cooking with chokos

Anything you can do with zucchini, you can do with chokos instead. Bake them in a cheese sauce or add them to a cheese quiche or vegetable slice. Chokos don’t taste of much, except what they are cooked with, so cook them with something delicious. Here are some recipes ideas.

COOKED CHOKOS THAT TASTE BETTER THAN PEARS!

3 chokos 3 cups sugar 1 cup water juice of 1 lemon vanilla bean or a few slices of ginger 1 Peel, core and thinly slice chokos. Place in a saucepan with sugar, water, lemon juice and vanilla bean or ginger. 2 Simmer until choko is tender. As soon as the fruit is cooked, remove vanilla bean or ginger.

3 Leave choko in the syrup overnight. 4 To cook choko for adding to fruit salad, chop into small chunks (instead of slices), and add passionfruit to syrup.

GLUTEN-FREE CHOKO ALMOND UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

2 eggs, separated ¾ cup caster sugar 6 tablespoons melted butter 1½ cups ground almonds cooked choko (as per recipe above) 2 tablespoons brown sugar or golden syrup 1 Preheat oven to 200°C.

2 To make cake batter, whip egg whites until stiff. Beat in sugar, then add butter, egg yolks and almonds.

Stir gently to combine.

3 Place a layer of cooked choko in a well-buttered cake tin. Sprinkle with brown sugar or drizzle with golden syrup. Spoon cake batter over choko.

4 Bake for 30–40 minutes, or until firm to touch. Turn out to great applause.

LIME AND CHOKO MARMALADE

1kg tahitian limes 5 large chokos 8 cups water 1.5kg sugar 1 Thinly slice, then finely chop, flesh and rind of limes. Remove seeds.

2 Peel, core and grate chokos.

3 Place lime, choko and water in a saucepan and simmer gently over low heat for 1 hour. Add sugar and stir over heat until dissolved. Remove from heat, cover pan, and leave overnight.

4 The next day, stir mixture well, then boil for 10 minutes, stirring. Turn heat off, and see if a few drops set on a cool saucer. If not, keep boiling for 3 minutes at a time until mixture sets. 5 Carefully divide mixture among sterilised jars while it is very hot, then seal. Store in a cool place.

CHOKO CHUTNEY

1kg chokos, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces 500g tomatoes, peeled and chopped 500g chopped onions, sauteed until soft in 2 tablespoons olive oil 700g brown sugar 2 teaspoons black peppercorns 2 teaspoons whole allspice 2 teaspoons ground ginger 6 cloves garlic, chopped 1L red wine vinegar 1 Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over low heat (don’t boil) until thick, stirring often (it sticks easily). 2 Carefully divide mixture among sterilised jars while it is very hot.