The delicate, tangy and sophisticated flavours of Belgian endive matches perfectly well with the Feta cheese and walnuts. Belgian endive, also known as French endive and witloof, or white leaf, is a leafy vegetable that looks like a thin cylinder of tight, pale green leaves. The tangy, deep, well-rounded flavor is unmatched by any other endive.

• 1 Belgium Endive
• 50 g Feta cheese
• 50 g Walnuts, roasted
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 tsp Raspberry vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 tsp Dried parsley

1. Roast the walnuts in the 180C/350F oven for 5-8 minutes. Remove and leave to coll completely. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper together in a bowl to make the dressing.
2. Trim off the base of Belgium endive with a knife. Gently remove the 9 outer leaves, one at a time. Rinse leaves and pat dry with paper towel. Cut the remaining endives into the small pieces. Rinse and pat dry. Place in a large bowl with roasted walnut pieces and crumbled cheese. Drizzle the prepared dressing over and toss until blended.
3. Spoon the salad into the endive leaves and arrange them on a serving plate. If there’s any left, then place them in the center of the serving plate. Sprinkle the dried pasley over. Serve with melba toast or crackers if desired.

Thank you, Happy Cook@Foodie's Kitchen and PearlYn@A Full Time Housefly for sharing this cool award with me. Thanks!

This is a dense lemony pound cake with cranberries and a lemon glaze all over the top and soaked into the cake itself. The recipe is adapted from the Essen und Trinken

3 Lemons 375 g German#405 flour, sifted 1 tbsp Baking powder 190 g Butter, softened 370 g Sugar (I used 250 g)

Pinch of salt 6 Eggs 75 ml Whipping cream 175 g Cranberries, dried 150 g Powdered sugar

1. Grate the zest of two lemons, careful that you are grating only the coloured part of the rind. And squeeze the lemon to extract 11 tablespoons of juice. Grease and flour a 32x11 cm loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a bowl.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and pinch of salt with a hand-held beater until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, alternately mixing in a tablespoon of flour mixture after each addition. Pour in the whipping cream, and then 8 tablespoons of lemon juice and finely grated zest. Fold to combine. Sift in the rest of the flour mixture and gently stir to combine. Finally fold the dried cranberries into the batter.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Place the pan on the lower second rack and bake for about 80-90 minutes. After 35 minutes, cover the cake with a foil greased with butter. Remove and cool the cake in the tin briefly. Then remove the cake from the tin and allow it to cool completely.
4. Sift the powdered sugar in a bowl and add in the rest of lemon juice. Stir to combine. Pour evenly over the cake. Allow the glaze to set before slicing and serving.

The lotus root is a root vegetable that is indigenous to Asia, and is found underwater. The meat of the lotus root has a texture that is slightly crunchy, and mildly sweet. They can be eaten as fruit, sliced and stir fried, or stuffed with glutinous rice in its flue-shaped holes and steamed as dessert. Tender young lotus roots are good for salads while starchy mature lotus roots are good for making soups.

Lotus roots helps stop diarrhea, clears Heat and improve appetite. They contain much iron, vitamins B & C. The rich fibre content of lotus roots stimulates peristalsis and relieves constipation. Drinking 2 to 3 glasses of lotus root juice a day can stop bleeding of the esophagus an stomach (vomiting blood); bleeding of the rectum, intestines or stomach (blood in feces); nose bleeding or gum bleeding. Lotus root soup also serves similar purposes. Patients with high fever can drink it cold, while those with steady temperature should drink it warm. Drinking water chestnut juice mixed with pear juice can help clear phlegm while mixing it with grape juice and carrot juice eases dry tongues. Chinesefood Recipes

Filling	Sauce
100 g Chicken breast, minced 1/4 Onion, finely chopped 2 slice Ginger, minced 1 Egg, lightly beaten 1 tbsp Cornstarch 1 tbsp Light soya sauce 1/3 tsp Salt White pepper powder to taste 300 g / 16 slice Frozen lotus root, thawed Oil for frying	130 ml Stock 1 tbsp Sugar 1 tbsp Light soya sauce 1/2 tbsp Jiafan rice wine 1/2 tbsp Cornstarch

1. Stir-fried the finely chopped onion with a bit of butter until fragrant. Mince the ginger and lightly beat the egg. Pat the lotus slices dry with kitchen paper towels. Finely chop the chicken breast, add in stir-fried onion, minced ginger, egg, cornstarch, soya sauce, salt and pepper. Stir vigorously in one direction until the mixture has become thick and elastic.
2. To make a sandwich, spread the meat mixture onto each 8 lotus root slices, and cover with the rest of lotus root slices. Lightly coat each lotus root sandwich with cornstarch. To fry, set a large deep pan half filled with oil on medium heat until hot. Fry the prepared lotus root sandwiches until both sides lightly golden. Remove, drain and place them in a serving dish.
3. Stir all the ingredients of the sauce in a small saucepan on low heat until it has thickened. Pour the sauce over the lotus root sandwiches. Serve.

