Cerebellum Crustulum

Ok, I know, it seems like I am stuck on this cupcake thing for evah!!!  Friday afternoon's are cupcake days around here. And after much deep and profound brain things inside my head,  I bring you Cerebellum Crustulum, cupcakes with brains.  I have to admit, I would never have made the cut as a surgeon,  as I did not have a steady hand while icing, but you get the picture.

I made just enough frosting, and ran out on the sixth guy, and of course, we had to give him a name......but lets move on to the more important part, the recipe.

This recipe is exactly the same one as for the vanilla cupcakes, you just add the cocoa, I also added the last of the choc chips in order to produce that extra punch in the mouth chocolate explosion.  After all chocolate is my kryptonite.

Ingredients:
150 g Butter - softened
150 g Castor sugar
175 g Self-raising flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs cocoa








Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
2. Line a 12 cup cake tin, with cup cake papers.
3. Crack the eggs into a cup and beat lightly with a wisk.
4. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl.
5. Beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes, until light and creamy.
6. Divide the mixture evenly between the cake cases.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes until risen and firm to touch.

8. Allow to cool fully before icing.

Disclaimer: No brains were harmed during this photo shoot, although I am not sure how Julius sneaked  in

Are you Spooking to Me?

Spookelina on the red carpet

Here I was thinking, tonight I am taking a break from the kitchen.  But noooo, it seems I have created a monster.  My two apprentice sous chefs had a little assignment for me.

"What do you mean you are not creating something interesting tonight?"

They wanted some show and tell which they could take to school in the morning.

So I whipped out my Queen Latiffa jiggle, and did the "Are you spooking to me?"  attitude. We were in stitches, again, rolling on floor laughing this time.

Now these little blokes did not come out that perfect, I don't think they should be cracking like this (note bubbles on Spook with runny tummy). But I will tell you what was cracking us up, it was the photo shoot. We had so much fun snapping these spook puffs, we felt like the Spook Paparazzi.

It is important to let your egg whites come to room temperature, this will help you get the most volume. Also, make sure all your bowls, whisk, etc are spotlessly clean and free of any grease.

Spook with runny tummy

Ingredients:

2 egg whites, room temperature
tiny pinch of salt
tiny pinch of cream of tartar
3/4 cup castor sugar, sifted
tiny silver candy sprinkles (chocolate or little seeds) for eyes, or food coloring

Special equipment:
ziplock bag with one of the corners snipped off







Method:

Spook Mobile

1. Place the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in a large, clean mixing bowl. 
2. Start whisking the egg whites at medium speed with an electric mixer.
3. When the whites are frothy and have a bit of volume to them, start sprinkling in the sugar a bit at a time over a minute or two - leaving the mixer on the entire time.
4. The meringues mixture should start to have stiff structured peaks, lots of structure, otherwise the will collapse into a puddle.
5. Fill the pastry bay -or alternately, zip lock bag with the corner snipped off - using the spatula. 
6. Now pipe about 12 ghost shapes onto the prepared baking sheet which is covered with wax paper.
7. I found that making tiny circles all the way up is the easiest way to make the ghost shape.
8. At this point you can either press candy silver balls one at a time into your pointer finger and place them on the ghost - again, quickly but carefully.
9. Or you can also paint little eyes with food coloring onto the meringues after they have baked.
10. Place the meringue in the oven for an hour. After an hour, open the oven door an inch or two and cook for another 30 minutes. 
11. Touch one of them at this point, they shouldn't be gummy or wobbly. If they are still too moist, leave them in the oven until they aren't. 
12. Turn off the oven, and leave the meringues in there until it comes down to room temperature.

Poopdeck Pappy Pancakes

Starting this blog has really been an exciting event in our kitchen, especially for the kids.  They love being in the kitchen with me chatting, doing their homework, helping out and testing the food.  I couldn't help but laugh at Imke (my youngest) and her appetite for adventure.  She offered to chop some spinach, I gave her one of the smaller knifes and noticed that she was having a difficult time with it and also complaining about it.  So I handed her the big chef's knife, she instantly commented "Now that's what I am talking about!"

