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!
1 packet (250g) superwines or any plain sweet biscuit
175g melted butter
2 Tbs gelatine
1/2 cup boiling water
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
juice of 1 lemon
Hooray for no-bake desserts! I’m not going to lie, initially when I was reading about this dessert it struck me as that weird jell-o pretzel dessert that shows up at every redneck cook-out. After tasting it though, its so much better!
Line your desired dish with parchment paper and set aside. Grind up your biscuits in a food processor and combine melted butter and optionally, the zest from a lemon. (I highly recommend bc its delicious) Press into your dish to form the crust and place in fridge for 30 minutes to chill
In a medium bowl, combine gelatine and 1/2 cup boiling water and mix until dissolved. Add the sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice and mix well. Pour over the crust and place back in the fridge for 30-40 minutes until completely set.
Mix your jell-o with the 3 cups of water and let cool- don’t let it set. Pour it on top of your milky layer and then place back into the fridge until set.
Once its all set up, slice into squares and serve. It can be easier if you use a hot knife, but I think that depends on the pan you’re using.
Keep leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge, though, I don’t think leftovers will be much of a problem.
A literal mountain of food! Delicious, delicious food.
For the Seffa:
2 pounds of dry broken vermicelli
3 Tbs vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
1 cup golden raisins, soaked in water for 20 minutes
4 Tbs butter
1 cup powdered sugar
For the Saffron Chicken
1 whole chicken, disassembled
2 large onions chopped
1 Tbs ground ginger
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 small sticks of cinnamon
1 tsp saffron threads, crumbled
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2- 2 tsp salt- to taste
4 Tbs butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Toppings
1/2 – 1 cup almonds (blanched, fried & ground)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs ground cinnamon
I will warn you that this is time consuming. Not a casual weeknight meal, definitely a special occasion- lots of people over- type meal.
I bought an instant pot for this haha If you have a steamer, you’re good. I’ve had so many recipes that require a steamer and I made due, but for this recipe in particular, I knew I needed to bring out the big guns.
Fill the base of your steamer with salted water and proceed to steam the broken vermicelli 4-5 times (add the raisins for the 4th steaming)
Mix the chicken, lamb or beef with the onions, spices, butter, oil and cilantro in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Gently brown the chicken over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Cover the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the meat is very tender. This will take about 1 hour. When the chicken has been cooked, reduce the liquids until a thick sauce has formed. Discard the cinnamon stick, and taste for seasoning. If desired, remove the chicken from the bones.
To Serve:
Gently toss the steamed broken vermicelli with the butter and powdered sugar. Place about 1/3 of this mixture on a very large serving dish. Arrange the chicken in the center, and cover with the sauce. Pile the rest of the vermicelli on top of the meat, using your hands to shape a dome.
Decorate the mound of seffa in a vertical pattern with the cinnamon, ground almonds and powdered sugar. Serve immediately, with small bowls of powdered sugar, ground almonds, and cinnamon on the side.
2 cups plain greek yogurt (original recipe calls for hung curd, but greek yogurt is a good substitution)
1/2 cup ghee
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups of oil for frying
Syrup
3 cups sugar
3 cups water
5 strands of saffron
1/2 tsp cardamom
4 drops rose essence
So first things first, this isn’t a one day recipe. You need to let the batter ferment over night. Mix AP flour, cornstarch, and baking soda together in a bowl. Add ghee, food coloring, yogurt, and water. I didn’t list the water in the ingredients because you’ll add it little by little until you reach a slightly flowing consistency. Cover the bowl in a towel and let sit for 8-10 hours on the counter.
For the sugar syrup, heat water in a pan over medium heat. Add sugar and stir until fully dissolved. Simmer the syrup until it reaches one string consistency. ( I didn’t know what this means so I messed up this step and had to redo it) One string consistency is reached when you put a little of the syrup between your fingers and there’s a “string” when you pull your fingers apart. Remove from heat and add saffron, cardamom, and rose. Stir well
Now time to fry!
Heat your oil over medium heat until you’re about 350-365F
Put your batter in a ziplock bag and snip a small hole in the corner. Moving from the inside-out you want to make concentric circles in the oil with your batter. This will take a few tries to look right. Practice makes perfect and all that.. Fry a few minutes on either side until they’re crisp and golden.
