Gigantes plaki aka Greek giant baked beans

Gigantes plaki (yigandes plaki, γίγαντες πλακί) is a popular Greek taverna dish, consisting of oven-baked fasolia gigante ("giant") beans with tomato sauce. Gigantes are occasionally also called elephant beans (elephantes) - which is the name reserved for extra large giant beans :) The gigantes are native to Greece, and the ones from Kastoria are especially prized, as well as the ones from Florina and Drama regions - all three have the PGI-designation or are recognised by the EU as products of Protected Geographical Indication.

If you're in Estonia, look out for Garrido gigantes (either canned or dried, offered by Kaupmees) or Palirria (large cans, offered by HellenicTrade - these are the ones I've been using). Elsewhere, look for the jumbo beans/elephant beans/gigantes at Greek and Middle Eastern markets.  Amazon.com sells Kastoria giant beans online, and there's also a canned variety available. You can use dried or canned cannellini or lima beans instead, but you'll need to adjust cooking times accordingly.

Serve as part of a mezedes spread, or spoon onto a slice of leavened white bread. I sometimes crumble some decent feta cheese on top at the end of the baking time :P

Giant baked beans, Greek style
A recipe from BBC Good Food (September 2009), slightly modified
Serves 8
 

400 g dried giant or butter beans or 3x400 g canned beans
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (Greek, of course)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp concentrated tomato paste/pureé
2x400 g cans crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp dried oregano
couple of pinches of ground cinnamon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To garnish:
2 Tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf/Italian parsley

If using dried beans: soak the beans overnight in plenty of water. Drain, rinse, drain again. Place in a large pan covered with fresh water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, then simmer gently for 50-60 minutes, until the beans are tender but not too soft. Drain.

If using canned beans: tip the beans onto a large colander, rinse with cold water. Drain and put aside.

Heat the oven to 180C/350F.

Make the sauce: heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over moderately low heat. Add the onion and fry for about 7-8 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another 2-3 minutes, until the onion is translucent.

Add the tomato puree, sauté for a minute. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the beans) and cook for 2-3 minutes. Season generously with honey, oregano, salt and pepper, then tip in the drained cooked beans.

Transfer the mixture into a large ovenproof dish - I love using my lasagne pan - and bake for approximately one hour. Don't cover and don't stir! The dish is ready when the tomato sauce has thickened and the beans are soft and flavoursome.

Remove from the oven, cool a little. Scatter the parsley on top and drizzle with some extra olive oil.



Similar recipes:
Gigantes sto Fourno @ Kalofagas
Greek style baked beans @ Souvlaki for the Soul
Gigantes in savory tomato sauce @ Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Twice-cooked gigante beans with garlic and feta @ Kalyn's Kitchen
Gigantes plaki (Greek baked beans) @ Closet Cooking
Gigantes plaki: Greek baked beans @ Choosy Beggars
Gigandes plaki by Simon Rimmer
Fasolia Gigantes Plaki: Big Greek Beans baked in a Bodacious Red Sauce @ Sortachef: One Hot Cat in a Woodfired Kitchen
Gigantes plaki @ Jono & Jules do Food & Wine
Gigantes plaki @ Life is Like a Dumpling
Greek baked beans (Gigantes plaki) @ the taste space – steam, bake, boil, shake!
Greek baked beans @ Eats Well with Others

The 3-ingredient cookie

An excellent version with oats, bananas, dried cranberries and grated orange zest.

Have you heard about those three-ingredient cookies consisting of nothing but bananas, oats and an optional fill-in (chocolate, raisins or nuts, for instance)? No added sugar. No added fat. Suitable for vegans and all those on lactose-free, casein-free, gluten-free*, egg-free, dairy-free diets. Take 2 minutes of prep work and need about 15 minutes in the oven. That's less than it takes to unpack your regular grocery bags, so they're super-quick as well.

* You need to make sure you use certified gluten-free oats, also called 'pure oats'. 


I came across the recipe in The Burlap Bag. As the author Lauren notes, even if you eat all of those, you've basically consumed 2 bananas and a cup of oats, so this qualifies as health food in my opinion. They are soft and slightly chewy. They're not the best-oat-cookies-in-the-world (these are!), but they're pretty moreish and satisfying. Flavour- and texture-wise, these remind me of those soft apple and oat drops I've been making, just much quicker and simpler.

My two older kids love them (Karoliine, our youngest, is still to young to have any solids), and the grown-ups are pretty fond of them, too:

 

So here's the recipe. Again, a huge thank you goes out to The Burlap Bag for this great 'cookie' idea. Come autumn, I'll try their Autumn 2-ingredient Cookie, using pure pumpkin pureé.

Use really ripe bananas for making these - the riper your bananas, the sweeter the cookies.

3-ingredient oat cookies
(Kaerahelbeküpsised)
Makes about 16 bite-sized morsels

2 ripe medium-sized bananas
200 ml (4/5 of a cup) of quick-cooking oats
a handful of either raisins or dried cranberries (craisins) or chopped dark chocolate or chopped walnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 170 C/350 F. Line a cooking sheet with a parchment paper or simply grease your cookie sheet thoroughly.

