Celery Salad with Brazil Nuts

GET
4 celery sticks
5 Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa)
1 garlic clove
Oil, lemon

Do
Clean vegetables. String celery sticks and chop them finely. Mash garlic and add oil and lemon to the dressing. Slice the Brazil nuts very thinly. Add celery, nuts and mix with the dressing. Let it rest covered for more than 30 min.

The Brazil nut grows in Amazonian forests. They do not grow in mono-culture plantations. "Brazil nut trees produce fruit almost exclusively in pristine forests"  (source) Local people collect these nuts in the rainy season.
Just as the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) distributes Australian rainforest fruit and nuts,  the agouti is active in the seed dispersal in the Amazon of the Brazil nut.

"The production of Brazil nuts more than halved between 1970 and 1980, apparently because of deforestation. .. Trees remaining in the vast cattle ranches of Pará and Acre are neglected and dying." (source)

One can of course take any local nut, like macadamias...

Salad goes with
Chickpea Capsicum Casserole

Chickpea Capsicum Casserole

GET

Main Dish
4 cups of cooked chickpeas
5 capsicums, green
2 leeks
2 onions
2 tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
Olive oil
Vegetable stock, hot
Herbs: lemon thyme, sage

Topping
4 Tsp. Macadamia paste
4 Tsp. Tahini
3 garlic cloves, mashed
2 Tsp. Olive oil

Do
Wash and chop the vegetables. Fry the onions and the capsicums until they are 'golden'. Add the leek and the tomatoes. Cook for a while, then add some hot stock, the cooked chickpeas, garlic and chopped herbs. Cover and let it simmer for approx. 30 min. There should be very little liquid left.

Preheat the oven. Mix the topping. Place chickpea mixture into a casserole. Distribute the topping evenly and heat for 1 hr. at 180 °C

Serve with
Celery Salad with Brazil nuts

Finger lime macadamia confectionary

GET

300g organic raw macadamia nuts
1 Tahitian lime
2 tbsp light clear honey
4 finger limes (Microcitrus australasica)
all organic


DO

Medium grate 300g macadamia nuts into a bowl.
Add the juice of the Tahitian lime. Mix.
Cut a finger limes in half lengthwise. Press the caviar-like fruit flesh out into a bowl. Remove any seeds. Add half to the mixture Add 2 tbsp clear honey. Mix well.
Press and compact the mixture with a spoon. Knead it. Press down and leave it in a cool place for 2 hours.
Cut into small portions and roll them into small balls between the palms of your hands.
Place the balls a few at a time on the remaining finger lime caviar and move the bowl so the balls become covered in finger lime. If necessary, use more finger limes.
Store in glass jars in the fridge.

Click for close up of vegan 'caviar'.

note:

This recipe will make a small number of high quality pieces of confectionary.

Bunya burgers

get

4 small to medium champignon mushrooms chopped small
75g medium grated macadamias
10 bunya "nuts" of the Bunya pine (Araucaria bidwillii)
1 Tbsp tahini
2 slices white bread
3 Tbsp wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
lemon thyme
4 tbsp cold-pressed organic olive oil

do

Remove the hard shell from the bunyas using a short sharp pointed knife. Carefully stab each bunya nut and the press down the knife blade to cut along one side. Remove the soft nut.
Steam the bunyas for 1 hour. Medium grate them.
Soak the bread in boiling water for 30 minutes. Drain and press out the water.
Mix the bread, bunyas, chopped mushrooms, herbs and the ground nuts in a large bowl. Add the tahini.

Click to enlarge the pink fresh colour

Stir well until a sticky mixture forms. Mix well. Knead.
Press the mixture down with a spoon so it is compressed.
Spread the flour on a large dinner plate.
Half fill a dessert bowl with water. Dip a tablespoon in the water and wet your clean hand with water.
Scoop out small amounts of the mixture with the tablespoon to make a spoon-shaped little burger. The water prevents the mixture sticking to the hand and spoon. It also moistens the outside of the burger.
Squeeze the burger onto the spoon, then push it off onto the floured plate. Repeat until all the burgers are made.

Araucaria Bidwillii

Turn the burgers so there is flour on both sides. Add more flour if necessary. Let the floured burgers stand on the plate for some time turning occasionally so they are well covered with flour.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan at a low to medium temperature.
Fry the burgers in it until golden. Add more olive oil if necessary.
Serve hot immediately or cold on a sandwich.

see also
Bunya Nut and Macadamia Burgers