Better Homes and Gardens - Fast Ed's Amazing Beetroot Dumplings

This recipe has been on my mind for a while now, there's something so appealing in this simple dish. Beets and cheese? Yes, please! Here's a video recipe for beetroot dumplings, inspired by gnocchi, from Better Homes and Gardens on YouTube (a guilty pleasure channel for me lately hehe).

Until next time!

Apple Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce

I saw this recipe on Facebook, on Kaire Köök's page (post here; in Estonian), she herself got the recipe from Roy Fares' (choosing Swedish will let you see some recipes, choosing English will allow you to read more about him) book United States of Cake. He's a Lebanese-Swede and has a cooking show on Swedish television. But no more babble, here's the recipe.

Photo from Kaire Köök's Facebook page

What you'll need:

Base:
110 g butter (room temperature)
0,5 dl sugar
2,5 dl all purpose flour

Filling:
1 tbsp sugar
1,5 tsp cinnamon
4 big apples
600 g classic cream cheese (room temperature)
2 dl sugar
2 tbsp flour
0,5 dl whipping cream (25-35% fat)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla sugar

Crumb coat:
0,5 dl sugar
1,5 dl flour
0,5 dl old fashioned oats
80 g butter
1 tsp ground cardamom

Home made or store bought caramel sauce

Method:
1. For the base, mix all the ingredients together into a dough and press it into a 24 cm round spring form pan. Bake at 180 °C for 10-12 minutes and let cool completely. Turn the oven to 160 °C.
2. For the filling, peel and cut up the apples, toss in a cinnamon and sugar mixture. Whip up cream cheese, sugar, vanilla sugar, and flour, add the cream, and one by one the eggs. Oil the sides of the cake pan, pour the cheese mixture onto the cooked base, top off with apples.
3. For the crumble, massage all the ingredients together with your fingertips, and cover the apples with it.
4. Bake at 160 °C for an hour, then turn the oven off and open the door slightly. Let sit for 20 minutes, chill, then refrigerate overnight.
5. Drizzle with caramel sauce and enjoy!

Photo from Kaire Köök's Facebook page

Until next time!

Snapchat Food Network's Tip of the Day - How to Make Your Own Almond Milk

Almond milk has been the hype for a while now but buying cartons of it often might get very expensive. Plus, making your own almond milk ensures that there are only the best and necessary ingredients in the mix.

What you'll need:

1 cup of almonds per 2 cups of water

Flavouring of your choosing

Container

Blender

Cheesecloth

Method:

1. Soak the almonds for 24 hours.

 2. Give them a good rinse.

3. Add the almonds and 2 cups of water into a blender and blend for 2 minutes (less with a powerful blender).

4. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth, squeeze well to extract every last drop.

5. Sweeten to taste if you wish, serve chilled or over ice. The drink will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, shake well before drinking as the mixture can separate.

Until next time!

Restoran Elevant // Restaurant Elephant

Restaurant Elevant, located in Tallinn old town, on Vene street, offers dishes, which "combine elements from India's long history and noisy streets of today's Calcutta, five star restaurant chefs and Northern India's homemade food, other national cuisines and Ayurveda medicine". The atmosphere is cosy, with warm tones, dimmed lighting, artwork, and plants. Daily specials available.

I found myself at the restaurant unexpectedly during a private party (therefore not paying for anything). That also meant not being able to choose any food myself, and trying many different dishes. I shall begin. I arrived for the fourth course. There was basmati rice with coriander (3,50€), bhatura bread (2€), salad (1,50€) (all previous sides come with every main dish), thin crunchy bread (õhuke krõbe leib; 2,80€), mint sauce (mündi kaste; 1,50€), raita yoghurt sauce (3,50€), saffron lamb (lambaliha safroni-karrikastmes; 15,50€), wild boar curry (metssealiha traditsioonilises vürtsikas kastmes; 15,50€), chicken curry (kanafilee traditsioonilises vürtsikas kastmes; 11,50€), baby octopus curry (väikesed kaheksajalad vürtsikas kastmes; 13,50€), spinach and cottage cheese curry (pehme India juust tihedas spinatikastmes; 10€), and vegetable curry (erinevad köögiviljad vürtsikas kastmes; 9€). Is that it? Quite a plateful, I must say. Didn't really enjoy either of the breads, maybe because they'd already cooled down by the time I got there. Bhatura was just too tough-chewy and didn't impress me. The fresh salad was okay, consisting of raw onions, tomato, and some other things (apologies for the bad memory, I went to the restaurant a few nights ago). Mint sauce was perfectly cooling with the curries, raita, however, was a disappointment, so opt for the cheaper mint sauce. The lamb was nice, it was also my first time tasting saffron, which wasn't as mind blowing as I'd hoped, but still good. All the meats were perfectly cooked and tender. The wild boar curry was the spiciest of all the dishes I tasted that night. Baby octopus curry actually had the whole octopus, not just the tentacles, which was kind of interesting. The cottage cheese curry has a misleading name, as it consisted of soft Indian cheese cubes, not cottage cheese, and the spinach part tasted more like coriander. I found myself craving more, but it was all out by that time. The vegetable curry was alright too.

