Coconut macaroons with a chocolate drizzle – kokosmakronen met een chocolade drizzle (GF-DF-SF)

I was craving for a cookie and wanted to make those so good-looking French macarons, but reading on the internet I came across the “old-fashioned” coconut macaroons, which I used to make at home with my mum.


So easy to make, so flavorsome, naturally gluten-free and ready in a sec!

When they were in the oven I made a lovely chocolate glaze, also without adding sugar, I give them 3 MMM!


Coconut macaroons (8 pcs)

75 g shredded coconut
60 ml agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 organic egg white
1 pinch of salt

Pre heat your oven on 180˚C and prepare a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper.

Beat the egg white with the salt till it forms soft peaks.
Fold in the coconut, agave syrup and vanilla extract carefully.

With your hands form 8 small balls which you flatten softly into 8 flat cookies.
Bake your macaroons lightly golden in the middle of the oven, not too brown, the agave will turn bitter then.
Let them cool completely and drizzle with the chocolate glaze.


With the left-over egg yolk you can make this great aioli or you can freeze it to use later.

Chocolate glaze (GF-SF)

35 g chocolate chips or chopped bitter chocolate
1 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp butter
1 tsp brown rice syrup
¼ tsp vanilla extract

Melt everything except the vanilla extract au bain-marie and mix till it forms a beautiful shiny glaze. Take from the heat and stir in vanilla extract. That’s it, easy and delicious.

Kokosmakronen ( 8 stuks)

75g geraspte kokos
60 ml agavesiroop
1 tl vanille extract
1 biologisch eiwit
snufje zout


Verwarm de oven voor op 180 ˚C en bekleed een bakblik met bakpapier.

Met een handmixer mix je het eiwit met het zout tot ze zachte pieken vormt.
Voeg kokos, vanille en agavesiroop toe en spatel alles voorzichtig door elkaar.

Vorm 8 balletjes met je handen en leg ze op de bakplaat, terwijl je ze zachtjes platdrukt.
Bak je makronen in het midden van de oven tot ze licht goudbruin zijn, bak ze niet te bruin, dan kan de agave bitter gaan smaken.

Laat ze afkoelen en drizzle(?) de chocolade glazuur erover heen.

Met de overgebleven eidooier kin je deze heerlijke aioli maken of vries hem in voor later gebruik.

Chocolade glazuur (GF-SF)

35 g chocolate chips of gehakte bittere chocolade
1 tl kokosolie
1 tl boter
1 tl bruine rijststroop
¼ tl vanille extract

Smelt alles, behalve de vanille extract, in een pan au bain-marie. Roer tot een glanzende saus ontstaat. Haal van het vuur en roer de vanille extract erdoor.
Zo simpel!

coconut chutney from Tamil Nadu - tengai chutney (GF-DF-SF-V)

Today I want to share with you the coconut chutney I mentioned yesterday.


In South-India it is eaten almost every day, I think, as an accompaniment to the breakfast dishes dosa, idli and vada. Sometimes the coconut chutney is served very watery, sometimes thick and spicy, it depends of the region and the cook.

All recipes in the South-Indian cuisine are using fresh coconut meat, but here in Europe it’s not so easy to buy and I don’t know which one is a good one. The dry, hairy ones I see here, are used in the temples, but not as much in the kitchen.

A good substitute is frozen coconut meat, which I buy in the asian took.
Using dry desiccated coconut is an option; the best thing to do is to let it soak in warm water for a short while, so the flavors can come out.

Just try it and adapt to your taste and possibilities!


Tengai chutney

1 cup grated fresh coconut or fresh frozen coconut
¼ cup roasted chana dal (Bengal gram)
1-4 fresh green chilies, chopped fine
1 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1 cm ball of tamarind or some lime juice
½ tsp salt

tempering;
1 tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp urad dal(the split, husked one)
1 pinch asafoetida
1 dried red chili
some curry leaves, fresh or dry


I dry-roast the chana dal in a heavy frying pan till they color red-brown, let them cool slightly before grinding. Don’t omit the dal, it gives such a great flavor to the chutney!

