I love the name Quandongs and it seems to get everyone in.......I've had a lot of people ask me how to cook them .....they're a bit like cooking ruhbarb, you need to add a fair bit of sugar as they are fairly sour if you want to stew them to eat over cereal or as a desert with ice-cream.

Often known as the desert or native peach, although they're not a bit like them in look or flavour the name goes back to the days of the European settlers. It's a tart fruit with a large pitted kernel.

The Quandong is now grown as a commercial crop and the CSIRO have been studying it since 1973 to find out the ideal growing conditions...the quandong moth is a bit of a problem and when you buy them in dried version keep them in a cool and dry place.

The fruit itself is very high in Vitamin C (twice that of oranges) and has been a staple food in the outback for the Aboriginal people.

The best way to store Quandongs is in the dried form and to reconstitute put into cold water...approx 1 cup quandong to 1 ltre of water, simmer for a few minutes then leave to soak a few hours, or ideally in the fridge overnight. They will plump up to over twice their size and weight.

The liquid used for this can be boiled up with equal parts sugar to create a syrup and used over ice-cream or other deserts...."waste not want not" it's a fantastic bright red and so looks great drizzeled around the plate.

more on Quandongs and cooking tomorrow......

If you want to try some bush food, why not get yourself a fish, vegetable, peel some paperbark off a tree and cook it over the BBQ.....this recipe is delicious and simple to prepare......if you go to www.makingtracks.com.au (or click on Outback Chef logo opposite) for a full pictorial step by step guide. Let me know what you think.

I've just got some new bush tomatoes in, they were a little hard to get last year due to climatic conditions. Bush Tomatoes are still native harvested and most of the time are dried in the sun.

Bush tomatoes grow in the desert areas of Australia they are an important crop and one of the Aboriginal people's most precious fruit.

The plants will grow in force for a few seasons and then dry off waiting for the next bushfire to regenerate. Aboriginal women collect these fruits when dried in their coolamuns (a carved wooden dish) grind them to a fine powder add water to form a paste, roll them into balls to be dried again and stored in the trees for use later, this way they would keep for many months.

The fruit, after drying in the sun, looks like a raisin and is a reddish/brown colour. They can make you ill if you eat too many of them when they are fresh, the drying process reduces the level of alkaloids in the fruit.

The bush tomato has a spicy flavour and can be used in many recipes. For recipe ideas go to www.bushfoodrecipes.com.au

This recipe was sent to me by Jenny Bury....... .

Quandong Fruit slab
after you reconsitute your required amount of dried Quandongs, add some sugar or honey to taste and a small amount of glucose syrup,boil up and mash until a pulp, cool down then place onto plastic lined trays and lay in the sun for 2-3 days and then flip over on plastic sheets and dry other side off.
when dried, cut into small squares and dust with castor sugar and store in glass jars-magnificant !

March 27, 2010 7:50 PM

It's the final week, the lead up to Christmas, a little hard on the purse, the credit card and with all thos parties one after another, and all that food that leaves the diet far far behind and the digestive tract and "beyond" in no doubt that over-indulgence has well and truly happened. 

So, if I can suggest and recommend you make a Pepperberry Sorbet you might want to tell me where to put my pepperberries...but actually IT DOES WORK this Pepperberry and Lemon Sorbet is just the shot for the "tricky guts" and it will set you up for the next round of gourmet food and party pies.  I made some for a party last Sunday and it was real hit, it surprised me how many of the men really loved it. I doubled the quantity of pepperberries in the recipe so it was brigter in colour and hotter (pictured)

So onward every onward with the next round of merriment.

Pepperberry & Lemon Sorbet

This wonderful recipe using dried Quandongs has been passed onto me from Mark Lees who is a ranger at the Northern Kosciuszko National Park, he has made it for the staff there who have assured me it is the yummies pie going

Prep Time:  1 Hour

Serves 6

Ingrediants

2 cups quandongs (dried preferably)

1 litre water

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornflour

250gram short crust pastry

200 grams mixed berries

200 ml custard

Method

Simmer quandongs with water and sugar until thick and hydrated then stir in mixed berries.   Make a smooth paste with the cornflour by adding a little water.  While quandong and berries are simmering stir in the cornflour mixture bring to the boil until the first bubbles appear then take of the heat and cool.

