Blackberry Jam

This is a stupendously simple blackberry jam that will make the absolute best of your foraged wild blackberries :) As someone who adores foraging English hedgergrows in autumn, this recipe makes my heart so happy. Blackberries are our native super fruits here in the UK. So fill of flavour, fibre, vitamin C and K. 

There are many ways to make a good blackberry jam. Myself, I like to include whole fruits and not strain all that fibre and texture out. It is a jam I am longing for, not a jelly. Store those fresh summer berries in a jam to enjoy all year with this easy, low sugar homemade blackberry jam recipe. Just 3 simple ingredients are all you need to have your own homemade Blackberry Jam!!

Ingredients:

• 6 cups fresh/frozen blackberries
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1-1½ cups granulated sugar

Method:

Add berries, lemon juice and sugar to a large pot and heat to medium. Use a fork or a potato masher to gently mash down the berries to release some of their juices.

Heat on  medium, bring to a gentle boil, and turn the heat down to medium-low to simmer. The berries will foam, just stir occasionally to reduce the foam.

Let simmer until the jam begins to gel, or when the temperature of the jam reaches 105º. Once ready, add to canning jars and enjoy. 

Gourmet Sweet Potato and Puy Lentil Dhal

While searching for some ideas using puy lentils, I came across this recipe from Vegan Recipe Club. 

Ingredients:

For potato puree:

• 750g sweet potatoes
• 250ml coconut milk
• 5g salt

For Lentils:

• 150g puy lentils
• 5g salt

For Tamarind Sauce:

• 40g tamarind pulp
• 200ml hot water
• 5g salt
• 50g dates
• 5g toasted cumin
• 2g chopped red chilli

Crispy Puy Lentils:

• 125g puy lentils
• oil for frying

Method:

Soak the 125g puy lentils for the crispy lentils component for several hours or overnight in cold water, before preparing anything else.

For Potato Puree: Roast the sweet potatoes in the oven on a tray covered with aluminium foil. When soft, remove the skins and discard any dark outer flesh.

Weigh 700g of the roasted sweet potato flesh and leave to cool in the room temperature. 

Transfer to the blender with coconut milk and salt and blend until smooth.

Pass through a fine muslin cloth and keep into a container and reserve in the fridge.

For the lentils: Weigh the lentils and salt directly into a pan and cover with cold water.

Bring to a boil on the stove and then reduce to a simmer. Continue to cook until the lentils are al dente.

Drain the lentils and leave it to cool to room temperature.

For Tamarind Sauce: Pour the hot water over the tamarind and salt and leave to steep for 10 minutes. Use your finger, try to get as much out of the tamarind flesh. Pass through a muslin cloth to get a smooth sauce into a pan. Heat the tamarind sauce to 100ºC. Remove from heat and transfer to a container to cool at room temperature.

For Crispy Lentils: Drain the soaked lentils very well and dry out thoroughly on cloths. Deep fry the lentils in vegetable oil until crispy and drain on a tray with kitchen paper to absorb the oil. While lentils are hot season with salt and pepper.

To Assembly: To serve, arrange the puree on the plate and add the warm cooked lentils. Arrange the tamarind sauce around the plate and sprinkle on the crispy lentils. 

Garnish with coriander leaves before serving.  

Nyonya Kueh Sago (Tapioca Pearl Cake)

Tapioca sago pearls are one of the common Southeast Asia ingredients and are used in all manner of desserts. This kuih sago is naturally vegan, and a very easy entry-level kueh to make at home!

Kuih sago is a common nyonya kuih (snack/dessert) found all over Malaysia & Singapore. This kuih uses only a few ingredients. The main ingredients is sago and another important ingredients is pandan. Ideally, you would use fresh pandan leaves, but you can use pandan paste if you can't find the fresh leaf.

The top layer is infused with gula melaka (palm sugar) to give it's brownish colour. Supremely soft and bouncy with chewy goodness of lightly salted grated coconut in every bite. 

