KUMARA FOR KEEPS
The wonderfully versatile and quintessentially Kiwi kumara is very much in season. From savoury to sweet, here are four ways to use this not-sohumble winter vegetable.
Kumara skins
Do double duty with this recipe that makes the most of the whole kumara and entices the kids into eating some vegetables. 3 kumara (one each of gold,
orange and red) Canola oil, for deep frying ¼ cup plain flour, seasoned Sprinkle of sea salt SOUR CREAM DIPPING SAUCE ½ cup sour cream
1 Tbsp mustard Sprinkle of fresh herbs Dash of lemon juice, to taste Boil kumara until just cooked. Drain and chill.
Cut into skins or wedges, leaving 1cm of flesh with the skin.
Heat a pot of canola oil until just smoking. Lightly dust the kumara with flour and fry until golden.
Drain and sprinkle with salt.
Mix the sour cream sauce ingredients and serve.
Sweet kumara pie
Don’t forget that kumara lends itself extremely well to sweet notes too. This recipe is beautifully spiced, with a velvety, melt-in-your-mouth texture. 500g sweet shortcrust pastry,
ready-made
5 large orange kumara
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup maple syrup
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup caster sugar
3 large eggs, beaten 200ml cream
Icing sugar for dusting Preheat oven to 200C and roll out pastry to a medium thickness. Line a 22cm tart tin with the pastry and blind bake for 20 minutes. Set aside. Peel and cut kumara into quarters and lay them on a baking tray. Sprinkle with nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon and drizzle with maple syrup. Add a small amount of water to the bottom of the tray. Cover with two layers of foil and bake for 45 minutes until soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Measure about 600g of cooked kumara and whizz it in a food processor until smooth. Put this mix in a bowl and stir in sugar, eggs, vanilla and cream. Reset the oven to 175C. Fill the cooled tart case with the mix and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and dust with icing sugar. Serve hot or cold with whipped cream.
To blind bake your pastry, prick a few times with a fork, then overlay with baking paper and weigh down with baking beans or uncooked rice or any dried beans you have on hand. Bake according to recipe, then remove from oven, allow to cool a little and remove paper and weights.