Yum-oh!

Red Cabbage and Fennel Salad

2012-01-28T13:41:00.005+11:00

Red Cabbage and Fennel Salad:

Ingredients:

small red cabbage
fennel bulb
Italian parsely
baby capers, drained.
sunflower seeds
tamari
sesame oil
lemon juice
agave syrup

Method:

Dry-roast sunflower seeds in a hot pan, moving constantly to prevent burning. When they are golden, splash in a few teaspoons of tamari and stir quickly to coat and dry, then remove seeds from pan to stop the cooking process and prevent burning.

Finely shave the red cabbage and fennel and roughly chop the parsley.

Toss all ingredients together in salad bowl and dress with sesame oil, lemon juice and agave syrup to taste. I like quite a lot of sesame oil, to make that the dominant flavour. The agave syrup is used as a sweet counter-balance to sourness of the lemon juice.

Serve immediately with crusty Rye bread.

Gorgeous Ginger Cake - (Gluten-free & Dairy-free)

2012-01-21T07:24:00.012+11:00

This recipe makes a fairly large cake (25cm diameter, 7cm high). You can halve the ingredients for a smaller cake.

Ingredients:

350g rice-bran oil
100g rapadura (evaporated cane-juice)
6 eggs
2 tablespoons molasses
285g of sweet preserved stem ginger
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1 cup brown rice flour
3 cups nuts (Almonds + Cashews + Hazelnuts)
6 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
4 heaped teaspoon grated fresh ginger
4 tablespoons soy milk

Method:

Grind the nuts into a fine meal in a food processor. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat oil and sugar until light coloured.
Add eggs gradually, whites first and then the yolks and beat until light and fluffy.
Fold in molasses.
Fold in sifted flour, baking powder, ground ginger and nut meal.
Fold in fresh ginger and chopped stem-ginger.
Fold in milk.
Pour into a greased 25cm spring-form cake-tin, lined on the base with baking paper.
Bake for 50-70 mins in 170°C oven
Allow cake to cool, before icing with Cashew Frosting.

Cashew Frosting - Sugar-free! (not pictured - but very, very yummy!)

1 cup raw, unsalted cashews (soaked in water for 30 minutes)
1/8 to 1/4 cup agave Syrup (taste it and see how sweet you want it)
juice of 1 large lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup Coconut oil, melted
purified water

Soak cashews in water for at least 30 minutes but no longer than 60 minutes. Drain cashews and combine all frosting ingredients, except the coconut oil, in a food processor or blender and begin blending – add water slowly until the mixture becomes creamy and reaches desired consistency, you might need only a few tablespoons, as the lemon juice and agave syrup often give enough liquidity on their own. When the cashew mix is smooth enough, add the melted coconut oil, which will help the icing to set when it cools. Refrigerate the frosting for a few hours until it is cool and firm, then frost the cooled cake, applying with a palate knife or piping bag just before serving.

Enjoy!

PS: The flowers used for the styling of this photo are from Silk Flora - 109-111 Parramatta Rd Annandale, 2038

Da Dong's Duck and Seafood Restaurant in Beijing

2011-11-10T22:24:00.004+11:00

We flew via Beijing last month on our way to Nepal, deciding that a week of relaxing (and eating!) would be a good preparation for the mountain trekking ahead of us. The restaurant created by Da Dong ("Big Dong" - do you think he has tickets on himself?!) has to be one of the dining highlights of visiting Beijing. Housed in a Heritage Granary, Chef Dong has created dishes of culinary genius that are a fusion of traditional Chinese flavours with modern French nouvelle cuisine... absolutely delightful!

According to The Beijinger, "arguments will never cease as to which kitchen produces Beijing’s best roast ducks, but Da Dong’s ability to transcend the duck genre is marked by its repeated wins as "Best Chinese Restaurant of the Year" in the Beijinger’s annual Reader Restaurant Awards. Try dipping a slice of duck in the sugar provided alongside other condiments – somehow, it works, beautifully. The 160-page menu is a work of art in itself, with a plethora of duck dishes backed up by vegetable dishes, soups and more. If you’re only going to eat duck once in Beijing, book a table – or else be prepared to wait for one – at Da Dong. Voted best "Chinese Restaurant of the Year," "Beijing Duck" and "Best for Impressing Visitors" in the 2011 Reader Restaurant Awards."

Located in a heritage precinct at 22A Dong Si Shi Tiao, in Dongcheng District.

Nepal Calling! - come join a Writers' Trek in October 2011.

2011-07-26T09:10:00.000+10:00

Hello Writers, Colleagues, Friends and Friends-of-Friends of
Beth Yahp Writingworks and Sacred Journeys Nepal,

This year's Nepal trek and retreat is filling fast. There a few places left, but be quick!

Details of the tours can be found at http://bethyahpwritingworks.blogspot.com/Nepal
feel free to pass the word on to anyone you know who may be interested.

You can join one or both of these options, the itineraries are attached and the web-links are here:

1. 12-Day Writing Trek in the Himalayas: 9 - 21 October 2011 - US$3700
http://bethyahpwritingworks.blogspot.com/2010/12/writers-treck-in-himalayas-with-beth.html

2. 10-Day Writers Retreat in Nagarkot: 25 October - 4 November 2011 - US$2600
http://bethyahpwritingworks.blogspot.com/2010/12/writers-retreat-in-nepal-october-2011.html

There is a discount of US$200 for those who join us for both tours - the Writing Trek is for the more energetic (though there will be lots of rest stops and easy stages) and the Writers Retreat is just that: staying in one beautiful place with yoga and ayurvedic massage while we work on our writing projects, with a combination of masterclasses, small workshop groups and individual meetings with me to discuss your specific concerns.

These are not backpacker tours, but comfortable and relaxed travel, looked after by our highly experienced local tour manager and aimed at nurturing you as a traveller and creative being!

I hope you'll be able to join me for this wonderful adventure - and/or forward the info on to anyone who might be interested. These tours are strictly word-of-mouth, which is how we are keeping costs as low as possible.

Hope you are writing well, keeping well and staying warm (or cool)!

Thanks and best wishes,
Beth Yahp

Ocean Trout, Rice and Egg Donburi - A Warm Salad for Breakfast.

2010-11-12T11:32:00.000+11:00

The Japanese word for Big Bowl is Donburi - and there's no better start to the day than with a big bowl of fishy-ricey goodness, a balance of complex carbs, proteins and fresh herbs.

It's simple and quick - if you don't have fresh fish on hand then canned or smoked fish can be used.

Method & Ingredients:

Compose in individual bowls for each breakfaster:

- half a cup of cooked rice (brown, white, red - whatever your preference on the day)
a serving of flaked fish (ie, cooked fish, separated into bite-sized 'flakes'. Nice fish for this dish include: tuna, salmon, ocean trout, or river trout, etc.)

- top with a fried egg

- sprinkle on a handful of rough-cut Italian parsley

- dress with a mixture of lemon juice and organic mayonnaise

- season with a grind of fresh black pepper.

Yum-oh!

Pineapple Lemon Qi Cake

2009-11-09T20:36:00.019+11:00

As you may have noticed, the Yum-oh blog doesn't include any recipes that use wheat or dairy, as those things just don't agree with me. Most of the time that isn't an issue at all - there are so many yummy cuisines to eat in the world that don't use wheat or dairy, or that soy is a fine substitute. But the one stumbling block was always CHEESECAKE... How do you get that creamy mouth-feel and unique flavour from anything else? So you can imagine how I was bowled over recently by the introduction to this amazing cake: no wheat, no dairy, but Oh My! how creamy-dreamy-yummy-cheezy it seemed! The discovery of this desert felt like nothing short of a miracle. This truly is an ‘I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-dairy’ epiphany of a ‘cheese’-cake. The recipe is blessedly shared with us by Regina and David Power from calmbirth® and PermaculturePower. Regina created the recipe after researching several sources and drew on some of the ideas from Julie Mitosis who runs a raw food company and cooking course in Sydney.

Regina and David's two-year-old daughter Maia has taken to calling it ‘Qi-cake’ – which besides being incredibly cute is also very apt, because you feel full of good Qi-energy after eating this delightful raw-food desert. (Regina says technically I can't call it an entirely raw-food recipe, because I created the addition of the agar-agar jelly topping, which does require boiling for a short time to set the jell in the seaweed - and the more hard-core raw-foodies wouldn't be seen within a hundred feet of a stove... But me? I'm into this cake for the flavour, the texture and the feeling of utter indulgence!)

So let’s cut to the chase – here’s the recipe - you’ll need a very strong blender for this one! I bought a whizz-bang, you-beaut, ice-crushing Ikon 600 from the Breville factory shop in Wattle St Ultimo for $160 that handles the job extremely well.

Pineapple Lemon Qi Cake Recipe:
(recipe kindly shared by Regina Power)

Cake Batter:
1 really nice, ripe, fresh pineapple (3 cups)
1-2 lemons juiced (taste the batter and see how tart you want it to be)
1½ half cups of fresh Thai coconut meat (approx 4 Thai Coconuts as sometimes you get more water than flesh.)
2 cups of dry cashew nuts (they get really soft when you soak for a few hours.)
3 tablespoon Agave Nectar
1 tablespoon Yacon Syrup (if you don't have yacon syrup, just use an additional tablespoon of Agave or Honey or to taste.)
2 Tablespoons lecithin*
1 Tablespoon of honey
¾ cup organic extra virgin coconut oil

Note:
*Soy Lecithin consists of three types of phospholipids, which are basically phosphorus rich lipids. The purpose of using soy lecithin in raw desserts is to emulsify and homogenize the fats and the aqueous liquids so that they do not separate, and it also helps make the dessert creamier. This desert will work without it - I didn't have any and it worked fine!Nut Crust:2 cups of dry almonds
Rind of one lemon
Some lemon juice to your liking
3/4 cup of pitted dates

Pineapple Agar-Agar Jelly Topping:
500ml fresh, unsweetened pineapple juice
200ml water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons agave syrup
5g agar-agar powder
extra water, if needed

Method:
Pre-soak the cashew nuts for the batter in fresh cold water for a few hours to soften.

Place the crust ingredients in a food-processor and process until mixture forms a ball. Take out small chunks and press them into the bottom of a spring form pan, pressing to form a solid base. Be sure the cover up the seams of the spring form pan as the cake batter may leak through the sides since it tends to be a bit runny until it hardens.

Open the Thai coconuts by shaving the pith off the top of the nut with a large kitchen knife, revealing a bald ‘friar tuck’ nut. Keeping your hands away from the coconut, whack the nut on the ‘hairline’ with the sharp corner of the butt of the knife (not the tip) and wedge the base of the blade into the crack, working it backwards and forwards until the round ‘lid’ of the coconut lifts off. See a video demo here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THEdI_gSNQ4

Serve the coconut water as a refreshing drink. Enjoy... it is delicious!

Scoop out the flesh of the coconuts and place the flesh in a heavy-duty blender with the remaining cake-batter ingredients, except the coconut oil, and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy. Taste the batter and adjust the lemon juice and sweeteners to your liking. Then when the batter is very smooth, and whist the blender is still running, add the coconut oil and blend until well incorporated and mixture is smooth and uniform. This is the stage where you get to see if your blender can handle the job, as it can really start to work hard at this point.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared spring-form tin, covering the nut-base. Refrigerate for approximately 3-4 hours until the mixture hardens. Any left-over batter can be poured into dessert dishes and keep in the fridge. Put a plate underneath the spring-form tin in case it decides to leak a bit. Allow to set before adding the pineapple agar-jelly topping.

