Gluten and Dairy Free Banana Nut Bread

½ cup of Walnuts
½ cup of Almonds
½ cup of Dried Blueberries
1/3 cup of Goji berries
3 ripe bananas mashed
½ cup of macadamia butter
2 tablespoons of nut oil
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1 ½ cups of gluten free self raising flour
½ cup of nut meal
¼ cup of soy milk

Cream together butter and sugar; add eggs, bananas, spices, nuts and fruit. Beat in nut meal and flour. Add milk stirring until smooth.

Pour into greased loaf tin. Bake for approximately two hours at 150.

This really depends on your oven; you will have to check it. If the outsides seem to be cooked but the middle is still soggy turn down your oven and continue cooking. This is a loaf so it’s quite solid.

Allow to cool completely, before cutting.

Individually wrap slices and freeze; microwave for one minute when desired.

Gluten and Dairy Free Chocolate Cupcakes

3 eggs separated
1 ½ cups of gluten free flour
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of chocolate powder
½ cup of macadamia butter
½ cup of soy milk

Whip egg whites until they form stiff peaks, set aside. Beat together the butter, sugar and egg yolks, until light and creamy. Add vanilla, cocoa, flour and milk, beat together, until smooth. Fold in egg whites. Spoon into patty pans, bake for 20-30 minutes. Serve warm with chocolate ganache and shaved chocolate.

My ganache was made with cream, but here is a recipe for non-dairy ganache.

Vegan Ganache

1/2 C Cacao Powder
1/2 C Agave
1/4 C Coconut Oil

Melt coconut oil over hot water or in the dehydrator (if you are using it) Whisk together cacao powder, coconut oil and agave. Pour into tart shells and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Pho Ga

October's Daring Cooks Challenge comes from - Jaden of Steamy Kitchen from her new book 'The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.'

It was a two part challenge, firstly Pho Ga and secondly to create your own sweet wonton.


Ingredients:

Chicken Pho Broth
2 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
4 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
2 quarts (2 liters/8 cups/64 fluid ounces) store-bought or homemade chicken stock
3 chicken skinless thigh pieces with bones
1 onion
1 3-inch (7.5 cm) chunk of ginger, sliced and smashed with side of knife
3 tbsps. of Kecap Manis
1 to 2 tbsps. fish sauce

1 lb. (500 grams/16 ounces) dried rice noodles (about ¼ inch/6 mm wide)

Accompaniments:
Bean sprouts
Fresh cilantro (coriander) tops (leaves and tender stems)
Deep fried shallots
½ lime, cut into 4 wedges
Sriracha chili sauce
Hoisin sauce
Sliced fresh chili peppers of your choice
Thinly sliced snow peas

Directions:
To make the Chicken Pho Broth: heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves and star anise and toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately spoon out the spices to avoid burning.
Char the onion and ginger, then brown chicken.
In a large pot, add all the ingredients (including the toasted spices) and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently.
Use tongs to remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with your fingers, discarding the bone if you have used bone-in breasts.
Taste the broth and add more fish sauce or sugar, if needed. Strain the broth and discard the solids.
Prepare the noodles as per directions on the package.
Ladle the broth into bowls. Then divide the shredded chicken breast and the soft noodles evenly into each bowl.
Have the accompaniments spread out on the table. Each person can customize their own bowl with these ingredients.

Enjoy!

Caramelised Chinese Melon and Ginger Wontons

The Challenge was to create your own desert wontons. I wanted to keep to theme and challenge myself with something new. I was quite surprised it worked as I’d never even opened one of these melons before. Called Chinese Bitter Melon, they are somewhat tasteless with a firm spongy flesh, a perfect contrast for the spicy ginger.

There are a few steps to this, but the good thing is the filling can be prepared the day before and refrigerated. Then you just make them to order.



Ginger

1 cup finely chopped ginger
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup of water
zest and juice of one lime

Place sugar, water and lime in a pot over a medium heat. Simmer until sugar is dissolved. Add ginger and continue simmering until sauce is thick and syrupy.

Take off heat and puree in a blender

Allow to cool and set aside.


Melon

1 Melon
½ cup of sugar
¼ cup of butter
½ teaspoon of ground pepperberry

Peel melon and chop into small cubes

Melt butter and sugar together add melon, and simmer until melon is soft. Remove the melon, and put sauce back on heat to thicken and reduce. Take off heat add melon and allow to cool.


Wontons

In the centre of a wonton wrapper place a small ball of the ginger paste, spoon melon on top. With the back of a spoon spread some of the juice from the melon on all side of the wonton. Bring the four corners of the wonton towards the centre and pinch together all the sides, to create a little package.

Heat a small pot of oil. To test if it’s ready, place a empty wonton wrapper in the oil, it should brown and crisp, quite quickly. Cook each wonton separately. Lower gently into the oil, it should be deep enough to cover the whole wonton. They only take 30 seconds or so to cook.

Serve Immediately

Conffeti Salad

1 Avocado
4 fresh corn cobs
1 Capsucuim or bell pepper
1 Carrot
1 Cucumber
1 Pomegranate
1/2 cup of mint
1/2 cup of corriander
1/2 cup of parsley

Cube all vegetables into small cubes, finely chop herbs mix together and serve. This is somewhere in between a salsa and a salad. Great over meat or grilled polenta crumbed tofu.