Spicy Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce

Spicy Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce

These spicy lamb meatballs in a tomato-curry are so tasty and flavorful, and I really love it. You would think, that the dish is burning hot when you start adding all the chilies, but somehow the chilies mellow out and just adds a nice heat. Of course I removed all the seeds, but serranos usually pack some heat.

I really like to drizzle the juice from the lemon over the dish when plated. The tanginess brightens the flavor profile of the dish.

For at low calorie version, serve the meatballs over cauliflower rice.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

• 450 g ground lamb

• 1 tablespoon grated ginger

• 1 garlic clove

• 2 Serrano chilies

• 1 teaspoon garam masala

• 35 g (1 dl) plain breadcrumbs

• ¾ teaspoon salt

• 1 egg

Purée:

• 4 tomatoes

• 4 Serrano chilies

• 1 inch (2½ cm) fresh ginger

Sauce:

• 2 teaspoons grape seed oil

• 2 teaspoons cumin

• ¾ teaspoon turmeric

• 2 teaspoons paprika

• ⅛ cup almond slivers

• salt to taste

Topping:

• Serrano chili

• lemon

Direction:

Meatballs:

Peel and grate ginger and garlic. Cut the chilies in half, length-wise and remove the seeds with a spoon. Dice the chilies. Mix meat, garlic, ginger, chili, egg, garam masala and breadcrumbs in a bowl, season with salt. Form about 12 round meatballs with your hands.

Purée:

Cut the chilies in half, length-wise and remove the seeds with a spoon, peel the ginger, and roughly chop it up. Cut the tomatoes in half. Add all the ingredients in a blender, and purée until smooth.

Sauce:

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and fry cumin, turmeric, paprika and almonds for about 20-30 seconds until fragrant. Add the purée and bring it to a simmer while stirring. Let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes. Place the meatballs in the sauce and simmer them in the sauce for another 15 minutes. Add more water if necessary. 

Finish of the dish with slices of chili and lemon wedges. Serve the meatballs over rice.

Enjoy!

Brunsviger cake

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Brunsviger

Happy 1 year Sweet•Sour•Savory

It has been a year already, it went by so fast. Looking back, I felt very exposed when I posted my very first post, like all eyes in the world would be on me. The fear dissipated, when reality set in. Nobody knew I was here, I had to work on getting people to find my blog.

I am very grateful to all the people that stops by, I'm really happy that you like my blog, and I hope you get inspiration for cooking and baking. I try to keep to my Danish roots in my cooking style, while learning and trying a lot of different cuisines.

Thank you for stopping by on my 1 year anniversary with Sweet•Sour•Savory

- o -

This cake is a traditional cake known from the island of Funen, or Fyn. I was once told that people from Funen eat this cake on top of a morning roll with butter - whereas the rest of the country eat this cake as a pastry or as a regular cake. 

During my lifetime, I've seen many different takes on the Brunsviger. Some think it's a cinnamon cake, some cakes lack filling and taste. This cake is all about the filling, otherwise it's just some brioche bread.

This recipe is not the old original from way back when. It's adapted from the different recipes I made through the years. A friend of mine told me that the secret to the best brunsviger is to add syrup to the filling. And I have to agree with her. This is by far the best brunsviger I have had in my life. 

Ingredients:

Dough: 

• 500 g all-purose flour
• 200 g butter (salted and room temperature)
• 50 g live yeast (or 4 teaspoons dry Yeast)
• 2 dl non-fat milk
• 2 eggs
• 50 g sugar
• a pinch of salt

Filling: 

• 200 g butter (salted)
• 450 g dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons thick syrup

Directions: 

Dough:

Heat the milk till finger warm and combine it with the yeast and half of the sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. 

In the meantime mix the flour and butter in a stand mixer, until the butter is fully mixed in. Add the sugar, milk/yeast mixture, salt and eggs to the flour. Mix until the dough is shiny and not to sticky. Add a little more flour if its necessary.

Place the dough in a buttered springform, I would use a bigger pan next time. The brunsviger came out to high for my taste. Let dough rise for 20 - 25 minutes. 

The dough

Ready for the oven.

Poke your fingers into the dough, to make holes for the filling to rest in. Make sure to make a lot of holes.

Filling:

Melt the butter in a saucepan add ⅔ of the brown sugar and the syrup, mix it well. Spread the filling over the dough, carefully not to get in between the dough and the pan. Sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar over the cake. 

Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes at 400°F.

Let the cake cool in the pan. 

Notes:

The brunsviger can be made in advance. It freezes well after adding the filling. Defrost in the counter and let it rise before baking.

If you like more filling make 1½ time the amount, for a more sticky cake.

 

Peach Galette with Liquorice Whipped Cream

Peach Galette

We finally got some peaches from our three. The squirrels have been eating all the peaches for the last 5 years. But for the first year the humans are victorious! Well, to be honest we shared the peaches, we got about 20 small peaches, the squirrels got the rest.

I wanted to make a peach pie, but didn't have enough, so I had to scale down. So I had to try to make the more rustic peach galette. And Oh Boy, it was good. I'm definitely going to make this again.

Ingredients:

Crust:

Makes enough for two large galettes

• 375 g (4 cups) sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 120 ml (½ cup) ice cold water
• 340 g cold salted butter, cut into small pieces
• ⅓ cup sliced almonds + extra sugar for sprinkling
• egg wash (1 egg + a few drops of water, beaten together)

Filling:

• 4 large peaches, sliced into slices
• 1½ tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 ½ tablespoons sugar
• 30 g marzipan
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
• fresh mint for garnish

Liquorice whipped cream:

• 250 ml heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons fine raw liquorice powder

Directions:

Crust:

Add the flour, sugar and salt to a food processor and pulse just until combined. Add the cold butter pieces into the food processor and pulse until small coarse crumbs remain. Whisk mix  egg and water together. Drizzle the water/egg mixture over the flour and pulse again until the dough just comes together.

Divide the dough in two and wrap the dough disks separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. 

If you only make on galette, the dough will keep for about 5-7 days in the refrigerator, or you can freeze it.

After 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Filling:

Add the sliced peaches to a bowl. Sprinkle the peaches with cornstarch, sugar and vanilla paste, and toss it all together and let the filling sit for about 10 minutes.

Remove one of the crusts from the fridge.

Roll one of the pie crusts into a ¼ inch thick disk. It's not important to shape the disk perfectly, you want it to look kinda rustic.

Place the dough on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Spread the grated marzipan in the center, leaving a 2-inch+ border of crust. Layer the peaches on top and fold border of the crust over the peaches. Brush the crust with egg wash, and sprinkle the slivered almonds and some sugar on the crust, and press it into the crust. Bake the galette until the crust and almonds are golden, about 40 to 45 minutes. 

Liquorice whipped cream:

Whip the heavy whipping cream until soft peaks. Fold in the liquorice powder.

Sprinkle with fresh mint leaves on the galette before serving. Serve the galette with liquorice whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Peach Galette with Liquorice Whipped Cream

Enjoy!

Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken served over cilantro and lime cauliflower rice.

Dansk Udgave

This is one of my dishes I tried with a lot of spices, and it became one of my go-to dishes. It's fairly easy to make, but the flavor is so big and bold, that people think I have been working for hours in the kitchen. Now my secret is out.

I do add the cream in the end, but it's optional. But I'm not looking to cloak up my ores, so I cut the butter to a minimum. I still keep the buttery name, because the flavors is still there. 

Here served over cilantro and lime cauliflower rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 tablespoons coriander seeds 
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 5 black peppercorns 
• 3 small dried red chilies 
• 150 ml plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 whole cardamon pods
• 25 g unsalted butter
• 1  tablespoon oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, peeled and finely chopped 
• 2 bay leaves 
• 1 ½ dl water
• 1 ½ dl heavy whipping cream
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Topping:

• 1  lime
• fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Spice paste: Grind coriander seeds, peppercorn, and chilies in a coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle, mix in the cumin and garam masala.

In a bowl mix the spice mix with yogurt and tomato paste. Add minced garlic, finely grated ginger, salt and the whole cardamom pods. Put the paste into a zip-lock bag.

Cut up the chicken into 6-8 pieces, discard the skin. Put chicken in the spice paste to marinate for about 15 minutes.

Chop the onions, and brown the onions in butter in a large pot.

Add the chicken and all the spice paste. Lower the heat and let the chicken get some color. The sauce color will become more brownish red/ orange.

