Posted by kathryn in Dinners, Grains, Vegetables and Recipes

Since cooking with wattleseeds for the Spice is Right food blogging event and then finding lots of other ways to use them, I’ve been thinking more about Australian native spices.

While I regularly cook foods from around the world, I’ve never used these home-grown flavours and spices before.

I’m comfortable cooking Indian, Italian, Greek, South American, North African and yet I don’t know where to start with foods that have been grown and eaten in Australia for thousands of years. This seems a bit crazy and I want to know more.

I’ve been investigating bush tomato (also known as desert raisin or akudjara) this week. It’s from the Solanaceae family, so it’s a relative of the classic tomato and it grows in Central and Western Australia.

The fruits are quite little and are a purplish-yellow colour when ripe, although they have to be dried before they can be eaten. Bush tomatoes have a strong place in the dreaming of the Warlpiri and Anmatyerr people of Central Australia. As with many native plants, bush tomatoes go crazy after bushfires – the fire stimulates them to fruit prolifically.

Bush tomatoes have a kind of fruity, slightly bitter, sun-dried tomato mixed with a bit of caramel flavour, which means they should be good in both sweet and savoury dishes.

I really wasn’t sure what to do with them at first, but fortunately the back of the packet had a recipe for Bush Tomato Risotto. Given the multicultural city I live in, I thought this mixture of Italian and traditional Australian culture seemed appropriate. I have (of course) changed the recipe around quite a lot and I have to say, it’s really, really good. I loved the flavour given to the risotto by the bush tomato. It’s tomato-y, but there’s a whole lot more going on than just straight tomato flavour – the caramel and the sweetness really come through, especially in combination with the basil. I’m pretty chuffed with this dish.

I often use ricotta with my pasta and risottos, instead of parmesan – I like the creamy texture it gives, plus it keeps the saturated fat content under control. I also think this would work with a few pinenuts sprinkled through, for a contrast in texture.

Bush Tomato, Spinach & Mushroom Risotto

Serves 2

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons ground bush tomato (akadjura)
• 200g (1 cup) arborio rice
• 100g (1 cup) peas – fresh or frozen
• 1 litre hot water
• 100g mushrooms, stalks removed and cut in half
• 1 tomato, finely chopped
• 1 large handful basil
• 1/3 bunch spinach
• 2 tablespoons fresh ricotta

Put the oil in a medium sized, heavy based pan and set over a medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and gently stir fry for 3 – 4 minutes, until softened. Add the bush tomato and stir, coating the onions for about 1 minute. Then add the rice and peas to the pan, continuing to stir and fry for another minute.

Add 1 cup of water to the rice and stir to combine. Once this is absorbed, add another cupful and keep doing this until all the water has been used up – this should take about 20 minutes. Add the mushrooms, tomato, basil and spinach. Stir through and cook for another 2 minutes, until the spinach and basil are wilted.

Serve immediately with the ricotta cheese on top and a green salad.

Nutrition information per serving:

• Total kilojoules: 2,050kJ
• Protein: 15g
• Fat: 12g
• Saturated fat: 1.8g
• Carbohydrate: 87g
• Fibre: 10g
• Sodium: 14-mg
• Number of daily vegetable serves: 4 (not including salad)
• Other nutrients: potassium, carotenes, iron, niacin, vitamin C, lutein and other antioxidants

12 September, 2006