July 5, 2010: Sometime between when this post was originally written in 2007 and now it appears Saveur Magazine selected this recipe as one of its ‘Best Of The Web‘, and Trinigourmet.com as one of its ‘Sites We Love’. I can’t explain how much this means to me as it has always been my hope and aim to disseminate Trinidadian cuisine to the wider world. It really makes the long hours cooking, writing, photographing and editing, not to mention the ongoing expenses, worth it. Thanks so much!

Yum Yum Yum. I love Trinidad street food. And I love love love pholourie. Pholourie are basically little balls of split pea flour fried and served in a thin sweet chutney sauce (usually mango or tamarind). You can buy them in little paper bags with the sauce in a little plastic bag included. So yum. When I was working in Port of Spain I would often buy a pack of pholourie and a doubles for my breakfast. So the yum!

Pholourie is not restricted to roadside vendors though, I’ve also eaten it as hors d’oeuvres at weddings and other events.

This was my first attempt at making pholourie at home and I was really surprised at how easy it came together. I wanted to have to a nice shot of the pholouries as they were draining, fresh out of the oil but my parents kept hovering and eating them still hot, so I never did get that shot. I suppose that’s a good sign for a cook tho? Also surprising, was finding out that this was my mother’s first taste of Pholourie. “MMM! So -this- is Pholourie!” she cried. I was shocked!

“C’mon momz, you’ve been living in Trinidad for over 30 years now!”

“True”, she said, adding that she didn’t eat street food though. I think she ate more of them than anyone
“They’re really moreish, aren’t they?”
“Yes mom, they’re totally ‘moreish’.

She’s never had doubles either. Well that will also change by the end of this week

Pholourie
——————————————————————————–

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups split peas powder
1/2 cup flour
1 clove garlic, finely minced/pureed
1- 1/2 teaspoon salt
black pepper
1 teaspoon saffron powder or 2 tsp curry powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
oil for deep frying

METHOD:

1. Mix split peas powder with all ingredients except water.

2. Add enough water to make a thick batter. Let rest for 1 hour.

3. Heat oil in heavy pot.
4. Drop batter, a teaspoon at a time into the hot oil, and let cook until puffed and golden brown.

5. Serve with a thin fruit chutney sauce or a peppery tamarind sauce. I made a killer sauce by combining equal parts mango chutney and water and pureeing them with 1 clove of garlic. This is the consistency of pholourie sauce that one usually gets when purchasing locally on the roadside.

Spelling variations: Phoulorie, Pholourhie

This entry was originally published January 30, 2007. It has been updated once since then

I see plenty of recipes for accra in West Indian Cookbooks but often they bear little resemblance to Trinidad Accra. My Jamaican mother tells me that what she knows as accra is a saltfish fritter, flat, fried brown. Here in Trinidad however accra is a puffy fried dough ball, made of a highly seasoned dough into which shredded saltfish has been mixed. I’ve had it at weddings, gatherings, and of course bought it from street vendors. This recipe comes together quite quickly once the saltfish has been boiled and picked. For those of you who hate the time-intensive shredding I found that after the initial picking apart to remove the bones (and boneless saltfish is also available) by adding the chunks to a food processor/chopper for a few seconds of pulsing I was able to get a bowl of perfectly shredded saltfish, and no one is any the wiser. Aren’t shortcuts great?

February 20,2009 ETA: Need to be gluten-free or cooking for someone who is? I’ve now adapted this recipe for gluten-free flours. Enjoy!

Trinidad Saltfish Accra
——————————————————————————–

INGREDIENTS:

1 egg
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 lb boneless saltfish
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon pepper sauce
1 1/4 cup flour (1 cup rice flour + 1/4 cup gluten-free white flour for gluten-free version)
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup water (inc. to 1 cup for gluten-free version)
1/4 cup finely chopped spring onions
1 tsp italian seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper
Pepper and salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Boil saltfish in sauce pan for a few minutes in 6 cups of water.
2. Throw out the water and boil for a second time in a new 4 cups of water for 30 minutes

3. Check to see how salty the fish is. If it is overly salty you will need to boil it a third time
4. Use a fork to shred salt fish, you can also use your fingers or a food processor

5. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and stir vigorously until the batter gets thick. Let batter rest for 30 minutes.

