Author: Volunteer Coordinator

Open post
Japanese-Style-Potato-Salad

Japanese style Potato Salad Recipe

I grew up eating potatoes every single day – my parents were Irish. Potato salad is one of my favourite things to eat.  This is a Japanese style potato salad that I found a couple of years ago. I made it for Christmas the first time. This potato salad recipe does take a little time, so I like to listen to a podcast or an interview while I’m preparing this one – Ingrid, Alfalfa House Member

Japanese Style Potato Salad

A Note on Potato Varieties

Potatoes are normally waxy or floury in texture. The waxy potatoes hold their shape when cooked . They are great in a potato salad recipe. Or maybe just boiled and cubed , then served with butter and chopped herbs. Floury potatoes on the other hand, don’t hold their shape so well once cooked and are soft and fluffy. They are ideal for mashed and baked potatoes.

For most home cooks , potatoes are a pantry staple. Use them in stocks and stews, or bake and mash the potatoes in hearty casseroles and pot pies. In Australia, we have a wide variety of potatoes to choose from. And best of all Alfalfa House stocks many of these potatoes when in season (and even some heirloom varieties that we source direct from farmers)

Further Reading on Choosing Potatoes

This link talks about different types of potatoes and when to use them

And here is A guide to every type of potato

How to choose the the right potato for your next meal

Starchy, Waxy, and All-Purpose: Potato Types, Explained

Japanese style Potato Salad

An Easy potato salad recipe. Excellent as a side dish accompanied with grilled or BBQ food

  • 1 small Lebanese cucumber ( peeled in intervals, deseeded and thinly sliced)
  • 1 small purple onion (thinly sliced)
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 1 kg Kipfler potatoes (or any other potatoes of your choice)
  • 1 medium carrot (peeled and cut into thin half moons)
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
  • 1 cup Kewpie mayonnaise (I like the flavour of this mayonnaise. You can substitute any other mayonnaise of your choice.)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper

  1. Toss the cucumber and onion in a little salt and drain for 15 mins.

  2. Rinse off the salt and dry on paper towel. 

  3. Bring small saucepan of water to boil and hard boil eggs – maybe 6 – 8 minutes

  4. Transfer eggs into iced water and tap the shells all over while in the water – this makes it much easier to peel the eggs.Peel and roughly chop

  5. Cook sliced carrots in boiling water for 3-4 mins, cooked and not mushy.

  6. Cook potatoes and peel while hot. Roughly chop and mash, season with salt – or not.

  7. While potatoes are still warm – not steaming hot – add the vinegar, half the mayonnaise, cucumber, onion, carrot and eggs and mix together. 

  8. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed and add more mayonnaise if required. I personally use less than a cup of Kewpie.

Salad, Side Dish
Australian, Japanese
potato salad
Open post

Humans of Alfalfa House – Meet Roisin


We recently chatted with Roisin, one of our permanent volunteers here at the co-op. We love having Roisin here and appreciate all the help she gives us and the effort she puts in every week – thank you for always bringing your warmth and positive energy into the co-op Roisin 🙂

1.Please tell us a bit about you – what you do, what you’re passionate about etc

I did a degree in Agricultural Science, as I was very passionate about plants, Indigenous land management, entomology and local, small scale sustainable growing of food. During this time I developed a love for community orientated work and research, I hope to pursue a PhD in this area. I am currently in a transitory period of applications for work and a phd.

I am passionate about swimming in the sea, riding, spending time with friends and family, cooking and community initiatives; gardening more in tune with nature such as syntropic farming and indigenous farming; social justice; composting; the interrelation of plants, insects and plant pathogens, research, and reducing food millage. Other passions include listening to funky 70s music, disco, electronic instrumental music and Euro pop, writing, discovering new books to read, doing crosswords on the weekend, reading the paper, playing chess comedy nights, art galleries, old/ interesting buildings, having a boogie, and spending time and being there for my friends, family and having little dinner does, being silly, having a good yarn with people and going on adventures.

2. If you could choose 3 words to describe yourself, what would they be?

Radiant, silly bugger, joyous

3. How long have you been shopping with/volunteering with Alfalfa House

I started shopping here when I moved to Sydney nearly 6 years ago, I was volunteering at the USYD food cooperative while I was studying. I have been amongst it more for the last two years as in my honours year I started volunteering at Alfalfa house when I could, and I started again this year and have recently become a permanent volunteer!

4. Why do you choose to shop here/volunteer here?

Cooperatives are wonderful spaces of solidarity, self resilience, socialism, and creativity. It is a social space not just a place where you go in and out of fluorescent lights, perhaps strike up an awkward conversation and bing yourself back into the hussle and bussle of the outside world. This cooperative is a local hub for connection with often like minded members, sharing this commonality, excitement and passion for – community run projects, supporting the environment and social justice. This means your conversations are always interesting and with warm intentions and really lovely connections in your community can be developed. Food cooperatives promote the capacity to create change you wish to see in how you purchase your fruit and vegetables. Things could include reducing plastic, local products, less herbicides/ pesticides on the fruit and vegetables you eat- supporting these farmers and producers by paying a wholesale price, moving away from supporting big corporations that rip of farmers and the supply chain and are supporting mass production of food and monocultures that are degrading the soil,

Volunteering is a way to support the running of the cooperative, immerse yourself in the community and spend more time in the nice earthy space that the cooperative is, provide more structure and time to just give back to a space you love, as well meaning the grocery shop is reduced in cost which is very helpful!

5. What’s your favourite item in store?

There are so many wonderful groceries and products! I do love the black sapote whilst it is very rich and not my day to day go to. It’s my favourite item because it comes at a time of year when things are darker, colder, and shorter, and is a great treat to share also perhaps because I am a chocolate fiend. It is something I had never seen in other grocery stores in nsw which is cool!

Open post
Black Sapote Baked Custard with Blueberry Compote

Black Sapote Baked Custard with Blueberry Compote

Black Sapote Baked Custard with Blueberry Compote

Closely related to the Persimmon and native to Central America and Mexico, Black Sapote is often referred to as the Chocolate Pudding Fruit due to its resemblance to dark chocolate. However it is more suited to tropical climates. Black Sapote tastes delicious eaten as a dessert, in milkshakes, ice cream or as a replacement to chocolate due to its dark brown colour. Below we are sharing a quick and easy recipe for a Black Sapote baked custard with blueberry compote.

The Black Sapote fruit is green when picked. Wait about a week for it to ripen. When ripe, the flesh is dark brown to almost black and is soft and squishy to the touch. It has an almost bruised appearance. Further, a ripe Black Sapote has a beautiful creamy texture, similar to a ripe avocado and is sweet in flavour like a custard apple. Black Sapote has a low fat content. It is high in fibre and Vitamin C making it a great alternative to sweets. So have an open mind and try out this delicious fruit when available.

P.S. Alfalfa House Newtown does stock Black Sapote when available in season.

Use of Black Sapote In Food

Use Black Sapote in food and mostly in desserts. Here are few ways to use in different styles of desserts . (If you want to read more on this fruit, its cultural uses, harvesting etc we found this link with lots of useful info on the Black Sapote fruit. )

  • In the Philippines, the seeded pulp maybe served as a sweet treat often with milk or orange juice poured over it.
  • The Mexicans mash black Sapote pulp with orange juice to serve with whipped cream. Some times they also mix the pulp with wine, cinnamon and sugar to eat as a dessert.
  • Adding an acidic medium like lemon or lime juice to the pulp also makes a good filling for pies and pastry.
  • Churn the Black Sapote pulp with milk into ice cream
  • The people of Central America, ferment the fruit into a liqueur (tastes similar to brandy)
  • Bake this Black Sapote Bread (similar to a banana bread)

Now enjoy this Black Sapote custard Recipe here. The recipe and images courtesy of Sandra Clark, one of our members and volunteer

Black Sapote Baked Custard with Blueberry Compote

A delicious custard recipe using black Sapote served with a blueberry compote

  • 2 Saucepans
  • 2 Bowls
  • Fine Sieve
  • whisk
  • Wooden spoon
  • oven proof casserole dish or baking tray
  • glass pots or ceramic ramekins (ovenproof)
  • 1 whole black Sapote
  • 600 ml milk (any kind)
  • 1 vanilla pod (split lengthwise) or vanilla essence
  • 90 g rapadura sugar
  • 2 tbsp cold water
  • 2 tbsp hot water
  • 5 medium egg yolks
  • 1 medium egg (whole)

For the Blueberry Compote

  • 350 g blueberries ((fresh or frozen))
  • 80 ml agave ((or sweetener of choice))
  • 1/2 medium lemon ((rind and juice))

  1. Pre heat oven to 180 degrees C

  2. In a saucepan, heat milk with vanilla bean to boiling point, set aside.

  3. Cut black sapote in half, remove seed and scoop out flesh. Puree with a fork.

  4. In another saucepan heat rapadura sugar with the cold water until caramelised. Add the hot water to dilute the caramel. Put back on the heat and stir until smooth. Set aside

  5. Put the egg yolks and eggs in a bowl and slowly add the caramel. Add black sapote then pour into milk. Pass through the mixture through a fine sieve.

  6. Pour mixture into glass pots and place in a casserole dish

  7. Half fill casserole with boiling water and cover with a lid or foil.

  8. Cook for 25 mins or until just set. Leave in the hot water for 5 mins before refrigerating.

For the Blueberry Compote

  1. Place half the blueberries and the rest of the compote ingredients in a saucepan

  2. Bring to boil and cook for 8 minutes

  3. Remove from heat and add rest of blueberries.

  4. Serve with blueberry compote or fresh strawberries

Tips:
• Use leftover egg whites in omelettes or in biscuits

Dessert
Australian
black sapote, recipes
Open post
buckwheat pancakes recipe

BUCKWHEAT – Delicious Buckwheat Pancakes Recipe


Recipe and blog post courtesy of Sandra Clark, member at Alfalfa House

Closely related to Rhubarb, buckwheat groats or seeds can be used in a variety of ways. Groats are not really a grain though they resemble one. However these seeds or groats are used to substitute grains in a gluten-free diet. By grinding the groats you can make your own buckwheat flour, the base for Sarasen crepes made in Brittany in France and soba noodles, popular in Japan. Here our volunteers have submitted a quick and easy buckwheat pancakes recipe that can be enjoyed for breakfast or brunch.

Native to south east Asia, the first recorded use dates back to China in the 5th Century. The name buckwheat however is derived from the Dutch word “beechwheat” as the triangular shaped seeds resemble beech nuts. It was first introduced into Europe in the middle ages where it became popular as a minor crop. It was also grown in North America, Africa and Brazil.

The Buckwheat plant is very hardy and grows in cold climates with poor soil. Use buckwheat as a whole grain or as a flour. Using it to make bread is not a great idea owing to its no gluten content. The most famous buckwheat of all buckwheat dishes is the Kasha, a specialty of Russia.

How do you use buckwheat (besides pancakes recipe) ?

Porridge:
Soak whole buckwheat grouts overnight then strain. Cover with water and cook for around 30 minutes and serve hot with poached fruits.

Bircher buckwheat:
Use cold porridge mix above and stir through natural yoghurt, honey, banana and dates.

Pancakes:
Use buckwheat flour in the below buckwheat pancakes recipe for breakfast or blinis. Top these with your favourite pancake toppings. Some ideas in the notes below.

More Buckwheat Recipes To Enjoy

Looking for some more inspiration ? Try out these nourishing and delicious recipes that use buckwheat

Buckwheat pancakes with pineapple, banana and toasted coconut flakes

Quick and easy breakfast pancakes recipe made using wholegrain buckwheat and spelt flour. Shop for all these ingredients at your Newtown Food Co-op Alfalfa House

  • 2 mixing bowls
  • coffee/spice grinder
  • sieve
  • whisk
  • non-stick fry pan
  • 3 medium  Free range eggs (separated)
  • 65 g Ground buckwheat groats
  • 60 g Plain organic soft flour
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 140 ml milk
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • 1/4 medium pineapple (peeled, core removed and finely sliced)
  • 1 medium banana
  • 50 g coconut flakes
  • 1 tbsp Maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp natural yogurt (optional)

  1. Pre heat oven to 150 degrees C.

For Dry Ingredients

  1. Make buckwheat flour by placing groats in a coffee grinder and grind until fine

  2. Measure flour then add to plain flour. Sieve into a bowl.

  3. Add baking powder and salt to the flours

  4. Toast coconut flakes (dry) in the oven on a baking tray for around 10 minutes until golden

For Wet Ingredients

  1. Separate eggs, place yolks in a bowl and beat lightly with a whisk or fork then add milk

  2. Make a well in the centre of the DRY ingredients and slowly add WET ingredients. Also add in the honey at this stage.

  3. Whisk egg whites until they form firm peaks, ( will hold firm on the whisk) then gently fold through batter

  4. Heat a non-stick frypan to medium heat, spoon in batter leaving space around each. Cook 2-3 minutes per side. Keep warm on a plate in the oven while making next batch.

  5. Serve with sliced pineapple, sliced banana, toasted coconut flakes and a drizzle of maple syrup and maybe a spoon of homemade natural yoghurt.

  1. For coeliacs and gluten free diets simply use 125g buckwheat flour and no plain four.
  2. Other topping ideas: Blueberry, banana and agave syrup.  Caramelised apple or pear and chopped roasted hazelnuts
Breakfast
American
buckwheat pancakes, recipes