Plum Tart with Cinnamon Cream

This is the recipe for the plum tart I mentioned in my last blog. It is an old traditional recipe from the area I grew up in. Not much has changed in this recipe for the past few generations. My grandma used to make it. It is one of the 1^st food memories I have.

It is a tart that is usually baked in the late summer when the plums are getting ripe. Ideal is to use dark ripe plums fresh from the tree. I actually called up my mother to double check with her if I got the recipe right. She was very amused when I did this but happily reconfirmed her recipe to me.

Unfortunately plums here in India are not as sweet as the ones that grow in my parents garden. This is why I added up a bit of sugar and cinnamon to the cream.

Traditionally this tart is served when it is still a bit warm with a big spoon of fresh unsweetened whipped cream on the side. It reminds me of my childhood when my Mom made it on Sunday afternoons. We would sit on the terrace or in the garden and indulge in a cake feast. This tart never lasted long and to be honest not much has changed since than. We still fight over the last piece of cake or the last spoon of cream whenever this is served.

For the short crust I take 250g flour, 2 leveled teaspoons baking powder, 50g custard sugar, 150 g very cold butter cut in dices and 60g egg. I put it all in a bowl and quickly mix it with my hands until I have a smooth dough. This dough I chill for about 1 hour in the fridge.

In the meantime I take 1-1,2kg ripe plums, cut them in halves and remove the seed.

I pre-heat the oven to 180°C and grease a 26cm tart form.

To roll out the dough I sprinkle some flour on the kitchen counter surface. I take the dough out of the fridge and pat it flat with my hands. With a rolling pin I roll the dough until it is round in shape and about 4mm thick. With the help of 2 spatulas I move the dough into the tart form. I cut off ans dough that is overlapping from the form. This will later go on top of the plums, similar to a crumble topping. The plums are put in circles into the tart form. On top of it I sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of sugar-cinnamon mix and add the left over dough in small pieces. The tart needs about 25-30 minutes in the oven.

For the cinnamon cream I take 200g fresh cream and whip it until it just starts to set. Now I add 1 tablespoon of sugar-cinnamon mix and whip it just to mix. The cream should not yet form peaks.

Cut the tart in generous pieces and serve it with the cinnamon cream on top or on the side.

You can make this tart also with apples or pears. You can also sprinkle some slivered almonds over it.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola

Mango-Cointreau Cake

I admire the cake artists who have the talent to turn every piece of cake into a piece of art by decorating it with colourful frosting, marzipan and fondant. It is a talent I don't have. And I love looking at these cakes.

But on the other hand I must confess that I prefer my cakes more natural. I don't like using food colour or artificial flavours. I also don't like it if cakes are coated with enormous amounts of sugar or butter cream. For me that ruins the taste of the cake. All I taste is sugar.

If I decorate a cake I either give it a rather thin layer of plain chocolate or ganache or just a simple frosting or glaze. For me the less coating there is the better. And when it comes to cream fillings I also like them to be packed with flavour rather than sugar. That doesn't mean that I don't like pastries, gateau or cream tarts. I just don't like the artificial sugary stuff.

There needs to be a balance between the flavours in a cake. One of the worst things for me are these death by chocolate cakes which have a sweet chocolate cake filled with chocolate butter cream and than drowned in chocolate sauce. Truly death by chocolate as the overdose of it kills it all.

I rather have a strong chocolate flavour balanced with some fruit or spice. And as much as I love desserts, cakes and sweets I don't like them too sweet.

Take for example a Sachertorte. It is a classic and the apricot jam used as a filling gives it the perfect balance with the chocolate cake and coating.

The same goes for fruity cakes and pastries. For me the filling of a key lime pie or lemon meringue must be nice lemony sour to balance the sweetness of the meringue that covers it.

But than this is purely my personal taste. The other day for example I made a fresh plum tart (recipe will follow). As the plums were a bit sour I simply served it with a slightly sweetened cinnamon cream on the side to balance it out.

Just before the mango season ends I have another recipe that has that sweet-sour balance. It is a Mango-Cointreau cake. There is a lot of fresh orange juice in the dough so it is not very sweet but than you also have lots of chunks of fresh sweet mango baked into it.

