Friday, August 13, 2010

My Anzac Biscuits

I've never been one to really follow a recipe and this is a prime example! I started with an Anzac biscuit recipe and gave it a twist. The attempt was to make a biscuit you felt guilt free when eating. Hey, they have got to be better than eating processed museli bars from the supermarket!

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
1 cup coconut
1 cup rolled oats
half a cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp hot water
125gm butter
2 Tbsp golden syrup
1.5 cups total of a combination of raisins/sultana, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, sliced almonds. (Or whatever you have in the cupboard)

Method
1 Melt butter and syrup together in a saucepan and leave to cool.
2 all dry ingredients together, add fruit and nuts. Add butter mixture and mix together.
3 Dissolve soda in water and mix in.
4 Place rounded balls on a greased over tray. Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden.
Makes approx 16, depending on the size you choose.

Tempura Vegetables

Tempura Vegetables
Prepare the vegetables. A variety can be used, these are some of my favourites:
Spring onions
Broccoli
Red capsicum
Kumara/sweet potato – thin discs
Green beans

Batter
½ cup flour
1 Tb cornflour
1 egg yolk
½ cup iced water + extra water

Dipping sauce
Mix together:
4 Tb soy sauce
2 Tb mirin
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 Tb lemon juice

In a bowl, mix the flours together. In a cup, whisk the egg yolk into the water. Add water/egg mix to the flour mixing lightly as you pour. This is the reverse to most tempura recipes that recommend adding the flour to the water/egg but I like to control the amount of liquid being added to get the right consistency. Don’t over-mix – lumps and a ring of flour around the bowl are signs of a good tempura batter! The consistency should be that of slightly thick pouring cream. Add more flour or water if required to get this consistency.
Heat oil for deep frying. Dip each piece of vegetable in batter and then slip it into the oil. It should immediately “fizz” and float to the surface. If it sinks, oil is too cool, if it browns too quickly, it is too hot. Tempura is meant to be very light in colour, not golden. Keep adjusting temperature as you cook for best results.
Serve with the dipping sauce.