English Muffin

Quick and healthy oat English muffin, homemade one. I promise this recipe will surprise you a big time!

- This is a brilliant in its simplicity recipe. English muffin, made exclusively of oats, yet stunningly resembling your usual store bought English muffins. Oh yeah, just without all those funny additional ingredients. 

- The only minor downside to this recipe is you can do just one muffin at a time. 

- It's a gluten-free (if you care), healthy recipe you will love. It's also handy when you suddenly are out of bread. 

Oat English Muffin

For 1 English muffin :

• 1/3 cup rolled oats (any kind)
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tbsp plant milk

- Blend first 4 ingredients in a high-speed blender like Ninja until it resembles course flour. Transfer to a bowl, add remaining ingredients. Mix just until combined.

- Transfer dough into un-greased ceramic ramekin, smooth out with a spoon and cook in a microwave, on a high, for 2 minutes.

- Let it cool until able to handle. Transfer on a cutting board and slice with knife into two halves.

- Carefully place in your usual toaster (vertical one) and toast to your liking. 

- Ta-da!  Isn't it tastier that your regular one? Enjoy!

Notes

- You can play with this recipe using oat flour or whole chia seeds, or adding 1 tsp of ground flax seeds for additional nutritional value, or, perhaps some black cumin (nigella seeds) for surprising bursts of flavor.

- No worry, the dough is not going to stick to ramekin :)

- I bet you will be very surprised when you slice into the cooked muffin - it so close to original English muffins. Only tastier.

- For suggested usage for these English muffins see my pictures below.

- If you don't have apple sauce, finely grate 1/2 of apple instead, or perhaps you have canned peaches or pears, use them! In fact, I'm not even trying to keep apple sauce in a house, I just use fresh apples as they are always on a hands.



*******************************************************************************************************************************

IN PICTURES

I use fork to get it out carefully.

Bottom is a bit soggy which kept it from sticking to the bottom of ramekin.

Soo much like real bread..

Flip side, just like English muffin is.

I love it with homemade hummus and fresh salsa

Sweet version with almond butter, banana and chia seeds.

These are made using fresh grated apples instead of apple sauce. You might even notice one small apple chunk on a picture :) Below you see my breakfast with these muffin halves smudged with homemade pesto and curry leaves spread, topped with fresh Ox Heart tomato. It was such a yummy meal. I will be posting the recipes for those spreads later.

Coconut Purple Potato Mash

Can't wait to share with you my newest discovery - delicious, beautiful and, the most important, healthy Japanese sweet purple potato, pureed with coconut milk and served with freshly toasted almond flakes. Easy!

Blog's Category: Appetizer, Awesome Findings, Dessert, Effortless, Healthy, International, Kid's Favorite, My Own Fast and Easy, Perfect Breakfast, Side Dish, Vegetarian, Warm Appetizer

In a Few Words ...

- My biggest problem with this recipe was how to categorize it - is it side dish, or is it dessert, or is it appetizer. I had no doubt it is a great comfort food and may be a perfect choice for kids, especially for cooking with kids hence it's simplicity and visual appeal. BTW, if you want your kid to eat some particular food - get him to cook it with you!

- As far as I know, sweet purple potato is a popular food item in Japan, Hawaii. There is a several varieties of sweet purple potato. This particular one has light-beige skin and a beautiful light-purple and white-ish flesh when raw. Light-purple flesh, while cooking, becomes deep purple and gives amazing color to everything it is added to. 

- My recipe is an adaptation of a simple common recipe when boiled potato mashed with a coconut milk. I have decided to add some bling to it in a form of extra splashes of coconut milk on top and some toasted almond flakes. Result has exceeded my most optimistic expectations, it was so tasty, and fluffy, and lightly naturally sweet.

- Almost the same important aspect of this recipe as taste is the fact it is very easy to cook - peel, boil, mash, voila!

- Yes, the color knocks you out!


Couple Tips

- Use nice quality canned coconut milk for it. 

- I buy Sweet Purple Japanese potato at my local Asian grocery store. Refer to pictures below to identify this kind of sweet potato. Our regular grocery store's purple potato is small, round, with a dark-purple skin and it is not the same.

