Mango Chia Pudding

Mango chia pudding is a great combination of luscious fruit and a super food, both grown locally in Northern Australia. Chia originated in Mexico and its status as a super food, while sometimes exaggerated, is certainly impressive. Chia has high levels of fibre (34%), calcium (5 x milk calcium), omega-3 fatty acids (18%) as well as being a good source of and minerals. A couple of tablespoons of chia in your diet, perhaps as a summer breakfast option, will provide you with about a third of your daily fiber requirements. If you are a vegetarian it is even more valuable as a source of protein, calcium and . If you like things like sago pudding topped with fruit then you will probably enjoy a chia pudding and with the added bonus that it is good for you, unlike sago, which has little nutritional value.

Mango Chia Pudding serves 4-6

pulped flesh of a mango and juice of an orange, approximately 1 cup 1 cup milk 1 cup yoghurt 3/4 cup black chia seeds

Mix ingredients together and chill overnight, ready for breakfast the next day. The chia seeds will absorb 10 times their weight in liquid, swelling like sago, so a liquid mix is good as it will all be absorbed overnight. Serve with slices of mango. Store refrigerated for a couple of days.

Australia Chia, Atherton Tableland region of Northern Queensland

Australian Chia, The Kimberley, WA Australian Chia Co brand of black chia seeds are available at Woolworths $13/500g

Buy bulk Australian chia from wholefoods shop The Source or buy online direct from the producers

Good review by Choice : Chia seeds, Superfood or Fad

Against The Grain – Smoked Salad

Smoked meats are all the rage at the moment, a consequence of Melbourne’s continuing love affair with American food, specifically American fast-slow food. By fast-slow food I mean the 15 hour, slow-smoked beef brisket as the basis of a meaty bun with fried , mayo, melty cheese, pickles etc. There is another approach to smoked brisket and that is to take it out of the realms of the food truck and make it feature in a grain salad. With a stock of smoked beef in the fridge you have a quick way to put a meal together with fresh vegetables and nutritious and sustaining grains, such as freekeh, , burghul, or . For a creamy condiment you can hold the mayo and add saffron labneh (strained yoghurt) instead. Fast food but without the tinge of regret. If grain salads are not your thing use the smoked beef in a Thai-inspired wombok and green papaya salad, a roast vegetable salad or on top of the Lebanese , and caramelised combo, mujadara.

At Best Lil Oz Smokehouse all the hard work of slowly smoking the beef brisket has been done for you. Their brisket is tender and beautifully smoked without any of the nasty diesel undertones sometimes encountered in smoked meats from fast food trucks and cafes. Apart from the sliced smoked brisket they sell smoked chicken thighs, which are very succulent, and whole smoked trout. Best Lil Oz Smokehouse currently sell their products at Gasworks farmers’ market. I hope they branch out to other Melbourne markets and gourmet grocery stores in the near future. Tribal Tastes at Queen Victoria Market also sell smoked brisket.

The elements of a grain salad: Boil your grain of choice as instructed on the packet, drain and leave it to dry a little: you don’t want sodden grains; rather, moisten them with a flavoursome dressing made with lemon juice, extra virgin oil, and , or maybe some pomegranate molasses. Team your grain or mix of grains with roasted root vegetables, including whole cloves, blanched broccoli or snow peas, fresh herbs, toasted or pinenuts, or fruits such as fresh figs, pear, or roasted nectarines.

Freekeh With Asparagus And Egg

This freekeh pilaf recipe is in essence the recipe on the back of the box of Mt. Zero cracked freekeh.Mt Zero sell a wonderful range of locally grown grains and pulses that are available at most supermarkets and grocery stores, so make sure you stock a few boxes in your pantry for easy meatless meals and lunchtime salads. The addition of a touch of ground , chilli flakes and lemon zest gives this freekeh pilaf a certain umami character which, with the nutty freekeh, is really delicious. I have topped the freekeh pilaf with some lovely thick, peeled and blanched in-season asparagus and poached eggs, creating quite a substantial meal. You could omit the eggs if they are not to your taste and just add a dollop of labne, some fresh herbs… anything really.

For Two

250 g cracked freekeh, rinsed and drained 1 medium purple onion, finely diced salt 1 clove garlic, chopped just less than 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon just less 1/4 tsp chilli flakes zest of half a lemon 2 bay leaves 600 ml chicken stock or concentrated vegetable stock

Saute the onion in olive oil with a good pinch of salt until soft and translucent. Add the chopped garlic, spices, bay leaves and lemon and stir well. Add the freekeh and stir well to coat in the oil and spices. Pour over the stock, cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. If there is still some liquid remaining after cooking remove the lid and dry off the pilaf over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and set aside while you prepare your asparagus, herbs or salad greens and poached eggs.

