Chu Chu Burmese Kitchen - Balachaung Chilli Shrimp Fry

Having now been cooped up at home for a while now, some of us at The Amazing Blog have been trying a new relish that is a little more flavourful than usual the ones that sit in our fridge door. It’s called Balachaung Chilli Shrimp Fry from Chu Chu Burmese Kitchen and it’s been fun putting our tastebuds to the test! This Balachaung is a versatile Asian street food that also goes by the name of ‘prawn pickle’ that’s guaranteed to add some serious spice or zing to any meal!

Husband and wife team Martin and Tara Pritchard founded the brand in 2017, wanting to share their passion for Myanmar cuisine, which let’s be honest, is virtually unheard of here in the UK. Tara is from an Anglo-Burmese background and based this on a recipe that dates back generations in her family. It’s also inspired by Myanmar street food and their new profound love of Asian travel. Throughout its history, the Burmese have combined different food cultures in their cuisine creating many appetising dishes using this relish. We originally discovered this Brighton-based Chu Chu Burmese Kitchen, as they were among the Great Taste winners of 2019.

This delicious condiment is handmade in Brighton and is made from dried shrimp, onion tamarind, shrimp paste and red chilli. BTW the main differences between prawns and shrimps are their size - shrimps are smaller with shorter legs and have claws only on two pairs. All packed tightly into a small jar, in simple terms, it combines rich chilli spices with the shrimps which create an ever-lasting flavour that stores for up to three months when open. NB: It’s best to store in a cool and dry location (not the fridge). We tried this relish with hot buttered toast which was absolutely delicious - although we’d advise it’s not for faint-hearted or those who don’t have an affinity with capsaicin family! They also suggest that it can be sprinkled in rice or on top of a salad to add a bit more interest or a kick. Why not get adventurous with your cuisine too and purchase your very own Balachaung Chilli Shrimp Fry 100g for £4.25 see here.

Afon Mêl - Heather Mead

Regular readers at The Amazing Blog will know, we can’t resist trying a new tipple! If you like us, you thought that honey was something reserved just for your tea and toast, then think again...  Let us introduce you to a honey-based wine, which we found to be so delicious that it rivalled even our most favourite of dessert wines. We’re talking about Afon Mêl’s Heather Mead, whose outstanding pedigree won a 3-Star Great Taste Award in 2019.  You can also see here the video of the judges sampling their Heather Mead here.

Afon Mêl is a family-run honey farm, founded by the Cooper family in 1995 in Ceredigion, Wales. They produce five types of raw honey all which have a unique flavour from the wildflowers from the cwms (a steep-sided hollow) and hedgerows which surround their rural farm. Their bees particularly love the blossoms from sycamore, hawthorn, willow trees, as well as the heather, rosebay, willowherb, clover, blackberries and many more. From one of their special raw honey comes the distinctive flavours that give their Heather Mead its original and characteristic taste.

Mead is made by fermenting honey and water together, this beverage has long earned heritage brewed by monks through the middle ages, and it’s thought to be the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world. Also known as honey wine, mead has been around for millennia with mead makers, sometimes being called ‘mazers’.  The word honeymoon originates from the early tradition of the drink being given to newlyweds. Mead’s been expertly crafted for generations and is mainly responsible for making the Welsh famous and the process of making mead takes place over two year period in order to perfect. One of the key factors in making this beverage is to ferment it at ambient temperatures during the summer months allowing it to mature

Beautifully designed in a slim and elegant bottle, the Heather Mead elixir is golden in colour and fermented using their heather honey which gives a rich almost sherry-like finish.  It’s not a sweet as you might imagine, and they say that it has a slightly smoky taste from the heather. We found it easy to drink (perhaps a little too easy!) and it paired well with pudding or cheese.  Apart from the Heather Mead, Afon Mêl also produce a variety of other flavoured meads including the rather delicious sounding Welsh Chocolate Mead and  Welsh Raspberry Mead. If you’re interested in trying an exciting new tipple, then Heather Mead is for you. The Afon Mêl- Heather Mead is 13% Vol and available in four sizes; we tried the 37.5cl which retails for £11.50 here. We can’t recommend this enough and are certainly tempted to buy a few more bottles of their other Meads and raw honey too.

Di Cristian Dessert's - Baba Rattolo

It’d be true to say that we have a bit of a sweet tooth here at The Amazing Blog so we couldn’t resist trying Di Cristian Dessert’s Baba Rattolo! Di Cristian Dessert’s are a  twist on a classic rum baba bringing new ways and flavours like Limoncello and Chocolate to the baba, and this is another one of our #amazingfinds that we just had to share.

