auntie supp man
stuffed roasted chicken rolls with sundried tomatoes
the table setting
brandied strawberry
summer fruit
tiramisu, mango pudding
passionfruit cheesecake
honey glazed ham
roast vegtable salad
cocktail shrimp
to buy fresh bhindi [ladies fingers / okra] it would cost us $14.90 a kilo, but these frozen [baby] ones are $6.40 a kilo, which we discovered at Hong Kong grocery at Clayton Rd. perfect for our fish curry. we used delichef's fish curry paste, which has everything in it mixed up perfectly for you, so all we needed to do was add the fish, okra, and water.
we used the cheapest fish ever - vietnamese basa fillets [also frozen] and boiled it all up with the fish curry paste. the paste made a very yummy sauce but the baby okra got overcooked and mushy. so far, everything from deli chef turned out delicious, so i highly recommend it.
We're still in the process of using up all our Delichef pastes [from Cosway], so this time it was for "rendang" which is a malay dry coconutty curry. I made this "rendang" using lamb instead of the traditional beef, but it didn't turn out too bad. The rendang paste was excellent - fragrant, thick and flavourful. there was no need to add oil or salt at all, and the instructions were so easy - just fry the meat with the paste until fragrant, then add water and simmer until the meat is cooked! Perfect with white rice.
this mix was brought from Malaysia, I reckon we bought it in January then forgot to use it, then left it at my parent's place, and they didn't use it either, so on his recent trip back, Gavin brought a whole lot of them here. So, although it was expired, we used it anyway! and it was good! the instructions were so simple: just marinade the meat in the powder mix and yoghurt, then grill/roast it for half an hour.
it turned out so tasty and juicy, much nicer than the chicken tandoori from Suku's [in SS14]. Hmm perhaps it's bcoz ours was succulent and we used maryland fillet instead of breast meat. I wish we could have it again but that was our only tandoori mix packet! it's perfect with sliced red onion, a squeeze of lime juice and warm naan.
curries are not just eaten by indians, the malays love it too! above is a fish curry with a slightly sourish sauce. it's all meant to be eaten with rice, so lotsa gravy is always good.
and here're some ladies fingers.
and below, some fried chicken boxing style. all these were from Cargas Cafe in Penang.
Ratatouille doesn't go very well with pasta..at least, not what i made. perhaps I didn't follow the directions well eonugh but mine really didn't taste that great. i wonder what Remy would've thought of it...
this is simple and yummy with rice.
tonight gav and i made channa masala [chickpea curry] from scratch and had it with "cheat's roti" and instant teh tarik from a packet. the channa masala was quite easy to make, I used a recipe I got online that was really easy. The steps are simple enough- just fry up some cumin seeds till they "pop", then add the garlic, onion, chopped chilli, tomato paste, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, ginger, salt and chilli powder and cook till the oil comes to the top. I didn't quite see any oil coming to the top but when i felt that it was going to get burnt, i quickly tipped in the chopped fresh tomato and can of chickpeas and some water.
for the cheat's roti, we bought some coles home brand puff pastry from the freezer section and pan fried it on medium heat! just cut a big sheet into 4 and cook till golden brown. it requires a few flips to make sure neither side gets burnt.
also, we baked a few chicken wings marinated in curry powder, salt and turmeric in our little toaster oven. the dry heat made the chicken skin crisp up and taste just like fried chicken from the local mamak...well, almost! all this and our instant teh tarik from a packet made us feel as if we were back home....
this above, is our "version" of auntie uma's ring of fire pasta. we didn't quite stick to her recipe coz we couldn't get cili padi here so we substituted with a jalapeno pepper that wasn't quite as hot. garlic and chopped chillis are fried in butter and oil, then i added ikan bilis chopped into tiny pieces. a food processor would've been useful but we didn't have one. then, slices of sausage are added [we used "hot continental" sausage. stir that around, then add cooked pasta, then salt, pepper, italian herbs and cheese. [we used shredded tasty cheese] we also added shredded carrot, a tomato and lettuce leaves and a crumbled sao cracker at the end. don't know why that was in the recipe!
