Slow Roasted Ham & Pea Soup

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I have discovered pre made slow roasted hickory flavoured ham at my deli and it's a life changer.  It made knocking up a comforting pot of ham and pea soup a cinch and it taste waaaay better than any canned version.

To make enough for eight bowls, you will need:

• 500g of slow roasted ham.  I bought the Tilbaldi brand and according to their label, it's been slow roasted for 10 hours.  That's good enough for me. 
• 11 cups of stock
• 1.5 cup of dried peas and/or beans
• mixed herbs - I used fresh tarragon
• 1 carrot
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 onion
• tablespoon of olive oil
• tablespoon of chia seeds (optional)

Method:

• I soaked the peas and bean mix overnight then rinse and drain
• Chop carrot, onion and celery then fry in pot with the oil
• Once veggies and tarragon are soft, add the peas/bean mix and the liquid
• Bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer for 45 mins
• At this stage I roughly blitzed the soup with a stick blender
• Roughly shred, chop the ham and add to the soup
• Throw in the chia seeds if using.  Stir to distribute
• Serve with a big chunk of bread and butter!

With the chia seeds thrown in

Gyros Party At Home

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

It was my niece's 10th birthday a few months back (Happy birthday M!) and I was so impressed with the house party her parents threw for her.  They managed to feed a crowd the size of a small army (I estimated at least 50 people) and managed to do this without seeming too flustered or resentful (as I tend to get in a similar situation).

The clever parents decided to serve gyros which they cooked over coals in the backyard.  The meat itself (chicken, lamb, beef, pork - all domesticated animals were well represented) were purchased pre-skewered at the Greek shop, salads and accompaniments were easily pulled together from the supermarket.  The tzatziki was bought - and voila! - a fun meal where everyone can assembled their own gyros to their liking.

Is there anything better than the smell of chargrilled meats? Wait, yes there is - chargrilled cuttlefish! Cuttlefish on the open flame is the ultimate in smell-unami.  It is reminiscent of holidays in South East Asia, strolling pass street vendors selling their wares on a balmy night.  Put a few cuttlefish on the barbie and it would blow your mind.  My brother in law, two of his friends and I quickly snaffled up the coveted crispy cuttlefish between us before anyone else gets their paws onto it.

An incredibly meat-ccentric gyros assembled by Kiddo. 

A more balanced gyros

 Anything goes...

I have been informed that the spit is purchased from Bunnings for $80 or thereabouts.  I found YouTube clip of the spit in action by Vinygee if you would like further details.



In summary - a great idea for feeding a crowd.

Until next time...

Golden Milk

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I came across the health benefits of tumeric whilst researching ways I can help kiddo recuperate from a cold.  Authority Nutrition does a great summary of all the evidence based health benefits of tumeric which then lead me to a wealth of recipes on the internet for Golden Milk - a milky drink made with tumeric.  There were just loads of recipes for this, each with a slight variation.  I ultimately merged a few of suggestions to form my own Golden Milk.

From what I gather, making a tumeric paste from ground tumeric as a precursor to the Golden Milk is the preferred method of Golden Milk production in the absence of fresh tumeric root.  That way, you can be sure that the tumeric in the tumeric paste is thoroughly cooked before you add it to the remainder of the ingredients to make Golden Milk.  I made a batch of tumeric paste and stored it in a jar in the fridge for quick Golden Milk assemblage.  I followed the Herbal Academy of New England's recipe for tumeric paste which is essentially mix 1/4 C tumeric powder to 1/2 C water and cook until paste like.

To make the actual Golden Milk itself, I cobbled together bits and pieces from a variety of recipes:

For 1 cup/serve:

• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric paste
• 2 cup of milk of choice
• 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
• 1 grind of black pepper - apparently this assist with the absorption of the curcumin (the good for you bits in the tumeric)
• a few drops of vanilla extract
• good shake of ground cinnamon 
• 1 thin sliver of root ginger

Heat in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until heated through.  Fish the ginger out before serving

What does it taste like? Golden Milk has more of a feel rather than a taste to me.   It feels like being enveloped in a soft comforting duvet.  It feels warming and grounding.  It tastes gingery but not overpoweringly so and the vanilla and cinnamon adds sweetness without actual sugar.

