achacha thirst quencher

I’m off to Singapore this afternoon for a week of networking, pitching and purveying sites.

I’ve never been to Singapore before. I’ve been through Singapore, but never stepped off the plane to take a look around.

Everyone keeps telling me it’s hot. Hot and steamy and sweaty. Not the most conducive weather for maintaining a polished, corporate look.

In anticipation of the heat, here’s a lovely little thirst quencher I prepared using the skins of the unusual achacha fruit.

Achachas (achachairú) are tropical fruit from the Bolivian Amazon, and they are delicious.

The bright orange skins are so pretty, but when you puncture them with your fingers and peel back the thick skins you’ll find soft, white flesh that tastes like a creamy, tropical combination of custard apples, lemon, pineapple and banana.

They taste amazing.

After you devour a bag of achacha fruit, don’t throw the skins away! You can infuse them with water and sugar to make a refreshing summer juice.

Chicha de Achachairú

Recipe from www.achacha.com.au Makes 1 litre.

Ingredients:
6-8 skins
1 litre water
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup water (extra)

Method:

1. Wash achacha skins. Blend with 1 litre water.

2. Leave for at least 24 hours (or longer) in the fridge.

3. Make sugar syrup by bringing sugar and the extra 1 cup water to a simmer for 5 minutes. Cool.

4. Strain skins through a mesh strainer. Discard skins and add sugar syrup to remaining juice.

5. Chill and drink.

chicha de piña (spiced pineapple drink)

Seven Days of Pineapple - Day 7

This recipe is a perfect end to my seven days of pineapple because it gives you something to do with all the pineapple skins and core that you’d otherwise throw away or compost.

I had heard of this Ecuadorian drink before, but since it’s traditionally fermented I’d given it a wide berth. Home fermentations make me a little uneasy with their potential to explode and spray their contents everywhere. In a small apartment, this is not an ideal outcome.

But I discovered Layla’s recipe and she explained that although the traditional chicha is fermented, there are many lighter and easier versions of chicha commonly made and drunk in Ecuador. This is one.

The pineapple scraps are boiled with water, spices and panela, which is unrefined whole cane sugar made from evaporating sugarcane juice. Layla’s blog has a detailed and pleasantly idyllic description of how panela is made in the town she grew up in.

Panela is sold in small cone-shaped pieces in Latin American grocers, but if you can’t find any then Indian/Sri Lankan jaggery is a very similar product.

Layla’s recipe is a fresh chicha, although her blog post also contains instructions on how to make a fermented version if you are more game than I am.

I drank this both hot and cold. It’s a lovely refreshing cold drink on a warm day, but an even ,ore unusual and comforting warmer on a cold winter evening. Highly recommended either way.

Chicha de Piña (Ecuadorian spiced pineapple drink)

Adaptation of Layla’s recipe. Makes 2 litres.

Ingredients:
Skin, core and scraps of 1 (well-washed) pineapple
125g panela
2 litres water
2 cassia quills (or cinnamon)
2 cloves
4 allspice berries
(500ml pineapple juice, optional)

Method:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in large saucepan

2. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

3. Drink hot or cold, but strain before serving.

Note: I added about 500ml of fresh pineapple juice to the final product, just to make it punchier.

Pineapples supplied by the team at King of Fruit

iced green tea w lychees & lime

It’s lychee season.

A few years ago I got drunk on lychee liqueur and killed my love for lychees . . . until now.

On behalf of Aussie lychee growers, Cessie at IMPACT Communications sent me a box of beautiful, perfect lychees and when I popped the first, slippery nugget into my mouth I swooned with love all over again with these sweet, juicy, tropical fruit.

Oh lychee, I am so happy our love for each other has been rekindled.

This is a versatile iced tea and perfect for summer barbeques. I’ve made it for my sister-in-law when she visited from Sweden early in the year and again in October when The Green Ninja and the VB Samurai visited from Tokyo.

The flavours were inspired by Japanese sensibilities - a love of lychees combined with refreshing green tea and topped off with a little tang and colour from the lime slices.

It's a great addition to summer evening BBQs or any Asian lunch menu.

