greek Street, only a short walk from Tottenham Court Road Tube Station. The atmosphere is beautiful...white walls decorated with small polaroid pictures of past customers...very simplistic design. We visited Bi Bim Bap on a Friday and even though it was full we managed to find nice seats without long to wait. We were spoilt for choice, everything just looked so tasty!!! 

Kimchi Pancake

We ordered Kimchi Pancake and Chilli Squid for starters and the portion sizes were reasonable for 2 to share.
Kimchi Pancakes are made of Kimchi (pickled cabbage) that is sliced and combined with a flour-egg batter and pan fried. It was served with garlic and seasame soy sauce which added the perfect balance to the dish.The closest the kimchi pancakes taste are like an omelette.

Chilli Squid

 

We also had some deep fried squid seasoned with salt and chilli served with garlic and chilli sauce. I was positively surprised, the squid was very nice, not over cooked or rubbery (as on most occasions I have experienced)  and the chilli wasn't over powering =D






We then went on to order our main meals. I ordered Dol Sot - Bi Bim Bap. It's the most traditional of Bi Bim Baps. Bi Bim Bap is a signature dish in Korea. A classic rice dish served in a hot stone bowl, it comes with various toppings from seafood, beef or to just vegetables. The stone bowl is very hot, and sesame oil is added and topped with cooked rice. This creates a thin layer of crispy rice at the bottom of the bowl. Depending on the taste-buds various toppings can be added, usually including raw vegetables, that cook with a sizzle in the hot bowl. The Dolsot I ordered contained julienned cucumber, daikon, bean sprouts, spinach, carrots, mooli and topped with a fried egg. Just before eating the ingrdients in the hot stone bowl are stirred together thoroughly. The dish was delish!!! It did not only look visually absolutely appealing, but the combination of flavours complemented each other very well!

DolSot BiBimBap

 

 

My friend Nee ordered a rice dish -Beef Bool-Go-Gi Rice. Didn't actually manage to take a picture of the dish but it looked very tasty too =D It was served in a hot stone bowl too, filled with rice and topped up with marinated grilled beef. The dish wasn't very spicy but we were given some nice chilli sauce as well as some garlic sauce for us to add to our liking.

The drinks selection was very good, serving cold korean beers to teas and soft drinks. We got some Korean root tea which had a mild flavour, very similar to barley tea.

Overall the experience was very good, and I'd highly recommend BiBimBap Soho to anyone. The service wasn't very friendly though, but I wouldn't let that get in the way of the whole eating experience. The food is truly amazing!!! Definately not to be missed. 
The price was very good too. The bill came up to £25 for 2x mains, 2x sides plus 2x teas. Given it's in central London, it's a very good price for 2...the food was very filling, too!

If you are in or around central London, I'd highly recommend you check out this place, for a truly delightful Korean dining experience! =D 

Guten Appetit!  

BiBimBap Soho Website 

Saravanaa Bhavan - Restaurant Review

My sister was craving some Parotta today, so we decided to go to Saravanaa Bhavan - a south-Indian vegetarian restaurant. Even though I love my meats and try hard to avoid vegetarian food at most times, Saravanaa Bhavan is a regular stop where I enjoy vegetarian meals. Regardless of the numerous south Indian/Sri Lankan restaurants in Tooting, this restaurant is the one restaurant I would recommend to people, who want to try some authentic south Indian cuisine :)

Silver Tumbler

I love it how they have silver tumbler cups just like in India; gives the restaurant a very authentic feel. The general atmosphere in the restaurant is very nice and the staff are polite too. My sisters and I didn't have to look through the menu for very long as we all knew exactly what we wanted lol. We ordered Panneer Fried Rice, Poori Masala, and Parotta.

The parotta came with a side of potato masala and pureed cauliflower curry. Parotta is a type of a flat bread commonly eaten in south India. It's usually made with maida flour, to which eggs and ghee are added. The dough is rolled and folded several times and grilled in a round shape. The unique feature of Parotta is that it consists of thin layers. As innocent as it may look, it is high in calories though, so watch how much you are eating =P

I'm not a big fan on the potato masala, that comes with the parotta, as it is too dry for my liking...but the cauliflower curry is a very good accompaniment. Surprisingly enough, the curry actually tastes like a non-veg curry!

