Chef Foundation

Archive for the ‘Appetizers’ Category

I heard something disturbing this morning. One of my girls told me that she was Googling recipes for Panipopo and came across some that called for store-bought, ready-made dough.. which you would then proceed to roll into dough balls…

NO!

NO NO NO!

Oh, and NOOOOO!

It’s not THAT difficult to make real Panipopo dough from scratch – the store-bought stuff is too generic and… just not right!

So don’t be lazy. I’ll walk you through it…

By the way,THANK YOU so much Auntie for entrusting me with your top secret recipe, but… um… you might wanna close your eyes now…because I’m sorry.. but if I don’t share, I’m scared a whole generation of people will think it’s okay to make Panipopos with store-bought dough balls… *sigh*…

Right. Let’s start from the beginning.

For those less fortunate out there who don’t know, panipopos are a Samoan dish usually eaten as a dessert or with a hot beverage, preferably Koko Samoa. Its name says it all:

Pani = bun (not ‘bread’)

Popo = Coconut, specifically mature coconuts that are ready to be ‘milked’ lol… Eh, you know what I mean.

So, coconut buns. Hot, steamy buns baked in a pool of sticky, sweet coconut cream sauce that you can use for further bun dipping… mmmm….

I’ve come across a few variations of the recipe. Some of them will call for eggs and milk, which results in a more ‘bread’ like consistency… I’m not a fan of that one because the bread then tends to soak up too much of the coconut cream sauce and get too mushy. But hey, if you like mushy, go for gold…

…and go to Google, cause this version (my Auntie’s recipe) produces a more, “springy” type of bun that’s still moist and spongy… and is way better.

Because I said so.

Okay, you’ll need these ingredients:

The Bun

Standard Flour
Salt
Butter
Sugar
Dry Active Yeast
(VERY warm) Water

The Sauce

Coconut milk or cream (pe’epe’e)
Sugar
Flour (for thickening)

The Cook

Confidence
Good reading skills
Faith in me
A sense of adventure

Don’t panic that I haven’t put any measurements up there. This recipe is flexible. Just pay attention.

Four cups of flour (and I’m talking about coffee mugs, not the measurement cups) will fill about two-and-a-half to three 15-1/2″ x 10-1/2 apas (pans). With around 24 buns a pan, that’s like 60 buns all up, more than enough for ‘cup teas’ at home.

The rest of the measurements will follow the number of cups of flour you use. If you use 4 cups flour, you’ll need 4 spoons of sugar and 4 spoons of yeast. If you want to feed the neighbours too and go for 8 cups of flour, then use 8 spoons of sugar and 8 spoons of yeast.

You with me so far?

Cool.

Here’s how we do it. Watch:

The Flour Mixture

First, dump our flour (let’s say its 4 coffee mugs full) into a bowl. Toss in a ‘pinch’ of salt – half a teaspoon is good if the word ‘pinch’ makes you nervous.

See that block of butter there? It’s been sitting at room temperature for a while, so it should be ‘softened’ now. Since my hands are always clean, I’m gonna break off some of that butter (maybe start with about 50 grams which is like a quarter cup, but YOU Google the conversion)… and I’m just gonna rub that butter into the flour.

MILI Mili mili mili mili mili mili mili… ma koe MILI Mili mili mili mili mili….

What I want is a consistency that’s crumbly but kinda ‘silky’ at the same time, so I might need to work more butter into the flour, but make sure it doesn’t get too greasy.

When the mixture is just right, I make a well in the middle of the bowl and chuck in my 4 heaping spoons of sugar… don’t get too fussy about the spoon measurement here. With practice, you’ll figure out how sweet you like your buns to be, and the sugar is more for yeast development anyway.

The Yeast

Okay, now it’s time to grab another (smaller) bowl for the yeast. Apparently, yeast works better in either a metal or glass / ceramic bowl, so try to avoid plastic. Plastic is never good.

Anyway, since we used four cups of flour, we’re going to put 4 heaping teaspoons of active dry yeast into the second bowl. Get the tap to run REALLY warm, but not too hot, and pour maybe 2 cups of that warm water over the yeast. Use your hands or a spoon to break up the yeast and stir till its fully dissolved – add more warm water if necessary to do that.

This yeast water (which should be milky grey in color and smell like yummy bread now) goes into the flour mixture, in the well you made with the sugar.

Mix-Up Mix-Up

Grab that long wooden spoon your mum reserves for special hidings and ‘fold’ together all the ingredients now, scraping the flour from the sides of the bowl into the middle, then up and over again till everything is combined nicely. Keep that tap running, cause you’ll need to mix in more warm water in order to get the perfect consistency…

When it’s ready, your mixture will look like a really thick, sticky pancake batter. It should be fairly solid, but if you shake the bowl a little, the batter should ‘jiggle’…

Okay, now cover that bowl with a damp dish towel and put it in a warm, dark place to rise for an hour.

