Tabbouleh with Bunyas

GET

A bunch of flat parsley, chopped finely 
2-3 large tomatoes
2 Lebanese crisp cucumbers
1 small red onion
2 hands full of cooked bunyas (instead of bulgur wheat)
2 cloves of smashed garlic
An array of herbs: mint, lemon thyme, chives etc 

Olive oil, 1 lemon (juice) 

DO 

Wash parsley, tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs. Mix the olive oil, lemon and smashed garlic. Chop the parsley and herbs. Cube the onion, cucumbers, tomatoes and bunya 'nuts'. Gently mix it all with the dressing and serve fresh with any dish, but with hummus would be best.

Lima Bean Soup with Bunyas

GET
500 g Lima (white) beans 
400 g Bunya nuts (peeled and cooked)
4-5 fresh bird's eye chilies 
10 Peppercorns
2  Bay leaves 

DO 
Wash and soak beans over night. Refresh water, just covering the Moche legumes. Boil beans and water, adding the bunyas, pepper and bay. Simmer gently. Once the beans and bunyas are done to your liking, add the chilies whole or chopped. The soup is very creamy and needs stirring from time to time. Serve with croutons and pesto. Keep refrigerated.

Bunya Smoothie and Atherton Nut Cake

Bunya Smoothie and Atherton nuts

It is bunya and Atherton nut time again. We now use a cold press juicer and smoothie maker.

The smoothie

GET

2 cup of milk (cow or vegan)

2 bananas

1 avocado

5 cooked bunya 'nuts'

3 tbsp. cacao powder

A pinch of cinnamon/ vanilla (optional)

DO

Peel the fruit. Cut into small pieces that will fit into your machine. Mix the cacao powder with milk and stir. Close the chute off. Add half of the liquid into the machine, then add half of the banana and let the machine run for a while. Add  the rest of fruit pieces and milk and open the chute. Close it again then add the bunya nuts and the optional cinnamon/ vanilla. Let it run for a while, then open the chute and refrigerate for 25 min. Serve cold.

Coffee enthusiasts could of course replace the milk with strong coffee instead.

The Atherton nuts are visible if you click the picture

The cake

The delicious Atherton nut and fruit cake was prepared and baked by the North Bank Institute. There are many cake recipes here that could be utilised for an abundance of endemic nuts.

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

Bunya Pine Nuts with Sauerkraut and Pasta

Get
650 g organic Sauerkraut
500 g pasta (Spirali, Spiralini or Rotini)
300 g Bunya Nuts 
or chestnuts 
2 onions
1 red capsicum
150 ml cream (optional)
Olive oil
300 ml stock/water
A pinch of caraway
6 juniper berries
2 bay leaves
Parsley

Bunya Pines, Araucaria bidwillii

Do
Chop the onion finely, and fry in olive oil till golden. Drain sauerkraut and add together with some hot stock/water. Add the caraway, juniper berries and bay. The kraut should be covered with liquid. Add the peeled bunya nuts, stir and cook for 30 min.

Bunya 'nuts' with lost cowrie shell

Cook the pasta al dente. Chop the capsicum in small thin strips and add to the dish, keeping a few bits for decorative purposes. Add some of the parsley. Cook for another 15- 20 min.
When the pasta is done, take the sauerkraut off the heat and stir in the cream. Decorate with chopped parsley and the remaining capsicum.

Serve with a rucola salad and slices of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Bunya Nut and Macadamia Burgers

get
20 bunya nuts
200g macadamia nuts
80 ml tahini
1 small onion
100g organic spelt flour
filtered water
4 tbsp olive oil

do
Steam the bunya nuts in their shells for 40 minutes.
Peel and chop the onion finely. Place in a large bowl.
Mix in the tahini with a wooden spoon.

Medium grate the macadamia nuts and add to the mixture. Mix.
Cut the hit bunya nuts in half with a serrated-edged knife. Removed the bunya flesh and press through a garlic press into the mixture. Mix after each couple of bunya mash is added. It is important to mix the bunya paste in while it is hot or it becomes too firm to mix in. Do a few bunyas at a time leaving the rest in the steamer to keep warm. When they have all been added, mix well. Add some more grated macadamias if necessary to lighten the mixture.
Cool.

Place flour on a large dinner plate. Put some water in a bowl. Put a large flat spoon in the water. Dip your clean hand into the water.
Scoop some of the mixture using the wet spoon and press it hard onto the palm of your wet hand to form a burger. (You can use 2 wet spoons if you don't like to use your hand). Place the firm burger on the flour and turn it. Leave it on the flour and turn occasionally so it becomes covered in flour. Repeat until you have enough burgers. Cover the rest of the mixture and store in the fridge.
Heat some olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the burgers at a low heat until lightly coloured.

