"An acquired taste for texture..." - blog 34 by 'cookingwithmavis'

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ # 34   …an acquired taste for texture:

                                       ”A Kochaleffel’s Kneidlach”

I’m always one for sssssstrrrrressss…and  ohhh - ”Quel horreur!” such stress!

- My conscience tells me that I should write about Passover recipes…but then again, it  is Easter just on the very same weekend…funny that Easter is ALWAYS  on a WEEKEND!. ...but then again , how would we have “Good Friday”, “Easter Sunday” & “Easter Monday”, if they weren’t on a weekend ?

 "Easter Duck”   

Here in South Africa , we are fortunate, to ALWAYS  have a 4-day “Easter Weekend”…when peoples local , make elaborate vacation plans to escape to the nearest ‘far-flung’ places.

So could I  look forward to ****Easter** eggs*** on Sunday…and feasting for both Passover AND Easter?…of course I  can!  After all, I am secular in belief, and ‘one-for-all ‘ , when it comes to enjoying traditions and food.

For just one whole week, each year, how could I   EVER  forego the  “more-ness ” of Matzos?....double sheets of Matzos spread with copious amounts of soft butter, then sprinkled with sugar and sandwiched together….

Matzos with that very same amount of butter, and as a South African,  that ‘Have-to-Have’ salty spread *Marmite* …. Matzos with peanutbutter & Golden  syrup ….lots of Matzos scrunched in your hands, into simmering left-over chicken broth…..

  Matzos on Easter Sunday topped with lashings of batter for cheesecake filling and baked till golden brown - this called “Geschmirte” matza……..ahhhhhhhh! Matzos!

“Geschmirte” matza……..ahhhhhhhh! 

But too much Matzos will definitely clog-up “ The Sytem ”!

Reason enough to still buy fragrant piping-hot Hot Cross buns from “ Mrs Woolworths ” bloomin’ expensive  food counter (for “My M”  )  …or at a push, from BloodyPack’nPiyClaremont supermarket   - not to mention the assortment  of  ****Easter** eggs***  at   ’ Woolies ‘   too.

Only to be *coerced *! *  by clever marketing at BloodyPack’nPiyClaremont  supermarket  , into paying  excessively exorbitant  prices for the “Kosher-For-Pesach”( Passover ) imported sweets or chocolates that one traditionally gives at this time of the year….10 times  their usual price!

So, as you might well gather, I  shall not starve over this period, I shall not suffer symptoms of  bread-withdrawal.  I  shall enjoy the best of both worlds…..and might too, remember to indulge in an exotic traditional Yemenite Passover recipe-or-two, too!  But those might be for another blog….

Meanwhile, I  shall divulge a Passover tradition, eaten throughout the year, should you wish to   - YES!  KNEIDLACH  (pronounced: “K-nnay-dehh-LLLagh” – the  last syllable being a guttural, rasping noise, from the top back of the throat).  Kneidelach …dumplings {“KnÖdel”}  made from ‘Matza-meal’  - a fine meal especially sold for Passover.

Kneidlach  - definitely an acquired taste - unless you’ve ‘grown-up’ with them!  Hopefully soft and “fluffy”, and delicate in flavour. Kneidlach!

Kneidlach traditionally served with a thin chicken soup….to some of You , known as “ Matza-ball soup ”!    You’ll find a clear Jewish chicken soup recipe in my blog # 4 …scroll to the top right of this page, click on blogs for 2011, then on #4.

It  a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y  irks Me that I  am no longer the youngest around the Passover table, to search for the ‘afikoman’  - that small broken-off piece of Matzos, hidden for the youngest children to find, to win the glorious prize of a whole ten Rand ( about  U.S. $1,10 / €0.90 / £0.75 ) …

********Afikoman ????   

(Hebrew language, based on Greek, “ epikomen”, meaning "that which  comes after") is a half-piece of matzo which is broken in the early stages of the Passover Seder  (dinner).

