Hallullas, a chilean bread

In Chile, families either buy marraquetas or hallullas as the bread to be enjoy at home. Hallullas are a lot easier to do at home. This recipe captures the flavor of the hallulla. Enjoy!

Hallullas
for 24 breads

Ingredients:

     500 grams all purpose flour
     275-290 ml of warm water
     1 packet of yeast (7 grams)
     1 teaspoon granulated sugar
     2 teaspoons of fine salt
     50 grams of vegetable shortening or butter at room temperature

Preparation:

     Mix together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar, star adding water to form a dough. Knead for 5 minutes with the bread machine or mixer or 10 minutes by hand.
     Add the butter, mix until fully incorporated in the dough, knead 10 minutes more with the machine or 20 minutes by hand until the dough is soft and smooth dough. Let stand covered 10 minutes.
     Extending the dough over a floured counter until it reach a thickness of 1 cm, folded in half and stretch again, repeat the stretch and fold steps 4 times in total. Sprinkle with flour if necessary.
     Re-roll the dough until it is of 5-7mm thick, cut with a 10cm round cake pan diameter. Place on greased baking sheet or silicone paper.
     Let rise in a warm place for 1 ½ hours or until double in size.
     Preheat oven to 400F or 200C.
     Bake until very browned, about 16-18 minutes.
     Remove, let cool on a wire rack and eat!

Lucuma mousse

A delicious and different mousse, it highlight the flavor of the lucuma.

Bavarois or Lucuma mousse 
8 people

Ingredients:

     1 can evaporated milk, very cold
     1 1/2 cup whipping cream
     2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (14 grams)
     1 pot of mashed lucuma (400 grams), available in Latin Supermarkets. Is like a jelly.
     4 tablespoons cold water

Preparation:

     In a small bowl put 4 tablespoons of water, sprinkle the gelatin powder and stir with a small spoon or stick, ensuring that all the gelatin gets wet.
     Mix the cream with the evaporated milk and beat at high speed for 8 minutes. It should double in volume.
     Add the mashed lucuma and beat until fully incorporated about 3 minutes on high speed.
     In the meantime put the gelatin in the microwave at full power and heat 15 seconds, stir, if not completely dissolved, heat 5 seconds more, repeating until it all dissolved.
     Add the dissolved gelatin, strain if necessary, to the mixture of lucuma, beating at low speed.
     Pour entire mixture into the mold where it will be serve. It can be placed into a mold that can go to the refrigerator and then unmold to serve.
     Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.
     Serve cold.

Granados-Chilean Summer bean soup

This soup scream summer when my country is bursting with crops of corn, tomatoes, beans and everything is sweet and full of flavor. This soup is vegetarian in is conception. Some people will top the soup with a braised chorizo, but most of the people will eat it just like this, toped with a spoon of a mixture of lard or oil with sweet paprika.

Granados-Chilean Summer bean soup
4-6 people
Ingredients:

• 750 grams of beans, I used speckled butter beans, shelled (without pods)
• 1 large or 2 medium onion, diced
• 2 cups winter squash, like butternut, already peeled and diced, about 400 grams
• 3 ears of corn or a bag of frozen corn
• basil, a small bunch
• 1 tomato, peeled, seeded and diced, optional
• Salt and pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced, optional
• paprika to serve

Preparation:

1. In a large pot bring to boil the beans in cold water with salt. Once boiling, cover and cook 15-20 minutes. Once cooked strain, saving the cooking water for the soup.
2. In the same pan heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil, add onion and cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally, until translucent. Add garlic if using, cook 1 minute.
3. Add the corn, squash, tomatoes and basil if using, salt and pepper to taste, stir and add the water used to cook the beans, just enough to cover the vegetables. If using fresh corn, you can add it grated and avoid using the blender later.
4. Cover and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes until the pumpkin is cooked. With the blender grind the vegetables, leaving a few pieces or to taste.
5. Add the beans and heat all, adjust the seasoning. Serve hot with paprika.

Enjoy!

Dulce de leche walnut cake, manjar walnut cake

A classic cake from Chile, were you can buy it everywhere. We call the dulce de leche "manjar" it translate as delicacy, pretty much everybody in Chile is a die hard of the flavor. Many of us grew up eating it as a sandwich, very much like peanut butter and jelly we ate ours manjar cheese. And this cake is one of the best sellers at bakeries.


Dulce de leche walnut cake
20 people-25 cm in diameter
Ingredients:
for walnut cake,
180 grams of roasted nuts in the skillet over medium heat, about 8 minutes
85 grams of granulated sugar
30 grams all purpose flour (if you have bread flour use it)
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
3 egg whites
30 grams of granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
30 grams butter, melted and hot


Preheat oven to 200C or 400F. Prepare 3 round cake pan 9 "or 23cm in diameter, cover the bottom with a circle of silicone paper. In food processor finely grind the nuts and the 85 grams of granulated sugar. Mix with the flour in a large bowl and stir. 
Working with a standmixer or hand blender incorporate to the flour mixture the eggs beating on low speed one at a time, add the yolk, once incorporated beat on medium speed until mixture looks smooth and light. In another bowl very clean make a meringue: Beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy. Add a pinch of salt and vanilla, beating on low speed now add 30 grams of granulated sugar slowly as a stream. Then beat on high speed until a firm, shiny meringue, about 5 minutes.
Carefully add the meringue  to the nuts batter, 1/3 first and then the rest of the meringue. Divide into 3 molds of 23 cm in diameter, weigh to make sure to put the same amount of batter (about 210 grams each). 
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until they are brown and dry to the touch.

for the sweet syrup to moisten the cake,
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar


In a small saucepan heat water and sugar over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolved. Allow to cool.

to assemble the cake,
3 walnut cake
syrup
1 1/2 kilo of dulce de leche (3 cans of manjar La Lechera) warmed in the microwave to make it easier to spread, pour each jar in a bowl and heat about 30-45 seconds, stir well
2 cups chopped walnuts for garnish and sprinkle toasted


Unmold the cakes, reserving the most beautiful and smooth for the last layer. Place the first cake layer and sprinkle with 1/3 sweet syrup, cover with a layer of warm dulce de leche and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Repeat with the next layer, ending with a layer of cake, moisten with the remaining third of syrup and cover the entire cake with dulce de leche, sprinkle with nuts if desired. Let stand overnight.