Latvian apple crumble

Latvian apple crumble

What you will need:

• 500ml self raising flour
• 300ml yoghurt (250ml kefir or ayran is the best, you can also use pouring yoghurt)
• 250ml granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• roughly 5 apples (I used 3), you can also you rhubarb
• 1 tbsp baking powder or baking soda
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar (you can do without it as well)
• 2 tbsp soured cream
• roughly 1 tbsp cinnamon
• oil (or butter)

Mix flour, sugar, 2 eggs, yoghurt, baking powder and vanilla sugar. Peel the apples and cut out the cores  and cut the apples in thin slices or pieces. I prefer slices and they look better as well.

Now get a separate bowl and whisk 1 egg with soured cream and 1 tbsp sugar.

Oil or butter the baking tray and pour the flour mix in the tray. Then add the apples on top of it, spread them evenly. Pour the egg mix over this evenly and sprinkle cinnamon on top. 

If you want crumbles then get a new bowl and put 3 tbsp flour, 3 tbsp sugar and add a oil. Mix this until you get crumbles. Then sprinkle these on top of the tray as well.

Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes. Done!

Serve this with tea or coffee!

Maida

Roasted apples

Roasted apples

What you will need:

• Apples, depends how many you want, one apple is 1 serving
• Cinnamon
• Granulated sugar, white or brown

Rinse the apples in tap water, then cut out the core of the apple as carefully as you can. Then fill the space in the apple with sugar and top with cinnamon. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and place the apple on a tray. Its better if you place baking paper under the apples because the heat makes the sugar to come out of the apple sometimes and sugar gets hard after it gets cold and it makes it almost impossible to wash it off the tray later. Cook in the oven for around 25 min, check the apple with a sharp knife, if the knife slides in easily then the apple is ready. Done!

You can serve this with icecream!

Maida

Courgette pancakes

Courgette pancakes


What you will need:

• 1 medium courgette (20cm)
• self raising flour
• frying oil
• eggs
• salt
• pepper
• seasoning

Wash the courgette and slice in 5mm slices, not too thin, not too thick.

Get a large plate, 30cm in diameter is ok, flour goes on the plate. Start with 1 cup of flour. Later, if you run out you can add more. Get a medium bowl, eggs go in there. I used 3 eggs this time. Add all the seasoning including salt and pepper as this is where all the taste will come from so add these accordingly.

Now, pour some oil into the frying pan and leave it to heat while you put around 7 slices of courgette in the egg bowl. Then place each slice in the flour so the flour sticks to it and again place them in egg and then put on the pan to fry. Fry both side until egg is golden. Done!


Serve with yoghurt or soured cream!

Maida

Broad beans

Broad beans

What you will need:

• as many broad beans as you like, I'd use roughly 1 kg in their bean pods
• salt

Rinse beans under cold tap water. Place all of the beans in hot water in a large pot filled with water and add roughly 1 tablespoon salt. Boil for roughly 1 hour.

Now, drain the beans and serve in their bean pods (!!) as they add the specific taste. Don't eat the pods as they are not tasty! Done!

This is great on its own and kids love it. You can also serve it with kefir or ayran!

Maida

Potato pancakes

Potato pancakes

What you will need:

• roughly 5 large potatoes, however it depends on how many you want to serve, this is very simple to  adjust
• 3 eggs
• cooking flour
• frying oil
• salt
• pepper

Wash and peel the potatoes and wash them again. Now get a large bowl and a grater. Grate all potatoes on the potato grater, its quite time consuming, so I'd suggest you switch with someone when you get tired.

Or if you are lucky, you might have an automatic grater which saves a lot of time.

Once you've grated the potatoes, add eggs to the potatoes in the bowl as well as roughly 1 cup of flour. Add spices and mix this very well. You might want to mix this with bare hands as this will allow you to mix it better. The mix shouldn't be too watery so that you would be able to get a spoonful easily and place it on the frying pan. It should stick together quite well, however it is watery anyway. You may want to drain the juices from the bowl as you go along. 

Now, heat the oil in a frying pan. Take spoonful by spoonful of the mix and place on the frying pan. Fry until medium crispy from both sides. Done!

You may also add a finely chopped onion to the mix and/or a medium grated apple.

You can serve this with sour cream or yoghurt, however, kids love this with jam as well even though this is a savoury dish. Milk is great with this!

Maida

Farmer's breakfast

Farmer's breakfast

What you will need:

• 5 large potatoes
• 2 eggs
• Salami or sausage of your choice, I'd normally use a chicken sausage or Frankfurt sausage, anywho, its entirely up to you, go nuts
• small onion
• salt
• pepper
• frying oil of your choice, however, I wouldn't advise you to use olive oil as the flavours don't work well together
• yoghurt, or sour cream to top it, light mustards, such as french mustard works well too

So... you wash and peel the potatoes, or have someone nice to do it for you as Latvians try to avoid this chore whenever possible, wash the potatoes again. Slice them or chop them in whatever shapes you wish, make sure they are not too thick or else it will take ages to cook. Leave them to soak in water while you prepare onion and sausage.

An alternative to raw potatoes in this recipe is using boiled potatoes, they should be cold or else they will turn into mush. Slice them or chop them the same as you would do with raw potatoes. 

Skin the onion and chop it very finely, however if you like fried onion a lot you can do the opposite. 

Use a saucepan or a frying pan which has tall edges so that it will be easier to mix potatoes. Pour some oil into it, try not to use too much or too little. Now use a medium gas temperature, you can adjust it as you go along. Place the frying pan with the oil in it on the cooker and add potatoes. Mix them roughly every 3 minutes.

Now... if you use a salami you better fry it in a separate pan for a couple of minutes. You don't need to use oil for this. With other sausages you can add them to the potatoes without frying them beforehand when you will add the onion. 

Add the sausage or salami and onion after potatoes have been frying for roughly 20 - 25 minutes. Fry all of this together until potatoes are ready. If you prefer more crispy potatoes then fry until they are as crispy as you want them. Add salt and pepper to your taste. When this is ready add raw eggs to the pan and stir-fry until egg is ready. Done!

Serve with yoghurt or sour cream or mustard or whichever sauce you prefer. This dish is nice with kefir (latvian yoghurt drink) or ayran (turkish yoghurt drink). Spring onion serves well as a garnish! 

Maida