Cooking Class in Maleny an Amazing Experience!
Diet Refers To More Than Just What You Eat
Some of you may know that the word diet, from its original Greek origin, refers to more than just what you eat – it actually encompasses a wider meaning, more like your way of life.
Comes from Greek diaita, “a way of life, mode of living.”
So changing your diet involves more than just amending what you eat, it means changing your way of living. For those who are embarking on a change of diet for health reasons, to lose weight or gain weight, I think understanding this broader meaning can help in making your changes more successful.
You may be thinking about becoming a vegetarian, or eating more protein and less carbohydrates, and you may be looking into doing cooking classes to learn more about that culinary dietary approach. I would advise you to remember that it is not just about learning new techniques and recipes - it actually involves a whole new philosophy. A new way of thinking about food, cooking and eating – a new way of being. At this time, if you wish to be successful in your new dietary approach, you need to open your mind and your heart to something beyond what you have been and known before.
Food and what and how we eat are all intrinsically tied up with our earliest beginnings, wound up with psychological spells from our childhood. Many of you would be familiar now with the term “comfort foods,” usually simple dishes or substances that provide emotional succour, by giving us the illusion of returning us to a time when we were little children feeling nourished and safe with mummy. In fact I see many people in the community seemingly permanently locked into these childish diets. The tradesmen still consuming flavoured milk and fast foods, even well into their thirties and forties. The receptionists still eating hot chips and drinking coke for lunch. The many people who are too scared to try anything new and still basically eat what their parents served them, when they were growing up.
You have probably heard the expression, “you are what you eat!” How we eat and what we eat defines who we are, as much if not more than any other factors within our lives. If you are eating mindlessly, processed foods made in factories, then you are not bringing a great deal of consciousness to your diet. My advice is to become aware of who is making your food, as much as what is going into the manufacturing of your food. To really revolutionise the quality of your life, learn how to prepare your own food and learn about good food and real foods. Take control of your life and your body.
The Sacred Chef cooking school on the sunshine coast is a great place to learn about good food and nutrition. We offer more than just new techniques and recipes, we offer an introduction to a new way of living, which is less dependent on processed foods from the supermarket. Making your own food means it tastes a hundred million times better than anything made in some factory for money and you know what is going into it. Awareness changes everything!
Sunshine Coast Vegetarian Cooking Class with the Sacred Chef
What a great way to spend a day!
Learning new recipes and techniques.
Enjoying good food and company.
Discovering nutritional information that can make you feel healthier, lighter and more alive.
Organic produce and local ingredients.
Cook with the Sacred Chef and take home recipes, articles and nutritional notes.
Plus a goodie bag and a free magazine!
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR SACRED CHEF COOKING CLASS GIFT VOUCHER
Coconut Redemption Day – You Are Invited
Coconut Redemption!
The True Story Behind a Real Super Food.
Is coconut good for you or bad for you?
Is coconut fattening or not?
Research has now identified that coconut oil actually raises good cholesterol (HDL) more than it raises LDL.
Many consumers are confused about the health and nutritional status of ingredients, like coconut milk and cream – and would like these questions answered.
Mike Foale, Ex-CSIRO scientist and Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Agriculture & Food Science at the University of Queensland, will answer these questions, at a public talk and demonstration to be held at The Green Kitchen Café & Organic Market, next to the Library in Maleny, on Tues 22 November 2011 at 10am.
Author of “The Coconut Odyssey’” published by the Australian Government, and inventor of the “Cocosplit” device, seen on the ABC’s New Inventors programme, Mike Foale is a leading expert on the coconut. Nutritionally and agriculturally, he has studied the coconut throughout his working life and spent years in the field, in the Solomon Islands and a vast array of countries throughout the tropical world.
Mike has been helping communities in these poorer nations, whose economies are dependent upon the coconut, through AusAID and their coconut improvement projects.
Discover how the US, through their promotion of soya beans,margarine and their negative PR about coconut fats, effectively killed off Australia’s love of cooking with coconut!
SEE MIKE FOALE DEMONSTRATE THE INGENIOUS COCOSPLIT DEVICE LIVE!
The Cocosplit device will be available for sale and is the perfect Christmas gift, for foodies!
When -Tues 22 November 2011 at 10am.
A huge range of products, derived from the coconut, will be demonstrated and onsale at the Green Kitchen Organic Market, located at 11 Coral St Maleny – next to the Maleny Library – plenty of free parking is available!
