"Crazy cake," so she called it...

One day, I received an e-mail from my sister.  She sent me a recipe for a cake and titled it "crazy cake."  At that moment I didn't have time to check the detail of the cake recipe, so I left it sitting there for a couple weeks before I got back to it to check the detail of the recipe.

It was a recipe for a poppyseed cake.  She described it being moist and soft.  I was looking for an excuse to bake the cake and I found one:  making it look like an unshaved face!!!  I bought some colored marzipan and went to bake...  (you can find the colored marzipan in Kaufland)

I'm sure you all have friends who got a bit busy and aren't shaving for a couple of days.  This makes it the perfect opportunity for you to bake a nice cake (if you like poppyseed cake) to lighten their stress up!  (And tease them a bit on the side...  hehehehe...)

The unshaved faces scratching each other with their beards...

I baked the cake without knowing that actually I am not that found of poppyseeds in a cake.  I could eat them, but I don't particularly like the flavor.  But it was FUN!  I had fun just making it and let people smile.  If you like the flavor, I guess this might be the cake for you!

Poppyseed "Crazy" Cake
Preparation time:  10 - 15 minutes
Baking time:  30 minutes
Yield:  8 cupcakes or a medium loaf

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
	1½ cup	all-purpose flour (wheat, of course, Mehltyp 405 or 550)
	¾ cup	brown sugar
	1½ teaspoon	baking soda
	¼ cup	poppyseeds
	1½ teaspoon	almond extract
	1 tablespoon	finely chopped lemon zest (optional)
		lemon juice from one lemon (if you don't have it, replace it with 3 teaspoons apple cider vinegar)
	¼ cup	vegetable oil
	1 cup	boiling water

Direction:
1.  Preheat over to 175°F (350°C) and grease the baking tray/pan (or lay a piece of parchment paper, skip the grease if you are using non-stick baking tray).
2.  Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and poppyseeds in a bowl.
3.  Make 3 big holes in the flour mixture.
4.  Pour lemon juice into one hole in the flour mixture, almond extract into one hole and oil in one hole.  (Sprinkle the finely chopped lemon zest on top.)
5.  Boil the water and pour the boiling water into the bowl and mix thoroughly.
6.  Pour the mixture into the baking tray/pan for 30 minutes.

Because it uses hot boiling water, the batter is very glutenous and harder to mix, unlike using liquids in room temperature.  If it happens to be harder to mix, don't panic, it's normal.

This is the picture my silly sister attached onto the e-mail with her "crazy cake" recipe

There are some pastries with similar ingredients that you might be interested in, such as golden cupcakes, blueberry-banana muffins and baked doughnuts.

June the 4th was the National Doughnut Day

Doughnuts, the round little pastries that people are usually keen to have on the side of their coffee breaks...  But being a vegan, you don't have to give that up!

Doughnut batter in the baking tray

Baked doughnut are not as soft as yeast dough doughnuts, but it does take less time and effort in the making!  You don't have to deal with the frying oil and the sizzles, just pop the doughnut batter into the oven and wait...  VOILA!  And there you have perfectly round yummies for you to indulge!

It's a great get-together snack, comfort food, finger food, coffee mate, picnic snacks, after-meal dessert...  it is a great ring for a friends-gathering OR by-yourself occasions!

Doughnuts baking in the oven

Baked Doughnut
Preparation time:  20 minutes
Baking time:  12 - 15 minutes
Yield:  6 - 8 pieces

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
240 mL	1 cup	all-purpose flour (wheat, of course, Mehltyp 405 or 550)
8 mL	½ tablespoon	baking powder
120 mL	½ cup	brown sugar
1.2 mL (2.5g)	¼ teaspoon	fine salt
1.2 mL	¼ teaspoon	ground nutmeg
1.2 mL	¼ teaspoon	ground cinnamon
15 mL	1 tablespoon	starch ("Maisstärke" or any other starch works)
120 mL	½ cup	soy milk
2.5 mL	½ teaspoon	apple cider vinegar (or wine vinegar or rice vinegar, any non-flavorful 5%-acidity vinegar works, not balsamic)
2.5 mL	½ teaspoon	vanilla
60 mL	¼ cup	softened margarine in room temperature (with no partially hydrogenated oil and hydrogenated oil)