Add water, bay leaves and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasional. Add the cream and let the dish keep on simmering for another 10-12 minutes. Adding the cream is optional, but it makes the dish more creamy. Just before serving, stir in chopped cilantro.

Serve the chicken over rice or quinoa with a slice of lime and your favorite greens.

Enjoy!

The Danish Version:

Butter Chicken / Smørkylling

Ingredienser:

• 1 kylling
• 2 tsk garam masala
• 1 spsk korianderfrø
• 1 tsk spidskommen
• 5 stk sorte hele peberkorn
• 3 stk små tørrede røde chili
• 150 ml yoghurt naturel
• 2 spsk tomatpure
• 1 ¼ tsk salt
• 2 ½ cm frisk ingefær
• 6 fed hvidløg
• 3 stk kardemommekapsler
• 25 g smør
• 1 spsk. olie
• 2 stk mellemstore løg
• 2 stk laurbærblade
• 1 ½ dl vand
• 1 ½ dl piskefløde
• ½ dl hakket frisk koriander

Topping:

• 1 stk lime
• frisk koriander

Fremgangsmåde:

Krydderi pasta: Kværn korianderfrø, peber, chiler i en kaffekværn (brug en der ikke skal bruges til kaffe) eller i en morter. Bland spidskommen og garam masala i. 

Blad krydderierne med yoghurt og konc. tomatpuré. Bland tilsidst med presset hvidløg, revet ingefær, salt, kardemommekapsler.

Skær kyllingen i stykker og fjern skindet. Kom kyllingen i krydderipastaen, og lad den marinere i ca 15 minutter i kølesklabet.

I mellemtiden hakkes og brunes løgene i lidt olie og smør i en sauterpande.

Kom kyllingen og al marinaden ned til de brunede løg. Lad marinaden blive gennemvarm, så den skifter farve til mere orangerød. 

Tilsæt vand, laurbærblade og lad retten simre i ca. 30 minutter. Rør i retten en gang imellem.

Tilsæt fløden og lad den simre med i 10-12 minutter. Du behøver ikke at bruge fløde, men retten bliver mere cremet, hvis du gør.

Lige før serveringen, tilsættes den hakkede friske koriander.

Server kyllingen med ris eller quinoa, en skive lime og lidt grøntsager.

Her er kyllingen serveret med koriander og lime blomkålsris.

Velbekomme! 

Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Rum raisin ice cream was my dads favorite ice cream, well he loved most ice creams. I have fond memories of my dad, whenever I'm having rum raisin ice cream. Growing up, my dad rarely had any alcohol. He worked as an upholsterer working with harsh glues, some were organic solvents. So my dad didn't want to put alcohol, like beer and wine, into the mixture. 

But he loved ice cream, and one day my mom bought some rum raisin ice cream, and he had a few large scoops. My poor dad got impaired/drunk from the ice cream, and soon after having the ice cream, he was sleeping on the sofa. Little did he know, that his wife and children was laughing on his behalf. My dad was a cheap drunk!

In loving memory of my dad, here is my version of rum raisin ice cream.

Makes 1 liter.

Ingredients:

• 100 g raisins

• ½ cup (1¼ dl) dark rum

• ½ lemon, the zest of

• ¾ cup (1.8 dl) whole milk

• 125 g sugar

• 1½ cup (3¾ dl) heavy whipping cream

• 1 pinch salt

• 4 egg yolks

Directions:

Macerate the raisins in rum over night. Heat rum, raisins a lemon zest in a small saucepan and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. Cover and let stand for a few hours until it's cooled completely. 

Warm milk sugar and ⅓ of the cream in a saucepan. Pour the rest of the cream into a bowl over an ice bath. 

Whisk the egg yolks pale and add the hot milk in a little at a time, while whisking. Pour the mixture back in the saucepan. Slowly heat the mixture over medium heat while constantly stirring. You want the mixture to thicken slightly, but you don't want the mixture to come to a boil, this will coagulate the egg yolks. 

Pour the hot mixture through a strainer into the cool cream. Stir until the custard is cooled completely.

When ready to freeze, drain the raisins, but save the rum. Measure 3 tablespoons of the rum and stir it into the custard. (Add more new rum, if you don't have 3 tablespoons rum from the drained raisins.)

Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Stir in raisins as you remove the ice cream from the ice cream maker.

Let the ice cream freeze for a few hours before serving, if you can wait that long. 

Enjoy!