Egg White Cake Recipe (Munavalgekook)

Have you been making ice cream or perhaps zabaglione recently? If yes, then you're left with lots of egg whites. Last weekend we had blackberries with zabaglione at friends' place, and were left with 6 egg whites after that. K. had already made the most beautiful macarons for the New Year's Eve party (see Flickr photo set here), so I had to come up with another idea. Meringues or pavlova are always an option, but then I remember an egg white cake recipe my schoolmate Kristel had shared on my Estonian site, where it had got good reviews. I decided to give it a go.

It's a bit similar to the famous Angel Cake (heavy on egg whites, no egg yolks), but it's not as virtuous as it contains almost a stick of butter. Psst - don't tell anyone! :)

And it was lovely. Very simple to make (especially with the help of my trustworthy KitchenAid Stand Mixer), and I loved the dense, moist and small crumb of the resulting cake. I made a plain version, but would consider adding some Nielsen Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract or real vanilla seeds, or perhaps couple of drops of Boyajian pure orange oil next time.. In any case it's a good recipe to have on hand when you've got lots of egg whites but don't feel like making meringues..

Egg White Cake
(Munavalgekook)
Serves 8-10



6 large egg whites
250 g caster sugar
160 g plain/all-purpose flour
1 heaped Tbsp potato starch or cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
100 g melted butter (just under a stick), slightly cooled

Whisk the egg whites with 2 Tbsp of sugar until thick and pale and very foamy. Mix the rest of the sugar with flour, potato starch and baking powder, then sift into the egg mixture and fold in gently.
Finally fold in cool melted butter.
Pour the batter into a buttered bundt-form and bake in a pre-heated 180 C oven for 30-40 minutes. Test for doneness with a wooden toothpick.
Cool slightly before turning out of the cake tin.

Some other bloggers have tried this cake:
Ju @ The Little Teochew (2012)
Karen @ Citrus & Candy (2009)
Sarah @ What Smells So good (2009)
Erika @ Beyond Pasta (2012, though she doesn't link back to here)
Ronni @ Cooking Memos (2011)
Closet Domestic Bunny (with matcha!, 2012)
La Petit Four (another matcha version, 2012)

Seven-Layer Salad, Estonian style

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL READERS OF NAMI-NAMI - AND WISH YOU A DELICIOUS AND EXCITING 2009!!!



Here's another 'Estonian-style' dish for you, dear readers. But let me first take you back to my first trip across the big pond..

When I was in the US last summer (in June 2008), I spent a few days with a lovely foodblogger Alanna in St Louis, MO. Alanna took very good care of me, and fed me well. One of the dishes she introduced me to, was a Classic Seven-Layer Salad. Last night, at the New Year's Eve party at our place, I served an Estonian equivalent of that salad - which, rather appriopriately for a Beet Princess, also contains a generous beetroot layer. A recipe is adapted from an Estonian cookbook (Pereköögi kokaraamat, 2007).

It's best to use a straight glass bowl for this salad, so you could see the pretty layers. Also, make the salad at least the night before to allow the flavours to meld and develop.

Estonian Seven-Layer Salad aka Layered Beetroot and Cheese Salad
(Kihiline peedi-juustusalat)
Serves 8 to 10 as part of a buffet table



400-500 g boiled beetroot, coarsely grated
250 g coarsely grated cheese
4 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped*
4-5 pickled cucumbers, finely chopped
200 g frozen petit pois peas

Dressing:
250 g mayonnaise
250 g sour cream
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Garnish:
chopped herbed
hard-boiled quail eggs

Mix the dressing ingredients together.
Place the frozen peas on a colander and pour over boiling water to 'cook' them (or you may want to actually blanch them for a minute, if you prefer). Drain thoroughly.
Layer the ingredients in a glass bowl in a following order: place peas on the bottom, top with grated egg. Spoon about a third of the dressing on top.
Then add the grated cheese, then beets and cubed pickles. Spoon the rest of the dressing on top, covering the whole salad thoroughly.
Cover with a cling film and place into a fridge until serving.
Before serving, garnish with peeled and halved quail eggs and some fresh herbs of your choice.

