Expat Cooking Challenges...and Meatloaf!

I have not posted any recipes for some time for a number of reasons.  The first 1/4 of the year was spent sofa surfing in the UK, not really conducive to cooking and often with other people doing it for us as we were in their houses (thank you my lovely Mother in Law, Father and Sister).  Before then, in Ipoh, I had a rather unpleasant kitchen for a while.  A single working hob top on which I could not easily regulate temperature and a temperamental oven do not an enjoyable cooking experience make.  Here in KSA my oven may speak American but I have a nifty temperature conversion app on the telephone and the hob and oven do actually work.  Combine this with plenty of space to prepare and cooking is enjoyable again.  I am still waiting for our shipment when I will get things like the rice cooker, my own pans, food processor etc but in the meantime I can make basic things with our float.

One of the ways I try to extend a bit of constancy and normalcy to our children's ever changing lives is by keeping our evening meals broadly similar in each posting.  Of course different locations lend themselves to different cuisines.  Partly that comes down to what is available in the shops, here in KSA we always have tabbouleh and hummus in the fridge as they can be bought everywhere, in other postings these were one off treats that I had to cook from scratch every time.  Meanwhile toad in the hole, (pork sausages baked in batter for non English readers) was never going to be a runner here in KSA.    A certain amount of variation is also due to climate, we ate many more stews and pies in the Kazakh winters than we did salads, while lighter offerings were more popular in Malaysia.

Nevertheless, like all designated family cooks I have a repertoire of dishes that come out again and again, adapting where necessary depending on what is available in the shops.  One of my perennial favourites is meatloaf.  I know that this is often derided as a dry, unappetising meal but my family really enjoy it and I find it an endlessly versatile recipe and when made properly it is not dry at all.  In some countries I might cook it with half and half (pork and beef mince combined), here of course I only use beef.

The basic meatloaf recipe is mince, pepper, herbs and or spices (which like the meat I vary depending on where we are and what I feel like), onion, garlic, breadcrumbs and egg.  How much depends, of course, on the type of container I am using, I have a natty little form which looks like a loaf tin but has an integral lifting rack which forms the dual duties of helping to extract it (avoiding the need for lining) and draining the juices into the bottom of the pan for use in gravy later on.  I often top the whole thing with bacon (or turkey/beef facon) for extra flavour and moisture.  Any left over mix gets made into home-made beef burgers and stored in the freezer for a quick snack.

I like to stuff the meatloaf and leave the filling as a surprise for the children.  Miss EE's particular favourite is the traditional egg while Master EE prefers cheese.  The possibilities are endless, Mexican meatloaf with spicy peppers and Monterey Jack cheese,  Italian with a mozarella/basil/tomato confection in the centre.  I have thought about doing a reverse moussaka with aubergine and bechamel baked into the centre but I suspect Mr EE who dislikes aubergine would not be too keen.   I am not overly keen on lamb but a kofta kebab flavoured lamb mince meat with some sort of complimentary stuffing might be quite pleasant.  In other words this plain old housewife staple is something I enjoy playing around with, you can't really go too wrong, if the fillings don't work there is still the surrounding meat to enjoy.

The resulting meal can be served with just about anything from a fresh leafy salad to mashed potato and gravy.  Make no mistake this is a big piece of meat and can serve 8 people comfortably.  Luckily it also keeps very well, the children often take a slice for lunch the following day, bulking it out with salad or put some in a sandwich.

How do you like to personalise this very versatile meal!

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Ersatz Cooking - Kitchen Substitutes for the Expat Cook

The problem with moving from country to country is that ingredients for food you like to cook and your family like to eat can be hard to find.  Sometimes you have to use something else instead – some substitutions work remarkably well, others change the taste a little.

Many of the hints and tips on my Ersatz Kitchen page explain how to get around things like baking without baking powder etc but here is a collection of substitutions that, while handy, are not complex enough to merit their own blog post.

Fish Sauce:  Useful for a lot of Asian cooking.  Substitute a mix of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce.

Palm Sugar:  Again popular in Asian dishes.  Muscovado sugar is a suitable alternative.