Did it help with kiddo's cold?  In this uncontrolled single subject study, the results are a bit inconclusive - the duration of the cold was not really shortened (about 5 - 6 days) however I believe the severity of the symptoms eg running nose, hacking cough seem to be less than the usual.  Kiddo did not seem to be particularly bothered by her mild symptoms and she did not miss any days of school.  So I like to attribute part of this to Golden Milk.  Or maybe she just had a particularly mild version of the common cold.  Either or, Golden Milk is a comforting hot toddy to have now that the cold weather is settling in.  The colour itself is so uplifting on a dreary winter's night.

By the bye, the tumeric paste apparently can be kept in the fridge for about a fortnight.  I also used the left over tumeric paste to throw in casseroles and even mixed it with butter to spread on a crumpet.

Unti next time...

Slow Cooker Curry Chicken

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I have about five slow cooker or one pot recipe books at last count.  Most of these I have been gifted for reasons I can only surmise which are related to my laziness.  After wading through a stack of slow cooker recipes, my eyes glazed over and I ended up free styling my own.  Really how wrong could one go?  Any slow cooked meat is so amazingly tender, it is virtually dummy proof.

For the above curry chicken, I banged all the ingredients into the slow cooker in the morning and came back to a house smelling better than any scented candle after work.  I didn't even bother browning the meat.

What went into the slow cooker pot:

• 700g chicken thighs
• 1.5C coconut milk
• 1C chicken stock
• handful of curry leaves
• couple of baby chat potatoes, quartered
• 1C sweet potato mashed.  I microwaved them and mashed them to give the sauce gloopiness
• 3 tablespoons of curry powder
• 4 cubes of frozen spinach - it works out to be approx half a pack
• 1 carrot, diced

I left it to cook for 8 hours.  About 30mins before completion, I checked to see whether the sauce was to a consistency that I like.  It was a bit too thin for my liking so I took out half a bowl of sauce and mixed 2 tablespoons of cornflour into the half bowl of liquid and returned the liquid+cornflour mixture into the slow cooker to thicken.  

Voila!  I served it with tumeric rice and pappadams which I cooked sans oil in the microwave.  

Until next time...

Mushroom Soup With Quinoa & Chia

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

My body was just crying out for something warm and heartening with the rainy weather we have been getting.  It seems like it turned from Summer to Winter with nary a transition in betwixt.  I have also been feeling rather lurgy probably from attacking two all-you-can-eat buffets within days of each other (you can read about my recent gluttony here and here during my epic China Bar-athon) and  was craving something simple and grounding.

Which brings me to a rather success-of-a-free-styling soup. The inspiration was classic mushroom and barley soup.  However in an attempt to nourish myself with 'superfoods', I decided to substitue barley for quinoa and chia seeds.  Yum!  It went down well with the whole family.  I drizzled a bit of extra virgin olive oil on top and served it with sourdough drenched in butter on a cold rainy night.

Here is the recipe below (made approx 6 - 8 serves):

• 370g of mushrooms - I used Swiss browns
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 potato, diced
• 4 rashers of bacon, diced
• a handful of fresh thyme
• 1/3 cup red quinoa, rinsed well
• 2 tablespoons of black chia seeds
• 2 x broccoli stalks, diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tomato, chopped
• 750ml of water
• Oil, I used coconut oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• In a large saucepan, heat up a tablespoon of oil and fry up the onions and bacon.
• Once browned, add the remainder of the ingredients
• Bring to boil and simmer for 40 mins
• Fish out the bay leaf and any twiggy thyme stalks.  Blender with a stick blender
• Season with salt and pepper to taste
• Serve with a drizzle of EVOO on top.  I think a shaving or two of parmesan on top would also be nice - will try that one next time.  

Enjoy and catch you next time...

Week Nights Spring Rolls

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I call this one week nights spring rolls for the following reasons:

• it's made with a Woolworth's bbq chook pillaged on the way home from work
• it's filled with veggies so it goes into the category of nutritious everyday fare
• it's oven baked - so no messing around with hot vats of oil after a long day at work and it also falls into the above category of healthier eats.  
• it can be made ahead and simultaneously heated up and crisped up in the sandwich press.  I take the leftovers to work and heat them up that way.  

So what's in them?

Filling (makes about 20 large ones):

• 2 cups of shredded chicken meat from a supermarket bbq chook
• 1 cup of kale - I just scissor the leafy bits into slivers
• 1 cup of cooked sweet potato, mashed.  I happened to have the purple sweet potato variety here.  I do this in the microwave for expediency
• salt and pepper to taste

I purchased a large sized spring roll pastry from the supermarket and let this thaw whilst I fiddled about with my filling.  I also preheat the oven at 180C round about this point. The most tedious part of this whole business is peeling the pastry sheets away from the pile without ripping them. The rest is speedy.  

