Island – Her Island Kitchen

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GIVEAWAY CONTEST TO MARK INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY ON MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT (@herislandkitchen) IN COLLABORATION WITH Karen Severe (Follow her beauty blog on WordPress Le Blog à Karen) (Instagram@karensevere_).
Giveaway contest has started on Saturday 09 March 2019 till Saturday 16 March 2019. Two winners were randomly selected and announced on our accounts on Sunday 17 March 2019.
GIVEAWAY SPONSORS:
– AVRIL Bio Eyeshadow from My Surprise Box Mauritius
– 10% Discount on total bill sum (Food & Drinks) from Miss Daisy Bistrot
– Macramé handbag from Corinne Godere (Facebook: Chloe’s craft)
– Tropical Jewellery Box from (Instagram @artlokal21)

Press Article Coverage & Featured

5-Plus Dimanche Newspaper

Hourushaa Dowlut: Une Happy Chef du Web
**5-Plus Dimanche** 08 Janvier 2017 – 08 January 2017 N1388/1069 – Page 4
Par Yvonne Stephen-Lavictoire

Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut
**5-Plus Dimanche** 22 Janvier 2017 – 22 January 2017 – N1390/1071 – Page 67
Par Yvonne Stephen-Lavictoire

Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut
**5-Plus Dimanche** 25 Juin 2017 – 25 June 2017 – N14082/1093 – Page 67
*Par Yvonne Stephen-Lavictoire*

*Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut*
*5-Plus Dimanche 03 Septembre 2017 – 03 September 2017 – N14092/1103 – Page 67*
*Par Yvonne Stephen – Lavictoire*

*Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut*
*5-Plus Dimanche 01 October 2017 – 01 Octobre 2017 – N14096/1107 – Page 79*
Par Yvonne Stephen – Lavictoire

*Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut*
*5-Plus Dimanche 14 Janvier 2018 – 14 January 2018 – N14111/1122 – Page 59*
*Par Yvonne Stephen – Lavictoire*

*Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut*
*5-Plus Dimanche 25 March 2018 – 25 Mars 2018 – N14121/1132 – Page 67*
*Par Yvonne Stephen – Lavictoire*

*Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut*
*5-Plus Dimanche 08 April 2018 – 08 Avril 2018 – N14123/1134 – Page 67*
*Par Yvonne Stephen – Lavictoire*

*Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut*
5-Plus Dimanche 17 June 2018 – 17 Juin 2018 – N14133/1144 – Page 67
*Par Yvonne Stephen – Lavictoire*

*Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut*
5-Plus Dimanche 12 August 2018 – 12 Aout 2018 – N14141/1152 – Page 67
*Par Yvonne Stephen – Lavictoire*

*Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut*
5-Plus Dimanche 04 November 2018 – 04 Novembre 2018 – N14153/1164 – Page 67
*Par Yvonne Stephen – Lavictoire*

*Recettes Edition Spéciale du 30 Decembre 2018 – Hourushaa Dowlut*
5-Plus Dimanche 30 Decembre 2018 – 30 December 2018 – N14161/1172 – Page 52-53
*Par Yvonne Stephen – Lavictoire*

*Dans la cuisine de Hourushaa Dowlut*
5-Plus Dimanche 24 Fevrier 2019 – 24 February 2019 – N14169/1180 – Page 67
*Par Yvvonne Stephen – Lavictoire*

Star Press Newspaper

Hourushaa Dowlut, Bloggeuse Culinaire
**Star Press Newspaper** 25 Juin 2017 – 25 June 2017 – NO 1695 – Page 24-25

Charles Telfair Institute- Curtin Mauritius

**Hourushaa Dowlut – Head of Food Donation Campaign for Orphans and Disabled Children at Charles Telfair Institute-Curtin Mauritius to honor International Children’s Day.**
Reference: Charles Telfair Institute Chronicles July 2016 > Issue 24 Page 11
Reference: Curtin Mauritius Facebook post

