By Liane Arno
One of the really delightful things that happen to us is when our friends’ children Fox and Wise come to visit and go ‘shopping’ in our garden.
Shopping’ means taking a tightly woven basket that we were given in Bougainville when we worked there and wandering around our garden to pick up what fruit is ripe or what vegetables are ready to be plucked. It is a wonderful reminder of how the local subsistence farmers of Bougainville would do this very same thing every day and it gives the children so much joy.
One of the really delightful things that happen to us is when our friends’ children Fox and Wise come to visit and go ‘shopping’ in our garden.
Shopping’ means taking a tightly woven basket that we were given in Bougainville when we worked there and wandering around our garden to pick up what fruit is ripe or what vegetables are ready to be plucked. It is a wonderful reminder of how the local subsistence farmers of Bougainville would do this very same thing every day and it gives the children so much joy.
Whatever they find we will use to cook something for them as at five and three years of age they are ravenous. And so this visit they collected mandarins. We have a mandarin tree that, so disappointing last year with only a couple of pieces of fruit, has this year proved to be prolific. Prolific – but slow to ripen – and not as sweet in previous years. So – the solution is to make a cake.
But not a floury cake – this one is fluffy and light.
Peel
6 – 8 mandarins. Cut them in half across the segments and place each of the halves to cover an oiled 10 inch circular oven dish. Our mandarins have pips in them so by chopping them in half you can dig out the pips easily.
Beat until foamy
One egg
1/3 cup of sugar
Add
2/3 cup of plain flour
¼ cup of oil (I use olive oil but you might prefer a vegetable oil)
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Pour the mixture over the mandarins in the dish. Tap the dish on the bench top to get rid of any air pockets. Then bake in a 180 degree oven for 35 minutes.
When cooked let rest for 10 minutes before easing out of the dish and serve it upside down showing off the segments of the mandarins.
But not a floury cake – this one is fluffy and light.
Peel
6 – 8 mandarins. Cut them in half across the segments and place each of the halves to cover an oiled 10 inch circular oven dish. Our mandarins have pips in them so by chopping them in half you can dig out the pips easily.
Beat until foamy
One egg
1/3 cup of sugar
Add
2/3 cup of plain flour
¼ cup of oil (I use olive oil but you might prefer a vegetable oil)
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Pour the mixture over the mandarins in the dish. Tap the dish on the bench top to get rid of any air pockets. Then bake in a 180 degree oven for 35 minutes.
When cooked let rest for 10 minutes before easing out of the dish and serve it upside down showing off the segments of the mandarins.