Fluffy cake with yeast / Drożdżówka

Following grandma's advice after showing her this post that the same dough can be easily used for a cake, I came up with this:

Za poradą babci po pokazaniu jej tego postu przekształciłam to samo ciasto w drożdżówkę:

Follow the dough recipe from the previous post, lay it out in a greased cake form with some flour, leave to rise. Before baking, put some fruit on top, and make the top 'crumbles' which are made of butter, sugar and flour. The more the tastier, but since they're really unhealthy I just made a small amount.  The amount from the photo was made of 2 tbsp of butter, about 2-3 tsp of sugar, a bit of vainlla sugar and about 4-5 tsp of flour. Mine is dark, as I added some unsweetened cocoa to it.Try not getting the butter melted when you do it, it should really look like crumbles. 

I baked mine at about 160C for more or less 30-35 minutes but I think the times vary so start at low temperature, so that the cake still rises in the oven before the top is burnt. 

Curry time! / Czas na curry!

Both me and my husband absolutely adore curry, because it's spicy, easy to make and delicious. We have done this one a few times already, it tastes great and is so easy to make. The recipe is really only a guidance, as you can use whatever is available and whatever you like.

For this one I used:

2 chicken breasts

5-6 carrots

2 zucchinis

1 avarage size butter squash

can of chickpeas

can of kidney beans

some mung beans

a bag of some little spicy peppers (bird's eye, I think)

1 tube of tomato paste (200g)

2 bullion cubes (one chicken and one vegetable flavour)

a spice "for hungarian chicken" by Knorr that they sell in Poland, but really anything spicy/with paprika will do

last time I also added some bell peppers, but we didn't have them this time.

Put some water in a pot, add the bullion cubes (you can dissolve them first in hot water in a cup) and start bringing it to boil. In the meantime, peel and slice carrots and buttersquash, cut zucchinis, rinse mung beans, remove seeds from the spicy peppers, chop them or just throw them as they are, but probably should fish them out before serving (to avoid unpleasant surprises). Put everything in the pot, including the beans and chickpeas, and bring to boil. Cube the chicken and bronze it on the pan to seal the juices in and add it to the pot. Cook for some time, until the veggies are tender and add tomato paste and any other spices you like.

Serve with rice or couscous, but (if you want to cut down on the carbohydrates) it's also great on its own.

Grandma's apple pie / Jabłecznik z przepisu babci

I baked this a few times and it always comes out great, it's soooo easy!

The recipe is from my grandma, after years of enjoying it at her house.

Ingredients: (although I always make it half the size)

1kg of flour

250g of butter

4-5 eggs

+/- 400g of sugar (including vanilla sugar - optionally add vanilla flavouring) - I usually try and add less

125ml of milk

6 tsp of baking powder

2kg of apples

cinnamon

sugar (if they're sour)

bread crumbs

Mix well all the dough ingredients in a bowl, being careful not to get the butter too melted.

Peel the apples, grate them and squeeze out as much juice as possible (into a cup! It's delicious.) Add some bread crumbs to make them less wet. Add cinnamon (if you like it) and some sugar if the apples are too sour (I skip this, there's enough sugar in it as it is).

Spread half of the dough at the bottom and sides of the pan. Cover with apples. Use the remaining dough to cover the apples - if you cover it evenly then poke a few holes with a fork, but you can also have fun and make some patterns with the dough.

Bake at about 180C until golden brown.

These photos come from our anniversary last October:

Racuchy / no clue how they might be called in English

They remind me of childhood, as my grandma tended to make this for me and my brother when we were young. I still remember their lovely smell. I've always loved them but never thought I could make them on my own - they seemed to be sort of a grandma's secret. Well, I can proudly say these came out tasting very close to those from my memories.

(I borrowed the recipe from here)

Ingredients:

500g of flour

25g of dried yeast

1-2 tbsp of sugar

1 egg

375ml of warm milk

pinch of salt

oil for frying

powder sugar to serve

Put flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl and stir. Add egg and milk and mix well until it's smooth. Cover and leave in a warm place until it doubles in size (make sure there's enough space in the bowl! My dough almost escaped :P). It takes about 1-1.5h. Heat up some oil in the pan (not too hot though, or they'll burn before cooking inside) and put quite small scoops with a tablespoon; they will still 'grow' while frying. It is a good idea to dip the spoon in hot water before scooping - it prevents the sticking. Fry until golden brown on both sides.

