Malva Pudding

Mandi:  The wonderful thing about Malva tart is that you can eat it after a hearty family meal as pudding or as a sweet for afternoon visitors.  I always enjoyed this recipe no matter when it was made and if my memory serves me correctly, it was usually a Sunday Afternoon treat when we had visitors served with coffee or tea.  This is the very first time that I have ever made the dish myself.  Why, I cannot tell because it’s a very easy recipe and there is really nothing to it.  I was concerned that there was not enough sauce for the cake but this afternoon when I served it to my mom and dad, my dad recalled that my mom always made extra sauce to give it that soaked texture which is the signature of the traditional Malva Tart.  I had some ideal milk left from the sauce that I made and poured it into the bottom of the pudding bowls so that it could soak up some more moisture.  Next time I will definitely make more sauce.

 

 Malva pudding

50g Margarine

1 Extra large egg

5ml vinegar

3ml salt

150ml milk

125ml sugar (100g)

15ml Apricot Jam

250 ml cake flour (140g)

5ml Bicarbonate of Soda

Sauce:

170g can of evaporated milk

100ml sugar (75g)

5ml vanilla

Cream margarine and sugar.  Add the egg, beating until light and fluffy.  Mix in the jam and vinegar.  Sift the dry ingredients and add, with milk beating until smooth.  Spoon into a greased medium oven proof dish and bake in a preheated oven at 180 ◦C for 30 – 40 minutes.

 For Sauce:  Heat the evaporated milk and sugar till sugar melts.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Pour sauce over the top as soon as pudding is taken out of the oven.

 Serves 4 – 6 (if you cut smaller portions, you will get up to 10 pieces)

Deidre:  The smell of Malva pudding takes me straight back to big family lunches after the church service on Sundays.  Everyone would be there – aunts, uncles, Ouma and Oupa.  I can still see Oupa welcoming us as Ouma was busy in the kitchen putting the final touches to the dishes she had prepared – and the sweet gooey smell of Malva pudding.  We would walk through to the kitchen and Ouma would greet us, the warmth of her smile reaching her eyes as she gave us each a hug.

As with the bobotie, Malva pudding is a very traditional South African pudding.  I hope that I pimped it without it losing its special identity.

Malva pudding

50g butter (one can never have too much butter)

1 Extra large egg

5ml vinegar

3ml salt

150ml milk

125ml sugar (100g)

Apricot Jam

250 ml cake flour (140g)

5ml Bicarbonate of Soda

½ tsp cinnamon

Sauce:

250 ml evaporated milk

140g sugar

5ml vanilla

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C.

Prepare a muffin tin by spraying with spray and cook.

Place spoonfuls of apricot jam on a sprayed baking tray and place in the freezer for1 hour.

Cream the butter and sugar. 

Add the egg, beating until light and fluffy. 

Add the vinegar and mix thoroughly. 

Sift the dry ingredients and add, alternating with milk.  Beat until smooth. 

Place one spoonful of mixture into each greased muffin hole.

Place one of the frozen spoonfuls of apricot jam in the centre of each muffin.

Fill until ¾ full.

My mixture made 8 malva muffins.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

 For Sauce:  Mandi warned me that the original sauce recipe was not enough for the dish, so I doubled the quantities.

Heat the evaporated milk and sugar till sugar melts.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Pour spoonfuls of sauce over the top of the muffins as soon as they are removed from the oven.

Pour the rest into a jug for serving.

This is a very quick and easy way of baking a malva pudding, and as they are individual portions there’s not squabbling about sizes J.

Challenges and tips:

1. No real challenges apart from cleaning up the gooey sauce from cabinets etc. when I poured spoonfuls of the sauce over the muffins – rather do this over the sink;

2. Tips- I added ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter – gives it a delicious spicy flavour;

3. I didn’t mix my apricot jam in with the dough as I wanted the apricot jam to form a layer in the middle of the malva pudding, instead it made a tangy layer at the bottom of the muffin – still very nice though!

