Too Many Potatoes and Kumera

Every second Saturday there is a farmers market in Margaret River. It is a fabulous place to pick up fantastic local produce and tends to be a bit of a locals hang for coffee and pastries on the lawn, listening to some music and catching up on the latest town gossip. Jarvis absolutely loves the markets and takes it upon himself to decide what we will buy (little bossy boots that he has become) and often gets a few freebies from the delighted store holders for making comments like "We need to get some broccoli, I LOVE broccoli" (no normal child says stuff like that). This weekend, like every other visit, we left the markets laden with fresh fruit and veges, but in particular we had picked up an abundance of potatoes and kumera (sweet potatoes) at a bargain price, so this week's menu will see these veges feature prominently. The first of such dishes was kumera and potato filled parathas. We had the parathas with a spicy red lentil dish (which was originally recommended by Tash), with yogurt on the side. It was a huge hit; both with our family and the backpackers who scored the leftovers (I suspect it must have been a nice change from 2 minute noodles).

Stuffed Parathas

1 cup (160g) wholemeal plain flour

1 cup (150g) white plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

100g ghee, chopped

1/2 cup (125ml) water, approximately

100g ghee extra

Filling

1 large (300g) potato, chopped

1/2 small (125g) kumera, chopped

1 teaspoon coriander seeds, bruised

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 cup firmly packed fresh coriander leaves

Filling: Boil or stream potato and kumera until tender. Mash vegetables coarsely, stir in spices and coriander. Set aside.

Sift flours and salt into large bowl, rub in ghee. Stir in enough water to make ingredients cling together. Turn dough onto floured surface, knead about 10 minutes or until smooth. Divide dough into 16 portions, roll each portion on floured surface into a 16cm round. Stack rounds between layers of plastic wrap to prevent drying out.

Divide filling among 8 rounds. Spread filling over rounds, leaving 7mm borders. Brush borders with water, top with remaining rounds, press edges together to seal. Heat some of the extra ghee in large pan, add parathas in batches, cook until browned and slightly puffed on both sides; drain on absorbent paper. Repeat with remaining ghee and parathas.

Spiced Red Lentils (from Plenty)

200g split red lentils

350ml water

50g bunch of coriander, plus extra leaves to garnish

1 small onion, peeled

40g peeled fresh root ginger

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1 mild fresh green chilli

1 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

4 tbsp sunflower oil

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp sweet paprika

10 curry leaves

300g peeled, chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)

2 tsp caster sugar

1/4 tsp fenugreek (optional)

pinch of asafoetida (optional)

Wash the lentils under plenty of running cold water, then soak in the 350ml of water for 30 minutes. Cut up the coriander leaves roughly (top half of the bunch); set aside. Place the stalk ends in a food processor and add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli - all roughly broken. Pulse a few times to chops everything up without turning it to a paste. Put the mustard seeds in a heavy-based pot and set on a medium heat. When they begin to pop, add the chopped onion mix and the sunflower oil. Cook and stir on a low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, paprika and curry leaves, and continue cooking and stirring for 5 minutes. Next, add the lentils and their soaking water, tomatoes, sugar, fenugreek and asafoetida, if using, and some salt. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until lentils are fully cooked.

Perth Weekend Getaway

It seems slightly odd to go on a holiday from a holiday, but that's just what we've done. We have just got back from a fabulous weekend in Perth. A friend of ours, Annemarie, was in Perth for a conference and we had promised to head up to Perth to visit another friend Kurt, who had a room free for us to stay in this weekend. So it seemed the perfect time to visit sunny Perth.

It is only a three hour drive from Margaret River to Perth due to the new freeway. So we were able to head straight up there after Rob finished work, in time for dinner. As we drove into town, the number of cars on the road increased and the (few) skyscrapers of the city skyline came into view. As our stress levels rose, it dawned on us that we hadn't been in a large city since Adelaide, in September. The busy streets, city lights and general crazy goings on of the city were slightly overwhelming after sleepy Margaret River. But our city instincts soon kicked in and we relaxed into a fabulous weekend.