This strawberry tea chiffon cake has the flavor of refreshing fruit tea and is moist, tender, and light with a fluffy texture. I also used matcha tea powder for this chiffon cake as I wanted to clear up the cupboard. You can use the cake flour instead for the recipe if you have no green tea on hand.

The high oil and egg content creates a very moist cake, and as oil is liquid even at cooler temperatures, chiffon cakes do not tend to harden or dry out as traditional butter cakes might. This makes them better-suited than many cakes to filling or frosting with ingredients that need to be refrigerated or frozen, such as pastry cream or ice cream. Chiffon cakes tend to be lower in saturated fat than butter cakes, potentially making them healthier than their butter-heavy counterparts. The lack of butter, however, means that chiffon cakes lack much of the rich flavor of butter cakes, and hence they are typically served accompanied with flavorful sauces or other accompaniments, such as chocolate or fruit fillings. Wikipedia

Egg Yolk Batter	Meringue
210 g All-purpose flour 1/2 tsp Baking powder 15 g Matcha tea powder (optional) 190 ml Strawberry fruit tea 20 g White sugar 100 ml Salad oil 5 Egg yolks 1 whole Egg	6 Egg whites 1/3 tsp Lemon juice 1/4 tsp Salt 1 package / 8 g Vanilla sugar 3/4 cup White sugar

1. Sift flour, matcha tea powder and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Beat together 20 grams of sugar and strawberry-scented tea until blended and sugar has completely dissolved. Whisk in the salad oil until emulsified. Add in sifted flour mixture and mix until just blended. Add in one whole egg and egg yolks. Combine all the ingredients until you obtain a smooth batter.
2. Beat egg whites with salt and lemon juice over low speed until frothy and foamy. Gradually add in sugar in 3 portions, increase speed and beat until stiff but not dry. Carefully fold 1/3 of egg white mixture into flour mixture to lighten it and then another one third, finally fold the mixture with the remaining whites. Make sure no white streaks remain.
3. Pour into a 26-cm ungreased tube pan and spread evenly. Bake for about 75 minutes until done in the center of 155C/310F oven. Remove pan from oven and immediately turn upside down on the neck of a glass bottle to cool for at least 1 hour. Unmold after it's thoroughly cool.

Frikadellen, one of the most popular German meat dishes, are flat, pan-fried patties of ground meat, chopped onions, bread crumbs, herbs, and the seasoning. Frikadellen are like the German equivalent of a hamburger. They are often served with potato salad, or German dumplings, or Sauerkraut. They take a sauce (I like black pepper sauce the most) very well too. A common variant of Frikadellen are prepared with minced chicken.

500 g Ground meat (a mix of pork and beef) 70 g Onions 1/2 tbsp Oil 4 tbsp Breadcrumbs 1 Egg

60 ml Milk 1 tsp Basil, dried (or marjoram) 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp White pepper

1. Peel and dice the onions, then saute in oil until transparent. Add sauteed onions to ground meat in a mixing bowl. Stir together breadcrumbs and milk and add to meat mixture.
2. Add egg, basil, salt and pepper and mix well. Dampen hands and form meat mixture into palm-sized patties.
3. Preheat non-stick skillet with a little oil. Pan-fry the meat patties over medium high heat until browned on both sides. Serve them with salad, fries and tzatziki. Alternatively they can be served with German dumplings and black pepper sauce.

Glutinous rice, also called sticky rice, or mochi rice, is a type of short-grained Asian rice that is especially sticky when cooked. Glutinous rice does not contain dietary gluten and thus should be safe for gluten-free diets. It is called glutinous in the sense of being glue-like or sticky and not in the sense of containing gluten.
Glutinous rice can be used either milled or unmilled (that is, with the bran removed or not removed). Milled rice is white in colour, whereas the bran can give unmilled glutinous rice a purple or black colour. Both black and white glutinous rice can be cooked as grains or ground into flour and cooked as a paste.

200 g Glutinous rice powder ©angiesrecipes 1 tsp Baking powder 200 g 4% Evaporated milk 1 Egg 50 g Sunflower oil

60 g White sugar 100 g Poppy fix ©angiesrecipes 30 g Raisins Some poppy seeds 1 tbsp Sunflower oil

1. Stir together the evaporated milk, egg, oil and sugar in a mixing bowl. Sift in glutinous rice flour and baking powder and blend thoroughly.
2. Divide half of the rice batter into 8-10 paper muffin liners, spoon in some poppy fix and add in a few of raisins. Finally cover with the rest of rice batter. Sprinkle with some poppy seeds.
3. Bake in a preheated 190C/375F oven for about 30 minutes. Take out the muffins and brush the tops with a thin layer of oil. Return to the oven and continue to bake for another 10 minutes.