 

Sunday Chicken Pie

Mandi and I were blessed to be able to cook the recipe for our 4^th blog insert together.  As usual this experience had its moments of hysterical laughter and utter silence as we contemplated and concentrated on our dishes.  Times like these are precious and I am grateful that we are granted these opportunities of spending quality time together….

Mandi:

To be honest, I don't remember this recipe and I am sure if mom did make it, she wouldn't have bothered with the crust. It was wonderful cooking together with someone who has a lot more technical expertise than me and to get good advice as we went along. 
It seems pastry and I do not gel well and both Deidre and I agreed that this pastry is not the best one for this dish. Personally I think I will opt for a puff pastry. The filling is absolutely delicious, really more-ish.
Sunday Chicken Pie
Pastry:
125g cake flour (unsifted)
Pinch of salt
100g cold butter or margarine
50 ml ice water (this is really not necessary)
Filling:
1kg chicken pieces
2 Onions diced
25g butter or margarine
100g mushrooms sliced
50ml chopped parsley
5 ml salt
5ml dried thyme
Pinch of pepper
200ml dry red wine
30 ml maizena
1 egg beaten (optional)
Sieve the flour and salt together. Rub in the butter until mixed together. Add water and mix till completely blended together.  Cover and cool for approximately an hour. 
Cover the chicken pieces with water, flavour with salt and pepper and cook. Allow the meat to cool in the stock and then debone.  Keep 100 ml of the stock.
Fry the onions in the butter until golden brown, add mushrooms and fry for a few minutes. Add meat, parsley , salt, thyme and pepper and mix together. Dish the meat into a shallow pie dish about 24cm in diameter.
Heat the wine and 100ml stock you kept over from the chicken.  Mix Maizena with a little water and add to the mixture.  Cook until nice and thick. Add to meat and mix gently.
Roll out your pastry on a floured surface. Place over your pie filling and neaten the edge of the pie dish.  Cut an opening or two in the pie crust to allow the steam to escape.  Brush with the beaten egg.  Bake 25 - 30 min at 200 ° C.
Delivers 6 portions.  If you have cooked your chicken the night before and deboned it, this recipe should take approximately 2 hours, start to finish.
My side dish was roasted potatoes and savoury peas.  Mom always made these as her side dish for pies (or a fresh salad).

Deidrè:

From the moment I knew that we were doing the Sunday Chicken Pie, I thought about making a deconstructed pie.  (I love the word ‘deconstructed’…. It sounds so Michelin star!)  But how I would manage it, that I had to figure out as I went along.  There were quite a few challenges with this recipe.  My initial idea was to make a puff pastry for my crust, but then I thought that it might be more in line with the original recipe to use the original crust….  Won’t do that again – I will use my gut instinct.  Not that the original crust is so bad.  It is a shortbread pastry which is most probably wonderful with other dishes, but not for this. It is extremely soft and difficult to roll out.  It also breaks when you place it on the pie dish (see Mandi’s photo of her dish).

Mandi and I sat the night before and worked through my recipe.  Some points had to change as I was cooking when I realised “Well, that’s not going to work……”  But overall, the final result was phenomenal (even if I have to say so myselfJ)

So, here goes:

Deconstructed Sunday Chicken Pie:

Pastry:

125 g unsifted flour

Pinch of salt

100 g cold butter

50 ml Water (not needed, use only if needed)

Sieve together salt & flour.

Add butter and mix well until blended. (You may need more flour to make it workable)

Place in clingwrap in the fridge (we made the pastry the night before and left it overnight in the fridge.  Because of the amount of butter used, the pastry was rock hard in the morning when we wanted to use it!  We left it to thaw in the sun and could work it about an hour later….

