Parsad

Parsad is a Trinidadian dessert that is served at Divali.  Visit any Hindu household during this time and you will be given a bag of parsad. The popular version is made with flour. However I much prefer to make my parsad with semolina. Cream of wheat is also delicious but the semolina version is my favourite.

Parsad
Yeild (4 servings)

1 cup evaporated milk 

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp ground cardamon 

1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/4 cup ghee

1/2 cup semolina (or cream of wheat)
* for a gluten free version use cassava flour
2 tbsp raisins

Slivered almonds and maraschino cherries to top it with when serving if you wish.

METHOD
Heat milk, sugar, cardamon and ginger in a medium sized pot over a medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved then remove from heat and put to cool.

In a large heavy duty pot, heat ghee on high. Add the semolina flour and cook on medium high for a minute or two, stirring often. Turn heat down to lowest setting and slowly add milk. Be careful it spatters. I tend to ladle out a couple spponfuls of milk before adding the rest of the milk to control the spatter. Add the raisins. Stir until the milk has been absorbed and the pudding just starts to leave the sides of the pot. Remove the pot from the heat.

The entire process goes very quickly. The pudding will be soft when you take it off the heat but will firm up further once it is cooled.

Tropical Eton Mess

It is ridiculous how much I love curd.

I love meringues too but really it's all about curd.

I go crazy for passion fruit, lemon, tangerine...... any kind of curd so long as there is a egg rich, creamy, buttery,  conglomeration of sweet and sour.

I can't seem to stop of dreaming up recipes that use curd.

Yes, my life is in fact THAT boring. You may take a moment to roll your eyes and appreciate the fact that I need therapy.

However while you contemplate the superior lameness that is my life, might I interest you in a dessert recipe that takes just 2 mins to throw together?

Uhmm...oh yeah, it uses curd.

Tropical Eton Mess
Servings: 4 messes:-)

Ingredients
1 cup cream chilled
4 large meringue nests
3/4 cup passion fruit curd ( or whatever flavour you prefer)
pomegranate molasses (optional)

METHOD
Beat the cream in a chilled stainless steel bowl until thick.
Layer some crushed meringue, 2 tablespoons curd and 3 tablespoons cream in serving glasses. Drizzle pomegranate molasses over the top. Serve immediately.

COOKS TIP:
If you are wondering where in Trinidad you can get meringue nests follow this link to my amazing baker friend Simply Edible. She'll hook you up no problem.

Candied Golden Limes ~ What to do with Calamansi?

So it might be that lately I am a little, just a teeny, tiny bit, obsessed with calamondins which are also known as calamansi. A lot of it has to do with the fact that they are a relatively unknown local fruit. Truly, I feel like the fruit version of a modern day orchid hunter when I rediscover some hitherto unknown or fallen out of favour produce. Some of you might remember me getting a wee bit crazy over rumberries, and then again with purslane?

I have had my eye on this fruit for a couple of years and have been wanting to blog about it for the longest while. 

Rather surprisingly, I did not find this in a some remote country district but in a suburb of the capital city where it was being grown as an ornamental by an elderly, Chinese, gentleman. The small tree is quite beautiful when laden down with orange fruit which are about the size of limes. They have an intense, fragrant smell-like Portugals (tangerines) but don't be fooled by the heady aroma. Bite into one and you will be in for a screwed up, sour faced surprise........ugh they are so very sour! Yet, if you know what to do with them, they can be utterly delightful.

Camalodins or calamansi are also known as Chinese oranges or golden limes. The fruit starts off green, then turns yellow and finally orange. It can be used when green since it is just as sour green as it is in its orange state. The fruit is thought to have originated in China and is most likely the result of a cross between a kumquat and a mandarin. It is grown here mainly as an ornamental but not much is done with the fruit outside of using it to season fish. It is quite popular in the Phillipines where it is used commercially in juices and marmalade. 

Now can we talk about breakfast? More importantly, can we discuss how these darling, candied limes have turned my boring, healthy, yoghurt and oatmeal breakfasts into desserts? 

Yum, I love the idea of dessert for breakfast, don't you? 

Candied Calamansi 

Ingredients

1 lb calamansi

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Method

Lay some waxed or parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup granulated sugar on the paper. 

