Coconut and Lime Cakes And Some Tips For Cooking With Coconut Flour

Unless you have been living under a rock you would have noticed that coconut and its myriad of forms is increasingly making appearances in ‘healthy’ recipes. The latest is coconut flour.  But baking with coconut flour is not as simple as substituting a cup of wheat, spelt or buckwheat and turning out a batch of high-protein, nutritionally-rich and mouth-watering delish muffins that will impress all your friends. This stuff is different and you will have a lot more success if you arm yourself with some info and adjust your expectations.

A few important observations about Coconut Flour

-       You can’t substitute coconut flour in equal amounts of wheat flours: roughly 1/4 to 1/3 cup of coconut to 1 cup of grain based flour

-       Coconut flour is extraordinarily absorbent so you must increase your wet ingredients: generally 1 cup of coconut flour will require up to 6 beaten eggs and 1 cup of liquid

-       Coconut flour is very clumpy. To produce a fine texture beat thoroughly with other ingredients. Dont use it if you are after the light, fluffy texture of say a sponge

-       Coconut flour is expensive however you won’t be using the quantities of the cheaper grain-based flours so it is relatively affordable

-       Coconut flour has a distinctive coconuty flavour which will change the taste of the end result. Be realistic – if you hate coconut this flour may not be for you.

Coconut and Lime Cakes

Ingredients
3 eggs
1/3 cup of coconut flour
½ cup coconut oil
¼ cup of Rice Malt Syrup
Juice of 1 Lime
½ cup of unsweetened almond milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
Icing
2 tbsp Rice Malt Syrup
½ cup of Mascarpone

Method

1.     Beat the eggs and Rice Malt Syrup for one minute.

2.     Add Coconut Oil, juice and almond milk and beat for further one minute.

3.     Sift baking powder and coconut flour into wet ingredients and beat for one minute

4.     Spoon into muffin cases or greased pattycake tin

5.     Bake in 200 degrees Celsius oven for 30 minutes

6.     Once cooled mix the mascarpone and Rice Malt Syrup and add to the top of cakes. The icing will hold up for a few days if refrigerated but for best results ice close to serving time.
- quantitity and cooking time may vary depending on size. My recipe makes 8

Cauliflower Pizza base. Oh Yeah!!

This is not my recipe. It is in fact one of those experiments where one tests a somewhat unbeliavable concept. AND just so we are clear, a pizza base made from half head of cauliflower certaintly stretches my culinary imagination.

BUT turns out, unlike the time I tried to make chocolate mousse from avocados, the cauliflower pizza base thing is a winner!

A few things to note:

- cauliflowers have a lot of water in them so the 'squeezing out' step is vitally important to the end result

- after trial and error I have chosen to add almond meal to the recipe. It helps with the texture and doesn't seem to impact the flavour

- the finer you chop/blend your cauliflower the easier it is to work with and the more it will resemble the pizza base we are all familiar with



Chopped and blended cauliflower - looks a bit like rice



Ingredients

1/2 head of cauliflower

1/4 cup almondmeal

1 egg

2-3 tablespoons parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Method

1. Chop up and preferably blend your cauliflower into very small chunks (see picture above).

2. Place your cauliflower onto a clean chux or strong paper towel. Cover with towel and squeeze. You will need to do this a few times to soak up as much as the moisture as possible.

3. Once your cauliflower is moisture free add it, a beaten egg, the almondmeal and the cheese. Add a few good pinches of salt and some cracked black pepper. Mould the mixute in a dough and place the ball on a sheet of baking paper. Roll out.

4. Cook your pizza base without topping for 12-15 minutes in moderate oven.

5. Once pre-cooked add desired topping and cook for further 10-`15 minutes.

Slice and eat - yummy!

Chicken In A Bag

Chicken in a bag is one of my favourite recipes mainly because it is a throw-it-all-in style recipe and these are always helpful to have in your culinary repertoire. They save time both in preparation and in the cleaning up phase but even more importantly they disguise lack of kitchen skills - bonus! The other great thing about a recipe like this is you can add and take-away without the dish being effected making it something you can make your own.

