Day of the Tiffin!

Day of the Tiffin!

For my first ‘main meal’ blog is a tad sweeter than any main ever; I’d expect. The ‘easy recipe’ for a Tiffin (bastardised* into a cake!) was put to me as a starter on my/this blogging journey. I wilfully accepted.

I do believe I have, and follow a health(ish) diet even though I thoroughly love food in all of its forms and types, that does include the odd bit of sweet over-indulgence now and again. So, I simply had to investigate this Tiffin thing!

Oh. My. Word. It looks fabulous and equally fabulously wrong when the ingredients are considered. However, the list I first saw is for a cake for 12. Phew. That was a relief. Or so I thought!

I mentioned the constructive word “easy” and on paper that is exactly what it is, or at least should be. Butter-fingers may disagree a bit; pun intended, forgive me!

The easy basic recipe is that this ‘cake’ requires NO baking at all, being literally a construction using the easiest method/s! So why mention a disagreement? Well without going into another (common) Blog thread, I’ll just mention dexterity - as a word - relating to butter-fingers, sure you could guess at others! (leave them in comments below!)

Right. Back to the Tiffin then. The recipe I received and balanced alongside an on-line recipe went like this:

Cathryn Dressers easy tiffin recipe is a no bake dessert made with digestive biscuits, chocolate, raisins (or similar!), cherries and golden syrup – from Good Food Channel that I made my own with a bit chopping and changing!

INGREDIENTS

·         100 g unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing

·         200 g digestive biscuits, broken into little pieces. Rich tea™ could be used too. Ginger next time?

·         100 g Macedonia nuts, chopped, smashed, whatever

·         75 g sultanas

·         75 g glacé cherries, chopped (the bit I found stickily challenging!)

·         150 g   70% dark chocolate, broken into pieces

·         150 g   85% dark chocolate, broken into pieces

·         150 g golden syrup.

METHOD

1. Grease the inside of a 20cm tin (well, cake tin anyway!) with butter, then line with cling film or non-stick baking parchment, leaving some overhanging the edges of the tin.

2. Put the broken biscuits, nuts, sultanas and cherries into a mixing bowl.

3. Put both types of chocolate, the butter and the syrup into a heatproof bowl that is big enough to sit on top of a saucepan. Fill the saucepan with water, set it over a medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Turn it down so it is just simmering, then place the bowl on top, making sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl, and let the chocolate, butter and syrup melt together.

4. Remove the bowl from the heat and pour the melted chocolate over the biscuits and fruit and stir together until everything is covered in chocolate.

5. Tip your mixture into the prepared tin. Spread it out evenly using the back of a spoon or a spatula and leave to cool for a few minutes then transfer to the fridge to set for 1-2 hours.

6. When the tiffin has set, turn it out of the tin onto a chopping board, remove the cling film, and cut it into 12 squares. 

And...

I followed this as you can see and the result was brilliant if a little scary! 12 bits are not enough bits unless chasing a heart-attack, even though I did have a larger bit; or two. I could approximate at the calorific count for a piece, but I will not for fear of knowing!

A very rich, very tasty success. Dangerously moreish! Very happy to have done this, knowing that it is easy and open to change. It is hardly a ‘health-bar’, but due to the flavonoids in DARK chocolate there are benefits!

The inspiration to do this? That came from who I now call a good friend who I haven’t met in person and courtesy of my BBC Radio 5 ‘Dialemma’ – Kate. Thank you, next time I will chocolate the top!

So, that’s a Food-Blog start. From sweet to savory next? I have action there!

*

Tiffin

Tiffin tins are still used as a kind of elaborate lunch box in three layers made of metal with a little handle. Tiffin is an Indian English word for a light meal generally in the midday (luncheon) in most regions of the peninsular India. When used in place of the word "lunch", it does not necessarily mean a light meal. In Telugu usage tiffin is mostly synonymous with light breakfast in the morning.