Granny Polly's Blechkoechen...at last !

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ # 15   ‘ Granny Polly’s Blechkoechen ’

           ‘Granny Polly’s Blechkoechen’  

Imagine her!  …Mid-1960s, already an ample-figured ‘elderly lady’  with a shock of snow-white soft curls , and ‘MuizenbergBeach-tanned‘  olive skin, with highly fashionable purple-tinted cat-eye specs!

I used to think that she and Sylvia “S“   –around-the-corner, were  so! smart …Sylvia’s   similarly, were blue-tinted! Well such are the impressions of a plump six-year-old…totally in awe of Granny Polly’s  Blechkoechen!

Uncle Maxie’s mom…that’s right!- ‘Auntie Angela’s(of abundently-cloved stewed apples fame) mother-in-law ;  yes!

I’d only ever sampled Blechkoechen ‘ a la Granny Polly ’ ….and such wonderful memory is still clearer than  a wind-free Muizenberg day.

I still see that Sunday afternoon tea party in Yarmouth Rd:  Tea-and- Blechkoechen, served in her paved front garden…somehow  there  seemed lots of people there…I think it must’ve been a birthday…or perhaps just ‘ a Sunday-afternoon-tea’ ?

She baked hers in a square tin…always with a crusty topping of “Post Toasties”..now, whom of you know what those are?

.....actually theyr’e the same as Kelloggs Cornflakes!

Mmmmmmmm…my mouth is a-b-s-l-u-t-e-l-y watering as I imagine the glorious taste of her blechkoechen!!!! – And oh! …That glorious aroma of cinnamon and sugar wafting now-a-days through my kitchen as I bake this at a moment’s whim……ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 And so to recipes…

 ‘ Granny Polly’s Blechkoechen ’…    

Granny Polly's Blechkoechen

Just to translate for you: I surmise that this comes from “bastardised“ Yiddish - evolved by Jewish immigrants in South Africa over decades. The “blech’ is a tin…and “koechen”…well we can all guess from German , is ‘cake’.

Easy…oh-so-easy! ...but use standard measures…flat measures!...correct measures!

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 jumbo eggs

1 cup white sugar

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

A pinch of salt (for me that’s about just less than 1/8 teaspoon)

150g butter (3/4 cup) ( - can substitute margarine, but it tends to be much more dry)

Grated rind of ½ lemon  ( OR  ½ teaspoon Almond essence)

Generous amount of cinnamon for sprinkling

Topping:

½ cup oats  (Granny Polly used a cup of crushed Corn Flakes – also a nice option!)

½ cup of soft dark brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar (optional)

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons leftover batter from the cake mixture

Method:

Always prepare your “mise en place” (pronounced “ miz ɑ̃ plas “)- it’s a French phrase                                             - literally means:  "putting in place" -  ….I suppose it’s the ‘pre-preparation’

Place all you utensils you will use,  bowls and ingredients laid out on that kitchen counter, in the order listed in the recipe…it makes baking sohhh much easier!..

And something to note :    

NEVER  break an egg directly into any mixture…just incase it is rotten!..

ALWAYS   do so one at a time, into a small dish, then into the larger mixing bowl to join it’s mates ready to mix !

1)      Pre-heat oven to 165 degrees C

2)      Line the base of a 23cm round springform tin with foil

3)      Clip into place and grease-and-flour the cake tin

4)      Sift flour salt and baking powder into a bowl – set it aside

5)      In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar well

6)      Beat in 1 egg at  time, till mixture is light-and-fluffy

7)      Add the vanilla and lemon rind(or almond ess.)

8)      Add the flour mix -  alternating with milk, mixing on medium speed, ending with flour

9)      With a spatula, put ½ of the batter into the cake tin

10) Sprinkle generously with cinnamon

11) Carefully put the rest of the batter on top of this, smooth the top gently, making a slight indentation in the middle. (remember to keep back 2 tablespoons batter in the mixing bowl!)

Method forTopping:

Using electric mixer, on a low speed, into the same mixing bowl, soften the butter and flour with the 2 tablespoons batter that is left in that bowl, add all the other ingredients, and mix delicately till forms crumbs….you don’t want it to be a thick ball!

Lightly, with your fingers, crumble this mixture into the tin, on top of the unbaked batter!

* Bake at 165 degrees C  for 1 hour

….until the middle of the top is firm

…it might  need a further 7 to 10 minutes!

*** Leave to cool completely before removing it from the tin.   

This is a dry ‘tea cake’!  ….wellll, actually one calls this a “coffee cake” …with absolutely NO hint of coffee at all…I suppose it was what would accompany this?..who knows! Yum!!!!!

……..BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB…….

A slice of blissful Blechkoechen

Blechkoechen - The crumbs...

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’.....

"The Kalooki Girls...and their ASTONISHING salad!"

 ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ # 14  ‘ The Kalooki Girls…and their astonishing salad ! ’

‘The Kalooki Girls -and their astonishing salad ! ’

“Kaluki”  is another classic skill-based Rummy game…a card game.