Local culinary teacher, the Sacred Chef, will be demonstrating some of the many uses coconut oil, cream, milk, sugar and flour can be put to in creating yummy food.
LEARN EAT DRINK DISCOVER BE INSPIRED SHARE IN
The Coconut Redemption!
Bios
Mike Foale was raised on a wheat and sheep farm in the Mallee of South Australia but got his first job as a coconut agronomist on a plantation in the Solomon Islands in 1959.
After nine years working out how to increase the yield of fruit from the coconut palms with fertiliser, how best to replace aging palms, and how to develop hybrids, Mike left the islands with his young family and returned to work for CSIRO in Australia on other crops. But the call of the coconut never went unheard so that Mike got involved through AusAID in coconut improvement projects in the south Pacific at a time when the coconut star appeared to be setting.
From the 1970s fierce competition developed in the marketplace for edible oils and massive processors in the USA sought to oust coconut as a healthy food from the market on the basis of some data linking coconut oil with serum cholesterol in humans. The value of coconut fell sharply and was in the doldrums until more detailed research identified that coconut oil actually raised good cholesterol (HDL) more than it raised LDL. Mike does all that he can to spread the word about this finding and to highlight the many other positive effects of coconut oil on human health. This great food, foundation of the healthy diet of hundreds of millions of people in the tropical world, offers much as well to the diet of all who live outside the coconut heartlands.
The Australian government published Mike’s book “The Coconut Odyssey” in 2003 (still in print), and he presented a coconut splitting device known as Cocosplit to the ABCTV New Inventors in 2007 (see details on www.cocosplit.com). Mike and his wife Pam moved to Maleny in 2009. He is presently an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Agriculture and Food Science at the University of Queensland.
The Sacred Chef, Sudha Hamilton, has been cooking professionally for 30 years, restauranter, teacher and caterer, he runs The Sacred Chef cooking school in Maleny, www.sacredchef.com , and is the author of several WellBeing Magazine cookbook supplements and was their food editor for five years.
The Green Kitchen Café & Organic Market, is arguably Queensland’s most dedicatedly organic outlet for food, supporting local growers and producers. Located at 11 Coral St, Maleny, it has been operating under its current management for about a year www.greenkitchencafe.com.au
For more information and interviews please contact Sudha Hamilton on 0466 281 806 or email Sudha@midasword.com.au
Sacred Chef feeds Words of Wisdom workshop in Eumundi
The Sacred Chef was privileged to cater for the 3 day residential Weaving Words of Wisdom workshop at Bellbunya Retreat in Belli Park
Marcus Bussey of Futures Evocative, and the University of the Sunshine Coast was teaching 30 participants how to align their inner voices with the work they wish to do in the world, and raising funds for an Ananda Marga school, being built in India
Fresh vegetarian food accompanied these words of wisdom and helped make this seminar a weekend to remember.
Sacred Chef catering specialises in contributing to worthwhile workshops and seminars.
Culinary Travels on a Weekend with the Sacred Chef
A busy weekend saw the Sacred Chef travelling to Noosa North Shore to present a tapas evening for a hen’s party from Brisbane – cooking scallops in the shell with fresh lime, garlic, chilli and basil; olive tapenade crostinis; king prawns in fino sherry, Spanish omelette with roast garlic aioli; local mussels in wine, herbs and chilli; veal & pork croquettes with a tomato coulis; baked stuffed peppers with chicken and parmesan; and asparagus and buffalo mozzarella rocket salad.
Next stop a vegetarian cooking class, here in Maleny, where we created a chickpea and lemongrass coconut curry; Thai tofu, almond and cabbage pastries with fresh mint raita; tomato and cumin chutney, glass noodle sesame raw veg and toasted seed salad; Mediterranean savoury muffins with olives and roasted red capsicum, pine nuts and Parmesan; and the pure dark chocolate trat with raspberry coulis and double cream.
Racing off to Witta, to the Wattle Valley Retreat farmhouse, where we presented a BBQ and tapas starters – which included rocket pesto, buffalo milk cheese and oven dried cherry tomato pastries; Moroccan lamb back strap skewers with yoghurt & lemon sauce; king prawns with lime & roast red capsicum salsa; Chorizo & goats cheese platters; snapper fillets in rosemary & lemon; mussels in wine, chilli & tomato; pesto & buffalo mozzarella pizzettes; balsamic baby spinach leaves with grilled pumpkin & fresh French farmhouse style cheese; and a range of gourmet sausages with home made chutneys and sauces.
