September 2013 – onesmallpot

A Crumble for Comfort

Posted on September 30, 2013September 30, 2013 by Deepa

I had serious arguments with myself before I finally made my mind up to post this recipe. After all, who needs yet another recipe for baking fruit covered in a simple flour and oat mixture? Especially when we are solidly in spring here in Australia, decidedly not a time for hot baked desserts.

What finally convinced me to post was the reminder that this blog is as much for me as it is for the ten or so of you who regularly read it.

It is a place for me to chronicle my recipes, so that when I am old and senile, I will still be able to whip myself up a quick dessert, a dhal that tastes like home or my palak paneer.

As soon as I remember where I left my glasses so that I may read the screen.

It is a place for me to share my thoughts, memories and experiences. To excitedly show you what I whipped up in my kitchen that made us happy over here. I decided that perhaps a classic recipe with some equally sweet memories attached is the perfect thing to share in this, my corner of cyber-space.

All that and the fact that I had some sad, softish looking apples trying to die a slow death in my fruit bowl which simply had to be used up.

I learnt the original version of this from a housemate during my time in Glasgow. We were interns then, poor for both money and time.

As interns, our days were a blur of hospital duty, scrubs and pagers. There were weeks of nightshifts where day became night and night was day. A unique form of jet-lag without the fun parts like aeroplanes and cocktails by the pool. Amidst it all we did all we could to absorb information from our seniors while attempting to appear knowledgeable in front of the students.

We ate when we could and coming home to a prepared meal was a luxury we never took for granted. The local pub knew us well as making our way further afield to eat out in the city was a trip we seldom had the time or energy to make. Piled into a big house together, we found that sharing meals was the most economical, not to mention most enjoyable way to go about things.

When my housemate made this crumble, an enormous dish of this would stretch to be both dessert and breakfast for several days. During the busier times, it might have served as dinner as well. We would store it in the cooled oven, which in the Glasgow winter was not too different from a fridge in any other place.

You can make this your own as I did. I usually use Granny Smith (green) apples but just about any apple will work. The blueberries do that thing they do, exploding in the heat and covering everything rather dramatically in their purple juices. Feel free to use whatever berries you like, or even raisins. The crumble can only be enhanced by add-ins such as shredded coconut, pecans or hazelnuts, but I quite enjoy the way pepitas swell with hot air and go all crunchy.

Apple and Blueberry Crumble

Serves 6-8 for dessert or 4 hungry interns for dinner

Get:

For the fruit layer:

6 apples
1 punnet blueberries
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp rice syrup, honey or brown sugar

For the crumble:

3/4 cup wholewheat plain flour
3/4 cup quick oats
3 tbsp pepitas
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 & 1/2 tbsp rice syrup, honey or brown sugar
1 & 1/2 tbsp butter
8 cloves

Make:

Preheat the oven to 160 C.

Core and dice the apples to a 1 1/2 to 2 cm dice. In a mixing bowl, mix the apples, blueberries and the rest of the fruit layer ingredients so that the fruit is well coated in the other ingredients. Distribute the fruit mixture evenly in a medium sized deep ceramic dish.

Place all the crumble ingredients, apart from the cloves, in the same bowl. Use your (clean) fingers to massage the butter and syrup into the other ingredients. Stop when it is well mixed to a moist crumble consistency.

Scatter the crumble mixture evenly over the top of the fruit mixture. Dot the cloves into the crumble.

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 40-50 minutes until the apples are soft and yeilding.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, cream or Greek yoghurt. The latter is probably a more sensible option if you are having leftovers for breakfast but if you opt for ice-cream it’ll be our little secret.

Scrambled Eggs, Indian-Style

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Deepa

Hello there….I was wondering when you’d arrive. I thought I’d make us some breakfast, although I think most normal folk would call this brunch-time. I hope you like eggs?

Sit on that stool and chat to me while I chop these tomatoes. I’ll pour you some orange juice. Oh yes, you can grind those spices if you feel like it.