Coconut Sweet Purple Potato Mash

For 4 servings:

• 2 Purple Sweet Japanese potatoes, peeled and cut in a large chunks
• 2/3 can of good quality coconut milk
• 4 tbs freshly toasted almond flakes
• 1/2 tsp salt

- Place potato into a pot with a cold water, add salt, bring to a boil. Then cook on a medium heat for about 20-30 minutes or until soft and fully cooked.

- Drain water. Mash with a potato masher nicely. Add about 1/2 cup of coconut milk and mash again. 

- Serve warm, with a coconut milk, poured on a top and around. Sprinkle with almond. Enjoy!



*******************************************************************************************************************************

In Pictures

Nature is amazing creating such an interesting vegetable... Nothing on outside tells you that you can get that beautifully purple potato puree out of it :) If you see there, I picked a bit of flesh to make sure it is purple inside ;)

Beauty revealed!

Not that purple ..yet.

Now it is very dark purple.. funny. Water is like ink. Discard it though. We won't use it.

Mash it thorougly first.

Now add coconut milk.

Oi! What a color!

FYI - it is light and fluffy but pretty filling. So make portions appropriately :)

Tostones

Tostones - popular Latin American food. It is thick chips, or smashed patties, of plantain, plant which looks like banana, but not banana at all. Just be cautious - these sweet-ish chips, in combination with garlic-lime sauce, are addictive.

Blog's Category: Awesome Findings, Hors D'oeuvre, International, Snacks, Vegetarian

Intro

First time, I enjoyed fried plantains many year ago on our vacation in Miami. Since then, I am a fan of this starchy banana-like vegetable. Plantain, unlike banana, has not to be consumed raw and used mostly in savory dishes. It's often fried, then sometimes mashed, or smashed like in this recipe. It is a great side to any type of meat or vegetable, especially with sauce or gravy.

Tostones is a Puerto Rican dish. Below is a traditional way to cook tostones. I'm not completely happy with a fact that it is twice-fried dish but final result is great. As a bonus to plantain's starchiness - high nutritional value. It's high in potassium, vitamin A and C, fiber. So I'm not feeling guilty at all :)


What is it?

Thick slices of plantain is fried, then smashed into patties and fried again. Simple? Yes. But the key is win-win combination of these tostones with my Lime-Garlic dipping sauce.

Taste Description

Tender sweetness of crunchy tostones, lightly sprinkled with salt, bursts and shines after you dip them into super-flavorful dipping sauce - resulting sweet-and-sour bouquet of garlic, lime, cilantro, plantain flavors knock you out while your hand is already reaching for a next chip.

How to Serve

As any fried food, tostones are the best when served right away. Sorry, couldn't save any to test them cooled down :) I assume they are still delicious after re-heating, preferably in a toaster-oven to regain its crunchiness.

Tostones - Smashed Plantain Chips

For 16-18 tostones:

• 2 plantains
• salt
• oil for frying (I use light olive oil or grape oil)

Dipping sauce:

• 1 tbs ketchup
• 1 tbs sriracha (omit if you don't like spicy food)
• 1 lime (juice only)
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2-3 tbs water
• few sprigs of cilantro, chopped

- First, make dipping sauce combining all ingredients together. Set aside for serving.

- Prepare plantain by cutting off ends, peeling it and slicing into 1"-thick circles (see pictures below).

- Fry plantain slices on a medium-high heat in about 4 tablespoons of oil until golden brown, on both sides. Remove on a plate. They will be slightly undercooked, but that's OK.

- Place plantain piece in between two layers of plastic wrap and, using flat-bottomed pan (see pictures), press down with both hands to smash it into about 4 mm thick patties. 

- When done with smashing, fry patties on a same frying pan until crunchy and golden-brown. Add oil if needed. Remove cooked chips onto plate with paper towel to absorb extra oil. Sprinkle a little bit with a salt.

- Serve with dipping sauce on a side and.. Enjoy!



*******************************************************************************************************************************

IN PICTURES

Your dipping sauce will be a bit sour, but that's all right - in combination with neutral-sweet chips it will be just perfect.

Ir's easy to differentiate plantain from banana in a store - plantains are bigger, heavier,  usually in a dark spots and bruises. sometimes almost black when ripe.

Don't bang, just press down evenly :)

Some patties are not perfectly round, and it doesn't make them taste a bit worse :)

.. just a bit of salt..