The Bag:
Before we get into the recipe itself let's get clear about the bag we are making out of tin foil. Take a piece of tin foil about 60cm long and fold it in half. With the fold at the bottom fold in the side edges about 1cm, fold them again and then again a third time. You are making a pocket. When finished folding the sides fold the bottom up once. Be sure to run your fingers purposefully along each fold to help seal your handy work. Set the aside your bag and lets get cooking.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, scored deeply as shown
1 chilli, thinly sliced
1 stick of lemongrass, broken
a bunch of coriander, chopped
Any Asian greens you like, chopped
1 cup coconut milk
Salt and Pepper
Rice or noodles

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Put all ingredients into bag except coconut milk and leaving out some coriander leaves. Pour in the coconut milk. Add two pinches of good quality salt and a few twists of Freshly ground Pepper.Seal the top of bag by folding it down. Fold as many times as needed. Carefully place bag on baking tray and place in oven for 30 minutes.
Place your rice and noodles in a bowl. With tongs remove chicken, chilli, coriander and greens from bag. From bag pour in as much as the coconut milk as desirable into bowl. Add fresh coriander. Discard Bag.

Some More Tips
Be careful when handling the bag to avoid spills.
You can add as many Asian greens as you wish.
I used Slim Pasta with the above recipe and it works fantastically.
You can substitute the chicken for fish.

Cacao Hot Chocolate

It's getting a touch chilly in the evenings isn't it? For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere down here in OZ we are a month away from winter. Traditionally I find it tougher to eat well when the weather cools down. After dinner I just want something comforting.
Hot Chocolate?
Yum...but sweet milky treats right before bed are only a good idea if you want bigger thighs.
Well at least that was the case until I came up with this humdinger of a recipe.

Ingredients:
1 x heaped tsp Cacao Powder (For the correct pronunciation of Cacao go here)
1 x tbsp of cream (choose good quality unthickened cream)
1 cup boiling water

Method:
Boil the Water.
In a mug combine cacao powder and cream.
Pour in boiling water and stir.
ENJOY!!

Some Coconut Butter For Your Toast!

Coconut Butter (which is just the solidified oil btw) is pretty darn yummy on toast but I'm guessing you are wondering why I would be suggesting you eat toast so let's address this first.


Have I lost my freak’n mind? The answer is no. Ordinarily I would suggest staying away from toast and that other thing bread because simple carbohydrates are not our best friends, or even an acquaintance who manages a vague half-smile at the sight of you. No bread and its cousin toast are more like the neighbour you haven't spoken to in 20years because your deciduous tree keeps leaving leafy messes on their side of the fence: it hates you and given any opening would sabotage all efforts you make you slender, healthy and gawgess!


But sometimes I just need some carbs damn it. So the toast pictured is Burgen rye bread. No simple carbohydrates here (Burgen is actually one of the few low GI breads). From time to time I buy myself a loaf and slather it with avocado or peanut butter or that nut spread in the health food aisle at Coles. But most recently the spread of choice has been coconut oil – it’s seriously yummy.


TRY IT!

Put Your Hands Together For.....Slim Pasta

Slim pasta?
Oxymoron?
I was just a bit psyched when I saw this product – just 11 calories per 100g.
Too good to be true?
Sadly yes.
But hang on Golightly, this is the part of your site where you bring us fab products?
Sorry for the confusion but you see, slim pasta cannot receive applause for being PASTA because it isn’t like pasta in taste or texture. So as a pasta substitute I feel it is a bit of a failure. HOWEVER, it is a lot like a noodle and it is for this reason I felt compelled to tell you about it (insert applause here).
So this Slim Pasta stuff has the following benefits and works terrifically to bulk out a salad or soup and lends itself perfectly to Asian flavours.

It is:
Gluten free
Sugar free
Soy free
Wheat free
AND the packaging is BPA free.

So applause loudly all the way to the supermarket and get yourself some Slim Pasta.

