Category: Dessert

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Passionate

My kitchen smells gorgeously of passionfruit. It’s Pooja Makhijani‘s fault — I was going to go to sleep, but I finished her online food writing class (first session), and just had to cook something. So, experimenting with passionfruit-vanilla marshmallows it is.

I kind of want to try to make three different kinds of passionfruit marshmallows actually:

– Vanilla Passion (with vanilla bean, and very little food coloring, so it’s nice and pale, possibly dipped in white chocolate)
– Chocolate Passion (straight-up passionfruit, but dipped in dark chocolate)
– Bloody Passion (passionfruit & blood orange)

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Sweet Milk Rice with Chili-Salt-Lime Mango & Jaggery

(30 minutes, serves 4)

Sweet milk rice:
1 c. short-grain white rice
2 c. water
1 T sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 c. sweetened coconut milk

Chili-Salt-Lime Mango
2 c. chopped mangoes
1/2 t. fine salt
1/2 t. chili powder (cayenne)
1 t. lime juice

4 t. jaggery, grated (or brown sugar)

1. Cook sweet milk rice: Put rice with water, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to boil, then cover and turn down to a simmer; cook 15 minutes. Take off lid and stir in coconut milk; simmer uncovered until coconut milk is absorbed, about 5-10 more minutes.

2. Chop mango and mix with chili, salt, and lime.

3. Serve warm milk rice with mango and a little jaggery sprinkled on top.

(Note: Rice can be made ahead, cut into pieces, and reheated in the microwave before serving. Mango can be made ahead, and will blend a little better if you do.)

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Mango-Cardamom-Saffron Tea Cakes (vegan)

(makes about 45 tea cakes)
 
Dry ingredients:
1.5 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. cardamom
 
Wet ingredients:
1.5 c. mango puree
1/3 cup oil
1/2 c. white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch saffron threads
 
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F, and butter & flour a tea cake pan (I use the spray, Baker’s Joy, which makes it so easy.)
 
2. Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then combine and whisk to a smooth batter texture by hand. (Don’t over-mix.)
 
3. Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (My pan holds 30, so I do one-and-a-half batches.
 
Serve hot — particularly nice with passionfruit curd, clotted cream, or pineapple-chili jam. Although my kids just gobbled them down straight up. (At some point, I think I may try this as a jelly roll with the passionfruit curd and cream.)
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Mango-Lime Pineapple Fluff

2 1/2 tablespoons (1 Knox packet) unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup water (divided use)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 c. mango puree
1/3 c. lime juice
8 oz. Cool Whip
1 cup chopped pineapple
orange food coloring (optional)
1. Place ½ c. of cold water in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Sprinkle the gelatin on top of the water, and stir to distribute the gelatin. Allow it to stand while you prepare the sugar syrup.
 
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and ½ cup of water. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then insert a candy thermometer. Cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 240 degrees.
3. Once it reaches 240 degrees, remove the pan from the heat. Turn the mixer to low, and while the mixer is running, slowly pour the hot syrup into the mixer bowl over the gelatin. Be careful, as the syrup is extremely hot.
 
4. Gradually increase the mixer speed to high. Continue to beat the marshmallow until it has tripled in volume and is extremely shiny and thick. This process will take approximately 12 minutes.
 
5. Once the marshmallow is done, add the room temperature mango puree and lime juice; continue mixing until it is fully incorporated. (Add food coloring, if desired.)
 
6. After the puree and coloring is incorporated, turn off mixer, and stir in chopped pineapple.
 
7. Fold in Cool Whip and turn into a serving dish. Enjoy!
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Hawaii: Local neighborhood + malasadas @ Pipeline

After brunch at Koko Head Cafe yesterday, we did a little Christmas shopping in that neighborhood, which has a bunch of small mom-and-pop stores. We hit up two separate comic book stores, where I found a Goku action figure for Anand, and a compendium of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld comics for Kavya, score! I hope she likes it; Amethyst was my introduction to comic books, found flipping through bins at my local library. It’s a shame that it’s only been reprinted in black and white, though — a lot of what was appealing about it to ten-year-old me was all the PINK, which showed up shockingly well amidst all the dark-toned Batman, etc. comics.

We also found several small holiday gifts (like Hawaii-themed hair ties) at Sugarcane (https://www.facebook.com/sugarcanehawaii/), an adorable little gift shop with a mix of local-made, vintage, and other items.

When we had a little more room in our tummies, we walked over to Pipeline (all of these were within a few blocks) where we had PERFECT malasadas, light and airy and made fresh to your order. Jed went for the classic sugar-coated one; I reveled in the li hing sugar-coated one, which had a slightly tangy-salty flavor, which contrasted beautifully with the haupia (coconut) vegan ice cream, made with straight up coconut milk, and you could totally tell; nothing like any coconut ice cream I’ve had on the mainland. So good.

  

Then we drove over to South Shore Market to finish our holiday shopping; several nice stores selling fairly standard gift-y things, but many made by smaller local businesses.

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Hawaii: Farmer’s Market Bread and Fruit

Last night we ended up swinging by the farmer’s market set up in the mall across the street and making our dinner out of what was on offer — basically sweet breads and fruit. Works for me. The apple bananas continue delicious, but the big find was a Spanish sweet bread by way of the Philippines, ensaimada, which I am now madly in love with.
 
