Sweet Hands is by Ramin Ganeshram, a trained chef, journalist and teacher. Her claim to Trini cooking is from her Trini father, visits to his homeland and growing up with the food and the stories. The book has much of the expected traditional Trini recipes – Indian delicacies like phoulourie, doubles, aloo pies; the classics like pelau, pastelles, shark and bake, various curried meats; drinks such as sorrel and cocoa tea; chutneys and other condiments; and of course desserts that are derived from all our cultures, barfi, sweet bread, sugar cake etc. You can look for Ramin on twitter, or on her Sweet Hands blog. And I so want to make her Cocoa Tea Cakes posted in this NPR story here.

Since we were on the topic last week, Sweet Hands, in introducing the reader to Trinidad and Tobago, also provides information on the history of T&T and traveling to the islands. She lists some essentials for visiting Trinidad, even suggesting an Indo-Trinidad tour day among others. So what made her list?

• The Hanuman Temple, the Indo-Caribbean Museum in Waterloo, Temple in the Sea
• La Brea Pitch Lake
• The Beaches
• Asa Wright, Caroni Swamp, the Wildfowl Trust
• Turtle watching (leatherback turtles during nesting)
• Grafton Nature Sanctuary and the Tobao Rainforest Reserve

But now, onto the recipe for beef stew with dumplings. This appears to be a Trini dish – it also appears in the Naparima book (see Trinigourmet’s recipe and post) – but not one I’ve ever had. Don’t get me wrong, at the core this is an authentically Trini stew beef recipe, completed with the browning of the sugar, (green) seasoning of the meat, soy sauce etc. I’ve just never eated stew beef with dumplings. I’ve seen recipes online for Irish, or English Beef Stews with dumplings, and certainly these Trini recipes also include the beer element (which I obviously have to substitute). But, never let it be said that I have not had a Trini dish (one that can be made halaal of course).

I have some very very nice Qurbani beef (from the Eid ul Adha sacrifice) and was waiting to use it. I modified the recipe somewhat – of course, I needed to replace the beer…and not with ALE as suggested on some sites – so I looked around my kitchen, saw something also “brewed” on the stove, and threw in my Dominican Republic coffee. Yes, COFFEE. I have no idea what beer or ale is supposed to take like and I didn’t want to use up my rare productive-awake-Saturday time googling. While it smelled very much like coffee when I first poured it in, and I was worried, the dark coffee flavour blends very nicely with the stew adding to the rich, dark flavour. I also haven’t used oil for stews in a long time. The sugar browns just fine in a hot pot just like that, and beef especially will have enough fat on its own. This also gives me the freedom to add a bit of salt butter in a stew if I feel like it

Oh, and I only had chicken stock (but homemade) not beef stock. And I used my pressure cooker to cut down the simmering time. Of course my pressure cooker is a tad wide/big for my portions, which means that I had liquid-depth issues when it came time to drop in the dumplings, but I managed. There’s enough flavour in this recipe to add some more water at that point. Just don’t oversalt the dumplings since they pick up the seasoning from the stew.

Stew Beef with Dumplings (as modified by me noted in red)

Beef

• 1.5 lbs stew beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons green seasoning
• 2 tablespoons Canola oil (I didn’t use this)
• 2 tablespoons sugar (I use brown for almost everything)
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup brewed coffee (instead of the beer)
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt (I used sea salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 2 cups beef stock or water (I used chicken stock)

Dumplings

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• pinch of coarse or kosher salt

1. Mix beef with green seasoning and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You can do this overnight.

2. Heat pressure cooker, and add the sugar. Let the sugar caramelise until dark brown. Add seasoned beef and stir well to coat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the onion and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes more.

3. Stir in the coffee, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, salt and hot pepper sauce. Add the stock, making sure it covers the beef, adding additional stock or water if necessary. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Cover and cook until the meat is tender, about 1 hour, adding the dumplings as instructed in step 5. OR Close pressure cooker, add weight and cook as usual until tender, then add dumplings.

