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Halal Mama

National Chocolate Week!

It's a perfect excuse to indulge (not that I need one!). Some quality Grenada, nibalicious 60% dark chocolate bar , pack of delicious florentines , and all that washed down with a mug of hot chocolate. What more could one want?







Well, there is probably one thing - an indulgent chocolate sauce. I made some churros earlier on (even though they weren't that great), so all I needed was some dipping sauce. And, although these Thomas J. Fudge's Wondrous White Chocolate Florentines are already delicious (seriously, I need more of these in my life!), why not dip them in some more chocolate? After all, they're only covered on one side ;)


As part of 'Death by Chocolate' challenge, set by Thomas J. Fudge's to celebrate the National Chocolate Week, I prepared two delicious chocolate dips. Simple chocolate dipping sauce is so easy to make, but so adaptable you can easily add your own twist to it. I made kind of 'his' and 'her' option - one with a chilli kick, one with subtle hint of rose.






If you want to make your own chilli chocolate sauce, you'll need:

  • 100 ml double cream
  • 50 ml whole milk
  • 3 tbsp golden syrup
  • 100 g quality dark chocolate (I used 82% organic dark chocolate from The Grenada Chocolate Company, for its intense flavour and bitterness)
  • 3 small dried chilli peppers 
Place the cream and milk in the pot, add chillies and gently warm up to infuse with spice. Add the golden syrup - if you want less chilli heat, you can remove your peppers at this point. Add the chocolate and stir well, until you have a smooth, velvety sauce. 

Keep warm for serving.






For the rose infused sauce, you'll need:
  • 100 ml double cream
  • 3 tbsp rose water
  • 100 g dark chocolate (not too bitter, otherwise the rose aroma won't come through)
  • 2-3 tbsp golden syrup
Place the cream and rose water in the pot, and gently warm up to infuse the flavour. For some extra bite, you can also add some dried rose petals . Add golden syrup and chocolate pieces, and stir until all comes together to a smooth sauce. If it's too thick, you can add some extra warm milk.

Keep warm for serving.







Happy dipping, chocoholics!






*The above post was written in collaboration with Thomas J. Fudge's, who set up the 'Death by Chocolate' challenge and kindly supplied the ingredients.
Sunday, October 16, 2016 No comments
Ciasto drozdzowe z kruszonka



In Poland, we call it "ciasto drożdżowe", which literally means "yeast cake". It's often made with variety of seasonal fruit, but the simplest version is a bread-style cake, simply topped with sweet crumble. For some reason I was craving it the other day, so I had a go at making it.

There are plenty of recipes for this online, but I used one from my 1980s "Contemporary Polish cuisine" cookbook, that I took from my mum some time ago.



Ingredients:

Cake:
  • 500 g plain flour
  • 200 ml warm milk
  • 200 g unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 150 g icing sugar
  • 40 g fresh yeast
  • pinch of salt
Crumble: *
  • 50 g flour
  • 25 g butter
  • 25 g icing sugar

*I halved the quantities originally shown in the book, as this made way too much crumble for the cake


Preparation:

Place the milk, yeast and 50 g flour in a large bowl and mix well to make a leaven. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place to prove for about an hour. 

Separate the eggs. Whisk the yolks with sugar and add to the leaven. Add the remaining flour and salt, and knead the dough. Towards the end of kneading add the melted butter - make sure you let it cool down slightly. Whisk the egg whites and gently knead together with your dough.

To prepare the crumble, knead all the ingredients together.

Place the dough in a greased baking tin, up to about half of the tin's height. Brush the top with beaten egg and sprinkle the crumble on top. Cover and leave to prove for further 30 minutes or so.

Bake in 180C for about 40 minutes.






The cake is not overly sweet, and has a bread-like texture - it's best eaten warm, and great with a spread of butter or jam.
Thursday, October 06, 2016 No comments
Colder days and nights, constant temperature changes during the day... Autumn is in full swing. For many it becomes a season of infections: colds, coughs... The three of us also fell ill last week.

Now, we do use medicines to battle our colds, but always try to support these battles with natural solutions like honey, lemons, ginger...

One thing that my mum always used to make when we had colds, is onion syrup. It might not be the tastiest thing ever, but I grew to quite like it. Onions have been used to fight infections for centuries, and being rich in vitamin C they can also help improve your immunity.





To prepare a portion of syrup, simply slice a large onion and sprinkle with sugar, which will release the juices. Let it sit overnight.




In the morning you'll have a portion of clear syrup. Take a spoonful as needed for your cough and cold. 



Store it for 1-2 days, then make fresh batch if needed.

It tastes quite nice and sweet, but keep in mind it does smell and taste of onions! Adam decided he didn't like it and spat his spoonful out - you can try keeping the nose closed while drinking it.
Monday, October 03, 2016 1 comments
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