INTERESTING CHOCOLATE DISCOVERY.

We are not a group or community that is noted for crossing new frontiers in cuisine . Indeed we are not known for anything at all until this evening when a seasoned chef from one of the five star establishment in Singapore, declared that we may be on to something "interesting" in artisan chocolatery.A gentleman from Carrefour looked pensive after a taste

In a session of experimental cooking, a few of us cake makers, bakers and a couple of chocolatiers combined Chocolate with Cardamon and came up it a surprising sensational Chocolate-Cardamon Custard Tart. We haven't thought of a slick name yet. We will when we are ready to rock the world.

We decided to try Cardamon. It is grown here in Java and it called "kapulaga". It belongs to the Amomum variety.It is a ginger-like plant and like cocoa grow in tropical rain forests. It grows up to 5 meters and therefore can actually be grown alongside cocoa Like cocoa it grows in shade. It will boost farmers'income because cardamon is one of the most expensive of spices.

Like the cocoa bean, it's the seeds inside the pod that are used.The husk is thrown away.Java cardamon is brownish and has a distinct astringent aroma without being bitter. It has a coolness similar to mint.

It has a flavour that that good breadth but not enough depth to impinge on the flavour of chocolate.

Besides being used in cooking it is also used in Scandinavia in baking cakes and pastries. The Dutch use it in windmill biscuits.The Russians use it in liqueurs. In China and India they have used it for thousands of years to treat all kinds of digestive and bowel ailments.And it is one of the world's oldest spices.We thought it will combine magnificently with chocolate.It did.

We decide to make a tart because we felt that it bring up the combination best and most noticeably. First we combined the ingredients of the dough:We sifted flour,cocoa and sea salt. We creamed the butter,sugar together to a fluffy paste, added egg and mixed it in well. We mixed all the ingredients until the dough formed. We shaped it into a ball, cut it in two halves, and stored it in the refrigerator overnight.That was yesterday.

This evening we took one half, made it into a kind of a shallow tart shell circle with a 2cm ridge, covered it and let it chill.

In the meantime the oven was being preheated. The chocolate, we used 7 ounces bittersweet was placed in a bowl. Into it we added a heated mixture of cream,a table spoon of fine ground cardamon, milk and sugar stirring in a third at a time, until it blended smoothly. A whisked egg was blended into a part of the chocolate mixture and then to all of it.Get rid of bubbles by tapping the bowl.

Now pour the mixture into the tart shell right to the top. Baked for 20 minutes, turned around and baked again for another 20 minutes until the custard is firm around the edges and sort of wobbly in the centre.Lionel, our friendly chef from Singapore guided the whole operation through. We need his deftness. We were so clumsy.The complete recipe together with another cardamon-chocolate exotica is available in next fortnight's Java Cocoa Newsletter.

The other half of the dough got the same treatment. Except this time we mixed the cardamon with the dough not with the custard. For added effect we made a thin sheet of caramel blended with a pinch of cardamon cracked it into bits and sprinkled over the chocolate custard.

Our guests, mainly family, and of course the pensive friend from Carrefour, declared it a significant discovery and generally rated with a nine.

IS IT SAFE TO GO LOOKING FOR COCOA BEANS IN INDONESIA?

I had five queries from nervous chocolatiers. This one kind of sums up the thoughts conveyed:"I hear so much about safety issues about Indonesia. In fact till recently our government had issued a travel warning about visiting Indonesia. Is it really safe to go searching around for beans in places like those you mentioned, Papua, Ternate,Bacan, Java.."

Recently I had an exuberant and enthusiastic visitor,a young chef, a Scot, Glen McIntyre(or something close. He had a surname pronounced different from the way it was spelled)who worked for the Four Seasons. On his arrival,in Jakarta, all he wanted to do was to see, and possibly experience, as much Indonesian food as possible.

There is Italian, French, German, Indian, Chinese, Argentine(I am not making this up),Arabian, Dutch, Malaysian, Indian, Singaporean and even Russian food on Jakarta's main street. And miles of chocolate too.But no Indonesian food worth mentioning.

So Glen and I plunged into the back lanes and alleys of Jakarta where food from nearly all of the inhabited 17,000 islands of this archipelago,was being busily prepared, cooked and consumed enthusiastically. In our forays into the deep, sometimes dark, alleyways and byways we did everything the Personal Security Advisor beseeched us not to do.

We made our ourselves conspicuous, we carried a lot of cash(none of the establishment we were interested in accepted credit cards)and arrogantly waved it under noses, we bumped into people who looked sinister, we flirted with giggling women, we went into really dark places, into place conscientiously developed for pick-pockets,we walked, we picked fights by bargaining outrageously,we asked rude questions. We emerged unscathed after a week.

I took Glen to the mountains of Central Java, where my wife has the immensely good fortune to come from. We walked into houses, most were unlocked, dined with occupants, carried a lot of cash and flashed it shamelessly around, took dangerous mini-vans for transport,abused the drivers, went out in the pitch dark, sang rude rugby songs and argued with a policeman. We emerged unscathed after four days. Glen had collected books of notes on Indonesian food.Persumably he is putting it into good use in Scotland or elsewhere.

The fact is Indonesia is safe.Don't listen to your Governments. Honestly what do they know? Look at the mess we faced this September alone. Don't listen, for heaven's sake to Dick Cheney. The best authority to ask is INTERPOL or a missionary.

If you asked INTERPOL they would tell you,that per 10,000 capita, in Homicide, Indonesia is 4 times safer than Australia, 14 times safer than the UK and 6 times safer than the US. Taking Rape incidents, Indonesia is 18 times safer than Australia, 12 times safer that the UK and 32 times safer than the US. Assault, Indonesia is 170 times safer than Australia, 30 times safer than the UK and 89 times safer than the US. We are far behind these countries in embezzlements, but catching up I am proud to say.

Another good source to check out safety in remote parts, where cocoa is grown, is with missionaries. I asked a very petite nun called Sister Godlive(I am not making this up) who lived in the Muluku for years. She has actually been to Becan and Ternate. I asked her if there were many murders in these parts. She said, "I haven't heard really." Are there any gun related violence?"Oh no" she replied, "Gun ownership is against the law." Are there any thefts?"Oh yes. It is sad but people are often stealing chickens."

It is absolutely safe to visit Indonesia. In fact it might be a good place to really get some peace and quiet.