Archive | Lithuanian

Mint sauce – Lithuanian style!

By Rasa Pelham on June 1, 2018 in English, Lithuanian, Preserves, Recipes

So I am in Lithuania waiting for Joni to come and join us here for my brothers wedding. My dad is very eager to impress Joni with his culinary skills and kept asking what Joni would really enjoy to have for dinner when he comes.

Me: I am not too sure, we like a lot of things.

My dad: But what he really really likes?

Me: Ok, ok. I think he would really enjoy a good steak (I would enjoy that too with lots of salad… hmm)

My dad: How about I make roast lamb?

Me: But steak is beef? (why did he even ask if he is planning to make what he likes?)

My dad: So Joni does not like lamb?

Me: He likes lamb too. We like it with mint sauce.

My dad: Ok if I make roast lamb will you make the mint sauce?

Me: Ok sure!

I go and start looking into making some mint sauce. We have plenty of mint in the garden (check), salt (check), apple cider vinegar (Lithuanians are against using vinegar so I decide to try and use lemon instead), sugar (since lemon is sharp in taste I decide to make it more mellow by using some honey that we have plenty of as my dad is a bee keeper).

When Joni arrives my dad start introducing what he is making for dinner.

My dad: here is mussels for starter and here are some beef steaks for dinner.

Me: ????

Me: I thought you are making roast lamb??

My dad: But you said Joni prefers steak??

Me: never mind! I am not going into it.

I make the mint sauce anyways because I am interested how it turns out with lemon and honey. Joni is surprised how close to taste it was. I think I prefer it to the original recipe, because I am Lithuanian after all. I prefer food without vinegar although I do think sometimes it is necessary. Are you interested too how it tastes? Recipe is below.

MINT SAUCE LITHUANIAN STYLE

1 cup compressed mint leaves
1 tbsp honey
pinch salt
boiling water
2-4 tbsp lemon juice

1. Place mints, honey, salt and some boiling water and whizz it with the hand processor. 2. Cool the mint puree and add lemon juice to your taste. This sauce is not only to use with lamb (although it goes with the lamb best). It can be used in mushy peas, mixed with yogurt to be used with rich stews. Maybe in salad too methinks?Thanks for letting me share, hope this post does not sound too silly.

Rasa xoxo

Croissants with poppy seed filling

By Rasa Pelham on December 12, 2017 in Christmas waiting, Lithuanian, Recipes, Sweet Treats

In Lithuania we are big on poppy seed, especially when it comes to Christmas. This is why I feel that these croissants filled with poppy seed goodness is very appropriate for this season. I have been wanting to make this hundred leaves cake to begin with (It’s so traditional in Lithuania like fruit cake in England), but I felt it was too time consuming. This is when this croissant idea came around! You see the dough of hundred leaves cake is kind of similar to croissant dough so I decided to incorporate it with the shop bought dough. Everything went swimmingly well and the rest is history.

CROISSANTS WITH POPPY SEED FILLING

makes 6

100g poppy seed
50g raisins
1tbsp honey (optional)
uncooked croissant dough ( I used Jus-Rol brand as it seem the only one available in the shops)
1 egg, whisked for egg wash

1. Place poppy seeds and raisins into the bowl and pour over boiling water over it. Let it sit for an hour or so till it is well soaked and doubled in size.

2. Using the blender whizz poppy seeds and raisins till it becomes like a paste. Add honey if needed for the sweetness, otherwise it is quite sweet from the raisins. 3. Roll out the dough and cut into triangles. Spoon some poppy seed mixture into each triangle and wrap it using the corners. Place croissants parcels into lined baking tray and brush it with egg wash. Bake the croissants in preheated 180C oven for 10-15min. Happy Christmas waiting!

Rasa xoxo

BBQ Lithuanian style (volume 2)

By Rasa Pelham on July 26, 2017 in Lithuanian, Outdoors, Recipes

We are off to Lithuania today so I thought to I will share another Lithuanian recipe for the barbecue (last year we shared a recipe for these pork shashlik that was a hit).