* Here's my tip for 'finely grating' hard-boiled eggs. I simply peel them, place in a deep plate and mash with a fork into fine crumbs :)


(The salad just after layering - you can already see the beetroot seeping through the layers).

Nami-nami in Print and in Press

I've collected here print and online mentions of my English-language NAMI-NAMI foodblog as well as my Estonian-language NAMI-NAMI recipe collection, as well as direct links to articles written by me and food photos taken by me and/or K.

Happy browsing!

(UPDATED MAY 2009)

Everyone's a Critic, October 7, 2008
Nami-nami foodblog was mentioned in Debbie Elkind's article Everyone's a Critic published in an Australian SBS Online..

10 December 2007
Nami-nami foodblog was listed as one of the finalists in the 2007 Food Blog Awards
Rural category, alongside Lucullian Delights, Farmgirl Fare and Garlic Breath. I did not win, unfortunately, but it was such an honour to be a finalist in the annual food blog awards. You can read more here.

9 November 2007
The food section of Guardian Unlimited Blogs, aptly named Word of Mouth, mentioned my K's cannelés post in "Our Faves" section :)

21 October 2007
Wynn Williamson of the Wide Open Education site mentions Nami-nami alongside Delicious Days, Jamie Oliver and YumSugar on his list of favourite food sites.

15 October 2007
The Swedish MatFeber site has again featured one of my photos, that of the beetroot pickled eggs.

15 October 2007
Guardian's Word of Mouth blog posted an article by a very mycophobic Jack Arnott, who also linked to my wild mushroom hunting post, though he claims that mushrooms would 'give him shivers. Oh well, we all have our weird habits and phobias I guess..

14 October 2007
The food section of Guardian Unlimited Blogs, aptly named Word of Mouth, mentioned my wild mushroom hunting post in "Our Faves" section :)

9 October 2007
BaltLantis picked up my Sea-buckthorn Jelly post, adding it to their recipes section.

4 October 2007
Kalyn featured my Cinnamon Roll photo in her BlogHer post about Daring Bakers.

17-23 September 2007
I'm doing the week-long eGullet foodblog - you can follow the thread here.


18 September 2007
Tea Austen Weaver of the lovely Tea and Cookies blog featured Nami-nami in her CHOW Grinder article How Do You Say "Yummy" in Estonian?

13 September 2007
Liz Crain of the Oregon-based Culinate food site interviewed me recently. You can read the interview - Food for the taking: An Estonian blogger forages the forests and the fields - here.

11 September 2007
Amy Sherman (of the Cooking with Amy fame) mentions my blog in her Epicurious Blog post on Daring Bakers and credits me for sharing both my successes and failures. It obviously pays off being honest about burnt recipe notes :) Thank you, Amy!!!

9 September 2007
An American expat living in Tallinn, Rachel J. K. Grace, mentions Nami-nami foodblog in her interview to Expat Interviews, Baltic Yank: American expat Rachel in Estonia.

20 August 2007
Two of our photos (this taken by me, this by K) were used to illustrate Ryan Nadel's article Darker fruits could fight cancer in Australian crowd powered media NowPublic (Click on the slideshow to see the photos).

15 August 2007
My post & photo about Nigella Lawson's raw beetroot salad with dill and mustard seeds was featured by the Swedish news and lifestyle blog Matfeber. The same article (and photo) was co-published by the online edition of Swedish daily newspaper, Express.

8 August 2007
My photo of traditional Estonian rye bread was used as an illustration alongside Joel Alas' article about bread in Estonia in the English-language newspaper The Baltic Times.

July/August 2007
I was asked to test and review a recipe for the July/August 2007 issue of Oma Maitse, the local equivalent of the BBC Good Food magazine (see page 5 for a short bio, and p. 25 for my opinion of this recipe.)

