Sanguina - Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine

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!!

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!

Winter Stir-fry: Tofu, Leeks & Brussels Sprouts

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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Market Day #2 - Orange-Grove Organic Growers

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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Green Split-Pea & Smoky Bacon-Hock Soup

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

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

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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Pumpkin Soup

Visiting the Orange Grove Organic Markets in Rozelle, 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


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

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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