Speculoos Cookies

A spicy and crunchy cookie that you can't resist! With a glass of cold milk is just perfect, as most of the cookies, but still there is something special about speculoos. These thin biscuits are made of brown sugar, butter, flour and that glorious spice mixture containing: cinnamon, clove, ginger, white pepper, cardamom, nutmeg. If you want it to be really heavy add some anise and coriander seeds as well, like it is common in the Netherlands and Germany. The Belgian version is a lot less spicy, sometimes even no spices at all. There is also a version with almond flour and thinly sliced almonds. Once the cookies start baking your whole house is going to smell like a gingerbread house!

Ingredients:
for the spice mixture:
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon white peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon anise
1/2 teaspoon coriander
for the speculoos:
(based on a recipe by Alain Ducasse)
140 g butter, room temperature
250 g brown sugar250 g flour
2 g baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon spice mixture
1-2 tablespoons water

To make the spice mixture ground coriander, anise seeds and white pepper. Once done blend it with the rest of the spices. For the pastry whisk butter with brown sugar until fluffy, then add the rest of the ingredients and knead a dough. Chill for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roll out pastry about 2 mm thick and cut it with any type of cookie cutter. Bake for about 10 minutes and store in an air-thight container.

Homemade Chinese Five Spice Powder

Five-spice powder is a mixture of five spices, encompassing all five flavors of sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty. It is popular in Chinese cuisine, but also used in other Asian cookery. There are many variants. The most common is star anise (bajiao), cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper (huajiao) and ground fennel seeds. Instead of true cinnamon, "Chinese cinnamon" (also known as rougui, the ground bark of the cassia tree, a close relative of true cinnamon which is often sold as cinnamon), may be used.


Personally, I love cassia a lot, sometimes even prefer it rather than cinnamon. The spices need not be used in equal quantities. According to my book about spices it may additionally also contain kardamom, dried ginger or liquorice root as well. I love to prepare my own spice mixtures and as I have just run out of five spice powder, I decided to try it this time the version with the additional spices, despite the liquorice root. (source:wikipedia)



Ingredients:
1 tablepoon star anise
1 tablespoon Sichuan pepper
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon or cassia
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1/2 tablespoon cloves
1 teaspoon ginger powder
3 brown cardamom pods


Simply blend all the ingredients together and keep it in an air tight container. Use it within 3-4 months.

Sambal oelek

The indonesian kitchen is rich in spices, such as galangal, ginger, lemongrass and other herbs like lime leaf. Among the spicy dishes they always serve sambal, a chili based paste, as an appetizer, that is also used as a condiment.


Usually, it is prepared using lombok chili. There are many different varieties such as the sambal badjak that contains garlic, tamarinde and galangal among other spices, or the sambal balado, that is made of green chilis. Sambal is also popular in Malaysia, Singapur, Sri Lanka and Netherlands. The sambal oelek is actually the base for most of the other sambals.


My greengrocer sells a lot of different types of chili, that of course I couldn't resist. I prepared a smaller portion of sambal oelek, but most of the chilis I use only as a decoration, because they are all very hot.


Ingredients:
250 g chili
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar


In a heavy iron frying pan dry chilies over medium heat. When they have cooled down chop, remove the seeds if desired, and chop it to a paste together with the salt and the brown sugar either with the help of a mixer or in a mortar. It can be kept in the fridge for a week.

Za'atar Lamb

Za'atar is a spice mixture made from dried herbs (such as oregano, thyme or majoram) mixed with sesame seeds and other spices. Traditinally, that other spice is sumac. It is used in the Arab cuisine as well as in Turkey and Jordan. It can be used as a seasoning on meat, vegetables or may be sprinkled on top of bowl of hummus.


On Tuesday, when I prepared the garam masala, I wanted to cook something spicy and unusual to me. I had a nice piece of lamb, but had no clear idea what to prepare. So the day before I marinated the lamb in olive oil, garlic and thyme. I thought this can't be wrong no matter what I am gonna cook. Somewhen late night, when I woke up to some noise, I had the sudden idea to combine the lamb with chickpeas, so I grabbed the bag and drown a good handful in water. The next day, the dish was born: spicy chickpea and couscous among the za'atar flavoured lamb, cucumber coulis and crème fraîche in order to balance the spiciness.



Ingredients:
100 g chickpeas, dried
50 g couscous
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 cm fresh ginger
1 chili
200 g tomatoes
lemon juice
salt

Cook chickpeas or use tinned, prepare the couscous as written on the package. Cut tomatoes in pieces and among some salt cook for about 10 minutes, then pass it through a sieve and set this puree aside. Heat oil, add the curry powder, garam masala and stir for about half a minute. Add chopped (in my case grated) onion, garlic, ginger and chili (cut in half in case you want to remove it or chopped) and fry until the onion is softened. Add the chickpeas, about 150 ml water, salt and cook until the water has been absorbed. Stir in the couscous and the tomato puree, season with salt and lemon juice.

Garam Masala

Garam masala is a basic blend of ground spices common in the Indian cuisine, especially important in the North-Indian part. Probably, there are as many variation as cooks. Some common ingredients are black and/or white peppercorns, cloves, black cumin, cumin seeds, cinnamon, black, brown and green cardamom, nutmeg or mace, star anise and coriander seeds. Some, that are based on pepper and clove, can be pretty hot, others, that are based on mace, cinnamon and cardamom, are rather mild and aromatic. If you add black pepper, but do not want to use the mixture immediately, then do not do so, because this may change the whole character of your mixture as time goes by.


I decided to prepare a mixture that is common in the Punjab area. It is spicy and hot, but the great thing about these mixtures is that you can play with the amount of ingredients as you desire.


Ingredients:
1 stick cinnamon
2 bay leaves
20 g cumin
15 g coriander seeds
10 g green cardamom pods
10 g black pepper
7 g clove
7 g ground mace

Break cinnamon stick in pieces, crumble bay leaves. Roast spices for 2-3 minutes over medium heat, until they begin to get dark. Let it cool and grind together with the mace. Some sources say not to roast the spices for this mixture, so it is up to you! The mixture can be kept for 3-4 months.

Homemade Curry Powder

Ever since I discovered, that the curry powder I used to buy, contains a thickening agent I decided to prepare my own. Not, that it is such a tragedy, because food thickeners are based on polysaccharides like starches, or proteins. This could be cornstarch, tapioca, potato starch, guar gum, xanthan gum or egg whites, gelatin and so on. However, I think substances like that have nothing to do in a spice mixture. Besides it is so much fun to discover all those spices and to mix them as you desire.


Ingredients:
25 g coriander seeds
15 g cumin
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2 tablespoon tumeric powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 small piece of cinnamon
6 cardamom pods
6 cloves
6 curry leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper


Heat a heavy saucepan and roast seeds, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom pods while stirring frequently. Let it cool, add the powders and curry leaves and blend all together. Mixture can be kept in a jar for 3-4 months.