Ketchap Manis:  Necessary for Nasi Goreng and many Malaysian and Indonesian dishes. There is no real substitute but it is easy to make your own.  Heat Soy Sauce and Brown Sugar in a ratio of 1:1 until the sugar starts to dissolve.  Add water (.5 ratio) diced ginger a star anise and a cinnamon stick.  Continue on the heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Strain and store in the fridge.

Crème Fraiche: substitute high percentage sour cream for savoury and marscapone for sweet dishes.

Marscapone:  If you want to make Tiramisu but can't find Marscapone you can substitute a block of cream cheese mixed with sour cream and heavy cream - start the additions reasonably small and add more to get the taste and consistency you want. 

Lard: you can use butter, goose fat or strained bacon dripping depending on whether you need a savoury or sweet recipe.

Zaatar:  mix thyme, majoram, oregano, toasted sesame seeds, salt and sumac to taste.  Adds flavouring to dried tomatoes and is very tasty when mixed with olive oil and toasted on pitta. 

Koekkruiden:  Dutch mixed spice – a mix of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Ground Cloves, Ground Ginger, Ground Cardamom, Ground Star Anise and Ground Mace.  I use in a lot of baking recipes that call for mixed spice.   Also tasty in recipes such as Christmas Pudding and Mince Meat. 

Shortening:  substitute butter or lard. 

Buttermilk: you can make butter and buttermilk by agitating raw milk in a sterile jar until it separates out.  This is time-consuming but a great activity for a kid who wants to ‘help’!  Alternatively add a tbsp. of lemon juice to milk and leave on the counter for 15 minutes to curdle.

Galangal:  This is used to impart flavour in a lot of South East Asian cooking.  If you do not have any you can substitute ginger.

I have subsequently added this to Life With A Double Buggy's  Expat Linky- click for even more Expat treats.....

And to the Practical Mondays linky hosted by the Practical Mom

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Orange Chicken Fajitas (with home made guacamole and salsa)

Fajitas are a perfect quick fix meal.  Prep up a deconstructed salad, some meat, sour cream, guacamole and salsa and you are away.  If you are short on time you can use shop bought guacamole and salsa, but if you have the time there is nothing like home made.  Pour over some sauce and refried beans and you have enchiladas.  Our family love fajitas in just about every combination.  This one, however, is a favourite in hot weather as the taste is so fresh and summery.

 You will need:

1. 1 Chicken breast per person.
2. Olive oil.
3. 1 large juicy orange.
4. 4 limes.
5. 1 Avocado per person.
6. 2 large and a handful of cherry tomatoes per person.
7. 1 small red onion per person.
8. A bunch of coriander, roughly chopped.
9. Spinach
10. Salad leaves
11. 1 red chilli (to taste).
12. A handful of pine nuts.
13. Fajitas.
14. Portion of Sour Cream.

NB I use the small, juicy limes that we get in South East Asia.  You may find you need to adjust for the larger US/European limes.

Time taken: 1 hour, difficulty level: easy

Method:

The recipe looks long and fiddly but is actually very easy.  It would be perfectly feasible to delegate parts of the preparation (ie the guacamole) to another family member.  Children, in particular, love to help as they see the ‘recipe’ they are responsible for on the table and being used by the rest of the family in the end product. Mine love hand shredding lettuce and mashing guacamole.  

Meat:

1. Trim the chicken breasts and marinade in some olive oil.  Squeeze in the juice of half an orange and two limes. (be aware that acid in the citrus will start to cook the outside of the meat). 
2. After a half hour marinade place in a 180 °C oven (355F) until cooked through.  Remove to cool before shredding and placing in a serving dish.

Guacamole:

1. Halve the avocados and scoop out the flesh into a bowl.
2. Chop half of the red onions very finely and add to the bowl.
3. Chop a large tomato per person very finely and add to the bowl.
4. Squeeze over the juice of one lime and mash the ingredients together.  You may wish to add salt and pepper to taste.

Salsa:

1. Chop the remaining tomatoes and red onion and combine.
2. Add coriander and the juice of the remaining lime. 
3. If you wish to make a hot salsa add the finely chopped chilli. 

