By Angela Day
I find all nuts addictive, but macadamia nuts are the ones I can never resist. I could eat my way through a packet of these toasted and salted nuts in no time.
I recently discovered additional macadamia nut products.
Macadamia nut oil has a wonderful mellow flavour and is great for making pesto as its flavour is quite neutral.
Macadamia nut butter is fabulous for making biscuits and adding to smoothies, slathering on bread and just eating by the spoonful.
Macadamia nut flour is similar to almond flour and can be used to replace ordinary flour in many recipes for low-carb baking.
With all these wonderful options, there’s no excuse for not adding macadamia nuts in their various forms to your cooking and baking repertoire.
QUINOA SALAD WITH SOY GINGER MACADAMIA
Serves 6-8
180ml macadamia nuts
15ml soy sauce
15ml finely grated ginger
250ml quinoa
400g cooked beetroot, roasted
1 small cucumber, halved, seeds removed and sliced
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
5 radishes, thinly sliced
125ml chopped coriander
Micro herbs to serve
DRESSING
15ml grated ginger
15ml soy sauce
15ml white wine vinegar
15ml honey
60ml macadamia oil
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the macadamias, soy and ginger in a bowl and stir through to coat completely.
Place on a baking tray and roast for 15 minutes, stirring halfway.
Remove and cool before chopping coarsely. Set aside.
Meanwhile cook the quinoa in 250ml water for 15 minutes.
Turn off the stove and leave for 10 minutes.
Fluff up with a fork. Place in a large bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
Mix in the dressing and stir until well combined. Transfer to a serving platter and scatter over the macadamia nuts.
Sprinkle over micro herbs.
DRESSING: Place all the ingredients in a jar, close the lid and shake vigorously.
PRAWN AND MACADAMIA NUT STIR FRY
Serves 6
30ml macadamia oil
1 red onion, cut in wedges
750g prepared stir fry vegetables
2 garlic cloves, crushed
400g prawn tails
15ml chopped fresh ginger
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
30ml fish sauce
45ml soy sauce
45ml sweet chilli sauce
45ml sweet soy sauce
10ml cornflour
250g roasted, salted macadamia nuts
Heat the oil in a wok until hot. Add the onion, stir fry vegetables and garlic, and fry for a few minutes.
Stir in the prawns and cook for a few more minutes. Combine the ginger, chilli, fish, soy, sweet chilli and sweet soy sauces with the cornflour in a jug and mix well.
Pour into the wok over the stir fry with the macadamia nuts and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Serve immediately.
Courgette ribbons with macadamia pesto
Serves 4-6
1 punnet courgettes, washed and sliced into ribbons
125ml macadamia nuts
500ml coriander, washed and roughly chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded
5ml chopped garlic
juice of 1 lime
125ml grated parmesan
60ml macadamia oil
salt and pepper
100g cherry tomatoes on the vine
Slice the washed courgettes lengthways with a potato peeler into ribbons.
Place in a bowl.
Place macadamia nuts, coriander, chilli, garlic, lime juice and grated Parmesan in a food processor.
Blend until coarsely chopped. With the motor running, pour in the macadamia oil and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
Pour over the courgette ribbons and mix well.
Roast the tomatoes in a preheated oven at 180°C for 10 minutes.
Transfer the courgette ribbons to a serving platter and garnish with roasted tomatoes and extra macadamia nuts.
MACADAMIA NUT LOAF
Makes 3 small loaves
125ml macadamia nut butter
60ml psyllium husks
125ml finely ground macadamia nuts
60ml mixed seeds
5ml salt
5ml baking powder
5 eggs, beaten
extra seeds for sprinkling
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and beat very well until smooth.
Divide between 3 mini loaf pans or 1 medium loaf pan which has been base- lined and greased.
Sprinkle with seeds.
Bake at 180°C for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size, or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean.
DATE AND MACADAMIA NUT SQUARES
Makes 24
150g macadamia nuts, lightly roasted and roughly chopped
250g fresh dates, pitted and chopped
250ml dried cranberries
80ml flour
2ml bicarbonate of soda
2ml baking powder
80ml brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
In a bowl, combine the nuts, dates and cranberries.
Add the flour, bicarb, baking powder and sugar and mix well, making sure all the fruit and nuts are coated with the flour.
Add the egg and mix well. Spread the mixture into a 20x30cm pan which has been lined and greased.
Bake at 170°C for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and set.
Remove from the oven.
Cool in the tin before cutting into squares.
Store in an airtight container.
The Angela Day cooking column is published in The Star, Pretoria News, Daily News and Cape Argus