Few weeks ago we had some family over and of course we wanted to do bbq again since the weather has been great. Was not sure about pork so I thought of making them with safer meat option such as chicken (who does not like chicken?!). These are lovely and moist, can be served with rice and salad, same way as the pork ones.

CHICKEN SHASHLIK feeds about 4

1kg chicken breasts, chopped into chunks
4 tbsp mayonnaise
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large onion, finelly chopped
1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbsp curry powder
salt and pepper

1.Place all the ingredients into a large bowl, mix it well and cover it with plate so it is well compressed. Refrigerate the meat overnight.2. The following day, put the meat onto the skewers and you are ready to bbq. 3. Serve it with plain rice, green salad and good quality ketchup or tomato salsa. Enjoy those lovely summer days while it last ;-)

Rasa xoxo

Garlic rye bread and bean salad

By Rasa Pelham on November 28, 2016 in Christmas waiting, Lithuanian, Recipes, Savoury Delights

It’s becoming to look like Christmas and I decided to share a recipe for a salad that is traditional to have for Christmas Eve. It is that simple and tasty that my brother used to voluntarily go on salad making duty because of that. Hope you like it as much as we do! GARLIC RYE BREAD AND BEAN SALAD

Makes one medium serving bowl (I made half portion here)

1 medium rye bread loaf
6 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
generous amount of oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste
2 onions, finelly chopped
2tsp caraway seeds, soaked in water
2 cans of butter beans or cannellini beans, rinsed under cold water
bunch of parsley, finelly chopped (optional)

1. Slice the bread and then chop the slices into 1cm cubes.2.Fry the bread together with garlic in generous amount of oil (very necessary, sorry for dieters). Season to taste and put it aside.3. Fry the onion together with caraway seeds until onions are nice and slightly transparent. Add the beans and take the pan off the heat. 4. Mix everything together. Hope you don’t miss this humble salad at your Christmas table ;-).

Rasa xx

BBQ Lithuanian style

By Rasa Pelham on September 8, 2016 in From my childhood, Lithuanian, Outdoors, Recipes

I know I know, bbq season is almost over, but I could not help but share my favourite recipe of the year! I was so addicted to bbq this year that I probably made this at least five times I think. The recipe is adopted from my dad who made it while I was in Lithuania this year (and many times before when I was little). Its fairly easy to prep, just need to think of it the day before because it needs to marinate overnight. It’s pork unlike the other “shashlik” dishes in Middle East, but thats what makes it Lithuanian even though the name suggest otherwise. I love its freshness and the smell after marinating it overnight, it’s a must try!

ŠAŠLYKAI (SHASHLIK LITHUANIAN WAY) feeds at least 5

1.5kg pork, chopped into chunks for skewers (I used pork shoulder steaks)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large onion, finelly chopped
2-3 chilli peppers, finelly chopped
1 handful fresh basil, chopped
2 tsp Herbs de Provence
salt and pepper to taste (be generous here)
juice of one lemon
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Place all the ingredients into a large bowl, mix it well and cover it with plate so it is well compressed. Refrigerate the meat overnight. 2. The following day (can be even in the evening if you like), put the meat onto the skewers and you are ready to bbq. 3. Serve it with plain rice, green salad and good quality ketchup (it really makes all the difference). I hope you will find the time while the weather is still warm and enjoy it as much as I did ;-).

Rasa xoxo

Holidaying in Lithuania :-)

By Rasa Pelham on July 16, 2015 in Lithuanian, Travel

We just came back from our long long holidays in Lithuania and Iceland (this is why I was so silent for couple of weeks). More holiday pics to follow, but for now here are the pics from our Lithuanian adventure with Nicola (my sister) and Chris :-). First we have visited my Granny, than the forest in Kuršių Nerija National Park… …than the seaside with dunes.Rasa xoxo

Varškėčiai with pesto (Lithuanian curd cheese dumplings with the twist)

By Rasa Pelham on April 25, 2015 in From my childhood, Lithuanian, Lunch or Dinner, Recipes