Salad

1. Mix the spinach and salad leaves with the segments of the remaining orange half and the pine nuts

Make up

Place some salad onto the middle of the fajita, add some of the chicken and top with salsa, guacamole and sour cream.  Fold the end over the fillings and roll.  You can either prepare the fajitas in advance or, as I prefer, put all the ingredients on the table and allow people to make their own.

Variations:

This recipe works equally well served in tacos

or in pitta pockets.  You could substitute any salad leaf of your choice for the spinach – rocket would work quite well or, alternatively just plain shredded iceberg lettuce. 

You could use orange in the salsa and guacamole instead of lime for a less astringent taste. 

The salad works very well by itself – you could add some slices of beetroot for added crunch and some of the chicken or curls of parma ham for protein to make it into a substantial lunch as opposed to a side.

For a quick version of this recipe you can substitute shop bought pre-cooked chicken and ready made guacamole and salsa.  Shred the chicken unevenly.  Pour the guacamole and salsa  into your own bowls and squeeze some lime juice into them.  Stir some chopped coriander into the salsa, shake some pre-washed salad leaves into the serving bowl and add pine nuts and some orange segments.  No one need know.

Turkey is a viable (and cheaper) substitute for the chicken.

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Shopping in Sarawakian Supermarkets

One of the things I was looking forward to on our move to Miri was the wide range of food that would be available compared to Astana, particularly fresh vegetables. 

One of the big challenges of Expat life is learning what is available to buy in your new home and how you will have to adapt your culinary skills to deal with it.  Food shopping in Astana was, initially, a challenge because of the language/alphabet barrier.  We soon learned what we could and could not buy and by the time we left had found just about everything we needed.  Malaysia, of course has no such language barrier and has a good reputation for food.  Unlike Astana import is easy so there is a wider range of produce available.

While we were still in the hotel we started to look around the different supermarkets that were available, the best seem to be the out of town Hypermarket – ‘Giant’ conveniently on the way to/from the school and our very local ‘GK’ and 'Pottery' (which sells everything except Pottery). 

Premium British Supermarket products can be bought here.
Quite a surprise.

They stock a complete range of Western and Chinese product as well as local favourites and some Indian stuff.  The Western food seems to come from UK or Australia/New Zealand.  Most of the UK products are Waitrose branded.  Waitrose is a premium, upmarket supermarket in the UK and it was a real surprise to find them freely available and at a similar price.  British expats can rejoice in the easy availability of home favourites Baked Beans, Tomato Ketchup, HP Sauce, Marmite etc, there is less to excite the European palate.  I am overjoyed to be able to get a full selection of baking products including food colouring, flavouring and speciality sugar (I no longer need to grind my own or mix in molasses).  In fact the supermarkets excel at providing a wide, complete range of just about any dried or canned good you can think of.

Soya milk for those with allergies.  

I had heard that Pork was difficult to find in Malaysia but most supermarkets have a good non Halal section where we can buy Ham, Bacon, Frankfurters etc.  Wine and Beer is also for sale but we are not big consumers of alcohol in the home.  

Indian and Chinese food is popular and there are lots of  ingredient
options - this range of 'easy cook'  curry spices comes from Pakistan

The supermarkets do not perform so well when it comes to fresh food (which is plentiful in the markets - no one stop shopping here).  The meat selection in general is not great -  fresh chicken is available in many permutations (whole, fillets, feet, thighs etc etc) but it is a little watery and lacking in taste.   Frozen lamb and frozen beef can be found but it does not look particularly appetising. 

Food colourings and flavourings for baking - an unexpected bonus

Dairy is another item that surprised me with the restrictions.  Cheese is limited – most cheese sold seems to be in packets of processed slices.  We can get a better range at GK and Pottery (including, to my Husband's delight, cheddar) but it is expensive.  Fresh milk is in the chiller cabinet but, like Astana, most seems to be UHT longlife.  It is fairly tasty and better quality than the Kazakh milk.  I have become used to the way things are done in Kazakhstan though because I was genuinely upset to be restricted to a single type of sour cream!

There is a very poor juice selection - with a limited range
of flavour.  Most is from concentrate and over sweet.

My daughter is somewhat distraught at the lack of cherry juice and indeed the range of juices available is more akin to that in a British supermarket – we were spoiled with the fantastic offerings in Kazakhstan. Funnily enough we also expected a great range of teas, another thing we were spoiled with in Astana and the UK but sadly average blended tea seems to be the norm here with only one or two speciality offerings. 

