Berry & Rosehip Iced Tea

Spring is here now and the warmer weather seems tantalisingly close. Yet not quite in reach. It's lovely and warm in the sun and the temperatures are not too bad, but as soon as the sun disappears behind a cloud the chill sets in and you're reaching for a jumper. Evenings are still cold enough for heaters and blankets (in our cold house especially) but in the day I can cling optimistically to the promise of warmer things to come. It's about this time of year that I find myself optimistically digging out a t-shirt to wear and starting to think about summer foods. I can't wait for mangoes and stone fruits to become cheap & plentiful, but until then I can celebrate with summer style drinks, sitting out in the sunshine on my back deck.

This iced tea is caffeine free and unsweetened, so it's great if you want to enjoy a refreshing drink on a hot day without the caffeine and sugar. The berry teabags give it the sweet tang of berries without the sickliness of canned berries or berry juices. This recipe uses freshly squeezed orange juice, but feel free to get creative and add any juice you like. And if you have a bit of of a sweet tooth, some elderflower or ginger cordial can certainly be added. It can also be lovely with a small splash of orange blossom water or rosewater.

If you're celebrating or entertaining, add a bottle of champagne and thank me later :)

Berry & Rosehip Iced Tea

Ingredients:
3 berry tea bags (any kind you like, I used a 'forest fruits' one, but any mixed berry type thing is great)
2 rosehip tea bags
2 litres of boiling hot water
1 litre of freshly squeezed orange juice
Juice of 1 fresh lime. 

Optional garnishes - fresh berries, mint leaves, orange or lime slices. 


To Make:
1. In a large jug, add water and tea bags. Allow to cool to room temperature and then fish out the teabags Place in the fridge to chill. 
2. Remove from fridge and add orange juice and lime juice. Stir.
3. You can chill it again if you like, or just serve it straight away (with or without ice, as you prefer). 
4. You can add fresh berries, if you like and if they are in season, or even fresh mint leaves to garnish. 

Makes 12 cups (3 litres).

Awb e Dundawn (Heavenly Afghan Pistachio Biscuits!)

I don't make a lot of biscuits, not really sure why. But making these amazing biscuits makes me want to make them all the time! They are Afghan Pistachio Biscuits, their texture is soft and crumby like shortbread and they're flavoured with the traditional Afghan holy trinity - rosewater, cardamom and pistachios (the basis for all Afghan desserts as far as I can tell!).

Every month I take a country recommended by a reader and feature as many good recipes inspired by that country that I can in a month. Want to see some of the other ones I've had?

January 2012 - Croatia Month

February 2012 - Chad Month

March 2012 - Bosnia Month

April 2012 - Iran Month

May 2012 - Scotland Month

June 2012 - Cambodia Month

August 2012 - Sweden Month

September 2012 - Afghanistan Month

This recipe is also part of the Eating the Alphabet Blog Hop, which this month is using the letters P, Q & R. Lots and lots of choices from those letters. My contribution is Pistachio based, one of my absolute favourite nuts to make sweets out of. This recipe, like a few others featured this month, was adapted from Afghancooking.net. It's a great resource for ideas, however some of the recipes haven't turned out like the photo and description would indicate. This one wasn't an exception. It said to cook the biscuits at 200 degrees C for 10-12 minutes! I gave them the benefit of the doubt and tried it. At 200 they overcooked in about 6 minutes. So I changed the temperature and the time and they turned out much better.

Awb e Dundawn
Adapted from Afghancooking

Ingredients
3 cups wholemeal flour
1 cup soft icing mixture
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 cup Nuttelex (or other non dairy butter or margarine)
3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
3 tbsp rosewater, plus 1 tsp
2 tbsp pistachios
Whole pistachios, to garnish

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Mix the flour, icing mixture, baking powder and cardamom together in a bowl.
3. Add the Nuttelex and rub into the dry ingredients with your hands until the mixture is the consistency of coarse bread crumbs.
4. Add the oil and rosewater and knead into a ball.
5. Knead with your hands for a few minutes. The mixture will be slightly crumbly, but should stick together into a ball when pressed.
6. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Roll out pieces of the dough about the size and shape of a ping pong ball or a whole walnut. Place them on the baking tray a few centimetres apart.
7. Use your index finger to gently make an imprint on each biscuit, the edges will crack a bit as you do this, but that's ok.
8. Bake for about 8 minutes. The bottoms will be slightly browned but the tops should be still pale. They'll be slightly soft as you take them out of the oven, but will firm up as they cool.
9. While they cool make the pistachio filling. Place the pistachios and the extra 1 tsp rosewater in a food processor. Process until a coarse paste is formed.
10. Place about 1/2 tsp of pistachio paste in the imprint of each biscuit. Decorate with a whole pistachio if you wish.

Makes about 20 biscuits.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing recipes from Afghanistan!