                          Fresh out of the oven... not even put on a serving plate

To start with I pre-heat my oven to 180°C.

For the 24cm rose flower baking dish shown in the picture I take 180g egg and beat it with 120g sugar until I have a fluffy whitish coloured mass. In a bowl I mix 150ml freshly squeezed orange juice with 110ml vegetable oil and 40g yoghurt. If you have a problem with lactose you can replace the yoghurt with vegetable oil. In another bowl I mix 225g flour with 10g baking powder. I slowly add the liquid mixture to the egg mixture and mix it until it is well blend. Now I add the flour to it and mix it just enough to get a smooth dough. Make sure you are not over mixing it.

After pouring the dough into the greased baking dish I put about 300g of fresh diced mango on top of it.

I bake it at 180°C for about 60 minutes. While the dough is rising the mango chunk will sink into the cake.

After I removed the cake from the oven I pour 4 tablespoons of Cointreau over the cake while it is still on the baking dish. Now I let it cool for about an hour. Than I take it out of the baking mould and pour another 4 tablespoons of Cointreau over the other side of the cake. Let it cool down completely.

I like the cake just like this as the different shades intensify the flower effect. If you like to decorate it further I suggest a simple sugar icing with 250g icing sugar and 2-3 tablespoons orange juice. If you like a stronger Cointreau flavour replace 1 tablespoon of the orange juice with Cointreau.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola

Chilli Con Carne

Recently a friend of mine was invited to a wedding. The bride and groom asked all their friends to send them a recipe which reminds them of a special moment with the particular friend. In the end they put it together into a nice personal cookbook. I think this is a wonderful idea.

My friends dilemma was that the recipe she wanted to send was not something she cooked, it was something I cooked for her on her birthday last year. Chilli Con Carne. So she called me up to get the recipe. I was more than happy to give it to her as it also reminds me of great times we spent together.

I got this recipe from my Mexican neighbour almost 20 years ago when I was living near Pittsburgh. At this time I also learned that the secret to a good Chilli con carne is to cook it with beer. The beer takes away the burning from the chillies. As a result you have a nice spicy Chilli without the burning sensation in your mouth. It really works even though I never found any scientific proof for it.

This makes it a truly international recipe as it is from a Mexican living in the US, given by a German living in India to my friend living in Turkey who sent it to the happy couple in Germany.

This is a dish that takes time because the longer it is cooked the better it tastes. And the more often it is reheated the better it takes.

For 6 portions I take 250g red beans and soak them overnight in water. If you have less time you can take 2 cans of canned red beans, drained and rinsed.

The next morning I cut a large onion, about 100g, into diced. In a large pot I heat 3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil. I add the onions along with 5 gloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped and 500g beef tenderloin cut into 2cm cubes. Fry it until the meat is brown on all sides. Now I add a teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons chilli powder, I like to use kashmiri chilli powder but you can use what ever chilli powder you like, and either 4 fresh red chillies or 5-6 dried red chillies cut in halves. I stir this well to temper the chilli. But be careful that it does not get burned.

To this mixture I add 400ml tomato paste, 500g fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced and the soaked beans. After stirring it well I add 500ml of beer. Any regular beer is fine. Do not use strong or dark beer. At this point if you like to you can add some sweet corn kennels to the Chilli.

I cover the pot with a lit, reduce the heat to a minimum and let the Chilli cook for a minimum of 2 hours. I check on it in regular intervals to give it a stir and add up more beer if necessary. If you use canned beans add them after 1 ½ hours of cooking as they otherwise will be overcooked.

After 2 hours I check the taste of the Chilli. If necessary I add up some more spice. This is also the time to add up salt to the Chilli. I let it cook for another 15-30 minutes.

While the Chilli is still on the stove I pre-heat my grill. I take about half a baguette and cut it in thin slices. In a small pot I melt 50g butter. With a bakers brush I brush both sides of the baguette slices with the melted butter and roast it under the grill until both sides are golden brown and crisp.