4. While the stew is simmering, make the dumplings. Mix together the flour, cornmeal and salt. Add 6 tablespoons of water and knead to form a stiff dough, adding more water if necessary. Knead until smooth and set aside to rest for 15 minutes.

5. Pinch off 1-inch pieces of dough and roll between the palm of your hands to form ovals. Pinch both ends, then flatten the oval between palms or against a cutting board. The dumplings should resemble small flat footballs. Drop them into the beef stew in the last 15 minutes of cooking. (You may need to add more liquid to get a good depth of liquid to cook the dumplings…just let the extra liquid come up to a boil then lower heat) Adjust the seasonings of the stew to taste.

Serve hot.

Nothing to do with Christmas – just a tasty variation on my Cheese Rolls recipe. I had to make some kid-friendly food this weekend as my sister’s under-5 posse was sleeping over. They like my cheese rolls (as long as they can’t detect any onions or pimento pepper in it) and they like pizza (cheese only of course). I didn’t really feel like making pizza, but wanted a variation on my cheese rolls.

If you check out my recipe for the cheese rolls, you’ll see I usually spread a little mustard the dough before sprinkling the cheese (house rule – cheese and mustard are a great pair!). So I decided to spread some pizza sauce instead! Just don’t tell my niece that there were some onions sprinkled in…I pretended I didn’t hear her asking her mother. Never mind, she ate lots, and made sure to ask for the last 2 before she left the house this evening.

The rest of the child favourites included mashed potatoes, chicken fingers (baked) and ice cream. And lots of running around outside to deal with the (brief) sugar rush from the ice cream.

Mom's black cake texture

A few months ago I got a request for a Halaal Trini Black Cake recipe. Those of you familiar with the permutations of the traditional Caribbean Christmas black cake (whether you call it black cake or great cake) will know that this cake is generally viewed as inextricable from its alcohol content. In fact, a visitor to this photo on Flickr felt compelled to tell me “the call it rum cake because theres some rum in it“. Grammar and spelling notwithstanding, I understood the sentiment although I had never called Mom’s Black Cake “Rum Cake” for obvious reasons…but maybe some people will think it’s sacriligeous to make this cake any other way than reeking of rum or other spirits That’s ok – I just won’t eat it that way. And this cake that Mom makes, which she agreed to share the secrets, is so rich, and moist that it is appreciated by rum cake lovers and Muslims alike.

The traditional way of making Black Cake involves mincing and soaking the fruits from up to a year before baking. Soaking in alchohol. People pride themselves on getting the fruits together earlier than their neighbours so they get the right flavours and textures. No alcohol ergo no need for soaking. We’re not fermenting anything here. The cake is supposed to be moist, dense and dark. The fruits get the moistness into the cake and Mom’s secret, from her mother, is the addition of condensed milk, which maintains helps maintain the right texture. There are NO leavening agents used in the cake – the eggs will do the necessary – and bake on low heat. With plenty browning, the cake is supposed to be black, remember.

The other notable difference between a regular Black Cake and the halaal version is the timing of its baking. We (my family) don’t celebrate Christmas, so we don’t make the cake for Christmas. (That’s not to say that there aren’t Muslims who might make it around Christmas time, just not us). Mom will make it for special occasions indeed (it is a rich cake) such as Eid, or to send with me to Guyana so I have a taste of home. In fact, we still have some cake that she baked for Eid ul Fitr a month ago, that stayed, just like the alcoholic version, in the cupboard, getting moister and lovelier by the day.

Without further ado, onto the recipe.

Halaal Trini Black Cake Recipe

Ingredients

8 ounces margarine/butter
2 ounces shortening
8 ounces brown sugar
14 ounces flour
6 eggs
14 ounces condensed milk (1 395 gm tin)
1.5 cup browning
Minced fruits – 8 ounces  each of prunes, raisins,  dates and black currants; , 4 ounces mixed peel, 2 oz cherries
1 tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease cake tins with shortening and line with parchment or waxed paper – line bottom and sides. Mom likes to use the old Danish Butter Cookie tins, since they have covers for storage after baking.

2. Mince fruits in blender or food processor until as fine as you like it (I like it almost to a paste – I don’t like discernible bits of fruit).

