I ♥ Sydney (Mini Heart Shaped Vegemite Swirls)

My daughter little Miss C's friend little Miss N is coming over for a play after school. I need to think of something for their afternoon tea. As I was looking into my pantry for inspiration, I saw this small jar of long neglected Vegemite sitting in a far corner of my pantry. None of us in the family like it. We bought it to introduce to our Dutch friends who visited us last year to the taste of this popular Oz icon. As expected, none of them were brave enough to dig in with the overpowering smell of it.

Nothing can be more Aussie than a good old jar of Vegemite. Especially to the Aussies living abroad. When eBay first launched their site in Australia (http://www.ebay.com.au/), Vegemite and Tim Tam biscuits were among the best selling items, mainly due to the many Aussie Expats who couldn't get their hands on them.

So what exactly is Vegemite? According to Wikipedia:

"Vegemite is a dark brown food paste made from yeast extract, used mainly as a spread on sandwiches, toast and cracker biscuits, as well as a filling of pastries like Cheesymite scroll, in Australia. It is similar to British and New Zealand Marmite and to Swiss Cenovis.

Vegemite is made from leftover brewers' yeast extract, a by-product of beer manufacturing, and various vegetable and spice additives. The taste may be described as salty, slightly bitter, and malty — somewhat similar to the taste of beef bouillon. The texture is smooth and sticky, with a consistency that is not unlike axle grease. It is not as intensely flavoured as British Marmite and it is less sweet than the New Zealand version of Marmite.

Vegemite is popular with many Australians, who commonly consider it a national food and a cultural icon. It can be found in shops around the world, particularly where there are large populations of Australian expatriates. Vegemite has not been successfully marketed in other countries, apart from New Zealand, and has failed to catch on in the United States, despite being owned by US food company Kraft Foods. When seen in the United States, the Vegemite label often does not contain the Kraft logo."

Vegemite is like Durian (widely known as The king of fruits in Malaysia). Either you love it or hate it. No in between.

I personally dislike the taste of Vegemite, probably it reminds me of Marmite. As a child grew up in Malaysia (Marmite was popular because Malaysia was colonized by British), my siblings and I were kind of forced by our mum to have Marmite soup and Marmite porridge (cooked rice congee stirred with a dollop of Marmite) when we were sick.

Little Miss N loves her Vegemite like many of Aussie kids do and I have some ready-rolled puff pastry in my freezer. So I decided to make this simple Mini Vegemite and Puff Pastry Swirl for her and the Cheese & Ham version for little Miss C.

Hmm... I needed a name for this snack and then this came to my mind:
We came to Australia from Malaysia in 1999 when my Dutch husband Mr J was head-hunted for a job in Australia with a 2-year contract. We were given 3 locations to reside: Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney. We picked Sydney mainly because we wanted to be in the city that was going to host the 2000 Summer Olympic.

I was pregnant with little Miss C in 2001 and we decided to move back to The Netherlands and settle down for good. By fate, 9/11 tragedy strikes. It has dramatically changed many people's lives. We have heard many stories of people's lives that have been directly affected by the event. What you might not know is that many people outside of America, not having any link with the incident, were also affected by it. It has changed the world.

Due to religion and political sensitivity, I am not going to go into details of what exactly has happened. The fact is after the terrorist attack, the Dutch government implemented a new immigration law (Residence Permit MVV) that made it almost impossible for me (a Malaysian passport holder) to be a permanent resident in Holland and vise versa for him in Malaysia.

We were in Aussie land at that moment. We were in shock. Australia was the only country that welcomed us with open arms. From that moment, we started to call Australia home. It wasn't an easy journey to start a life in new country without extended families but we didn't look back and little Miss C was born in Sydney the following year.

We love Australia because she has given us a new life. We love Sydney because she has provided us a home that the three of us can live together for the rest of our life.

9 years on, We still love Sydney. We still love Oz.

This recipe is a small dedication from me to the city I love:

I ♥ Sydney (Mini Heart Shaped Vegemite Swirls) Recipe

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed
Vegemite
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C (425F). Place pastry onto baking paper. Spread Vegemite over pastry. (Trust me, this ain't a pretty scene :-) I scribbled I ♥ Oz on it to add a personal touch.)





2. Starting with the short edge near you, and using the paper to help, roll pastry around the filling like a Swiss Roll. Stop in the centre and repeat the same from the opposite edge.

   

3. Put the roll in the fridge covered in plastic cling wrap for 30 minutes to make it easier for cutting.
4. Cut roll into slices about 2cm (3/4 of an inch) thick.





5. Place slices with cut side up on a lightly greased oven tray. Brush with lightly beaten egg yolk all over. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until pastry is golden.