Lychee & Lime Iced Green Tea

Anna's very own recipe. Makes 1 litre.

Ingredients:
3 bags of green tea or 1 tablespoon loose leaves
400ml boiling water
500ml water
200ml sugar syrup
2 limes thinly sliced
16 lychees, peeled & stone removed
Ice, for serving

Method:

1. In a jug, pour the hot water over the tea bags and steep the tea for 30 minutes.

2. Remove tea bags, add the remaining water, sugar syrup and allow tea to cool to room temperature.

3. Add limes and lychees then refrigerate until completely chilled. Serve with ice.

prune & vanilla smoothie

The holiday season is a period of excess and, after all that overeating and drinking, often our bodies rebel at the abuse we’ve inflicted.

This little smoothie is an excellent way to start the day. The prunes add the sweetness and the, ahem, cleansing properties while low fat milk and yoghurt give you calcium without the calories.

If you want this as a refreshingly chilled wake-up drink then use the ice. Alternatively, boiling water turns it into a warm, soothing start to the day.

Prune & Vanilla Smoothie

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes 2 small drinks.

Ingredients:
10 ice cubes or ¼ cup boiling water
1 cup low fat milk (chilled or warmed)
2 tablespoons low fat vanilla yoghurt
10 prunes

Method:
Blend! Drink!

strawberry, vanilla & rose iced tea

One of my 2011 Food Challenges was to try and cook with tea and make more iced tea.

Now iced tea is a pretty normal drink option, but it’s funny to think not long ago it wasn’t so readily available in Australia.

I used to drink it often as a kid because my American grandfather made a lot of it (and sun tea) and
Australia’s Asian population helped to boost iced tea popularity with bubble tea stores opening up around the country, but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that Lipton released an iced tea range and everybody started to enjoy it as an alternative to soda.

Making iced tea at home is so easy and it’s a great way to get creative over summer.

I’ve been coming up with a lot of different combinations and here are some of my favourites:
• Strawberry, Vanilla & Rose Iced Tea
• Lychee, Lime & Iced Green Tea
• Apricot & Earl Grey Iced Tea
• White Peach & Thai Ginger Iced Tea
• Honey & Lemon Iced Camomile Tea
• Mint & Pomegranate Iced Rooibus Tea
• Star Anise, Tangerine & Black Iced Tea
• Passionfruit & Jasmine Iced Tea Soda

I’ll be posting some of them randomly over the coming summer weeks, so stay tuned.

~ ~ ~

This iced tea is just so pretty.

Served in elegant little glass cups it makes for a perfect afternoon tea with the girls, and if you want to be a little naughty you could always add a splash of vodka or strawberry schnapps for the sweet tooths.

The tiny dried rose petals (I use Pariya) need to be added just before serving to ensure the fragrance rises gentle from the glass.

Serve it with a fat slab of sticky Turkish Delight, heavily dusted in icing sugar, for an extreme indulgence.

Strawberry, Vanilla & Rose Iced Tea

Anna's very own recipe. Makes 1 litre.

Ingredients:
2 bags of Dilmah Rose & French Vanilla Black Tea*
400ml boiling water
500ml water
100ml rose syrup
200ml sugar syrup
5 strawberries, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon dried rose petals
Ice, for serving

Method:

1. In a jug, pour the hot water over the tea bags and steep the tea for 30 minutes.

2. Remove tea bags, add the remaining water, sugar syrup, rose syrup and allow tea to cool to room temperature then refrigerate until completely cold.

3. To prepare iced tea, combine the sweetened tea with the strawberries and ice, then stir in rose petals just before serving.

*You could use black tea, vanilla essence/pod and some rosewater to get the same effect.

vanilla & rhubarb soda

The weather in Sydney has been awful. And by awful I mean hot.

All winter I have been looking forward to the warmer months, longing to slip into a pair sandals, drift about in light summer dresses and laze in the afternoon sunlight.

Hmmm. It seems I forgot that my sandals get so hot my feet slide about, the summer dresses stick rather than drift and the afternoon sun is less tropical holiday and more lost in the desert.

Yes, it’s been stinking hot.

Sweaty, nasty, sticky hot. Melting, searing, muggy hot. The kind of heat that trickles down your back and chaffs at your thighs.

