Halo Halo There!

I've discovered that the joys of travel can be re-created within the confines of your home through poring over old photos and trying out exotic recipes. One of my most interesting travel food experiences was whilst we were in Manila. Ed and I walked into this little restaurant that was doing a buffet of local food. The place, though busy, did not have a single tourist in sight (other than ourselves) and I took that to be a good sign. We tucked into a variety of local delicacies including the most random dessert ever, Halo Halo. Halo Halo literally means 'mix mix'. Whilst the traditional Halo Halo recipes (including what we tasted in Manila) include beans, shaved ice, rice, coconut water jelly, jackfruit, yam and evaporated milk, you can be flexible with the ingredients. I've made two versions of the recipe so far and my favourite one is below.



And whilst I tuck into this little delightful dessert, I am reminiscing about an adventurous day off our cruise ship in Manila; exploring little alleyways, posing with lady boys, witnessing some incredible ice skating, taking in the city's culture and history and smiling at the best health & safety poster I'd seen in a long time.

Ingredients:

Sharon fruit, chopped

Kiwi, chopped

Nata De Coco ( can be bought from Asian stores)

Ice-cream (any flavour, I used vanilla)

Mixed nuts

Evaporated milk

Grenadine liqueur

Method:

Fill the glass/serving dish with 1 cm'ish layers of the various ingredients. Choose any structure you fancy. I started mine with a layer of nuts and followed on with grenadine, ice-cream, kiwi, coconut gel, ice-cream, sharon fruit, coconut water gel and some more ice-cream. Pour evaporated milk over this mixture and its good to serve. I'd love to know if you've made Halo Halo too and what your versions looked like. Ann x

Cheeky Chocolate Fondant

Now that I had a simple starter and main course sorted for the husband's birthday, I focused my energy on dessert. The choice was unanimous and based on a recent visit to the Beehive in Peterborough. There we shared a chocolate fondant for dessert and it was divine. I looked around for recipes and chose the Gordon Ramsay version as a starting point.

Ingredients:
200g plain flour

200g dark chocolate + a small bar of plain chocolate

200g caster sugar

200g unsalted butter

4 eggs

25g butter for melting and lining the moulds

Cocoa powder and icing sugar for dusting

Method:

Line the baking moulds ( or ramekins in my case) with melted butter  and allow it to cool in the fridge. Once cooled brush some more butter and then dust evenly with cocoa powder. Shake off any excess. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, add sugar and mix well. Now slowly add the flour and mix well. In another bowl melt dark chocolate and butter together. The gurus say do it over simmering water. I did it for 15 secs at a time in a covered bowl in the microwave. I think my method is quicker. Now add the butter-chocolate mixture to the flour-egg-sugar mixture and mix well. Pour into the baking moulds and chill for about 30 mins. The batter should set a little now. Now this is my touch: I broke cubes off the plain chocolate bar and pushed a cube into the heart of very fondant mixture. Stick this in a pre-heated oven at 180 deg for about 10 mins till a crust is formed. Once done, take it out and let it cool for a couple of mins before extracting the fondant. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar, fresh strawberries or raspberries ( or both!) and some orange sorbet ( or any ice cream). Your fondant should melt in the middle like in this picture. Thanks Gordon. Ann x

Courgette and Lemon Jelly Sorbet

Like most allotmenteers, we've been having a courgette glut this year. I've used these babies in pretty much any recipe I could think of and slowly getting bored. Yesterday I happened to see a recipe in the Times for a courgette sorbet and I instantly loved the idea. As we were planning a picnic with friends I wasnt sure the frozen sorbet would really work so I improvised a bit and added a couple of my own ingredients- gelatine and rum. The result was tasty. Different but tasty. Here is what I did.

I chopped a couple of small courgettes and pureed them in a blender with 1/4 cup of lime juice. I then added caster sugar, rum and a few mint leaves and blended the mixture again. In a small saucepan I added 1/4 cup of water and added two gelatine leaves. I simmered this so as to melt the gelatine leaves completely. I then added the gelatine mixture to the green mix in the blender, blended a couple of more times before pouring them into jelly moulds and freezing them. To serve, garnish with a mint leaf and a top with a teaspoon of rum!

Fresh Figs and Pear Tart

I know I've been cheeky posting lots of photos of food recently with no recipes attached. Sadly the day job and stuff has kept me so busy that I've had no time for blogging. I've promised myself I'll finish the incomplete posts after April. Anyway, I'll leave you with one nice and simple recipe that is yum yum yum! My husband finished off most of what I made of this already and its not been very long at all! Here you go.

Ingredients:
6 Fresh Figs
1 Pear, peeled
250g puff pastry
Flour and sugar for dusting

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 200 C. Roll out the pastry till its about 2.5 mm thick. Cut out circular sections (approx 5-6cm dia is what I used) using a pastry cutter or dish. Slice the figs and pear and place them in each of these pastry sections. Sprinkle sugar. Stick it in the oven for about 20 min at 180 C. When the pastry has browned and risen well and the figgy juices start to flow, your tart is ready to eat. Its lovely eaten on its own or with some vanilla ice-cream. Enjoy! Ann x

Pazham Pori (Plantain Fritters)

 

A few days ago, a cousin and wife came to visit and brought  with them a bagful of Keralite treasures.Over the last few years I had reconciled myself to not having access to some of my favourite home food including vegetables that you only find back home. My cousin though had discovered this Keralite store in Ipswich that sold pretty much anything you wanted. Muringkka, kovakkai, fish pickles etc. etc. His bag of treasure also contained ethapazham (plantains) and that inspired me to make one of my favourite desserts.

Ingredients:

2 plantains, halved and sliced lengthways into halves again

100g self-raising flour

1 tbsp rice flour

1 tsp salt

A pinch of turmeric

2 tbsp sugar

Water as required to make a suitable batter

Method:

Coat the plantain slices in batter and deep fry till golden brown. Serve hot. Yum!

Christmas Pudding: Chandler Household Style

I've never made Christmas pudding before and so was very excited about my first attempt. I was quite ambitious and so decided to make 3 including one to give to family. I watched many videos of pudding making and chose a recipe that was mainly Delia Smith's but a little inspired by Nigella's non-conformist pudding. I steamed one and microwaved two and was very impressed with the results esp of the latter. So much less effort! In true Chandler family style we added lots and lots of alcohol, mainly Guinness, brandy, Cointreau, and a dash of rum. It smells divine and I can't wait for Christmas. Recipe to follow shortly.

Profiteroles

Poached Pears

This is a light and delicious recipe and can me made ina  short space of time.

Ingredients:

200 ml red wine
50g caster sugar
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick/powder
2 star anise
1 tsp vanilla essence/vanilla pod split
7 conference pears peeled with stalks
150g plain chocolate, chopped 85g/3oz unsalted butter

Method:

Add the wine, sugar, cloves, star anise, cinnamon and vanilla in a casserole dish. When the wine mix begins to simmer, add the pears and poach for about 30 mins. Turn often so all the pears get soaked well.
For the chocolate sauce, melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl placed over a saucepan of hot water. Mix well.
Drain the pears. Most recipes recommend reducing the wine mixture but as I’ve used less wine than most recipes, I didn’t.
Pour chocolate sauce over the pears and serve. Works well with vanilla ice-cream too.