Sri Lankan Watalappan

By Sabirah , In , , , , , , , , , , , , , 8:42 PM

"Hakuru Pudding"



a must have for get-togethers for people from the Island... you just can't have a sri lankan biryani without watalappan as desert!
Hakuru means "jaggery" in sinhalese and hence you will need plenty of jaggery, either in ground form, which looks like very dark sugar, or in shell form. The jaggery block will need to be ground in a spice grinder or mixer. Good jaggery is very dark brown to black in color and can be obtained from any good asian grocery store. 
If you don't happen to have any jaggery, you can try brown sugar, but the taste won't quite be the same as jaggery has this smokey undistinguishable flavour. Watalappan is usually eaten in rather small portions as it is very flavorsome, rich and sweet, I made this watalappan on the weekend and the amount was enough for 10 good eaters.

Ingredients:
1 cup thick coconut milk/cream
1 cup ground jaggery
4 eggs (I had size 7)
3 teaspoons of powdered cardamom, or more, according to your taste
0.5 teaspoon of powdered cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
2 table spoons full of raisins
a few cashewnuts
whisk everything together until the jaggery has dissolved, and the liquid looks medium brown in color. Then transfer it into a container of your choice, I used a plastic bowl that takes 500 ml at least. Losely throw in the raisins, and cover with aluminium foil.

Now, there are several ways to cook the watalappan. You can either steam it, it takes about 1.5 hours.

Or you can microwave it (without the aluminium foil please) for about 25 mins, in 5 minute intervals. I tried that, the result is not quite the same but acceptable if you are short on time and are not a perfectionist.

You can bake it in the oven for about 1.5 to 2 hours time.

I pressure cooked it, I placed a steamer tray into the pressure cooker, a little water and my bowl on top of it. This takes about 40-45 mins pressure cooking time. 
The watalappan is perfect if it looks slightly spongy on cutting, if it is too dense it's rather like "kalu dodol". Immediately after cooking decorate with a few cashew nuts.

Let it cool down for a few hours. Enjoy!






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Old Fashioned German Sponge Apple Cake

By Sabirah , In , , , , , , 5:49 PM


Apple cake was a staple in my childhood every autumn/winter. There are two viarities of Apple cake that my mum used to make, one is a yeast base tart like cake which has thinly sliced apples, almond slices and raisins strewn on top.
The other one is a sponge cake with delicously cooked quarter apples hidden inside and finished with a fine dusting of icing sugar, and if you fancy it, cinnamon.

Here is the recipe for the delicious sponge apple cake. Instead of apples you could use cherries or pears, or drained tinned apricot halves. Yum!

For the apple sponge cake you just need

125 g margarine or butter
185 g normal white sugar
2 large eggs, separated
250g standard flour
2 tsp baking powder
125 ml milk
about 3 apples, peeled and cut into quarters.
some vanilla or almond essence (the alcohol free version)
a greased and floured cake springform tin, 8"

beat butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy gradually add each egg yolk one by one.
Slowly add the flour and the baking powder and milk and beat until everything except the egg white is combined.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and carefully stir into the batter.

Pour the batter into the springform tin and arrange apples on top of it, do not push the apple quarters into the batter as it will rise and hide the apples anyway. If you push the apples in, they will sink to the ground and everything could turn into a mushy porridge.
Bake in a pre-heated oven of 180 Degrees for about 40-45 minutes. Let it cool on a rack and sprinkle with dusting sugar. Serve with thick whipped cream.

Voila, THAT'S SO EASY!

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Leeks and Mushroom Quiche

By Sabirah , 12:21 AM




... Quiche is so easy to make and is great food to prepare in advance!

This one is an all time favourite that needs only few ingredients that most families have at home.

Quiches can easily be prepared with leftover meats and vegetables!

all you need for a 26cm diameter leek quiche is

a big leek
a handful of mushrooms
150 ml cream or 150 g of creme fraiche
4 eggs
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
salt, pepper, paprika to taste
100 gr grated cheese of your choice, I use vegetarian edam or guyere


for the shortcrust pastry
umm, there we go, I didn't use measurements for the pastry, but I roughly used

250 gr all purpose flour
150 gr margarine or butter
salt
you can also add an egg, i didn't. If you do, use less butter.

cut the margarine into the flour and add the egg (or don't), knead to a smoth dough ball. Cover with gladwrap foil and put in the fridge to rest. It has to rest at least 30 mins, meanwhile you can prepare the quiche filling, clean the area and feel totally efficient!

wash and cut the leeks into fine rings, fry with a little bit of margarine or oil until almost tender.
Add caraway seeds and set aside.
Mix the cream or creme fraiche with the eggs and salt, pepper, paprika and grated cheese.
Preaheat oven to 190 degrees.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll out between two sheets of gladwrap. This way it doesn't crumble and its a nice and even sheet that is easy to transfer to the baking dish.
The baking dish should be either greased and floured or covered with baking paper, that's what I do.
Transfer the sheet of pastry to the dish and cut the sides so it looks neat and even. Take a fork and punch some holes into the base, then transfer to the oven and pre-bake for 10 mins.

Take the dish with the pastry out after 10 mins and spread the tempered leeks, then cut up some mushrooms and distribute on top. Finally add the egg-cream mixture and sprinkle with some cheese.
Bake at 190 degrees celsius for 25-30 mins until golden brown.
Serve with green salad.