The head of the household hides the afikoman for the children to find, and rewards them with money. In some families, the children "steal" the afikoman and ask for a reward for its return. Either way, the afikoman has become a device for keeping children awake and alert during the Seder proceedings, until the time it is needed for dessert…

Meanwhile to recipes…

                      

                 A Kochaleffel’s No-fail
             KNEIDLACH

                 Yields about 16

KNEIDLACH

INGREDIENTS: 

3 eggs – beaten well

4 tablespoons warm(tepid) water – add to beaten eggs

Then add:

  3 tablespoons vegetarian schmaltz ( found at the Kosher section in your supermarket …or see blog #20 for homemade recipe)

  ½ teaspoons salt

  ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon

  Pinch of ground ginger (even ⅛ teaspoon is okay)

  Pinch of white pepper

Then add:

  ½ cup + 1 tablespoon  matzameal

Mix well and chill covered, in fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil

Then, wet hands and roll mixture into golfball-size balls.

Throw into the rapidly boiling water, and let simmer for 1 hour

Remember to leave room in the pot for these to expand to at least 3x their size.

The texture should be light and springy....not heavy and hard!


Then:

Remove with a slotted spoon, and leave to cool.

To Serve:

Gently heat in chicken broth and serve probably 1 Kneidl per portion!

Perfect to freeze on a tray, then package as individually frozen balls (“Kneidlach”) -  they will shrink in size when frozen, but expand when warmed for at least 30 minutes gently in soup

**Remember to DEFROST ( - lay them on a tray, so as not to stick together), before warming in soup to serve.

INGREDIENTS FOR KNEIDLACH

AN ARMY OF PRE-COOKED
KNEIDLACH

A KNEIDL - SOFT AND
LIGHT...AND 'FLUFFY'

 …until next Thursday, as usual,

           ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’

OR

Ginger cake - the forgotten recipes... blog # 33 by 'cookingwithmavis'

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ #33     Ginger cake - the forgotten recipes…

So?...whom of you know the meaning of the gloBal word “Meshugah”?...huh? (  pronounced:  “mishoogah”  )

‘ Meshugah ’  comes from Hebrew,  - and Yiddish too -  influenced By German..and some Polish I believe , …and adopted into the German modern spoken everyday language too…it means “crazy”…But, in My context, *crazy *  - as in:  “ nice-and-offbeat-not- normal ”!

…And, derived from the same basic root - a  “Meshiegenna”,  would have Been someone really off the rails, according to my maternal grandmother,      ‘ Ouma Flo '   , bless her.

…and a “mieshooguss” is a “quirk”…a quirk ?...

Yes!, a quirk:  …a not-so-conventional-to-average  societal-convention-or-limitation … in other words, a quirk is :-  ‘a-strange- behavioural-trait ’….

So, that too means that a “Meshiegenna”  is  meshugah..and thus can  have a mieshooguss!                       

                                                            

We all have some kind of  “mieshooguss”…a quirk…and mine is the notion that I should not allow myself the EXTRAVAGANCE, when Baking,  to make a Ginger cake using  A WHOLE CUP OF GOLDEN SYRUP !

The guilt ! , the unforgiving extravagance ! ..  it stems from my days of being young-and-gorgeous, a student living ABroad, when   “ The Mother “  would actually post via airmail, from Cape Town , to the other side of the world, such items as a whole 1kilogram tin of “Lyles’ Golden” (“corn”- )syrup ..and  *Marmite* ….and CadBury’s chocs,   that distance, Overseas, to us indulged kids, yearning for home ! ...and the  unavailable foods, familiar  to us !

And where did the  ‘mieshooguss’  come in? ...rations  ! , my dears… r-a-t-i-o-n-s!

We  made  that  tin of  Lyle’ s  Golden  syrup  l-a-ssss-t !

N-n-no ways could you waste a WHOLE cupful, on a recipe for 1 cake !   ...and to this day, even with tons of tins in that shopping aisle of  BloodyPack’nPiyClaremont supermarket,  ALWAYS  available for the buying… still, that pang of guilt comes to the fore !

