Sweet potato

Nature is lovely and generous – provided you're nice to her too – but she can also be deceptive.

The sweet potato above has, as you can see, purple skin. Would it be incorrect to think that the flesh might also be purple? Well, as it turned out, it was a mistake to think so. Because you skin the potato and find it's not purple.

When I made kuih keria for the October Daring Bakers challenge, I used local sweet potato. The skin was brown, but the flesh was orange and I got the much desired orange-coloured doughnuts.

The ones above are touted as Japanese sweet potatoes, but after reading up on the variety, it made me think that the ones I had bought might have been mislabelled.

But then, colour no longer remains a concern when you cook the vegetable and end up with a dish – like the one below – that reminds you of the wonder of nature, and all is good in the world again.

Baked sweet potato with za'atar and chilli

These potatoes are baked with za'atar and cayenne pepper. There are of course many recipes for the za'atar spice blend, but I am using one that I put together because I happen to have all the spices at the time I saw the recipe (can't remember where now). It's only a small amount so there's less possibility of it going stale. I have also used it on grilled chicken and sprinkled on to flat breads brushed with melted ghee. Here's my blend:

ZA'ATAR

2 tablespoons sumac
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon paprika

• Mix all the ingredients together and store in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator. Use within 2 weeks.

To make the dish, peel some sweet potato and cut into thick slices. Place in a baking tray, sprinkle with za'atar, cayenne pepper and salt (all to taste) and drizzle with vegetable oil. Toss well to coat evenly and bake in a moderately hot oven for 12-15 minutes or until tender.

* In the next issue of The Thymes, which coincides with the publication of Don't Call Me Chef in The Star on Dec 6 – the theme is the tiffin lunch – I'll be posting on a dish made with sweet potato that can be toted to the office/school.

LOTUS SEED PASTE CROSTATA.

I don't know if a crostata must be made in a round tart tin to be authentic, but I just got myself a rectangular loose-based tart pan (35cm x 13cm) from Australia and simply had to use it for the latest Daring Bakers' challenge.

I have been looking for this tin for a long time now, but it wasn't until I was in Sydney recently that I found it.

I like it because it makes cutting whatever is made in it easier and more uniform compared to a round tin ­­– I'm quite hopeless at dividing cakes up equally.

And so on with the challenge.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and The Art of Eating Well.

I used version 2 of the pasta frolla, and added almond meal to the mix. The pastry was just enough for the 38cm by 13cm tin. (The original recipe and other versions can be found here.)

My oven is a bit wonky and the base of many of the tarts I have made lately have been undercooked, so I decided to parbake the crust before filling it and baking completely.

The filling is a lotus seed paste "custard". Lotus seed paste is the stuff used in mooncakes; I got it from a baking supply shop. Initially, I thought I would just spread a layer of it at the bottom of the crust and top that with pastry cream and fruit, but I decided to live up to the "daring" name and experiment. I mixed up the custard, tasting as I went along, but to be honest, I didn't know if this filling would work. As it turned out, the result was a pleasant surprise. Chalk up one for the Daring Bakers!

Bar bella!

LOTUS SEED PASTE CROSTATA

The recipe for each component follows

1 quantity pasta frolla
1 quantity lotus seed paste custard
Crumble topping

• Roll out the pasta frolla to fit a lightly greased 38 x 13cm tart pan. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven at 190°C.
• Bake crust until just beginning to brown, 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.



Parbaked tart shell

• Spoon the custard into the pie shell. Sprinkle on the crumble topping. Bake at 190°C for 20-25 minutes or until the edges of the custard are firm (the centre will still be a little wobbly but will firm up as the tart cools) and the crust has browned. Place on a wire rack to cool. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Pasta Frolla

(from Simona/Daring Bakers) 

For a 38 x 13cm tart pan

⅓ cup caster (superfine) sugar

¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

½ cup cake flour

¼ cup almond meal

Pinch of salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg, lightly beaten

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

• Whisk together sugar, flours and salt in a bowl.
• Rub or cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture until it has the consistency of coarse crumbs.
• Make a well in the centre of the flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten egg and vanilla extract into it.
• Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into mixture and then use your fingertips.
• Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
• Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours, or refrigerate overnight.

Lotus Seed Paste Custard

2 eggs

1¼ cup lotus seed paste (store-bought)

⅓ cup whipping cream

Pinch of salt

Crumble topping

• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Whisk in the lotus seed paste until smooth. Add cream and salt and stir to combine.

Crumble Topping

3 tablespoons brown sugar

Large pinch of cinnamon

3 tablespoons crushed nuts

3 tablespoons cold butter

• Mix the dry ingredients together. Rub in the butter to form a crumbly mixture.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Lamington

I took this picture of my half-eaten lamington at Sydney's Kingsford Smith airport on the day I flew home after a week in the city for a course I was taking. While I have baked lamingtons at home before, I have never actually eaten an authentic one made by Australians until this trip.


I had one a few days before that but didn't take a picture. As you can see below, I made up for it the second time round by taking a picture of the cube after every bite. I didn't actually finish the cake in 60 seconds, or in eight bites, but I think I came pretty close!

Gone in 60 seconds

Here are several recipes for lamingtons:

• I have been using a similar recipe to this one from taste.com. The outer layer of chocolate is a thin coating made from icing sugar, cocoa powder, milk and hot water. But after having the cake in Australia, I noticed that the frosting was slightly thicker.
• The frosting recipe in Joy of Cooking contains butter ­­– just a bit, but it makes the frosting a little firmer, I think. It is poured onto the sponge cake cubes before they are rolled in dessicated coconut.
• Donna Hay's recipe for lamington slices has only the top covered in icing and coconut.

Now I have to say a little bit about some of the other dishes I had in Sydney. I stayed with a host family and mostly had what they prepared for dinner, but we did go out as well. The first meal out was at a Lebanese restaurant ­­– for the life of me, I can't remember the name, but it's in Bondi ­­– and we had a few varieties of mezze, or finger food. They were all very good.

On our last night in Sydney, we went to another Lebanese place. Al-Jannah in Granville (it has another outlet elsewhere in the city) specialises in charcoal-grilled chicken. It looks like a typical takeout restaurant, but can actually claim to have finger-licking good fried chicken. The queue is often right out the door and the Lebanese family we had dinner with said they go to the restaurant at least once a week even though the drive there took about 40 minutes. I didn't take any pictures, but you can see some lovely ones, complete with all the side dishes, at eatshowandtell.com. The Lebanese lady with us said there was definitely lemon juice in the marinade, but she couldn't tell what the other ingredients were. This recipe seems authentic, in case you want to try. 

Your meal must include French fries and the condiment must be Lebanese garlic sauce, or toum, according to this blog (with recipe). You just cannot stop dipping your fries, chicken and flat bread into it. I tell you, if you lose a few friends over your breath, it would be worth it!

Just a few doors away from Al-Jannah is Abla, a Lebanese pastry shop like none I've seen. It has a very long glass display case with every baklava you can imagine, and many, many more Lebanese sweets. Some of them are, as you can imagine, are very sweet, but have them with the delicious coffee that is served and it is all a blissful balance.