Peel the bananas, place into a bowl and smash with a fork. Add the oats and the add-in (I love the tiny seedless currant raisins):

 

 Mix till combined. Take about a teaspoonful of the mixture at the time, form into a ball and transfer onto your cookie sheet.

 

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool slightly and enjoy!

Other foodbloggers making these:
Anne @ Anne's Food (9 March 2013, in English)
Martiina @ Tegemisi. Toimetusi (4 March 2013, in Estonian)
Gaili @ Tsheburashka (3 March 2013, in Estonian)
Kätrin @ Kätrin kokkab (13 March 2013, in Estonian)
Karen @ Kafka na praia (2 April 2013, in Brazilian Portuguese)

More moreish oatcake recipes:
My melt-in-your-mouth oat cookies
Cheesy oatcakes
Peppery oatcakes
Oatcakes with ginger
Apple and oat drops

Two years ago: Estonian Soda Bread Recipe
Four years ago: Raisin Fruit Soup Recipe (Kissel)

Crunchy carrot salad with salted peanuts

What's your best time-saving tip in the kitchen?

Here's one of mine. Lately I've developed the habit of peeling a big batch - about a kilogram/two pounds or so - of carrots at once. Using my food processor, I grate half of them finely, to be used in soups and various raw salads, meat-based pasta sauces, as well as carrot cakes or muffins. The other half I cut into thick julienne or thin batons or shred coarsely, using either the food processor or my trusty Benriner mandoline. These will end up in stir-fries or in cooked salads. The prepared carrots are simply waiting in the fridge, packed air-tight, of course, to be used as needed. We definitely eat more carrots because of this simple pre-planning, and this can only be a good thing, no?

Here's a lovely warm carrot salad using the bigger carrot pieces.


The combination of carrots and salted peanuts is from Nigella Lawson's book Forever Summer. The trick of giving the carrots a quick microwave oven treatment is from Harumi Kurihara's lovely book Harumi's Japanese Cooking. Harumi, also known as the Martha Stewart or Delia Smith of Japan (depending whether you're in the US or UK), uses this microwaving method to soften the vegetables in her carrot and tuna salad recipe.

If you haven't got a microwave oven or prefer not using it, then simply stir-fry the carrots quickly in some of the groundnut or olive oil to warm and soften them slightly. Or make this a raw salad instead, though then I would grate the carrots finely and chop the peanuts first.

Crunchy carrots with peanuts
(Krõmpsuv porgandisalat soolapähklitega)
Serves 4

 

400-450 g carrots
100 g roasted and salted peanuts
2 Tbsp groundnut or olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
a few drops of sesame oil
fresh (Italian/flat-leaf) parsley, finely chopped

Peel the carrots and cut into 5 mm julienne-sticks or shred coarsely (I used my food processor for that). Place into a microwave-safe glass bowl and blast them in the microwave for 90 seconds to slightly soften and warm them.

Take the bowl out of the oven, drizzle with olive oil and sesame oil as well as lemon juice, then sprinkle parsley on top. Toss the carrots gently to combine with these ingredients.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

More carrot salad recipes:
Warm Gingered Carrot Salad with Feta Cheese @ Nami-Nami
Moroccan Carrot Salad @ Nami-Nami
Carrots with African spices @ Nami-Nami
Carrots with African spices @ A Veggie Venture
Apricot-glazed carrots with ginger and curry @ Kalyn's Kitchen
Spicy shredded carrot salad @ Kalyn's Kitchen
Orange Blossom Carrot Salad @ Simply Recipes
Classic Carrot Salad @ Simply Recipes
Beautiful carrot and peanut salad @ Trembom
Caribbean carrot salad @ The Leftover Queen
Peanuts and carrots @ Nami-Nami (same recipe, posted back in 2006)

Mulled sea-buckthorn drink

A glass of warming sea-buckthorn drink. If you're unfamiliar with the name "sea-buckthorn", then it's also known as sandthorn, sallowthorn or seaberry, and tyrni in Finnish, Sanddorn in German (as well as Seedorn, Sandbeere, Weidendorn and so on), havtorn in Danish and Swedish, duindoorn in Dutch, Hippophae rhamnoides in Latin, argousier in French.

Are you a fan of Pinterest? I am. I hopped on the Pinterest-bandwagon quite late, but have grown to love it for the ease of identifying and saving various inspirational dishes. It's a great way to spot gorgeous drink and food ideas, and that's where I came across Sandy's sea-buckthorn punch. Sea-buckthorn, the wonderful superberry, has been featured quite often here on Nami-Nami (see below for numerous recipe links), and I try to use it quite regularly in my kitchen as well. This mulled hot drink using a mixture of sea-buckthorn juice, orange juice and black tea, was a great discovery.

Mulled sea-buckthorn drink
(Kuum astelpajujook)
Adapted from Confiture de Vivre
Serves 6 to 8

1 litre of brewed tea (I used Early Grey)
500 ml (2 cups) sea-buckthorn juice
250 ml (1 cup) good-quality orange juice
4 cloves
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick/bark
5-6 Tbsp soft brown sugar

Optional (for the alcoholic version):
vodka and/or sea-buckthorn liqueur

Mix tea, sea-buckthorn and orange juice, spices and the sugar in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring into a gentre simmer, then leave to infuse for 15-20 minutes on a very low heat.
Remove from the heat, ladle into heatproof glasses and serve.