But that is not all. There was a fifth course too, and that was marinated chicken in traditional sauce, or tikka masala (marineeritud kanafilee traditsioonilises kastmes; 14,50€). I would have expected it to be something to end the night in a bang, but it was just as good as the sauces in the previous course. The chicken was tender and lovely, of course. 

I would've hoped for dessert as well, but I understand the torture the people who were at the party for the whole night must have gone through with all that delicious food.

Final verdict: 9 out of 10. I liked neither bhatura nor thin crispy bread, raita and the vegetable curry were average. If I had to choose three favourites, they would be chicken tikka masala, wild boar curry, and the cheese curry. I discovered the restaurant offers crocodile meat too, so that's what I want to try next. Also, the desserts sound very appetising. Definitely a very nice place altogether, even if it's a bit pricier.

Info at www.elevant.ee or Facebook www.facebook.com/restoran.elevant.

Sorry for no photos!

Until next time!

Apelsini Raudtee // Orange Railway (Vol 2)

I ended up going back to Apelsini Raudtee earlier than expected. Oops. If you missed my first review and introduction to the restaurant, click here. 

This time I visited the place for breakfast. I ordered scrambled eggs with salted salmon, mushrooms, and fresh green salad (munapuder soolalõhe, seente ja värske rohelise salatiga). I believe the eggs were prepared using the bain-marie (water bath) method, resulting in very smooth texture. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of that. It was seasoned moderately, mushrooms (champignons) and salmon were, however, quite salty. Cherry tomatoes were very well seasoned, and warm, I would even say the best part of the dish. Garnishing greens gave a peppery-bitter twist. The salad disappointed me. On closer inspection it turned out to consist of brown-spotted salad leaves. There was no dressing, either. All in all, an edible dish but nothing special. It cost 4€.

I was feeling a bit naughty so I also ordered crepes with summery fresh berries and ice cream (krepid suviselt värskete marjade ja jäätisega) to share with my brother. After being forgotten by the waitress, we finally got the platter. Disappointment again, though. The pancakes were  slightly underdone and as tasteless as the strawberries, berry sauce was watery-bland. What helped sweeten it  all up was the vanilla ice cream. I think my mother makes better pancakes. It cost 4€.

Final verdict: 5 out of 10. My question is, what happened? I was so satisfied the last time that I can't help but be sad. This time parts of the simple dishes were either under or over seasoned, and poorly executed (crepes). I was also surprised by the old lettuce in the salad. Still, I will keep my hopes high and return in the fall to order regular menu items. PS, I was surprised to see they have started charging for flavoured tap water, one jug cost 1€. Reasonable, but surprising.

Info at www.apelsiniraudtee.ee or Facebook www.facebook.com/apelsiniraudtee.

Until next time!

Snapchat's Tastemade - Cast Iron Brownies by Katie Quinn

Katie Quinn from Tastemade showed how to make brownies. In a cast iron skillet! It may be more wet than you're used to but it might get firmer by cooking longer, doubt the taste suffers, though. Best served warm with ice cream.

Don't forget to stir in the egg and flour mixture very well!

"Translation" to metric system:

• 170 g chocolate chips
• 85 g unsweetened chocolate
• 115 g butter
• 2 tsp (~10 ml) vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 115 g sugar
• 30 g flour
• 1 tsp (~5 g) baking powder
• 1/4 tsp (~1 g) salt
• 2 tsp (~4 g) instant coffee granules

Hope you give it a try and

Until next time!

Little India

Little India is an Indian restaurant with two locations in Tallinn. They have Indian chefs, and a cozy atmosphere, use an authentic tandoori clay oven, and have daily specials.

From the left, clockwise - butter naan, dessert, lamb curry, lentils, vegetables, yoghurt sauce, salad, basmati rice in the centre

I visited the location in Ülemiste shopping centre. The place wasn't as busy as I'd expect from it being lunchtime. I ordered a North-Indian lamb thali (Põhja-India lamba thali) to share with my mother. I don't know how to describe much of it, other than it was very very good. The naan, Indian bread, seemed as it had been sitting out for a while and could have been better, however, the lamb was very tender and flavourful, the sauce slightly spicy, lentils were a bit spicier, vegetables (cabbage, peas, carrots) well cooked and well-seasoned, yoghurt sauce (raita) a cooling contrast to the heat, as it should be, the salad (red cabbage, carrots) giving an interesting pickled twist to this whole combo. Rice worked with everything. The dessert was a carrot rice pudding (gajar halwa), made with coconut (milk?), and added raisins. It was quite sweet, but a nice finish to the meal (might have found a similar recipe at www.saveur.com). This whole plate cost 9,50€.

Final verdict: 9 out of 10. The naan kind of ruined it for me and the meal didn't absolutely blow me away. Perhaps I've just gotten used to Indian food always being absolutely amazing, but this doesn't get a solid 10. Definitely a place I would return to.

Info at www.littleindia.ee.

Until next time!