Chinese eggplant

Chinese eggplnt is one of my favourite dishes of Asian cuisine. It is not an easy topic because it quickly absorbs the oil on which it is being cooked and you always have to add more and more. In order to prevent that and make the dish light, you need to pre-soak the eggplant in the water with salt.

Secondly, eggplant does not have such a strong taste and that's why the sauce in this recipe is quite aromatic and makes the taste more interesting. I also recommend making this dish with some pork meat. You can just finely chop the meat and fry after adding ginger, garlic and onion.  

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.   

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.

King prawns with coconut milk

The recipe comes from a friend of mine who has been working in the Asian restaurant industry for more than 20 years. I learnt a lot from him and I love the way he cooks. He always uses garlic, ginger, chili and onion as the basis for nearly each Asian dish and I think it's both healthy and tasty. The recipe is for a spicy yet delicate dish due to the coconut milk which balances the hot taste. 
King prawns are a very rich source of Omega 3 fatty acids which are essential for our health. Their intake can lower the risk of cancer, arthretis and heart disease. It's good to include them in our everyday diet- seafood like king prawns are one of the good sources.  

Refreshing raspberry-coconut smoothie

Summer is still around and we are searching for different methods to cool down our bodies. We can do that by serving cold drinks or food but we can also do that by using the ingrediends which have cooling properties. Raspberry-coconut smoothie contains mint which realises its essence and pleasantly cools us down. The coconut water and melon are very refreshing and raspberries give the smoothie the fruity taste. When I drank it I felt pleasant coolness in my stomach :)

Italian Prosciutto ham salad

I think this salad is perfect for summer- crispy, fresh and juicy! Personally, I have it as the main course and I don't need anything else, but you can as well share it with friends during a get-together.

The idea comes from the restaurant where I worked- we used all the ingredients like: Prosciutto ham, rucola salad, mozzarella, balsamic vinegar, pumpkin seeds, etc. for Italian meals. I just put them all together- in the symphony of taste ;)

The portion is enough for 2 persons if you both have it as the main course.