Tasty and Easy Recipes

Ingredients:
1-1/3 cups orzo, cooked, drained, and rinsed
1 cup dried apricots, sliced
1/3 cup scallions, thinly sliced, both white and green parts
1 tsp. cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
1/3 cup almonds, sliced, toasted
4 to 5 tbsp. Ginger Oil (click here for recipe)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt
Pepper

Method:
Mix orzo, apricots, scallions, cilantro, and coriander together.
Add ginger oil and mix well. Add lemon, and salt and pepper. Just before serving, stir in almonds. Serve slightly cold or at room temperature.
This can be made ahead. Just wait until serving to stir in the almonds.

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/3 tsp. baking powder
2 or 3 tbsp. Dutch-process cocoa, the more, the better
1/4 tsp salt, optional
1/4 tsp cinnamon, optional
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 to 1/3 cup. water

Method:
Mix the dry ingredients until well integrated.
Mix well the wet ingredients, EXCEPT water, until thoroughly integrated. Add the wet ingredients, mix into the dry ingredients and mix until integrated. You will have a lumpy granular batter. Add water gradually, mixing until batter is smooth and glossy.
Pour into baking pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean or cake has pulled away slightly from sides of pan.

Variations:

White Cake:
Omit cocoa, double vanilla in wet mix.

Chocolate Chip Cake:
Omit cocoa, double vanilla in wet mix, mix in 1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips to finished batter before baking.

Spice Cake:
Omit cocoa, add 2 to 3 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, dash white pepper to dry mix.

Lemon Spice Cake:
Omit cocoa, add spices as above, add grated lemon rind–the more the better–to wet stuff. NB, don’t substitute lemon juice for any of the wet ingredients in an attempt to get more lemoniness–it’ll throw the leavening off kilter.

Almond Spice Cake:
Omit cocoa, add spices as above, add 1/4 cup ground almonds to dry mix.
If disaster strikes, almonds are also good if you find you’ve added too much water; just throw in ground almonds until your batter’s texture comes right. (Adding flour won’t work because flour is too dry. Almonds, because they have oil, won’t make your cake dry out.)
For the enterprising among you, I don’t know why you couldn’t mix up a triple or quadruple set of the dry ingredients as your own cake mix. Store it in an airtight canister, then take out 2 cups or so, add the egg, oil, vanilla and water, and you’re away to the races!

Ingredients:
125g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (125g) caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
1 cup self-raising flour (160g), sifted
1 cup (140g) wholemeal self-raising flour, sifted

Frosting:
125g unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (90g) icing sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup flaked coconut (or flaked almonds or other chopped nuts), toasted

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease and line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time beating thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla and banana and beat until combined.
Add the bicarbonate soda to the milk and fold the flours and the milk into the butter mixture in batches until combined. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to sit for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.
For the frosting, beat the butter, icing sugar and lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Spread over the cooled cake and sprinkle with toasted coconut.