Category: Dessert

Well, that was a little frustrating. I tried making two different versions of Sri Lankan sesame seed balls, hoping to include one in Vegan Serendib, and I’m afraid I didn’t like either one. They’re both Jaffna recipes, Ella Urundai (sesame fudge) and Sesame Seed Pori Ma, and both made with roasted sesame seeds, rice floor, and jaggery.

They came out looking fine (though I did need to add a little sesame oil to help them bind together). But I just don’t like the taste — it has an edge of bitterness, and the roasted rice flour is kind of grainy even after binding with the flour and jaggery.

It might’ve worked better if I’d done a jaggery syrup, and combined in that? I’m not sure. But I think I’m going to try a different approach if I do this again — there are Sinhalese recipes for sesame balls made with jaggery and coconut — no rice flour, and that sounds better. I’ve also seen variations adding in Medjool dates, which sounds yum. (I’m not positive I actually like sesame candy, though, which might be the real problem.)

Alas. Sometimes, experiments don’t work out. We still learn things. Science!

Children and cake — two great tastes that taste great together.

This didn’t quite work — I wanted to try making a forsythia and pandan cake. Made forsythia tea, subbed in a cup of it for a cup of water in the cake mix. (I also added an extra egg and subbed in melted butter for the oil in the cake mix.) But I don’t think I can really taste any difference; I’m not sure forsythia is strong enough to overcome a yellow box cake.

AND I added pandan powder to make some of the batter green; I got a two-color cake effect when I cut into the baked cake, but I honestly couldn’t taste the pandan either. (Pandan has sort of a grassy-coconut flavor.) Pandan extract next time, I think — pandan powder has failed me.

But it’s still pretty, so that’s something, and the kids thought it was delicious. They’re not so picky about cake, though.

It’s Jed’s birthday today, and he said he didn’t particularly need a cake, but I had to cook SOMETHING, so I made him birthday Danish aebleskiver. He had his with dark chocolate and raspberry jam. Happy birthday, sweetie!

The kids were very appreciative of the surprise pancake ball treat. They had theirs with butter and syrup, per usual.

Next time, Dutch poffertjes — I can use the same pan, right? And then I get to try making Sri Lankan kundu thosai, which is the real reason I bought this pan…

Anyone know whether the Danish or Dutch version came first?

Okay, this is not my neatest cake decorating ever, but I was trying to get into the spirit of Mardi Gras. It might have ended up sort of a cross between Mardi Gras and Holi, because I used colored edible dust for the purple and green instead of sprinkles? But a little exuberance for the coming of spring is a good thing.

Purple here represents justice, green represents faith, and gold represents power. Happy Mardi Gras!

In the before times, I probably would’ve felt like I needed a REASON to start baking a cake at midnight.

Eleven months of pandemic + several weeks of cold & snow = REASON ENOUGH.

Why am I making ice cream in the dead of winter? Well, we’ve almost finished eating all the ice cream from the summer, and we wanted more ice cream. Also, I had a lot of mango-passionfruit curd (made because I had a lot of egg yolks left over after making chai meringue kisses), and I wanted to try something, hence: mango-passionfruit ice cream. It is VERY good.

This did push the capacity of my little ice cream maker, so you might want to reduce quantities a bit. But this is what I made.

*****

Mango & Passionfruit Ice Cream

1 c. mango-passionfruit curd (plus more for topping)

1. Prepare ice cream bowl the night before (mine requires freezing overnight.)

2. Whisk all ingredients except the curd together until the sugar dissolves, pour into ice cream bowl and churn following manufacturer’s instructions.

3. After about 10-15 minutes, it should be starting to look ice cream-ish. Add in passionfruit curd. (Could you just add it in at the beginning? Probably, but I didn’t try that, so no guarantees!) Continue to churn until you reach soft-serve consistency — generally 25-40 minutes total.

(Alternately, you should be able to make the vanilla ice cream, transfer it to a container, add the mango-passionfruit curd, then use a knife to drag it through, creating a ribbon of curd through the vanilla ice cream. I haven’t tried that yet, though!)

4. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze. (When I pulled mine out the next day, it was a soft frozen consistency, easy to eat with a spoon, creamy and delectable.)

5. Serve with a little more mango-passionfruit curd dolloped on top. Whipped cream and/or hot fudge would also go very nicely.

NOTE: For a Sri Lankan-style ice cream sundae, consider this ice cream with plenty of fresh mango, banana, avocado, a little drizzle of lime-ginger syrup to tie it all together, and some salted roasted cashews on top!

NOTE 2: Curd recipe is here.

(makes approximately 2 1/2 c.)

I doubled the amount when I was making this, because I had PLANS for my passionfruit curd. But this is probably an appropriate amount for reasonable people. Fabulous topping for vanilla ice cream (or mixed in while making your own, to create mango-passionfruit ice cream), equally fabulous on a scone, ideally with a bit of clotted cream or butter.

(Honestly, sometimes I just open the fridge, grab a jar, and help myself to a spoonful straight up. It’s fruit! And eggs! Surely that’s good for you…)

Recipe adapted from Nik Sharma’s recipe for passionfruit curd. Sharma uses fresh passionfruit for his, so has lovely little seed flecks; you can certainly do that as well, if you have fresh passionfruit on hand, though it’s a bit more work and does change the texture. A food thermometer is very helpful for making curd of any kind, though not a requirement.

Ingredients:

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1. Make a double-boiler: fill a medium saucepan with about an inch of water and bring to a simmer; place a large heat-proof bowl over the saucepan. (The water shouldn’t touch the base of the bowl.)

2. Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl and whisk about 6-8 minutes; mixture will thicken and turn pale yellow (around 151F). (You may want to use an electric beater, to save your arm.)

3. Whisk in the passionfruit puree, mango puree, butter, and salt until combined. Switch to a silicone spatula, and from this point on, stir constantly, scraping the sides of the bowl regularly. Cook until the mixture thickens, about 10-12 minutes (to about 165-170F). You’re aiming for a thick, custard-like consistency. Congrats, you’ve achieved curd!

4. Remove and transfer the curd to a container — if you’ve whisked and stirred well, there shouldn’t be any scrambled egg bits. If there are, you can strain the curd through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth.

5. Cover (a piece of plastic film pressed against the surface will avoid a skin forming) and refrigerate at least 4 hours until chilled. Keep refrigerated and use within one week. (It never lasts that long here.) You may also freeze it for up to one month.

I gave Kavi the little village cake mold to use for her chocolate cake, and so I HAD to put them out in a snowy sea of meringue. I was tempted to try to make little trees out of chocolate and add them to the scene, but we’re not actually having a party, of course, and I have courses to prep for — classes start on Monday. So I think I will stop here.