Thai Archives - Passionate About Baking

“Christmas, here again. Let us raise a loving cup:
Peace on earth, goodwill to men,
And make them do the washing up”
Wendy Cope

Dragon fruit & Strawberry Christmas Jelly … these were plenty fun to make and absolutely delicious {if I may so so myself}. Couldn’t think of a better way to ring in the bells, to colour our world with the red, white & green. They seemed so right!!

That they turned out goblet scraping good was an added bonus. Everyone, young & old, loved them. The kids begged for seconds. And thirds. Goblets, glasses, shooters. All fun!Remember my very recent the Tropical Coconut Milk Rice Pudding with Thai fruit? These jellies were what I had in mind initially, yet the rice pudding came first. This a little later. Both eggless and both held their own spot in the dessert world. While I fell in love with the colours of the former, the latter played some more magic. Kid sorta magic!

Of course the Dragon fruit & Strawberry Christmas Jelly dessert is inspired. Inspired by the Strawberry and Vanilla Macaron Trifles I made in Dec 2010 adapted minimally from a Donna Hay recipe. They were absolute crowd pleasers then. The story the same this year as well.

The magic lies in the beauty and simplicity of the fruit juice jelly with suspended fresh fruit within. One look at the dragon fruit, the black and white contrast, and the luscious strawberries in the fridge … and a small voice in my head said “Why not? Why ever not?”

So to keep with the flavours, I did a mixed jelly … litchi juice for the dragon fruit and cranberry juice for the strawberries. How good can good get? The result was fab. I know because I could hear the goblets being scraped clean. Thankfully there was plenty.

There is nothing like glassware to set jelly in. I used a variety of glassware just because I wasn’t in the mood for monotony. I used brandy goblets, stemmed glasses and a few shot glasses too. I think stemless brandy glasses would work well too. Or maybe these beauties from Urban Dazzle which are one of my favourites.

The dessert needs a little pre-planning. Since there are two flavours of jelly, one needs to set first, then the other follows. I was a bit impatient so the colours merged a little. No issues though. They still tasted brilliant. I think I managed one a little closer to how I would have liked them all to be.

Dressing up the jellies is the fun part. Pipe over some barely sweetened low fat pillowy soft cream {I used an Ikea funnel}, garnish with colourful fruit, add a sprig of fresh mint … and go HO HO HO!!

Have a safe, delicious and fun holiday season. Joyeux Noël dear readers, Merry Christmas!

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Recipe:Dragon fruit & Strawberry Christmas Jelly

Summary: Light, healthy, delicious Dragon fruit & Strawberry Christmas Jelly holiday desserts for the young and old alike. Serve them in an array of glasses to keep the mood fun and joyful! Use other seasonal fruit paired with juice of your choice for a variation.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes, plus setting time
Ingredients:

Litchi Dragon fruit Jelly
500ml litchi juice
2tsp gelatin powder
50g sugar
1 dragon fruit, skinned, diced {reserve some for topping}
Cranberry Strawberry Jelly
500ml cranberry juice
2tsp gelatin
50g sugar
200g strawberries {reserve 2-3 for topping}
Cream topping
200g low fat cream, chilled
1/4t strawberry essence
2 tbsp powdered sugar
Fresh mint for garnish

Method:

Litchi Jelly
Place the gelatin and ½ cup {125ml} litchi juice in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatine is absorbed. Place the remaining litchi juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the gelatine and stir to combine. Set aside to cool.
Cranberry Jelly
Place the gelatin and ½ cup {125ml} cranberry juice in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatin is absorbed. Place the remaining cranberry juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the gelatine and stir to combine. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes.
Assemble
Divide the dragon fruit in the base of the serving glasses/bowls and pour over the litchi jelly mixture. Refrigerate for 2–3 hours until set. {I put mine in the freezer for a little bit}.
Once the jelly is firm and pretty set, divide the strawberries over the set litchi jelly. Gently pour the cranberry jelly over the strawberries. Refrigerate for 2–3 hours until set. {Mine took almost overnight to set}.
Top with whipped cream {pipe or funnel into the glassware so that the edges don’t get messy}.
Garnish with fresh cut fruit, sprigs of mint and chill until ready to serve.
Note: You can set the jellies 2-3 days in advance. Add the fresh fruit and mint closer to serving or it may lose its appeal.

