Lower sugar Archives - I THINK THEREFORE I JAM

Budino di Ricotta (“Lor ve bademli kek”)

Turkish ricotta or “Lor” is sold in big, generous sacks – all the better to make big, generous “börek” fillings with. I did recieve a raised eyebrow when asking for a paltry 300g in the market and I think a sympathy smile for being a hapless “yabanci” (foreigner). But I had my prized unsalted, pristine ricotta and I was happy.

As in Italy lor comes in salted and unsalted versions. Salted lor is used in “börek” while the unsalted version is often served for breakfast with honey or fruit (particularly good with strawberries) or in a salad with fresh herbs and walnut. Here I use the unsalted (“tuzsuz”) version.

I followed a “Budino di ricotta” recipe of Artusi Pellegrino, the so called grandfather of Italian cuisine, merely decreasing the sugar by 25g, adding a smidge of cornflour plus “mahlep powder” as he suggests the addition of a few ground apricot kernels (the crushed stones of a wild cherry, a member of the rose family and much used in SE Turkey as a baking flavouring). One can only hope he does not turn in his grave at my speedy “all in one” method!

This is unfettered cooking but plain it is not and versatile it is. It is somewhere between a cheesecake and a batter pudding such as clafoutis. A small slice with a cup of tea is perfect in the afternoon, with a fruit couli poured over it becomes an elegant dessert and with an expresso in the morning it is a convenient breakfast bite.

Fig, pear, walnut, pine nut, sesame preserve with mastic and aniseed

Inspired by the Lebanese, “M’rabbah al teen” dried fig jam, Aegean ingredients and leanings this is what I think my Nana would have called a “sweetmeat”; something so delectably fine it deserved to be eaten just by itself (Although I have eaten it with creamy thick sheep’s “Suzme” yoghurt and salty crystalline “Tulum” goat cheese).

It melds the tahini-like taste of sesame seeds, the crunch of nuts, the stickiness of the figs, the indescribable taste of mastic (sakız) and the zing of the aniseed, into a stellar confection.

“Pekmez” Gingerbread

Naturally sweetened warmly spiced vegan gingerbread

Sticky. Squidgy. Shiny. A perfect gingerbread made with some Balkan pantry staples that give it a local-ingredient twist. It draws on the historic use of “vinegar and bicarb fizz” in traditional British vinegar cakes (“Vinegarism?”) which were popular in the second World War and with thrifty cooks, when eggs were scarce. The fizz-making will channel your inner schoolgirl chemistry lab shennanigan maker; so satisfying!

“Pekmez” is a delicious Turkish fruit molasses most usually made from grapes but also mulberry (“dut”) and carob (“harnup”) too. Being rich in minerals and iron it is given to children and nursing mothers. Mixed in equal part with tahini it becomes the breakfast spread “tahin pekmez” akin to caramel sauce and just as moreish.