▢1 cup golden syrup or light molasses or corn syrup
▢2 ¼ cups fresh bread crumbs
▢Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
▢1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for brushing over the crust
Instructions
▢For the crust, place the flour, confectioner’s sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the flour mixture. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal without any white powdery bits remaining, about 20 pulses. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Beat the egg yolks with the cream and vanilla and pour them into the flour-butter mixture. Toss with a spatula until the dough clumps together. If the dough is dry, add 1 more tablespoon heavy cream (better too wet than too dry). Divide the dough in half, form into disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
▢Just before you are ready to roll out the dough, prepare the filling. Warm the golden syrup in a saucepan until it is runny, or microwave it for 1 minute. Combine the golden syrup, bread crumbs, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a mixing bowl and mix well.
▢Preheat the oven to 400F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. On a floured surface, roll out the larger disk to an 11-inch circle. Fold it into quarters, brush off the excess flour with a pastry brush after each fold, then unfold it into a 9-inch tart pan, easing the sides gently into the pan and pressing the dough into the fluted edges. Trim the dough even with the rim. Roll out the second disk 1/8-inch thick. Cut the dough in long strips for the lattice topping.
▢Scrape the filling into the prepared crust and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Lay half the strips of dough over the filling in one direction and the other half in the opposite direction to form a lattice. Trim the overhang. Gently brush the beaten egg over the lattice.
▢Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375F and bake another 25 minutes until the crust is browned and the filling puffs up in the center. Serve warm with custard or whipped cream.
Use a food processor to grind up your almonds to a flour-type consistency. Don’t use almond flour here. You want the flavor.
Mix everything together. You should get a soft, but thick dough. Now, here’s where I went off the rails. It’s worth mentioning I was mostly down a hand because I broke up a dog scuffle and had a decent bite or two on my hand so probably wasn’t the best idea to try and squeeze this thick ass dough… Alas, earwax.
Anywho, you’re supposed to use a large star nozzle and pipe out rings. Apparently if you have a meat grinder.. you can use that to make your ropes and go from there…that should tell you how THICC this dough is. A meat grinder.
Once you’ve formed what you’re gonna form, bake at 400F for 6 minutes or until light brown.
Mine came out ugly as sin, but were so damn tasty. I’ll have to play around with the recipe to figure out the best extraction in the future..who knows, maybe I’ll break out the meat grinder.
This recipe takes a few steps, but its well worth it in my opinion 🙂
I took a shortcut with the rabri and used sweetened condensed milk.
RabriIngredients:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups whole milk
1/8 tsp cardamom powder
a few saffron strands
chopped pistachios and almonds for topping
Chenna/Paneer Ingredients:
5 cups whole milk
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
a handful of ice cubes
Sugar Syrup Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
Start out by making your Rabri. Combine your condensed milk and whole milk over medium heat and stir until it all comes together. Add your cardamom and saffron, then set to lowest heat and simmer while you get your other ingredients together.
Time to work on your chenna/paneer. This was super cool for me because while cooking is definitely a science, this is the first time it felt like doing an experiment. Anywho, bring 5 cups of milk to a boil and then turn off the heat. Add lemon juice and stir until your milk completely curdles. If you’re having issues curdling, add some more lemon juice. Add a handful of ice cubes and let sit for a couple minutes so it’s not too hot to handle. Line a colander with a muslin cloth (in a pinch, a nice kitchen towel works..just not the fuzzy kind) Pour your curdled mess into the colander and rinse with cold water to make sure you get the lemon juice off. Pull all your corners of your cloth together and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. If you’re able, tie it as tight as you can and hang it over your faucet so it can continue to dribble out cheese water. mmmm cheese water
After about an hour you should be good to go with your Chenna. There should be no more dripping and it should be moist but not super sticky.
Time to be a kneady bitch.
Transfer your chenna to a plate and knead for about 3-5 minutes. There’s no exact time on this one you’re doing it all by feel. Knead it until it’s smooth and non-sticky. Make 12 even sized balls and flatten gently to form discs. If you have any cracking, just roll the sides gently. No one needs to know. How are they gonna know?
We’re almost done, I promise. Now to make the sugar syrup! Boil 3 1/2 cups water with 1 cup sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves and then add cardamom powder. When syrup begins to boil rapidly, gently add your chenna discs and cook covered for 9-10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep lid on for 20 minutes. For 20 minutes, pretend they don’t exist. You’ll know they’re ready when they sink to the bottom of the pan. Remove from syrupy grave and let cool briefly.
Time to assemble this sweet mouth potpourri!
Gently squeeze excess syrup out of your discs by lightly pressing between your palms. Add these to your rabri- make sure to remove from heat- and let rest for 3-4 hours. I never said this was a quick process.