Your syrup should be warm, but not hot. When your jalebis are done frying, soak them in the syrup for 2-3 minutes and place on a foil lined tray. They should be served warm or at room temperature.
I will warn you that this makes A LOT of batter. The good news is that it freezes well.
A few pointers….don’t re-roll your dough. You’ll end up with something hard to roll out and ultimately will ruin your pastry. Learn from my dumbass mistakes, children. .
The custard went off without a hitch. Delicious. 10/10
Since these tarts are typically cooked in an 800F oven and home ovens usually don’t go much passed 500F its a little bit dicey. I tried a combo of the 500F oven and the broiler. *Spoilers* the fire alarm was set off 3 times and I have to clean my oven due to some butter spillage.
Definitely the most challenging thing I’ve made yet and I’m sad to say it defeated me a little. I will definitely try these again though because the custard was very good.
If you’d like to watch the shitshow, watch below 🙂
This is a very messy project. You’ve been warned..
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Tbsp of gelatin (or 8 sheets)
1 cup cold water(divided)
2 cups of sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
To start off, go ahead and mix your powdered sugar and cornstarch together and set to the side. You’ll use this throughout this daunting process.
First things first, get your gelatin going. Having used the sheets for the first time here..I recommend probably going with the basic ass powdered gelatin. Combine your gelatin with 1/2 cup cold water and let it soften for at least 15 minutes. Put this directly in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment but don’t whisk it just yet.
Grab a small saucepan and add the other 1/2 cup water. Make sure when adding your sugar, you add it to the direct center of your pan. Do it slowly so you’re not splashing about. You want to avoid getting the sugar on the sides of your pan so you don’t end up with grainy marshmallows. I don’t care what you think, but peeps are disgusting. Also add in the corn syrup and salt. DO NOT STIR. Seriously, put the spoon down. If you’re feeling antsy, you may swirl the pan gently. Thats all you get though.
Bring to a boil but don’t let it bubble over. You want to get your mixture to 240 degrees F. Once this temperature is reached, remove from heat. At this point, your gelatin should be good to go. Turn your mixer on low to break up the gelatin. Then slowly (seriously, SLOWLY) add your liquid hot magma of sugar syrup into the gelatin. Try not to just pour it down the side of the bowl but don’t pour it on the whisk either..I promise there’s a happy medium here.
Once the syrup is all added, increase your mixer speed to high and continue to whip the devil out of it for at least 10 minutes. Around the 10 minute mark, add in your vanilla. You can feel the sides of your mixer bowl to know when its getting close as well. You’ll want it to be thick and fluffy, and warm but not remotely hot.
Instead of just standing around while your mixer does all the work, use this time to prepare your pan. Spray a metal pan (9×13 would work beautifully) liberally with cooking spray. Then take your powdered sugar mixture and sprinkle your pan with it so that you can coat all the sides well. (Don’t use all of your powdered sugar, you still need this.)
Once your marshmallow fluff is all fluffy, you’ll want to work fast to get it all out of your mixing bowl and into your prepared pan. You won’t be able to get your bowl completely cleaned out. Seriously, you won’t. Just do your best. Now that your mixture is in the pan, just tap it on the counter to even it out a bit and sprinkle with more of your powdered sugar mix.
Leave it out on the counter to sit at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Go put your feet up..or maybe start cleaning some dishes..I know you’ve made a mess.
Lets start this party by dusting your clean counter/work area with, you guessed it, more powdered sugar mix. Turn out your marshmallows onto your dusty surface (heh) This may take some coaxing. I had to scrape that sugar loaf out. You can spray your knife with cooking spray, though I don’t think this really made any difference at all. Its going to stick regardless. As you cut up your marshmallows, toss them in your remaining powdered sugar mixture. Store in an air tight container once well dusted. They’ll keep easily for a week or two..unless you eat them.
That’s it! Its quite an undertaking, but the results speak for themselves. You will have a super messy kitchen, but you’ll also have these soft little pillows of happiness that taste nothing like store bought marshmallows.
Anxiety Kitchen 