Finishing with a delightful Thai cooking class featuring David Thompson’s recipe for clams in chilli jam, here in Maleny at Sacred Chef central.
Take a deep breath and tomorrow we start as a new chef at the Green Kitchen organic cafe in Maleny, bringing my recipes to transform their menu and perhaps create some magic. Come and visit!!!
Smoked Tofu & Slow Roasted Tomato Lasagne with Ricotta Pesto.
Smoked Tofu & Slow Roasted Tomato Lasagna with Ricotta Pesto.
250g lasagna sheets
6 vine ripened tomatoes
1 block smoked tofu crumbled
2 cups soft ricotta
2 tbspn basil pesto
1 tbspn chopped garlic
1 tspn chopped rosemary
2 tbspn fresh basil chopped
1 tbspn olive oil
1 tspn chopped oregano
½ cup parmesan
½ cup white wine
1 tspn sea salt
1 cup shallots
black pepper to taste
This is a slow food dish & I recommend that you devote at least half a day to the relaxed creation of this very tasty meal.
Set your oven to a very low heat 100 degrees.
On a baking sheet lay out your thinly chopped tomatoes, garlic, sea salt, rosemary & oregano & slowly oven dry for several hours. The smell that begins to emanate from these after sometime is heavenly & you begin to understand what this slow food thing is all about.
In a heavy based saucepan sauté your shallots, salt, tofu, oil & wine.
When your tomatoes are ready fold into the sauté mixture & set aside.
In a bowl fold together ricotta & pesto.
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.
In a greased loaf tin or baking dish lay out a sheet of lasagna pasta, top with the smoky tofu & tomato mix, another layer of lasagna & then ricotta pesto. Repeat again & sprinkle over parmesan to finish. Cover with grease proof paper & alfoil. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until pasta sheets are cooked.
Remove & slice into serves.
Serves 4.
©Sacre Chef
Cooking school on the sunshine coast with the Sacred Chef
Vegetarian Real Food Festival Cooking Class with the Sacred Chef Today
Yes today completes the Vegetarian Real Food Festival Cooking Class with the Sacred Chef, which has been a wonderful success. Once again we will be creating six or seven yummy vegetarian dishes, such as my chickpea and lemongrass, coconut curry; fresh mint raita; tomato and cumin chutney; glass noodle sesame raw veg salad; tofu, cabbage and almond Thai pastries; and for dessert my pure dark chocolate tart and raspberry coulis. $69 for a two hour cooking class and 3 course lunch – best value on the sunshine coast I think.
Then we will all sit down together and eat this vegetarian feast, with complimentary wines and mineral water. The conversations and friendly exchanges amongst the collected cooks has been a real pleasure, and yes I do think vegetarians do it better.
There are still 2 places available – so if you would like to join us – just let me know – we start at 10am today Sat 8 Oct.
Cooking school on the sunshine coast, with the Sacred Chef.
Healthy Noni Chai Fruit Muffins
These muffins are delectably different and a great way to start the day!
Noni & Chai Fruit Muffins
1 cup wholemeal plain flour or gluten free flour
1 ½ cups wholemeal SR flour or gluten free SR flour
1 cup psyllium husks
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup yoghurt
2 tbspn chai spiced tea syrup
1 cup dried mixed fruit
1 cup finely chopped almonds
1 tsp grated lemon peel
200g unsalted butter
4 whole 60g FR eggs
1 cup soy milk or alternative
1 cup raw sugar or mascobado
½ cup blue berries
2 cups chopped banana
1 tspn cinnamon ground
1 tspn mixed spice
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease muffin trays & or line trays with muffin cases. Sift flours & dry ingredients in to a large mixing bowl. Either rub in softened butter by hand to this dry mix or whizz together in a food processor until you achieve a breadcrumb-like consistency. In a separate bowl whisk eggs, sugar, yoghurt, soy milk, lemon peel & chai, before folding in banana, blue berries & dried fruit. Slowly & gently fold this wet mixture into the dry ingredients. When well mixed spoon cake like mix into individual muffin rings. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on wire rack & serve with butter. Serves 6-8.