From all the foods I liked in childhood I loved my mums cooked food the most. My mum was never a good cook, in fact only recently she started feeling passion for baking. But I really liked varškėčiai that she used to make (although I realised that they were slightly different to compare to other curd cheese dumplings that I have ever tasted). Traditionally varškėčiai are soft type dumplings that are often served with jam and sour cream. My mum used to add more flour into them making them more pasta like and served savoury with sour cream and butter. So it’s up to you what way you want to make them (less flour or more), but I decided to go with savoury and serve it with pesto (oh it was so yummy! I think I might be the first one to try them this way!).Varškėčiai are very simple to make, almost like gnocchi, except no need to prep anything ahead. Just mix three ingredients together into the dough and make the dumplings.

VARŠKĖČIAI serves 2

250g plain quark (it came slightly different to what I am used to, but it works as fine)
1 egg
5-8 heaped tbsp plain flour

1. Mix the egg with the quark and gradually add flour into the mix until the dough can be handled (so it does not stick too much onto the fingers).

2. Make varškėčiai dumplings in the same way as you would make gnocchi dumplings. Roll the ball of dough into the “sausage” and slice it into small bits. Lay the dumplings onto floured plates ready to be cooked.3. To cook varškėčiai drop them into the salted boiling water and cook them this way for 2 minutes until the dumplings float to the top (I usually fish them out from the top with the slotted spoon when they rise). Serve with sour cream and pesto of your choice.Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

Chilled beetroot soup (šaltibarščiai)

By Rasa Pelham on March 17, 2015 in Lithuanian, Lunch or Dinner, Recipes

First of all, happy Saint Patrick’s day! Sadly we haven’t got even a touch of irish so I thought I will make something pink instead of green :D.

Chilled beetroot soup is a proper Lithuanian summer soup, because it tastes soooo refreshing. However I have been missing it and I thought to myself why to wait if I can make it now. It’s not like I need to wait till beetroot is in season. Therefore I recovered my old recipe that I adapted for cooking in UK (you know, with the ingredients available here) so I could make this soup straight away. I hope you like it too ;-). CHILLED BEETROOT SOUP serves 4

4 large potatoes
4 eggs
2 packs of vacuum packed cooked beetroot (600g in total), or you can cook it yourself if you wish (however, don’t forget to peal it)
1 cucumber
1/2 bunch spring onions
1 pack dill (30g)
500g yogurt (Yeo Valley is my favourite) or 900ml buttermilk (then don’t use milk or cold water)
300-400ml milk or cold water
juice of 1/2 -1 lemon
1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder (optional)
salt to taste

1. Boil potatoes (with the skin on) and eggs in separate pots.

2. Grate the beetroot into the large bowl or pot.

3. Finely chop cucumber, spring onion and dill and add into the pot with beetroot.4. Add yogurt into the beetroot mixture, stir gently to combine. The soup is very thick at this stage so thin it down with cold water or milk. Traditionally we use buttermilk, but the choice of it in UK is so small and besides I always seem to have yogurt in stock.

5. I like adding lemon juice into my soup just because we often use pickled beetroot (not pickled in vinegar) to make this soup and I feel that soup made with regular beetroot is missing some acidity. So add lemon juice carefully to your personal taste. If too sour then add some salt to balance it out.

6. Serve the soup with quartered eggs on top and pealed potatoes on the side.Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

Panemunė forest

By Rasa Pelham on March 13, 2015 in Lithuanian, Outdoors, Travel

I just came back from Lithuania and i could not wait until I can share about our forest. Me and my mum went for a walk everyday here because it is just outside my parent’s house. I know it may look dull as it is still an early spring but it is magical in winter or summer. Sadly, one thing I could not transfer into the pics is the smell of pines and oaks :-).Although there was a storm 4.5 years ago that destroyed 1/3 of forest, the consequences of it are still apparent today. Even if mini forest is growing to replace the lost one (It’s a looooong process) And there is a river! (the biggest river in Lithuania called Nemunas) I hope you liked our mini forest tour ;-)

