Yumi Yumi

If you have ever visited Estonia, then you know we're fond of various chopped salads with mayonnaise and sour cream dressing . We're pretty proud of our potato salad , which requires hours of dedicated chopping and dicing and tends to be on many a birthday table. I've offered you some recipes here on Nami-Nami that fit the category - potato and cucumber salad , potato and beet salad , for instance. This ham, leek and kidney bean salad fills into the same category of salads, though because of the ease of preparing the salad, I tend to think of this more like a midweek salad than buffet table table. Serve with some good rye or crusty bread on the side. Ham, leek and kidney bean salad ( Singi-oasalat ) Serves four to six   300 g cooked ham ca 400 g canned red kidney beans (drained weight) 1 medium-sized leek, white and pale green part only handful of fresh parsley Dressing: 100 g good-quality mayonnaise 100-150 g sour cream or plain yoghurt freshly ground black pepper or ...

Made this rose cake - my first ever -   for our daughter's fourth birthday party last Saturday. I had come across these rose cakes on Pinterest on several occasion (see here or here ) and really wanted to make one myself. I found piping the roses surprisingly easy and will happily undertake the process again. A simple sponge cake (using 4 eggs), layered with lingonberry and apple jam as well as lemon-flavoured curd cheese cream, and topped with cranberry zefir (basically a type of Italian meringue; 3 egg whites and 300 g sugar is enough to frost the 26 cm cake).

Katrina (born in Tallinn) of  The Gastronomical Me  blog (written in London) dropped me an e-mail few days ago. I quote: I'm flying to Israel tomorrow, for a week, will stay in Tel Aviv and Jeruselem and the Deadsea. I know you went there during summer through that social group. I've read a bit on your site already but if you were to pick say 3 places that surprised you the most, perhaps the places you don't think people are likely to discover just by wondering around, what would you recommend? I had the pleasure of visiting Israel last June in the honorable company of  David Lebovitz  and  Ms Marmite Lover  as well as two lovely young American food writers. I haven't managed to blog nearly as much about the trip as I would have wanted, but here's my TOP 3 recommendations for both places. I have met Katrina on a couple of occasions, and think I have a vague idea of what would interest her - hope I'm not too wide off the mark, Katrina :D JERUSALEM 1) Drinks...

Originally posted in February 2007; fully updated in January 2013.   Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the January 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed . Recipe and styling by Nami-Nami. The tablecloth is Estonian national tartan - the blue, black and white representing the Estonian flag, the red and golden representing Scotland's Rampant Lion.  Tomorrow the friends of Scotland and all things Scottish across the world celebrate Robert Burns' birth anniversary, hosting or attending a Burns Supper. And any self-respecting Burns Supper begins with a proper Scottish soup - either Scotch Broth or Cock-a-Leekie . As the latter is a) considerably cheaper and b) considerably easier, and something that I've cooked over and over again. Amazingly, so few ingredients (a chicken, some leeks and some juicy prunes) can result in such a flavoursome soup. Here's the recipe for a lovely and flavoursome cock-a-leekie. It started off as a recipe from Sue Lawrence 's Scots Cooking: The Best Traditio...

What's your best time-saving tip in the kitchen? Here's one of mine. Lately I've developed the habit of peeling a big batch - about a kilogram/two pounds or so - of carrots at once. Using my food processor, I grate half of them finely, to be used in soups and various raw salads, meat-based pasta sauces, as well as carrot cakes or muffins. The other half I cut into thick julienne or thin batons or shred coarsely, using either the food processor or my trusty Benriner mandoline . These will end up in stir-fries or in cooked salads. The prepared carrots are simply waiting in the fridge, packed air-tight, of course, to be used as needed. We definitely eat more carrots because of this simple pre-planning, and this can only be a good thing, no? Here's a lovely warm carrot salad using the bigger carrot pieces. The combination of carrots and salted peanuts is from Nigella Lawson's book Forever Summer . The trick of giving the carrots a quick microwave oven treatment is from ...

Photo by  Juta Kübarsepp  for the January 2013 issue of  Kodu ja Aed  magazine. The tablecloth is Estonian national tartan - the blue, black and white representing the Estonian flag, the red and gold representing Scotland's Rampant Lion. Burns Supper is nigh and it's a great opportunity to cook some Scottish recipes again. Here's a salmon with a crispy mustard and oat crust that's easy to make and yet festive enough for a good Burns Supper (if you're not serving haggis, that is). The Scots tend to cook herring this way, but sadly it's almost impossible to get fresh herring over here. Salty herring - whole or filleted - in brine is widely available, but fresh, no. Luckily this method works brilliantly with other oily fish as well, especially salmon and trout. You can use filet from the tail-end (it's easier to cook), or use butterfly steaks, like I did. Oat crusted fish  ( Kaerahelbepaneeringus kala ) one salmon or trout butterfly steak or filet per person ...

Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the January 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed magazine; plate, mug and bowls by Estonian ceramic artist  Marion Isabelle Varik of BlueDesign . How many of you included "have a proper and healthy breakfast every day" among your New Year resolutions? I did. In the morning chaos of getting three kids out of bed and dressed and ready, I often end up having breakfast consisting of just a cup of coffee and perhaps a tiny piece of leftover cake or a small tub of yoghurt. Yet that's never enough, and I feel sluggish and peckish by mid-morning already. I know a hot cereal (especially oatmeal ) would be the best choice, but I don't really want the basic oatmeal porridge first thing in the morning. I need to pimp up my porridge, so to say. There's a great Scottish company, Stoats , that began serving freshly cooked oatmeal porridge at the music festivals and farmer's markets back in 2004, and became a huge success. One of the items on their menu ...

Here's one of the appetizers from our New Year's Eve menu  -  a tangy mustard-lemon-dill butter on a slice of dark rye bread, garnished with my old favourite, beetroot . A very Scandinavian flavour combination, it's a great all-year appetizer that packs a lot of character (read: not the ideal accompaniment to your glass of fine champagne, but would go well with some more rustic beverages). The recipe is adapted from the British food magazine's  BBC Good Food , more specifically their 2004 Vegetarian Christmas supplement. I made it quite a few times back in Edinburgh , but forgot all about it once I moved back home . But somebody left a comment on my Estonian site after making this canapé - and loving it - and I immediately new it'll be on our festive buffét table soon. Rye bread canapés with mustard-dill butter and shredded beets ( Tilli-peedikanapeed ) 12 to 24, depending on the size of the appetizers Lemon, mustard and dill butter: 100 g butter, softened 2 Tbsp f...

We hosted a big New Year's Eve party at our home on December 31st. We were 16 adults and 6 kids in total, so we decided against a proper sit-down meal and went for the buffét instead (known as "Swedish table" or " Rootsi laud " in Estonian). And although many Estonians would be eating pork and sauerkraut and roasted potatoes - our typical Christmas fare - on New Year's Eve as well, we never do and go for a much lighter and rather different dishes. Here's what we were having for the last meal of 2012 (I've provided links to English-language recipes available on Nami-Nami, where appropriate). Rye bread canapés with mustard and lemon butter, dill and shredded beets : Crostini with Brie and lingonberry jam: Red onion "boats" with smetana and salmon roe   (which I also served on the last day of 2007) : Soft and sweet dried dates with tangy goat cheese: Smooth and silky chicken liver paté: Three layered salads - one with beets, peas, cheese and ...