Coconut pavlova with mango + passionfruit | Hello Victoria

I have always been a fan of strange things. When I was a child, I wanted nothing more than to have red hair and green eyes, because they were uncommon and would make me look unique (brown + brown = boring to little Amy). When my mom would take me to the grocery store, I would ask her to buy all of the strangest fruits. Passionfruit, grenadilla, star fruit, dragon fruit, prickly pear… you name it, I wanted to try it! And for my birthday, I didn’t want any old cake, I always wanted pavlova!

Unlike nowadays, pavlova wasn’t as common when I was a kid in Canada. My siblings always opted for things like cheesecake or chocolate torte, but I wasn’t such a fan of those. Of course, my mom made a version almost more like a traditional cake, with whipped cream icing all around, but it was pavlova all the same. Ever since then, I have been a huge fan of simple meringue bases topped with all kinds of fun and colorful fruits.

Pavlova is a fantastic dessert because you can top it with anything! In this instance, I chose to pick some tropical fruits that we had in the house, and one of my favorite weird ones – passionfruit. For the passionfruit, I chose to make it into a sauce with some coconut water. I had a coconut that I wanted to turn into toasted coconut flakes (for decoration) and decided not to waste the water. It’s not necessary though, so feel free to just use the passionfruit as is if you want.

The next time I make a pavlova, I’m going to try using an Italian meringue, rather than a classic French meringue. I haven’t made a French meringue in a while and kept over-whipping it (I’m just that strong). The nice thing about Italian meringue is that the egg whites cook in the simple syrup as you whip it, making it the most stable meringue you can make. Finally, I just decided to add some acid to the mixture in order to make it more stable.

Fancy chefs whip their egg whites in copper bowls, as they create a chemical reaction that helps to prevent over-whipping. You can make a similar reaction by adding a bit of lemon juice to the egg whites, or cream of tartar. For this recipe, I added cream of tartar, but feel free to substitute a couple teaspoons of lemon juice if that’s what you have on hand. Just add the cream of tarter to a couple tablespoons of the sugar, and mix together. Add that sugar first while whipping.

The other great thing about pavlova is that it looks pretty no matter how perfect the meringue is. Even if there are cracks in the meringue, it still looks pretty. And, if you break the meringue accidentally, you can still eat it! Just call it Eton Mess, and mix all the same stuff together in a layered trifle-type dessert. Although, according to Richard it’s not an Eton mess if there are fruits other than strawberries and raspberries in it. He’s British.

So whether you serve it broken up, as one large meringue, or as the individual ones here, give pavlova a try! Who doesn’t like fresh fruit, cream, and copious amounts of sugar?

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Coconut Pavlova with Passionfruit + Mango

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 55 minutes minutes

Servings 4 individual meringues

Ingredients

• 150 g egg whites
• 300 g caster sugar
• 50 g desiccated coconut
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 75 ml coconut water
• 150 g caster sugar
• 3-4 passionfruits seeds removed
• 1-2 mangos cubed
• 500 ml double whipping cream
• toasted coconut flakes optional

Instructions

• First, make the pavlovas. Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Mix together the cream of tartar with a couple tablespoons of the 300g of caster sugar. Whip the egg whites until foamy, and soft peaks are beginning to form.
• Sprinkle over the sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, beginning with the cream of tartar sugar. Continue to whip the egg whites and sugar until stiff, glossy peaks form. Be careful not to overwhip.
• Gently fold in the coconut and divide into four mounds on the parchment paper. Using a spoon, create little depressions in each meringue for the cream.
• Bake in the peheated oven for 1 hour, 25 minutes. Turn off the oven, and allow to cool to room temperature.
• To make the passionfruit sauce, stir together the 150g sugar and coconut water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat, and stir in the passionfruit seeds.
• Shortly before you’re ready to serve, whip the cream to medium peaks and mound on the meringue shells. Add the mango cubes on top, the coconut flakes (if using), and the passionfruit sauce.
• Enjoy!

You have no idea how excited I am about this recipe!! Well, if you know me at all, then you’ll probably be able to guess how excited. I consider ice cream to be the best food group of them all.

When I moved to the UK, one of the items I couldn’t bring with me was my Kitchenaid mixer. This was not just a loss in terms of making things like marshmallows and other meringues but in the loss of ice cream. See, I got the ice cream attachment for my mixer a few years back for my birthday! It’s pretty great being able to make my own flavors etc. – but without the machine, I couldn’t do any of that.

Now, I had heard about no-churn recipes before but had only tried a couple in the past. This one got me excited in more ways than just being able to make ice cream; I happen to looooove pina coladas. Give me pineapple and coconut any day… and throwing in some rum doesn’t hurt!

What makes this no-churn ice cream work is two things – the alcohol and the cream. By whipping the cream to soft peaks before freezing, you’re essentially adding the air that would have been churned in during the freezing process. The other thing that helps prevent the mixture from turning into a solid pineapple-coconut-popsicle, is the alcohol. It changes the freezing point of the mixture, helping to keep it soft.

Make sure that you use a good rum for this recipe, as it’s a pretty strong flavor. I may have used some cheap Nepali rum that we had around the flat, and I don’t think it really added to the overall flavor. The original recipe called for Malibu coconut rum, but I just added some more coconut extract to compensate. Use whatever you happen to have around – or feel like buying.