Rasa xoxo

Buckwheat, roasted veggies and avocado hummus bowls

By Rasa Pelham on February 20, 2015 in Healthy, Lithuanian, Lunch or Dinner, Recipes

Somebody once asked me what food is like in Lithuania…. and after a quick think I said that traditional Lithuanian food is generally very fatty and rich in taste, and doesn’t look ascetically pleasing (I don’t think I sold Lithuanian food well here!). However I have shared many Lithuanian recipes on the blog here that are slightly edited and presented in a more appealing way. For instance we do eat a lot of buckwheat in Lithuania (almost like rice here), but it is usually served with fried onion and pancetta type bacon cubes which if you can imagine would look a bit brown and dull (and very unhealthy). However I used to love eating cooked buckwheat with sliced avocado and some tomatoes in the very beginning when I moved to England. I love the taste of buckwheat so I am happy that I started cooking with it again! BUCKWHEAT, ROASTED VEGGIES AND AVOCADO HUMMUS BOWLS makes about 3-4 bowls

(for veggies)

1 courgette
1 red pepper
1 tomato
1 tsp cajun spices (or any other spices such as curry or Moroccan spices)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil

(for buckwheat)

200g buckwheat
1l water
1tsp salt

(for more hummus than you need for 4 portions)

1 can (400g) chickpeas, drained
1 ripe avocado, stone removed and flesh scooped out with the spoon
2 cloves garlic, pealed
8 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon juice
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground paprika
salt to taste

(extras)

100g feta cheese, crumpled
handful dill, finely chopped (very Lithuanian)

1. First prepare the veggies. Slice courgette, tomato and red pepper and place them into the baking dish. Season the veggies and drizzle oil over them, toss well to coat. Roast in C200 preheated oven for 30 min or so.2. Meanwhile cook the buckwheat (in Lithuania I am used to seeing dark brown buckwheat, but here they are much lighter in colour, although it taste the same). Add the water, salt and buckwheat into medium size pot and cook it as you would cook rice. I usually start with cold water, bring it all to boil and then reduce the heat to simmer for 20 min or so. Cooked buckwheat usually soaks up all the water and becomes really soft.3. Next make the hummus. Just pull all the ingredients to the food processor and whizz… ta da! 4. To combine the bowls just add a little bit of everything: roasted veggies, buckwheat and avocado hummus. Sprinkle the bowls with some feta cheese and dillpomegranate Skanaus! (“Bon appetit” in Lithuanian)

Rasa xoxo

Lithuanian seaside in winter (minus the the snow)

By Rasa Pelham on December 29, 2014 in Lithuanian, Outdoors, Travel

We are back from Lithuania and I could not wait to share the highlights with you. My favourite place in the world still lies on the Lithuanian seaside, in Kuršių Nerija National Park. However this time I was hoping for snow. Why? Because snow on the seaside looks unusual and I like unusual things! Anyway, maybe I will catch the snow next year?

Getting to any destination begins with a journey and ours started with a ferry. I love how there is no other way to get to the other side than the ferry (unless you travel via a Russian enclave)! You basically get transferred to the other side while sitting in your own car. How amazing is that!Walking through the forest to get to the sandy beach feels fairytale like. However I found these squirrel trail signs hilarious :-D. And who thought we could find ready decorated Christmas tree in the middle of the forest? Trying to make sand angels (I somehow think snow angels are better). I hope you enjoyed your Christmas and getting ready for 2015 ;-)

Rasa x

How to bake Kūčiukai (Lithuanian Christmas Eve biscuits)

By Rasa Pelham on December 23, 2014 in Christmas waiting, Lithuanian, Recipes

As I write this I am Lithuania and I thought it would be nice to post something Lithuanian to make for Christmas. Kūčiukai (Lithuanian Christmas Eve biscuits) are very traditional, but they might not be to everybody’s taste. Some might find them too bland but they are definitely fun to make, so please give them a chance! If you are trying to imagine what they taste like imagine a small breadstick but with poppy seeds in them. They are usually served soaked in poppy seed “milk” but can be eaten as a snack. Interested? Then read on ;-) KŪČIUKAI

