Week 36 Norway and Philippines

We have eaten Norwegian food before, so I re-did the Lemon and Cardamom biscuits that we liked from the last time we did a food challenge. I have repeated the recipe below.

As for the Philippines, well I took several recipes and created my own spin on it, I needed to as there are various foods my dear husband cannot have. But, I did stay true to the core of the flavours. So much so, my son asked for this dish again on his birthday! I am so glad I noted what I did so I could repeat it for him.

We called it

Sausage Stir-fry...

Ingredients
Sausages (I used Lincolnshire, as I wanted them to be 'spicy', but not over spicy)
soya sauce
minced garlic
Pak Choi
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Noodles

Using scissors chop the sausages into 5 chunks.
Pop them into a plastic container with as much minced garlic as you like, as well as generous splashes of soya sauce. Put the lid on and shake! Then pop into the fridge for at least 3-4 hours.
Heat some sesame oil in a big wok and then drop the meat and marinade in; stir fry until cooked. Add the chopped mushrooms and peppers; then the pak choi. Lastly add the noodles.
Serve and enjoy!

Cardamom and lemon stamped cookies

Makes 24

Source: Hairy Bikers

Cardamom is a really popular spice in Norway, used in many cake and biscuit recipes. Some say the spice was first brought back to the country hundreds of years ago by Vikings who worked as mercenaries in what was then Constantinople (now Istanbul). 

Ingredients

225g/8 oz butter, softened

150g/5½ oz caster sugar

1 lemon, zest only

250g/9 oz plain flour

100g/3½ oz ground almonds

3 tsp ground cardamom or 1 heaped tsp cardamom seeds, ground in a pestle and mortar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment.
2. Using an electric hand-whisk, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the flour, almonds and cardamom until the mixture is well combined and comes together to form a stiff dough.
4. Roll the dough into 24 balls and place 12 on each baking tray – make sure you leave space between each one.
5. Press each cookie with a cookie stamp or the bottom of a glass to flatten and leave decorative indentations in the dough.
6. Bake a tray at a time for 12–14 minutes until the cookies are pale golden brown.
7. Leave them to cool on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. They will crisp up as they cool. Store the cookies in an airtight tin and eat within 7 days