Blended tea seems to be popular - very few
speciality teas are easily available.

I understand from friends that Brunei is the place to go to buy meat, cheese etc and, for those who like to have a glass of wine or beer, a duty free shop is available between the borders.  Our visas are being processed at the moment so we have not been to visit.  I also have the number of a lady who makes Cumberland sausages – I will be giving her a call shortly to try out her meat. 

The fruit and vegetable selection is also surprisingly limited in the supermarkets.  I have been advised to shop in separate green-grocers or a local market for these and it is no real hardship to pop over and enjoy the wide selection available there.  All have been heavily treated with pesticides, however, so have to be disinfected and cleaned  or peeled thoroughly before use. 

We have settled into a rhythm now - Supermarket for dried and staple goods, markets for fresh.  There is a good complex (E Mart), on the way from the School which has a supermarket set next to a market and our home bank branch - a useful combination.

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Christmas Pudding

Towards the end of November every year I make the Christmas Pudding.  This traditional end to an English Christmas Lunch is a firm favourite with everyone in the family.  Here in Astana  Christmas is celebrated in January per the Orthodox calendar so we celebrate twice, this means that I cook up two puddings, one for our small family celebration in December and a larger one for the January Christmas when we usually have friends over to celebrate. 

There is no hard and fast recipe for pudding so it is very forgiving if you cannot get the main ingredients.  I usually throw together 450g of dried fruit (in the UK I use currants, sultanas, candied peel and prunes) with a wine glass of Mead,  Madeira or Sherry.  Leave the dried fruit to soak for 2-3 days before throwing in 100g plain flour, and 275g mix of suet and breadcrumbs, 150g muscvado sugar, lemon zest, a peeled and grated apple, 2 tablespoons of molasses, treacle or honey depending on what I have in the cupboard, 3 large eggs and mix well.  I also add koekkruiden (a mix of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Ground Cloves, Ground Nutmeg, Ground Ginger, ground Cardamom, ground Star Anise and Mace my sop to my Dutch heritage) but traditionally a pudding would contain cinnamon and cloves.

English tradition calls for every member of the family to stir the pudding and make a wish while they do so.  It is also traditional to put sliver charms into the mix for example a wishbone for luck or an anchor to give people safe harbour in the coming year.  When in the UK I trawl antique shops for a set of charms, I could buy a new set but that would take some of the fun out of the hunt.  For the moment I use coins, (cleaned thoroughly in coca-cola before putting in the mix).

The mix then goes into one large or two small well greased pudding basins, I use a traditional ceramic basin which means I need to  seal the top with cling and muslin or with foil but it is possible to buy plastic basins that come with their own lids.  Mine is plain but I covet a beautiful patterned basin just for Christmas.  Mason and Cash, a famous bakeware manufacturer in the UK designs a new Christmas pattern every year but I have never been able to justify the expense when I have a perfectly good basin, after all the pudding is served on a plate so I am the only person who would see it.

Once the pudding is transferred and safely in the basin it needs to be steamed.  This can be done on the hob but that takes up space and needs to be monitored to make sure that it does not go dry.  I tend to steam in a low (110/120 degree C) oven, leaving the puddings for about 6 hours for the first steaming.  On Christmas day I will either steam the pudding for an hour or two while we eat our meal or, if we forget, I put it in the microwave. 

When it is time to serve the pudding goes onto a plate and we warm some high percentage alcohol in a metal ladle (a lighter is better than matches for this).  When the alcohol starts to smoke we pour it over the pudding, turn out the lights and set it on fire.  The flickering flames look spectacular.

Christmas Pudding set alight and ready to be served.

The pudding is traditionally served with brandy butter - a mix of butter, icing sugar and brandy but I usually swap the same liquor I used in the pudding for the brandy.

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Mincemeat

Christmas is one of those times of the year when thoughts turn to family and tradition.  Expatriates are not always able to return home to their families but it is possible to bring many traditions with you when you travel.  Food is possibly one of the most evocative traditions we can export, the smell, the taste immediately bring us back to a particular time and place. 