500g plain flour
7g dry fast acting yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg, whisked
250ml milk (lukewarm)

1. Mix all the ingredients and form it into a dough. Kneed the dough for at least 5 min. 2. Form the dough into a ball and place it into a bowl. Cover it with cling film and place it somewhere warm for an hour or so. When the dough has risen (at least doubled in size) then punch it to “deflate” it and cover it to proof for another half an hour. 3. Once the final proofing is done shape the dough into sausage shapes and slice them into small bits (about 1cm in size). 3. Bake these in preheated 190C oven for 5-7 min until slightly golden but not brown. I must admit, this recipe is slightly naughty! Traditionally Lithuanians don’t eat any dairy or meat during Christmas eve and this recipe certainly has some milk and eggs. If you want to try you can soak these in poppy seed “milk”. To make the “milk” just soak some poppy seeds in sweetened water and mash them with a mortar and pestle. The water should turn slightly white and milk like. Enjoy! Rasa ;-)

12 days of overnight porridge

By Rasa Pelham on December 12, 2014 in Break-the-fast, Healthy, Lithuanian, Winter Warmers

I am not always a morning person and very often I just prefer to snooze instead of having more time to eat breakfast. And I do LOVE breakfast! But since I have tasted overnight porridge at grannies, I have started experimenting with different types of grains for a simple morning breakfast. My mum also makes porridge a lot and I did grow up on that type of breakfast. And porridge does’t just stop with oats! You can also use barley, rice, quinoa, buckwheat and many more. I only tried out few and I am really glad I did. I feel much more organised when I prep my breakfast the night before :-).

And this is how my lovely warm porridge breakfast journey went:

Day 1: I have mixed steel cut (pinhead) oats with 3 parts of water (1:3 ratio) and added a pinch of salt. Next morning I added yogurt, mixed berries, seeds and honey. The best oats ever!Day 2: It’s a spiced apple morning. The night before I have added one cored and sliced gala apple into 1:3 ratio oats (you can try other apple types, but if you pick a cooking apple such as bramley or granny smith then your porridge might need some sugar). I also added some ground cinnamon together with the pinch of salt. This also came out wonderfully well! I had it with some yogurt and honey :-).

Day 3: I don’t know what came to me, but I got attracted by the idea of adding spinach into the porridge (crazy, I know!). I have seen this “green monster” overnight oats recipe and I just wanted to try it in porridge form. I mixed oats with almond milk, added chopped banana and some frozen spinach. Little did I know that in heat banana discolours and spinach turns all khaki. So if you can guess, we could not eat it, even if it had a wonderful banana aroma…

Day 4: Another unlucky day. I decided to try out rice pudding grains, so I mixed 1/2 cup of rice with 3 cups of almond milk as I would with oats. Turns out rice requires more liquid when slow cooked, so rice burned in the slow cooker by the next morning!

Day 5: I mixed 1/2 cup pudding rice with 4 cups of almond milk.The consistency turned out great! Served it with cherries, yogurt and almonds. Although I think this would be soooo nice with some condensed milk and cherries. But then this would be a pudding, not a breakfast. But maybe pudding for breakfast is not that unacceptable?

Day 6: This time I used a regular milk instead of almond milk and mixed it with some molasses. I suggest you don’t do it! It’s too rich while maple syrup would compliment this sooo much better. Anyways sliced banana and pecan nuts are good match! Don’t you think?

Day 7: I used my mum’s recipe. I finely chopped 1/5 butternut squash, added 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cups raisins, 4 cups of milk, 1tbs sugar and pinch of salt. It’s lovely just as it is as it has sweetness of it’s own! Day 8: Tried out barley grains today! But not pearl barley, but the flaked ones. We usually have them savoury in Lithuania, but decided to have sweet this time. I mixed 1/2 cup barley with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. In the morning I had it with some yogurt, pouched pear, honey and some poppy seeds. I loved pouched pear, even if I don’t like pears in general!