I think twice before baking ‘ Ouma Flo ‘s   delectable old-fashioned ginger cake!

MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm……….

And so to recipes…

                                         ‘ Ouma Flo ‘s

    ‘Old-fashioned Ginger cake’     

Mmmmmmmmm.......

Gosh!  When last did you savour the aroma’s wafting from your oven, of a classic ‘retro’  Ginger cake?... huh?   Just the very image in My Mind  , conjures up salivating thoughts! A thick slice smothered with lashings of butter!

I believe this was one of ‘ Ouma Flo ‘s  1950’s and 1960’s  staple kitchen standbys …

     An option of two Ginger cake Recipes…

Ginger“bread”  or  Ginger “cake”  -

…… “ c'est  la même chose ! ” 
 -   it is the same choice !

Before we begin to bake Ginger“bread”/cake,  here is an easy explanation from an elderly cookery journal…

Quote:  

 “ The dry ingredients are usually mixed together, and the fat (butter) and Golden Syrup (“corn syrup” in USA) , - or you can use Treacle -  are gently  warmed, before being added to the flour mixture, together with the eggs.

Golden Syrup, or the Treacle, play an important part in all gingerbread recipes, helping to give the characteristic texture, as does the soft-brown/ or treacle sugar, used to give it the rich colour.

‘Gingerbreads’ are usually baked in a square, straight-sided baking tin. The tin should be well greased, and lined with greased baking paper.”

  The Ultimate Old-fashioned
        Ginger cake…

GINGER CAKES
-FRESH OUT OF THE OVEN 

Ingredients: 

455g flour (3 ½  cups)

3 teaspoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon cinnamon - (optional)

½ teaspoon Allspice(”Pimento”) - (optional)

¼ teaspoon ground cloves - (optional)

2 teaspoons baking powder (“baking soda” in USA)

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon salt

Plus the wet ingredients…

225g (1 ¼ cups) soft-brown sugar

175 g ( ¾ cup) butter

350g (just a little more than 1 cup) Syrup

1 cup milk (250 ml)

1 ‘jumbo’/or extra large egg

Method:  ( so easy! )

1) Preheat the oven to 175*C  (350*F)

2) Line the bottom & sides of a 22cm square baking tin – (or 2x 20cm to 22cm loaf tins), with greased and floured baking paper.

3) Mix together all dry ingredients

4) Gently warm the brown-sugar, syrup and butter till butter melts, and thus, syrup is quite runny.( I do so in a Pyrex jug on low heat in the microwave)

5) Slightly warm the milk, and add the beaten egg into it.

6) Combine all the ingredients - easy to stir the ingredients with a whisk, by hand !

7) Pour batter into prepared baking tin.

8) In a square tin : bake for 1hr 6 mins, and test to see the centre is firm to the touch,  or a further 5 to 10 minutes - depending on your pan.

9) If baking in 2x loaf tins…55 minutes should be perfect.

Note  - on oven setting “Fan” – baking should be a shorter time.

A LOAF OF AROMATIC
 GINGER CAKE

RICH&HEAVY, HEADY IN AROMAS
 - GINGER CAKE!

DO YOU RECOGNISE THE LITTLE GIRL?
... PERFECT FOR A MAD-HATTER'S TEA-PARTY!

‘COOKINGWIthma……

 Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….and you thought we were finished....not so !

          If you DON’T  want to use a WHOLE  CUP of syrup, then here is ‘ Ouma Flo’s    recipe for super Ginger cake too!

‘ Ouma Flo’s  Heartwarming  Ginger cake…

Ingredients:  (are similar)

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons ground ginger

¼ teaspoon Allspice

¼ teaspoon salt

Plus…

115g butter …(just a little more than ½ cup)

1 cup sugar

2 TABLEspoons  of Golden Syrup (or honey)

1 cup of lukewarm milk with 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda dissolved into it.

