ETHNIC COOKING : Poffertjes of the Season

When Roma de Zoysa Tira thinks about Christmas in her native Sri Lanka, she remembers her mother’s enormous copper bowl, big enough to hold 50 beaten eggs at a time. In Colombo, where Tira lived, Christmas is observed with lavish cakes and pastries inherited from European settlers.

As the holidays approached, the capacious bowl was in constant use. Eggs and sugar had to be beaten for Christmas cake, an exceptionally rich fruitcake that combined cashews, raisins, candied citrus peel and other fruits with local pumpkin, ginger and chowchow preserves. Tira’s recipe for this elaborate dessert calls for 25 egg yolks, 12 egg whites and two pounds of sugar.

The preparation of the fruits took more than a week. First they were washed and dried in the sun. Then came the chopping, which turned into a social occasion. “Members of the family got together over coffee, and there was a lot of laughing and talking,” Tira says. The chopped fruits were marinated with various essences and brandy for a week. “Every time we walked past, we used to dump more brandy in,” she says. In addition to brandy, Tira seasons the cake with vanilla, almond extract, rose water and maraschino liqueur.

Christmas dinner was very British, Tira says. The table was decorated with colorful Christmas crackers that popped when the ends were pulled and contained party favors. A handsome roast turkey stuffed with sausage, raisins and nuts dominated the menu, but there was also a home-cured ham flavored with beer, honey and cloves. Accompaniments included imported cranberry sauce, potatoes and steamed vegetables.

Along with Christmas cake, the celebrants ate Christmas pudding with brandy butter. The custom was to hide trinkets in the pudding to foretell the future. Discovering a ring in one’s portion meant marriage was imminent. A coin signified wealth, and a thimble meant the recipient would stay home and sew during the coming year rather than marry.

Those days may be long past, but Tira still makes the Christmas cake and other Sri Lankan treats--and on a much larger scale. There’s a big demand for them among local Sri Lankans during the holiday season. Tira is a caterer and also cooks for Island Spice, a Sri Lankan restaurant that she co-owns with her daughter, Sonali Tucker. Located on Overland Avenue in West Los Angeles, the restaurant is also a mini-store, stocked with jars of pumpkin and ginger preserves and chowchow for Christmas cake making. Sri Lankan “pumpkin” is not the American .jack-o-lantern squash but Chinese winter melon, and chowchow is preserved chayote.

Two breads always served for Christmas and New Year are Breudher and Poffertjes, both legacies of the Dutch. Breudher is an sweet, egg-rich bread baked in a decorative tube pan. It’s traditionally eaten with butter and sliced Edam cheese. “I’ll be making Breudher until I drop this year,” says Tira. “It’s for breakfast, when you come back from church.”

Poffertjes are little puffs that employ the same yeast dough used for Breudher. To make them round, it is essential to use a pan with deep circular indentations, such as the Danish aebleskiver pan. A spoonful of dough goes into each generously buttered indentation. A few raisins are placed on top and covered with another spoonful of dough. When the bottom browns, the ball is turned for shaping and browning the other side. Tira serves Poffertjes with sugar syrup or canned golden syrup.

Raised in a Catholic family, Tira learned early about Bibikkan, a sweet served at church festivals in coastal areas where the Portuguese settled. The newcomers developed this chewy treat using the ingredients they found in Sri Lanka, including jaggery (palm sugar), cashews, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon.

On Christmas Day, the cakes and cookies are set out on a table, ready for anyone who may drop in. Families gather for a turkey lunch or dinner and may go on to other homes to partake of the festivities and food.

As the first day of the year, New Year’s Day is important to all Sri Lankans, not just the country’s Christians and Europeans. Along with Breudher, Poffertjes and Bibikkan, the breakfast table holds an assortment of native Sri Lankan specialties including milk rice, which is rice cooked with coconut milk and pandanus leaf. Sri Lankans serve this dish on all auspicious occasions, and frequently on the first day of the month, Tira says. Also on the table are bananas, considered a symbol of plenty because many fruits grow from a single stem.

In Tira’s family, ingredients such as puff pastry were always made from scratch. Farm women brought eggs to Tira’s home, and her mother tested them for freshness by dropping them in a bowl of water. The fresh eggs sank to the bottom immediately. The old ones floated.

“My mother would have a fit if she saw me buying a package of puff pastry,” says Tira, who condones such modern shortcuts. She even suggests making Breudher with frozen bread dough, a time-saving convenience during the busy holidays. Here is the recipe, using homemade yeast dough.

BREUDHER (Christmas Bread) 1 pound Bread Dough 6 tablespoons butter 6 egg yolks 1 cup sugar 1 cup raisins 1 tablespoon flour

Knead dough well, using large food processor powerful enough for bread or heavy-duty mixer with dough hook. Add butter in pats, kneading in thoroughly. Add egg yolks 1 at time, alternating with sugar. Beat well after adding each. Mix raisins with flour and knead into batter. Place batter in greased 12-cup bundt pan or other tube pan of similar size. Cover and let stand in warm place until doubled.

Bake at 400 degrees 10 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer, or until wood pick inserted in center comes out clean. Place in pan on rack 5 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely. Makes 1 round loaf, about 12 servings.

Each serving contains about: 283 calories; 139 mg sodium; 158 mg cholesterol; 11 grams fat; 43 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 0.23 gram fiber.

Bread Dough 2 teaspoons dry yeast 1/4 cup warm water 1 teaspoon sugar 4 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup vegetable shortening or softened butter 3/4 to 1 cup milk, lightly warmed

Dissolve yeast in water with sugar. Combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until blended. Add yeast mixture and milk as needed to form dough. Knead thoroughly. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, 30 minutes to 1 hour. Punch down, knead few moments and use as required. Makes about 2 pounds.

POFFERTJES (Bread Puffs) 1 pound Bread Dough 6 eggs, separated 6 tablespoons milk 1 cup raisins, or more to taste Butter Sugar syrup, canned golden syrup or other syrup

Knead dough thoroughly, using large food processor powerful enough for bread or heavy-duty mixer with dough hook. Add egg yolks, 1 at time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in milk. (Batter should not be too thin.) Cover batter and set in warm place to rise until light, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Heat aebleskiver pan or other pan with round indentations over low heat. Grease each indentation generously with butter. Place about 1 tablespoon batter in each indentation. Top with several raisins. Cover with equal amount batter.

Cook until bottom is browned. Using thin-bladed knife or spatula, turn and cook other side until browned and poffertje is cooked through. Serve with syrup as desired. Makes about 21 poffertjes.

Note: Batter will be sticky. Wet hands for greater ease in handling.

Each poffertje contains about: 100 calories; 64 mg sodium; 64 mg cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 15 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 0.13 gram fiber.

BIBIKKAN (Coconut Dessert) 1 pound grated coconut, fresh or frozen 1 1/2 pounds dark-brown sugar 1 3/4 cups cashews, chopped 3/4 cup raisins 1/3 cup ginger preserves 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 2 teaspoons grated lime zest Dash salt 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon whole-wheat flour

If using fresh coconut, remove shell and peel. Weigh coconut meat and grind in food processor or on grater. Combine coconut and brown sugar in saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved and blended with coconut. Mixture should be sticky but fairly dry and pull away from sides of pan, about 210 degrees on candy thermometer.

Over low heat, add cashews, raisins, ginger preserves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, lime zest and salt. Cook 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, add flour and mix well. Place in buttered 10x6-inch glass baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees 20 to 30 minutes until browned and set. Cool on rack. Cut into 2-inch squares while still slightly warm. Makes 15 pieces.

Each square contains about: 163 calories; 14 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.64 gram fiber.