Filling:

1 kg chicken

10 carrots

250 g mushrooms, sliced

Chopped parsley, diced (50 ml)

2 onions, diced

25 g butter

5 ml dried thyme

Pinch pepper

5 ml salt

200 ml dry red wine

30 ml Maizena

1 egg beaten

(Ideal Milk – used to improve the gravy J)

Boil the chicken, salt and pepper until meat is soft and falls off the bones – allow to cool in the stock. (Please warn your guests that there might still be small bones in the mixture….)

Remove the chicken and debone.

Keep the stock!!

Set 200 ml of stock aside for the gravy and use the rest to boil the carrots.

Carrot layer:

Slice the carrots into 1 cm rounds and boil in the stock until soft.

Blend to make a mash (Mash should be stiff, not runny.  Add Maizena to get the desired consistency)

Mushroom layer:

Fry the mushrooms in butter until cooked, set aside

Chicken layer:

Fry the onions in butter until golden brown.

Add the meat, parsley, salt, thyme and pepper and mix.

Pastry layer:

Roll out the pastry until +/- 1 cm thick

Cut into rounds the same diameter as your stacking mould

Brush with beaten egg

Bake in a 200°C oven until golden brown

Gravy:

Heat 200 ml of stock and 200 ml of dry red wine.

Reduce to about 250 ml.

Mix a little cold water with Maizena to make a paste

Add to the wine/stock mixture until it forms a pouring consistency.

My gravy was a little stiff, so I added Ideal Milk until it reached the right consistency….it also made the gravy nice and creamy.

Construction:

Take your stacking mould (I don’t have one, so I found a 215g Chakalaka tin at Pick ‘n Pay and cut off both lids (top and bottom)  This is a perfect size for your stack)

Place your mould in the centre of your plate and add the carrot mash layer (about 1.5 cm)

Next place a layer of mushrooms on top of the carrot layer

Fill up with the chicken mixture (press down to make the stack compact)

Gently lift the stacking mould (chakalaka tin) off the filling – it should form a tower

Place the rounds of pastry on top of the tower.

Pour the gravy on the pastry and around the stack

Decorate with a fresh thyme leaf and serve.

Challenges:

1.  As mentioned above, the pastry is very finicky to work with – I would rather use a puff pastry

2.  Keeping the different elements warm until you serve – and while you plate up.  A warming tray would work well.

It took me the same time as Mandi to complete this dish from start to finish....

Fish Bobotie

Mandi:

I smiled today, opening the cookbook again on the page with the recipe for this week.   As a child, I suffered with severe separation anxiety and my poor mother couldn’t turn her back without me clinging to her apron strings.  If mom wanted to go to Church or to a prayer meeting during the week, she would have to come up with some ingenious ways to hold my attention.  One of these was to decorate her cook book or to write out some recipes for her.  This could hold my attention span for at least an hour, long enough for her to enjoy her service and be home before I was too hysterical or had noticed she’d been gone too long.  The recipe this week is a perfect example of my artistic finesse at the age of 10, as I turned a glued recipe from a Pilchards tin into a “Chef”. (see Photograph)  I enjoyed making this recipe.  Will definitely do it again!  

Fish Bobotie:

2 Large tins Pilchards (plain or middlecut)

2 medium sized onions

1 dessertspoon sugar

1 dessertspoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 tablespoons turmeric

Salt & Pepper to taste

Brown the onions in margarine, then add sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, turmeric, salt and pepper.  Soak 1 piece stale white bread in water.  Crumb, and add 1 beaten egg.  Add this with the turmeric etc. to the fish (finely mashed in a bowl).  Then beat another egg with a cup of milk and 1 tablespoon Maizena.  Pour over the fish mixture and bake in a 180◦/350◦ oven till golden brown.  Serve with rice.

I have added turmeric to my rice as well with sultanas.

