GRAPES MILK POTATOES
Potatoes:
In Canada, where I am from, the go to cooking starch is corn starch. In fact I had never really thought about buying potato starch until I got to Germany and saw it everywhere. As someone who attempted to grow corn this year and drives past corn fields both organic and not, I can tell you corn loves a high nutrient soil and if you don’t have it you somehow have to make it. Potatoes on the other hand seem to be this miraculous crop that has yielded quite well in this sandy soil I find myself on in Germany. No fertilizer required.
In terms of cooking I found a Bon Appetite article claiming that anything corn starch can do, potato starch can do better. I’ll leave you to be the judge of that. Either way, I like the story of Potato Starch better and am having fun throwing it into all my recipes.
Concord Grape Topping:
Ingredients: 1 kilo grapes (500g seeded) | 50 g Honey | 1 g salt | 10 g Potato Starch | 20 g water
Get one bowl, a strainer and a pot.
Squeeze the inside of the grape into the strainer that is inserted into a bowl below.
Place the skins into the pot.
Once all the seeds have been squeezed into the strainer, press on them to release as much juice and flesh as possible.
Pour Juice into the pot with the skins.
Add honey and salt.
Cook until deep purple
Make a thick slurry of potato starch and water. Add to the grape mixture and cook together until thick and glossy. About 5 minutes.
Milk Pudding:
This simple recipe is based off a variety of recipes mainly from Greece to Syria and anything in between or below. It has many names and I found my specific recipe from the food blog Hungry Paprikas where they called it Mahalabia. My version is with potato starch and no cream.
1 Liter Whole Milk
100 g Potato Starch
100 g Honey
2 g Salt
Instructions:
Whisk everything together in a pot until well dissolved. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly for about 10 minutes until thickened. Lower the heat and cook for a few more minutes until thick and pudding like in texture.
Remove from heat and add any flavoring you wish such as vanilla, or rosewater. Rosewater is actually something you could make in locally while vanilla is going to be imported unless you live in one of the few places it grows.
Portion out into individual serving cups and chill for 2-3 hours before serving.
ASSEMBLE:
Top pudding with Grape topping and something crunchy before serving. I like toasted buckwheat or sunflower seeds.