To make the pineapple agar jelly topping, bring the pineapple juice and water to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Measure the amount of liquid remaining and add extra water to make up to 60ml. Add the agar-agar powder and bring liquid to boil again, stirring until dissolved. Add agave syrup, sweetening to taste. Allow the agar jelly to cool slightly, but don’t allow it to set too much. Pour the jelly syrup over the cake and return it to the fridge for the final setting – it won’t take long, 15-20 mins should be enough.

And Voi-La... there you have it: Pineapple Lemon Qi Cake...

Yum-Oh!
Eat & enjoy!

Kota Bharu Breakfast Revisited

2009-09-23T16:43:00.007+10:00

Lately I've been longing for some of the food we ate on a trip through central and northern Malaysia a few years ago... Still haven't found anything in Sydney *sigh* like the Nasi Lemak Bungkus that we had at the night Markets up in Kota Bharu on the border of Malaysia and Thailand... The other thing I've been longing for is the delicious curry breakfasts we had in cafes sprinkled throughout the country towns we visited. The first picture shows a typical breakfast meal: rice, curries, a fried egg and condiments. The second picture is my breakfast this morning, a red lentil curry on red rice with salty mango pickle, at home in Sydney Australia, dreaming of Malaysia.

Curried Red-lentil Dahl with Red Rice, Egg and Mango Pickle
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
oil
1 tablespoon mild curry powder
1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
1 teaspoon palm sugar
1.5 cups red lentils
water

red rice, cooked
fried egg
mango pickle

Slice and fry the onion in a little oil until golden. Add chopped garlic and fry lightly. Add curry powder and fry until fragrant. Add lentils, water, palm sugar and tamarind paste and simmer until lentils are tender, approx 15-20 mins.

serve with boiled red rice, a fried egg and a spoonful of mango pickle.

Mmmmmm - Yum-oh!

Plant's Eye View - a Talk by Michael Pollan on TED.com

2009-08-23T20:31:00.004+10:00

I was recently introduced to TED - a remarkable site that publishes video of talks by some of the world's most remarkable thinkers and do-ers. Below is a sample of a talk by the Real Food journalist Michael Pollan, who I wrote about in an earlier post... You can watch the talk full-screen by clicking the slightly obscured link in the top right hand corner of the embedded video (the width of my blog column cuts off a teensy bit of the edge of the video) or click here to access the video on the TED site.

It's worth having a browse of the rest of the TED site for inspiration!

Rice Cracker Infinity-Screen Experiment:

2009-04-21T06:24:00.006+10:00

Simple pics today: - a stack of five tamari-seaweed brown-rice crackers and a set of three glasses. These were taken about six months ago and were among my first attempts at learning studio lighting techniques using an 'infinity screen' - which in this case was a curved piece of white PVC sheeting taped to a metal laundry-basket frame, so that the background behind the objects is smooth and white without the intrusion of any angles, edges or corners.

Here's some of the sites that were helpful when I was learning about studio lighting:

Digital Photography School
Jayden's Steamy Kitchen
David Kilpatrick at Photoclub Alpha
Kaylins Kitchen
Dragon Image - where I bought a kit of 3 soft-box lights, in Artarmon, Sydney.

Drink to Your Health!

2009-03-09T14:55:00.002+11:00

Testing out some snazzy Mocktails - cocktails without alcohol. This one is Cranberry Juice in a martini glass... simple, classic.

Long-Time-No-Hear: Where's all the Recipes???

2009-02-01T18:48:00.037+11:00

I've got a new Blog!

Where's all the recipes??? Weeeell, I have still been eating great food, just not necessarily photographing it...! Making a really good food-photograph literally takes HOURS, by the time you fiddle with all the props and ingredients and lighting... which is a perfect pass-time for a winter's afternoon. But the serendipitous summer days more recently have drawn me out of the kitchen and onto more spontaneous subjects. I'm sure the kitchen will once again become a food-photography studio when the weather cools down and there will be more great recipes coming your way - but for now, let me share some of my other photographic adventures on my new blog: Photo-Ventura.

http://photo-ventura.blogspot.com

According to Spanish-English dictionaries,
Ventura means:

1. Happiness, Contentment (felicidad).

2. Luck (suerte)'por ventura' = luckily
'Buena ventura' = good fortune told by gypsies and vagrants.
'Probar ventura' = to try one’s fortune, to venture at, on, or upon.

3. Contingency, casualness, happenstance, adventure.
'a la (buena) ventura' = at random; without a fixed plan.

4. Future; that which is to come.

... which is a pretty good description of my approach to photography...!

This new blog will showcase selected photos from my travels in Australia and O/S; of dance; plants; people; Life.

If you are interested in receiving these images as emails, simply log onto the site and subscribe to this blog, in the same way that you are currently subscribed to Yum-oh.

Happy New Year, may the year of the Ox bring stability and peace.

How Much Food is $700 Billion??

2008-10-30T11:52:00.022+11:00

In the light of the recent stormy weather on the Global Financial front and the various knee jerk responses of governments around the world, reading this article on the SBS website gave me pause for thought. It seems astounding that $700 billion can be found 'just like that' to prop up a bubble of greed, when the far more alarming problems of global warming and food shortages could be all but solved with a fraction of that money.

To bring it all down to a human scale the SBS article (by journalist Phil Lees - creator of the Cambodian Food blog Phnomenon) crunches the numbers of the $700 billion corporate bailout down into bite sized chunks so we can picture exactly how much food that figure translates into - and how many starving people could be fed.

Here are some examples of what $700 Billion equals:

$700 Billion = 2000 good old American Apple Pies for every man woman and child currently living in the United States

$700 Billion = Dinner for the entire population of the top 5 most populated countries, at one of the world's most expensive restaurants: El Bulli in Spain could shout the entire population of China, India, USA, Indonesia and Brazil to dinner.

$700 Billion at the other end of the spectrum = the UN World Food Programme able to feed 86 million people for the next 23 years.

Like I said, Food for Thought...

This is a photo from the fresh-produce marketplace in Kota Bahru in northern Malaysia, 2007.

A Crop of Cumquats

2008-10-29T16:37:00.035+11:00

Last weekend, I just had to get into the garden – it hadn’t had any attention for months and the springtime jobs of pruning and tidying were over-due. The cumquat trees especially needed a serious prune, to clear out the heart of the tree and get them ready to spark up with spring growth in coming months. I’d planted five of these trees in pots for Feng Shui reasons in the garden of my Natural Medicine clinic – the bright orange fruit are considered a symbol of luck and prosperity in Chinese landscape-design - and I have to say, I like a tree that self-decorates with cute orange baubles! Some of the branches that needed to be removed were laden with this golden fruit and I couldn’t be let them to go to waste.

So the question arose: what to do with a bowl full of Cumquats?

Consulting the Oracle (Google) produced numerous articles involving advice and recipes for dealing with a crop of cumquats, including:

Cumquat Marmalade: from Cooks Almost Everything
Candied Cumquats: from Morsels and Musings
Kumquat, Fennel and Blood Orange Salad: from Erins Kitchen
Kumquat Compote: from Seattle Bonvivant
Kumquat Salsa: from Garrett at Vanilla Garlic
Wickid Kumquatini Cocktails: from Wallflower Entertaining

But in the end, what really captured my imagination was a mention of:
Cumquat Curd… I couldn’t find the actual recipe online – if no-one else is doing it, does that mean it’s a really good idea (that no-one in the Whole-Wide-World has thought of yet) or really a bad idea (that no-one in their right mind would even consider)?? - but the concept piqued my interest. So using my mum’s recipe for Lemon Butter, I juiced and zested my cumquats, reserving the skins to make into a pickle and here is the result:

The verdict? Cumquat Curd IS a really good idea - Yum-oh!

Cumquat Curd Recipe:
4 eggs
140g sugar
70g unsalted butter
2 tsp grated cumquat zest
120ml cumquat juice

Whisk egg yolks and sugar until well combined but not frothy.

Tip into a heavy-based non-reactive saucepan and add butter, zest and juice.

Stirring constantly, bring to simmering point over a medium-high heat (about five minutes).

As soon as bubbles appear, remove from heat, still stirring. Allow to cool. Transfer to sterilised jars and seal.

Makes 2 cups

Cumquat Pickle

I wanted a recipe that would make use of the skins of the cumquats after I had juiced them for making the cumquat curd.

Cumquats are unlike other citrus fruits, as the peel is less bitter than the flesh. They produce an excellent sweet-and-sour pickle, combined with palm-sugar, vinegar and spices.

Cumquat Pickle Ingredients:
250 g cumquat rinds
100 ml white wine vinegar
2 cardamom pods, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
1 cm piece of ginger, shredded
1 tsp sea salt
60g soft palm sugar
2 cloves
water

Cut the cumquat skins in half and put them in a saucepan with the salt and water to cover. Bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes. Drain the kumquats, discarding any pips.

Place the vinegar, palm sugar, cardamom pods, clove and the shredded ginger into a pan and heat gently, stirring, until all the palm sugar is dissolved. Raise the heat and bring to the boil, then add the pre-boiled, drained cumquat rinds. Simmer for one minute, then allow to cool slightly.

While the mixture is still medium-hot (about 75 degrees), ladle the cumquats and the liquid into warm, clean, pre-sterilized jars. Cover with non metal (ie vinegar-proof) lids and seal.

Store in a cool, dark, dry place for 1 month before using.

Cumquat Pickle is wonderful with Malaysian and Indian Curries.

Yum-oh!

Naggy's Fork

2008-09-25T16:22:00.036+10:00

As you know from my previous posts, I've been exploring of the art of cutlery - and here's the latest results of fiddling with my fork...

Fatima's Fork

2008-09-07T13:59:00.006+10:00

Waiting for friends to arrive at Fatima's Lebanese Restaurant on Cleveland Street Surry Hills and playing with my Canon IXUS pocket-camera... alas, no photos of the great food we were served, cos we were too busy chatting and eating when dinner arrived on the table, but it was definitely Yum-oh!

Moroccan Lamb & Chickpea Broth

2008-08-31T09:06:00.021+10:00

Barbara served up this delicious soup at a recent celebration of Tim's 'significant birthday' (one of those with an 'oh' in it...), while Tim's latest Jazz recording was playing in the background.

Tim and his friend John can be found early on any fine Tuesday morning, playing Saxophone and Double Bass outside Sydney's Central Station at the Elizabeth St entrance, before they both go off to work for the day. They were 'discovered' one recent morning by the manager of a recording studio and invited to cut the CD we were listening to, which I have to say sounds HOT! The CD will be available in the near future - I'll keep you posted when they release it. Knowing I live in a world where people still play great music in the streets for the love of it makes me - and a lot of other lucky Sydney-siders - feel filled with joy. Thanks Tim - and Happy Birthday!

This photo was taken by photographer Marc Burlace, for a Penguin Books street-theatre promo that was going on outside Central at the same time as Tim and John were playing, with three people dressed like 1930's characters handing out old Penguins to celebrate Penguin Books' birthday.

The recipe for Barbara's Morroccan Lamb and Chickpea Broth is a two-step, requiring some preparation the night before the day that you want to serve it.

The-Night-Before: Prepare the Lamb Broth
500g lamb neck
4 tablespoons olive oil
100g onion
100g carrot
100g leek
2 tablespoons cumin seed
4 sprigs of thyme

Brown the lamb neck in oil, adding the onion and cumin seed, frying until fragrant. Add the remaining vegetables and the thyme and cover with water, simmering two-and-a-half hours until tender. Cool and strain the broth, reserving the lamb-meat and the broth. Dice the meat into bite-sized pieces. Refrigerate the broth over night and skim off any fat the next morning.

Also, cook 2 cups chickpeas in boiling water until tender. Strain and cool, refrigerating until ready to make the soup the next day.

The Next Day: Cooking the Soup
250g onion
250g carrot
250g leek
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/1/2 tablespoons turmeric
2 tablespoons cumin
1/1/2 tablespoons coriander
1/2 tablespoon cayenne
2 litres of lamb stock
2 cups cooked chickpeas
juice of half a lemon
1/2 wedge of preserved lemon, rinsed of salt and slivered
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large soup pot and sweat the onions and garlic. Add the diced vegetables and stir-fry for 10 minutes. Add the spices and cook three minutes until fragrant, stirring to prevent burning. Add the lamb stock and simmer for 1 hour. Add diced lamb meat, slivered preserved lemon rind and chickpeas. When ready to serve, add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Yum-oh!

So You Think You Can Dance - At Breakfast?!

2008-08-27T08:55:00.015+10:00

I don't know who created this video - please enlighten me if you do know, as I like to give credit for creativity, but it looks like: "Danish Bacon company pays homage to Citroen's "Transformer"..."

Have a fun day. Yum-oh!

Hungry for Vegies!

2008-08-25T23:57:00.028+10:00

This week I've developed a hankering for vegetables - can't get enough of them! IKU Wholefoods, the iconic Organic Vegan diner at 612A Darling Street Rozelle seemed the answer to my prayers. They also have shops in: Glebe, Darlinghurst, Waverly, Neutral Bay, several City stores and Bondi Beach - full of fresh, wholesome, lush Vegan food.

Their Gluten-free Vegan Lasagne is second to none!

Yum-oh!

Bankstown Bites!

2008-08-08T14:22:00.043+10:00

Celebrity Chefs, Dumpling Demonstrations, Japanese Squid-balls and Authentic French Buckwheat crepes - some of the fabulous fare on show at the Annual Bankstown Bites Food Festival, when Greg and Beth and I ventured out there a few weekends ago.

As we browsed the stalls in a moveable feast, we decided to opt for a few bites of 'everything', sharing the dishes we bought between us, so we could sample as many as possible of the delights on offer...

Here's celebrity chef "Fast" Ed Halmagyi cooking up a storm while an energetic band of septuagenarian Greek kyries danced to Zorba's theme-song.

Here's Jacques, pouring-spreading-sugaring-flipping-lemon-juicing a crisp buckwheat crepe:

The special crepe batter-spreading paddle...

Mmmm, authentic French Lemon-Sugar Crepe, piping hot and crispy-crisp!

We signed up for one of the several
'cooks tours' that were on offer.
Our calm and peaceful Dumpling-Demo chefs whipped up batches of tasty dumplings in three different styles, in next-to-no-time-at-all...

Their restaurant New Top One is located at 277 Beamish St in Campsie. Ph 9787 8766. They open at 5.30am (!) and serve delicious dumplings like these, along with other Oriental delights, till 3pm - clearly one for the early birds and hearty breakfast-eaters!

This is my dear friend My Le Thi at work - she is an exceptional Vietnamese Artist - and a great cook too! Here she is, helping some young kids get started on their creative adventures, making panels for inclusion in the Namescapes community art project. My Le is also the founding president of the Ian Bowie Memorial Association, which she formed in the name of her late partner Ian Bowie, to raise funds to carry on Ian's work of mentoring young people in the Theatre Arts. (I'm the volunteer treasurer of this charitable organisation and we will be having our second fundraising concert later in the year - will keep you posted...)

Lebanese Chicken Kebabs, barbecued by the batch...

A team of fast and efficient Japanese chefs made thousands of Squid and Prawn Balls: a seafood and vegetable batter is poured into scorching-hot cast-iron half-sphere griddle molds and the team's shiva-hands dart about over the griddle, deftly turning the balls with chopsticks when half-cooked, allowing the batter to expand on the turned side to make a sphere.

Dressed up with Japanese BBQ sauce, wasabi-mayonnaise and gossamer thin fish-paper flakes, these little snacks are seriously
Yum-oh!

Sydney Seafood School - Christine Manfield

2008-08-04T20:36:00.013+10:00

When my sweet friends Ordette and Paul and Carol and Greg and Karen and Faith asked me what I wanted for my birthday earlier in the year, I said: "Please, no more THINGS! I've got more than enough 'stuff' - it's experiences that I treasure most..."
And their response was perfect: a gift voucher to the
Sydney Seafood School at the Fish Markets in Pyrmont.

So I had a look at the program for the year and the selection of fine chefs they have on rotation, settling at last on Christine Manfield. Her unique style of international cuisine was especially appealing to me - she has taught cooking and created exemplary restaurants in both Europe and Australia and her latest venture is Universal Restaurant, situated in East Sydney - at Republic 2 Courtyard in Palmer Street (between Burton and Liverpool streets) Darlinghurst 2010.

For bookings, Phone: 02 9331 0709.

The Seafood School class was excellent. Christine Manfield's presentation was very smooth and professional - as you'd expect from a chef of her calibre - and her good relationship with a great team of support staff was very evident. The kitchen auditorium and cooking stations were very well laid out - I think there were about 40 people in the class, but it didn't feel crowded at all. The demonstration took about two hours where Christine cooked each of the dishes, explaining the ingredients and methods, with a few tips and trade secrets thrown in. The demonstration kitchen in the auditorium had mirrors over the bench, so it was easy to watch all stages of the process clearly.

After the Demo, we progressed into the kitchen, forming groups of five around island benches dotted around a big open room, with each member of the group electing to cook one of the dishes, making enough for all five members.

Drum-roll pur-leeze! - here's what we made:

Garlic Saffron Mussel Soup

Oyster and Soba Noodle Salad

Palm Sugar and Green Mango Fish

Deep-Fried Fish pieces

Crab Fried Rice

Comprehensive notes and recipes were provided, so we can reproduce these gems at home.

When we had co-ordinated getting all dishes to peak at the same time, we proceeded to the dining room to enjoy the fruits of our labours. The dinner was complimented by a $100 bottle of fine champagne, which was lost on me as I don't drink alcohol - but they also had bottles of Perrier freely available.

In summary, I have to say the whole experience was an absolute delight - I can definitely recommend doing a class at the Sydney Seafood School - and THANK YOU to my beautiful friends for thinking of sending me on such a sumptuous experience!

Yum-oh!

A Smorgasbord of Dancers...

2008-07-29T13:24:00.033+10:00

Apologies to the readers who want more recipes - there WILL be more in future, don't worry - but here's some more of the rich fare that has lately lured my eye away from the kitchen.

I consider it 'food for the soul'...!

My long-time friends Dr Richard James Allen and Dr Karen Pearlman of the Physical TV Company invited me to witness the next stage of their creative process, a documentary film about Dance called: Doesn't Fit into a Box, inviting me to take stills photographs during the filming.

Over the last few years, Karen has been doing some Post-Doctoral Research in the Dance-Film area through a Fellowship with an organisation called Critical Path, based in Rushcutters Bay in Sydney. Through that research she says she didn't so much come up with answers, but rather - as is often the way when delving deeper into things - discovered still more questions.

So in this stage of the documentary-making, Karen was posing her questions to a diverse range of professional dancers and choreographers, asking:

"Where does Dance come from?"

"Where does Dance go when it leaves you?"

- and the ultimate existential question - "What is Dance for?"

It was fascinating to listen to the varied responses of the professional dancers and choreographers who were being interviewed. Their expertise ranged from classically trained ballet, to flamenco, to indigenous performance, to Japanese Butoh, to yoga and martial-arts, to contemporary experimental cross-media arts that weave movement and text and light and voice together into dance.

Sitting very still for 20 minutes at a time - not a pin may drop during filming! - over a twelve-hour day and focusing intently on the responses of these professional artists was an intense meditation that made me reflect on my own creative practice.

And I found myself coming up with my own responses to Karen's Questions:

"Creativity comes from the air;
through the crackling impulse of the thoughts and experiences we share with each other;
though the moments of inspiration that we scatter like seeds from our flowering;
through the enlightenment that the burning of our flame sheds around us...

When it passes through us, creativity continues -
in the lives we have touched, in the minds we have changed - it goes back into the air.

And 'what is creativity for?'

- well, you might as well ask:

'what is breathing for?'..."

Here is the view out the window of the dance studio as dusk fell. It had rained heavily throughout the day, but as you can see, all clouds have a silver - or in this case golden - lining.

Yum-oh!

Out & About...

2008-07-28T12:09:00.006+10:00

I've been a bit slack in the Food Photography department lately... not because I haven't been eating - there's still been plenty of yum-oh in the tum-oh - just no time to photograph it!

For the last few weekends my camera's gaze has lifted from the dinner table and my mind has been occupied elsewhere, captivated by learning a host of new technical skills, as well as embracing new photographic opportunities outside the kitchen.

Shooting in RAW has been one of the technical things I've been exploring, bringing an appreciable difference (I think?!) to the quality of my finished images.

Another has been getting hold of a new lens - the Zuiko 12-60mm wide-angle zoom, which has opened a whole new window on my photographic world.

I've also been shooting in a whole variety of fascinating and (gasp!) 'non-food' areas, such as: weekend travel, stills for a contemporary dance documentary, a Buddhist garden centre, a Catholic christening and promo shots for a pregnant yoga-teacher colleague... (you can see I'm a pluralist at heart!)

For now, here's a collage of some pics from a wintry day-trip to Shell Harbour, down near Wollongong on the South Coast of NSW, about an hour-and-a-half from Sydney.

And a cup of hot soy-milk with chocolate stripes on top - just to show I haven't entirely abandoned Food Photography!

Yum-oh!

Learning New Presentation Skills

2008-07-24T17:20:00.004+10:00

Today I learned some new presentation skills! So If you'll bear with me, here's a collage of some of the photos from Marienne's Zesty Citron Cake shoot...

This was done using the free software on Picassa from Google. Picassa is a great picture-organising tool, I don't know how I'd keep track of my pics without it - it's super-fast for browsing images and has some really good picture-editing tools. For some of the simple fixes - cropping / straightening / lightening / darkening / sharpening / saturation / etc - it is almost as good as PhotoShop and nowhere NEAR the mucking about.

Who said there's no such thing as a Free Lunch??! lol.

Gluten-Free Spaghetti Pesce

2008-07-10T10:15:00.014+10:00

A quick Tuna-Pasta for a week-night dinner...

Since discovering that living in a wheat-free world suited my system a lot better, I’ve spent a bit of time experimenting with the variety of alternatives that are available. In the early days of wheat-free products there was, shall we say, a LOT of room for improvement. The breads typically tasted like cardboard and the pastas often failed to hold their shape, turning into a watery glug.

But behold the advancements of the 21st Century! Wheat-free breads and pastas are now being produced which rival and even surpass their wheaten counterparts.

San-Remo make a beaut range of Spaghetti, Tagliatelle, Penne, etc, that hold up under all the usual pasta tests: they remain aldente when cooked, they hold the sauce well on the plate, and they taste great.