this was our lunch. we thought we'd try something german so we got some don pork sausages. dont know what they are exactly but they were from a euro looking deli. the sauerkraut and gherkins were from a jar and i didn't like the sauerkraut that much. perhaps i'm just not used to it, and we tend to reject the unfamiliar..but still, it smelled so... bad! like something was rotting..
our dinner last night, which is more typical of us malaysian chinese. rice, stir fried asian greens [choy sum] and simmered tofu with chicken pieces and other odd vegtables lying around such as carrot, mushroom or peas. i told my (anglo) clinical educator that stir fries are the easiest things to do and you could have a stir fry everyday and not get bored. i don't think she went for that idea but it's true. just look in your fridge, take out a protein, take some vegetables, cut them into uniform pieces and stir fry with oil, garlic and onion. then add your seasonings, the sky's the limit. soy sauce, salt, chili flakes, miso paste, sesame oil, lemon juice, oyster sauce, barbecue sauce...? 9/10 times it'll be good.
got this packet mix at the asian grocery at clayton [again] and all you need to do is prepare the ingredients, dump them all in and boil!
so, here we have chopped chilli, beef, mushrooms and tofu. and chinese cabbage to be put in just before serving coz they cook quickly.
we bought a pack of "instant" bakuteh spices/herbs from "hong kong grocery" shop in clayton for $2. it was from malaysia, but somehow, for some inexplicable reason, it stated to use beef or chicken. which is quite silly, really! of course we used pork.
we boiled it up with some whole garlic in a ricecooker pot since we didn't have a proper soup pot. also, cooking on a hot place isn't a walk in the park!
it tasted pretty good, with tofu, mushrooms and lettuce leaves.
I dumped some tomato paste, chopped onion, garlic, ham, olives, "pizza" cheese and capsicum on these pita breads and into the toaster oven. and topped it off with black pepper. "instant" pizza!
I used this recipe. instead of a buttering the dish, I just sprayed it with canola oil. Make sure it turns a caramelly brown colour and is really thick before taking it off the heat or else it'll just taste like hardened sugar. I didn't have a candy thermometer so knowing when to take it off was tricky for me but as long as you see that it's thick and takes awhile to come back to the edge of the pan when you stir it, it should be okay. fingers crossed!
We heard rave reviews about this place from an indian friend so we knew it would be good. it's right next to psarakos market at bundoora square. we came on a lonely monday night and was greeted by a very warm and friendly waiter. there were non oily papadums and yoghurty sauce for starters.
here're the samosas- crisp and warm just hot off the oil. the crust was yummy and the insides were a tasty yellow potato and pea mash. served up with a sweetish red sauce.
the lamb vindaloo came with a lot of tasty sauce. we asked for it to be "hot", being given 3 choices of mild, medium and hot. gav said we ought to have asked for "Extra hot" but this was already at my limit. the lamb pieces were tender and the sauce was very good except that it was a tiny bit too salty.
we had it all with the yellow basmati rice.
this was my favourite dish of all, the tomato bhindi. the sauce was very good, sweetish, sourish, spicy and complex. and saucy. the pieces of ladies fingers were cooked just right not mushy or overly tough. I would go back again to have this.
i keep getting free lemons from friends whose trees are fruiting. these local lemons are not the sort you'd get from the supermarkets, their skins are so thick. I had a few big ones that I thought would be nice and juicy, only to cut them open and find that their skins were 2cm thick!
after seeing how the restaurants charge $9.95 for a bowl of dhal I decided to try making my own. The ingredients are so cheap and it just doesn't take much effort. Just fry up some spices in oil, add the dhal and water and boil it till soft. I used fennel seeds, mustard seeds and cumin seeds, garlic, onions, chilli, curry powder, turmeric, coriander powder, garam masala, salt, pepper and tomatoes.
with some nice crisp hot roti, it's a great and filling breakfast!
or lunch or dinner or supper
