Gluten-Free Fun

Different people do different things when they can't sleep: Solanah sews herself some pants, some of us unpick seams (you know who you are), but me, I like to bake. It's usually something fairly quick and easy like biscuits because I have them done within the hour. Of course the dishes are always left for the morning.

All week this week I've been craving shortbread, not so much for their rich, buttery flavour but for the gritty texture. Weird, I know. Sadly, I have an intolerance to yeast which means no dairy and no sugar, among other things, so store bought shortbread wasn't an option. In order to satisfy my craving, I was going to have to make my own.

Eating yeast-free is very restrictive, no to mention lacking flavour, but I find many gluten-free recipes cut out most of my 'no' foods. As a result, I have several GF cookbooks but for some reason I've never been game to try any baking. Best to start with something simple, like these tasty little Almond Biscuits*.

175g  Dairy-free margarine
40g    Fruit sugar
135g  Rice flour
40g    Gram flour (chickpea)
30g    Ground almonds
1/2tsp Almond extract

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Lay sheets of baking paper on two baking trays.

Place the margarine and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until margarine has melted and the sugar dissolved. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and leave to simmer for 4-5 minutes until the mixture has caramelized slightly and become syrupy.

Sift the flours and ground almonds into a large mixing bowl. Pour in the sugar mixture, add the almond extract and stir thoroughly with a wooden spoon until mixed.



Spoon the mixture, one tablespoon at a time, onto the baking trays to form 14 - 16 balls. Press down each ball with the back of a spoon to make a biscuit shape.

Bake in hot oven for 10 - 12 minutes until lightly browned. Take the biscuits out of the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

My biscuits got a little over-browned - we have a fan-forced oven and I often forget to adjust the temperature - but they are satisying my texture craving quite well. They're so good in fact, I've been thinking of experimenting with adding some spices the next time I make them. Judging by the way I'm munching through them, it's likely to be real soon.

Have a great weekend!

- Tamara

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*Recipe from The Best Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes by Grace Cheetham.

Go, Go Gyoza!

I feel like I'm a day behind this week...

Something else I got up to this weekend was making my own gyoza dumplings. I have been craving these tasty little morsels weeks now and with no Japanese available locally I just couldn't wait any longer.

Ingredients:

**Filling

• 200 g ground pork
• Cabbage
• Leek or spring onion
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Sake
• Soy sauce, salt, and pepper
• Sesame oil

The recipe doesn't specify the exact amount of each ingredient, I just judge by eye (and taste!)

Dipping sauce

Soy sauce
Rice wine vinegar

If you're feeling particularly inspired, a recipe to make your own wrappers (and filling) can be found here . These are time-consuming as it is so I use pre-made gyoza wrappers from the supermarket.

Method:
Cut some green, outer cabbage leaves, some spring onion (or leek), ginger, and garlic in very small pieces. The amount of these ingredients should equal the amount of meat.
Put some salt on the cabbage, and let it stand for five minutes. Then press the water out of the cabbage pieces.
Mix the cabbage, spring onion (or leek), ginger, garlic, and the ground pork all together, and add some salt, pepper, soy sauce, sake, and sesame oil. Mix it all very well.

Put some of the filling onto a piece of dough. Remember the filling should make 30 gyoza pieces, roughly one teaspoon should be enough.

Now comes the fun part...
Moisten the edge of the dough with water. Moisten only a semicircle, not all the way around. Close the gyoza, folding the edge about 6 times. Let me tell you, once you've folded a couple of these little suckers you get quite good at it.

Fry the gyoza in a little bit of hot oil until the bottom is brownish, then add roughly 1/4 cup of water; the gyoza should be in the water to about half their height. Cover the pan & turn the heat to low, steaming until all water is evaporated.

To make the dipping sauce: Mix the equal amounts of soy sauce and vinegar together.

And serve immediately!!

Craving satisfied!!

-Tamara

**Recipe from JapanGuide

'Cause Ninjas are cool!

Look what crept into my kitchen last night...

NinjaBread Men!!

I saw these adorable little guys online a while ago and managed to get my hands on a set during our Captain America outing. How cool are they?!! I just couldn't wait to make them. While I have several recipes I could have used, I'm ashamed to admit I used a gingerbread packet mix. After my recent baking disasters (Bastille Day Baking), I decided to take the relatively fool-proof option.

Be free little ninja!





I'm not a huge fan of icing so I decided to decorate my ninjas by drawing in the features with the edge of a spoon. Unfortunately I didn't take into account the fact that they would puff up when cooked...

This one looks more like a happy dancing Cossack than a super stealthy ninja.

Despite their lack of ninja-like qualities, they were a very tasty bunch and are welcome to sneak back into my kitchen any time.

- Tamara

Bastille Day Baking

I know this post is a day late but yesterday's Bastille Day baking turned out to be more of a challenge than expected.

First up, Bastille Day: France's national holiday on July 14, is seen as the symbol of the end of the French monarchy and the beginning of the First Republic. It was on this date in 1789 the French stormed the Bastille Prison in Paris, triggering the French Revolution that toppled King Louis XVI and the aristocracy. As a historical symbol of revolt against injustice, Bastille Day is commemorated world-wide.

As my own personal tribute to France's national day, I decided to make some delicious little cakes called Madeleines. These bite-sized lovelies are so light and fluffy, you just can't stop at one. Unable to locate my usual recipe, I turned to my 'go to' recipe book for French cuisine "A Little Taste of France" by Murdoch Books.



Everything I've made from this book has been a success and I was confident there wouldn't be any problems. Not so I'm afraid. The eggs and sugar need to be whisked until they're light and airy, just off forming peaks, but this recipe is quite vague in its explanation. My arm also got tired fairly quickly so I stopped well short of the desired consistency. Qu'elle horreur!! The first batch turned out like little rocks. I tried adding a splash of milk to the second batch to thin the batter and while they looked a lot better, they still tasted ordinary.

Foreground: First batch of rocks;
Background: Second, better looking batch



Refusing to give up on satisfying my Madeleine craving, I found my original recipe and started again. This time however, I got smart. One of my cooking implements has a whisk attachment, which for some strange reason I've never used, so I put it to work. It's fantastic! No more hand whisking for me! The batter was a lot lighter, in both colour and texture, and the finished result was just reward for sticking at it. Ta-da!!

Now that's more like it.


Vive la Revolution!!