Ohhhhh Cho ko…Oh Cho ko…I love to…..

Chokos-cheap as chips

I think I might have got John Lennons song to Yoko wrong???  Yoko or Choko you either love or hate ’em. I was given the challenge from Phil Dudman to come up with recipes for chokoes.  If you have a choko vine in your backyard you most likely have an over abundance, so what can you do with them? My brothers used to use them as ammo to throw at the other kids in the neighbourhood, which was always a good way of making sure mum didn’t have any to serve us for dinner.

If you don’t have fond memories of eating chokoes give it another go, they take on any flavour you give it. I made a choko chutney and a choko tarte tartin(upside down tart) but chokoes can be roasted, fried, pickled, steamed or mashed and the distinctive but rather bland flavour combines well with spicy ingredients.

If you don’t have a choko vine you can buy chokoes in fruit and veg shops and supermarkets. I got mine from the Byron Markets, 3 for a $1…bargain.

Choose the smallest shiny young chokoes without any brown spots. If they are all large, the ones with the softest spines will be most tender. If you come across white chokoes grab them, they are sweeter and great in this tart tartin but if you can’t find white chokoes green are fine. Enjoy.

Choko maple tarte tartin

serves 4

30gms butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 white choko, peeled and sliced into thin wedges
1 sheet store-bought puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Place the butter in a 13cm non-stick frying pan over medium heat until melted. Pourin the maple syrup and arrange the cholo in the base of the pan and cook for 10 minutes or until just soft. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Place the sheet of pastry over the chokoes and tuck the edges under. Cook the tart for 30-35 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden. Place a plate on top of the tarte tatin pan then flip it directly on to the plate. Serve the tarte tatin warm or at room temperature, great with ice-cream or whipped cream.