For an alcoholic version, add 2 cl of vodka and/or sea-buckthorn liqueur per glass.

More sea-buckthorn recipes:
Sea-buckthorn jelly with kama mascarpone mousse @ Nami-Nami
Sea-buckthorn and Amaretto cheesecake @ Nami-Nami
Sea-buckthorn and apple tart @ Nami-Nami
Sea-buckthorn sorbet @ Nami-Nami
Cardamom panna-cotta with sea-buckthorn and apricot compote @ Nami-Nami
Sea-buckthorn juice @ Russian Season
Sea-buckthorn @ Real Epicurean
Gelbe grütze @ Küchenlatein
Coconut cream custard on sanddorn mirror @ Vegalicious Recipes
Sea buckthorn curd with raspberries @ Swedish Food
Sea-buckthorn cheesecake @ Bumpkin Mag
Sea-buckthorn mousse @ Andie's Veggies
Sea-buckthorn kissel with Greek yoghurt @ Suvi sur le vif

Orange salad with pomegranate seeds, perfect for the festive season

Citrus fruit and Christmas go hand in hand, no? Well, in my house they do. I like serving an orange salad during the festive season - either as a starter, like this beetroot and orange salad with ginger yoghurt dressing or this fennel and orange salad with a simple vinaigrette or even this super-simple orange and red onion salad. Or as a dessert, in a form of a simple "Orange Ambrosia, for instance.

When flipping through the pages of one of my current favourite food magazines, the Swedish-language Lantliv mat & vin, I was immediately drawn to a pretty orange and pomegranate salad. And although Christmas is still a few weeks away, we've had some snow in Estonia already - and it's snowing outside as I'm writing this post - so this salad has been sitting prettily on our table twice during the last week or so. And it'll be definitely making an appearance or two during December.

It'd make a lovely light dessert, or simply one of the dishes on your festive buffet spread. It's also vegan and gluten-free, so suits all kind of special diets.

If you're making this in Estonia and are looking for crushed cardamom seeds, then I recommend buying MEIRA cardamom - it's coarsely ground. If you're looking for fine cardamom "dust" (sorry, powder), then Meira is not for you :) Alternatively, buy whole cardamom pods and grind your own. You'll need seeds from about 20 cardamom pods to get about a teaspoon of ground cardamom. 

Orange salad with pomegranate seeds
Apelsinisalat granaatõunaseemnetega
Adapted from Lantliv Mat & Vin, Nr 6/2012 (Apelsinsallad)
Serves 4, can be easily multiplied

 

 4 large sweet oranges
1 ripe pomegranate
1 Tbsp (brown) sugar
1 tsp ground cardamom seeds

Peel the oranges with a sharp knife, then cut into thin slices, crosswise. Arrange nicely on a large plate.
Remove the pomegranate seeds and scatter on top of orange slices.
Mix the ground cardamom with sugar and sprinkle on top of the fruit.
Serve at once or leave to macerate for an hour or two in a cool place, covered.

Makhlouta, a comforting rice and lentil soup from Lebanon

Remember those pictures from our garden, taken just ten days ago? Well, just a week later our garden looked - and is still looking - very different, as the snow came surprisingly early this year, and that first snow is still here.



Which means it's time to enjoy autumnal hearty flavours from now on. And here's a neat recipe to start with - a Lebanese soup makhlouta. What impresses me most about this is that it hardly contains anything, yet is most satisfying and flavoursome :)The recipe is slightly adapted from Claudia Roden's wonderful Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon, published in 2006. According to Taste of Beirut food blog, makhlouta means 'mixture' in Lebanese Arabic and it's a soupy stew that contains variour legumes and beans such as lentils, kidney beans, white beans, chickpeas, bulgur wheat. Claudia Roden's version is pretty minimalist, containing just rice and lentils, but I often prefere minimalist versions anyway, so I'm happy with this recipe.

Makhlouta - Lebanese rice and lentil soup
(Liibanoni riisi-läätsesupp)
Serves 6 to 8

 

2 large onions
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 litres vegetable stock
200 g red 'Egyptian' lentils
100 g risotto or porridge rice, rinsed and drained
2 tsp coriander seeds
salt and black pepper

To serve:
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
1-2 lemons, cut into sectors

First make the crispy onion topping. Peel and halve the onions, cut into thin slices.
Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan, add the onions and fry gently until the onions are softened and translucent. Now increase the heat and fry until the onions are golden brown and caramelised. Transfer onto a kitchen paper to crispen.

For the soup, bring the water into a boil. Add the lentils and rice. Season with pepper and add the crushed coriander seeds. Bring into a low simmer, cover and simmer for 35-45 minutes, until both rice and lentils are completely soft and the soup nice and creamy. Taste for seasoning  - add salt, if necessary.

To serve, scoop the soup into warm soup bowls, sprinkle with crushed cumin seeds and garnish with crispy onion rings. Place lemon slices or sectors on the table, so everyone can sprinkle some lemon juice on top of their soup.

