As today we bask in the glory that is our country & our Australian way of life, it is important we recognize once again the reason why our country is considered the most livable (& luckiest) country in the world.
Australia's rich beauty is embedded in its past, it's present and future. We must recognize here our indigenous roots, it having lived and thrived for the past 40,000 years - this believed to be the world's oldest surviving culture. Today we celebrate our indigenous roots for it has made us what we are.
Please follow this link to this ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) for the Melbourne Indigenous Arts Centre, this coinciding with the National Indigenous Photo-Media Forum for photographers and artists -
Australia is a beautiful mix of rich cultures all melding together to give us the richest garden bed for our nation's growth. You must know by now in our previous posts, we love to experience the contrasting cultural expression of the varying nationalities who call Australia their home. We love the people, their culture and especially their food! It is great that we can travel to places like Europe, Asia or Africa and experience cultures thousands of years old -it is just as cool that we can come home and have a little piece of each of these in our city for us to enjoy & learn from.
On Australia day we thought it would be a great time to introduce to many of you a little indigenous flavour! A perfect match to our very popular Sunday roast! We found this incredible recipe at http://www.aussiecooking.com.au
Recipe for Lamb Leg Rolled in Wattle Seed and Macadamia
Lamb leg rolled in wattle seed and macadamia nuts, served with mango sauce
2.2kg Easy-carve (boned out) lamb leg
200g crushed macadamia nuts
200g wattleseed
500g mango puree (use fresh mango and place into blender to puree)
a pinch of Mintbush marinade
50g butter
salt
pepper
Length-wise, roll one half into the macadamia nuts and the other half into the Wattleseed
Place the leg into a hot oven and cover with aluminum foil. Use a piece of baking paper, if necessary. Roast for 1 and a half hours at 200 degrees and then remove the covering and roast until the nuts are just browned (you may need to roast meat less or more depending on how you like your meat). Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving, remembering to remove the string.
Place the mango puree, Mintbush marinade, butter, salt and pepper into a saucepan. Warm for a few minutes on a medium heat.
Slice the lamb leg and fan on a plate over Lemon myrtle infused rice, or Alpine pepper polenta. Drizzle with the mango sauce and accompany with your favorite steamed greens or baked vegetables.
All indigenous ingredients available at;
Other great online stores;
We were delighted last year when we received a very gorgeous gift from the bush tucker shop in our mail. Haley our friend is indigenous, and had selected and organised for these goodies to be sent to us to assist with a monstrous assignment I had to do on herbs and spices. I was so excited! Not only did I have an incredible selection of indigenous spices, but I also had gorgeous jams including my favourite "Lillipilli" and everything was packaged inside a beautiful hand woven basket that Haley had made! Smelling,Tasting, Feeling these indigenous spices was a first for both of us. We had a great afternoon, our senses were well and truly alive! We loved learning about where they came from. It made us realise that this is a part of our culture we had no idea about! We have enjoyed playing with the incredible and interesting flavours in our kitchen, and highly recommend you step out of your comfort zone and have fun selecting and ordering some amazing indigenous flavours, available online. Our very favourite is "wattleseed". It has an incredible earthy flavour that is extremely similar to a mix of hazlenut, chocolate and coffee. I am not a coffee drinker, so for me this is the perfect substitute! Wattleseed is also great in desserts such as ice-cream. Lilli Pilli, apart from it's gorgeous colour, has a wonderful apple and cinnamon flavour and is delicious on pancakes as well as toast.
Lilli Pilli - photo from
http://mcmkscoutgroup.org.au/tag/lilli-pilli-jam/
head over to this site to make your own jam!
http://mcmkscoutgroup.org.au/tag/lilli-pilli-jam/
head over to this site to make your own jam!
Wattleseed Icecream Recipe
1 litre of premium vanilla ice-cream
2 teaspoons of Wattleseed
This recipe is a very easy way to make good quality vanilla ice-cream into a
bushfood sensation. Simply add the Wattleseed into a glass and add just enough boiling water to cover the grounds. Don't add more water or it will form ice crystals when refrozen
Allow to cool
Allow ice cream to partially thaw, put in large mixing bowl and add the cooled wattleseed grounds, mix well, put back in ice cream tub and refreeze.
ENJOY!
1 comment:
:) Bless, I'm super glad you enjoyed! I had just as much fun finding the ingredients and also making you the basket also! Lol xo
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