Wattleseed has been a mainstay in the diet of our traditional people for thousands of years with a rich source of protein and carbohydrate in times of drought.
The seed was crushed into flour between flat grinding stones and cooked into cakes or damper. Even the green seeds of some species were eaten after baking in the hot coals.
Roasted ground Wattleseed has a diverse number of uses in the kitchen, from baking to thickening of sauces and casseroles, to ice cream. By dark-roasting Wattleseed, the most delightful aroma of nutty fresh roasted coffee is released and can be used as a beverage or as an addition to chocolate or desserts.
Roasted ground Wattleseed can be purchased at Taste Australia Bush Food Shop
Wattleseed Icecream Christmas Pudding
Place 4 tspns ground wattleseed into a cup and just cover with boiling water. This will swell the wattleseed and release the flavours. Allow to cool.
Slightly soften 2 litres vanilla ice cream in a bowl. Stir through the wattleseed slurry and then add 700gm Christmas pudding (crumbled), a handful of glace cherries and a good slosh of Quandong Liqueur (or Grand Marnier).
Grease a pudding basin with a little oil and line with clingfilm and then fill with the icecream mix.
Freeze. (make and hide it a week before the day)
To serve remove from freezer and unmould onto serving plate. Remove cling wrap. If you have trouble removing the pudding from mould gently warm sides with hot wet towel.
Garnish with glazed quandong (or fresh cherries).
Serve with pouring cream or custard.
Bush Tomato, Lemon Myrtle and Wattleseed muffins
Ingredients
2 ½ cups self-raising flour
90g butter
1 cup castor sugar
1 ¼ cups milk
1 egg
1 cup ground bush tomatoes
1/2 cup whole bush tomatoes
½ cup ground wattleseed
1 tbspn ground lemon myrtle
Method
Sift flour into large bowl and rub in butter. Stir in sugar, milk and eggs being careful not to over mix.
Add bush tomatoes, wattleseed and lemon myrtle leaving a little of each to sprinkle on top.
Spoon mixture into muffin trays lined with muffin patty pans.
Place two or three bush tomatoes on top of each muffin and dust with wattleseed and lemon myrtle.
Bake 180C for 20 minutes
Bush Damper
Ingredients
2 cups self raising flour
1 Tbspn Ground Wattleseed
1 tspn Ground Lemon Myrtle
1 tspn Ground Mountain Pepperleaf
250ml well shaken buttermilk
1 Tbspn Macadamia Nut Oil
Milk for brushing
Preheat oven to 180C
Sift the flour and seasonings into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Combine the buttermilk and oil and pour into the well. Mix quickly and lightly to a soft dough. Turn onto a floured board and knead until smooth. Shape into a round (or whatever shape you like) and place on a lightly oiled baking tray. Brush with milk. Bake for 40-50 minutes (it will sound hollow when tapped).
Serve with Desert Red Dukkah
Easy Wattleseed Icecream.
For each litre of premium vanilla ice cream use 2 teaspoons of roasted ground wattleseed.
Put the wattleseed into a cup and just cover with boiling water. This will swell the wattleseed and release the flavours. Allow to cool.
Slightly soften the vanilla ice cream in a bowl. Stir through the wattleseed slurry.
Return the ice cream to the tub and refreeze.
Serve with Desert Passion Syrup or Quandong Dessert Sauce.
Wattleseed Bread (or scones)
Bread is just so much a part of our every day that I forget to mention the wonderful variations you can make with your Breadmaker.
Here we have Macadamia Nut & Wattleseed.
All you do is add a teaspoon of Wattleseed and a teaspoon of Macadamia Nut Oil to your bread mix in the Breadmaker and cook as usual.
The warm nutty aroma of the bake will melt even the hardened heart!
Variations include Native Thyme and Olive
Wattleseed Chocolate Cookies (as seen on Facebook)
Just cover 1/4 cup ground Wattleseed with hot water and leave to soak for 5 mins.