Most of the times I cook chilli con carne for a buffet at a party. It is so easy to serve. Just put the pot on the buffet, some roasted baguette or tortilla chips in a basket and a bowl of sour cream on the side and everyone helps them selves.

To serve it in a more formal way I pour the chilli into individual bowls. These I place on a big plate along with a small bowl of sour cream and some roasted baguette or tortilla chips on the side.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola

Ice Cream and Frozen Yoghurt

I like watching TV shows about cooking. I always get new inspiration from them and learn a lot about techniques.

A few days ago I was watching Donna Hays show. She made a frozen banana mango yoghurt that is so simple to make that I was wandering why I even bother to use my ice cream machine at all. All she did was cut mango and banana into pieces. Put them into zip-lock bags and let them freeze in the freezer. Once they were frozen she took them out and put them into a blender, added yoghurt to it and let the blender run until the is a thick frozen mixture. Pour it all into a container and put it back into the freezer for an hour to set. I thought WOW! That is by far the easiest way to get ice cream.

Being me I ended up in my kitchen trying it out. I must say the combination of banana and mango is delicious. And due to the sweetness of the fruits there is no need to add up any additional sugar which makes this the perfect diet dessert.

Curious as I am I wanted to know if this works also for non fruit ice creams. So I started experimenting with a coffee mocha ice cream. Basically a chocolate coffee blend. I am sure by now you have figured out that I am very fond of this combination of flavours.

I started by making a chocolate custard out of 400ml milk, 40g custard sugar, 40g cocoa powder and 25g cornstarch. In a pot a mix the cocoa with 350ml milk and bring it to boiling point. In a small bowl I mix the sugar with the cornstarch. Add 50ml milk to get a smooth mixture. While stirring I now add the cornstarch mixture to the boiling milk. Stirring constantly I let it boil for 1-2 minutes or until it thickens. This mixture I pour into an ice cube tray, let it cool down and than put it into the freezer. I use an ice cube tray as ice cubes are easy to crush in a blender. If you pour the custard into a container make sure you cut it into pieces before you put it into your blender.

In a second ice cube tray I freeze 200ml espresso mixed with 60g sugar. This ice cream needs the sugar to balance the bitterness of the cocoa and espresso. In the liquid stage it will taste very sweet but this will be toned down once the ice cream is frozen.

The next day I take 200ml well chilled whipped cream. I put the custard and the coffee ice cubes into the blender and let it run for about 30 seconds. Than I add the whipped cream and let the blender run until it is a thick paste. It all goes into a dish and back into the freezer for 1 hour to set.

It worked perfectly fine. If you like to you can add 50g coarsely chopped almonds as a special treat to the ice cream. And a special cup of coffee is ready.

It is so simple as all ingredients are frozen separately and than mixed. For me the days that I had to empty the freezer to chill the bowl of my ice making machine are gone.

I was so excited that I immediately tried another flavour. This time mango-ginger with yoghurt. The sweetness of the fruit combined with the spicy ginger turned out to be a very nice combination too.

For it I took 400g mango cut into small dices, put the fruit into a zip-lock bag and left it over night in the freezer. It is important to cut it into small ices as otherwise the blender might get damaged.

For the ginger syrup I take 2 table spoons custard sugar, 3 tablespoons water and 1,5cm fresh ginger finely grated. Boil this mixture over low heat until it starts thickening. Remove from the heat and let it cool down. Pour through a strainer.

Add 400g plain yoghurt to the ginger syrup and mix it well.

Put the frozen mango into the blender and let it run for a few seconds to cut the mango. Add the yoghurt mixture and let the blender run until you have a thick smooth frozen paste.

Pour the mixture into a container and put it back into the freezer to set.

Thank you Donna Hay for giving me this super simple method for making ice cream. From now on home made ice cream will be a regular on my menu.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola

Coconut Crumble Cake With Mango Filling

Yes, it is still mango season so you will get a few more mango recipes here because I simply love mangoes.

What is interesting is that I never really liked mangoes when I was younger. I developed a liking for them only after I moved to India. But I guess that has to do with the variety of mangoes that are available here. In Germany we usually get African or Thai mangoes and they taste completely different from the ones you get here.

