Banana, Date and Hazelnut Pudding

Well since I posted a wintery soup recipe today, I thought I just had to post a wintery pudding recipe too. I found this recipe on www.homelife.com.au and converted it for the Thermomix. It is a great recipe if you are looking to use up a few ageing bananas sitting in the fruit bowl and it also doesn't contain too much butter.  The original recipe called for 155g sugar in the cake part of the pudding, but we found that it was a bit too sweet for us (even though I had actually cut the sugar down a bit).  I really don't think the pudding needs any more than 120g of sugar. Next time I make this I will cut the sugar right down to 100g and add a few more dates. The original recipe also called for 100g butter in the butterscotch sauce - I cut this right down to 50g and this was fine. This recipe makes enough for 6-8ppl, so we had heaps leftover. I put the rest in the fridge and took it to work for morning tea for the next few days - it's fantastic just slightly warmed in the microwave.

Ingredients

100g whole hazelnuts

20g butter

150g dates

1 tsp bicarb soda

310g boiling water

1 cup roughly chopped banana (I used 3 small bananas. I would recommend using more rather than less banana to get that yummy banana flavour)

120g brown sugar

60g butter, extra

190g self-raising flour

Cream or ice cream, to serve

Butterscotch sauce

200g brown sugar

300g cream

50g butter

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Spread the hazelnuts over an oven tray.  Roast in oven for 10 minutes or until lightly toasted.  Place hazelnuts in a clean tea-towel and rub to remove the skins.  

Place the hazelnuts in the Thermomix bowl and process on speed 7 for 5-10 seconds.  You are wanting a very course hazelnut meal.  

Line the base of a 20cm round springform pan with baking paper.  Using a pastry brush, paint the butter over the base and sides of the pan (you may need to soften/melt the butter in the microwave for a few seconds).  Sprinkle the pan with the processed hazelnuts.  Not all of it will stick, so ensure the rest is evenly distributed across the bottom of the pan.  

Place the dates in the Thermomix bowl.  Process on speed 7 for 5 seconds to chop finely.  Transfer the dates to a heatproof bowl and sprinkle the bicarb soda over the dates.  Place the bowl on top of the Thermomix and pour the boiling water over the dates, using the scales to measure the water.  Set aside to soak for at least 5 minutes.  

Place the dates (including water), banana, sugar, extra butter and flour in the Thermomix bowl and process on 5 for 5-10 seconds till almost smooth.  Pour into the prepared pan.  Do not rinse Thermomix bowl.  

Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Leave the pudding in the pan to cool slightly while you make the butterscotch sauce.  

Place the ingredients for the butterscotch sauce into the unrinsed Thermomix bowl.  Cook for 5 minutes at 90 degrees on speed 3.  

Remove the pudding from the pan and pour half the butterscotch sauce over.  Cut into slices and drizzle with the remaining sauce.  Serve with cream or ice cream.  

Chicken and Barley Soup

This is a great healthy recipe for Chicken and Barley Soup. The Thermomix makes this recipe really quick and easy, and even though I don't actually cook the soup in the Thermomix it really helps with the prep.

Ingredients
Olive oil
2 onions, peeled and quartered
3 cloves of garlic
250g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped into large pieces
180g celery, roughly chopped into large pieces
180g red capsicum, roughly chopped into large pieces
2L chicken stock
2 fresh bay leaves
220g pearl barley, rinsed well
520g skinless chicken breast, roughly chopped into large pieces
100g silverbeet or spinach, stalks removed and sliced

Method
Place a large saucepan on the stove.  Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and heat on high.

Add the onion and garlic to the Thermomix.  Chop on speed 5 for 3 seconds, then scrape down the sides of the bowl then pulse a couple of times on turbo.

Add the onion mix to the saucepan.  Sauté for at least 5 minutes till the onion is softened.

While the onion mix is cooking add the carrots, celery and red capsicum to the Thermomix bowl.  Pulse a couple of times on turbo till they reach the desired consistency (you are wanting the veggies to be roughly diced in small bits, not slush).

Add the vegetable mixture to the saucepan and cook for a further few minutes.

Add the stock, bay leaves and barley to the saucepan.  Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, add the chopped chicken to the Thermomix bowl (no need to rinse the bowl after chopping the veggies).  Pulse the chicken 3-4 times on turbo.  What you are aiming for is a course mince, so don't pulse it too many times.

Add the chicken to the saucepan and stir to break up the chicken.  Simmer for a further 45 minutes until the barley is soft.

Add the sliced silverbeet to the saucepan and cook or a few minutes to wilt.

Serve and enjoy!