Seven Seeds

One of the good things about going back to Melbourne was that my sister was also in town - and she's got a driving license and knows how to use it! She drove us up to Carlton one Sunday morning for this wholesome-looking brunch you see here. 

Seven Seeds is named for the seven coffee seeds Brother Baba Budan smuggled out of Yemen in the 17th century - read more about it here. Housed in an ever-so-hip warehouse with industrial fittings, their clientale is a mix of uni students and slightly older coffeefiends, all of whom look healthy and full of beans. I felt incredibly grubby in comparison, in my stained blouse and unwashed shorts. I also lacked the necessary accessory - a bicycle helmet. 

The big thing here was obviously the coffee - Melbourne people in general are all a bit mad about their coffee, I think. There was a constant queue at the counter, and we had to wait about 10 minutes to get a table. It was all good though. 

Cold-brewed  single origin coffee

We went for the cold-brewed, single origin (Kenya Kiangi - according to the cards) coffee, which our waitress took pride in telling us involved a 12-16 hour process. All very well, as long as I didn't actually have to wait that long for my coffee.

Have you had cold-brewed coffee before? I certainly hadn't, and I think I was expecting it to just be an iced coffee. While it did come with some ice cubes in the glass, the taste was very different from other iced coffees I'd had before. It was a lot more complex - not as bitter, and slightly sour (in a good way). I think I'm a convert. Also, cold-brewed coffee makers seem to look rather fantastic and should go some way towards impressing your friends. 

Eggs Benedict topped with bacon

Salmon tartare with courgette salad and toasted sourdough

Ricotta hotcakes with bananas, strawberries and blueberries

The food was pretty yummy too, although, to be honest, not as memorable as the coffee. The bacon was sliced thickly and cooked nicely, while my salmon tartare was made with beautifully fresh sashimi-grade salmon. I loved the pairing of beetroot and salmon, it's something that I'll be trying at home. Oh, oh, my sister's ricotta hotcakes came with a tasty banana cream, which I may also try to replicate at home. 

So, good coffee, tasty food, and a nice-looking place, what's not to like? 

Seven Seeds

114 Berkeley St, Carlton

VIC 3053

Australia

Experimental Banana Bread

The two ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter last week were starting to piss me off*, and I knew I had to do something about them before they rotted away. And the tastiest thing to make with over-ripe bananas? Banana bread, of course. Since I'd just spent all week on the computer, I wasn't really in the mood to go search for a new recipe to try out.

So, I made up a recipe instead. Although it says banana 'bread',the method is actually partly bread, partly cake-ish. I used yeast, and mixed it with plain flour instead of bread flour, just because I wanted to find out how that would turn out. Also, just like bread, I left it to rise for quite a while, although there isn't any kneading involved because the batter turns out very wet. The yeast feeds on the sugars in the bananas, and rises to form a bread with a chewy texture. This recipe uses hardly any butter, and no eggs, so it might be worth trying if you're worried about your waistline but still want to indulge in some sweets (please note the 'healthy' factor completely flies out the window if you're smothering it in Nutella). 

Banana Bread 

Ingredients 

1 tbsp dry yeast

150 ml tepid water/ milk (I used a mixture of both)

2 tsp sugar

250 gm plain flour

50 ml water/milk

50 gm butter

100 gm brown sugar

2 ripe bananas, roughly mashed 

ground cinnamon (to taste)

ground nutmeg (to taste)

25 gm walnuts (optional)

1/2 tsp pandan essence/ vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

- In a large bowl, dissolve 2 tsp sugar in tepid water/milk, add dry yeast and stir it around lightly. Cover with a cloth and leave it to rise for about 15 minutes.

- When yeast is activated, whisk in brown sugar, then add the flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the rest of the milk and the pandan essence to the mixture, and stir in the walnuts. 

- Add butter, and finally, the mashed bananas, and, using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir the mixture for about 5 minutes. This is to ensure the bananas get incorporated into the mixture and aren't just left on the sides.

- Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let the batter rise for about 2 hours. Lightly grease a 7-inch baking tray (you can use other sizes too, just remember to adjust the baking times) and pour the batter into it. Then, cover again with a damp cloth and let it raise for another hour.

- Preheat the oven to 175c, then bake your bread for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted inside comes out clean.

- Let it cool down, slice and enjoy! You can keep it for 3 or 4 days, and it's great toasted, since you get to enjoy crunchy outsides and soft, chewy innards.

Happy baking!

*I love eating bananas, but only when they're still slightly raw. The insides of my mouth feel gross and slimy and furry when I eat ripe/over-ripe 'nanas. Euuuech!

Bigos And Banana Bread Baking Bonanza

No, not bigos-banana bread - because that would be disgusting. At least, I think it would, but I haven't actually tried that combination yet, so who knows, eh? What I actually baked this past Sunday evening were bigos and cheese muffins, and a banana loaf.

The banana loaf was inspired by Loumm's tempting banana, cinnamon and walnut loaf recipe. I substituted some coffee for the milk used in the original recipe, and used some mixed nuts instead of just walnuts - the whole thing came out delicious, if I do say so myself.

The bigos muffins, on the other hand, came about as an answer to the question "Where else can I hide some bigos?"

That Manpoppet of mine was gripped by an insatiable craving for massive amounts of hunters' stew on the weekend, and cooked up a great big monster of stewed cabbages and meats on Saturday. I'm not exaggerating when I call it a 'great big monster' - that baby weighed about 5kgs!

Faced with the terrifying thought of eating only bigos for the next fortnight, I had a quick look around the kitchen, and whipped up some of this little muffin monsters.

Ingredients

350 gm plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

1 tsp baking powder

100 gm butter

300 ml milk

1 egg, beaten

300 gm bigos

200 gm grated cheese

Directions

Makes about 12 medium muffins.

- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

- Sift flour into a mixing bowl, then rub butter into flour.

- Mix milk and egg into flour mixture.

- Using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix in the bigos and grated cheese. I used Edam as it was the only one I had in my fridge at the time, but it would be interesting to try some softer ones like mozzarella or even Brie in the future.

- Spoon the mixture into a lightly greased muffin tray. You can fill them all the way to the top, as the mixture doesn't rise too much during baking.

- Bake in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Stick a skewer through the middle of a muffin (or a butter knife if you're like me and aren't organised enough to have skewers), they're done when the skewer comes out clean. There may be some melted cheese clinging on to the skewer though, so as long as there's no floury stuff clinging to your skewer, you're good to go!

* Bigos - we made ours, but you can find them in jars at supermarkets and Polish grocers. So, there's no need for you to go to all that trouble making 5kg of stew just to make these muffins.