Aargh… what a rough old week it has been.

Fighting a war with the cutest army at present… brush tail possums who keep eating my succulent plants off my balcony.  One kept me up last night between 1am and 3:30am!! D’Oh!! Trying to outsmart them is proving very frustrating and difficult.

Anyhoo, FIRST WEEK BACK OF SCHOOL!!  I know some of you think “Thank GOODNESS” as you pour yourself a glass of wine.  For me, things don’t change much as I keep on working regardless of school holidays or not.  My daughter loves school… but she loves her holidays too so I think there are pro’s and con’s to her going back this week.  I wish so much that I could be home with her (and Mr 3) more, but alas this is the plight of every working mum.

This year the tricky bit will be balancing extracurricular activities with life generally.  I don’t know how everyone manages to juggle so many activities! Gwennie does ballet, but her school is wanting her to do “exams” meaning another ballet class per week (2 total) AND she wants to do jazz.  Then when is the best time to start an instrument?  I think it is easier to learn when you are young… so we are going to try starting her this year and see how she goes.  I’m not sure how keen she is, but she gets to try it in amongst usual swimming lessons (not optional until she can swim the length of a 50 m pool confidently) and all the other stuff.

Gahh… let me get to why we are here!!  This week’s Foodie Friday post is based on a recipe I saw on the Food Channel – watching the “Hairy Bikers” cooking/travel show.  I thought it looked easy, and because I have a bread maker, it was!!  On the show they ate these in the beer halls with their massive pints of beer… but we had them with some salad on the side, and I also made a gravy to dip them into (I would highly recommend this step).  I would have used Gravox if I had any in the cupboard, but I didn’t so instead I just used beef stock, a little bit of cream and heated with some corn starch and water to thicken.

Bread dough

• 1 packet of “Crusty white” Lauke loaf mix – made up to “bread dough” via pack directions in the bread maker (takes about a 2.5 hour cycle)

Filling

• 2 tbsp oil (I used olive oil but you could use sunflower, canola, vegetable or whatever)
• 500g/1lb 2oz lean minced beef
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 1 small white cabbage – finely shredded/chopped
• 1 tbsp fine sea salt
• ½ tbsp ground white pepper
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 50g/2oz butter, melted

To serve

• mustard and pickles (as per the Hairy Biker’s recipe)
• gravy (use instant Gravox or make your own with  2.5 stock cubes, 1 cup hot water, half a cup of cream and about 2 tsp of corn starch mixed with cold tap water –> dissolve your stock cubes in boiling water, on the stove heat gently, add cream and then when it starts to simmer, add your corn starch and water and keep stirring till it thickens (will take less than a minute) )

METHOD

1.  Stick your dough ingredients in the bread maker and hit start – make sure you do this in advance because the cycle takes about 2.5 hours
2. In a saucepan or wok, brown your onions in oil for a few minutes, then add the mince – breaking it up as you go
3. As it is about half browned, add your spices – cumin seeds/powder, fennel seeds, black and white pepper, salt
4. Once totally browned add your cabbage and about a quarter to a half a cup of water
5. Cook until cabbage wilted.
6. Set aside to cool before making buns
7. Preheat a moderate oven (say 160 degrees)
8. Get your bread dough out of the bread maker and roll and stretch it into a long line (see gallery above)
9. Cut it into 20 pieces
10. Using a rolling pin, roll each piece out on a floured bench top/board and place a heaped tbs of filling in the middle
11. Gather up the edges of the dough and pinch together to seal
12. Place on a paper-lined, oiled baking tray, pinched side down
13. Repeat with all of the mixture and dough
14. When you are done, brush the tops of the buns (which will look lovely and smooth) with melted butter
15. Bake until lovely and brown – about 20 min
16. Serve HOT with a gravy dipping sauce, pickles and mustard!

We loved these and I will be making them again for sure!!

I hope your family loves them too!  Till next Monday – have a great weekend!!

xxDr Megs