Archive | August, 2010

Tomato Salad

9 Aug

I know, a tomato salad. Simple, right? Well, yes, and no. Tomato salad needs only a few ingredients, but this is one dish where organic, fresh and local really count. Go to the market, or the grocery store, and really look at the vegetables on offer. Smell, feel, prod, poke. When you only use a few key ingredients, freshness is all. A good tomato is one you can actually smell – that ineffable scent that is only tomato. This is a dish to have up your sleeve when you are serving heavy foods. Its fresh, delicious – tasty and sweet. Its a perfect complement to stews and breads – the juices of the tomatoes beg to be mopped up and savoured.

This salad brightens up any meal. When I make a grilled cheese sandwich, I serve a small side salad of these tomatoes. When I have a huge hoard over and am serving stew or sausages, or anything heavy, I offer these tomatoes. Its so easy to make and is really a wonderful addition to any party meal. When you serve lots of people, you want them to feel abundance. Adding an extra dish, especially one as easy as this, makes people feel your generosity.

This dish is all about the tomato. Make sure you pick ripe, bright, red, luscious ones – and try and make them organic if possible. It really makes a difference! Cooking is not just about putting ingredients together – its about forethought when shopping!

Feeds about 12 – 14 people

  • 4 cups red cherry tomatoes
  • 4 cups yellow / mixed tomatoes
  • A pinch of sugar
  • Lemon Juice
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Fresh Basil
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 very thinly sliced white onion (optional)

Please note that you should buy the best tomatoes that are available – if you see that big fat beefsteak tomatoes are the best in store at the moment, get those. Just make sure you deseed them.

Cut the tomatoes in half (if small) or in large chunks, deseeded (if large)

Let the tomatoes sit in a bowl, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. This will encourage the tomatoes to let go of a bit of their juice.

Sprinkle about 3 – 4 tablespoons lemon juice over the tomatoes.

In a separate bowl, sprinkle a few tablespoons lemon juice over the onions (if using), and let them sit until the acid in the lemon juice has mellowed out the onions.

Salt and pepper liberally.

Cut about ½ cup of fresh basil over.

Slick about ½ cup of olive oil over.

Mix. Taste. Adjust.

Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavours to meld. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.

If you have any left overs, blitz in the food processor with some chili for a wonderful salsa which is great with pita chips. Or roast in a very hot oven, with a few slivers of garlic until almost blistered and burnt, and mix with some hot cream for a pasta sauce that is out of this world. Or add to a stew or soup the next day. Tomatoes are so very versatile and add a hit of sweetness and brightness to any dish.

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Molly O’Neill’s Blackout Cake

8 Aug

Molly O'Neill's blackout cakeI am on a mission – to find the blackout cake of my childhood. My sister and I had this amazing cake when we were little – it was served in the embassy where we grew up. We used to watch like hawks when it was served, to see if we could shave infinitesimal amounts off the cake to share. We always got a slice, but we always wanted more. Our mother used to order it in these large logs – and we had at least 2 or 3 as “back up” desserts in the freezer room downstairs. My sister and I used to dream of that cake … and when I realised that it was a form of blackout cake, I decided to test a few.

Last week, I made the blackout cake from The Week, by Jeremy Sauer from Cook’s Country. It was delicious but it lacked a certain something. It was too sweet, and I think too milky. The pudding was made with a cream/milk mixture, and while it was phenomenal, it wasnt the cake of my childhood and my memory. This week, I decided to try Molly O’Neill’s blackout cake from her book, The New York Cookbook: From Pelham Bay to Park Avenue, Firehouses to Four Star Restaurants.

If last week’s cake was a chocolate extravaganza, this week’s cake was a chocolate obliteration. No milk, save for a little in the cake, and dark as a blacked out night. Seriously. The cake is so dark, that you can only tell its been cut if you look at it from the top. Its dark dark dark. It was overwhelming favoured by my taste testers – they loved the deep dark chocolate layers, the balance between chocolate and sweetness, and the textures of the cake, pudding, topping and crumbs. It is truly a phenomenal cake. It comes much closer to the cake of my memory, but I think it might need more of a touch of bittersweet – next time I make it I think I will adapt it with a bit of coffee.

As Ezril said, “Eating this cake is an intense experience!” Making it was pretty intense as well. I love baking, but this cake… so many different processes involved in creating all the layers, the custard/pudding and the topping. The cake itself not only creamed the sugar, and bloomed the chocolate and chocolate powder, but also needed whipped egg whites folded in. By the end, I was covered head to toe in flour, chocolate and butter. I could have baked myself! I learned an important lesson. Even though I read the recipe many times over, and I knew what I was in for, I think I would have been better served if I laid out my ingredients, measured them out, and then started to cook. As it was, there was a fair bit of chaos, and a fair bit of mess. Given all of that, it was worth it. Delicious, deep, dark chocolate cake, layers of pudding, a bittersweet glaze, and the rubbly texture of the crumbs on top. Wonderful and very very satisfying!

