Tag: prunes

Christmas fruit cake

rozinaspersiankitchenLeave a comment

This is my Christmas fruit cake, a dark, super tasty and full of flavour.

Ingredients

  • 150g plain flour
  • 75g ground almond
  • 350g prunes and glacé cherries
  • 230g raisins
  • 35g candied orange peel
  • 175ml honey
  • 125ml spiced rum
  • 175g unsalted butter
  • 175g muscovado sugar
  • 1 orange juice and zest
  • 1 lemon zest
  • 3 eggs
  • 2tbsp cocoa powder
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp clove
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ tsp baking powdered
  • ½ tsp baking soda

How to make it?????

Preheat the oven to 150C degree. Grease and line the cake tin with baking paper. Make the parchment paper larger than tin to protect the top of the cake from burning.

In a pot add dried fruits, spiced rum, butter, sugar, spices, lemon and orange zest, juice, honey, and coca powder.

Heat the mixture and bring it to a boil. Stirring the mixture and let to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down.

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Mix flour, ground almond, baking powder and baking soda together. Crack the eggs In a bowl and whisk them. Now add beaten eggs and flour mixture to the fruit mixture. Mix well until all ingredients combined.

Next, pour the cake batter into the lined cake tin.With a wooden or silicon spatula press the batter down.

Place the tin into the oven and bake it for about 2 hours or until top of the cake is hard and firm. You can test the cake with a skewer. If it comes out clean, it means cake is ready. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy

When the cake is done, allow to cool for an hour in the tin and then remove it from the tin and peel the paper off. Before wrapping the cake, you need to feed the cake.

Feeding the cake puts back the moisture you lost during the baking and build the flavour. So, You can use a syringe and inject the liquid to the cake or use a chopstick, make few holes on top of cake to help liquid flow to the cake. You can feed the cake with 2-3 tbsp alcohol every two weeks until Christmas. But if you do not drink alcohol, there are non-alcohol options for feeding the cake too.

You can use cold earl grey tea or spicy tea or orange juice. Therefore, add 3 tbsp orange juice on top of the cake 3 or 4 times over the next couple of weeks. Then, Wrap the cake well in the grease proof or parchment paper and store it in the dry and cold area.

For decoration of the cake, there are loads of ideas:

– sprinkle icing sugar and top the cake with glace cherries or chocolates

– brush over the hole cake with apricot jam and decorate, dust with icing sugar

– or roll out with marzipan.

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Christmas fruit cake

Ingredients

150g plain flour

75g ground almond

350g prunes and glacé cherries

230g raisins

35g candied orange peel

175ml honey

125ml spiced rum

175g unsalted butter

175g muscovad0 sugar

1 orange juice and zest

1 lemon zest

3 eggs

2tbsp cocoa powder

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp clove

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp baking powdered

½ tsp baking soda

How to make it?????

Preheat the oven to 150C degree. Grease and line the cake tin with baking paper. Make the parchment paper larger than tin to protect the top of the cake from burning.

In a pot add dried fruits, spiced rum, butter, sugar, spices, lemon and orange zest, juice, honey, and coca powder.

Heat the mixture and bring it to a boil. Stirring the mixture and let to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down.

Mix flour, ground almond, baking powder and baking soda together. Crack the eggs In a bowl and whisk them. Now add beaten eggs and flour mixture to the fruit mixture. Mix well until all ingredients combined.

Next, pour the cake batter into the lined cake tin.

With a wooden or silicon spatula press the batter down.

Place the tin into the oven and bake it for about 2 hours or until top of the cake is hard and firm. You can test the cake with a skewer. If it comes out clean, it means cake is ready.

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy

When the cake is done, allow to cool for an hour in the tin and then remove it from the tin and peel the paper off. Before wrapping the cake, you need to feed the cake.

Feeding the cake puts back the moisture you lost during the baking and build the flavour. So,

You can use a syringe and inject the liquid to the cake or use a chopstick, make few holes on top of cake to help liquid flow to the cake. You can feed the cake with 2-3 tbsp alcohol every two weeks until Christmas.

