Paper Chef #24 Shalom, Salaam, Salom

When Owen first announced the Peas/Peace in the Middle East theme, Noah's Pudding, also referred to as ashure (pronounced ashura) was already in the plan. This is a middle eastern (especially Turkish) dessert dish of wheat, rice, beans, chick peas, sugar (or other sweetener), dried fruits, and nuts in many variations. The dish does not normally have religious significance and is enjoyed by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. It is cooked in large quantities and offered to people as a good will gesture, of love and peace. Chick peas, the peas of the middle east is already in the dish, so Paper Chef #24 seems to be off to an easy start. However, on revelation of the four secret ingredients, things got tricky...

... rice, now that's universal, and most cooks can find some in the pantry and that's already in Noah's Pudding!
... coffee, well that can be served after the dessert like ultra sweet Turkish coffee with cardamom, but not much of a challenge. It's more adventurous with wattleseed, which has a nutty hazelnut, chocolate and coffee taste, as a substitute for coffee
.... chilli, in a dessert, whoops, that is getting really hot at 35 degrees Celsius in Perth. Ok, chilli chocolate is not that unusual in the shops..

.... and then the really wildcard PROSCIUTTO! That's PORK, which is forbidden in Muslim and Jewish cuisines! Italian prosciutto in a middle eastern dish? There can be no peace in this challenge. But on a closer look...

The Italian connection was already there, even before Noah and his family on the Ark ate the first batch of Noah's Pudding made from what ever leftover food, presumably grains and dried fruits, towards the end of the Genesis Great Floods. A dove sent out by Noah to find land came back with an olive branch. The dove and olive branch, individually or together, are symbols of peace. Poultry and Italian olives pair well together, as a main course to the Noah's Pudding dessert. However, the rainbow, another symbol of peace, which appeared at the end of the Great Floods seems easier to incorporate through a layered presentation of the dish.

Now it's off to a quick trip to Milan, thanks to internet, for more inspiration, this time from Leonardo Di Vinci's painting of the Last Supper. Disappointedly, there is no goblet with red wine. Nevertheless, red wine seems a good symbol of the promise of peace from bloodshed. Right now there is plenty of red grapes in the garden to put to some good use. Besides a parfait glass suits layering.

Back to the problem with the prosciutto. That can be used as a piccolo garnish, but too late as rival challenger, the very talented Ilva in Tuscany (another Italian connection) has already done that in a rice pudding. With Noah's Pudding sitting a huge pot in the fridge, it was to late to change plan: it's either continue with the challenge or give up.

Then a solution vaporised. Why not curl the prosciutto less tightly and use them as curled streamers and scatter them with seeds on a serving plate, like confetti for a celebration. It will be a joy to celebrate peace in the middle east with Christians, Muslims and Jews comprising on their differences.

Finally the dish which celebrates the ever elusive peace in the middle east, Noah's Pudding with an Italian twist, deconstructed in layers (the rainbow peace argument above), and with symbolism of grape juice buried somewhere in it. The pudding is served with spicy wattleseed chocolate, confetti of pepita and sunflower seeds, and prosciutto streamers!

Unlike the peace process in the middle east, Paper Chef #24 with its challenges, reached a successful conclusion through persistence. So it's Shalom! Shalom! Shalom! until the next Paper Chef battle, or is it salaam... salom...

Noah's Pudding
1/2 cup couscous
1/2 cup risoni pasta (Italian)
1 cup arborio rice (Italian)
4-5 lemon myrtle leaves (or 1 strip lemon zest)
4-5 mountain pepper leaves (or try pinch of clove or cardamon)
2 slices of ginger
2.5 L water
1 can chick peas in brine
1 can white beans in brine

Boil for 1 hour until the rice is soft. Stir in the chick peas and beans together with the brine. Chill until ready to serve. This is a LARGE quantity, so use the leftover for soup or serve 40 neighbours to the North, South, East and West according to tradition reported in the local newspaper!

To serve 4 instead of 40:
2 cup of Noah's Pudding
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup dried longan in syrup, see below
1/4 cup winter melon candy (oriental store) or sugar
1/2 cup labneh made by draining yoghurt overnight
20 jackfruit seeds, boiled and sliced (or sliced almond)
1/4 cup glazed quandong halves (or dried apricots/peaches), see below
2 tablespoon sunflower seeds
2 tablespoon pepita/pumpkin seeds
spicy wattleseed chocolate, see below
prosciutto curls, see below

Stir milk into the pudding. Place in a parfait glass. Add longan and winter melon candy. Top with labneh. Arrange jackfruit seed on the labneh. Add the quandong. Put the parfait glass on a plate. Sprinkle the plate with sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Add a few prosciutto curls. Serve with spicy wattleseed chocolate.



Glazed Quandong
1/4 cup dried quandong halves (native Australian peach)
1/2 cup grape juice concentrate (or red wine)
2 tablespoon raw sugar

Poach the quandong in grape juice and sugar for about 15 minutes to soften. Do not overcook. Reduce the juice to a thickened consistency to coat the quandong.

Grape Wine
4.5 kg red grapes
4 L water
1.5 kg raw sugar
21 g dry yeast (3 sachets)

Ferment for 3 weeks or until the plastic bag becomes limp. Strain. Bottle. Obviously this wine is not going to be ready for Paper Chef in 3 days! Instead, use grape juice concentrate.

Grape Juice Concentrate
4 kg red grapes
water to cover

Simmer till soft. Reduce by 50%. Strain. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Dried Longan in Syrup
85 g dried longan flesh (oriental store)
2 cup water
2 tablespoon sugar

Poached the dried longan in water and sugar for 30-45 minutes. Reduce to a thick syrup.





Spicy Wattleseed Chocolate
3 squares of dark chocolate
pinch of chilli powder
1 teaspoon wattleseed (coffee substitute)

Using an egg cup, melt the chocolate in the microwave. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Dip prosciutto curls in the melted chocolate and leave to set. Spread remaining chocolate on baking paper. Sprinkle with wattleseed. Cut the baking paper to shape using scissors. Drape over bowls to shape. Leave to set.




Prosciutto Curls
Place prosciutto on baking paper. Cut into 5 mm fettucine strips with sharp scissors. Curl the cut prosciutto around a 10 cm long roll of baking paper approximate 5 mm in diameter. For piccolos, overlap the prosciutto slightly. Microwave on high for about 15 seconds until the crackling stops. Remove the prosciutto by tightening the centre of the scroll of baking paper and sliding off. Dip the curls in melted Spicy Wattleseed Chocolate.