This recipe was shared by my beautiful sister, Sonnie, after she prepared the dish as part of a celebration meal we brought to the table to celebrate our other beautiful sister, Jan’s, special birthday meal.
"This is my dear Indian friends, Esther and Malcolm's, recipe, they serve it with curry, rice and other dishes.
My boys, when they were little, used to go over to Esther and Malcom's just to have Dahl, Rice and Tomato Sauce!" Sonya (Sonnie) Collins (my beautiful sister)
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1
tbsp
vegetable oil or ghee
-
1
brown onion
diced
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1 - 1½
cups
of red lentils
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4-5
cups
of water
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1
teaspoon
Garam Masala
or less if you do not like to much spice
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2
garlic cloves
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½
teaspoon
turmeric
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Salt
to taste
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Heat a pan over medium heat.
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Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of oil, or ghee, into the pan and add onions. Fry until you get some burnt edges (this adds to the flavour).
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Add the lentils, garlic, garam masala and turmeric, and stir well to combine with the onions, ensuring the everything is coated with the spices and oil/ghee.
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Add the water and bring to the boil.
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Cook until lentils are nice and soft.
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Esther & Malcolm’s Dahl, prepared by Sonnie.
Jan’s Birthday Dinner
I still remember Esther telling me that she managed to get John and David to eat Dahl by topping it with tomato sauce, and I smile every time I think about it.
If you have a moment, I would love to hear your thoughts on what you see on
this page – just pop a note in the comments box below.
With many thanks and kindness,
Julie.
Recently I spent the morning working with my pot plants just out the back door. I had sad tomato plants that needed to be potted up before I lost them, and a cucumber similarly needing potting. Soon enough I was spending the morning working with plants, repotting, weeding, tidying, even a little painting, and all the time I was with my family and friends! A storm was looming, due around lunch time, so I knew that my time was limited, but planned to work until driven indoors.
I spent time with my late mum via the beautiful yellow gerbera that she had given me eight years ago, and the lavender that I had dug from her garden after she passed, there’s even a juvenile lavender now growing in a large pot, home to a small mandarin tree.
Yellow Gerbera – a gift from mum -2016
Lavender dug up from mum’s garden.
Self sown lavender in the mandarin tree pot.
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I’m not quite sure why time seems to get away from me, but it does!
The lead up to Christmas was, as I recently said to someone, frantic! There were cooking classes/knowledge sharing sessions to deliver throughout the region, cooking for a local café to be done, trips to Melbourne for family gatherings, an unexpected medical issue, hampers to prepare and get into the post for family up north, gifts to purchase and our preparations for our contributions to the Christmas Day Family Feast!
This year in the Christmas hamper I included a few new items, coffee liqueur, flavour bombs/simmer pot pouches and a new biscuit (cookie). The coffee liqueur was a recipe given to me by a host at a B&B in central France, the flavour bombs/simmer pot pouches were made up of my dehydrated citrus, some spices and a little candied ginger (I think that I will dehydrate ginger for them in future), and the new biscuit is based on a commercially available biscuit available here in Aus, but made using a recipe from my mum’s recipe book.
Goodies packaged ready to boxed up and posted off…
Christmas baking…
Mulled Wine Simmer Pot Bags
Butternut Chocolate Cream Biscuits
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Based on a commercial brand of biscuits, using my mum's recipe for butternut snaps. These biscuits are cooked smaller than normal and then joined together with either milk or dark chocolate, the choice is yours.
Category:
Afternoon Tea, Lunch Box, Snacks
Style:
Australian
Keyword:
Biscuits, Butternut Chocolate Cream Biscuits, Butternut Snaps, Christmas Cookies, Gluten Free Option, Kingston Biscuits, Kingston Cookies
Quantity: 60 biscuits
Author: sbaskitchen
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2
tbsp
butter
softened (see notes)
-
1
cup
sugar
-
1
egg
-
2
tbsp
golden syrup
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½
tsp
vanilla essence
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1
cup
coconut
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1 ¼
cups
self raising flour
see notes for Gluten Free Option
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1
packet of chocolate melts
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Place the butter and sugar into the mixing bowl, and using a wooden spoon, cream the butter and sugar.
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Add the egg and beat to combine, then add the golden syrup and vanilla essence.
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Finally add the coconut and flour and mix until well combined.
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Preheat oven to 160˚C (fan).
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Line two baking trays with baking paper.
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Using a small coffee spoon, take spoonfuls of dough and place on the lined baking tray, ensuring that you allow space between each for spreading.
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Bake for 17 minutes, or until golden.
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Remove from the oven and turn every second biscuit upside down, revealing the flat base of the biscuit.
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Place a chocolate melt onto the flat base of each turned biscuit and top with one that has not been turned.
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Place on a cooling rack and allow the heat from the biscuits to melt the chocolate and then set. (I like to check the biscuits after a couple of minutes, to make sure that none of the top biscuits have moved as the chocolate melts.)
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When cold store in an airtight jar.
1 metric tablespoon = 4 tsp = 20 ml
The temperature shown is for a fan forced oven, if using a non-fan forced oven you will need to increase the temperature by 10-15˚C
This recipe translates easily for those on a gluten free diet. For gluten free biscuits, replace the self raising flour with 1¼ cups gluten free flour blend and 1 ½ tsp baking powder
I use both dark chocolate and milk chocolate melts, generally doing half with dark and half with milk. I believe that white chocolate would make the biscuits overly sweet, but in your kitchen you might like to try white chocolate...
First published: 14 December 2024
Last updated: 10 July 2026
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If you have a moment, I would love to hear your thoughts on what you see on
this page – just pop a note in the comments box below.
With many thanks and kindness,
Julie.
I was wandering around the garden in the first week of August, something I rarely find time for any more, which saddens me, as I love my garden and I love being outdoors.
As I rounded the corner, past the spring bulb bed, trying to ignore the weeds, my attention was immediately drawn to a dark space where there was a carpet of flowering violets, and a few snowflakes in bloom as well. Memories of my late mum, our family home, and my childhood came flooding back, and the snowflakes brought memories of my Gran. Let me share a little of my memories with you.
Snow Flake in the Garden
Violets in the garden
Violet in the garden
Snow Flake in the Garden
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