©Sacred Chef
Sacred Chef News
Hi All,
I thought that I would summarise much of the intense goings on with the Sacred Chef cooking school, here on the sunshine coast as so much has happened in such a short space of time.
We have had 12 members of the local branch of McDonalds, here on the sunshine coast, attending a Sacred Chef cooking class and lunch – which I thought was brilliant and possibly a move in the right direction.
The Real Food Festival generated vegetarian cooking lessons for upwards of thirty people, who all attended the Sacred Chef vegetarian cooking classes under the festival’s auspices. It was such a big response we are still taking bookings now, weeks later, and the classes/lunches have been a real delight – with lovely groups of people having a great day! My conclusion is that vegetarians, and those interested in vegetarian cooking, are very nice people to have to lunch. We have another vegetarian cooking class and lunch on the 8 Oct – a couple of places remain available.
The Sacred Chef was host to a number of hen’s lunches and cooking classes, which are a great way to spend a fun day with friends and family! Why not celebrate your hen’s day or night with some tasty fun?
The Cooking the Great cuisines from around the world has been in full swing now for two weeks and we have visited Spain and Thailand. These classes and the following gourmet lunches have been fun and seriously delicious. Apart from the odd bump on my head from a flying pepper grinder I have thoroughly enjoyed these gastronomic Sundays – a really great way to spend a day in Maleny.
The Sacred Chef 6 week vegetarian cooking series, concluded last Thursday evening, with Japanese slippery silky textures on my lips. I would like to pay tribute to the class members for making my last month and a half a real joy, thank you.
In between all of this cooking school activity, Sacred Chef has catered for several large wedding anniversaries and a few smaller events, with many gracious thank yous coming our way.
Coming up we have weddings booked in November and a three day seminar in late October.
Recipe of the week:
Vegetarian Laksa with Tofu Laksa Paste • 4 Birds Eye Chillies • 4 Large Garlic Cloves • 2 Tbspns Ginger Chopped • 2 Stalks Lemongrass Chopped • 10 Macadamina Nuts • 1 tspn Asafoetida • 10 Vietnamese Mint Leaves • 2 tspns Ground Coriander Seed • 2 tspns Ground Cumin Seed • 2 tspns Ground Turmeric • 2 tspns Paparika • 2 Tbspsns Canola Oil • 2 tspsns Sea Salt Pound ingredient in a mortar or blend in a food processor until smooth. Store in an air tight jar in the fridge. Laksa with Tofu & Egg Noodles • 1 cup Laksa Paste • 250g Egg Noodles or Rice Noodles • 2 cups Sweet Potato Cubed • 2 cups Potato Cubed • 2 cups Tofu Cubed & Fried • 1 cup Black Fungus • 1 cup Baby Corn • 1 cup Bok Choy Chopped • 1 cup Green Beans • 1 litre Vegetable Stock • 1 can Coconut Milk • 2 cups Bean Shoots • 1 cup Fresh Coriander Leaves • 1 cup Fresh Basil Leaves In a large saucepan pour in your stock, add both potatoes and bring to boil before simmering until they are tender. Add in your beans, fungus, corn, tofu, bok choy and cook for a further five minutes. In a seperate saucepan boil noodles until just ready, drain and set aside still hot. In a small frypan saute your laksa paste for a couple of minutes before adding to your main pan, along with coconut milk and stirring in. In large soup bowls place noodles, then fresh herbs, bean shoots and ladle over laksa vegetable soup. Finish with fried shallots and serve with chopsticks and Chinese soup ladle. ©Sacred Chef
Sacred Chef 6 Week Vegetarian Cooking Class Series Concludes Deliciously
The Sacred Chef vegetarian cooking class 6 week series concluded last night in Japanese style, with a miso soup slippery with wakame, silken tofu and loads of flavour; followed by sushi nori rolls filled with teriyaki tofu, toasted sesame seeds, cucumber, pickled ginger, wasabi, avocado, spring onion, and even a few with “Love Supreme” buffalo milk cheese. Tempura vegetables were a real delight, with asparagus spears, cauliflowerets, zucchini, baby corns and more; all with that light golden crunch. An array of dipping sauces accompanied platters of these visually satisfying dishes, tamari, shoyu, red wine vinegar and chilli sauce.