Slice calamansi into thin rounds and remove the seeds. Combine sugar and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir a few minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved and syrupy. 

Add the calamansi slices and cook until they are translucent. Drain the rinds and lay on the sugared, parchment paper to dry. Let dry overnight or a couple of days. Store in an airtight container.

WARNING: Usually I end a recipe with a cook's tip. This time around I think it more appropriate to end with a warning.  I strongly advise that you do not under for any reason dip these in chocolate! Trust me on this. I am not to be held responsible if you ignore this warning and end up consuming a pound of chocolate covered calamansi in one sitting. Yeah, it.....uhmmmm......has been known to happen.....just saying.

Lemon Cheesecake with Pistachio Nut Crust (Gluten Free)

I found this note stuck to my fridge.

WARNING:

Eat anymore of this cheesecake and containment will no longer be an option. Have just one more slice and I will tender my resignation. 

Sincerely 

Your Jeans.

I am never ever making this cheesecake again.

If I never make this cake again it will be too soon.

I ate far more of this than was considered polite, certainly far more than is healthy or even sane. 

I am making this cheesecake again tomorrow.

Not for me because my jeans would stage a revolt. 

A friend asked me to make this for her daughter's birthday and I am happy to oblige.

This cheesecake is meant to be shared.

Your jeans will thank you if you do;-)

Lemon Curd Cheesecake with Pistachio Nut Crust (Gluten Free)
Yeild: one 9" round cheesecake
* recipe adapted from The Shiksa in the Kitchen

1 cup lemon curd ( warmed slightly)

PISTACHIO CRUST 

2/3 cup shelled pistachio nuts (salted)

1/2 cup cassava farine 

1/3 cup granulated sugar

5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

CHEESECAKE FILLING 

3 8oz packages of Philladelpia cream cheese

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream

2 tsp vanilla essence

METHOD

Remove cream cheese, eggs and butter from the fridge and bring all ingredients to room temperature before you begin.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of your springform pan with butter. Cut a 9" round  parchment paper circle and place on the bottom of your spring form pan. 

Put the pistachio nuts, cassava farine, sugar and salt in the food processor. Pulse until the nuts are finely processed. Let the machine run and drizzle the melted butter int the nuts. Once all the butter has been added put the crumb mixture in the prepared springform pan. Use the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula and press the crumbs evenly on the bottom and about half way up the sides of the pan.

Bake the crust in the oven at 350 degrees F for 8-10 mins until the crust starts to brown and smells fragrant. You will notice that the crust puffs up a bit and swells rather like a pastry pie crust. This is because cassava swells when it absorbs the moisture from the butter. Simply press it back in place with the back of a spoon when you remove it from the oven. 

To make the filling:

Beat the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixture fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat at medium speed until fluffy ( approx 2 mins). Add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat for a few seconds more.

Grease the sides of the pan with butter. I find it easier to use a baking spray. Spoon the filling into the pre-baked crust and spread out evenly. Warm lemon curd slightly in the microwave. (I made the mistake of using mine straight from the fridge and it was too cold. As a result the curd sank to the bottom and my cake did not have a pretty marbled pattern). Drop lemon curd by spoonfuls randomly over the cake and run a butter knife through the curd to make a swirling pattern.

Fill a baking dish with warm water and place it on the lower shelf in the oven. Place the cheesecake on the shelf above the water filled tray.

Bake the cheesecake at 350 degrees F for for 50 to 60 mins. The center of the cheesecake will still be slightly wobbly. It will firm up when cool. Leave the oven door slightly adjar and let the cheesecake cool for an hour, Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack until the pan no longer feels warm to the touch. 

Refrigerate overnight before serving.

It's no big deal, Lemon curd (Microwave Version)

A spoonful of lemon curd over my breakfast makes my medicine oatmeal go down in the most delightful way! To really appreciate how HUGE a deal that is for me I direct your attention to this.

Those of you who make curd on the stove top know that it involves stirring, stirring, stirring AND stirring over a low heat until the thing thickens. It's a tedious process during which my mind wanders. I start thinking about socks and laundry, I make the grocery list in my head.  I wonder.....dagnabbit will this thing be done in time for the next episode of Game of Thrones? I look down......

Gah! I have scrambled eggs. Not cool.