I roll like thus:

Then I lay the spring rolls onto a non stick baking sheet, spray with olive oil spray and bake until golden.  It takes approximately 30 minutes or so.  

Not a bad week night dinner alternative.  For a more traditional spring roll, please check this out.  

Until next time...

Green Tea (Matcha) Icecream

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

We have acquired an ice cream maker!  Kiddo requested this as her birthday present from her grandparents which they very generously bought the Cuisinart 2L ice cream maker. It has proved to be more of a present for me as I am the one playing around with it.  So far I've made a few total fails but I have also made a few winners.  One of the most popular, universally-liked-by-adults but not so much by the kids, is my green tea ice cream.  The Cuisinart came with a recipe booklet which had a green tea gelato recipe within however I felt green tea ice cream should be more creamy rather than sorbety.  So I improvised by making a rather luxe vanilla ice cream to which I added loads of matcha tea powder.  The result is a very creamy velvety textured ice cream with the clean 'bite' of the green tea flavourings.

Ingredients to make 2L worth:

• 600ml of heavy cream
• 600ml of water
• 1 cup of full cream milk powder
• 4 heaped tablespoons of matcha (green tea) powder
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 3 whole eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cup raw sugar
• 1 - 2 drops of green food colouring (optional)

Method:

• Pre freeze the ice cream canister by wrapping it snugly in plastic and putting it in the freezer for at least 24 hours before hand.  
• Heat the heavy cream, water and full cream milk powder over a medium to low heat for 30 minutes stirring occasionally to present it sticking to the bottom of the pot.  This part I found the most tedious.  
• Meanwhile using a hand held beater, mix the eggs, vanilla extract and sugar until blended.  Sprinkle in the matcha powder.  Beat again until incorporated. 
• Once the cream/milk mixture has had its 30 minutes on the stovetop, take 1 cup of the mixture out and slowly pour it into the egg and sugar mixture beating with the hand held mixer all the while.  
• Once incorporated, pour the egg and sugar mixture into the pot with the remainder of the hot milk and cream.  Turn up the heat to medium low.  Stir vigilantly as the mixture turns custard like with the heat.  The mixture should coat the back of the wooden spoon when done.  I found this took a further 10 - 15 minus to reach this stage at medium to low heat.  
• At this stage, check that you are happy with the greenness of the mixture.  If you would prefer it more vibrantly green, add a few drops of green food colouring.  
• Pour the custardy mixture into a bowl and place clingfilm directly on top of the mixture to prevent a milk skin from occurring.  
• Place mixture into the fridge to cool.  This takes a few hours.  
• Once completely cooled, churn the custard mixture through the ice cream maker for 25 mins. 
• Scoop out the ice cream when churned.  This can be eaten as is or it can be frozen for a few more hours for a stiffer texture or to serve later.  If storing this in the freezer, I have experimented and found an airtight shallow but wide container worked best as it minimised ice crystal formation.  Also I stored it with a layer of grease proof paper directly on top of the ice cream to further minimise ice crystal formation.  
• Take the ice cream out 15 - 20 mins before serving to take the chill off it a bit for a nice scoopable consistency.  

For the kiddos:

As I mentioned earlier, the green tea flavour was not really popular with the kids.  I made a kiddie version by omitting the matcha powder and throwing a few drops of food colouring in the last minute of churning to achieve a rainbow ice cream effect.  

I'm looking forward to concocting a few more less conventional flavours.  Any ideas welcomed!

Until next time...

San Choy Bao

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I have been trying to limit the amount of carbs I eat for dinner and have been trotting out this little number with great success.  Success being defined as - it leaves you sated; all fussy eaters in the family on board with it and it can be made in advance and heated up for those week nights where everyone is coming and going in dribs and drabs.

I vary the filling depending on what I have lying around the house but loosely this is whats in it:

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 1 onion
• 1 handful of dried black fungus, pre-soaked for half an hour to soften and any gnarly hard bits trimmed off.  
• 1 sweet potato 
• 3 tablespoon of dried shrimp skin
• 210g tin of water chestnuts, drained
• 500kg turkey mince
• 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• glug of rice wine or sherry
• sesame oil, oyster sauce and soy sauce to taste
• pinch of Chinese five spice
• ice berg lettuce

Method:

• Since I'm a lazy chopper, I place the onion, softened bits of black fungus, sweet potato and water chestnuts in the food processor to chop into a fine grain.  
• Brown the turkey mince in a fry pan with a wee bit of oil.
• Throw in the seasonings and spices
• Throw in the chopped vegetables.  
• Cook over a medium heat until everything is cooked through - filling is then done

When serving, spoon a few tablespoons of the filling into lettuce cups and go for it!  I use any leftover filling to throw into fried rice.  

Until next time...

Pizza Dough Cookies

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I recently had a batch of left over pizza dough, not enough to make a decent meal of...mmm...what to do...

So in a rare moment of inspiration, I decided to make cookies out of them!  Their texture was more biscuity as my pizza dough generally yields a very crisp crust.  It was great with a cuppa and it re-purposed a tired old ball of dough that probably would have been thrown out.  

I used my fail-safe pizza dough recipe, previously posted here.  To make the pizza dough cookies, I sprinkled the bench surface with a couple of tablespoons of caster sugar to taste and with a couple of tablespoons of semolina to stop dough from sticking to the bench and for texture.  Then it's just a matter of rolling the dough out onto the sugar and semolina, cut into shapes and bake in the oven on a non stick baking tray.  I didn't even bother pre-heating my oven.  For cookies my size, it took about 15 - 20mins in a 180C oven from cold.  They puff up when done.  Once cooled, I drizzled the tops with Nutella.  So easy!

Until next time...

Tong Yuen

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

My grandfather used to make me tong yuen to eat for dessert.  But since he can't cook anymore, it was long overdue that I made him some in return.  Tong yuens are glutinous rice balls with a sweet filling inside.  These are an interesting alternative to your traditional cake/pudding dessert as you can form these ahead of time, freeze them and pull them out of the freezer to cook.  A great emergency stand by dessert.

I made four different kinds of filling (clockwise from the top left):  black sesame, red aduki bean, walnut and peanut.  You can buy pre-made black sesame and red bean filling from the Chinese grocers but as my grandparents are diabetic, I made my fillings from scratch and used sugar substitute.  The dough for each filling is the same.  The addition of the food colouring is optional but I wanted to distinguish each flavour.

The dough recipe is from Poh Ling Yeow's "Poh's Kitchen".  The only alteration I made was the use of warm water to mix the flour rather than room temperature.

Poh's Dough Recipe (makes about 20 - 30 tong yuens depending on how big your roll them):

• 90 g of glutinous rice flour
• 100ml of warm water
• food colouring if using

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until it starts to form a dough.
2. Transfer to the bench top and knead until the dough becomes a moist ball.  If the dough seems a bit dry, add a bit more water.  If it seems too wet, add a bit more glutinous rice flour.  
3. Wrap in clingfilm until ready to fill.  

Filling:

As mentioned, you can buy pre-made filling at the Chinese grocers.  To make these from scratch, the basics are as follows:

Aduki/red bean filling:

Boil aduki beans (about 3 tablespoons of them - a little goes a long way) until soft and tender.  Drain. Mash beans in a mortar and pestle with sugar/sugar substitute to taste. Use as filling.   

Black sesame filling:

Toast a few tablespoons of black sesame seeds in a dry pan.  Turn off heat when they start to pop.  Transfer into mortar and pestle and add sugar/sugar substitute to taste.  Pound to a fine dust.  Add 1 -2 tablespoons of soft butter into the mixture to create a paste.  Use as filling  

Walnut filling:

Toast a few tablespoons of walnuts in a dry pan.  Transfer into a mortar and pestle and add sugar/sugar substitute to taste.  Pound to rubble.  Add 1 -2 tablespoon of soft butter into the mixture to create a paste.  Use as filling.  

Peanut:

I just used peanut butter straight from the jar.  

To fill:

It is easier to work with if the filling is chilled.  Therefore I generally put the fillings in the fridge for 30 minutes or so before working with them.  Break off a small piece of dough and flatten it in your hands.  Add a tiny dollop of filling.  Seal the dough over and roll it to form a ball.  

These can be frozen at this stage.  

To eat:

Take your frozen or fresh tong yuens and place them in a pot of boiling water.  They are cooked when they float to the top.  It should only take a few minutes to cook.  Drain and serve hot.  I like to serve my tong yuens still sitting in a bit of their cooking water but each to their own.  