Direction:
1.  Preheat oven at 175°C (350°F) and oil well the doughnut baking tray in the doughnut indention.
2.  Have softened margarine melt with soy mlik and vinegar in a pot over a low heat.  Stir, stir!  Then let it cool a bit, so it is not too hot to work with (a bit warmer than room temperature is fine).
3.  In a bowl, mix in the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, starch and vanilla together well.
4.  Mix the melted margarine-soy milk-vinegar mixture into the flour mixing bowl, mix well and make sure there are not clumps of flour.
5.  Pour the batter into ringed baking tray (a doughnut baking tray) to the shape that covers semi-circle at the cross-section view.  (When baking, they will rise to almost a full circular shape in the cross-section.)  Then pop them into the oven for 12 -15 minutes.
6.  Take the doughnuts out of the baking tray AFTER they've chilled to room temperature completely.  While chilling, they are too soft and fragile to handle and take out.

You can dip them into powdered sugar or make frosting and drizzle (by that I probably meant POUR, BABY POUR!) on the top.

The doughnuts ready for some sugaring up!

Lemony Doughnut Frosting
Preparation time:  5 - 10 minutes
Yield:  about ¼ cup (60 mL)

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
120 mL	½ cup	powdered sugar
5 mL	½ teaspoon	vanilla extract (or vanilla sugar)
		lemon juice from half a lemon

Direction:
1.  Mix the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice together.  The consistency should be a bit liquidy and runny, a consistency that you can drizzle on to of the doughnuts without effort.  If the consistency is too runny, add more powdered sugar.  If the consistency is too stiff, add more lemon juice.

There are some pastries with similar ingredients that you might be interested in, such as golden cupcakes, blueberry-banana muffins and poppyseed "crazy cake".

Taiwanese Local Eats: Cold Noodle!

Per request of a very monstrous (but harmless and adorable) creature with noodle on the back, I'm posting this not-very-Berlin-way vegan recipe...

This summer is indeed a hot summer!  It roared up to 38°C yesterday, good thing that I saw clouds drifting over to rescue my apartment, which is situated on the top of the apartment floor, making the ceiling heat up in the scorching sunlight and radiating me in the night like a human-oven.

Chinese eat a lot of different types of noodle, not just differ in thickness, but in the type of floor it is made of, amount of oil, freshly made (damp noodle) and dried, and of course, the way of indulging them (eating it cold or hot, eating it in soup or dried, eating it with sauce or with garnish only, sauté in hot pan...)

Taiwan has this local specialty of noodle that's called 油麵 (literal translation would be "oil noodle").  The noodle it self doesn't seem that much different from other types of noodle, except it looks round, not too thin (about 2 mm) and has a faint hint of yellow.  It is made WITHOUT OIL.  It is made with high gluten wheat flour, which gives it the texture of smooth and chewiness, and the noodle doesn't stick to each other as easily. This is the real reason why it is called oil noodle, not because it is made of oil, but the high gluten wheat flour that gives it the characteristics of not sticking together.

Taiwan yu-mien (oil noodle) by a Hong Kong-nese noodle company

Being in Berlin, I could find all the ingredients in an Asian supermarket chain called "Amazing Oriental" on Kanstraße opened up by Hong Kong-nese, originated from the Netherlands:

Kantstraße 101, 10627 Berlin

I don't think you can get all the ingredients in other Asian markets in Berlin, because other markets are opened by Vietnamese-Chinese (they are mainly Cantonese), Thai or perhaps Korean, and these ingredients are too real Asian to be sold else where.


Usually this type of noodle is sold fresh, meaning it is freshly made and without drying process, sold in traditional markets in Taiwan.  But now that I've left Taiwan for so long and now in a country without too much connection to Taiwan, I could only find dried ones from Hong Kong.  The label says: "Taiwan oil noodle" but I read the company information, it is a Hong Kong company.  (disappointed)

This noodle is used for making 台式涼麵 tai-shi liang-mien (literal translated to "Taiwan cold noodle"), I assure you, it tastes different with other types of noodle.