Cream 100gm butter & a cup sugar. Add 1 egg and mix well. Blend in the soaked wattleseed, 1 cup plain flour, 3/4 cup cocoa, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tspn Wattleseed Extract. Fold in 100gm chocolate chips.
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place tbspn sized balls of cookie mix, evenly spaced, on the baking tray. Flatten slightly.
Place in 180C oven for 8-10 mins.
Wattleseed Chocolate Easter Eggs (as seen on Facebook)
Melt 200gm good quality dark chocolate coarsely chopped and 100ml cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan half filled with simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Use a metal spoon to stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.
Place 10 Chocolate Wattleseed cookies (recipe above) in a food processer and process until finely chopped. Add to chocolate mix. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour or until firm.
Spread Macadamia Nut crumbs on a plate and coat 2 teaspns chocolate mix with nuts before placing on a lined baking tray. When all mix is used place the tray in the fridge to chill before serving.
Wattleseed Jam co*ckles
Whip 120gm butter with 120gm sugar until light and fluffy.
Add 2 eggs one at a time.
Then add 120gm plain flour, 120gm cornflour, 1 teaspn baking powder and 1 tbspn Wattleseed Extract.
Roll a dspn of mix into a ball and place on a greased oven tray, flatten slightly with the back of a fork.
10 mins in a fairly hot oven.
When cold join 2 biscuits with Quandong or Passionberry Jam.
Sweet Potato Wattleseed Macadamia Pie
Pie Crust
3/4 cup Macadamia Nuts
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp Macadamia Oil
1/4 cup Sugar
3 tbsp Water
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Artesian Salt
Pie Filling
1 cup cooking cream
2 eggs
1 tbspn roasted ground wattleseed
2 cups cooked sweet potato
1/3 cup Sugar
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp Cinnamon Myrtle
1 tsp Powdered Ginger
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Artesian Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
1/4 cup Macadamia Nuts
Preheat oven to 180C.
Lightly oil a deep dish pie pan with 1 tablespoon macadamia oil.
To make the crust, place macadamias in a food processor and grind to a meal.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl along with the flour, 1/3 cup macadamia oil, sugar, water, vanilla and salt and mix well.
Transfer the dough to the prepared pie pan and use your fingers to press it out in an even layer over the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan. Poke a few holes in the dough with a fork.
Bake for about 10 minutes, until it loses it shine.
While the pie crust is baking, blend all the filling ingredients except the macadamias until smooth. Adjust the spices, if desired.
Pour the filling into the baked pie crust; decorate with macadamias and return to the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes, or until pie filling is slightly golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let it sit about an hour to cool. Serve warm, or at room temperature or chilled.
Serve with whipped wattleseed cream and/or ice cream.
Wattleseed & Anise Sauce
Native Thyme & Lamb Stock
Brown 1 kg of lamb bones in a preheated 150C oven until they are light brown in colour. Transfer bones to a stock pot. Now place the roasting tray on the stove and add 6 medium carrots roughly chopped, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1 onion roughly chopped and 1 stick of celery also roughly chopped. Saute, scraping up any bits of meat. Add a teaspoon of dried Native Thyme, 1 bay leaf, and 50gm tomato paste. And then add this mix to the stock pot along with 2 litres of water and 1 beef stock cube. Bring to boil and then put on lid and simmer for 4 hours, skimming off any fat.
Strain. (When cool you can remove the meat from the bones and combine with the vegetables to make a delicious pie filling.)
Bring the lamb stock to the boil until reduced to 2 cups, then add 25gm ground roasted wattleseed and 2 star anise. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Strain twice and then add a knob of butter.
Serve with Lamb Cutlets.
Wattleseed Crocodile with Wild Fruit
1 kg crocodile tail fillet (deboned)
60g Ground Wattleseed
Salt to taste
1 piece damp paperbark, appropriately thinned
string or cooking twine
80g Wild Fruit In Syrup
In a bowl, sprinkle the crocodile with the wattleseed to evenly coat the meat and lightly season with Salt.