You can eat this laced with a ginger syrup.  The ginger syrup is: 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar/sugar substitute and a few slices of ginger.  Cooked this down until syrupy.  Laced this over your tong yuens.  

Hope you get to try these as they are a relatively lo-cal dessert and perfect for those going wheat-free.  I use the left over fillings to spread on top of toast - yum!

Until next time...

Baked Salmon with Parmesan

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I've been brainstorming ways of getting more fish into my diet.  I love salmon but hate pan frying it as it stinks up the whole house.  A friend of mine suggested baking it in the oven and I free-styled this recipe with what I had in the fridge and it worked very well.

Ingredients:

• 1 - 2 portions of salmon.  You could easily expand or reduce the quantities depending on how many you are feeding.  
• 1 piece of cold toast
• 4 tablespoon of grated parmesan
• a tablespoon of dried mixed herbs
• a few tomatoes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon of oil (I used red palm oil but any oil is fine)

Method:

• Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.  
• In a large bowl, crush up the toast into crumbs and rubble.  I just used my hands to do this.  Mix in parmesan, oil and dried mixed herbs.  
• Place the salmon in the baking dish.  Season both sides.  
• Place the majority (3 quarters) of the parmesan mixture onto the top of the fish.  
• Cut the tops of the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.  Stuff the remaining parmesan mixture into the hollowed out tomatoes.  
• Bake for 20 - 30 minutes until well done.  I was cooking it for people who like their salmon very well done.  But if you like it a bit rare in the middle, reduce the cooking time. 

Enjoy!  

Until next time...

Potato Rosti 3 Ways

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I love my 'taters.  You can bake them, fry them, mash them, sautee them - I've never met a potato I didn't like.  In particular I love a rosti because it's got the crispy crunchiness on the exterior and the interior can be pimped out with different flavourings.  In the picture above, I have from top to bottom:  cheese and potato rosti; spring onion and potato rosti and smoked salmon and potato rosti.

It makes for a quick light dinner, brunch addition and if you use potato starch, it's gluten free.

The basic rosti recipe I used is this:

• 5 small to medium sized potatoes
• 2 heaped tablespoon of potato starch
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying

Hard to estimate how many you will get as it depends on how big you make your rosti.  But the above fed 2 adults and 1 child with a few rosti leftover.  

Switch up options but to name a few - let your potato pairing creativity loose:

• smoked salmon
• spring onion
• ham
• cheese
• chives
• sweet potato

Method:

• Using a food processor or manual grater, grate/shred your potatoes.  I don't bother peeling mine.  
• Season and add the potato starch and egg to combine.  If it is a little dry, add a little milk until you achieve a gluggy thick consistency.  Add your optional extras.  
• Heat oil in a pan and on a low - medium heat, fry the rosti for a few minutes each side until cooked through.  

Eat with abandon.

Until next time :)

Szechuan Peppered Tofu

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I am feeling rather proud of myself, I made this one up as I went.  All I had in the fridge was a sad block of tofu about to hit expiry and I turned it into something wonderful which everyone ate!  It's tofu - so it's healthy and the Szechuan pepper gave a spicy kick to an otherwise bland tofu.  It also had a crunchy exterior which was a lovely contrast to the soft interior of the tofu.

You really only need 5 ingredients. The rest are just seasoning such as salt and soy sauce (if you want to).

Ingredients:

• 1 block of firm tofu.  Mine was already pre-cut into blocks
• 2 tablespoons of potato starch
• 1 teaspoon of Szechan pepper (grounded)
• Oil for frying
• Salt or soy sauce to season
• Optional - pan toasted dry shrimp skins for sprinkling.  I must credit this to my Mum.  She gave me the idea of pan toasting a heap of dry shrimp skins and putting them in a jar in the fridge.  I use it for garnishing and it leans a lovely seafoody flavour and it looks pretty too.  

Method:

• Mix potato starch and the ground Szechuan pepper on a plate.
• Coat each side of the blocks of tofu with the dry mixture.  There should be enough inherent moisture in the tofu to make the dry mixture stick.  
• Heat oil in a pan and gently pan fry each block of tofu of each side.  Use medium to low heat.  
• Serve with either seasoning of salt or soy sauce.  Sprinkle dry shrimp skins as an optional extra.  