But if you do not drink alcohol, there are non-alcohol options for feeding the cake too.

You can use cold earl grey tea or spicy tea or orange juice. Therefore, add 3tbsp orange juice on top of the cake 3 or 4 times over the next couple of weeks. Then, Wrap the cake well in the greaseproof or parchment paper and store it in the dry and cold area.

For decoration of the cake, there are loads of ideas:

– sprinkle icing sugar and top the cake with glace cherries or chocolates

– brush over the hole cake with apricot jam and decorate, dust with icing sugar

– or roll out with marzipan.

Carrot- prunes stew

rozinaspersiankitchenLeave a comment

One of classic stews from Iran is called carrot prunes stew that comes originally from Tabriz city an old and famous city in NW of Iran. Carrot is called Havij, and Prune is called Aloo in Farsi language.

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This stew is a festival of colour, flavor and beauty. Combination of lamb meat, carrots, prunes with Persian saffron, turmeric, fresh lime juice, …. just create a sensational dish.

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Ingredients

  • 2 large carrots, spiralized or grated
  • 1 lamb shank
  • Handful dried prunes
  • 2 medium onions, finely sliced
  • 1 lime or lemon juice
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • 2tbsp Persian saffron water
  • Vegetable oil

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Method

Wash carrots before peeling. Then spiralize them. Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry carrots until golden. Transfer carrots to a plate and add one of chopped onion to the same pan. Fry until golden brown.

In a pot with water, add lamb meat, and one of chopped onion. Leave to cook until tender.

Once meat is cooked, add fried onion, carrots, prunes,  turmeric, saffron water, season with salt and pepper, squeeze over the lime juice and add 1 cup boiling water.

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Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with steamed rice.

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Azerbaijani Noodle Soup

rozinaspersiankitchenLeave a comment

This noodle soup is popular in NW of Iran. It has a sour/sweet taste due to vinegar and prunes in it.. This is a noodle soup with cereals, meat balls, fried onions and dried mint sauce.

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Ingredients

200g Persian noodles ( if it is not available you can use egg noodles instead of Persian noodles)
1 large onion or 2 small ones
200g ground beef
2 cups of cooked lentils, chickpeas and pinto beans
1 cup prunes
2 Tbsp plain flour
½ cup apple cider or grape vinegar
Salt- black pepper to taste
1Tbsp dried mint
1 Tsp turmeric
Oil

Preparation

In a big pot with 8cups of water, add flour and bring it to a boil. Mix ground meat with one of grated onions. Combine together. Give small balls shape to the meat and fry them until they are brown.
Finely chop second onion and fry until golden. Keep some for the garnishing and use remaining for mixing with the soup.


Once water started to boil, add cooked cereals, all spices, prunes, oil, vinegar, fried onion, noodles, and meat balls. Cook it on low heat until soup is thick.
For the garnishing the soup, fry dried mint and garnish with fried mint and fried onion.

 

 

 

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Azerbaijani Noodle Aash

rozinaspersiankitchen2 Comments

This noodle aash is popular in NW of Iran. It has a sour/sweet taste due to vinegar and prunes in it.. This is a noodle soup with cereals, meat balls, fried onions and dried mint.

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Azerbaijani noodle aash
Ingredients
200g Persian noodles ) if it is not available you can use egg noodles instead of Persian noodles)
1 large onion or 2 small ones
200g ground beef
2 cups of cooked lentils, chickpeas and pinto beans
1 cup prunes
2 Tbsp plain flour
½ cup apple cider or grape vinegar
Salt- black pepper to taste
1Tbsp dried mint
1 Tsp turmeric
Oil

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Method
In a big pot with 8 cups of water, add flour and bring it to a boil. Mix ground meat with one of grated onions. Combine together. Give small balls shape to the meat and fry them until they are brown.

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Finely chop second onion and fry until golden. Keep some for the garnishing and use remaining for mixing with the soup.
Once water started to boil, add cooked cereals, all spices, prunes, oil, vinegar, fried onion, noodles, and meat balls. Cook it on low heat until soup is thick.
For the garnishing the soup, fry dried mint and garnish with fried mint and fried onion.

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