First I have to state that, yes, I know what a cupcake or muffin is. And yes, I do know, Pasteis de Nata aren’t exactly the same… BUT: Ever since I first tried those little delights about a year ago, my muffin tray has never seen any muffins again – all I’m using it for now are…Pasteis de Nata! So I think they have the right [hopefully] to take part in IMBB no.13, hosted by Maki of “I was just really very hungry.”. They are what they are…little, very delicate cakes baked in cup-shape ;)
We’ve been addicts since we tried them last year in their original environment – Lisbon. A wonderful city, to good to be true for any sweet tooth. Pastelarias (little pastry shops) are placed at almost every corner and their numerous pastries are simply delicious. Our favorite breakfast place is Pastelaria Versailles (Avenida da RepĂşblica 15A) with a traditional coffeehouse atmosphere of bygone days and a huge variety of very good food. Great for watching people, mostly locals, the crowd is completely different on weekends (more elegant/prominent) or during the week (hectic business people).
Maybe the watch-out-for-spring-wake-up-call earlier this week triggered my ravenous appetite for some sort of spring salad. One of the quickest, yet most scrumptious salads is one our friend Ulrike created for us on a recent dinner. The word “Vogerl” is mainly used in Austria (dialect), meaning “little bird”. Although I prefer to call it Vogerlsalat -it just sounds so much nicer-, this salad has lots more different (German) names like Rapunzel-, Nissel- or Feldsalat. The correct culinary term would be “field lettuce”; Admittedly I had to look it up in the dictionary. It’s definitely under the top 3 of my favorite leaf salads, because of its cute-looking little plantlets and especially its nutty taste.
What a fantastic wake up call! Well, apart from the fact that my alarm said “5am” and barely any hand-eye coordination was in place, I thought I heard a chirping sound…Wait a minute, I haven’t heard them in the early morning for quite some time now…really not since the end of last fall!
We had a real winter – that’s for sure. I haven’t seen such masses of snow in Munich ever before. In the past years everyone was moaning about way too less white stuff, this year almost everybody complained about too much! Talking about real happiness. Anway, I’m not the winter kind of person, so the snow kept bothering me for over 2 months now without any interruption. Flight delays, chaotic traffic jams in the city and foremost wet boots… uuugh! (Don’t get me wrong, I don’t complain about snow in the countryside…)
So the only conclusion to the singing of the birds can be… SPRING IS BACK! At least we are getting closer each day. Can’t wait to spot the first blossoms this year ;)
In lack of a smart connecting passage, here is the recipe of my all-time favorite chocolate cake I made yesterday:
It’s Saturday morning, and a few minutes ago I’ve been told that we’ll be having Curry tonight. What this translates to? Hm, me heading out the door mingling with another thousand or so people running errands. Darting across Viktualien-Market on the hunt for fresh bay leaves, coriander and chicken. Whoever had the pleasure of running into a grumpy Bavarian stand owner knows that this can become a challenge. (BTW I’m Bavarian myself ;)
Anyway, I’m not complaining. The outlook of a nice Indian dinner tonight prevails. The title of the post can be a bit misleading I have to admit, it should rather be: “In cases where you don’t want to start from scratch and spend a good couple of hours in the kitchen for an out-of-this-world Curry, here is a quicker way, that get’s reaaaally close” (The more elaborate version will follow soon). Too long, agreed? Roughly speaking, as a basis I use Korma Curry paste and refine it (also a bit of Madras for the marinade). I often experiment with the different spices in the sense of when to add them and how much. It all makes a difference. Let me know when you have your perfect “curry schedule”.