Garnish with your nuts..heh
You can serve warm or cold.
I learned the hard way that my wife doesn’t like pistachios. I don’t know how I never found this out. Don’t worry, we’ve reconciled and the divorce has been postponed. More pistachios for meeee!!!
In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil and gently add entire cabbage. Boil for 3-5 minutes, until outer leaves soften slightly, but not falling apart. Remove as many leaves as you can easily, careful not to tear them. Boil the cabbage up to about 3 more minutes, as needed to remove the leaves. Discard the core and coarsely chop the extra cabbage leaves. Mix the chopped leaves with the carrot pieces and line the bottom of a large pot.
Once the leaves are cool enough to handle, cut off as much of the center stem on the outside of each leaf as possible without cutting into the leaf.
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, fry the onion, bell pepper, and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Once cooled, mix in a large bowl with the rice, ground meat, egg, and salt and pepper.
On a work surface, place a large spoonful of the meat and rice, about 1/2 cup, onto the cabbage leaf close to the bottom of the stem. Fold in the sides over the meat and roll up the leaf tightly to close. Repeat with remaining leaves until there is no meat and rice left.
Place the filled rolls seam side down on the chopped cabbage and carrots in the large pot. Sprinkle each layer with salt and pepper.
In a medium bowl, stir together tomato sauce, stock, and bay leaves. Pour over the layered cabbage rolls. Bring the sauce to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for about an hour, until meat filling is cooked through.
Remove the cooked cabbage rolls from the pot. Stir the sour cream into the remaining sauce. Serve the cabbage rolls hot with the sour cream sauce.
So the original recipe only called for salt and pepper to be added when you layer the rolls in the pot. Do yourself a favor and season your meat mixture. In the end, it was still good, just bland.
Finding a recipe for this one was slim pickins. This was a fail for sure. I think. I need to find a Madagascar native for reference.
This recipe turned out…odd for me, but maybe you’ll have better results
Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 Tbs sugar
1 pinch nutmeg, grated
1 pinch clove
5 Tbs tapioca
2 Tbs cream
4 very ripe bananas
4 eggs
In a pan, mix milk, vanilla, sugar, nutmeg, and clove. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the tapioca. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat, stirring frequently.
While that mixture is cooking on the stove, preheat your oven to 350F
Remove your mixture from the heat and add cream. Smash your bananas and add to your tapioca mixture. Add eggs one by one and mix well.
Pour mixture into a buttered baking dish and cook for 15 minutes.
Here’s where mine got weird. When I opened the oven it looked.. wet. It was set, but moisture had accumulated on top in a not-so-appetizing looking way.
If you’ve ever made keto banana pancakes (literally just banana, egg, and vanilla) that’s what this tastes like. Its not bad, but it’s not that great either. Just like eggy-banana..or banana-y eggs.
Repeat after me: Not all fish sauces are created equally.
Ingredients:
Sauce
4oz of thai dried rice sticks
1 1/2 Tbs tamarind puree
3 Tbs packed brown sugar
2 Tbs fish sauce
1 1/2 Tbs oyster sauce
Stir Fry
2-3 Tbs canola oil
1/2 onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
5 oz chicken breast thinly sliced
2 eggs, whisked
1 1/2 cups beansprouts
1/2 cup firm tofu, cubed
1/4 cup chives, fine chop
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
Place noodles in a large bowl, pour over plenty of boiling water. Soak for 5 minutes, then drain in a colander and quickly rinse under cold water. Don’t leave them sitting around for more than 5 – 10 minutes.
Mix up your stinky sauce and set aside
Heat up oil in large non stick skillet on high heat. Add garlic and onion and cook for 30 seconds. Add chicken and cook a couple minutes until mostly cooked.
Clear a side of the pan and add your egg. Scramble then mix with chicken.
Add your bean sprouts, tofu, noodles and finally the sauce. Add your chives and half the peanuts. Toss quickly and then remove from heat.
Serve sprinkled with peanuts and lime wedges on the side. Add more bean sprouts too if you like.
I horribly failed at this one because I don’t eat fish. The fish sauce I bought was awful. Like, more stinky than regular fish sauce. If you just came from the recipe, stop reading now.
If you have dogs, you’re probably familiar with the smell of an expressed anal glad. That’s what this fish sauce smelled of. I wasn’t playing when I almost gagged. I can’t honestly tell you if the finished product was good because its still all I could smell or taste. I’ve definitely decided that when it comes to thai food, I prefer it being made for me.
