Sumac plums

Simple desserts are often overlooked, but they need not be, and can be jazzed up using warming spices. I love these plums, which are roasted with the stones still in to give them maximum flavour. With vanilla fragrance and the sharpness of sumac, they are delicious served with yoghurt and some crushed amaretti biscuits.

Credit: Michael Joseph Books / Chris Terry

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 400 g plums
• 100 g caster sugar
• ½ vanilla bean 
• 2 tsp sumac
• Greek yoghurt, sumac and amaretti biscuits, to serve

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / fan-forced160°C.
2. Halve the plums with the stones still inside – they impart flavour so we will remove them later.
3. Put the plums in a roasting dish with the sugar. Scrape out the insides of the vanilla pod and add the seeds to the plums along with the pod. Sprinkle over the sumac and mix everything together.
4. Bake for 15–20 minutes till the plums are just soft. Take the dish out and remove the stones from the plums.
5. Serve three to four plum halves each with some yoghurt, a sprinkling of sumac and some crumbled amaretti biscuits. Drizzle over that plum juice.

 

Recipe and image from Nadiya's Fast Flavours by Nadiya Hussain (Michael Joseph, HB, $49.99).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.