Roses and Citruses

A Reminiscence of the last roses in the garden, before pruning.  But for the citruses, it is time to harvest the limes, lemons and pomelo.  Snapshots of roses and citruses from my garden.

THE ROSES

The rest of the roses is ready for a rest, they are no longer flowering. That's the last red rose, I thought I have to save it from the cold, now it is inside the house.

Pruning is a big job, and it has to be done yearly and correctly, I am glad that I did it this time without any trouble.

I am hoping for more lovely roses in Spring.




THE  CITRUSES

Tahitian Limes  -  Standard Pomelo Tree

Lime and pomelo are giving us a good harvest this year, but the mandarin is not doing very well.

The limes are more than enough for what I need, this time we share the fruits with friends.

The pomelo tree is a standard tree which is very small, but amazingly it can carry seven large fruits this time.
I have a recipe to share.



Pomelo and Avocado Salad

A cup of pomelo meat or flesh
1 peeled and sliced the avocado.
1 tablespoon slivered almonds
Dressing
Juice of a lime
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh herbs-flat parsley
(Mix all ingredients together)
Place the pomelo, avocado in a serving bowl, add in the dressing (prior serving).
Toss them together, garnished with the almonds.
Serve the salad with grilled fish, or chicken.  It is good too, to accompany fried fish in batter.

The new lemon tree has about a dozen fruits; also, the plant has settled well.

It is the last day of  Winter now.   The new young leaves of the roses have started to come out.
The past few days the weather was good, I spent time in the garden tidying up, the topiary plants need to be done too, more planting seedling in pots.

1006 Kg, the largest pomelo harvested

One Pomelo left on the tree, I picked it, and it is the largest pomelo I ever have from my tree.  It keeps for a few months and looking forward to sharing it with the family when they are all home.

It is more than a kilogram.  I hope the flesh is thick/meaty and the taste is sweet.

Mixed citrus salad, I could prepare or Javanese fruit salad  (Lotis) we shall have.  I saw more tropical fruits in the market, which I will add them to the Lotis.

Oranges are at their best now,  I must share what we can do with them.  Until then, stay tuned.



Until the next post.
Thanks For Visiting
Susy

Water Bread.

Water bread-What is it?

Water bread is the name,  as the ingredients are only water, salt and flour.  There is no yeast, for that reason, the bread is flat.  Water Bread is just another name of Flat Bread.

I love making them, serving and eating them. It is quick to prepare and so much fun to see the bread in the making.  Cook on a hot pan, soon it is puffed up, turn it over to cook the other side, and in a few seconds, the bread is ready.  It is delicious for a wrap, filled with lettuce, meat and the dressing. Excellent to be served with any curry or stew, the bread is delicious to mop the sauces.

I did not use any proper recipe, but I will write down the quantities of the ingredients as I remember it.

The Making Process

Cooking the thin circle dough on a hot pan, as soon as when it puffs up, turn it over and cook for a few seconds, the water bread is baked as pictured. 

 

 

The quantity of the ingredients as I remember:

1 cup heap full plain flour

1/2 cup warm water

1 teaspoon oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Extra flour for kneading and rolling

To make them

Mix all ingredients together to make a soft dough

Knead lightly until smooth

Rest the dough for twenty minutes

Knead the dough again gently

Divide the dough into 8 pieces

Roll each dough into thin circles

Place on a hot pan one by one

As soon as it puffs up, turn it over and cook for a few seconds.

To serve

Serve with curries, stews, or serve it with stuffed vegetables and yoghurt 

stuffed nasturtium and yoghurt

The nasturtium leaves were so green and broad, I could not help it to use them for my cooking, which is using the leaf for "stuffed nasturtium with meat and vegetables". They were delicious to be served with yoghurt and the water bread.

It was the right time to use the nasturtium, as now they have bruised and damaged by the frost this winter.


Cooking is fun when you have time and helpers to clean the mess.  No,  it is not messy to cook the water bread, it is easily achievable without fuss.


Thanks For Visiting My Blog

Until Next Post

Susy

Pastry

Home Made Pastry.

There are varieties of pastry; shortcrust, puff, filo and spring roll and so on. We know that we can get them of Pampas brand also the Careme range of traditional pastry is available nationally in fine food stores and independent supermarkets.

