- Tapenade by Marilena Stanton
In a food processor blend: 1 cup pitted kalamata olives, 2 tbsps drained capers, 1 tablespoon seed mustard
4 cloves of crushed garlic, 6 anchovy fillets in oil, 2 tbsps of chopped fresh herbs, black pepper, juice of half a lemon and 4 tbsps olive oil. Delicious served on toasted Turkish bread. Great for an end of day snack…will last a week in the fridge.
- Olives I was dining at GOMA recently and our friends ordered the marinated olives which were served warmed. We loved them – far superior warmed than straight out of the fridge chilled!! Ref: Sheryl
- Guacamole Layer 1 ripe Avocado, ½ cup light cream cheese, ½ tsp taco seasoning, 1 tsp lemon juice, 2 tsp sweet chilli sauce
- Use Cooking Spray on your Avocado Guacamole with tortilla chips is one of the easiest and tastiest snacks to whip up for a party. However, the avocado dip inevitably turns into a mushy brown mess in just a couple of hours meaning it’s not the most appetising of leftovers. Luckily, a nifty little hack has been discovered to prevent your guacamole turning brown and keep it looking green and delicious for at least 24 hours. Guacamole and nachos are a great party snack to serve your guests and there is now a way to keep it greener and fresher for longer. All you need is one ingredient and you probably already have it in your kitchen cupboard: Cooking spray! According to the foodie genuises, simply ‘spray the top of the dip with nonstick vegetable oil, olive oil or coconut oil spray’. Then, they add: ‘Cover the dip with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge.’ Cooking spray, which can be found in most kitchens also keeps halved avocados green. The spray creates an oxygen barrier around the mashed avocado and stops any oxidation from occurring – which is what makes it turn brown. Your guacamole should then stay fresh and green for around 24 hours. It even works on halved avocados too. Ref: www.dailymail.co.uk
- Mixed Seed on buttered bread by Sheryl Backhouse
Take off the crusts from light grain bread. Butter the bread.
Mix together your choice from the following seeds – roasted or toasted:
Pinenuts, Pumpkin, Sesame, Sunflower, then add one or more of the following bushfood:
Small chunks of Macadamia, Bunya, powdered or finely crushed Lemon Myrtle.
Put the nuts into a wide shallow bowl then press the buttered bread into the mix.
Cut into 4. Great to have with late afternoon drinks!
- Bush BBQ Lemon Pepper from Jude Mayall www.outbackchef.com.au
There’s a lot of ways to use this combination, made with Lemon Myrtle from the rainforest and Pepperberries from the alpine regions.
You can mix it with cream cheese and spread into celery sticks or on biscuits.
Mix it with sour cream or yoghurt and put a dollop onto a baked potato or with an avocado.
Mix with your favourite oil and put through a green salad.
Sprinkle over roast vegetables or mix with cheese and put through your favourite pasta dish.
It also works well with fish or chicken
Makes a great bushfood dukkha (recipes are inside my packs).
- Beetroot Dip by Marilena Stanton
Preheat oven to 200°C. Bake 4 whole beetroot and garlic on a baking tray. Spray with olive oil and roast for 45 minutes, then cool.
Peel the skin from the beetroot and squeeze out the flesh of the garlic.
Place beetroot, 1 whole garlic, 2 tbsps lemon juice,½ tsp ground cumin and ½ tsp paprika into a food processor and whiz. Optional: ¼ tsp chilli powder. Stir in 250ml yoghurt and 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander into mixture and serve.
- Asian Pesto by Marilena Stanton
Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, Coriander (leaves, stem and root), Ginger grated,Garlic crushed,
Lemon grass stem – centre only, finely chopped, Lime juice, Roasted unsalted cashews, Peanut oil to bind
Put all ingredients in a food processor and whiz till fine. Add more peanut oil to form a pesto consistency.
This recipe varies each time I make it. Really is to taste and what you have more of in terms of the herbs on the day. Serve with crackers/ toasted Turkish bread or as an accompaniment to Asian chicken dishes.