1. Cream butter, shortening and sugar till fluffy.

2. Add eggs one at a time, beat well between additions.

3. Add fruits, mix well.

4. Add browning, condensed milk and cinnamon, mix well.

5. Add flour, about 2 ounces at a time, mix between each addition.

At this point, Mom will put a tablespoon of the cake batter on a saucer into the microwave to cook. Taste this to test for sweetness and of course look at the colour. Determine if you need more condensed milk or browning, or if you are in a really humid place (more than here? whew) more flour. If you think it has too much flour, addition of a little condensed milk or more browning can help balance it out.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.

7. Bake in the oven for about an hour – until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Notes on Soaking the Cake

Traditionally, the Black Cake is soaked in alcohol after baking and “topped” up ever so often, which keeps it edible and moist long after the normal shelf life of cake. Mom used to soak her cake in grape juice or apple juice to mimic this process and texture. However, this won’t keep the cake. You’ll have to store it in the fridge.

However, this cake is naturally moist and it tastes better and moister after a few days. In fact, without soaking it stays moist and keeps out of the fridge for weeks. Mom currently has the cake from Eid (whatever’s left) in a container and it hasn’t been refrigerated yet. For safety, you could choose to refrigerate and then just bring to room temperature before eating (if you microwave it before eating it gets a little soft and the sweetness can be a bit over the top – but maybe you like that).

If you’re  a regular reader of this blog (or if you’ve been browsing the Ramadan posts from over the years) you will realise that there’s a particular kind of joy attached to this month. Yes, it’s all about ibadah (worship) and the fasting and extra night prayers (Tarawih) can be a test, but there’s a sense of community that abounds during this month. It’s partly the feeling you get when you perform the Hajj (pilgrimage), that you’re part of something bigger that millions and millions of people are sharing in at the same time. There’s also a more simplistic reason – people tend to break fast in the mosque together, sharing the Iftar (you get blessings for feeding a fasting person so people like to sponsor these dinners!) and the Tarawih prayers are an extra nightly reason to go to the masjid for salaah in jamaat (congregational prayers). All that extra togetherness adds to the special feelings associated with this month – specialness which is almost always accompanied by great food!

Muslims also tend to spend some time planning meals during this month – for communal cooking for the Iftar, favourite delicacies to entice reluctant eaters during Suhr (the meal before the fast begins at dawn) or to stimulate the shrinking appetite later in the month. And of course, there’s the planning for Eid! What you’re going to wear of course, but more importantly, what are you going to cook and serve up to all and sundry! While the search stats for this blog reveal that people are looking for the usual suspects in the Ramadan/Eid lineup – kurma, barfi, sawine, maleeda, and ras gullah for example – that doesn’t mean that other sweet treats aren’t on the agenda.

Like this chocolate cake. Moist, chocolatey and with a lovely butter frosting using melted chocolate. So. very. good. And not too large (although I’d double the recipe the next time to get a nice high cake).

It’s from a book called “Chocolate: Easy and delicious step-by-step recipes”. It’s a British book…I need to check the publisher details. It’s a great book as far as we can tell since the few things we’ve made from it have been excellent. The children definitely like the photos and have found lots of things Aunty Chennette needs to come make.

RECIPE (modifications in brown)

Cake

• 125 g (4.5 oz) soft margarine (or butter)
• 125 g (4.5 oz) caster sugar (we used very brown sugar)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup (we actually had this! I’d usually substitute any kind of syrup or even some thinned molasses)
• 125 g (4.5 oz) self-raising flour, sifted (see note above!) Substitute 125 grams (4.5 oz) flour plus  1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted (we used 4)

Frosting/Filling

• 50 g (1.75 oz) icing sugar, sifted
• 25 g (1 oz) butter
• 100 g (3.5 oz) milk cooking chocolate
• a little extra cooking chocolate for the top (optional)

METHOD (my method)

Lightly grease 2 7-inch shallow cake tins (the layer pans – we used larger ones, all we had, so the cake was flatter)

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit)

Now, the recipe just said mix all ingredients to a smooth batter, but, I have my home ec training ingrained in me – this is a cake, to be made by the creamed-in method. This is how you get a light cake texture. I have tried recipes before that say mix everything together and the cake comes out rubbery. So your choice.

