As Sweet As Paradise

30 years ago I spent time in the Hawaiian Islands ~ The place is Heaven on Earth. 

I lived on the North Shore for a couple of years at a place called Kaaawa (pronounced  ~      Kar - AR - va). Yes, the spelling is correct. This is one of many unusual names given to a place in the Hawaiian Islands. A natural rock formation in the shape of a lion sat on top of the mountain behind where I lived. Locals named it "The Crouching Lion".

The locals were friendly and taught me about their culture. One day, I found a beautiful lagoon and went swimming. I wondered why nobody was there. Locals called me a crazy white girl or Howlie. "Why?" I asked. They replied,"Hammerhead sharks give birth in that lagoon!". Luckily for me, they weren't hungry that day!!!!

During my time I visited two other islands ~ The Big Island and  Maui. I remember staying at Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. I discovered a wooden jetty or dock where fishing boats pulled in and weighed the Giant Marlin that people caught. I was amazed and sad at the same time wondering, how old are these fish?

In Kona, I had dinner at a great little restaurant. It had ceiling fans connected with a pulley system. It might have been old fashioned, but it worked well in the humid conditions. Can't remember the name of the restaurant, but do remember a great pie I had for desert. Kona Coffee Pie, YUM!

I'd like to share my version with you....

Bernadette's Coffee Pie ~ The Easy Way!

There are three layers to this pie

Base Layer - Biscuit layer
Middle Layer - Coffee or vanilla ice cream 
Top Layer - Chocolate mousse

Ingredients

Plain chocolate biscuits, 1 x 250g packet

Melted margarine or butter, 100g

Good quality coffee ice cream, 1 litre. If you don't like coffee ice cream, vanilla works just as well.

1 x 200g packet of  chocolate mousse (The brand I use is White Wings) 

Milk for mousse, about 1 and 1/3 cups 

Grated Dark Lint chocolate for decoration.

Method

Put biscuits into a plastic bag, secure end and break up with a rolling pin until like bread crumbs. Melt the butter, place into a bowl, then add the biscuit mixture. Place biscuit mixture into a high sided buttered pie dish spreading the mixture evenly on bottom and sides. Place in fridge to set.

Take the ice cream out of the freezer and allow to soften. Make the chocolate mousse according to the instructions on the packet. Once mousse is made, place in fridge.

Finally, ice cream should be soft enough. Place on top of the biscuit mixture (you may not need all the ice cream because you must leave room for the mousse to go on top) then back into the freezer.

When firm, evenly spread the mousse mixture over the ice cream and return to freezer to set.

Before serving sprinkle with grated chocolate over the top of pie.

Don't worry about mousse being frozen, it works with this recipe.

When slicing, cut with a hot knife. Place knife into boiling water for a few seconds before cutting.

Serve with whipped cream if you wish.

Herbs and Spices

Herbs and Spices play a big part in my everyday cooking. My cupboard is full of dried herbs and fresh ones are in the garden. You do not need a big garden, most herbs grow really well in pots.

So many countries have their own flavours which I discovered on my travels. I was lucky enough to start travelling at an early age. My parents took me to Singapore on my first trip where I smelt so many unusual things. My mother did not use a lot of spices in her cooking, well, maybe her curry chicken or boiled fruit cake had some!

At that time Singapore still had wooden villages where huge concrete buildings now stand. This is where I discovered chilli and satay. Meat on sticks, wow, never had I seen this before and not just yellow curry, there was red and green too!!!!

Enough history for one day, I better include a recipe for you to try.

Bernadette's Chicken Curry ~ The Old Fashioned Way! 

Serves 4 People

Ingredients

1kilo of chicken pieces or chicken breasts, whichever you prefer.

Half a cup plain flour

2 teaspoons dry Indian curry powder(mild)

1 large or 2 small onions (diced)

2 large potatoes (peeled and cubed)

1 cup frozen or fresh peas

1 and half litres of chicken stock 

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Salt and pepper (add to taste)

2 tablespoons of cornflour

Half a cup of cold water

Vegetable oil

Basmati rice

Method

Place the chicken into a plastic or paper bag, add flour, then shake. Make sure the flour has coated the chicken evenly.

Remove the chicken from bag.

In a pan, put 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil and then place in the chicken. On slow to medium heat, brown chicken on all sides.  This should not take long, approximately 2 minutes each side. Remove chicken from the pan and drain off excess oil.

In a large pot, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, onion(s) then brown on low heat. Place the curry powder, sugar, chicken stock and chicken pieces. Put a lid on the pot, stirring occasionally, ensuring the chicken is not sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Cook on a low heat for about one hour, then add diced potatoes, peas and cook for a further half hour. The chicken, potatoes and peas should now be tender. Take a spoon, test the flavour, you may need salt and/or pepper. Add to taste. 

The chicken mixture will be a little thin, best to thicken it with the cornflour mixture. This is done by adding the 2 tablespoons of cornflour to the half a cup of cold water and mixing until a smooth paste.  Stir the chicken mixture lightly so it doesn't break up and add the cornflour mix.

This is served best with cooked Basmati  Rice.


 

Food and Senses

Someone who is blind once said to me, "Food not only has to look good it has to have the right taste and smell".

A little exercise we should all do when we get the chance. Take a piece of fruit or something editable and close your eyes. First smell it.... Do you think it would smell like that if you had your eyes open? Keeping eyes closed, taste it.........I think it should open a new world to you. We have great senses and I think we should use them all more often.

You're probably thinking unusual way to start a blog, have to start some where!

My blog will be filled with all sorts of information, recipes and pictures hopefully you will enjoy.