Molly O’Neill’s Blackout Cake

Cake

  • ½ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons boiling water
  • 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened slightly
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs, separated
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 190C degrees. Butter and lightly flour two (8-inch) round cake pans. Place cocoa in a small bowl and whisk in boiling water to form a paste.

Combine the chopped chocolate and milk in saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently until the chocolate melts, about three minutes. Remove from the heat. Whisk a small amount of the hot chocolate milk into the cocoa paste to warm it. Whisk the cocoa mixture into the milk mixture. Return the pan to medium heat and stir for one minute. Remove and set aside to cool until tepid.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, and the vanilla. Slowly stir in the chocolate mixture. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a spatula or a wooden spoon, slowly add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture. Fold in until just mixed.

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Using a spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pans on rack for 15 minutes.

Gently remove the cakes from the pans and continue to cool.

Note: in my oven the cakes only took 30 minutes to bake. Check after half an hour as timing and heat can vary widely.

Filling

  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 ¾ teaspoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • ¾ cup plus ½ teaspoon sugar
  • 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 4 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water (use 2 tablespoons cornstarch for a runnier filling*)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

While the cake is baking, combine the cocoa and boiling water in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in the sugar and chocolate. Add the dissolved cornstarch paste and salt to the pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and butter. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until cool.

Note: I added 100 g chopped bittersweet chocolate to this filling as I felt it was not chocolatey enough. I added it just before adding the cornstarch paste. I used the maximum 4 tbsp cornstarch, and it was just fine. I also sieved the pudding to make sure there were no lumps.

Frosting

  • 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
  • ½ cup hot water
  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over hot, not simmering, water, stirring until smooth. Remove the top of the double boiler from the heat and whisk in the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Return the top to the heat, if necessary, to melt the butter.

Whisk in the hot water all at once and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the corn syrup and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for up to 15 minutes before using.

Assembly

Black Out Cake SlicedUse a sharp serrated knife to slice each cake layer horizontally in half to form four layers. Set one layer aside. Place one layer on a cake round or plate. Generously swath the layer with one-third of the filling. Add the second layer and repeat. Set the third layer on top. Quickly apply a layer of frosting to the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, crumble the remaining cake layer. Apply the remaining frosting to the cake. Sprinkle it liberally with the cake crumbs. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

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Potato, Sweet Potato and Beet Gratin

7 Aug

potato, sweet potato and beet gratinTonight, I was lazy. I wanted to spend the entire evening in bed, watching videos, but of course, I needed to cook! I have made a promise to myself to post one recipe or musing every day, and so I wandered into the kitchen to be inspired. I had beets, potatoes and sweet potatoes sitting on the counter waiting for a rosti which I want to make for Ezril. I had loads of little baking paper packages of cheese bits, all wrapped up, and needing to be used. And I had some cream and milk and garlic. Okay then, instead of a rosti, which would take lots of work over the stove, I decided on a gratin. And a gratin with beets! I needed to think this through before jumping in.

I think sometimes that cooking is about inspiration, but equally, it is about preparation. Even if you dont have a clear recipe, and want to be inspired by your ingredients, always, always take five minutes to think about how you are going to put everything together.  If you dont, even in your head, have a clear work progress plan, you will definitely forget something or an important step. Trust me! Ive done it before, with disastrous results!

Beets are gorgeous creatures, but they have one flaw (or wonderful attribute depending on your way of looking at things) – they make everything they touch turn pink! I wanted to incorporate beets into this gratin because I thought they would add an earthy unique flavour, highlighting the creaminess of the potatoes and the sweetness of the sweet potatoes. A good counterbalance. But I really needed to sit and think for a while about how I was going to keep them separate but together. So I decided to prep them all the same way, but in different bowls, and layer them instead of mix them all up. The milk/cream would bind them all together, and the cheese would act as a barrier between the beets and potatoes so they wouldnt completely bleed into each other.

I think this gratin turned out gorgeously. The garlic scented the milk, but you can still taste each individual ingredient. I love love love crusty burnt bits of cheese on anything, and this gratin gave me acres of it. And silky, creamy, rich potatoes. This is a wonderful side dish for a big group, or you can cut down on the amounts, and bake a small pan for just two. Its fantastic the next day, served for breakfast, cold, or sliced and slightly fried, with an egg. Its also great, served with a very tart (arugula) salad for lunch. Its comfort food, from the heart, without a huge amount of effort. Love it!

For a large gratin dish or casserole, you will need:

  • About 3 – 4 cups potatoes
  • 1 – 2 cup sweet potatoes
  • 1 cup beets
  • Boiling water
  • 3 + 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 – 3 tbsp butter (optional – I only use butter if I am not using cream)
  • 2 – 3 cups milk and/or cream (I used a mixture)

The preparation is all important in this recipe. You will need to keep your beets and potato mixture separate until you are ready to bake.