Check out my other Afghan recipe posts:

Mashawa (Afghan Spicy Beans)

Halwa e Zardak (Rose, Cardamom and Carrot Pudding)

Brides Fingers with Orange Blossom Syrup

Sweet Potato and Coriander Bolani 

Spiced Tofu Palau (Afghanistan's National Dish)

Vegan Halwa e Zardak (Carrot, Cardamom and Rosewater Pudding)

This September is Afghanistan Food Month, so here is my first Afghan sweet for the month! This is a veganised version of a recipe which I found here. As soon as I read it I knew that I had to make it. I love making sweets out of carrots! Carrot cake has always been a favourite of mine; I also made a delicious carrot and rosewater jam when I featured Iranian food - which was unexpectedly delicious! So I was fairly sure that it would be a big success, and it really was! It even exceeded my expectations.

The recipe that I got from this website wasn't the best recipe. The first step is to cook the carrots in butter (i.e. nuttlex) and then add all the liquids and then to "cook until all the liquid is absorbed". This didn't make sense to me at all, as carrots are already filled with liquid and don't generally absorb much by nature. So, unsurprisingly, they didn't. Perhaps they meant that it should be cooked without a lid so that the liquid would evaporate away? It didn't bother me though, as it made a lovely pudding even without having all the liquid 'absorbed'.

I recommend this dessert any day. It's a bit different any anyone you serve it too will be pleasantly surprised! The guests at my dinner party loved it and were really pleasantly surprised that it was made of carrots. 

Vegan Halwa e Zardak

Adapted from Afghancooking.com

Ingredients

1kg carrots, grated

1/2 cup Nuttelex (or any other non dairy butter or margarine)

1 1/2 cup almond milk (or sub soy milk)

1 1/2 cups coconut cream (1 tin)

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cardamom

2 tbsp rosewater

1/2 cup almonds, chopped

1/2 cup pistachios, chopped

To Make

1. Grate the carrots. Yep, a bit of a slog. If you have a food processor that has a grating attachment then you can do it in there, as long as it grates fine enough. Otherwise I recommend enlisting a helping hand to help you get through it all.

2. Melt the Nuttelex in a large pot. Add the grated carrot and cook over a medium heat and cook for about 10 minutes. The carrots should have started to soften and smell cooked.

3. Add the almond milk, coconut cream and sugar. Turn the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about an hour. It should thicken as it cooks, stir occasionally. 

4. Add the cardamom and rosewater and stir through. 

5. Heat a small (preferably non stick) frypan and add the chopped almonds and pistachios. Toast over a medium heat, stirring often, for 2-3 minutes. Keep your eye on them so that they don't burn!

6. Transfer the warm pudding to a serving bowl and top with the toasted chopped nuts. Alternately, serve in individual glass bowls or parfait glasses.

Serve warm or room temperature.

Serves 6.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing recipes from Afghanistan!

Check out my other Afghan recipe posts:

Mashawa (Afghan Spicy Beans)

Awb e Dundawn (Incredible Pistachio Biscuits)

Brides Fingers with Orange Blossom Syrup

Sweet Potato and Coriander Bolani 

Spiced Tofu Palau (Afghanistan's National Dish)

Sholeh Zard (Iranian Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

This is my latest offering in April - in which, I am featuring recipes from the amazing cuisine of Iran (check out the other recipes in the links below). Rice pudding is one of my favourite desserts, it's hearty, filling and warming for a cooler evening (and the evening have started to get a lot cooler here over the past week!). When I was young I didn't like rice pudding at all, but I think that I would have liked this deliciously simple sweet rosewater pudding. Sholeh Zard is a traditional Iranian dessert flavoured with rosewater and coloured with saffron. Traditionally it is served cold, however, I much preferred mine hot and would recommend it that way.

Talking Saffron....

Now comes the confession... I'm not exactly flush with money at the moment so I had to substitute my saffron! I know, true foodies would be horrified, but real saffron just wasn't an option for me! I'm also very conscious never to buy cheap saffron because it is usually fake, and some types of fake saffron are actually made from gelatine and food colouring (which horrified me when I found out!), therefore wouldn't be suitable for vegetarians or vegans (or anybody who doesn't consume animal products for religious or cultural reasons). I know that using turmeric instead of saffron is considered a culinary sin by high brow foodies, but sometimes needs must. However, I don't use just turmeric because it will go the wrong colour, so I add a pinch of sweet paprika as well to get a slightly more orangey hue. The recipe below includes options for saffron and for "student's saffron".

On another note - I've been nominated for the Best Australian Blogs 2012 People's Choice Award - you can vote for me by hitting up this link: http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/peopleschoice.html

Ingredients

250g long grain or basmati rice

1.5L cold water

400g sugar

1/2 tsp real saffron (OR 1 tsp tumeric plus a pinch of sweet paprika)

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup rosewater

1/2 cup slivered almonds (plus extra for garnish)

1/2 cup pistachios

To Make

1. Prehead your oven to 150 degrees C. Place the rice in a strainer and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear.

2. Place the rice and the water in a big saucepan and put over a medium heat. Simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes (or until the rice is just cooked). 

3. Add the sugar and stir well to dissolve. Transfer to a large baking dish (one that has a lid because you will need to cover it!).

4. Steep the saffron (or tumeric/paprika) in half a cup of hot water. Add the saffron, rosewater and almonds (except those which you will use to garnish). Stir well and cover.