Before I lived in England I had never heard of or tasted mincemeat.  This Christmas sweetmeat is a heady concoction of dried fruits, sugar and spices steeped in alcohol and fat.  It  is traditionally used as a filling in small bite sized pies and the taste is pure ‘Christmas’ for me, so much so that I can eat it straight from the jar.

Most English recipe books will have their own version of the mixture but there is no need to be exact about the ingredients.  I usually mix equal amounts of raisins, currants, sultanas, candied peel, chopped fresh apple and suet (shredded beef fat) with a part and a half of soft brown sugar.  I then add some lemon and orange zest and squeeze the juice from the fruit into the mix.  I then stir in a generous helping of ground nutmeg, cinnamon, mace and cloves.  If I am not expecting children to eat the mix I might add some chopped walnuts or almonds.

The dry ingredients for mincemeat are best left overnight.

The mix is best left overnight to infuse.  Instead of cooking up on the stove I use Delia Smith’s trick of putting the mix in a low oven for a few hours, towards the end I put some jars in the oven to sterilise.  The result looks revolting, the suet melts and the whole mix swims in fat.  While the mincemeat cools I add some brandy, cognac or other suitable alcohol (mead gives a lovely taste if you can get it) before decanting into the jars. 

The cooked mix looks revolting, the suet melts and coats all the other ingredients.

It can be kept for many months and the flavours improve the longer it is left but it is possible to use it almost immediately. 

I like to make a range of mince pies – the traditional shortcrust ones work very well but there are -endless variations - little half moons of filled puff pastry are very appetising as are filo pastry parcels.  Last year I made mini mincemeat Danish pastries which were very popular.  

Mincemeat Danish Pastries - yummy.

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How to make passata

Passata is a staple ingredient in many recipes my family like to eat.  I use it in most tomato based recipes such as Bolognese, Lasagne and to add flavour to many stews.

Passata is very easy to find in most European and British supermarkets but it can be difficult to source elsewhere.  Luckily it is a simple, quick recipe and, for those who grow their own, a particularly effective way to preserve tomatoes over the winter, much like my favourite sun dried tomatoes, this passata gives a taste of summer even in the middle of winter.  In Kazakhstan we can buy tomatoes year round but they do get more expensive over the winter.  I have seen jars of 'tomato juice' in the supermarkets that look like passata but it is so easy that I often make my own by preference.

Because supplies are easy to come by here I make it in small batches but if I find a batch of particularly high quality tomatoes or if I am living somewhere they become unavailable I will process every tomato I can lay my hands on to see me through to the next crop.

To make the passata heat some olive oil in a pan with a bruised clove of garlic.  Quarter the tomatoes and leave them in the pan on a medium heat for 12-15 minutes shaking intermittently.  The tomatoes will start to break down during the cooking process and release their juice.  I understand that most Italian kitchens will have a special mouli or tomato mill to process the passata, this saves time but is not necessary.  I put the mix in the blender and then pass it through a sieve - it is possible to skip the blender and just sieve the mix but it is much quicker to use the blender.

Transfer the passata into sterilised jars then seal - I find these keep for about a month.  If I want to keep the mix for any longer I freeze it - some in large freezer bags for tomato based recipes and some in smaller baby food size pots to add to stews for extra flavouring.

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How to make home made icing/frosting.

My son’s birthday is in two days time (it is very hard to believe he is seven already), his party is tomorrow so I have been baking birthday cakes.  In the UK I would always use commercially bought frosting for the cakes – quick and simple - it may be a cheat but it makes life so much easier.

When I was a child I always enjoyed having big statement cakes for birthdays and large events.  My mother was a virtuoso - one year  in Norway she made me a castle (with turrets made from upside down ice-cream cones), another year she sent me in to school with a bunny and a chick cake for Easter.  My children used to ask for big statement cakes as well but these days they prefer cupcakes because it is easier for them to hand them out to their friends at school.  This makes my life much much easier as they are quick to bake and easy to ice. 

