Lemon Cardamom and Cinnamon Rolls

Once a year we find lemons, the yellow ones. The rest of the year we buy limes, the green ones. Lime is used almost everyday in the Thai kitchen and to be found at all markets. I use them like I would use lemons, even the peel for zest.

The other day I saw these amazingly delicious looking fluffy sticky lemon rolls made by Karen of Bake my Day. Peter is not a fan of lemons, ok he almost hates them. But I love them and the combination of sweet and tart is great.

Off course I had to change something. It had nothing to do with the recipe because that’s great. But when I looked for the ingredients for the filling I saw those delicious smelling green cardamom seeds waiting to be used. And cardamom goes nice with cinnamon. I already made the dough with cinnamon and nutmeg. So cardamom in the filling should give it something extra.

Some time ago a friend gave us a secondhand blender. I had no idea what a great help it would be. Whenever a recipe called for lemon zest I tried to replace it, not because I don’t like the taste, but because it’s a lot of work to get the zest into itsy bitsy tiny pieces. Now I just put the lemon zest slices in my grinder. Wow, this is just what I needed.

That evening we had to try them. These rolls are delicious; soft, juicy, fresh, sweet and tangy. Even though I put lemon glaze on top of the rolls, Peter loved them!

Enough talking, let's bake!

Shepherd's Bread

Every month I try to bake along with Zorra’s Bread Baking Day and with the Bread Baking Babes as a Buddy. For more than a year I baked almost every month, but my health almost spoiled it for this month. I just baked delicious bread with Thai vegetables and Chiang Mai sausage for Bread Baking Day #50. I was ready to start with Sheperds Bread when my foot started to hurt. So much I couldn’t walk. Then I remembered last year I got gout for the first time in my life. So this was the second time and I had this enormous pain in my foot. When things pass, like they always do, they also pass from my mind. So I had forgotten all about gout,the pain and the diet. I’m terrible with diets anyway. But, now it was back again. I stayed away from the kitchen for a few days. Peter ordered me to keep off my feet so I would be back on my feet sooner. I had all the time to have a good look at all those nice blogs about bread and food.

I thought I couldn’t join the Babes this month, but today May 28 I decided to give it a try. The number of loafs in the freezer is getting low and we need to eat, don’t we. Today I felt a bit better and started to walk with care.

Karen found a beautiful looking loaf in the book Bread for all seasons by Beth Hensperger. It’s baked in a pot. I love baking in my ceramic pot; the loaves rise beautifully because of the hot ‘pot-spring’. The only thing is they all kind of look alike. But, today I’m baking in my pot as a Buddy with the Babes.

Bread with Thai vegetables and Chiang Mai sausage

Sandra of Snuffs Kitchen is the host for Bread Baking Day #50. She asked us to bake bread with vegetables. This got me thinking about Thai vegetables. There are so many Worldly vegetables, but I liked the idea of using Thai vegetables. But not all vegetables would do nice in bread. In Thailand there are a lot of different eggplants and even more different kinds of cabbages; all delicious with rice.

But there is also delicious Phak bung (ผักบุ้ง) also known as morning glory. When fried it tastes like spinach.

Phak Bung

I wanted to add the special Chiang Mai sausage. Whenever you are in Chiang Mai you have to visit a local market like Warrorot market or Thanin market in the morning. Ask for Sai ua also known as Chiang Mai sausage. When you see a group of people waiting for their turn, there’s a big chance you found it. It’s already cooked so you can eat it on the spot by itself or with some sticky rice. Unless you are vegetarian or can’t eat a bit spicy, you’ll probably love it!

Sai ua (ไส้อั่ว) is a type of sausage from Chiang Mai which is highly regarded in the rest of Thailand. It is a slightly spicy grilled pork sausage containing red curry spices and fresh herbs. The taste of finely shredded kefir lime leaves, coriander leaves and lemon grass permeates the dish. 

Sai ua, Chiang Mai sausage

Last month the Bread Baking Babes baked Granville Island Beer Bread. I wasn’t able to join them, but the bread looked delicious and I was inspired by it. We had no beer, dried onion flakes and cheese, but we had Chiang Mai sausages and Phak Bung. 

Last night we ate half of the loaf. The crumb is soft and the spicy sausage with the spinach makes this a nice evening meal: delicious!

This evening we will eat the other half, but now I’ll put some homemade yoghurt cheese with tomato and cucumber on top. I think we'll visit Chiang Mai soon for another sausage.