SRI LANKAN SALAD MOJU

Thank god I have something to blog about. Finally. I was getting a little desperate and was considering taking pictures of my cat.

This is a dish where I had scrutinized the tv, furrowed my eyebrows and pricked my ears up just to get at that little bit of ingredient that I kept missing on AFC because some people were having a cross fire discussion on either side of me, quite loudly, or someone called out for me at that very crucial moment, quite loudly, or the surat khabar lama man (old newspaper collecting man) announced himself, quite loudly.

And what made it totally weird was that it each happened at the exact moment that particular ingredient was being thrown in and mentioned by the Sri Lankan chef while Bobby Chin chatted into his ear, quite loudly, which blurred out the word of the ingredient that he was mentioning anyway.



Finally though after watching the show once again (again) (thank God for reruns) I finally caught the word. And it was just a spoonful of plain old sugar...

Then I became puzzled by the word moju......I just had to know what it meant. This is a brinjal moju, then there is also the fish moju. I googled but I couldn't find the meaning for the word anywhere. Feeling a little frustrated I finally requested my son to enquire the meaning from his Sri Lankan friend and it turns out that moju simply means pickle or something like a pickle. And that makes sense because this dish uses vinegar and is sort of picklish in flavour.



The ingredients that went in made this dish very enticing. There were so many flavours folded in. It has cinnamon, garlic, ginger, a fruit pickle, pepper, vinegar, fried dried anchovies (ikan bilis)and mustard seed paste. The last was a very intriguing ingredient because I have never used pounded mustard seeds before.



Although sauteed mustard seeds taste pleasantly nutty with an almost groundnut flavour, roasted/sauteed and pounded mustard seeds however gave off such an unexpected and astonishing albeit familiar aroma that it took me quite by surprise and it was quite a while before I could place my finger on that very familiar smell. Finally after taking it all in I realized that it had the exact same aroma as dry fried grated coconut which had then been pounded to a paste. Exactly.

I then tasted it and it was simply good. I loved it. I couldn't wait to get to the end of this dish because it looked terribly appetizing and saliva inducing.



So here's the recipe.....

4 small brinjals
3-4 whole green chillies
5-6 shallots peeled and left whole

2 pips garlic, peeled
1 inch ginger, skinned
1/2 inch cinnamon
ground black pepper
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp sugar
1 or 2 tbsp of mango chutney (or other fruit chutney)
1 -2 tsp rice vinegar (I used apple cider) or you clould use tamarind juice (yum)
2 tbsp or sauteed mustard seeds pounded to a paste

a handful of dried anchovies fried to a crisp (optional)

Pound garlic, ginger and cinnamon bark in a pestle and mortar using some salt as an abrasive.

In a medium bowl put in the ginger/garlic paste, add tumeric powder, some ground black pepper mango chutney, vinegar and the lovely mustard seed paste. Mix tehm all around and add some pepper or cayenne pepper if you like to spice it up.

Cut the brinjals into thickish strips (very much like chunky fries) and deep fry the brinjals, shallots and whole chillies in hot oild briefly just until the brinjals turn light brown. Drain
of excess oil and put them into the bowl of dressing.Add the fried anchovies and mix them up like you would salad. Adjust flavours by adding a little more salt,vinegar or chutney to your taste. Serve. YUMMM

BEST BLOG AWARD FROM TRACIE

Well it looks like July is an award month for me. I just got a Best Blog Award from Tracie of Bittersweet Flavours. Thank you so much Tracie dear. Love it! My second in a row. It is really a neat feeling to get to know so many wonderful and generous people through blogging. And I don't even have to step out of my house! It's amazing. One more reason to keep on blogging.

I'll have to pass this on to five more great blogs and make 5 more people real happy.

As always there are rules..........

1. To accept the award, post it on your blog and thank the person who granted you the award with his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 5 other blogs that you have discovered and think are great.

3. Remember to contact the blogger to inform them that they have been awarded.

Ok now...this award goes to

La Table De Nana
Elin of Elinluv's tidbit corner
Jennifer of Maple and Cornbread
Jenny of Picky Palate
Lori of Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness

PEARL SAGO PUDDING

There was a time when school children were required to starch their uniforms if they wanted it to look crisp, neat and smart.

