Come cook with me
At a young age, I was cooking with my mum Mavis. learning how to prepare Island food. cooking on open fire we called a Bolt. A wood stove or a stone oven. Then in the 80's we replaced the old woodstove for an electric stove that can only be used when the mains Generator was on from 5-10 pm then eventually it came on from 8am-12 noon.Then evening too. Soon in the 90s, gas stoves were bought in and other cooking appliances. eg. electric pans, microwaves and air fryers. BBQ also upgraded from woodburning ones to gas. Using these modern-day gadgets still creates a very good taste of our dishes but the food cooked over open fire always taste better.
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ARROWROOT BISCUIT
1 Coconut finely grated
1 cup water or water from the coconut
4-6 cups or more of Arrowroot flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix together in a bowl the coconut, Water and salt. Add Arrowroot and knead to a pliable dough. Press out very thinly on a baking tray. Bake at 150c in Fan bake oven or at 200C in Gas oven for approximately 15-20 minutes until brittle and light brown.
Serve with Banana, Cheese, dips or just on its own as a snack.
If you live in area's where there is no fresh coconuts, you can use desicated coconut. add 1 cup boiling hot water to 1 cup of coconut. add 1/3 cup of cooking oil.
Tip: put first tray of flatten dough on bottom shelf of oven and then move up the tray that is cooking to middle of the oven. As you flatten the next. Finish baking the biscuit on the top shelf.
Careful not to burn it.
Corn meal & Molasses Cake
2 cups plain flour
1 cup corn meal fine
3 Teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugarcane molasses
250gm soften Butter or ½ cup Oil
4 eggs
1 cup milk or water
Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl
Pour into a greased and lined baking tin or 2 Loaf tins
Bake at 200 for approx 45 minutes or until skewer poked in the center come out clean
serve with butter and a nice cuppa
Plun (Banana) Pie
Pastry
2 cup plain Flour. 2 T spoon baking powder
1/4 cup oil. Pinch salt. Water to mix
Sift the Flour and baking powder & salt in a mixing bowl, add oil mixing until blended add enough water to need into a pliable dough.
let dough rest at least 20 minutes before rolling out into a pie dish
Chop really ripe Banana's to fill the pie shell. You will need plenty Banana's
Sprinkle sugar to taste approx 1 Table spoon.
Drizzle coconut cream over the Banana's
bake at 200C for 30-40 minutes until golden lightly Brown.
Best left to cool before slicing and serving.
Added Tip:
Grate fresh coconut and set aside.
Sift the Flour and baking powder & salt in a mixing bowl, add oil mixing until blended add enough water to need into a pliable dough.
let dough rest at least 20 minutes before rolling out into pie dishes.
Peel and chop ripe bananas onto the pastry in the pie dish. squeeze over coconut fresh cream then bake.
FISH BALL SERVED WITH GREEN COOKED BANANA'S
1 KILO TUNA OR ANY FISH WITH BONES REMOVED MINCED
2-3 LARGE ONION CHOPPED AND THEN MINCED INTO THE FISH
2 TSP SALT
1 TSP CURRY POWDER (OPTIONAL)
MINCE THE FISH AND ONION TOGETHER. ADD THE SALT AND CURRY.
MIX REALLY WELL. HAVE A LARGE POT OF WATER BOILING ON THE STOVE.
USING ABOUT 1TABLESPOON OF MIXTURE AT A TIME FORM INTO BALLS AND DROP INTO a large pot BOILING WATER. BOIL THE WHOLE BATCH FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES.
DRAIN AND LIGHTLY BROWN IN A PAN WITH A LITTLE OIL.
Meraldas Crackers Home made
1 cup Rye flour
1 cup Whole meal flour
1 cup Rice flour
3/4 cup Manioca flour
7 cups white Regular flour
7 teaspoon Baking powder
1 heap teaspoon salt (Himalayan salt)
200 gram Butter
200 gram Kremelta
1 1/2 cup Rice brand oil
2 cups water
In a saucepan melt Butter and Kremelta. remove from flame.
In a large mixing bowl add flours, baking powder and salt. Mix with large spoon.
Add oil to pot of melted Butter and Kremelta. Add water to the mixture in your pot.
pour over flour mixture in your bowl and stir well with spoon.
if a little dry add a little water but don’t get too wet
Knead well until all mixed together.
Cut up dough into 3 or 4 portions. Wrapped each portion in Glad wrap and store in freezer for an hour.
With a knife slice quickly into thin portions. And arrange on ungreased baking tray.
Bake at 200c starting on top shelf then bottom then middle shelf for a total of 25-30 minuts till firm to touch and not burnt.
Custard Pie Meralda’s style
Pastry
250gm Soft Butter
1 cup Sugar
3 eggs
3 cups Self raising flour.
Beat butter, sugar eggs together in a bowl. Add the flour beat on low till everything blended. Press out dough into a greased pie plate. reserve 1/3 pastry for top.
Add custard filling. Roll out rest of pastry on baking paper and turn pastry down on top of pie. Bake at 180C for about 20 – 25 minutes until golden. Skewer comes clean when poked.
Make the filling with thick custard
Custard
500ml milk
1 cup sugar or a teaspoon of artificial sweetener.
4 tab spoon custard powder
water to mix.
Desiccated Coconut
In a small jug or bowl, mix custard powder until dissolved with about 1/4 cup water. In a saucepan, heat milk to almost boiling point. add sugar and stir until dissolved.
using a hand whisk, stir and whisk in custard mix until it thickens, turning nice and yellow.
remove from heat and sprinkled with desiccated coconut.
Cooking time 25-30 minutes
Pitcairn Lorli
Pitcairn Lorli is made from Mollasses we make here on Pitcairn Island. boiled down to a rich thickness and cooled.