The Dough

When you come back to it, the dough should be double its size with lots of little holes in it. Your whole house should be smelling like home baking by now.

It’s time to knead the dough, which means you just dump a lot of fresh flour on a counter-top (I like to spread it out like a thick white blanket) and turn the holy, sticky dough out onto it. Then, working from the edges of the flour ‘blanket’, I fold the new flour into the sticky stuff and flatten and squeeze and knead until you can form the dough into a smooth, round shape that’s got a little bit of flour dust on the outside.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Do NOT knead the dough for too long. You need to stop working it while it’s still relatively soft when we squeeze it. We want buns, not bagels… or teething rings…

Okay, cover the dough and let rise again for another half hour.

The Buns

When you come back, preheat the oven to about 200 degrees (on a NZ oven ), THEN…

…cut the dough into chunks (about half a fist size), roll into thick ‘strings’, and tie each into a knot. This shape helps the coconut cream sauce to flavour more parts of the bun, but if you have trouble with it, you can also just roll a boring dough ball. Up to you.

[If you find that the dough is still pretty sticky when you come back to it, go ahead and knead it again with a little more flour... just till it's dry enough to work with, but still soft and spongy.]

Fill each pan with the buns, leaving enough space between them to allow for more dough rising and to let coconut cream sauce in.

After you’ve done all the buns, let them sit for a bit cause we need to do the coconut cream sauce.

The Coconut Cream Sauce

Fresh is always best, right… So if you’ve got a coconut tree somewhere, get somebody to climb it. If not, then the best coconut cream you can buy is in a carton, made by these guys ==> KARA

Otherwise, you’re going to have to settle for canned coconut cream. Ala’s make a pretty okay canned pe’epe’e.

Okay, pour two cans or a 200ml carton of pe’epe’e into a container, work half a cup of flour and water into a runny paste and dump that in there as well, then top up with more water until we have enough sauce for all the pans. We should be able to fill the pans so that the coconut cream sauce covers at least half the height of the buns.

[EDIT: While the buns are cooking, check to make sure the sauce doesn't reduce too much. You may have to add more sauce so that there's plenty for dipping, but add it early enough so that it has a chance to come to the boil before the buns are ready. Let's just say raw coconut milk, if you drink enough of it, can make a great laxative.]

But before we start pouring though, we need to sweeten the coconut cream sauce. You do this according to your own tastes, but remember… for some reason the cooking process gets rid of some of the sweetness, so just make sure you add enough sugar into the sauce so that it’s couple notches SWEETER than you think it should be.

Bake in the Oven

RIGHT! So the oven is hot now, the buns have risen just a little bit more in their pans, and you’ve got a container (jug? pitcher? large bowl?) full of sweetened, thickened coconut cream sauce. The only thing left to do is pour the sauce into the pans, chuck them in the oven, wait maybe 20 – 30 minutes for the sauce to come to a boil and the tops of the buns to become a golden brown, and take the pan out and mmmm…… But wait, there’s a LITTLE bit more…

While the buns are cooling, you might want to brush sugar water over the tops to prevent them from getting dry.. but I think covering the apa with tin foil (only after they’re out of the oven) or a damp cloth will do the same thing.

Eating Panipopo

Congratulations!! We’ve just made AUTHENTIC Samoan Panipopo. You can burn your mouth on them now, I know you want to… but I like panipopos best after they’ve been sitting… marinating… for maybe an hour after they came out of the oven.

Serve them in a shallow bowl, spooning more sauce over them for extra dipping, and with a hot cuppa something nice to drink on the side.

They’re also GREAT the next day, even if you have to heat them up (for less than a minute) in the microwave.

Ia. Ua uma upu.

To get started, this recipe is really easy and so tasty!

Honey

Asparagus raclette or indoor grilling is so much fun to do with a group of your favorite people. Raclette has a long history but it has evolved to a social gathering of friends and family and providing a fun way to eat together.

This vegetable recipe for raclette grilling is just as delicious as traditional raclette, but appeals to those that like more vegetables with their meat.

What you’ll need:

- 2 lbs/1kg small new potatoes (cooked)

- 1 1/2 lbs/800g Swiss Raclette cheese (cut into slices)

- asparagus spears (parboiled or sauteed crisply)

- proscuitto or parma ham

- broccoli, carrots and beans (steamed lightly)

- Baguettes

- Gherkins, pickled onions

Prepare your raclette dinner or appetizer just as you would for traditional Swiss raclette. Include aparagus spears wrapped in a selectin of hams. You can also substitute the carrots and beans for the aspargus.

Place the wrapped vegetables in a side dish to be served later. When you are ready, place the wrapped vegetables on a small raclette dish and top with a slice of the Raclette cheese. Place the dish under the grill and cook until cheese is bubbly.

Serve the cooked vegetables with the potatoes and other condiments and baquette slices.