These burgers will become quite crunchy if fried golden. If you prefer them that way, they also taste good golden.

Also recommended cold and on the next day.

I use the tahini from the bottom of the jar when it is too thick for other purposes.

More Bunya Burgers

Bunya and Lima Bean Soup

GET
40 bunya nuts
350 g lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus) or
the burgundy-speckled heirloom variety
5 carrots, finely chopped 
2 leeks, the white bits only finely chopped
Some green beans, finely chopped
2 zucchinis, finely chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
Bouquet garni
Pepper
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
Olive oil
all organic and filtered water

Click 10 kg Bunya pine cone pattern

DO
Wash and soak the 'butter beans' the night before. Add fresh filtered water, the bay, bouquet garni and pepper, cover and boil. Scoop off possible froth and discard. Turn down the heat and cook for 30 min. Add the peeled bunya nuts and cook for another 25 min.

Fry the onion in olive oil golden. Add the leek, the carrots and then the beans. Fry for 15 min and stir. Add the content to the soup pot. Add the zucchini bits and the garlic and some of the parsley. Cook for another 10 min. and remove the bouquet garni.

Both the beans and bunya nuts will sink to the bottom of the pot. Stir before serving, sprinkle with parsley and serve with a baguette.

Lima beans cultured by Meso-American civilisation

All Bunya dishes  
Bunya Nuts Pine Nuts: How to Prepare for cooking
Bunya Pine Nuts with Aubergine
Bunya Spaghetti Napolitana
Kumera Bunya Soup
Bunya Pine Nuts in Coconut Milk 
Bunya pine nuts in green tomato sauce 
Bunya Mushroom Ragout with Buckwheat noodles

Bunya kernels cultured by Australian indigenous civilisation

Bunya Mushroom Ragout with Buckwheat noodles

Get

30 Bunya nuts
250g mushrooms
3 white onions
2 cloves garlic
6 pepper corns
1 bay leaf
500ml water
olive oil
200g buckwheat noodles

Do
 
Cook peeled bunya nut halves in water with bay leaf and pepper corns for 60 minutes.
Allow to cool for a couple of hours. Drain and set the stock aside. Discard pepper and bay leaf.
Separate the thin stock from the top for cooking noodles and the thick stock for the sauce.
Peel and chop onions. Fry slowly until glassy. Add garlic pieces.
Push onion and garlic to one side of the pan.
Fry the mushrooms in batches adding more olive oil as necessary. The mushrooms should fry and not become soggy.
When each batch is ready, push it to the side next to and under the mushrooms and add some more.

Bunya bark Araucaria bidwillii

When all the mushrooms are fried, add the drained bunya nuts. Stir it all together.
Add a few tablespoons of thick stock, just enough so that it has a thick sauce, not watery.

Serve with buckwheat noodles cooked in the remaining thin bunya stock with extra water as necessary.

Bunyas
Bunya Pine Nuts with Aubergine
Bunya Spaghetti Napolitana
Kumera Bunya Soup
Bunya Pine Nuts in Coconut Milk 
Bunya pine nuts in green tomato sauce 

Mushroom pasta 

Bunya Potato Salad

get

5 medium to large waxy potatoes
30 bunya nuts
3 sticks celery
3 tbsp hot mustard
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove crushed garlic
250 ml water
6 pepper corns
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp eggless mayonnaise

optional:
3 slices of fresh pineapple

all organic

do

Steam potatoes until soft.
Peel bunyas and remove skin. Boil them in the water with pepper corns and the bay leaf for 60 minutes, then 15 minutes without a lid to reduce the volume of liquid. Let the bunyas cool in the liquid. Remove the bunyas from the pot and set the stock aside. When added to the vegetables, they will soak up the tasty stock, hence requiring only small amounts of mayonnaise.


Peel the potatoes, cut in half lengthwise and slice very thinly. Put in a large ceramic bowl.
Mix the mustard, garlic and olive oil. Add to the potatoes and lift under.
String the celery, cut lengthwise and chop finely. Add to the potatoes and mix in.
Add the bunyas and mix.

Pour in about 75 ml bunya stock and mix. There should be a slight 'puddle'. This will be absorbed with time.
When cool, lift some mayonnaise under the bunya-potato salad.