3 cups of sugar cane molasses
1/2 cup sugar
In a deep pan simmer together until thick. Stir constantly for at least 30 minutes.
To test if ready drop a teaspoon of syrup in a saucer with cold water. Pick up with fingers and stretch.
If it stretch without breaking its ready.
We use a banana bark to pour the mixture in but on a glass surface or non stick surface, This will work. Do not use paper.
Let syrup cool and it will thicken until it can be pick up in buttered hands.
Stretch the hardening mixture well and fast as you can. The colour will turn golden.
until its too hard to stretch. pull into long narrow strips and let it set hard.
Sometimes putting in the fridge or freezer will help.
Break or cut with Kitchen scissors into bite size and enjoy.
Pineapple Duff
Meralda's Steam Pineapple Duff is like eating soft bread with a delicious flavour of Pineapples.
1 large Pineapple diced and cooked
Or 1 can crushed pineapple
In a saucepan heat the pineapple and enough water to make up to 2 cups
Add 250gm butter
½ cup sugar or sweetener
Heat until everything is melted. Cool to luke warm.
In a big bowl add 2 cups sifted High grade or strong flour plain.
Stir in warm Pineapple mix stirring until flour is mixed in nicely. Add2 table spoon instant yeast and stir in well adding another cup of flour folding in well.
Cover and let rise for 15 minutes.
Sifting more flour fold into dough and when pliable enough kneed in more flour until consistency is where the dough is not sticking to anything even your hands.
Approximately 6 cups of flour will be used
Leave to rise at least 20 minutes or more till double its size.
Grease the inner pot and knead down the dough. Putting it into the smaller pot.
Leave for 5 minutes
Using a large pot with a smaller one that fits inside good or a steamer.
In the large pot with a good fitted lid add about 3 cups boiling water.
Put the pot with the dough inside the steaming larger pot of water, cover and steam for 2 hour. Do not lift the lid. Keep the heat on low so its slowly bubbling.
Using a steamer will work well too.
After 2 hours, remove and turn out on a cooling rack. quickly cut a slit in the duff to let the steam out so it wouldn’t flop.
Enjoy with butter. yum
Cook Pineapple-
Knead into dough-
Let rise-
knead down and put in a pot or in the steamer tray-
steam for 2 hours.
Pitcairn Roll
Pitcairn Roll (Breadsticks) made from flour, shortening, salt and water. Its a great snack and last in a sealed container for a long time.
200 gm Butter
200gm Kremelta
1/2 cup Rice Bran oil or cooking oil
1 litre Water approximately
2 cups sifted Wholemeal flour
7 Cups Standard plain flour
1/2 cup Arrowroot flour or Manioca flour
7 Teaspoon Baking powder
2 level tea spoon salt
extra flour to knead dough
Lala’s roll
In a saucepan melt 200gm Butter, 200gm kremelta
Remove from heat add the equivalent measure of oil
Add to the pot to cool down your oils 1 litre water
In a bowl sift 2 cups of whole meal or if you find the fine wholemeal that’s good.
7 cups of plain flour (Standard) not high grade.
½ cup arrowroot flour preferably Pitcairn but shop ones ell do or tapioca fine from shops.
7 tea spoon baking powder
Salt about 2 t sp
Big spoon stir dry ingredients. Add wet and mix well kneed into a firm dough. If feels sticky and dough sticks to hands gently sift small amounts of flour over dough and knead.
If too dry and crumbly ad small amounts of water and knead until dough when kneaded does not stick to the hands or the bowl. Knead for at least 10 minutes. Cut dough into 4. Wrapping individually. Put in the fridge for at least 30 or more.
On a chopping board cut into small slices and roll put on ungreased tray bake. Starting from top of a preheated oven at 200C(I usually run 4 shelf so 4 trays get to be baking) By the time the second tray is ready to go in move the first to the bottom of the oven. By the time the 3rd the first tray is moved up till it is golden but not black and when you push it and firm. Se cook.
Enjoy.
Pitcairn Island Coffee
The taste is outstanding.
Coffee beans are picked once or twice a year. I then soak it in water for at least 3 days, changing the water every day. then I hull the beans and washed it really well draining it and placing them on drying racks on a roofing iron for at least a week. The coffee is then roasted, ground and steeped to make a rich flavoured coffee drink.
Breid (Breadfruit) Puff
1 Breadfruit Peeled, diced without centre, cooked and mashed
1 onion finely diced
1 teaspoon Garlic minced
1 sprig parsley
Salt to taste approximately 1 tea spoon
2 eggs
½ cup flour
Breadcrumbs
Oil for frying in a pan
In the bowl with mashed cooked breadfruit (Breid)
Add all ingredients except breadcrumbs.
Mix well. Make small balls then roll in breadcrumbs.
Lightly fry puffs in a pan until golden on outside.
Enjoy.
Sweeten Biscuit-2 recipes
Sweeten Biscuit
Old fashion style
4 cups plain flour
4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
¾ cup cooking oil
About 2 cups water
Raisins optional
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl adding water last. Mix until firm but not too runny. Spoon onto a greased baking tray and baked for about 30 minutes on second shelf @ 180c
Sweeten Biscuit Lala style
4 cups Plain flour
5 tea spoon Baking powder
1 heap cup sugar
¾ cup Rice bran cooking oil
250gm pkt UHT cream
1 ½ cups UHT milk
Raisins or sultanas (Optional)
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl adding milk last.
Put a layer of baking paper on an oven tray and spoon onto tray shaping about 12 sweeten Biscuits
Bake at 180C for approximately 30 minutes on second shelf. If baking more trays alternate trays from top shelf to second shelf so as bottom can cook nicely. Enjoy