Cream margarine/butter and sugar together until the mixture is creamy and light.

Add eggs, beat well.

Add golden syrup, mix well.

Add flour and cocoa powder, fold in – mix gently to incorporate  into a smooth batter but do not over beat.

Divide mixture between both pans equally.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out cleanly (if you are using the larger pans, it will cook very quickly).

Let cake cool in pans for a few minutes then turn out onto wire racks to cool while you make the frosting.

Melt chocolate over a double boiler or gently in a microwave (microwave on medium for 20 seconds at a time and stir in intervals)

Beat icing sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate, mix well.

Spread 1/3 of the frosting on the top of one cake layer, place the other cake layer on top. (we threw in some butterscotch chips in the middle of the layers)

Use the remaining frosting to cover the cake. (I’ll admit that I made a bit more frosting than the recipe called for, maybe using 1/2 oz more butter and icing sugar accordingly). Drizzle melted chocolate over the top or top with nuts or other chips.

Enjoy!

Googni is a term I grew up using for all types of boil and fry peas and beans – so during Ramadan people would make blackeye peas googni or channa googni. Actually those are the only 2 types I can think of in Trinidad, but there may be others I do recall that as a child, when I saw boil and fry channa on the Iftar dish, I was never impressed. I didn’t understand why people just didn’t curry the channa! It went so much better with the fried kachourie or saheena, plus it was half of being a doubles!!. And not everyone can do a good boil and fry…for years I swore that boil and fry meant “hard and dry”. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Really!

I made almost a pound of blackeye peas.* Sister-the-elder was a bit surprised, but 1. I wanted to have enough for days so I could be sure to replicate some small part of my childhood Iftars and 2. I forgot how much the peas swell when cooked. But back to reason number 1! Typical things people would bring to the masjid for communal iftar – dates of course;  fried stuff like pholouri, kachourie, goolgulah or saheena; fruit like watermelon, bananas, pineapple, apples, grapes; sweet stuff like cake, sweetbread or packaged biscuits; and channa, either curried or boil and fry (googni) or blackeye googni. Chutneys to go along with fried stuff, which also tastes pretty good with channa and blackeye! And maybe some ginger, which is used to help with “gas” after a day of fasting. I cannot replicate all of that at home just for me, or even for me and the sister, but having googni around is part of that traditional meal. So I have been breaking fast with it every day since I made it, taking a little container of it with me when I go to sister-the-elder’s. When I had first made it, she wasn’t sure about it because I had omitted pepper, which she considers essential to the dish. However, come her first day of fasting, possibly feeling those reminiscing urges as well, she asked me to bring along enough for her in my container and we had it with some tamarind chutney along with our dates and cake.

I’ve spelt it “googni” but if you do a search for “ghugni” or “ghoogni” you might encounter the root of the term and how it is used in the Eastern part of India (Oriya cuisine) or in Bihari cuisine. While some versions may use different types of peas, or add potatoes, it seems common that googni consists of some kind of peas sautéed with spices and aromatics. My aunt suggested the addition of saltfish, which would seem very West Indian The combination of spices and herbs can be infinitely varied to suit your taste, compliment your peas or the accompaniments. Just make sure you cook the peas enough!

RECIPE

• 2 cups dried blackeye peas (Although you could cook canned peas, I tend not to like the taste of canned peas. Plus blackeye cooks really quickly)
• 1 large onion, diced finely
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed slightly
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 pimento (seasoning) peppers, diced finely
• (bird pepper or hot pepper, diced finely)
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• 1 tablespoon chopped bandhania (culantro, shadow beni)
• 2 teaspoons (roasted) ground geera (cumin)
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for sautéeing
• (any combination of herbs and spices)

1. Boil blackeye peas in water, with smashed garlic and salt to taste until cooked. (I cooked them in a pressure cooker and they were done in 15-20 minutes). Drain the peas.