Peel and thinly slice your potatoes and sweet potatoes, and immerse them in cold water in a bowl. Peel and thinly slice your beets, and immerse them in cold water in a bowl. Allow the potatoes and beets to sit for at least 10 minutes. This will encourage some of the starch to come out.

Boil some water, drain the cold water from your potatoes, put them back in the bowl, and slice 3 cloves of garlic over. Cover the potatoes completely with boiling water.  Do the same for your beets, slicing 2 cloves of garlic over. Leave in the boiling water for 15 minutes or so. They will not cook, but they will get a little bit softer. This is what you want.

Meanwhile, grate about 2 – 3 cups of cheese. I used a mix of cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella and pecorino. This was what I had in left over bits in the fridge, and what was available. Swiss cheese, like Gruyere, is more traditional, but I like the process of using up left over bits and pieces.

Drain the potatoes and beets and place back in their individual bowls.

Preheat your oven to 180C

Lightly butter a large baking dish. I use my high casserole dish, because I like layers in my gratin!

Layer a thin layer of beets, salt and pepper them, dot with a bit of butter if you are using, and cover with some cheese. Layer some potatoes, salt and pepper them, and cover with cheese. Continue like this until you have used up all your ingredients. I usually end up with 4 – 6 layers, always trying to end with potatoes. Add a final layering of cheese over the top.

Pour in about 2 cups milk/cream mixture until 2/3rd of the way up to the top layer of cheese. It will vary depending on your dish. Push everything down a bit into the cream. Bake in the oven for at least an 1 hour, possibly up to 2, checking every now and then that you dont need extra milk/cream (you really shouldnt, but add more if you think it needs it). Check to see if the gratin is done by forking a bit of potato – it should be tender, and break under very little pressure.

Take out of the oven and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.

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Apple Pie with a Pecorino Crust

6 Aug

apple pie with pecorino crustOh apple pie. Its a simple simple dish, but you can screw it up in so many ways. Good apple pie is brilliant – bad apple pie, well the less said, the better. I love apple pie but I know how difficult it is to make well. Because the ingredients are so simple – a flaky pastry crust, and apples, basically, you have to really pay attention to technique and process. I have been dreaming of an apple pie with a cheddar cheese crust for ages, and decided I would make one today.

I went to the market to get a few things I needed, and AngelKitten asked if I was sure I had cheddar cheese. I blithely said yes. Of course, I didnt have any. But I had bumped into Iq at the market and when I told him what I was baking, he said he thought it would be gorgeous with a pecorino crust. Well, I did have pecorino, so I made it with that! Cooking is sometimes about making do with what you have, and forgiving yourself for assuming you have what you dont!

I think this pie came out beautifully. Its sweet without being overwhelmingly so. Its crust is so gorgeously savoury. The apple interior is scented with cinnamon. It reminds me that in South Africa, we eat cheese and jam together. Sweet and salty. A perfect balance. This pie has those elements.

And thank you to Iq for the pecorino suggestion!

Pecorino Crust

  • 2 1/2 cups pastry flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, frozen
  • 2 tbsp vegetable shortening or margarine, very cold
  • 1 1/2 cups pecorino cheese grated (you can use cheddar if you are a traditionalist!)
  • 2 – 4 tbsp ice cold water

Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Grate the butter into the flour, and toss gently with your hands to mix.

Cut up the margarine into tiny pieces, and toss into the flour butter mixture. Add the pecorino, and toss again. You should have a lumpy, slightly golden mixture.

Using your hands, mix in the cold water, a tablespoon at a time, to create a firm and pliable dough. You can knead this dough a few times, using the heel of your hand to smear the dough away from you (this lengthens the frozen butter bits and makes it flaky).

Wrap the dough in baking paper and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Apple Filling

  • 7 – 8 apples, peeled, cored and chopped – about 6 – 7 cups in total (I used Pink Ladies and Gala)
  • 2 tbsp juice (optional)
  • The juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 – 3 tbsp light brown sugar (depending on the sweetness of your apples)
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp all spice
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)

Peel, core and chop your apples and place in large bowl. Add the juice and lemon juice as you chop to ensure the apples dont brown too much.

Add the sugar, flour, all spice, cinnamon, vanilla and balsamic, and toss well to combine. Set aside for about 30 minutes.

Assembly

  • Dough
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Apple filling
  • 1 – 2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces (optional)
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 2 tbsp light brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter a 9 – 10″ pie plate, with a removable edge if you like.

Divide the dough in half, and on a floured surface, roll out one half of the dough. Put the remaining half of the dough into the fridge. Fit it into your pie plate, making sure the dough comes up over the edge. Poke holes in the dough with a fork, and bake blind (lined with greaseproof paper or aluminum foil and filled with beans or pie weights). Bake for about 20 minutes. Remove the greaseproof paper and beans, and bake for a further 5 minutes until just lightly brown.

Remove the crust from the oven, let cool for about 5 minutes, and brush with beaten egg.

