Anshuman Da Dhaba on Clayton Rd

I got to know about this place from Sunil's rave reviews so we had a lazy Sat brunch here on a cold afternoon, and it didn't disappoint. The moment we walked in, we knew we were in the right place for authentic Indian food - all the customers were Indian and some were lining up outside. It had only 7 small tables and often when we walked past, it was full.
We both ordered the Thali set which was $7.90 each, not bad for a meal this size. Basmati rice, naan smeared with fragrant ghee, some pickled yellow onion, yoghurt sauce [or was it raita?] and a curry of choice. I had the lamb masala and gav had the goat curry. Mine was really tasty, just loved the thick fragrant oniony sauce with the rice and naan, everything was so flavourful and the green minty sauce that came with the papadums in the beginning worked well with the naan as well.
This is the one with the goat curry which was a tiny bit too salty but otherwise tasty. the naan was really good, hot and crusty with a soft pull.
we'd definitely want to come again and try the other items like amritsari fish, paneer masala and saag lamb.

290 Clayton Rd
Clayton VIC 3168
(03) 9543 1068

jiao ji [pork dumplings]

I bought some ready made dumpling wrappers from Hong Kong supermarket on Clayton road and filled them with pork mince mixed with soy sauce, shiao hsing wine, chopped ginger, sesame oil and chopped garlic. and an equal amount of shredded chinese cabbage.
then we boiled them in a pork bone soup with some salted preserved vegtables and onions.
and added the choy sum at the end just for a minute. it was so good on a cold night!

happy mother's day!

Every mother and daughter at church got a pretty swirled cupcake today. That is, every female person! How sweet. It's so nice to look at but I don't eat those silver balls coz silver is not a colour I attribute to food.

Aloo Paratha

We bought 2kg of potatoes last week and couldn't finish them up so I looked through my potato cookbooks and found this recipe for aloo paratha (potato filled flat Indian breads). I should've known better than to use a western cookbook for an Indian recipe, but it looked easy enough! It wasn't. The dough needed kneading and standing and just wouldn't come together until I added more water and more oil. We managed to roll it out somehow but it didn't reach the correct diameter [what's wrong? not enough kneading?] As you can see above, gav ended up doing most of the work!
I mashed up the potatoes and mixed them with the fried garlic, onion and spices to make up the filling. The filling is pressed between 2 rounds of dough and sealed to make sort of a sealed disc.
then, we pan fried them individually in our new nonstick Tefal pan.
I used spray oil to keep them from sticking.
The later ones turned out better than the earlier ones. We ate them with dhal makhani curry and they were yummy! not bad for a first try...

burgers

i thought i could try and make fast food at home but it didn't turn out as nicely as the mass produced ones.
the patties turned out burnt on the outside and so much fat came out of the mince i felt like i was eating pure cholesterol.

Tao's in Bulleen

We were lucky enough to have been invited here for dinner by Gav's boss. This posh place is just on the main road in Bulleen and we've passed by it a few times before. I thought it was a chinese place but it's actually a Japanese fusion place where you pay a flat rate and choose from a list of items for each course. there were 7 courses! the service was good and everything was yummy. Above is a lemon lime and bitters mocktail.
the first course, a wedge of juicy tomato with a dressing, a perfectly fried tempura prawn, and a ...i forgot what that white thing is on the right.
oysters on the half shell with a spicy relish on top
a sashimi platter arranged beautifully
a herbal seafood broth in a kettle
grilled fish with edamame and a creamy wasabi sauce
pistachio semifreddo with green tea swish. or swipe. or slash...what do u call it?

sweet bits along the great ocean road

we stopped at this place along the way to port campbell. don't remember where it was. Apollo bay?
A touristy shop had homemade fudge, nougat and turkish delight for the sweet toothed. here above are some turkish delight pieces in non traditional flavours such as vanilla, chocolate, orange blossom and mastic.
above, mint. i was told it was reminiscent of toothpaste.
and the traditional pistachio and rosewater flavour.