Today you are gonna want to high five-me.

If we aren't already friends, you are going to want to be my friend.

Hello friends! I have an easy peasy lemon curd recipe for you. It seriously is no big deal to make this. No scrambled eggs, I promise.

The hardest part is keeping the spoon out of your mouth between stirs.  

FYI, you might not want to do that as I have it on good authority that hot lemon curd burns like a motha!

That’s real.

Before this, I purchased lemon curd at the gourmet shop. An extravagance to be sure since this one little jar of curd costs a small fortune. But those days are behind me since I discovered this recipe.

The microwave has got to be the strangest invention of modern times. Almost everyone owns one of these giant, space-age looking heaters but few actually cook with it.

I am one of the few.  Until now....

now I cook curd, a lot of curd.

Please don't freak out.....it's just juice, eggs, sugar and butter stirred in the microwave.

You can totally do this.

And when you are done put a dollop over your porridge,

in your yogurt

or on your pancakes,

bake a lemon meringue pie

or just eat it straight from the spoon, cause yeah ..........that's not strange, not in the least, especially not in my home.

Lemon Curd ( Microwave )

yield 2 cups

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (unsweetened)
3 eggs

1 tsp of lemon zest

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter (melted)

pinch salt

METHOD
Add sugar to lemon juice and taste. Add more sugar a tablespoon at at time until you are satisfied with the taste. Most recipes I have seen call for a cup of sugar so my using 1/2 cup should tell you that I like a fairly tart curd. Adjust sugar to your taste.

In a 4 cup sized glass measuring cup, melt butter and let it cool. To this, add the now sweetened lemon juice, and eggs. Mix well with a whisk.
Microwave on high for one minute.
Remove from microwave and whisk vigorously.
Repeat, microwaving for one minute at a time and whisking until it coats the back of a spoon. (depending on the microwave this will take 3-5 mins)

In my microwave the curd was done in 4 mins.

Spoon test: Dip a small spoon in the curd. Let it cool a bit and run your finger across the back of the spoon. If the curd holds the finger mark, it is done. If the custard flows and closes the mark then it needs to cook some more.

Once the curd is done transfer to a jar and store in your fridge.

Assuming you don't eat it all right away, it lasts 2 weeks.

COOK'S TIP
When I don't have lemons I use a reputable brand of unsweetened, from concentrate lemon juice.

Badusha treats for Phagwah (Holi)

What a weekend!

We are fortunate to have two public holidays and an extra long weekend to celebrate. This year we have a bit of an unusual situation as other holidays also fall within this Easter weekend so let me say Happy Easter,  Happy Shouter/Liberation Baptist Day and Happy Holi!

Before I continue I must say thank you to my friend Gareth Leigh for very kindly allowing me the use of his images of Phagwah.

In Trinidad the festival of Holi is called Phagwah. We don't have any sweets as such that are associated with it however I discovered that in India sweets made with bhang are popular at this time. Bhang, by the way, is cannabis.

Hmmmm.

Right, so in lieu of that I bring you something a little less exciting, the consumption of which is not likely to land you in jail.

I loved these Indian treats. They were quite reminiscent of  Trinidadian fat kurma. It takes a little effort to make the pleats but if you are not so inclined to go through the trouble, just shape them as flattened balls with a slight indentation at the top.

Badusha

Ingredients

Makes 8 - 10

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup ghee or butter at room temperature
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons Greek yoghurt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup water ( or more- adjust accordingly)

Oil for deep frying

Sugar Syrup
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
pinch of cardamon
2 strands saffron*optioanal
1/4 tsp ginger

3/4 tsp of lemon juice

METHOD
Melt the butter/ghee. In a mixing bowl add melted butter, yogurt, oil, baking soda, and sugar.

Add the flour and mix well with a whisk. It should look crumbly like bread crumbs. Add water a little at a time to form a soft dough. Knead for 10 mins. Divide into lemon sized balls. Cover and set aside. Let rest for 10 mins.

Shape the badushas with decorative edged swirls or flatten the balls slightly and make a dent in the top with your thumb.

Here is a video to illustrate how the swirls are done.

Heat oil (medium high heat) in a frying pan. Check oil by adding a pinch of batter. If the batter rises quickly then it is the correct temperature. Fry the badushas 3 at a time, turning the heat down occasionally so that they do not burn and are cooked through the middle.

