Hallway Dinner

In my college dorm, we often organize hallway dinners where everyone living in the same hallway gathers together for a dinner. The way it is done varies from hallway to hallway, but in mine, we usually have one person cooking for the whole hallway. This Monday, it was my turn.

First, I cooked up a large pot of curry, accompanied by a choice of white or brown rice.

This curry consists of potatoes, carrots, lentils, a bit of tomato, eggplant, and cashews. The thickening agent in the sauce is simply the potato starch (and an extra potato I mashed up), since I couldn't use wheat flour, since one of my hallway mates is allergic to gluten. Some extra stuff added, besides the spices, curry powder, and cilantro are soy cream (heavy cream made out of soy) and lactose-free yogurt, for another of my hallway mates is lactose intolerant. Besides these, the recipe's pretty much the same as this one. With me as a vegetarian and others who are omnivores, we've got people of all kinds here!

I also made a bowl of raita (yogurt-cucumber salad) simply seasoned with salt and pepper. I made it with lactose-free yogurt as well. I didn't manage to take a picture of it, though.

For dessert, I made individual portions of blackcurrant topped lemon cheesecake in silicone cupcake cups. These were accompanied by small bars of spéculoos cookies, and all in all were just smaller versions of these ones.

Lemon-Blackcurrant Cheesecake and Spéculoos

Ever since I moved into my college dorm, I haven't been able to do much baking or anything due to a lack of an oven... And even though I do cook regularly to feed myself, it's never special enough to take pictures of and post (unless you want a bunch of pictures of steamed broccoli, soy sauce, and white rice).

Well, I did make some minestrone and some spaghetti, so it's not 100% bland boring stuff.

But today, some of my friends and I gathered together for a dinner together, and I decided I would provide dessert. I made a no-bake cheesecake and some small spéculoos in a friend's toaster oven.

The cheesecake is made of yogurt, cream cheese, sugar, half a lemon's juice, and a whole lemon's zest. It's topped with blackcurrant jam, and served with a cookie.

Recipe (makes 4 of the size in the picture)
Ingredients:
- 1 tub (185 g) Philadelphia cream cheese
- 8 tbs plain whole yogurt (don't take the "light" versions, it won't set well)
- sugar, to taste
- zest of a lemon
- juice of half a lemon

1. Whisk cream cheese and yogurt together in a bowl.
2. Add lemon juice and zest. Add sugar to taste.
3. Pour into glasses or other recipients. Top with blackcurrant jam (you can dilute it a little with warm water if it's too thick).
4. Refrigerate at least 4 to 5 hours, though the longer the better.
Note: may not set very well, but still tasty nevertheless.

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RECIPE (makes 4 servings)

  Ingredients

• 1 tub (185 g) Philadelphia cream cheese
• 8 tbs plain whole yogurt
• sugar, to taste
• zest of a lemon
• juice of half a lemon

  Procedure

1. Whisk cream cheese and yogurt together in a bowl.
2. Add lemon juice and zest. Add sugar to taste.
3. Pour into glasses or other recipients. Top with blackcurrant jam (you can dilute it a little with warm water if it's too thick).
4. Refrigerate at least 4 to 5 hours, preferably overnight.

  Notes

• The cheesecake may not set that well, but still taste great.