Yumi Yumi

  From the recipe archives. Originally posted in 2013. Did you know that it's ANZAC Day today? ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps . The Department of Veterans' Affairs of the Australian Government explains the Anzac day and tradition in detail . This being a food blog, it suffices to say that apparently these eggless crispy oatcakes were the cookies sent by the Australian and New Zealand women to the soldiers on the frontline during the WWI. And they're lovely - at least their modern equivalent! The original recipe uses golden syrup , but honey works as well. I actually find the flavour very appealing, similar to the Estonian honey cake , and the chewy-crispy texture went down a treat with my family. ANZAC-biscuits  ( ANZAC-küpsised ) About 20 cookies 125 g butter 2 Tbsp or 45 g golden syrup or runny honey 1 tsp bicarbonate soda 2 Tbsp water 150 g or 250 ml or 1 cup all-purpose flour 100 g rolled oats 60 g shredded coconut 150 g caster sugar Line a...

Last Sunday we had a full house again. 28 people , including the kids, celebrating the Spring and enjoying the traditional Nami-Nami Easter brunch. It was a gorgeously sunny and pleasant day, and we ate al fresco . First, the eggs . To be honest, we only dyed them after the party, but they're still part of the Easter brunch in a way. We used the Estonian way of dyeing eggs with onion skins ( read all about it here ) for the yellow-brown eggs, and frozen blueberries for the blue eggs. I think they turned out gorgeous, and the kids loved them! Small rye cups were filled with salmon roe and sour cream (also known as creamy caviar dressing, recipe here ). Smoked fish salad, spiked with some horseradish (I used hot-smoked hake). Ottolenghi's cucumber and poppyseed salad - always festive, yet simple to make. I omitted the sugar this time and didn't miss it at all! Marinated fresh sprats from the Ristemäe talu stand at my local farmers' market, Viimsi Taluturg. Pasta and s...

(From the recipe archives - originally posted in April 2011. Three years on, this is still my favourite way of preparing wild garlic pesto. You can use either ramson or ramps). Wild garlic has arrived! Wild garlic, also known as ramson or bear's garlic ( Allium ursinum , ' karulauk ' in Estonian), is a very close relative to the wild leek aka ramp ( Allium tricoccum , ' grislilauk ' in Estonian). I've been eagerly waiting for this spring green, as I love both the flavour and the versatily of it, and it's a good health-booster at this time of the year. Well, if it's good enough for big brown bears, it's good enough for us :D Although I've been happily making a wild garlic pesto with pinenuts for a few years now, this one is a new favourite. There's more flavour, and somehow it's much more gutsier than the 'regular' wild garlic pesto. The idea to use almonds instead of pinenuts in a wild garlic pesto is from a German food magazin...

Aren't those meatballs cute and bright? It's a popular Danish family dish, boller i karry or meatballs in curry sauce. According to various sources, the dish was created already back in 1840s, when curry powder mixes were first introduced to Danish customers. The popular Danish meatballs were then served with a mildly (!!!) curry-flavoured sauce and rice instead of potatoes - a huge novelty and very exotic back then. I remember the dish well from my year in Denmark as an exchange student back in 1992-1993, and I liked it. Since visiting Denmark - and my host family - last November, I've been cooking Danish food much more frequently again. With three small kids, it's inevitable that I'm also making so-called "family foods" more often, and boller i karry definitely qualifies as comfort food/family food. Adjust the amount of curry powder depending on the palate of your kids - and remember to use mild Indian-style curry powder, not a spicy or Thai style. Dani...