Featured Recipes (for August 1996)

HAUPIA (Coconut Pudding)
By Cynthia Dyer-Bennet (peoples@well.com)

Ingredients:
1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk
7 Tbs sugar
7 Tbs cornstarch
3/4 cup water

Directions:
Pour coconut milk into saucepan. Combine sugar and cornstarch in a separate bowl; stir in water and blend well with a fork or whisk. Stir sugar mixture into coconut milk; then turn on heat. Cook and stir over low heat (with a wire whisk if you have one, or use a fork...) until thickened. Pour into 8-inch square pan and chill until firm. Cut into 2-inch squares.

Yield:
16 servings ("Ha, ha, depends on how much you eat," says Cynthia)

The trick to getting it thick enough to set is to cook it longer than you usually would with a custard-type pudding. When it thickens, don't stop cooking/stirring. It should be the nearly the consistency of chilled Elmer's glue when you finally put it into the pan it's going to be chilled in. It will probably not smooth itself out in the pan since it'll be incredibly thick, so take a rubber scraper, dip it in water and use it to smooth the pudding evenly in the pan before chilling.

Here's a vegetarian recipe from the Veggies Unite! website. Check out their website for lots of other recipe ideas.

Instant Asparagus and Coconut Soup (vegan)
By (aclay@ozemail.com.au)

Ingredients:
2 cans of quality green asparagus
1 can coconut milk
Finely ground dried chilli
Teaspoon of peanut oil

Directions:
Heat peanut oil. Lightly fry ground chilli in oil. Add coconut milk and warm to simmer. DO NOT BOIL. Drain asparagus and blend. Add to coconut milk. Preparation time: 20 minutes.

Yield:
Serves 4.

Serve with fresh pita bread heated in heavy based frypan.

Here's a Jamaican delicacy called Blue Drawers. Says its author, "Incidentally, my mother-in-law refuses to use the name 'blue drawers'. She calls it 'Tie a Leaf'.".

Blue Drawers (a.k.a. Tie a Leaf)
By Alex Wake (awake@chelsea.ios.com)

Ingredients:
4 cups of yellow cornmeal
2 cups brown sugar
2 cans coconut milk
raisins to taste
nutmeg to taste
vanilla to taste
salt to taste (optional)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Divide into 20 to 24 equal portions. Wrap each portion separately in quailed banana leaves and tie with banana bark string. If you can't get the banana leaves, wrap thoroughly in aluminum foil so that no water can get into mixture while cooking. Place in boiling water to cover and cook for one hour.

Yield:
20-24 servings.

As an alternative to the 2 cans of coconut milk, Alex suggests this: "...or squeeze grated coconut in water to make equivalent amount. DO NOT USE THE COCONUT TRASH. THROW IT AWAY.)...."

Here's another Blue Drawers recipe.

Blue Drawers (a.k.a. Tie a Leaf)
By IrieRasta (IrieRasta@flinet.com)

Ingredients:
1 doz. GREEN bananas
1-1/2 lb. sugar
nutmeg
2 lbs. flour
vanilla
1 dry coconut

Directions:
Grate banana & coconut. Mix all ingredients together. Place one cup of mixture into quailed banana leaves. Wrap & tie with string or banana bark. Place small parcels into boiling water to cover. Cook one hour. If not Rasta (who avoid salt) you may want to add one pinch salt to above list of ingredients.

Yield:
Not known.