Hey Guys,
My name is Shelma Dei, my love for food stems from my childhood and also being rather fussy when it comes to food.
I am very passionate about food and love to create dishes that spring into mind. I love to experiment with different ingredients, often things you wouldn’t expect to put together.
During Covid-19 it has been a very testing time not only for myself but obviously people around the world. My whole working life has dramatically changed due to the virus. I have slowly watched my work pattern change dramatically where I have been working from home since the 2nd week of March.
Since I have been at home I have made so many dishes I have lost count. I have stumbled across black rice, which I can’t get enough of. Such a lovely flavour and also colour. The first time I made black rice I felt it needed more flavour so I added coconut to it. After this discovery, I was making back rice every other week. Pairing the rice with prawns or salmon.
I also said to myself that I would need to work on desserts, I don’t make desserts often so last month it was time for me to learn how to make pancakes ( never made in my life). I decided to make almond pancakes with raspberry’s and maple syrup. They actually cake out so pretty and also tasted really lovely.
I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I enjoyed creating them!
Instagram: @cookingbydei
Black Rice with Butter Chilli Prawns
Ingredients
25g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
1 red chilli (seeds left in and finely chopped)
½ tsp sweet paprika
12-20 large raw tiger prawns with shells
Juice of 1 lemon
A bunch of parsley
120g black rice
2 tbsp of raw coconut
Method
Black Rice:
Add rice to a medium pan and bring to boil over high-heat. Add the coconut oil and reduce heat to medium-low to maintain simmer, cover, and cook until rice is tender and water is absorbed. This should take 35-40 minutes.
Remove from heat, let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
King Prawns:
Melt the butter and oil together in a frying pan.
Add the garlic, chilli and paprika, then fry for 1-2 minutes until starting to turn golden.
Turn up the heat, throw in the prawns and fry for a few minutes, stirring until all the prawns turn pink.
Take off the heat, season and stir in the lemon juice and parsley.
Fluffy Almond Milk Pancakes
Makes 8-10 pancakes
Ingredients
135g/ 4 ¾ oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp Himalayan salt
1 tsp of brown sugar
130ml/ 4 ½ oz almond milk (you can use any milk of your choice)
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
1 large egg (lightly beaten)
2 tbsp melted butter (cooled slightly)
To serve
Maple Syrup
Butter
Raspberry’s
Icing sugar for dusting purposes
Method
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon spice and brown sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk together the milk and egg. Then whisk in the melted butter and the ½ teaspoon of vanilla bean paste.
Pour the almond milk mixture into the flour, and using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add butter. When it’s melted, ass 1 and a ½ scoops of batter. It will seem very thick but this is how it should be. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen.
Repeat until all the batter is used up.
Stack the pancakes on top of each other and dust with icing sugar. Serve with lots of maple syrup and butter, garnish with raspberries or a topping of your choice.