The sauce is basically made with:
BLACK sesame paste (Middle Eastern and Westerners only know of the white sesame)
peanut butter
黑醋 hei-tsu (or hei1 cu4, literal translated to "BLACK vinegar," I only know of Taiwan people use this)
米醋 mi-tsu (or mi2 cu4, literal translated to "rice vinegar," Chinese, Korean and Japanese all use this, other vinegars don't have a "zing" like rice vinegar does, try it, you'd know what I'm talkin' about!)
soy sauce
sugar
sesame oil

The tricky part is getting this ratio exactly right to make your sauce for the tai-shi liang-mien.

The pure black sesame paste, rice vinegar, organic soy sauce and sesame oil

When you get sesame oil, try to get the ones from Taiwan, Japan or Korea, these origins produce their own sesame seeds for the oil.  I've tried one from Hong Kong, it really didn't have the "zing" in the sesame oil and isn't as aromatic as the others.

Tai-Shi Liang-Mien Jiang (or "Taiwan Cold Noodle Sauce")
Preparation time:  10 - 15 minutes
Cooling time:  5 - 20 minutes (depends how you cool you want it)
Yield:  2 - 3 servings
(I've written the recipe in perspective to "tablespoons," so you can just take the ratio to make smaller or larger quantities)

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
15 mL	1 tablespoon	black sesame paste
7.5 mL	½ tablespoon	plain peanut butter
60 - 75 mL	4 - 5 tablespoons	warm water (about 60°C)
7.5 mL	½ tablespoon	brown sugar
30 mL	2 tablespoons	rice vinegar
15 mL	1 tablespoon	black vinegar (if you don't have it, replace it with adding rice vinegar instead)
15 mL	1 tablespoon	soy sauce
15 mL	1 tablespoon	sesame oil

Direction:
1.  Scoop out the black sesame paste and peanut butter in a bowl.
2.  Heat and add the warm water.  It's very important that it is warm, because cold water doesn't do the magic of thinning the sauce to a very runny state without clumps.
3.  Mix in sugar, rice vinegar, black vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil and mix the sauce well.
4.  You can have it in room temperature or pop it into the refrigerator to cool it down a bit.

The process of , making the sauce smooth by adding WARM water

After mixing, the consistency is smooth and no clumps

Tai-Shi Liang-Mien (or "Taiwan Cold Noodle")
Preparation time:  about 10 minutes
Cooling time:  5 - 20 minutes (depends how you cool it)
Yield:  2 - 3 servings

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
2 servings	1 ball (or 2 servings)	tai-shi yu-mien (or "Taiwan oil noodle")
7.5 - 15 mL	½ - 1 teaspoon	vegetable oil
	(4 - 8 cubes)	(ice cubes, an option for cooling)
60 mL	½ cup	fresh cucumbers, in finely cut strips (about ¼ of a normal long cucumbers with shiny skin that are sold in Berlin)
60 mL	½ cup	carrots, in finely cut strips (about 2 medium sized carrots)

Direction:
1.  Boil about ½ liter of water for cooking noodle. (Do not add salt in the boiling water, most East Asian noodles are made WITH salt added, and adding salt would over salt the noodle.)
2.  Drop one ball of noodle (or 2 servings, the noodle size will double after boiling) in the boiling water and turn the heat down to medium or low in a simmer.
3.  Stir gently and check the noodle.  After about 5 minutes, you will see the transparency of the noodle only on the outside, this is very noticeable.  After about 7 - 10 minutes, you will see the whole noodle having much more consistent color (faint translucent all across the noodle width), if this happens and if 10 minutes is up, the noodle is finished cooking and turn off the heat.
4.  Rinse the noodle in cold water until it is at the same temperature as the cold water.  (At this stage, you'd notice that once the cold water hits the noodle, the noodle isn't translucent anymore and becomes darker in color.)
5.  Drain the noodle out lightly, try avoiding water and pour about 3 drops of oil onto the the noodle and mix the oil into the noodle.
6.  Further cool the noodle down.  If you have ice cube, you can just put it on the side of the noodle and serve it, but if you want to cool it in the refrigerator, it takes about 20 minutes.
7.  Garnish the noodle with a lot of finely chopped cucumber strips and carrot strips!
8.  Drizzle the sauce on right before eating and slurp!
The noodle is also popular to eat with some cooled fermented vegetables or pickles on the side.

