Japanese Cabbage Salad

Since I mentioned that I made some Japanese salads (plural) in a recent post, I thought I should follow up with the other salad that I made for our sushi night.

This salad doesn't sound all that glamorous but it is deceptively delicious AND stunningly simple to make. The combination of garlic, ginger and spring onion gives a really fresh hit to the tastebuds and is complimented by the crunchy nutty sweetness of the almonds and sesame seeds. An incredibly healthy (only 15g of oil!) but surprisingly flavoursome salad.

I found the original recipe on All Recipes.com and here is my Thermotalk version:

Ingredients
1 clover of garlic
1cm knob of fresh ginger, peeled
15g sesame oil
30g rice vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
750g cabbage
150g spring onions
150g slivered almonds, toasted
50g sesame seeds, toasted

Method
Place garlic and ginger in TM bowl. Chop for 3 seconds on speed 8. Scrape down sides.
Add sesame oil, rice vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Mix for 30 seconds on speed 2.
Add spring onions. Chop for 3 seconds on speed 7.
Add cabbage. Chop for 5 seconds on speed 4. 
Pour into serving bowl and sprinkle with almonds and sesame seeds. 

Upside Down Blood Plum Tart

Cookbook Adventure #8 - "food fast" 

With plums in season I couldn't resist finding a recipe which used them. In particular blood plums, because of their velvety redness, which when cooked looks fabulously vibrant.

So I delved through my recipe book collection and found this recipe, which was perfect as I also had some almonds to use up. And the added bonus was that it promised to be fast (as per the name of the book) ... it was!

Photo from p108 of food fast

This recipe book was my first marie claire cookbook (I now have three large ones (all by Donna Hay) and 4 small ones) and I've always loved how each recipe has a delicious looking photo to accompany it (I like to know what the cooked product is supposed to look like!)

In this instance, since I was making dessert for 8 people, and couldn't be bothered mucking around with 8 individual bowls, I thought I would experiment with doing it in a flan tin. I know, a bit risky with an untested recipe, but the occasion was not a do or die and the result was worth the risk!

Here's my Thermotalk version:

Ingredients
4-6 blood plums (depending on what will fit into your tart tin), stone removed 
165g almonds
160g raw sugar
190g butter, cubed 
85g plain flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
Preheat oven to 200C.
Grease a flan or tart tin and line the bottom with non stick baking paper. (Check out Jamie's website for an easy way to make a circle of baking paper (aka a "cartouche"). I learnt this from watching his first tv series!)
Cut plums into six even segments and place into the tin in a circular pattern or however you want it to look when turned upside down!
Place almonds in TM bowl. Grind for 10 seconds on speed 8. Set aside.
Place sugar in TM bowl. Mill for 3 seconds on speed 9.
Add butter, mix for 20 seconds on speed 5.
Add flour, eggs, almonds and vanilla and mix for 30 seconds on speed 4.
Spread mixture evenly over plums in tin. Smooth top to make it even.
Bake for 20 minutes or until filling is puffed and golden. 
Leave in tin for 5 minutes and then turn out onto the serving plate to cool.   

Eat by itself or serve with Thermomix vanilla bean icecream (see EDC page 150 but use a real vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste and not just vanilla essence.) 

Variation: Try substituting yellow nectarines or golden peaches for the plums.

Cashew, Almond & Maple Syrup Granola

The name says it all! A very yummy (semi-healthy) breakfast cereal and snack. 

The original recipe is from that American guru of food science - Alton Brown, but I have modified his method to speed up the process, and of course have also used the Thermomix!

Here it is in Thermotalk:

Ingredients
150g cashews 
150g slivered almonds
300g rolled oats
100g sunflower seeds (optional)
50g shredded coconut
40g brown sugar
50g vegetable oil
80g maple syrup
3/4 tsp salt
100g raisins (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 220°C. 
Place cashews in TM bowl and chop for 2 seconds on speed 5. (You can leave them whole but I prefer them to be closer in size to the rest of the ingredients.)  

Before baking

Nicely toasted

Place cashews, almonds, rolled oats and sunflower seeds (if using) onto a half-sheet (45x33cm) pan / baking tray. Bake for 3 minutes - stir mixture - bake for 3 more minutes. The oats won’t brown, but they should begin to smell toasty. Don’t overbake, or the oats and nuts will begin to burn. 
Remove the pan from the oven. (Keep the oven on). Sprinkle the coconut evenly over the top.
While the oat/nut mixture is toasting, place the brown sugar, vegetable oil, maple syrup and salt into the TM bowl. Cook at Varoma temperature on speed 3 for 2 minutes or until the sugar has melted.
Pour it as evenly as possible over the oats/nut mixture and mix thoroughly to combine. (You can do this in a separate bowl, but I try not to use too many bowls (less washing up!) and you shouldn't get too much spillage if you mix it carefully on the large pan (I use a large serving spoon to "fold" the ingredients together rather than "stir").
Return the pan to the oven for 3 minutes - stir mixture - bake for another 3 more minutes.
Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

It's fantastic over natural yoghurt and fresh fruit in season!