Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Category: Baking & Preserving

Homemade is The Best

Why does homemade taste so much better than shop bought? I know the ingredients are better when you make something yourself. You can grow the ingredients or choose ones that are in season and organic. There's no need to add preservatives or chemicals because your jars won't be sitting on a dusty supermarket shelf for so long. But it's more than that. It's as if the flavour of homemade goods is improved by all the effort, hard work and patience we put in. The reward for all that effort is delicious, homemade condiments and preserves.

I'm deep in my winter season of making and providing for the family. Not on a big scale, just a jar or two here and there of homemade yumminess. I sprouted a jar of de puy lentils (I still have no idea how to pronounce these. Da pie? De Peugh?) to make a delicious lentil and cashew stir fry recipe from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's Three Good Things. I also made another jar of fermented mustard from Kirsten K Shockey's recipe in issue 10: Seed of Taproot magazine. Gareth uses it to make his amazing pulled beef. Mmmm, tasty goodness.

Our pickled olives (is that the right word? Or should it be brined?) are still sitting in the cupboard. We have to wait a whopping 6 months to a year before they are ready. It makes me think of all the olives I have ever eaten, sitting in a warehouse somewhere, waiting to mature before being sold. I had no idea the process was so time intensive. Curing your own olives is a great lesson in patience. Luckily, the salt cured olives were ready to eat much sooner. Airlie was the one who popped them in jars with garlic, rosemary, thyme and a little olive oil. She made three jars and there's now only one left. Not for long I suspect!

Buoyed by our olive success, we went crazy and picked another big bag full of olives. These were nice big fat juicy black ones, perfect to turn into homemade tapenade when cured. After picking life got super busy and they sat in a plastic bag for a week on the laundry floor, slowly turning to mush 🙁 We've managed to salvage some but it's a good lesson in picking things and curing straight away.

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June 26, 2017
Damper Making

From soda bread to damper making over an open fire – it's all about baking at the moment. It's the beauty of winter – cold and wet enough to light fires out in the open without setting the bush on fire.

The fire itself is magical. When we get to cook over it, well that's even better. One week there were roasted chestnuts. This time it's damper we're making. After the fire is burning brightly we head off looking for branches to turn into damper toasting sticks. With our carving tools (a veggie peeler for the kids and a Mora 106 knife for me) we peel off the bark from our sticks.

There's a big batch of damper batter already made and butter, honey and jam waiting to go on our bread. We grab a handful of the dough and shape it into a rough sausage shape on our sticks and then hold them over the fire. It's a great lesson in patience and perseverance as we wait for the damper to cook and put it back on the sticks when it tries to slide off into the waiting fire below.

If you want to have a go at making damper next time you're near an open fire, give this recipe from Hugh Fearnely Whittingstall a try. I've used rye flour instead of wheat and served it with olive oil instead of butter to make it dairy free. Whatever you do, just make sure you've got your damper sticks handy!

Damper Recipe

250g rye flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp chopped rosemary

150 ml water

Olive oil and sea salt, to serve

Add flour, baking powder, salt and rosemary to a bowl.

Stir in the water a little at a time until you have a soft dough.

Tip the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead lightly into a ball.

Cut the dough in to six equal pieces.

Shape into sausages and wind around the end of a stick in a spiral motion. Give it a good squish to make sure it stays on.

Hold your stick over the coals of a fire, turning to toast all sides. Takes about ten minutes, sometimes more. Have patience!

To see if it's done, give it a tap. If it sounds hollow, it's ready to eat.

Let it cool a little, then tear off pieces to eat. Drizzle them with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt before devouring.

For a sweet version, leave out the rosemary and serve with jam or honey.

June 19, 2017
Stepping Back In Time

A miracle happened last Friday. A small miracle but a miracle nonetheless. At 8.50 in the morning we (husband, daughters and cat) left our house for our long weekend road trip. We have friends who leave at 5 in the morning. I know, five am!? I seriously doubt that will ever be us, however, we managed to leave town well before midday. The exciting part about such an early start was that we got to stop at new places along the way.

You know those signs for interesting places you always zip past on the highway, hurrying to somewhere else? Well this time when I saw the sign for the Wild Trout Hat Shoppe in Gordon I said "Stop!" to the lovely G who was driving. He said it was too late, we'd already gone past. Luckily for me the lovely folk at the Wild Trout Hat Shoppe had placed their enticing sign well before the turn off to Gordon.