Here’s one of my week-night stand-bys - a quick and easy tuna-pasta with fresh herbs. It was so un-seasonally warm yesterday that a light pasta seemed just the thing – spring is definitely returning!

I grew these Rocket and Chicory herbs myself, in pots by the back door, using organic compost.

The recipe?

Spaghetti Pesce with Fresh Herbs

Ingredients:

1 packet of gluten-free spaghetti pasta,
1 can of dolphin-safe tuna in oil
1 large dollop of Organic soya mayonnaise
1 small red Spanish onion, finely sliced
a handful of fresh green herbs, shredded
(I used Rocket and Chicory, but basil, coriander, spinach, dandelion greens, etc, are also great)

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the spaghetti until aldente - cooked, but with a slight firmness to the bite.

Drain most of the oil off the tuna and scatter it into a mixing bowl. Slice the Spanish onion finely and shred the green herbs and add them to the tuna. Add a dollop of mayonnaise to the tuna and herbs and mix through lightly.

On the weekend, you could make your own mayo from scratch, but for 'quick-and-easy', shop-bought organic does just fine.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and place in a serving bowl. Top with the tuna mix and fold it though with a couple of large forks. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper.

Yum-oh!

Beth’s Four-Flours Gluten-Free Bread

2008-07-08T12:12:00.006+10:00

Last Sunday morning, Beth cooked up a fabulous breakfast to celebrate Audrey handing in the final copy of her thesis - remember Audrey? She has been writing about the Sarawak cloth-weavers and she made us that delicious Laksa and the Mohinga Fish Soup.

The piece-de-resistance of Sunday’s breakfast was, in my opinion, the Four-Flours Bread that Beth made from scratch, with her own special combination of gluten-free flours. It was absolutely yum-oh: it toasted well and harmonised perfectly with poached eggs, fried mushrooms and spinach & fennel.

Here’s Beth’s Secret Recipe:
Four-Flour Bread Ingredients for a 1 kg loaf.

Wet ingredients:
water 400 ml
olive oil 3 tbs
sea-salt 2 tsp
maple syrup or carob molasses 2 tbs
soy milk 2 tbs

Dry ingredients:

Mix these four following flours together:
- Besan (chickpea) flour 1 cup
- Buckwheat flour 1 cup
- Brown rice flour 1 cup
- Potato starch 1 cup

With:
- 2 tbs xanthan gum
- 2 tsp batatis rhizome powder (Shan Yao - Wild Mountain Yam)
- 2 tsp Tandaco yeast

Seeds/Grains to be added later:
- 2 tbs linseeds
- 2 tbs kibbled oats

Directions for Bread-maker:
Beth uses a Breville Baker's Oven: Electronic Bread Maker (model BB280) that she bought from the Breville Factory Outlet in Ultimo, near the Sydney Fish Markets. She says it was a cheap one that she bought just to see if she was really 'into' bread-making. And now that she knows she really IS into bread-making (!) she says she will probably upgrade sometime to a model with a retractable blade, as the BB280 blade leaves a hole in the bottom of the loaf.

Add ingredients in the given order above, wet ingredients followed by dry, making sure that the yeast is the last one in. Set to Basic Bake (2 hours), with preferred crust setting.

The machine will take off and start mixing all the ingredients, letting them 'rest' for the appropriate times for the yeast to rise etc. You can watch if you want through a little window in the top - great for entertaining the kids on a rainy day (or is that only pre-Nintendo kids?) - when the blade starts kneading, the dough comes together in a ball and it is like watching a fat hamster scurrying around the barrel.

After the second rising (about 20 minutes) the bread maker will beep and you add the grains, mixing them into the dough for a more even spread. Fancier model bread-makers have an auto function for adding seeds at this stage - you put them in a little chamber and they are released at the appropriate time.

Then it's a matter of putting your feet up and waiting for the house to be filled with that oh-so-delightful smell of fresh baking bread.

In a later post, we will investigate the traditional 'made by hand' bread method. My friend Stevie in Newcastle is a dab hand at bread, having made fresh, crusty loaves for his family of six for years. He knows his way around both the hand-kneading processes, as well as several bread-making-machines. Look out Steve - the bloggstudio is coming!!

Beth was saying yesterday that she is keen to try making a gluten-free Pizza base that the Breville instruction book says can be made in the bread-maker.

Mmmmmm - Yum-oh!

Mohinga – Burmese Fish & Noodle Soup.

2008-07-08T09:59:00.010+10:00

I was Googling 'breakfast' the other day, to do a little compare-and-contrast of what the rest of the world is tucking into as the sun rises. And the strange proclivity that many modern westerners have for either cold cereal or a greasy fry-up is, it seems, mostly a marketing invention of one Harvey Kellogg, who at the turn of the last century wanted to find a way to sell corn and sugar in a more appealing way; and a hang-over from the English farmers' breakfast where a solid meat meal would keep a man hard to the plough all morning.

My own personal taste in breakfasts leans much more towards the East in general, and Asian soups, congees and dumplings in particular. It is nice to know I am not alone in this desire - 80% of the worlds population dream of this kind of thing for breakfast. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered Mohinga - Myanmar's classic breakfast meal - which could be considered the national dish of Burma. Frequently served up by mobile street-hawkers as the early rays of sun break into the day, the soup-base is cooked the previous night and is served piping hot, poured over noodles and topped with garnishing ingredients that are all carried in two baskets hanging from a bamboo pole balanced across the Mohingar’s shoulders.

Since this food photography project first began, I have been rounding up my friends to act as Food Stylists - and when I mentioned this Mohinga concept to Audrey and Howard, they were keen on collaboration. As it happens, this was one of our first shoots, but it's taken me until now to get around to posting it. As you can see, I didn't know much about my new camera then, so the depth of field is a bit 'atmospheric', but I think you can get the idea - the finished dish was delish!

A little note of editorial authenticity:
I ran into Enid, a Burmese woman I met through my friend Beck and told her we had been cooking Mohinga. She agreed the recipe was authentic (no coconut milk, please, we're Burmese!) but she corrected our use of bean-sprouts that you will see in the photo, because these aren't traditionally used in garnishing Mohinga. I guess we had been borrowing that Idea from Laksa...

Mohinga Ingredients:

1 cup yellow-split-peas
2 cups water - boil 12 minutes

500 grams dewfish (or other white fish)
cut into bite-size pieces & tossed with:
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric powder

½ cup long grained rice, dry fried for 5 min in a heavy based pan, stirring continuously until a golden colour and nutty aroma arise. Grind to a powder in a mortar and pestle.

¼ cup peanut oil or rice-bran oil
1 stalk of lemongrass, with the bulb
2 large onions, grated
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled & grated
1 small lotus root, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup fish sauce (nam pla / ngoc mam)
4 cups water

1 packet of dried rice noodles
Boiling salted water to cook noodles - 5 min

Garnishes:
3 hard boiled eggs, quartered
a bunch of coriander leaves
1 cup sliced bamboo shoots
3 shallots/spring onions, sliced finely diagonally
2 limes, quartered
1 teaspoon cayenne powder

Cha Ca - Fried Fish:
1 fillet of Ling, cut into bite sized pieces.
1 teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon salt
oil for shallow-frying

Method:
Heat the oil in a large pot and add the onions and fry over low heat until they turn golden, about 5 minutes. Pound the lemongrass stalk lightly to release flavours. Add the marinated fish, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, lotus root, paprika, black pepper and fish sauce to the onions and cook, uncovered, over medium heat for five minutes.

Add the boiled split-peas, the extra water and rice powder and stir well. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 12 minutes.

Prepare the garnishes, setting them out on platters for diners to choose from. Boil the rice noodles for 5 minutes and drain. In a separate frying pan, fry the Cha-Ca turmeric-fish pieces until crisp and golden outside and tender and juicy inside.

To Serve:
Place the fish soup stock in a serving pot in the centre of the table, along with the platters of garnishes, Cha-Ca fried fish and the cooked rice noodles. Diners should fill their soup bowls first with noodles, then with the fish curry and whatever garnishes they wish to add before tucking in.

Yum-oh!

Zesty Citron Cake - gluten-free

2008-06-29T20:57:00.018+10:00

At the risk of looking like I've developed an obsession with lemons, here's a delicious, zesty, gluten-free cake cooked by my friend Marienne, who is off to the south of France in two days time. Bless her, she thought I was just coming over for a cuppa and a chat and maybe take a few snaps of the finished cake she was planning on making, before we boxed it up to take to Regina and David's the next day... *chuckle*

Words to the wise: beware of inviting a blogger over for an afternoon of cake-making, he he he.... In the end, Marienne coped admirably with me turning her lounge-room into a photographic studio - lights, camera, action! Her hands over-came their camera shyness and she was very patient while I practiced my 'document the steps' process... I can tell you now, those people who make step-by-step photographs for magazines and cook-books are legends!! Juggling the attention to detail on the 'set', while keeping the actual cooking process on schedule is quite a task.

So here's my first attempt at step-by-step documentation:

zest and juice the lemons...

cream the butter and rapidura sugar...

beat in the zest and eggs...

whisk in the milk and fold in the flour...

stir in the lemon juice and pour into a lined cake tin...
bake at 180 degrees C for 30 - 45 minutes...

when baked, remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Prick all over with a fork and pour the citron-syrup evenly over the cake, allowing it to soak in.

And the recipe?

Marienne's Zesty Citron Cake: (gluten-free)

Ingredients:
150g unsalted butter
175g rapidura (dried sugar-cane juice)
2 eggs
grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup almond meal
125ml soy or cow milk
60g sticky-rice flour
115g rice flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
juice of 1/2 lemon

Lemon Syrup:
100g icing sugar
100ml lemon juice (1/1/2 lemons)

Method:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest and eggs and whisk in. Add milk and almond meal and whisk through. Sift flours and the baking powder together and gently fold in to the cake mix. Do not beat much at this stage, as you don't want to 'toughen' the mix or lose its airiness. Fold through the lemon juice and pour immediately into a greased and lined cake tin. A spring-form tin is easiest for removal after baking.

Bake 30-45 minutes at 180 degrees C.

While the cake is baking, prepare the citrus syrup - place icing sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and cook over a gentle heat, dissolving the icing sugar, but do not boil.

When the cake is golden on top and a skewer comes out clean when tested, remove from oven and cool in the tin on a wire rack.

Prick the cake all over with a fork and pour the citrus syrup evenly over the cake, allowing it to soak in.

Remove from tin and serve immediately, or store in a sealed container over night.

Yum-oh!

Laksa - Malaysian Baba-Nonya Style

2008-06-26T20:23:00.004+10:00

Mmmmm, tasty Laska noodle soup warms you from the inside out, creamy, nourishing and satisfying. Laksa’s origins are in the Peranakan culture of Malaysia where it is made by Babas & Nonyas - the men & women descendants of Chinese settlers.

This recipe here is an ancestral recipe of my friend Audrey’s family. Audrey taught me how to cook this while she was taking a breather from writing her PhD thesis on the Pua Kumbu cloth-weavers of Sarawak. Her thesis uses the cloth as a lens to explore people's relationship with the environment and how women in the remote rainforests of Borneo engage with the global art market. Everything from logging the rainforests, to Climate Change is affecting and threatening the culture and hence the stories that are woven into the traditional designs.

This Laksa recipe uses whole prawns, shell and all, though you’d never know, as the shells are ground down with spices into a delicious and – yes – healthy paste. Glucosamine, which can be bought as an expensive nutritional supplement is actually made from prawn-shells – so this delicious dish will satisfy your elbows, knees, hips and shoulders, as well as your tastebuds!

Laksa Spice Paste
12 fresh green prawn-heads & shells
(reserve prawn meat with tails on for serving)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4-5 shallots, chopped
6-7 cloves garlic, chopped
thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled & chopped

1 teaspoon lemon-grass paste
1 fresh red chilli
1 tablespoon dried shrimp paste
a little water

Broth
4 tbsp vegetable oil
laksa paste (above)
1 litre of water
1 can coconut cream
1 packet of fish balls
1 packet of fried tofu puffs
1 lime, juiced

12 green prawns - shelled meat with tails on
1 teaspoon palm-sugar - mix with prawns & set aside

Assembly & Garnishes
rice vermicelli noodles
bean sprouts
red chilli, sliced
coriander leaves
deep-fried shallots
fresh lime wedges

Method:
Rinse the prawn heads & shells in water to remove grit. Heat oil in a large pot and fry prawn-heads until they turn red and crispy. Place in a food-processor, grinding the heads and shells into a fine paste. Add the remaining paste ingredients and process until smooth. Return the paste to the laksa stock-pot and continue to fry until fragrant. Remove 1/4 cup of paste, setting aside to serve as a condiment.

Add 1 litre of water to remaining paste. Bring to the boil. Add coconut cream and simmer for a few minutes. Add fish balls, fried tofu puffs and the shelled prawn-meat, poaching them in the laksa broth. Add lime juice just before serving.

Meanwhile, blanch rice-noodles in boiling water until softened. Transfer noodles to serving bowls, topping with a teaspoon of the reserved fried paste. Pour the broth over the noodles, topping with the poached fish balls, tofu & prawns. Garnish with the bean sprouts, chilli, coriander and fried shallots. Serve with a wedge of lime.

Yum-oh!

Sanguina - Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine

2008-06-22T22:23:00.021+10:00

This is a post to share a very special recipe for a personal creation of mine: Sanguina - a celebratory drink that can be used for parties and special occasions all throughout winter.

Sanguina is a non-alcoholic mulled wine that arose from my studies and practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The original idea of brewing a mead of Chinese herbs in dark grape-juice was given to me by a southern Taoist practitioner, Rusel Last. Rusel has a Chinese Medicine practice in Kiama on the south coast of NSW - Integral Healing Centre - and we met around 12 years ago when we were both studying Traditional Chinese Herbal medicine in Sydney. Building on Rusel's inspiration, I researched and formulated the ingredients to create this particular recipe.

When people first hear about Sanguina, they say:
“Oh, Chinese herbs, I don’t know…”

But when they try it, everyone always says:
“Delicious - Yum-oh!”

SANGUINA!
The name Sanguina is the Yin form of the word ‘Sanguine’ which means: “Cheerful, Optimistic, Confident & Rich, Rich Red!”
In Chinese, the three syllables translate as: San Gui Na or “The Three Returning Forces”.

The herbs used to create this lovely drink have been carefully chosen for their tonifying actions, favoured by Sages in Ancient times for increasing health and longevity. It is designed for use at gatherings, parties & other auspicious occasions to nourish the Spirit and Energy of your treasured Guests.

The quantities of herbs used for this party drink are much less than the dosages used therapeutically, so the effect of drinking Sanguina is a mild, gentle, warming and uplifting feeling.

NOTE:
The herbs used in making Sanguina herbs are very safe and are used commonly in cooking. But as with any medicinal substance, Pregnant women or persons with high blood-pressure or any other serious medical condition, should consult their Traditional Medicine Practitioner before consuming Sanguina.

Sanguina Ingredients:
(These can be purchased from any Traditional Chinese Herbalist - contact me if you can't source any near where you live)

Dang Shen - Poor Man’s Ginseng - 1 piece
Huang Qi - Milk Vetch Root - 2 pieces
Shan Yao - Wild Mountain Yam - 3 pieces
Gou Qi Zi - Goji 'Wolf' Berries - 2 tablespoonsful
Yi Zhi Ren - Cardamom Pods - 5 pods
Rou Gui - Cinnamon bark - 3 quills
Ding Xiang - Clove Buds - 1 teaspoonful
Da Zao - Chinese Black Dates - 5 pieces
Sheng Jiang - Ginger Root - 5 slices, each 2 mm thick
Ji Xue Teng - Chicken Blood Vine - 3 pieces
Zhi Gan Cao - Honey Fried Liquorice Root - 5 pieces

Water - 500 ml
Dark Grape Juice - 2 litres

Simmer the herbs in the water for 15 minutes. Then add the grape juice, warming it through, but not boiling, as the flavour is better when it hasn't 'stewed'. Plus the goodness of the vitamins in the grape-juice are better preserved by not boiling.

Serve in heat-resistant cups, floating a couple of the Goji berries on the top of each cup - they are a nice 'treat' to chew while sipping the the sweet and warming Sanguina.

Yum-oh!

Ginger Tea & a Happy Solstice to Everyone!!

2008-06-21T08:48:00.010+10:00

We made it! Today is officially the shortest day of the Southern Hemisphere's winter – so for us, it only gets better from here: bit-by-bit, longer days and more light. Of course, it will stay cold for a few months yet, so continuing with winter-warming dishes in the kitchen is the go.

In honour of the Solstice, my dear friend Kait and I got together for an afternoon of creative collaboration to make some photos of some yum-oh drinks that warm you from the inside out. Kait is also a photographer and her eye for detail in the styling of the photographs is a delight to behold.

Ginger Tea with Black-Sesame Balls.
The perfect treat to keep you going through a winter-solstice game of Mahjong!

Ginger Tea for the Four-Winds:
2 cm piece of fresh green ginger, grated
4 cups of boiling water
4 teaspoons honey.

Steep all ingredients in a warmed ceramic tea-pot for five minutes.
Serve hot in small tea-cups.

Black Sesame Balls:
Ok, so we didn’t make the Sesame Balls - sorry, no recipe for those - some things are best left to the experts! And the lovely Vietnamese grocers on the corner had this crispy, chewy, sweet snack for sale, freshly made for only 40c each. I’d just popped down to Illawarra Rd in Marrickville to pick up some fresh green ginger for the tea and the sesame balls looked so good - so round and golden - they cried out to be photographed!

Yum-oh!

The Oily Edition - ‘Oils Ain’t Oils, Sol…’

2008-06-18T18:54:00.027+10:00

Everyone knows the Usual Suspects when it comes to oils: Olive, Canola & 'Vegetable'. But there are a few perhaps lesser known oils that make for delightful variety in cooking and dressing dishes, as well as having added health benefits. So here's some Words-to-the-Wise about The Good Oil:

The three oils reviewed here are all sourced from mainstream supermarkets, so next time you are strolling down the cooking-oil aisle on grocery-night, have a closer look in the cooking oil section - nestled amongst the 101 varieties of Olive Oil, you should be able to find these three treasures:

Rice Bran Oil
Grape-Seed oil
Green Tea Oil

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT OILS:

The Italian Mob may well have based their social structure on the properties of cooking oil: there are Good oils and Bad oils - and sometimes, good oils can ‘turn bad’ – but basically, this is it:

Good oils = cold-pressed, poly-unsaturated
Bad oils = saturated oils & Trans-fats.

Trans-fats are particularly nasty, as these are they guys that raise cholesterol, clog your arteries and generally make life miserable, if they don’t kill you first. Trans-fats are produced by partially hydrogenating oils to make them more saturated. There's nothing much good about trans fats in our bodies - production has mainly been driven by commercial pressures, as partial hydrogenation increases shelf-life and turns liquid oils solid - eg turning vegetable oil into margarine - making them more usable in commercial baking, frying, snack-food and fast-food manufacture.

Another means of "turning a good oil bad" - is prolonged over-heating, such as happens in a chip-shop fryer where the oil is only changed once a month; or when cooking oils or fatty meats at too high a temperature, eg, on a barbecue, which has been shown to produce carcinogens - cancer-causing substances.

So to avoid the 'Bad Guys', eat your oil as fresh as you can - cold-pressed and unsaturated and full of natural vitamins and goodness.

FEATURES TO LOOK FOR IN A GOOD OIL:

1. Smoke-Point & Flash-Point:
Smoke point is the temperature that an oil can be heated up to before it begins smoking and hence changing its molecular structure, producing both bad flavour and unhealthy chemical products.

Beyond Smoke-Point is Flash-point at which an oil actually bursts in to flame or combusts.

Wikkipedia gives a table of oil smoke-points listing some of the highest smoke-point edible oils as:

271°C - Avocado Oil
266°C - Safflower Oil
254°C - Rice bran Oil
252°C - Green Tea Seed Oil
216°C - Grape seed Oil
216°C - Olive Oil

Other common commercially-used cooking oils including: corn, peanut, soybean, walnut and hemp seed come in considerably lower at 160°C, with some oils such as: safflower, sunflower and flax seed as low as 107°C.

2. Cold-Pressing Versus Heat Extraction:
Obviously since heating negatively alters the structure of edible oils, the less heat used in extraction the better. Cold-pressing produces a better and more pure flavoured oil and retains the natural plant nutrients that are vital for our health.

Presumably it goes without saying that chemical extraction is not something we humans should expose our oils or our bodies to?!

3. Virgin & Extra Virgin
Virgin oils are made using mechanical means only - no chemicals, solvents or heat - and care is taken to leave the oil as unaltered from the pure state as it is squeezed from the fruit, seed or nut that it comes from.

Extra Virgin refers to an oil which is produced with the same care as Virgin oil but which also has a naturally low acidity of less than 0.8%. It is considered the most pure of oils.

RICE BRAN OIL:

I love this oil! I use it for almost all my cooking purposes, as it fries so cleanly. Rice Bran Oil has a mild, subtle flavour and good thermal stability, with a high smoke-point of around 254°C. It doesn’t convert to harmful trans-fats when heated as some other oils do. These features, combined with a low adhesion to food make it one of the cleanest-frying oils.

Rice-Bran oil also has high levels of natural antioxidants such as gamma-oryzanol, tocotrienols & tocopherols. The latter two are naturally occurring forms of Vitamin E. These natural antioxidants helps in controlling free radical formation in the human body and helps prevent various coronary diseases. Research studies have indicated that Rice Bran Oil has a significant hypocholesterolemic (cholesterol-lowering) effects, because it has the dual actions of both increasing HDL (good) cholesterol while lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol in the body.

Rice Bran Oil also contains squalene which, along with its Vitamin E content, makes it a great oil to use for massage, as it protects and rejuvenates the skin.

GRAPE-SEED OIL:

A by-product of the Wine industry, Grape Seed oil is pressed from the seeds of grapes. It has a high smoke-point of around 216°C, with no smoking, splatter or burnt taste, and doesn’t convert when heated to harmful trans-fats as some other oils do. The high flash point makes Grape Seed oil an excellent choice for fondues.

Grape Seed oil also has no fatty after-taste, allowing the pure flavor of fresh foods to come through. Grape seed oil contains Vitamin E, Vitamin C and Beta-Carotene

GREEN-TEA OIL:

This delicate gourmet oil is pressed from tea seeds harvested from the green tea plant (Camilla Sinensis). The seeds are cold-pressed to produce a lovely pale amber-green oil that has a sweet flavour and pleasant herbal aroma. Green Tea oil is high in Vitamin E and other antioxidants. It contains no trans-fats and is even lower in saturated fat than olive oil.