The students expressed their appreciation of the weekly sessions, loving the food and the company. “What will we do next Sunday?” was the common refrain. It has been a real pleasure meeting these people and sharing my table with them, watching their enthusiasm for cooking grow and perhaps planting a few seeds, in the form of recipes, which will very likely bear fruit for them down the track. Cooking classes are a lot of fun and a great way to meet like minded people, getting to know them in a good environment. The kitchen is not a place where dissembling and disguise flourishes.
These cooking classes on the sunshine coast have been richly rewarding in the people I have met and I look forward to further chapters eventuating in my culinary adventure. Maleny is a great place to hold cooking lessons, surrounded by lush pasture and rolling green hills, it speaks of abundance and a pantry of plenty.
The next Sacred Chef vegetarian cooking class 6 week series, begins Sat 8 October, and there are still places available. So come and join me for a weekly immersion in new recipes, ideas, flavours and culinary fulfilment.
Sacred Chef Vegetarian Cooking Class Sept 24 Another Wonderful Day
The Sacred Chef vegetarian cooking class and lunch, was another great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all the participants. We made Thai pastries with tofu, cabbage and almonds; a delicious chickpea lemongrass and sweet potato curry with basmati rice; Mediterranean savoury muffins; buffalo milk cheese and grilled rosemary pumpkin, baby spinach leaf salad; also a glass noodle, sesame veg and fresh mint and coriander salad; plus a pure chocolate tart with raspberry coulis; and a LSA spelt rhubarb and apple crumble.
Very tasty fun and then a relaxing lunch on a gorgeous Maleny day – the wine was good and the music selection was also much commented upon as very complementary. Several attendees are seriously thinking about doing the Vegetarian Cooking Series, running for 6 weeks and beginning on the 8 of October. Cooking new dishes, discovering some new ingredients, working with local produce and having a lovely day – not a bad way to spend a Saturday.
Real Food Festival Sacred Chef Vegetarian Cooking Class a Great Success
Great fun in a warm and friendly atmosphere
The Sacred Chef vegetarian cooking class, held under the auspices of the inaugural Real Food Festival, was a great success. A dozen wonderful people attended the hands-on cooking class and gourmet lunch, and if my ears didn’t betray me, they absolutely loved it! We doubled the size of our usual class, due to the demand, and made the necessary structural adjustments to make it possible. Some very culinary talented individuals created delicious Mediterranean savoury muffins, which were gluten free, and Thai pastries with a fresh mint raita, followed by buffalo mozzarella rocket pesto thin crusted pizzas, warmed medley of olives in lime, rosemary and chilli. They then created a beautiful chickpea and lemongrass curry, served with basmati rice, and Roma tomato, fresh basil and buffalo bocconcini salad, and to top it all off they made a divine pure dark chocolate tart and raspberry coulis, which was served with strawberries and double cream.
What really impressed me about this group, and the day itself, was how well everyone got on, animated conversation flowed around the communal table and you would have thought that it was a family gathering, without the fights of course. Generous amounts of wine flowed, although all within today’s prescribed levels of moderation, and everyone expressed genuine appreciation and praise for the day. They were a great group of people.
I would like to express my thanks and congratulations to Julie Shelton and Lee Ponder, for the wonderful job they did with putting on the Real Food festival – it was a great success!
We have booked out another Sacred Chef vegetarian cooking class, here on the sunshine coast in Maleny, on the 24 Sept, and are now booking into Saturday 1 Oct 2011, for which there are still a few places left. If you want to have a truly great day, come and partake in a fun class and enjoy a yummy lunch!
Vegetarian Laksa
Vegetarian Laksa with Tofu
Laksa Paste
4 Birds Eye Chillies
4 Large Garlic Cloves
2 Tbspns Ginger Chopped
2 Stalks Lemongrass Chopped
10 Macadamina Nuts
1 tspn Asafoetida
10 Vietnamese Mint Leaves
2 tspns Ground Coriander Seed
2 tspns Ground Cumin Seed
2 tspns Ground Turmeric
2 tspns Paparika
2 Tbspsns Canola Oil
2 tspsns Sea Salt
Pound ingredient in a mortar or blend in a food processor until smooth. Store in an air tight jar in the fridge.
