Monday, May 17, 2010

Tamarillo Achar

This is a continuation of our foray into the tropics of Australia - the Tropical Fruit World of Duranbah. Although we could eat as much as we can at the fruit tasting session, we still bought some to take home. Talk about gluttony...har har har. Anyway, among them, almost a kilogram of tamarillo.

The tamarilloes look so plump and juicy. Montel, my Mama said.

Now, you may ask, what in the world is tamarillo? We also know nuts about tamarillo, at first. So (By the power of Google!!! ...and Wikipedia...) we found this:

Solanum betaceum (syn. Cyphomandra betacea) is a small tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Solanacae. It is best known as the species that bears the tamarillo, an egg-shaped edible fruit. Other names include tree tomato and tomate de árbol. In Indonesia it is known as terong Belanda or Dutch eggplant.
Prior to 1967, the tamarillo was known as the "tree tomato" in New Zealand, but a new name was chosen by the New Zealand Tree Tomato Promotions Council in order to distinguish it from the ordinary garden tomato and increase its exotic appeal. The choice is variously explained by similarity to the word tomato, the Spanish word amarillo, meaning yellow, and a variation on the Maori word tama, for "leadership". It is still called tree tomato in most of the world.
The tamarillo is native to the Andes of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. It is cultivated in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Portugal, the United States Venezuela. It is grown as a commercial crop for international export in New Zealand and Portugal. The first internationally marketed crop produced in Australia occurred around 1996, although permaculture and exotic fruit enthusiasts had increasingly grown tamarillo around Australia since the mid 1970s.
The fruit is eaten by scooping the flesh from a halved fruit. When lightly sugared and cooled, the flesh makes a refreshing breakfast dish.
They give a unique flavor when made into a compote, or added to stews (e.g. Boeuf Bourguignon), hollandaise, chutneys, and curries. They are also tasty and decorative in, for example, radicchio salads. Appetizing desserts using this fruit include bavarois and combined with apples in a strudel.
In Colombia, Ecuador and Sumatra, fresh tamarillos are frequently blended together with water and sugar to make a juice. It is also available as a commercially pasteurized puree.
The flesh of the tamarillo is tangy and mildly sweet, and may be compared to kiwifruit, tomato, or passion fruit. The skin and the flesh near it have an unpleasant bitter taste, and usually aren't eaten raw.

Mama said she doesn't know how to make Boeuf Bourguignon or hollandaise but said we can definitely try making some chutney or curries. She had also tasted jus terong Belanda in her travels in Sumatra but didn't like the taste of it. So we all voted to make some acar out of this juicy wonders. This is the recipe we used:

500g tamarilloes (washed, topped and quartered)
Topped and quartered tamarilloes. Their seeds resemble those of garden tomatoes but with firmer flesh, thus the reference to eggplant as well.

1 tbsp chili paste
50g curry powder
6 cloves garlic
1-inch size of ginger
1 red onion, diced
5 fresh red chilies, sliced finely
1/2 cup vinegar (we used red vinegar)
1/2 cup water
1 cup raisins or sultanas
1 tbsp sesame seeds (we used the black ones)
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp salt (or to taste)
3 tbsp sugar (we used brown)

1. Pound garlic and ginger in a stone mortar.
2. Heat a non-stock wok or pot, pour oil.
3. Saute garlic and ginger until fragrant then add chili paste. Mix and cook through.
4. In a small bowl, mix curry powder with 2 tbsp water. Then add paste into chili, garlic and ginger mixture.
5. Add a little bit of water, making sure mixture doesn't stick at bottom of pot/wok.
6. Add tamarilloes, mix thoroughly with spice mixture. Add vinegar and rest of water, let simmer until fruits become soft.
The concoction simmering in the wok. Drool people, drool....

7. Add sliced chilies and raisins. Let simmer again.
8. Add salt, sugar and sesame seeds. Mix thoroughly and remove from heat.
9. Bottle acar when it has cooled enough to the touch. Use glass bottles. Should keep for about 6 months in the refrigerator.
Bottles upon bottles of acar in our fridge. We like to have a wide variety, just in case.

10. Best served with any meat biryani and plenty of papadoms (just because). purrr.....meow!

36 comments:

tireless mom said...

I am drooling already... One look macam kundang orange.

Monyet King said...

Your achar sounds and looks delicious. My furry friends in the forest asked if the achar goes well with ripe bananas ?

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Yatt,
You mean the Siam kundang? No...the seeds are totally different. My Mama said kundang would make jolly good sambal belacan... yummmm....oh dear, the keyboard is wet. purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Your Highness,
Not that we've tried it ourselves, but we have family members who swear by banana fritters (pisang goreng) with achar. So, bolehlah.... purrrr....meow!

Cheqna said...

