Chocolate Zucchini Cake

This is from my mother's recipe collection. It's handwritten on a scrap paper, so I have no idea whence the recipe came, but there are quirks and notes that show her particular adaptations. I do remember that we started making this cake when I was about 10 years old, and that we never put walnuts in it, despite their presence as written. Instead, my mother was known to use chocolate chips (including one time, memorably, orange chocolate chips) or just omit the nuts entirely. There may have been an ill-advised attempt to use pumpkin seeds, about which we will speak no more.

As you can see, this is a big cake. It keeps well on the counter, better in the fridge (if you have room), but is delicious enough that it probably won't have to wait around for very long.

A note on grating zucchini: I find that short strands are much easier to work with than long strands, so I recommend slicing the zucchini in half lengthwise almost to the stem, and then holding the two halves together to grate across the cut. This gives very short strands that are easy to use, whether you are making fritters or cakes.

My mother always used soft "golden" brown sugar, but plain white granulated sugar also works fine.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

fills a 10-12 cup Bundt pan/Bundform/Gugelhupfform

125 ml (1/2 cup) canola oil
300 grams (1 1/2 cups) sugar
3 large eggs
200 grams (2 cups) grated zucchini
6 grams (1 heaped tablespoon) orange zest
10 ml (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract
300 grams (2 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
65 grams (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
12.5 ml (2 1/2 teaspoons) baking powder
7.5 ml (1 1/2 teaspoons) baking soda
5 ml (1 teaspoon) kosher or coarse sea salt
5 ml (1 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
125 grams (1 cup) chopped walnuts (or chocolate chips) - optional
125 ml (1/2 cup) milk

My mother's ever-cryptic instructions are: Pour into bundt pan, bake at 350° 1 hr. Cool in pan 15 min, then turn out and glaze: mix 2 cups icing sugar, 2 tbsps milk, 1 tsp vanilla

For those who didn't grow up with these astonishingly abbreviated instructions, try this:

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F, with a rack in the lower-middle slot. Prepare a 10-12 cup ring-shaped cake pan by spraying with cooking spray, oiling lightly or greasing lightly with butter.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil and sugar and beat with a wooden spoon or whisk until smooth. Add the eggs, and beat again. Add the grated zucchini and the vanilla extract, and stir through.

In a separate, medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder (sifted), baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and optionally walnuts. Add these combined dry ingredients to the wet mixture and start to gently stir together. After a few rounds with the spoon, add the milk, and then continue to gently stir until just combined and there are no more dry streaks in the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and place it in the preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick or spaghetti strand poked into the centre comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, before turning out of the pan. Glaze, or let cool completely.



As you can see, the glaze in my mother's instructions is for a standard white glaze, although you could exchange some of the icing sugar for cocoa powder to make a cocoa glaze if you like. You can use pretty much any glaze or frosting/icing you fancy. I've gone a different route here and used a chocolate ganache made from melted down Easter bunnies with added butter and cream. Your mileage may vary.

Black Pepper Tofu

There are an awful lot of recipes out there for Black Pepper Tofu, it turns out. So why not one more? This version is adapted from a variety of internet sources, but primarily from Lazy Cat Kitchen. It is intense and delicious, with wonderful textures. Serve over rice or noodles, maybe with a nice bright green on the side (gai lan would be an excellent choice).

Black Pepper Tofu

Serves 4
Total Prep & Cooking Time: 45-60 minutes

For the fried tofu cubes
600 grams firm tofu, diced and pressed
2 tablespoons less-sodium soy sauce
Cornstarch, as needed for dusting
4 tablespoons peanut oil or canola oil, divided

Sauce & Assembly
1 tablespoon less-sodium soy sauce, plus extra to make 3 tablespoons (including the leftover from the tofu stage above)
1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar (depending how tart you want the sauce)
2 tablespoons honey (brown rice syrup or coconut sugar for vegan)
125 mL (1/2 cup) water
2 level teaspoons cornstarch
4 large garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and minced (about 2 tablespoons of minced ginger)
1-2 hot chili peppers, sliced thinly
4 small green onions, sliced thinly
1 rounded tablespoon ground black pepper
Sesame seeds, to garnish (optional)

The following instructions are for frying the tofu cubes, but you can bake them instead if you prefer.