Roll the meat to form a log shape and set in the middle of the paperbark sheet; wrap well and tie securely
Place in a microwave dish and cook on high (750W) for 5 minutes; rest for 5 minutes, invert the roll and cook a further 5 minutes on high
Chill overnight then remove the bark from the required amount of crocodile (re-wrap and chill the remainder)
Slice crocodile very thinly (approx 2mm)
Fan the crocodile slices around the plate and serve with Wild fruit In Syrup for garnish.
Wattleseed crusted kangaroo fillet served with a chocolate red wine sauce
INGREDIENTS
Kangaroo fillet
1 tsp Wattleseed
125g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
100ml cream
100ml Australian red wine
The Sauce – Bring the wine to the boil and set alight with a lighter to burn off the alcohol. Reduce until it reaches a third of its original volume. Add the cream and bring to the boil. Remove from heat.
Stir in the chocolate until fully melted.
The meat – Lightly dust the kangaroo with the Wattleseed and sear in a pan. Cook to your liking and slice into medallions.
Wattle Seed Tiramisu
INGREDIENTS
| 30g Ground Ground Wattleseed 2 egg yolks 2 egg whites 400g Mascarpone | 1 packet of sponge finger biscuits 1 cup sugar Cocoa for decoration |
METHOD
1. Bring wattle seed to simmer in a saucepan with 2 cups water. Allow to cool.
2. In a large bowl beat the egg yolks and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add the mascarpone and mix.
4. Beat the egg whites until peaks form and then fold them gently into the mascarpone mixture. Mix gently.
5. Have your plate ready. Dip the lower half of the biscuits into the wattle seed flavoured water and lay them in a row on the plate.
6. Cover this layer with the mascarpone mixture.
7. Create another layer of wattle seed flavoured biscuits and mascarpone
8. Sprinkle the top with cocoa powder through a sieve.
9. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
Chocolate Macadamia Wattleseed Truffles
Cream 50 gm butter with 3/4 cup icing sugar.
Break up 180 gm dark cooking chocolate and combine with 2 teaspoons Ground Wattleseed in a bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water.
Stir in the butter mixture with 2 tablespoons of cream and 100 gm coarsely chopped Macadamia nuts. Form into balls, press half a macadamia nut into top and lightly sprinkle with icing sugar.
Wattleseed Cream
Place a tablespoon of Wattleseed in 50 ml hot water. When cool, add to 300ml thickened cream and whip to firmness. The flavour develops so you can make it the day before.
Fill up a meringue or pavlova case and top with Wild Fruit or Quandong Dessert Sauce……mmmmmmmmmm
TIP: Add a teaspoon of Ground Wattleseed to your Bread Mix!!
Wattleseed & Macadamia Nut Anzac Biscuits
Ingredients
1 ½ cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
½ cup white sugar
30g ground wattleseed
125g butter
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ cup chopped and toasted macadamias
Preparation method
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
2. Mix together the oats, flour, wattleseed, sugar and macadamia nuts.
3.In a saucepan, melt the butter and butter and golden syrup over a low heat, stirring until combined. Mix water and baking soda in a cup and add to melted butter mixture. Add all of this to the dry ingredients. Take teaspoonfuls of mixture and place on lightly greased biscuit tray flattening them a little with a fork. Leave 3cm for the biscuits to spread.
4. Cook for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on wire racks.
Wattleseed & Macadamia Nut Anzac Biscuits
Ingredients
1 ½ cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
½ cup white sugar
30g ground wattleseed
125g butter
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ cup chopped and toasted macadamias
Preparation method
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
2. Mix together the oats, flour, wattleseed, sugar and macadamia nuts.
3.In a saucepan, melt the butter and butter and golden syrup over a low heat, stirring until combined. Mix water and baking soda in a cup and add to melted butter mixture. Add all of this to the dry ingredients. Take teaspoonfuls of mixture and place on lightly greased biscuit tray flattening them a little with a fork. Leave 3cm for the biscuits to spread.
4. Cook for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on wire racks.
