Chocolate Cream Pie and the Food in Rwanda

My inaugural pie in Rwanda – tada!

I thought I should start out with an easy one for my first pie in Rwanda. No need to dive right into something like croissant-making, be trumped by new ingredients (not to mention lack of practice), and go down the hole of discouragement. Starting out easy!

For starters, I’d been really craving not only baking, but also good food. And by “good,” I really mean good-tasting, not good-for-you:P  When I first landed in Rwanda, I was quite excited about learning to cook the local cuisine, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that not much (of what I considered) cooking went into preparing the local food. You literally just take edible things out of the ground or off the trees, apply some heat, or eat as is. With almost every “dish,” you can pretty much tell where it came from. Food here is fresh, unprocessed, healthy. Let me demonstrate.

Pictured: beans, unknown vegetable mash that I assume is spinach but is more likely cassava leaves, meat (almost always beef), rice, and potatoes. Add to that drops of pili-pili (super hot chilli oil), and you have the typical Rwandese meal. Well, that is except for the cooked bananas, which is a major staple of the Rwandese diet but I don’t seem to like very much for some reason, and maize ugali, which queerly enough tastes and feels a lot like rice cake. And the mounds of fresh tropical fruit, like mangoes, passion-fruit, papayas, pineapples, and avocados, which are available everywhere for a pittance!

Not that these foods aren’t good – I actually much prefer the canteen here to Korean cafeteria geupsik (ick!) – but I just really really need my sugar-and-fat-fix from time to time. You know, the comfort foods that people raised on heavily processed meals are addicted to to varying degrees.

So, back to baking!

Luckily, even after months of staring into my computer, running around all across Rwanda, and basically NOT baking, I still remember how to make pie crust! After all, I do have over a hundred pies under my belt. Hehe!  The chocolate had me grocery-aisle-debating again. Anyone who’s done any sort of cooking knows that taste is directly related to the quality of ingredients you use. So, it basically boiled down to 1) should I use the Lindt, which is of proven quality but upsettingly expensive in this hilly landlocked country, or 2) should I go for the local brand at a fraction of the cost? In the end, I went for Cadbury (which, actually, may or may not be local) thinking that in the continent that produces cacao, how could I go wrong?

And I bet right because the pie was chocolaty-good! It tasted like chocolate pudding in an edible pie- crust dish, and satisfied my cravings for bad “good” food:)

I invited my new work colleagues over for a tiny sliver of pie each (like just the width of the buttercream decoration...), which I think most of them took for lunch before going back to work. Probably had the same number of calories as a plate full of food here. Haha!

Creamy and Spicy Crab Tartlets

I have finally arrived in Rwanda!

Or rather, I arrived over two months ago and I have finally settled in – more or less. Many things are still up in the air, but things have normalized enough for me to think about non-impending activities again. Like baking! Not to mention that my oven has also arrived awhile ago and is sitting a tad bit too decoratively in my new kitchen. And maybe I have a tugging feeling that I need to revive my old coping strategy-cum-obsession. It’s been much too long…

Baking in the land of a thousand hills will definitely be a challenge. The original deadline for the completion of this project is fast approaching; I have to make exactly 50 pies in about 50 days! But seeing as how I will encounter new obstacles in a new land (will I even be able to find the right flours?), I shall give myself a generous extension. Perhaps to finish the project in the 2 years that I’ll be here in Rwanda? A very generous extension, indeed! But who’s keeping track, anyway?

I begin the thousand hills chapter with the last of the morning calm chapter. These crab tartlets were made too long ago in what seems to have been my previous life, so much has changed since then. But if I remember correctly, the whole wheat crust was divine! Its cracker-like hearty crunchiness was made even better by its buttery flakiness. Really, I could snack on it the whole day long!

The filling, however, was somewhat less impressive. I’d chosen the spicy crab as my last in Korea because I knew I’d have very limited access to things marine and Asian in a landlocked African country.  But despite the homemade tobanjan and heaps of roe, it failed expectations. Perhaps it was not the best way the end a chapter. But oh well, not everything’s perfect!

***

Looking back – Baking has really made the last couple of years quite enjoyable for me. It is methodic, honest even. And to me, it is orienting. Calming. Comforting. Reassuring. And I’ve come to know that some things are just ‘good’ and there is no meaning beyond that to analyze or ponder. I mean, come on, what’s better than homemade pie? Yes, this is the essence of why I bake.

Looking forward – Who knows what the future holds? It’s hard to tell in the beginning what the end will look like. But whether you’re pleasantly surprised or unwarily dismayed along the way, it’s important to steadily plod through. So, here’s to the final fifty pies in the land of a thousand hills!

Twelfth Night Galettes & the Christmas Jinx

Part I: Individual Chocolate Twelfth Night Galettes

Or

Perfection manifested

I decided to attempt the twelfth night galette with the puff pastry I made way back during the Chuseok holidays. Also known as galette des rois, it is the French version of the “king cake” that is enjoyed on the twelfth night of Christmas. (I actually know nothing about the twelfth night of Christmas, except that you should expect a dozen drummers drumming.) When it comes to food, French cuisine is undoubtedly the best. So perhaps this is the king of king cakes?

