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By clare, February 1, 2012

Coconut palm juice

Hot?
It’s been humid, still and hot here in Cairns.  All the rain we should be getting seems to be landing on flood-battered South East Queensland.  So we’re all hot, and some wetter than others.

I thought I’d mention this drink because it is the BEST thirst quencher.  I’ve encountered several brands and they all seem to taste similar, with the big tip being to go for the ones bottled in brown glass, not plastic or cans.

Serve with ice and a good squeeze of lime juice

Coconut palm juice is 100% coconut palm syrup from the flowers of the coconut palm.

It has a flavour somewhere between pandan and hazelnuts.  Serve it super-chilled over some ice with a good squeeze of fresh lime juice (about 1 tablespoon or a little more).  The lime helps to balance the sweetness and the slightly earthy pandan edge to it’s flavour and really accentuates the hazelnut flavour.

A friend remarked when tasting it for the first time that he thought it was Frangelico, the Italian hazelnut liqueur.

Look for it in your local Asian grocery store.

For an extra kick at sundown, add a dash of quality mellow rum to see in the (hopefully!) balmy night…

(C) Clare Richards 2012

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By clare, February 1, 2012

Yesterday I sent the final edits off to the team who are translating tropical cuisine: cooking in clare’s kitchen into EPUB and MOBI formats.  There are two or three formats to follow, so when launched the ebook version/s will be readable on any device on the market.

In simple terms I am producing two different types of format – one that will look like a electronic replica of the print book with exactly the same look and layout; and one in free-flowing format which is read on devices such as the Kindle e-ink readers, Barns and Noble’s Nook reader and others.

The fixed format offers all the visual richness of the print book, and can be displayed on iPad and tablets and on your PC or Mac screen or compatible TV screens, where you can enjoy the visual richness at full resolution.

The free-flowing format gets tropical cuisine onto your e-reader and off to the office or supermarket with you so that you can scroll through to contemplate what delicious things to make for dinner!

There will be a special offer at launch for a period of time giving you a great opportunity to buy both fixed format and free-flowing format copies, so that you can have the best of both worlds – the visual appeal of a beautiful cookbook, and portability too.

I am excited and really look forward to announcing the launch and getting tropical cuisine out to you!

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By clare, January 26, 2012

Spiced pumpkin salad

This is a great salad with vibrant, contrasting flavours and textures. I’m not strict with the exact mix of herbs I use as it’s a matter of picking what’s in the garden, but I certainly always use a generous amount. Rice paddy herb would also go well with this salad. The little puffs of slightly crunchy tofu, salty from the soy sauce, are a great counterpoint to the spicy sweetness and soft texture of the pumpkin. Serves 4.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 Jap/Kent pumpkin (about 800-900g)
500g firm tofu
1-2 tablespoons peanut oil (or rice bran oil)
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/3 teaspoon star anise powder
1/4 teaspoon allspice powder
1/2+ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2-3 tablespoons kitul palm or coconut palm syrup*
1 tablespoon cooking or rock salt
1/3 cup 1st extract coconut milk (or 60% content canned coconut milk/cream)
4 bunches Brazilian spinach (Alternanthera sissoo), about 12 branches, OR two bunches amaranth, leaves picked from stems and rinsed
2 large sprigs Asian basil varieties (Thai, Tulsi), rinsed and leaves stripped from stems
large bunch (16+ leaves) garlic chives, rinsed and roughly chopped (2-3cm lengths)
4 stems Vietnamese mint, rinsed and leaves stripped from stems
8 leaves long leaf (Mexican, Thai, sawtooth) coriander, rinsed and roughly chopped (2-3cm lengths)
1/4 to 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds

* Kitul palm syrup or coconut palm syrup are available from Asian grocers and some gourmet stores. Use coconut palm sugar instead if you can’t access palm syrup.

METHOD

Skin and deseed the pumpkin. Cut into (roughly) 1.5cm cubes.

Cut tofu into small (1cm) cubes. Heat heavy based pan on medium-high heat and add peanut oil, just enough to form a good (2mm) layer. Once shimmering, add diced tofu (may need to do two batches). Make sure heat is not too high as they need to brown to golden at a gentle pace. Turn tofu once or twice and once golden on two sides, remove to a plate and drizzle with soy sauce.

While tofu is cooking, mix the pumpkin dressing. Mix star anise powder, allspice powder, black pepper, lime juice and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the syrup in a jar, replace lid and shake. Taste, then add any extra palm syrup needed, to taste. Dressing should have some sharpness as it will become milder once coconut milk is added, and the pumpkin itself is sweet.

Boil 1.5 to 2 litres of water and pour over Brazilian spinach leaves in a heatproof bowl ( eg. pyrex or similar).

In a wok or large based saucepan, bring about 1 to 1.5 litres of water to the boil. Add a good amount of salt (about 1 tablespoon rock salt) then add the cubed pumpkin, replace lid and cook on high for 3-4 minutes or until pumpkin is almost cooked (al dente, pumpkin style).

Drain off the water, return wok/pan to heat and add dressing and coconut milk and cook for another 1+ minutes to reduce the sauce slightly, stirring as needed to prevent sticking. Remove from heat.

Assemble salad. Drain the Brazilian spinach well, mix the chopped herbs together then mix through the wilted Brazilian spinach. Pour the tofu and any soy sauce marinade into the spinach mix and toss together. Divide across 4 plates, spread in a circle. Top with the pumpkin, then sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and serve.

© Clare Richards 2012

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By clare, January 18, 2012

ebook version coming soon......!

I will soon be announcing the launch date of the electronic book versions of tropical cuisine: cooking in clare’s kitchen.  I’m very excited as they will be available internationally, so all those passionate cooks living outside Australia who have enquired over the last year will now be able to purchase your copy.  There will be versions readable on all electronic reading devices.

So keep an eye on these pages over the next few weeks for more news….

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By clare, January 18, 2012

Butter, butter, butter (C) Clare Richards

I’ve just had a fabulous time making butter from the voluptuous Jersey cream from Misty Mountain Farms (sister company of the biodynamic producer, Mungalli).  Made two batches from their two litre bottles – one was normal salted butter, the other I cultured gently with the addition of two teaspoons of their yoghurt and left it to mature for 3 days in the fridge.

Both batches made about 900g of butter each from the 2 litres of cream, with about 900ml of buttermilk left for pancake making.  That makes it the same price to make homemade butter from this exquisite cream as buying the plain brand Tasmanian butter from the supermarket.  So if you see their cream in stock, look at the massive two litre bottle with a butter maker’s eye, as it is great value.

Both butters are so more-ish they’re (mostly) stacked away in the freezer.  I was surprised that it remains quite spreadable in the fridge.  Apparently this is due to having worked the butter in VERY cold water.  If you work it in warmer water, the butter ends up harder – a contrary result.

I worked with the butter making method given by Darina Allen whose cookbook Forgotten Skills of Cooking is on my wish list

Next batch I buy I’ll be making some ghee to see how that goes…

(C) Clare Richards 2012