Combine all ingredients for the chutney and grind to a smooth consistency, gradually adding ¼ - ½ cup of water till you have a thick paste the way you like it.

Heat the coconut oil in a heavy frying pan. Add the ingredients for the tempering, in the given order and stir. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, remove the pan from the heat and add the content in one time to the chutney. Mix well. Serve at once or chill in the fridge. You can dilute it a bit when it’s too thick with water or lime juice, to your taste. It keeps well in the fridge for some days when stored in an airtight box.

mung bean dosa - pessarattu (GF-DF-SF-V)

Making a dosa is not as easy as making a pancake.

A dosa needs soaking, needs fermenting, needs time. I love to eat a perfect dosa when I’m in India, it is so good, it never bores, also after 3 or 4 weeks I can eat a dosa every day.

Making a dosa in Holland in the winter is really a challenge, I am not going to bother you with it, but instead give you this perfect site and a recipe for an easier dosa, made from soaked mung beans, you know these beautiful green beans?

When you sprout them, they become taugé or sprouted soy beans they are called. They are very nutritious and in India they are eaten whole or husked in dals or sweet in deserts. Cellophane noodles are also made of green gram or mung beans.

In this recipe you soak them for a night, so before you go to sleep put some under the water and make your dosa first thing in the morning.

Mung bean dosa – Pessarattu (8 pcs)

1 ½ cup mung beans

½ cup fine rice flour

1-4 green chilies

½ inch fresh ginger root

pinch of salt



Soak the mung beans overnight in plenty of water.

Next morning drain and rinse the mung beans and grind with the the chilies and ginger to a coarse paste. Add salt and rice flour and as much water till you have a smooth but thick batter.

Heat a tava or a non-stick crepe pan and oil it very lightly.

With a ladle scoop the batter on the pan and from the middle stir the batter quickly around. See the above link about the perfect dosa.

They taste great as they are, but are really delicious with coconut chutney or tomato chutney.

You can keep the batter for some days in the fridge or bake and freeze these green babies!

Egg curry with idiappam (GF-DF-SF)

What can I say?

Amazing, breathtaking, colorful, delightful, enjoyable, energizing, festively, grateful, heartbreaking, inspirational, irresistible, juicy, kindly, lovely, magic, notably, open-heartedly, peppery, soupy, tasteful, unbelievable, variety, wonderful, yummy and zealously. A lot of words and still, it’s not enough to describe India. Just go there, again and again, and then , bit by bit , maybe, I will understand a little bit of this great country. I loved it! Again!

Only 3 weeks, but plunging into summer in such a new world where, everything and everybody lives on the street, eats on the street and works on the street. Life is very outward, people like to express themselves, greet you, talk to you, take the time for a moment to meet you. Also in this gigantic metropolis Mumbai, with it’s more than 16 million people (the whole population of Holland!), there is a time and space for everyone. It’s a very vibrating, living and inspiring surrounding. Coming back to Holland is a big step, here it is neat, calm, a little boring, organized, grayish, most people are very inward. They don’t greet me anymore, they are not curious who I am, they watch the pavement instead of meeting my eyes. It takes some time to adapt;-)

Coming back means also cooking again!

I bought some cook books with Kerala recipes and more Southern Indian cooking. It is a very different taste and approach to cooking than the North of India. It’s very fresh, using a lot of coconut milk and oil. It takes a lot of preparing, making spice pastes, fermenting, juicing, etc. but it's worth it!
I also bought some tools, because without them it’s really difficult to recreate them: idiappam press, appachatti and my Preethy wet and dry grinder.

Breakfast in the south of india consists of hearthy dishes like steamed idli with sambar and coconut chutney, vadas, pongal, dosas, appam or idiappam. These dishes are made of fermented rice batters (with dal and spices) and as such, very healthy, but in our climate not so easy to make. Fermenting takes time and warmth. Using stove and hearth and a lot of warm towels helps.

