Autumn 2022

My favourite season - Autumn

Crunchy leaves underfoot

Colour in the Tree Trust.

 

Spicy Sauce for Dumplings - recipe

1/8 cup of oil   (1/4 cup is way too much)

1 Tbsp crushed garlic

1 Tbsp crushed ginger

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp sichuan pepper grounded

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

(need for sauce)

1 Tbsp Chinese black vinegar (or malt vinegar) (or Red vinegar sauce with 1 tsp sugar)

1 Tbsp Soy sauce

1 tsp sesame seeds

extra sugar

extra salt

Part One

Make the chilli "oil"

1.  Dry fry the sichuan peppercorns until fragrant and let cool.  Grind them until they look like chilli flakes.

2. Get a large bowl (there will be splashing and steaming, so allow space for this to happen).

3. In the large bowl, Combine the garlic, ginger chilli flakes, ground sichuan pepper, sugar and salt.  

4. Stir it so it is all mixed.

5. Heat the 1/8 cup of oil until hot.

6. Carefully pour hot oil into the large bowl.  There will be splashing so wear sleeves.

7. Carefully stir and then let it cool down.

Part Two

Add to the chilli "oil".

1 Tbsp Chinese black vinegar (or malt vinegar) (or Red vinegar sauce with 1 tsp sugar)

1 Tbsp Soy sauce

1/4 - 1/2 tsp sugar

salt to taste

Give it all a good stir and put aside

Once the dumplings are cooked and hot, pour the sauce over all. Gentle stir to coat dumplings.

Garnish with 1 tsp sesame seeds

Feijoa Jelly

I save the shells of the feijoas. I cut them into 4, and then freeze them.  When I have a bread bag full, I make feijoa jelly.

1 cup of feijoa liquid to 3/4 cup sugar.  Zest and juice of a lemon. I also pop in chilli flakes, and a drop of red food colouring.

 

Sunsets - Eruption influence

 

The eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano on 15 January 2022 was the largest recorded since the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.  We heard the sonic boom in Rotorua about 2 hours later.  It shook the house.

A bi-product of the eruption is the dust in the sky, which has made spectacular sunsets.  This is expected to continue for the rest of the year.

Bread and Apple pudding

 Got some hot cross buns from the supermarket, but their flavour was lacking.

Turned them into Budino di Mele instead.

( half serving size is in brackets for smaller households)

4 hot cross buns / 1 1/2 cups bread  (4 slices) ripped into bite sized pieces

1 tsp cinnamon (1/2 tsp)

1/2 tsp cardamon or nutmeg (1/4 tsp)

1/2 tsp ground cloves (1/4 tsp)

zest 1 lemon

1/2 cup sugar (1/4 cup)

4 apples peeled and diced (2 apples)

600 mls milk (300ml)

4 eggs beaten (2 eggs)

Preheat oven to 180 degree C.

Mix the eggs, milk and sugar together.

Add the spices, mix well.

Add everything else. Give it a good stir.

Pour into oiled shallow dish. Lamington tray is okay.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until set, puffed up, and well browned. Make sure the middle is cooked.

Remove from oven, cool a little.

Dust with icing sugar and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Also, can microwave for 9 minutes on MediumHigh.

Lime Bread - shaped

 

I was given a bucket full of limes, so made a shaped bread with a lime butter filling. I used a lime glaze to finish the bread.

Tried out a new method of shaping the bread. It reminds me a little of fern koru.

This is how I shaped the bread prior to the rising.

I rolled the dough out, spread the lime/butter filling, then rolled half way up.  I cut strips along the unrolled dough, and plaited them. Then I rolled the rest of the way.

Cereal / Muesli

 I've been making my breakfast cereal for a while now. Home made muesli.

Here's the recipe:

1.5kg wholegrain oats (rolled oats are too floury)

40 gm ground cinnamon (1 box)

1x cup Pumpkin seeds

2 cups sunflower seeds

100 gm sliced almonds

250 gm shredded unsweetened coconut thread

400 gm raw ground linseed/flaxseed

1 cup - 2 cups cranberries / or sultanas / or dried mango / etc

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Combine the whole oats and cinnamon in a big roasting dish.

Mix in the pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.

Cook in the oven for 8 minutes. 

Remove, give everything a good stir, and pop back in the oven for another 8 minutes.

Remove from the oven.

Add the sliced almonds and shredded coconut threads. Give a good stir.

Put back in the oven and cook for another 5-8 minutes. Keep an eye on it, as the coconut likes to burn.

Remove from oven. Give a good stir. 

Wait for it to cool down. (about an hour).

Add in the raw ground linseed/flaxseed and dried cranberries/sultanas/dried mango.

Mix everything real good.

Store in air tight containers.