My Vision Board

VISION BOARD, the name speaks for itself right? Visualising your future goals, achievements, education plans, career & business, finance, love & marriage, travel, health, food, environmental, social, inspirations and the lists go on beacuse each one of us designs our vision board based onto what we want to achieve and how they relate to our feelings. Did I just wrote “feelings”, yes I did and you will agree once you let your heart communicates with your brain. Your brain focus on the goals & dreams but admit to it your heart will allow you to feel the emotions concerning the things which make you happy. For example: I have beach picture on my Vision Board, that doesn’t mean I have plans to own the beach (haha), sticking a beach picture simply connotes the happiness and relaxing atmosphere that the beach brings to me. So you get the bigger picture right, it’s all going to be about visual communication filled with visions and precious feelings, what each picture tells you and how they connect to your goals and feelings. How they can help you get where you want, how each visual speaks and reminds you everyday of your goals, inspirations and desires (place: stick your VB to a place where you see it everyday).
VB is not just about cutting pictures from magazines and glueing them on your paper, it’s not just because you think this picture will make your VB looks better that you opt for them. VB is about understanding and visualising your future goals. You pick a picture based onto asking yourself several questions:

is this related to my goals? how does the picture speaks to me concerning my goals? does this visual depicts my feelings? how can this visual reminds me about my dreams during the longterm? It is a visualizing exercise, get your creative mind up onto the ladder. You need to understand how and where to layer each of your visuals because each corner will help you to categorise each of your goals based as per your interests. You will see I have beach into one corner, food blog in another side, spiritual, nature, my cat and career each into respective corners.
This is my vision board which I have started at the ZoliBloguettes Vision Board event. Each space on my paper is brushed with my goals, dreams, inspirations and emotions. Funnily yes so many fishes in my VB and a prickly sea urchin (you might be saying who puts that in their VB). I DID! Sea urchins inspire me despite its prickly, weird and dangerous because of their beautiful colours and calmness under the sea. Well we all do have weird unusual likings right? Amongst all the goals, inspirations and dreams stuffs, I have also put a tiny corner for my favorite food; Paella and Banana Tarte. Is it even allowed to have a tiny space for your favorite food in a VB? Like mentioned above, my VB is not messy and confusing, each photos have been layered and categorised based as per my goals & inspirations.

Beach, ocean, fishes everywhere, corals doodle, a lighthouse at Albion picture and ocean captions. I adhere strongly towards protecting the ocean and the environment. Imagine the danger of eating a fish who has eaten plastic in the ocean? So much to think about in life right? Below depicts my anti-depressant pill; cat. Cats have always filled my life with pure happiness, it is an uncondtional love.

An important corner in my VB; my career goals and inspiring quotes from (Instagram @thefemalehustlers) which are implying to help others and yourself! A beautiful coffee picture to boost me up with warming ideas and sometimes a cold jar of juice/mocktail for some freshness. We live in a hot tropical island, the weather can be so unpredictable at times, some days shining with morning sunshine whilst in the afternoon pouring with heavy rains. These are the days I feel uncertain onto whether a cup of coffee or a juice/mocktain will do the trick. Little flower pots into my VB for a greener and healthier atmosphere.

A corner filled with lush for my FOOD BLOG! Above a little space for God because this is the most important part in my daily life. My life has no existence without God and prayers. Connected to all these visuals are motivational inspiring quotes. “She believed she could so she did”, does this little 7 words connect you with something you thought or still think you can’t achieve? We all do, we all have insecurities, fears, anxiety, troubles but what matters is how to deal with them by adopting the pace of calm. Easy peasy to write but hard to abide by it.

ZoliBloguettes Vision Board Event

A creative event, filled with artistic exercises, visualisations, fun, laughter, eating dulcet snacks (yummy I couldn’t have stopped myself from going simultaneously at the food station for the delicious chocolate cookies) and drinking plenty of water to tame the killing humidity. I was totally in love with the environment; peaceful, spacious but a little harder for me before finding my way there for a first time (LOL). The Ground Collaborative Space, IBL Business Park, Cassis is totally luxurious and pictures a modern interior decor. The perfect location for us; bloggers to discuss the importance of a Vision Board (link here to discover my VB). Tasha (thelovelybrunette), our host always finds interesting environment and themes to surprise and leverage our enthusiams.