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“Red is obviously such a stimulating color, and it has so many connotations.”

P. J. Harvey

It’s nice to be inspired by colour, & it’s sometimes amazing the wonders it can work on your food. Saw this month that Click was back, & the theme for the month is RED. Everywhere I looked I saw red. The tomatoes sang to me, the red chilies called my name, & the bell peppers enticed me no end. Of course I couldn’t resist picking up some yellow peppers too, but have to say, ‘there’s something about RED’!!

Red has more personal associations than any other color. Recognized as a stimulant red is inherently exciting and the amount of red is directly related to the level of energy perceived. Red draws attention and a keen use of red as an accent can immediately focus attention on a particular element.

This picture above is my entry CLICK: January 2009 (Red) @ Jugalbandi

Am sure you are wondering what an elephant has to do with the curry! Actually it is my association with Thailand. In the early nineties, I used to go to Bangkok often with my bunch of gal pals from work. We often stayed at the YWCA, & invariably spent every night gallavanting the night bazaars for nick nacks, silver etc. This is an opium pipe I picked up on one such trip. The intricacy of workmanship & the detailing intrigued me no end. I am still charmed by this piece every time I look at it!

On a relatively free morning, I clicked with the peppers for a while, & then decided it was time to put the red bell pepper to better use. Red reminds me of curries, hot & finger-licking good curries, but this time I had a Thai Green Curry on my mind. There are curries, & then, there are more curries. Curry is a word that has become synonymous with Indian food. It is said to be India’s culinary export to the UK, which is fast becoming the curry capital of the world.

For a really welcome change, there is Thai curry – red, as well as green. My sis from Houston had sent me a recommended recipe a while ago, & I couldn’t wait to get started. This Thai curry recipe came ‘tried & tested’, with substitutions for fish sauce, because the sis knows pretty well I’ll never use fish sauce.

It was everything it promised to be…& more! A green curry from scratch, as hot or as mild as you like it, with the option of spicing it up with some bottled green curry paste. The boy said it was nice, the daughter cannot stand coconut & didn’t take to it … but we, the adults, loved it. Next time I intend to add more veggies (more baby corn, & maybe mushrooms), or make a veggie/cottage cheese (or tofu) version. Try Thai for a change…

Thai Food and Cooking by Judy BastyraIn the cooks words …” Virtually every Thai cook has their own recipe for curry pastes, which are traditionally made by pounding the ingredients in a mortar with a pestle. Using a food processor or blender just makes the task less laborious.”

THAI GREEN CHICKEN CURRY
as adapted from Thai Cooking and Food by Judy Bastyra
Ingredients:
Green Onions – 4, with 4-5″ stalks; roughly chopped
Coriander – 1 bunch
Ginger – 1″ piece
Garlic – 4 cloves
Green chillies -1-2
Coconut Milk – 400ml
Worcestershire sauce – 1 tsp (as a substitute for fish sauce)
Chicken tenders – 1/2kg; cut into bite sized pieces (or tofu/firm cottage cheese)
Thai green curry paste – 1 tsp, optional
Red bell pepper – 1; diced
Baby corn – 8-10; sliced 1/2″ diagonal pieces
Green pepper/capsicum – 1; sliced
Green onions -2-3; sliced diagonally
Kafir limes leaves – 2-3, crushed (I used 2-3 leaves off my lime tree)
Lemon grass stalk, bruised (or zest of a lemon)
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & pepper to taste Method:

Grind the first 5 ingredients with 2-3 tbsps of water to make the green curry paste, & reserve in a bowl.
Heat 2-3 tbsps in a pan, & saute chicken till brown. Remove from pan, & keep warm in a bowl.
In the remaining oil, add the veggies & stir fry on high for 3-4 minutes, followed by the green curry paste (both, if using bottled paste too). Stir fry again for 3-4 minutes.
Add reserved browned chicken, Worcestershire sauce, kafir lime leaves & coconut milk, & season with salt & pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, & simmer for 10-15 minutes, until curry thickens. Adjust seasoning if required.
Add the lime juice & serve hot over steamed rice. I didn’t have Thai jasmine rice, but it tasted great over steamed basmati too!

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Dragon fruit & Strawberry Christmas Jelly … Merry Xmas

THAI GREEN CURRY…inspired by RED!

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