As I started the spinach dish, the kids impersonated Popeye the Sailor man, so we all tried to copy cat his silly old laugh.  I then quizzed the kids on their knowledge of the cartoon and asked if they knew what the name of Popeye's dad was. I had them in stitches, of course it was Poopdeck Pappy.So they instantly decided that the original name of these pancakes should be changed to Poopdeck Pappy Pancakes.  I have to be honest this dish took me longer than the 40 minutes proposed for the preparing and cooking time, as I was busy 90% of the time wiping tears of laughter from my eyes.

Spinach Cheddar Pancakes aka Poopdeck Pappy Pancakes

Camoflage Spinach

Ingredients
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, defrosted (about 300 ml)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup grated sharp cheddar
l large egg, beaten
2 egg whites
2/3 cup low-fat milk
1 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Olive oil for frying
Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce (see below)




Method

1. Squeeze all water from the defrosted spinach. Melt the butter in the microwave, about 30seconds.In a large mixing bowl, combine the spinach, melted butter, grated cheese, the beaten egg, milk, flour,baking powder, and salt. Mix well, forming a thick batter.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until they form soft peaks. Fold it into the batter.
3. Place a frying pan over medium high heat and add enough oil to coat the surface.
4. Ladle the batter into the hot pan, spreading the batter out. Give yourself enough room in the pan to flip the pancakes.
5. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until the pancakes are golden on the bottom. They will puff up and small air bubbles will form on the surface when they are ready to be flipped. Flip the pancakes over and cook for about another 2 minutes until the other side is golden.
6. Transfer to a foil-lined baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm while you finish the remaining batches. 
7. Serve with the Tomato Cream Sauce spooned on top.

Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

Sundried Tomatoes, fresh Tomatoes, Cream

Ingredients

5 sundried tomatoes packed in oil
2 whole peeled tomatoes
3/4 cup heavy cream

Method

1. Blend together all the ingredients using food processor or blender. (The cream may look a little chunky, it's ok).
2. Transfer to a saucepan and warm through over low-to-moderate heat. If you had chunky-ish cream before, it should melt smoothly, leaving you with a creamy smooth sauce.

This recipe was published on http://lickmyspoon.com

Wai Yu Mun Ching 你大嚼

Imke and Thelani (my kidlings) wanted dessert again, so I made them Chinese pancakes with chicken and Hoi Sin Sauce.  Imke was not impressed, but I quickly did  a "Noot vir Noot" version of  Hanna Montanna's "The best of both worlds". Convincing her that dessert and dinner rolled into one is always a good thing, how cool is that!  The horror!

Now these are not real chinese pancakes, as this is an interesting process, and on a week night we have to do things quick around here.  So this pancake is a good old South African bazaar pancake.  And the two critics surprisingly loved these pancakes, I guess my singing did the trick :)


Ingredients for pancakes (crepe's):
250 ml cake flour
5 ml baking powder
2 ml salt
2 eggs
200 ml milk
175 ml water
5 ml lemon juice
125 ml sunflower oil
 


Method:

1. Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together.
2. Mix the eggs, milk, water and lemon juice together.
3. Add the cake flour to this mixture and mix well.
4. Add the oil and mix well until mixture takes on a creamy consistancy.
5. Let the mixture rest for about 20 minutes.
6. Coat a frying pan with sunflower oil and heat until nice and warm.
7. Pour or scoop the batter onto the frying pan, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe.
8. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
9. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown.
10. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side.

Ingredients for stir fry chicken:

250g stir fry chicken
20 ml Vital Soy Sauce (the garlic, ginger and sesame flavored one.  Very yummy and good for you)
fresh grated ginger, thumb size
Hoi Sin Sauce
1/2 cucumber diced
2 spring onions chopped

Method:

1. Mix chicken, soy sauce and grated ginger.
2. Fry this in a warm frying pan until chicken is cooked through.
3. Brush the pancake with some Hoi Sin Sauce.
4. Place some chicken, spring onion, cucumber down the centre of the pancake. 
5. Fold up the end to enclose filling and roll into a cigar shape. Serve immediately.

Makes about 12 pancakes.

Juliaaas is a Waffle Guy

I was scanning news headlines this morning. As we currently stand on international affairs, the US managed to negotiate its debt limit in the nick of time, and the world economy is safe for the time being.  It also looks like Julius Malema want's to grace us with his presence in the form of his huge stature and war like appetite here in Botswana.

