Strawberry Jam Coconut Slice

Jam coconut slices are one of my favourite treats. I remember buying my first one at a local bakery and it tasted not overly too sweet and not too dry. It was perfect. I have been through a few jam coconut slice recipes and most of them are too sweet for my taste buds. I just cut down the sugar the second time making them. Most of the time the jam is already sweet so you don't need that much sugar in the first place.

I found a coconut slice recipe on taste.com.au and I cut down the sugar to about 1/2 a cup. I knew that 1 cup of caster sugar would be tooo sweet! This recipe is simple and quick and most of the family will enjoy it.....well maybe all of them!


Jam Coconut Slice Recipe
adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour
• *** 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 125g butter, chilled, cubed
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3/4 cup strawberry jam (ANY JAM)
  
• 2 cups desiccated coconut

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 3cm deep, 24cm x 29.5cm (base) lamington pan. Process flour, 1/2 cup sugar and butter to resemble breadcrumbs. 
2. Add 1 egg and vanilla. 
3. Process to form a dough. 
4. Press dough into base of prepared pan. 
5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until light golden. 
6. Spread jam over warm base. (you will find it easier to spread when the jam is warmed in the microwave for a couple of seconds)
7. Whisk remaining eggs and remaining 1/2 cup sugar together. 
8. Stir in coconut. 
9. Spread over jam. 
10. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden. 
11. Cool completely in pan. 
12. Cut into pieces. Serve
    

Saturday Fresh Markets at Rocklea, Brisbane

I love going to the Fresh Markets on Saturdays at Rocklea! It is always busy busy busy with people bustling around and families lining up for very cheap fruit and vegetables (compared to supermarkets) . Not only that the markets sell the cheapest fruit and vegetables in town, they do sell breakfast for the early birds that come in to buy the freshest produce. You can already smell the delicious food when you enter! mmmm!

Fresh Greek yogurt, food court, florist and fresh produce

Near the flower and plant stall you can spot the Greek food stand, the Asian take away stand, the bacon and egg stand, and then the dutch pancakes and coffee stall. Across from these stalls you can spot the infamous German sausage stand which they sell the cheapest bread and sausage for about $6. They are mighty big! Trust me! In the middle of the stalls is the food court where a lot of families gather around and eat breakfast and lunch and listen to free performances by local musicians. Sometimes the kids gather around up there and dance around a bit. Cute much?

Fresh produce

When you enter the markets you will find the areas are mainly grouped in categories. The first part is the food, flowers and plants and then when you walk further in that is where all the fruit and vegetable stands are. Some stands are really big and some are small. Amongst them you will past wine sellers, soap stands, knife sharpie, craft shops and home made lollies. At the end of markets you will find the bargain meats and seafood! It is a bit cheaper compared to other meat sellers from the shops. I have bought only fish here and it was very fresh. The women that sell the fish are always happy and on their toes all the time. They never look tired. I am already tired just making it to the markets lol.

Customers lining up for fresh bargain meat

By around 11pm to 11.30pm things get a bit heated up. Most of the fruit goes CHEAP around this time. Spruikers from the stands will yell out their specials. $1 $1 $1 dollar kg for bananas!!! Then on the other stand you will hear 79cents a kg!! 79cents a kg!! for bananas!!! or 3 punnets of strawberries for 2 bux!!! That is right folks 3 punnets of strawberries for 2 bux! This is the time when I come in to get really cheap deals!! I usually make a whole loop and memorise all the prices in my head and head back to the cheapest stall to buy fruit and vegetables. I sound cheap? No, I am just being smart! I bought 7kgs of lady finger banana's for around $7 and that is sooo cheap compared to supermarkets. Supermarkets pretty much sell lady finger's for around $4.99 depending the season. Once I bought a bag of fresh tomatoes for 49 cents and 3 ice burg lettuce for only $1! The cheap price really depends on the season on the produce however the produce that are not really in season are cheaper at the markets.


I always have a lot fun browsing around for cheap fruit and vegetables and occasionally having a quick bite of the delicious local food. I go to this market about every fortnight when I want to bulk up on fruit and vegetables. This is a big advantage if you want to buy big! However, if you are only going for a few things I suggest just save your $3 entry fee and petrol and just go to the supermarket.

If you would like to experience what a fresh market is like then come along by yourself or bring your family! It's friendly and fun!

When: 6am to 12pm every Saturday Morning
Where: Brisbane Market Place, 250 Sherwood Road, Rocklea BRISBANE QLD AUSTRALIA
How to get there: You can get there by Car - it costs $3 for parking or you can park across the road and enter the markets for $1 per person. Or you can go by public transport and stop at Rocklea station which is the closest train station (check Translink for more info)

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Australian Sausage Roll

It was Australia Day yesterday and I spent it making lamingtons cakes and sausage rolls with my little friends from Beijing China. They are only going to be here for another few more days and I am teaching and showing them what is Aussie food. Well they certainly enjoyed making and eating the sausage rolls so much! This is because they made it all by themselves. It is great just watching them making these little rolls and how well presented the rolls looked! I am so impressed that I only pretty much taught them how to make it only two times and they picked it up quickly.


When they were processing these rolls they appeared more confident, wasn't shy trying to speak English to me and they looked so focused! The bigger boy was really focused on his rolls. You can tell which baking tray was his lol. He did also pricked holes into the pastry with the fork! lol.

