Pretty Pudding in Pink!

Fasting means to abstain from consuming food from dawn to dusk but it does not mean one cannot talk about it.  This is the thing that happens every month; when we can't eat food, we talk about it.  And in the process many recipes are exchanged between friends especially those that can be tried for Iftaar.  I am no exception because, since custard pudding is not my forte, I asked a friend for the recipe of this particular pudding which she made for one of our teachers' potlucks!  Of course, I tweaked the recipe here and there to cater to my own taste.  Luckily it turned out okay.  The only setback was it turned out pink!  Well, who cares about the colour as long as the taste was marvellous.  Thanks Fauziah and Faezah for tthe original recipe.  Here's my tweaked version!

4 cups plain water

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup cornflour

1 tin evaporated milk

1 tin fruit cocktail

1 packet powdered jelly (20gm)

1 large bottle yogurt drink (I used mango flavoured!)

Boil water, powdered jelly and sugar together.  Mix cornflour with the syrup from the fruit cocktail and the evaporated milk and add this to the sugar syrup stirring continuously until mixture thickens.  Cover bottom of a dish with half of the fruit cocktail and slowly pour the mixture into the dish.  Leave to cool then put in the fridge to set for a few hours.

To serve, cut the pudding into manageable sizes, put into a serving bowl and serve with more fruit cocktail poured over with some yogurt drink!

P.S.  You can tell this is not my recipe because most of the measurements are in CUPS! :)

Rozy's Roast Chicken

I must say that watching countless numbers of cooking programmes on my favourite channel has some how increased my confidence in cooking.  Today, after countless snide remarks by my children that I only watch the programmes but never try any of the recipes, I finally decided to try one.  This one is my version of Gina Steer's Oven Roast Chicken.  I used Italian herbs (since that's all I have in the pantry!) instead of oregano and thyme, plus I included carrots to add some vegetables to the roast.  Needless to say, my family enjoyed the roast chicken which we had for Iftaar, especially my son who consumed almost half the chicken.  I suppose that's a good thing because at least I know likes my cooking!  Anyway, do try this recipe and see if your family likes it too.

1.5kg to 1.8 kg chicken (no giblets please!)

4 large potatoes, quartered

6 small Bombay onions, halved

2 large carrots, cut approximately the same size as the two vegetables above

half a lemon, cut into four
1 head garlic, left unpeeled

50g butter

1 tbs dried Italian herbs

salt and pepper to taste.

Clean and prepare the chicken.  Mix the butter with the herbs and rub all over the chicken including under the breast skin for flavouring.  Rub the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper then stuff two of the onions into the cavity.  Place the chicken into a casserole dish.  Arrange the vegetables all around the chicken and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.  Cover the chicken with foil and roast in a 200C oven for one hour.  After that remove the foil and continue to roast for another half an hour at 180C until the skin turns golden.  Don't forget to squeeze the roasted garlic out of it's skin, mash it and mix it into the chicken juice to make the sauce!

Alternatively, for the potatoes, you can do like I did.  I actually boiled the quartered potatoes separately because my dish was too small.  When the potatoes are tender, heat some butter in a pan and fry the potatoes until golden brown and crispy (my children couldn't have enough of the fried potatoes!)

Lip-smacking Lasagna

I have always had cravings for lasagna and have on one or two occasions satisfied them by having instant ones offered at a certain fast-food restaurant.  Even though the lasagna they had on the menu was seafood lasagna (I was shocked when I had it the first time!) I managed to swallow the layered pasta because of my craving.  I gave in to having instant and unsatisfactory lasagna only because I was too lazy to make one my own.

Well, the day finally came when my children decided that they too wanted some lasagna for lunch and I knew going to that fast-food restaurant would, firstly, take up a driving time of two hours to and back.  And secondly, it was cost me a small fortune to order lasagna for four!

So, once again, out of necessity, I decided to make my own lasagna (not that I have never made one before!)  But the version I decided to make was a vegetarian one, using two types of mushrooms to replace the meat!  See if you like the recipe.  If you do, be my guest and try it!

Apricot Blueberry Clafoutis

I really didn't feel like doing anything today, let alone bake.  Because the only thing I felt like doing today (after coming back from the Saturday Market, cleaning all the fish I bought and preparing all the ingredients for my beef stew!) was to just lie back and watch tv.  But as always, I gave in to the incessant pestering of my daughter, this time to use up the blueberries and apricots I had bought sometime back. 

Of course I have made clafoutis before (once!) when I was studying in the UK.  I know, I know.  You must be sick and tired of the same old line, but in all honesty that was where I first learned how to bake; as I mentioned, out of necessity.

And into the kitchen I dashed, got all my baking things and ingredients and started to whip up the simplest clafoutis (I told you, baking then was out of necessity and it still is!).  This recipe is so simple, any one can try it.  Read on and you will understand why.

40g ground almond

2tbsp plain flour

100g soft brown sugar

3 eggs

250ml full fat milk (of course!)

Place the blueberries and sliced apricots into a flan dish (I used my trusted casserole dish which had been slightly greased!)  Then, you just whizz everything else in a blender, pour mixture into the dish and bake in a 190C oven for twenty five minutes, until slightly brown and cooked.  So, there!  And in conjunction with clafoutis being a French dessert, I wish you bonne appetit!