Grease a 20cm pie tin and then line with pastry pressing the pastry into the sides and leaving an overlap of pastry.  Fill the pie crust until 3/4 full with quandong and berry mix, pipe a swirl of custard over the quandong and berry mix.  Brush egg wash around edge of pie crust and top with a pastry cover.  Crimp pie edge to form a seal and brush top with egg wash.  Run a folk over pastry to form a pattern then place five holes in pastry top and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 180C for 30-45 minutes or until pastry is cooked and nicely browned.

Notes:

May need to extend or reduce cooking time depending on your oven

Keeps for 5 days in the fridge sealed well or 4 months in the freezer

Serve with whipped cream

Take one Coral Trout or any fish that you fancy

Stuff fish with Vegetables, whatever you like, zucchini, mushroom, pumpkin, onion, carrot, etc sprinkle with mountain pepper, murray river salt and lemon myrtle to taste, you could also use aniseed myrtle here instead of lemon myrtle, this herb goes fantastically well with any seafood.

I usually use of good sprinkling.  For this fish I used a heaped dessertspoon of lemon myrtle.

Now peel some paperbark of a paper bark tree, wash it and soak for about 5 minutes in water, use wet, then wrap fish in it...

I also wrap it all in foil, as it not only keeps the paperbark in place, but also stops coals and stuff getting into the food. 

The paperbark gives a lovely smokey flavour.  Onto to the BBQ for about 40 minutes, check after 30 minutes, just depending on the heat of your fire and also the size of the fish, little pieces or smaller fish obviously take less time ...now it's time to sit down, enjoy a drink....and have fun

Everything in Melbourne now seems to be either in bud, blossom or about to shoot...Spring is a great time of the year.  Time to get out in the garden and start gardening and time to consider your bush food garden.  There are three methods used for propogating most plants, either start by planting seedlings, use cuttings or dividing plants or else by grafting.

Unless you have cuttings in your garden or are dividing existing plants or share with friends seeds are the cheapest way to get plants.  You often create the most hardy plants as they are grown from the start in your garden and weather to your garden's individual specifications.  If using rainforest plants  plant them as soon as you can, as they often won't germinate if left in storage for long periods of time.  For temperate and alpine plants store in the refridgerator or similar cool, wet temperatue for weeks to simulate winter or else plant at the beinning of winter to germinate in the Spring.  Scratch the hard-coated seeds eg wattles to stimulate germination.

Something like Native Thyme (Ocimum tenuiflorum), pictured, are great seeds for your garden, grows from arid to tropical, it is common throughout Australia, plant in full/part-sun, provide a little extra water to get started but is drought tolerant once established.

Leaves of the Native Thyme can be used in salads, sauces and soups.  Leaves can be used fresh or dried, they make a refreshing tea.

Also called Watery Rose Apple and Water Cherry, these small red, bell-shaped fruit are crunchy and acid-sweet.  I've just got some in from Atherton Tableland from the grower and I must admit I'm also looking forward to doing some cooking with them.  The tree can reach from 3 - 10 metres and has a short, crooked trunk branching close to the ground.  It's flowers are fragrant and are pale-yellow.  The tree is only suited to low altitudes in the tropics and areas where there is rainfall fairly well spaced throughout the year.

It is also known in Malaysia, Indonesia and India.  It is grown for its edible fruits, its hard wood; which is used to make tools  and also its bark which is said to have theraputic benefits.  A decoction of the astringent bark is a local application on thrush.

In Indonesia the water apple is loved by children who eat it to relieve thirst.  The fruits are sold in markets skewered onto bamboo sticks, also served in salads which can be a ceremonial dish for new mothers.

According to research done by RIRDC, (Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation)

The antioxidant activity of fresh and dried plant extracts of the Syzygium aqueum were studied using beta-carotene bleaching and the 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical cation assay. The percentage of antioxidant activity for all extract samples using both assays was between 58 and 80%. The fresh samples had higher antioxidant activity than the dried samples. The results of the beta-carotene bleaching assay were correlated (R(2) = 0.9849) with those of the ABTS assay.

