Mint symbol

Pol sambol is one of the traditional side dishes I devoured with gusto on a trip to Sri Lanka. This version combines coconut with fresh mint to add a flavour hit to a wrap, curry or just sprinkled on steamed rice. If you don’t have mint, other green herbs such as coriander, Vietnamese mint or even basil (alone or in combination), work equally as well. 

I like to make this sambol as a dry-ish mix that’s easy to sprinkle. But if you’re having trouble blending the ingredients or prefer a wet sambol gradually add a little water to make a paste or sauce.

Mint sambol

1 cup fresh mint leaves (or coriander, basil or a mix of green herbs)
1 small onion, or 2 small shallots
4 cloves garlic
2/3 cup shredded (or desiccated) coconut
1 green chili (optional)
Lime juice (juice of ½ – 1 limes)
Sea salt

Blend the above ingredients, except the lime juice and salt. Taste while gradually adding lime and salt. It just needs a little of each.

This recipe is vegan, vegetarian, dairy and gluten free. 

ice blocks three ways

Icy poles, Popsicles, ice lollies, iceblocks…call them what you like. But as the thermometer rises through the 30’s and tips over into 40plusridiculousdegresscelcius, something cooling and delicious is much appreciated.

The top three icy treats in my freezer this summer have been:

1. The coolest kid on the block 

Uber-healthy and refreshingly savoury.

3 apples (or 2 cups pure apple juice)

1 large Lebanese cucumber

1 lemon, skin and pith removed (or the juice of 1 lemon)

Handful of fresh mint

Depending on your equipment, there are two easy ways to make these ice blocks. Either put all ingredients through a juicer, or substitute fresh apples for apple juice and combine the ingredients in a food processor or blender. The blended ones have more texture than the pure juice.

Juice or whiz ingredients together, pour into moulds and freeze.

2. Minty-mango

Heaven on a stick.

1 mango, flesh

1 orange, juice

1 lime, juice

Handful of fresh mint, chopped

Mash the mango and combine with the citrus juice and mint.

Pour into moulds and freeze.

1. Queensland special

Where both pineapple and sugar are a natural part of life.

Half a large pineapple, juiced

Equal quantity of simple sugar syrup (1 part sugar: 1 part water)

Juice of 1 lemon or lime.

Combine, mould, freeze.

The mango is my favourite and I can’t get enough of them on these warm evenings. If food-related guilt is your thing, these ice blocks have none of it.

Surprisingly the Significant Eater, Mr Health Himself and Born Again Vegan, disliked the healthiest ones and named the Queensland special his favourite.

But I’m sticking to the pure fruit variety, for as long as the cheap mangoes last.   

vegan feast: Ottolenghi cookalong

When The Guardian gave a column to a vegetarian-friendly chef a few years back, I was excited. Was the zeitgeist shifting and vegetarian food becoming mainstream? I didn’t mind if he was an omnivore (after all, I’m a pescetarian but a huge promoter of vegan food), anything that makes a plant-based diet sexy is good enough for me.

Melbourne foodbloggers adopted Yotam Ottolenghi with gusto. I wanted to love him but the more I scoured his recipes, the less accessible I found them. Being dairy-free rendered 70% of his dishes inaccessible without a lot of adaptation. (And I hate to admit it, I carry a bit of a grudge that the aforementioned column segued from vegetarian to meat-centric a while later).

When Cindy suggested the next cookalong be Ottolenghi themed, I thought it was time to tackle my difficult relationship with his work. Once more I requested Plenty from the local library and poured over the padded tome. It was difficult. So many of his ingredients didn't lend themselves to our seasonal availability. But I figured with celeriac in season, I’d give his Celeriac and Lentil Salad with Hazelnuts and Mint a go.

While I could source all of the ingredients at Vic Market, the simple salad rung up a hefty toll – puy lentils (or the equivalent) $11 a pop, bunches of thyme and mint, celeriac (two small organic left little change from a tenner), red wine vinegar, hazelnuts…I drew the line at hazelnut oil and substituted with some macadamia I had at home.

The recipe is not officially online but has been reproduced by others in the blogosphere. This version’s authentic, though the blogged recipe is not metricized. From memory the Australian edition of Plenty called for about 600gm of celeriac).

In a (hazel) nut shell the recipe is simple but rendered unnecessarily fussy. Toast the hazelnuts (60gm) in their shells, cook the puy lentils until al dente, boil the celeriac and mix together in a dressing made with olive oil, hazelnut (or in this case macadamia) oil, “high quality” red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and lashings of fresh mint. The recipe called for cooking the lentils with thyme and bay leaves, which didn’t really add any extra flavour.

Overall the salad was healthy but lacking in zing. An entire bunch of mint didn’t particularly enliven the dish (perhaps in summer the essential oils in the herb would pack more punch but then celeriac would be difficult to find) and the dressing needed more acidity. Some roughly chopped parsley instead of mint, an extra slug of vinegar and a heavier hand with the salt may have made it a little tastier.