Laksa with Tofu & Egg Noodles
1 cup Laksa Paste
250g Egg Noodles or Rice Noodles
2 cups Sweet Potato Cubed
2 cups Potato Cubed
2 cups Tofu Cubed & Fried
1 cup Black Fungus
1 cup Baby Corn
1 cup Bok Choy Chopped
1 cup Green Beans
1 litre Vegetable Stock
1 can Coconut Milk
2 cups Bean Shoots
1 cup Fresh Coriander Leaves
1 cup Fresh Basil Leaves
In a large saucepan pour in your stock, add both potatoes and bring to boil before simmering until they are tender. Add in your beans, fungus, corn, tofu, bok choy and cook for a further five minutes.
In a seperate saucepan boil noodles until just ready, drain and set aside still hot.
In a small frypan saute your laksa paste for a couple of minutes before adding to your main pan, along with coconut milk and stirring in.
In large soup bowls place noodles, then fresh herbs, bean shoots and ladle over laksa vegetable soup.
Finish with fried shallots and serve with chopsticks and Chinese soup ladle.
©Sacred Chef
Sacred Chef sunshine coast cooking school, have you been Sudhafed?
Due to Demand Repeat Real Food Festival Vegetarian Cooking Class on 24 Sept
Due to demand we are repeating the Real Food Festival Sacred Chef Vegetarian Cooking Class on Saturday 24 Sept
Vegetarian Cooking with the Sacred Chef
Spend a day cooking and eating with the Sacred Chef, at his sunshine coast cooking school – well-known for his divine vegetarian food.
Participants will be involved in hands-on cooking in the cooking studio, preparing 6 dishes: tapas, starters, entree, mains and dessert.
Complimentary wines and mineral water are available with lunch, plus coffee and tea. Gluten-free dishes are also included in the menu.
Participants get to take home recipes, notes, articles and nutritional information. Plus a goodie bag!
Date: Saturday, 24 September 2011
Time: 11:00am – 3:00pm (2 hours in cooking studio followed by leisurely lunch)
Location: Sacred Chef Cooking Studio
843 Maleny-Landsborough Road, Maleny, Sunshine Coast Hinterland
(opp. Reserve Restaurant just before Mountain View Rd turn-off)
Cost: $69 (includes lunch)
Bookings: Sudha Hamilton (07) 5499 9280
www.sacredchef.com
Conditions: Strictly limited to 6 participants
* No certified wheel chair access, but we could facilitate the participation of a wheel chair bound person.
Crispy Tempeh with Grilled Tomatoes & Garlic Mushrooms
Crispy Tempeh with Grilled Tomatoes & Garlic Mushrooms
- 1 block tempeh cut into 12 fingers
- 4 ripe roma tomatoes
- 12 small button mushrooms sliced
- 2 cloves garlic finely sliced
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- squeeze of lemon juice
- dash of soy sauce
- dash of extra virgin olive oil
- canola or light olive oil for frying
Start with your grilled tomatoes as they will require the most cooking. Slice tomatoes in halves sprinkle with sea salt & extra virgin olive oil & place under griller for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile in a saucepan with olive oil & over a moderate heat sauté your mushrooms & garlic for 5 minutes. Before this is complete heat up your fry pan with some canola oil & shallow fry your tempeh fingers until gold & crispy. Return to your mushrooms & finish with dash of soy sauce, lemon juice & black pepper. Arrange your grilled tomatoes on a plate, sprinkle with black pepper & fresh basil. Add to this a spoonful of garlic mushrooms & 3 crispy tempeh fingers. Serves 4.
©Sacred Chef
Vegetarian cooking classes on the sunshine coast, with the Sacred Chef are a tasty way to transform your eating habits and to feel more alive!
Turmeric & Coriander Panbreads
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup yoghurt
- 1 cup LSA mix
- 1 tbspn ground turmeric
- 1 tspn ground garam masala
- 1 tspn salt
- balck pepper to taste
- 2 cups chick pea flour
- 1 cup buck wheat flour sifted
- 1 cup desiccated coconut
- 1 tbspn canola oil
- 3 cups soy milk
- 1 cup chopped fresh coriander
Whisk eggs, yoghurt & spices together before adding soy milk, oil & the remaining ingredients. Beat batter to a smooth consistency & ladle into hot crepe pans. Flip & cook until golden brown on each side. Stack on a plate.
©Sacred Chef
Cooking school on the sunshine coast with the Sacred Chef, where everyone is welcome and good food is abundantly served.
