Chocolate Mousse

Nobody can say this: “I don’t like chocolate mousse”. It is impossible! It is full of chocolate and that creamy taste can be even seductive at some point. Do you want to surprise your guest ( or just yourself J )  with an extremely delicious but a very easy and quickly-prepared dessert? Then you will try this recipe definitely. I used my friend’s recipe as baseline and did some little changes. It became semi-sweet, fruity and creamy. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

·         180 gr milk chocolate ( quiet unusual but I gave the bitterness with another ingredient J )

·         55 gr butter

·         1 cup (40 ml) Vanilla espresso (I used 1 nespresso capsule of Vanilio, you can of course use standard espresso and add a 1 tsp of vanilla for flavor.)

·         20 ml milk

·         1 egg yolk

·         250 ml crème-fraiche

·         250 gr raspberries

·         Whipped cream

·         Grated chocolate

Methods

1.  Put the chocolate, butter, espresso and milk in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir it occasionally.
2.  Once the chocolate totally melted put the egg yolk and start to stir it immediately and fast so that egg yolk do not cook in the chocolate mix, if so you will see yellow egg particles in the mix and whole chocolate is ruined.
3.  After 2 - 3 minutes of constant stirring, put the bowl aside and let the chocolate mix cool down.
4.  Put the crème-fraiche in an another bowl and whip it till thickened (app 3 min). (if it is not thick enough, you will get a soft form which you don’t want.)
5. Add the chocolate mix into the thickened crème-fraiche and mix them very well.
6. Transfer the mousse into 4 - 6 bowls (according to the size of your bowls.)
7. Put them in the refrigerator for at least 1 – 2 hours.

Serving Tip: Here comes the fruity and more creamy part!

o   Chopped the raspberries (it can be also blueberries or blackberries.) into small pieces.

o   Put the chopped raspberries on the top of the mousse.

o   Top with the whipped cream and grated chocolate

Enjoy!

Hic kimseden bunu duyamazsiniz: “Ben cikolatali mousse sevmiyorum.” Imkansiz! Bir kere bu tatli neredeyse sadece ve sadece cikolatayla yapiliyor. Kim boyle bir tatliya hayir diyebilir ki?! Siz de benim gibi misafirlerinize (veya sadece kendinize J) ultra lezzetli ama bir o kadar da kolay bir tatli hazirlamak istiyorsaniz bunu kesinlikle denemelisiniz. Bir arkadasimdan aldigim tarifin uzerinde birkac degisiklik yaparak yari-tatli, meyvemsi, bol kremali cikolatali mousse hazirladim. Iste tarifi.

Malzemeler

• 180 gr sutlu cikolata (Normalde bitter cikolata kullanilir, fakat ben bitter tadini baska bir malzemeyle verdim.)
•  55 gr tereyagi
•  40 ml vanilya aromali espresso (1 nespresso Vanilio kapsulu kullandim ama siz ayni tad icin normal espresso ve 1 cay kasigi vanilya da kullanabilirsiniz.)
•   20 ml sut
•   1 yumurta sarisi
•   250 ml krema
•    250 gr frambuaz
•    Hazir krema
•    Cikolata parcalari

Yapilis

1. Cikolata, tereyagi, espresso ve sutu bir kaba koyup ara sira karistirarak benmari usulu eritin.
2. Cikolata tamamen eridikten sonra yumurta sarisini ekleyin ve hemen cirpma teliyle surekli ve seri halde karistirin. Eger karistirmazsaniz yumurta piser ve kucuk sari parcalar gormeye baslarsiniz ki bu butun cikolata karisiminiz cope gitmesi anlamina gelir.
3. Yaklasik 3 dakika karistirmanin sonunda cikolata karisimini sogumaya birakin.
4. Baska bi kaba kremayi koyun ve iyice sertlesene kadar cirpin. Kremanin sert olmasi onemli yoksa mousse formunu tutturamazsiniz, sulu olur.
5. Sertlesen kremaya cikolata karisimini ekleyin ve iyice karistirin.
6. Servis kaplarina paylastirin. (kaplarinizin buyuklugune gore  4 – 6 kap cikar.)
7. Buzdolabinda en az 1 – 2 saat sogumaya birakin.