Here in Kazakhstan (as in many other places) commercial frosting is difficult to find, luckily it is really easy to make at home at home.  I tend to ice cakes with a butter-cream frosting, the basic recipe is a mix of butter and icing sugar on a 1:3 ration with some vanilla or almond extract depending on taste and slackened off a little bit of milk.  The basic recipe is very versatile – it can be tinted with food colouring or flavoured in a variety of different ways.   My particular favourite is green tea frosting (perfect on chocolate muffins) made by adding Matcha powder to the basic frosting.  It is also possible to use iced tea powders to vary the flavours – apple or lemon frostings work very well and a mulled wine flavour iced tea powder adds a great flavour to Christmas cup-cakes. 

Basic buttercream frosting is very versatile and easy to use.

Certain chocolate cakes just do not work without chocolate fudge icing.  The fail-safe recipe for this is to melt butter and caster sugar in a 1:1 ratio with a little bit of water.  Pour this over a mix of 2 parts icing sugar and ½ part cocoa powder and mix to a glossy finish.  For very dark, rich chocolate cakes or carrot cakes I prefer a cream cheese frosting.  Mix 1 part cream cheese to 1 part butter then add 2 parts icing sugar. 

Chocolate fudge frosting is tasty and luxurious.

Cream cheese frosting works well with chocolate cupcakes.
Chocolate fudge icing makes a decadent topping for vanilla cakes.

Lemon drizzle cakes have the easiest icing of all – icing sugar mixed with lemon juice and a small amount of zest to a very thin consistency and drizzled over the cake so that it is absorbed leaving a moist cake with a very thin, delicate sugary crust.  I use a similar mix to ice biscuits or Danish pastries – less liquid and more icing sugar makes for a thick, white writing icing. 

Basic writing icing is versatile and effective

Change the consistency by altering the amount of liquid.

The only type of icing I find very difficult to make at home is a fondant icing for Christmas cakes.  Proper fondant icing requires gelatine and corn syrup, both items can be quite difficult to source so I tend to cheat and bring some ready made from the UK or, alternatively I just turn the cake into a ‘Dundee Cake’ ie I decorate the top with concentric rings of almonds.  I am constantly in awe of the mother of one of my sons' friends who makes stunning cakes with fondant icing.  I have no idea where she gets the ingredients or the patience to do them.

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How make sure fruit and vegetables are safe

One of the real challenges of expat life is finding food to cook your own home recipes.  What is on sale in the shops is often not quite like what you are used to having at home.  One thing that rarely changes, however, is fruit and vegetables.  Fresh produce is normally available in one form or another in most postings.  Sadly, however, such produce is not always safe to eat and can be infected nasties such as E.Coli and other things.  Almost every expat will, therefore, as a matter of course, have their own preferred cleaning and sterilising method.

 My years in the tropics have left me with a sterilising tic.  Whenever we were outside of Northern Europe my mother would soak all fruit and vegetables in Milton baby bottle solution before we could think about eating it.  It has since become something of a habit with me that everything is cleaned, sterilised and then peeled before use. 

Following an e-coli scare for European and American grown produce I even sterilise our vegetables in more mainstream postings, this has the combined benefit (for people who are concerned about such things) of removing any remaining pesticide residue from the produce.   I have been very lucky that the available selection of fruit and vegetables in all four of my recent postings has been very diverse but nevertheless I sterilise everything (especially organic produce) very very carefully.

Milton is probably the best baby cold water steriliser to use on fruit and vegetables as it does not need to be rinsed off.  If you cannot get Milton most solutions can be used but many require the vegetables to be rinsed in clean water after sterilising (check the instructions on your chosen tablets).  An alternative is a mix of vinegar in water (approximately 20% Vinegar solution but you may wish to make it stronger in the event you are in an area with a high contamination risk).  In some countries it is possible to buy a proprietary vegetable wash solution that can either be diluted for soaking large quantities or applied directly to single items.

Whether or not sterilising is necessary depends, to a great extent on the water used to irrigate the crops.  If the water is safe to drink and the vegetables irrigated with potable water a good wash a scrub to remove all soil is probably enough.   I have a friend who uses soap to clean her vegetables but if I am ever in any doubt at all, I get out my Milton tablets.