A messy table filled with photos, scissors, glue-sticks and a bunch of magazines will define if you are going on the right way for your VB. Each one of us was gifted with a lovely notebook, pencil and a lovely baby succulent from our wonderful sponsor Artelierrr (Check their page on Instagram @artelierrr). Our ZoliBloguettes (Facebook group: ZoliBloguettes – Instagram @zolibloguettes) events are always so enriching, filled with lovely goodies, getting the chance to meet bloggers and all of us working & sharing ideas together #communityovercompetition. Oh wait, brace yourself and your diet because these photos will double your fanciness for food!

I was totally lucky at the event because I have won another succulent at the lucky draw contest.

VISION BOARD, the name speaks for itself right? Visualising your future goals, achievements, education plans, career & business, finance, love & marriage, travel, health, food, environmental, social, inspirations and the lists go on beacuse each one of us designs our vision board based onto what we want to achieve and how they relate to our feelings. Did I just wrote “feelings”, yes I did and you will agree once you let your heart communicates with your brain. Your brain focus on the goals & dreams but admit to it your heart will allow you to feel the emotions concerning the things which make you happy. For example: I have beach picture on my Vision Board, that doesn’t mean I have plans to own the beach (haha), sticking a beach picture simply connotes the happiness and relaxing atmosphere that the beach brings to me. So you get the bigger picture right, it’s all going to be about visual communication filled with visions and precious feelings, what each picture tells you and how they connect to your goals and feelings. How they can help you get where you want, how each visual speaks and reminds you everyday of your goals, inspirations and desires (place: stick your VB to a place where you see it everyday).

VB is not just about cutting pictures from magazines and glueing them on your paper, it’s not just because you think this picture will make your VB looks better that you opt for them. VB is about understanding and visualising your future goals. You pick a picture based onto asking yourself several questions:

This is my vision board, each space on my paper is brushed with my goals, dreams, inspirations and emotions. If you want to discover more on my VB link here MY VISION BOARD.

I’ve bought a space in my kitchen

Did I just wrote “bought a space in my kitchen”, yes I did negotiated with my parents for a little corner to keep my personal kitchen accessories! My dad has brought for me a second-hand bookshelf which was left unused since years. A good way to recycle!!!!! Its a wooden shelf, which I have painted white because my kitchen is black and white. I also feel that white furniture for the kitchen area brings a positive and vibrant note to stock colorful kitchen jar containers, glasses and even more decorative stuffs. White allows you to perfect any theme you are planning to get your kitchen into.

“Tropical beach” decor is my inspiration! I went to a few shops in Rose-hill to buy kitchen accessories to make my little corner more of a coastal space. You can create your own beach at home, if you only know how to play with each decor accessory, furniture, color palette and lights. These little beach touches depict a reflection of your personality! A little beach rustic hanging hook frame to a wooden vintage bottle opener with the blue and white hues on the shelves at the center of attention and the light of the sun reflecting peacefully on them. This little beach shelf will turn you into an enthusiastic sailor, ready to set its anchor onto my kitchen shelf to discover every little simple details. Don’t worry its really a low-budget creativity because ornate decorations have never inspired me.

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From top till bottom, there is not much of the same pattern stuffs, some are of different colors, but that’s what keep the shelf elegant and affordable. Beach in any decor needs to bring a note of vibrance, calmness, relaxing mood and beautiful. The top of the shelf consisted not much of anything except beautiful glass containers to store pasta, mushrooms, milk powder, sugar and tea.. The first three colorful jars are affordable from Concept- Yves Rocher and amazingly the pines of a pineapple I have chosen to crown on the smaller jar. Second shelf shelters my beach design glasses (Bought at Chong & Sons, Rose-hill), my handcrafted photo frame of beloved cat Pooky Chewingum, a juice jar, scented artificial flowers in a jar, candles and pepper shaker. What is more best to have onto the third shelf ohet than a cute tropical drawer set from Mr Bricolage, a beautiful gift from my Azhar to store some medicines, tea bags flavours and other things. Next to the drawer, some awesome travel jars, a milkshake glass and popsicle moulds.The next shelf offers me with a table space design, plenty of space to put a bar stool and turn that corner into a minimalist table. Two beautiful light blue containers, another travel jar, flower vase and bowls took a smaller part out of the bigger space.