5. Bake in the oven for half an hour. Let stand a bit to cool down before serving as it will be very hot coming out of the oven!

6. Roughly chop the pistachios (or pulse in a food processor). Garnish each serving liberally with slivered almonds and chopped pistachios before eating.

Serves 6.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

This Iranian sweet is quite unusual but also quite absurdly simple really. I'm not entirely sure why it's called Ice in Heaven - when I first read the name I thought it must be a milky frozen sweet, but then when I went to make it I find that it isn't frozen at all - it's just set with cornstarch just like Turkish Delight. It was delightfully simple to make and had a milky sweet taste with a lovely creamy consistency and colourful crunchy pistachios all over the top - what more could you ask for in a dessert?

The only thing you really need to know about it is that you have to stir it constantly to stop it going lumpy. I have to confess that I dropped the ball for a moment and ended up with some big sticky bits in mine but I managed to save it by putting the electric beaters through it on the highest setting and it whisked out the lumps. But learn from my mistake and just stir it continuously while you have it on the stove!

Yakh Dar Behesht
Adapted from the Iran Chamber Society website

Ingredients
1 litre almond milk
1 litre cold water
150g cornstarch
80g rice flour
500g raw sugar
1/2 cup rosewater
1 cup pistachios, very finely chopped

To Make
1. Place cold water in a large bowl and add the cornstarch. Stir well until the cornstarch is completely dissolved (there should be no lumps as long as you do this in cold water).
2. Place the almond milk and rice flour in a saucepan and stir well to dissolve. Add the cornstarch and place the saucepan over a low heat.
3. Stir continuously while the liquid heats up and bring it to a simmer. Stir continuously!!
4. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until it becomes the consistency of thick custard (stirring continuously!).
5. Pour into a large wide rectangular dish (like a big lasagne dish) and smooth the surface out level. Allow to cool.
6. Refrigerate for a couple of hours and then cut into diamond shaped slices in the pan.
7. Spread the crushed pistachios over the top and serve.

Serves 10-12.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Morabaa-Yeh Haveej (Persian Carrot & Rose Jam)

This month I am so incredibly excited to announce that I will be cooking and posting a plethora of Iranian cuisine! This is the fourth month that I have been featuring a different country each month and I have to say I am SO happy that somebody suggested Iran! So far we have featured Croatia, Chad and Bosnia - so it's definitely time we all visited the Middle East! Iranian food is a wonderful delight of ingredients such as eggplant, rice, okra, pomegranate, nuts, dates, fresh herbs and rosewater! All ingredients that I adore. So thank you from the bottom of my heart to the reader who suggested it!

I anticipate that this month may be the biggest one regarding the number of recipes, just because I found so many dishes that I wanted to try! I'm starting off with this one for two reasons, 1) because it is such an unusual idea that turned out so well and 2) because it fits into the Holiday Recipe Club's Easter/Passover Blog Hop theme. This hop's ingredients are: Spinach, Carrots and Eggs. Clearly eggs are out so carrots or spinach it is. However, I wanted to do something completely different to what I would normally do with these vegetables so here it is: Carrot and Rose Jam. I also wanted to make sure it was acceptable to Pesach food (no chametz and also suitable for any Jews which also abstain from kitniyot).

I know this sounds a bit unusual - however, really it makes a lot of sense. Orange vegetables really do lend themselves to be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Think carrot cake, pumpkin pie, sweet potato brownies (these exist! I have seen recipes on the internet), orange chicken, carrot and orange soup. There are plenty of other examples! The jam also turns out an awesome colour (one day I will try it with purple carrots)!

What are your favourite ways to use orange vegetables in sweet cooking?

Morabaa-Yeh Haveej

Adapted from persianrecipes.net 

Ingredient

1 kg carrots

1 kg sugar
1/4 cup rosewater
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 packed jam setta (for info on this see this other jam post)

To Make
1. Grate the carrots (there is no need to peel them first). This is awesome for building your arm muscles because it is a lot of grating. Alternately, if your food processor has a grating attachment you could use that and save yourself some time.
2. Add the grated carrot, lime juice and sugar to the biggest pot you own (you want it to be big enough that the jam only fills up half the pot).
3. Put over a medium heat and stir continuously until all the sugar has melted. Cover and boil over a medium heat for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the lid and add the jam setta. Boil for a further 10 minutes. Add the rose water and boil for a further  5 minutes.

5. To test whether the jam is ready do the set test. To do this: place a teaspoon full of the jam (preferably not a chunky fruity bit) on a saucer and put in the freezer for about 30-40 seconds. Take it out and run your finger through it. If the jam crinkles then it is ready. If it doesn't then boil the jam for a further 5 minutes and try the test again.

6. Once you have a successful set test remove the jam from the heat.

7. Wash your empty jars in warm soapy water and rinse well. Put the jam in them and screw the lids on tightly. 

8. Line a big saucepan with tea towels (so the glass jars don't touch the bottom or sides) and add the jars full of jam. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil for 20 minutes to sterilise. 

Makes 5-8 jars of jam (depending on the size of your jars).

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments)