Scandi Home: Spices

Showing posts with label Spices. Show all posts

October 27, 2011

Tempeh with beluga lentils

I am on a deadline today. Had you been a fly on my ceiling, observing my day, you would've thought I was truly busy with very small tasks - like polishing the kitchen sink, folding and refolding laundry, carefully examining my growing tomatoes and herbs, and browsing ideas for my next sewing project. All important tasks, of course, but what about the deadline? Yes. Admittedly I was procrastinating to a point where it seemed impossible to procrastinate any further. Oh wait. It was time to break for lunch.

I had beluga lentils. Those shiny black little pearls that look like caviar. I had tempeh too, my number one choice of protein these days. And combined with spices like pink peppercorns, mustard seeds and sumac, these two simple ingredients made the most enjoyable meal that almost made me forgot I had a deadline to meet. Perhaps one more thing before I head back to meet my deadline. Share this recipe with you. And maybe clean up in the kitchen.

Tempeh with beluga lentils

(serves 2)

1 cup (230g) beluga lentils

2 cups (500ml) water

1 packet (300g) tempeh, sliced

1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil

1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds

1 teaspoon pink peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon ground sumac

pinch of sea salt

1/4 lemon, juiced

fresh coriander, to serve, optional

1. Rinse the lentils and put in a saucepan. Pour in the water and bring to boil. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until just tender. Stir with a spoon every now and then.

2. Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan and add the mustard seeds. Once they start popping, add the sliced tempeh. Season with peppercorns, sumac and a bit of salt and cook on both sides for 2-3 minutes.

3. Drizzle the lemon juice in the lentils and serve with fried tempeh. Add chopped fresh coriander, if wished.

October 17, 2011

Activated, spiced nuts

"Patience is a virtue", "Patience is a virtue" - I think I should be meditating to this mantra. Truth be told, most of the time I enjoy nuts and seeds unsoaked, unactivated, on their own. I just don't have the patience to soak, roast, activate. After making these spiced nuts a few times now, I am starting to realise why I should be activating nuts every time - not only they taste better (they really do), but they are also easier for my digestion and therefore better for me, right?

Activating nuts is a long process, but the good thing is you don't really have to do much - just wait. I've tried soaking these nuts for 8 hours, then almost 24 hours, and it certainly seems that the longer you soak, the better they'll taste. I swear by the healing properties of spices, and so I've used a mix of spices (I believe) are good for me and also taste great.

After soaking comes the tricky bit. You are supposed to roast these little babies, in a very low heat, over a period of 24 hours. Now, I believe that it's the soaking bit that actually activates the enzymes (please correct me if I'm wrong), so I've only roasted these for a couple of hours (I obviously still need to work on that patience bit). They taste amazing - so light, but crunchy and warm with spices. Want more crunch? Chuck them in the freezer and snack straight from there. They are tasty either way.

Activated, spiced nuts

(makes 2 cups)

1 cup (170g) almonds

1 cup (130g) walnuts

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes (or to taste)

pinch of sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1. Soak the nuts in plenty of water for 12-24 hours. See my note above, soaking them for longer gives you a better result, so be patient!

2. Turn the oven on for the lowest setting (below 100C). Drain the nuts and toss in the spices.

3. Spread the nuts on a baking tray (no paper, no oil). Roast in the oven for up to 24 hours on the lowest possible heat.

4. Store in an air-tight container. You can also store these in the freezer.

October 12, 2011

Cauliflower with mung beans and spiced sunflower seeds

A couple of weeks a go I tweeted about a little victory I had regarding the role of red meat in my kitchen: No more! My fiancé has (quite happily) agreed that I won't cook any red meat at home any more. If he wants to eat it, he'll have it when he's eating out, or in the (very) unlikely case, he'll cook it himself. This is definitely a breakthrough, as for the past five and a half years I've been cooking red meat for him a couple of times a week, whilst making a vegetarian meal for myself. I have been an on and off vegetarian/pescetarian for the past 10+ years, and cooking red meat never inspired me nor I enjoyed it. We've agreed that I will still cook poultry for him a couple of times a week, otherwise it'll be seafood and all-vegetarian meals only. Yeehaw!