The translucency is only on the outer side of the noodle cross-section, not yet finished cooking

Mostly translucent in the noodle cross-section, finished cooking

This is a noodle once get me started on eating, I'd not know when to stop.  It has a nice vinegary taste, a bit sweet and salty, and it is cold and slippery in your mouth and chewy on your teeth!

Traditional Chinese Soy Milk Brings Me Back to My Childhood

When I was little, my mom would homemake soy milk or dou-jang (豆漿).  Growing up in the culture of drinking soy milk, I refuse to call the "soy milk" that Western markets sell "soy milk".  What soy milk should taste like is this thick and aromatic milk-like consistency, but the soy milk that can be found in the Western culture is this think, runny, watery and non-aromatic liquid with soy content.

When I was young, I'd wake up to this aromatic soy milk smell in the morning and have a bowl of it with brown sugar and have some bread or buns before going to school.  Every time I smell the true soy milk aroma, it brings me back to the sweetness of the life back then.

So that's why today I'm going to pass down the TRUE soy milk that has been in the Chinese culture for thousands of years; the real soy milk that is use for making bean curd/doupi (豆皮), tofu (豆腐), douhua/tofu jelly (豆花) and varieties of other Chinese soy milk products.

Fully soaked soy beans

Soy bean ground with cheese cloth and squeezed-out soy milk

The process is actually pretty simple:  soak the soy beans, blend them with water, squeeze the liquid out of it and boil.  I just don't understand how are these simple steps got messed up in the Western industry and made some tasteless soy milk in the market and still have the pride of selling them...  (snobby)

Real Soy Milk that is Aromatic and Thick from the Chinese Tradition
Preparation time:  30 minutes (plus 8 hours of soaking soy beans)
Cooking time:  15 minutes
Yield:  about 1 liter

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
355 mL	1½ cup	dried soy beans
592 mL	2½ cups	water (for blending)
		Need a blender or food processor
		Need a big pot, preferably with higher rims
		Need a big cheese cloth that can be folded into 2 layers

Direction:
1.  Soak the soy beans in water over night or for at least 8 hours, till soaked into the center.  (You can pick one up and eat it, if it's crunchy and chew-able to the center, it's finished soaking)  Fully soaked soy beans can expand to about 2 to 2.5 times the size of dried soy beans.
2.  Drain the fully soaked soy beans out and save the soaking water.  Place the soy beans into a blender or food processor.  Pour in 2½ cups of soaking water and blend till it is a silky fine consistency and soy beans are in very fine particles.
3.  Prepare a big pot, preferably a high big pot, place 2 layers of cheese cloth over it and secure the cloth as you pour 1/3 blended soy bean and liquid slowly and carefully onto the cheese cloth.
4.  Stop and squeeze the cheese cloth so all the liquid from soy beans came out into the pot.  Save the soy bean particle in another bowl.
5.  Repeat step 3 and 4 till all the juice is separated from the soy bean into the pot.
6.  Simmer the soy milk over medium to low heat for 15 minutes or till the aroma changes to that of a special soy smell.  Stir it constantly to make sure the foam doesn't overflow and the bottom doesn't burn.

You can drink it cool, drink it warm or drink it with a bit of brown sugar (traditional)!

Now, this is what we do with the soy bean ground that are left from making soy milk:

Soy bean pie in the making

Soy Bean Pancake
Preparation time:  10 minutes
Cooking time:  15 minutes
Yield:  about 4 pieces (8-cm diameter)

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
745 mL	2 cups	wet soy bean ground
59 mL (49g)	¼ cup	brown sugar
59 mL (30g)	¼ cup	all-purpose flour  (wheat, of course, and is optional, only to help it sticking together)
(about 60 mL)	(about ¼ cup)	some oil for cooking

Direction:
1.  Add sugar and flour into the fine soy bean ground mass.
2.  Form into 4 flying saucer shaped pie.
3.  Heat up a pan with just some oil and when the pan is heated, place the soy bean pie onto the pan.  Flip the pie and add some more oil into the pan (if needed) when one side is nicely brown and tanned so the other side can be just as brown and tanned.  When both sides are brown and tanned, they are done!