It reminds me of SOMETHING else that I really like, but I can’t place it. Is there some Sri Lankan baked good like this? I don’t think so, so what am I forgetting? Well, regardless, delicious. Butter + sugar = can’t go wrong, really.
Here’s a little article about it:

“The ensemada has absolutely no nutritional value, unless you consider happiness to be good for the health.

Light, buttery and full of sugar, it is the ultimate empty carb. But you only live once, right?
For those unfamiliar with this fabulous pastry, an ensemada — sometimes spelled ensamada or ensaimada — has Spanish origins, but is best known in Hawaii in its Filipino version, a large, coiled bun spread with a butter and sugar topping.”
   
 
 
  
 
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Hawaii: Loco & Apple

I tried the classic loco moco (white rice, burger patty, eggs, brown gravy), and while I can see that it could easily be comfort food for many, it is not for me. I think I’m just not so much of a brown gravy person. The apple bananas, on the other hand, are addictive, and I would gladly eat many more of them. They are small and cute and apple-y.
 
 
I didn’t try the sandwiches on taro bread, but I had to take a picture because they were so delightfully purple. I did like the warm banana-taro bread pudding with a warm haupia (coconut milk-based) sauce.  Yum.
 
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Love Cake

(Second recipe with this photo!)
 
Love Cake
(two hours, including baking time; serves dozens)
 
Some say this Portuguese-derived cake was baked to win the hearts of suitors, while others say it’s because of the labor of love involved in all the cutting, chopping and grinding of the fruits, nuts, and spices (much easier these days with access to a food processor). But regardless, it tastes like love: sweet, tangy, and fragrant. My mother says it doesn’t taste right without the crystallized pumpkin, which you can find at Indian grocery stores, though honestly, I like it just as well with the candied ginger. A perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.
 
8 ounces butter, softened, plus more for greasing
16 ounces raw unsalted cashews
10 ounces fine granulated sugar
10 egg yolks
Zest of two limes
Zest of one orange
Juice of two limes
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup honey
3 drops rosewater extract (or two teaspoons rosewater)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 ounces semolina, toasted
3 ounces candied ginger and/or crystallized pumpkin, minced as finely as possible
5 egg whites
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
 
1. Preheat the oven to 250. Grease a 9×13 baking dish with butter and line it with two layers of parchment paper. Grease the paper with butter.
 
2. In food processor, grind cashews to coarse meal.
3. In a standing mixer (paddle attachment), beat 8 oz butter and granulated sugar until creamy. Add egg yolks and mix well. Add zest, juice, spices, honey, rosewater and vanilla; mix well.
 
4. Add semolina and mix well; add cashews and candied ginger / pumpkin and mix well.
 
5. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff; fold gently into cake mixture.
 
6. Spoon batter into prepared pan; bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until firm to the touch. (Alternatively, spoon into buttered & floured (Baker’s Joy makes this easy) mini tea cake molds (Nordicware made the excellent one I used for this) and bake for about 40 minutes.)
 
7. Let cool completely in the pan, dust with confectioner’s sugar (optional), cut into squares and serve.
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Milk Toffee

(I have two food items in one photo. I could put both recipes together, but I think it makes more sense to just post the photo twice.)
 
Milk Toffee / Pal Tofi
(30 minutes + cooling time, serves dozens)
 
This is a classic Sri Lankan dessert, but this particular recipe was originally my aunt’s. It’s one of my favorites, very sweet, with a great crystalline texture than melts in your mouth (a little reminiscent of maple candy in that regard). I’ve re-made it several times now, with a candy thermometer, trying to pin down exact measurements. The dessert is remarkably similar to New Orleans pralines (cashews instead of roasted pecans, and cut into pieces, rather than dropped on wax paper), and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Portuguese brought the dessert to both regions.
 
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 lb sugar
1/2 can water
1/2 lb to 3/4 lb chopped cashews (it’s fine if they’re roasted / salted)
2 TBL vanilla
1 stick butter
 
1. Put sugar, water and condensed milk together on medium-high in big nonstick pot, stirring briefly to combine. (It doesn’t have to be nonstick, but it will be easier to clean afterwards.) Watch carefully, without stirring. While mixture is cooking, grease a 9 x 12 glass baking dish or cake pan with butter; also prepare an oiled spatula for later.
 
2. When the mixture starts boiling over (around 225 on a candy thermometer), lower heat to medium. Cook for about 10 minutes (no need to stir at this point). When it starts to thicken (watery thickness), add cashews and stir. When it thickens a bit more, add vanilla and stir (it will fizz up a bit at this). Stir slowly and constantly from this point forward.
 
3. When it starts sticking to the pan / pulling away from the sides (soft-ball stage, 235 degrees), add 1 stick of butter and mix it in. As soon as the butter melts, take pot off stove and pour immediately into buttered pan, using an oiled spatula to get it all out. It should smooth out on its own. (Be careful pouring, as candy syrup will burn you badly!)
 
4. It will still be too soft to cut. Let cool for at least 30 minutes, then try cutting it with an oiled knife. If it doesn’t stick to your knife, you can cut it into pieces; small squares are traditional. Enjoy!