I promise this will be a party favourite!

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Fuss Free Falafal

By Sabirah , In , , , , , , 12:40 AM



This quick self made falafel type dish is so easy to make, and healthy - because it's not fried, it's baked!
Ok, baked stuff will never be as tasty as crispy fried in hot oil, but that comes pretty close!

It is yummy with my home made flatbread and some fresh garden lettuce and of course some hummus dips

you can use dried chickpeas and soak them overnight in water however I go for the cheap and lazy tin version

2 X 380g tin chickpeas (or 1 can chickpeas and 1 can fava beans)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 slices of dried diced bread or breadcrumbs
8 tblsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
plenty of salt, pepper, chilli powder, ground coriander, ground carraway seeds (you really need plenty of seasoning)
1 cup of fresh parsley and if you like some coriander leaves or mint
juice of a lemon
some vegetable oil or extra virgin olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees

then drain and wash the chickpeas and blend until they are minced (but not mashed), set aside in a bowl
chop the onion and mince with garlic in the blender. Mix into the chickpea mince
Finely chop parsley and mince in blender, add to chickpea - onion mince.
Mince diced bread in blender and stir into the chickpea mixture, combine the flour with baking powder and knead into the mixture.
Season with lemon juice, salt and spices, mix thoroughly.

Finally form the chickpea mince into balls and put on a lined baking tray. Spay and cover with some cooking oil and grill/bake until golden brown.
Ah well, you can deep fry since we are not counting the calories, but I really couldn't be bothered.
Serve with fresh bread, salad and hummus and some yoghurt. Nice and simple. So easy. Easy peasy. And cheap. Now I have a huge tray of falafel and need people to eat it!

I don't know how so many people are having a problem with making falafel?

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Pizza Galore

By Sabirah , In , , , , 5:26 PM


If there is one thing that I learnt to make from my mum that is how to make pancakes, and pizza...


Pizza can come in so many flavours and shades, and is easier to prepare than most people think.

Once you've got the pizza base, you can really get creative, and it's always a family favourite, good for parties and get-togethers. There is no substitue for making your own base, and I get asked a lot how I make my pizza base. I was recently invited for dinner and the host made pizza with ready-made base. The difference was huge!


for a good base you'll just need


500 gr standard flour

250ml luke warm water

about 2 tblsp olive oil, or other vegetable oil

1.5 tblsp dry yeast (can use a cube of fresh yeast if you have)

1 tsp salt


dissolve and stir the yeast with a bit of warm water until it gets frothy. Then combine with the rest of the dry ingredients. Slowly add the warm water and oil bit by bit and knead until it's all combined and looks like bread dough. You might need a bit less water, if you use too much it gets like batter and you have to add some flour


pop the dough into a blowl and cover with a kitchen towel, let rest in a dark and warm place for at least an hour. Knead again after an hour and let rest for another hour.


You can also make faces into the dough ball and punch it like you would like to punch your sexist boss...


Then you can roll the dough out on a floured cookie sheet and decorate it with some topping:)


Of course you have to use some tomato sauce, for that cook some tomato concentrate with garlic and herbs and a bit of water and spread onto the pizza. I sometimes use Dolmios. Easy as.


The above pizza was just topped with a can of tuna, shrimp, onion rings, chillies and grated cheese.

If you like you can add olives (I don't like them too much), capers, anchovies.

For a meaty topping I sometimes use curried minced lamb, or cooked chicken, herbs (rosemary, thyme etc..) , slices of capsicum etc... there are endless possiblities!







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Turkish Tatli - syrup cakes

By Sabirah , In , , , , , , , 9:48 PM





these are delicious and sooo easy to make, but be careful, they are very sticky! they are also called seker pare in turkey.


They go very nicely with a cup of strong (cardamom) coffee or just a cup of tea!


I'm personally not very fond of cardamom though...


ingredients for a lot of seker pare:


500g standard flour

2 eggs

200g sugar

200g desiccated coconut

250g margarine or butter (i prefer margarine)

1 tsp baking powder

and some nuts of your choice, hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts.. I opted for almonds


to make the syrup:

1kg sugar (yes it has to be that much)

750 ml water

a cinnamon stick

a couple of crushed cardamom pods or alternatively 2-3 cloves


it pays to make the syrup in advance as either the cakes or the syrup should be cold in order to come out allright. You probably won't need as much syrup but you can save it for some other yummy things and keep it in the fridge. Mix the ingredients for the syrup in a saucepan and boil for about 10-20 minutes until it's... well, syrup! Then let it cool down...


to make the cakes, mix the dry ingredients to a smooth dough, take pieces of dough with a table spoon and make balls out of it. Place the balls on a greased and lined cake tin and lightly press them to a flatter shape. Pop a nut onto each cake.


Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees (celcius) or 300 Fahreheit and bake until light brown in color.


Once they are baked, dunk the cakes twice or thrice into the syrup until they are nicely soaked and covered and hide from kids and husband.




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food food food

By Sabirah , 7:11 PM

Who doesn't like it - it sustains us - it nourishes us - it gives us reason to talk.

Ok... I used a template for this blog, but hey - who doesn't? I have actually NO idea what that food is in the picture above, but it sure looks yoummee, doesn't it?

Watch this space, I'll think of something nice to whip up...

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