Finished soy bean pancake! :9

SOOOO soy-ful!

Wondering what you can do with the soy milk in baking?  Try making blueberry-banana muffins or golden cupcakes!

Falafel is When Chickpeas Willfully Get onto Your Plate...

The people live in Berlin knows that there are a lot of Arabic, Turkish and other Middle Eastern shops.  What do they have in common?  They all sell chickpeas cheaper than any German store!!  In fact, Chinese stores and Indian stores also sell them much much cheaper than German stores.  The golden rule is:  buy the ingredients from people who eat them.

These are nice crunchy balls that keep me going for more!  I just love the flavor when cumin is added to chickpea anything (like the crunchy roasted chickpeas previously posted)!

Chickpeas and cumin are BFF (best friend forever)!

These are a few of the ingredients that used in my falafel

It can totally be eaten as a whole fulling meal itself.  Garnishing with parsley leaves and some diced up tomatoes.  I am tempted to say that falafel is a really nice summer finger food, snack or meal.  I guess it can also be made for a small gathering as a finger food or snack.  Anyways, you get the idea, it's a small delight all by itself!

Falafel
Preparation time:  10 - 15 minutes (plus 8 hours of chickpea soaking)
Frying time:  20 - 30 minutes
Yield:  about 15 - 20 balls of size 3 - 3.5 cm

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
240 mL	1 cup	dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) (Kichererbsen) (I don't think you can use canned chickpeas for this recipe, the flavor the the crunchiness not going to be there if you use the canned chickpeas)
(15 mL)	(1 tbsp)	¼ lemon, juiced (use lime if you can't fine lemon, or improvise with vinegar if you really can't find both)
(5 mL)	(1 tsp)	¼ of a fresh thin chili pepper, finely chopped (Pepperoni) (if you can't find chili pepper, use chili flakes or chili powder)
205 mL	¾ cup	fresh parsley, finely chopped (Petersilie) (if you can't find fresh parsley, use fresh cilantro/coriander tender parts)
5 mL	1 tsp	ground coriander seeds
15 mL	1 tbsp	ground cumin (Cumin ist kein "Kümmel")
5 mL (10g)	1 tsp	salt
2.5 mL	½ tsp	ground black pepper
2.5 mL	½ tsp	baking soda (Natron)
15 mL	1 tbsp	sesame seeds (roasted or unroasted)

Direction:
1.  Soak the chickpeas for at least 8 hours or over night, till it is soaked to the center.  Warm water soaks faster.  Chickpeas grow about 1/3 of its dried size after fully soaked.  (Listen to the chickpea soak, it makes sounds!!)
2.  Drain water out of the chickpeas and put the chickpeas into a blender or food processor.  Even though you drained the water out, but the chickpeas are soaked so fully that its water is enough.
3. Blend the chickpeas till it is in fine and consistent small pieces.  You may need to stop and stir by spoon then continue blending a couple of times.  You want them to be into small pieces (about 1mm to 2 mm), but not into a smooth paste.  When finished, dump it out into a bowl.

Chickpeas in the blender, almost finished and what it looks like when it is completely finished

3.  Chop the chili pepper and parsley finely and add them into the blended chickpeas and mix them well.
4.  Juice the lemon into the bowl.  Add ground coriander seed, cumin, salt, black pepper, baking soda and sesame seeds into the mixture and mix well.
5.  Heat up a pan with a 2-mm layer of vegetable oil over medium heat.
6.  Meanwhile, form the chickpea mixture into small balls of around 3 - 3.5 cm in diameter and put them onto the frying pan.  Turn the balls around after 3 - 5 minutes or when it gets light brownish tan.  Once the balls have tan all around, you can take them out and dig in!!