Day 9: Decided to have barley the traditional way: savoury! In Lithuania we usually add fried onions and carrots on top of cooked barley porridge. But I wanted to keep it simple and healthy! So I added some butter (butter has lots of goodness in it!!) and sprinkled with some chopped carrot and cucumber. Indian or moroccan spices go really well here too!

Day 10: tried out quinoa. I have mixed quinoa with 3 parts of water (1:3 ratio) and added a pinch of salt. Next morning I added yogurt, chopped pineapple, seeds and honey. I found quinoa tasting dry and a bit bitter. Day 11: Went all Christmasy! I mixed 1/2 cup quinoa and 2 cups of milk with some dried cranberries. Next morning I added a little bit more milk, pecan nuts, clementines and maple syrup. It was fab!

Day 12: Had the best of all! I mixed 1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/4 cup quinoa and 2 cups of milk. In the morning I had it together with cherries, extra milk and some maple syrup. It was quite filling indeed!So I tried overnight porridge with steel cut oats, rice, barley and quinoa. I loved oats the best. No wonder it’s the most popular. But I guess it is nice to have some variation sometimes. I really hope you found this inspiring!Enjoy healthy breakfast running up till Christmas :)

Rasa xx

Lazy caramel and cranberry bites

By Rasa Pelham on October 23, 2014 in From my childhood, Lithuanian, Sweet Treats

In Lithuanian these lazy bites are called “Tinginys” which essentially means “The Lazy One’ (fancy some history about this? There we go!). Traditionally this easy to make treat is made with crumbled biscuits, coco powder, condensed milk and butter. But when I was little I experimented a lot (because there is no oven needed here) and I came up with this version (read on). I forgot about this for a while until I treated myself with my first cooking book “Cheap as Chips, Better Than Toast” just before my student years began (in year 2004, long time ago!). Oh, I learned so much from it, thanks you soooo much, Miranda Shearer. I probably would not be writing this blog if you have never written this wonderful book! But where art thou? I searched for you in twitter, no luck :(.

Anyway, I came across “Fridge Cake” recipe, which reminded me of my “The Lazy One” recipe. I used Miranda’s recipe to recover my childhood’s recipe and there we go! In all it’s glory!!!! You would be silly not to try it! Even better if you make it with kids (because that’s how simple it is!). LAZY CARAMEL AND CRANBERRY BITES

175g malted milk biscuits
90g butter
30g sugar
60g caramel (I use the one that comes in the tin and can be found in condensed milk department)
60g dried cranberries

1. Crumble the biscuits either by hand or by using food processor. It does not have to be crumbled so finely, roughly will work as fine!2. In the pan melt the butter with sugar and caramel.3. Add the biscuit crumbs and the cranberries into the melted butter. Combine everything well and let it cool slightly. 4. Wrap the mixture into the cling film and baking paper like the sausage. If you want even easer method, then put the mixture into cake tin and press down well. Leave it to harden in the fridge. 5. The cake is ready after few hours! Just unwrap it (or remove it from cake tin) and slice it to serve. Enjoy!!!! This is really yummy!

Rasa xoxo

Happy 1st of September!

By Rasa Pelham on September 1, 2014 in From my childhood, Let's Celebrate!, Lithuanian, Organisation, Paper Crafts, Pretty patterns for crafts

1st of September has always been an official 1st day at school in Lithuania with celebration and parades. Don’t you think that celebration is a great way to start the school? To me this was something I looked forward to, although I was never a good student (except arts and biology). Another thing I was looking forward to at school was catching up with my friends, shopping for new stationary, organising the books and getting ready to start. So I could say organisation has been my stronger point. I used to enjoy (still enjoying) putting things in order so it looks prettier and it’s easy to find stuff when you need them. I guess I should be able to give you some tips in this area of my expertise. But one thing I should point out that this won’t make you a better student and spending too much time on it will lose your focus on something else more important. I of course have learned that good balance is the key to almost everything! So today I would just like to share a project on how to protect your books with pretty covers (extra printable patterns as well). Click here for full project walkthrough.