Variations: add small, quartered, lightly oven roasted Brussels sprouts; top with thick, drained yoghurt; top or mix through fresh soft leaf herbs or baby leaves; add blanched chopped kale; top with toasted seeds.

Note that Mt Zero cracked freekeh takes less time to cooked than whole grain freekeh, so if you have bought whole grain freekeh cook it for about 40-45 minutes.

Chard Rolls

Adding healthy greens to our daily diet can be done in delicious ways. Take these chard rolls for example, they make a wonderful hot meal and also a very tasty cold lunch or appetizer with drinks the next day. There is no need to be rigid in following a recipe for these, you can wing it and slant the culinary leanings how ever you want. While vine, cabbage, chard or beet leaves are typically stuffed with a mix of rice and herbs or rice and minced meat, there are lots of ways to approach it. For mine I used Swiss chard leaves and stuffed them with a mix of pork and veal mince, burghul (cracked wheat), onion, baharat spice mix and currants and cooked them in a sauce. The pork and veal mince is a product of my European heritage, the use of currants and Baharat hails from the Middle East and cooking the rolls in tomato rather than broth is a Turkish style. Using burghul (cracked wheat) in stuffings instead of rice is done anywhere East of Europe. For more diversity I mopped up the juices with an Italian style garlic bread; bread toasted on the BBQ, then rubbed with garlic and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. I see this slightly unusual combination as quintessentially Melbourne, where different ethnic cuisines have been appropriated and reinvented with each generation. While we still question what Australian food is, I’d like to think that sometime in the future we will have created an amazing, melded, regional cuisine.

When deciding to cook stuffed leaves I am mostly driven by what’s in my fridge and pantry and approach it by lists of possibilities for each of the key components. leaf: cabbage (pickled or fresh), vine leaves (pickled or fresh), silverbeet or Swiss chard meat: minced, beef, pork, veal, lamb or chicken grain/pulse: rice, burghul, farro, freekeh, quinoa, vegetables: onion, , shallots, garlic, tomato, capsicum, shredded carrot herbs: , dill, mint (dried or fresh), , marjoram, , sage spices: pepper, cinnamon, , coriander, sumac, , baharat, all spice (pimento) fruit and nuts: lemon zest, dried currants, raisins, pine nuts, almonds, , cooking liquid: tomato passata, tinned crushed tomatoes, vegetable, chicken or beef stock, Turkish sweet pepper paste mixed with water, water and lemon juice

Makes approximately 15 rolls

I bunch Swish chard 1/4 cup burghul 350 g pork and veal mince olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 2 tsp baharat handful currants zest of half a lemon 1/2 tsp salt 600 ml tomato passata juice of half a lemon

Wash the chard leaves, cut off the stems* and discard them and then blanch the leaves in a pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Drain, cool for a few minutes and then spread the leaves out on a plate or tray until ready to use. Place the burghul in a bowl and just cover with boiling water. Cover the bowl and leave to swell (about 5 minutes).

Sauté the onion in olive oil until translucent. Add the currants and stir until they swell with the heat. Add the spice mix and stir over the heat for a minute until aromatic. Remove from the heat and add to the mince along with the burghul, lemon zest and salt. Mix well, kneading a little with your hands.

To fill and roll the leaves: using scissors or a sharp knife remove the main, central stem in the leaf by cutting on either side of the stem in a ‘V” shape. Lay the leaf down flat, slightly overlapping the two cut portions. Shape a desert spoon of the mix into a sausage and place at one end of the leaf. Roll up, folding over the sides as you go to form a neat package. Place each roll seam down in a frypan that can fit all the rolls comfortably. Some leaves will be very large and you can cut them in half crosswise, making two rolls out of them. When the pan is full cover the rolls with the tomato passata mixed with the lemon juice and bring to the simmer on top of the stove. Cover with a lid or place a dinner plate over the top of the rolls and simmer for approximately 45 minutes.

* You can finely chop some of the stems and sauté them with the onion but there will be too much to use all of them.

The Source Bulk Foods

The Source is a nationwide bulk food business specialising in grains, flours, nuts, dried fruits, pulses, superfoods, honey, confectionery and personal and household cleaning liquids. Flour milling and butter extraction are also available. Don’t expect the grungy, university wholefoods look, there’s not a wooden fruit box in sight. The stores follow the now ubiquitous minimalist fit-out with white walls and blond wood. Stores can be found in Commercial Road, Prahran, opposite the Prahran Market, Sydney Road Brunswick, Burke Road, Camberwell and just four months ago a new store opened at 202 Smith Street, Collingwood. The shopping system is self serve; you fill paper bags with the amount you want, write the item code on the bag and take it to the counter for weighing and payment. Online shopping is also an option.