2 extra large eggs

Method  –  Easy: - the same as the previous recipe!

       

              Bake @ 175*C  for 1 hour in a square tin.

COULDN'T WAIT!
...JUST A LITTLE BITE!

‘till next time,

     ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’

"Teatime on Muizenberg beach".....blog #32 by cookingwithmavis.blogspot.com

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’#32      Teatime on Muizenberg beach….

Mis-pronounced “Mee-yoo-zennbirg”, memories flood back about this once world-renowned vast stretch of pristine white beach of powdery sands, alas those days are but a memory…

“The Snake Pit “  was the most sought-after beach in the 1960 s….

This was prior to the demise of Muizenberg….before  ‘ The-Self-important-Persons-in-Local-Municipal-Places ’ chose to demolish The Grande Pavillion - the heart of that beach!

 Muizenberg in it’s heyday, when ‘Beatniks’ were hip and kids clamoured to partake in a moment of glory on “Uncle Vic Davis’s Variety”  talent shows, on the periphery of “The Snake Pit “.

This section of once wonderful Muizenberg Beach got this name due to the sardine-packed-bodies of oily, sweaty beach-goers cramming next to one another, bodies covered in copious amounts of “ Coppertone”  sun-tan oil, teenagers and “transistor” radios, jostling for place next to the ‘beach hunks’ and ‘lollypop  chics’  - sitting cheek-by-jowl, surveying the talent all around them.                              

This, “The Snake Pit “, the so-called ‘hip’ section of Muizenberg beach was popular, and populated because it was secluded from Muizenberg’s usual howling  South Easter wind. 

Sheltered by the gracious, crumbling Edwardian grande Pavilion with its ultra-cool ‘1950 s  Milk Bar ’ , and also sheltered by the elevated Promenade, where one stood, bent over the railings to try and spot your group of friends    -  the crowd writhing with constant social movement  on this beach of potential heartaches and teenage flirtations, on creamy white powdery sands…and then there was Me ! 

MUIZENBERG BEACH, IT'S OLD PAVILLION
& PROMENADE - AND 'THE SNAKE PIT'

 – Me !, the youngest kid of our family, the kid that my much older siblings were forced to babysit…to have me tag along with them, and cramp their style all summer long, on Muizenberg Beach!

...but truly, all I  ever wanted was a    Gatti’s Granadilla    frozen sherbet lolly!

 Gatti’sGranadillaGatti’sGranadillaGatti’sGranadillaGatti’sGranadillaGatti’s

I  much preferred the very early Sunday mornings, when our WHOLE  family, together with the ‘Auntie-Angela-Family’ – our neighbours across the street, arranged to share our Sunday morning with Rose-and-Alec…and Henry-and-Leslie…and their various offspring…and sometimes Granny Polly (of Blechkoechen fame – see my blog # 15) near the now famous, once abundant,  colourful ‘bathing  boxes’ (onTHAT  part of the beach!)….

and I can still remember the taste and smell of the milky tea, from Auntie Angela’s thermos flask…a..an..and the taste of “Bakers Tennis Biscuits” too, which we would ‘dunk’ into the Melamine  cups of tea – specially used for Sundays at the beach…oh, wonderful childhood memories…………..

TENNIS BISCUITS & MELAMINE TEA!

And so to Recipes…

Deconstructing  hummus! ….easy-peezy!

“A dish made with mashed chickpeas, tahini, oil, lemon juice, and garlic combined into a thick paste, originating in southwestern Asia”

…well that’s what the dictionary description says…and it’s quite true!...I think it is really associated with the Middle-East!

It has taken some time, but in the new millennium, this is really an internationally acclaimed tantalizing dish.  Ready-made , it’s found on supermarket- and deli shelves, and restaurant menus, but here, I shall deconstruct the secret of making your very own hummus!

You’ll see how simply simple it is to make….

