This is a fun recipe using molecular gastronomy method to make little bead of honey. The main ingredients beside honey is agar-agar, which is from seaweed.

Playing with “molecular gastronomy” again…this time I used agar-agar, which is a vegetarian version of gelatin.

Apparently this can be done using gelatin if you have difficulty  finding agar-agar. I have the feeling that if gelatin is used the texture might be more chewy…something that I will try to make in the future since I love chewy texture.

I must admit that I was reluctant to use agar-agar, because the image of bacteria growing in petri dishes always come to my mind when talking about agar-agar; all this due to years and years of working in microbiology lab…I literally had to block these images from my mind when I started to make this honey caviars.

This recipe is much easier than the Spherical Yogurt; most of the ingredients are commonly found in the kitchen, with the exception of the agar-agar which can be substituted with gelatin.

These little honey caviar or pearls can be used with anything that you want to serve with honey, like cheese, yogurt, cake and the list goes on and on. Besides, they look very “cute”.

Before I go on to the recipe, I just received over the weekend the new issue of Desserts Magazine, and the current issue is available free to non-members, so if you would like to browse the magazine please check the link here…

One more thing before I share the recipe, this method is called “Gelification” and is based on a recipe featured in Cookistry.

Ingredients:

1g of agar-agar
3 tablespoons of water
6 tablespoons of honey
¾ to 1 cup of canola oil or any other unflavorful cooking oil
Water and ice

Method:

Place the vegetable oil in the refrigerator.

Mix the agar-agar with the water and place in low heat. Slowly add the honey, stirring constantly until the agar-agar is totally dissolved. It might take a while and needs boiling. You will know when there are no more particles in the liquid.

Let the agar-agar/honey mixture cool until start to thicken a little. If you leave it too long a big gel will form.

In the meantime, remove the oil from the refrigerator and place in an ice bath, so the oil is kept icy cold.

Using a dropper drawn the agar-agar/honey mixture and drip in the cold oil. As soon as the droplets of honey fall into the oil you will see little pearls forming and slowly falling to the bottom of the oil bowl. Let the caviars sit for a while in the oil so they turn firm.

Gently with a slotted spoon or small strainer scoop the caviars out of the oil and rinse in cold water to remove the oil. Drain well and the honey caviars are ready for you to add to anything you wish.

I served the honey caviars with plain yogurt…so good!

If you enjoy this “molecular recipe”, you might want to check on the Spherical Yogurt.

Did you know that gelatin is made from collagen from animal bones and skin while agar-agar is made from seaweed? Agar-agar is very popular in Asian cuisine and are sold as powder or translucent strands.

Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes [dot]me…have a colorful day!

Care for a gluten free bread recipe?  This might work for you as the bread turned out to be soft and pliable, and this bread makes great toasts.

Gluten is a very serious issue for people that have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, and lately has been in the news as a new way to boost health and even lose weight. Apparently 1% of the population has celiac disease and about 10% are gluten-reactive. Anyway, as far as we know my husband and I are not in neither group of population, but I found it interesting and challenging the concept of baking goods without wheat flour since gluten is “vital” for the “structure” of the bread.

I must agree with you that the list of ingredients seems “endless”, but so little is required after you gather all the ingredients, once you have it mixed, you almost forget how long and tedious was collecting them all. The recipe that I have below is a blend of many recipes for gluten free bread that I adapted from Delishville.

This bread tasted delicious right out of the oven, and if I did not know that was gluten free, I would have a hard time to believe it. But the problem was the very next day, the bread literally was hard like a brick…therefore in order to eat I had to either microwave or toast it.

BY the way, I did all the mixing in the Zojirushi bread machine, but fell free to mix it manually

Ingredients:

½ cup rice flour
¾ cup corn flour (starch)
¾ cup tapioca flour (starch)
¼ cup sorghum
2 eggs
½ teaspoon white vinegar
2 tablespoons agave syrup
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon almond meal
1 teaspoon gelatin
1½ teaspoons yeast

Method:

Grease and lightly flour a loaf pan of 9 x 5 in with corn meal.

In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together. In a bigger bowl mix the water (warm), eggs, vinegar, agave syrup and margarine or butter.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the liquid mixture. The dough will be like a cake batter, mix for approximately 4 minutes.

Pour the batter/dough in the pan and let it rise in a warm place for about 40 minute to 1 hour or until it double its initial size.

Place the dough in preheated oven of 350F for approximately 50 to 55 minutes.

Serve warm, preferably on the same day.

For the gluten free toasts…

Slice the gluten free bread, place in a silicone liner and place in a preheated oven of 275F for 45 to 60 minutes by flipping over once until golden brown.

Let it cool completely in the wire rack. Store the toasts in an airtight container.

If you enjoy this gluten free bread you might want to check on others gluten free bread recipes such as Brazilian Pão de Queijo or the Asian Inspired Pão de Queijo.

Did you that the term “gluten” is derived from Latin gluten, which means “glue”? Many vegetarian dishes use gluten for imitation meats due to its textures and the ability to absorb broth, therefore the gluten acquires the flavor and the texture of meat.

Thank you for stopping by Color Your Recipes…have a colorful day!

This is very typical Asian sweet, it can be served as dessert or as snack. It is soupy and contain mainly green beans, barley and little balls of glutinous flour know as mochi.