As long as the vegetarian meals provide enough protein, my other half is happy to have them. This seems to be the case with most males (or females) thinking they won't be able to have enough protein (or iron) from a vegetarian meal. Often it's a simple fix of throwing in an extra egg or some chickpeas/beans/tofu/tempeh/dairy. The choices are endless! I love how creative one can be with veggies, I've never felt the same about cooking meat.

This meal, inspired by the contents of my fridge and pantry, is an easy throw-together dinner. If you want that extra touch of protein, add a couple of eggs (soft/hard/grated/scrambled/poached/fried). I love the crunch of spiced sunflower seeds and I like to leave the cauliflower and the mung beans a little bit crunchy as well. I like to make a bigger batch of toasted sunflower seeds, store the left-overs in a container in the fridge, and use in salads or on top of scrambled tofu. Enjoy!

Cauliflower with mung beans and spiced sunflower seeds
(recipe inspired by Heidi Swanson and my fridge)

200g mung beans

100g sunflower seeds

zest of one lemon

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of sea salt

1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil

1 medium sized cauliflower, cut into florets, stems cut into smaller pieces

10cm piece of leek, thinly sliced

juice of 1/2 lemon

freshly ground black pepper

1. Cook the mung beans in plenty of boiling water until just tender. Drain and set aside.

2. Toast the sunflower seeds, lemon zest and spices on a dry pan for a few minutes. Keep stirring constantly. Set aside.

3. Add coconut oil in the (same) pan, add leek and cauliflower and sautee for a few minutes. Add in a dash of water, cover the pan with a lid and leave the veggies to steam until just tender (or to your liking).

4. Add in the mung beans, half the sunflower seeds and drizzle in the lemon juice. Season with freshly ground black pepper and an extra pinch of salt if needed. Serve sprinkled with the extra sunflower seeds.

October 10, 2011

Spiced tempeh chips

Tempeh goes in the same category with tofu - people seem to either love it or hate it. I personally love tofu (firmer, the better), but don't seem to cook tempeh often enough. These spiced chips were quite addictive, however, so I might just have to make a new batch very soon.

I only really learned to use spices when I moved to Australia. Back in Finland my taste buds were quite happily adjusted to the traditional non-spicy food, but when I started tasting and cooking food in my new home-country, I soon realised that there was a whole world of spices for me to explore. I still steer away from hot and spicy food and I think you know by now that I'm one of the biggest chilli wimps around, but I do love using other spices with a (tiny) pinch of chilli.

We all know the health benefits of spices too, and I've tried to combine some of the 'best' spices in this dish - turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, chilli (you could also use cayenne pepper), cumin and black pepper. I sprinkle cinnamon on nearly everything and it's certainly out there with my favourites spices. Dipped in creamy avocado these tempeh chips were a perfect weekend lunch!

Spiced tempeh chips

1 packet of tempeh (300g)

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes or cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

pinch of sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 avocado and lemon juice, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 150C and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

2. Cut the tempeh into thinnish slices and arrange the slices on the baking sheet.

3. Mix together all the spices and sprinkle the mixture on both sides of the tempeh slices.

4. Bake for 40-60 minutes, turning the slices regularly, until they feel firm and slightly crispy.

5. Serve the chips with mashed avocado that has been mixed with lemon juice.

You could also try: Spicy tempeh balls

August 22, 2011

Spiced sweet potato brownies to celebrate 2 years of blogging!

It's been nearly two years since I started my blog and I thought it would be appropriate to bake a little treat to mark the occasion. Admittedly, I've spent more time in the kitchen during the past two years than probably ever before, and although it's been a bit of a game of hits and misses, I've enjoyed the most of it.

When I first started this blog, back in August 2009, I was writing in Finnish and I never thought I'd have any other readers than perhaps my own parents. As I started to mingle more with the other Sydney food bloggers, I realised that it would probably make more sense if I wrote in English, and I then changed the name of the blog to 'Scandi Foodie' (denoting my Finnish-Swedish heritage and in purpose of promoting Scandinavian food and culture).