Line a tray with foil. Grease the foil with butter and set aside.
Add sugar, cardamon, ginger and water in a pan to make the sugar syrup. Cook on medium-high heat until the syrup makes a long, slow, string when your spoon is lifted. Quickly add the lemon juice ( to avoid crystallization).

Dip the badushas in the sugar syrup turning until coated on both sides. Transfer to the tray with the buttered foil. Once the glaze has dried you can store them in an airtight container for a few days.

Bolo di kashupete (Aruban Christmas cake)

How did you enjoy Christmas day? I hope it was spent in the loving company of family and friends. As much as I enjoy the actual day of Christmas it's always such a blur of activity so that I look forward to the days after when I can laze about and relax with a fridge full of left overs so I don't have to cook. 

Here is a traditional Christmas cake from the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba. I have been insanely curious about this recipe ever since I encountered it about two years ago. Essentially it's a pound cake soaked in rum with a fudge topping. The unusual frosting is what initially caught my interest. I stayed true to the recipe but decorated it a bit differently. 

I don't have that much of a sweet tooth so there was no way I could cover the entire cake with fudge. I think not doing that was a mistake because the cake was a bit dry and there wasn't much of a rum flavour. I am supposing that covering the entire cake in the frosting 'seals' it which would keep it nice and moist. In any event it was no hardship for me to correct my flaw by simply pouring a 'capful' of spiced rum over each slice before serving - problem solved.  

Traditionally, Aruban cashew cake is decorated with cashews and maraschino cherries. It is also sliced in half and covered and filled with the frosting. I did not have cherries so I substituted with dried cranberries which looked pretty. Also I ran out of cashews, so I used walnuts. The texture of the frosting is somewhat grainy (it's a fudge after all) and I found it a bit sweet for my tastes but no one else complained. Overall a very festive looking cake with lots of holiday flavour.

Bolo di Kashupete (Cashew Cake)

Cake

Ingredients

2 cups butter (unsalted)

2 cups sugar

4 cups flour

6 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp salt

Cashew Frosting

3 cups finely ground cashews (unsalted)

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping

1/4 to 1/2 cup Rum *(I used a spiced rum but you could use Brandy)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method (Cake)

Prep: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 10 inch springform cake pan with a hole in the centre. Dust pan with flour after greasing.

Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature  

Next sift together the dry ingredients ( flour, baking powder and salt). 

Beat: Using a stand mixture and a paddle attachment. Beat the softened butter at medium speed until it is light in colour. Add the sugar and continue to beat for about 4 mins longer. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula and with the mixer on low speed add the eggs one at a time. Beat for about a minute before adding the next one. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts.

Add dry to wet: Add about a third of the sifted dry ingredients and gently fold into the egg mixture on low speed. Add another third of the dry ingredients and fold in gently. Do this once more and mix on low until dry ingredients are gradually incorporated into the egg mixture.

Bake: Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake at 350 F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in tin for about 10 mins before removing it from the pan. Stick holes in the cake with a skewer and pour 1/4 cup or more of rum over the cake. Cool completely before frosting.

Method (Frosting)

In a medium saucepan add 1 cup water with 2 cups sugar. Cook until the mixture gets to the soft ball stage (240 F) Once it reaches 240 F add the condensed milk, vanilla extract and the ground cashew. Remove from the heat and keep stirring until it becomes a manageable thick cream. (Cashew cream dries fast so make this the day you intend to decorate the cake. It cannot be made before hand as it will harden. Keep a bowl of water nearby to dip your spatula while spreading the cream)

Tamarind Ginger Spice Cake

Amazing cake but we'll get to that in a minute.

First a mini rant at the spouse who absolutely is NOT deserving of ANY cake at this point.

Some time last week, my husband was away from work and I had to use his car to drop our children to school.

Note to self:  Self, never borrow your  man's car without first checking for gas.

Children safely transported,  I was on my way to work, tunes happily cranked up way loud, and vibesing along with my boy Bunji. There I was singing along to this and thinking how glorious it was to be travelling in the opposite direction of morning rush hour traffic when I noticed that the gas indicator light was on. No worries because there are like five service stations between me and my place of employment. No need to flip out, right?