Australian Aboriginal Bush Tucker - Bush Food for thousands of years the aboriginal people have lived off the land, eating well when food was plentiful and conserving in times of drought.  This food is called bushfood or bushtucker it's our native cuisine.  Today bushfood is modern, contemporary and fun, it can be used in all our favourite recipes or create new and exciting ones.

Healthy eating program Taste It, Do It, Live It   

See SBS story on the opening of the Jilamara Art Centre

Outback Chef's Red Curry Cauliflower Soup, one of the dishes that I made with the students for the opening of the Tiwi College new library.  If you would like the recipe it's on the inside of the Australian Red Curry pack

WATTLESEED ICE-CREAM

250ml full cream milk

600 ml thickened cream

100g sugar

pinch salt

2 teaspoons roasted wattle seed

LEMON MYRTLE & COCONUT ICE CREAM

250 mul full cream milk

300 mil thickened cream

300 ml coconut cream

100g sugar

pinch salt

1 tsp ground lemon myrtle (can add more if you want it stronger)

DAVIDSON PLUM ICE-CREAM

375g Davidson Plum puree

300 ml thickened cream

100g caster sugar

Note:  this one is quite tangy as the Davidson Plum is tart, more sugar can be added if you want it sweeter.

METHOD FOR THE THREE ICE-CREAMS

Mix all ingredients together, heat in saucepan

Chill, churn in ice-cream maker and freeze

or if making by hand, put in freezer and take out and beat by hand during freezing process

PEPPERBERRY & LEMON SORBET

200 ml lemon juice (approx 3 lemons)

450 ml cold water

200g caster sugar

2 egg whites (lightly beaten)

0.5g freeze dried ground pepperberry

METHOD

Combine sugar and water stirring over heat until dissolved

Boil for 5-10 mins until light syrup (110C)

Cool and add juice

Chill, churn in ice-cream maker, add pepperberry (it will then go bright pink)

Add egg whites when sorbet has started freezing

If doing by hand, beat egg whites until stiff add to mixture after juice and add pepperberry

Davidson's Plum can be used in the same way as blood plums when stewing fruits or jam making;  but remember they are a lot more tangy than blood plums with a high acidic taste.  You can also mix the two together and add sweetners to get the required taste.

A really quick and easy way to make JAM is with CSR's special jam sugar.....I usually buy it in my local IGA supermarket, it's in a brown coloured bag marked Jam Making Sugar.  Follow the instructions on the side of the packet, but in short it's equal parts fruit to sugar ie 1kg fruit to 1kg jam sugar, boil for 4 minutes and then bottle, it really is that easy.

Botanical name Davidsonia pruriens, Aboriginal name: Ooray.  Tim Low call's this plum "the Queen of Australian rainforest plums". 

The plum looks like a blood plum, but is very sour in taste. It has two flat seeds that are about the same size as the blood plum's.  It is a small, narrow rainforest tree.  The varieties found in North Queensland are different from those in Southern Queensland and Northern NSW.  The plums that Outback Chef sells are from Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland.  It is an importnt fruit in the modern bushfood industry.

According to research done by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) a division of the Australian Government

A high level of lutein, a carotenoil compound that plays an important role in eye health was detected in Davidson's Plum, possessing higher levels than avocado.  Lutein improves visual function and symptions in atrophic age-related macular degeneration this is the leading cause of vision loss in aging Western societies.  Lutein protects the retina from damage by inhibiting inflammation.

There is also relatively high antioxidant activity detected in the lipophilic fractions, which unlike hydrophilic antioxidants, which do not accumulate in the body and are excreted in urine, lipophilic antioxidants penetrate the lipoprotein cell membrane more easily and therefore reach a higher level of bioavailability.  The presence of anitoxidant compounds that are active in both the hydrophilic and the lipophilic environment, within the same food source, may provide more comprehensive protection for oxidative stress.  Subsequently this may result in higher levels of protection and possibly more pronounced health benefits.  In this aspect, Davidson's plum exceeds the quality of the Blueberry control and other traditionally consumed fruits.

for more information

The flesh of Davidson's plum has a high level of anthocyanins, a potent antioxidant with a range of health benefits. Anti-diabetic effects and reduction of obesity have been reported arising from their consumption.  A possible good source of a natural food colour with health-enhancing properties for a wide application in beverages and confectionery might be considered.