As per Wikipedia : Kalooki (Jamaican Rummy), Kaluki, Caloochie, Kaloochi, Kalougie, Kalloki - a version of Contract Rummy, is very popular in Jamaica….

‘ Late Sonja’   was understated and shy in personality…influential, astute and sohh well informed in everywhichway, the doyenne of Sea Point Blonde Kugeldom - even at age eighty….but that’s another story! 

Our friend ‘ Late Sonja’   , had her different groups of friends…her  “Card Ladies”  were the twice-a-week “ Kalooki  Girls “,  swopping recipes, outdoing the next person, bragging of their kids’ achievements…following latest fashion..and ALL  with some-or-other relative in Australia!

One of those recipes that flew around Jewish Sea Point’s Kalooki Circuit, was the mouthwatering Papino-and-Avocado salad - a real show-stopper!... a party trick!…an extraordinary salad, that kept it’s place for years-long in Sonja’s   cuisine, until none of us would sample another mouthful…and ‘cookingwithmavis’  just never bothered to write that recipe down  ...sadly  Sonja  (“ Late” ) has passed-on, but Kalooki  in Sea Point still thrives!

Recently ‘cookingwithmavis’   had a yearning, ...and who better to coax?...  than our friend, ‘ The Countess of Davenport Road  ’ ,  into searching her every scrap of paper  -  in every bloomin’ recipe-book, for the handwritten  recipe, in that kitchen of  HER’s , in apartment building “Bordeaux”, in Sea Point!  

                    Alas, that recipe was illusive ! 

Mmmmmm…… but  “ Countess  Dav ” has  HER  clutch of “Kalooki Ladies ”  too! That clutch less blonde, but better shades of brunette and auburn!  

She and I  trawled in vain, until She had an epiphany! - it came like a bolt of lightning, during an advert break on TV!  …..Yes!  why not call ‘Kalooki  Rhona ’ ?.... and so  She did!, and thanks to ‘Kalooki  Rhona ’ , ‘cookingwithmavis’    is able to present to you, a most astonishing dinnerparty salad!

          …KalookiKalookiKalookiKalookiKalookiKalookiKalooki…

And so to recipes…..

Kalooki-Circuit Papino-and-Avo Salad

     …with papinoseed dressing:

Papino (papaya) and avo salad

“Papino”  is a South African hybrid…a family of the Paw-Paw, but smaller and much sweeter, without the ever-so-slightly unpleasant aroma that a paw-paw would reveal!...I’ve noticed that ‘Upmarket Woollies Food Market’ nowadays labels them “papaya”…perhaps papinos are papayas?...but not Paw-Paw!

The astonishing jaw-dropping main ingredient of this salad is the dressing made from the papino seeds - kept aside!

 Ingredients:

1 to 2 Iceberg (or similar) crispy lettuce – size dependant

2 medium to large sized papinos

2 ripe avocados…

Papino (papaya) and Avocado salad ingredients

Papino-seed  Salad dressing:

3 tablespoons papino seeds (they give a mellow, peppery flavor)

½ cup chopped onion

3 tablespoons honey (…can substitute ½ cup sugar)

½ teaspoon dry mustard powder

½ cup sunflower oil

¼ cup white vinegar (… ½ cup if using the sugar option)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Papino-seed salad dressing ingredients

METHOD:

 …To make the dressing:

Put all dressing ingredients into a blender, or a deepish bowl if using an electric hand-blender…and blitz the hell out of everything until well combined to a marvelous dark blackish emulsified glorious sauce!

Papino-seed salad dressing

Then…

1) Wash and thoroughly dry the iceberg lettuce

2) Cut the papino and avo in half lengthwise – dip the avocado in iced water to prevent turning brown.

3) Peel the papino and the avocado

4) Keep the papino seeds set aside, to use in the dressing ..make the dressing before slicing and placing the cut fruit on the platter, so that it is ready to dress immediately.

5) Onto the chopping board, turn each half of fruit onto the cut side down, and slice nice long slices.

6) On a large serving platter:

   - First put the iceberg lettuce as the bottom layer.

   - Carefully place the papino slices alternating with the avocado slices, in neat rows over the lettuce – keeping to the shape of the platter.

   - Pour the thick rich papino-seed dressing carefully, gently, along the rows of slices avo, using as much as you choose to!

Voila! -   A talking-point over dinner !  (…this salad is best when chilled!)

 

…..New to  ‘cookingwithmavis’   , are you ?

...why not scroll to the top right of this page,  and choose from any of the previous, hopefully hilarious, blogs:

Enjoy the 1 ^st , being “Preserved Goose”

…or # 8  “...’Mavis’s Breasts” …

And the most popular  by far is # 4 “Jewish Chicken Soup”…

Mmmm…..

   ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’

' Behind the scenes....& warm beef borscht! '

 ‘COOKING WITH MAVIS’  # ‘ A baker’s dozen  ’  ‘Behind the scenes…& beef borscht’

“ Behind the scenes…….”

I fixate while asleep…yes, can-you-believe that !   