Wrong.

Just my bad luck there was a power outage that morning which meant no working pumps at any of those five gas stations. The car eventually ran out of gas...

again.

Yes this has happened to me with this car before. Therefore I was seriously annoyed at myself for allowing it to happen a second time. While waiting to be 'rescued' by my dad and brother, I texted the hubby.

Me: Bloody hell! You have no gas!
DH: What! No way, is the red light on?

*Because to a guy the red light means you still have a lot of gas left.

Me: Yes the red light was on but now it isn't cause I am shut down at the side of the road.
DH: Nah man, my car never shut down on me before when the red light was on.

Me: Rendered speechless by the absurdity of that response.  I chose not to reply and I am happy to report we are still happily married today.

Okay now back to cake.

There is nothing I love more that using a familiar ingredient in an unexpected way. When I saw this recipe over on Anh's food blog, it immediately jumped to the top of my "Recipes to Try" list.

Tamarind is already a star ingredient in many of my savory dishes and I was intrigued by the idea of it in cake.

 This cake is rich and moist, with a tender crumb. Here is what one of my taste testers at work said about it. "There was a flavour I could not put my finger on .....but it was good with a spicy warmth from the ginger and a hint of pepper" 

You don't actually taste the tamarind but you know it's there by the extra kick of flavour it brings. This was definitely a hit with my father who is not usually effusive about food. He never makes a comment beyond,  'Its good,"  or  "It's not good." to describe any dish. To him something either is or it isn't.

He had a slice of this and said nothing. Later he had another slice, but still no comment.
I was concerned. Two slices might mean it was good but why hadn't he said anything?

The next day I had my answer. Dad came home and placed a bag of crystallized ginger on the kitchen and said two words.

 "Make more."

Alrighty then.

Tamarind Ginger Spice Cake

3 large eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons milk, room temperature
1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
3 tablespoons Matouks Tamarind Chutney
3 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4  teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
13 tablespoons butter (185 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

Lime Glaze

1 cup icing sugar
Juice of 1/2 lime
chopped crystallized ginger

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Place rack in the center of the oven. Butter a 9x5x3inch loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter the paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, ginger, tamarind chutney and vanilla extract.

Place the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt and sugar) in the bowl of your mixer and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and half the egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the speed to medium and beat for one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the rest of the egg mixture gradually, in 2 additions beating about 30 seconds after each add in. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin. Bake for 55 - 60 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

This is essentially a pound cake recipe albeit a slightly different method from a traditional pound cake. It is quite normal for there to be a crack down the center of this cake.

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

This cake can be covered and stored for several days at room temperature or one week when refrigerated.

Make the lime glaze. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually add the lime juice. Stir unil you have a consistency that you like. Adjust consistency with extra lime juice or icing sugar as you wish. Cover cake with glaze.

Cook's Notes:
Matouk's is a Trinidadian brand of condiments that is well known throughout the Caribbean. It is available from various online sources but should you have trouble finding it you could easily make your own tamarind chutney.

Trinidad Kurma

Trinidad is blessed to have a culture that embraces the festivals of different religions and every year I look forward to Divali, the Hindu festival of lights. If I lived abroad I think this is one of the holidays that I would miss like crazy.

Divali would be incomplete without the many offerings of Indian sweets that make their appearance at this time. Kurma, a traditional, Trinidadian sweet is basically a fried dough that is coated in a sugar glaze. There are two varieties. A thin, crisp variety which is sold in shops all year round. Then there is the version pictured above which seems to be more popular around Divali. This kurma is thicker with a crunchy exterior but with a soft fluffy interior. It is made with a sweeter dough than the thin kurma.  It would be interesting to find out how this snack got its name because although it is Indian in origin the word  kurma in India refers to a creamy curry.

Most recipes for kurma yield impossibly large amounts. Too much for a single family. This is because when one makes kurma it is usually for commercial purposes or to give away to friends and neighbours at Divali time. I seriously had to scale back the recipe that I found. The original called for 5lbs of flour! Feel free to scale it back again by half if you don't plan on sharing with friends.