- Coriander (or mint) Chutney
Put all ingredients in a blender and whizz together until well blended. If it does not blend well, put in some more water rather than more oil. As an alternative, instead of coriander you can use fresh mint – and add sesame seeds and little grated ginger.1 small spring onion, 1 to 2 gloves of garlic, 1 large bunch of coriander, 30ml (2tbsp) ground almonds, 45 ml (3 tbsp) lime or lemon juice, 45 ml (3tbsp) vegetable oil, 10 ml (2tsp) sugar or honey, salt & black pepper to taste, 1 tsp desiccated coconut
- Mango and Avocado Salsa
In a large bowl combine 1 tbsp of olive oil, juice of one lime, 1 tbsp brown sugar and season lightly.
Add 1 each of diced mango and avocado, 1 finely chopped red onion, ½ bunch of roughly chopped mint, ½ bunch of chopped coriander, 1 thinly diced red capsicum and 1 small red chilli thinly sliced. Toss briefly to combine and serve with fresh prawns.
Variation on above – add Walnut Salad Dressing
This recipe is for 2 Avocado and 2 Mango. Dice some bacon and cook until crisp. In a jar combine ¼ cup of olive oil, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp French mustard and1 tbsp thickened cream. Shake well to combine. Just before serving pour the dressing mixture over the platter contents. Sprinkle the crushed walnut pieces and the bacon pieces onto the avocado and mango.
- Parsley Pesto by Frances Gonano
I always seem to either not have enough parsley or a glut of it! Until recently my gluts usually went to waste, but this recipe is really tasty. The parsley is mixed with parmesan and nuts, spiced up with lemon and garlic. It can be served with pasta or on a baked potato, but we usually use it in sandwiches. Macadamias can be replaced by almonds, or even try a combination of both.
Process 3 cups parsley leaves, half cup macadamia nuts and 3 cloves of garlic together until finely chopped. Add one third cup virgin olive oil and 1½ tbsps lemon juice slowly to the food processor as it runs. Stir in 3 tbsps parmesan cheese. Taste, then add more lemon or parmesan if preferred. Once you’ve tasted this you may like to vary it by adding other herbs.
- Spiced Mixed Nuts
Heat oven to 150°C.
Combine ¾ cup sugar, ¾ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground cloves,
¼ teaspoon allspice, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg.
Stir in 1 egg white slightly beaten with 2½ tbsps water
Add 3 cups nuts – macadamia/walnut/pecan/brazil – about half at a time.
Stir with a fork until the nuts are totally covered with syrup.
Drain off excess and place singularly on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake 45 minutes until nuts are golden and crispy.
Allow to cool and then store in an airtight container.
Cordials
- Chilli Cordial from The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia
Ingredients: 20 birds eye chillies (cut 4 in half lengthwise) 5 cups water 4 cups sugar juice of 1 lime or 1 lemon, 2 tsp tartaric acid
Method: Boil sugar and water with chillies for about 10 minutes. Cool and strain. Add juice and acid.
To serve, dilute 4 parts water to 1 part cordial concentrate.
Citrus
Brandied Oranges
8 oranges – peel and cut into chunks.
Boil 1 cup water and 1 1/2 cups sugar for 2 minutes or until dissolved then cool.
Add 1/4 cup brandy, 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or 2 tablespoons Cointreau liqueur
Citrus Crumble
Chop up 3 oranges, mandarins or grapefruit – add to pie dish.
Sprinkle with ½ cup dried fruit eg cranberries, craisins or currants & 3 pieces finely chopped glace ginger
Crumble Top: ½ cup each of brown sugar, SR flour, coconut, rolled oats, 1 zested orange
Bake 180°C until the top browns – serve with custard, cream or ice-cream.
Semolina Orange Cake
2 oranges (if small use 3) – ¼ & peel oranges – Chop & remove seeds.
Place in large jug and add just enough boiling water to almost cover.
Microwave uncovered on high for 10 minutes or until tender. Cool. Drain & strain. Blend remainder until smooth. ( just squash it with a spoon in strainer, turn the strainer upside down over a bowl and bump the pulp into bowl).
Beat 185gm butter and 1 cup castor sugar
Add 3 eggs – one at a time.
Stir in 1/2 cup semolina, 1 cup almond meal, 1 teas. baking powder and orange puree.
22cm round cake tin, greased and bottom lined with paper
Pour into pan. Bake in slow/mod oven 160 degrees or 150 degrees fan forced for 1 hour.
Stand 5 minutes. While cake is standing, make syrup.
Dissolve ½ cup castor sugar in 1/3 cup water on low heat and then bring to boil. Boil for 1 or 2 mins. Turn cake out onto wire rack. Cool for 5-10 minutes then pour over hot syrup. Cool. Sprinkle top with icing sugar just before serving.
Flourless Orange Cake
Place 2 oranges in a saucepan and cover with water and boil for as long as it takes to become soft enough to be able to pierce with your finger. Remove and allow to cool then process in a blender until the pulp is smooth (skin and all) Measure 180gms of orange pulp.
Beat 5 eggs and 200gms castor sugar until well combined then mix in orange pulp, 200gms almond meal and ½ tsp baking powder. Bake in a cool oven for one hour.
Citrus marinade for white meat – chicken/pork Mix ¼ cup green Calamansi Cumquat juice with ½ cup soy sauce and garlic and black pepper to taste. Marinate for 2 hours+ before BBQing. This recipe was given to me by a lass from the Philippines and she said they use their cumquats when they are green.
Freezing your lemons Many professionals in restaurants and eateries are using or consuming the entire lemon and nothing is wasted. How can you use the whole lemon without waste? Simple..place the washed lemon in your freezer. Once the lemon is frozen, get your grater and shred the whole lemon (no need to peel it) and sprinkle it on top of your foods. Sprinkle it on your vegetable salad, ice cream, soup, cereals, noodles, spaghetti sauce, rice, sushi, fish dishes, instant noodles – the list is endless. All of the foods will unexpectedly have a wonderful taste, something that you may have never tasted before. Most likely, you only think of lemon juice and vitamin C. What’s the major advantage of using the whole lemon other than preventing waste and adding new taste to your dishes? Lemon peel contains as much as 5 to 10 times more vitamins than the lemon juice itself.
Preserving Lemons
Lemons often become hard and dry before they get used. What are some tricks to preserve their juiciness? First, start with the juiciest lemons you can find. Our shopping tests proved that thin-skinned lemons that yielded under pressure contain more juice than thick-skinned, rock-hard specimens even when the lemons were nearly identical in size, shape, and weight. As for storage, we tested three different methods both at room temperature and in the refrigerator: in an uncovered container, in a sealed zipper-lock bag, and in a sealed zipper-lock bag with ¼ cup water added. We recorded the fruits’ weights at the start and end of the experiment and then every few days to measure moisture loss. All the lemons stored at room temperature hardened after a week. The refrigerated samples fared much better: The uncovered lemons (which we kept in the crisper drawer) began to lose a small amount of moisture after the first week and 5 percent of their weight in the following weeks; the lemons stored in zipper-lock bags, both with and without water, didn’t begin to dehydrate until four weeks had passed. As it turned out, the water wasn’t offering any preservation benefits, but the zipper-lock bag did seal in some moisture. For the juiciest, longest-lasting lemons, then, the best approach is to seal them in a zipper-lock bag and refrigerate. So to keep lemons fresh for weeks, refrigerate them in a zipper-lock bag. Ref: Cooks Illustrated
Limoncello by Jenny Scodellaro
Wash and peel 6-8 lemons. Infuse the peel in 750ml vodka for 40 days, shaking the jar occasionally.
Strain the peel out using a sieve & muslin.
Make sugar syrup with 1 litre water, 700g sugar, dissolve whilst stirring over low heat
Combine cooled syrup with alcohol.
Leave in a dark place for another 40 days if you can wait that long.
Strain again with a sieve and coffee filter papers – this gives the liqueur a sparkle.
Bottle, store in fridge – drink ice cold!
Crema di Limoncello contributed by Jenny Scodellaro
Given to me by my cousin-in-law, Daniela from Italy
Peel 6 – 8 washed lemons very carefully depending on size (I used 6 big Meyer lemons) trying very hard to minimize the bitter white pith.
Potato peeler is good to use and you want big pieces for easy removal later.
Infuse the peel in the 750ml vodka in a wide 2 litre jar in a dark place for 8 days, shaking the jar occasionally.
Make a milk sugar syrup by dissolving 1 litre milk, 650g sugar & 1 tsp vanilla, whilst stirring over low heat.
Strain the lemon vodka with a sieve & muslin/cheesecloth. When milk syrup is cool, add to alcohol. Leave for 2-3 days, then bottle & drink. Store in fridge.
Pummelo Salad
Flake one Pummelo, 20mls lime juice and 20mls fish sauce over the pummelo and garnish with ½ tsp chilli flakes and 20 mint leaves.
Cassava
- Vietnamese Cassava Cake contributed by Van Chau – one of our members in AdelaideMix 2 tbsps sugar and ¼ cup water in a 2ltr saucepan, thicken to a syrup and cool slightly.
Add 100gms butter to the syrup mixture then add:
2tbsps tapioca flour, 1pkt grated cassava (defrosted), 400gm tin of Chef Choice coconut milk, ½ tin condensed milk, tsp vanilla essence, 2 egg yolks.
Mix altogether until you have a smooth mixture – no lumps.
Spread a bit of butter around a cake tin and bake at 170°C for 40-45 mins until it’s brown on top.
Leave to set and cool 1-2 hours before cutting.
If you’re in a hurry to eat it, place it in the refrigerator to cool and set quickly!
Enjoy..
Sheryl: I visited Van in January when I went down to attend the South Australian fruit conference.
The cake was just delicious!
Carambola
Carambola Pickle by Karen Barnard
Use a large quantity of Carambola and smaller quantities of cauliflower, celery, capsicum and onions all cut to size. Top and tail the Carambola and cut off just the tips of the edges of the Carambola.
1½ kg Carambola, ¾ kg brown onions, 2 cups cauliflower, 1 cup red capsicum, 1 cup celery, 1 cup corn kernels. Barely cover the vegetables with 700ml white vinegar. Chop and add 4 fresh chillies (or to taste). Add ¼ cup salt, 2 cups white sugar, 1 dspn turmeric, 1 dspn dry mustard, 1 dspn curry powder, 1 tablespn mustard seeds, ½ teaspn ginger powder. Bring to the boil and simmer 20 minutes uncovered. Cover and let stand overnight. Bring to boil while gradually adding the ¾ cup cornflour blended with water. Boil one minute to cook cornflour. Adjust seasoning. Pour into hot sterilised jars, seal while hot. I love to have a good old “throw in” when cookin!
Bushfood
Byron’s Party Punch by Jan Sked
To make sugar syrup Put 2.5 litres of hot water and 2.5 cups of sugar into a large saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add about 40 Lemon Myrtle leaves. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to sit until cooled, then remove the Lemon Myrtle leaves and pour syrup into sealable containers and store in refrigerator. (I use the 3 ltr empty milk containers)
To make punch Mix all ingredients together in a punch bowl just before serving then add ice cubes.
2 litre bottle ginger ale, 2 litre bottle lemonade, 1 can tropical fruit punch, 1 litre bottle orange/mango juice
2 litres Lemon Myrtle sugar syrup
Bush BBQ Lemon Pepper from Jude Mayall www.outbackchef.com.au
There’s a lot of ways to use this combination, made with Lemon Myrtle from the rainforest and Pepperberries from the alpine regions.
You can mix it with cream cheese and spread into celery sticks or on biscuits.
Mix it with sour cream or yoghurt and put a dollop onto a baked potato or with an avocado.
Mix with your favourite oil and put through a green salad.
Sprinkle over roast vegetables or mix with cheese and put through your favourite pasta dish.
It also works well with fish or chicken
Makes a great bushfood dukkha
(recipes are inside the pack).
Morning Tea/Afternoon Tea
Plain or Wattle Seed Scones with Davidsonia Jam and cream.
Louise Slice using bushfood jam.
Anzac Biscuits with Wattleseed
Set oven at 160C
Mix together 1 cup rolled oats, ¾ cup (125g) plain flour, ½ cup (125g) sugar.
Mix together 1 tbs golden syrup, 30g ground roasted Wattle Seed, 1 tsp bicarb of soda 2 tbs boiling water
While frothing, add ½ cup (125g) melted butter and pout into dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
Place spoonfuls on an oven tray, allowing room for mixture to spread.
Bake at 160C for 18-20 minutes
Allow to cool on biscuit rack
Lunch
BBQ Kangaroo sausage served plain with bushfood sauce & finely chopped lettuce in a long roll.
Sea Scallops in Bushfood Liqueur Cream Sauce by John King rainforestliqueurs.com.au
Add 4 Tassie Pepper leaves Tasmannia lanceolata to Macadamia Oil and bring to smoking hot. Add 1 packet of sea scallops to fine rice flour & sea salt in a plastic bag and shake to coat the scallops.
Add floured scallops to pan and fry for 1 minute each side to brown.
Remove scallops and set aside and add a tablespoon of leftover rice flour to the frying pan.
Throw in a good slurp of your favourite bushfood liqueur to the frypan and reduce down for a minute. (one suggestion is liqueur made from Cooktown Lemon Ironbark Eucalyptus staigeriana
Add 2 tsp smoked paprika, 2 tsp diced garlic chives, and 4 tbsp diced eschalots.
Cook for another minute.
Add 1 container of cream and simmer for a couple of more minutes.
Place scallops on cooked rice and cover with sauce.
Serve and drink any leftover bushfood liqueur!
Saltbush Ice Cream by Sheryl Backhouse
8 egg yokes
1 cup castor sugar
2 heaped dessertspoons of very finely ground Saltbush
600 ml cream
In a double boiler beat 8 egg yolks, 1 cup castor sugar and 2 heaped dessertspoons
of very finely ground Saltbush over hot water until thick and creamy.
Remove from heat and when cold fold in 600mls of cream.
Pour into very small moulds or just serve a small scoop due to calorie content!!
Below is an excellent recipe to use up the 6 egg whites that are left over from the Saltbush Ice Cream recipe
Riberry Ice Cream
Dissolve 1 tbsp cocoa in 2tbsp hot water
Mix: 375gm small size cooked riberry, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 2 tsp mixed spice, 3tbs brandy,
Add cocoa mix and stand overnight
Beat: 6 egg whites until stiff and add 1/3 cup castor sugar
Beat: 600ml thickened cream with 1/3 cup castor sugar
Blend all ingredients together by hand
Place in a bowl lined with foil. Freeze until solid. To turn out, run water over the base of the bowl.
If you decide to substitute, don’t use any large pieces of fruit as they remain in their frozen state.
It can be made weeks in advance.
I also used a stainless steel platter which I kept in the freezer to keep it cold when serving.
I used a 230mm round silicone ware container – doesn’t rust, easy to clean and exceptionally easy to turn out as food doesn’t adhere.
Serve with a riberry coulis sauce
Black Sapote
Black Sapote Mousse by Beris Maurer
4 ripe/soft black sapote, 1 heaped tablespoon honey, 2 heaped tbsps cocoa.
The ingredients are approximate so just mix to taste. Don’t use cheap cocoa.
Black Sapote Crème Flan by Karen Bracken
Crush 200 gms gingernuts, add ½ cup melted butter or equivalent
Add 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
Combine and press into 23cm pie plate (bring high up the sides) refrigerate
Blend 600 gm – 2 very large chocolate pudding fruit with 250 gm cream cheese
Whip until stiff ½ cup thickened cream with 2 tablespoons icing sugar
Fold altogether and pour into pre-prepared crushed biscuit base, refrigerate
Serve by the spoonful because overnight as the flavours develop, the filling is absorbed by the biscuit base therefore bringing out the bite of the gingernuts!
Beetroot
Beetroot and Apple Salad
Blend together until roughly chopped:
400gms of beetroot peeled and quartered, 100gms of carrot roughly chopped, ¼-½ small red onion quartered, 1 small green apple quartered, 2 tbl spoons of fresh coriander leaves, 2 tbl spoons of olive oil, ½ lemon juice.