What’s that? No, no it’s easy. Just a sizzle of spices, a stir fry of some veggies and then the eggs. It’s the sort of thing that’s done on a tiny kerosene stove in a stall on Juhu beach on a balmy Mumbai evening. Then the whole fragrant, spicy, steamy mess is piled onto some buttery bread to be devoured standing up amongst a crowd.

There, it’s done already. Butter that toast, will you? I’ll get you some cutlery but it really is better just to use your fingers, Indian style.

So then….tell me what you’ve been up to……

Egg Bhurji (Indian-style scrambled eggs)

Serves 2 with toast

Get:

1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp butter + more for bread
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 small green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
1/4 – 1/3 capsicum, diced
4 eggs
Salt
1 tomato, diced
Small handful coriander, chopped
Bread, toasted and buttered

Make:

In a large non-stick pan, dry roast 1/2 tsp cumin and the coriander seeds until fragrant. Grind to a powder with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. In the same pan, melt the butter and add 1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds. When the seeds have popped, add the spice powder and turmeric, frying for a couple of minutes on low-medium heat. Add the chillies and onion and fry until the onion is softened. Add the capsicum and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.

In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs with 1/4 tsp salt. Add the eggs to the pan and stir continuously to scramble. When the eggs are half-cooked, add the tomato and more salt according to taste and stir until the eggs are fully cooked.

Sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve on buttered toast. Dousing with chilli or tomato sauce is optional but recommended.

Is it just me or……..

Posted on September 16, 2013September 16, 2013 by Deepa

…….are artichokes the most daunting thing ever? Where did they come from anyway? It’s like some little green martian accidentally dropped one out of his backpack whilst here scoping the earth as a potential new colony for his martian people (meople?).

And actually, the martians use them as war missiles but us crazy humans saw them growing everywhere and thought eating them would be a great idea. Meanwhile, the little green people are looking down at this funny little planet with its strange inhabitants that are inexplicably making dip out of their weapons.

And I’m surely not the only one who collapses into fits of giggles every-time that meerkat ad airs. Seriously? I barely even know what they are advertising since I’m usually rolling on the floor by the time they get to the point.

Oh and I can’t be alone in thinking that celebrity is no excuse to try out ludicrous names on your children. Is anyone else waiting for poor little North West’s parents to announce that it was all just a silly joke and that they actually named her Jane?

Please tell me it’s not just me….

Also, is anyone else completely in awe that if you whip egg whites long enough and fast enough, they transform into snowy peaks? The science geek in me is secretly excited every time this happens…..the denaturing of proteins to turn slimy egg whites into glorious edible snow.

And furthermore, you can sweeten and flavour this almost solid white froth and bake it to crispy-chewy mounds. Mounds that you can top with cream, syrup, fruit or whatever you fancy and call it dessert!

Oh yes, the theme of this month’s Sweet Adventures Blog Hop, hosted by Claire K Creations, was Meringue Madness so I just had to try my hand at fructose-free meringues. I replaced caster sugar with dextrose and although they bled a bit, this didn’t seem to affect them in the end and they were pretty darn good. You could flavour these with whatever essence takes your fancy (I intend to try rosewater next time) and top them just about anything. I went with this fructose-free lemon curd, some cream and some lovely fresh blueberries.

Fructose-free Meringues

Makes 6

Modified from Donna Hay Magazine

Get:

4 egg whites
1 cup dextrose powder
1 tsp white vinegar

Make:

Preheat the oven to 120 C.

Beat egg whites initially on low speed, then on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Drizzle in vinegar and any flavouring, and sprinkle in dextrose bit by bit, beating briefly with each addition. Beat until sugar is completely incorporated.

Line a baking tray with baking paper or a silicone mat and grease lightly. Dollop large scoops of the mixture onto the tray and flatten out slightly. Bake on the middle shelf for 40 minutes, then turn off the oven and leave them in there to cool for an hour or so.

Top with whatever you like and serve.