I have a sliding scale of vegetables.  Salad, cucumber, tomatoes, watermelons and the like take up a lot of water and I am very careful of them.  Even if I sterilise them to deal with the risk of external infection I will only eat them where I know that they have been irrigated with potable water and I always peel cucumbers.  If in doubt I would eschew the ones from the shops and grow my own.  I am slightly less concerned with cooked vegetables where local water is potable.  As long as they will be boiled or roasted for at least 15 minutes, all the soil is washed from the surface and they are peeled I am mostly happy for them to be left untreated.   Where they are grown in non potable water or I am only going to blanche them I always insist on sterilising.

In Nigeria the water was very dangerous.  It had to be boiled for 15 minutes and then filtered before it was safe to drink and all fruit and veg was sterilised for at least 60 minutes before rinsing in clean water.  In Venezuela the water was not as bad in the cities but we took a lot of care with the fruit and vegetables, sterilising them for 20 minutes.  In Turkey too, because we were a long way from the main cities we took a lot of care with the greens and, after a particularly nasty experience that I had after eating some untreated cucumber at a picnic, only ever ate the salads that we grew ourselves, our location was famous for its watermelons but the water used to grow them was so dirty that we did not ever eat one.  

In Astana the water from the tap was potable with just a filter and no need to boil so my guess is that washing in filtered water would render most vegetables safe, certainly that is about all that most of my friends did.  I did not bother sterilising anything that was to be cooked, letting a good wash and peel do the job.  Fruit was always sterilised and rinsed but I did let the children then eat their apples unpeeled.  I treated salad and anything else eaten raw  just ahead of eating by soaking in Milton in my salad spinner, draining and then rinsing in clean, filtered water.

In Malaysia  I sterilised everything that was to be eaten fresh and all cooked vegetables that were not to be peeled.  Although the tap water was meant to be safe and potable I never used it, preferring to use the water from the dispenser instead.  In KSA most (well pretty much all) of the fresh produce is imported and I treat it pretty much as I would in Astana with the exception of the water, I don't trust the tap water at all and don't use it for any preparation.

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Baking Banana Bread

I love bananas.  One of the real treats living in Nigeria was the abundance of the fruit – we could just walk into the garden and pick them straight from the ‘trees’, although you had to keep a careful eye out for snakes.  The bananas in Nigeria were nothing like the big tasteless ones you tend to get in Europe, they were small, soft and oh so sweet.  We were even able to get red bananas which were sweeter still, and plantain which is not at all nice raw but is beautiful fried. 

One of the things that surprised me when we moved to Kazakhstan was the easy availability of bananas, we get them year round and although they are a little pricey the cost is not prohibitive.  I am not sure where they come from but they are reasonably tasty.  They do perish rather quickly so you can have to

eat them fast or leave a few to go black and then bake banana bread. The break is very easy to make - so much so that I tend to use it as my stand by for unexpected visitors and the children have learned that if they leave some bananas in the bowl they will get cake.  It is also a cake with ingredients that are easily sourced just about everywhere, even in the most obscure postings.

My banana bread is based on a heavily edited version of Nigella Lawson’s recipe from How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I leave out the nuts (I worry about young children eating nuts) and add chocolate chips.   I take 110g of raisins and soak them in Tokaji overnight, if I don’t have time or, more likely, forget to do this the day before I just boil them up on the hob.  Most recipes call for rum, brandy or bourbon but the mellow taste of Tokaji works extremely well with the banana bread.  It is, in fact, my sweet cooking wine of choice but it can be difficult to find.  In a pinch I will use Madeira or Sherry.  

Raisins in Tokaij

In one bowl I combine approximately 175g of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder and ½ of baking soda. 

In another bowl I mix 125g of melted butter and 150g of sugar.  Add 4 mashed, over-ripe bananas to the butter mix followed by two eggs, the raisins (and any left-over Tokaji, don’t waste it) and vanilla extract.  I then add the dry ingredients to the wet; I find if I add a little at a time I only need to use a wooden spoon to mix. Once that is done I add the chocolate chunks about 75g, I like really dark, bitter chocolate because I think it combines well with the bananas, if I can't find proper cooking chocolate I just use my own. 

Ready for the Oven

The cake goes in a low oven (about 170 degrees) until a tester (a knife in my case) comes out clean, this is usually about 1 hour but it might take a little longer.  I know that I should not eat the cake mix but who can resist it? The mashed bananas make this particular mix deliciously satisfying.

