Persimmon Cookies

Oh my gosh Morgan made Persimmon cookies! He got the recipe straight out of the Food Connect newsletter this week

Ingredients:
2 ripe persimmons, pureed
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg (we didn't have any, so we used cloves)
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup white or raw sugar
115g butter
1 cup raisins (we used dates)
1 cup chopped walnuts (we used almonds)
You can substitute raisins and walnuts for any dried fruit or nuts of your choice. You can also use ground cloves or ginger for extra zing.

Method
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Dissolve baking soda in persimmon pulp, then set aside.
Sift flour, spices and salt together, then set aside
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, beat in egg and persimmon.
Stir in dry ingredients nuts and dates.
Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.


I'm not a big sweets person, but these are delicious with a big cup of tea. The spices really work as the weather cools down and we head towards Anzac day and remembrance of the year gone by. This is Australian harvest living.

Tandoori chicken with persimmon raita and beetroot chutney

Tonight after a bike ride to the Gap and back, we made tandoori chicken. Marinading this overnight is ideal, but you can make a dinner to rival any regular BBQ chook with only 1hr in preparation.


I added fresh cinnamon, cardamom seeds and cloves to this recipe


Mix tumeric, smoked paprika, ground coriander, garam masala


Mix yogurt, lemon juice, spices, garlic and ginger together and rub under the skin of the chicken. It's pretty messy, but don't worry too much. I stuffed a couple of half-lemons into the tummy. Put on the BBQ and obey these instructions.


I grew up with my grandma making banana, coriander, dessicated coconut and lime juice sambal (thank you Charmaine Solomon!). My grandma lived in Kuala Lumpur in the 1930s when my dad was very young. Our family has a long tradition of home-cooked curries.


Another classic of Charmaine is her raita. I made it tonight with julienned persimmon instead of cucumber. Add natural yogurt, lime juice, salt, a little grated ginger and garlic and coriander.


Pop cubes of beetroot and roughly sliced red onions in the oven at 180 degrees for 1/2 hour in some olive oil.


Inspired by Nigella's Beetroot chutney, I poured roasted beetroot and onion into a frypan and simmered with 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, grated ginger, chopped garlic, garam masala, one mandarin's worth of juice for 10mins. Serve with mandarin segments and coriander tossed through. The mandarin really gives a complimentary flavour to the beetroot.


Serve beetroot, persimmon, chicken and banana over rice and eat!


A light, delicate variety of flavours all working together to honour the hard work of Brissy farmers.

Persimmon Prawn Rice Paper Rolls

I was inspired by this recipe to make dinner last night.


This is my first time using rice paper rolls. They're fun to play with. You just dip them in water and they become like gladwrap for any food! I served them with hoisin sauce and a chilli concoction.


To make the rice noodles just soak them in hot water for 20minutes or so. This whole meal requires no cooking at all. Just a big bowl of hot water. It's fantastically easy to prepare. I got one of my dinner guests to julienne the persimmon whilst we were drinking wine and catching up. Too easy! :)


For the rolls I used mung beans, prawns, mint, coriander, persimmon, spring onion and rice vermicelli. Per person this costs about $3.50 ($2.50 100g prawns + $0.50 herbs + $0.50 vermicelli and wraps) in addition to the Food Connect ingredients.


I also grated carrot (you can see in the background on the left). But, I ended up mostly ignoring it.


Fresh red chillies, fish sauce, lime juice and garlic.


Friends eating together by candlelight on our balcony. I feel like Jamie Oliver!

For dessert I served roughly chopped apples with brie cheese. I also poached up some pears with muscato, a cinnamon stick, cardamom seeds, cloves and brown sugar. Served with mascarpone cheese with vanilla sugar.Unfortunately I have no photos of the end of the night due to rather a large amount of wine being consumed. Hehe. Yummo!