Serve with some diced tomatoes, cucumbers and some parsley as garnish!

The fine pieces of chickpeas after finished blending

Spices are mixed into the chickpea mass

Frying the falafel balls

How it looks like on the inside of the falafel balls

Do you have more chickpeas and don't know what to do with them?  Here's hummus recipe and roasted chickpeas recipe!

A German Must: Cucumber Pickles!

Bavaria harvests half of Germany's cucumbers.  What do I mean by saying this?  CUCUMBER SEASON IS HERE!!!

Summer is cucumber season in Germany.  It starts around mid-June.  This is the time to get the freshest, crunchiest and weirdest-looking cucumbers!!  You can have varieties of choice when you choose them.  Small ones, big ones, curly ones, bent ones, alien-looking ones, big head with a small body ones...  Oh, I can't name them all!

A few tips for picking the freshest cucumbers:
-  Put slight pressure on a cucumber between your fingers, if it feels a bit soft, they've lost water, which means they are not as fresh.  Although harder ones doesn't necessarily mean it's fresh, but at least you can avoid those that have lost water.
-  Weigh the cucumbers on your hand up and down to feel the density.  A tasty cucumber is the ones that are young and dense, if it feels light, it means there are air in the center and the cucumber is a bit old.

Washed cucumbers waiting for me to pickle...  "Pickle me first!! Pickle me first!!" they shouted excitedly

With all these cucumbers, you can make lots of pickles for the summer and even for the whole rest of the year till the next cucumber season!

Spreewald is one of the most infamous area in Germany where pickles are made.  Don't get too excited, I don't have exclusive access to their local cucumber pickle secret recipes...  BUT I can offer a cucumber pickle recipe that comes close.

The pickling spices in the jar, waiting for the cucumbers to be packed in

Cucumber Pickles
Preparation time:  20 - 25 minutes
Jarring time:  1 week in the jar before eating
Yield:  7 - 8 pickles (or 0.5-liter of pickles)

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
0.5 L	17 fl. oz	air-tight glass jar
		7 - 8 medium, normal sized and well-washed pickling cucumbers (about 7 cm long and 2 cm in diameter)
165 mL	¾ cup	5%-acidity apple cider vinegar (or wine vinegar) (Apfelessig oder Brantweinessig)
165 mL	¾ cup	water
30 mL (or 25g)	2 tbsps	brown sugar
30 mL	2 tbsps	mustard seeds (Senfkorn)
25 mL	1½ tbsp	caraway seeds (Kümmel) or parsley seeds
		3 - 4 bay leaves (Lorbeerblatt)
15 mL	½ tbsp	whole cloves seeds (Nelke)
15 mL	½ tbsp	peppercorns (Pfefferkorn)
		3 - 4 stems of fresh dill (dill with flowers has more flavor)

Direction:
1.  Prepare a 0.5-liter jar.  Wash and dry the jar.
2.  Put the pickling spices (mustard seeds, caraway seeds, 3 - 4 bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and fresh dill) into the jar.  You can just lay the dill into it with a bent or you can cut the dill in half. (Don't forget to wash the fresh dill before putting it in.)
3.  Wash the cucumbers well!  Cucumbers are grown touching the ground, so it has a lot of sand and dirt on it.
4.  Gently pack the cucumbers into the jar.  Make sure they are not pressured into the jar.  Let them nicely touching each other without forced in.  This way, the pickle would come out more crunchy and won't be soggy.
5.  Boil water, vinegar and sugar together, this is the brine for the pickles. Once it starts to boil, pour it into the jar and cap it.  Place the jar in a cool and dark area for a week.  In a dark and cool area, it can store up to a year (so I heard), but please please put them in the fridge after opening the jar!

The cucumbers will look freshly green the first 3 to 4 hours, but it'll gradually turn cucumber-pickle green.  The part of the cucumber that touches the wall of the jar will turn the color a bit later, but don't worry about it, after a week, all the cucumbers will look the same.

The pickles that comes out has a very nice dill taste, they are crunchy, a bit sour with a hint of sweetness.  If you indulge a bit further, you'd taste the faint clove taste!  They are really not what you can get commercially in the supermarket!  They have much more flavors!  Try making this, you'd be so delighted that you'd even be pickling in your dreams!