Servis icin: Iste burasi meyvemsi ve bol kremali yapmak icin!

o   Frambuazlari kucuk parcalar halinde dograyin. (Frambuaz yerine yaban mersini ya da bogurtlen de kullanabilirsiniz.)

o   Kaplarin uzerinlerine uzerini kapatacak sekilde ekleyin.

o   Hazir kremayla susleyip uzerine cikolata parcalarini ekleyerek servis yapin.

Afiyet olsun!

Merry Armenian Christmas!

It's been again a long time since I posted a blog, I know. We are now in 2015. For some of you it is late but still happy new year! For almost everybody holiday season is over but not for Armenians :) Today is Christmas Eve and tomorrow we will celebrate Christmas. That's why I wanted to share a recipe with you. It is a very easy cookie recipe. You can serve them after dinner with tea or coffee if you and your guests still have some space to eat something :) If you saw an Armenian dinner, you would know what I am talking about ;)

No more chit-chatting, here is the recipe. Merry Armenian Christmas :)

Ingredients

• butter (100g)
• brown sugar (200g)
• 2 eggs
• self raising flour (200g)
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• crunchy peanut butter (100g)
• 1 tsp of vanilla powder
• handful of walnuts
• caramel-honey dessert sauce or melted chocolate 

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
• Put the butter, brown sugar and eggs in big bowl and mix them till its soft.
• Add the flour, baking powder, vanilla and peanut butter and mix them very well.
• Shape dough into small balls by using two table spoons and put them on the baking tray.
• Put the walnuts on the top. 
• Bake them in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes. 
• When they are cooled down you can put the sauce or the melted chocalate on them.

Enjoy!

Oncellikle herkese mutlu yillar! Biliyorum uzun zamandir yine blog yazmiyorum. Bugun yine bir tarifle karsinizdayim. Hepiniz icin tatil bitmis olsa da biz Ermeniler icin daha bitmedi. Bugun Noel arifesi, yarin ise Isa'nin dogumunu kutlayacagiz. Bu inanilmaz kolay fistik ezmeli biskuviyi ise tam noel yemegi sonrasi kahve ve cay esliginde rahatca sunabilirsiniz tabi hala misafirlerinizin midesinde azicik da olsa yer kaldiysa. Ermeni sofrasinda bulunmus olanlar ne demek istedigimi bilir :)

Sozu daha fazla uzatmadan tarife geciyorum. Shnorhavor Surp Dznund :)

Malzemeler

• 100 gr tereyagi
• 200 gr kahverengi seker
• 2 yumurta
• 100 gr fistik ezmesi
• 1 cay kasigi kabartma tozu
• 1 cay kasigi vanilya (daha yogun bir vanilya aromasi icin bir paket de konulabilir.)
• 200 gr un
• 1 avuc ceviz
• Karamelli-Balli tatli sosu veya erimis cikolata

Yapilis

• Firini 180 dereceye ayarlayip onceden isitin
• Seker, tereyagi ve yumurtayi buyuk bi kaba alin iyice karistirin. 
• Un, kabartma tozu, vanilya ve fistik ezmesini de iyice karistirip kasik yarimiyla kucuk toplar halinde firin tepsisine dizin.
• Uzerlerine sus olarak cevizleri ekleyin.
• Firinda 12-14 dakika arasinda pisirin.
• Biskuviler iyice soguduktan sonra uzerlerine tatli sosu veya erimis cikolata ile susleyin.

Afiyet olsun!