Walking into the restored old Anglican church filled with hats and a fire burning in the wood stove was delightful. As was meeting Bob who said on meeting me, "Here. Try on this hat." He was in the middle of showing it to another customer who was reluctant to try on a hat. It was the beginning of a lovely hour trying on hats and taking music, perfume, figs and markets with Bob and Sheina. They were so charming that we ended up buying not one, not two but three hats. The only reason we didn't need up with four was the G was strong and resisted their charms and delightful headgear manfully. The hats are wonderful and made in Australia or New Zealand. We bought the girls a celtic gypsy hat each (and they look so stylish!) and I got a Harris Tweed beret. I could have easily bought a gypsy hat and a cloche with a cutaway at the back plus hat pins with feathers for each. Folks, I think that I am about to develop a serious hat addiction. I may need help.

Oh and that lady who wouldn't try on a hat? She walked away wearing the first hat Bob handed me to try on.

The reason for our trip was to visit the Wimmera Mallee Pioneer Museum for their 10th Annual Vintage Rally. The museum has a collection of historic buildings from around the district that have been pulled apart piece by piece and rebuilt at the museum. There's the Woorak church, Antwerp blacksmith's shop, Tarranyurk hall, Albacutya homestead and Detpa school. I remember coming here as a kid and sitting at one of the desks at the school and having a lesson from the olden days. There's also an old portable shelter used by shepherd's when guarding their flocks. The buildings contain an eclectic range of tools and paraphernalia from early Australian pioneer life. Shoe lasts, clothes, butter paddles, furniture, preserving jars, meat grinders, milk churns, wash boards, wringers, saucepans; you can see anything the pioneers used here.

There's a big collection of machinery, tractors and ploughs. Near a damm is a collection of water pumps from different eras. The girls loved winding them and pumping water. We had just been talking about how drinking water from rain water tanks tastes different and about how lucky we are to turn on a tap when we are thirsty. No walking for miles to a well or polluted river for us.

Over two days a team of volunteers brings the museum to life with demonstrations of blacksmithing, sheep shearing, chaff cutting, knife making, heritage crafts, woodcutting, vintage printing press and more. The Lovely G liked the display of classic cars. My oldest girl loved watching the blacksmiths working at the forge and pulling red hot metal out of the coals to work before quenching in a bucket of water. The youngest girl was super keen on the horse and coach ride that went around the town pulled by two gentle clydesdales, Lofty and Tiny. I enjoyed meeting and talking to Pip about preserving food – she did an incredible 365 days of food preserving and told me all about water baths and pressure cookers. It was a great day for the whole family.

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June 15, 2017
Rosemary and Olive Rye Soda Bread Recipe

I recently had a chance to sit on the couch with a cup of peppermint tea and my cookbooks. We've been so busy lately that there hasn't been time for such simple pleasures. The colder weather has me searching for hearty, warming recipes. I came across a delicious looking Seedy Rye Soda Bread recipe in Hugh Fearnely Whittingstall's River Cottage: Light and Easy cookbook. His recipe had honey and apple juice so I went searching for a recipe without the sweet stuff (honey does strange things to my blood sugar levels).

Soda bread comes from Ireland where they cut a cross in the top of the loaf before baking. Some say this is to ensure even baking, others say it's to let the devil out. How the devil got in there in the first place is anyone's guess! It gets its name from bicarbonate of soda which is used in the bread as a raising agent instead of yeast. The alkaline bicarb reacts with the acidic buttermilk to create gas to make the dough rise.

Being lactose intolerant, I needed to find a recipe that didn't use buttermilk or yoghurt. In my searching I discovered that baking powder is made up of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar. The cream of tartar is the acidic element and replaces the traditional buttermilk. Using baking powder means the bread goes stale faster but this is so yummy, it doesn't get a chance to hang around the house.

When I found this recipe I knew that the acidic apple juice had been replaced by the baking powder absent in Hugh's recipe. I adapted the recipe slightly to incorporate olives and rosemary, my all-time favourite bread combination. I don't usually eat flour but the smell of fresh bread baking with rosemary was far too tempting so I made an exception for this tasty bread!