Kurma
Yeild approx 48 Kurma

Ingredients

10 cups flour
2 cups butter

4 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground  elychee (cardamom)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup condensed milk
1 1/2 cups water (+ or - as needed to for dough)

Vegetable oil for frying

For Phaag (Syrup)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar

Method
Cut butter into small cubes and rub into flour until it looks like bread crumbs.

* You can use a pastry cutter for this or if you wish blitz it with your food processor in two batches.  Put 5 cups of flour and 1 cup butter in food processor. Give it a whir then process the second batch. This is not a pastry dough that you can mess up with over processing. No stress promise.

Mix in the grated ginger, elychee and cinnamon

Add the condensed milk, evaporated milk, and water. Combine everything to make a soft dough.

Let rest 5-10 mins

Divide dough into two balls

Heat enough oil for deep frying kurma in a pot over high heat.

Roll out dough about 1/2 " thick

Cut into strips about 1/2' wide.

Roll each strip until rounded.

Cut rounded strips into finger length or slightly shorter lengths.

Fry on low heat until golden brown.

Drain on brown or absorbent paper and place in a large bowl that can take heat.

Boil water and sugar until it forms a syrup that is just about to crystallize.

Pour all over kurma. Get someone to hold the bowl steady  so you can turn the kurma briskly  so that it does not stick. Turn kurma until the sugar crystallizes.

Cook's Tip:
The most difficult thing for me in making this was the frying. If the flame is too high the outside will cook but the insides remain as raw dough. It took a couple tries to get it going. Bring the oil up to high heat, then turn down to a low heat before putting the kurma to fry. Frying the kurma takes a bit of patience which if you know anything about me from following this blog, I do not have. I am am an impatient cook. So, in order to ensure that the kurmas cooked through, I took a bamboo skewer and poked holes in them while they were frying. Perfect results.

There is an apple dumpling for that!

This recipe comes from my friend Debbie who shared it with me about a year ago. I am kicking myself right now for not having dropped everything and making it immediately. Learn from my mistake people. 

LEARN!

Seriously STOP reading the rest of this post. Just skip to the recipe at the end (I won't mind),  and go make this. 

Fair warning: this is the least pretty dessert you are ever likely to see. 

Not to worry, the aroma alone will have you shoveling this into your mouth too quickly for you to even want to stop and appreciate with your eyes. 

I learned some things from making it so many times in the past month.

What!!!  I was doing 'research'.....See, this is me trying and failing to make it look glam.

Luckily I learned that my stomach doesn't care for pretty pictures, nor does my face apparently since I stuck it in these dumplings almost before they came out of the oven. 

I learned that my tongue can curse a blue streak when food that is one degree less the surface of the sun is placed on it. 

There are days that just suck and on those days I learned that apple dumplings have superpowers. 

It's true. 

We all know that that no matter how well you plan for life, no matter how many random acts of kindness or how much positive energy you fling out into the Universe, none of it is any guarantee that good karmic vibes will boomerang its way back to you.  

The truth of it is, random shit happens to good people resulting in days when the letter L in your good luck turns into a gigantic letter F. 

Are you getting that its been a somewhat trying week for me?

Everyone has bad days. I am sure you have them too. Isn't it good then to know that there is an apple dumpling - preferably an apple dumpling topped with a huge scoop of dulce de leche ice-cream - for days like that? 

For those I-just-can't-deal-with-that-right-now-moments, what matters is that I've got my favourite song on continuous loop ....this

and friends who pass along recipes like this:-) 

Apple Dumplings
Makes 16 dumplings

Ingredients

3 Granny smith Apples ( peeled cored and sliced into about 8 pieces)
3 Gala apples (peeled cored and sliced)

2 (10oz cans) refrigerated crescent roll dough OR
shortcut pastry dough for two 9" inch pies  OR

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/3 cup water
1  12 fl oz  can Angostura Lemon Lime and Bitters ( or Mountain Dew)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two  9 X 13 inch baking dish

Peel, core and slice apples and set aside. 

Roll pastry dough into a large rectangle and cut into 16 squares.

Place 2 or 3 apple pieces (1 gala and 1) granny smith in each square  Fold and pinch edges to seal.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the nutmeg, sugar, water and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour Angostora Lemon, Lime bitters over the dumplings.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Like I said I have been experimenting with this recipe. This is not the exact recipe that was given to me by my friend but somehow I'll always think of it as her recipe.