Six things to do when you have an over-achieving lemon tree

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Deepa

Winter has hung up its dancing shoes and gone home. The warmer, longer days are a welcome change and the fence alongside our clinic is hung with intoxicating wisteria which signals that spring has truly arrived.

There are still bags of lemons in my fridge like stragglers at a party who hang around long after the champagne is drunk and the music has stopped. The parents’ lemon tree has been in overdrive until a couple of weeks ago but the start of September has been hectic, leaving me with no time to address the excess citrus issue.

Each morning, I drink warm water with a good squeeze of lemon juice but I knew that the lemons wouldn’t keep long enough to be used up this way. So as I always do, I turned to Dr. Google for ways of using them up before good lemons go bad, and the world wide web did not disappoint.

Here’s my pick of the suggestions I found:

1. Squeeze them and freeze the juice in ice-cube trays for later.

2. Use the juice and zest in salad dressings like in this Quinoa Salad, or this Zucchini and Fennel Salad or even this one with Warm Lentils, Walnuts and Goats Cheese.

3. Make Lemon Curd.

4. Make lemonade or it’s slightly salty Indian cousin, nimboo pani for those warmer spring days.

5. Make preserved lemons to use in tagines and other middle-eastern dishes. Here is a good method.

6. Bake the lemony goodness into these nankhatai biscuits, or these lemon marmalade meringue ones. Consider also this lemon tart or these lemon chocolate cheesecake pots with lemon peel powder.

While we’re on lemons, check out this ludicrously cute pics of tiny humans trying lemons for the first time.

What are your favourite ways of using up citrus?

Chocolate Orange Macadamia Truffles

Posted on September 5, 2013April 20, 2014 by Deepa

The universe has a way of leading you towards things, doesn’t it? There are suggestive powers out there that not always subtly lead you towards a decision. You may discover a new holiday destination that you want to try out, and suddenly there are references to that destination in every magazine you read. Also three other people in your workplace have just been there and are full of stories about how amazing it is.

They show you pictures of their bare knees propped up on a beach with the ocean in the background (anyone else baffled by that trend??). Then you get an email about holiday deals to the very same place and that decides it for you.

Sometimes, there really is no point arguing with the Universe.

Over the past couple of weeks, the Universe has been throwing balls at me. Not the type that are made of hard rubber that people more athletic and co-ordinated than I kick around on a field on purpose (also baffling). These are the very same type that for some reason seem to be magnetically attracted to my head and will come flying through the air to give me a concussion, even if I am no-where near the field in question.

No, the balls I’m talking about are the smaller, softer chocolatey variety. Truffles, if you will, although I’m sure you’ll agree that ‘balls’ is infinitely more fun to say.

They are all over the internet, these little spheres of goodness. Here, and here and here. Ohh and these ones! Last weekend my parents had people over and I was asked to make these date truffles, so of course I was already in balling mode. Then there was lunch at Ungaro Raw followed by their divine chocolate truffles. And that did it for me.

If the universe wants balls, who am I to deny it?

As a lover of texture in my balls (too far?), I decided to make some chocolatey truffles that were creamy with avocado and studded with shredded coconut and crushed macadamias that would make the eating experience that much more interesting. These are only mildly sweet as I preferred the choc orange flavour to dominate, but you can add more sweetener if you prefer.

Before you say anything or make that face, I promise you can’t taste the avocado so don’t let that stop you.

I have a box of these in my fridge and I still can’t get them out of my mind.

So, I want to know…… what has the universe been telling you lately?

Chocolate Orange Macadamia Truffles

Makes 23-25 truffles

Get:

1/2 cup raw, unsalted macadamias
3 tbsp raw cacao or cocoa powder + 2-3 tbsp for dusting
4 1/2 tbsp dextrose powder (fructose-free) or icing sugar
Flesh of 1/2 a large, softish avocado
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup skim milk powder
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
1 tbsp orange juice

Make:

Pulse the macadamias in the food processor until they are very coarsely crushed. I stopped when some of the nuts were in a coarse powder but there were still lots of small un-powdered pieces.