Green Tea oil has a high smoke point and can withstand high temperatures during cooking without burning. It is frequently used in preparing Asian foods and can be added to cooked vegetables, pasta, and stir-fry recipes. It can be used as a base for dips, dressings, marinades, and sauces. It is an excellent element in salad dressings, where it combines well with other flavours, such as: lemon, lime and leafy green herbs such as coriander, parsley and mint.

Enjoy, Bon Appetit.

Yum-oh!

Winter Stir-fry: Tofu, Leeks & Brussels Sprouts

2008-06-18T11:13:00.021+10:00

It's getting close to the Winter Solstice - yes folks, the southern hemisphere's Longest Night of 2008 is coming up, this Saturday night, the 21st June. And so simple, warm, nourishing dishes are in order. Paul Pitchford, of Healing with Wholefoods recommends eating 'round' foods and uncomplicated flavours during the two weeks either side of the solstice, to stabilise and 'earth' us in the deepest heart of winter.

So here's my 'after work' dinner last night - a quick and easy stir-fry of round winter veggies. Not sure about the 'styling' in the finished dish, but it tasted good!

Ingredients of Winter Stir-fry:
Tofu, Leeks, Beans & Brussels Sprouts.
Brussels Sprouts
Leeks
Tofu
Snake-Beans
1-2 tablespoons Rice-bran oil
3 tablespoons Chinese Rice Wine
1 dessert spoon Sesame oil
A splash or two of mild Green Tabasco sauce
zest of 1/2 a lime
juice of 1/2 a lime

Prepare the Brussels Sprouts by removing the tough outer leaves and slicing them in half. Add a little rice-bran oil to a hot frying pan and start frying the Brussels Sprouts, cut-surfaces down and with the lid on the pan to steam them in their own moisture. Let the Brussels Sprouts cook the longest as they are denser than the other vegies. After about 5 minutes, add the sliced leeks and tofu pieces and continue to stir-fry until the tofu is golden, the leeks silky and the Brussels Sprouts bright green and tender. Add the sliced beans about 2 minutes before serving, to keep them fresh and green. When almost done, add the sesame oil and rice wine, frying off the alcohol. Then finish with a few splashes of Green Tabasco sauce, lime zest and lime juice, stirring through before serving.

Yum-oh!

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Secret Ingredient #2 - Preserved lemons

2008-06-10T09:32:00.039+10:00

The secret to Moroccan & African cuisine, making Preserved Lemons is a delightful winter afternoon’s pastime that will ensure a constant supply of zesty flavour for months to come. And this is what all the cloak-and-dagger secrecy has been about when I went to the Orange Grove Organic Markets on the Long-Weekend: I was on the hunt for seasonal organic bush-lemons, with good, thick rinds.

I arrived at Tim & Barbara’s house on Sunday, laden with lemons and my portable studio (lights, camera, action!) and we proceeded to compare our research - both web-based and from our favourite dog-eared old cook-books - about Zen the Art of Preserving Lemons.

There are quite a few different methods, it seems: some cooks recommend slicing the lemons into thin circles; others say wedges are best; while still others keep their lemons almost whole, slicing a deep six-pointed star through the tip of the fruit. Some methods advise squashing the lemons into jars and covering with juice; while other recipes recommend draining off the juice and packing the rinds in oil. A few recipes add whole spices, such as cinnamon and cloves; others go with just the pure freshness of citrus.

What they all agree on, however, is salt: Lots of salt…

So we decided that we should be a bit scientific about it and try all the methods, to see which one we prefer when the whole process has run its course. We can let you know in about six weeks time...!

PRESERVING LEMONS:

Choosing Your Lemons:
The rind is the desired end-product, so choose lemons with good, thick, unblemished skin. You will need a minimum of 10 lemons - for this project, we bought about 30, with the intention of giving some preserves away and we used Organic lemons to ensure no pesticides on the skins. Wash the lemons well anyway, to remove dust.

Salt:
About 25g of coarse sea-salt per lemon.
Use plain sea-salt, not iodised (rumour has it that the iodine does weird things to the colour of the final preserve?)

Preserving Jars:
Use clean glass jars, preferably with a bit of a neck as this helps keep the lemons compressed. Use non-metal, coated, or stainless-steel lids, as the acid from the lemon-juice will tend to rust bare metal.

Spices: (optional)
Cinnamon stick
Clove buds
Peppercorns
Cardamom pods
Coriander seeds
Bay leaf
Lemon Myrtle leaf

Methods for Preserving Lemons:

Wash lemons well.

Prepare and fill jars using one of the methods below and then leave in a sunny place for 3 days, turning upside down twice daily to keep the juices and/or oil moving and surrounding the lemon pieces. Make sure wedges remain covered to prevent mould – you may need to top-up with more juice and/or oil.

Leave in a cool dark place for 40 days and nights.

When ready to use, wash most of the salt off a piece of rind and slice the peel into chunks or slivers for use in cooking.

Preserved Lemons will keep refrigerated for six months.

Method #1: Whole Salted Lemons
Slice three cuts across the point of the lemons, so the lemon splits into six segments, but don’t cut all the way through – the segments should stay attached to the base.

Pack the centre of the lemons with salt, making sure the salt covers all surfaces of the cuts. Press the whole lemons into a jar, squashing them together so the juice runs and surrounds the lemons. Cover with extra juice.

Method #2: Wedges with Salt
Slice the lemons into wedges. Spread salt on a plate and coat wedges in salt, both sides. Pack salted wedges tightly into jars, squashing them down to release the juice.

Method #3: Wedges with Spices
Salt the lemon wedges as for Method 2 and press into a jar, interspersing with aromatic spices such as: Cinnamon stick, Clove buds, Peppercorns, Cardamom pods, Coriander seeds, Bay leaf, Lemon Myrtle leaf.

Method #4: Circles with Oil
Slice lemons into rounds and squeeze most of the juice from the slices. Reserve the juice for later use in some another dish - lemon juice can be frozen - "waste-not-want-not", my mum always says...

Sprinkle both sides of the remaining lemon-rind slices with salt and rest them on a slanted platter in the sun for three hours, allowing any remaining juices to drain off. Pack the salted slices in a jar, sprinkling with more salt during the packing process. Cover with grape-seed oil and seal the jar, allowing to cure for 4 to 5 weeks.

To Use Preserved Lemons:
Remove a wedge from the brine and scrape the flesh from the skin, discarding the flesh and the white pith. Slice the remaining lemon skin into thin strips or finely chop.

Remember Preserved Lemons are very salty, so it is not usually necessary to add further salt to a dish when using preserved lemons. Rinsing under cold water before slicing can help reduce the saltiness.

Preserved lemons go well with:
chicken
lamb
couscous
casseroles
tagines
blanched green vegies
salads

Yum-oh!

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Market Day #2 - Orange-Grove Organic Growers

2008-06-10T09:07:00.014+10:00

A sunny Saturday morning is a blessing to out-door marketeers. Stall-holders in the Sydney region must have breathed a collective sigh if relief when the week-long clouds lifted just long enough on the Saturday of the recent Long Weekend holiday for them to be able to get their Produce to the People.

My mission in visiting the Orange Grove Organic Produce Markets in Rozelle was to purchase the ingredients of the next Secret Ingredient Post - which will all be revealed in time - there’d be no point in it being Secret if I just blabbed it right away… Plus this particular ingredient needs a little bit of curing, so watch this space!

For now, here are a few more favourite seasonal things, fresh from local Organic farmers in the Sydney basin:

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Secret Ingredient #1 - Carob Molasses

2008-06-09T18:39:00.027+10:00

Ever since discovering Carob Molasses, it has been the referred to by our group of friends as the original Secret Ingredient, because we started using it in and on absolutely everything - from pancakes to salad dressing – and people's first reaction is always: Yum-oh! – what’s that?!”

“Concentrated from Dissolved Carob’s Water 100% Pure” as the label says - this rich, full-bodied molasses is a delight to the palate, a little like maple-syrup, but with a rich, bitter-sweet, chocolaty edge.

Where do you buy Carob Molasses?
We first discovered Carob Molasses in Marrickville at the Lebanese small-goods shop on the corner of Illawarra Rd and Church St, but ask for it in Middle-Eastern grocery stores in other areas.

The owner of the shop where we bought it said his family likes to eat it on toast with Tahini; but it works well as the sweetener in a range of cakes and sweets - drizzled over piping hot Buckwheat Pancakes is definitely Yum-oh! (see recipe below)

We also use it deliciously and unusually as the secret ingredient in salad dressings, (see recipe below), where it is the perfect compliment to balance sour flavours like lime and pungent flavours like garlic, used in much the same way as Palm Sugar is used in South-East Asian cooking.

Buckwheat Pancakes with Carob Molasses Recipe:
We make these from Orgran Buckwheat Pancake Mix - gasp! yes, a packet mix... don't panic, it's Organic! No need to re-invent the wheel - just follow the instructions on the packet: mix, pour, fry, flip. Stack them up and drizzle with carob molasses just before serving, crispy and piping hot.

Yum-oh!

NOTE: This post has been entered in a blogsphere Food Challenge by Susan at The Well Seasoned Cook called Pancakes on Parade - you can make and enter your own pancakes too! Entries close on 6th July 2008.

Carob Molasses Dressing with Fresh Herbs & Leafy Greens Salad.

Dressing:
1 tablespoon Carob molasses
1 lime, juiced
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon mild fresh chilli, sliced
3 tablespoons Green Tea Oil
a pinch of salt and pepper

Shake in a jar to emulsify and scatter over a salad of fresh herbs and leafy greens.

Salad of Fresh Herbs & Leafy Greens:
Nasturtium leaves
Coriander leaf
Vietnamese-mint
Chrysanthemum leaves
Thai-basil
Lettuce
Baby-spinach
Rocket
Red Spanish onion, thinly sliced

Wash the herbs and leafy greens and spin dry in a salad spinner. Assemble on a serving-platter, mixing the herbs and greens together evenly. Scatter the red onion over the herbs and sprinkle the Carob Molasses Salad Dressing over the salad.

Serve immediately. Yum-oh!

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Secret Ingredients...

2008-06-09T17:45:00.017+10:00

In the weeks since the blog has begun, I’ve had some requests for details about some of our favourite and/or unusual ingredients – what they are & where we get them.

So I’m adding a series of Secret Ingredient Posts to this blog. They will emerge bit-by-bit over the coming months, in-between other recipe posts.

Watch this space - the first Secret Ingredient will arrive tomorrow morning by pony e-xpress... A clue? It's... something sweet!

You can source the entire collection any time by:
> logging onto the blog - http://yum-oh.blogspot.com
> click the Secret Ingredient tab in the Labels section
(scroll down – it’ll be on the right hand side of your screen)

Feel free to email me with your requests, or post your comments and questions in the comments box at the bottom of each post.

Green Split-Pea & Smoky Bacon-Hock Soup

2008-06-03T09:05:00.007+10:00

You know it’s winter when it’s time to make this thick and tasty soup, made from a base of free-range smoky-bacon hocks with creamy vegetables.

Green Split-Pea & Smoky Bacon-Hock Soup Ingredients:

1 free-range smoky-bacon-hock
2 medium onions
3 coves of garlic
2 carrots
3 stalks of celery
3 tablespoons oil
375 gm green split-peas
water

Method:

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and immerse the bacon hock, allowing it to boil for 10 minutes. Remove the bacon hock and reserve it, throwing away the scummy water.