Ingredients:

• 350g sago/tapioca pearls
• some banana leaves
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 7" square baking pan

Pandan layer:

• 50g fresh grated coconut
• 40ml pandan juice
• 35ml thick coconut milk
• 75g sugar
• ½ tsp salt

Gula Melaka layer:

• 50g fresh grated coconut
• 40ml gula melaka syrup
• ½ tsp salt

• 150g fresh grated coconut
• 2 knotted pandan leaves
• ¼ tsp salt

Method:

Clean and grease banana leaf with cooking oil. Use it to line the baking pan. 

Rinse sago pearls to remove starch, drain and soak in water for 30 minutes. Then drain the soaking water and divide into 2 equal portions.

For the pandan sago layer: Mix together the soaked sago pearls, grated coconut, pandan juice, coconut milk, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Spread the mixture evenly in the baking pan. Steam over medium-high heat for 15-18minutes.

In the meantime, prepare gula melaka sago layer. Mix together the soaked sago pearls, grated coconut, gula melaka syrup, coconut milk and salt in a mixing bowl. Then pour the gula melaka mixture on top of the steamed pandan sago layer. Spread with spatula evenly. Steam over medium-high heat for another 15-18 minutes.

Leave the kuih to cool completely before cutting.

Mix the additional fresh grated coconut with salt. Steam with knotted pandan leaves for 10 minutes and let it cool completely.

Grease a knife with cooking oil to cut the kuih into bite-sized pieces. Coat the kuih evenly with steamed grated coconut and serve.

Pizza Birthday Cake

Pizza or Cake?

This theme cake is definitely a hit with a pizza love. Make your pizza cake even more realistic with  your favourite pizza toppings. 

Ingredients:

Base:

• 100g golden castor sugar
• 100g softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 100g self raising flour
• pinch of baking powder and salt
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Decorations:

• 250g of dough coloured sugar paste, use yellow and brown food colouring gel
• apricot jam or golden syrup
• 200g buttercream
• some red gel food colouring
• 3-4 tbsp raspberry or strawberry jam
• 70g-100g of light yellow sugar paste, keep in the freezer to harden
• basil leaves, optional

Pepperoni topping:

• 50g ready roll Teddy Bear Brown sugar paste
• some red gel food colouring
• 25-40g white sugar paste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC for fan assist oven. Grease and line a 10 inch cake tin with baking paper.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and golden castor sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.

Sift in the self raising flour, baking powder and salt. Gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and smooth out the surface with a spatula. However do not smooth  all the way of the cake tin. Leave about ½ inch. This is to make the pizza cake looks more realistic. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, prepare the decorations. 

For the pepperoni, roll out the teddy bear brown sugar paste and add some red gel colouring (bit by bit) until you achieve the right colour of the pepperoni. Once you are happy with the colour, roll out into sausage and cut into half. Lightly flatten each sausage. Then take the white and roll it out and cut the same length as the red. Put on top each of the white on top the red and stack it up on top of each other. Add a bit of white on the sides. Roll it out and cut into half again. Stack it up on top of each other. Repeat this process for about 4-5 times until you have the marbley effect.  Slice the sausage and roll it out as thin as possible, cut out circles, then edges were curled using a ball tool. The circles were to let dry. Before topping the cake with the pepperoni, lightly brush a thin layer of vegetable oil to get the shine.

Next step is to roll out dough-coloured sugar paste into a sausage shape and flatten it using your fingertips. Stick it to the edges of the cake with a little apricot jam or golden syrup.

Lightly add some black colouring around the pizza to make the charred effect. Use a blowtorch to scorch the sugar paste or cover the centre of the cake with foil and then grill.

For the "tomato paste", add the red gel to the buttercream and mix in the strawberry or raspberry jam. Mix well. Spread the mixture over the centre of the cake.

Take the frozen light yellow sugar paste from the freezer. Using a grater, grate the "cheese" over the tomato paste. 

When you are happy with the amount of cheese on top of the pizza, finally top up the pizza with the pepperoni. Top with fresh basil leaves to dress the cake and to add the finishing touched. 

Notes: to resemble mozzarella, loosen some uncoloured buttercream with water until dropping consistency. Then use two teaspoons to drop the buttercream onto the cake in small blobs. Smooth with a spoon to create the desired effect.

For olives, slice liquorice and use a small metal piping nozzle to cut out the centre to look like pitted olives.