Yesterday the blog turned 6 months old! During the past 6 months I’ve made 25 recipes from The Great New Zealand Baking Book so to celebrate this milestone, I’m sharing 25 amusing facts about New Zealand (amusing to me at least):
- No matter where you are in New Zealand, you’ll never be more than 128 km from the seaside.
- The first commercial bungee jump was made in Queenstown, in 1988.
- New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893. A lady named Kate Sheppard led the signing of documents presented to parliament which saw the country lead the way in woman’s suffrage movements. She is on the $10NZD note!
- Police officers don’t normally carry guns in New Zealand.
- Wellington is the southernmost capital in the world.
- Bats and seals are the only native land mammals in the country. The rest were introduced by Māori people and European settlers.
- People are generally very trusting. I remember the first time a saw a solitary box filled with apples on the side of a rural road. No one around, just the box. It had a sign that said “Apples $2 per bag”. It took me a solid minute to realise that the idea is that people pull over their car, take a bag of apples, and pay for it by leaving the money in the box. I could not believe it!
- The clearest lake in the world is Nelson’s Blue Lake, with a visibility of up to 80 meters deep (google it, you won’t be disappointed).
- There are no snakes in New Zealand (they are all in Australia probably).
- Public libraries are ridiculously amazing. They have so much more than books! They have magazines, music, movies, games, comfy chairs you can sit on, computers, printers. There’s a library in my city which also has an audio/video studio, an embroidery machine, a laser cutter, sewing machines, a vinyl cutter, a t-shirt press, a mould-making machine, and a 3D printer. And you can use everything for free! Still blows my mind.
- There are almost 50 volcanic cones in and around Auckland (don’t worry, most of them are extinct).
- New Zealand has the steepest residential street in the world according to Guinness World Records. It’s Baldwin Street in Dunedin. Every year the city holds a Jaffa race where people can take part in rolling a Jaffa lolly (a small round sweet which has a soft chocolate centre and a hard covering of orange flavoured confectionery) down the hill.
- New Zealand Sign Language is one of three official languages of the country (English and Te Reo Māori are the other two).
- The kea, a bird native to New Zealand, is known for pulling windscreen wipers off cars and eating the strips of rubber from windows.
- Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 (along with Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay), was from New Zealand. He is on the $5NZD note!
- In 2006, the Queen, the Governor-General, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice were all women; making New Zealand the first and only country in the world (to date) where all the highest positions have been simultaneously held by women.
- New Zealanders love cars and used cars are very accessible, it is one of the countries to have the highest car ownership rate in the world.
- New Zealand is home to more species of penguins than any other country.
- To become a New Zealand citizen, you have to swear an oath of loyalty to Queen Elizabeth.
- Many popular movies were filmed in New Zealand: The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy (obviously), The Piano, The Last Samurai, The Frighteners, Vertical Limit, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Chronicles of Narnia, Mission Impossible 6: Fallout, Alien: Covenant, and more.
- Lake Taupo was formed by a super volcanic eruption 26,000 years ago. The dust from the eruption could be seen in modern day China.
- New Zealand is home to the giant weta, the heaviest insect in the world. It is heavier than a sparrow and looks like a giant cockroach. Google it, I dare you.
- Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city both population and landmass-wise. More people live in Auckland than in the whole of the South Island.
- The logo for the Royal New Zealand Air Force is a kiwi, which is a flightless bird. *ironic*
- In 1986, Rugby player Wayne Shelford got his scrotum ripped open mid-game. He was taken off the field with one testicle literally hanging out, got stitched up on the bench and continued the game. True story.
Now, let’s get to the recipe (the 25th recipe I’ve made from The Great New Zealand Baking Book!): Roly Poly Pudding. I did not know what ‘roly poly’ meant. Luckily the day I made this recipe one of my NZ friends was with me at home and she kindly demonstrated what a roly poly is (a forward roll), which was highly amusing. Jam roly-poly is a traditional British pudding. In the past it was also called shirt-sleeve pudding, dead man’s arm or dead man’s leg, because it was often steamed and served in an old shirt-sleeve (gross).
This pudding is made with suet (beef or mutton fat). I couldn’t find any at my local supermarket so I had to use vegetarian suet, which is made with vegetable oil. I think this replacement worked out because the pudding was delicious!
These are the ingredients you will need: self-raising flour (I used plain flower), baking powder, salt, suet, water, strawberry/raspberry/blackcurrant or plum jam (I used raspberry), milk for glazing and whipped cream to serve.
Pre-heat the oven to 180° C.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
Mix suet in.
Add water and quickly mix to a soft, wet dough.
Roll dough out roughly on a floured surface until it measures about 30 cm x 15 cm.
Spread jam all over, but not quite to the edges.
Dip a pastry brush in milk and brush the edges, then roll up loosely, starting at a short end.
Place on a greased baking sheet (or lined with non-stick baking paper), brush with milk and bake for at least 30 minutes or until golden on top. Serve hot, sliced thickly, with whipped cream.
Roly Poly Pudding
From The Great New Zealand Baking Book, copyright © Peta Mathias
Servings: 6 | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 30 mins | Skill level: 1 (easy)
Ingredients
- 225 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 110 g suet
- 150 ml water
- 300 g strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant or plum jam
- milk, for glazing
- whipped cream, to serve
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180° C.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together, then mix suet in. Add water and quickly mix to a soft, wet dough.
Roll dough out roughly on a floured surface until it measures about 30 cm x 15 cm. Spread jam all over, but not quite to the edges. Dip a pastry brush in milk and brush the edges, then roll up loosely, starting at a short end.
Place on a greased baking sheet, brush with milk and bake for at least 30 minutes or until golden on top. Serve hot, sliced thickly, with whipped cream.
Published by Thom Productions/Blackwell & Ruth, $49.95
Where to buy the book:
The Great New Zealand Baking Book Project 