More makhlouta recipes out there:
Taste of Beirut
Mama's Lebanese Kitchen
Ya Salam Cooking
The Gutsy Gourmet
The Well-Seasoned Cook

No porcini mushrooms? Make sautéed aubergine/eggplants (Melanzane al funghetto)

The silver-haired Amalfi-born and England-based Antonio Carluccio is known in the United Kingdom as the godfather of Italian gastronomy. This lovely dish is based on his recipe. Gently sautéed cubed aubergines/eggplants with garlic indeed have a flavour reminiscent of porcini/penny bun/cep mushrooms (Boletus edulis in Latin) - hence the title of this post :) A handy recipe to have when you crave mushrooms but cannot get hold of good ones, or when you want to please somebody who cannot eat mushrooms for whatever reason..

Antonio Carluccio recommends this as a side dish to veal chops or Wienerschnitzler, but it's lovely as a vegetarian main with some crusty white bread as well. 

Choose nice and firm aubergines for this.

Melanzane al funghetto  
(Praetud pommud e. melanzane al funghetto)
Serves four

500 g aubergine/eggplant
2 garlic cloves
8 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp seal salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

Peel the aubergines (not compulsory, I actually prefer them unpeeled) and cut into neat 1,5-2 cm cubes. Slice the garlic.
Heat oil on a large skillet over moderate heat. Add the aubergine and garlic and sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the aubergine softens.
Stir in the parsely, season with salt and pepper.
Serve hot or leave to cool before serving.

Beetroot pkhali, or Georgian beet salad with walnuts and herbs

There have been no beetroot recipes on Nami-Nami recently. I wrote about the wonderful Persian dish, beetroot borani, back in May, but that's three months ago! Me thinks there's definitely time for another beet dish, or I'm in danger of losing my Beetroot Princess* title :)

A fortnight ago we hosted a Georgian feast in our backyard, and one of the many Georgian dishes I prepared was this simple and stunning-looking pkhali, made with beetroot. Pkhali is a Georgian vegetable dish that's something between a salad, dip or even spread, depending on the consistency you choose; the characteristic feature is the aromatic garlic-walnut-herb dressing. (You may have come across an alternative spelling, mkhali. That's the Russian name for this Caucasian salad.) The most popular are beetroot pkhali and spinach pkhali, but one can also use cabbage, eggplant/aubergine, red kidney beans or other vegetables. At any Georgian feast, you would usually find a selection of pkhakli-dishes to sample. I've provided a number of links at the end of the post, if you wish to explore further.

Ideally you'd roast your own beets for the best flavour, but I've used pre-cooked (organic) beets on couple of occasions and I doubt anyone noticed, really.

Charklis pkhali aka Georgian beet salad with walnuts and herbs
(Gruusia peedisalat kreeka pähklitega)
Serves about six or many more as part of a buffét table

 

500 g beets/beetroot

100 g walnuts
3 to 4 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
a handful of fresh parsley
a handful of fresh coriander/cilantro
0.5 tsp dried savoury
0.5 tsp ground coriander seeds
about a Tbsp of good-quality red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar

If you're using raw beets, then scrub them clean and wash thoroughly, wrap into a piece of foil and bake in a pre-heated 180C/350F oven for 60 to 90 minutes, until the beets are cooked. Cool, peel and grate finely.
If you're using boiled beets, then grate them finely and let drain on a sieve for a while, to get rid of any excess moisture (you can press the beets even drier with your hands or a wooden spoon).
At the same time place the walnuts, garlic cloves and a generous pinch of salt into a food processor and process into coarse paste. Add the coriander/cilantro leaves and parsley, process again for a short while.
(You can obviously use the good old pestle and mortar to make that walnut and garlic paste).
In a big bowl, mix the grated beets, walnut-garlic-herb paste and the rest of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper according to taste. Be cautious with the vinegar - pkhali needs to be slightly acidic, but never vinegary, and the exact amount depends on the sweetness of your roasted or cooked beetroots.
Cover the bowl and transfer into the fridge or cold larder for 2-6 hours - this "waiting time" is necessary for the flavours to mingle and develop.
To serve**, form the pkhali into small balls (optional) and place onto your serving plate. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, thinly sliced red onion or chopped of spring onion/scallion.
Serve at room temperature.

* My friend Alanna of A Veggie Venture is the reigning Beet Queen, remember :)

** Alternatively, spread the pkhali evenly on a plate, then make a diamond pattern on the spread with the edge of your knife before garnishing (see Melissa's spinach pkhali link below as an example). Of course, you can also simply spoon the pkhali into a suitably sized bowl.

More pkhali recipes: 
Spinach pkhali @ The Traveler's Lunchbox
Spinach pkhali balls @ Jeanette's Healthy Living
Beetroot pkhali @ Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow
Beet pkhali  @ Stay for Tea
Spinach pkhali @ Delicious Georgian Recipes
Spinach Pkhali, Cabbage Pkhali, Beet Pkhali  @ Food Gather.com

Coconut and carrot soup with lime and basil

 
I know, I know. It's summer and you're probably wondering why would anyone write about soothing vegetable soups, no?

Well, here's a flavoursome and vegan and gluten-free soup that'd be perfect for those slightly cooler summer nights that we are (at least here in Estonia) bound to encounter every now and then. It's mostly store-cupboard ingredients, so a lovely stand-by recipe. Somehow the coconut and carrots and basil and lime together are very refreshing, and surprisingly suitable for summer months. We thought it worked also well as a cold soup, but that's up to you.