6. Teaspoonfuls of batters should be deep fried over moderate heat, until golden brown

7. Ensure that the inside of the fish cakes are well-cooked and the outside is not burnt before it is cooked
8. Carefully monitor the heat
9. Use absorbent kitchen paper to drain the fish cakes on

10. Serve hot with pepper sauce.

For more Caribbean Recipes check out the Caribbean Cooking section of Veni Mangé – the Trinigourmet Amazon Bookstore.

Makes 6 servings

This post was originally published on February 2nd, 2007. It has been updated once since then.

Alternative terms: acra, akra, saltfish cakes

You know one of the unexpected discoveries of having a food blog is realizing how much our parents keep from us about -their- culinary pasts. Before I started TriniGourmet I thought it was reasonable to assume that the foods my parents made were accurate reflections of their respective heritages (Trinidad and Jamaica respectively), and as such included faves from their own childhoods. Not so. It has happened on more than one occasion that a dish I have made here (often for the first time) unlocks a flood gates of “MMMM, I used to eat this all the time as a child”. WHAT?! So how come you never made it for me then? *shrug* “Didn’t seem important” or “Youse forget these things” are the most common variant of reply In that respect being a Caribbean food blogger seems even more important when it comes to documenting and preserving these culinary gems in as ‘authentic’ a format as possible. It really boggles my mind. If many of these recipes have fallen to the wayside in a 100% Caribbean home I can only imagine what is going on in the Diaspora! This recipe for fried eggplant was another of those ‘culinary flashbacks’. My father thanked me for making them and told me that yes, again, he ate this often as a boy. Well I never did as no ever made it for me :crying:

Slivers of seasoned eggplant (or melongene as it is more commonly called here in Trinidad) are floured and breaded before being pan fried. The results are a light flavourful crust with a warm molten center. If you are not traditionally a fan of eggplants, this may be just the thing to turn you into a convert!

Fried Eggplant
From: Caribbean Cookbook

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb eggplant
salt and pepper to taste
flour and breadcrumbs
oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:

1. Peel, wash and cut egplant in 1/2 in thick slices
2. Cover slices thoroughly in a mixture of salt, black pepper, flour and breadcrumbs
3. Let stand for about 10 minutes

4. Shake off excess flour
5. Fry in hot fat til golden brown

For this and other Caribbean recipes visit the Caribbean Cooking section of Veni Mangé - The Trinigourmet Amazon Bookstore!

This post was originally published August 28, 2007. It has been updated once since then.

Hummus is a never-fail crowd pleaser and so deceptively easy to prepare! I love to offer hummus as a starter at Purim because chickpeas figure so prominently in the Purim story. This recipe comes from one of my favourite cookbooks The Sephardic Table: The Vibrant Cooking of the Mediterranean Jews (you can read my review here). Although I have tried many hummus recipes and am not opposed the occasional variation, this is the one I return to time and time again.

Hummus
Source: The Sephardic Table: The Vibrant Cooking of the Mediterranean Jews
Servings: 6

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
3 cloves, garlic crushed
1 cup tahini
juice from 2 lemons, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 cup pine nuts or handful of chickpeas for garnish
olive oil, for garnisih
paprika or cayenne pepper, for garnish.

METHOD:
1. In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, puree the chickpeas and garlic
2. Add the tahini, lemon juice andsalt.
3. Continue to blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Add a little water for a smoother consistency, if desired
5. If you are using the pine nuts for garnish, toast them in a small skilley over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes , or until golden. set aside to cool
6. To serve, spoon the hummus onto a serving plate or into a serving bowl.
7. Make a slight hollow in the center of the mound and place the pine nuts or whole whole chickpeas in it. Drizzle a little olive oil on top and sprinkle with paprika or cayenne.
8. Serve chilled or at room temperature

Blog Party #43 is here! The theme this month is “Spice It Up”. According to the event’s host Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness:

The chill of February has definitely gotten to me. I’m cold. I’m tired of being cold. I want warmth…but it looks like the only place I can find that is in the kitchen!