Cooking tips using Davidson's Plum

For those of you who have been asking for more Quandong recipes "Mark's Quandong Pie with Mixed Berries and Custard" is, I have been assured a "ripper".  If you go to the recipe section of this website you'll find it under it's heading.  Mark is a ranger and also tells me a chef in another life, at the Northern Kosciuszko National Park....he very kindly passed this recipe onto me to share with you, he has made it many times for the staff at the Tumut Visitors Centre.  I am yet to try it myself, but am certainly looking forward to making it in the next week.....but if any of you do please let me know the results.

It's been a while since my last blog as my travels have been far and wide.  After a lot of packing and upheavel I've finally landed in Melbourne...a big change from the Sunshine Coast, but an exciting one.

Before coming to Melbourne I went on a trip up to Mission Beach and beyond seeking more bushfood and contacts.  It's been a lot of years since I've been there, although a few more exotic looking homes, not much seems to have changed, it's a fantastic place with the sugar cane fields and the banana plantations and lovely old Queensland buildings.  I met Annie at Off the Rails, a great coffee shop and giftware...Annie uses a lot of bush food in her cooking, jams, cutchneys, cookies and cakes her place is a taste sensation. 37 Hynes Street, Sth Johnstone (on the road from Mission Beach to Innisfail).

At Innisfail I went to see some crocodiles at the local Croc place, they are quite scary up close...the ranger went into the enclosure with only a long stick and gave us a good educational talk about their habits, I was a little nervy as the gate to the enclose was left wide open and metres between me and the croc, he did explain that if he (meaning the ranger) did a runner to the gate don't get in his way!!! AS IF!!  Also, very close to my heart are our native dingoes, these particular dingoes have been raised sinces pups and are used to people hangdling them (yes, that's me with the dingo...the picture was taken just after he gave me a quick lick across the face and then turned his attention to a wandering rooster!  Don't go cuddling any wild dingoes please.

Another place, one of so many, up Far North Queensland, is Parenella Park...this place is an absolute must see...built by one man in the 1930's the first in Australia to have it's own hydo power set in a botanic gardens of wonderful exotic foliage, a huge waterfall and caves, it's number 1 "must see" on the RACQ list.

from Far North Queensland, with it's heat and humidity to Melbourne...more on that trip later

Wattle Seed wild harvested.........Botanical name....Acacia victoriae.....Common names  ....Elegant wattle, Prickly wattle, Gundabluey, Bramble wattle, Elegant acacia.
 
Traditional Aboriginals used A. victoriae in arid regions of Australia as a food source. Occuring in all main land states.

Women would collect seed pods from the trees when ripe, separate seed 'yandy' clean in a wirra. Parch by fire, pound and ground into a flour. Mix water with flour to make a dough, then place in fire coals/ash to get a "jonny cake."

Green pods fully formed were also lightly roasted and the seed eaten.

In plentiful times seed could be stored away, it has a very hard seed coat. From the legumaceae family it has a pea flavour. Having a high protein level approx 17%, carbohydrate 41%, fibre 29%,fat 3 % (Brand&Cherikoff 1985) and a low Gi average 1480+270 KJ /100gms (Brand &Maggire  1992).

 
Most of todays  uses are based around  making a roasted  hazel-nutty flavour from the seed. By roasting the raw wattle seed until it pops (similar to pop corn). This new unique flavour has many uses in coffee like beverages(caffine free), essences, beer, baking, confectionary, dairy and marinades.

Over the past few years even the pod/husk of A. victoriae have been researched for its medical properties in the fight against cancer.

The emerging native food industry will have benefits to all;  from the growers to the end users. 

Today my focus is on Aniseed myrtle "Backhousia anisata", an aniseed flavoured herb with a fresh eucalypt after taste.

It is related to the ever-popular lemon myrtle and is grown in the rainforest areas of eastern Australia.  The leaf is used either fresh or dried, the latter being ground to a fine powder.