I fixate on what to blog next, or I  have in my Mind   the exact configuration of yet another new photo-shoot-yet-to-be-taken …and……..what comes first?…the chicken?... or the egg?…the recipe?... or the idea of the photo?...the ingredients?...or the baked product?....and so, while asleep, my Mind  is a whirlpool of ideas just screaming to be born !

I  spent all of Saturday morning playing in my kitchen ...never do I  allow Myself   to indulge as such....but, aching to do pics for  “…’MAVIS’s “   blog...I  baked Granny Polly’s Blechkoechen to take pics…. stylized Blechkoechen, cut Blechkoechen, then took pics of Blechkoechen slices, and then slow roasted tomatoes...pics of the prep and ingredients!...then the bottled product too...also did bread-and-butter puds...prep…/ ingredients / finished product / of course, pics with / pics without  custard!  Whew...many hours of intense fun!... and food-styling bliss !

Best yet, is the fact that I can see behind-the-scenes, the ‘Google workings’ of my spot-of-blog -   the ‘stats’.. “stats? “ - you ask.....yes! ….S-T-A-T-I-S-T-I-C-S … showing me no! addresses…but rather how many ‘hits’ …and in which countries ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’   is read:

 It does my heart good when You  in Russia  read it…and You  too , in Latvia …and then there is NZ and Oz…and BOTSWANA and ZAMBIA!...and I know Some-of- You.. who open it in UK…and Israel too, Canada, due to Jo , has taken-off like a rocket, and ‘America North’ is adjusting quite well to “…’MAVIS “   …..and in Italia, that lonesome single ‘hit’…I-know-when- You -read-it!...and Malaysia, gosh! - I’d love to know who You.. are?....and France and Germany…Belgium too…occasionally…..Yes!... Mmmm, and neutral S-w-i-t-z-e-r-l-a-n-d  too! …a-an-and “…’MAVIS “   has progressed to Sweden!

…And home, being South Africa..wellllll……….You-hundreds-of-persons  are just absolutively supportive! 

“ …’Mavis”  is growing in girth!

And may I divulge, that a colleague in my office has so many times, spoken to me of  “that-blog-‘Mavis ”   …and had not the faintest notion that I was She! ...that is,  until  “Those-That-Knew”  spelled-it-out-plain-and-clear-to-her!

"....'Mavis" reaching across the Globe

         ' cookingwithmavis'  spreading across the world!

And so to recipes…..

     Mouthwatering warm beef borscht…   

This is beetroot  soup - a hearty meal-in-a-soup!

Easy and simple, and good-on-the-eye!

When making this soup, quantities don’t have to be exact. Adding the amounts of salt, pepper, sugar and lemon juice are really according to your preference…

INGREDIENTS:

2 bunches fresh beetroot (this amounts to about 10 medium , or assorted sized beets)

¼  cabbage (or 1 baby cabbage is okay too)

1 medium onion

1 celery stalk

12 small young potatoes

500g stewing beef (okay if you use a little more – a couple of slices of beef brisket is nice to use)

6 dried bay leaves

2 tablespoons coarse (‘Kosher’) salt (or 1 tablespoon table salt)

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

½ cup sugar

Concentrated tomato purée (2x small 70g cans -  or similar amount)

¼ cup white vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)

Juice of ½ large lemon

3 litres of water

Optional :  …..3 whole cloves added with the other seasoning at the start.

 METHOD:

1) Prepare your ‘mise en place’:

I make sure first that my “mise en place” (pronounced “ miz ɑ̃ plas “ ), is done!  - it’s a French phrase - literally means:  "putting in place" ….I suppose it’s the ‘pre-preparation’

- think ahead,  having everything at hand ready to use  - bowls, knives, utensils, peeler, dishtowel to wipe the beet-stained fingers!, BEFORE  you start to peel the beets!...they’re going to make a very pink mess!

2) Wash and peel onion, potatoes, beets

3) Finely slice the onion and the celery stalk

4) Finely shred the cabbage, and beets

5) Then cut the beef into bite-size cubes

6) With the water, add all ingredients into a large pot, including the whole, peeled potatoes, bay leaves, salt, pepper, sugar and vinegar  (keeping the lemon juice to put in at the end of cooking).

7) Put on medium heat, and when it begins to gently boil, skim off any “foam” from the meat, if any.

8) Then turn the heat down to low, and simmer very gently, with lid on, for 2 more hours.

9) Add fresh lemon juice, and season further to taste, adding more sugar/ salt /pepper if necessary.

10) Serve with a whole potato from the pot, in each bowl…..

         …b-b-b-bbb-beet-the-beat-beetroot-b-b-bbeet..roooooot……..

                    Borscht - warm, beef borscht

* And for them-of-You who have just discovered ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’… see how ‘Mavis  got her name…in blog #9 (“Clora….”)

- You might even discover the simply scrumptious Semolina-and-Rosewater cake in blog #3 (“Running away from ‘Mavis…”) Mmmmmmmm!!!

Until next time…..

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’