Now I’m begging for winter to return.

But today was wonderful. The sun was out, and yet the wind was cool and refreshing, and Jonas’ mamma is visiting from Sweden.

We started the day off with brunch at the Abercrombie Hotel, with my sisters Stinky and Shamu, and strong man Tombolina. The Abercrombie make the world’s best cheeseburger [no arguing!] not to mention awesome lageritas and cameltoes [drinks people!].

As Jonas declared at the end of the meal “that burger was an express ticket to Flavour Country”. Indeed.

With our guts full of delicious burger, we waddled through the back streets of Darlington and the purple jacaranda lanes of Sydney Uni before hitting the hubbub of the Newtown festival.

The festival was too much for me. Waaaay too many people, no where to sit, drunks lurching unpredictably, gangs of hipster youths looking ironic, yummy mummies with strollers, hippies with unleashed dogs.

I was exasperated after 5 seconds and decided I’m too old for this shit.

Instead we headed to a more civilised bar and drank frozen margaritas while a random band played some surprisingly good tunes.

Great day.

Now that I’m home, the only thing that can save me at the end of a scorching hot day is an ice cold beverage.

And what better than a soda flavoured with a home-made syrup? Simple, but just a little bit fancy.

Try this little jewel on for size and tell me you don’t love it!

Vanilla & Rhubarb Soda

Ingredients:
450g rhubarb
3 cups sugar
3 cups water
1 vanilla pod
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Chilled soda water

Method:

1. Split the vanilla pod in half, then combine all ingredients (except soda water!) in a pot and simmer for around 15 minutes or until rhubarb is very soft and liquid has turned a pretty pink.

2. At this point you can choose between:
- Clear Syrup: strain the ingredients (through muslin) and allow it to drip through for a few hours until the liquid has passed. Return to stove and reduce by a third. OR
- Chunky Syrup: puree softened rhubarb in blender with the syrup. (I prefer this one!)

3. Store syrup in the fridge until ready to use.

4. For a rhubarb drink, add chilled soda water and mix well. Feel free throw in a little vodka for an extra kick.

finger lime & elderflower gin fizz

Jonas is giving me a hard time about not blogging enough.

He’s right, but it’s hard at the moment because I’m really busy with TWO intensive writing projects and an exciting recipe project that all suck my time and energy like a black hole.

It will be worth it in the end, but for now my blogging might be a little infrequent and I hope you’ll bear with me. I will be back to full time in April.

But something I just can’t wait to talk to you about is the crazily massive box of finger limes I received from Fred and Janet Durham at the Australian Finger Lime Company.

I have written about finger limes before, but for the uninitiated these gorgeous little beauties are native to Australia and therefore a food source to the Australian Aboriginal people for thousands of years.

European settlers weren’t so bright, and cleared so much land for cattle grazing that they almost wiped out these amazing citrus fruits. Luckily some trees remained in National Parks and people like the Durhams have been able to resurrect the numbers to turn them into a viable commercial crop.

If you ever have a chance to taste a finger lime, do not hesitate. You will be amazed.

When you cut a finger lime, the tightly bound cells of citrus burst out like caviar. They come in very pretty colours like vivid pink, electric yellow and bright green. Perfect for delicious, decorative touches on both sweet and savoury dishes.

The generous box the Durhams gave to me was so big I had to freeze some for later, but that’s fine since the limes retain the perfect caviar interior even after freezing. It makes them perfect fruit to stock up on during their short season, then freeze and enjoy throughout the year.

I love finger limes mixed into gin drinks, but you could easily put them into custards and creams, use where you would have used lime or lemon juice or zest, make them into jam or curd like this company (they ship internationally).

This recipe is close to my heart because, like the Glögg Summer Punch I made at Christmas last year, it’s another marriage of Sweden and Australia, just like my husband and I.

It also ticks off a 2011 Food Challenge to use more native ingredients.

Finger Lime & Elderflower Gin Fizz

Anna's very own recipe. Makes 1.