In order to prepare for his visit, I was pondering what this youngster (pronounced jungsta) would like to eat, if he is allowed across the border that is.  Unlike the vegetable truck that got stopped and we are now stuck with local green tomatoes,  his paw-paw truck might just get a chance of slipping by,  as we currently do not have a ban on paw-paw's unfortunately.

But he seems like a waffle guy and I am not just being facetious now.  Whenever he waffles about something, it's priceless and it provides so much entertainment, you just have to love him as a stand up comedian.  I hope he will be impressed with my choc chip waffles, I promise it is lip smacking good chief, om nom nom.

Ingredients:
375 ml cake flour
15 ml baking powder
2,5 ml salt
10 ml sugar
about 250 ml milk
2 eggs, separated
45 ml melted butter or margarine
125 ml choc chips (more or less, I like more)








Method:

1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, add the sugar.
2. Gradually add the milk, mixing well after each addition.
3. Add the beaten egg yolks as well as the melted butter.
4. Beat the egg whites until stiff and old in.
5. Add the Choc Chips, mix well.
6. Cook the waffles in an electric wattle toaster.

What to do with a killer tomato

We have to convince the little housewife out there that the tomato that ate the family pet is not dangerous! - Attack of the Killer Tomato.

Now I thought of this quote when I saw the pathetic tomatoes at the supermarket today, they all looked like they had eaten someone's pet indeed.  They had these sad green grins on their chubby little faces, ready to cough up some dust and then really wilt away .  It's then that I realized that the border must have been closed for any healthy looking tomato trying to get in, and we were stuck with these little green blokes.

I had to dig deep to find the good ripe ones so that I can at least try my hand at a tomato chilli jam for this posting today. This hot jammy would be very good on a bruschetta with some goat's cheese.

Ingredients:
1 kg ripe tomatoes
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
3 fresh red chillies, finely chopped, or 1 dried and two fresh chillies or to suit your taste
3 – 4 cloves, or medium pinch powdered cloves
1/3 cup (60g – 65g) brown sugar
1/4 cup white-wine vinegar
1 tspn sea salt
black pepper, to taste





Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large pan, including the salt and pepper.
2. Stir over low heat without boiling until the sugar dissolves.
3. Then bring to the boil and simmer uncovered over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally for about 45 minutes until the mixture thickens slightly.
4. If you prefer a smoother sauce, you can blend the mixture using a blender, food processor or immersion blender.
5. Spoon into sterilized jars. Seal while the mixture is still hot, and store in a cool dark place or the refrigerator.
6. After opening, keep in the fridge.

Life goes faster on protein

What a gorgeous day it turned out to be.  The weather played its part, and we managed to have clear skies here in Gaborone.  The annual Pot and Biltong Festival held by the Dutch Reformed Church was in full swing by the time we got there.  I have to say this is a very successful organized event and we had a good time eating sosaties, biltong, desserts, curry and rice and pancakes.  The make shift butchery provided the opportunity to buy rump steak, boerewors, mince and chicken at very decent prices.  We are now stocked well for the next 5 braais.

Today's recipe is a copy that I picked up from a hand written note in my green monster recipe book.  This is where I keep all the secret stuff, like my mother's peri-peri sauce of which I only have three ingredients listed, because my brother is guarding it with his life, but I am determined to strangle it out of him soon (grin).

Ingredients that you will need for 8–10 people
2 tablespoons oil
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, bruised
1 red chilli, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons mild curry powder
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon ground coriander
3 bay leaves (for the marinade)
1 piece of fresh root ginger (as big as your thumb), grated
¼ cup apricot jam
1½ cup wine vinegar
2 cups buttermilk
1½kg lamb, mutton or pork, cut into 2,5cm cubes
soft dried apricots
bay or lemon leaves (for the skewers)

The day before method:

Heat the oil in a pot and sauté the onions and garlic until tender.
Add the curry powder and fry for another 2 minutes.
Add the chilli, spices, bay leaves, ginger, jam and vinegar, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat, allow to cool, then stir in the buttermilk.
Put the meat in a non-metallic bowl (a Tupperware container with a sealed lid works best). Pour the marinade over the meat and leave it in the fridge for 24 hours.

The next day braai:
Thread the meat cubes, dried apricots and bay or lemon leaves onto the skewers.
Braai the sosaties over mediumhot coals until cooked. Baste the meat regularly.