And as you can guess for us people with celiac disease it’s great, rice and pulses are the staple food in this part of India. They have so many types of rice:

Coming weeks I will be posting some recipes and links of great South-Indian food, starting with this lovely egg curry with idiappam, a great breakfast dish.

Idiappam with egg curry
Making idiappam requires a press and an idli steamer but somewhere I read that you can use a potato ricer too, the holes are a bit wider. You can also decide to eat the curry with rice.

Sieve 2 cups of very fine brown rice flour.
Bring 3 cups of water to the boil with 1 tsp of oil and a pinch of salt. Stir in the rice flour till it comes together in a ball. Turn of the heat, let it cool slightly and spread it out on a big tray. Cover with cling film and let it cool completely. Make balls and put them in the idiappam press. Grease the idli moulds, press in heaps of the dough and steam for 5-8 minutes.

Egg curry (2-4 pers)

4 organic eggs

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 dried red chili
1 tsp mustard seeds
1-3 fresh green chilies, incised lengthwise
1 heaped tsp of freshly chopped fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 tomato, chopped
1 ½ cup thin coconut milk
1 tbsp lime juice
1 potato, in small cubes
½ cup thick coconut milk

Masala paste:
1 tsp chili powder
¼ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp black pepper
2 ½ cm cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 cardamoms

Tempering:
1 tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp chopped onion
12 curry leaves

1. boil the eggs 10 minutes, cool, peel and halve them, set aside.

2. grind the masala paste very fine and set aside.

3. chop all veggies, onion, ginger etc. and put everything ready.

4. heat the coconut oil on medium heat and bake the mustard seeds and red chili till the seeds start to splutter. Add the masala paste, stir and bake softly for 2 minutes. Add onion, garlic, green chilies and ginger and bake together for 5 minutes. Then add the tomato cubes, 2 more minutes, add the thin coconut milk and lime juice and bring to the boil, cook softly for about 5 minutes. Then it’s time for the potato cubes, cook till they are done. Stir in the thick coconut milk, taste and add salt to your tasting, put in the egg halves and heat everything together for another 4 minutes.
5. make the tempering: heat in a small pan 1 tbsp of coconut oil, add mustard seeds, onion and curry leaves, till the mustard seeds splutter and throw everything in the curry. Stir in carefully.

Ready to serve with the idiappam, hot rice or rice pancakes.
Namaste!

Roasted Brussels sprouts and fennel salad – geroosterde spruitjes venkel salade (GF-DF-SF-V)

I read a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi in the Guardian where he made roasted Brussels sprouts and made a beautiful salad with pomelo and star anise. Lately I saw him in a program in Israel about food bringing together the Palestinian and Jewish population, it was fascinating, especially when I compare it to the news we get here, always showing opposing parties whereas the people want peace and do a lot in there own communities on a small scale.

I love it when food brings people together. Eating together, cooking together, it’s all about sharing and trying new things, new opportunities.

I myself am going to try some new flavors very soon and discover new areas, new people and dive into a different culture, which itself consists of multiple cultures and habits. Yes, in 2 weeks time I’ll be walking in Mumbai at this very moment. I look forward to it very much, I can hardly wait. Especially now, when since yesterday the winter fell into our country and it looks like it’s gonna stay for some time. Brrr.

Today will be my last post for some time, because I have a lot to do these last 10 days. In the middle of march I will be back and you will meet me again here.

For my last post I share this beautiful salad, with wintery flavors and a summer feeling, although a salad is not my favorite winter food, this is a great side dish. I ate it with grilled mackerel and baked potatoes. We loved it, I hope you do too!

