‘Tis the season to be jolly and well fed! So here’s a compilation of a few of my family’s favourite Christmas recipes that you don’t have to wait until Christmas to try out

There are just 30 days to Christmas and we just CANT KEEP CALM! Christmas isn’t just the time for loving a giving, it is also the time for eating, drinking and merriment of all kinds. In my family, the Christmas traditions begin well in advance, the fruits for the plum cakes and pudding are soaked months in advance, the grapes and pressed and left to ferment for the wine and a month in advance the all the goodies that go into the`Gon Swadh’ (Creolised version of a Dutch phrase, meaning `For friends and family’), a tray of sweets and savouries are prepared.

As we ring in the Christmas season here are a few of my mama’s and grandmother’s recipes to get you into the Christmas spirit with everything from snack, main course, dessert and even a homemade boozy treat. Reminiscence assured.

KulKuls – Crunchy, Sweet & Savory Snack

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Kulkuls forms an integral part of the sweets distributed to family and friends during Christmas. Some say that its a form of Filhoses Enrolodas, the Portuguese Christmas sweet, although my only knowledge of them is from sitting around the dining table with my family, making these tiny delights and engaging in banter. Before I run down memory lane, let’s take a look at the process behind making this crunchy delight!

Ingredients:
300 Gms Flour
3 Table Spoons Butter
50 Gms Castor Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1 Egg Yoke
Coconut Milk for Kneading

Process:

Kulkuls are relatively simple to make and do take a bit of skill and as usual patience. Start off by melting the butter. Pour the melted butter into the flour, add the yoke to it. Next, comes the vanilla essence add the sugar to it and begin kneading. To ease the kneading process add dashes of coconut milk occasionally. When the mixture begins to stop sticking to the vessel you know the mixture is done. Place a moist/damp cloth and place it over the dough for 10 minutes. Your dough is now ready to use. To begin making the Kulkuls take tiny portions of the dough and flatten it in your palm. Use a fork and run the prong downwards the flatted dough to make a pattern. Make a toll out of the flattened and textured dough – they should look like small shells. Your Kulkuls are ready to be fried. Heat up the oil. Once the oil is hot, fry your kulkuls till golden brown. Once your batch of Kulkuls has cooled down, coat them with melted sugar (optional) and serve hot.

Sumptuous Roasted Chicken

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The cornerstone of any Christmas meal is the roasted chicken. Our family occasionally roasts other fowl as well, including turkeys and ducks, but the chicken in a personal favourite. The quantities of the ingredients are a bit of a blur as mum never goes by the book and its all based on taste. So I’d say, go about it as per your taste.

Ingredients:

For the Roast:
1 chicken
Lots of butter or ghee
Salt
Black pepper

For the Stuffing (Optional, but yummier)
A few slices of bread
Butter
Onion
Garlic
Bacon (optional)
Boiled chicken livers (optional)
Peas
Spring onion
Celery
Cashewnuts (when someone arrives from the Gulf we use Pine nuts)
Raisins

Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook the chicken livers, garlic, onion and bacon, peas, spring onion, cashews and raisins (add last) stirring, for 6 minutes or until onion has softened. Transfer to a bowl. Tear bread into small chunks. Add to onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool completely.

Process:

Rinse chicken inside and out under cold running water. Dry chicken thoroughly. Add the stuffing into the cavity and close the opening with a toothpick. Tie the wing and the legs together and run the chicken will with either ghee or butter and the salt and pepper. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 – 200 degrees Celsius for about one and a half hours until the skin is a deep golden brown and crisp.

or

If you don’t have an oven to bake your chicken, you could do what my grandmother did and boil it in butter in a large pot. Don’t forget to baste it occasionally with the butter which it is frying in and keep turning it. Once all sides are browned, slow the fire and let it cook. Don’t forget that if the butter runs out at the bottom of the pot the chicken could burn. Add two cups of boiling water salt and whole spices. Cover and cook for an hour.

Rich Caramel Pudding Dessert

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We are firm believers in the fact that no meal is complete without dessert. Caramel pudding takes me back to my childhood when my grandmother prepared it in a steamer for special occasions. It was something my grandfather and I relished. We ate every last drop.

Ingredients:

500ml milk
3 eggs
A bit of grated nutmeg
Sugar (as per requirement)
Vanilla essence

Process:

Add 3 – 4 tables spoons of sugar and a little bit of water to a vessel (my mum used a shallow aluminium baking pan sort of thing). Turn on the heat and proceed to caramelize the sugar. As it turns golden brown take the vessel off the heat and turn in such a way that it coats all the sides. Set aside. Boil milk and sugar (about half a cup or more depending on your taste) stirring regularly and take it off the heat when the sugar is completely dissolved. When completely cooked, add beaten eggs, vanilla and grated nutmeg and whisk it well. Pour this mixture into the caramel vessel. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes. Allow it to cool. To serve, run a knife through the sides of the pan and then place the pan on the plate you are serving, bottom side up. Flip it over and slowly pull up the pan.

or

If you don’t have an oven, place the custard vessel in a steamer and close the lid. Once the steam emerges, simmer for 10-12 minutes and then switch off the fire and leave it for another 5 minutes. Can be served both warm and chilled

Boozy Delight – Irish Cream

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Irish Cream is a liqueur that is served either as an aperitief or digestifs (normally served before or after a meal). It is a family favorite that has left me and my cousins in a boozy blur under the Christmas tree thanks to my aunt’s overly generous addition of alcohol to the mix. Best served chilled, this is perfect for any occasion.

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. instant coffee powder
1 bar of chocolate (melted)
1 cup of whiskey (or more)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 and a half cup sweetened condensed milk

Process:

Combine cream, coffee and melted chocolate to make a smooth paste. Slowly add remaining cream, whisking until smooth. Add whiskey, vanilla extract, and sweetened condensed milk; stir to combine. Pour into a bottle and keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Lasts up to 2 weeks. To serve, pour into a tumbler and add ice if you wish.