The recipe is adapted from Lina's Matkasse, a popular Swedish grocery-and-recipe delivery service.

Coconut and carrot soup with lime and basil
(Kookose-porgandisupp laimi ja basiilikuga)
Serves 4 to 6

350 g carrots
1 medium onion
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
220 g red lentils (about 1 cup), rinsed and drained
1 litre vegetable stock
thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
400 ml coconut milk
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1.5 tsp cumin seeds, ground
1.5 tsp coriander seeds, ground
0.5 tsp salt
1 lime, juiced
a pinch of chilli flakes (I used Aleppo chili)
a handful of fresh basil leaves

Peel or scrub the carrots and cut into 1 cm slices. Peel and chop the onion.
Heat oil in a heavy saucepan, add the onion and fry for a few minutes. Add the carrots and lentils and a sprinkle of salt, sauté for another few minutes.
Now add the vegetable stock, grated ginger, crushed garlic, cumin and coriander seeds as well as the coconut milk. Bring into a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, until the lentils and carrots are soft.
Process the soup until smooth (I prefer a jug blender, but an immersion blender would work as well). Season to taste with salt, lime juice and chilli flakes.
Garnish with basil leaves and serve.

EDIT November 29, 2012: Lydia Walshin featured this recipe on her SoupChick blog. Thank you, Lydia!

Wild Garlic Hummus Recipe

The wild garlic season has began here in Estonia. For almost a fortnight I see people foraging for the pungent wild leaves in a nearby forest, and I've been picking a small brown paper bag full of leaves twice myself. The other day I was browsing on Pinterest for lovely wild garlic ideas, and came across this lovely recipe for wild garlic hummus on Shaheen's blog Allotment2Kitchen.

I used my regular hummus recipe and simply added a generous handful of wild garlic leaves. The result was a vibrant green dip/spread, that had a wonderful garlicky element, but its Lebanese/Israeli heritage was still there.

Note that wild garlic is also known as ramson (Allium ursinum). It's closely related to wild leeks or ramps (Allium tricoccum). Very generally speaking, the first is common in Europe and the latter in North America. You can easily substitute one for the other in this (and other Nami-Nami's wild garlic recipes).

Wild Garlic Hummus 
(Karulauguhummus)
Serves four

400 g canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 handful fresh wild garlic leaves, rinsed
couple of spoonfuls of water
4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Drain the chickpeas and place to the food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until you've got a smooth paste (or slightly coarse, if that's how you prefer your houmous). Taste for seasoning - if you wish, add some more lemon juice or salt.

Excellent with toasted pita bread, or on a slice of toast, or spread on crispy crostini or as a dipping sauce with some crudités. We enjoyed ours with some Georgian bread, pictured.

More Wild Garlic recipes:
Wild Garlic Pesto with Almonds @ Nami-Nami
Wild Garlic Pesto with Pinenuts @ Nami-Nami
Wild Garlic Tzatziki @ Nami-Nami
Mashed Potatoes with Wild Garlic @ Nami-Nami
Wild Garlic Butter @ Nami-Nami
Ramson-Almond-Pesto  @ Küchenlatein
Creamy Wild Garlic Soup @ Cinnamon and Thyme
Wild garlic, courgette and mint soup by Angela Hartnett

More hummus recipes:
Harissa-spiked hummus @ Nami-Nami
Beetroot Hummus @ Nami-Nami
Hommus with pomegranate syrup and tahini @ Anissa Helou
Basil hummus @ Simply Recipes
Hummus en fuego @ 101 Cookbooks
Roasted jalapeno and lime hummus  @ The Kitchn
Beet Hummus @ Chocolate & Zucchini

Meatless Monday: Buckwheat with beets and dill

From the recipe archives - originally posted in December 2010, fully updated in March 2012.



It's time to up the number of buckwheat recipes on Nami-Nami - and I think this beautiful porridge kasha recipe fits the bill nicely. The inspiration for this recipe is from Rose Elliot's book Learning to Cook Vegetarian, and if you love buckwheat and you love beets, then you must try this! It's best served hot, but if you have any leftovers, then this is also an excellent lunch box dish.

A note about buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum). It's a pseudograin, and not a member of the cultivated grasses (Graminaceae) to which most grain cereals belong. Buckwheat is closely related to sorrel and rhubarb. It's native to central Asia - buckwheat was domesticated in China or India some 1000 years ago - and was introduced to Northern Europe during the Middle Ages. It's hugely popular in Russia, where the buckwheat groats are toasted to make porridge kasha and the greyish flour is used to make blinis that are famously enjoyed with caviar or smoked salmon.

Note that buckwheat is naturally gluten-free, so it's a suitable and tasty grain alternative to all those who need to avoid gluten.