20 oz. dulce de leche (I tried to make my own, I recommend going the sweetened condensed route because the from scratch way took for fucking ever)
For the meringue
6 Tbs water
1½ cup sugar
5 egg whites
In a large bowl, add the flour. Dig a well in the center of the flour and add the sugar, egg yolks, whole eggs, water, almond liquor and soft butter. Mix until smooth. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. Preheat oven to 320F
Roll out the dough very thin. Very. 2mm thin. Standard Rogel is made in 8-10 inch discs. I personally decided to make miniature versions so I used a biscuit cutter.
This is where is gets time consuming. If you choose to make the standard size, you basically have to bake the discs one at a time. 8 times. Prick your discs with a fork before baking on parchment lined baking trays. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until golden.
For the meringue, combine your water and sugar in a saucepan. Gently boil until you reach 250-265F Use a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming on sides of pan. When you get to 230F start whipping your egg whites until they reach firm peaks. Once you reach 250, turn your stand mixer to low and gradually add your syrup to your egg whites. DON’T TOUCH THE WHISK ATTACHMENT! Once your syrup is added, increase mixer speed to high and mix for 10 minutes. Feel the sides of your bowl to make sure its cool before you stop mixing.
Transfer to pastry bag for later.
Avengers Assemble!
Place a disk on your serving tray and spread a tablespoon of dulce de leche evenly (more if you like more) place the next disk on top and repeat until you run out of disks. The top disk shouldn’t have dulce de leche on top. Instead you’ll pipe your meringue on top. If you’re fancy, blowtorch the meringue lightly.
My aunt used to make almond biscotti for the holidays and it was always my favorite. Sadly this isn’t her recipe because we don’t really speak much nowadays but this is just as good so I’m not mad about it. 🙂
Start by preheating your oven to 325F
Toast your almonds on a baking tray for 12-15 minutes. You’ll know they’re ready when your kitchen smells deliciously of almonds.
In a bowl, whisk your dry ingredients together. In a large bowl, whisk your eggs and then add the rest of your wet ingredients together (including your lemon zest)
Once your almonds are toasted and cooled a little, roughly chop them and set aside.
Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or the always versatile silpat
Add your dry ingredients to your wet and mix with a wooden spoon until just mixed. Fold in your almonds.
Separate your batter into 2 loaf shapes on your baking tray. Dampen your fingers to shape them into a smoother shape. Bake for 30 minutes until nicely golden. Let cool for about 10 minutes and then slice 1/2 inch- 3/4 inch thick slices and place the slices back onto your baking sheet. Don’t worry, they’ll fit. Bake for 10 minutes, flip and then bake another 10 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack and then enjoy alone or with a lovely cup of coffee.
8 inch cake pan (you’ll want it to be decently deep)
Line the bottom and sides of your pan with parchment paper. If you’re like me though..and you ran out, just butter like hell and hope for the best. If you’re using a spring form pan, wrap the outside with several sheets of foil to ensure its sealed completely.
Fill a large baking pan halfway with water and place in the lowest rack of your oven. Preheat to 315F
Separate all of your eggs and place the whites in a mixing bowl and the yolks in a small bowl. Beat your egg whites on low for 30 seconds until foamy. Add cream of tartar and increase speed to medium and beat until whites start to thicken. Add 1/4 cup of sugar gradually. Beat until whites reach soft peaks~about 3 minutes
In a separate bowl, mix milk and cream cheese on low speed unitl creamy and smooth. Add butter, remaining sugar, and lemon juice, mix. Sift in your flour and corn starch and mix for another minute. Add your egg yolks and mix. Push your batter through a sieve to make sure you don’t have any clumps.
Add 1/3 of your eggs whites and gently fold into the batter. Continue adding and gently folding in the rest of your mix.
Pour into your pan and spread batter evenly on top. Very gently tap your pan on the counter to get out any big air bubbles.
Place your pan in the water bath and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Check with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, its done, but you may need to cook an additional 10 minutes or so. Once its done, turn off your oven and leave the door cracked. Leave your cake in the cooling oven for another hour.
Gently remove your cake from its prison and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Optional: take about a tablespoon of honey and put in microwave for a few seconds to thin it out and brush it over the top of your cheesecake. Simple addition and so so yummy!
This was a super fail on my part. I got excited and forgot to take it off the heat. Sugar pounces on weakness.
Ingredients:
500g brown sugar
250ml water
125g butter
2ml vanilla
1 cup nuts ( traditionally pine nuts but I used what I had, which was pecans)
Dissolve sugar and water over low heat, add butter. Boil steadily without stirring until the miture starts frothing, test a drop in cold water to see if it hardens. Once it passes that test, REMOVE FROM HEAT. Then add your vanilla and your chopped nuts, stir. Pour into a shallow, well-greased pan and park off squares with a wet knife. Let cool and then break into squares.
Tameletjie is supposed to be like a nut brittle. I made…a disaster. Good luck!
Anxiety Kitchen 