SOMETHING VEGETARIAN FOR A CHANGE

Having a few old work friends over for lunch yesterday was a good opportunity to try out a new recipe.
Of course then it means that you also need to make some other food as a backup in case it doesn't turn out the way you thought it would.

The weather has been so unseasonal here with rain and very cool temperatures for Brisbane ( 15 degrees C max !!!!) that I thought I might have to serve soup but the day was supposed to bring fine weather and 23 degrees C again so I tried this recipe for a vegetarian loaf. 



I backed it up with a tried and true favourite ( County Corn Bake ) above.

and some chicken  to go with it plus a nice salad.

So here it is:

Kumara and Chickpea Loaf 

1kg kumera ( orange sweet potato ) peeled cubed

3 slices stale bread

1/2 cup roasted, unsalted cashews

400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

½ cup chopped coriander

2 green onions ( shallots) sliced thinly

1 teasp ground cumin

2 eggs lightly beaten

3 teasp yellow mustard seeds

* Cook kumera until tender. Cool 10 minutes

* Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 fanforced ). Grease a loaf pan and line it with baking paper extending paper above the sides.

*Coarsely chop cashews, crumble bread ( no crusts ) and place in a bowl with the cooled kumera, chickpeas, onion, coriander, cumin and eggs.

* Heat mustard seeds in a pan till they begin to pop then add them to the rest. Add salt and pepper and mix thoroughly

* Spoon mixture into the prepared pan, pressing down firmly. Bake for about 50 minutes or until browned and firm to touch. Stand 10 minutes.

* Turn out and cut into thick slices to serve.

The verdict on the vegetarian loaf was universal approval.

I'll certainly be making it again.

And dessert?....

Passionfruit meringue pie.

You can only be good some of the time !!!

Cheers.