Buckwheat with beetroot and dill
(Peedi-tatrahautis)
Serves six to eight

2 Tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
250 g buckwheat groats (about 300 ml)
750 ml boiling water (3 cups)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
500 g cooked beetroot, grated
2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill

sour cream or plain yogurt, to serve (omit for a vegan meal)

First, you need to toast the buckwheat. The buckwheat we usually use in Estonia is pre-roasted and dark brown, so this can be heated on a dry skillet for about 2-3 minutes. If you're using the "light" buckwheat groats, then roast them on a dry hot skillet for about 6-7 minutes, until it's nicely toasty and aromatic.
Heat the oil in a large high frying pan/sauté pan. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another minute or so.
Add the toasted buckwheat and boiling water, season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan with a lid, reduce heat and simmer on a low heat for 15-20 minutes, until the water has absorbed and buckwheat is nice and soft (but not mushy!!!).
Fold in the grated beets and heat for another 2-3 minutes. Taste for seasoning, stir in the dill and serve hot.

Lovely with a dollop of sour cream/yogurt and some grilled (Portobella) mushrooms.

If you like Cosmo (and Sex and the City), then you'll love this drink: Cosmopolitan glögg

Sex and the City (2008)

Miranda Hobbes: [at a bar, drinking Cosmopolitans] 

"Why did we ever stop drinking these?"

Carrie Bradshaw: "Because everyone else started! "

Perhaps it's time to start again?

This delicious and soul-warming winter drink has got its name from the famous Cosmopolitan cocktail. Ok, there's plain vodka and not lemon vodka here, and I haven't used any limes to give the drink an extra zing (though you could, by all means), but the similarities are definitely there. It's officially my favourite mulled drink this year, even if I do go very easy on the vodka most of the time :D

If you like the classic Cosmopolitan, and enjoyed watching Sex and the City, then this drink is for you :)

Cosmo Glögg
(Jõhvikaglögi)
Serves six
Adapted from Finnish-language book "Kotilieden jouluaika: Pikkujoulusta loppiaisen" (2006)



1 litre good-quality cranberry juice drink
2 Tbsp glögg mixture*
100 ml vodka
50 ml orange liqueur (Triple Sec or Cointreau)

To serve:
dried cranberries (aka 'craisins')
orange twist

Bring the juice and glögg mixture into a simmer, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 20-30 minutes. Add some sugar to taste, if you really wish so.
Strain and re-heat. Add the spirits and serve in heat-proof glasses.

* I used Meira's glögimauste, which contains finely chopped dried Sevilla orange peel, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. You can use any mulled wine or glögg seasoning mix of your choice, if that's not available. 

Estonian recipes: thick fruit soup (dried fruit kissel)

One non-Christmas recipe for a change :) Paks puuviljakissell or thick (dried) fruit soup/kissel is an old Estonian favourite (I've previously blogged about it's more modest cousin, raisin fruit soup). The kissel on the photo was made with dried apricots, prunes, pears and raisins, but you can use whatever fruit you have in hand. It's cheap, tasty and easy to make.

You can also serve it in umpteen ways. Traditional way to serve fruit soup is with milk (or perhaps light cream), but you can top a thick fruit soup with whipped cream or even good-quality vanilla ice cream, which would make it actually a rather festive pudding, especially if served from pretty dessert bowls.

Dried fruit soup
(Paks puuviljakissell)
Serves 6

500 g dried fruit and berries of your choice - apples, pears, prunes, seedless raisins, apricots etc.
1.5 litre of water
a cinnamon stick
2 cloves
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)
juice of half a lemon
2 to 3 Tbsp potato starch or cornflour + some cold water (see note below)

Rinse the dried fruit under cold water, then cut into smaller pieces, if necessary.
Place into a large saucepan with water and let them soak for 2-3 hours.
Add the cinnamon stick and cloves. Bring the "soup" into a boil, reduce heat and simmer slowly until the fruit is softened. Near the end of the cooking, add the sugar and season to taste with lemon juice.
To thicken the soup, make a slurry with starch and some cold water. Drizzle the starch slurry into the fruit soup, stirring carefully. If you are using potato starch, then re-heat the fruit soup and remove from the heat as soon as the first bubbles appear on surface - do NOT boil. If you're using cornflour, then you need to cook the soup for a few minutes for it to thicken.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and sprinkle some sugar on top - this prevents the "skin" from forming on top.

Christmas Recipes 2011: Curried Parsnip Soup

Photo by Andres Teiss

I am not claiming that this curried parsnip soup is a traditional Christmas soup in Estonia or anywhere else in the world. However, after living in Scotland for seven years, I do associate parsnips - at least in their roasted incarnation - with Christmas feasts, and the warming curry spices make it immensely suitable for a lighter (and healthier) festive starter. I've used individual spices - ginger, cumin and turmeric - to spice up this pretty soup, but you can simply substitute your favourite curry powder mix for these spices.

Again, this recipe was one of the six recipes that I was recently asked to develop for a particular supermarket here in Estonia, which are included in their 2011 Christmas Newsletter. The photos for the newsletter were shot by Andres Teiss, and he has kindly allowed me to use those for my blog posts as well.