Rinse a packet of green split-peas and drain - no need to soak them.

Meanwhile, chop the onions, garlic, carrot and celery and mix together with the oil in a large soup pot. Sizzle on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegies begin to turn golden.

Add the split-peas and the bacon-hock and 3 litres of water. Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding more water if necessary. When cooked, the meat should fall from the bone and the split-peas should be creamy.

Serve with a crusty rye-bread roll or rye-bread toast.

Yum-oh!

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Apple Pie for the Gluten-Free Gourmet

2008-06-02T16:11:00.022+10:00

Yummy, scrummy, sweet & juicy, this is one is a winner.

Yesterday's winter rain made it a perfect day for baking, warm and cosy in the kitchen, the smells of crispy apples and tart limes melding with spicy cinnamon and the mellow caramel sweetness of the palm-sugar. Ah...

The recipe below uses a lovely gluten-free shortcrust pastry, but you can use your own favourite pastry recipe, or even use pre-made pastry sheets.

Apple Pie Ingredients:
6 Granny Smith cooking apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
2 tablespoons palm sugar
1/2 a lime, juiced and zested
melted butter to glaze
extra sugar to sprinkle on top
shortcrust pastry - see Gluten-Free recipe below, or use your own favourite pastry recipe.

Method:
Prepare the pastry - see recipe below - making both a top and bottom sheet. Grease a pie dish or individual ramekins with melted butter and press a rolled pastry sheet into the dish to line it.

Peel, core and slice the apples into a mixing bowl and sprinkle with the spices, the palm sugar and the lime juice and zest, stirring to coat. Tip the apples into the lined pie dish, piling them up a little, as they will melt down during cooking.

Cover the apples with the second pastry disc and pinch off the excess around the edges. Press all around the edges with a greased fork or a spoon handle, to seal and make a decorative edge. Slice an 'x' in the centre of the pie to let the steam out during cooking.

Brush the top of the pie with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot with creamy goats yoghurt.

Yum-oh!

Gluten-Free Shortcrust Pastry.

1 cup glutinous rice flour
2 cups brown-rice flour (or use white)
75g butter
1 egg

water

extra rice-flour for kneading

Method:

Sift the flours together and cut the cold butter into the mix in small chunks. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flours until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Take care not to over-rub, as the heat of your hands may melt the butter - any larger pieces left will incorporate later when the pastry dough is kneaded.

Stir in the lightly beaten eggs and add just enough water to make the dough come together in a ball. At this stage, the dough will still be quite crumbly, so kneading is essential. This may seem very strange if you are used to making conventional pastry where the golden rule is to handle lightly, but gluten-free pastry differs in that it actually benefits from being handled.

Lightly dust a cold surface with extra rice-flour & knead the dough for 1-2 minutes, adding as much extra flour as needed to prevent the dough sticking to the board. The pastry will change in texture, becoming much smoother and more pliable.

To roll out, divide the dough into two portions – one for the top and one for the bottom – and roll into two spheres. Lightly dust the surface and the rolling pin with rice-flour and roll out using smooth short strokes. When you are ready to place the pastry in the pie dish, use your rolling pin for pick-up and transfer.

Another method is to roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper for ease of handling.

Market Day #1: Winter Seasonal Eating

2008-06-01T12:23:00.038+10:00

The 1st of June marks the Australian calendar’s official start of winter, so this post is dedicated to seasonal produce, with a list below of what’s in season now.

Eating in-season ensures we consume vegetables and fruits at their peak, when their nutritional stores are at their richest. Winter especially is the time to focus on ‘the foods of storage’ – the roots, nuts, grains and seeds, where plants store their densest nutrients. Winter-greens are also vital for providing nourishment and invigoration.

Cooking methods such as: baking, steaming, simmering and stewing are winter specialties, using warming spices such as: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger.

I can feel an Apple Pie coming on…! (will blog that tomorrow.)

This week, I tried to do a “Rick Lee” with my grocery shopping… I’ve a long way to go before I reach his level of mastery, but I'm planning to practice and practice each time I go shopping and hopefully time will bring improvement. You can see my efforts below. I had a bit of hassle at a couple of supermarkets, where they won’t allow photography of the produce – heaven’s WHATEVER might I do with my humble pictures of vegetables – industrial espionage??? But the lovely people at Hong Phuoc Vietnamese Grocery on Illawarra Rd in Marrickville were very happy for me to immortalise their beautiful, fresh vegetables. So I know where I will be doing most of my shopping in my future lunch-time forays… (get the hint, mean multinationals…?!)

Think Globally, Act Locally!!

SEASONAL PRODUCE for JUNE – EARLY WINTER:
(Sourced from Campion and Curtis,
Melbourne Food and Wine Specialists)

June - Early Winter Vegetables
Asian greens (bok-choi, choi-sum, gai-lan, wong-bok)
brassicas (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, turnip), avocados, beetroot, carrots, celeriac, celery, fennel, garlic, ginger, horseradish, jerusalem artichokes, leeks, okra, olives, onions, parsnip, peas, potato, pumpkin, rhubarb, shallot, silverbeet, spinach, swede, sweet potato, witlof.

June - Early Winter Fruit.
apples (Bonza, Braeburn, Cox's Orange Pippins, Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Jonathan, Lady Williams, Mutso, Pink Lady, Red Delicious, Snow, Sundowner) Citrus (grapefruit, lemons, limes, mandarins, Navel oranges), custard apple, champagne-melon, kiwifruit, nuts (chestnut - hazelnut – walnut), pears (Beurre Bosc - Josephine – Nashi - Packham), persimmon, pomelo, quince.

Grapefruit #1.

Grapefruit #2.

A Pear that sat too long in the sun?

Sweet sweet-potatoes.

Garlic Stalks.

Asian Greens: Kang Kung - tasty stirfried in salty-bean-curd sauce.

Lemongrass stalks.

The back-end of some beautiful Bok Choi.

Thank you again to the beautiful people at Hong Phuoc Grocery on Illawarra Rd in Marrickville for letting me photograph in your shop - your kindness and patience is always much appreciated.

Yum-oh!

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An Omnivore At Large: Michael Pollan at the Sydney Writers Festival

2008-05-26T18:09:00.018+10:00

A Book Review for the Dedicated Foodie.

There is always such an array of good things to choose from at the annual Sydney Writers' Festival that often you just have to flip a coin to decide who to see. But this year, there was no doubt in my mind as to which writer was on the top of my bill: Michael Pollan was my man.

After discovering and reading each of Michael Pollan's five books over the last year, I have become his Number One Fan. Actually, that's not strictly true - there are probably a million other people who are also his number-one-fan - he is a New York Times best-selling author and Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, after all...
And judging from the way the crowd filled the cavernous warehouse at the end of Pier 3 at Walsh Bay on Saturday, there are a fair swag of Sydney-siders who are among the converted.

Suffice it to say, after reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma - A Natural History of Four Meals" c.2006 (gifted to me last year by Warren Salomon of Sustainable Transport here in Sydney) I went out and bought five more copies, just to give away - I thought it was that good!!!! Pollan's adroitness as a story-teller makes this book a pleasure to read. More like a detective novel than the serious journalism that it is, "The Omnivore" is a rollicking good read, packed full of solid research and interesting philosophical discussions about food, ethics and eating.

The book, as the title suggests, examines the food-chain right from the micro-organisms in the soil, all the way to the dinner plate, from the viewpoint of four different meals:

1. The McHappy Meal, eaten in his car with his son on a road trip.

2. The Supermarket meal, made from industrial agriculture and factory process methods.

3. The Organic meal - subdivided into Industrial Organic and small-farm Local Organic agriculture.

4. The completely wild Foraged meal.

The book takes you on a journey through the mid-western corn-fields of Iowa propped up by government surpluses, to the associated cattle feed-lots and industrial processing, through to an organic farm that has a strict policy of only selling locally to cut down on the oil consumed in transporting food around the world. The book ends up with Pollan hunting for wild mushrooms in the mountains, curing his own prosciutto with an old Italian man he befriends and cooking a very special meal for friends. Quite a journey!

I read his first book only last month (sorry, all out of order, I know... but better late than never). "Second Nature, A Gardener's Education" c.1991, is likewise an enriching read, examining humans' relationships with the natural and farmed/gardened environment. He visits the lineage of the generations of gardeners that come before us and the wisdom they have nurtured and passed on - something that we all benefit from daily in the foods we eat and the clothes we wear. His explorations of the importance of biodiversity and the imperatives of sustainability are particularly valuable.

This is a theme he again explored in
"The Botany Of Desire - A Plants'-Eye View of the World" c.2001
- another run-away best-seller - positing the idea that it is the plants that are farming us, exploiting our desires for what they have to offer - Sweetness, Beauty, Intoxication and Control - in their own quest for world domination.

You can see what a fun mind he has...!

His latest book, "In Defense of Food. An Eater's Manifesto" c.2008 is a little bit more of a technical read, but it too is chock full of good research and good advice. At the Writers' Festival "Future of Food" session that I saw him in at this weekend, Michael himself said that this book can essentially be distilled down to the following 'haiku':

Eat Food,
Not too much,
Mostly plants.

What Pollan says we should avoid are the "edible food-like substances" that fill the shelves of our supermarkets, with "fortified this" and "enriched that" and to avoid any product that makes loud claims to be a "health food", because it probably isn't! His rule of thumb is not to buy anything that has more than five ingredients listed on the side of the pack - which definitely includes: chemicals listed as numbers, 'flavour enhancers' like MSG, colourings, 'anti-caking agents' and the like. He says we should shop over in the section of the supermarket where the 'quiet' food is, the real food. Or better yet, try to find local growers of organic produce and support those ethical enterprises.

That seems pretty good advice!

Any way you look at it, Michael Pollan's books come as a well-recommended read - and you will want to lend them to all your friends when you have devoured them yourself - fortunately, books are recyclable!! They are also available as talking books.

At the end of the discussion panel at the Writers Festival on "The Future of Food", (which will be broadcast on ABC Radio National later this year), I spoke briefly to Michael Pollan and gave him a card about this blog - cheeky, huh?!

He said: "Great, thanks! A Food Photography blog - I'll have a look at that!" and put it in his pocket...

It felt nice to give The Master something, when he has been giving so much to so many...

Yum-oh!

PS: I have no vested interest in promoting these books, (i.e. I don't make any money from this blog) except that I think the world will be a better place if more people know about this stuff!

It will be back to the usual Recipes and Food Photography next week!

Celestial Black-Turtle Beans

2008-05-21T15:21:00.035+10:00

Always-better-the-next-day...

A warning to the fast-food enthusiast: this recipe is not fast!
In fact, it is the classic slow-food recipe, best left simmering gently on the back burner all afternoon. Perfect for the colder winter days and packed full of nourishment, these Celestial Black Turtle Beans create a warm feeling throughout the whole house as they bubble gently, releasing their goodness and aroma.

Based on a recipe by Celestina Swanson of Swansisters Fine Teas. http://www.swansisters.com/blog

Celestial Black Turtle Beans Ingredients:
2 cups black turtle beans
10 cm piece of wakame seaweed
1 onion finely chopped
3 anchovies (optional)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups pumpkin, chopped
1 small carrot, sliced (or optional: stamped into celestial star-shapes)
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon Mexican red chilli powder
2 tablespoons salt, added to taste
water, lots of water.