Beetroot Cake by Jenny Awbery
This cake is a spectacular crimson colour and is very moist. I promise it doesn’t taste like beetroot! You can substitute part grated carrot for some of the beetroot, if you prefer.
Heat oven to 180C.
Sift together 200g self raising flour, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
In another bowl or food processor, thoroughly mix together 185g softened butter, 3 eggs and juice and grated zest of one orange
Butter bottom and sides of 8” cake tin and stir in 2 cups grated raw beetroot and orange zest, pressed lightly into cup.
Pour beetroot mixture into flour mix and blend well.
Glaze: Heat glaze ingredients in a small pan until melted and pour over top of hot cake. 3 tablespoons marmalade, juice of one orange, tablespoon of honey.
Bake for 50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
Banana
- Banana Sourdough Pancakes by Jason Spotswood – inspired by the Golden Buttermilk Pancakes recipe from the Canadian cookbook “Diane Clement at the Tomato”. With this recipe you can make sourdough pancakes overnight. The bananas add flavour and reduce the need for oils in the mixture but it can be done up to 30 minutes before cooking.
To make buttermilk from scratch, juice a whole lime and place the juice and any pulp into a 2 cup measure. Then top up the 2 cup measure with milk. Let this sit for a couple of minutes. Voila, quick buttermilk. Note that anything acidic will work, e.g. vinegar, lemon juice, pineapple juice, etc. Use about 15 ml of acid to 1 cup of milk, ratio can be higher as is the case with the whole lime.
Combine in a bowl: 2 cups organic wholemeal flour, 5 mls baking soda, a pinch of salt, 2½ mls ground cinnamon, 1 millilite ground rnutmeg, 30 mls raw sugar.
In another bowl, lightly beat 2 large eggs. Then combine with 2 cups of buttermilk and 2 mashed bananas.
(medium size). Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until the flour is barely moistened. The batter will have a few lumps. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes, however it is best if left overnight as this will allow the natural yeasts in the organic wholemeal flour to activate. Cook as you would pikelets or pancakes.
- Simple Banana Bread by Carolynne Spotswood
Cream 113gm softened butter, 1 cup sugar, coconut sugar preferred and 3 extra large eggs together in a bowl. Add 3 very ripe large mashed bananas. Sift the dry ingredients together – 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, half tsp baking powder, half tsp salt.
and add to the creamed mixture alternately with 3 tbsps buttermilk and half tsp vanilla.
Stir until just combined. Fold in the half cup chopped walnuts or pecan nuts.
Pour into greased and parchment lined loaf pan.
Bake 180C in preheated oven for 50 – 60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when tested.
Cool in pan briefly then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Keeps well refrigerated.
Note: To make the recipe gluten free, substitute the flour as follows.
Half cup almond flour/meal, quarter cup rice flour, 1¼ cups plain gluten free flour, 1 tsp Xanthan Gum
Better still, if you can find an All Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Mix just use it as a cup for cup flour replacement. Baking products need a binder/thickener/stabilizer to make them rise – something gluten does in wheat flours. Xanthan gum does this when using gluten free flour.
- Banoffee Slice
Mix 500g crushed biscuits with 200gms melted butter then cool.
Spread 2 cans Carnation Caramel over base then cover with sliced bananas
Cover with 600ml whipped cream
Decorate with grated chocolate
Or try this base – mix together and bake 10 mins.
1 cup Uncle Tobys Rolled Oats, 1 cup self raising flour, 1 cup desiccated coconut, 1/2 cup brown sugar
150g butter, melted
- Banana Flower Salad
Discard the tough outer leaves from 1 banana flower or bell* (about 500g) then finely shred the rest.
I keep the outer shells for serving.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a wok or frypan over high heat.
Add 1 onion, 1 – 2 red chilli, seeded & chopped, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon shredded ginger. Cook for 3 minutes or until golden.
Add shredded banana flower and cook for 8 – 10 minutes or until banana flower is tender.