I've felt proud to give a glimpse to the Scandinavian culture through my recipes and posts, and I hope I've been able to inspire and educate people on the way. These spiced sweet potato brownies are to all of you who've been so kind and supportive - I thank you so much!

Spiced Sweet Potato Brownies

(Recipe adapted from Dan Lepard)

100g coconut oil (not liquid)

100g dark chocolate (70%)

200g cooked and mashed sweet potato

100g organic rapadura sugar*

2 large free-range eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

100g whole spelt flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground clove

1/4 teaspoon ground bitter orange**

100g macadamias, chopped

*if you can't find rapadura sugar, use raw caster sugar instead

**ground bitter orange (pomeranssi, Citrus aurantium) is a common spice used in Scandinavian cooking. If you can't find this, replace with ground orange or mandarin peel, or try ground ginger for a slightly sharper taste.

1. Preheat oven to 180C and grease a square 18cm baking dish.

2. Place the coconut oil and roughly chopped chocolate in a bowl. Heat the mixture in the microwave until just melted (do not let it boil!), but smooth. Alternatively, melt them in a saucepan on the stove. Set aside.

3. Beat the sweet potato and sugar in a separate bowl. Add the coconut and chocolate mixture, eggs and vanilla and beat until thick.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and spices. Add this mixture into the wet ingredients, then fold everything together until smooth. Lastly fold in the macadamias.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until firm to touch. Leave to cool on wire rack before cutting into squares.

July 12, 2011

Pomegranate Glögg

It was another sunny winter weekend here in Sydney. We spent Sunday in the northern parts of the town, lunching and visiting my partner's parents. This is my favourite part of Sydney and I never get tired of the beautiful beaches and the scenery there. I could have spent the whole day outside, taking photos and enjoying the sunny weather. I certainly enjoy this temperature much more than the heat in summer!

A glögg is a perfect hot drink to have on a cool winter's day. I've chosen rather untraditional ingredient of pomegranate, but you could happily use frozen lingonberry, cranberry or black currants instead. The spices give this drink a warm hum without making it too strong, and a bit of rapadura sugar makes the glögg sweet as it should be.

Pomegranate Glögg

(serves 2)

250g frozen pomegranate seeds

2 cups water

1 cinnamon stick

knob of fresh ginger

5-7 cardamom pods

3-5 cloves

1 star anise

1 tablespoon rapadura sugar

1. Place all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to boil and let simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Drain the mixture through a sieve into 2 mugs. Serve hot.

April 02, 2011

Quince, Pear and Apple Cake

I love using spices in baking and my favourites include cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and clove. All of these go perfectly well with fruit such as quince, pear and apple - which brings us to this cake. I wanted to try this recipe not just because of the spice mix, but also because it's gluten-free, egg-free and dairy-free. It really is an ideal crowd pleaser and tastes lovely with a nice cup of tea.

Quince, Apple and Pear Cake

(Recipe adapted from Terry Walters' Clean Start)

1 cup chickpea flour

1 cup almond meal

1/2 cup potato starch

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground clove

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 cups unsweetened apple sauce

1 cup peeled and coarsely grated pear

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 big quince (or 1 small), finely sliced

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and grease a 20cm springform pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into dry and fold to combine.

5. Pour the the cake dough into the prepared pan and top with the quince slices. Mix together the brown sugar and extra cinnamon and sprinkle the mixture on top of the cake.

6. Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

January 15, 2011

Spelt Couscous Salad with Grilled Eggplant

It's been a busy first week after the holidays, and going back to work after a long leave has been easier than I had expected. This week I've been spoiled by the company of some visiting friends from Finland, something I don't get to enjoy very often. There is just something so special about having Finnish friends or relatives visiting, not only do I miss them of course and it is thus so wonderful to see them again, but it is also special because I get to communicate in my own language. I only wish I would get visitors like that more frequently!

This hot and sticky weather has made me grave salads and light meals and I realised I had all the right ingredients to make a delicious weekend lunch using spelt (farro) couscous. This is a tad healthier version of the normal couscous, and I found the taste a little nuttier, wholesome and all in all nicer. I was generous with mint and lemon, and I love the varying textures given by the pomegranate seeds, the pistachios and the dried wild Persian figs I am so madly in love with. This is perfect Saturday lunch food!