Cats dearest...(nak bodek nih..hehe)

u know that I'm bad in following actual recipe in making anything in d kitchen and that recipe looked complicated enuf..

so could u pls ask ur mama to send me one of the (filled - in case she send me empty ones..haha) bottles?..2 also is very much welcomed!...hehehe...

luvvvv ur mama!

:-)))

Zendra-Maria said...

YUMMM!!! Should go well with anything... even ... hehe

Naz in Norway said...

It's 1109PM in Norway and I'm drooling like never before :P

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Cheqna dearest,
If you could only go online and pick up a ticket, we'll gladly let you rummage our fridge. There's a long list of achar and pickle that we've made - tamarillo, bird chili, cherry, lemon, lebanese chili, grape, pineapple, carrot, cucumber.....purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Zendra,
The Tiger said, even with grilled zebra. *winks* har har har *evil laughs*

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Naz,
Oh boy...I sure don't like to be that keyboard. har har har *evil thoughts*

Anonymous said...

*ish* jahat you.. *wiping saliva off the keyboard*

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Andrea dear,
Et tu? Oh dear...another drool smothered keyboard. har har har *evil laughs*

~CovertOperations78~ said...

Dear Kitties,

Is this the way to tamarillo?
Every night I've been slurping my pesto,
Dreaming dreams of tamarillo,
And bruschetta that stays crisp for me!

Love your achar recipe!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Dear CO78,
Achar on bruschetta? That, we haven't tried. purrrr....meow!

Ellen Whyte said...

Oooh yum! We love acar and your post has reminded us we're overlooking a local fruit!

Thanks for visiting us. We're Following you...

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Au and Target,
How nice of you to come! We can have achar party, eh? yummmm.... purrr...meow!

Unknown said...

..cannot take terong..bad for my hernia..:)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Abe Mat,
It's not terong....serious...it tastes just like tomato. If terong, cannot be eaten raw at all. purrr....meow!

TK said...

Wonder how does it taste..The acar looks so delicious!!

Anonymous said...

Hi angie n brad, meeoww,

kita suka.. suka baca sebab kita dpt belajar. ada cerita sejarah, jenis buah2an, resepi.. and yg paling kita suka sebab ada cats yg come2... kita sukaaa...

cik boo

Lee said...

Hi Cat, wow! Never seen these fruits before. Looks very succulent too. Can throw some over? Ha ha.
Thought they were pears too.
Have fun, Lee.

Unknown said...

..its not?..then send me a bottle..sheesh, ladycat, my hernia can wait..:)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

TK Sensei,
It tastes heavenly...will make you braek into a haiku... purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Cik Boo,
Kita memang comel....teeheehee...thank you for your puji-pujian...am on cloud nine. purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Uncle Lee,
If comments can't get through Canadian Immigration, do you think these exotic fruits can? purrrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Abe Mat,
Errr...Brad dah makan habis. Sorry.... purrr...meow!

Unknown said...

wow..sydney cats know how to make acars/pickles?. wud hv thot more like squashed pickles or prickled pickles but definitely look cantik and yummlicious.. goes very well with bariyani! tamarillo? great info thanx for sharing - tell yr mak boo hoo can only dream of the luscious tamarillos (manis? masam? kundang taste? berry taste?)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Kim,
My Mama said she still owes you scones and jam...har har har *evil laughs*

pssst...Welcome!

Pat said...

Nice recipe! I love acar!

I just used to use the tamarilloes in salads. Now you've given me ideas ;)

My husband tried germinating a seed, but it didn't jadi, now I feel we should try again! Thanks for the heads up!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Pat,
We don't know how the tree looks like though. Where can you get it from? Giant? Tesco? purrr....meow!

Pat said...

Maybe someone sells the tree, but we tried to grow it from the seed. And my husband 'corrects' me: it did jadi but young plant died from lack of water :(

I only just watched someone make tamarillo chutney and jam on Discovery! Yummms :)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Dear Aunty Pat,
The farms also sells its home made tamarillo chutney but we thought it tastes too sour. My Mama says if you have any friends going to Medan or Aceh, ask them to buy a few kilos for you. New Zealand seems to be the biggest producer of tamarillo products now. purrr....meow!

Praying for biryani this weekend,
Angelina

Pat said...

I've found tamarilloes at Jusco a couple of times, in case you're wondering where we get ours.

Don't need them in large quantities - unless I get off my ass and actually make that achar of yours! I'm a terribly lazy bones lah! ;)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Pat,
You have no "Bibik"? har har har *evil laughs*

Cheqna said...

Bz finishing off mama's acar ye... no time to leave ur paw on d keyboard eh?

:-)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Cheqna,
My Mama says it's bad manners to talk while we eat. Or type. har har har *evil thoughts*