  

Burfi (Indian Milk Fudge)

Divali (Diwali) is one of the most eagerly anticipated holidays of my country. Yesterday my son came home from his Catholic School with his painted clay deya (a small, clay, lamp) eager to light it right away. Great was his disappointment when I explained that he needed to wait until the the next day.

Divali is a Hindu festival but in Trinidad and Tobago it is embraced and enjoyed by everyone. Indeed there is universal appeal in Divali's central theme which is light over darkness, or good conquering evil.

Luckily for me, my father-in-law is Hindu so Divali also means that I get a day off from the kitchen. On this day, I defer to my mother-in-law's expertise in the preparation of a fabulous, vegetarian, buffet of traditional dishes. Yet another reason for me to love this holiday. By the way, my mother-in-law is Catholic and anyone other that a Trinidadian would probably find it strange to be in a home where a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hangs next to a picture of Lakshmi Mata (the four armed Hindu Goddess of material and spiritual wealth). Just wait until we get to Christmas and the Muslim cousins start putting up their Christmas tree:-) All perfectly normal for a Trinidadian.

Aside from the food, the other highlight of Divali is the lighting of deyas. After sundown people often take walks or drive to the various villages to see the fantastic lighted bamboo displays and to partake of the food and sweets prepared by their Hindu family and friends. Barfi is a milk fudge that is a popular Diwali sweet. It is fairly easy to prepare.

Burfi 
Makes 30

Ingredients

• 4 cups full cream milk powder 
• 1 cup double cream
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tsp rose water
• 2 pieces fresh ginger (each about 1/2" x 1/2")
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom 
• coloured sprinkles
• butter for greasing dish.

Method
Mix the powdered milk and cream until it forms fine crumbs.
Sift the mixture through a seive.
Prepare a pyrex dish by greasing it and lightly cover bottom of dish with sprinkles.
Boil sugar, water rose water and ginger approx 10 minutes just before the sugar spins a thread. Remove the ginger.
Stir syrup into the milk mixture and combine well.
Press mixtue firmly into greased dish. Decorate the top with more sprinkles and cut into squares when cool.

Ma'amoul - Date and Walnut Filled Cookies

Somewhere out there, someone's Tita (grandmother) is tut tutting and shaking their head in dismay at my sorry looking ma'amoul.

Traditionally these cookies are made with an intricate pattern that makes them look quite regal.

You'll be tempted to serve them on nothing but your best china I'm sure.

Clearly mine are barely tupperware worthy.

Fortunately, what they lack in looks, they make up for in taste.

Ma’amoul is  known in Trinidad as a traditional cookie of the Syrian and Lebanese community. This group of people was the last set of immigrants to arrive in Trinidad during the colonial era. They came primarily to escape religious persecution and economic hardship. Most hoped to go on to the United States. However they arrived at a time when Trinidad’s economy was thriving because of a strong sugar and cocoa industry, so many of them stayed on.

The majority of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants to Trinidad were Christian and according to the Trinidad and Tobago Syrian Lebanese Women’s Association  cookbook, Ah'len - these cookies are usually made around Christmas time. Arabic speaking Christians in other parts of the world and Eastern Orthodox Christians also make them at Easter. In the Jewish community, they are eaten on Purim, Rosh Hashanah and Hannukah. Trinidadian Muslims prepare them for iftar (The evening meal that breaks the fast during the month of Ramadan) and Eid.

Wow, these cookies sure do get around!

Next week we celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr in Trinidad and Tobago.  For Muslims, it is a time of spiritual renewal, for non Muslims... well I’ve got to be honest it’s all about the food as we show up at the homes of our Muslim brothers and sisters belly in hand. Perhaps this year you could surprise your friends by turning up with something other than your hungry belly:-) Bake these cookies and offer to bring dessert. Should you decide to make your own Ma'amoul you can find recipes in the following Trinidadian cookbooks:

The Naparima GirlsHigh School Cook Book

Ah’len

The Young Women's Muslim Association cookbook.