I can see why mom used this recipe.  It’s fast, convenient and tastes amazing.  I think for the housewife generation, they went for recipes that were fast - the quicker the better.  So much easier to come home from church and throw the ingredients together. It took me about 15 mins to get all the ingredients into one bowl and then into the oven.  You could be eating within 45 minutes of starting your dish.

P.S.  this recipe was taken from the inside of a Pilchards tin label- 1981.

Deidrè:

I faced a serious challenge when I heard we were cooking fish bobotie for the blog… not only is it an iconic dish in South Africa, it had already been ‘pimped’ in a fashion.  Bobotie is traditionally made with minced beef.

I eventually decided to use the bobotie as a filling, either in a phyllo parcel or as a spring roll.  The spring roll won as it seemed to be the greatest challenge.  If you have not realised yet, I love a challenge and learning new techniques in any activity is something I enjoy.

So, here is my recipe:

Fish Bobotie Baked Spring Rolls:

450g Hake medalions (Or any other firm fleshed fish)

2 cups milk

1 tsp dried parsley

1 large onion, diced

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

1 tbsp turmeric (Borrie)

50g tomato paste sachet

Salt & pepper to taste

1 slice stale brown bread (bread is eaten at such a rate in my home that there is never any stale bread – I used a fresh slice)

2 cups milk

1 beaten egg

Filling:

Poach the fish in the milk with ½ tsp salt and 1 tsp parsley until flaky

Remove the fish from the milk and place in a bowl – keep the milk

Flake the fish

Place the slice of bread in the milk to soak

In a pan, brown the onion.

Add the sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, turmeric, salt & pepper and tomato paste

Squeeze the milk from the bread and crumb into the onion mixture

Add 1 beaten egg and mix thoroughly

Add the mixture to the flaked fish and mix.

[Strain the milk into a new pot and keep for the custard]

Spring Rolls:

1 box phyllo pastry (defrost in the fridge overnight)

Olive oil/melted butter

Separate two sheets of phyllo pastry and place on working surface

Cut into 4 squares

Using the example below, place fish bobotie filling in one corner and roll the pastry to form a spring roll (I found that the corner wouldn’t stick to the pastry without brushing a bit of water on the roll and sticking the corner down)

Place on a rack in a baking dish

Brush with olive oil or melted butter

  

Bake in a preheated 220°C oven for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, turn and bake for a further 8 minutes

Check continuously that they don’t burn.  [Time dependant on your oven.]

Egg Custard:

The original bobotie has an egg custard which you pour over the bobotie prior to baking.  This custard (as seen on Mandi’s photograph)forms a coating over the bobotie.  I decided to make a curry flavoured egg custard to pour over the spring rolls thereby incorporating the custard from the original dish into the pimped version.

Left over milk from poaching the fish topped up to make 450 ml

Pinch of salt

1 ½ tsp Maizena

½ tsp curry powder (I used mild)

2 egg yolks

Bring the milk to just below boiling point on the stove

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, Maizena and curry powder

Pour the hot milk into the egg yolks and Maizena mixture, whisking continuously

Pour the mixture back into the pan and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens

The mixture should coat the back of the wooden spoon.

Pour the custard over the spring rolls when serving.

I would use this recipe for a starter.  It is incredibly filling, so two should be ample for a serving.

Savoury Meat Roll

When I was making this recipe, I realised how often we write down a recipe and because you are the one that uses the recipe, (you’ve seen the end product) you leave out details that others would deem important (especially 20 years later) because, after all you make it all the time and you don’t need the details.  I really wish this recipe had a picture with it so that I could see what it should look like.    So I have decided to add this week, “What I would have done differently” and what I substituted according to today’s ingredients and what’s available.  Note:  Picture available below ;)

 Recipe – Savoury Meat Roll - Original recipe

 Potato pastry:

 4 oz Potatoes mashed (I would have cooked the potatoes the night before to cool before I add it to my flour)

4 oz Flour (I used a gluten free version, unbleached)

3 oz cooking fat (I used salted butter)

Seasoning ( I used Himalayan salt and a mixed savoury spice)

Very little water

Add seasoning to flour.  Rub in cooking fat then add the potatoes.  Knead firmly and add the water to give firm dough.  This is an excellent pastry for savoury dishes.  (On advice from Deidre, I wrapped the dough in cling wrap and let it cool in the fridge before rolling it out.)

