Umphokoqho ka Amasi Plated Dessert
Recipe by: Lesego Matuludi
White Chocolate Panna Cotta
Ingredients
175ml milk
600ml cream
75g sugar
1 vanilla pod + seeds
3-5 gelatine leaves (please see the instructions on your gelatine packaging for the liquid
to gelatine ratio)
●100g white chocolate
Method
- In a saucepan slowly heat the milk, cream, sugar and vanilla stirring continuously until sugar dissolves. Be sure to not let the mixture overboil!
- Fill a small bowl with water then bloom your gelatin sheets until soft. Once the gelatin has softened, remove from the water and squeeze off any excess water and add the gelatin sheets to the hot cream mixture and mix until the gelatin has dissolved.
- Gradually add the white chocolate a little bit at a time until it has fully melted into the cream mixture before the next addition. Give it one last mix and pass it through a sieve.
- Pour your Panna Cotta into prepared molds and place in the fridge to set until there’s no more visible liquid.
Pomegranate Gel
Ingredients
150g pomegranate juice
50g water
10g lemon juice
10g fresh ginger
20g honey
100g sugar
5g agar agar
Method
- Add pomegranate juice, water, lemon juice, fresh ginger, sugar and agar agar powder to a saucepan and bring it to a boil for one minute.
- Once it has boiled, strain into a flat sheet pan and set in the fridge.
- Once the jelly has set, transfer to a blender and blend it until smooth. Set aside in a piping
bag.
Maize Meal Cake
Ingredients
225g butter
225g castor sugar
3 large eggs
225g almond flour
100g maize meal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp naartjie powder
Syrup
Ingredients
1/2 cup naartjie juice
3 tbsp honey
2 tsp rosé water
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
- In a stand mixer bowl add the butter and sugar then cream until light, fluffy and pale in
colour. Add the vanilla then add eggs one at a time, giving a good mix in between and scraping down the sides of the bowl to maintain a homogenous mixture that’s fully incorporated. - Remove your bowl from the stand mixer and add the almond flour, maize meal, baking powder, salt, cardamom and naartjie powder; using a spatula gently fold in the dry ingredients.
- Pour your cake batter into a baking tin and bake for about 40 minutes until golden brown.
- In the meantime pour the naartjie juice, honey and rose water and heat the syrup in the microwave and stir until everything is fully combined.
- While your cake is hot, poke some holes using a skewer. Once the cake has cooled, pour the warm syrup all over the cake. (The cake is ready and can be enjoyed with some custard as it is).
- Set aside before plating.
Hazelnut Crumble
Ingredients
100g hazelnuts
100g sugar
70g flour
100g butter
2g salt
40g white chocolate, melted
Method
- Add the hazelnuts, sugar and flour to the food processor and blend until they resemble coarse beach sand.
- Add the butter, salt and while the food processor is running, slowly stream in the melted white chocolate and continue to blend until a dough is formed.
- Transfer the dough onto a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes until golden browns. Once your cookie has baked and cooled, break it apart into a crumble.
- Set aside.
Beurre Noisette Phuthu
Ingredients
50g butter
1 cup water
Pinch salt
2 cups maize meal
Parmalat honey cinnamon butter
Method
- Start by cooking the butter in a saucepan, once the butter starts to brown add your water and salt then bring to the boil.
- When the burnt butter water is boiling dump in the maize meal and close the pot, let it steam for about five minutes.
- Using the back of a wooden spoon or a large fork, start clumping your phuthu/mphokoqho vigorously and let that steam.
- While the phuthu cooks, add splashes of water when needed and mix to break apart your phuthu. Let this cook for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- Finish your phuthu by adding a few dollops of the Parmalat honey cinnamon butter and cook for a further 10 minutes and your phuthu is ready.
- Set aside to cool, keep the phuthu covered as it cools.
Cream Cheese Pastry Cream
Ingredients
200g milk
200g cream
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
100g sugar
6 egg yolks
20g flour
20g cornflour
Pinch of salt
50g butter
80g cream cheese
Method
- Heat the milk, cream and vanilla to a gentle simmer.
- In a separate bowl whisk the sugar, egg yolks, flour, cornflour and salt.
- Temper the egg mixture with the heated liquid and then add everything back into the saucepan and continually whisk on a low heat until the custard becomes thick.
- Strain the custard through and sieve then whisk in the butter.
- Cover your custard with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t form a skin and set aside to cool.
- Once the pastry cream has cooled, blend in the cream cheese and reserve in a piping bag.
Assembly
- Start by placing your Panna Cotta onto the plate.
- Cover the Panna Cotta with a mixture of the phuthu and hazelnut crumble.
- Arrange a few cut pieces of the cake onto the plate.
- Pipe generous dollops of the cream cheese pastry cream.
- Pipe on the pomegranate gel onto the plate.
- Finish the plate with a few fresh pomegranate cells.
- Let your creativity run wild and remember to bake more memories.
