#congolais

Be down in a second

Funny how our tastes change sometimes. I used to not like coconut at all. The mere flavour of it made me feel sick. That made visits to great-aunts, who would invariably serve plates of Congolais with coffee and tea, a staple of my young years, rather awkward. Then, on a school trip to the West Indies, I discovered Colombo, and since then I’ve loved coconut milk into savoury sauces or curries (a taste very much solidified by a trip in Southern India in 2014). Then, we returned to the Caribbean and I was reconciled with the use of coconut milk in a blissfully refreshing Sorbet Coco. I’ve been increasingly using desiccated coconut since, but mixed in with other things. Until today, when I fancied a bikkie but not going to the shops. And egg whites, coconut and sugar are all you need to make these simple Congolais, so I gave it a try. And I’m glad I did, for I really do like them now!

Ingredients (makes 15 biscuits):

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

2 small egg whites

85 grams/3 ounces caster sugar

75 grams/2.65 ounces desiccated coconut

Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F.

Line a baking tray with baking paper, and lightly butter it. Set aside.

Place egg whites into a medium bowl, and fit the bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water). 

With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, increasing the speed until soft peaks just form. Gradually beat in caster sugar, until you have a thick, shiny and glossing meringue (and sugar is perfectly dissolved). 

Remove the bowl from the saucepan, and gently fold in desiccated coconut with a spatula, until well-mixed.

Scoop a heaped tablespoonful of the coconut mixture, and smoothen slightly with another tablespoon before placing onto prepared baking tray. Procced likewise with remaining mixture, until you have about 15 coconut meringue heaps.

Bake in the middle of the warm oven, 25 minutes, at 160°C/320°F, until a pale golden colour. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

My cousin