Back to Timor-Leste

I first visited Timor-Leste in 2018, as part of a study tour, and last week I returned. It's a fascinating place … exotic and chaotic, the opposite of Canberra's clean, controlled streets. A bunch of people have asked to see photos and I'm afraid I didn't take many this time. Too busy soaking up the experiences and the atmosphere. You can see photos from my 2018 trip here and here and here if interested. Anyway …

Sunset on the beach in Dili

(Ahem) gin cocktails at Hotel Timor

The main event: I attended the inauguration

of a school I'd helped contribute to

Remembering murdered journalists in Balibo

Ruined building at Balibo

Watching the film Balibo at Balibo.

Very poignant.

Cute critter

Brekkie at Balibo Fort Hotel.

Mie goreng. Delicious!

Tropical flowers at Balibo

When several malae (foreigners) trekked to see a magnificent waterfall

near Balibo, a bunch of kids from the nearby village joined us. The

little girl pictured, Amana, grabbed my hand and kindly

helped prevent me falling into various streams!

Obrigada barak, Amana :-)

'Only Timorese coffee is allowed in heaven':

spotted at Agora Food Studio

Portuguese tarts at a Dili café

Timor-Leste is very close to Australia, about a one hour flight north of Darwin. A beautiful place.

Recipes for (temporarily) abandoned blokes

The spring Lifeline Bookfair was held over the weekend and, to my delight, conversation in my boot camp group today was about what books people had bought! The bookfair is a Canberra institution and raises money for an excellent cause so it's always great to hear people have enjoyed it. Particularly as Andrew and I have volunteered behind the scenes for 17 years or so. 

Anyway, one of the guys in the group described a cookbook he'd purchased. It sounded awesome. Dinner party recipes in categories such as 'recipes for dull people' and 'recipes for abandoned men'. Oh my goodness. I didn't find out if the recipes for abandoned men were for the permanently abandoned or those whose partners might eventually return. (More details please, Michael.)

The discussion inspired this blog post. Andrew and I have been together for about 32 years and (to my shame) I've never really let him spread his wings in the kitchen. I like cooking and tend to take over. However, I'm off to Sri Lanka for 2.5 weeks in November – the country has been at the top of my bucket list since I was seven – and will be leaving Andrew at home. It's not the first time I've gone somewhere exotic and left him behind – Timor-Leste in 2018 was amazing – but maybe he'd like some recipe ideas for when I'm away? Just in case, here goes …

Chunky avocado salsa

Curries (with a little help from the good folk of Byron Bay)

Lots of salad ideas

Pea and tofu soup

Ratatouille

Simple pizza from scratch

Seasonal stir fry

Shakshuka

Spanish omelette

Teriyaki tofu and veges

Enjoy!

P.S. my apricot tree has blossoms :-)

Gettin' more exotic

I've been obsessed with Asian foods (the spicier, the better) since I was a kid, and as an adult have had the pleasure of visiting various Asian countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Japan and Timor-Leste). As well as eating at Asian restaurants as often as my waistline and budget will permit, I've experimented with many dishes at home, and even taken cooking classes in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Australia to help hone my skills. I haven't, however, visited anywhere in the Middle East. Just when I was thinking it was time to explore the cultures and cuisines of that part of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and any travel plans, however vague, ground to a halt.

But when one door closes, another opens …? The pandemic has seen many businesses switch to online selling – and has caused others to spot and fill a niche – and that's how I stumbled across Exotic Bazaar. The company is based in Queensland and makes a delightful range of Persian, Moroccan and Turkish recipe bases, spices, condiments, and cake mixes. Apparently they started by selling ingredients at community markets and branched out into internet sales. I bought a Middle Eastern feast pack (pictured above) about six months ago and enjoyed everything so much I've ordered additional recipe bases and cake mixes since then. It's been fun to veer sideways in my food obsession, to travel a little further west …

Update: Sunday 25 June 2023

The first time I made a Persian Love Cake, using the ingredients and recipe in the box shown above, I used a baking tin that was too small. The cake mixture rose up the sides, flowed over the top, and was partially lost. After that I purchased a larger silicone cake baking mould and recent attempts have been more successful. Here's the cake I made yesterday to take to our friends' place for dessert tonight:

Of course, you don't have to buy a pre-packaged cake mix to make this sort of cake. The recipe shown here, from Recipe Tin Eats, also works well, if you don't mind tracking down the more unusual ingredients rather than having them land on your doorstep.

M is for matcha and moringa

We've made it to the middle of the alphabet! Woo hoo.

Two of my favourite ingredients – both bright green, and eerily similar – are matcha (Japanese green tea powder) and moringa. Here are some things you can do with them:

green tea ice cream
green tea crème brûlée
moringa choc chip cookies

I haven't done many experiments with moringa yet but suspect it might be interchangeable with matcha in recipes. Watch this space ...