Cut the tofu into large or medium dice – bite sized – and press between paper towels under a weighted cutting board for 15 minutes. Pour off and discard any liquid, and place tofu in a shallow bowl. Pour 2 tablespoons soy sauce over the tofu and very gently stir to coat. Drain the excess soy sauce and set aside to use in the sauce.

Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. While the oil heats, quickly and carefully roll about a quarter of the tofu cubes in cornstarch, shaking off any excess. Place them in the hot oil, well spaced out, and fry gently, turning each piece with tongs as needed to get a crisp golden brown crust on all sides. As each piece is done, (they basically finish in the order they were placed in the pan, remove it to a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat (in the same oil) with the remaining tofu cubes, in batches, until they are all done. Remove the pan from the heat, pour off any remaining oil, and wipe the pan clean (carefully, because it’s hot) with a paper towel. Put the pan aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

If you are using whole peppercorns, grind them now (grinder or mortar and pestle), because it takes too long to get the amount you need at the point where you need to add it. Put the tablespoon of ground black pepper in a small dish and set aside.

Mix in a separate bowl or 500ml/2 cup measuring cup: soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, and 125 mL (½ cup) of cool or room temperature water. Add the 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and stir until smooth. Prepare, in separate piles on your cutting board, the garlic, ginger, chilies, spring onions, and black pepper, and have them ready to go.

Return your skillet to medium-high heat, and add a tablespoon of oil along with the white parts of the spring onions, the ginger, and sliced chilies. Lower the heat to medium and fry for 2-3 minutes, until slightly softened. Add the garlic and stir through for about 20 seconds.

Carefully stir the sauce bowl, because the cornstarch will drop to the bottom and you want it integrated. Once it is smooth, add the cornstarch slurry to the the vegetables in the skillet, and let it come to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. A flat-bottomed wooden spoon or wok tool is really good for this It will thicken almost immediately. Add the black pepper and then the fried tofu cubes and stir them through until the tofu cubes are coated in the sauce. Add the green parts of the spring onion and stir through quickly to integrate. Serve over rice or noodles, garnishing with sesame seeds if you like.

Mapo Nasu

I'm a big fan of Mapo Tofu, a Sichuan dish that integrates small cubes of tofu into a spicy (think Sichuan peppercorn) flavourful minced pork sauce (or, if you want to get old-school, integrates spicy pork sauce into cubes of tofu) and served atop rice. Whether you lean more heavily to the meat-side or the tofu-side, it's a delicious meal. But wait! There's more.

While classic Chinese Mapo Tofu is very popular in Japan, Mapo Nasu is a localization that substitutes the tofu with eggplant. As with the original, there are a lot of versions vying for position as the ur-recipe, but that just means you can be very flexible in your approach.

I recommend long, narrow East Asian type eggplants, here, rather than the Mediterranean type, as they are generally less seedy and less bitter. The ones I used here were super skinny Japanese eggplants, the diameter of bratwurst, but wider ones work just fine (and are a bit less fragile). You can choose to sauté the eggplant strips in hot oil instead of broiling them, if you prefer, but they do tend to fall apart a bit more that way.

Mapo Nasu

Serves 2-3

Total prep and cooking time: 20 - 30 minutes

1/2 lb. lean ground pork or beef
2 tablespoons dry sherry or vermouth
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
300 grams Japanese eggplant
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Sauce ingredients
1 tablespoon fermented chile bean paste
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste (optional)
2 tablespoons less-sodium soy sauce
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon white pepper OR ground Sichuan pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch diluted in 1/4 cup water

If you're serving this over rice, get it started first, as it can wait patiently if need be. Preheat the broiler with a rack set 15cm/6inches from the burner.

Combine the meat, sherry, 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, and set aside. In a small bowl, combine sauce ingredients up to the white pepper and set aside.