For those of you new to the baba cake, it is typically made as a small yeast cake saturated in a syrup made from rum. Di Cristian Desserts are purveyors of these fine babas, an Italian-based bakery with a long-standing family heritage for the past four generations. Di Cristian uses the simple flavours of the past to inspire him in his confectionary creations. Think baked goods where ‘tradition meets innovation.’ These baba cakes are cooked in sealed jars using high quality, 100% natural ingredients like eggs, flour, and butter. The cakes remain fresh without preservatives for up to 6 months when stored in the sealed jars at room temperature.

To serve, remove the baba cake from the jar and slice vertically. Once the cake is removed from the jar, they suggest eating it within a few hours – which is our case, was about 10 minutes! The sliced cake can be dressed with various toppings, such as berries or whipped cream, but we preferred it plain. Which was our favourite? Hands down, it had to be the Limoncello for being so deliciously light and zesty and melting in our mouths. We think that these desserts are perfect for any occasion be it elevenses, teatime, supper or if you have enough self-control, as a store cupboard standby for when those special guests arrive. Each sealed jar cake serves 6 to 8 people and can be purchased here for 17€.

The Cookery School at Little Portland Street

Still on our mission to hone and enhance our culinary skills, at The Amazing Blog we have been searching around for baking lessons, to make all your dreams of baking that perfect soufflé come true, which is when we found  The Cookery School at Little Portland Street. It is one of London’s leading and most sustainable cooking schools.

Founded In 2003 Rosalind Rathouse, who even prior to the inception of Cookery School, she has been fervently passionate about sustainability. Cookery School has the highest possible rating for sustainability from the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) and has been virtually plastic-free since the beginning. From sourcing top quality, seasonal, mostly organic ingredients, to running the kitchens on renewable energy, what we like is that the school does everything possible to minimise its impact on the planet.

With a focus on the sustainability and education, they endeavour to demystify cooking, removing jargon and celebrating good home cooking skills. Their kitchen is run with the environment in mind, so they only use high quality, sustainable, primarily organic ingredients and equipment that can be found in most home kitchens

Cue The Ultimate Baking Course this takes you through the key principles of cakes, pastry, breads, macarons and meringue making, plus cake decorating. Quite simply, they will teach you the skills required to bake well. They have three options i.e. either the weekly course which includes 8 sessions, the intensive course which is a 4 day course or the Sunday course which takes place on every Sunday of the month thus giving you the option to best suit your schedule.

Priced at £880, The Ultimate Baking Course runs throughout the months of February, March and April and is worth both the time and the money as you will leave with the skills and knowledge of a professional baker. Browse through their official website to find a course best suited for you here.

Sxollie - Cripps Pink Cider

Hustling is not something we would normally advocate here at The Amazing Blog, however when an advertising campaign comes in which is structured around the very essence of a jolly good hustle, we sit up, keyboards poised and channel the inner opportunist. Sxollie is the brand, and their delicious cider is the product which takes no prisoners and proudly promotes a good down to earth hustle.

Now ‘sxollie’ is derived from the english word scallywag, the afrikaans word skorrie-morrie, the dutch word schoelje meaning rascal, and the yiddish word meaning jackal. Quite a heady mix to get our teeth into, but also a highly effective marketing tool to ensure we are sitting up and taking notice, especially since it forms the basis for the philosophy behind Sxollie Cider. ‘In a nutshell’, as they decree, the term Sxollie means ‘hustler’, and its composition is a barrelful of single varietal cider, backed up by the company’s rousing chorus that this is the best cider to come out of Africa.

The interesting part of this approach is that actually the taste of Sxollie is rather refined - elegant almost, which must derive from the Champagne yeasts which are used to ferment their carefully chosen apples from the Elgin orchards of Cape Town. Perhaps the harder edge synopsis of this drink comes from the urban jungle itself which forms an integral ingredient to the finished product? However, that final product is certainly one to take a chance on, as it celebrates with all it’s might it’s African heritage, right down to the pottery design mosaic ‘X’ sprawled across the bottle. We discovered the brand as they were the winners of the International Cider Challenge 2019. There is a trio in the range to try, although we were ONLY sent one bottle Cripps Pink (Pink Lady) - ahem, Sxollie we would have like to have tried more!

Sxollie is available from our high street supermarkets, Waitrose and Sainsburys across the country have them on their shelves, as well as many good independent outlets. Waitrose currently have a 330ml bottle on at £1.85, but if you get your skates on, Sainsbury's have an offer running with bottles priced at £1.60. As the ‘Sxollie philosophy’ tells us - “Pursue that glint in your eye … a little hustle goes a long way”!