Brown Sugar Fig Cake

I strongly encourage everyone to make this, especially if you are lazy or short of time but want something sweet and easy and yet will win the crowd. It is its simplicity, fool-proof recipe that makes this a keeper. I wanted to give away the leftover but changed my mind when Adrian frowned and scoffed in disbelief.

There's a lot of room to play with the recipe. You can substitute figs with raisins or other dried fruits, or not use any at all. I don't have white flour, hence the use of rye flour with flaxseed and ground almond. It might have been a nightmare dessert if I had used rye flour only.

I served this cake with homemade raspberry jam (it took a mere 15 minutes to make) and fresh blueberry. I imagine fresh cream and custard will be just as good.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
• 1 cup natural brown sugar
• 1 egg
  
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (white vinegar + milk)
• 1/2 cup organic rye flour
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/2 cup ground almond
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
• 2 dried figs, chopped

1. Preheat oven at 150C. Grease a 7 x 7 baking dish.
   
2. Put all the ingredients, except figs, in the order given in one big mixing bowl.
   
3. Mix together with a electric blender for 3 minutes. Stir in figs.
4. Pour over prepared baking dish. Bake at 150C for 35- 40 minutes. Serve with fresh fruits/ jam/ cream.
   

Rye Spelt Injera

Injera - called differently - is a traditional stable food of Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopian and Yemen. It is a pancake-like sourdough flat bread made out of teff flour: the one ingredient thought to make cooking Ethiopian foods impossible. Teff is a minute, ancient grain thought to have originated in Ethiopia between 400 and 1000BC. Traditionally teff is grown as a cereal crop in Ethiopia where it is ground into flour, fermented for three days, and then made into injera.

Thank goodness for internet and the many innovative cooks around the world, we can now make injera - of sort - without using teff flour. Some sites on the internet use millet flour or stone-ground corn meal. I found one that uses spelt flour and thought it would work for me since that's what's available in the pantry. If you already have sourdough starter, jump right in. Otherwise you may want to delay the plan for three or four days and start from here first.

All I could remember of the injera I had before was it's moist and softness - qualities of which this recipe fulfills. Although the sour odor was a little bit stronger than I would like it to be. Also, I fried them on a 8" frying pan - not quite the table-size On the other hand, our Ethiopian foods enthusiast seemed to take a liking of it. He asked if there were more. Sure. Uncooked and still fermenting.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1 cup organic rye flour
• 1 cup organic whole wheat flour
• 2 cups water
• ½ cup organic spelt flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• salt to taste

1. Mix the starter, rye, spelt, whole wheat flour with the water, stir well, cover and allow to rise in a warm place for overnight, or at least 4 hours. (Or up to 3 days, stirring once each day)
2. When ready to make the injeras, add baking powder and salt. Stir well. Add water as needed to make a thin crepe-like batter.
3. Heat a pan, brush or spray with oil as needed, ladle some batter and swirl it around to form a thin layer. Bubbles/holes will form at the top surface. Remove from pan when the bottom is set - no need to flip to cook the other side.