On air on Bayfm 99.9 community radio Byron Bay on October 8, 2012

Belly is a program for all food lovers, whether you cook for a living or for the joy of it, or just like to eat. Man or woman, child or grannie, if you are interested in food we’d like you to join the very hungry order of the bellysisters.  I think a young local chef called Blake is definitely a bellysister. Many of us have been to Bali – what did you bring back? Blake brought back the memory of a wonderful Balinese way with curry, he played around trying to recreate it, added local macadamia nuts, a wonderful substitute (better than the original I think) for Balinese candle nuts, and that curry won a prize at the Sample food day last Saturday, against, as they say, but it was really true this time, very stiff competition.

 

BLAKE’S BYRON BAY PORK BALINESE CURRY – by Blake Seymour, sous chef at the
Byron at Byron Resort and Spa

Here’s an audio clip of Blake talking about this recipe : Sister Blake at Sample

 

Serves 4 people.

 

 

CURRY PASTE

1 Spanish onion

4 cloves garlic

5cm knob root ginger

5 red chillies deseeded

1 kaffir lime leaf

1/2 stick lemongrass

5cm knob galangal

1 tbsp tamarind

100g toasted macadamia nuts

100g palm sugar

2tbsp fish sauce

1 lime – juiced

 

CURRY

500 – 600g large diced pork neck

2 cans coconut milk

1 tbsp kecap manis

 

Roughly chop all [curry paste] ingredients (except the macadamia nuts, palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice), transfer to a large pestle and mortar and beat to a fairly smooth paste. Add the nuts and lightly crush.

[If you travel to Indonesia, or go to a well-stocked Asian supermarket, look out for the very wide, flat Indonesian mortars.  I think they are much easier to use than the regular deep type.  More of a rolling and crushing motion than pounding. Sister T]

Heat a heavy based pan and brown the meat well (in batches). Remove the meat, reheat the pan and add in a little vegetable oil.

Add in a good amount of the curry paste and fry for about 10 minutes – this is to release the flavour ( the smell is amazing). Make sure the temperature is nice and low so the paste will not stick and burn.

Add in the browned meat, 1 cup of stock or water, the coconut milk, palm sugar and kecap manis.

Gently simmer for 3-4 hours, until the meat is completely tender. (You may need to top up the liquid during this time if it’s looking dry).

To achieve the correct seasoning, keep tasting the curry while it is cooking. To finish it off, add the lime juice and any extra palm sugar and fish sauce if required. You are looking for the perfect balance between sweet, salty and sour.

This could also be a vegetarian curry if made with lots of seasonal vegetables and no fish sauce (use soy instead). [Blake also says that this curry is good with fish – so basically you can probably try it with anything you fancy. S.T.].

Great served with a radish and herb salad.

Blake and the Byron at Byron head chef, Gavin Hughes, are among the B at B chefs who are leading FREE tours of the Byron Bay farmers market every Thursday in October only – make sure you get to the Northern entrance of the market (the police station end) by 8am, they can’t wait if you are late – but you can probably spot them as they move around the market and join the tour.

 

AUDIO SAMPLES

There was much more fun and deliciousness at the 2012 Sample day.  Check the audio clips below (written in bold in purple).

Belinda Jeffery at Sample 2012 – Local chef and author Belinda Jeffery was one of the judges of the $5 competition, and also launched her latest cookbook – “Desserts”.

 

I met up with regular guests Alison Drover (Miss flavours of the month)  and Deanna Sudmals (easy as pie baking series), who are also learning to present radio.  One of the great joys of community radio is that it is open to anyone to turn up, learn, share skills and enthusiasm and generally get involved, so contact us please if you’d like to contribute to belly.  You may end up wearing one of the fabulous new range of bellysister caps.  I was going for a flying nun look, but I think we kind of look a bit like nuns and a bit like pirates – flying pirate nuns, how fabulous!

 

 

 

A big thank you to everyone who spoke with us about their day,  all the happy samplers, chefs, growers, judges, a cleaner, and all the people who made this a long, busy and very tasty day.  Bring on the 24 hour 2013 Sample day!

The short interviews in the clip below were Sister Deanna’s first ever – she is obviously a natural.

Sister Deanna at Sample

 

 

I was lucky enough this year to taste both the winners of the $10 and $5 plate competition, both gorgeous.  The slow cooked beef cheeks, celeriac and lentils in a light crispy icecream cone (a.k.a. a cornette) by Alphadale 561 was a very clever idea, obviously adaptable to all sorts of fillings.

 

 

 

Everything I tried was delicious in fact, and I’m not just saying that.  It is amazing the quality that can come out from these camp kitchens on a boiling hot day.  But my personal favourite was the kangaroo prosciutto – or “roosciutto” – that the Salumi gang prepared for chef Clayton Donovan of the Jaaning Tree.  It looks kind of scary, since kangaroo legs are so long and lean, someone said like it had come out of an ancient Egyptian tomb and that’s pretty right.  But it tastes like heaven, a lot more like a cured beef than pork of course, but with a character all of its own.  probably due to the Salumi curing skills, which are already becoming pretty legendary.  The good news is (if you are a skippy eater) that it should become commercially available in the not too distant future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Tess at Sample 2012

The first voice on this audio clip is our new mayor Simon Richardson.  He wonders why a day like this hasn’t been done before, and of course the Taste of Byron food festival has help many successful events over the years.  But Sample is probably the biggest event of this type we’ve had, and brings together lots of farmers and food producers rather than just focusing on the restaurants.

 

Anthea Amore at Sample 2012

 

Anthea was on belly a few weeks ago talking about her organic vegan food, it sounds like she introduced a lot of people to new flavours on Saturday – and even made me like tempeh for the first time (it was the tamarind chutney that did it).  I like what she says because it shows how this type of event flows on to hungry happy interested visitors all year round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…. or as I overheard one restaurant stallholder say to another, some time mid-afternoon: ” So do people just eat all day then?” Yep!

And chat and catch up and admire and get ideas and listen to music and have fun with friends and family and drink, and eat again.

 

Lots of love and chocolate from all your bellysisters, and a second serve from me, sister T