Macadamia and wattleseed Baklava

Is there anything better than a dark Turkish/Bosnian coffee with a sickly-syrupy-sweet slice of Baklava and a mid-afternoon chat with a good friend?! Growing up I watched my mum prepare Baklava many times, and as soon as my brother and I were old enough, we would sit down as a family for a Bosnian coffee with baklava, and sometimes Turkish delight and tahini Halva. What wonderful memories! She used the more traditional walnut in her Baklava, and though it didn't require any changes, my love for experimentation has resulted in this Aussie version! Wattleseed, for those of you who may not have heard of it, is the seed of an Australian Acacia plant. It has a subtle flavour and aroma reminiscent of ground coffee and cocoa - a perfect addition to this dessert!

Makes 750g Baklava

200g ground macadamias
1 tsp ground and roasted wattleseed
3 Tbsp rapadura sugar
100g butter, melted until liquid
200g filo pastry

Syrup
150g rapadura sugar
150mL water
2 tsp lemon juice
2 cardamom pods
1 Tbsp rose water
1/4 tsp orange flower water

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. In a bowl combine the ground macadamias, wattleseed, and 3 Tbsp of sugar. Grease a small baking dish (mine is 25cm by 17cm). Place a couple of sheets of filo pastry in the baking dish, folding the edges in so it is the right size. Top with a little bit of butter and sprinkle with some macadamia mixture. Cover with another 2 sheets of filo pastry and press down gently. Repeat until all of the macadamia mixture is used up. Finish with 2 sheets of filo pastry. Press down firmly. With a sharp knife cut the baklava into pieces - vertical lines in one direction and 45 degree diagonal lines in the other. Bake for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the syrup. Place the sugar, water, lemon juice, cardamom pods and orange flower water in a saucepan and heat gently while stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Then increase the temperature and simmer for 10 minutes without stirring. Stir in the rose water and remove the cardamom pods. Keep syrup warm while waiting for baklava to finish baking. Once out of the oven, pour syrup evenly over the top of the baklava. Allow to cool before serving.

Mole Poblano with crunchy avocado and mango salsa

Being a life-long chocolate addict, I still remember the sunny day a few years back when I discovered that you can eat it in a main meal. (What?! I don't have to wait for dessert anymore?! Fantastic!!) Since then we have had the pleasure of feasting on Mole Poblano many times and now I think I have the perfect accompaniment: crunchy avocado and mango salsa! Celery and red capsicum offer the crunch, while buttery avocado and sweet tropical mango taste divine with the nutty-spicy-chocolatey flavours of the mole.

Serves 3

Crunchy avocado and mango salsa
1 celery stalk, diced
1 small red capsicum (i.e. sweet pepper, for non-Aussies!), diced
1 large mango cheek, diced
1-2 shallots diced
1 avocado, diced
handful of coriander, chopped
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 Tbsp maple or agave syrup

Mole Poblano
2 corn cobs, sliced in 5cm-thick rounds
1 sweet potato, large chunks
(Other veggies you have in your fridge may also be used, e.g. plantain, green beans, pumpkin...)

1 dried ancho chilli
1 dried pasilla chilli
1 dried mulatto chilli
3 Tbsp peanut oil
1 small onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, crushed
30g goji berries (use raisins if you prefer)
30g almonds
30g peanuts
30g sesame seeds
3-4 handfuls corn chips, crushed (do this by hand straight in to the pan)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground star anise
1/2 tsp allspice
400ml vegetable stock
50g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)

Method
Deseed chillies, tear in to small pieces, fry in 1/2 Tbsp peanut oil for a few minutes then transfer to a bowl. Cover chillies with boiling water and leave to soak for 20-30 minutes. While the chillies are soaking, prepare the remaining ingredients. Parboil the corn and sweet potato for 5 minutes then set aside. (Roasting the sweet potato will bring out a better flavour, if you have the time!) To prepare the salsa, mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Drain all but a little of the water from the chillies and blend to a puree in a small food processor.

Heat the remaining peanut oil in a frying pan. Fry the onion until softening slightly then add garlic, goji berries, peanuts, almonds, sesame seeds, corn chips, oregano, thyme and fry for a few more minutes until almonds are just starting to brown. Add the cinnamon, cloves, star anise and allspice and fry until fragrant. Add the chilli puree and vegetable stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and puree with a hand held blender (warning: wear an apron!) or place in a food processor. Return to the heat and add the chocolate, stirring while it melts. Season to taste with salt and maybe a little sugar.