Journal Weekender Interviews the Sacred Chef
Quest Newspaper’s Journal Weekender interviewed the Sacred Chef about his Vegetarian Cooking Class as part of the Real Food Festival on 10 & 11 Sept 2011
When did you fall in love with food and cooking?
I remember being drawn to restaurants and exotic menu items as a child, trying things like snails and steak tartare when I travelled to Paris with my mother on a trip away. I had this desire to experience great food and was very aware of just how bad Australian food was in the nineteen seventies. I started cooking in high school, doing home economics – which was also a great way to meet girls at the time. I started in restaurants when I was seventeen and was soon the sous chef at Zorba the Buddha vegetarian restaurant in Sydney’s Taylor Square, in the early nineteen eighties.
What’s the first dish you can remember making?
I think something out of a Margaret Fulton cookbook – probably a spinach pie or a quiche. I know that I made so much butternut pumpkin soup in my early years, cooking in restaurants and cafes, that I stopped making it for about 20 years.
What is your background in vegetarian food?
I started at the Rajneesh Meditation Centre as the commune chef, moved to their restaurant in Taylor Square, managed their cafe in Oxford St Paddington, before moving to start Doc Dinkum’s Natural Cafe in Willoughby, Laurie’s Vegetarian Restaurants in Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Randwick & Bondi before starting my own vegetarian restaurant in King St, Newtown called Rude Rumbles.
What is your favourite vegetarian dish?
I am currently doing a lot of tapas – goat’s cheese and tapenade grilled crostini; roasted red capsicum salsa, buffalo mozzarella and rocket pesto pizzettes; leek and tomato Spanish omelettes.
I also love Thai salads with crunchy raw veg, glass noodles, mint, chilli, fresh lime and toasted seeds and nuts.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about vegetarian food?
That it is an either, or, situation, when in actual fact 95% of all cuisines are about preparing vegetables, with the cooking of meat and flesh generally being for special occasions. Traditionally most people could not afford to eat meat every night, and whether it be French, Italian, Lebanese, Japanese and so on, these cuisines are rich in recipes for the preparation of grains and vegetables. Now we know, that it is far healthier to eat a diet with a wide array of vegetables, legumes and grains, so it is in everyone’s interest to learn how to prepare these ingredients.
Our diet, unfortunately, reflects the industrial approach to food manufacturing we have taken in the west and we eat too much fast food because we are inundated by its advertising. We need to understand that market forces will not, and do not, take into account our required optimal levels of nutritional health, and we are paying dearly for it, in health costs in our hospitals; when it is too late. Heart disease and bowel cancer, are our top two killers, and they are a direct result of our poor diets, in conjunction with our increasingly sedentary lifestyles.
What’s the one thing you hope people take away from your Real Food Festival cooking class?
That preparing meals with vegetables is both easy and very tasty – that you don’t have to miss out on meat – rather you can add in lots of delicious dishes made with sensational vegetable produce. It is a mind set thing, more than anything else, we all get stuck in doing the same old things in the kitchen, that maybe mum used to do, and we need to realise that the world has changed. There are now hundreds of fresh ingredients available, that were not previously available in our parent’s generation, so we need to source good quality vegetables and try new ways of preparing them beyond meat and three veg. Cooking classes are a chance to tap into some information and inspiration, get enthused about being alive, eating, drinking and creating something beautiful.
Thanks Lisa!
Cooking school on the sunshine coast with the Sacred Chef, where everyday can be an opportunity to celebrate being alive!
Weekly Cooking Bliss
Being part of a weekly series of cooking classes is a unique pleasure – as you build your relationship with the cuisine, the chef and your fellow attendees, watching your cooking improve, getting to know the ingredients and your new friends in the kitchen. Then sitting down to a truly delicious lunch, of which you have helped create, and enjoying the flavours, textures and the satisfaction of the fulfilled artist. Food tastes better when you have done something to earn the pleasure.
Coming along each Sunday and being surprised by a collection of new recipes, ingredients and local produce, to work our magic upon, is a stimulating experience. There is usually plenty of laughter in the cooking studio too, as everyone attempts unfamiliar techniques for the first time, this is the fun of a hands-on cooking class. Camaraderie soon develops between attendees and harmonious working arrangements begin to flow toward the creation of good food.