Now, you don’t need any real coconut to make this, but if you’re interested, I’ve got a tip for you. Ever wondered how to cut a coconut perfectly in half? Simply hit the coconut around the middle line with the back of a large knife (I know, feels dangerous – no?). Depending on how thick the shell is, this might take a fair few passes around the coconut. Once you’ve done it enough times, you’ll hear a sudden change in the sound the knife makes. You’ll notice a thin crack forming around the line you’ve been banging, and if you keep going it’ll widen to completely separate in half! Feel free to drain out the coconut water once the crack is wide enough, before dividing it in two. It’ll help keep the coconut hairs out of the water.

Once you’ve got your two pieces, you can remove the flesh from the inside by prying a butter knife or spoon under the flesh. The shells can make cool bowls if you so desire – simply saw/sand the edge smooth, as well as the inside and outside, to remove all the hairs. You can then turn them into plant pots, and bird feeders, or use them as bowls! I’m collecting all the shells from the coconuts I eat in the hope of making some small snack bowls.

You must be thinking “Who eats enough coconuts to make a set of bowls?”, but clearly you don’t know me. My dad can attest that I constantly begged him to buy coconuts as a child. And seeing as how one coconut is less money than a small container of meat, why not? After all, the flesh isn’t just good for eating – you can toast shavings made with a vegetable peeler to make fancy toppings!

But enough about coconuts – it’s no churn ice cream time! Now the only thing to do is try and come up with some other recipes using the same concept. Add some alcohol and different flavors and see what we come up with! Bailey’s ice cream? Beer? The options are endless…

Nanaimo Bars recipe | Hello Victoria

I’m starting to realize that I can’t do everything by hand. And I don’t mean that in the sense of handmade… but that sometimes, you just need machine power when baking. Case in point – these Nanaimo Bars.

When I was studying pastry in Vancouver, our course had us doing almost everything by hand. Whether that was whipping cream, or making meringue, there were a few things that we did with our Kitchenaid mixers. One of the few things we did with a machine was an Italian meringue – and I resigned myself to not making them while living in this tiny flat. (I also resigned myself to not making marshmallows while here, as it’s pretty much the same process.)

As I couldn’t bring my Kitchenaid mixer from Canada, and had no room to put one here even if I did, I didn’t bother to buy a hand mixer. Maybe it’s because once you go to Kitchenaid you never go back? Or perhaps my hand mixing at school had made me cocky? Bah ha ha, you puny machines – look at the strength of my arms!!! Mwah ah ah…

But seriously – if I could whip cream by hand, and make meringues (just not Italian), why did I need a hand mixer? Well folks, creaming butter, that’s why! It is easy to do when you’re just softening it for cookie dough, but trying to incorporate air and make it fluffy?! My upper body strength has its limits. So the next time I need to make a fluffy layer, I may just review my aversion to hand mixers.

For anyone not already aware, Nanaimo bars are something from the West Coast of Canada (named after the city of Nanaimo). They are so ubiquitous that as a child I thought they were as common as chocolate chip cookies. It’s a crust of digestive/coconut/nut/chocolate, covered with a buttery custard layer, and topped with more chocolate. Normally the crust contains graham crackers, but over here I substituted them with digestive biscuits.

I personally was never the biggest eater of Nanaimo bars, as I found them too sweet/rich as a child, but homesickness has crept in. Either then or my new Canadian coworker, lamenting the lack of these delectable bars, persuaded me to break out the old wooden spoon.

Maybe you will too? Or do you have one of those fancy hand mixers?

Authentic chicken korma recipe | Hello Victoria

Who doesn’t like a man who can cook?

One of the best things about Richard is that he not only enjoys cooking but is quite good at it too! Since I am a baker by trade, he told me that he won’t bother trying to get really good at baking/breads/etc. – that’s my thing. But he does want to have something that he’s better at than me, something that our future kids will request (“dad’s —-“).

To that end, he has decided he will work on being the best at Asian cuisine. Right now, he’s focusing on Indian curries and bought the cookbook Rick Stein’s India. You should have seen how excited he was when it arrived! It’s a really great cookbook, full of truly authentic dishes. The best part is that it’s not like recipes you find online, where you’re using store-bought pastes or spice mixes – this book has you grinding cardamom pods, making your own coconut cream, etc.

So far, we’ve made three recipes from the book, and are excited to try more! (The masala chai tea is quite delicious!)

Now, for those unfamiliar with it, chicken korma is one of the mildest curries out there, with just that hint of warmth from the small amount of chili spice. It’s mostly a creamy coconut dish with aromatic spices, rather than the kind that makes your eyes water.

Perfect for you, mom!

Richard thought it would be a good idea to start mild and work our way up, as he’s better with spice than I am. I mean, I like spicy food, but since he lived in Nepal and Singapore for years, he has acquired a better tolerance than me. (All his traveling has also meant that he is very adventurous with his food choices, which is another great thing about him!)

To go with this curry, I decided to try the naan recipe from his cookbook. If Richard was going to become the king of curries, then I should learn how to make some mean naan bread to go with it, no? It’s a pretty straightforward recipe, and in my opinion, turned out quite well! I’ll figure out a few variations for it, including a really strong garlic naan, before posting it here. Richard also mentioned he once had naan with coconut in the middle which sounded interesting, but perhaps too much coconut to go with the korma?

Anyways, enough rambling… to the recipe!