Well there are definitely no chills here in Trinidad, unless you count the damp rainy days we’ve been having here on an almost non-stop basis. Although the rain may be worrying the Carnival die-hards, I find it rather cozy, and there is nothing like grey skies that makes me want to whip up a homey thing or two stoveside.

Something homey like these curried potato chips. Curried potato is a regular side here in Trinidad, but rarely does one see it in chip form. That’s a shame because the flavours are just as lovely when combined with a salty crunch. With my recently purchased Avon mandoline I was able to make wavy chips, something I’ve always wanted to be able to do

To cool things down, I served the chips with some ice-cold basil lemonade. I seem to be on a bit of basil beverage trip recently but as I’ve said before, the flavour really enhances traditionally sweet drinks, mellowing them out a bit and giving them a rounder profile. I’ll post the recipe for the lemonade in a few days, until then here’s the one for the chips! Do note that the amounts can easily be scaled upwards to cater for more mouths

Curried Potato Chips

INGREDIENTS:

2 large Idaho or Russet potatoes
2 cups peanut oil, for frying
1 tsp garlic sauce
2 teaspoons madras curry powder
kosher salt

METHOD:

1. Using a mandolin, thinly slice the potatoes
2. In a large heavy pot, heat the oil to 360F.
3. Fry the chips in batches, draining on a stack of paper towels. Be sure to salt each batch while it’s still hot!
4. In a small bowl, add 2 teaspoons of frying oil with the garlic sauce and the curry powder and salt and stir well.
5. Carefully toss the chips with the oil mixture.
6. Serve immediately.

This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated

First of all, thanks so much for all the kind comments and messages from those of you who took a moment to send my mom your support as she adjusts to her new gluten-free life. We were all quite surprised and happy Thanks also to Johanna who let me know that many brands of cornflakes contain malt extract, a no-no for those with celiac disease. I had no idea about this, and as always knowledge is power when it comes to matters such as these!

As I had mentioned in my first post about my mom’s first gluten-free birthday surprise, I had made not one but two desserts for her. The first of course was my Glittery Gelatin Torte, and now here’s the second one! This recipe for Pumpkin Pone came from the Naparima Girls High School Cookbookand is cited as being Guyanese in origin. Now if this attribution is incorrect feel free to ‘school me’, but do know I’m just relaying what was printed

One of the things that I love about this pone recipe is that it is low in sugar. It also provides a satisfying chewy texture, ideal for mom who was grateful to feel as though she was eating ‘cake’ without compromising her health. With only 1/4 cup of sugar, this recipe made the ideal submission for Low Sugar Sweet Treats. Now, as I had mentioned in my post for Cassava Pone, one of the best parts of pone is the crust that forms as it bakes. This is where the sweetness of the natural flavours really shine. That’s why I was so happy to receive the following tip from a reader named Michelle…

here’s a secret:
most people like the burnt edge and would fight for the corners.
I use foil tart tins and make mini ponelets, that way everyone gets some edge.

What a brilliant idea! I couldn’t wait to try it. Not only did this method make cleanup a breeze, it was so much more attractive to portion and serve that I don’t think I’ll ever make pone in a bread pan again!

To make the dish even more luxurious I served it in crystal goblets with a dollop of sugar-free coconut icecream. This boosted the complexity of flavours and provided a lovely contrast in texture. Being guilt-free rarely feels or tastes this good!