How do you like the shelf so far? The next three coming shelves are not beautifully decorated but they hold precious utensils; a few baking trays, food containers, cappucino glasses for a couple, a loving basket holding forks, spoons and juice mocktail beach decorations. Next shelf holds very little kitchen accessories; a mixer, more food containers from Concept-Yves Rocher, a basket of biscuits & snacks and my beach cover recipe book. Last shelf shelters my baking tools, more baking trays, eggs holder and flour.

The side of the shelf displays a rustic bottle opener frame and next to it on the wall a beach hook frame holding my fluffy tabby cat which resembles so much my cat Pooky Chewinggum.

Mini Vanilla Génoise Cake

My most favorite cake ever: GENOISE CAKE… I love both the vanilla and chocolate flavour. I was inspired with tropical island vibes for my cake decorations, therefore I have pineapple skins, topped on a few bougainvillea pink flowers (not edible), dark chocolate and the fruit I had at home. I have used cherry syrup for my vanilla cake which is normally used for Black forest cake because I enjoy having a bite filled with cherry flavour together with the spongy cake and whipped cream. Whenever a cake is purchased for my birthday, everyone knows that I don’t fancy icing sugar cake decors, all I opt for is genoise cake.

I have given two options for syrup, you choose whichever suits you best. The syrup is really important for the genoise cake for moisture.

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Ingredients:

For the Cake:

130g self-raising flour
60g sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For the Syrup:
Option 1:

1 can of cherry, room temparature (strain and keep only the juice)

Option 2:

1/2 cup of hot water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preparations:

1. Into the milk, add salt, vanilla and melted butter. Combine together and allow to rest. Preheat oven at 180F.

2. On a double boiler (bainmare) over medium heat, whisk eggs and sugar together into a heatproof bowl until sugar dissolves and batter turns white (do not allow water to touch the bowl). Make sure to not cook the eggs, as soon as sugar has dissolved, remove the bowl.

3. Add the batter into a mixer again and whisk again for 5 minutes until size has doubled and creamy and fluffy consistency are achieved.

4. Into a seperate bowl, take a portion of the batter, add the milk, salt, vanilla and melted butter mixture. Whisk together until well combined. Add the mixture into the batter and incorporate together with a spatula.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 180F. Layer your cake into half using a long serrated knife. Spread both layer with the syrup you prefer (I have used option 1 for more flavour).

6. Decorate your cake with whipped cream and your favorite fruits.

Sauteed mixed veggies with olives

Do you also fancy sauteed mixed veggies as the perfect side dish for your roasted/fried/breaded fish,chicken or meat? I do love to add a touch of green with some olives. I prefer frozen packed veggies because they are best in taste and contain more fibre, vitamins and antioxidants compared to fresh ones because frozen veggies are sealed and snapped frozen once they have been harvested from the agricultural fields. Have you ever noticed that frozen veggies are more tasty, flavorful and they give a higher concentration of nutrients than fresh veggies? Well I’m not saying to not purchase fresh veggies, both have their benefits and drawbacks but for a quick meal preparations, I would say opt for frozen veggies.

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Ingredients:

1 cup frozen beans
1 cup frozen broccoli
Green olives
Black olives
1 tbsp garlic paste
10cl water
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

Preparations:

1. Soak frozen veggies into water 30minutes prior to cooking.

2. Heat pan with oil over medium heat, add the beans, broccoli and garlic paste. Cook for 3minutes, lid covered.

3. Add water, season with salt and pepper and allow to cook for 1minute, lid covered.

4. Add the olives and cook for 2minutes, lid covered.

Breaded fish

A rustic, quick and simple dish, often on our saturday dinner table at home. I love breaded fish because since my childhood I always took breaded fish as similar to crispy fried chicken haha… well not anymore but still both are even succulent when accompanied with bread, mixed veggies (click to link on recipe) and french fries. I would recommend serving this delicious fish platter with a good quality mayonnaise sauce. Simple as it is, season the mayonnaise with a pinch of lemon juice and zests, salt and pepper. Most locals on our little island prepare their breaded fish in the same style, I know across the globe there has been different styles of implementing various type of cuisines.

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Servings: 4-5

Ingredients:

500g fish fillets
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp paprika powder
Thyme leaves
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

Preparations:

1. Into a bowl, season the fish fillets with garlic paste, thyme leaves, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.