This is one of the food that I love and amazes me that my husband enjoys it… very much…I say that because this is so “Asian”…even many Asian people do not care for it, let alone people that was never exposed to it…

I must admit that the concept of sweet bean soup with mochi. Mochi? Yes, this gooey sticky little balls floating in a not so appealing murky, brownish, greenish color soup…and served iced, cold or warm? Yes, it might be troublesome for some people to accept hehehe! That is why I was so surprised that my husband embraced this dessert/snack so fast and often asks me to make it.

I have been cooking this for a while and it is perfect at any season of the year…I serve it cold/iced during summer and warm during winter. I often have the little mochi balls in the freezer…so when need I boiled them for a few minutes and it is ready to go.

In this particular recipe I added barley and use coconut sugar to sweeten the green bean soup, but you are free to use whatever kind of grains and sugar.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup dry green beans (mung beans)
1/3 cup barley
Coconut sugar to taste

Fresh made or frozen mochi balls.

Method:

Wash the green beans and soak in water overnight. Do the same with the barley.

Place the bean and the barley in a thermo cooker and follow the instruction, making sure that the beans are fully cooked and soft. In case you do not have a thermo cooker please do the following:

In a big pot add the green bean and barley with water, about 1 ½ in above the bean. Cook until the beans have soften.

Add more water and coconut sugar to your taste. You can adjust the thickness of the soup according to your taste.

Cook the mochi balls accordingly, drain and put in the bean soup, or if you want to serve them cold, rinse the mocha balls with cold water and then add to the bean soup.

I hope you are dare enough to try this simple recipe for Green Bean Soup with Mochi…and hey, you might find out that you like this.

If you enjoy this recipe using glutinous flour you might want to try this Asian inspired Brazilian snack, Mochi Cheese Balls.

Did you know that the bean sprouts that you often see in Asian groceries are germinated from mung beans? Moreover, the starch extracted from these beans is used to make the bean thread or glass noodles, which are popular in Asian cuisine

Thank you for stopping by Color Your Recipes…have a colorful day!

This is a very simple and hearty meal by just topping ground beef sauce over creamy polenta. So easy and yet so satisfying.

I hope you all had a great weekend, either celebrating Easter, Passover or just an enjoyable weekend…

I love to make this dish…it is simple and so delicious. Not to mention so comforting…
This time I added a little jalapeno in the polenta, which added an extra flavor to it. It is so good when you scoop the polenta together with the ground beef and its sauce…yum!

Anyway, enough of bragging about how delicious this dish it is…lets be practical…

Ingredients:

Ground Beef

2 garlic cloves chopped finely
1 small onion cut into small pieces
Approximately 12oz lean ground beef
1 can stew tomatoes
¼ teaspoon ground all spice
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Soft Polenta

1/3 cup cornmeal
2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeno
Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh basil leaves

Method:

In a medium sauce pan, sauté garlic and onion in the olive oil until slightly golden brown. Add the ground beef until browned using medium high heat.

Add the ground all spice, dry oregano and the can of stewed tomatoes. Once the mixture starts to boil, lower the heat to low and cover the pan. Let is cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the ground beef is soft.

In the meantime cook the polenta by adding the polenta in the boiling water with butter. Stir constantly in low heat until the fully cooked. As the cornmeal cooks the texture will change from watery to cream consistency. Add the jalapeno, mix gently and remove the polenta from the heat.

To assemble the plate, scoop the polenta in the center of a deep dish and using the back of the spoon make an indent. Add the ground beef on the little crater. Garnish with fresh basil or freshly grated Parmesan cheese and serve hot.

If you enjoy this simple and delicious dish with soft polenta, you might want to check on Chicken with Soft Polenta or Shrimp with Cheesy Polenta.

Did you know that polenta or its variety is widely used throughout Europe, Africa, North and South America?

Thank you for stopping by Color Your Recipes…have a colorful day!

We are going to a family “get together” cruise. After many years trying to get everyone’s schedules we finally settle down for this Mexican cruise…We will be on the cruise for 7 days , stopping at 3 cities: Cabo San Lucas, Porto Vallarta and Mazatlan. Since the internet service is very limited and extremely expensive at the ship I probably will not be reading your blog, sorry about that, but will definitely catch up once back in land.

Before we leave, I’d like to leave a very and simple way to serve shrimp.
This dish is really easy and simple to prepare…and it is delicious. Serve the shrimps with salad or as an appetizer. By the way, Happy Easter!

Ingredients:

½ lb shrimp
2 clove garlic minced
¼ cup green onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Turn the oven to 450F

In a bowl, place the shrimp, garlic, green onion, the spices and the olive oil. Mix gently and place the shrimp in a oven safe dish.

Bake for 5~7 minutes. Serve hot. Do not over cook otherwise the shrimp will have a rubbery texture.
As I mention, could not be easier and simpler than this 

Did you know that shrimp have a high resistance to toxins? Since shrimp are an important source of food for large animals, their high resistance to toxins may contribute to high toxin levels in their predators.
Shrimps are high in calcium, iodine and protein. Shrimps have significant levels of cholesterol, but do not contain saturated fat, it is considered healthy for the circulatory system. Moreover, shrimp is considered a low caloric food.

Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes and have a great week!