A crumble cake is one of the easiest cakes to make and one of the few egg-less cakes I make. It is a great cake if you want to bake with your child as all you need is a bowl and a scale. No kitchen machine or other things. The best method for it is to mix it with your hands. And I am sure your little one will love to get a bit messy.

The basic recipe for crumple is a sugar, flour, butter mixture in the ratio 1-2-1.

You can reduce the sugar a bit is the filling is already very sweet. For the flour part you can substitute part or the entire flour with finely grated nuts. You can also add up spices like cinnamon or vanilla to it. The butter used must be cold straight out of the fridge. You can substitute it with margarine if you are vegan. But make sure to use a margarine that hardens in the fridge. Otherwise the dough will be soft and won't set after baking.

This recipe is for a 20x20cm square shaped dish. You can also make individual tarts or bake it in a 22cm round pie dish.

To start with pre-heating my oven to 175°C and greasing the baking dish. Now I take 1 medium size mango, peel it and cut it in small dices.

In a bowl I mix 100g coconut flakes with 100g flour and 75g sugar. I cut 100g well chilled butter into small dices. I like to mix half salted and unsalted butter together as I like the contrast of the mild saltiness to the sweetness. I add the butter to the dry ingredients and mix them with my hands until I have nice crumbles.

Now I give 2/3 of the crumbles into the baking dish and press it slightly down that they bond and give a nice base. On top I put the diced mango and than the rest of the crumbles.

It goes straight into the oven for about 30 minutes. After baking let the cake cool down for 5 minutes. Than cut it into pieces while it is still in the baking dish. Let it cool down completely before removing it from the baking dish.

Instead of mangoes you can use peaches or apricots, either fresh or canned.

I like to serve this either some nice whipped cream, some vanilla ice cream or a vanilla yoghurt.

For the vanilla yoghurt I mix 200g yoghurt with 2 tablespoons icing sugar, the seeds from 1 vanilla bean and 2 tablespoons whipped cream. Mix it all together and that’s it.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola

Mango-Vanilla-Jam

 Mango season is finally here. I just love mangoes and use them a lot during season. No matter if I cook curry, grilled meat or a nice dessert.

I can't wait until we can harvest the fruits from the tree at my place. In the meantime I found a great source for organic mangoes. Every year I try to preserve as many mangoes as possible so that I can enjoy their wonderful aroma throughout the year.

A good portion I just peel, cut the fruit off the seed and then store it in my freezer. Out of the rest I cook jams and chutneys. For me jams must be full of fruit and flavour but not sugar. Most jams available in stores are made with a fruit-sugar ratio of 1-1. Sometimes the sugar content is even higher. I cook my jams h a fruit-sugar ratio of 2-1 or 3-1 depending on the fruit and sugar I use. The only drawback of it is that you have to store the jam in the fridge once you opened the jar.

This jam is a combination of 2 of my favourite flavours Mango and Vanilla. It seems that a lot of people around me like this combination as I send every year several jars of it around the globe to family and friends. Making it is very simple.

Before I start I sterilize several glass jars with twist off lids. To sterilize the jars fill a big pot with water. Put in the jars and lids (the lid must be off the jar) and boil the jars in the water for minimum 15minutes. Leave them in the hot water until you use them.

For the jam I take the 2kg of fresh mango pulp. Depending on the variety of mango you use it takes 3-4kg mango to get 2kg of pulp. I cut 6 vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape out the seeds into 500g of sugar.

In a big pot I mix the mango pulp with the vanilla sugar, the vanilla beans and 50ml lemon juice. I simmer it stirring it constantly for about 15minutes or until the sugar is completely dissolved. After switching off the stove I put the lid on the pot and let it stand 2 hours that the vanilla flavour can develop.

I a separate bowl I mix 500g sugar with 30g pectin in a bowl. Pectin ensures that the jam sets well. After adding the sugar-pectin mixture to the mango mixture I heat it over a very low flame to boiling point and let it boil for 3 minutes stirring it constantly. The sugar must be fully disolyed.