The apples will have let go of a lot of juice in the bowl. Using a spoon (or as I do, you hands) take the apples out of the bowl, making sure to leave quite a bit of the juices behind. Mound the apples in the pie plate. Take about 2 – 3 tablespoons of the juice and pour over the top. Dot with butter if you want.

Roll out the second half of dough, and place over the pie, crimping the edges to seal. Bake in the oven (on a cookie sheet if you are worried about spillage) for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Take the pie out of the oven, and brush all over with the remainder of the beaten egg, and sprinkle with sugar. Return to the oven for 5 – 10 minutes more or until the pie is shiny, and sugar has caramelised a bit.

Take out of oven and allow to cool for about 10 – 15 minutes before serving warm with cream.

By the way, Ezril loves the juices from the apples, mixed with some milk as a drink!

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Favourite Food Websites

5 Aug

As a foodie, a cook, an eater, and a techie, I love the internet. Its such an amazing space, and its really wide ranging in terms information, inspiration and help. I have, as most people do, a few websites I visit on a regular basis. Some every day, some, as a treat, once a week, to catch up on. All these sites open me up to the food world. I thought I would share some of my best with you – and explain why I love them so. I have divided my websites into three major sections: Tools (my favourite conversion site, for example, or the best vegetarian food guide site); Recipes (the best, easiest to use and most informative recipe sites around); and Personal (blogs, rantings and ravings about food). Here are my top in each section.

Tools

I do like About.com … they have such a myriad of topics, and each one is quite in depth and detailed. I love their conversion calculator because when I need to figure out what fahrenheit is in celsius or how many cups in a specific number of millilitres, and I need to do it quickly, this is the page that does it for me. For conversions, I also use Google – on their home page, you can just type… “170 c in f” and immediately, it will convert 170 celsius into 338 fahrenheit without you having to do much else! Brilliant.

When I am cooking, and realise oh damn, I thought I had 4 eggs, but I only have 2 – or the recipe calls for a certain spice, or ingredient and I dont have it in my larder, I go to Cooking Thesaurus. It is an awesome site that helps you figure out what foods you can use as substitutes. Its got a great search mechanism, and is really easy to use. Thousands and thousands of substitutions. How useful is that? And they are very systematic. Take an egg for instance. When you want to substitute an egg for dipping before breading, its very different than if you want to substitute an egg in a cake – they carefully go through all the various permutations.

And for all things vegetarian, I love the Vegetarian Resource Group. Their page about Nutrition for Vegetarians is invaluable when you are thinking about the vegetarian diet, and thinking about  ensuring proper nutrition, proteins etc. They have a great link to a pdf file of a  vegetarian food pyramid that I refer to now and then. I do think that most ways of eating should be about balance. I am not going to try and get all my food groups in one day – but this helps me think about what I have (or have not eaten) in that particular week. Though, they need to add chocolate at the top of the pyramid! The Vegetarian Resource group also has a brilliant recipe page that I love scrolling through…Inspiration for the veggie mind. And their links page is truly comprehensive.

Recipes

For all around food extravaganza, there is nothing else online like Epicurious. It is seriously a huge, sometimes overwhelming website. Its recipe section alone archives the late, lamented and beloved Gourmet magazine, as well as Bon Apetit. It has forums, chatrooms, and you can sign up and have your own Epicurious profile with saved recipes. Its got video, shopping lists, mobile apps. Its truly epic. But I use it mainly for its recipes. Type in any search term – chocolate for instance – and thousands of recipes will be returned. The width and breadth of recipes and sources is truly astounding. I love to read the user comments – home cooks who actually have cooked the recipe before, and they are often spot on about substitutions, adjustments, baking times, etc. Such a great community.

I also love Saveur magazine’s website. Another extensive recipe resource, with wonderful sections on kitchen gadgets and technique. Saveur is definitely not vegetarian-centric, but its a great place for inspiration.

Food & Wine, on the other hand, has literally thousands of vegetarian recipes. I love their clean layout, easy to understand recipes and navigation. And their images are totally droolworthy.

And finally, I love The Kitchn – a satellite site from Apartment Therapy. Great recipes, articles, inspiration – in a very easy, modern, funky layout. I dont go to The Kitchn when I am searching for a specific recipe, but I include it here because it is such a wonderful place to go and read recipes. Everything has a story, and I want to try each and every idea they come up with. Small, but very readable.

Personal

I have so many personal favourite cooking websites, that I couldnt narrow them down to just a few. So here is my condensed list. I hope you enjoy!