Enjoy!  I had this with rice with other dishes.  Will definitely put this one on rotation.

Until next time...

(This post is shared at The Healthy Happy Green & Natural Party" blog hop.  Great site - go check it out for plenty of inspirations!)

BBQ Lamb with Anchovies and Garlic

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I came across a beautiful piece of butterflied lamb shoulders whilst shopping and in true caveman fashion, I dragged it home to fling it across an open fire (or gas bbq rather).

As a break from the usual rosemary and garlic lamb business which I trot out ad nauseum, I decided to free-style it and come up with another marinade.  This worked out rather well.  The anchovy garlic paste which I marinaded it with gave it a real deep savouriness.  But it wasn't fishy, so anchovy-phobes, rest assured that once cooked it just taste savoury versus fishy.

Ingredients:

• Butterflied lamb shoulder.  I used a 600g piece
• 10 anchovy fillets and a bit of the oil that comes in the can
• juice and pulp from half a lime
• a decent shake of paprika
• 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Make the marinade by pounding all the ingredients (except for the salt, pepper and lamb) in a mortar and pestle
• Season the meat
• Slather on the marinade
• On high heat on the bbq, sear each side of the lamb for 2-3 minutes each side.  
• Place cover on the bbq and cook for 25 minutes.  
• Remove from heat and rest for 10 minutes before carving.  

Nom away.  Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.  

Cheerio

BBQ Green Tea Prawns

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

This post is going to be short and sweet.  Just like the ingredients list - 4 ingredients - 1 good seafood dish. The green tea lends a subtle smoky char yet grassy tang which complements the flavours of prawns bbq'd in their shells.  I'm a lazy sod and I don't bother peeling my prawns when eating them - I eat them shell and all and it taste wonderful with the green tea flavourings adhering to them.

Ingredients for BBQ Green Tea Prawns:

• A dozen or so prawns, de-veined.  I like to skewer my prawns to keep them straight when bbq-ing by that is not a necessity.  
• 2 green tea bags
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Skewered your clean prawns, if skewering
• Rip open the tea bags and scatter tea leaves on prawns
• Season with salt and pepper to taste
• On a medium heat on the BBQ plate or in a stovetop pan, cook the prawns until the shells turn pink and the flesh is opaque

Nom away.  It is that simple.  This would make a great seafood addition to any bbq.  You could make like Paul Hogan and "put another shrimp on the barbie" (Does anyone remember that Tourism Australia TV commercial from 1984?  or am I the only relic here?)

Cheerio

WFT?!: Plum Kutcha

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I have been making a heap of plum kutcha (which is like the love child of a pickle and chutney with Indian spices) and serving it with anything and everything.  Here I am serving it with roast duck.  It had just the right vinegary-ness to cut through the rich duck meat.  I have also been know to eat it straight out of the jar on it's own.  It's that yummy. They also make great gifts.

Plum kutcha with roast duck

The plums are from my grandparents' plum tree.  I picked about 8kg of plums.  The greener ones make better kutcha.  It's a case of the tartier the better!  

Plum picking

Ingredients to make 3kg of kutcha:

• 2.70 kg of plums
• 300g of green apples
• 250g of mustard seeds
• 3 cups of canola oil
• 3 tablespoon of salt
• 1 garlic bulb
• 2 tablespoon of kalonji (nigella seeds)
• 9 tablespoon of white vinegar
• 3 tablespoon of tumeric

Method:

• Cut out the stone and core of the plums and apples
• Put the fruit through an electric shredder on the finest setting.  Given the large quantities of fruit, I did this in batches, stopping after each batch to squeeze excess juice out of the shredded fruit using my hands.  
• Place fruit in a non metal bowl, sprinkle with salt and leave out in the sun for at least 3 hours to further dry.  It should look like this below.  

Shredded plum and apple sun baking

• Meanwhile heat the oil in a saucepan until it shimmers.  Then turn off heat.  Put the garlic cloves in a garlic crusher and crush the cloves directly into the hot oil.  Add the remainder of spices to the oil.  
• Once the fruit has finished sunning themselves, mix the oil and spices into them along with the vinegar.
• Taste and adjust seasoning if needs be.    
• Pot into sterilised jars and refrigerate.  Keeps for months.  

My little babies waiting to go into the fridge

Goes great with a dahl puri

Or simply on a cracker

Great with a Sunday roast chook

Hope you enjoy!

Until next time,

Nom Seeker, Glutt