They will be greasy, so you can lay out some paper towel on the plate and dry them a bit.

Sprinkle them with some powder sugar and they're ready to go! (Although I've been warned as a kid not to eat warm yeast dough, to avoid stomach ache, but who can resist!)

Last minute tip from my grandma: if you (like us) are little piggies and ended up eating too many, some mint tea should help.

A bit of history / Trochę historii

To begin with, a few photos from the past. I don't have exact recipes for any of these dishes, but can more or less describe what I used.

Na początek parę zdjęć z przeszłości - nie posiadam niestety dokładnych przepisów na te dania, ale postaram się mniej więcej opisać składniki i sposób wykonania.

Brussels / Bruksela (2010)

This what we had to work with: fruit, wine, two-burner stove and, most importantly, chili flakes ;)

Tym dysponowaliśmy: owoce, wino, dwupalnikowa kuchenka i, najważniejsze, płatki chili ;)

And this one of the things we came up with: Split peas patties with potato croquettes.

Split peas patties:

Dry split peas (we had green)

Bread crumbs

Spices (salt, pepper, whatever you like)

Egg

Preparation:

Cook split peas until it turns into a thick paste, add the rest (proportions vary - the idea is that the patties stay in one piece :P) and form into patties. Roll in bread crumbs and fry on a pan. At the end, add a slice of cheese on top, sprinkle with some spices, and steam until it melts.

Potato croquettes:

Cooked potatos

Bread crumbs

Egg

(there might have been milk, but I don't remember)

Again, mix everything together, form croquettes and fry.

Both patties and croquettes sucked in a ton of oil when frying, so we never repeated this. But it sure was tasty this one time! Just check out my husband's joy :D

Jedna z potraw: Kotleciki z łuskanego grochu i krokiety ziemniaczane.

Kotleciki:
Suchy, łuskany groch (u nas zielony)
Bułka tarta
Przyprawy (sól, pieprz, co kto lubi)
Jajko

Przygotowanie:
Ugotować groch aż zamieni się w gęstą pastę, dodać resztę (proporcje różnią się – generalnie konsystencja jak na mielone kotlety, żeby się nie rozpadały), uformować kotleciki i smażyć na patelni. Pod koniec, dodaj plasterek sera, posyp przyprawami, dodaj trochę wody na patelni i przykryj na chwilę, aż ser się rozpuści.
Krokiety ziemniaczane:
Ugotowane ziemniaki
Bułka tarta
Jajko
(możliwe, że w przepisie było też mleko, ale już nie pamiętam)

Wszystko wymieszać, uformować krokiety i smażyć na patelni.

Niestety podczas smażenia i kotleciki i krokiety wciągnęły mnóstwo oleju, więc już nigdy tego nie powtórzyliśmy. Ale ten jeden raz, wyszło przepysznie! Mina męża mówi sama za siebie :D

First post - a bit of explanation / Pierwszy post - parę słów wyjaśnienia

After about 2 years together in Europe with my husband, and always living on a budget and coming up with all kinds of delicious food that doesn't cost a fortune, I decided to document some of our achievements. I have also decided to make this blog available both in English and Polish, partly to practice my translation skills, party because what we cook is really a mixture of both (with hints of Mexican food, as my husband comes from New Mexico). Well...bon apetit!

Po około dwóch latach spędzonych wspólnie w Europie z moim mężem, spędzonych na gotowaniu smacznych potraw na raczej dość ograniczonym budżecie, postanowiłam udokumentować nasze sukcesy kulinarne. Po namyśle, postanowiłam również publikować ten blog po polsku i po angielsku, aby obie strony mogły z przepisów skorzystać (i aby poćwiczyć trochę tłumaczenie ;)). Potrawy urozmaicone są również potrawami meksykańskimi, ponieważ mój mąż pochodzi z Nowego Meksyku w USA. Smacznego!