The girls loved helping out and used the scrapings from the bowl to make a loaf for the littles. They're tiny people with tails who lives in the walls of big people's houses. I read about them when I was a girl and now my girls are enjoying the stories too. Although they think the Littles are thieves because they steal all they need from the big folks. I just loved that they had tails!

Rosemary and Olive Rye Soda Bread

250g rye flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp rosemary

150ml – 200ml warm water (about 40 C)

1/2 cup kalamata olives

Preheat the oven to 200 C (392 F).

Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon.

Scrape the dough off the spoon and back into the batter as you mix.

Scrape the dough on to a lightly floured surface and shape into a loaf with well floured hands.

Put the loaf on to the baking treat and dust with flour. Cut a deep cross in the top (at least half way down).

Bake for 30 minutes, move to a cooler shelf for the last couple of minutes.

Tap the loaf, if it sounds hollow, it's done.

Tip onto a wire rack to cool.

Serve hot.

Keeps for a couple of days. Not sure how long to be honest – we just scoffed it as soon as it came out of the oven!

June 13, 2017
Bread Pudding

Bread and butter pudding was often mentioned in the books I read as a child. Any time I read about food I'd get very hungry. Especially if those book children were eating sweets, google buns or pop cakes and drinking ginger beer. If you read the Faraway Tree books by Enid Blyton when you were growing up you'll know just I'm talking about.

This recipe is super tasty but doesn't have any butter or dairy. As I've never actually had bread and butter pudding, I can't compare the two but I think you'll find this pudding is very yummy and perfect for autumn evenings. We like to eat it picnic style, sitting on the lounge room floor by candlelight. A nice and cosy Saturday night dessert treat.

Bread Pudding Recipe

1 large egg

1/3 cup rapadura sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla essence or the seeds from 1 pod

1/3 cup sultanas

1 1/2 cups bread crumbled (I usually save up the stale crusts for this recipe)

2 x 270ml tins of coconut milk

1 270ml tin of water

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).

Mix eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla seeds and vanilla pod in a medium casserole dish with a lid.

Add the bread and sultanas and stir well so that all the bread is coated.

Heat the coconut milk and water in a saucepan on medium heat until it starts to simmer.

Add the milk to the dish and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Put the lid on and bake for 35 minutes.

Best eaten hot, straight from the oven.

June 5, 2017
Olive Curing

When it came time to prepare the olives for pickling I was really surprised at how much the girls enjoyed the process. I had thought they would have a quick go, lose interest and go back to playing a game or reading their books. Instead, they sat at the kitchen table, sorting olives and cutting a slit in each one ready for brining and salting. It was a big job and took a long time but they stuck with it, chatting away and telling each other stories, totally immersed in the process.

Miss Eleven even wanted to pound the pink himalayan rock salt in the mortar and pestle. I suggested we put it in the spice grinder but received an emphatic "No!" in response. She wanted to experience the whole process and do it herself, by hand. Now that's my daughter!

We had to have a break for dinner and after dinner they wanted to keep going and jar the olives. Even though it was late, I figured they were so into it that it would be a shame to send them to bed with the job only half done. I know I like having the satisfaction of finishing the task even though it doesn't always happen around here – I've become very good at interrupted crafting, cleaning and writing!

After Miss Eleven had a go at pounding the salt in the mortar and pestle she agreed we could whizz it in the grinder to speed things up. Rock salt is pretty tough! We divided the olives into two batches – black and green. We salted the black olives by layering them in a jar with alternating layers of salt. The green olives we put into a brine.

Making the brine was interesting. The recipe I found said add enough salt and an egg to a saucepan of water and heat gently to dissolve the salt. When the egg floats, the brine is ready. The recipe was vague enough that it allowed plenty of room for discovery, doubt and experimentation. I'm starting to really enjoy the more is less approach to recipes even though it's quite unsettling. It gives me a chance to experience doubt, embrace trust and learn for myself as much as I can from the process. It's a gift of learning to sit with uncomfortable emotions. Not easy to do but oh so revealing!

Miss Eleven is really excited by our olives and she wants to make a tapenade from them. When I suggested we buy olives from the market as ours were pretty small and we wouldn't get a lot of flesh from each I received another resounding "NO!" She wants to make tapenade from olives we forage and cure. And I have to say, I can't really argue with that.