  • Ballymaloe Cooking School – I often go to this site and just daydream. Its where I am going to cooking school next year. I cant wait.
  • Ruth Reichl’s blog – some of her great recipes, her wonderful food writing, and her clear, passionate voice. I love her blog – and also her Twitter feed. She was the editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, and oh this woman loves food.
  • Huffington Post’s Food feed. A great, current collection of food news – I read this every day.
  • Oh I ADORE Dorie Greenspan’s blog. This woman is totally immersed in her passion for cooking – especially baking and pastries. Every day, every post, exhilarates the senses. Moving between France and the US, she is a nomad who writes about the world around her. She has written 10 cookbooks, including two with Pierre Herme (yes, macarons), one with Daniel Bolud, and one with Julia Child. Her blog is passionate, generous and so so tasty. I also follow her Twitter. Yum.
  • I love 101 Cookbooks’ blog too. Heidi Swanson is inspired by food – mainly vegetarian – and cooks from her extensive cookbook collection. She makes delicious looking, exciting dishes that seem at once wonderful and approachable. I love her stories and comfortable voice. I also follow her on Twitter!
  • Cannelle et Vanille – its just so damn pretty!!! I look at this site when I want to smile.
  • Three restaurant websites – mainly to drool over their menus! Chez Panisse (Alice Walters), The French Laundry (Thomas Keller), and El Bulli (Ferran Adria).
  • And the most accessible vegetarian eating guide – Happy Cow. I love this site, and whenever I visit a new place, I always check out whats good in the vegetarian scene through them.

I have others, but I dont want to overwhelm you 😉 I am sure I will do another favourite links post, but for now, enjoy these! I know I do!

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White Chocolate Semolina Pudding with Damson Jam

4 Aug

White Chocolate Semolina Pudding with Damson Jam and a touch of CreamThis is not your school days semolina pudding. I promise. No lumps or bumps or tasteless paste. This is semolina pudding for sensualists. This pudding is smooth, moist, golden, scented with vanilla, creamy with white chocolate. Sexy and yet comforting at the same time – yes its possible. Just think of the scent and feel of your favourite partner’s worn t-shirt enveloping you, and you will know what I mean… Or not! You might just have to take my word for it!

Its a doddle to make – and I needed something simple, yet decadent, because I came home from an almost six hour shopping spree with ZaZa and my feet hurt! I am expecting people for dessert tonight, and I was thinking of making a cake, or cookies, but this is so much easier. And it can all be made in one pot if you are super lazy (though transferring the cooked semolina into a nice looking baking dish is pretty simple too), and tastes like you slaved over the stove for hours. I love that kind of cooking.

This does not require a huge amount of technical cooking, chopping, slicing, dicing or sauteeing. Its a little bit of waiting (for the vanilla to infuse), a little bit of stirring, some pouring (if you are putting it in a pretty baking pan) and some more waiting while it bakes golden. It does however depend on your sense of taste and balance – how much vanilla? How much white chocolate? How much, if any, sugar, to balance the chocoalte? I have to rein myself in in regards to chocolate, but if you feel like going wild, you have my blessing! Substitute dark or milk if you wish, but I think this pudding is perfect with white chocolate.

Here in Malaysia we call semolina suji or sooji and it is used for cakes, puddings, and a huge variety of Indian dishes. Its also used extensively in Italian and European cooking for pastas and breads, amongst other things. Its used as the base to make couscous, and is basically the coarse pieces of starch or endosperm (what a word!) from milling of durum flour. It is awesome.

And the jam? Well, when you have Duchy Organic damson jam, theres not much point in making your own. Its the best jam ever. Dark purple, and tasting like mystery … superb with this pudding, on a slice of dark brown bread, with a bit of cheese. Its only available in the shops on a seasonal basis (which I like very much), so when I see it, I grab at least 3 or 4 jars and hoard it with pure adoration. Use whatever jam is your personal favourite!

This will fit a large-ish baking dish, serving about 6 – 8 people, depending on greed 😛

  • 4 cups milk (or a mix of milk and cream – or for the lactose intolerant out there, almond or oat milk, or even coconut milk)
  • 1 vanilla pod (or up to 2 tsp vanilla essence, added later)
  • 1 scant cup semolina
  • 1 cup white chocolate, chopped plus addition 1/4 cup optional
  • 1 tbsp light brown sugar (or to taste – optional)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 – 2 tbsp butter
  • Jam and a bit of cream to serve

Pour 4 cups of milk into a medium saucepan. If you are using a vanilla pod, slice it in half lengthways, scrape the vanilla seeds into the milk, and drop in the pod as well. Bring the milk almost to a boil (when you see little plip plops of milk at the surface, take it off), stirring with a whisk all the while, and take off the heat. Leave, covered, for about 15 minutes, to allow the vanilla to infuse the milk. If you are using vanilla essence, leave for a few minutes to cool down, and go on to the next step.

Preheat your oven to 180 C and butter a large-ish baking dish (I use two small pretty white ceramic dishes because thats what I have!).

After 15 minutes, uncover the milk, and slowly whisk in the semolina. Whisking in the semolina off heat, in warm instead of boiling milk, ensures that the finished product is smooth like silk. Put the saucepan over medium heat, and allow the mixture to come to the boil, whisking all the while. As you bring the semolina milk mixture to the boil, it will start to thicken. It will eventually get quite stiff. It is boiling when the semolina starts to bubble at the surface. Make sure you whisk the entire time to ensure that it does not burn, and stays smooth.