Spelt Couscous Salad with Grilled Eggplant
(serves 2)

1 medium sized eggplant, cut into half and thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt

150g spelt (farro) couscous
1/2 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp ground cummin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
200ml hot water

300g chickpeas (use raw if you can, soaked and cooked until just tender)
1/2 pomegranate, seeds taken out
small handful pistachios
5-10 dried wild Persian figs
small bunch fresh mint
1 wedge preserved lemon, skin only
olive oil

Heat a grilling pan on high, brush the eggplant slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Grill on both sides until tender. Set aside.

Place the couscous in a large bowl, and add cummin, cinnamon, dried mint and pinch of salt. Pour hot water on top and cover the bowl with cling wrap. Set aside for 3 minutes then use a fork to separate and mix the couscous.

Add in the chickpeas, pomegranate seeds (leaving some for serving), pistachios and wild Persian figs. Chop the fresh mint and the preserved lemon skin finely and add them in as well. Toss to mix and finish with a dash of olive oil. Arrange the salad on a plate with the grilled eggplant and serve sprinkled with the left over pomegranate seeds.

Happy weekend!

December 01, 2010

Spiced Sweet Potato and Hazelnut Bread

It's the first of December! This day has always marked a special day for me as it is time to open the first window on an Advent calendar. As a child my brother and I used to have calendars with pictures on them and when we were a little older we had Advent calendars with small chocolates hidden behind the windows. My brother would tease me by opening all the windows in his calendar at once and eat all the chocolates and then threaten to open mine too (I know, what a horrible horrible brother ;-)). I, on the other hand, was so dedicated to my Advent calendar that I would not even consider opening more than one window at a time until all 24 windows were opened and it was finally Christmas Eve.

I have had an Advent calendar every single year as long as I can remember, and although those chocolate calendars are long gone, I am still so excited to continue with this tradition. Last year I bought a super cool Foodie calendar which I'm thinking of re-using from now on. This is the calendar for all you foodies out there, just check it out!

So to mark this special day (and the first day of Summer here in Australia), I baked this spiced sweet potato and hazelnut bread. Yes, it is delicious and will definitely be up there with my the other favourite of mine, the avocado and walnut bread! I've roasted the sweet potato to get more flavour, and the hazelnuts together with the spices are just screaming of CHRISTMAS!

Spiced Sweet Potato and Hazelnut Bread

450g sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tbsp olive oil

2 large free-range eggs
1/2 cup natural muscovado sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp walnut oil
1 1/2 cups organic, whole spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup hazelnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 200C. Place the sweet potato on a baking tray lined with baking paper and drizzle over 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Toss to coat and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Let cool and mash to a puree.

Combine the flour, baking powder and spices in a bowl. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar and the oils until pale (for a few minutes). Add the sweet potato puree and beat until mixed. Add the flour mixture and fold to combine. Lastly fold in the hazelnuts. Pour the mixture into a prepared loaf tin and bake in 180C for about 50 minutes. Cool on a wired rack and enjoy with a cup of steaming coffee or tea.

Happy 1st of December!

November 28, 2010

Joululimppu - Finnish Christmas Bread

It is First Advent today and my partner and I are meeting his parents for a pre-Christmas lunch. Last year we spent the Christmas here in Sydney and I prepared a full-on Scandinavian feast for us to enjoy: Finnish Christmas casseroles, salads, home-made gravlax and joululimppu - the Finnish Christmas bread.

I also prepared a Christmas hamper with everything home-made; including tomato chutney, apricot marmalade, chocolate, truffels, date cake, etc. Yes, I went Christmas crazy! Obviously I have taken it easy this year seeing we are departing for our trip in a week's time. I couldn't help myself but make this bread again as it was a huge success (especially had with home-made gravlax!), and this morning my home smells like sweet Christmas :-)

This is a typical bread for Christmas in Finland. We call it joululimppu ('joulu' meaning Christmas and 'limppu' meaning a type of bread), it is sweet because of the dark syrup (treacle) and fragrant thanks to the spices like aniseed and fennel. The crust is sweetened with syrup-water and it is my favourite of the whole bread. Back in Finland I'd have to fight over the end pieces of the bread with mum, but here I can enjoy them all by myself :-)

