Ask a Chef reveals the secrets of those superb dishes you ate in cafes and restaurants and wanted to try yourself.
Rhubarb's hazelnut, chocolate and orange bliss balls
Makes 30 bliss balls
Ingredients
2 cups hazelnuts
2 cups dates
1 cup prunes
⅔ cup dried apricots, finely chopped
4 Tbsp coconut oil
2 Tbsp honey
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup ground almonds
finely grated zest of one orange
Method
Toast hazelnuts in hot oven for 10 minutes until golden.
Put dates and prunes in a small pot and cover with boiling water. Simmer on stovetop for about 5 minutes, until tender. Drain and put aside.
Place toasted hazelnuts in food processor and process until the mixture resembles a crumble consistency.
Combine hazelnuts, drained dates and prunes, and cocoa with all remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Mix together using your hands, squidging the mixture between your fingers to ensure the dates and prunes are broken up and well incorporated.
Form mixture into evenly-sized balls (about golf ball size, 37g) and roll in coconut.
Place in a container and refrigerate until firm before serving.
Requested by Karen Stirling, of Invercargill.
Recipe provided by Sam Kerr at Rhubarb cafe in Roslyn.
• If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin, fax 474-7422, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz , including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.