Syrian meatballs are made with ground beef (or lamb), rice, carrot, garlic and curry. They are fast and easy to make. The recipe is adopted from Hackfleisch Leckere Rezepte für die ganze Familie.

500 g Minced beef (or lamb) 125 g Cooked carrots, minced 1 clove Garlic, minced 100 g Rice, cooked

1 Egg 1 tsp Curry powder Salt and pepper 7-10 tbsp Sesame seeds Cooking oil

1. In a mixing bowl, add in the minced beef, cooked carrots, minced garlic, cooked rice, egg, curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. Stir until the mixture is well-blended.
2. Roll the beef-rice mixture into 3cm balls, about 35 balls. Coat each ball evenly with sesame seeds. Heat the oil in a large skillet until hot. Lower in the meatballs, several at a time and fry until cooked through and nicely golden. Remove and drain. Serve them warm with sour cream.

May this New Year bring newly found prosperity, love, happiness and delight in your life.

These delicious coconuty cookies are crisp at the edges, and perfectly chewy in the middle. Anyone who likes the aroma and taste of coconut is sure to love these buttery, and easy to make cookies.

• 150 g Butter, at room temperature
• 50 g Sugar
• 90 g Eggs
• 50 g All-purpose flour
• 30 g Potato starch
• 170 g Dried coconut shreds

1. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add in eggs and continue beating until well-mixed.
2. Sift in the flour and potato starch and mix. Add in 160 grams of coconut shreds and mix until just combined. Wrap and chill the mixture for 1-2 hours.
3. Shape the mixture into 27-30 small balls and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Sprinkle the top with the rest of coconut shreds.
4. Bake in a preheated 180C/350F oven for about 22-25 minutes until lightly golden brown.

This cake is inspired by Pei-Lin@Dodol Mochi. Thanks, Pei-Lin!

Yolk Batter	Meringue
90 ml Corn oil 30 g Sweetened condensed milk 150 g Sour cream 130 g German #405 flour 2 g Baking powder 6 Egg yolks, at room temperature 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract 70 g Dried cranberries 1/2 tbsp Cornstarch	6 Egg whites, at room temperature 100 g Caster sugar 1 g Salt 1/3 tsp Lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 165C/330F. Coat the dried cranberries with cornstarch in a small bowl. Set aside. Place the corn oil, sweetened condensed milk and sour cream in a mixing bowl. Whisk until the mixture fully blended and emulsified. Sift in the flour and baking powder, mixing roughly. Add in egg yolks and vanilla extract. Gently mix until combined.
2. Beat the egg whites with salt until fluffy, drizzling in the lemon juice, continue to beat until the soft peaks appear. Add in sugar in 3 additions, and beat until meringue glossy and stiff. Gently fold 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk batter and then carefully fold in the remaining whites until well combined. Finally add in the dried cranberries.
3. Pour the cake batter into a 24 cm springform pan. Bake the cake in the lower rack of the hot oven for 65 minutes. Remove and invert it onto a wire rack. Allow it to cool to the room temperature.

This is inspired by Tracie Moo on Bitter Sweet Flavours.
Brussels sprouts, or Brassica oleracea gemmifera, are related to other better-known vegetables in the Brassica genus like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. They are part of the cruciferae or mustard family, so known because of a four-part flower in the shape of a cross.
Brussels sprouts are a very good source of many essential vitamins, fiber, and folate. They are especially high in Vitamin C. They, along with their other cruciferous cousins, have been shown to have some very beneficial effects against certain types of cancer, as they contain many different ingredients that are believed to help prevent the disease. Check Foodnetwork for more delicious Brussels sprout recipes.

• 350 g Brussels sprout
• 3 Shallot, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp Duck fat
• 1 Fresh chilli, sliced
• 2 tbsp Honey
• 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 4 tbsp Water
• Salt and black pepper

1. Wash the Brussels sprouts well. Trim the stem ends and remove any yellowing leaves. Cut in half from stem to top. Finely sliced the shallot. Mix the honey, mustard and 3 tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat the duck fat in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in sliced shallots until fragrant. Add in Brussels sprouts and sprinkle salt, pepper and a tablespoon of water over, stir, cover, and cook for roughly 5 minutes.
3. Pour in the prepared mustard sauce, stirring to combine. Cook until most of liquid evaporates and sprouts are tender but still bright green, 3-5 minutes. Add in sliced chillies and toss all together. Season with salt and pepper.