Sweet Pickled Radishes

I had three big white radishes and didn't know what to do with them. So I went searching for recipes and tried this. Delicious!

Sweet Pickled Daikon Radish

Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence

Yield:1 quart
1 cup rice vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 pound daikon radish
1/4 cup kosher salt

Directions
In a small saucepan over medium heat add the vinegar, water, sugar, and turmeric. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and allow it to cool. Meanwhile, peel the daikon radish and slice into 1/4-inch thick rounds. (If your daikon is very large, slice the rounds into semicircles.) Place in a colander with salt and mix well. Place the colander over a bowl and let drain for 1 hour. Rinse the salt off with a couple of changes of water and dry the daikon well. Put into a sterilized glass jar. Pour the cooled brine through a coffee filter (or a cheesecloth lined strainer) into the jar to cover the radish slices. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Will keep for about 2 weeks.

Microwave Bread and Butter Pickles

Quick and Easy Bread and Butter Pickles from allrecipes.com .

I made these today and they were great.

Microwave Bread and Butter Pickles

Rated: Submitted By: Linda Photo By: Mmillet15 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 30 Minutes Servings: 24

"Who knew the microwave was a pickles best friend? Cucumbers, onions and spices become crisp and delicious in minutes!"

INGREDIENTS:

1 large cucumber, sliced 1 teaspoon salt 1 onion, thinly sliced 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 cup white sugar 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar 1/4 teaspoon celery seed 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a medium microwave safe bowl, mix cucumber, salt, onion, mustard seeds, white sugar, distilled white vinegar, celery seed and turmeric.
2.	Microwave on high 7 to 8 minutes, stirring twice, until cucumbers are tender and onion is translucent.
3.	Transfer to sterile containers. Seal and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

Easy and Chocolatey Cocoa Hot Fudge Sauce

It's not easy to find good tasting chocolate here in Ghana. Cocoa beans are grown and processed here produced but the local chocolate bars are very chalky tasting - maybe because of the heat so they won't melt? I don't know. But the cocoa powder tastes great and is inexpensive. So here's a good recipe for cocoa powder based chocolate sauce from foodess.com

A few tips: I use a 4 cup glass measuring cup for cooking this. It allows boiling without boiling over. The first time you heat it up - it will boil high and dissolve the sugar in 1 1/2 or 2 minutes. After adding the butter and cooking again, the fudge sauce will boil high for about a minute. Stir every 30 seconds or so and don't quite heating. By the second minute the sauce settles down lower and just boils and thickens. I think if you skip this step the sauce will be thin. I boil mine for 3 full minutes and stir often. You can add some squares of chocolate along with the vanilla if you want richer flavor. You can also try adding flavorings. I put orange peel in with the sugar in my last batch. Child flakes would be fun.

Be sure to use good tasting cocoa powder.

Of course the best ever chocolate sauce is pure melted top quality dark chocolate with some milk or cream stirred in. It will seize and thicken at first, but keep adding milk and stirring. Leftovers taste just like the center of a truffle.

Cocoa Hot Fudge Sauce

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup heavy cream or milk
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

1. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine sugar, cocoa and cream. Cook on high 2-3 minutes, until sugar dissolves and mixture boils.

2. Stir in butter and cook on high 2-4 minutes more, watching closely and stirring every 30 seconds or so, until mixture thickens. Stir in vanilla and a pinch of salt.

Basic Pancakes

Sometimes, when you live far away, you crave the basics flavors of home. These pancakes are not in any way healthy - but they just taste good (with lots of butter and syrup). And I can find all the ingredients here in Ghana Recipe from allrecipes.com

and they didn't serve four - the two of us ate them all.

Fluffy Pancakes

Rated: Submitted By: kris Photo By: Sara Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 25 Minutes Servings: 4

"Tall, fluffy pancakes are delicious served with butter and syrup or top with strawberries and whipped cream for a real treat."

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup milk 2 tablespoons white vinegar 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons white sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg 2 tablespoons butter, melted cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".
2.	Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
3.	Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Brownie recipe using oil

I need simple ingredients here in Ghana for baking occasional treats. Good quality chocolate is hard to find but there's a good local cocoa powder.

I used this simple browning recipe using oil instead of butter, which is quite expensive. It was easy and delicious!

Recipe is from food.com

The Best Brownies

By Juenessa on February 17, 2003

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flour

Directions

·      Preheat oven to 350°.

·      Mix oil and sugar until well blended.

·      Add eggs and vanilla; stir just until blended.

·      Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

·      Stir dry ingredients into the oil/sugar mixture.

·      Pour into greased 9 x 9 square pan.

·      Bake for 20 minutes or until sides just start to pull away from the pan.

·      Cool completely before cutting.

Note: I usually double the recipe and bake in a 9 x 13 pan. If you double the recipe, you will need to cook longer than 20 minutes.

coconut cupcakes

•  

• This was Rachel's request for her birthday dessert.  They turned out delicious! For the icing I just made a basic buttercream frosting using coconut milk for the liquid and then topped the cupcakes with toasted shredded coconut.  (this makes about 21 cupcakes)
• 
  
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut
• 6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, plus 2 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients (including coconut) in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Mix remaining wet ingredients in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

True Parisian Crepes

Having eaten crepes in France last week, we realized the ones we make here do not compare to the real deal.  So here is the secret sauce  (for 8-10 people)

Preparation time 10 min - Cooking time 3 min (but it has to stand for 30 min after preparing)

List of Ingredients

250g flour (1 1/2 cups of flour)
4 eggs,
one pint of milk
1 pinch of salt
50 g butter (3 1/2 tablespoons)
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon rum (5 cl)

In a bowl, mix the flour and eggs. Then gradually add the milk while stirring with a whisk.

Add the vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt, butter and rum
Let stand for 30 min and then heat the crêpe pan  and melt a little butter. 
Use a ladle depending upon the thickness of the dough. IT is not necessary that the batter is too thick. If it is too thick add a little more milk. IF it is too liquid add flour.
Use waxed paper to stack the crepes.  Put butter on pan between cooking each crepe to not make it stick

I am ready to make these in any of your homes.

(This is the recipe Micka was going to use in the US for his restaurant).

from Reid

and remember 'crepes' rhymes with 'reps' not 'tapes'

very important if you are making true Parisian crepes!