2. Use a wide, deep pan (I used a wok). Heat oil on medium-low heat. Add onions and peppers and sauté until the onions are translucent (I like my onions WELL cooked).

3. Add minced garlic and chives, stir for about 20-30 seconds.

4. Add peas, with the bandhania, geera, coriander and black pepper to taste. Stir constantly to mix thoroughly and check for salt. It’s ok if the peas get a little mashed in the process. The flavours will get to the core of the bean!

Enjoy as is, or with some chutney!

———————————————–

* peas and such are sold by the “pint” in Guyana, which is somewhat less than a pound.

Shiny Chocolatey Eggless Brownies

I wanted brownies today. Seemed the perfect thing to want during the excitement of World Cup. (Not really, I mean, I am enjoying the Group of 16, but it’s more like the “excitement” of trying to wrap up some work stuff that made me want chocolate). I don’t usually bake unless accompanied by a sibling (mostly Lilandra, who actually likes baking). That’s one way of not being tempted by sweet baked treats like brownies. Just don’t make them. But today I wanted them. Except I had no eggs (I’m out of a lot of things, but not making grocery just yet as I may be out of the country for a bit soon). Eggless diets have not stopped people from enjoying baked goods, however, so I decided to quickly try something.

I had flour, butter, Lindt dark chocolate, brown sugar, molasses…all sounds great, right? I did some quick googling and found that there were recipes which didn’t involve things like applesauce, or pumpkin puree…neither of which I had…I also don’t have any nut meal of any kind so that was another substitute option I could not use. But there are recipes which basically follow a brownie/batter recipe, just no eggs. So, this is what I ended up with (I winged it based on my quick readings and ingredients I wanted to use).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter
• 3.5 oz good dark chocolate (Lindt 85% cocoa)
• 1 cup brewed coffee
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

1. Using a double boiler (or a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of water) melt the butter and chocolate together.

2. Mix coffee, sugar and molasses into the chocolate mixture.

3. Add flour, baking powder, salt, mix to combine.

4. Stir in walnuts.

5. Pour/spread evenly into a greased 9×13 baking pan.

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes until top is set but and the edges are just pulling away from the sides of the pan. If the edges look cooked but the centre is too moist for your liking, just turn off the oven and leave the pan in for another 5 minutes.

VERDICT – well, see for yourself. They were moist and chocolatey, held together very well and tasted great. When eaten hot there was smidgen of that pudding-y floury taste, but as it cooled that went away too. Although, this recipe from All Recipes uses a method of cooking some of the flour with water to deal that is apparently supposed to help this. I like chewy brownies, with a crackly top. These almost had a crackly top, but weren’t chewy. They were just dense and moist enough to not be cakey though, so overall I think it was a success. I think the molasses helps, but that has always been my secret brownie ingredient, so I am biased!

NOTE – I realise these are eggless, but NOT vegan. They were not intended to be, but I think the end result shows that with modifications, you can get a great brownie no matter the substitutions. After all, brownies are by nature more forgiving than cakes! For vegan, I would use a vegetable oil, and of course a completely non-dairy chocolate.

I can’t wait to try these again with the Lindt 99% chocolate bar! I wonder if some more butter would make it cracklier or chewier – any thoughts?

I am home* for a couple weeks – vacation, then to vote.** So, taking advantage of being at home with Mom (who did the beef and beans), I present to you our Sunday Lunch today! Cornmeal Coucou, stew beef and red beans! Sunday lunch is a big thing in the Caribbean. It’s the time to break out the sometimes labour-intensive dishes, to make a special meal that is not easy to prepare during the work week. Lunch is sometimes later than usual, because of the work involved and also because having a big Sunday lunch is part of the enjoyment of the whole day. The heavy meals with macaroni pie, or coucou, leading to post-meal-paralysis are also ok, since you’re supposed to be relaxing before you start the dreaded Monday. Well, that’s my take on it

Coucou and flying fish is the national dish of Barbados, but it is also a traditional national dish in Trinidad and Tobago, eaten with callaloo and/or stew beans. Cornmeal coucou is ubiquitous, but it can be made from breadfruit as well. It’s like a Caribbean polenta. Some people like it a bit soft where it is spooned out of a dish – others prefer it to be set and firm enough to slice, although it should never be dry and chewy – that’s not coucou…maybe that’s cornbread. 15 years ago when I was studying in Barbados, I was surprised at the number of Bajans who tried to “introduce” us Trinis to coucou…I mean, I knew their national dish, how could they not know we have coucou and callaloo? I think things have changed over the years – we are more aware of our Caribbean neighbours food and culture – at least this is my hope!

