Deconstructed Chocolate Ice Cream

Ed had been sick the past week and was ordered by the doctor to rest at home. In need of a perk-me-up after a miserable lunch of instant noodles (albeit two packets worth), he rummaged through the refrigerator and found some Chocolate Sorbet I made using a recipe from David Lebovitz, as well as a packet of Hokkaido milk we bought on a whim because we were curious about its taste (and whether it was worth its cost). Thinking of an affogato, I suppose, he combined both and voila - Deconstructed Chocolate Ice Cream. He excitedly shared this bit of news with me while I was buried in emails at work and I couldn't wait to try it when I returned. 

It was indeed delicious down to the very last drop of chocolate milk it ended up in. Although I'm not sure if the Hokkaido milk made much of a difference. I think some full cream milk would work just as well. 

Deconstructed Chocolate Milk

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups (555 ml) water

1 cup (200 g) sugar

3/4 cups (75 g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

6 ounces (170 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Full cream milk

Method

1. In a large saucepan, whisk together 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) of the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk for 45 seconds.
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it's melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 3/4 cup (180 ml) water. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 15 seconds. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the mixture has become too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.
3. To serve, scoop as much chocolate sorbet into a glass, and pour as much milk as you like. (I find the ratio of 2:1 of chocolate sorbet:milk works well.)

Paw Paw Paradise

When J volunteered to bring drinks, I was expecting a few bottles of vino. I really thought that he might bring some special wine from Africa, or a particular wine that goes well with rich stews. So when he asked if I had a blender, and martini glasses, I was pleasantly surprised! I thought it was great that even the drink was specially concocted for the occasion.

Paw paws are more commonly known to us as papayas. The first time I heard of the word paw paw was from Stella and I thought it was a hilarious sounding name. I was never much of a fan of papayas when I younger, and would only venture having some if they were ice cold. Over the years, I've grown to love them (as I've grown to love other things like bittergourd and lady's fingers/okra). And while J made this pretty thick, there shouldn't be a problem thinning it out with a little more ice or milk. Heck, you might as well go all the way and indulge yourself with more rum.

It is essentially a cold papaya milkshake - adapted for adults. I know that my mum would make me drink this everyday (sans alcohol) if she could help it. She somehow thinks that papaya milkshakes are good for the ahem... slightly under-endowed. Erm... I don't see a difference, but then again I've only had it once.

You really should use papaya for this drink, but mangos will provide a good substitute if papayas are not available.

Ingredients

1 ripe papaya, peeled, cut into small chunks and pureed in blender
1/2 cup milk

1 cup dark rum

1 cup ice

2 tbspn sugar

Method

Blend all ingredients together until smooth

Pour into 4-ounce glasses

Garnish with 1 strawberry each

Jeeps, kakis... and Mutton Stew

Cooking from Africa is mighty challenging. When I started to think about what I could cook to the theme of AFRICA, I realised I hardly knew a thing about it. Of course I was thankful I had friends to share the brain work with, who would do their own little research on what makes food in Africa, African.

L brought the other stew for the night. While it was meant to be a lamb stew, it quickly turned into a mutton stew because he didn't realise how expensive lamb was going to be. Together with the dish came an ah-soh-like rave about how wonderful (and cheap) Giant hypermart is. Ask him where you can get some elusive ingredient you've been hunting down for ages and he'll quickly offer 'GIANT!'

Even though the lamb was replaced by its less regarded sister - mutton, the stew was scrumptious. I was heady with herbs and spices, but in a good way. The added chickpeas and sliced almonds brought with them some very welcomed crunch. This is really a labour of love as the mutton will be relatively tough until they have been nursed into resignation given sufficient time. Evidently, there are also many steps to this recipe, but I'm sure would be worth your while.

'Goes great with almonds! I've cooked this twice and I've always used a hotter oven and a longer time, otherwise the meat won't be tender.' - Lawrence

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

2.5 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1.5 inch cubes

salt and black pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium-large onions, chopped coarse

4 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press

3 tbsp unbleached all purpose flour

1.5 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

0.5 tsp ground coriander

0.125 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

2.25 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 can (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped

2 bay leaves

6 fresh cilantro sprigs

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

0.25 cup minced fresh cilantro or parsley leaves

0.25 cup toasted silvered almonds (optional)

-

Method

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300 degrees.

Season the lamb generously with salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large oven-proof dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add half of the meat so that the individual pieces are close together but not touching.

Cook, not moving the pieces until the sides touching the pot are well browned, 2 to 3 mins.

Using tongs, turn each piece and continue cooking until most sides are well-browned, about 5 mins longer.

Transfer the meat to a medium bowl, add another 1 tbsp of the oil to the pot and swirl to coat the bottom.

