matcha vertical swiss roll

Today's post is my ode to green tea, beloved of my tea cup and my palate, and it will be one crammed with pictures to facilitate the making of this involved cake. I cannot live without green tea, but don't take my word for it. The proof's in this baumkuchen, this chicken noodle soup like no other, almond sables, this stupendously easy and delicious bee tai bak in green tea and last week's luscious matcha shorbread.I have green tea on the brain. Hence, the back to back matcha posts.

matcha white chocolate chip shortbread

I remember the first time I ever put a piece of shortbread into my mouth. I was thirteen and visiting my mum in hospital after she'd had some pretty major surgery. She was still woozy from anaesthetic and as I sat there, watching her chest gently rise and fall, my eyes strayed to the gift laden table beside her.

chocolate and vanilla zebra cake (eggless)

Finally got up the nerve to sign in to my blog dashboard this morning.  Couldn't believe the vicious beating my visitor stats had taken since my last post about a month and a half ago. Still, it warmed the old cockles to see that a surprising number of you continued to visit, despite the lack of updates. Thank you for your loyalty or curiosity, and for the lovely notes some of you sent to find out where the dickens I've been hiding and what the devil I've been up to. You know how blogging can be a consuming passion, an addiction? Well, so can life, lived normally. My neck's on the block here, but it's true to some extent, that food bloggers are a breed apart. Our families will attest to how we're slightly batty about our food, table settings, garnishes, props, kitchens and all our related 'toys'.

chocolate chip hot cross buns

After days and days of delicious fruit filled tea brack with mug after mug of tea in the afternoon, my original plan to make traditional fruit speckled hot cross buns at some point during Holy Week, began to loose its lustre. I had loved every fruity slice of dark, moist, spicy tea brack but it felt more and more like hot cross buns would be more of the same, albeit in adorable itty bitty yeasty bun form.

tea brack (tea soaked fruit loaf)

You must be thinking, I've got an Irish fetish, this being the second Irish recipe I'm posting in barely two weeks. What I have is an indescriminate (in the best possible way) food fetish and as I see it, every community has culinary gems that await discovery by the hungry and the curious. You could though, blame part of it on the lingering after effects of St Patrick's Day and the fact that I stumbled on a fabulous deal too good to pass up, while killing time trawling a supermarket, waiting for a friend to show up for lunch.

roti mariam (fried bread)

This is the bread that spawned my easy yoghurt naan, which spawned my easy garlic herb and sesame naan. So I guess you could say she's now a grandma? Hubs was having an evil craving, but I convinced him pan fried naan was what he really wanted, instead of fat sodden discs of deep fried dough. He bought it, for a while, but the beast once again reared it's greasy head and hubs would no longer be denied. 

I recently made a biryani and the first words out of hubby's lips were, "Got roti mariam?" When I grinned sheepishly, he glared and declared, "Enough with the freakin naan! I want roti mariam!". He can't seem to enjoy his biryani without a pile of these crisp, bronzed and blistered breads beside his mound of golden rice and spiced meat. 

cashew & potato curry

Hi all! It's time for our monthly Nona Nona feature and this month's theme, chosen by me, is cashew nuts. It should be no surprise, if you've read my cashew milk post, which started the cashew craze in my kitchen. Biren of Roti n Rice and Tea Tattler, my blogger buddy, personal friend and Nona Nona partner as always, gamely agreed, though she admitted cashews were a stumper as apart from Indian cooking, you won't find them in many traditional Asian dishes, the few exceptions being Kung Pao chicken, or cashew cookies.

This month marks our ninth Nona Nona collaboration, and next month, when Biren takes the wheel, will be our first Nona Nona anniversary. For a peek at our past Nona Nona features, click on the link. I can't believe Biren and I have been at this for almost a year and I can't wait to see what she has simmering for us next month! 

guinness and cheddar soda bread

Can you tell where I'm going with this? I'll give you a hint. Leprechauns love green almost as much as they love gold. Ok, so I'm not Irish, not even Irish-descended, which is why I've refrained from calling this "Guinness and cheddar Irish soda bread". But maybe Scotland's close enough? No? Well I guess the only way I could make this even remotely Irish then, is by pouring one half of a Guinness into the mixing bowl, and the other down my gullet?

cashew milk

A huge bag of unroasted cashews landed in my lap a few days ago. They're expensive and I didn't want them to go to waste so, I've been putting them to every imaginable use in the kitchen. Nuts tend to go rancid quite quickly in warm, humid weather and if kept in the fridge, haphazardly packaged, they will absorb odours from other foods very easily.

sambal bendi (okra sambal)

Okra is a sadly misunderstood vegetable, the operative word being "misunderstood", because, as much as it is reviled by many, it is equally loved by Indian, Nyonya, Malay and Louisiana Cajun and Creole cooks. Did you ever wonder how a vegetable with a reputation for being as slimy as a snail trail, or as wooden as a Dutch clog, could possibly be loved by anyone in their right mind?