Oatmeal porridge with dillisk (dulse)

It's been a while since I last posted here so it's time for something new. Here's something simple just to get back into the swing of things: Dillisk porridge!

Before soaking

Dillisk porridge

This is a nice combination if you're looking to start the day off with a healthy breakfast. All you need to do is soak the oats in water (preferably overnight). You can add the dillisk and soak them together or soak the dillisk separately, then cut it into smaller pieces and add it to the porridge oats. Put the soaked porridge and dillisk in a saucepan, bring it to the boil and allow it to simmer for about 5 minutes. That's it. There's no need to add salt.

This dish is perfect for anyone doing endurance sport training as it provides lots of protein, fibre, nutrients etc. The dillisk is high in potassium and it contains vitamin B-12. This makes it an important foods source for vegans. This dish should also help anyone who is trying to lose weight, stabilise blood sugar levels and pressure.

Enjoy!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Here's a nice green smoothie for a healthy start to St. Patrick's Day!

Green Smoothie with Spirulina

Ingredients:
1 banana, 1/2 avocado, spinach leaves, 1 kiwi, 3g dried spirulina and pear juice as a base.

Enjoy!

Restaurant Day Poznań

On Sunday (February 16) two of my friends are cooking for Restaurant Day Poznań at the Judo Academy on Głogowska street starting 2pm. They have chosen my barley soup as part of the menu so I'm delighted with that. So I hope to see you there if you are in Poznań on Sunday afternoon!

For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/events/583533088400489/585225744897890/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pyszki-z-widelca-i-%C5%82y%C5%BCki/212126935647707

Laverbread and dillisk

Ireland V Wales (source: theguardian.com)

It's Ireland v Wales in this year's Six Nations rugby tournament today. With that in mind I've decided to try my hand at a Welsh national dish as well as throwing in an Irish delicacy to balance the books. The Welsh dish I'm talking about is laverbread. Technically speaking it is not a bread at all as its main ingredients are laver (nori) and oatmeal. The Welsh would include it in a Welsh breakfast, with seafood or as a spread on bread or toast.

Source: goweruk.com

Laverbread spread

 I wanted to keep in line with Welsh tradition so I used streaky bacon in my recipe. For a healthy alternative vegetarian dish click on the following link: http://www.ehow.com/how_2316069_make-laver-bread.html

Laverbread cakes
Ingredients:
50g dried laver (nori)
Oatmeal - I used up about 200g, recipes on the net suggest using 25% oatmeal to laver. I used more than that to make it less sticky.
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 pack of streaky bacon
Pepper

Laverbread mix

Roast Laverbread

I broke up the dried nori sheets into pieces and boiled them in water until they had a texture similar to mushy spinach. I cut up the streaky bacon into small bits and fried it. I then mixed all of the ingredients listed above in a bowl and rolled the laverbread into small cake shapes before frying the first batch in the bacon fat. The rest of the laverbread cakes were oven roasted. I prefer the oven roast ones though the tradition is to fry them.

Roast dillisk crisps
This is very simple to make. Rub some olive oil lightly into dillisk which has been chopped into small pieces. Sprinkle with linseed and sesame seed and roast in high temperature for a few minutes.

Fried dillisk crisps
This is also a simple and quick dish. Fry the dillisk in sesame oil in a pan for a few minutes until it turns brown. If you over fry it, it will turn black so avoid that. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and pepper if you wish.

.

Sweet Kelp Brown Bread

A loaf of brown bread with sweet kelp seaweed

I've just finished baking my first loaf of seaweed bread. I based it on a recipe I found here and added some sweet kelp.

Ingredients used:

400g of wholemeal flour
100g of plain white flour
7g packet of dried yeast
1 tbsp of soft butter
8g of dried sweet kelp
A mix of linseed, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds
About 300ml of lukewarm water

I followed the instructions by mixing together the flour, yeast, butter, seeds and seaweed in a large bowl before adding most of the water. I then kneaded the dough for about 8 minutes, adding a little water to pick up the dry dough from the surface of the bowl. I set it aside covered for an hour for the yeast to do its job. I also kneaded it briefly at this stage to remove any large air bubbles and again left it for another hour. I added some more seeds to the top before baking in the oven at 230C for about half an hour.

The first slice

A few minutes later