-

Brown the remaining lamb in the same manner, transfer the meat to the bowl and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil and swirl to coat the bottom.

Add the onions and 0.25 tsp salt and cook, stirring frequently and vigorously, scraping the pot bottom with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits, until the onions have softened, about 5 mins.

Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 secs. Add the flour, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, and cayenne (if using) and stir until the onions are evenly coated and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

-

Gradually add the broth, scraping the pot bottom and edges with the wooden spoon to loosen the remaining brown bits and spices, and stirring until the flour is dissolved and the liquid is thick.

Stir in the tomatoes, apricots, bay leaves, and cilantro sprigs (if using) and bring to a simmer.

Add the lamb and accummulated juices, pushing down the meat to submerge the pieces.

Return to a simmer, cover the pot and put in oven for 1.25 hours.

Remove the pot from oven and stir in chickpeas. Cover and return the pot to the oven.

Cook until the meat is tender and the chickpeas and heat through, about 15 minutes.

-

If serving immediately, spoon off any fat that rises to the top.

The stew can be covered the refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Spoon off the hardened fat and bring back to a simmer over medium-low heat.

Discard the bay leaves and cilantro spirgs. Stir in the minced cilantro and adjust the seasonings. Serve immediately, garnishing each bowl with almonds, if desired.

-

If you can't find boneless lamb shoulder, you can purchase blade or arm chops and remove the meat yourself. Figure that 4.5 pounds of chops will yield the 2.5 pounds of boneless meat needed for this recipe. A variety of fried fruits - pitted rpunes, dark raisins, golden raisins, or currants - can be substituted for the apricots. serve this over couscous or basmati rice.

From the land of giraffes and hyenas... and Groundnut Stew

In this post, I spoke about the confluence of interests and passion. How finding a like-minded soul is such a beautiful thing. That the other two similarly fanatical friends - GM and P - were only going to be in Singapore together at the same time temporarily, was an opportunity I needed to seize before it slipped away.


By some stroke of luck, a couple of mutual friends had also just flown into Singapore either for their summer break or for to bask in Singapore's humid weather for good. GM helped arrange for a dinner potluck (on a weeknight, I wouldn't settle for less) and after some online discussion, we decided to take on the challenge of cooking from Africa.


It was serendipitous that two of the whole gang had been in Africa and stayed with a family for a while - long enough to pick up a recipe or two. One of which was for a Groundnut Stew. For some reason, the first image that popped into my mind was that of soft, braised peanuts floating freely in a thin sauce.


However, the stew turned out fairly thick but deliciously smooth. While you would assume it contained plenty of groundnuts, it actually did not. It simply contained juicy chunks of chicken, a few tablespoons of peanut butter, and a handful of peas thrown on top just before serving. GM graciously passed me the recipe, and while he hasn't exactly told me I could post it, it would seem terribly selfish not to share this with everyone else.


'There isn't really an "authentic" recipe I think. It was made for me in Ghana, and the recipe seems like what the cook told me was in it when I was there, so I think this is reasonably close. I also made some changes on my own, and much of it is to taste, so you can tweak the recipe as much as you like.' - GM

Served 6

Ingredients

500g chicken (I used chicken thighs), cut into small pieces

2 cups water

1/2 medium onion, quarter-inch dice

3 cloves garlic, minced (use a garlic press if possible)

1 tbspn minced ginger

Tomato paste,

2 tbspn 2 cups tomatoes, diced/minced finely (one can of chopped tomatoes with the liquid should do the trick)

Chili, minced, to taste (I used 2 large red chili)

Peanut Butter, about 4 heaped tablespoons (or to taste)

Some chicken powder (if desired)

sugar, salt and (white) pepper;

peas are optional (some recipes add okra or eggplant)

Method

Sear chicken pieces, skin side down, on high heat, in 2 tbspn oil till browned.

Overturn and brown other side then remove from pot.

On medium heat, fry onion till translucent with 1/2 tspn salt, then add garlic and ginger.

When fragrant add tomato paste and fry. Then, add diced tomatoes and chili.

When everything is well mixed and fragrant, add water, deglaze, and nestle the chicken pieces in the water.

Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer.

Simmer for about 1/2 hour (to get the chicken flavour running).

Add peanut butter in batches to the mixture, stirring to get a thicker, more homogeneous sauce. (Some recipes suggest taking some hot liquid out, and adding the peanut butter to it, and then stirring it into the mixture. I don't really see the purpose of this so I'd omit this step.)

Add chicken powder (1/2 to 1 tspn), sugar (about 1 tbspn), salt (1/2 tspn), and pepper to taste.

If the mixture gets too thick at any point, add water. (I might have added more water than 2 cups, and I find reserving the tomato juice from the canned tomato is a great addition.)