Welcome

Reaching the final of Masterchef 2007 was a rollercoaster of emotion, with huge highs and lows, but I loved every minute and learnt a huge amount. I owe a great deal to John and Gregg who had faith in my ability when I did not believe in myself. Since competing on the programme my life has changed considerably. I now write cookery columns for two magazines, give cookery demonstrations and am just working on my 13th cook book - unlucky number for some but not for me!!! I love all forms of country cooking, using seasonal and locally sourced produce. This blog is to enable me to share with you a few of my recipes and baking ideas. Enjoy Hannah xxxx

Monday 12 November 2007

Yesterday we celebrated Diwali - the Hindu festival of light - with my husband's family. It was a perfect opportunity for a family party with lots of firework and some delicious food! Here are the sweets I made which went down well, all decorated with gold leaf as it was a special occasion - chocolate and pistachio fudge and rosewater and cardamom coconut ice.

Rosewater and Cardamon coconut ice
Preparation time 20 minutes plus 2 hours chilling

1 tin (398grams) condensed milk
100ml double cream
15 cardamom pods, crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 tbsp rosewater
400grams desiccated coconut
approx 400grams icing sugar, sifted

Begin by infusing the cream. Place the cream, cardamoms and rosewater in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Then add the cream to a large bowl, together with the condensed milk, coconut and 400grams icing sugar and mix well so that the mixture is incorporated. It should be quite stiff and you may need to add more icing sugar if the mixture seems too wet. If you wish to colour your coconut ice, divide the coconut mixture into two bowls and add a few drops of food colouring. Press the coconut ice (in layers if you have coloured it) into a 9 inch greased square cake tin using the back of a spoon and leave to set in the fridge for 2 hours. Cut in to small pieces and serve!

4 comments:

Marie Rayner said...

Oh Yumm!! Can you believe I have been over here 7+ years now and have not yet had coconut ice Hannah??? Neither can I!!

Hannah said...

Oh Marie - you must go and buy some NOW! It is delicious!

Joanna said...

That looks and sounds absolutely delicious ... have you already posted the choc/pistachio fudge? Or is that one we can look forward to? ;)

As ever, it looks so lovely

Joanna

Vida said...

Hey Hannah, looks like we have all had celebratory events lately... we had a bloggers get together and it was great seeing people we had "spoken" to but never met... Food was great to say the least... Vida x x x p.s. need to know more on the choc/pistachio fudge!! x