Bread and Cakes

What has everyone got against bread? Since God said in Deuteronomy in the Bible that: "man shall not live by bread alone", some diet pedlers have taken it to mean that carbs are bad and have therefore, banned the eating of bread. It is not just the diet people who have got the knives out for bread, it seems that the market is also against us eating bread. Not content with higher potato prices thus increasing the price of fish and chips, we now have to contend with the rising price of wheat. This means that the price of bread will rise for the second time in six months (in the UK anyway). Be very afraid, because it is not just the price of bread that will increase; pizzas, biscuits and cookies will all become more expensive. This is to add to the increase in the cost of coffee, chocolate and dried milk.

One nice thing to come out of all these price rises is that more and more poeple are going for fair trade cocoa and coffee. For too long, the people who grew these sought after commodoties did not get the price that they deserved. Now companies have been forced by western consumers (hurrah for the consumer!) to make sure these people receive a fair wage for their work. So what do we do when prices around us are rising? We bake of course. That is what any sane person must do. I know for a fact that there are very few things which a cup of coffee and a slice of chocolate cake cannot fix.

In honour of fair trade products, I ask that you use at least one fair trade ingredient in the recipe. If you would like to know more about fair trade, try www.fairtrade.net.

Chocolate Cake
This recipe is an adaptation of one given to me by a Swedish friend.

You will need:
For the cake
50g butter
150ml evaporated milk
2 eggs
150g granulated sugar
200g flour, sifted
3 tablespoon fairtrade cocoa powder
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
For the icing
100g butter
200ml double cream
4 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoon flour
2 tablespoon fairtrade cocoa powder
50g desiccated coconut, roasted

What to do
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5. Grease a 26cm springform cake tin.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. Turn off the heat and stir in the milk.
3. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk together until well combined. 4. Stir the butter mixture into egg yolk mixture.
5. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla essence.
6. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, to make the icing, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the cream, sugar, flour and cocoa. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
8. When the cake has cooled enough for you to touch it, spread the icing over the cake and sprinkle the desiccated coconut all over the cake.
9. Have a slice or two of cake with freshly brewed fairtrade coffee.

Do you not feel better already? "Price rises? What price rises?" I hear you ask.

Curry, Kari

I love curries probably because I am of West African descent and I grew up eating spice. Curry is a word which is used to describe most Indian food but there are so many different curries of which most people are unaware. I don't always like Indian curries. I am, however, quite fond of the curries from South East Asia.

Before I met my friend Mikki, a Malaysian Chinese, I tried to avoid curries because I hadn't been introduced to the Malaysian curry and the Rendang. I also had never had a good Thai curry either. Then it was explained to me that it is not possible to not like curry. Why? Because curry is just a mixture of different spices which means that you can invent your own. You can prepare your curry just with the spices you like. One of the reasons why I don't like Indian curries is because of the turmeric and food colourings that they sometimes add to the sauces. Now, I have learnt to make a curry to my taste. I use very little turmeric and lot more of the other things I love like lime leaves and coriander.

Yesterday I prepared one of my favourite mixtures. It is perhaps my own version of an Indonesian curry. I use coriander (seeds and leaves), cumin, allspice berries and cinnamon. I also add peanut butter and coconut milk. It is one of the easiest and tastiest dishes I prepare. The recipe is at the bottom of this post.

Here is my Simply African Curry recipe
You will need
6-8 tablespoons vegetable oil
4-5 allspice berries, crushed
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, peeled and finely sliced
1-2 tablespoon crushed dried chillies
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 medium courgettes, diced
1 chicken stock cube
1 tablespoon peanut butter
400ml coconut milk
400ml water
3-5 whole lime leaves
500g chicken or turkey breast, cut into 1½ cubes
salt to taste
a handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped

What to do
1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Fry the allspice and coriander for about 30 secs.
3. Add the potatoes, onions and chillies and fry for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Add the vegetables, stock cube, peanut butter, coconut milk, water and lime leaves.
5. Stir well and put the lid on the pot. Let it simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes.
6. Add the meat, put the lid back on and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
7. Add the coriander, check the taste and add some salt if needed.
8. Let it continue simmering at low heat for a further 5-10 minutes.
9. Serve with boiled white basmati or Thai fragrant rice

Going Bananas

Today's post is to share with you the recipes of a number of my favourite dishes made with bananas. Bananas are seen as the ultimate tropical food. They are highly nutritious and are recommended as part of our daily diet. They are full of fibre, low in calories and contain potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, folic acid and a number of amino acids which are bodies cannot make. Infact, research reported in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that eating a banana as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of strokes by as much as 40%.

There is a little problem associated with our lovely banana. The world's favourite fruit is facing extinction according to scientists. Scientists tell us that because we have tampered with the banana too much, it has now been rendered sterile and seedless. Selective plant breeding has made sure that the 300 or so varieties of bananas we have are pretty much the same (genetically). This means that if one banana falls ill, they will pretty much all fall ill. So what are we to do?

This is a good time for you to make all the banana bread, banana pies, rice bread and banana pudding you can muster. For we do not know how long we are going to have this lovely fruit around for. In honour of this major bake session, I have a listed a few of my recipes here.

Firstly, Rice Bread which is baked in Sierra Leone and Liberia. it is wonderful and I encourage you to try it.
You will need
6 large overripe bananas
1½ cup rice flour
¾ - 1 cup sugar (depending on the ripeness of the bananas)
1 whole nutmeg (finely grated)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoon vegetable oil

What to do
1. Mash or blend the bananas into a smooth paste.
2. Mix in the flour slowly to avoid bumps.
3. Mix in the sugar slowly. Add enough sugar to your taste.
4. Add in the grated nutmeg, cinnamon and oil.
5. Make sure everything is mixed in properly and pour the mixture into a non-stick loaf tin. If you are using a loaf tin that sticks, rub in a drop of vegetable oil.
6. Bake for 45-60mins at 190°C/Gas Mark 5. You can put a skewer in to check for doneness.
7. Leave on a wire rack to cool.

Next is a recipe for Banana Pie which is taken from the book Desserter - Festligt och Gott, put together by the supermarket ICA in Sweden.
You will need
5 medium overripe bananas
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 x 24 cm baked pie shell*

What to do

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.
2. Peel the bananas and mash with a fork. Add the sweetened condensed milk, eggs, nutmeg, allspice and the cinnamon. Mix well.
3. Pour the mixture into the pie shell. Turn the heat of the oven down. Bake the pie for around 30 minutes. Let the pie cool.
4. To serve, cut a slice and place in onto a plate. Dust with a mixture of ground cinnamon and icing sugar, serve with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

*I haven't included a recipe for the pie shell but if you do need one, please email me or leave a comment.

Finally, the easiest of the three recipes, by my reckoning is the Baked Bananas. It is another good recipe for using up those overripe bananas.
You will need
4 bananas
6 tablespoon orange juice
2 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoon melted butter
2 tablespoon roasted flaked almonds or desiccated coconut

What to do
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.
2. Poor the melted butter into a roasting dish. Peel the bananas and place in the dish. Pour the orange juice over the bananas and sprinkle the sugar. Bake for 15 minutes.
3.Sprinkle the almonds or desiccated coconut on top. Serve with some whipped cream or ice cream.