The conversation at lunch, after the class, is often thought provoking and what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than to eat really good food, drink some fine wine, and share the stories of kitchen triumphs and tragedies. Like all seekers of glorious adventure, and passionate artisans, we risk ignominious failure and this is sometimes the bitter-sweet fate of the chef. Better to live one crowded hour, after all.
Cooking school on the sunshine coast with the Sacred Chef
5499 9280
Cooking the great cuisines from Around the World begins Sunday 25 Sept 2011 for 4 weeks.
Mediterranean Savoury Muffins
Mediterranean Savoury Muffins
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 ½ cups SR flour
• ½ cup LSA
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp grated lemon peel
• 180g unsalted butter
• 4 whole 60g FR eggs
• 1 cup milk or alternative
• 2 medium sized brown onions roughly chopped
& liberally braised in olive oil
• 1 cup chopped roasted red capsicum
• 1/2 cup pitted olives chopped
• ½ cup parmesan grated
• 1 cup crumbled sheep’s feta
• 2 tbspn pinenuts toasted
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 cup parsley chopped
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease muffin trays & or line trays with muffin cases. Sift flours & dry ingredients in to a large mixing bowl. Either rub in softened butter by hand to this dry mix or whizz together in a food processor until you achieve a breadcrumb-like consistency. In a separate bowl whisk eggs, milk, lemon peel & herbs, before folding in fetta & parmesan cheeses & cooled braised onions & capsicum. Slowly & gently fold this wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Add in extra grind of black pepper & sea salt. When well mixed spoon cake like mix into individual muffin rings. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on wire rack & serve with butter. Serves 6-8. ©Sacred Chef
Cooking school on the sunshine coast with the Sacred Chef
What will you be doing this Christmas?
Heart of Gold
What will you be doing this Christmas? Will you be sitting down at someone else’s table or will you be dancing around your own kitchen in prayer for a tender bird or at least for the presentation of a sumptuous feast? Summer can mean hot times in the kitchen, often with the added strain of several seldom seen relatives out there in the living room staring uncomfortably into space. Again my advice is don’t over do it, keep it simple, most people are there for the company and good cheer, not for elaborate fine dining. Our warm weather suggests small amounts of food that zing on the palate. Things like dips and exotic chips, marinated olives, grilled seafood, crudités, and finger foods of all persuasions, are guaranteed to please, especially when accompanied by a superior liquid refreshment. May your mantra be – relax, enjoy and allow it to happen organically, meaning don’t impose too many uptight rules of engagement, give life a chance to unfold unpredictably, it’s the secret to actually having fun.
For more Sacred Chef summer madness click here
Fig & Dark Chocolate, Macadamia Nut Muffins
Fig & Dark Chocolate Macadamia Nut Muffins
Delicious melt in the mouth muffins that are energy giving and healthy too.
- Flour plain 1 cup
- SR wholemeal flour 2 cups
- Baking powder 1 tspn
- Cinnamon ground 1 tbspn
- Butter 200g melted
- Linseed sunflower almond LSA ground 1 cup
- Coconut shredded 1 cup
- Macadamia nuts 1 cup chopped
- Eggs FR 6 beaten
- Honey 1 cup
- Vanilla Essence 1 tsp
- Raw sugar ½ cup
- Yoghurt 1 cup
- Milk ½ cup
- Lemon peel 1 tsp grated
- Figs dried 1 cup chopped
Preheat oven to 170C. Grease muffin trays and drop in muffin cases. Sift flours and add in to large mixing bowl, with spices, baking powder and melted butter, mix well. Fold in LSA, macadamia nuts, coconut, lemon and figs. In a separate bowl mix beaten eggs, vanilla, sugar, honey, yoghurt and milk, before folding into the bowl with the remaining ingredients. Mix evenly before spooning into muffin cases and baking for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Makes 18 to 24 muffins.
©Sacred Chef
Red Lentil Dhal
Red Lentil Dhal
1 cup red lentils
3 cups water
2 tbspns canola oil or ghee
1 tbspn minced garlic
1 tbspn minced ginger
1 tspn yellow mustard seed
1 tspn cumin seed
2 tspns turmeric ground
1 onion minced (optional)
salt to taste
In a saucepan fry one tbspn of the oil with the garlic and ginger for a couple of minutes before adding your salt, turmeric, lentils and water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes. In a second saucepan fry spice seeds in oil with onion until translucent before adding to your cooked lentil mix.
©Sacred Chef
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