So we made starch from tapioca flour. I used to do that. I mixed some tapioca flour with a little water to make a nice thick paste and while I waited for the water to boil in the kettle I would pinch little pieces of the chalk white mixture from the bowl and let it drop onto the window sill. It would form into little blobs and it was these blobs that fascinated me. They were not quite liquid nor were they quite solid. They were in between. Like mercury, almost.

I would blow at them and they would roll and quiver as the sun shone on them. Sometimes I would nudge them gently with my finger and they would do a little roll, quiver and then come to rest in a blob. Sometimes I would let a big blob drop to the floor and watch it break into a million blobs dots. They looked almost like sago granules. I would do this in complete fascination and it would hold my attention for quite a while until the water came to a boil.

And when I added the hot boiling water it would turn completely translucent after a few stirrings and that was what I used to starch my uniform with, by soaking it in the liquid starch, hanging the slimy thing out to dry in the sun, ironed it to a crisp and that was the cardboard that I marched to school in everyday almost all of my primary school life.

Over the years as I moved upwards and life progressed my spinach green, box pleated, cotton pinafores of my primary years gave way to a synthetic fabric in a bright turqoise blue which did not require starching.

But starch was something I continued to make with tapioca flour because that was what I used as gum for school art projects. It was exactly the same as the making of starch for my school uniform but very much thicker and gummier.

Then one day in the early days of my marriage whilst surviving mostly in a semi conscious state I ventured out into making some sago pudding, a much loved dessert. When I had boiled the white sago granules long enough and they had turned translucent, I poured them into moulds, chilled them in the refrigerator and one bite later I found that I had actually made starch. That was what it felt like and that was what it smelled like and that was what it tasted like. It was a childhood memory reincarnated into a face screwing pudding. I threw it away.


But after life shook me by the shoulders a few months and years later, snapping me out of my state of enlightenment, by handing me a complete stranger in the form of a shrieking baby and more babies and more babies later I became animated and adventurous and discovered through experimentation that the secret to making a good sago pudding that doesn't taste like a big blob of starch/gum for an art project was to simply rid it of excess starch.


And that was exactly what I did. I rid it of the excess starch and the sago pudding became magically edible worthy and deserving of a rich and thick dark palm sugar syrup and creamy coconut milk flowing down its sides and resting in a divine pool around it.

I have never looked back since (whatever that means) and every time I came across someone who made starch instead of sago pudding and lamented about it I remained tight lipped and refused to share my little secret. I revelled meanly at her perplexed state and offered no suggestions. (I'm feeling guilty right now..heh..repent Zurin).

I remained mean for a good number of years until today when I have decided to be gracious and share my little secret with you (if you still haven't yet discovered it for yourself that is). :P

Here's the recipe....for 4 small servings

150 gm of sago pearls (I used the small ones)
4 - 5 cups of water

some palm sugar or muscovado sugar
white granulated sugar, about 1 tablespoon
about 1 cup of water
a pandan leaf

1/2 cup of coconut cream
pinch of salt

Pour the 4-5 cups of water in a small pot. Pour in the sago pearls and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. When it has come to a boil lower the flame to small and watch the pot because starch/sago burns easily. Cook and stir until the sago pearls turn transparent/translucent and there are very little white spots visible.

Remove from heat and over the kitchen sink pour the cooked sago mixture into a fine sieve. Run some water from your tap through the sago mixture whilst stirring the sago in the sieve with a wooden spoon. This will rid it of all the excess starch and what is left in the sieve will be lovely translucent pearls of sago. Leave a little water in if you want a softer pudding.

Scoop the sago into 4 little moulds or one larger mould and chill in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile make the palm sugar syrup to your taste and consistency (using the pandan leaf as a flavouring when you're boiling the syrup) and when done pour into a small jug (discard the pandan leaf). Add a pinch of salt to the coconut cream, stir and pour into a small jug.