Joululimppu - Finnish Christmas Bread

100ml treacle (dark syrup)
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp aniseed or 1/2 tsp carraway seeds
1 tsp dried (but not candied) orange peel, finely chopped*
600ml buttermilk or milk
about 300g organic rye flour
about 300g organic white, unbleached spelt flour or plain wheat flour
4 tsp dry active yeast
a good pinch of salt
100ml canola oil or melted butter

1 tbsp treacle, extra
100ml water

*in Finland I would use 'bitter orange peel' for this, but dried orange peel works well, too

In a small saucepan bring the syrup and the spices to boil. Remove from the heat. Pour the milk into a large bowl and add the warm syrup. Mix and check the temperature. You will need this to be hand-hot so place it in the microwave and heat for a minute or two to get it right. Be careful not to over heat though! Add the yeast and the salt into a small amount of flour and stir into the milk. Starting adding the flour kneading and mixing as you go. You may need more flour (or use less) depending on the type of flour you are using. Knead the dough until smooth and slightly elastic. Add the oil and knead it in as well. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to double in size.

Form the dough into two large breads (shape of a large ball), place on a large roasting tin lined with baking paper and leave to rise for 20-30 minutes. Prick the breads and bake in 200C for about 50-60 minutes. After 45 minutes brush the bread with the syrup and water mixture (mix the syrup into warm water) and continue to bake until the base of the breads seems cooked. Leave to cool on a wired rack and serve with butter or gravlax.

Enjoy!

November 18, 2010

Spiced Almond and Rhubarb Muffins

My thoughts have been on the upcoming Christmas for quite a while now, probably ever since the last Christmas, to be exact! There is nothing like a white Christmas and to me it's the only Christmas I know, so you can probably imagine how weird it is for me to think Christmas whilst in the middle of the Australian summer.

I don't think it has quite hit me yet, probably for this above mentioned reason, that in a few weeks time I'll be in the Winter Wonderland, up at the Arctic Circle. There is a lot to do and a lot to see before we get there, however, so for now I'm trying to find a teeny bit of Christmas spirit in a way of these spiced muffins. It is the spices I've used in these muffins that make me think of Christmas, and I've poached the rhubarb in one of the stunningly fragrant teas I received from Swedelicious Tea. Christmas is getting closer, one muffin at a time!

Spiced Almond and Rhubarb Muffins
(Makes 12 small muffins)

1 cup water
2 tsp Swedelicious Rudolf Tea
250g rhubarb, cut into chunks
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
1 tbsp manuka honey blend

2 cups almond meal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
3 large free-range eggs
1/2 cup organic, unsweetened apple puree
1 tbsp agave nectar

Preheat oven to 175C and prepare a muffin tray.

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to boil, turn off the heat, and add the tea. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes then drain keeping the tea. Return the tea into the saucepan, add the rhubarb, vanilla and honey and bring to boil. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the rhubarb has softened.
Drain (keep the liquid and drink or use elsewhere, it's really lovely!) and leave to cool.

Mix the almond meal, baking powder and spices in a bowl. In another bowl whisk the eggs, add in the apple puree and the agave nectar and stir to mix. Pour the egg mixture into the almond mixture and stir to combine. Spoon the batter into the muffin tray and spoon some of the rhubarb on top of each one. Press gently with a spoon to 'sink' the rhubarb. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool slightly on a wired rack and serve warm with a cup of tea.

November 06, 2010

Tea Poached Salmon with Fragrant Brown Rice

Being so far away from home makes everything that reminds me of home mean a lot more to me than they would if I lived in Finland. Seeing a product that has Finnish writing, for example, makes me feel a bit nostalgic and hearing news from my home country in Australian tv makes me really see the news differently. Same goes with Finnish or Scandinavian companies in Australia. I don't know how many times I've told people that Nokia is not only a famous mobile phone brand, but also a town in Finland or that KONE, the big Finnish elevator and escalator company, is actually a Finnish word for machine.