23 July 2007
Elion Digitark, the web forum for the largest Internet provider in Estonia recommends my English-language foodblog as a good source of recipes, especially highlighting my experiments with kama:
"Nami-Nami - toidublogi, mida peavad eestlased, kuid inglise keeles. Juttu nii retseptidest, kui kogemustest erinevate toiduainetega. Korduvalt on selles blogis olnud juttu näiteks kamast."

4 July 2007
I was asked to translate the menu of President Ilves' and President Bush's lunch in the White House for the national weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress, and was credited for the translation.

22 June 2007
Kristjan Pillak mentions my Estonian language recipe site in his article Jaanipäeval grillimiseks retsepte in the summer website of the national weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress, providing links to 14 different shish-kebab or šašlõkk-recipes on my site.

17 May 2007
A full page article, Turulkäik Londoni moodi, about our visit to the London Borough Market was published in a national weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress. Alongside were two photos taken by K.

10 May 2007
A full page review of our visit to the Petersham Nurseries Café, called Restoranitrende Londonist was publised in a national weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress. Alongside were three photos taken by K.

19 February 2007
I guest-blogged over at Johanna's blog The Passionate Cook, writing a Culinary City Snapshot of Tallinn.

20 December 2006
Kristjan Otsmann recommends my Estonian-language recipe site as one of eight particularly useful sites for Christmas ideas in his article 8 veebilehte jõuludeks in the national weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress:
"Kui inglise keel valmistab raskusi, siis saad abi kodumaistelt http://www.nami-nami.pri.ee/ või http://www.kokaraamat.ee/ lehtedelt."

1 November 2006
My fellow foodblogger Alanna of A Veggie Venture very kindly mentions my blog in her article Gather ’Round the Computer: Foodies come together in the blogosphere in Sauce Magazine.

24 May 2005
Kadri Vilen praises my Estonian-language recipe site in her article Vilunud kokkajaks tänu Internetile in Arvutimaailm (Computer World).
"Edasi võiks nimetada Nami-nami retseptikogu - sisaldab üle 6000 retsepti. Enamik on pärit rahulolevate kokkajate sulest ning seotud kokandussõnastikuga - tundmatud komponendid seletatakse kenasti lahti.
Eraldi on välja toodud nii tähtpäevadeks sobilikud kui rahvuspühadeks kõlbulikud kodumaised road. Tegemist ühe entusiasti suurekspaisunud projektiga. Tänuväärne üritus."

21 November 2003
Volks Vaagen writes in his article Internetti retseptijahile in a national daily newspaper Eesti Päevaleht about various online recipe sites. My Estonian language recipe collection is praised for citing sources for various recipes, its set-up and logic, good number of ethnic cuisines represented, and for its useful food dictionary:

"See retseptikogu on aus. Ja aususe eest müts maha! Viited selle kohta, mis allikatest on veebil esitet retseptid võetud, ei ole köögindussaitidele tavaline, samas annab äärmiselt hää viite teostele, kust leida muudki huvitavat. Nami-nami on lihtne oma ülesehituselt, kerge kasutada, suhteliselt kiire. Võiks öelda, et tegu on isegi minimalistliku lehega veebikujunduse mõttes, aga sellevõrra lahedamalt kasutatav. Leht mõtleb nendele köögitajatele, kes vajavad kiiresti retsepti või ideed samaks päevaks, sestap antakse päeva retsept eraldi ja targasti tehakse. Rahvusköökide (säälhulgas Eesti) arv on enam-vähem optimaalne. Neid võiks ju ka alati rohkem olla. Aafrika kööke napib, kreooli köök aga sisuliselt puudub. Arvan, et see on ainult aja küsimus, millal need read täienevad, kuna kõikidel külastajatel on võimalus oma retsepte anda ja see on suurepärane! Kokandussõnastik on vajalik ka kõige kogenumale kokale."

22 April 2003
Britta Hansmann mentions my Estonian-language recipe site in her article Kilomeeter kokaraamatuid in Arvutimaailm (Computer World):
"Nami-nami — kaks ja pool tuhat süstematiseeritud retsepti. Otsing, hüva nõu. "