Place the avocado flesh in a large bowl and mash well with a fork. Sift in 3 tbsp of the cacao or cocoa powder. Add the other ingredients. If using icing sugar, this should be sifted as well. Mix well with a spoon, then with clean hands like a dough.

Place the bowl in the fridge for about 30 min.

Have a tray or a large plate lined with grease-proof paper. Place 2 or 3 tbsp of cacao or cocoa powder in a food-safe plastic bag, such as a sandwich bag.

Oil your hands a little- I used coconut oil. Roll the mixture into balls. I like truffles that are about 3 cm in diameter (roughly a tbsp). Drop 3 or 4 truffles at a time into the bag of cocoa powder. Hold the top of the bag closed and shake to coat the truffles. Dust off the extra cocoa powder and place the balls on the plate. When all the truffles are done, place them in the fridge for at least an hour or so before serving or devouring.

OSP @ Ungaro Raw, Rozelle

Posted on September 2, 2013October 14, 2013 by Deepa

When it comes to the raw food movement, I have always been somewhat of a sceptic. I suspect it has something to do with my ethnic background. After all, us Indians are known for cooking things to within an inch of their lives. So for me, going to a restaurant and paying for a meal that isn’t cooked seems preposterous to say the least.

When a dear friend announced that she had quit her job and was going travelling indefinitely, I was insanely jealous but also keen to catch up with her before she left. When she suggested we do lunch at Ungaro Raw, the sceptic in me was seduced by her description of their Mint & Coconut Chocolate Truffles. She promised they would be an explosion of flavours in the mouth (her words, not mine) and I was sold.

Ungaro Raw is nestled in the fun end of Darling Street in Rozelle, opposite the markets. This place is so shiny and new that even tracking a phone number down for them is difficult and their website promises that it is the ‘future home of something cool’. Don’t let that put you off from trying out their mouth-watering menu though. Not everything on it is raw but it is all vegan, organic and made up of wonderful, fresh produce.

My friend and I were initially drawn to the display of desserts in the front glass cabinet, which I thought was an excellent tactic on their part. We convinced each other we should really eat something sensible first and sat at one of the insanely cute vintage tables outside. The rustic vintage decor stretched throughout the little restaurant, and sunshine streamed in the two huge doors, giving the place a gorgeous feel. The sunshine must have been contagious as we found all the staff to be bubbly, very helpful and incredibly welcoming.

A vege burger was ordered and devoured- fragrant crusty bread, scrumptious lentil pattie and all. There was a plate of corn and millet fritters which my friend seemed to almost inhale, assuring me that it was delicious. A berry smoothie was had; thick, filling and not over-sweet as so many other smoothies seem to be.

And after what seemed like an eternity, it was time for dessert. We decided to order two very different dishes. The lemon cheesecake had a cashew cream filling that meant it was not only gluten free, but lactose free as well. The filling was unlike anything I’ve had before, leaving a satisfying, nutty flavour in my mouth that I wanted to savour every second of.

As for the Chocolate Mint slice, it’s beautifully textural layers were just what I was hoping for with just the right level of sweetness and refreshing mintiness to satisfy that sweet tooth.

Don’t think I had forgotten about those Mint & Coconut Chocolate Truffles! One of those babies as well as its’ neighbour, a Chocolate Orange ball came home with me in an innocent looking paper bag. Both of them may or may not have reached home in a half-eaten state. And as for these after dessert desserts, I can think of no better way to describe it than the incredibly chocolaty taste explosion I was promised.

Ungaro Raw may make a convert out of me yet. And you? Well, all I can say is, you’d better get in there before the rest of Sydney hears about the new kid in town.

Ungaro Raw is on the corner of Darling St. and National St. in Rozelle. They do breakfast and lunch 7 days a week and dinner on Fridays and Saturdays.

Tel: (02) 8964 9223

ungaroraw.com (coming soon)

Month: September 2013

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