The recipe also gives two options – you can use meat, or corned beef.  I chose the corned beef option, without heart, lungs and pork.

Savoury Meat Roll:

1 Large Onion

1 oz cooking fat (I used butter)

2 large tomatoes

Seasoning (black pepper with salt)

8 oz minced cooked meat or corned beef

1 oz cooking fat (butter)

Pinch of herbs -mixed (I added 1 tspoon of coriander)

Potato Pastry

Chop onions and tomatoes.  Fry in hot fat until soft.  Add the meat etc.  Roll potato pastry into two oblong shapes.  Spread filling over one and cover with the other.  Seal the edges, score top and bake for approx 35-40 mins in the centre of a hot oven at 425 – 450 ® F.  Brush with egg and milk before cooking to give a glaze if wished.

I picked up a few challenges with the pastry but the end result as I placed it in the oven to bake made me picture my mom.  I am sure she may have added her own twist to this recipe too.  I cannot remember her making it too often while we were all in the house but for it to be starred in the cook book, it must have been a favourite.

 I couldn’t remember this recipe either when I read through it.  It was only when I saw Mandi’s photograph that I had a faint recollection of it.  I’m wondering whether this was made mostly after my siblings and I had left the house.  That it was a favourite is certain due to the markings on the page….

During the making of my pimped version, I encountered many technical challenges.  Methods I had only seen on cooking shows I now had to achieve for my own recipe (Not that I had planned it that way, believe me!).  Let’s call this episode a ‘learning experience’.  I have also incorporated a ‘What I would have done differently’ piece after the recipe….  I will definitely make this again, it was delicious the first time, can be even better next time!

Savoury Meat Roll – Pimped version

Pastry:

110 g cold mashed potato

110 g self raising flour

80 g butter

Pinch of salt

Mix the flour and the salt.  Rub in the butter.

Add the mashed potato and mix together until it forms a stiff dough.

(I had to add additional flour to make it a stiff dough – definitely did not need any water)

Wrap dough in clingwrap and place in fridge to cool for at least 1 hour.

Meat Roll:

1 kg lean beef mince

½ tsp salt

Pepper

1 tsp sweet basil

1 large onion chopped

250 g fresh sliced mushrooms

500 g fresh spinach

Place the mince in a bowl

Add the salt, pepper and sweet basil – mix

Add the chopped onion – mix

Place clingwrap on a large cutting board (my cutting board is about 30 cm x 50 cm) leaving about 10 cm of clingwrap free on each side

Put the mince mixture on the clingwrap and spread out to form a rectangle +/- 1 cm thick

Fry the mushrooms in butter until soft

Fry the spinach in butter until wilted (separately)

Spread the spinach over the mince mixture and place mushrooms on top

Pull the right hand side of the clingwrap up and fold the mince mixture to start a roll (like a swiss roll).

Roll the mince into a tight roll.  At the end, fold the clingwrap tightly around the mince to make a sausage.

Place the mince roll in the fridge to chill for about 1 hour.

Roll the dough out on a floured cutting board into a rectangle the same size as the mince roll

Remove the clingwrap from the mince roll and place it on the right hand edge of the pastry

Roll the pastry and the dough together towards the left hand side

Fold the edges of the dough over so that the mince roll is completely enclosed in pastry.

Place in a preheated 180 °C oven for +/- 45 minutes.