Optional: Cut the pineapple into small pieces, keep some for decoration and mix the rest in.

Serve with chopped parsley/coriander, a salad and some tofu. Store in a cold place.

The proportion of potatoes to bunyas should be about 2:1.

Bunya Pine Nuts with Aubergine
Bunya Spaghetti Napolitana
Kumera Bunya Soup
Bunya Pine Nuts in Coconut Milk 

More Potato Salads

Bunya Pine Nuts in Green Tomato Sauce

GET

25 Bunya nuts
10 ripe green “Green Zebra” Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)
see details on previous post
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
2 celery sticks
a dash of agave nectar
some olive oil

Split Bunya nuts with garlic

DO

Peel the bunya nuts. Skin the tomatoes and chop them. Cut the onion fine and fry in the hot olive oil. When golden, add the tomatoes, the garlic and the finely chopped celery. Add the bunyas, cover and simmer for 25 min. Remove the lid and lightly cook for another 10- 15 min to get a sugo/thick consistency.

The sauce was served with small firm potatoes. This combination puts an end to the simile 'The bunya tastes like a potato'. Served with a crunchy rucola salad

Tomato, Bunya, Garlic in cooking stage

The desired cooked consistency

The unpredictability of the bunya harvest: 6 cones were peeled, a large box was filled with 'compost' and the yield can be seen on top. A crop that does not conform to an efficiency obsessed agri-industry.

Click to enlarge

More Tomatoes
Bunya spaghetti napolitana
Tomato sauce with noodles

More on Bunyas
Bunya Pine Nuts with Aubergine
Bunya Spaghetti Napolitana
Kumera Bunya Soup
Bunya Pine Nuts in Coconut Milk

Bunya Pine Nuts in Coconut Milk

Get
20 - 30 Bunya kernels
4 large carrots
4 leeks
6-8 small green okras
A handful of green beans
2 zucchinis
2 corn cobs
10 cm of fresh ginger root, peeled (NB Ginger safety!)
2 finger size pieces of fresh, peeled turmeric
7-8 dried chili (Capsicum annuum) or any fresh chili you are familiar/comfortable with
2 x 10 cm pieces of lemongrass, white bottoms only
Garlic

2 tins of coconut (milk or cream, organic, no sugar) Or better make your own!
Some olive oil/ coconut oil
1 Tsp agave syrup
10 black peppercorns
1 kaffir lime juice (Citrus hystrix) and 2 leaves
Fresh coriander

All organic

White Basmati or organic brown rice.

DO
Peel, clean and cut Bunya nuts in halves. Clean all vegetables and herbs. Cut carrots into large diagonal slices. Use only the white of the leek, cut into large pieces. Cut beans in half. Remove corn from cob. Cut zucchinis in large pieces. Peel ginger and turmeric. Fresh turmeric dyes everything it comes into contact with. Clean the garlic.

Heat the oil. Fry the turmeric and ginger for some time. Add the leek, then the carrot, bunyas and beans. Stir regularly. After some time add the coconut milk, corn, chili, pepper corns, lemongrass and garlic. Cover and simmer for 20 min. Add the okras, zucchinis, garlic and the agave syrup. Simmer another 5 - 10 min. Add lime juice, 2 kaffir leaves, cover.

Unripe Bunya Nuts with Blue Quandong Bird

Boil the rice. Pluck the coriander leaves off their stems and serve fresh with the dish. Point out to your fellow eaters that there are ingredients (turmeric, ginger, lemongrass etc) they might wish to remove.

All Bunya dishes
Bunya Pine Nuts: How to Prepare for Cooking
Bunya Pine Nuts with Aubergine
Bunya Spaghetti Napolitana
Kumera Bunya Soup

Kumera Bunya Soup

GET
2 large orange kumeras/ sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas)
5 carrots
5 ripe tomatoes
30 bunya nuts (or waxy potatoes)
3-4 small zucchinis/ courgettes
500 g peas
black pepper seeds & 1 bay leaf
pinches of garden herbs
olive oil
some cooked durum wheat semolina pasta (optional)
all organic and filtered water

DO
Stock
Boil 1 liter of water in a pot, add black pepper, bay and garden herbs
Add clean peelings and vegetable off cuts as you go

Soup
Pour boiling water over the tomatoes and peel them after 6 min.
Chop peeled carrots, cut into chunks
Fry carrots in hot olive oil for a while, then add chopped tomatoes. Fry, stir, then cover and let it simmer gently for 15 min. Should you run out of liquid, pour some of the hot stock through a sieve into the mixture and cover.
Peel kumera and chop into large chunks, add them with bunya nuts to soup. Close the lid and let it simmer for 40 min. Add peas and small zucchini cubes and cook till they are done your liking.
Shell pasta was added here on day two, but it detracted from the flavours.