Pumpkin Pone
Source: Naparima Girls High School Cookbook

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

1 lb. pumpkin
1 dry coconut (I used 1 250g packet of dessicated coconut)
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. margarine
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar (or honey)
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg

Directions:
1. Peel, wash and grate pumpkin and the coconut.
2. Add the cornmeal, sugar (or honey) and margarine.
3. Add the water to give it a dropping consistency.
4. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Mix well.
5. Pour into a greased pan (or cupcake sheet/tart tins)

6. Bake at 350 degrees until browned (45 minutes – 1 hour)

Note: I like to sprinkle the top of the pone with brown sugar just before placing into the oven

Falafel is an item that depending on your part of the world is either par for the course, or an unheard of oddity. Growing up here in Trinidad falafels were not part of my culinary experience, however in the last few years, Syrian-Lebanese eateries have become more and more popular and Middle Eastern fare has become well-loved outside of their original ethnic communities.

The falafels that I’ve heard over the past few years have varied from depressing to sublime. I’ve noticed that I don’t really care for the dryer varieties, and that tahini sauce is ultimately the purest of soul mates when it comes to dressing these fried balls of ground chickpeas.

When it came to submitting a recipe for Vegan Ventures and My Legume Love Affair (created by The Well Seasoned Cook) falafel truly killed two food events with one dish! Because of my current kitchen situation I took several shortcuts that I think ultimately undermined the integrity of the dish, however I will only apologize to an extent as the finished results were sublime in terms of the richness and complexity of flavour, and the creaminess of texture. Dare I say it surpassed many of the falafels I have paid for!

The first of the shifts that I made was to use canned chickpeas instead of soaked, dry ones. I made this decision because I don’t have a food processor and my blender is currently in a state where I worried that dry chickpeas may challenge the motor a little too much. The results lacked a certain grit that I do enjoy, so I think that first chance I get to try this recipe with raw chickpeas I will definitely do so, just to measure the difference. Also, because of the state of the blender, the items did not grind as finely as I would have liked, and as you can see some rather chunks existed in places. This also bothered me a little, but I decided to move forward regardless. I can always try it again n’est-ce-pas? When it came to adding the flour, I found i needed to add quite a bit more in order to get a good cohesion going, but I don’t know if this was also because I had used canned chickpeas.

As I’ve seen some people having trouble making the tahini paste in comments on other sites I’ll throw in my two cents. When initially adding water to tahini, the mixture will ‘seize up’ and appear to clump and become coarse. Just ignore that and keep whisking in more water with a fork. The mixture will eventually free up and become a milky white, so be patient In my case I tossed the chopped vegetables into the tahini sauce and let them rest together for a while before spooning into the pita pockets and drizzling over the fried falafel.

Although I am not a vegan (or vegetarian), I do try to keep meat and fish consumption to a minimum in my day to day life. This recipe has already been starred as one to add to my ‘snack’ repertoire. It is so light yet filling, quick to assemble, and leaves you feeling completely guilt free. Enjoy!

Falafel
Source: The Foods of Israel Today

Makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon baking powder
4-6 tablespoons flour (substitute with cornflour if gluten-free)
Soybean or vegetable oil for frying
Chopped tomato for garnish
Diced onion for garnish
Diced green bell pepper for garnish
Tahina sauce
Pita bread

METHOD:

1. Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight, then drain. Or use canned chickpeas, drained.

2. Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed.

3. Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough bulgur or flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.

4. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts, or use a falafel scoop, available in Middle-Eastern markets.

5. Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees in a deep pot or wok and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

6. Drain on paper towels. Stuff half a pita with falafel balls, chopped tomatoes, onion, green pepper, and pickled turnips. Drizzle with tahina thinned with water.

NOTE: Egyptians omit the cilantro and substitute fava beans for the chickpeas.

• Tahina (also called tahini) is an oily paste made from ground sesame seeds. It is available in Middle Eastern markets and you can also buy Tahini from Amazon.com (For Trinis you can get it at Peppercorns and Malabar Farms and occasionally I have seen it at HiLo)
• To garnish your falafel in true Israeli style, try adding one or several of the following condiments: harissa hot sauce, pickled turnip, mango amba (pickle), or sauerkraut.