Growing up, I was never sure I liked coucou. I knew I didn’t like ochroes, not just because of the slime, but the skin itself had a texture that I was uncomfortable with, even though in most preparations (callaloo) it melted away on the tongue. I was a picky vegetable-eater…But then somewhere in my teens, through food courts in those little malls on Frederick Street, in having to get vegetarian foods, I grew to love this thing called coucou. After all it is better than rice in soaking up stew gravy!

Coucou is traditionally a bit labour-intensive, because it involves an hour or more of stirring at the pot, while the cornmeal gets heavier and heavier and harder on your arms. So I hear, anyway. I never made it that way…my first attempt at coucou making was a couple months ago when Cynthia (of Tastes Like Home) posted a microwave coucou recipe. That was the quickest I have gone from reading a blog to cooking. I made the coucou that weekend, even though I had no ochro…I substituted baigan (eggplant) since that’s what was in the fridge, and I figured…hmm…eggplant also gets kind slimy when cooked… I was already craving stew chicken and red beans, and this would have been a perfect accompaniment. The proportions and recipe were really easy to remember too – 1 cup cornmeal to 3 cups water, salt, ochroes…stir, microwave, stir, microwave…eh, voilà!

There were some problems though…which I thought I should share if you want to try microwave coucou, so as to avoid my pitfalls!

• eggplant is not bad in coucou, but the skin can be bitter and inedible – if forced to use this, PEEL it
• after stirring, let the mixture sit for a while to let the cornmeal completely absorb the liquid – this way you won’t get hard cornmeal bits at the bottom of your bowl cooking well before their time – I don’t know what I was thinking, putting in a bowl of essentially water with cornmeal floating around…
• if the liquid is fully incorporated, you may not even need the stirring process in the middle of cooking!

Using Cynthia’s recipe was great – and I enjoyed a few meals with my coucou. However, I think there are differences between Bajan coucou and the Trini version. I remembered more colour in the Trini coucou I was used to eating – colour representing peppers and seasonings. It seems Bajan coucou, or the versions I have eaten and seen online, stick to cornmeal and ochro. I checked with Mom, and reinforced by Wizzy of Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Punch, I realised that Trini coucou does indeed have more things, including coconut milk. Any Barbadians reading this can confirm whether this is true, or if I have just experienced a basic coucou.

So, here’s my version of the microwave coucou recipe (hope Cynthia doesn’t mind)

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3/4 cup sliced ochroes (nice thin young ones)
• 3 pimento/seasoning peppers, chopped (these are not hot peppers)
• diced hot pepper (optional, to taste)
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• 1 teaspoon (or more) chopped shadow benny
• 1.5 teaspoon garlic (we like garlic)
• salt to taste

Prepare all ingredients
Mix all ingredients except water and coconut milk, together.
Add liquids (warm water will make the cornmeal absorb faster and come together very nicely.
Stir well so there are no large lumps of cornmeal.
Pour or spoon out into a greased microwaveable dish and smooth the top.
Microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Check the coucou – it should not need stirring.
Microwave again on high for another 2 minutes.

The coucou will still appear jiggly and soft at this stage, and Mom ate it like this, but it will continue to firm up and by the time I ate, it was sliceable.

——
* home is always Trinidad.
** T&T elections are on 24 May 2010

Cheese Sticks Again

Just thought I’d post about my revisiting my Late Night Cheese Sticks recipe (otherwise known as Cheese Straws). I made them again this weekend and I really liked the way they turned out – although alot of that was not entirely intentional!

