Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Homebaked Christmas stollen.
Photo for CMC © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro Nilsson 2009

I think most would spend the better half of the year waiting for the festivities of year end Christmas, but when the holiday season arrives, it seems all too soon over because of the rush of it all.

Baking seems an integral part of the year end Christmas and New Year’s activities, of which one of my favourites are the rich fruit cakes and fruit breads. My mother has the tradition of baking rich and dark fruit cakes at Christmas, the type where the fruits soak in cognac for weeks prior to baking. My father has the tradition of baking sugee cakes at Christmas.

In Sweden today, we managed a fruitbread or a Christmas stollen, dusted over decadently with icing sugar. I’ve always loved fruit filled cakes and breads since I was a little girl and it was only ever at year end that I got to eat the cognac or brandy filled ones, tasting the variations of the cakes and breads whilst visiting relatives.

We made our fruit bread this year with a generous dash of orange liqueur and found that this bread goes well with a good orange marmalade.

Swedish dark Christmas bread or vörtböd and pickled herring, both homemade, are two culinary regulars at our Christmas table.
Photo for CMC © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009

Bread baking in general usually fills the kitchen with such warmth and coziness, it’s recommended strategy that those holding a house viewing for the purpose of selling their house (or apartment), bake bread and make coffee just before the viewing guests arrive.

Now the smell of dark Christmas bread filled with raisins baking in the oven is unbeatable and it’s something I look forward to every year end, when spending the holiday season here in Sweden. What’s exciting about the making of this bread is that we get to choose which dark Christmas beer of the year goes into it!
Continue reading “Vörtbröd, Swedish dark Christmas bread” →

The Hawaiian corner.
Photo for CMC © JE Nilsson, Cheryl M. Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009

Pizzerias are plenty around the city of Gothenburg, where you could literally hop from one outlet to another, finding your favourite version of a quatro stagione or the local favourite, kebab pizza which is a little surprising combination, but very popular. You could also spend weeks trying out different types of pizzas with different toppings without ever having to eat the same pizza twice.

But on some days, nothing beats a homemade, oven-baked pizza with toppings just the way you like it!
Continue reading “Homemade pizza” →

Entrecôte with baked tomatoes, fried mushrooms, potato gratin and parsley butter.
Photo for CMC © Jan-Erik Nilsson and Cheryl Marie Cordeiro 2009

It’s during autumn in Sweden that you realize that the epitome ‘Land of the Midnight Sun’ is only valid during the short summers. During the winter, everything turns pretty much into the ‘land of the midday sun glimpse’, if at all, because autumn and winter days are often punctuated with stretches of dark grey, gloom and rain. So there isn’t much else to delight in during these days, except a hearty meal of your favourite cut of steak!

With logs burning in the woodstove and with a flip of a switch to turn on the lights, the kitchen is as warm and as bright as we could wish for. And we went about preparing the meat.

There are numerous recipes to be had over the internet with regards to preparing meat, most with detailed instructions, so here is an outline of our version.

In order of preparation.

1. Cut and put out the meat in room temperature. It cooks better if it hasn’t been previously refrigerated so that it is colder on the inside than the outside. Personally I think meat turns more flavourful if it is salted about 50 minutes before it goes into the pot, more or less.

2. Prepare parsley butter.

Mix butter with chopped parsley.

We store our own parsley form the summer ready to use, in the freezer. Add some lemon juice, some Worchester sauce, salt and white pepper. Mix and refrigerate until serving.

North Sea “krabbtaskor”, Cancer Pagurus served as Singapore Chilli crabs
Photos © Jan-Erik Nilsson, Cheryl M. Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC, 2009

If you happen to live in any of the Nordic countries and so close to the sea that you can buy fresh crabs from the local fishermen, the Swedish “North Sea” crabs (Cancer Pagurus) are at their most delicious during the last three months of the year. The most popular way to cook and serve them in Sweden is, as simple as possible. Cook for 15 minutes with a dash of salt and a handful of dill seeds. Tidy up, crack open and serve with white bread, some extra rock salt and butter.

While I do love the simplicity of the Swedish version of crabs, I had begun to crave something spicier after the August crayfish celebrations, and the first thing I thought of when I got my hands on these Volvo of crabs was – Chilli Crabs!

A close second was to make Bakwan Kepiting, a Peranakan crab and porkball soup, but the former won hands down on my palate craving for the moment.

There are certainly many ways to cook Singapore Chilli Crabs, whether you find them at Changi Village, Punggol or along the East Coast in Singapore. Here’s what I used for my Swedish version of Singapore Chilli Crabs:

Ingredients

About 3 large Swedish Cancer Pagurus crabs (estimate 1 crab per person. See picture for size)
Vegetable oil for stir-frying
3 cloves garlic
3 fresh red chilli, roughly chopped
1 inch ginger
1 cup of water,
2-3 cups of crab stock from the crab bath
1 cup tomato ketchup,
Chilli sauce or chilli paste, according to taste
3 tbsp sugar, or according to taste,
1 1/2 tsp cornflour,
1 tbsp pounded brown preserved soya beans,
1/4 tsp salt

This sauce is really tasty and you can stretch the dish to serve more by just increasing the amount of sauce and serve with white bread…

The ingredients to the gravy, pounded. Somehow blending is just not the same.