Ingredients:
2 parts gin
1 part finger lime syrup (see below)
½ part elderflower syrup
1 tablespoon finger lime caviar
Soda water
Ice

Method:
1. Fill a shaker with ice, then add the gin, finger lime syrup, elderflower syrup and finger lime caviar. Shake it like a polaroid picture.
2. Pour into an ice filled tumbler, top with soda water.
3. Stir and serve.

Finger Lime Syrup

Anna's very own recipe. Makes approx. 350ml.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
¼ cup finger lime caviar (approx. 4 large limes)

Method:
1. Bring the sugar, lime caviar and water to the boil, then stir to dissolve all sugar.
2. Reduce to a simmer and bubble away for around 5-10 minutes until reduced to your preferred thickness.
3. Remove from heat, bring to room temperature and then chill.
Note: Use as a cordial with soda, in a cocktail or drizzled over yoghurt or ice cream.


This, with finger limes as the theme ingredient, is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Winnie from Healthy Green Kitchen.

For other exciting finger lime recipes, check out these:

Finger Lime Caviar Butter
Finger Lime Martini
Finger Lime Vinaigrette
Lemon & Finger Lime Curd
Mango, Finger Lime & Coconut Cream
Malaysian Finger Lime & Chicken Curry
No-Cook Finger Lime Tart
Sardines w Tomato Purée & Finger Lime
Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese on Rye w Finger Limes
Tuna Tartare w Avocado & Finger Lime

try this! summer thirst quenchers

I know I'm sticking to the drink theme but Sydney has been steaming hot over the past few weeks, just when our air conditioner called it quits and started coughing up water in a steady stream. Not happy.

I have wilted and Jonas has positively melted into the Emperor of Grumpiness.

Naturally, this has made me very, very thirsty and I’ve found myself pondering cool, tall drinks much more than I normally would.

I’ve decided to share some of my drinks-of-choice with you, and hope that you too find thirst quenching joy from these refreshing beverages.

Bickford Ice Tea Mixers
These are delicious. With chilled soda water, these mixer scan turn any frown up-side-down. They come in lemon, mango and (my pick) peach.

Kopparberg Pear Cider
Whenever I taste this cider, images of Swedish summer flood my mind. The flavour is light and sweet and definitively pear, but not sickly like Rekorderlig cider (another Swedish brand on the market). My favourite Swedish cider is actually Kiviks Fläderblomscider (halvtorr) which is a semi-dry elderflower cider. But until they sell that here in Australia, I'm sticking to the Kopparberg pear.

Maggie Beer's Sparkling Ruby Cabernet
A glorious drink with all the adult pleasures of wine and none of the hangover. Read more here.

Cusumano Insolia
Made from the little-known insolia grape, this Sicilian wine will electrify you with its utter awesomeness, considering its incredibly cheap price (approx $11). Like all good Sicilian white wines, you can taste the sunshine, making it perfect for a summer afternoon.

Boylans Cane Sugar Sodas
How can anyone complain when sodas start coming in wonderful flavours like grape, black cherry and orange cream (truly exotic in Australia). These gourmet American soda pops are made from pressed cane sugar juice rather than corn syrup, and this hasn’t changed since they started way back in 1891. Stay tuned for their signature Red Birch Beer which will hopefully be released in Australia soon.

Happy Lemon
This Hong Kong bubble tea vendor is pumping out some pretty interesting drinks that put Easy Way to shame. My pick, Lemon Pineapple with Nata de Coco, is delicious but very tame given other options like grapefruit coffee, perilla juice, seaweed jelly, yakult mousse and rock salt cheese.

Kalimotxo
A Basque drink perfect for afternoons spent outdoors or on the beach. 50-50 red wine and cola sounds terrible, but it turns out to be a match made in summery heaven and, given that each ingredient masks the other, you can use the cheap stuff.

Lingonberry Cordial
While many late adopters are only just coming to terms with the heady-scents of elderflower cordial, another Nordic treat is already here and awaiting your homage. Also known as cowberries, lingon are similar to cranberries but with a slightly sweeter edge. They make a mean daiquiri too.

Dr Pepper
I can never quite understand why Dr Pepper isn’t a big hit in Australia. Aussies just hate the taste. Why? I don't understand! It’s friggin’ delicious! Jonas and I both love Dr Pepper and I think it tastes like a cross between a cherry soda and a vanilla cola.