I normally don’t enter one of my recipes to multiple events but I’m in a bit of a time crunch and I really wanted to take part in Food In Film, as well as “Waiter There’s Something in my… Meatless Barbecue”.

Having been a Film Major in college my eyes really lit up when I learned about the Food in Film event, there were so many great films I could choose from, and talking to a close friend only brought up more possibilities. For some reason my mind really was motivated to come up with a ‘Clogger’ a la the Simpsons movie, but my own kashrut restrictions got in the way of really staying true to the name. I really hope that another participant comes up with one though In the end however my ‘Clogger’ brainstorming led me to another animated film’s famed burger, the infamous Krabby Patty, immortalised in film thanks to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

I am not ashamed to say that I am a huge Spongebob fan. I am probably the only maid of honour to have been thrilled to have received a Spongebob DVD as part of my wedding party present When I first began to watch the TV series I thought that Krabby Patties were made from crabs, but then I realised no they just got their name from the store owner Mr. Krabs …

Krabby Patties are a central part of the Spongebob Universe and play a pivotal role in the movie as well. Indeed this burger was inspired by the following scene.

From Wikipedia:
The film begins with a live action credit sequence, in which a group of pirates retrieve tickets to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. The film then cuts to Bikini Bottom, where amidst chaos, Mr. Krabs, the boss of popular fast food restaurant the Krusty Krab, has a problem: a customer who ordered a Krabby Patty got it without cheese. Suddenly, SpongeBob SquarePants, the manager, comes to the rescue. With his briefcase full of James Bond-like gear, he takes out a piece of cheese, slowly puts the cheese in the Krabby Patty. and the day is saved.

Since no one really knows what goes into a Krabby Patty (and any fan of the series knows that Plankton has certainly tried) I really felt that I could play around and come up with a possibility of my own

Now when making a veggie burger there is nothing to be gained by continuing to convincing yourself that it is really a meat burger in surprise. Can we just be honest and admit that they are night and day? That doesn’t mean that I don’t love veggie burgers (when they are done right) I do, but I think that the key to making a good veggie burger is treating it as one, and not as a meat burger in disguise.

Because veggie mince is basically dry and flavourless it is important to add as much moisture and complex flavours as possible. I decided to achieve this through the addition of smoked cheese stuffing, garlic sauce and hickory BBQ sauce. The other main problem with veggie burgers is binding. Here I used two eggs as well as wholewheat flour and seasoned breadcrumbs. These additions create a burger that is extremely dense and nutty, with an array of flavours throughout. When topped with coleslaw (added moisture), grilled onions and tomatoes the flavour medley becomes unbelievably dynamic and satisfying.

Sarina’s Vegetarian “Krabby Patty” Burgers
Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

For patties:
1 lb veggie mince
1/4 cup hickory smoke BBQ sauce
2 tsp garlic sauce
8 slices smoked cheese
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs

For toppings:
1 large white onion (slice into 4 thick slices. Brush with 1 tbsp of Italian dressing on each side. Grill for 5 minutes per side. Set aside)
1 large tomato
1 cup shredded cabbage (combined with 2 tablespoons mayonnaise)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine mince, BBQ sace, garlic sauce, bread crumbs, wholewheat flour and eggs
2. Separate into 8 portions
3. Form the first 4 portions into 4 patties
4. Shred 4 of the cheese slices and distribute equally over the 4 veggie patties

5. Form 4 additional patties with the remaining mince mixture
6. Place over the patties and cheese, sealing the edges to ensure that the cheese doesn’t seep out (won’t always work tho )
7. Sprinkle liberally on each side with salt and pepper

8. Grill for 7 minutes per side
9. Top with remaining 4 smoked cheese slices and allow to soften
10. To assemble the burgers place 1-2 teaspoonfuls of coleslaw onto bun base.
11. Top with burger patty, a slice of tomato and grilled onion (separate the rings).
12. Top with bun and serve

This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated

Wow, this has really been a year of confronting, and overcoming, my culinary fears! Who knew I had so many? So far this year I have created soufflés, tackled British food, baked several successful cakes, and combined peanuts with chicken. You’d think at this point I could rest on my laurels and smile over a job well done. But no sirree… not when I saw that this month’s Retro Recipe Challenge was Retro Wobbles, a phrase that instantly brings to mind one of my personal culinary boogeymen, the gelatin salad!