When the sago pudding has firmed up which will happen very quickly unmould them by running a knife around the edges and teasing it out onto a saucer or bowl. Serve and let guests help themselves tot eh syrup and cream. Delish!

COFFEE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE 'N CHOCOLATE BARKS

I have been debating with myself over making this cake for the past few weeks. Unfortunately cakes just have too much sugar, eggs and butter while the ganache has so much cream in it that I just don't want to make it for the family too often and especially so when I am not able to resist anything that looks even remotely like chocolate. I've been working at the gym like a good girl and too much cake and cream is just not going to be good for me/you and everyone else. And just in case you didn't notice that's the reason I don't blog too much about cakes with cream, fudge or frosting etc. But, the devil won and finally with much guilt and bad feeling I did it. I gave in. I succumbed like a cookie crumb to ants.

I had to make this coffee cake and slap on that darkly lovely ganache.

But I always say this little prayer before I indulge.....

If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories. If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in the candy bar are cancelled out by the diet soda. When you eat with someone else, calories don't count if you don't eat more than they do. Food used for medicinal purposes NEVER count, such as chocolate, brandy, toast and Sara Lee Cheesecake. If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner. Cookie pieces contain no calories. The process of breaking causes caloric leakage. Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you are in the process of preparing something. Examples : peanut butter on a knife when making a sandwich, or ice cream on a spoon when making a sundae. Foods that have the same colour have the same number of calories. Examples : spinach and pistachio ice cream, or mushrooms and white chocolate. Note : chocolate is a universal colour and may be substituted for any other food colour.

Whoever wrote this is a genius.


The cake was moist, soft and quite rich but could do with more coffee in it. And if you like, lots of choc chips too! I made it once with choc chips and it was so good. The ganache was fabulous...as always...Rose's recipe never fails me. YUM. I was licking my fingers at every smear I made. There were a lot of smears believe me. Unfortunately our hot weather made the ganache a little soft so it didn't show through well between the layers but was ok on the top. I did not coat the cake too thickly though....just too rich. But nobody complained.


I made the whole recipe but divided them between 2 pans about 6 inches in diameter so that I could frost only one of them and left the other one plain. Less fat for everyone. I made the chocolate barks from melted chocolate a little earlier in the morning and chilled them in the refrigerator. I didn't take a picture of how I made them but they're pretty easy to do. I might make them again tomorrow just to take some pictures to blog.


Anyway here's the recipe.................

280 butter
250 sugar
250 self raising flour (I used plain and added 2 tspbaking powder)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 large eggs
2 or more tbsp instant coffee plus 1 tbsp hot water to dissolve coffee, leave aside to cool.
2 tbsp cream/milk ( I used sour cream, which I think doesn't make any difference to the final cake)

Set the oven at 180 C. Prepare 2 9 inch sandwich pans.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Mix the coffee mixture with the milk/cream.

Beat butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add egg one at a time and beat until fluffy. Add the coffee and cream/milk mixture. Take it off the mixer if you're using one and fold in the flour with a spatula in 3 batches.

Add chocolate chips at this point if using (YUM).

Pour into pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes (depending on your oven). Will spring back lightly if done the sides will shrink a little,

Turn out after 6 or 7 minutes and allow to cool completely.

Ganache....Rose Beranbaum's recipe

340 gm bittersweet chocolate
385 gm heavy cream/whipping cream
57 gm unsalted butter (optional) (I did not use this)
28 Cognac (I did not use this)

Break chocolate into pieces and process in food processor until very fine. Heat the cream to boiling point and with the food processor running, pour in the cream in a steady stream. Process a few seconds until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and cool completely. Gently stir in the optional butter if using and the Cognac. Allow to cool several hours before using.

I sandwiched the cake with ganache and topped it with ganache too. Normally when I'm not being lazy or for special occassions I would make a light chocolate butter cream and use that to sandwich the cakes together and the cake will only be covered with ganache. Then topped with chocolate barks. The different flavours and textures of the chocolate butter cream, the ganache and the coffee and the chocolate barks make a sensational combination.