Coconut waffles with caramelised pineapple

The ultimate summer brunch.

Dig in to a stack of golden waffles - perhaps topped with sweet, sticky caramelised pineapple! Credit: Bondi Harvest

• serves

  4-6

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 300 g (10½ oz/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 35 g (1¼ oz/¼ cup) coconut or brown sugar
• 2 eggs, separated
• 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) coconut milk
• 125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) coconut oil
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped

Caribbean rum and coconut caramelised pineapple

• 340 g (12 oz/2 cups) peeled, cored and diced pineapple
• 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) spiced rum
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
• 2 tbsp coconut flakes
  

Rockmelon and mint salad

• ½ rockmelon, sliced into fine ribbons
• 2 mango cheeks, sliced into fine ribbons
• ½ cup mint leaves, chopped
• 70 g (2½ oz/¼ cup) pistachios, toasted and sliced
• 2 lemon myrtle leaves or makrut lime leaves, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp honey
• juice of 1 orange
• coconut yoghurt, to serve

Instructions

For the waffles, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl. Mix the egg yolks with the milk, oil, zest and vanilla seeds. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Beat the egg whites until firm peaks form. 

Fold gently through the flour mixture. Grease and preheat a waffle iron. Pour ½ cup of the batter into the waffle iron and cook for 4-5 minutes, until golden. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve with your favourite waffle topping.

For the caramelised pineapple, add the pineapple to a hot frying pan and cook over medium-high heat until tender and caramelised. Meanwhile, mix the rum, sugar, ginger and thyme. When the pineapple is ready, add to the rum mixture and leave to marinate for 2 minutes. Spoon over waffles and garnish with toasted coconut.

For the salad, mix the rockmelon, mango, mint, pistachios and lemon myrtle in a bowl. Drizzle with the honey and orange juice and turn to coat. Serve on top of waffles with coconut yoghurt.

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.