Tests done in September 2009 by RIRDC (Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation) a division of the Australian government have found that aniseed myrtle has a superior antioxidant capacity, which gives us protection from oxidative stress and helps in the anti-aging process.

High in Vitamin C, E and folate, also chlorophyll a and b;  which is the major pigment present in plants, also plays a vital role in reducing oxidative stress in the human body.

It has high levels of lutein, a compound important in the role of eye health.  It contains high levels of zinc, calcium and evaluated as very high in magnesium.  The samples of aniseed myrtle were evaluated in dried form.

So how to use this in your cooking....below is an extremely simple recipe I use to put on salad greens.....the comments that I get are positive and I've had a number of people say to me what's in it"  Whilst they don't detect the aniseed taste in the first instance they do make the comment that there is something "soft" in it....and go back for more...this is a subtle entry to the world of using aniseed myrtle.  Use it instead of Star Anise or fennel in your cooking.

Aniseed myrtle salad dressing

1 teaspoon Aniseed Myrtle

2 tablespoons of sweet and sour sauce

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

Mix all together and mix into your salad

SPECIAL OFFER....receive a 10g sample bag FREE (that's about  tablespoon full) if you sign on for my "very newsworthy" newsletter and also send me an email requesting the aniseed myrtle offer.  If you've already signed on just send me an email requesting the sample.

for more information on the health benefits of our native foods, including Aniseed myrtle, go to

So what's bush tucker about this soup you might say???  My main aim is to educate you into using our wonderful herbs and spices as part of day to day cooking...this recipe is very easy and quick to make and utilizes Australian salt and pepper......

INGREDIANTS

1 brown onion

1 desertspoon of white miso (you can purchase this sometimes in the supermarket and also at  grocery shops)

1 bunch of asparagus

1 bunch of bok choy

Murray River Salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon Tasmanian pepperleaf

2 cups of water

METHOD

Chop onion and brown in saucepan with a little oil, add chopped asparagus (save a couple of asparagus tips to decorate if you wish)

Add desertspoon of white miso paste

Add 2 cups of water

Add chopped bok choy

Add 1/2 tspn of Tasmanian pepperleaf

Cook until tender, taste .....and then add the salt to taste

Put in a food processor or barmix together until smooth....serve

Serves 2 people in fairly decent sized bowls

Doesn't it bug you when you look at the scales and find that your weight has snuck up to an undesirable level!!!  No more muffins and chocolate...well for a while anyway....While I'm going to cut out and cut back on some things, not on the great abundance of vegetable, herbs and spices that we have at our disposable, so with that in mind I've created this great soup....just the thing for a Sunday night dinner, maybe with a dim sim or two!!  No cream in this one, but a wonderful creamy texture.

Because of the diversity of population and the geographical location Australian cooking covers a wide spectrum.....my job at Outback Chef is to encourage you to use some of our fantastic herbs and spices in your day to day cooking.....soooo here is a recipe that is good for you, tastes great and has our own Murray River Salt and Tasmanian Mountain pepper in it....not to mention it's easy and quick to make....using white miso, which is a favourite ingrediant of mine plus bok choy and asparagus....Bok Choy and Asparagus soup with Mountain Pepper

This Bushfood Combo is a hands-on bushfood kit designed to get things happening in the kitchen.  If you are interested in bushfood, but when it comes down to it don't know where to go in everyday cooking.  This kit is available at a special price, it incluces favourite bushfoods as well as fact sheets and how the Aboriginal people used them in their everyday cooking as well as easy to follow recipes and all the latest information on the health aspects of bushfood.  If you havn't yet tried any bushfood I can recommend this kit and am offering it at great value to entice you along the way a bit.

Just heard a great recipe idea for using your Anise myrtle.....one of my customers made a white sauce and added some Anise myrtle to the sauce, then poured it over his baked vegetables, sounds good and worth a try.

When Queen Victoria gave royal assent to the Australian Constitution on 9 July 1900, our nation was created. 9 July is now recognised as Constitution Day.  To celebrate in style, the National Archives commissioned culinary legend Maggie Beer to prepare a Constitution Cake. 