Off heat, fish out the vanilla pods, and add the white chocolate. I usually add about 1 cup of white chocolate, and then taste. Chocolate varies so much in quality and sugar levels, that sometimes you may need the addition of a tablespoon (or even two) of light brown sugar. Most of the time, if you are using good chocolate, you dont really need it. I leave it to your (sweet) palate to decide. Remember though, that if you decide to serve it with jam, it will have a very sweet addition, and so needs to be mildly sweet, rather than overly sweet. You can kill this pudding with too much sugar!

If you did not use a vanilla pod, add your vanilla essence now, to taste.

Switch to a spatula, and beat in the eggs, and the butter. These two ingredients act as softeners and thickeners as the pudding bakes.

If you are feeling very decadent, and are a chocolate fiend, feel free to sprinkle extra chocolate over the pudding just before it goes in the oven (that would be me!). It might be nice to have a white chocolate semolina pudding, and sprinkle over with shards of bittersweet chocolate. Though I would then serve a seville orange marmalade with the pudding rather than damson jam. You could also, if your heart so desires, sprinkle some nutmeg or cinnamon over, though for me, these tastes are too much for the delicacy of this pudding.

Baked Pudding Cooling Down with dots of White ChocolateBake in the oven for about 30 – 35 minutes until the top is golden, and the pudding is slightly puffed. Take out of the oven, and allow to cool at least 10 – 15 minutes before serving. You could leave the pudding in a switched off warm oven while having dinner if you like…

Serve with some jam and may be some extra cream on the side for those who want it (and I dont know anyone who wouldnt!)

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More KL Vegetarian Restaurants: PappaRich (via Zoom) + Saravana Bhavan

3 Aug

I had a late night visitor last night, and we were hungry. Hungry for good, fresh, hot food. I remembered that I recently got an SMS about Zoom Delivery – a new service in Kuala Lumpur that delivers 7-11, Ramli Burger, Mamak Stall, Old Town Kopitiam and PappaRich… And they deliver until 3am every day! What pleasures … This is a very exciting development in the lepak culture of Malaysian eating – now we dont even have to go out to eat from our favourite stall foods. Zoom is much less expensive than the other delivery company that operates here, and restaurants that focus on our local dishes. How wonderful and awesome is that?! I had glanced through the PappaRich website and menu, and realised that they offered a lovely vegetarian selection. This is just such a pleasure for me because hang-out places dont usually cater to vegetarians on such a lavish scale. So, we ordered from Zoom Delivery, specifically from PappaRich, and we were extremely happy.

Nasi Lemak

We ordered Nasi Lemak – that perfect Malaysian meal. You can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a late night snack. Soft, warm, rich pandan and coconut flavoured rice. Crisp cucumber slices. Roasted peanuts. Vegetarian version of sambal ikan bilis (anchovies in chili and onion). And crispy fried green beans with a hint of soy flavour. Half a hard boiled egg. Its a masterpiece of a dish, and PappaRich made it totally accessible and delicious for vegetarians. It was filling without being overwhelming, and hit the spot perfectly late at night.

Sweet Corn Siew Mai and Char Siew Pau

We also shared two starters – the steamed sweet corn siew mai – three little dumplings filled with sweet corn – and the steamed pau filled with a vegetarian version of char siew (roasted honeyed pork). Oh my goodness Goddess. Both starters were delightful, but oh I did love those paus. Soft, fluffy and delicious. The filling was perfection. As a vegetarian, this is as close as I will ever get to meat, but it was absolutely wonderful. Full of flavour, deeply caramelised, roasted, rich, oh I loved it. And my non-vegetarian companion was impressed by the taste and texture of the paus. We both loved them. I particularly liked eating the pau with a splash of soy – the sweet and the salty a heavenly melding that made my tummy sing arias of joy… Heh.

We also ordered the sweet lemon iced detox tea and the banana smoothie. The tea in particular was refreshing and helped cut through the richness of the meal. A couple slices of toast with kaya. The food was delivered hot and fresh within the time that Zoom had given us, and cost (including delivery) less than RM50. The delivery guy tried to give me change when I gave him a few extra dollars, and was very grateful when I told him it was a tip. I have known other delivery services to wait, impatiently and expectantly, for their tip.

All in all a totally satisfying experience, both from Zoom Delivery and PappaRich. For those who really cant be arsed to go out at night to forage for food, try Zoom. Its worth it! And for vegetarians who want to hang out with their non-vegetarian friends, in an inexpensive and very accomodating space, PappaRich is totally it. I am their new Number 1 Fan!

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My favourite vegetarian restaurant in Kuala Lumpur (and actually in many places around the world), is Saravana Bhavan. They have outlets in the US, UK, France, Canada, Qatar, Oman, the UAE, India, Singapore and Malaysia. I am lucky enough (and eternally grateful) that they have a branch in my neighbourhood. When my sister is here, we eat there almost daily if she can help it. The absolute most satisfying Indian vegetarian food on the planet. And I am not over-exaggerating here. The food is phenomenal. Non-vegetarians dont even miss their meat, and they are given a superb education on the variety, taste, texture and delights of the Indian vegetarian plate.

