WHAT DO YOU KNOW ?

Here are the answers to February's challenge: 1. Salad 4. Mocha 2. Shortening 5. Korma 3. Pastry. 6. Gluten Here is my challenge for you this month: 1. A snack food from India, consisting of a deep fied turnover filled with spiced meat or potatoes? 2. An hors d'oeuvre of sliced herring fillets filled with pickles and onions? 3. An inexact cooking term usually meaning less than 1/4 teaspoon? 4. A Chinese sauce and condiment made of soy beans, chilli, garlic and spices? 5. The part of a cereal seed that sprouts, thus forming the new plant? 6. The fruit of a tree of the ebony family, that is more or less round in shape and ranges in colour from yellow to orange?

STRAWBERRY AND PASSIONFRUIT CREAM SLICE.

Ingredients...... 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry, 1 egg yolk, 1 tbs of milk, 1/4 cup of flaked almonds, 1 cup of cream, 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup of passionfruit pulp, 1 punnet of fresh strawberries, sliced. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Place the pastry on the oven trays. Brush one sheet of pastry with the combined egg yolk and milk, sprinkle with the flaked almonds. Bake both pastry sheets in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool. Beat the cream and sweetened condensed milk until thickened. Fold in the passionfruit pulp. Spread the thickened cream over the plain pastry sheet, arrange the sliced strawberries over the cream. Top with the almond coated pastry sheet, dust with icing sugar. Refrigerate until ready to serve, cut into slices to serve.

BAKING FOR EASTER (3).

BAKED SPICED PUDDING....2 tbs of sultanas/ raisins, 5 tbs of polents, 350 ml of milk, 4 tbs of molasses, 2 tbs of soft brown sugar, 1 dsp of salt, 30 gm of butter/ marg, 1 dsp of ground ginger, 1/2 tsp of ground cinna,on, 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg, 2 eggs , lightly beaten. Preheat your oven to 160 deg C. Liberally grease a 900ml/ 1 litre ovenproof dish, you will also need a larger roasting pan that will hold the ovenprrof dish. In a small bowl mix the dried fruit with 1 tbs of the polenta, set aside. Place the milk and molasses in a medium / large saucepan over a medium heat until the molasses has dissolved. Add the sugar and salt and continue to stir until the sugar has dissolved. Sprinkle over the remaining polenta and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and continue to stir until thickened. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the butter/ marg, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg, continue to stir until the butter. marg has melted. Now add the eggs and stir in the coated dried fruit. Por the pudding mixture into the greased ovenproof dish. Place the dish in the roasting pan and pour in enough water to come halfway up the side of the dish. Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake uncovered for 2 hours or until the pudding is set. Test with a skewer inserted comes out clean. Serve immmeately with ice cream.

BAKING FOR EASTER (2)

SIMNEL CAKE.. This is the traditional fruit cake for the Easter festival. It should be made at least a month in advance to allow it to mature. A special feature of the Semnal cake is the layer of marzipan baked in the middle of the cake and also covering the top. The marzipan balls on top represent the eleven apostles. The centre of the iced top can be decorated with a nest of easter eggs. I am not a fan of marzipan so I make a fruit cake, topped with a light icing and 11 med/ small chocolate Easter eggs.

BAKING FOR EASTER (1)

HOT CROSSED BUN AND BUTTER PUDDING. Spiced yeast buns were traditionally served hot on Good Friday. Nowadays you can purchase commercial brand hot crossed buns for near on 6 months of the year. This is the ultimate Easter dessert. Ingredients......4 hot crossed buns, butter/ marg for spreading, 4 eggs, lightly beaten, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 150 gm of castor sugar, 600ml of milk, 400 ml of cream, 200gm of choc bits, finely grated zest of a small/ medium orange. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C. You will need a large ovenproof dish / casserole that will fit into a larger roasting pan. Slice 4 hot crossed buns in half and spread with butter/ marg and return the tops to the buns. Beat the eggs , vanilla extract and sugar together until pale. Pour the milk and cream into a medium saucepan over a low heat, stirring until well combined. Now add the egg mixture, whisking to combine and the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat. Add the chocolate bits to the custrad. Place the buttered hot crossed buns into the ovenproof dish, pour over the custard mix. Set aside for 20 minutes to let the custard soak into the buns. Place the ovenproof dish insde the larger roasting pan and fill halfway with boiling water. Sprinkle the top of the pudding with the orange zest. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes.

SOME COMMON FAULTS IN CAKE MAKING…

A. A damp heavy cake, sometimes called a sad cake.. This is because the proportion of liquid or sugar is too high in the mixture.... The oven temperature is too low. The cake not cooled properly before serving/ storing. Fruit sunk to the bottom of the cake..... Too much baking powder, so the cake rose too quickly. Too much liquid and rose slowly so the fruit sank to the bottom. The use of wet fruit instead of dried fruit. The oven temperature too low. Cake collapsed in the middle..... Because the oven was too hot. Used too mich baking powder. A cold draught caused by opening the oven door before the cake was set and leaving the oven to slam shut...

FISH CURRY

Ingredients....4 skinless salmon fillets, about 200 gm each, 1 tbs of lemon juice, 3 tbs of canola/ rice bran oil, 1 large onion, finely chopped, 1 tbs of minced garlic, 1 tbs of minced ginger, 1 tsp of ground turmeric 1 tsp of ground coriander, 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1 tsp of chilli powder, 250ml of coconut milk, 2 fresh chillies, chopped, 2 tbs of white wine vinegar, 2 tbs of fresh coriander, chopped, steamed rice/ mixed grains to serve. Slice each salmon fillet in half and lay them on a plate in a single layer and sprinkle over the lemon juice and rub in gently. Cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Cook the sliced onion in a large frypan with the oil until tender and golden. Now add the minced garlic and ginger and continue to cook and stir till combined, add the turmeric, ground coriander, cumin and chilli powder continue stir while cooking. Add the coconut milk, chopped chillies and vinegar. Stir well and simmer for 8 minutes. Add the salmon and cook gently for 10 minutes, stir in the fresh coriander and remove from the heat. Serve with the steamed rice/ grains. This will be on the Good friday menu at The manor.