Yumi Yumi

Remember my recent post about a quirky American foodblogger, Sara o'Donnell aka Average Betty, visiting Estonia? Well, she's now back home, and going through all the lovely recipes served at our party and mentioned in my post (or at least that's what I'd love to think :)). She has also posted her first Estonian recipe video on her very popular YouTube channel , where she makes and bakes the delicious and simple Estonian barley bread, odrajahukarask . Here's the link to Average Betty's YouTube recipe video * - do check it out, it's very informative and entertaining at the same time. Sara uses a recipe from Marika Blossfeldt 's excellent book Essential Nourishment: Recipes from My Estonian Farm . and the bread on Sara's photo (on the left) and on the video looks just perfect. Here are links to some other blog posts written  by Sara about her trip to Estonia: Estonian epicures and how to choose wine infographic (August 3) My day with chef Dimitri De...

There have been no beetroot recipes on Nami-Nami recently. I wrote about the wonderful Persian dish, beetroot borani , back in May, but that's three months ago! Me thinks there's definitely time for another beet dish, or I'm in danger of losing my Beetroot Princess* title :) A fortnight ago we hosted a Georgian feast in our backyard, and one of the many Georgian dishes I prepared was this simple and stunning-looking pkhali, made with beetroot. Pkhali is a Georgian vegetable dish that's something between a salad, dip or even spread, depending on the consistency you choose; the characteristic feature is the aromatic garlic-walnut-herb dressing. (You may have come across an alternative spelling, mkhali . That's the Russian name for this Caucasian salad.) The most popular are beetroot pkhali and spinach pkhali, but one can also use cabbage, eggplant/aubergine, red kidney beans or other vegetables. At any Georgian feast, you would usually find a selection of pkhakli-d...

I've been blogging for over 7 years now, and have been reading a number of foodblogs from regularly since then. You know who you are, JW, KD, AK, DL, EB, MK, CD, MW and so on. I still clearly remember an old Utah (?) joke Kalyn posted in her excellent blog six years ago, so I've dugged it up for you: Do you know why people in Utah lock their car doors in the summer when they go into church? It's because if they don't, when they come out the car will be full of zucchini. (Kalyn Denny, Garden Update #3, 4 June 2006) Well, the courgette/zucchini grows just as well here in Estonia, and I'm having to come up with delicious ways of using the bounty on almost a daily basis. And there are only 2 zucchini plants in my vegetable garden this year!!! Chocolate and Zucchini seems to be the most common and popular combination for a zucchini cake - take chocolate and zucchini cake and  chocolate zucchini bread (Elise @ Simply Recipes), gluten-free chocolate chip zucchini br...

Here's a true Estonian classic - a layered cookie cake . If you've been reading Nami-Nami blog, you may remember that an Estonian cookie cake was also featured at the festive spread we served for Average Betty few weeks ago. It's a popular cake on children's birthday parties and on September 1st (the day all Estonian kids go back to school). I suspect these are the main reasons for its popularity: * There are just a few ingredients. * It's pretty cheap and affordable. * It's yummy :) * There are endless variations - you can use different flavoured cookies, different cream, different decorations. * The cake takes about 10-15 minutes to assemble, and every kid can make it, even small ones. The cookie cake above was made with the help of my 3,5 year old daughter - she did all the cookie-dipping and cookie-placing, I was left with spreading the sour cream between the layers. And she's made this cake before - here's a family portrait taken in January - few ...

I'm on a blueberry mood just now. As I told in my previous post ( baked blueberry cheesecake with a sour cream jelly topping , remember) we're having a very good year of blueberries and bilberries in Estonia just now, so the amount of blueberry dishes that are being cooked and baked in Nami-Nami kitchen just now is quite considerable (take note of these yeast rolls with blueberry, vanilla and curd cheese filling , for instance). And the season is not even over yet, although other lovely berries - tart lingonberries /cowberries, for instance, are ripening quickly. This simple coconut and blueberry cake was featured on our table twice during last week alone. Simple, quick, tasty, and has already received positive feedback from my Estonian readers, so it comes with good recommendations. Because of its simplicity, I'd describe it as rather a midweek cake and not a fancy weekend affair. Coconut and Blueberry Cake ( Kookoshelbe-mustikakook ) Serves 10 Adapted from the Swedish f...

Need a rich and gorgeous-looking cake to serve with coffee or finish your next dinner party? I wholeheartedly recommend this chocolate-blueberry-sour cream cheesecake. There's a Digestive and dark chocolate base (graham crackers would work just as well), topped with blueberry and cream cheese layer. These two layers are baked in the oven. When the cheesecake is cooled, it's topped with a third layer, a sour cream jelly layer, which provides a stunning contrast in colour as well as a cooling flavour and texture contrast. Our family and friends were very pleased with the cake. You can use both blueberries ( Vaccinium corymbosum ) or bilberries ( Vaccinium myrtillus ) for making this cake. The first are more common in the US, are larger and whitish inside, the latter are more common in Europe (Scottish blaeberries , French myrtilles , Estonian mustikad ), are smaller and blackish-blue inside (see here for a very good comparison of the two). I used the latter - simply because it...