An Quick and Easy Lunchtime Salad

Walnuts, Apple, Pear and Feta Rocket Salad

The thing about work lunches is they so often don't go to plan. Oh sure you were intending to get some super healthy salad from the Deli but sometime after breakfast, probably in that boring meeting with the moron from 10th floor other lunchtime options started to become considerably more attractive. Going into lunch without a battle plan often ends in disaster but organising lunch at 7am is also a big ask BUT my lunchtime salad needs little preparation and is seriously tasty.

Ingredients:
Walnuts
Fetta Cheese crumbled
Pear (cut into slivers)
Apple (cut into slivers)
Mixed Salad Leaves (rocket and spinach work very well)
Olive oil
Apple Cider Vinegar
Shredded Chicken

Method:
Throw it all on a plate

*You will notice I haven't given quantities nor have I given much in the way of a method. Everything will depend on what you have on hand, how big your plate is etc. When developing this recipe I first bought half BBQ chickens at Woolworths for ease but later poached chicken breasts and bought them in a container to work. Use about a teaspoon of olive oil and equal amount of Apple cider vinegar and don't get too worried about mixing it first. Just drizzle it on - its not about sophistication it is about filling a hole.

mmmmm coconut mango popsicles. happy Aussie Day!



What are you doing for Australia Day? Hopefully relaxing and enjoying all things Australian. As wet weather threatens to dampen celebrations where I am I have been busy developing Aussie-style recipes to feed my friends.
If you can find yourself some very ripe to overripe mangos (2 large ones make enough for 8 popsicles) and blitz them with 1/2 can of coconut milk you too  will have made yourself a delectable little concoction perfect for freezing as ice-blocks! Happy Australia Day!

what can i do with my extra herbs? salsa verde!

Salsa Verde is an Italian dressing traditionally made with oil, vinegar, parsely, mint and basil. BUT as necessity is the mother of invention I have made some changes to that recipe!
A few days ago I posted about 100 Things - the sustainable farming movement encouraging us all to take responsibility and find aways to be more sustainable. If you are not fortunate enough to have your own thriving herb garden you might find yourself being required to purchase more of the stuff then you could ever use (why do they sell it in such large bunches?). Food wastage in this country alone is huge!
So if you do find yourself with herbs lying around try salsa verde. You'll be glad you did!

What to do: Chop the herbs as finely as you can or use a blender if you have one handy (I find chopping and then blending the best method). Add some finely chopped garlic, extra virgin olive oil and few splashes of white wine vinegar (or any vinegar you have on hand really) and finally some salt and pepper. You are wanting the consistency to be a runny paste and the oil/vinegar ratio to be 2:1.

Basil and Mint form the basis of the traditional variety but here are some other good combinations:

Coriander/Parsley/chilli/Thai Basil
Majoram/Thyme
Basil/Mint/Parsely/Chilli

You can be as imaginative as you like and your salsa verde will add some zing to meat, fish and poultry and can even liven up a homemade pizza or a toasted sandwich. The best part is that your salsa verde will last covered in the fridge for well over a week making those left-over herbs useful long after they otherwise would have wilted, died and found their way to the rubbish.

So I like to Frappé....

frap·pé

noun

chilled; iced; frozen. verb

I like to frappé. I must say there is something delightfully splendid about taking a few ingredients, whizzing in blender with ice, pouring into a beautiful glass and enjoying on a hot summer's day. 

Ok so I will stop being Nigella and cut to the chase. It's hot! Summer has shown up and suddenly I want cold, sweet things and nothing else will do. The danger is obviously giving into this and becoming a Juice Boost, or worse, McDonald's smoothie/frappé addict! Because having control issues in regards to ingredients does not mix with being such an addict I need to find other avenues to indulge my yearning for sweet, cold things and so,  I like to  frappé.

I plan to bring you lovely concoctions as I create them but this one is my favourite and while I think my blender is quite over blending it,  I am NOT,  over drinking it.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 tbsps Cacao powder

1 egg

splash of coconut oil

1 cup of unsweetened almond milk

tsp Rice malt syrup

1/2 cup ice.

Method:

Blend! Blend! Blend!  It really helps the consistency if you have a good blender that can handle crushing ice easily.