My research on these cookies turned up a variety of different ways for the dough to be made. Mamool is traditionally made with Semolina which I couldn’t find so I substituted with Cream of Wheat as they do in the Ah'len cookbook.  If you can find it, use the Semolina which will give the cookies a lovely colour and texture. Semolina is the flour that comes from Durum wheat which is a hard variety of wheat with a high gluten content. Gluten is the protein in the flour that gives  dough it’s elastic quality so that it can be stretched and pulled. I suspect cookies made with semolina would be less likely to crack as mine did.

As much as I was tempted to try the recipe in Ah’len, a yield of 70 cookies put me off - way too many cookies for my small household, or so I thought.

It turns out that I was wrong.

After tasting these cookies, I  decided that 70 cookies might not be enough!

Apart from simply making them look pretty, the pattern on the ma'amoul is also useful for remembering which cookies have dates and which are stuffed with nuts. However don't let the lack of a fancy cookie mold stop you from making these cookies. I just pressed a fork into the tops - so just go ahead and do that or even better use a cake decorating tube like this smart blogger here.

So tell me do you have a favourite dessert that you plan to make this Eid?

Ma'amoul

Yeild: Approx 24 cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup cream of wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup milk

1 cup of butter at room temperature

1 tsp rose water 

Nut Filling: 

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped 

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp orange blossom water or rose water 

Date Filling: 1/4 cup chopped, pitted, dates

1 tsp orange blossom water or rose water

powdered sugar  for dusting cookies.

Directions: Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, mix flour, cream of wheat and baking powder. To the dry ingredients add, add butter. You can do this in a food processor and pulse until the mix looks like small peas. If you do not  have a food processor then  cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour like you would do when making pastry. Next add the milk and orange blossom water combine until dough is formed. 

In a food processor, chop walnuts until crumbly. Pour walnuts into a bowl and add sugar, cinnamon and orange blossom water. Put the dates into the food processor and blend until it forms a ball, remove and add the orange blossom water, set aside. 

To form ma'amoul cookies, roll dough into balls. Make an indentation with your finger in the ball and place some of the filling inside. Close the opening until all of the filling is concealed. Press a fork across the top or make any pattern that you would like. Place the cookies on a nonstick baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, until the bottom of the cookie is light brown. Remove before the tops of the cookies become brown. They will look uncooked but if the tops get brown, they will be too dry. Let cool completely. Dust cookies completely with powdered sugar and store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.

   Eid Mubarak 

 

Chocolate Truffle Ice-Cream

I go weak in the knees for magazines with images of hot, sexy, totally delicious food. Forget the carefully crafted recipe lead-ins that proclaim the sweet, sour or even piquant flavours of a particular dish; it’s the food photographs which sell it to me every time.

A perfect example would be June’s issue of bon appétit which proclaims that this chocolate ice-cream is so rich, it doesn’t melt-it just gets truffley.

Captivating.

But by itself not enough to rouse me. Then my eyes fall on the picture seen here.

Be still my heart, I all but leap over myself in my haste to exhume the ice-cream maker from the netherworld of the deepest, darkest, corner of my kitchen cupboard.

Forget the fact that I have long ago thrown out fiddly, egg-based custards in favour of the quicker and (happily for me) idiot proof, cornstarch, ice-cream base. Bon appétit's minimalist image of chocolate ice-cream has somehow elevated the word 'truffley' from poetic hyperbole to a thing with visceral appeal. Okay so I wanted to lick the page and I readily admit that I drooled a little too.

Completely possessed by that image, I convince myself that standing in a kitchen located some 11 degrees north of the equator on a day that thermostat registers 36°C is quite rightly a sane and sensible thing to do.

 It is not.

I  should have my head examined.

Slowly and patiently chocolate is melted, custard is stirred  and sugar syrup reduces to amber. These three are swirled into a frothy, chocolate slurry which must now be chilled for two days before processing it in the ice-cream maker.  Bon appétit advises that you freeze your ice-cream for three days before eating.

Seriously! Good luck with that.

What happened was that I cooled the custard in an ice-bath in my kitchen sink before putting it into the fridge. By the time I was finished cleaning the kitchen and making lunch it was ready for the ice-cream maker.

Be warned this recipe is time consuming so plan accordingly. In the end though you will be rewarded with a wicked good ice-cream with a chocolate flavour so intense it's just shy of bitter. If you are not a fan of dark chocolate, then this might not be for you.