The third and final true recipe I found for my church's Cross-Culture Thai VBS came from a website called Thai Cuisine!. This is also the one that gave me the most fits. It seemed simple enough. Make a batter, pour it into a press, cook it until it's done, roll it up, fill it with cream, and devour. I was wrong. I was so wrong.
I asked my sister Angela if I could borrow her pizzelle maker to make these crackers, and she kindly entrusted it to me. I was all set, the batter was made, the iron was hot, and so I lubed the top and bottom plates, dished out my first couple portions and closed the lid. When the light turned green, I opened the iron to unveil the horror. The batter had completely fused to the top and bottom of the irons. I don't know how to describe it, but it wasn't pretty.
I looked over the recipe again to see if I missed an ingredient or seven, but everything looked good in that regard. I then thought maybe the grooves on the pizzelle irons were too deep, and that's why the batter just stuck to them. It occurred to me that the batter was thin like crepe batter, so I got out my crepe pan, heated it, added some butter and dished some batter on to the pan. Again, horror, except this time I watched it happen before my eyes. The batter just spread out and bubbled on the crepe pan leaving nothing but a sticky mess. It was definitely time for plan C.
As Valerie diligently chiseled away the remnants from the pizzelle iron, I decided to add more wheat flour to the batter. About 1 cup more. I thought if I thickened the batter it wouldn't spread out so much on the pizzelle iron and would be sturdier. After I mixed the flour into the batter, I did a test run on the crepe pan, and it worked like a charm. It set up like a little pancake, and it tasted very good.
I moved on to the pizzelle maker and the crackers came out beautifully. My main problem now was getting them to roll. Most of the crackers fell apart when I tried to roll them, so I ended up just leaving them flat. Since I am making 300 of them, I figured I should take the less frustrating route. It ended up not really being a "roll" cracker, but all the flavors are still there.
As far as the cream filling, it couldn't be easier. The original recipe didn't call for the ginger, cinnamon or cardamom, but I thought those would bring more of a Thai feel to the dish. The cream isn't very sweet, but the crackers make up for it as they back more of a sweet punch of flavor. Just make sure to add the cream just before serving as the crackers do tend to get a little soggy. The two of them put together really make for a delightfully sweet and spicy combination.
Ingredients
1 cup (125 grams) tapioca flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 chicken egg
1 cup coconut cream
1. In a mixing bowl, combine the flours, sugar, coconut sugar and salt.
2. To the dry mixture, slowly whisk in the egg and coconut cream. Continue to whisk until smooth and soft.
3. Pre-heat the mold and pour the mixture into the mold.
Ingredients for Cream Filling
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cardamom
3.4 oz (100 ml) Water
3.4 oz (100 ml) Evaporated Milk
5 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Corn Flour
1. Whisk the egg with the sugar, salt, and spices.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the water, evaporated milk, butter, and corn flour and heat to a simmer.
3. Temper the egg mixture into the hot mixture.
4. Cook over a low heat until the cream is mixed and thick, then leave to cool.
No comments:
Post a Comment