10 FOODS YOU WILL EAT THIS YEAR
Always ahead of the trends, these are the ten ingredients Abigail Donnelly predicts will be all over restaurant menus, in food blogs and the most inspiring recipes in 2019. May we introduce the “new” chicken mayonnaise sandwich, nut butter, sesame seeds
Meet the ingredients and flavours of 2019, a year when you’ll be tempted to try the likes of violet, green mango,
katsu and nigella seeds (not at the same time!)
1 Mochi
At its most basic, this pillowy Japanese dessert is made using sweet glutinous rice flour, water and baking powder, sweetened with sugar and coconut milk, then baked in the oven. It’s often coloured with matcha or other edible dyes and wrapped around a sweet centre, such as red bean paste, to form bite-sized treats much like gourmet marshmallows. Our favourite right now is rose-water and vanilla mochi (opposite). Cape Town restaurant Tjing Tjing Momiji is already in on the trend – try their kumquat mochi and be hooked.
2 Green mango
Unripe mangoes, firmer and more tart than their ripe counterparts, are widely used in Thai and Indian cooking (in India, dried green mango is turned into powdered amchoor, which is used as a seasoning). Serve thinly sliced and drizzled with a punchy dressing as a side dish with Thai curries.
Serving suggestion? Try a warm dressing of lime, turmeric, fish sauce, palm sugar and another 2019 favourite – ghee – a form of clarified butter that has a high smoking point, contains no lactose, doesn’t have to be refrigerated and is available at Woolies.