Matariki Star-Fried Bread
Matariki, (the Seven Sisters or Pleiades), has inspired a new generation of home cooks to make star-shaped treats. In winter this traditional Maori festival marks the coming of light in Aotearoa New Zealand. Celebrating begins when the Matariki constellation first appears, and it continues for a week - a great excuse to indulge in seven days of Matariki Star-Fried Bread. And yey! It’s oil-free.
Ingredients
- 12 slices firm wholegrain bread
- ½ cup plant milk
- ¼ cup mashed golden-orange kumara (sweet potato)
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar heaped
- 1 tbsp ground linseed (flaxseed)
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Using a large, star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out a star from each slice of bread. (The left-over bread can be used to make bread pudding or breadcrumbs).
- Pour the milk into a blender and add the kumara, coconut sugar, linseed and cinnamon. Blend thoroughly.
- Pour the mixture into a bowl or container wide enough to move one of your stars around a bit. Lightly dredge half the stars in the mixture, placing each one in an unheated non-stick pan as you go.
- urn on the stove to a low to medium heat and put the pan on. Cook the first side for two or three minutes – timing differs as every stove is different. Watch the cooking process attentively to catch them before the bottom of the stars burn. A little burning is inevitable, but don’t let them burn too much.
- Flip each one over and cook the other side, (takes less time than the first side).
- Arrange them on a plate in a warm oven while you prepare the other half of the batch. Take your pan off the heat too, letting it cool down a bit before you place the second batch in. This saves them browning too unevenly.
- Cook just enough to set the liquid, then take the first half-batch out of the oven and add the stars you’ve just cooked.
- Serve warm, spreading maple syrup on top of each one, and decorating with a final sprinkle of cinnamon and a few small slithers of mandarin.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!