                         Hummus:

                   Start off making just a small quantity:

HOME-MADE HUMMUS, WITH WHOLE CHICKPEAS
AND TOASTED SUNFLOWER SEEDS

Ingredients:

DRIED CHICKPEAS

½ cup (approx) dried chickpeas

4 cups boiling water for soaking

[ Optional:  use drained canned chickpeas instead…no cooking needed – just remember to keep a little of the liquid from the can to use later]

Then you’ll use:

a few tablespoons olive oil,

juice of ½ lemon(2 tablespoons)

1 tablespoon tahini paste (optional)

1 clove garlic,

pinch of salt,

pinch of ground cumin,

1 tablespoon chopped parsley.

Method :

   First…

Soak the dried chickpeas in boiling water for at least 2 hours (do not add salt, as this makes them tough!)

Drain off the water.

Bring a smallish pot of water to the boil.

Add soaked chickpeas and boil on medium for 1 ½ hours till soft.

         ( I  prefer to use a pressure cooker for 45 minutes , timing from when pressure begins…then switch off, leave still cooking till cooled. )

 

1/2 CUP OF CHICKPEAS - DRIED,
THEN SOAKED IN BOILING WATER

SAME 1/2 CUP OF CHICKPEAS - COOKED 

   Then…

When cooled, reserve a few whole cooked chickpeas, for the garnish.

Blend the remaining cooked chickpeas in a food processor, and gradually add, in small amounts to help make it smoother and almost creamy in texture, the following ingredients :

- Firstly add 1 tablespoon of reserved cooking liquid  - you can always add a little more liquid at the end!

- Chopped garlic

- Then 1 tablespoon lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon Virgin olive oil

- 1 tablespoon tahini concentrate (OPTIONAL)

- salt to taste

- A pinch of ground cumin

You can add more of any of these - depending on the thickness of texture that you want.

COOKED CHICKPEAS
PLUS 1 TABLESPOON TAHINI CONCENTRATE

EXTRAS TO ADD TO PROCESSED CHICKPEAS
 TO FLAVOUR HUMMUS:
CHOPPED PARSLEY AS GARNISH, OLIVE OIL, SALT,
GROUND CUMIN, FRESH LEMON JUICE,
GARLIC, LITTLE WATER(OR USE LIQUID
FROM COOKED CHICKPEAS)

Garnish :

Aha! …This is the special part!  To top and ‘dress’ the dish…

GARNISH WITH:
CHOPPED PARSLEY,  FRESH LEMON JUICE,  OLIVE OIL,  SALT &
 GROUND CUMIN...CAN ADD TOASTED SUNFLOWER SEEDS TOO!

1) A drizzle of Virgin olive oil

2) A drizzle of lemon juice onto the olive oil

3) A light sprinkling of ground cumin (or you may prefer ground paprika)

4) About a tablespoon chopped parsley

5) A few whole cooked chickpeas

6) A generous sprinkling of lightly toasted sunflower seeds….or be extravagant with toasted real pine kernels!)

This recipe is a small quantity, and will yield enough for one large dinner plate size..an hors d’oeuvre for 4 people.

Easy to make a larger quantity …try 1 cup dried chickpeas…to feed a crowd….adding the other ingredients judging quantities yourself.

* Note :  This will keep fresh just 3 days only in the fridge, but best eaten chilled and freshly made.

Serve:

Scoop up with crisp sliced ciabbatta, or baguette….or warm pita breads. 

HUMMUS WITH WARM PITA BREADS! MMMmmmmmm......

˜*˜  And  to  those  of  you  who  are  new  to  “…‘Mavis”, you might  like  to  know  how  ‘Mavis  got  her  name ?

Just  scroll  to  the  top  right  of  this  page, and  click  on  2011 to  find  blog  number  9  “Clora”  ….. it’s  SOH  amuzing ! 
  
WELCOME too,  to email your comments to : cookingwithmavis@gmail.com      ˜*˜

 …’till next time,

         ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’