You should count on using about 1/4 lb of Raclette cheese per person and have more vegetables ready than you think you’ll need as this type of Raclette tends to disappear quickly! It’s a fun way to get together, have a meal or appetizer and of course, have a great time.

Modern day tight schedules and fast life have made it necessary to have starter dishes that are simple to make. They are uncomplicated and require less time to prepare. They are also able to build and maintain your appetite for the main dish, hence achieving the desired purpose and effect.

Easy appetizer recipes can be downloaded from the Internet. They are also available in various magazines, and cookbooks. You can even subscribe to E-cook so as to get exclusive information and regular updates regarding the latest recipe and developments pertaining to this kind of recipe. Enrolling in cookery classes will also ensure that you have proper hands on expertise and knowledge regarding this kind of recipe.

Easy appetizer recipes include the recipe for cheese such as brie, cheese ball, gougre, goat cheese, beer cheese and many others. Cold appetizers, hot appetizers can also be included in this category. Chicken wing recipe is also considered simple to make. They include, Cajun Chicken Wings, Honey Chicken wings, Mexican Chicken wings and many others. The pickle recipe is also simple. it depends on the preservation of food and is taken with fresh vegetables which give a spicy taste to this kind of starter dish.

Easy appetizer recipes are a great step in cookery. They enable you to present excellent and attractive dishes within limited period of time and minimum efforts. You need not fear invited guests over. They are the best thing to happen in this modern age where everything is going fast and time is such a limited commodity.

Do you love entertaining your family, friends, and office associates with tempting and delightful tidbits of wonderful food? Do you often find yourself as a hostess with a need to find recipes you can use to create a delicious concoction that will impress anyone who attends one of your parties? Then again, maybe you are searching for just the right appetizer recipe to serve for the holidays or even during some half-time game?

Appetizer Recipes Alternatives

Most often when people consider different appetizer recipes the first things to come to mind are those made of meat or seafood ingredients. However, there are appetizer alternatives you can consider making. If you have tried all the meat and seafood appetizers and you would like to try making appetizers that feature vegetables you should try this recipe to see how well it goes over at your next social gathering.

This is also a great recipe idea for those who do not eat meat. Therefore, if you need a vegetarian party appetizer that is easy to make and easy to please anyone who enjoys eating carrots this is one of the best types of pates you can make and serve to them. It is delicious, filling and provides you and your guests with some good vitamins and minerals.

Since, the holidays involve preparing and eating different types of fruits and vegetables, this carrot appetizer will fit right in with all the festivities. You may even consider making some for your holiday feasting whether you are at home with loved ones or serving it at the office party buffet.

Recipe for Carrot Pate

What You Need

2 pounds peeled, sliced carrots 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil 1 small diced onion 4 large diced garlic cloves ¾ teaspoon cumin 1 ½ teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon cilantro ¼ cup orange juice 1 Tablespoon grated orange rind Salt and pepper to taste

How to Make It

Peel and slice carrots, rinse and then add to a large pot of salted boiling water, and allow cooking for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until firm but tender. Drain and then set aside until needed.

Using a medium size saucepan or skillet on medium heat add the oil tablespoon of oil to cook the onion and garlic for about 5 to 7 minutes or until tender.

Using a blender add the cumin, oregano, cilantro, orange juice, orange rind, salt and pepper as well as the onion and clove mixture and the cooked carrots. You may choose to chop and blend or puree depending on what is most suitable for your purposes and taste.

Pour into a mold or loaf pan and then place in the refrigerator to chill for 4 to 6 hours before serving.

For a quick and easy old-fashion dinner casserole like you remember from your childhood, try this Velveeta Country Chicken Casserole. This recipe is also a great way to use leftover chicken or turkey. It’s quick, easy, economical and will no doubt become a family favorite. Kids love chicken and cheese so this is a perfect casserole for sit-down family dinners. For dessert, another vintage recipe, pineapple sheet cake. It is also quick and easy and can be made earlier in the day, even the night before, to make getting dinner on the table quickly a real possibility. This cake, too, is sure to become a family favorite.

VELVEETA COUNTRY CHICKEN CASSEROLE

1 lb Velveeta pasteurized process cheese spread, cubed
1 cup milk
1/2 cup Miracle Whip salad dressing
2 cups chopped cooked chicken (or turkey)
1 10-oz pkg frozen peas and carrots, cooked and drained
5-oz spaghetti, cooked and drained
1 tbsp chopped chives

In a medium saucepan, heat cheese, milk, and salad dressing over low heat, stirring until sauce is smooth. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour into a 2-quart greased casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until hot. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

PINEAPPLE SHEET CAKE AND FROSTING

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups Splenda
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 #2 can crushed pineapple, undrained
1/2 cup nuts

Frosting:
8 oz pkg cream cheese
1/2 stick oleo
2 1/2 cups sugar-free powdered sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla

For cake, mix well and pour into large cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. For frosting, mix well. Spread on cake while still hot. Sprinkle some nuts on top.

Enjoy!