Bread & Butter Pudding

Ingredients:

12 slices of bread
½ cup salted butter, room temperature
½ cup sultanas
6 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
4 cups cream
1 cup cane juice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Optional to serve: whipped cream or custard sauce

Fresh fruit or fruit sauce of your choice

Method:

Preheat oven to 160oC

Butter sides and bottom of an oblong 22cm by 32cm baking pan.

Butter one side of each bread slice, placing 6 of the slices in single layer in the bottom of the baking pan, butter side up.

Scatter the sultanas over the first later of bread.

Place a second layer of 6 buttered slices on top of the sultanas.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the eggs until slightly thickened—about 5 minutes.

Reduce the speed to low, add cream, cane juice and vanilla essence, mixing until combined.

Pour the egg-cream mixture over the bread slowly, allowing the bread to absorb the liquid until all of it is in the pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon and nutmeg evenly over the top of the pudding.

Add hot water to a baking pan larger than the bread pudding pan, and place this ‘water bath’ in pre-heated oven. Set the bread pudding pan in the water bath.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the custard is set. Remove from the oven and discard the water in the larger pan. Cool the pudding to room temperature. May be served warm or chilled until firm.

Optional to serve: top with whipped cream or drizzle with custard sauce, garnish with fresh fruit or surround with a fruit sauce

Sticky Rice with Pineapple Sauce

Ingredients:

Rice Pudding

¾ cup jasmine rice
275 mls coconut cream
225 mls cane juice
Pineapple Sauce
1 slice of fresh pineapple
2 cups cane juice

Method:

Combine rice, coconut cream & cane juice in rice cooker. Start rice cooker, allowing it to complete a standard cooking cycle. Alternatively, this mixture may be cooked in a saucepan, but will require more stirring and attention. Pudding is done when all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice grains are plump, moist and soft.

While pudding is cooking, dice the fresh pineapple into 1cm pieces. Place in a saucepan with 2 cups of cane juice. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally until the cane juice is reduced to a syrup.

Allow sticky rice pudding to cool—it may be served warm or chilled.

To serve: Divide sticky rice pudding onto 4 serving plates and drizzle 1 Tbsp of pineapple sauce over each.

Optional: Serve pudding with sliced fresh mango instead of the pineapple sauce

Thai Chicken Salad

Ingredients:(serves 4)

Dressing

½ cup cane juice
Juice of 3 limes
1 Tbsp rice or coconut vinegar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cm piece of ginger, finely chopped or grated
1 tsp fish sauce
2 shredded kaffir lime (or lemon myrtle) leaves
¼ cup coconut milk
Optional: 2 chopped green chilis—or more if desired to taste

Salad

2 chicken breasts, sliced
2 cups of cane juice
6 lemon myrtle leaves (optional substitute lemon grass)
¼ tsp sesame oil
1 carrot, shaved with vegetable peeler or shredded with a grater
1 cucumber, shaved with a vegetable peeler or very thinly sliced
100g snow pea sprouts
1 bunch of coriander – pick leaves from stems
15 mint leaves
4 Kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded or substitute lemon myrtle leaves
Optional: 1 cup 2cm diced fresh pawpaw

Method:

Prepare the dressing first, to allow it to develop its complex flavours for 30 minutes before using on the salad. Note: dressing may also be made in advance and kept refrigerated in a sealed jar for up to 3 weeks, so save any extra not used.

Place all the prepared dressing ingredients in a glass jar and shake to blend thoroughly. Set aside.

Place the sliced chicken breast in a shallow pan, adding the cane juice, lemon myrtle leaves and sesame oil. Poach chicken over low heat in cane juice mixture until fully cooked. Set aside to cool.

Once cooled to room temperature, remove sliced chicken from poaching liquid & pat dry with a paper towel. Discard the poaching liquid.

In a large bowl toss the prepared carrot, cucumber, snow pea sprouts, coriander, mint and kaffir lime (or lemon myrtle) leaves lightly until evenly dispersed. Add sliced chicken and diced fresh pawpaw (if used).

Drizzle prepared dressing over the salad and toss lightly. Divide salad onto 4 plates and serve immediately.

Marinated Chicken Noodle Salad

Ingredients:(serves 4)

1 large chicken breast, thinly sliced
90 mls soy sauce
180 mls cane juice
200g rice vermicelli noodles
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
¼ red capsicum, very thinly sliced

Method:

Combine soy sauce and cane juice in a bowl; submerge sliced chicken breast in the mixture to marinate for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, cover rice vermicelli noodles in hot water. Allow to soften for 2 minutes (or according to the package instructions). Remove noodles from the water and drain. Set aside.

Remove marinated chicken breast meat from marinade. Set marinade aside to be added once the chicken is cooked.

Lightly oil a wok or large frying pan and place over high heat. Add chicken and stir-fry quickly until done (this may need to be done in batches, depending upon the size of the pan). Add the marinade to the pan to heat through with the cooked chicken. Remove from heat & set aside.

In a large serving bowl, combine the prepared noodles, sliced green onion and capsicum. Add the chicken and all of the marinade. Toss lightly until noodles are coated with the liquid, and salad ingredients are evenly dispersed.

Portion onto 4 plates or bowls and serve immediately.