Roasted Brussels sprouts with fennel salad (2 pers)

300g Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved when big
1 fennel bulb, cleaned and sliced
2 tbsp good olive oil, pepper and salt to season
1 big navel orange
1 small red onion
vinaigrette of orange juice, good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and salt
a handful of coriander leaves, cut coarsely

Pre heat the oven on 200 ˚C.
Blanch the Brussels sprouts and fennel for 2 minutes in boiling water, then drain and dry.
On a baking tray mix Brussels sprouts and fennel slices with the olive oil and freshly ground pepper and salt. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes till the edges of the sprouts look a bit brownish and they are done. Mix a few times when baking.
Cool them a little and put them in a salad bowl. Cut off the orange and white peel of the orange and cut into nice parts. Use the juice for the vinaigrette. Slice the red onion very thin.
Assemble the salad and pour over the vinaigrette. Let it come together for at least half an hour. Garnish with the coriander.

Geroosterde spruitjes en venkel salade (2 pers)

300 g spruitjes, schoongemaakt en gehalveerd als ze groot zijn
1 knolvenkel, schoongemaakt en in schijven
2 el goede olijfolie, peper en zout
1 grote navelsinaasappel
1 kleine rode ui
vinaigrette van sinaasappelsap, goede olijfolie, balsamico azijn, peper en zout
een handvol verse korianderblaadjes, grof gehakt

Verwarm de oven voor op 200 ˚C.
Blancheer de spruitjes en venkel 2 minuten in kokend water, giet en droog af.
Meng de groentes op een bakplaat met de olijfolie, peper en zout en bak 20 minuten in de oven tot de spruitjes bruine randjes krijgen en gaar zijn. Schep af en toe door elkaar.

Laat even afkoelen en doe de groentes in een schaal. Snijd de oranje en witte schil van de sinaasappel en vang het sap op. Snijd de partjes er uit. Snijd de rode ui in dunne ringen en meng samen met de sinaasappelpartjes door de geroosterde groentes.
Maak een vinaigrette en giet deze over de salade. Laat zeker een half uur op smaak komen en garneer dan met de koriander.

raw beetroot salad - rauwe bietjessalade (GF-DF-SF-V)

I thought every child eats beetroot, they are sweet and, when cooked, soft and pretty to look at. Not mine, he really dislikes them. So when I got beets in my organic vegetable crate they are all mine, I make soup, I roast them, cook them , bake them, marinate them, but for the first time I used them raw. Yesterday I made this really simple and yummy salad. The beets are so beautiful on the inside:

Raw beet root salad
1-2-3 fresh beetroots
1 clove of garlic, pureed
1 tangerine, juiced
1 tbsp orange water
mustard
really good extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
flat parsley, 1 handful, chopped

Peel the beetroots and grate them not too fine.
Make a vinaigrette as you like with the tangerine juice, orange water, mustard, olive oil, garlic, pepper and salt. Mix with the grated beetroots, add the parsley and let it infuse for at least an hour.
A lovely side dish with fish or a hot curry and rice.

You can replace the tangerine for lemon or lime, leave out the garlic, add some finely sliced red onion, add some honey in the vinaigrette. This is so versatile, just do as you like or use what’s in your cupboard.

Rauwe bietjes salade
1-2-3 verse bietjes
1 teen knoflook, uit de knijper
1 mandarijntje, geperst
1 el sinasappelbloesem water
mosterd
erg lekkere extra vergine olijfolie
versgemalen zwarte peper
zeezout
platte peterselie, 1 handvol, gehakt

Schil de bietjes en rasp de bietjes op een grove rasp.
Maak een vinaigrette zoals je zelf lekker vindt. Ik maak er een met mandarijnsap, sinasappelbloesem water, een schep mosterd, olijfolie, peper en zeezout. Mix met de geraspte bietjes, voeg de gehakte peterselie toe en laat zeker 1 uur intrekken.
Heerlijk met een geroosterd visje of bij een pittige curry met rijst.

Je kan het mandarijnsap vervangen door citroen of een andere citrusvrucht, de knoflook vervangen door een fijngesnipperd rood uitje, wat honing toevoegen, alles is mogelijk, doe zoals je zelf denkt dat het het lekkerst is, of laat je leiden door wat je in huis hebt!