Brinjal Sweet Pickle – Gourmet Garden Blogoff

Welcome to a week-long session as I compete to the Gourmet Garden cook off / blog off. For the next week, all the items I make will be made with a range of Gourmet Garden products. I hope you will enjoy them!

The farmers markets always inspire me to create awesome food. A few weeks ago, I purchased a tub of Brinjal from a local woman named Pinny. I have never experienced it before and it was mouth-watering delicious. I decided to give it a go myself. This is my first attempt at a home-made pickle, and I managed to amaze myself! This recipe is modified from Awes me Cuisine.

[  SERVES: 3  |  TIME: 25 MIN  |  COST: <$3  ]
[  JOES' RATING: 4.5 / 5  |  MY RATING: 4.5 / 5 ]

INGREDIENTS

1 kg eggplants
2 cups vinegar
1½ cups sugar
1 onion
¾ cup oil
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp gourmet garden chunky garlic
1 tbsp gourmet garden hot chilli paste
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp gourmet garden ginger paste
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder

Method

1. Wash and cut the eggplant into large bite size chunks. Dice the onion finely.
   
2. Soak the garlic, chilli, cumin seeds, ginger, mustard seeds and caraway seeds in the vinegar for an hour or so.
3. In a large sauté pan, in a little oil, fry off any dry ingredients with the onion until caramelised.
   
4. Add the remaining ingredients – the eggplant, vinegar mixture, sugar and salt.
   
5. Reduce the heat and stew until reduced and the sauce has thickened. This will take about 30 minutes.
   
6. Enjoy warm or allow to cool and serve with crackers, bread or as a side with vegetables.

Observations

• This pickle is quite sweet and mild tasting. Next time, I intend on cutting the sugar back by half, reducing the oil content by half and increasing the spice content by double.
• Today Joe and I feasted on this Brinjal with some hot crusty home-made sourdough bread!
• As eggplants are in full season, I was able to utilise two different varieties in this dish. It doesn’t matter which variety you can access.
• Diabetic Note: As delicious as it is, the recipe (ingredients) I used today is not diabetic friendly unless it’s used sparingly. The changes I mention above (observations) should make it a much wiser option for diabetics.
• Ethical Note: Pickling is a great way of utilising seasonal produce that allows you to enjoy those flavours long after the season is over. Reusing old jars and tubs is a great way of recycling.

 

Warm Chickpea, Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables and Halloumi Salad

I remember many years ago spending some time at a dear friends home in Sydney while on holidays. As MJ’s tastes run to the more savoury side of things, her fridge was often an adventure in its own right full of amazing wonders. On this one particular morning, she fried up some Halloumi for our breakfast and as they say in the record books; the rest was history.

Halloumi is a semi hard cheese that is made of cows, goats and cows milk and originated in Cyprus. It is flavoured with a little mint (that in some brands is hardly even detectable), and uses non animal rennet making it safe for vegetarian consumption. Its high melting point makes it perfect for frying, and when served in this way, its slightly rubbery texture adds something amazing to the most simplest of dishes. As it is stored in brine, it has a strong salty taste; the use of additional salt should be limited.

[  SERVES: 2  |  TIME: 45MIN  |  COST: $5 - 8  ]

Ingredients

180g packet of halloumi
2 large handfuls salad greens
1 cup dried chickpeas
2 cups of water
1 continental eggplant
1 zucchini
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
½ red capsicum
sprinkle toasted nuts
drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper

Method

1. Add the water to the dried chickpeas and soak overnight (or a minimum of 4 hours). Boil for 15 minutes, drain and set aside.
2. Dice all the vegetables into bite size pieces. Place into a baking tray with a drizzle of oil, seasoning  and mix well. Bake in at 180°C for 30 minutes.
3. Slice the halloumi into 1 – 2 cm wide peices and fry in a warm saucepan until golden brown. Set aside.
4. To assemble your salad on a plate, start with a good handful of washed salad greens. Layer with the warm roasted vegetables, chickpeas and halloumi. Garnish with the toasted nuts and a drizzle of any left over juices from the roasted vegetables. Serve immediately.

Observations

• Sooooooooo delicious! And so easy. The textures of this dish were perfect!
• We used a mixture of rocket and baby spinach for our salad greens. They worked well with the other flavours.
• We used a mixture of pine nuts and almond slivers toasted lightly in a frying pan for our garnish. The crunch and flavour of the nuts adds something fantastic to salads, and should not be over looked. Try it, and see for yourself!
• 250g of halloumi is enough for four people, so dont worry about getting a larger size. We were just hungry beasts tonight!
• Diabetic Note: No problems here, although, be careful with the oil. If you are worried about the lack of carbs in this dish, add a slice of bread to mop your plate with!
• Ethical Note: On the plus side, halloumi uses non animal rennet. Be careful of where your product is made, however. Upon closer inspection of the label tonight, I realised that my favourite brand is a product of Cyprus. I had always assumed that it was an Australian product because of the Australian address on the packaging. Check the fine print! (And, if you will excuse me, I must now find a new brand. The carbon miles for a cheese from Cyprus make it a little too unethical for my tastes…)