Lemon Raisins Yogurt Cake

In my family house at the village we have these two lemon trees, that grows huge balls of lemon. Though for the amount of juice it produces per lemon it is best to call it 'big for nothing'. Why do I call them that - the lemons have so much pith but they redeem themselves by providing enormous quantities of rind per lemon.

 Recently my dad travelled and brought some back with him. Then I went over to his place to visit I saw the lemons where just  sitting in the sack he brought them back with and I knew I had to rescue them. 'Yes" I had to or they would have just stayed in the sack and go to waste.

Anyways I got greedy and took almost all of them home because like I said  'I wanted to rescue them'. The first day I made Yellow Lemon curry, and I decided to make Lemon cakes to go with my lemon themed meal. Moist cake of any kind is the love of my life ( now don't tell DH i wrote that)any cake with oil or any form of liquid- milk, yogurt or fruit drink gets me in my comfort zone. So for my cake I used yogurt since I had some raisins as tenants in my fridge I decided to include them.



List of characters

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

1 cup yogurt

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sugar

3 tsp lemon rind

1 cup raisins

1 tsp flour


Lemon Syrup

3 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tbsp sugar


Method

• Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt set aside. Grease and flour the baking tin.In another bowl whisk the eggs, yogurt, oil, lemon rind, vanilla extract and sugar.

• Slowly whisk in the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. 

• Sprinkle the 1tablespoon of flour into the raisins rub it in, add the raisins to the batter and mix in

• Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes, Remove and cool. I always wrap my cake up in cling film or nylon bag this help to trap in heat and helps to create a more softer cake.

Making the lemon syrup

• Mix the lemon juice with 1 tablespoon of sugar bring to a boil remove from heat. Remove the cake from the cake pan.Using a cocktail stick pierce holes into the cake on top and slowly pour the lemon syrup over the cake allow to sit for a few minutes before cutting into it.

Paw Paw Cream caramel Flan

Two days ago I bought 4 pawpaws for 300 Naira. In other parts of the country this might not be news worthy but in Lagos this was a real bargain! There were two large ones and two small ones and it was very delicious. 

The deal with bargains or discounted deals such as with my pawpaws ("with my pawpaws" did I just type that:)) is that you end up buying want you don't really need. I just wanted to buy pawpaws that we would eat later in the day, but two days later I still had two more overripe pawpaws.

 So I decided to cook with them or rather bake with them. I made flans with the pawpaws and it turned out a beautiful shade of pinkish orange the photos couldn't capture the vibrant colour. Another interesting and welcomed effect of the pawpaws was that it helped to eliminate the 'eggy' taste and smell which is so synonymous with flans. This recipe is a keeper for me!

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar

250 g of pawpaw, peeled

1 can condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

5 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

• Pour the sugar into a heavy bottom pan set atop a very low heat and allow to slowly dissolve. 

• It can take between 10 to 15 minutes for it to turn a nice golden brown colour. 

• Once dissolved quickly pour into ramekins or moi moi plates(I don't have ramekins). 

•  Allow to cool for about 10 minutes

• Set aside 4 cubes of the pawpaw pour the rest into a blender add the condensed and evaporated milk, followed by the vanilla extract and blend. Next add the eggs one by one into the blender and mix all in. Once they are all mixed in well put the pawpaw that was set aside. I decided to do because I want visible bits of the pawpaw in the caramel.(pardon me I forgot to take a photo of this stage)

• Pour the egg and milk blend into the moi moi plates, set on a baking tray add boiling water and bake in a 350 degrees oven for about forty minutes.

• After 40 minutes the center will wriggle a bit if you touch it, Set aside to cool then turn over on your serving platter.

• Garnish with paw paw slices.

Nigerian Meat pie (deep dish version)

Meat pie is a popular Nigerian snack sold on street corners and even at fast food outlets. Meat pie is a savoury food because it doesn't have any added sugar. I don't like meat pie as a snack I think the crust engulfs the meat filling which I don't enjoy, eating short crust pastry is not my thing.


Recently I was looking through a cookbook that had lots of deep pie dishes made with short crust pastry. Immediately an idea struck me..... why don't I make our popular Nigerian snack into a deep dish pie.

I tied my apron string and went to work......... the outcome was phenomenal - oh yes it was now I can eat my pie and have it ( or not, dunno). I paired it with a side of salad and it made for a delicious dinner even my hubby enjoyed it and asked for seconds.

Try it at home you would see that it takes this simple snack and turns it into this beautiful meal!

Short Crust pastry

750g Flour

375g cold butter/margarine( I skipped salt because I was using margarine)

16 Tbsp cold water

1. Sieve the flour into a bowl add the margarine and mix by rubbing both ingredient together, it should resemble fine bread crumbs or garri when it mixes in well.
2. Create a well in the center of the flour add the water and combine. It should form a ball of dough refrigerate for about 30 minutes before you start to assemble the pie.

The rule to making a great crust is not to over mix you want the dough cold which will produce the crispest crust. So work quickly and only with your finger tips because your palms generates much heat and will warm the fat, so work with your finger tips.

Meat filling

500g minced beef

3 large carrots

4 large Irish potatoes

1 medium-sized onions

1 tsp dry pepper( optional)

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup of water

1 tsp thyme

2 Cube seasoning

Salt

1. Cube the carrots and potatoes and boil until tender.
2. Slice the onions and fry in the oil until translucent about 5 mins.
3. Add the meat and fry until it turns brown.
4. Add the pepper,thyme, seasoning and salt to taste.
5. Add the boiled veggies and the water stir together.

Grease a deep pie dish set aside. Take the crust out of the fridge, divide into two parts, roll one half into a round shape and place in the dish. The secret to getting a crisp deep dish meat pie is to bake blind. This means to bake the lower crust empty for about 15 minutes before filling it up.

I lay parchment paper over the crust and pour beans unto the paper then bake it. The weight of beans holds the crust down so it doesn't puff up.

Once it is out of the oven fill up the dish, roll out the remaining dough and cover the top of the pie you can get creative here and style and design the top as you would like. My kids designed the top of the pie I used here. Glaze with an egg yolk before putting it into to the oven, bake for about minute, I bake for about 30 minutes then change my oven setting to broil for about 10 minutes to give it a lovely golden brown colour.

 

Serve and enjoy!