Ever thought of turning mopane worms into a dessert? Chef Unaty Daniel has a recipe for you. To celebrate this high protein bug, Daniel shares her recipe for a mopane worm chocolate tree and ginger crumble soil.
Daniel has chased a number of careers, but in the end, it was food and cooking that stole her heart. The dessert extraordinaire hails from King Williams Town in the Eastern Cape where she went from studying electrical engineering to being a waitress, reception and function coordinator. She even briefly studied hotel management before she finally became a qualified chef.
Today, Daniel runs a successful patisserie and bakery business and works as a private chef in Johannesburg.
After matriculating from Forbes Grant Senior Secondary School in King Williams Town in 2001, Daniel decided to study electrical engineering at Zwelethemba Technical College.
Finding her feet in food
Daniel needed something more to drive her and decided it was time for her to get a qualification. She decided to do hotel management and when that didn’t work out either, Daniel enrolled at Capsicum Culinary Studio and obtained a diploma in food preparation and cooking in 2017.
“Cooking is not something I thought I would follow as a career, even though I come from a family that cooks a lot. My grandmother was a chef in Mafeteng, Lesotho. So, for me, it was only when I was working in the hospitality industry that I ended up falling in love with food,” says Daniel.
After years of searching, Daniel finally found that her heart was much closer to the kitchen than she thought. In 2015 she established a patisserie and bakery called Fabulous Foods in Johannesburg. Her business officially opened its doors in 2018 and employs ten permanent staff.
“I supply cakes, assorted breads and desserts to caterers and chefs for their big events. I do a lot of corporate events, private weddings and parties. In between, I also host private cooking and baking classes. My work is very demanding as I have to see that my kitchen runs smoothly, while on the other side I have to provide my private chef services.”
Try her mopane worm dessert
Daniel prepared a dessert true to our African roots – a mopane worm chocolate tree and ginger crumble soil.
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Ingredients
- 100g dark baking chocolate
- 100g cream
- 100g milk
- 40g egg yolks
- 20g sugar
- 138g milk chocolate
- 2 leaves of gelatine
- 60g butter
- 50g flour
- 15g finely crushed mopane worms
- 100g ginger powder
- 50g castor sugar
- 10g cocoa powder
- 50g mopane worms
- Enough hot water enough to cover all the worms
- Caramel sauce
- Mint leaves and food glue
Instructions
For tree:
- Melt dark chocolate and on a flat surface spread chocolate on baking paper.
- To harden the chocolate, place it in a pot of ice-cold water for 20 seconds.
- Remove and shape like a cylinder. Set aside.
Milk chocolate custard
- Soak gelatine leaves in cold water.
- In a pot mix the egg yolks, sugar, milk and cream. Place on the stove at 85°C, while constantly stirring for approximately 5 minutes.
- Drain the gelatine then add it together with the 138g milk chocolate to the hot mixture. Allow to set.
Ginger chocolate soil
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Rub all the ‘soil’ ingredients together, placing the mixture in the oven for 8 minutes or until it crumbles.
Coated mopane worms
- Soak mopane worms in hot water for 30 minutes to remove all the dirt.
- Dry with paper and a towel and coat with caramel sauce.
To assemble:
- Assemble everything prepared by putting the chocolate soil on a plate and placing the chocolate tree cylinder on top. Fill it with milk chocolate custard.
- Dust the cylinder with cocoa powder mixed with finely crushed worms.
- With food glue stick the mint leaves onto the cylinder.
- Place caramel-coated worms around the ‘tree’ and serve.
