Recipes extracted from Craveable by Seema Pankhania (Penguin Michael Joseph, £22). All photography by Haarala Hamilton
Spiced rum sticky toffee pudding
Serves 6-8
Takes 1 hr 15 minutes
What you’ll need
- 250g whole medjool dates (approx. 16–18 dates, weighed with seeds)
- 3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp grated ginger 1
- 00ml dark rum, ↔ water plus more for serving
- 85g butter, softened
- 200g dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp black treacle ↔ honey or golden syrup (molasses)
- 100ml milk
- 175g plain flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
For the toffee sauce
- 100g butter, cut into pieces
- 200g dark brown sugar
- 300ml double cream
- ½ tsp salt
To serve
- vanilla ice cream, cream or custard
- 50g butter, to reheat optional
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin.
- Remove the stones from the dates, roughly chop, and put into a pan with 150ml of water and 1 teaspoon of bicarb, cinnamon and ginger.
- Cook for 10 minutes, pushing the dates down to form a thick paste.
- Remove from the heat and mix in the rum.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy.
- Add the eggs, date paste, molasses, milk and mix well.
- Add in the plain flour, 2 teaspoons of bicarb, salt and the baking powder and mix until just combined.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.
- Meanwhile, make the toffee sauce.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the brown sugar.
- Cook for 10 minutes, until bubbling rapidly, then add the double cream.
- Cook for another 2 minutes and add the ½ teaspoon of salt.
- To serve, you can slice the cake and serve it hot with a scoop of ice cream, or cream, and lots of toffee sauce.
- If the cake has been fully cooled, toast the slices with some butter in a pan on both sides, then top with ice cream and toffee sauce.
- For some drama, pour 2 tablespoons of rum over the top of the cake and flambé with a blowtorch.
Cabbage Dumplings
Serves 4
Time 45 minutes
What you’ll need
- 1 Chinese ↔ Savoy cabbage or Napa cabbage or white cabbage
For the filling
- 200g mushrooms, finely chopped
- 4 spring onions, finely chopped
- 300g chicken mince (preferably thigh)
- 4 cloves of garlic, grated
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine ↔ dry sherry, white wine or mirin
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- salt and pepper
For the dipping sauce
- 3 cloves of garlic, grated
- 1 spring onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp chilli powder
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 100ml vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp black Chinese vinegar ↔ balsamic vinegar
Method
- Start by bringing a large pan of salted water to the boil. (This is the same pot you’ll use for your steamer.)
- Peel the larger leaves off the cabbage, but keep the middle core with the small leaves for later.
- Boil the cabbage leaves for 1 minute, then remove from the water and rinse with cold water.
- Keep the hot water in the pan for later.
- Finely chop the core of the cabbage and combine with the rest of the filling ingredients.
- Heat a little oil in a small frying pan and cook 1 tablespoon of the filling.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
- Lay the cabbage leaves out on a work surface.
- Place 1 tablespoon of the filling on a leaf and roll it up like a burrito, folding in the sides.
- Continue with the rest of the cabbage leaves.
- Put the cabbage rolls into a bamboo steamer lined with baking paper and steam for about 15 minutes, or until the filling is fully cooked.
- To make the sauce, put the garlic and spring onions into a bowl and add the chilli powder and sesame seeds.
- Heat the vegetable oil until it starts smoking.
- Add the garlic mixture and immediately turn off the heat.
- Stir well to ensure the garlic cooks evenly.
- Remove from the heat and add the soy sauce and vinegar.
- Serve the cabbage rolls with the sauce poured over and enjoy with steamed short-grain rice.
Craveable by Seema Pankhania