I used both shredded cheddar and parmesan – the cheddar incorporated into the dough, and the parmesan rolled on the outside. I also threw in some poppy seeds and bandhania (culantro), with mustard powder instead of mustard. The recipe can take much variation, depends on what you feel like. Originally, I wanted to get 2 different cheese experiences, not just with different types of cheese, So when I rolled out the dough, I sprinkled a handful of parmesan over the top before the last few rollings. The cheese was not completely embedded into the dough but that’s the way I wanted it. I wanted some crispy cheesy bits on the outside of the cheese sticks, as well as good cheese flavour inside. And they did come out pretty good, and very nicely textured, but that’s not the “great” variation that merits a post.

That recipe, for the record, makes many cheese sticks. Enough for a party. Seriously. And since it was just me, sister-the-elder, the niece and the old-enough-to-eat nephew (the 3 month old didn’t factor in as much as he could drool and give you hard looks)…I put half the dough away, wrapped in waxed paper and popped into a zip-top bag. And today was the revelation. Yesterday, I had rolled out the dough already before I decided to refrigerate it. There was already parmesan sprinkled all over the top. So I just rolled it up into a block and popped it in the fridge. There were now several layers of parmesan in the dough. Mmmm. So, this is what you should do -

• Mix the dough as per the recipe, and roll out one-third of the dough to 1/2 cm thick.
• Sprinkle a handful (1/2 cup) of shredded parmesan all over the top of the dough, then fold the dough carefully over and over (at least 5 times) until you have a small brick. Repeat for the remaining portions of the dough.
• Wrap each portion in waxed paper, place them inside a resealable plastic bag and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.
• Preheat overn to 375 deg F. Spray/grease baking sheets. Use one brick at a time, leave the others in the fridge to stay firm and cool.
• On a lightly floured surface, press or roll out a brick to a rectangle, with the short side about 6 cm, to about 1 cm thick. Using your big sharp chef’s knife, in one smooth rocking motion, carefully slice  the brick into 1/4-1/2 cm thin strips (almost like a julienne). The dough should be firm enough after the refrigeration to allow easy handling this way – and it is much easier than rolling out flat and cutting into strips.
• Place the strips on the baking sheet, with 1cm space between them and bake for about 15 minutes till golden (brown on the bottom) and crunchy.

You can see from the photo that the texture is different from the previous version. The layers with the cheese make for a lovely flavoured and extra crunchy cheese stick, with exactly the double burst of cheese I was looking for. And the little brown bubbles of baked cheese are beautiful and delicious.

Yum. Who cares about sinus allergies…sigh…

———

Postcript: the niece (4 years old) asked when she was leaving, “Aunty can you put some in a napkin for us to take home in case we get hungry?” I told her I was putting them ALL in a bag for them. “Aunty can you write down how to make this in case we want to make it home?” (Lilandra has taught her about recipes, following instructions and measuring things. She can crack an egg!)

According to Wikipedia, za’atar i’s generally a combination of ground dried herbs such as oregano, thyme and marjoram, with toasted sesame seeds and salt. And then there’s the sumac. Which isn’t necessarily found in all varieties – Wikipedia says it’s a Lebanese addition, perhaps. Sumac is used in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean as spice to add some sourness or tangy taste, hint of citrus, to dishes. It’s found as a ground red (or dark purple) spice and people use it as a seasoning in all kinds of dishes, or just over a salad (see salad at right which we had in Saudi Arabia last year after the Hajj). I wanted my za’atar sour-ish, so I wanted the sumac version.

So to get back to the sumac. We bought some when we went to Hajj last year. We weren’t entirely sure what we were looking for, but in a trip to one of the big stores (a Bin Dawud) we looked all throughout the spice counter just to see what they sold (such big spice counters!). In addition to our trying to figure out what was good saffron (and that is yet another story we haven’t told**), we saw this huge tub behind the counter with a reddish ground spice. Hmm…we asked what it was. The guy looked confused…confused that we were asking I think, he seemed to understand but not speak English but was most likely wondering who on earth doesn’t know what sumac is? After a few tries, with the salesperson becoming increasingly amused we figured it must be sumac and bought up a big bag (might have been a pound…it’s light stuff, but the deciding how much to buy further delighted the man behind the counter I am sure.