The ready-made pastry is there for us, why should we bother to make our own pastry, especially pastry making is challenging.  I did learn pastry making years ago, from basic pastry, puff pastry to choux pastry.  It was fun, and I have been putting them into practice to cook for my family. I have to admit though that I don't make puff pastry; instead, I buy them in the shop if I need it, the last one I made would be years ago.

The homemade pastry that I do is the water pastry, it is excellent for strudels, fruit and vegetable cheese pies.

 The mixture of melted butter and oil for brushing the pastry in between

This time I prepared a large batch of my water pastry, and I freeze them, I thought it would be nice to have homemade pastry at hand.  This is my first attempt, I do hope the pastry will be easy enough to roll out when it has defrosted.

Recipe for Susy Water Pastry, please look up to older post.

Preparing the Pastry and To Freeze It.

The Process 

Rolling out the dough to a large round

The round pastry is brushed with oil mixture

The pastry is joined together and put a piece of plastic in between

Stacking the pastry and wrapping them in foil for a safe keeping 

The pastry is covered in the foil and put in a plastic freezer bag for

deep freezing.

I will thaw the pastry, refrigerated overnight, then roll it out to use for my pies, I hope it is going to work. Does it keep well? You may have to find out.   Stay Tuned.


I

Until Next Post

Thanks for Visting

Susy

DAFFODIL

Yellow Daffodil 

Beautiful flowers, easy to grow, can be very spectacular to see the flowers in open paddock.  The flower is also the symbol of 'cancer awareness'.  A matter of fact today is the daffodils day in Australia.  It is time that we buy cut flowers, and the money is raised for cancer research.

We got the daffodils today, and I am sure we will enjoy the cut flowers for a few days.

There are varieties of daffodils, the golden is so bright and beautiful, but some of them have orange in the centre, and also the petals are variegated white and yellow.

I planted some daffodils too, and they are happily growing in pots.


The potted daffodils are in the backyard and almost in flower, soon we will enjoy the blooms.  The advantage of having potted plants is that you can move around.

 Potted Daffodils

I add here a note from the Cancer Society - Daffodil Day.

Daffodil Day is the Cancer Society's annual flagship event and one of the most important fundraising and awareness campaigns in the country. As well as providing an opportunity to raise awareness of cancer in New Zealand, Daffodil Day is a significant funding source for the Cancer Society. We are proud to be regarded as one of the country's most trusted charities, and this is reflected in our fundraising practices.
The daffodil is one of the first flowers of spring, whose bright yellow blooms remind us of the joys the new season will bring. It represents the hope there is for the 1 in 3 New Zealanders affected by cancer.
The donations we receive go towards vital scientific research into the causes and treatment of all types of cancer, as well as providing a wide range of support services, information, health promotion and education programmes to reduce cancer risk, awareness campaigns and plans for people affected by cancer.
ANZ is the proud principal sponsor of the event, and the hard work of its employees helps focus the nation's attention on our cause every year.


Daffodil is not only pretty flower, and maybe it has medicinal properties.  I must learn more about it.

I hope you have a good daffodil day.


Until Next Post
Susy

Javanese Dishes: Terik Telor - Bakwan

Bawan

Javanese Cooking using eggs and vegetables. Bakwan is fried vegetables dumpling, a delicious savoury for snacking. It may be influenced by Chinese cooking. Often it can be served as a garnish for Lotek (vegetable salad with freshly ground peanut dressing)
The quantities as to how to cook bakwan are here for you.

Terik Telor

Terik - Telor or braised eggs in mild coconut sauce, it is a tasty dish which is very popular among children as there is no chilli, it has a delicate flavour.  For this dish, I added some chicken pieces, you could do with beef as well.
Serve it with steamed white rice, yellow rice or nasi gurih (fragrant steamed white rice with herbs)

Terik - Telor is also can be served as a part of a banquet

Freshly Braised Terik Telor Garnished with Fried Shallots

Delicious steamed rice with terik telor-daging Ayam (the braised eggs and chicken), accompanied with chilli sambal and gudeg Kobis. A traditional combination of food in Java.

Steam rice served with the Terik and Gudeg

The dish is served throughout the year in Java, and my family here in Australia enjoys it even in winter.  The recipe is for you to try, it is a simple curry dish for children and adults.