Method:
Soak beans over-night in fresh water with broken pieces of wakame seaweed. Beans cook faster, are more digestible and have a creamier texture when pre-soaked and the seaweed neutralises the enzyme that causes the gas that beans have a reputation for. Rinse the beans a couple of times during soaking and discard the purple soaking water.

When ready to cook, generously cover beans with fresh water and cook on low heat for 2-3 hours, adding extra water if necessary. When the beans begin to soften, add all other ingredients and continue to cook until creamy inside but still unbroken. The cumin especially improves the digestibility and enhances the flavour of the beans. Add more water as necessary as older beans tend to need longer cooking times and all beans vary in size.

This is the prefect recipe for a slow cooker, where you can 'set and forget' for a whole afternoon of simmering. And like many of these kinds of recipes, these beans are even better the next day.

When beans are ready to serve, garnish with fresh Avocado and Coriander Salsa and enjoy.

Avocado Salsa Ingredients:
1 avocado, diced
1 small red onion, sliced finely
1 small tomato, diced finely
1 cup fresh coriander, chopped roughly
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon of carob molasses or brown sugar

Gently scatter the avocado, onion and tomato together in a serving bowl. Combine garlic, lemon juice and carob molasses into a dressing and drizzle over the avocado mix. Serve immediately with the Celestial Black-Turtle Beans.

Yum-oh!

Rising Sun Miso Soup

2008-05-19T21:26:00.016+10:00

Something Vital to Greet the Day.

The morning sun streaming in through the kitchen window was so glorious, I just HAD to photograph something... And it had to be something quick, as la luz del sol (the light of the sun) wasn't waiting around.

A quick look in the cupboard produced a bag of dried seaweed that I'd gotten at Alfalfa House, the Wholefoods Co-Op in Enmore.
A rustle through the fridge found a block of Earth Star Organic Tofu and a jar of Shiro Miso. Perfect: Japan - The Land Of The Rising Sun - is synonymous with Miso soup and this accompaniment forms an essential part of almost every Japanese meal, almost as ubiquitous as green tea. The picture of solar goodness would be completed with the pot of sunny yellow chrysanthemums I'd bought yesterday, when out shopping with Kaitlyn, from the Vietnamese grocer in Marrickville.

Miso Soup Ingredients:
(Serves 1 - multiply accordingly)

1 tablespoon of miso paste
1 teaspoon powdered Dashi (Bonito flakes)
1 soup-bowl of boiling water
2 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked & sliced
a few pieces of dried seaweed, soaked
silken tofu, sliced in 'Rising Sun' circles
green shallots, finely sliced
a splash of tamari, to taste

Method:

Mix Miso & Dashi with a little water to make a smooth, runny paste in the bottom of each serving bowl. Assemble other ingredients in the bowl and top with boiling water.

Serve immediately, with Temaki-Nori Hand-roll.
(Recipe to follow in a future Blog...)

A Note about Miso:

Miso pastes are made from grains & pulses that have been fermented with a live pro-biotic culture that assists digestion. To preserve the health benefits of the live culture, miso paste should never be boiled.

Miso pastes range from the palest blond Shiro-Miso made from white rice, to the red Aka-Miso made from barley, through to a dark & chunky black-soybean Hatcho-Miso.

Eggs For Breakfast

2008-05-19T19:55:00.017+10:00

And a Visit to the PhotoShop Beauty Parlour...

It’s the terrible irony of the food photographer in-the-making: I woke up all excited about exploring my new camera and lenses, but was so hungry I didn’t feel like I could wait hours fiddling around with ingredients. That’s what a food-stylist is for, hey. But the fresh organic eggs I had picked up from the market, along with the Organic Rye loaf from the local IGA agreed to collaborate: I could have my cake (or eggs-on-toast-for-breakfast in this case) and eat it too. Or so it seemed…

You will understand my disappointment then, when my eggs didn’t exactly turn out looking like Marie Claire… They did in fact look pretty awful, full of bubbles and pock-marks and a bit green around the gills from where I had improperly set the white-balance in my camera. Not something you'd want to take home to meet your mother.

I surmised that this happened because:

a) I’m not a regular maker or consumer of fried eggs on toast,
(I like Omelets better, or Fried Rice With Egg)
and
b) because I didn’t manage the temperature of the frying pan very well – still getting to know the stove in the new studio kitchen.

Suffice it to say, they looked like they didn’t egg-xactly get out of bed sunny-side up…

I wept quietly into my cup of tea:
“I’ll never become a food photographer, what was I thinking??”

Nevertheless, it dawned slowly on me that perhaps the food one sees pictures of in magazines may arrive at the studio in a less-than perfectly groomed state. So I decided, after eating my poor benighted eggs – at least they tasted good: the free-range chickens had held up their end of the bargain – that a trip to the Photoshop Beauty Parlour might be just the trick for my two googies.

Ten minutes on the Cloning Tool, a bit of tweaking with the Colour-Balance and voila! Behold, gorgeous eggs, sunny-side up, smiling for the camera.

Pumpkin Soup

2008-05-19T19:25:00.010+10:00

Visiting the Orange Grove Organic Markets in Rozelle this Saturday with Audrey and Howard, the Autumn pumpkins looked just so perfect, so seasonal... dusky skins and just the right rap-rap tone when we knocked our knuckles against their sides...

Pumpkin Soup Recipe:
(100% Vegetarian / Vegan)
1 onion
2 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons of Stones Green Ginger wine
1 pumpkin
water
salt & pepper
parsley

Method:

Chop onion coarsely and fry lightly in vegetable oil in a large saucepan. When onion begins to turn slightly golden and the bottom of the pot is browning slightly, add the Stones Green Ginger wine and stir to deglaze the flavours from the bottom of the pot, cooking until the wine is almost evaporated off.

Peel the pumpkin and chop into chunks, then add to the onions, with enough water to just cover. Bring to boil and then simmer until the pumpkin is tender. Blend with a stick-mixer until smooth.

Serve hot with crusty rye-bread. Garnish with chopped parsley and season with Maldon sea-salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Non-vegans could add a dollop of goat’s yogurt.

Enjoy. Yum-oh!

Zucchini Muffins with Date & Almond cream

2008-05-19T15:36:00.048+10:00

The first weekend's Adventures in Food Photography.

Deciding what to make for the
inaugural photo-shoot with the new camera was quite a decision. In the end, I chose to go 'back in time', settling on some baking - making these yummy little afternoon-tea cup-cakes. They were first made for us by my friend Phillip's mum when we were about eight years old - she wouldn't tell us what was in them until after we ate them - picky eaters that we were, we couldn't believe something so delicious had vegetables in it!

In starting out on this project, the ethical considerations seem equally important as the aesthetic, so I decided that we should
"Go Green" from go to whoa, leaving Petroleum out of the equation as much as possible. Riding my bicycle to the shops seemed a good start - and cycling up the hill to the Norton Street Grocer in Leichhardt was a good way to ground my excitement over the possibilities of the project in the here and now. I had already had more than one restless night, dreaming of the wonders of the Olympus E510 and the lenses that I eventually settled on...

- one-pedal stroke at a time -
- one recipe at a time -

that could become
my new Mantra.

The ethic and aesthetic pleasures continue at the green-grocers - selecting the most vibrant looking zucchinis, the freshest organic eggs, picking up a selection of paper muffin-cases from the Italian catering store, before pedalling the ingredients back to the studio to whiz together...

So now I present to you:

Zucchini Muffins

Zucchini Muffins Ingredients:
(Wheat-free / Gluten-free / Dairy free)
3 eggs
1 cup rice-bran oil
1/2 cup rapidura
(dehydrated sugar-cane juice; ordinary sugar will do)
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups rice flour
1 cup sticky-rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

Beat eggs until foamy. Add rice-bran oil, rapidura sugar and vanilla and beat until thick and mousse-like.

Stir in the grated zucchini and fold in the sifted flours, baking powder, bicarbonate soda, cinnamon and walnuts.

Pour into muffin tins 2/3 full - they rise well - and bake at 250 degrees for approx 10 - 15 Min's, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack and ice with Date and Almond Cream.

Date and Almond Cream
(sugar-free & deliciously sweet)

1 cup raw blanched almonds
5 Turkish dates, seeds and skins removed
juice of 1 lime
water

Blend on high speed in food processor until smooth and creamy, adding just enough water to make a smooth paste. Ice the cakes with a palate knife, or decorate using a piping bag.

The Results:

I tried out a few different presentation styles, in paper cases / without paper-casing - not sure which one would make the best photo. And for sure I would put the CWA to shame with my dodgy piping technique... oh well, always good to have room for improvement!

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Welcome to Yumoh

2008-05-18T16:13:00.044+10:00

Adventures in Food & Photography - the journey begins!

Hello Fellow Foodies,
Welcome to Yumoh...!
We decided to create this blog
to document our ongoing Adventures in Food,
Photography & Creativity.

After much excitement researching cameras and equipment and techniques and styles - I took the plunge and upgraded to DSLR, which is a journey in itself - and we are finally ready to throw our hat in the ring and blog the results of our creative efforts.

When I say 'we', it's me and my friends - mostly me taking the pictures, in collaboration with my sweet and clever friends acting as 'guest stylists', muses, kind critics and general sharers in the milieu of all kinds of creative endeavour and expertise.

We have a loosely defined aim to work towards a cook-book for publication, but as with life, it is the Journey that matters as much as the final outcome. So what you will find in the e-pages on this site is a document of the creative development of our style of recipes and image-making. Besides recipes, there will also be occasional posts regarding creative practice, documenting the technical and artistic discoveries we make a long the way, as well as sharing pictures of the things that inspire our vision.

Our Philosophy?
Food is primal; along with shelter it is a basic need for survival and is an inalienable human right. But beyond survival, cooking and eating with the 'tribe' - our friends and family from around the world - is fun, creative, pleasurable, joyful and life-affirming - that's basically the idea behind this blog: sharing really good food is what it's all about.

The recipes you will find here arise from the kitchens of friends and family, day-to-day in our houses and apartments in Sydney Australia and from around the world when we venture further a-field on journeys and adventures. No fancy studios and no trickery with the styling: just passionate people who love cooking and creativity and getting together to share the fun.

The recipes are gathered from diverse sources, from the many different cultures that our friends arise from. What unites these recipes however, are the universal values of cooking really good food. By the notion of “Really Good”, we mean not only food that looks and tastes good, but food that is truly good for us: good for our bodies and good for the planet.

One of my favourite books from the 80's furnished this quote:

There are two Mantras:

Yum & Yuck

- Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker. 1980

Eating well and enjoying the good health that follows really does depend on being able to distinguish between what's good for us and what is not - knowing the difference between Yum and Yuck.

But as Michael Pollan wrote in The Omnivore's Dilemma, this is not always obvious with modern pre-packaged food and mass-marketing of junk "foods".

So we think it is doubly important to share ideas for producing, cooking and eating real food with each other, to pass on the wisdom that has been shared with us by our families and friends from diverse and long-standing cultures around the world. We like to 'walk-the-talk' and really put into these principles of sustainability into practice – using organic ingredients and seasonal produce, sourced locally wherever possible and processed without artificial chemical additives, cooking and eating food that is really, truly Good.

We hope you enjoy the journey as much as we do in making these meals to share and we welcome your comments and contributions.

kindest regards, Kyle