Add the corn and sweet potato chunks and simmer for a few more minutes.

Serve with brown rice.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year everyone! :)

We have a new addition to our family! Suco joined us in December 2008. He is a gorgeous baby blue-fronted Amazon parrot. He hasn't had a chance to try guava yet but so far he is obssessed with mango, blueberries and green beans!

More recipes will be online soon. Watch this space during January for sorbet, a macadamia-studded dessert and more!

Young coconut ceviche with fennel, avocado, nori flakes and baked pumpkin

I have always wanted to try a vegetarian version of ceviche, and tonight while sipping on a fresh young coconut I realised the white slippery flesh looked a bit like raw fish! LOL :) As it turns out, young coconut is great in ceviche, with nori flakes giving that necessary hint of the sea. The combination is complemented by chilli, lime, and coriander; crunchy fennel and red capsicum add to the texture and colour, and the baked pumpkin adds sweetness and warmth. If you want to make this into a full Peruvian-inspired meal, serve with corn on the cob and some pan-fried tempeh marinated in garlic and soy sauce.

Serves 2

1 young coconut, flesh only, cut into thin strips (drink the coconut water while cooking!)
Juice of 1 lime
Zest of 1/2 lime
1 chilli, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2-1 sheet of nori, torn/cut into small flakes or strips
1 handful of coriander, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
Sea salt

1/2 red capsicum, thinly sliced
1/2 baby fennel, thinly sliced
1/2 avocado, diced
2 thin (less than 1cm) pumpkin rounds

Method
Place the young coconut strips, lime juice and zest, chilli, shallot, nori flakes, coriander, olive oil, and some sea salt in a bowl and leave to marinate for one hour. Meanwhile brush the pumpkin with olive oil and bake in a 200C oven until soft (about 15 minutes). When ready to serve, carefully toss the red capsicum, fennel, and avocado through the coconut mixture. Arrange ceviche on top of baked pumpkin rounds and dust with sea salt. Buen provecho!

Grilled mango and pecan salad with fetta, avocado and sweet chilli-raspberry dressing

I have the best ideas when I am stuck with a few odd ingredients in the kitchen. In this case it was mango, fetta and avocado. I knew I had to use all three in the same dish… but what to do?! Then I remembered the Cuttaway Creek raspberry wine vinegar I had purchased on a girls’ weekend away in the Southern Highlands some months ago. What a perfect accompaniment to mango! I wanted to bring out the flavour of the mango so I grilled it and threw in a few pecan nuts for protein. The smell of mango and pecans frying together is divine; I suggest you put your schnoz right in there while it is cooking! Sweet chilli sauce adds a hint of chilli to the dressing and the sweetness of the mango and raspberry vinegar are perfectly complemented by bitter radicchio and rocket leaves and the saltiness of fetta. Add some creamy avocado and fragrant basil… and you have my new favourite salad!

Serves 2

Salad
1 mango, cut into large slices
1 handful of pecans
1 Tbsp olive oil

2 handfuls young radicchio leaves, or centre leaves of large radicchio
2 handfuls of young minuette lettuce leaves, or other green lettuce such as endive
2 handfuls of rocket leaves
1 avocado, halved then sliced
1 handful of basil leaves, sliced thinly
100g fetta cheese, crumbled

Dressing
1/8 cup raspberry wine vinegar*
1/8 cup sweet chilli sauce

Method
Arrange radicchio, minuette lettuce and rocket leaves on serving plates. Top with avocado, basil and crumbled fetta. Heat olive oil in a grill pan and fry mango slices until golden on all sides. Add pecans and grill for a few extra minutes. Arrange grilled mango slices and pecans on top of salad. Mix together raspberry wine vinegar and sweet chilli sauce and drizzle over salad. Enjoy!

* Cuttaway Creek raspberry wine vinegar is from the Southern Highlands, NSW Australia. It is so sweet and tasty you could almost drink it on its own!

Welcome to guavablossom food blog!

This blog is dedicated to vegetarian/vegan cooking with a tropical flavour! Enjoy! :)