YouTube Video on Awase Dashi here. Dashi is Japanese for stock, and is extremely simple to make, packing a subtle yet complex Umami flavour. Dashi is the mainstay of many Japanese soups, sauces and a host of other dishes. Dashi is so easy to make from scratch that after reading this, you’ll never reach for […]
Tahini
Tahini is a paste made with sesame seeds and oil, popular in the Middle East, Turkey, Greece and parts of North Africa. It is a dip on its own but is also a basic ingredient in popular recipes such as hummus and baba ghanoush. It is extremely easy to make, and tastes so much better than […]
Flan Pastry
Yet another basic shortcrust pastry, Flan Pastry or Pâte à Foncer (part-ah-fawn-say), is an extremely versatile pastry, can be made a day in advance easily, and filled with all manner of yummy stuff, whether sweet or savoury. Of course one of its advantages is that it’s an easy pastry to make, light but not as […]
Choux Pastry (Pâte à Choux)
Choux Pastry or Pâte à Choux (pronounced pata shoo) is, to me, one of the easiest pastries to make – ever! So many people are under the mistaken impression that it’s a difficult and lengthy process but how does 10 minutes from start to end sound? That includes getting the ingredients together – ok, ok, […]
Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Shortcrust Pastry)
Pâte Sucrèe means Sweet Dough in French and is a light, crumbly, sweet shortcrust pastry that we usually associate with fruit tarts. Once it’s baked, it’s sturdy enough to stand on its own, without the tin it was baked in. The use of icing sugar adds to the overall sweetness. The traditional method of making […]