Pumpkin Soup

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons. The thousand different shades of brown color make me feel warm and cozy. Now it’s nearly the end of October so it is almost Halloween. Even if it is not our tradition, Halloween is one of the examples of how American culture influences the whole world. Halloween actually means holy evening. Strange enough, this day is dedicated to remembering the dead including saints. The ghost stories, the haunted houses, scary pranks are designed to confront the power of death. Pumpkin is of course the main symbol of the Halloween. They make carved pumpkins, Jack-o-lanters. They are used for scaring evil spirits. But it is also very good time to eat pumpkin. In my opinion, the most delicious dish with pumpkin is Pumpkin Soup. It is always nice to eat pumpkin soup when you come home cold and hungry. My pumpkin soup is a different one. I use different spices to give it more flavour.  So here is my Pumpkin Soup Recipe. Hope you like it.  

Ingredients

·         1 medium size pumpkin
·         3 tbsp olive oil
·         2 medium size carrots
·         1 onion
·         1 glove of garlic
·         1 tsp cumin
·         1 tsp pimenta
·         1 tsp curcuma
·         1 lt water

Method

·         Cut the pumpkin like a watermelon, deseed and peel it. Chop it into small blocks.
·         Peel the carrots and slice them.
·         Put the olive oil into a large saucepan and add the onion and garlic which are chopped into small pieces.
·         Cook the onion and garlic for 2 minutes covered with medium heat and add the pumpkin and carrots.
·         Cook them 3 minutes (covered) more and add spices. Stir very well so that every ingredient touches the spices.
·         Add boiled water and lower the heat. Cook them till the carrots and pumpkin are soft.
·         Use the food processor to make it puree till it’s smooth.

Serving tip : Use 1 tbsp of sour cream. (See the picture.)

Enjoy your meal!

Sonbahar benim en sevdigim mevsimler biridir. Kahverenginin binbir cesidini gormek icimi isitir. Ayrica Ekimin sonuna geldik, her ne kadar da bizim adetlerimizden biri olmasa, Cadilar Bayrami zamani simdi. Cadilar Bayrami yani “Halloween” kutsal gece demekmis. Olulerin anilmasina adanmis bu gun aslinda. Bu gece boyunca anlatilan hayalet hikayeleri, perili evler ve korkutucu sakalar is insanlarin olumunun gucuyle karsi karsiya kalmasi icin yapilmis. Hic suphesiz Cadilar Bayraminin en onemli sembolu Balkabagi. Balkabagindan yapilan lambalarin ama kotu ruhlari korkutmakmis. Bana sorarsiniz guzelim balkabaklarini lamba yapmak yerine oturup bir guzel corba yapin. Aksam usumus ve ac bir sekilde eve geldiginizde icebileceginiz en guzel corbadir balkabagi corbasi. Benim tarifim biraz degisik. Ben bu corbayi yaperken normalde belki yakistirmayacaginiz baharatlar kullaniyorum. Kimyon , yeni bahar ve zerdecal. Hepsinin farkli bir tat ve lezzet verecegine emin olabilir. Deneyin ve gorun.

Malzemeler

·         1 orta boy balkabagi
·         2 orta boy havuc
·         3 yemek kasigi zeytinyagi
·         1 orta boy sogan
·         1 dis sarmisak
·         1 cay kasigi kimyon
·         1 cay kasigi yeni bahar
·         1 cy kasigi zerdecal
·         1 lt su

Hazirlanisi

·         Balkabagini karpuz keser gibi kesin, cekirdeklerini cikartin ve soyun. Kucuk parcalar halinde kesin.
·         Havuclari soyup halkalar halinde dograyin.
·         Buyuk bir tencereye zeytinyagini koyup kucuk kucuk dogradiginiz sogan ve sarmisagi iki dakika orta hararette kavurunuz.
·         Balkabagini ve havucu da ekleyip kapagi kapali bir sekilde arada karistirarak 3 dakika pisirin.
·         Baharatlari ekleyin ve iyice karistirin. Baharatlar esit sekilde dagilsin.
·         Kaynamis suyu ilave edin ve dusuk ateste balkabaklari ve havoc yumusayana kadar pisirin.
·         Blenderla iyice pure haline getirin.

Servis ederken; 1 kasik krema kullanin. Resimdeki gibi. Afiyet olsun!