Steamed Radish Cake

Wow! I did it! I made Steamed Radish Cake. :) I used Kebun Malay-Kadazan girl's recipe. Thank you!

I peeled and chopped some of the daikon radishes that I received from M-K Girl and Andrew.Bung them in the food processor and process until you have some slushy mush or mushy slush.
Mix with the other ingredients.
Cook, then put into a heatproof dish to steam until done. I don't have a steamer, hence this weird contraption. I had to steam it a lot longer, due to that, too.This is the end result.We had it stir-fried (also known as 'carrot cake' in Singapore. It's not a cake and does not have any carrots in it.) But this is another story. :)

Cinnamon/Sultana Pull-Apart Bread

I used this recipe, but changed it slightly. (Surprise, surprise!)
I added sultanas to the dough. Instead of sugar, I used honey. I also added the zest of a whole orange to the dough.

It didn't pull apart as neatly as it could have, but I did squish it into the tin quite a bit. So maybe next time, I'll just put the rest into another tin. Also, I used honey, so the layers stuck together a bit more, due to the honey. If you use sugar, I'm sure it'll pull apart neatly.

The dough squares stacked into the tin.Just out of the oven.A few slices pulled off.
It was absolutely delicious. The grapefruit curd tastes lovely on that bread, too.

Grapefruit curd

You may have noticed the pile of grapefruit in one of the pictures in the previous post. I took a few home to try and make grapefruit curd. A fellow seedsaver mentioned she'd made it years ago (thanks, Chook!), and I decided to give it a go. Couldn't imagine it not being nice.

I used this recipe for lemon curd (but I halved the quantities in the recipe), which works extremely well. It also appeals heaps, because it uses whole eggs. I modified the recipe slightly, instead of sugar I used honey.

Zest and juice your grapefruit. I used two biggish ones. You could use more, if you want a big hit of grapefruit.4 eggs - lightly beaten
100g unsalted butter
100g honey

Put all ingredients in a heatproof bowl.
Stir until it thickens, then pour into clean, sterilised jars.It's really nice, and even if you are not a big fan of grapefruit, you might like it. It doesn't taste too grapefruity. Just has a nice tang.

Curd does freeze beautifully. I just bung the jars into the freezer, and Bob's your uncle. Lemon or grapefruit curd, whenever you feel like it.

Visiting fellow gardeners...

...is always great fun!

Here is our host, Andrew, happily chatting away.Left, right, left, right. Past the tanks and grapefruit.
There were still some pumpkins left on the ground. Looking good.
The winter vegetables are pumping away. Yum!
Gathering at the horseradish patch. Surrounded by heavily laden citrus trees and still fruit bearing chilli bushes.
Then gathered around the table with all the seeds, seedlings, produce, etc. to share. Lots of pointing going on. And HOW big does that grow?! :)
Thanks to the gardener and cook for having the crazy lot over. Lots of fun was had by everyone. Oh, and sorry, no pictures of the usual spread of cakes, dips, biscuits, etc. The photographer was too busy chatting. And sampling. :)

Something's hiding...

...under all that kikuyu grass.But what? Any guesses?

Cabbage Earliball

The cabbages are powering along! This is the most advanced at the moment. It's the variety 'Earliball', and it won't grow as big as other varieties. That's why it suits us just fine.
I planted the seedlings in March, when the soil was still warm and they could get a good start. Planted a few weeks later, the soil would have been far too cold and they would just sit there, doing nothing.

Been there, done that. It's very frustrating, watching seedlings for months on end, doing nothing. But you can't blame them, who'd be keen to sit in cold soil? And grow?? It took me a while to figure all that out. :)

Purple Cauliflower

Look, what I found!
This was quite a surprise, as the plant was left over from last winter to go to seed. It may have gone to seed, I don't know, as I completely forgot about it. This is not a spot where I usually grow vegetables.

So, yesterday I happened to walk past and was startled by this purple beauty!

There is a smaller one.Then two more small ones coming along nicely.
Yum! What a pleasant surprise! :)

Tomatoes!

Now this is really weird. But then, the seasons have been really weird.

I still have tomatoes on my kitchen bench!
What's more, there are still tomatoes on the plants! We've already had a few frosty mornings, but the plants are still alive. Normally the tomato season ends at the end of April, sometimes even earlier. But I'm not complaining. :)

Oh, and we had the coldest autumn in 56 years!