I never knew that gelatin salads were real, or loved, by anyone. I had grown up seeing them in my mother’s cookbooks, but always viewed them as ‘food art’ more than actual meals to be consumed. It wasn’t until I was at Smith that I met a student who suggested making a chicken and lime jello salad for a fundraising brunch that I realized that these things were actually part of some people’s daily palates! (By the way that student called us all ignorant after she saw the looks of horror that instantly registered on our faces after the words left her mouth )

After that brief exchange the back of mind would occasionally get twinges of curiousity. What if it -did- taste good like she had suggested? What if I -was- being closeminded. I’m a texture freak and the idea of smooth gelatinous jello combined with hard objects of any sort (least alone savory ones like vegetables) just sounded like something that could be viewed as a violation of the Geneva Convention. When I shared my cautious curiousity with my mother she quickly shot me down. Like me, she had never known that the gelatin salads in her cookbooks were actually to be consumed, and she saw no reason to change that belief at this point in her life. Were we just being close-minded?

According to the copy of The Good Home Cookbook: More Than 1000 Classic American Recipes
, which I received earlier this year, we were.

From The Good Home Cookbook: More Than 1000 Classic American Recipes:

Gelatin salads have been popular in the Midwest ever since they were introduced in the late nineteenth century. They have almost disappeated from tables on the East and West coasts.

Really? I immediately contacted one of my best ‘online’ friends, a woman from Indiana. I needed to hear a review from someone I knew and trusted. I shared with her my fear and skepticism of gelatin salads and asked her if she was indeed familiar with them. She immediately brightened up and related to me that they were indeed still quite popular in the Midwest, and also quite good. She usually makes quite a few herself, especially in the summer months. Hmmm… the fear was still too great. I hate wasting money and/or ingredients, and I rarely make recipes if the odds are greater than 50% that no one in my house will eat them, including myself! I told myself that if presented the opportunity at someone else’s house or a get-together, I would take it, but I wouldn’t go through the trouble of making one myself.

That is, until this challenge rolled around. It was gonna be now or never.

Armed with several of my mom’s retro cookbooks I flipped through their gelatinous offerings. Most of them were savoury, a path I was still not willing to take. If I was going to dip my toe into these waters it was gonna be as a dessert first. Betty Crocker wasn’t much help, so it was on to Better Homes and Gardens. This particular copy seems to be from 1969-1972 (there is no copyright date but it was on the same shelf as other books from that period).

Who in their right mind could refuse such garish technicolor spreads? Especially this one especially designed for ‘your husband’s company dinner’

One particular image brought back all my old fears and threatened to send me running back to the hills…

shudder…

I quickly turned the page, took a deep breath, and vowed to soldier on…

That’s when I saw a small recipe for a ‘Spiced Orange Mold’ … It called for fruity jello, cinnamon, and mandarin oranges… all ingredients that I love… this seemed like a safe and easy way to go…

I quickly got to work putting everything together, replacing the orange gelatin with sugar-free mixed fruit packs. I smiled at the smells of the mulling orange syrup, I wowed in amazement as I stirred the mandarin orange sections into the partially set conglomeration. And then I waited….

