Chinese plum sauce

This aromatic sauce is a perfect match for fatty meat dishes, especially the duck. The recipe comes from Asian cuisine and the ripe plums and five-spice powder are the basis for it. I learnt about five-spice powder when I was making the crispy Chinese duck. It turned out that you marinade the duck with it. The five-spice powder consists of SOLELY the following ingredients: anis, pepper, cinnamon, fennel seeds and ginger. Always check out the ingredients! When I went to the supermarket and I took the spice of a popular producer called "five-spice powder" it turned out that it contains artificial aromas and other chemical additives. Plus, it did not even contain the five spices. That's why I bought it in a local herb shop. It's also available in online shops or else you can even do it yourself by mixing the spices I have enumareated before in equal proportions. But coming back to the sauce. Here's the recipe!

Green tea cake

Since I went to Japan and I discovered how many things you can do with green tea, I knew I must bring some to Poland and make my own recipe. The basis for this easy cake is an ordinary sponge cake and powdered green tea- very common in the Cherry Blossom Land. It's also becoming more popular outside Japan now. Feel free to try out this recipe :) And the story of the tea ceremony in Japan soon on the blog! 

Potato pie with cheese and chanterelles

Yesterday I just felt so much like eating sheperd's pie but I knew I don't want meat, so I figured this out...It's a light creamy-textured pie with delicious chanterelles and a pich of white pepper. Adding parsley roots to the mashed potatoes gave them a distinctive taste. I love it! 

Power boosting carrot juice

Do you remember your parents serving you carrot juice when you were small? I used to drink it when I was a child and so did thousands of other children in Poland. It was delicious and left you a "moustache" mark under your nose. Drinking carrot juice helps to improve you eyesight, skin and hair condition and also refreshes and boosts the energy level. My favourite version of carrot juice also inludes mint and orange for extra freshness and ginger for boosting the immunity. Remember not to drink it very often. Eating whole raw carrots is much healthier for us because they have more fiber than juice.   

Vanilla-plum whole wheat cake

This weekend I am celebrating the end of my house renovation. Hurray! What a relief, it’s finally over! I felt like celebrating it with a plum cake. However, I decided to add some vanilla flavour to it...You can see the result of my idea here.

Mango lassi

Since I practically do not drink anything except for water, tea and freshly squeezed juice, I had been hesitating to try mango lassi for a long time. I was not sure what that was- juice, smoothie, cocktail? Nothing of that sort. Mango lassi is just mango lassi.  Nothing can compare to this taste. This delicious, sweet drink has its roots in Indian and Pakistan cuisine. The exotic mix of fresh mango with Greek yoghurt gives it perfectly creamy texture and sweet taste. The secret of mango lassi is in mango- the sweeter the better. If mango is juicy and ripe, you don’t need to add any sugar. You can serve it with ice in the summertime, then it’s pleasantly cooling. I encourage you to try my recipe- it’s one of my favourite :) The picture above shows mango lassi served in the Vietnamese restaurant LeLe in Copenhagen.

Banana-pear millet groats

When I read in Beata Pawlikowska's book (Polish author, traveller, journalist) about the health benefits of the millet groats I knew I must try and decide if I would include them in my daily menu. I easily found millet groats in every supermarket and a grocery store (it's best to get the ones that are organic). I prepared them the same way that I did my oatmeal: cooked with milk, served with fruit and sunflower seeds. The meal was as good that I feel like cooking it every day and I make this effort to take my time in the morning and simmer it for 20 min. It's really worth it! It has a lot of health benefits, wonderful taste and on top of that it gives great energy for the whole day. Today I am giving you my recipe for the millet groats I have cooked the last few days, but you can prepare them in many different ways. I am sure there will be many more recipes for the millet groat on my blog in the future.

Salmon with lemon sauce

Since I started eating out in Copenhagen, the word "laks" meaning "salmon" was everywhere. You could eat salmon in every sandwich bar and restaurant. Sometimes it was in a salad, sandwich or just grilled fish. Always served with herbs and lemon. So delicious!

Everybody was speaking about "laks" even those who only knew English and not Danish:

- What are you making for dinner tonight?

- I'm making laks.

Somehow the word is so strongly rooted in the Danish culture that you just have to use it :)

I love the match of salmon and lemon. Salmon is a fatty fish (rich in good Omega 3 acid fat) and lemon balances it with its freshness. I recommend serving this dish along with steamed broccoli- for keeping the maximum of their nutritional values and paraboiled and wild rice.

Banana-oat cookies

I remember when I once went to a supermarket in Copenhagen to do the shopping and I bought some bananas that were on sale. 1,5 kg cost as much as three pieces normally do. Unfortunately, my appetite for bananas did not go along with the amount that I bought. The next day the bananas turned brown and I had to solve the problem before I would be forced to throw them out- which I don't usually do. But "the need is the mother of necessity" like they say, so I had to figure something out. I put the bananas in a big bowl and I smashed them with a fork. I started adding different ingredients to knead the cookie dough. Plus, I added all nuts, dried fruit and pieces of chocolate that I had left from baking another thing before. When they stared baking the fantastic smell of bananas spread around the whole apartment. At that time my roommate came back from university and we couldn't resist trying the delicious cookies when they were still warm. They were really good and disappeared fast. Since then, I have improved the recipe and I am writing it down for you today.