To check if the jam is ready I pour a table spoon full of jam on a cool plate. If it gets into a gel like consistence it is ready. If it is runny when I hold the plate slanted it needs to cook a few minutes longer after which I repeat the test.

Once the jam is ready I take the glass jars & lids out of the hot water and put them upside down on a kitchen towel that the water can run out and the jars can dry off a little bit. To fill the boiling hot jam in the jar I use a wide mouth funnel.

You can buy these in a well sorted department store or you make an improvised one out of aluminium foil. Don't worry, if you don't have one you can fill the jam just like this into the jars. I fill the jars til 1cm below the opening edge of the jar.

Make sure that the top edge of the jar is clean before you close the jar with the lid. If there is any jam on it dip a clean kitchen towel into boiling water and wipe off the jam before you put on the lid. Leave the jars standing upside down for 1 hour than turn around and leave it to cool down completely.

Besides having it as jam with fresh bread I often use this jam often as a cake filling or serve it in combination with desserts like milky rice, ice cream or simply mix it with yoghurt for breakfast.

Enjoy and have fun cooking!

Love

Carola

PS.: Pectin is a natural gelling agent made out of apple or papaya seeds.

       Please send me a mail in case you are interested in purchasing a jar of jam.

Bread baked in a Bread Maker

OK, I am back. During May it was simply too hot for me to spend a long time in the kitchen. I also had visitors which means less cooking and more going out for dinner.

But one thing I did was baking bread. Last year I bought a bread making machine and ever since I am experimenting to get the perfect bread. Sometimes more successful than others.

The reason for me buying the bread making machine was that most of the bread you get here in India is soft crust bread and the variety is rather limited. Another reason is that most household ovens available here do not generate enough heat for baking bread.

I must confess I was a bit naive thinking that I just follow the recipes stated in the recipe booklet and get the perfect bread. I completely ignored the fact that flour here has different parameters than in Germany or Europe. To start with the gluten content. The same goes for the yeast. Not to forget the surrounding temperature and humidity.

The 1^st few trials were edible but not great. That's when I started turning to my cookbooks for help. I spend days reading about it and trying out what could be the right solution.

One thing that worked really well is to replace one quarter of the flour with hard wheat semolina as it increases the gluten content. I also realised that plain whole wheat flour gives me better results and taste than the mulitgrain-whole wheat flour which is available from several brands.

I am still trying to figure out while the bread doesn't rise well when I let the normal program run through but I guess that has to do with the kneading right before the baking process starts. Because if I control the kneading and rising time by switching the machine on and off the result is much better.

The best result so far I got with the following recipe. This is for my Kenwood Rapid Bake Bread Maker and a dough volume of 900g. Different machines have different volumes so you might have to adjust the recipe to your own machine.

For the dough I dissolved 7g dry yeast in 300ml warm water and pour it in the baking pan. To it I added 1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil and 50ml plain yoghurt. In a bowl I mix 250g plain wheat flour with 125g hard wheat semolina, 125g whole wheat flour, 4tablespoons unsweetened skimmed milk powder, 1 ½ teaspoons salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. I add the flour mixture to the liquids in the baking pan and set the machine for 900g French bread with medium crust. This means on my machine that the dough will be kneaded for 20 minutes.

After the kneading process I switch the machine off for the next 1 ½ hours to let the dough rise. Than I start it again on the same setting and let the dough be kneaded for another 20 minutes. After the kneading I switch the the machine off for 1 hour to let the dough rise a second time.

Now I set the machine on 900g baking for 70 minutes. After the baking I leave the bread for 30-60minutes in the machine before taking it out and letting it cool down.

If you don't have a bread maker but a god oven that heats up to a minimum of 220°C you can make the bread too. Just knead all ingredients in a big bowl and neat it well. While the dough is rising cover the bowl with a wet towel to avoid that the dough dries up. Than form a round loaf or put the dough in a baking dish for baking. The oven must be well pre-heated.

This bread was gone so fast that I couldn't take a picture of it but I promise I will post a picture as soon as the next bread comes out of the machine. And I will go on experimenting until I get the perfect bread so expect some more recipes to come.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola


As promised here some pictures of the home baked bread. This is a 700g loaf.