Banana Bread

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Easter for Expats

Easter or Paas is a big celebration in our family, in many ways we prefer it to Christmas.  It is a much gentler celebration and less commercialised although I noticed that in recent years the Netherlands has gone ‘Easter Twig’ crazy and this seems to be catching on in the UK as well. 

While we were in the UK we would always go to my Husband’s family for Easter weekend.  They have a smallholding in the North of England where they grow their own beef and lamb.  The children enjoy spending time with their grandparents and cousins and ‘helping’ feed the animals.  They particularly love seeing the new born calves and lambs.  England is usually very beautiful at Eastertide with daffodils and crocuses covering the fields.

Lamb, of course, is the traditional English Easter dish but I am not so keen on it so, in deference to me, the family would usually celebrate with a beef roast.  After returning from the Easter Sunday church service the children get to eat just a little bit of their Easter Egg and then we enjoy lunch as a family.  Often my Sister in Law and her children will visit as well so the dining table gets wonderfully crowded and my Mother in Law very busy.

The North of England has a peculiar Easter Tradition which the family call Jarping Eggs.  Before Easter the eggs are hard boiled in water that has coffee grounds or onion skins in.  This colours the eggs a deep red/brown.  The family each select an egg and, taking turns, hold them by the rounded end and bang the pointed ends together.  The winner is the person whose egg smashes the shell of the other.  This is actually quite a common tradition around the world but it reaches new heights in County Durham where the world championships are held.  We have never gone to see the championship, just enjoying a gentle competition between members of the family.  Easter Lunch is such a large affair that we usually have a high tea instead of supper and this is the perfect time to jarp as the eggs can then be used on sandwiches. 

Jarping Eggs coloured with Onion

Here in Astana we have not been able to go to an Easter service but we try to talk to the children about the background of the day so that they keep the roots of the celebration in mind.  We cannot get Easter Eggs but as have always tried to limit the number of Easter Eggs the children get (or we are stuck with eggs on the sideboard for weeks) it is not a big loss.  I can take or leave the large eggs that have become de-rigeur in the UK although I do miss Cadbury Creme Eggs, a deliciously disgusting confection of 'chocolate' and fondant.  I still prefer the Dutch Easter Eggs which are small, single bite eggs, often with different flavours and I try to bring some of these back with me.  My mother would always have these in a huge bowl on the coffee table but our children are too young and our dog too greedy to make this a realistic possibility, I keep them locked away and bring the bowl out only when an adult is around to supervise consumption.  I make some coloured eggs to jarp and then steal the contents to turn into egg mayonnaise or, if I am feeling particularly active I will make Gevulde Eieren by halving the egg, removing the yolk and mixing it up with mayonnaise and mustard before returning it to the white, these are delicious sprinkled with paprika.  A family meal and a walk with the dog complete our somewhat ersatz Easter tradition.

I have fallen completely in love with the UK traditional Easter food of Hot Cross Buns.  They are current buns marked with a paste cross to signify the time of year.  They are easily found in all British supermarkets but almost impossible to get elsewhere so they have to be made from scratch.  They are not difficult but they are time-consuming. 

Hot cross buns in the oven

Freshly Baked and Glazed

I like to use Nigella Lawson’s recipe but I find that she is a little parsimonious on the spice and fruit.  I double the fruit (this year I added candied peel and dried cranberries to the mix).  I like to use Dutch koekkruiden (spice mix) in place of the spices recommended in the recipe.  This can be bought from every supermarket in the Netherlands but again is impossible to find elsewhere.  I make it by mixing Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Ground Cloves, Ground Nutmeg, Ground Ginger, ground Cardamom and ground Star Anise, if I can get it I add some Mace.  I tend not to mix the spice in any set quantities – the smell tells me if I am on the right track.  I use two tea spoons of this mix in place of the spices Nigella recommends.  I usually try to let everyone in the family stir the mix and I like to make 11 in a batch – one for each of the apostles (less Judas).

Orthodox Easter is not a Public Holiday but is celebrated by the Orthodox Christians in Astana.  It is not for some weeks and when that comes round we will probably have friends round to enjoy a second ‘Easter’ lunch.

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