Curried Parsnip Soup
(Karrivürtsidega pastinaagisupp)
Serves six


Photo by Andres Teiss

1 to 2 Tbsp oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic glove, minced
750 g parsnips (peeled weight)
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 litre hot vegetable stock
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh coriander/cilantro leaves, to garnish

Cut the parsnips into chunks.
Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan. Add the onion and sauté for a few minutes. Add the garlic, fry gently for another minute.
Add the spices and parsnip, stir to coat evenly with the spice mixture. Pour in the stock, season with salt and pepper. Bring into a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently for 20-30 minutes, until the parsnip is soft.
Remove the saucepan from the heat. Process the soup until liquified (you can use either a hand-held immersion blender or a liquifier blender). Reheat the soup, season to taste, if necessary.
Garnish with a fresh coriander/cilantro leaves and serve.


Photo by Andres Teiss

Ottolenghi's chargrilled broccoli with chilli and garlic

Here's a lovely recipe adapted from London-based Yotam Ottolenghi's first cookbook, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook. The book is full on inspiring vegetarian dishes that I've been drooling over - and cooking - over and over again. I've already blogged about two of the dishes - roasted aubergine/eggplant with saffron yogurt and a refreshing cucumber and poppy seed salad, and here's a lovely vegan side dish using broccoli. I've reduced the amount of oil used in the recipe considerably, but otherwise it's following the book.

Chargrilled broccoli with chilli and garlic
(Röstitud spargelkapsas tšilli ja küüslauguga)
Serves 4

500 g broccoli
4 Tbsp olive oil
4 to 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 mild red chillies, deseeded and thinly sliced
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

To garnish:
toasted almond slices or thinly sliced lemon

Separate the broccoli into florets and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes and not longer! Immediately refresh under cold running water to stop further cooking, then drain and leave to dry completely.

Once the broccoli is dry, toss with 3 Tbsp of the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Place a griddle pan on high heat and leave for 4 to 5 minutes until smoking hot. Grill the broccoli in batches on the hot pan, turning to get lovely charmarks on all sides. When ready, transfer into a heatproof bowl.

While the broccoli is cooking, place the remaining Tbsp of oil in a small saucepan together with sliced garlic and chillies and cook on a medium heat until the garlic begins to turn golden brown. Be careful not to let the garlic and chilli burn – they will continue cooking in the hot oil even when off heat. Pour the garlic and chilli oil over the hot broccoli florets and toss well.

Season to taste, sprinkle with almond slices or lemon slices and serve immediately or at room temperature.

My favourite beetroot soup, vegetarian borscht

October 2011

Here is one of my very favourite soups of all time, which I make about once a month (at least!). It's a vegetarian version of the famous Russian-Ukrainian beet soup, borscht. My version is delicious and heartwarming - brilliant for cold autumn days and dark winter nights. Yet it's light and refreshing enough, so it would also be good during summer. I tend to use sauerkraut during winter and plain white cabbage during summer (and prefer the first one).

Depending how good your knife-skills are, but it could be on your table in about 40 minutes or even less. I use the food processor to shred (or 'julienne') the vegetables.

My favorite beet soup
(Mõnus peedisupp, täitsa lihavaba)
Serves 4 to 6 as a main course


September 2007

400-500 g (about a pound) of beets
2 medium onions
2 large carrots
400-500 g (about a pound) white cabbage or mild sauerkraut
2 Tbsp olive oil
1.5 litres vegetable stock
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice or wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

sour cream, to serve

finely chopped parsley or dill, to garnish

Peel the beets, onions and carrots. Cut all vegetables into thick matchsticks (you can use a food processor here to speed up the process). If using fresh cabbage, shred it thinly.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add carrots, beets, onions and a pinch of salt and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Add the shredded cabbage or sauerkraut, then pour in the hot stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer on a low heat for about 20-30 minutes, until vegetables are softened.
Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, keeping in mind that a proper borscht should have a slightly acidic taste.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream (or omit, if you want a vegan soup) and sprinkle with some chopped parsley or dill.
Serve with some crusty (rye) bread.

UPDATE 21.9.2007
Hedgehog made this soup, too - check out her post here.

NOTE: This soup recipe was originally posted in September 2007. It's been fully revised and updated in November 2011.

Tasty apple and oat morsels that don't look much, but taste wonderful

Disclosure: I was sent a free review copy of the Green Market Baking Book: 100 Delicious Recipes for Naturally Sweet and Savory Treats by the publishers. A proper book review is yet to come, but here I sing praises to one little recipe from that book - apple oat pecan drops (page 121). These soft oat cookies (or morsels) don't look much, but I've made them no less than three times during the last week. As pecans are prohibitively expensive - and hard to come by - over here, I've used chopped almonds instead. I love them - they're soft, yet ever so slightly chewy, naturally sweet (apple! raisins!), healthy (no added sugar and virtually fat-free), very simple and quick to make, vegan, and rather addictive. I baked them last Friday, just to try a recipe from the book, then made another batch to take along to a a pop-up apple cake café on Saturday (the first person to try them bought 20!), and then another batch to a little village fête yesterday - and I will certainly make them again soon.

Apple and oat drops
(Õuna-kaerahelbeampsud)
Makes about 25-30 tasty morsels



1,5 cups rolled oats (about 350 ml or 130 grams)
1 Tbsp whole wheat flour or spelt flour
2 large apples, coarsely grated
1 Tbsp mild oil (I used rapeseed)
0.5 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp vanilla sugar
4-5 Tbsp (hot) water
0.5 cup small seedless raisins or currants (about 75 g)
4 Tbsp chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 F / 180 C.
Using a fork, mix together oats, flour, apples, oil, vanilla and water. Mix in the raisins and the nuts. Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop the batter onto the baking sheet by the spoonful (either a heaped teaspoonful or a scant tablespoonful).
Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until the morsels are light golden brown.
Cool a little, then enjoy!

