sprouted flour

I love baking and even though flour (any kind) is not considered ideal compared good whole grain, I do sometime have it.
I always wanted to try sprouted flour. Being soaked and sprouted the flour shouldn't contain any harmful phytic acid. I have never seen them in Australia so I decided to make it myself.

So far I have tried lentil flour which worked really well. I also did mung beans too but it didn't work so well. I couldn't hydrate them properly maybe and stuck together when milled. Anyway they are stored in the freezer to minimise the oxidisation, ready to be used. Maybe lentil pancake for breakfast this weekend?

note...you will find Phytic acid in grains, beans and nuts. It has the property of combining with minerals, especially calcium, iron and zinc to form insoluble compounds which are carried out in the stool.

Tarte Tatin

For my birthday I made myself a tarte tatin.
This dessert started accidentally. One day the sisters Tatin in Paris let a pan of apples, butter and sugar too long on the stove. Harried by a hungry huntsmen one of the sisters draped the pastry intended as pie base over the pan of caramelised apples and hid her mistake in the oven.

Instead of using butter and sugar I made the caramelised apple with barley, rice, maple syrup and kuzu. Pie pastry was made with quinoa and spelt flour mixed with coconut oil.

natural sweetness of apples and sticky sauce was a perfect match for the rustic pastry.

shakhari restaurant

It was my birthday so I decided to take myself out for a nice meal. The place has to be special.... as I found that most of the time going out for a meal is so disappointing. Shakhari???? yes! And I did make a good choice!

2 and half of us had ...
avocado magic- tempura fried avocado and capsicum pieces wrapped in a sliced eggplant. The sweet coriander puree was beautiful
buckwheat flatbread - panfried flatbread with crunchy citrus cashew cream

vegetable curry cooked in coconut came with Kimchi, dhal, popodums, turmeric rice. (my favourite)
croquette with yam potato and macadamia nuts

for dessert...
apple crumble with soy chocolate ice cream (My daughter's favourite, of course)
cheesecake (I didn't, because it was a dairy cheesecake but apparently it was really good)

Most of the dishes there are vegan friendly even the desserts. We were there for about 2 hours enjoying a slow lunch in front of a fire. what more can I ask for?
Even a friend I went with, who is usually not a big fan of vegetarian food, was happy with the meal!

One of the delightful things about the restaurant is their service. We had a great waiter who served us.

food inc

I have wanted to watch the movie "food Inc" since and before it came out and finally got around to.
The movie covered a lot of issues concerning the food industry in America. Though I think and hope that the industry here in Australia is not as bad as the american one I'm afraid there are lots of the same things happening here right now. And it will only get worse if we don't act on it.

The issues the movie talked about include

false imagery that companies use to market their products -how they use the imagery that resembles the old school farming. In reality it is a factory system that operates for the financial gain.

fast food chains offering the unhealthy meals that target low income earners, affecting their health and their families. they are the largest purchaser of many products.

the conditions of animal farming -chickens, cows, pigs
lots of the farmers were not allowed to speak to the public. what are the companies hiding from us??

the corn production. - one of the cheapest crop used in many products you see in supermarket. including in meats and fish, fast food, drinks and snack foods.

e-coli and food poisoning

alternative industry -organic

seed collecting. How a big companies don't allow farmers to collect the seeds.

G-E crops -Can you believe that 75% of all supermarket food is GMO??



after all the depressing(:-() information the movie does finish with the positive message to the viewers.


you can vote to change this system - Three times a day - Buy from companies that treat - Workers - Animals - And the environment - With respect - When you go to the Super Market - Choose foods that are in season - Buy foods that are organic - Know what is in your food - Read labels - Know what you buy - The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to the super market - Buy locally grown food - Shop at farmer's markets - Plant a garden (even a small one) - Cook a meal with your family and eat it together - Everyone has a right to healthy food - Make sure your farmer's market takes food stamps - Ask the school board to provide healthy lunches - The FDA and USDA are supposed to protect you and your family - Tell congress to enforce food safety standards and reintroduce Kevin's Law - If you say grace, ask for food that will keep us, and the planet healthy - You can change the world with every bite - Hungry for change?

friends of the earth in epicure

Friends of the earth, where I work, was in epicure this week. It was the green issue.
When they came to interview it was the day I happen to be cooking. (tuesday).
Here is what they said about the lunch that day.

There"s no menu, rather an organic, vegetarian "message on a plate". On the day I visited, the plate ($9.50 for large; $8 for small) is colourful - rocket, broccoli and beetroot salad with brown rice soaking up the sauce of creamy satay lentil hotpot and tempeh and atuage (tofu) bolognaise, with a dollop of nutty cream on top

come and have lunch soon!