The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits & Nana’s Biscuit Tin

November 14, 2025November 20, 2025 / sbaskitchen / 4 Comments

There’s a recipe book that graces the shelves of many in Australia, The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits, and like, mine, I’m sure they are well used.

The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits – Ever reliable recipes

When I was a child, my nana, Elvie McDonald, would bake up a storm, filling biscuit (cookie) tins with a variety of biscuits, to be gifted to each of her adult children’s families. We all had favourites, for me it was her melting moments, others loved her gingernuts, others, Anzacs, and so on, and it was a sad day when the last of your favourites had vanished from the tin. When the tin was empty, it would be returned to nana, and she would use it to store her baked goods in throughout the year, before beginning the cycle again. While I don’t have one of her large biscuit tins, I do have a smaller tin, and use it to, fittingly, store my biscuit cutters in.

Nana’s Biscuit Tin

Inside Nana’s Biscuit Tin

Nana’s Biscuit Tin

Continue reading →

Esther and Malcolm’s Indian Dahl

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.

Indian Dahl

"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)

Author: sbaskitchen

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
1 brown onion diced
1 - 1½ cups of red lentils
4-5 cups of water
1 teaspoon Garam Masala or less if you do not like to much spice
2 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon turmeric
Salt to taste

Instructions

Heat a pan over medium heat.
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).
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.
Add the water and bring to the boil.
Cook until lentils are nice and soft.
Add salt to taste.

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.

Sweet & Sour Anything

Sweet and Sour Veg is a great little recipe for using up bits and pieces from the vegie drawer of the fridge, you can even add leftover cooked meat as well (see notes below)! I know that it has sugar in it, but a little sugar now and then, and you can reduce it to suit your taste, so the flexibility is there. The great thing that I like about this recipe is that it gets family members who are not normally great veggie and rice eaters, to clean their plate! So it’s a win for me.

Sweet & Sour Anything

This is the best recipe for using up all the bits and pieces from the vegie crisper! You can make it with veg only, or add prawns, fish, chicken, pork fillet, or serve with crumbed fish, crumbed prawns, even chicken or pork schnitzel!

Category: Main

Style: Aisan, Thai

Keyword: Vegetarian Option

Quantity: 4

Author: sbaskitchen

Ingredients

1 tbsp cooking oil
½ onion peeled and cut into thin slices or wedges
1 carrot peeled and cut into thin strips or slices
½ red capsicum cut into thin strips or large dice
½ cucumber cut into half moons
100 g snow peas cut cut in half

FOR THE SAUCE

2 tsp cornflour
½ cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp vinegar

GARNISH

2 spring onions thinly sliced

Instructions

Heat oil in a wok or large frying pan.
Add the carrot and onion, stir-fry for 3 minutes, then add the capsicum and cucumber, stir-fry for 2 minutes and then add the snow peas.
Blend the cornflour, water, soy sauce, tomato sauce, sugar and vinegar together, add to the vegetables and stir until the mixture boils and thickens.
Serve with Jasmine rice garnished with the spring onions.

Notes

This is such a flexible recipe that can be cooked up in no time!

The veg in the recipe can be swapped out, or used as a base - you could also add:
- baby corn
- bean shoots
- beans
- broccoli florets
- cauliflower florets
- cabbage
- tomato wedges
- zucchini
Add a protein
- chicken
  - stir fry your veg and remove from the pan and set aside while you then stir fry diced chicken, return the veg to the pan, add the sauce ingredients and continue.
  - alternatively, add leftover cooked chicken after the sauce has thickened, cook in the sauce until heated through.
  - try the sweet and sour veg as an alternative side for crumbed chicken schnitzel - delicious!
- fish
  - add after the sauce mixture and continue to cook until the fish is just done, alternatively, cook the fish separately and serve on top of the sweet and sour veg.
  - serve the sweet and sour veg alongside crumbed fish.
- prawns
  - add after the sauce mixture and continue to cook until the prawns are just done, alternatively, cook the prawns separately and serve on top of the sweet and sour veg.
  - top sweet and sour veg with cooked crumbed prawns
- pork
  - stir fry your veg and remove from the pan and set aside while you then stir fry sliced pork loin, return the veg to the pan, add the sauce ingredients and continue.
  - alternatively, add leftover cooked pork after the sauce has thickened, cook in the sauce until heated through.
  - try the sweet and sour veg as an alternative side for crumbed pork cutlets - delicious!
- tofu
  - press a block of firm tofu for an hour, to remove any excess moisture, then dice and stir fry. Add to the stir fry vegetables before adding the sauce mixture and continue.
If you have leftover steamed veg, just make up a batch of the sauce and carefully reheat the veg in the sauce.
Try a little fresh coriander as a garnish, also.
The measurements used are metric, therefore
- 1 tbsp = 4 tsps
- 1 cup = 250 ml
- 1/2 cup = 125 ml

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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.

Sweet Mulberry Vinegar

When the garden gives you mulberries…

Sweet Mulberry Vinegar

Category: Condiments, Preserves, Vinegars

Style: Australian

Keyword: Mulberries, Mulberry Vinegar, Vinegar

Quantity: 750 ml (approx.)

Author: sbaskitchen

Ingredients

500 ml white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1 kg mulberries
White Sugar

Instructions

Combine the mulberries and vinegar in a glass jar.
Mash using a potato masher or similar, and then cover with a lid and allow to infuse for two weeks, stirring every couple of days.
Carefully tip the mixture into a jelly bag that has been set up over a bowl and leave to drain overnight.
The following day, measure the liquid into a stainless steel or enamel saucepan (discard the solids).
For every 300ml of liquid, weigh in 200g white sugar.
Heat gently over medium low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Once the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat, bring to the boil, and boil gently for five minutes, skimming off any scum that forms on the surface.
Set aside until completely cool.
Pour into a sterilised bottle(s), seal with a vinegar-proof lid, and label.

Notes

This vinegar will keep for at least one year.
Quantities can be reduced to a syrup which is delicious served with feta, chèvre, labneh etc.
Use the vinegar as an alternate in vinaigrettes for salads.
Add to sauces for duck, pork, game terrines, etc.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Yum

No Yeast – No Rise!

January 20, 2024January 20, 2024 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

What’s for dinner? I had no idea! So I thought, I’ll make a focaccia, I’m sure something will come together then.

Whipped up a batch of my baguette recipe, spread it onto some baking paper to rise, and wandered off to do a few things. When I returned it was still the same – it hadn’t risen! Tilted my head this way and that, yes, it still hadn’t risen… Then a light bulb moment – I hadn’t added the yeast – no yeast, no rise!!!

I’d already washed up and put away the stand mixer, and being lazy, just reached into the drawer for a bowl , scraped the dough/batter into the bowl, sprinkled over the dry yeast, used up a bit of elbow grease and mixed and mixed by hand. There were little dots of yeast through the batter, I kind of new that it wasn’t right, but perservered, put down another sheet of baking paper, spread out the dough/batter, and set it to rise… Did a few more things, still no rise.

OK, out comes the stand mixer, again, scraped in the dough, spread it out, went away did some more jobs, come back, a little bit of rise… finished the top off with sprinkling of salt flakes and freshly picked rosemary and put it in the oven to bake.