Yin's Drunken Vanilla Strawberries and Lavender Whipped Cream

Yummy strawberries. The grocery store downstairs was selling these beautiful fruits, and I decided that we deserved a treat. (Katiki included, as she loves a bit of strawberry with her cream.) I do not have a picture of the finished product (as I TOTALLY forgot to take pictures of the food before we ate it all.) but I did take pictures of the fruits and wine before I started cooking. Will update post with new pictures when I make them again.

Ingredients:

• Strawberries
• Red Wine (good and robust)
• Vanilla Sugar
• Lavender Sugar
• Whipping Cream

Instructions:

1. In a pot, pour a big big glug of red wine with lots of the Vanilla Sugar (according to how sweet you like your sweets. I don't like mine too sweet, but George loves his to the point that you'll get earaches, aka. 'The appropriate Greek sweetness'.). Simmer it gently until it becomes a sweet syrupy liquid.
2. Wash and take the tops of the fresh strawberries. Slice them into manageable, eatable, spoonable pieces.
   
3. Drown the strawberries in the semi-hot, warmish syrup. Cover and leave to cool thoroughly before cooling it even more in the fridge.
   
4. Before serving, whip the cream with the Lavender Sugar (again, according to taste) until it peaks and creates a smooth 'strand' when you lift the whip away from the bowl.
   
5. Spoon the strawberries into a bowl, and add the whipped cream on top.
6. Serve with more wine. Wooop! (Or coffee if you don't drink.)

NOTE: Vanilla and Lavender Sugar Recipes will be added soon. With pretty pictures.

Mummy's Potato Salad

My Mummy-In-Law makes the best Potato Salad that I have ever tasted. Its soft lemony, crunchy, sweet-ish and sour all at once - it just depends on what you're biting at the very minute you're eating the salad. This is how you make it.

Ingredients:

• 1kg to 1.5kg of Potatoes, peeled and cut into rather chunky pieces. Use good potatoes that are suitable for boiling - ones that don't flake too much and hold sturdy if you much about with them a lot.(Or if you live in England and can buy those lovely washed Baby New Potatoes, just boil it as it is.)

• Big red sweet onions, sliced into crescent moon shapes. I usually use 2 medium sized onions for this amount of potatoes.
• A handful pickled gherkins. Yeeaaashh, those tiny cucumber pickles.
  
• A handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley of equal amount to the above-mentioned pickles.
• Juice from a whole lemon.
• A big jar of mayonaise.
• A huge glug of olive oil.
• Salt to taste.

Instructions:

1. Boil potatoes in lightly salted water until tender enough to poke with a fork but not until it breaks (means its too soft.)
2. Drain and transfer into a bowl/tupperware with a cover. Immediately squeeze the lemon juice onto the hot potatoes.
3. Add in the onions, pickled cucumbers/gherkins, parsley,mayonaise and olive oil. Mix thoroughly. Add salt to taste.
4. Let it cool thoroughly before putting it in the fridge to cool even more (if you like Cold Cold Potato Salad).
5. You can serve it hot-ish, cool, or cold. Enjoy!
   

Here the salad is served with some grilled meat.

Chicken Rendang

Chicken Rendang (not exactly as how my Grandma makes it, but nearly there.)

• Chicken about 1kg with the bones, or 750g boneless (cut into pieces, with or without bone - your choice. I like to make it using chicken breasts. Softer, and easier to eat using cutlery. It make not look so pretty, but hey it works for me.)
  
• Coconut milk (1 can)
• Shallots (about a handful - sliced thinly, not cubed but into strands)
• Lemongrass (4-5 stalks, slicked thinly)
• Ginger (about half of the size of your palm - sliced thinly, into strands)
• Chilli Paste (I usually just use Sambal Oelek that you can find in most supermarkets nowadays - and use it as much or as little as you want)
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Put all ingredients in a big pot. Heat it up. Stir continuously while cooking. Continuously.
2. Before the chicken breaks into teeny wincey pieces, using thongs, pick them out and put them in a bowl and cover.
3. Continue to stir the mixture in the pot until it starts to dry up. You don't want it to burn, so stir and stir! Once it gets to 'sound' crispy in the pot (crackle, pop and sizzle) and the mixture has gotten the dark brownish red colour, return the chicken to the pot and stir.
   
4. Its ready!

Where I bought the ingredients used:
Shallots, Chicken - Umm, you can find that easily, anywhere.
Lemongrass - Kosmas deli in Thessaloniki. (Whuutt?!!? all the way up there? Yup, the bestest place to shop for food in the whole wide world, Kosmas.)
Ginger - Sklavenitis. You can find ginger in most supermarkets nowadays, but I found mine in that new big huge one in Kallithea - bought Fresh Coriander there too.
Coconut Milk - easy to find, but I usually buy mine in an Asian Wok Shop in Kifissia.
Sambal Oelek - again, from the Asian Wok Shop.
Salt - Seriously?

Maria & Antonis Dinner

Mummy IL dearest came to Athens yesterday, with her partner Antonis. Since he LOVES spicy food, I decided to make my usual successful repertoire - Chicken Rendang, Beef Rogan Josh (usually I make Vindaloo, but I didn't want his tongue to burn), Nasi Lemak, Gado-Gado Salad and Kuah Kacang Sate aka Satay Sauce ala Yinnie.



Not included in the picture is the Gado-Gado Salad and Satay Sauce. Because...... well, by the time I remembered about taking pictures, it's ALL GONE!

Enjoy the recipes. Danke.