Outback Chef was very proud to supply the bush fruits for this fabulous cake and the recipe is as follows, thanks to the National Archives of Australia for making this recipe available <http://www.naa.gov.au>

Constitution Cake recipe

375ml verjuice
180g davidson's plums (defrosted, sliced and seed removed)*
120g muntries (defrosted)*
120g quandongs (dried)
120g dried currants
60g almonds, whole
50g caster sugar
120g dark-brown sugar
180g unsalted butter, chopped
4 eggs
180g self-raising flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
120g candied mixed peel
finely grated rind of 1 lemon

nut paste
120g macadamia nuts
100g icing sugar
1 egg yolk

* Available from specialist native food suppliers.

Reconstitute dried quandongs by soaking in 375ml of verjuice and 50g caster sugar for 30 minutes, then boil for 5 minutes. Turn off, add currants, leave to soften for 1 hour. Drain and reserve syrup.

Preheat the oven to 220ºC and grease and line a 20cm round spring-form cake tin with baking paper.

Dry-roast 120g macadamia nuts and 60g almonds (keeping them separate) on a baking tray for 6–8 minutes, then set aside to cool. Reset the oven to 170ºC.

To make the nut paste, blend the roasted macadamias in a food processor, then add the icing sugar and egg yolk and pulse to form a stiff paste. Set aside.

In the cake mixer, cream the brown sugar and butter until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of flour if the mixture curdles.

Fold in the flour, spices, currants, quandongs, sliced davidson's plums (seed removed), whole muntries, almonds and candied peel. Stir in the grated lemon zest and the reserved syrup, to give a soft batter.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared tin, then spread the nut paste over the mixture and top it with the remaining batter.

Bake for 2.5 hours (or until a fine skewer comes out clean). If the top colours too quickly, cover with foil for the last hour. Leave the cake to cool a little in the tin before turning it out.

"I was thrilled to be asked to make a cake for this exciting day and immediately thought to bring as much history into the recipe as I could.

For many reasons it had to be fruit cake, but something very different and special. It's a cake that gets better with age, as long as it's been made with the best of ingredients and cooked with love.

This recipe marries the rich Aboriginal food culture so few Australians know much about with that of our first settlers.

Davidson plums, a native plum with great colour and flavour and quandongs, so revered by our Aboriginal community, add a defining taste to the cake. Muntries too, a berry hardly used. And, of course, I had to use macadamia, that king of all nuts we should be proud of being native to Australia. In recognition of the mix of cultures in Australia, currants and almonds are included.

The final recipe, I hope, shows the depth of our food culture with a footnote to the wealth of flavour to be found in our native ingredients that are truly unique."

Maggie Beer
9 July 2010

This sequel to Womat Stew, a favourite with so many children, Wombat Stew Cookbook is just the thing to inspire the inner chef.  It's full of really good-fun recipes and the illustrations are sensational.  With recipes such as Bandicoot Ginger Biscuits, Possum Peanut butter Balls and Dingo damper the fun goes on and on.  I really recommend this book as one that I'm sure will not only delight your children but also bring out the inner "child" spirit in any adult.

To all those that have been waiting, this book is now back in stock.  From roasts to rissoles and everything in between this outback bush cookbook is a lot of fun.

Ingrediants

40g Outback Chef Lemon Pepper

150g roasted macadamia nuts

80g sesame seeds

50g roasted pine nuts

2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds

Method

Grind nuts coarsely in food processor

Mix together with other ingrediants

Serve with bread and a good Australian olive oil

If you want to try something a little different, why not give Bush Tomato Popcorn a go.  I got this recipe idea from Australia on a Silver Platter....

"We used the ordinary popcorn (not the microwave one) and popped it in a deep pot with macademia oil and crushed garlic.  when ready, we added generously butter and ground bush tomato.  Gourmet popcorn for the adults too!"

It's always interesting to hear the various and inventive ideas that people come up with using Australian native food.  If you've got any I'd love to hear from you and don't mind sharing them on line.

I think this popcorn would really how the "wow" factor if it was served with guests.....most people love popcorn, once you start eating it you can't stop, so be sure to give this recipe a go.