Slice the leafy ends off the eggplant(s) and quarter the eggplant lengthwise. Slice the long spears of eggplant into finger-lengths, and brush with sesame oil. Place skin-side-down in a single layer on a baking sheet and broil for 7 - 10 minutes or until slightly browned and blistered. Remove from oven and keep to one side.

In a large skillet, over medium heat, cook the meat until evenly browned, breaking up any large clumps. Add the onion and cook until the onion turns translucent. Stir in the spicy sauce mixture until the meat is evenly coated. Add the eggplant and stir gently (you don't want to mash the tender pieces). Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in the dissolved cornstarch and cook, stirring constantly but gently, for a couple of minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Serve over steamed rice with a green vegetable. May I suggest Kale Gomaae?

Z-Balls - Zucchini Polpette

These delicious veggie-packed Z-Balls can be everything from a pakora-like appy (pass the chutney), to a sandwich filling, to a stand-in for traditional meatballs on a big plate of spaghetti (or spaghetti squash, if that's how you roll).

This recipe was developed from my classic Zucchini Fritters recipe, but has a bit more body to better withstand the round(ish) shape without getting doughy. I'm using classic Italian flavours for these ones, since they'll be topping spaghetti, but you can of course customize the seasoning profile to your taste (Old Bay-type seasoning would be awesome for sandwich-filling Z-Balls, for example).

It's zucchini season! What are you waiting for?

Z-Balls (Zucchini Polpette)

Makes 24 Z-Balls
Total prep and cooking time: 45 minutes

5 cups grated zucchini
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cups fluffy breadcrumbs ~ such as panko
1/3 cup finely minced onion
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon chile flakes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon kosher/coarse sea salt
1/4 cup flour
oil for shallow-frying

Make sure that the strands of grated zucchini are not too long - cut a slice into the zucchini lengthwise (stopping before you hit the stem) before grating, and then position the zucchini against the grater so that the grated strands will be short. You could also grate the zucchini normally, and then give it a quick chop-through with a knife. Either way, Squeeze the grated zucchini by the handful (over a colander in the sink, to catch escaped strands) to release extra liquid. Place the shreds in a medium mixing bowl.

Add the flour and stir with a fork to thoroughly distribute the flour throughout the zucchini strands. Add the eggs, melted butter, bread crumbs, minced onion, salt and herbs. Mix well with a fork, so that all ingredients are evenly distributed. The batter will be quite wet, so you will need a scoop to shape the balls. A disher with a release mechanism works best. The one I use a no. 18-8 disher, which has a tablespoon capacity, which makes a nice sized ball, whether it's a meatball or z-ball. Without a scoop, I would use two tablespoons, and the quenelle method.

Pour frying oil into a skillet to make about 5mm deep. Heat the oil over medium heat, and be patient until it gets hot enough to fry, about 190°C/375°F. You don't want it too hot, or the balls will burn before they cook through. Also, if you overheat the oil, it will begin to break down and smell fishy (especially canola oil), so never let it get so hot it smokes. You can test the oil by putting a strand of zucchini in the pan. If it starts to sizzle immediately, the oil is ready. If it browns immediately, remove the oil from the heat, because it's too hot. Let it cool off the heat and try again. You can also use other methods to test the oil temperature if you don't have the right kind of thermometer.

When you're ready to start frying, use the scoop/disher to shape the ball, and release it directly into the hot oil in the skillet. Add a few more balls, well spaced to avoid over-crowding the pan, and fry for a few minutes on each "side", until dark golden brown. These are pretty soft, so you may need to gently re-shape them as you turn them - tongs are the best tool for the job, but two forks works well, too. Or you could learn to love the slightly irregular, rustic shapes they form naturally, like the ones shown here.

Finished balls can be kept warm in a warm oven. Continue to cook the z-balls in batches until you've used up all the batter.

Top a bowl of pasta and tomato sauce with these crisp, flavourful nuggets for Spaghetti & Z-Balls - sure to make anyone smile from their sheer deliciousness!



Leftover Z-Balls can be reheated very nicely on an ungreased baking sheet (or pizza pan) in a hot oven (200°C/400°F) for 10-15 minutes (flip halfway through) to restore the crisp exterior. Perfect for wraps!