Georgian recipes: cucumber and tomato salad with cilantro/coriander

How do you like your tomato salad?

The most popular version here in Estonia is sliced and quartered cucumbers and tomatoes, simply mixed with some sour cream, dill or green onions/scallions and seasoned. However, this summer we've been experimenting with alternatives and this Georgian-style fresh salad has proved to be very delicious and well received. The key ingredient (in addition to flavoursome tomatoes and cucumbers, of course) is fresh cilantro/coriander. Not something I would have thrown into a simple tomato and cucumber salad a year ago, but love now!

Cucumber and tomato salad, Georgian style

tomatoes, quartered
cucumbers, peeled and thickly sliced or cut into batons
(red) onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
fresh coriander/cilantro (leaves only)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
some apple cider vinegar

Put the prepared tomatoes, cucumbers and onions into a bowl. Add the coriander/cilantro leaves, season with salt, pepper and a drizzle of vinegar. Combine gently and serve.

The best ever marinated olives (aceitunas aliñadas)

Well, I don't actually know if that title holds true, but when I made these olives recently, then my dear K stated that these are better than anything he's ever had before (read: shop-bought marinated olives). I loved them, too.

I had few friends over for a tapas night recently, and wanted to serve aceitunas aliñadas. I browsed tens of recipes for Spanish-style marinated olives, and finally came up with this version. I had run out of sherry vinegar, so used a mixture of Spanish red wine vinegar and some dry sherry instead, but feel free to use sherry vinegar instead. As far as the olives are concerned, try to find Spanish ones that are unstoned - these have much more flavour compared to the stoned olives. I used Spanish hojiblanca olives, but arbequina, sevillano, manzanilla (f. ex. Campo Real), arauco would all work well, too.

These last for a week in a fridge, if not longer.


PS If you've got a favourite marinated olives recipe, I'd love to hear about it! Feel free to leave a link to your recipe in the comments section.

Marinated olives, Spanish style
(Marineeritud oliivid)
Serves four to six as part of a tapas table

about 200-250 g olives (in brine, drained weight)
1 Tbsp Spanish extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp sherry vinegar (or red wine viner + 1 Tbsp sherry)
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed in a mortar
1 thyme sprig, leaves only
1 rosemary sprig, leaves only
0.5 tsp dried red chilly flakes
1 or 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

Place the drained olives into a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
Leave to macerate for at least couple of hours before serving.

The ideal thirst-quencher - a refreshing real lemonade

I love the fact that Estonia is becoming more knowledgeable about food - both its own and in general. During the Soviet time you couldn't really buy lemons at all. Then, for well over a decade, we got lemons, but often of questionable quality. I guess with our small population - just over 1.3 million people (= a very small market share) - our fruit importers didn't have much bargaining power at the European fruit and vegetable wholesalers and often ended up with the worst of the available fruit - including dried up lemons. (Still, compared to the "fresh" artichokes or rubbery fennels I've seen, the lemons have been pretty decent, I guess).

Now, during the last few years, we've had a bit of a food(ie) revolution happening. The number of excellent food blogs have sky-rocketed. There are lots of lovely restaurants popping up here and then. Organic food is becoming more available and small, artisanal producers have appeared on the shelves. The country of origin has become more important. If we take lemons, then it's not just a lemon you're buying, but lemons from Spain, Italy or elsewhere - depending on the season and the grocery store. And just recently I've realised that some stores even mark the variety of lemons. My local grocery store has been selling Spanish Primofiori lemons -huge, juicy and beautifully acidic (NB! Do not confuse with the Sicilian primofiore lemons). According to this page, Primofiori (locally known as limon Fino or limon Mesero in Spain) is the most important and popular lemon variety in the Mediterranean basin- over half of the annual Spanish lemon crop is made up of this variety. Primofiori lemons are large (mine averaged at 350 g each!), and they yield a lot of juice for their size.

Here's how I've been making lemonade to quench the thirst - we've had weeks of sunny, warm and dry summer here in Estonia, so this lemonade has been a real hit. It keeps for a week in the fridge, so it's

Note that there's no point giving exact number of lemons here - my Primofiori lemons were weighing about 350 g, yielding about 100 ml (just under 1/2 cup) juice each. I'll just give a proportion of sugar per juice that I've used. This yields a sharp and just slightly sweet lemonade - use more sugar, if you wish.

A really refreshing lemonade
(Tõeliselt mõnus limonaad)



juicy lemons
caster sugar

to serve:
still or sparkling soda water or plain water
ice cubes

Wash the lemons carefully, cut in half and juice them. Measure the juice, then take about 100 g (3.5 oz) of sugar per 250 ml (1 cup) of lemon juice.
Place sugar and lemon juice into a small saucepan and bring slowly to a boil. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Cool a little, then bottle and keep in the fridge.

To serve, place some ice cubes into a glass, pour some lemonade extract in over the ice cubes and top with (soda) water, to taste.