Baring this in mind you can imagine how excited I was to learn about a company called Swedelicious. The lovely Helene and Richard are blending the most fragrant teas giving them the most catching names like 'Freya's Passion' which is part of their Viking range. Us Nordic people like to stick together, so when they offered to send me some of their teas for sampling, I was more than keen to try them out.

I received three different teas from their new Christmas collection; teas which are cutely named after Swedish Christmas characters, Santa's (which happens to be from Finland but recruites helpers from Sweden, too) helpers Nisse, Lusse and Rudolf. These are incredibly fragrant teas, blends of different spices and fruit, and just perfect for Christmas. I really wanted to try how the teas would work in cooking, so I decided to make tea poached salmon. I chose to use Nisse, a blend of cardamom, orange, pink peppercorn, cloves and cinnamon. The result was fragrant and flavoursome, reminding me of Finnish Christmas to come :-)

Tea Poached Salmon with Fragrant Brown Rice

2 tsp Swedelicious Nisse tea
5 cardamom pods
1 tsp pink peppercorns
300g salmon fillet

Fragrant Brown Rice
(Recipe adapted from Ross Dobson's Wholefood Kitchen)

1,5 cups long-grain brown rice
small handful sultanas
1 tsp ground cinnamon
tiny pinch of ground clove

1/4 lemon, juiced
2 shallot greens, chopped
Himalayan Pink Rock Salt
freshly ground black pepper
pistachios, toasted, to serve

To poach the salmon, fill a medium saucepan with water, add the tea and the spices and bring to boil. Let simmer for about 7 minutes, then drain it restoring the liquid in a bowl. Return the liquid in the saucepan, add the salmon fillet and bring to boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the salmon is just cooked through (pinkish inside is good). Take out the fillet and leave to cool. Fork the fillet into bite sized pieces.

Place the rice in a saucepan along with the sultanas, cinnamon and clove. Cover with water and bring to boil. Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until tender, drain out extra liquid if necessary, but leave the rice quite moist. Place the rice in a large bowl and let cool slightly. Add the shallots, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Fold in the salmon and sprinkle with pistachios.

Enjoy!

August 24, 2010

Pumpkin Chai Bread (Gluten-free)

Bored having the same old banana bread? Then try this recipe!

Lately I've been dealing a lot with pumpkins: I've roasted them, used them in salads and soups, but I hadn't yet tried my hands on the sweet pumpkin recipes. I browsed through a few recipes until I came across with this one: Pumpkin Chai Bread. Now how could I possibly NOT have tried this?

As I was mixing the dough it became obvious I was making something really good. The beautifully fragrant spices mixed with dark orange batter was just magical!

Pumpkin Chai Bread*
(Recipe adapted from GFG)

1 cup cooked and mashed pumpkin
1/2 cup light olive oil
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
1/2 cup orange juice

1 1/2 cups gluten-free plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
(1 tsp xanthan gum)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Whisk together the pumpkin, olive oil, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and orange juice. Stir in the dry ingredients and the walnuts and mix well until smooth. Pour the batter in to a greased loaf tin and bake in 175C for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

*I've made this gluten-free, but you could try using normal plain flour instead.
For gluten-free versions I would recommend using xanthan gum (which I omitted), because the texture will become a tad too crumbly without it. If anyone, however, can recommend a substitute for xanthan gum, I'd be more than grateful!

Enjoy!

May 20, 2010

Herbie's Spices, Rozelle

I have an incurable addiction to buying spices. I don't know why I find them so irresistible and fascinating, but I find myself stocking new spices in my ever so full spice stash almost weekly. You can then imagine what it felt like to visit the famous Herbie's in Rozelle. Yes, it was a feeling much like most girls would experience when stepping in to a shoe shop: I was in my sanctuary.

Real cinnamon, not cassia...

If you are unsure what to get there is the tasting shelf...

Umm can I have a moment on my own please? Just me and the spices.

And what did I find? Allspice, the much needed ingredient to make the Scandinavian pickled herring; Barberries for making... well I just needed to have them! And cute pink peppercorns which I don't actually like so much, but which I know will make a great addition to many dishes.

I'll definitely want to revisit this place very soon!