What I would have done differently:

·        I would have added an egg to the mince mixture to bind it;

·        The mince mixture had a lot of moisture which caused my savoury meat roll to have a ‘soggy bottom’.  I think it might have been better with the corned meat or I need to find a way to pre- cook the mince and still have it bind in the roll…..  The moisture wasn’t a total train wreck – the pastry which was soaked with the meat juices tasted like dumplings J

·        It needs more filling without the roll getting out of proportion – will have to work on this too

·        I will double the pastry recipe.  My pastry was a very thin layer around the roll.

Delicious Chicken Dish

It''s been quite difficult deciding which recipe to use as our first entry in this blog. All of the recipes in the original recipe book are delicious, but seeing as Mandi had guests for lunch, we chose the recipe below as it easily feeds a lot of people. As mentioned in our introduction, Mandi cooked the original recipe and I put a modern spin on it - pimping it.

Photograph of the original recipe from +/- 1985

Recipe:  Delicious Chicken Dish - Original

Boil 1 chicken.  Debone and cut into pieces.  Not too small.

Add:      1 Tin Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce

                1 lrg Pkt Cheese and Onion crisps

                1 tin mushrooms (not creamed)

                1 tin pineapple pieces (not crushed)

                2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Mix all the ingredients through.

Place mixture into casserole dish and cover with a thick layer of cheddar cheese

Bake ½ hour in oven at 180 degrees

This dish serves 6 easily

This dish brings back such fond memories of our family sitting around the table on Sunday afternoons.  Mom had taken it from a work colleague of my father’s where they had lunch on an occasion and it became a firm favourite in our home for many years until all the children left home and the recipe made too much for just two people.  It was one of those recipes that, with each bite through the crisply grilled cheddar cheese on top, brought new flavours into the mouth.  The crunchy pineapple pieces, the tangy cheese and onion of the crisps and the mayonnaise that blended all the flavours together had us going back for seconds.  So simple and easy to make and yet when it is served it would give your guests the idea you spent hours in front of the stove.  Its really not complicated.  The ideal recipe for any housewife that has to fill four hungry stomachs around the lunch table.

Hard act to follow.....  

 

It took ages to decide how I would pimp this recipe. I kept reading it over and over, smelling the aroma of grilled cheese, feeling the texture of the chips in my mouth. I didn't want to make it unrecognisable, but in modernising it there were aspects of the recipe I needed to change. I tried to keep all the original ingredients, just use them differently.

Recipe: Delicious Chicken Recipe - Pimped version

 

1 chicken, cooked and deboned

200 g mushrooms - fresh - quartered

4 large tomatoes - skins removed

50 g tomato paste

2 tbsp. mayonnaise

1 large onion - chopped

1 garlic clove - chopped

100 g olives

2 tbsp. butter

250 ml white wine

salt & pepper

parsley to garnish

Feta cheese

Squid Ink spaghetti (black spaghetti)

 

I cooked the chicken beforehand in a pot of water with salt, chicken spice and oregano.  Once cold, I removed all of the meat and kept it separate.

 

Melt the butter in a pan on the stove.

Add the chopped onion and garlic and fry until translucent.

Chop the tomatoes and add to the onion mixture

Add the tomato paste and mayonnaise

Season with salt and pepper

Add the chicken

Add the wine and mushrooms and simmer until the mushrooms are cooked

Add the olives

Taste and season if necessary

 

Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet.

 

To serve, place spaghetti in bowl.  Top with chicken mixture and crumble feta cheese over the top.

 

I had already worked on my idea when my father sent me a curve ball - the recipe needed a can of pineapple pieces!!  Pineapple pieces would not go with what I had in mind, so I used olives instead.

 

I have cooked the original recipe for my family on a few occasions - always a winner.  When I dished up lunch today, the black spaghetti was eyed with suspicion.  Spaghetti Noir tastes just like your usual spaghetti.  When you cook it, you get a slight whiff of seafood, but it definitely does not infiltrate the spaghetti itself.

 

The overall consensus was that they prefer this recipe to the original.

 

One recipe done, 51 recipes to go :)