Coconut Candy Bars with Muscovado Sugar

Coconut Candy Bars

A good sweet treat at the end of a meal is a ‘delish’ to complete any culinary experience. This treat is between a cookie and a candy that melts in your mouth almost like a sugar cookie. The bars are full of fresh toasty coconut, covered with dark muscovado sugar, rich in molasses and laced delicately by the black sesame that makes it exquisite nutty fragrant candy bars. Each scrumptious bite makes you feel deserving and I strongly believe anything in moderation will only lift your spirits (And yes, this includes sugar).

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 cups freshly grated coconut 
• ½ cup muscovado sugar
• ½ cup castor sugar
• 1 cup condensed milk
• 1 cup hot water 
• ½ teaspoon expresso coffee
• 10 tablespoon black sesame seed, toasted lightly and grind into a fine cakey powder (without any water)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Directions

• Prepare a ‘20 x 20 x 4cm’ square baking tin and set it aside.
• Mix the sesame powder with the fresh coconut evenly in a bowl and set aside.
• In another bowl, add the muscovado sugar and pour hot water. Stir the mix until sugar is completely dissolved, then strain it to remove impurities or lumps.
• Heat a heavy wide pan on low medium flame. Pour the muscovado sugar syrup, and the castor sugar into the pan. Let it simmer until the syrup is thick and slightly sticky (avoid stirring).
• Next add coffee, salt, and condensed milk to the syrup. Give the syrup a good mix and simmer for couple more minutes. 
• Followed by the coconut and sesame mix into the simmering syrup. Stir the mix until syrup has covered the coconut evenly. 
• At this point you can add the vanilla and keep stirring until mix is thick, sticks together and comes away from the pan. This may take about 30 to 40 minutes.  
• When the candy mixture is done, spoon it into the baking tin and use a spoon to level and smooth it out. 
• Let the coconut candy to set for 10 to 15 minutes and use a knife to cut it into squares in the pan.  Leave the coconut candy bars, for further cooling and setting.
• Once completely cool, (at this point you will be able to remove the bars but it may be still a bit moist), leave overnight in the fridge.
• Take the candy bars out of the pan the next day and store them in a jar. 

Serving Note: You can have this coconut bars as dessert after a meal, or for tea, crumbled on ice creams and puddings.

Happy cooking !

Chicken in Black Sesame Sauce

This is an ancient recipe tweaked to fit current times. The dish uses black sesame for the base of the sauce, that is packed with nutritional goodness to protect liver, kidney and blood production. It’s sweet and peppery flavours are both comforting and warm to the stomach. The nutty aromas create an almost carefree, blithe atmosphere that can nurture anyone back into high spirits after a hard day’s work. The results are best when the chicken is marinated accordingly. As such this recipe does require a bit of pre-planning and prepping. However, the cooking process is pretty straight forward and is easy to follow.

Ingredients

• ½ kilo boneless chicken
• 2 tablespoon black sesame
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 green chillies
• 6 cloves garlic made into paste
• 1 inch ginger made into paste
• 6 shallots diced finely
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar (or molasses sugar)
• Salt to taste

Directions

• Mix chicken, garlic, ginger and salt in a bowl. Marinate for 2 hours.
• Heat oil in pan and once oil is hot add the sugar or molasses into the oil. Let it caramelised a bit and then add the onions.
• Cook the onions till they caramelise, then add the chicken. Let it cook.
• In the meantime blend sesame, pepper and chillies into a fine paste (use 1 to 2 tablespoons of water)
• Once chicken turns brown just slightly (but still juicy), add the sesame paste and let it thicken (add a bit of water if needed but not more than 2 or 3 tablespoon).
• When chicken is almost done the sesame paste will start to cover and stick to the chicken.  Oil too will start to separate. At this point the chicken is ready and you can dish them out on a plate.  

Serving note: Serve with plain white/brown/red rice or bread.

Happy Cooking!