Instead of the usual almond filling, I used hazelnut, since it goes so well with chocolate (and because I had it in my freezer).

These designs are traditional too, though, again, I don’t know what they stand for. Being so scrupulously faithful to traditions the meaning of which I know not… Must be a strange personality trait.

Crispy deliciousness with rich, nutty, chocolate paste… They were absolutely delightful! So delightful, in fact, I’d like to make these again for the actual twelfth night of Christmas, whenever that is! All despite the fact that I don’t really like hazelnut. (I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I’m not a big fan of Nutella. Or Ferrero Rocher. Don’t hate me.)

I’m really glad I got to share these with my friend, who I only get to meet once in a blue moon~ Especially considering what happened to the other twelfth night galette…

Part II: Christmas Flops

I saved most of my morel mushrooms for a special occasion, and what’s more special than Christmas? Despite all the helter-skelter of packing, I saved a day of nothingness for some Christmas cooking. This tiny “[spring] windfall morel quiche” is probably the most expensive pie in book, what with its Alaskan midnight-sun-dried mushrooms and all. They’ve really traveled a long long way to end up in my stomach!

But it was a bit disappointing; the filling never gelled and the morels had a “deeply earthy” taste (probably a little burnt). How’d that happen?

And this was only the prelude to the Christmas dessert disaster.

The “original” twelfth night galette

Ruined.

The pan twisted early on during the baking and the top slid right off the bottom! (I actually yelped as my heart fell about a mile.) And the exposed almond filling burned. And the egg glaze burned, too. Indisputably the worst disaster of the entire project. Spectacular, almost!

This, on top of last year’s disappointing Christmas éclairs, has me convinced that I have a Christmas baking jinx. Oh dear…!

Fortunately, the galette didn’t taste half bad with all the burned portions scraped off.

A Christmas miracle, perchance? :D

Open-Faced Double Strawberry Pie

Fresh strawberries in the middle of winter! Seriously, how spoiled is modern man?

The filling was two-tiered; a cream cheese-white chocolate base was slathered with strawberry goop!  Yum!

With the obligatory scoop of ice-cream (store-bought, as I’ve made my way through all the stand-alone ice-creams in the book!) 

I hosted a small potluck for my colleagues before we disperse throughout the globe. It will be very interesting to meet up again somewhere in the geographic middle, though I wonder where that would be? Somewhere in the Middle East, perhaps? Haha!

And some light custard rhubarb tartlets for those who couldn’t make it.

Completely redeemed rhubarb for me:)

Mini Pie Party

Happy New Year to all! Though my blog is still hopelessly stuck in 2013… Well, I am having the busiest month of my life, packing and unpacking and then repacking all my stuff, saying good-byes, getting immunized against diseases I thought were extinct, and just generally getting ready to move to Rwanda. (I guess I may have to change the name of my blog soon?) And of course I squeezed in as many pies as I could in my final month in the land of the morning calm. It was quite a challenge acquiring some of the ingredients here in Korea, but I’m thinking it’ll be even more so in the land of a thousand hills. Oy!

Apple Weincreme Chiffon Tart

Probably the most elegant pie I made. *Ever*

The apples were poached in Riesling, and the chiffon was lemon-apple-Riesling flavored.

It was garnished with the only newest buds of apple mint.

It tasted like a dream. One of the ones you never want to wake up from!

The second pie: fresh strawberry and rhubarb tart

It’s also achieved in two layers; a cooked rhubarb filling is topped off with fresh strawberries. And served with a scoop of pineapple ice-cream.  What a brilliant combination (suggested by the Pie Bible, of course)! It definitely stood its ground against the chiffon tart – less wistful and more confidently pie-like and good:)

What yummy times are these!

Honeycomb Chiffon Pie

One of my most glorious pies ever.

Almost looks like real bees working away in their hive:)

One of my friends instantly guessed how the “honeycomb” is made. 

Yup, it’s just bubble-wrap indentations. Quite ingenious of the Pie Bible! 

The bees are chocolate-honey ganache with almond wings.

The honey–apricot chiffon was a marvelous combo, which was complemented well by the vanilla–nut crumb crust. It had almost a healthy, earthy taste (well, comparatively speaking!). The occasional smoosh and crunch of the chocolate bees were a nice touch, too.

And it wasn’t even the star of the show. We had a little baking party featuring banana bread, peanut butter brownies, and butterscotch blondies! (Major sugar rush just looking at the picture!) Sweets, wine, and conversation… What a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I very well might miss Seoul when I leave!

Buttermilk Chess Pie

Now, this is the main buttermilk attraction.

I think most people would agree that the crust is the best part of any pie, never mind what the filling is. Just rolled-out or freshly baked – gorgeous, either way! I used a buttermilk crust, which requires buttermilk instead of ice water. It doesn’t really lend any flavor, but makes the crust extra tender and flaky. I could probably just finish off the crust like a huge cookie. Nomnomnom!

Is there anything so wonderful as pie cooling on the counter?

I want to call this picture, “Anticipation.”

It looked and tasted like a giant egg tart!

This is, after all, your most standard custard tart, with a slight citrus flavor from the lemon and just an afterthought-like hint of yogurt from the buttermilk. But otherwise, quite standard.

Just another morning at the office!