Moringa choc chip cookies

It's been one year, this month, since I visited Timor-Leste. I'd always been fascinated by the place and the fascination has continued to grow. I read books, support Timorese charities, listen to Timorese music, and occasionally dabble in trying to cook Timorese food! While there our tour group snacked on some locally made moringa cookies and – while I didn't know what moringa was – I spotted some moringa powder in a Dili supermarket later that week so bought a packet:

It turns out that moringa is a tropical plant that features many valuable nutrients so is often used to supplement diets in Asian and African countries. The powder looks and smells remarkably like matcha green tea powder. Today I experimented with including some moringa powder in a biscuit recipe, finding that it enhanced both the flavour and the colour. Oh, and presumably the nutritional value ;-) I adjusted my versatile shortbread recipe to accommodate the moringa and choc chips.

200 grams butter
2 heaped tablespoons icing sugar
175 grams flour
25 grams moringa powder
0.5 cups ground rice or cornflour
200 grams chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar, add all other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Roll into small balls, flatten slightly, and place on a non-stick baking tray. Bake at 150 degrees C for 20 minutes.

Makes about two dozen. Store in an airtight container.

More info about moringa as treatment for malnutrition in Timor-Leste
Where to buy moringa powder in Australia ... I've also seen it at Healthy Life Belconnen, if you happen to be in Canberra.

Update: Monday 12 August 2019

Andrew and I really liked the moringa choc chip cookies and we also took them to our friends' place for dessert last night. While our (adult) friends were fine with them, their kids were quite scathing in their reviews! I'm used to their scorn – and have blogged about it before – but the flavour was quite strong so next time I'll use a smaller quantity of moringa (and not take these biscuits to the same friends' place!) One more thought ... given that moringa looks and tastes so much like matcha green tea I imagine it could be used in place of it in recipes. Ice cream, crème brûlée, etc. etc. etc.

Obrigada barak, Timor-Leste

It was a privilege to visit Timor-Leste and I'm incredibly grateful to the study tour organisers and everyone we met in our travels. It was truly an eye-opening and heart-warming trip. It was comforting to see so much positivity, peace and forgiveness in a country that has suffered so much over the years.

Here are a few more pics from the trip that didn't fit into previous posts ...

Cristo Rei (some of the tour group climbed about 600 steps up a hill
to reach this statue ... twice! Good exercise in a tropical country)

View of Dili from Dare

The cake Xanana Gusmão organised to celebrate a tour participant's birthday!!

More pics at sunset at Cristo Rei

Farewell, lovely Timor

Obrigada barak / thank you very much!

Timorese food. Nom nom!

Timorese food is a marvellous melding of southeast Asian and Portuguese flavours. So delicious! The country also has some fantastic fresh fruit and vegetables. I've come home inspired and eager to try cooking many of the dishes we tried. The delights included ...

Fresh coconut (with bamboo straw!) at the Australian Ambassador's residence

More local goodies at the Ambassador's dinner party

A wonderful vego lunch spread at the Alola Foundation

Plantain, sweet potato, cassava, tomatoes, chillies and

hot, sweet black coffee at Belola School

Mee goreng and pizza at Black Rock Restaurant

(Ahem) weird combinations from the breakfast bar at Novo Turismo Hotel, Dili

Fabulous flavours at Agora Food Studio

Delicious dinners at Kirsty's home

Fried breadfruit! 

... and banana juice. Really ;-)

Next post ... the wrap.

Travels to Balibo and Baucau

While our Timor tour began and ended in Dili, the nation's capital, the group also travelled to Balibo (near the Indonesian border in the west) and Baucau (to the east of Dili). While neither place is, theoretically, very far from Dili the roads range from bumpy to precarious so it takes a long time to get from A to B.

In Balibo the group visited 'Australia House', associated with five Australian journalists who were killed in 1975 in the lead up to the Indonesian invasion. The house is now a community facility and small museum.

We stayed at the elegant Balibo Fort Hotel:

It was interesting to see traditional dwellings, subsistence agriculture and all manner of free-ranging critters:

A couple of days after returning from Balibo we set off in the opposite direction. On the way to Bacuau we went snorkelling at K41 (pragmatically named as it is 41 km from Dili). It was magnificent. It was wonderful to get to meet the reef fishes of Timor, as well as the people ;-)

In Baucau, which is Timor-Leste's second-largest city, we admired relics from the Portuguese colonial era (the town reminded me of Melaka, Malaysia) and stayed at Pousada de Baucau, another elegant building reminiscent of times gone by.

Next post ... Timorese food. Well, obviously ;-)