Recipe

Terik Telor–Daging Ayam

(Braised eggs and chicken in mild coconut milk)

Ingredients

600 chicken pieces

1 juice of a lime or 1 tablespoon tamarind juice

6 hard-boiled eggs

200 ml coconut cream

Spices:

½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds,

2 clove garlic,

1 small onion, chopped

3 candlenuts

1 teaspoon salt

(place all ingredients in a blender, process to make a rough paste)

1 tablespoon oil

1 slice galangal

1 lemongrass

2 salam leaves

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon dark soy

½ cup water to braise

Method

Rub the chicken with lime juice, put in a good heavy based cooking pot

Add in the galangal, lemongrass, salam leaves, brown sugar, soy and oil

Mix them around together with the chicken pieces, stir in the water

Cook to braise and cover the pot for 8 minutes over high heat.

Reduce the heat to lower, keep on braising for 45 minutes

Add in the peeled, boiled eggs, stir in the coconut cream and continue braising.

Keep braising over low heat for 45 minutes, stir it from time to time

You could add extra liquid in this stage, to have runny but creamy sauce.

Garnish the terik with fried shallots.

(I don't need to seal the chicken for this particular cooking, simply rubbing all the spices onto the chicken, adding the herbs etc., and braise)

Serve the Terik hot, garnished with steamed white rice.

Bakwan - Vegetable Dumplings

Freshly Deep Fried bawan

Mung beans are the essential ingredients, add other vegetables that you like.  The bakwan has carrots, celery and spring onions.  To make the dumpling is by adding the mix vegetables with some plain flour, egg, white ground pepper and salt to taste.

Preparation for Bakwan

2 cups mixed vegetables, add in half cup of plain flour, one egg, ground white pepper and salt to taste.  Add in 1/4 cup water mix them together to get sticky consistency.  The mixture should not be runny; instead, it's spoon drop consistency but lighter.

Ingredients of bakwan in a bowl, ready to add water and to mix

Spoon the bakwan mixture and fry in hot oil, turn it over when it is golden brown, and continue cooking until the middle is cooked through.  Do five bakwan each time (depends on the size of the fryer).  Take them out and rest them in absorbent paper.  Serve hot or at room temperature, with sambal chilli or fresh green chilli.

More Javanese cooking: using hot chilli and other spices, later on.  Stay Tuned.



Thanks For Visiting
Until Next Post
Susy

OLIVES

Home Preserved Olives.
The olive tree is having a rest this year, no olives-no harvest.  Just as well, it can be very tiring to care and to preserve.  But the last year harvest was preserved, and now it is ready.  With the olives,  a tasty pizza was baked for the family.

Home preserved olives, dressed with herbs and red capsicum to serve

 Home baked rolls and pizza to celebrate the home preserved olives.

Recipe for The Pizza

No mozzarella, instead I used tasty Cheddar and Parmesan cheese for the topping.  Other toppings were tomato sauce, fresh tomato, red capsicum, red onion, the home preserved olives and prosciutto.

The dough:

Ingredients:

325 g plain flour

7 gr dry yeast

A pinch of salt, and an of pinch sugar

1 cup warm water and a dash of oil

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, place all dry ingredients, and mix them together

Add in the water and oil mixture at once, and mix quickly to make dough

Place the dough onto a floured board, and knead it until smooth about 8 minutes

Place the dough on an oiled bowl, cover it with plastic and keep in a warm place to proof until double in bulk about one hour or more.

When it is double in bulk, it’s ready for rolling to prepare for the pizza.

Bake the pizza in a hot oven at 210 degrees C (fan forced) for 13 minutes.

The ingredients, first stage of kneading, proofing until double in bulk.

 Pizza preparation, from rolling out the dough to the baking 

Topping:

Using baking tin instead of cooking on a pizza stone

Placing the round money onto the tin and adding - spreading tomato sauce

Putting all the topping and ready to bake to the hot oven - 210 degrees C (fan forced) for 13 minutes.

Freshly baked pizza

Serving Pizza with fresh herbs, salad leaves and poached ricotta cheese with herbs.

I am happy with my preserved olives, it was not a big harvest but enough for the family to enjoy, the flavour just right, there's no bitterness. A successful process of preserving.
The pizza was good, even though it was not a traditional pizza (it's as you like it) and the marinated olives were complemented by my home baked crusty rolls.  Definitely, I made the best of the olives harvest-the home preserved olives.

Pizza night for winter may be a good idea, give the recipe a go, and have fun, try any topping as you like.

I will be back to post Javanese cooking soon.


Until Next Post
Susy