The entire meal, however, was a raging success. Last year five of us got together to make an vegan, Indonesian-themed shared lunch. It was lovely to chop, cook, chat and eat with a bunch of healthy-food minded people. This time Cindy and Michael hosted and  Kristy and Toby came along to fire up the wok. Who’d have thought you could get five food bloggers in the same kitchen and cook without ego or (too much) chaos?

We feasted on Ottolenghi-inspired gluten-free, vegan food. Michael quietly whipped up a borlotti and green bean masterpiece, Cindy made a bejewelled roasted cauliflower salad and Kristy fried up black pepper tofu in a tasty sauce, while Toby veganised this polenta cake using egg replacer and olive oil.

But wait there’s more.

Cindy roasted rhubarb and whipped coconut cream* flecked with lemon zest (oh my what a heart stopping vegan treat!), which went perfectly with Toby’s polenta cake. It was one of the best vegan desserts I’ve eaten in a long time.

So am I an Ottolenghi convert yet? If I was Joyce of Hot Or Not fame, based on the lentil salad alone, for me Plenty is a definite “not”. But I loved everyone else’s dishes, the camaraderie of the kitchen, Michael’s thoughtful Flying Nun heavy play list and those wonderful desserts.

* Serendipitously Jess Cox posted this simple recipe for whipped coconut cream this morning. A simpler version but just as rich. My gallbladder would like to warn you that delicious as it is, limit it to a very small serve.

WHB #156 - mint

I wake to a bright Sunday morning. The early light streams into the lounge room and I find myself up at a ridiculously early hour (one that begins with 7) slavishly writing my morning pages, surrounded by three contented cats and the sound of birds singing. These spring days are golden. The weather is still unpredictable – with sunshine, thunder, lightening and hail all in the same week, or even day. But this time of year flecked with green is special, before summer gets you by the throat and the land becomes parched.

The garden is in flux. Today is the day we intend to rip out the last remnants of our winter vegetable bed (silverbeet will be on the menu tonight) and rebuild the soil to plant a few tomatoes and maybe strawberries after then next bout of hoped for rain. Most of my herbs are in pots these days, easier to keep the thirsty plants alive with the clean kitchen wastewater. The happiest with this frequent dampening routine is mint. With every watering it flourishes.



I love to drink fresh mint tea but don’t cook with it often. I relish mixing it into Asian salads, with coriander, Vietnamese mint and fish sauce. But with such an abundance of the herb I don’t use it nearly enough.

Morning writing finished, my rumbling tummy brings me back to the present, I know I need food, an appropriate first meal to honour the day. The fruit bowl represents the juxtaposition of seasons, winter apples and oranges meeting tropical mangoes and bananas. I dreamt last night of bananas growing in Wellington, not as they should do but on a vine instead. Not sure weather to blame fears of global warming or all the muffins I have been eating for that one. Regardless I take it as a sign that this herb, commonly regarded as a fruit, will feature in breakfast today.

To greet the new day I make a fruit salad featuring mint, toasted coconut and cashews. The mint gives it a taste of summer.

Trans-seasonal fruit salad
(Serves 2)

1 mango, diced
1 –2 bananas, sliced
1 pink lady apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 orange, skin removed sliced or in segments
1 handful of cashew nuts
1 handful of shredded coconut
fresh mint
lime juice

Prepare your fruit, feel free to vary the ingredients with what you have available, though the mango and banana work best with coconut.

Place a heavy bottomed pan on high heat and carefully toast the cashews, shaking the pan frequently til brown (you may notice that I hurried mine a little too much), remove the nuts and add the coconut. If the pan is still hot just swirl the shreds around off the heat and you will see them toast before your eyes, so be vigilant. Remove from the pan to ensure they don’t continue cooking.

Mix the fruit, coconut and cashews together in a bowl. Shred some fresh mint and add a squeeze of lime. Stir gently.

Eat immediately.




The mint family is a large clan with many variations. Medicinally Mentha piperita is favoured for its cooling, carminative properties. A steaming hot cup of peppermint tea can help clear the sinuses and settle a troubled stomach or racing mind. It is the perfect way to finish a fatty or spicy meal.

I also love mint in it’s many incarnations in laksa, green mango salad, prawn and noodle stir fries and as a refreshing summer drink muddled with lime juice, sugar and soda water.

This post celebrates Weekend Herb Blogging’s third birthday and is hosted by it’s founder Kalyn at Kalyn’s Kitchen - congratulations, what an amazing gift this weekly feature has been.

From next week Haalo, a fellow Melbournite, will be taking the reigns to care for this much loved event. Thanks again Kalyn for creating and nurturing Weekend Herb Blogging for these three years.