When I first made the cucumber pickles, there was too much brine.  What to do?  Hehehe...  I had some organic carrots and an abundance of caraway seeds so I made CARROT PICKLES!  :]

Pickled Carrots

Preparation time:  10 - 15 minutes

Jarring time:  1 week in the jar before eating

Yield:  3 - 4 small to medium pickled carrots (or 0.25-liter of pickles)

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
0.25 L	8 - 10 fl. oz	air-tight glass jar
		3 - 4 small to medium sized and well-washed carrots (about 9 - 12 cm long and up to 2 cm in diameter)
82.5 mL	⅓ cup and a bit more	5%-acidity apple cider vinegar (or wine vinegar) (Apfelessig oder Brantweinessig)
82.5 mL	⅓ cup and a bit more	water
15 mL (or 13g)	1 tbsps	brown sugar
30 mL	2 tbsps	caraway seeds (Kümmel)

Direction:
1.  Prepare a 0.25-liter jar.  Wash and dry it.
2.  Put the caraway seeds into the jar.
3.  Wash the carrots well.  You don't want to pickle the dirt on the carrots.  Also, preferably using organic carrots, that way you know you are eating little to no pesticides.
4.  Pack the washed carrots into the jar, if some of them are too long, just cut them so they can fit.
5.  Boil the vinegar, water and sugar together to make the brine.  Once it's boiled, pour it into the jar and cap it.  Wait a week before opening the jar to eat.

The pickled carrots has slight caraway seeds, very crunchy and fresh tasting.  Not at all soggy and soft!  One of the greatest summer side dish and snacking delight in my opinion!

Pickled cucumbers and carrots after one day

Blueberry Season!!! Muffin, Anyone?

It's summer time!  Blueberries are beginning to come out in the markets.
"Hmmm...  blueberries?" you asked.  Yes, blueberries indeed.  Blueberries in vast of Germany in the summer are from local source (from Germany!), which makes it a great reason to eat them by the handful!

I have to admit that in this recipe, banana is not from local source, although they are organic.

Besides eating the nutritious blueberry goodies by the handful, you can also make delicious vegan muffins with them!  This recipe came from my blueberry-loving friend, "Soberry", who got ahold this recipe from, yet, another friend.

Baking muffins are cracking up (I wonder what they are laughing about...)

These conveniently sized muffins are great to bring with you on a picnic trip with friends, as bicycle ride snacks, comfort food, onto the U-Bahn and S-bahn to give away to the poor homeless people, to a party or a lakeside/river bank eat out!  The possibilities are endless!

Blueberry-Banana Muffin
Preparation time:  20 minutes
Baking time:  20 - 25 minutes
Yield:  about 1 dozen

Metrics Measurements	U.S. Measurements	Ingredients
475 mL (240g)	2 cups	all-purpose flour (wheat, of course, I used Typ 405, Typ 550 works fine also)
15 mL	1 tbsp	baking powder
2.5 mL (1.3g)	½ tsp	cinnamon
2.5 mL (1.3g)	½ tsp	ground ginger
2.5 mL (5 g)	½ tsp	salt
180 mL (150 g)	¾ cup	brown sugar
5 mL	1 tsp	vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
		1 large ripe banana
136.5 mL (121.5g)	½ cup	vegetable oil
30 mL (45g)	2 tbsp	golden syrup (or agave molasses, maple syrup, sugar beet syrup)
205 mL	¾ cup	soy milk
273 mL	1 cup	fresh or frozen blueberries (I prefer using frozen ones, they don't pop as easily while stirring and baking)

Direction:
1.  Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2.  Lightly oil 12 muffin tin tray OR simply place the paper muffin liners in the muffin tin tray cups.
3.  In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, sugar and vanilla.
4.  Add the mushed banana, vegetable oil, syrup and soy milk into the bowl.  Stir the batter together well.
5.  When the batter is mixed well together, fold the blueberries (frozen work the best) into the batter.
6.  Carefully pour the batter into each muffin tin tray cup, to about 90% full.
7.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, when the top turns light brown.