Add 500g lean rump steak, finely sliced and cook for 5 minutes or until sealed.
Add 2 tablespoons lime juice and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and cook for 2 minutes.
Toss through 3 tablespoons mint and 3 tablespoons coriander and serve.
Instead of beef a lot of times I simmer a chicken breast in coconut milk and fine shred or use prawns, fish or whatever your fancy … even fried tofu.
Note: when shredding the flower keep in lemon juice and water to stop it browning till you have finished shredding when ready dry on a paper towel.
Hint: crushed roasted peanuts are wonderful sprinkled on top
Caution: On commercial banana farms chemicals are routinely injected into the bell. You must only use flower/bells from a chemical-free source.
Avocado
- Avocado Cheesecake by Judy Allen based on a recipe by Carol McCabe
Base: Crush 1 pkt Gingernut Biscuits and 125 gms melted butter. Pour into container and chill.
Mix together: 1 ripe Avocado, 1 tin Condensed milk, ½ tsp gelatine dissolved in ¼ cut warmed lemon juice, 375gms Philly cheese, a couple of drops of Peppermint essence complements the green colouring of the filling and the gingernut base.
- Avocado Cheesecake by Judy Allen
Base: Crush 1 pkt Gingernut Biscuits and 125 gms melted butter. Pour into container and chill.
Mix together: 1 ripe Avocado, 1 tin Condensed milk, ½ tsp gelatine dissolved in ¼ cut warmed lemon juice, 375 Philly cheese, a couple of drops of Peppermint essence complements the green colouring of the filling and the gingernut base.
- Avocado Ice Cream with Mango
Combine 500ml coconut milk, 2 avocados, 60ml honey, 10ml vanilla bean extract into a blender and blend until smooth then pour into an ice cream machine. Churn until frozen. Combine 4 diced mangos and ½ bunch of chopped mint and arrange onto plates, then spoon passionfruit over the diced mango and serve with a large scoop of the avocado ice cream. Garnish with mint. If storing the ice cream for more than 2 days, add 30ml of glucose syrup to prevent the ice cream from hardening.
- Avocado Ice Cream Blend 6 Avocados, 2 cups milk, 5 tbsp sugar and juice from half a lemon. Add 1 cup heavy whipped cream and put in the freezer or ice cream maker. You can also make a dessert made by processing avocado, orange concentrate and honey. In a food processor Mix: 2 medium avocados, ½ cup orange concentrate, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons honey and 2-3 tablespoons Labane which is a cream cheese made of yoghurt but you could substitute sour cream or any milk product of this kind. You may use this cream to fill half avocados, papayas, pastry or just as it is. Bon appetite UdiA member tried it and said it was delicious. They just used avocado, fresh orange juice, and honey. It was good even without the other ingredients and found that if they added the orange juice pulp it was even tastier!
- Blend Avocado with any good-tasting annona flesh and add a slurp of lime juice – serve chilled. Ref: Pat
- Avocado – Foods That Taste Even Better Frozen Food Network & msn.com
What’s the best way to eat an avocado? Most people would tell you mixed with onion, tomato and lime juice as guacamole or maybe smashed on top of toast. But chefs and other food experts have a secret – frozen avocado is surprisingly delicious. We know it’s hard to believe. So hard, in fact, that when I stumbled on this tip from Food Network, I had to try it for myself. Four hours later I had frozen avocado slices topped with a little bit of salt and chili powder. The verdict? Utterly delicious. It was almost like eating a savoury avocado popsicle. And although another site warned me that the freezer would change the avocado’s texture to a mushy mess, I found it to be just as creamy when it warmed up in my mouth. This experiment got me thinking—what other frozen delights am I missing out on?
After polling a bunch of adventurous foodies, here’s what I found:
Stonefruit – Peaches and pears are great frozen because as they melt, they release all that encapsulated sugar and juicy goodness. They basically become mini 100% real fruit ice blocks.”
Also Mango, Blueberries, Strawberries, Grapes, Bananas and Peas!
Sheryl: During my many trips to Japan I always preferred their vegetable and spicy ice-creams.