NATIVE ingredients can be turned into incredible food in your very own kitchen - just ask Rebecca Sullivan and Damien Coulthard, the authors of new cook book Warndu Mai (Good Food).
With information about how to prepare native foods, seasonal availability and more than 80 illustrated recipes, Warndu Mai will have more home cooks creating flavour sensations using Kakadu plum, native currants, finger limes and pepperberries.
The urti pie comes from Damien's Nana Barb. It uses traditional urtis (quandongs), renowned in the Flinders Ranges.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 2 cups (300 g) self-raising flour
- 1 cup (150 g) plain flour
- 200 g butter, chilled and chopped
- 125 ml iced water
- pinch of salt
- sugar, for sprinkling on pastry top
For the filling:
- 500 g fresh (or frozen and thawed) quandong, for sprinkling
- 3/4 cup caster sugar, plus extra
- 1 cup water (just enough to cover the quandong) or orange juice
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoons cream
Method
Combine the fruit with the sugar and orange juice, stir, cover and let stand for at least five minutes, or, if you have time, leave overnight. This will create a thicker filling.
Transfer the quandong mixture to a saucepan and cook on low for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Preheat oven to 180C. To make the pastry: Place flours and butter in a large bowl and rub with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add water and mix with a butter knife until the pastry just comes together.
Divide into 2 portions and roll each out to a 28 cm circle on a well-floured surface.
Line a lightly greased baking tin with one circle of pastry. Prick the base with a fork. Fill with quandong filling, and trim the edge of the pastry. Cut remaining pastry into smaller circles using a 7 cm round cutter.
Mix the egg and the cream together. Brush the edges of the pastry with mixture. Lay circles of pastry over the pie, overlapping slightly. Brush the top of the pie with the egg mixture. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden.
Warndu Mai (Good Food) by Rebecca Sullivan & Damien Coulthard published by Hachette Australia, Hardback RRP $45. Available now.
