Amanda Laird: Flaky aged cheddar cheese straws with tomato relish

Flaky aged cheddar cheese straws with tomato relish. Photo / Babiche Martens.

Cheese straws are an old favourite but you'll enjoy them even more when they're homemade and accompanied by this delicious relish

Serves 6

Relish
1 tsp mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic
1 small red chilli, seeds removed
1 onion, finely diced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1.5 kg tomatoes, chopped
150 ml white wine vinegar
150g sugar

Cheese straws
1 cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
tsp mustard powder
50g butter
cup aged cheddar, grated
1 egg

1 To make the relish, put all ingredients except sugar into a heavy-based saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil steadily for 30 minutes, stirring often.

2 Add the sugar and continue to boil, stirring , for another hour. Puree in a food processor if a finer texture is required.

3 Preheat oven to 190C. Sift the flour, baking powder and mustard into a bowl.

4 Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the cheese, then lightly beat the egg and add. Tip out on to a bench and gently knead until the mixture becomes a soft dough.

5 Sprinkle some flour then roll out the dough to a 5 mm thickness. Cut into thin fingers, then transfer to a greased oven tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a cooling rack before serving with the relish.