I love the food here – it is so multi-layered, so delicious, soul-satisfying. I love the cooks and the waitstaff who greet you like family. I love that they deliver to my house in 20 minutes or less, and that I can have a multi-course dinner party for six people for less than RM100.

My favourite dishes from Saravana Bhavan (in no particular order) are:

  • Paneer Tikka Masala: Roasted cottage cheese blocks, charred in the tandoor, deep and creamy, covered in a tomato chili cream masala spice sauce, with curry leaves, onions, thick and so delicious that when people taste it for the first time their eyes roll back in their heads
  • Chicken Fry: Vegetarian “chicken” pieces, dry fried in a thick coating of chili, garlic, onion, ginger, curry leaves, tomato and other amazing tastes. So layered, so more-ish. I dare you to just have one piece.
  • Aloo Palak: A paste of deeply green spinach, sauteed with onions, spices, garlic, potatoes. The essence of green. The perfect spice balance.
  • Onion Raita: Homemade yogurt, thick and curdy, cool and cooling, with sharp slices of onion. Beautiful counterbalance to the hot spiciness of the rest of the food.
  • Bittergourd-65: Rounds of bittergourd, dropped in a spiced batter, and deep fried. Like chips but about a million times better. Spritzed with lemon. Such depth and complexity of flavour.
  • Breads: particularly the chappathi, adai avial (available only on the weekends and not to be missed – a coconut and green chili pancake from Kerala that blows your mind with its myriad tastes), thosai, bathura. Each comes with its own curries – chickpeas in coconut gravy, roasted tumeric potatoes, a savoury simple dhal.
  • And to drink: pineapple lassi or triveni (fresh squeezed ginger, pineapple and grape juice) and hot tea made with rich spices and milk.

Go to Saravana Bhavan if you can. You wont regret it and you will become a regular. I dream about it and crave it when I dont have it all the time. It makes my soul happy. I hope it makes you joyous too.

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Creamy Eggs

2 Aug

Creamy EggsEggs are humble things, but they taste spectacular, and they add their special golden glow and richness to lots of different dishes. They therefore should be treated with great honour and respect. I love making things with eggs – custards, quiches, cakes, ice creams. But sometimes, what I really want is the perfect egg in all its glorious eggy-ness. When that happens, I turn to this recipe for creamy eggs. Well, in all honesty, these eggs are scrambled, but the methodology and the finished product are just so different from the regular garden variety scrambled eggs that we started to call them differently. They deserve it.

These eggs are creamy to the point of custard, but still most definitely not. They are scrambled, and yet silky, unctuous, rich and light in a way that eggs whipped in a pan could never be. The secret is in the preparation, and because of that, these creamy eggs are really a gift of love. They take a while to make – may be 15 minutes – may be half an hour. It all depends on your heat source, on how well you cushion your eggs from the heat, and how many people (and thus how many eggs) you are feeding. As a result, I would not make this for more than 4 people – but I prefer making it for just 2. Or even, as a gift to myself, for just one. For breakfast or a light supper, these eggs are perfect.

These eggs are also really good for someone who isnt feeling very well. They are so easy to eat. They slip down the throat, and fill the belly. Their golden colour, and tantalising scent perk up even the most jaded or weary of appetites…

Remember though, as a cook, this is a meditative dish. The constant stirring, the thoughtfulness about thickness and balance, the tasting… you have to be in the present when you make these eggs, and what you put into them is what you get out of them. Make sure that you are happy and loving when you make this dish, because if you arent, you will surely taste it in the eggs.

You can serve these eggs with lots of things. For non-vegetarians, snippets of silky smoked salmon layered atop the eggs seems like silk on velvet. For the rest of us – the sharpness of basil or another herb, snipped fine, might be a perfect contrast to the sublime richness of the eggs. To be honest though, I serve them with nothing but a crack of black pepper and a silver spoon, nestled in a pretty bowl like golden curds. Sometimes toast might get a look in – just for that crunchy contrast, but honestly, you need nothing but these eggs to bring sunshine and smiles to those you love… incluing yourself!

For each person, you will need:

  • 2 fresh organic eggs (preferably at room temperature)
  • 1/2 tsp sour cream or creme fraiche
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tsp cold butter cut into tiny slivers
  • Bain marie – double boiler set up

A bain marie or double boiler can easily be made by putting a metal bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Just make sure the bowl doesnt touch the water, and have a kettle of boiled water standing by in case you need to replenish the water at a critical moment. Start off by filling the saucepan about 1/4 full with water, and setting over low heat to come to the boil.

Meanwhile, break the two eggs into a bowl, and very gently, mix in the sour cream or creme fraiche with a fork. Try not to beat the eggs or whip them or form too many bubbles in the mixture. Water and air are the enemy of creamy eggs – they form steam which help puff up the eggs as they cook. You want something much deeper and darker and sensual. Fluffy eggs have their place – but not here!