So this Eid I had sumac. I had sesame seeds. I even had dried oregano and thyme. Za’atar was my destiny. Za’atar has a complex flavour – nuttiness from the toasted sesame seeds (which is enhanced if you use a little geera/cumin like I did, the tang from the sumac and the thyme and oregano rounding out the overall depth. In addition to dipping some fresh bread (of any kind, doesn’t have to be pita) into this, I’ve used it for chicken, in pasta, baked on a flat bread/pizza dough…possibilities abound.

ZA’ATAR RECIPE (so easy)

• 1/4 cup sesame seeds (toasted)
• 2 tbs dried thyme
• 2 tbs dried oregano
• 1 tbs sumac (or a bit more)
• 1 tbs geera (cumin)

I left out salt, since I figured I could add that to taste depending on need and use of the za’atar, but if you are making a batch for a specific use, go ahead and add the salt – about 1 tsp.

Toasting sesame seeds is great, because I love the smell and the magic of seeing the shiny goldenness appear – but be very careful, since it goes from a hint of gold to black very vast. The seeds are very small after all.  I used a small non-stick pan, stirred frequently, and when many started to get shiny and golden (even if still lots of white) I turned off the heat and kept stirring in the pan till they were evenly brown.

You could just mix all ingredients together, or do as I did,  and zap them briefly in my coffee grinder. Which doesn’t really grind tiny sesame seeds, but everything gets mixed together very evenly.

Also…those amounts up there – VERY subjective. You might want more sumac, or less thyme. Or no cumin at all.  Add marjoram. Play around with the amounts. If you don’t have access to sumac, add some lemon salt or lime/lemon zest for the sourness (see Arabic Bites, a great blog by two sisters, for a recipe for Za’atar and Arabic Pizza (manosha).

For Eid, I did a chicken kebab inspired dish, using lots of za’atar, that was apparently a hit even for fussy pre-teens. And more recently I added it to some whole wheat  pasta and that was just lovely. I have no photos of these meals, but will post the chicken recipe soon enough. When I was in Trinidad for Eid ul Adha last month, Lilandra and I made pizza and used one of the pizzas as a za’atar flatbread. Yum.

—————————————-

* A quick word as to pronounciation. Lilandra and I were recently shocked to hear Mario Batali and Alton Brown mangling this word on Iron Chef America (old episode I guess, can’t remember the secret ingredient) with variations given and ALL wrong. It is not pronounced zaTAH or zaTARR… Stress the first syllable, ZAHtar and if you want to get technical, the Arabic has an ‘ayn in the middle, which gives a in-the-back-of-your-throat vowel sound and hence the apostrophe in some spellings to indicate it’s like za-ahtar.

** The saffron story – I started to write it here, and decided that perhaps I should post on our much-neglected Hajj blog!

Now, I don’t celebrate Divali, but it is a tradition to receive the goodies Unfortunately, in my small compound in Guyana with mostly itinerant ex-pats I don’t think anyone will be ringing my doorbell to drop off treats tomorrow night. Mind you, I did ring a couple door bells for Eid, and one of the Trinis was oh so happy since she grew up in a village like me where even though she wasn’t Hindu or Muslim she was used to these little deliveries. So…no opportunity to sample the different styles of saheena and sweets tomorrow. Ah well. At least I know that my blog is serving the needs of those last-minute “Indian delicacy” makers, especially the ones outside who look forward to the reminisces at these times.

So, what are people searching for? Ah, well, Kurma tops the list. Barfi is very close behind, and as I left work this evening they were actually dead even, but Kurma is back on top. After all there are 2 types to look for I guess, fat and thin. Gulab Jamoon was 3rd, but only half the number of hits as Kurma. So readers, you know what you going to get this Divali!

This might be a good time to point out that I am trying to organise my Recipe page. I have actually collected 24 recipes! Didn’t really want to separate the categories into different pages, but who knows. It’s a work in progress.