Yuzu Slushie at Ms G's
If you’re in Sydney and living under a rock, Ms G’s is the latest star in the Merivale constellation and has been modelled on NYC’s über-cool Momofuku. I have been there so many times the waitstaff recognise me. Why? The absolutely divine slushies made from yuzu, a Japanese citrus fruit, as well as vodka, limoncello and orange bitters. I can’t even begin to explain how out-of-control delicious these slushies are, not to mention tres chic with their bubble tea wrappers. Get one for yourself and you’ll understand.

Happy drinking!

croatian summer, a cocktail

With the warm weather I've been making all kinds of cooling, blended drinks.

This one can either be a simple drink or can be turned into a cocktail by adding šljìvovica, a Damson plum brandy from the Balkans and most of central/eastern Europe.

What kind of cocktails do you like to drink in the heat?

Croatian Summer

Anna's very own recipe. Makes 1 very tall drink.

Ingredients:
3 ripe plums, halved & pitted
45ml šljìvovica
45ml sugar syrup
35ml lemon juice
Cup of ice
Cup of soda water

Method:
1. Purée plums with the šljìvovica, sugar syrup and lemon juice.
2. Add ice and blend.
3. Add soda water into blender, stir, then pour into serving glass.

cherry almond shake

Day 2 of Seven Days of Cherries

This drink is a perfect vegan smoothie because it is 100% dairy free yet still remarkably creamy.

I used almond milk, which was surprisingly delicious and contains zero lactose or cholesterol. You can buy almond milk from the supermarket or simply make it yourself with some blanched almonds and water in a blender.

The almond milk shouldn’t be pre-sweetened because this will be done by the cherries and the almond syrup.

It’s a very rich shake, so you don’t want too much, and it’s quite elegant and adult in its flavours.

Cherry Almond Shake

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
24 pitted cherries
¼ cup (60ml) almond syrup (orzata/orgeat), or to taste
2 cups (500ml) almond milk, chilled
3 cups crushed ice

Method:

1. Blend cherries, almond milk and ice.

2. Add almond syrup for desired sweetness.

Note: add a shot of amaretto for some alcohol action!

wild hibiscus flowers in syrup

Merry Christmas!

I’m trying hard not to be a little sad this Christmas, but there are four people snowed in on the other side of the world who were supposed to be here with us today.

Jonas’ elder brother (David), sister (Helena), brother-in-law (Christian) and niece (Chloe) were due to arrive on Wednesday morning and instead (because London and Frankfurt don’t know how to handle a little snow) they’ll miss this very special Christmas we had arranged for them.

On the up side, my lovely brother and his family drove down from the Gold Coast to join us and that’s one big positive.

Jonas and his crew will just have to wait a few more days for their own sweet reunion.

~ ~ ~

To celebrate Christmas, I’m sharing this very festive recipe that’s actually perfect for any special occasion.

Admittedly, fresh rosellas (wild hibiscus flowers) are hard to get your hands on but, if you can, the delicious syrups and jams they produce is worth the hard yards tracking them down.

These flowers and a splash of their syrup are perfect for adding to a glass of bubbly (I had them as an aperitif at my wedding), or equally wonderful with soda water, as a topping to vanilla yoghurt or perched on a cheesecake.

And for those who can’t get these pretty little flowers to poach them yourselves, there are some great websites that ship jars of the flowers in syrup.
• USA 
• Europe 
• Australia/NZ 

This recipe comes from a beautiful and truly interesting cookbook about native Australian ingredients called Wild Food. If you're curious about the amazing fruits, herbs and spices that Australia has given to the world, you might want to check it out.

Wild Rosella Flowers in Syrup

Recipe from Wild Food by Juleigh Robins. Makes 40.

Ingredients:
2 cups cold water
2 cups caster sugar
2 cups wild rosellas, chopped
40 wild rosella flowers, whole

Method:

1. Place the water, sugar and chopped wild rosella in a wide stainless-steel saucepan over medium heat.

2. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently until the volume of liquid has reduced by a third.