Crack some black pepper and a pinch of salt over. You can adjust later. You just want a tad right now.

Once the water is boiling, put the metal bowl on top of the saucepan, and slide your eggs in. No butter, no oil. Just eggs and a little sour cream. With a spatula, start stirring the eggs…. Find a pace and rhythm that works for you. Figure eights usually do it for me. Watch the eggs carefully, and just keep stirring and stirring. Slow and even, no sudden movements, just a gentle silky pattern. You will see the cream slowly dissolve into the eggs, and the mixture go from slightly glossy and transparent to thick and yellow and opaque.

Keep stirring. (Thats the basic recipe. Eggs and stir!) Your eggs will go through quite a few stages. They will start gaining thickness, and will look like golden oatmeal porridge. Basically, what you are doing is cooking the water out of the eggs, and encouraging the proteins to thicken and cream. This takes time and gentleness – in heat and in touch. Go fast, and your eggs will respond and go rubbery.

When they look like thick oatmeal porridge, you can add a little bit of cold butter for silkiness and smoothness and creamy taste. But you dont have to if you dont want to. What you should do at this point is taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly.

Keep stirring. 🙂 When the eggs look like a firm cottage cheese or ricotta, take them off the heat immediately.

Serve atop crisp toast, or in a bowl with a silver spoon.

Taste the love.

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Blackout Cake

1 Aug

blackout cake version 1What is blackout cake? Simply put, very dark, almost bitter sweet, very soft cake, layered and iced with dark chocolate pudding. Cake crumbs adorn the outside of the cake. Its a study in chocolate, with no distractions. Not too sweet, rich but not overbearing, so dark that light will never penetrate. Cream is a good accompaniment, but you dont really need anything at all … Just a deep respect for all things chocolate.

If you say the words Ebinger’s Blackout Cake to people who lived on the eastern seaboard of America during the 1970’s, from New York to DC, but particularly those who lived in Brooklyn, you will be greeted by moans of delight and loss. Blackout cake is a cake from a very specific time, but oh my good goddess, it is perfection in chocolate. Ebinger’s was a bakery in Brooklyn that unfortunately closed down in the mid 1970’s — and the recipe for the original blackout cake went with them. There is a huge amount of online debate about the true recipe for blackout cake, and I have often wondered which one tastes the closest to my own memory.

I grew up in Washington DC during the 1970’s and 80’s, living in an Embassy. We hosted fancy dinners for dignitaries and my mother’s go-to dessert was a version of blackout cake. It was served in long rectangular logs, each serving 20 people. My sister and I used to hover in the kitchen, making sure that any scraps were summarily dealt with. We looked at each full slice of blackout cake, floating in cream, with longing and hope… May be when we were grown up, we would have blackout cake at our dinner parties too!

I have done a lot of research about blackout cake, and I have finally decided to try the recipe posted in The Week in 2008, from Jeremy Sauer in Cook’s Country. I had hoped this cake would come close to my memory … but unfortunately, it didnt. Dont get me wrong, it was superb. Dark, chocolaty, very moist… but there was something missing. It was just a little too not-blackout. Not sure why, or where, or how, but it wasnt the cake of my memory. I have one more recipe which I will try next weekend… but for now, this blackout cake version has made us all very happy.

Pudding

  • 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon table salt
  • 2 cups half-and-half
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 6 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk sugar, cornstarch, salt, half-and-half, and milk in large saucepan. Set pan over medium heat. Add chocolate and whisk constantly until chocolate melts and mixture begins to bubble, 2 to 4 minutes. It will thicken like a pudding. Make sure that you mix it well enough so that the pudding does not burn at the bottom.

Stir in vanilla and transfer pudding to large bowl. Lightly butter the top of the pudding, and butter one side of sheet of greasproof paper. Place the greaseproof paper over the top of the pudding so that a skin doesnt form, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Cake

  • 8 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick), plus extra for greasing pans
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp table salt
  • 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting pans
  • 1 cup strong black coffee
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 165 C. Butter two 8-inch cake pans, line the bottom with greaseproof paper, and shift a bit of cocoa powder over the buttered cake pan. This will help in removing the cake from the pan after baking.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Set aside.

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cocoa and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. You will smell the perfect smell of cooking chocolate.

Off heat, whisk in coffee, buttermilk, and sugars until dissolved. Whisk in eggs and vanilla, then slowly whisk in flour mixture.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.

Cool layers in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool to room temperature, at least 1 hour.

Assembly

Cut each cake in half horizontally. Crumble one cake layer into medium crumbs and set aside.

Place one cake layer on serving platter or cardboard round. Spread 1 cup pudding over cake layer and top with another layer.

Repeat with 1 cup pudding and last cake layer.

Spread remaining pudding evenly over top and sides of cake.

Sprinkle cake crumbs evenly over top and sides of cake, pressing lightly so crumbs adhere. Serve. (Cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.) Serves 10 to 12.

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