Another bunya soup variation is lima beans, stock, garlic, pepper and rosemary. Clip the pointy tips off the bunya nuts.

Bunya Spaghetti Napolitana

Get
1 kg ripe tomatoes (skinned, chopped)
1 onion or leek
2 carrots
4 celery sticks
2 cloves minced garlic
1 bay leaf
a dash of agave nectar
black Pepper corns
some olive oil

30 Bunya nuts, (optional)

A cup full of roasted pine nuts

Pasta
500 g organic durum wheat semolina pasta (spaghetti)

All organic & filtered water

DO
Fry finely chopped onion/whites of leek. Add finely chopped carrots and celery cubes. Stir. After all is translucent, add chopped tomatoes, garlic, agave, bay and peppercorns. Stir for a while simmer gently with covered lid. Add some boiling water if need be to cover the vegetables. Add peeled bunya nuts, cook for 30 minutes or more. Cook covered over a low heat till there is a thick sauce.
Roast pine nuts gently in dry pan. Do not burn. Set aside

Cook pasta "al dente"

Serve separate or mix in large decorative bowl and serve very hot with sprinkled pine nuts.

See also
Tomato sauce with noodles

Bunya Pine Nuts: How to Prepare for Cooking

When bunyas are ready to harvest they fall to the ground. Forget about climbing up the tree to get them. The leaves are very sharp and the nuts are right at the top of the pine. When they start falling they continue for a couple of weeks in late summer. Before that you can see if a tree has many nuts by observing its crown.
Depending on the softness of the ground under the bunya tree the large cones may be intact after they drop down. If this is the case, take the whole cone home where you can get the nuts out cleanly. But usually the nuts are scattered when they hit the ground which makes it easy to get them out but they may be dirty and need washing when you get them home. They are also among sharp leaves so be careful with your hands.If your bunyas are in a cone still, break the cone open and separate the individual nuts into a container. Be careful of sharp edges.The nuts have a tough shell which is quite leathery. It needs to be cut and will not break like a walnut or almond as it is not woody. I cut them with secateurs, slicing a thin piece of the skin on the edge lengthwise. Then you can get the secateurs to grip and cut more until the kernel comes out.I have also had success with a serrated knife, but it is hard to keep the nut still while cutting.Other people use a cleaver to cut the whole nut into two pieces and then extract the two kernel halves. This may be a faster method but may also require practice and a good method for keeping the nut in place before you chop it.When you have extracted some nuts place them in water to remove the thin brown skin. This comes off easily after just a short dip in water leaving a white and brown kernel.
Bunya nuts come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Some are small, round and white, others are pointy and usually they are a little brownish. A little brown gives them more character. They should taste waxy and the little white ones tend to be a bit powdery.
You will need to cook the nuts for 30 to 45 minutes. If they are undercooked they are dry. When cooked in a sauce they adopt the flavour so be careful what you cook them with. They have a unique flavour which can be overwhelmed by other foods. Given the extensive preparation it is important to be able to taste them.
An alternative approach is to roast the nuts in their shells in hot coals as recommended by a friend. We have not tried this but are advised that the nuts are very tasty and the shell is easy to remove after being in the fire. This has been a traditional Aboriginal cooking method for millennia. The trees/forests have been cultured by Australian indigenous people in their management of abundant landscapes.
Storage
Bunyas are best eaten fresh. However, when you have found a lot of bunyas you can freeze the nuts in their shells. You need to prevent the nuts from sprouting if you want to eat them. If you keep intact cones, the nuts tend to sprout inside the cones so break them up and put the nuts in the fridge.
If your fridge is not big enough for all the nuts, store the remaining nuts in a well-aired, dry place out of the sun, for example in a string bag, to prevent fungus. A short blast of direct sunlight helps to prevent fungus growth beofre you put them in a cool place or in the fridge.

Recipes
Bunya Pine Nuts with Aubergine
Bunya Spaghetti Napolitana
Kumera Bunya Soup
Bunya Pine Nuts in Coconut Milk 
Bunya pine nuts in green tomato sauce 
Bunya Mushroom Ragout with Buckwheat noodles
Bunya Lima Bean Soup 
Bunya Nut and Macadamia Burgers
Bunya Pine Nuts with Sauerkraut and Pasta