Parotta

My little sister ordered some Poori Masala, which I quite liked. Poori is another type of bread, made with wheat flour. The dough is cut out into flat circles and deep fried in oil. During the process of deep-frying, the poori puffs up and gives it that round shape as you can see in the picture below. Again, the poori was served with the potato masala and cauliflower curry...yumm!!!

Poori

The last dish we ordered was Panneer Fried Rice. I was very disappointed actually. The portion size was very generous but there wasn't much panneer in the fried rice lol. It was very bland in taste and didn't taste anywhere near as good as it looked.

Panneer Fried Rice

Overall, the food was nice though. I won't be ordering the Panneer Fried Rice again, but the Parotta and Poori are always a must-try classic. Also a favourite classic of mine: Chilli Panneer...fried panneer, with a spicy aromatic taste...thought I mention it too ;)  The 3 dishes plus soft drinks came up to just under £20, which is a very good price if you ask me!

If you do get the chance to find a Saravanaa Bhavan branch near you, give it a try!

colds...coughs...and comfort foods

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that put a smile on our face :)

Caught a bad cold a week ago, and over the week my symptoms just got worse. Yesterday I was lucky enough to get an ear infection too -_- not very nice...but thank god it's the weekend, and I can snuggle up in my comfy pyjamas and enjoy my mum's home cooked food :) It's at times like these, we truly appreciate the comfort of home and food that's been cooked with love and care.

So this morning I woke up to this beautiful smell, so familiar...yet I found it hard to figure out what it was......my Mum was making some Spaghetti Bolognese. Mmmmmh that smell!! Mouthwatering! Boiling some pasta and making some bolognese sauce is not a challenging task. A very simple dish with so many flavours and textures. But most importantly, it is so filling and gives you a sense of nostalgia...bringing back childhood memories :)

Look out for my next post, with my mum's yummy Spaghetti Bolognese recipe =D

So what is Elakkai?

Elakkai is Tamil for Cardamom. It is a key spice in the Tamil cuisine used in a variety of dishes from curries to sweet treats. Growing up in a Tamil household, the sweet spicy smell of Cardamom always lingered in our kitchen. My mum would always have Cardamom pods in stock in the kitchen. On special occasions, she would make Cardamom infused milk tea....absolutely to die for!!! But too much of anything can only be bad haha...

So why did I decide to call my blog 'The Elakkai Project'? My bestie, Thulasi, started calling me Elakkai lately and not only does it sound very adorable, but every time I see/smell cardamom now, it reminds me of her :)  So when I was looking for a name for my blog, Elakkai was the first name that came to mind.

Since I'm talking so much about Cardamom, here is a little background of the exotic spice.
Cardamom (Tamil: Elakkai) belongs to the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Even though this spice is native to India and Sri Lanka it is currently used world-wide in several cuisines, especially in Scandinavian baking. The pods can be used in whole, or the seeds can be extracted, ground and added to dishes for flavour. It is a very intense flavour so a little goes a long way!

Cardamom is used in curries, baked goods, tea, indian desserts, soups or any rice dishes to add a sweet/spicy flavour.

In addition, this super spice also has health benefits. It can be beneficial for digestive disorders or respiratory problems. My dad would always tell me how he used to chew on Elakkai to get rid of any bad breath when he was younger in Sri Lanka.

I'll be signing off now and make myself some nice Elakkai tea =)

Here goes the intro

Here I am...Sabtha...a crazy food addict with a passion for cooking, baking and most importantly eating! I've started this blog as a means of keeping track of my food addiction and to review food/restaurants/takeaways/patisseries I come across everyday :) I will be posting any new creations or remakes of any recipes in my kitchen here too.

I LOVE FOOD, there's no doubt about that =D 

Love food from all over the world, always want to explore new cuisines and quirky places in and around London. 

Since this is my first post, I'll keep it nice and short :)

S x