Backwater cuisine and Angel Food Cake

Angel Food Cake Trifle/Meen Varaval

When it comes to the backwaters in Kerala, there is absolutely no comparison to the cuisine they have to offer on the vibrant floating restaurants. One recipe that caught my fancy was the diced fish fry recipe known as Meen Varaval. This is an easy recipe which can be prepared quickly with all the common ingredients usually available in the home. Kerala cuisine revolves around using common ingredients like curry leaves, red chilli, peppercorn, mustard seeds, asafetida, and coconut oil. Seafood is consumed in abundance and a meal is considered incomplete if it does not include any of the seafood like fish, shrimps, mussels or squid. The backwater cruise boats offer the best of Kerala cuisine and you can see the food being cooked live in front of you. This recipe has many variations wherein you can choose different variety of fish available and also play around with the ingredients used and can modify or remove some of the ingredients depending on your taste buds. Meen VaravalServes 2IngredientsKing fish 500 gmShallots 100 gmGinger, chop 1 tbspGarlic, chop 1 tbspGreen chilli, chop 1 tspLemon juice 1 tbspCoconut oil 4 tbspKokum, chopped ½ tspTurmeric powder ½ tspKashmiri chilli powder ½ tspSalt to tasteRed chilli whole 2-3 noCurry leaves 2 sprigsBanana leaf 1 noBlack pepper crushed to tasteLemon wedge 2-3 noMethodWash, clean and debone king fish and cut into 1 cm small cubes.Marinate the fish with salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, lemon juice, crushed pepper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.Heat 2tbsp oil in a heavy bottom pan and sauté the marinated fish over medium heat.Toss gently to avoid breaking the fish pieces, once the fish is cooked remove from flame and keep aside.In a separate pan heat 2tbsp oil and sauté ginger, garlic, shallots, green chilli, whole red chilli, kokum and curry leaves over medium heat till the onion turns translucent.Add the cooked fish into this pan and toss gently to combine the prepared masala with the fish.Serve hot, garnished with curry leaf and lemon wedge on banana leaf.Angel Food CakeThe theory behind the name of Angel Food Cake is that this dessert is so light, fluffy and so white that it must be for the angels. One more theory that answers the origin of this recipe is that may be some other recipe involved using egg yolks only due to which pastry chefs were left with a lot of egg whites and they came up with this recipe which involves mainly egg whites. One more theory states that with the introduction of electric whisks pastry chefs wanted to explore recipe options to utilise the light and stiffly whisked egg whites, thus formulating this recipe. Irrespective of the history or theory of the Angel Food Cake it is a must try for baking enthusiasts. Angel Food Cake TrifleIngredientsFor AngelFood CakeFlour no 2 1 cupCastor sugar 1 ½ cupEgg white 12 no’sSalt a pinchCream of tartar 1tspLemon juice 3tbspVanilla extracts few dropsAlmond extracts few dropsWater 1tbspLemon zest 1tspIcing sugar 1 cupFor trifleStrawberries 2 cupBlueberries 50 gmRaspberries 50 gmCastor sugar 3tbspOrange juice ¼ cupHung yoghurt 1 cupHoney 3tbspAngel Fruit Cake 250 gmMethodFor Angel Food CakeSift flour and add sugar to it and keep aside.Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy, add salt, vanilla extracts, cream of tartar, 2tbsp of lemon juice and whisk again, add some water.Gradually add the flour and mix using a spatula with cut and fold method.Pour into a greased baking mould and bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes.Remove from mould and allow to cool down.For the trifle Dip the berries in the orange juice and sugar for 20 minutes.Combine yoghurt and honey in a separate bowl and cream to make the yoghurt smoother.Cut the Angel Fruit Cake into chunks and place a layer in the trifle bowl or glass dish.Add a layer of syrup coated berries and then a layer of yoghurt.Repeat the layers to fill the bowl completely, leaving some spoonfuls of yogurt for the top.Pipe the remaining yoghurt on top and garnish with strawberries.Refrigerate for 2-3 hours and serve cold in the trifle bowl or glass dish.