2. Heat a deep skillet pan with vegetable oil over medium heat. Meanwhile combine flour, breadcrumbs and paprika powder together.

3. Dip each fish fillets into egg, then coat them into the dry ingredients mixture. Shake off any excess and add gently into pan. Deep fry for 5 minutes on each side.

Serve with mayonnaise sauce, chilli paste and as side dish with bread, mixed veggies (click to link on recipe) and french fries.

Spaghetti Bolognese with chicken balls and mussels

We all love Spaghetti Bolognese, topped on with parsley leaves and parmeasan cheese. It is a quick dish, with each bite filled with delicious flavours, perfect during the week after a long tired day at work or as a slow cooked meal during the week-end for lunch or dinner. The sauce is thick, with the chicken balls and mussels, the taste becomes rich and comforting.

I have used chicken, you can substitute with beef and shrimps by using the same ingredients and process for the chicken balls in the first list. Lobster is also a combo for this dish. I have used tomato and chilli chutney to accompany this dish because amongst many Mauritius families it is a tradition to drizzle this chutney on pasta dishes.

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Ingredients:

For the chicken balls:

2 chicken breasts, crushed in blender
1 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp tikka powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp garlic paste
Pinch of honey drizzle
Breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil

For the Bolognese sauce:

500g Spaghetti, cooked
20 mussels
2 carrots, finely minced
3 celery sticks, finely minced
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 can peeled tomatoes
6 cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp Panzani Mushroom sauce (optional)
Thyme leaves
Celery leaves
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika powder
15cl water
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparations:

1. Marinate the crushed chicken with the spices in the first list. Set aside for 30 minutes.Scoop out chicken with a spoon to evenly size each balls. Dip each chicken balls into breadcrumbs. Meanwhile preheat your pan with vegetable oil and deep fry chicken for 4-5 minutes on medium heat, constantly keep stirring.

2.Preheat your pan with oilve oil over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic paste, allow to cook until onions become translucent in colour. Pour the can tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Panzani mushroom sauce, water, thyme and celery leaves, dried oregano and paprika powder. Cook for 3 minutes, lid covered on medium heat.

3. Season with salt and pepper. The chicken balls go into the sauce for another 2 minutes, lid covered.

4. Scrub the shells of the mussels, clean and rinse well. Soak the mussels into water. The mussels go into the sauce. Make sure they are covered into the sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Get rid of the closed mussels. Garnish parsley leaves, parmeasan cheese on top and serve with tomato and chilli chutney.

Holiday season: Mussels and grilled king Prawns in butter lemon and herbs sauce

An elegant and pricey seafood platter for your holiday table or any other special occasions. The best appetizer to have before the main dish. This recipe is easy, now I know if you fancy the restaurant style of this dish, then the price has always been skyrooted. I love the feeling of dipping toasted bread into the succulent butter lemon and herbs sauce, and those little forks inside the mussel shells sank with the sauce.

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Ingredients:

For the grilled king prawns:

500g king prawns, cleaned with shells
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp paprika powder
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp honey (optional)

For the butter lemon sauce:

15-20 pieces of mussels
1/2 cup unsalted butter
15 cl shrimp stock
15 cl Cooking cream (I use Elle & Vire brand)
Pinch paprika powder
2 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp corn flour (optional)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zests

Preparations:

1. Into a bowl, mix all the spices in the first list together. Make the sure the shells are open vertically in half, rub the mixture on the skin of the prawns. Set aside and allow to marinate for 1 hour. Preheat a skillet or grill pan with oilve oil and cook prawns for 5 minutes on each side over medium heat.

2. Scrub the shells of the mussels, clean and rinse well. Soak the mussels in water. Into a pan over medium heat, add 1/2 cup of butter and grated garlic. After 10 seconds, add the remaining ingredients in the second list. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

3.Add the tiger prawns first into the butter lemon sauce. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, constantly keep stirring, lid covered.

4. Remove the prawns from the sauce, set aside and stove off. Into a deep pot with hot water allow the mussels to boil for 5 minutes on medium heat until shells are opened (now this process is optional, you can choose to cook them directly into the butter lemon sauce as well). Get rid of the mussels who have stayed closed. Add the mussels into the butter lemon sauce and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the prawns together with the mussels. Stove off and garnish on top with more parsley leaves.