Day 9
Dish 7

First off, I should say that I went to the beach yesterday so I missed doing anything... which means that I am doing two things today. My two dishes will be in two separate posts, though.

Here is a map that has all the countries highlighted that I have already made food from. I am going to try to post an updated map every week... :)

                          (Australia, Bolivia, Jamaica, Germany, India, Zambia.)

Today I made a really yummy pastry called Paifala, which is from Samoa. It was a big hit with my family... Nano said that it reminded of Disneyland... I guess since it had pineapple inside, it made him think of the dole pineapple whips. Between the pineapple filling and the coconut milk in the dough, this was a very tropical and island-y pastry. It was also relatively easy to make. The total time only took about an hour and a half (including baking.) I will definitely be saving this recipe for future use!

By the way, here is where Samoa is located on a map...

I actually lived in Samoa for a little bit when I was like 4 or so. I don't remember very much... except that I was sick, and that there were really awesome fire dancers on the beach.

Ingredients:

Filling:

*crushed pineapple (1 full can) set aside the juice

*2 cups of sugar (I might add a little bit less next time, though.)

*1 cup of milk

*leftover pineapple juice

*about 1/3 cup cornstarch


*So for the filling, you first have to drain the pineapples. SAVE THE JUICE! You'll need it later.

*Combine the drained crushed pineapples, sugar and milk in a saucepan. Turn the heat to about medium high and let it cook until it is simmering. (The milk and pineapple look kinda funny and curdled when they are mixed together... so don't worry, that is normal. It'll look better later!)

*mix the cornstarch with the leftover pineapple juice.

*once your crushed pineapple mixture is simmering, add in the cornstarch/pineapple juice mixture.

*Continue to let it cook until the mixture thickens. (If you need to, you can add some more cornstarch, but it should be mixed with something liquidy before adding it... otherwise you''ll get clumps.)


Here is the finished filling

Ingredients:

Dough:

*6 cups of flour

*2tsp. baking powder

*2/3 cup butter (Melted)

*1 can of coconut milk

*2 pinches of salt


*Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.

*Add in melted butter and coconut milk.

*Note: be very careful with this dough... too much handling will make it tough and chewy. I think that I handled mine a little bit too much.

*Divide into about 12 balls

Here are my dough balls.

*Very very gently and carefully roll out one of your dough balls into an 8 inch circle. (Or as close to a circle as you can get it!)

*Put some filling onto half of it, leaving about 1/2 inch of extra dough on the side.

This probably isn't the best example... Mine isn't too great of a circle, and I put on to much filling which made it difficult to close! :P

*Note: After I made the first one, I had trouble moving it over to my baking sheet. After that I rolled out my dough into a circle, and then finished assembling it right on my baking sheet.

*Fold in half. It sticks best if you wet the edges with a little bit of water first. (Just a tiny bit, though!)

*Trim the edges so that they aren't so crooked.

Like this

*Then you can press in the edges with a fork, to make it looks pretty. (And stick better.) Gently insert your fork into the top a couple times as well.

*Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-40 minutes, or until just slightly browned.

*And lastly, eat! :)


Thanks for reading!