3. Remove from the heat and strain to remove the solids.

4. Return to the pan, add the flowers and bring to the boil.

5. When it starts to bubble, remove from the heat and pour into sterilised jars.

try this! sparkling ruby cabernet

With Christmas around the corner some of my pregnant friends are anxious about surviving the in-laws without copious amounts of alcohol.

Unfortunately, this product won’t dull out the sound of your nearest and dearest, but it will curb those cravings for an adult flavoured drink.

Maggie Beer is an Aussie icon and the woman is obsessed with verjuice. There’s no getting around it, she loves the stuff.

I have Maggie to thank when she suggested adding verjuice to soda water for a refreshing drink and thus I discovered my summer drink of choice for three years running.

In honour of her favourite wine by-product, Maggie has released this amazing sparkling cabernet, which is only fermented enough to create a perfect wine-like flavour without the alcohol.

It has a heady, sweet smell like red grape juice but the flavour is fairly light and the bead gentle.

It’s the end notes that really hit you in this drink. Quite sour and moreish in contrast to its delicate, sweet scent.

I adore it and highly recommend it to anyone unable (or unwilling) to drink alcohol throughout the silly season.

I’ve found it for sale in David Jones food halls, but good old Maggie sells it online for significantly less.

batida morango

I could drink this Brazilian strawberry cocktail rain, hail or shine.

It's amazingly delicious and Jonas makes a mean one.

Coming home, after a long day at work, to a smiling husband and a fat batida is too good to be true.

Batida Morango (Strawberry Brazilian Cocktail)

Jonas' very own recipe. Makes 1.

Ingredients:
4-5 strawberries
½ lime, cut into wedges
60ml cachaça
15ml sugar syrup
Crushed ice

Method:

1. Muddle the lime and strawberries in a cocktail shaker.

2. Add the sugar syrup and cachaça then ½ cup crushed ice.

3. Shake until chilled through then pour into a glass and serve immediately.

sangrita

This tangy tomato drink is sipped alternately with high quality tequila, made to savour.

It's great aperitif to any meal, alongside dips and salsas.

This is recipe 4 out of 7 on the countdown to Cinco de Mayo!

Sangrita
Recipe from Mexican by Jane Milton. Serves 20 shots or 8 glasses.
Ingredients:
450g ripe tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped finely
2 small green chillies, seeded & chopped
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Juice of 3 limes
½ teaspoon sugar
Pinch of salt
Tequila, to serve
Method:
1. Score the tomatoes on the bottom and place in a heat proof bowl and cover. Sit for 3 minutes.
2. Remove the tomatoes and plunge into a second bowl of cold water. The skins will start to peel away.
3. Remove skins then cut the tomatoes and discard seeds.
4. Chop the remaining tomato flesh and combine in a food processor with onion, chillies, orange juice, lime juice, sugar and salt.
5. Process until smooth then chill for at least one hour before serving.
6. Serve in a shot glass alongside a shot of tequila.
Note: (good quality) aged or golden tequila are recommended for this drink.

agua fresca cítrica - citrus drink

It’s summer, it’s hot and this is the perfect way to cool down.

I love agua frescas and they go especially well with the fragrant spiciness of Mexican and Caribbean food.

Strawberry and tamarind agua frescas are also good, but this time I made a citrus combination from ruby grapefruit, juicy Tahitian limes and navel oranges.

Served with ice, these drinks keep the summer heat at bay. And if you're feeling a little naughty, add a shot of rum or tequila to the mix.

Agua Fresca Cítrica (Mexican Citrus Drink)

Recipe from ‘Mexican’ by Jane Milton. Makes 2 litres.

Ingredients:
9 limes
6 oranges
3 grapefruit
3½ cups (900ml) water
2/3 cup (135g) caster sugar
Fruit wedges, to decorate
Ice, to serve

Method:

1. Squeeze the juice from the limes, oranges and grapefruit. Pour the mixture into a large jug.

2. Add the water and sugar and stir until all the sugar has dissolved.

3. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving with ice and fruit wedges.

Note: Some fruit pulp may collect when squeezing the juice. This should also be used, once any seeds have been discarded. Will keep for up to 1 week in a covered container in the fridge.