A bitten blueberry-banana muffin.  You can see the muffin texture inside!

You might be interested in making golden cupcakes, too!

Curious about how to make soy milk yourself?

Gone Ice Creamin' and... CRAZILY VEGAN!

After getting inspired by Instructables: Home-Made Two-Ingredient Ice Cream, I decided to try making ice cream the vegan way.  HOME MADE and find ingredients locally in Berlin.

I was OVERJOYED to have found 300 ml packaged vanilla flavor soy whipping cream (sometimes called "heavy cream", German is sold with the label of whipped cream "Schlagsahne," but heavy cream itself is really called "Süße Sahne") for €1.85 in Gesundbrunnen Center's Vitalia Reformhaus (U8, S1, S2, S25, S41, S42 Gesundbrunnen station, on the lowest level, right outside of Media Markt).
(I think the organic market called "Erdkorn" near U9's Güntzelstraße station, Bundesalle 201-203, would also carry it, but I have yet to confirm this, I'll get back to you guys when I confirmed it.)

Soy whipping cream by granoVita, vanilla flavored "Soja-Saane", 300 ml for €1.85.

And I went to a Kaufland for the organic agave syrup ("Agaven Sirup") from Rinatura, because it was cheaper than Gut & Gerne's (250g / 180 ml for €2.99), it contains more amount, has thicker syrup...  AND it has volume marks on the side so I'd know how much I have squarted out!!

Organic agave syrup from Rinatura, 350g (250 ml) for €2.45.

Organic agave syrup from Gut & Gerne, 250g (180 ml) for €2.99.

From my experience of soy whipping cream, either from Southern California's "Whole Foods" or Germany, is that they come in a aseptic packaging (like "Tetra Pak" or "SIG combibloc"), but what inside looks like is a blob of shaped creamy stuff...  they are not fluid that flow around, it's more like a creamy block, so make sure when you cut the container, you have to cut all the way through on the top and use a spoon so scoop it out.

Block of soft and creamy stuff inside of the container.

Even when you whip it, this stiff creamy blob won't be whipped up like whipped cream.  Well, a bit whipped, but definitely can't be whipped to stiff whipped cream.

Let's see what came out!

The textures in close examination, you can see the ice-shaped structure on the right.

The ice cream came out pretty soft and puffy, compromised creamy, meaning when I bit into the ice cream, there is little ice pieces that feels like biting into shaved ice.  Just right amount of sweetness, plus the vanilla flavor that was already in the soy whipping cream, the taste is not bad at all.  Overall, for a 2-ingredient home-made vegan ice cream, I would say it turned out pretty well!

Soy Whipping Cream-Agave Vegan Ice Cream
Preparation time:  15 - 20 minutes
Freezing time:  at least 4 hours
Yield:  ¾ liter (about 25 flow oz)

300 ml soy whipping cream
75 g (100g) agave syrup

1.  Divide the volume of the soy whipping cream to 3/5 and 2/5 (that is 180 ml and 120 ml).
2.  Make a ice water bath by putting the container that you will be whipping the soy whipping cream in a bowl that has icy cold water.

3.  Place the 3/5 of the volume of soy whipping cream (180 ml) into the container in the ice bath and start whipping the cream for about a minute.  (it won't be whipped stiff, it's just like that even if you whip it longer)
4.  Place 2/5 of the volume of soy whipping cream (120 ml) and the agave into a pot and heat it over low heat.  Stir till they are blended.  DO NOT have the mixture heat up too much, just warming it is enough.
5.  Pour the agave-soy whipping cream mixture into the whipping container in the ice bath and whip for 3 to 5 minutes or until the cream is whipped stiff and fluffy.
6.  Pour the whipped soy-agave cream into a container (preferably plastic or waxed carton, NOT glass) and pop it into the freezer for at least 4 hours.

Whipping the 3/5 volume of soy whipping cream in an icy water bath

Warming up the agave syrup and 2/5 volume of the soy whipping cream

Whipped soy-agave cream

After freezing the whipped soy-agave cream

Tasting time!!