Christmas Recipes

Ingredients

• ·250 g mixed dried fruit and peel
• ·100 g tutti frutti and glazed cherry
• ·250 g flour, 250 g butter, 250 g sugar
• ·4 eggs
• ·Rum or brandy for soaking (or orange juice for a non-alcoholic version)
• ·Mixed spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla
• ·Caramel for colour

Method

1. 1Soak the dried fruit in rum or orange juice for at least a week, ideally a month.
2. 2Cream the butter and sugar until pale, then beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. 3Fold in the flour, spice and the soaked fruit, along with the caramel for a dark colour.
4. 4Bake in a lined tin at 160°C for 45–55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
5. 5Cool completely and store wrapped; the cake improves for up to two weeks and is traditionally fed more rum over that period.

Ingredients

• ·2 cups raw rice, soaked
• ·1 cup coconut milk
• ·1 tsp yeast, sugar, salt
• ·For the stew: coconut milk, onion, ginger, green chilli, whole spices, potato or chicken

Method

1. 1Grind the soaked rice with cooked rice and coconut milk into a smooth batter, then ferment with yeast and sugar for 6–8 hours.
2. 2For the stew, heat coconut oil with whole spices, add onion, ginger, green chilli and the vegetables or chicken, then the first extract of coconut milk.
3. 3Add the second extract and simmer until cooked, then finish with thick first-extract coconut milk and do not boil after that.
4. 4Swirl the appam batter in a curved appachatti pan and cook covered until the edges are lacy and the centre set.
5. 5Serve hot with the stew.