When we arrived (after a quick swim in Kurt's pool) Kurt took us to a lookout in Kings Park to eat our dinner. We ate Thai food on a grassy hill overlooking the moon rising behind the city lights. It couldn't have been better if he'd planned it. We kicked back for the evening on our picnic rug, had a few beers and as the night wore on Annemarie and a couple of her colleagues joined us. It was a lovely re-introduction to Perth.

Our main objectives for the weekend were to catch up with friends, eat Thai food (which we had been craving since Melbourne in July), explore Freemantle and its breweries and drink good coffee and eat "city food". With the Thai food ticked off, Kurt took us our for a real slap up Perth breakie. We went to The Naked Fig, a big open cafe on the beach at Swanbourne. We gorged ourselves on all of the delightful morsels that we had been unable to get in smaller country towns.

Kurt had to leave us at this point as he was headed to Laneway Festival. So we set off with Annemarie to explore Freemantle. We walked around the prison, the 100 year old markets and the foreshore parkland. We then headed to the famous but fabulous Little Creatures Brewery for a few pints and delicious pizza. It is probably the best place in Perth to sit and wile away the afternoon. The brewery is situated right on Freemantle harbour with a big outdoor area looking out at the boats passing by. And to top it all off, there is a huge sandpit right on the balcony full of toys, Jarvis never wanted to leave. We followed the brewery up with a small pub crawl to the Sail and Anchor and then onto the Monks Brewery for dinner.

This 25 metre numbat mural appeared overnight in Henderson Street Mall. The Belgian street artist (known only as ROA) was paid $15,000 by the City of Fremantle to leave his mark on the town.

We dashed from dinner back into the city for the opening spectacular for the Perth Festival. We had heard that there was going to be feathers falling from the sky as part of an aerial show of some sort. As we walked into town we started seeing a few single feathers fluttering to the ground. As we got closer to the cathedral, there were more and more of them and then we looked up to see trapeze artists dressed in white spinning from wires up above the city buildings. They were scattering feathers as they went. The feathers got thicker and thicker until the cathedral roof and the streets below were covered in a blanket of feathers that resembled a snow scene.

We didn't want to head back to Margaret River too late but before we left Perth we did manage to squeeze a visit to the Subi Markets and a walk through the botanic gardens. 

The weekend was really just a taster of what Perth has to offer but we had a fabulous time and it was so nice to catch up with some familiar faces. We'll be back for a better look around when we finally leave Margaret River and start our journey North. But for now it's back to Margaret River, which feels more like home every day.

Apple and Fig Turnover

We recently went exploring in the apple region to the east of Margaret River, including the very cute towns of Donnybrook and Bridgetown. There were apples literally everywhere. As we wandered through town, Jarvis picked apple after apple off laden branches hanging over the footpaths. We even did some apple cider sampling at the gorgeous Bridgetown Cidery.

Returning to Margaret River we found ourselves laden with apples and Rob had 6 days straight of work (which meant I was at the camp without a car). So with not much, but time and apples on my hands, I got baking. This might sound simple enough, except I was lacking an oven and due to the current fire ban, baking on the fire with the camp oven was not an option either. Not to be deterred, I attempted the following apple and fig turnover. I baked it in the camp oven on a very low heat on the gas hob. The result wasn't all that pretty but it tasted great.

3/4 cup roughly chopped dried figs

1/4 cup boiling water

2 cups self-raising flour

1 tablespoon caster sugar

30g butter

1 cup milk (approx)

1 large apple, peeled, quartered

2 teaspoons caster sugar, extra

Combine figs and water in a small heatproof bowl, cover, stand for 10 minutes. Process undrained mixture until smooth. Due to the lack of a food processor, I supplemented this with homemade plum jam. Plums are in season at the moment and we have been eating them by the kilo, so this seemed appropriate and tasted good too. But I suspect the figs would taste better.

Sift flour and sugar into medium bowl, rub in butter, stir in enough milk to mix a soft, sticky dough. Turn dough onto floured surface, knead until smooth. Roll dough to 23cm by 30cm oval; spread with fig mixture.

Slice apple quarters thinly using a vegetable peeler; place over half of the dough lengthways, sprinkle with extra sugar. Fold dough over lengthways to cover about two thirds of the apple. Transfer to a greased oven tray, cut diagonal slashes 3cm apart on the top of the turnover, brush with a little milk. Bake in a very hot oven for about 15 minutes. Serve dusted with icing sugar.