Monday, September 26, 2011

VANILLA BEANS - A REVELATION


In my little bubble centering around me, myself and I, I have never stopped to ponder where vanilla comes from. Like many other fortunate people in this world, food has appeared on my plate for 23 years and I have never stopped to think about the long journey that item took to wind up on my plate. Oh the ignorance!

This leads to a story about vanilla beans. Until a month or so ago, I had never stopped to think about where vanilla actually came from....

Vanilla beans are the fruit of an orchid, the only orchid (out of thousands in the world) that produces an edible fruit. A small flower similar in shape to a trumpet grows on a vine, and is only open for part of one day. Not all flowers/fruit open at once, but vanilla growers check each plant on a daily basis to monitor its flowering. Once the flower is open, it is hand-pollinated to produce the fruit or potent vanilla beans as we call them. Although vanilla is native to Mexico, Madagascar is currently the world's largest producer.

The reason that vanilla beans are not cheap (they are the second most expensive spice after saffron) is because growing the vanilla seed pods is very labour intensive. Vanilla beans grow very quickly on vines but are not ready for harvest until they have matured, so around 10 months. Harvesting the vanilla beans is no easy feat. As mentioned above, each bean ripens at its own time, resulting in a daily harvest. Every single vanilla bean is picked by hand to ensure the finest flavour, just as the pod begins to split. Did you know that a vanilla beans commercial value is determined by the length of the pod?

So, equipped with this new-found knowledge, I decided to make a dessert using a real vanilla bean. I was at Burleigh Heads a month ago in a health food shop when I noticed that my good friend had discovered vanilla beans for only $1.90 each (1 bean is around $6 in a supermarket and they are not as nice). So you can understand my excitement. I purchased a few and then set about finding a recipe that was worthy of this amazing little bean.


CITRUS RICE PUDDING 


Also to add, this is my first ever rice pudding! AND would you believe, it is low fat. Another guilt free dessert to indulge in.

Ingredients 

  • 2 cups (500ml) no fat milk 
  • 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthways 
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind 
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups (225g) cooked doongara rice
Cooking 

1. Preheat oven to moderately slow- this means about 150- 160 degrees Celsius. Grease swallow oval overproof dish. As you can see in the picture mine was more circular. 

2. Cook 1 1/2 cups of doongara rice in 3 cups of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer rice for 10-15 minutes. 
-Embarrassing note- In my excitement to make this recipe the first time, I skimmed over the ingredients and I did not cook the rice prior to placing it in the oven. In my defence, there was no cooking step in the book reminding me to cook the rice...it just goes to show how much my boyfriend and my sister must love me as they ate it anyways! And it wasn't bad at all, the rice was just a tad crunchier than I or they were used to. But making mistakes is how you learn...C'est la vie. 

3. Combine milk, halved vanilla bean and rinds in medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; stand; covered for 5 minutes. 

4. Whilst the hot milk mixture is cooling, whisk eggs, egg white and sugar in medium bowl. Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into egg mixture and discard the vanilla bean. 

5. Spread COOKED (these capitals are more for me than for you lovely cooks) into prepared dish and pour egg mixture over rice. Place dish in a large baking dish (I used a roasting tin) and add enough water to baking dish so that the water level comes halfway up the side of the rice dish. 

6. Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour or until egg mixture is set. 

Serve warm with low fat cream (as the recipe suggests) , or with raspberries for a healthy option, as I did. 

Serves 8 
Per serving: 48.g fat / 1094 kJ (261 calories) / 

Recipe from 'The Australian Women's Weekly Low-Fat Food for Life Cookbook'. 





x E

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