Australian Sausage Roll (With Asian Twist) makes 20 rolls

• 400g of pork mince (might be a bit of left overs)
  
• 2 cups of bread crumbs
• 1 egg and 1 extra
  
• 3 green shallots chopped
• 1 onion diced
  
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 sheets of store bought puff pastry
• sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Firstly separate puff pastry and thaw. Put in fridge so it won't go soft.

1. Pre heat oven at about 180 degrees and line baking tray with baking paper
2. In a big mixing bowl add the pork mince, bread crumbs, 1 egg, chopped shallots, diced onion, minced garlic and salt and pepper. Mix with clean hands and until the mixture becomes all mushy and smooth. You can do this in a processor to make it more sausage like meat if you have one.
3. Cut each pastry square into squares (4 per sheets)
4. Put the pork mixture into the middle of the pastry and make sure its leveled and consistent. Brush with some egg wash (from extra egg - whisk lightly in bowl) and fold pastry over and seal. Lift up and turn over onto the opposite direction and place onto the tray. And brush with egg wash on top and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat until you have about 20 rolls.
5. When you are done prick some holes into rolls with fork and bake for 30 minutes or until golden. (Mine took 40 minutes to bake - i just wanted the meat to cook thorougly for the kids)
6. Serve with salad and dip with tomato sauce. One of my kids dipped it with soy sauce lol.
   

The kids scoffed it down like there was no tomorrow. I told them you don't eat it with fork...just eat with your hands and dunk it in with sauce. And that is what they did. The bigger kid.....oh my goodness........always eating so quickly I am scared that he might of choked. HE LOVED IT. THEY BOTH LOVED IT. Too bad Aussie food is so unhealthy but I just wanted to show them this is Aussie food!

hold your horses mate! lol

They are going to enjoy making spaghetti bolognese tonight :)

Lamington Cakes on Australia Day

Today is Australia Day - the day when we get an excuse to have a day off, chuck seafood on the barbie and to eat as much sausage rolls, meat pies, red meat and wash it down with foster or four x beer. Chant Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi and sometimes make a fool of ourselves in front of family and friends! ... Very Bogan LOL. I don't really understand why we do that? I know I don't. It is a time to come together to reflect what is good about being Australian, what is great, how lucky we live in this land, and be proud of what we have achieved. A lot of people today will celebrate becoming an Australian Citizen. I am pretty thankful that I am Australian. I am very lucky to be here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I am not a true blue Aussie when it comes to Australian food because it is so unhealthy lol and I sometimes don't really know what is Australian food since the country is so diverse in culture and nationalities. There are so many Chinese, Indian, English, Thai, Italian and Greek restaurants here but you hardly see an Australian restaurant. I do know there are about 2 Australian restaurants in Bali - I wonder what they serve there? A fancy meat pie? lol.

I can name some iconic Australian foods which are: Vegemite which you spread a little bit on buttered bread (toast tastes better), meat pies, sausage rolls, Anzac biscuits, Bunderburg Rum, damper, cheezels (chips), burger rings (chips), sangas (sandwiches), chiko roll (this pastry filled roll (looks like huge springroll) - sometimes I don't know what is inside those things!) and last and not least the lamington cake which are traditional small sponge cakes covered in chocolate and then covered in coconut.


My little friends from overseas (China) helped me make some lamington cakes the other day and they were so excited. Too bad the recipe wasn't a very good one. It was too sweet for their tiny taste buds. Well at least they know how the Aussie lamington is made. It was so cute to see how they were so focused and concentrated so hard in processing these cakes.

I got this recipe from this site here (Aussie Slang) which came up first from a google search :P. Next time I will half the sugar! I probably make tiramisu with those lamingtons now.

LAMINGTON CAKES

by Aussie Slang http://www.aussieslang.com/features/australian-lamingtons-recipe.asp

sponge cake

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup butter
* 3/4 cup castor sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 eggs
* 2 cups self rising flour
* 1/2 cup milk

Method

* Grease and Line a Lamington Tin (11 x 8 x 1.5 inches)
* Cream the Butter, Castor Sugar and Vanilla until light and fluffy.
* Add the eggs one at a time beating together as you go.
* Fold in the Flour and Milk, alternating as you go.
* Pour the batter into the prepared tin, spread evenly, and bake in a Moderate Oven (375f/190c) for 30-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
* Allow to stand for a few minutes before turning out on to a cooling rack.
* Leave to cool then store in the Fridge overnight.

Choc Icing

Ingredients

* 1 slab sponge cake (one day old)
* 4 cups icing sugar
* 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1/2 cup milk
* 2 - 3 cups desiccated coconut

To make the icing

* Cool the cake for at least half an hour in the Fridge or Freezer, then cut into squares or fingers
* Combine the Sugar and Cocoa in a large bowl
* Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan until the butter is melted.
* Add to the sugar/cocoa mixture and mix to a fluid yet not runny consistency

To put it all together

* Make a production line of Sponge Fingers, Chocolate Icing mixture in a bowl, coconut in a shallow container or plate, and a cooling rack with paper underneath.
* Using a fork dip the sponge fingers into the icing, roll it in the coconut covering it well, and then place on to the rack to dry.
* Once they have dried, place in an airtight container and leave to "mature" for at least a few hours, preferably overnight, before eating.

Processing - sponge cake dipped into chocolate icing and then sprinkled with coconut! Too easy.
Honestly, I should of just bought already made lamingtons from the store hihi