As I prepared to unmold my ‘masterpiece’, I may have been a little too cautious. The directions stated to dip the mold into hot water up to the rim. I think I left it in the water for a second or two too long as some of the jello escaped as liquid when I flipped it onto the plate Still, other than that everything seemed to be AOK. I cut a wedge out and picked up my spoon. This was the final test. I took a bite. And then another. It was surprisingly good! The mulling gave the jello a warmth and complexity that you can’t get straight out of the box. And the orange sections? That was probably the most surprising part. Their inclusion was not anywhere as jarring as I expected, providing unexpected citrusy bursts of flavour and liquid instead. The overall impression was that this was a refreshingly light and cooling fruit salad, that could be easily glammed up with a dollop of whipped cream or a chunky tropical fruit sauce. YUM! I will definitely make this one again, and am also eyeing some of the other dessert jellos that I overlooked earlier. Give me enough time, and I may even get around to the olive studded montrosity I shuddered at above

Spiced Orange Mold
Recipe from: Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook (c. 1970)
Makes 6 to 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 11-oz can mandarin orange sections
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 inches stick cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
2 3-oz packages orange flavoured gelatin (hmm I used 2 .3 oz packages of Jello and had no problems. Maybe jello is more concentrated now?)
2 cups cold water
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup broken California walnuts (I omitted these)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Drain oranges
2. Reserve syrup; add water to make 1 3/4 cups
3. In saucepan, mix syrup, salt, spices
4. Cover; simmer 10 minutes
5. Remove from heat, let stand covered 10 minutes

6. Strain.
7. Dissolve gelatin in the hot mixture.

8. Add cold water, lemon juice.
9. Chill till partially set.
10. Stir in oranges and nuts.

11. Chill firm in 1-quart mold

The last time that I took part in Muffin Monday, I shared with y’all my memory of my mother’s hearty Carrot Muffins. Well now, with this month’s theme being “Childhood”, I get to share them with you!

This recipe is one of many to be found in mom’s homemade scrapbooks. She’s been compiling them since the 1970′s and as a toddler I would occupy myself on the kitchen floor by flipping through them, amazed at the colours and scribbles contained within.

Some of that must have rubbed off on me because as a teenager I began collecting recipes myself, pages from Seventeen and Teen magazines loosely held in various Lisa Frank folders. My enthusiasm for recipe collecting however was not matched by the quality of creations at that time though, and the files eventually grew dust.

It wasn’t until my first engagement (yes there’ve been more than one) that I gave cooking another try, and this time I found out I was pretty good at it! From that point on I kept my recipes in plastic page covers, neatly held together by three ring binders. A method that worked rather wonderfully until I stumbled across MacGourmet and learnt the wonders and advantages of recipe databases. I’ve been leisurely converting my considerable recipe collection into digital format ever since, and in the process have also found myself coming full circle, as I’ve also found myself rereading my mother’s scrapbooks with a new more appreciative eye.

My mom’s recipe scrapbooks came into being as she ventured into two unknowns. One, married life, and the second, married life in Trinidad. Many of the recipes chronicle Trinidadian recipes that obviously intrigued and/or delighted her. Many were clipped from newspapers and magazines, others were typed and/or stenographed, and others still were scrawled in various hands, their owners long forgotten. Most of the recipes appear to also have been forgotten, as I have not heard of quite a few them, and mom never got around to making them. Something that I plan to rectify

One of the big surprises of this carrot muffin recipe is that it doesn’t call for wholewheat flour. This was probably an addition that my mother made on her own, she’s even more of a health nut than I am I decided to stay true to the recipe and stuck to 100% all-purpose. I also lowered the cooking temperature from 375 to 350 degrees. The results were light and moist. It is not a sweet muffin, the only sweetness comes from the raisins and carrots, so it is quite healthy in that respect. This is the only dessert/snack that my mother makes on any regular basis and, when made with wholewheat flour (replace 1 cup of the all-purpose with wholewheat), it also has a nutty aspect. To be honest though, I didn’t miss the wholewheat flour, and neither did my mother apparently cos she said “hey it tastes better than when I make it”.

Carmen’s Carrot Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
2 or 3 cups finely shredded carrots
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp vanilla essence

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and brown sugar. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs and add vegetable oil, nutmeg, vanilla essence, raisins and carrots.
4. Combine flour mixture with egg mixutre, stirring until just combined. (If the mixture is too dry, add up to 1/2 cup water to keep it moist and ‘gloppy’ as shown below)

5. Pour into muffin tins

6. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown

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