May 29, 2017
Cacao Chia Pudding

This has got to be the easiest dessert recipe ever. And it’s super tasty. Just throw all the ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate over night. Serve next day topped with mango and/or berries. Yum!

I swear it tastes like chocolate mousse. Of course it has been a very long time since I’ve had that particular dessert so I could be wrong but I think it’s actually better. Super yum and no sugar at all. Yay!

Cacao Chia Pudding

1/4 cup chia seeds
I can coconut milk or cream
2 tbsp cacao
1/2 vanilla pod
2 tbsp cinnamon

To serve:
Mango or fresh berries
Few slivered almonds

Add chia seeds, coconut milk, cacao, cinnamon and seeds from the vanilla pod to a large bowl.

Refrigerate overnight.

Spoon into small bowls.

Top with fresh fruit (mango or fresh berries) and slivered almonds.

February 9, 2017
Homemade, Fermented Mustard

It feels so good to be back in the kitchen. It really feels like the heart of my home and I am so happy when I am making delicious and nutritious food for my family to eat.

I love making things myself. Instead of buying little jars of pesto and bottles of salad dressing at the supermarket, I prefer homemade. No preservatives, the best ingredients I can afford and of course, fresh! Not to mention all the benefits of using your hands to make the things you need. It really satisfies my hands, head and heart when I make it myself 🙂

I recently made homemade, fermented mustard. The recipe by Kirsten K Shockey came from Issue 10: Seed, of the fabulous Taproot magazine. I read this article a long time ago and always wanted to make it. I’m so pleased that I finally did!

Making mustard was really easy. There was a moment of doubt when I placed all the ingredients in the blender, pressed start and nothing seemed to happen. Then after a little while, the mixture began to thicken until I had my very own mustard. I can’t believe how simple it was and how much mustard I made with only a couple of cups of ingredients. I love the alchemy of the kitchen – magically turning raw ingredients into something delicious!

Then it was just a matter of sealing up my little jars for three days to ferment, adding some vinegar and then done! As Kirsten says in the article, mustard doesn’t need to be fermented but its nice to add some extra-good fermenty goodness to the mix. I made the three little jars of yellow mustard and the Lovely G made the big jar of horseradish mustard which my oldest girl devours.

It’s so wonderful to have homemade, fermented mustard with our winter Sunday roasts!

June 30, 2016
A Heart of Green

Hello! It's so nice to be back here, blogging again. Hope you've been well 🙂

There's a definite chill in the air. A couple of weeks ago it even got to -1 C here in Melbourne overnight.

The colder weather has got me making and writing again. It has even got me back in the kitchen baking and cooking. I'm craving hearty stews, soups and casseroles. Anything that is hot, filling and sticks to the ribs.

I've also become really excited about sprouting on the kitchen window sill. Takes so little space and hardly any effort. I love the rhythm of rinsing and draining the sprouts each morning and evening. Waiting for the seeds to sprout is very exciting and it's so satisfying when they do. A little bit of green magic in the heart of winter!

I turned my lentil sprouts (I also sprouted alfalfa) into this delicious stir fry from the excellent cookbook, Hugh's Three Good Things by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. It was delicious! The only thing I would change is to have less cashews next time.

What are you cooking this winter?

June 16, 2016
Honey Roasted Macadamias

I adore the taste of macadamias and they are especially scrummy when they are roasted with honey. This is another super simple recipe that is easy to make and much healthier and cheaper than the nuts in the shops.

I made batches of these late last year for Christmas presents for my daughters’ teachers and our family and friends. Popped into a cute little jar, they make a gorgeous, handmade present.

Roasted Honey Macadamias
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp olive oil
400g raw macadamias
Pinch Himalayan crystal salt

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Spread the nuts in an even layer across the tray.

Roast nuts for 10 – 15 minutes or until a heavenly aroma fills your kitchen. Shake the pan from time to time to stop the nuts burning.

While the nuts are roasting, mix the honey, oil and salt in a large bowl.

Once the nuts are golden, remove from the oven and add to the bowl.

With a spoon, toss the nuts to coat with the honey mixture.

Put the nuts back on the tray in a single layer and cook for another 10 – 15 minutes or until golden. Again, stir them around a bit to stop them burning.

Take them out of the oven and let cool completely before popping them into jars.

They keep for a long time in an airtight container. That is if you can stop yourself from scoffing them all at once. I know that I can’t!

January 18, 2016