Capirotada

Lucky you, all the ingredients for Capirotada can be found in Japan (at least on my remote island). This is a Christmas time/ New Year's kind of food, but it can be eaten anytime really. It makes a wonderful "make the night before" dessert that's pretty easy if for whatever reason you find yourself lacking ideas for a dish to a potluck or something. Instead of the french bread that's usually required, and since the store seemed to have run out of french bread, I used a big loaf of パインパン, so ingredients are also easy to substitute. For example, you can use shredded coconut instead of the cheese and make it vegan friendly.



Makes about 6 to 8 servings. Must set overnight or at least 4 hours.

Ingredients:

Oil for frying
French bread/baguette, one large loaf, sliced thinly and then cut up into medium pieces
Peanuts (or your favorite nut), 1/4 to 1/2 cup, chopped lightly
Raisins, 1/4 to 1/2 cup
Shredded white cheese (the less salty the better), 1/2 cup or so

For syrup:

Cinnamon sticks, 2
Star anise, 3 whole stars
Brown sugar, 1/2 cup (or a little less than 1/2 a cone of piloncillo if you can find it...)
Water, about 2/3 cup

In a small pot, make a syrup. Cut up the piloncillo into about 4 chunks. If no piloncillo, just pour the brown sugar into the pot. Add the cinnamon sticks and star anise. Pour about 2/3 cup water in the pot and turn up the heat to medium. Stir occasionally, and add more water if necessary. Bring to a boil.

Once the liquid is boiling, turn the heat to low. Stir on low for about 5 minutes so the syrup can get all the cinnamon and anise flavor. Make sure all the sugar is dissolved, then turn off the heat. Put aside.

In a large fry pan, add some oil and heat on medium. Once oil is hot(not burnt), add the slices of bread and fry. Fry each side for about 1 minute in hot oil until the bread pieces are rather crispy, but not burnt, adding more oil as necessary. You'll want the bread to be crispy so that it won't turn to mush when left to soak in the syrup later. Place on a plate lined with paper towels when done frying to soak up some of the excess oil.

Line the bottom of a medium baking dish with the now crispy slices of bread. Top with the peanuts and the raisins. Use a ladle to spoon the syrup evenly over the now topped slices of bread. Then top with cheese. If you have a ton of ingredients left over, just keep adding more layers of bread, peanuts, raisins, syrup, and cheese.

Cover the baking pan with seran wrap or a plate or something, and place in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Cut out a piece of the capirotada like you would a cake or brownies, serve on a dish, and enjoy :)