Sauerkraut

I made sauerkraut again. Can't believe I had left it for so long since the last time, it is so easy to make, delicious and completely healthy. And keeps for months! No down side. It bubbled away gently in a shady bit of the kitchen for 5 days. And now we have a big jar of it in the fridge. Oh and did I mention total outlay of about a dollar for the cabbage - half of a mighty $1.99 beast.

I love the glass inside the top of the jar, works really well, easy to clean and kept most of the air out. I am sure that's why there was less mould bloom on this than on previous batches I made.

Also gave me a chance to play with my new friend Ken Wood, as seen on right. Sure, it's a bit of a faff emptying the tiny baby food prcoessor bowl every thirty seconds, but I don't usually need a full size processor, and this one was so cute I had to have it.

Recipe:
1 kg cabbage, 25 g salt
* Shred the cabbage and mix with the salt.
* Tamp it down extremely well in a clean vessel.
* Weight the mixture with a glass jar filled with water.
* Cover to exclude fruit flies! Stand at about 20 C out of direct sun.
* The mixture will start to burp and bubble gently after a day or two. After that, taste a shred every day.
* When it is sauerkrauty and incredibly moreish, decant or cover and refrigerate for up to six months or so. Eat it raw or in your favourite recipes.

Warnings: if it goes slimy, squashy or stinky, heave it on the compost pile. If there's a mould bloom on the surface or on the side of the glass, remove with a clean, wet cloth. The cabbage needs to be covered with juice. Else top it up with brine until covered. It also needs to stay submerged while fermenting, so make your arrangements accordingly.

Note: you can bottle sauerkraut, but then you have to boil it before eating. And it keeps for months, so why would you bother?

Eight treasures

New year, new leaf. Thought I'd resurrect this blog and scratch down some of the cooking adventures that I am determined to make time for in 2012.

Afternoon trip to the very wonderful Buddhist temple in Flat Bush and the eight treasure congee New Year's ceremony (which we missed) put me in mind of a recipe in a book I got for my wedding a bazillion years ago (20. On Wednesday.)

So, I've never made eight treasure pudding. It was a lot of fun. I tend to make quite a dry style of rice pudding, soak the rice first so it cooks very soft, then simmer on the stovetop with about half and half milk and water. The treasures were: home-bottled apricots, Anjou pears, prunes, almonds, ginger, raisins, angelica and orange. I flavoured it with saffron and cardamom. Usually I'd use rosewater too, but visiting step-daughter doesn't like, so I served it with pouring cream and a home-made vanilla and rose mascarpone.

My other favourite rice pudding is black rice, coconut cream and lime or coffee. Visiting step-daughter also doesn't like coconut, so that one can wait for a few weeks.

The raisins and prunes look like bumblebees in the pic but honest, it's vegetarian.