char siu [chinese barbecued pork]

we were so lucky to have had this at Art's place. This chinese barbecued pork is marinated with a sweetish dark sauce, then grilled/barbecued till the top caramelizes, giving a great almost burnt flavour.
here it is, being sliced! the slices are usually eaten with rice, drizzled with more sauce mixed with honey. In Malaysian hawker stalls, it's often dry and coloured a sickly red colour, and not very juicy at all, but this one was so tender, juicy and flavourful, and without red colouring! So, I have to say, Art's char siu is better than anything i've ever had in Malaysia!

When I asked for a recipe, all he said was to marinade the pork with bottled char siu sauce, then grill it. But, I suppose if you wanted to make it from scratch, here's a recipe from a Malaysian site. Please omit the red colouring. Your body does not need any colourings.

The slices can also be put on top of noodle soup, as a garnish and as the meal's "meat" component, since all meals must have carbs, veg and meat. [In the malaysian world] Or, you could put them in a sandwich. Or eat them with mantou [chinese buns] and spring onions.

Cambodian noodle soup

This was just $5.50 at Thu Thu shop which is a food and drink kiosk at the centre of springvale plaza. It's right under the sun roof, a circular booth that has coffee and ice blended drinks on one side, and hot congee and noodle soup on the other. You can pick what type of noodle soup you want just by pointing at the pictures. We picked this Cambodian one, which tastes just like the vietnamese one but the noodles are much chewier. It was a generous serving, with slices of meat, pork paste, fish paste, crab stick and spring onions. The broth was very flavourful, especially after the lemon juice was added. Our order was put together in a few minutes, so it's great for a quick lunch!

my fridge

I don't have a proper fridge at the moment - this is what i've got. a little mini fridge. Jam, butter, yakult, kimchi and a tupperware of pasta with tomato and eggplant sauce on top.

maple syrup, chinese fermented tofu, ginger paste, soda, a jar of pol sambol, and on the bottom row, oyster sauce and tom yam paste.

world food at church

Today some people at church brought food from their country to share with everyone. Some even dressed up in their traditional garb. It was interesting to see some new things that I've never seen before, such as the south african rusk, above left. tasted like "roti kok", which is a crunchy hard, dried out bread. the green and white slices on the right are malaysian "kuih talam". The yellow slice, below is a Philipine corn custard slice.
and these colourful things on the bottom are korean glutinous rice cakes.

Polish Bakery - Rye Crust

After reading about this place in the Herald Sun, I wanted to come and try everything! However, I only made off with a few items. Half the store was a little cafe where you could sit down with a coffee and cake, and the other side was the bread section. Will be back again for the Polish cheesecake! Stepping into the store, I could hear everyone speaking [presumably] Polish and none of the cakes/desserts were labelled in English. The breads were, so I chose an egg and raisin bread [which the rosy cheeked lady behind the counter described as being similar to the French brioche] and a sourdough bun. I asked if she could tell me what everything was, so she did, in a very friendly manner. Above is the mini "babka" which is a marble cake.

Below, a Polish danish which is a nice rich bread with a sweetened poppyseed filling. It smelled of almonds.
and below, the sourdough bun with some slices of Polish ham. [I think!] We stopped by Uncle's Smallgoods [just across the road on Thomas St] for some Polish processed meat but nothing was labelled in English either, so we just pointed to what the other customers were having and tried it out. This ham was yummy, and not as salty as the regular ham we're used to.
Below, the egg and raisin bread - which was delicious toasted and spread with jam. I didn't know how to eat it, so i had to do a google search on how to eat brioche. [Well, it isn't really brioche since it's Polish isn't it, but I didn't know the Polish name for it] It has a really thick and rich texture. It didn't need any butter because it already has heaps of butter in it apparently.

At both places, all the customers and staff spoke Polish and we felt a little bit out of place because there were no English translations on their menu or labels on the items, but when we spoke to the staff and asked them what to do, they were friendly and accommodating. So, it's just a matter of speaking to them to ask what to get. I would like to go again and try the other things.

Rye Crust bakery

101 Foster St, Dandenong VIC 3175

Pamir's at Dandenong

I went to Dandenong last Saturday for a little "adventure", with the intention of having Afghan food for lunch, and getting some Polish bakery and deli items. All this because of an article in the Herald Sun about how interesting Dandenong is for food lovers. We didn't have any particular place in mind, and just thought we should stroll around until we found something interesting, and this was the first place we came across. Pamir's Kebab House, had just opened at 12noon so we were the first customers there.

Just standing outside reading the newspaper articles about it at the window made me want to go in. We were soon informed by the owner that this was a famous restaurant, having been featured on tv on a few occasions and even Matt Preston had eaten there and loved it. Hmmmm not bad considering we were merely wandering around with no destination in mind.

We ordered the set menu which was $26 per person. Above, the famous kebabs which were excellent. Chicken, lamb backstrap and lamb kofta barbecued to perfection. Very juicy, very tasty. Below, the meatball in tomato sauce. It looked like the normal italian style sauce but it was much spicier.
Below, the "dumplings" which reminded me of chinese dumplings, strangely enough! Like a huge ravioli. but spicy! It was filled with spicy minced meat and covered in a tomato-ey, creamy sauce. Yummy.
The bread for dipping - it was somewhat like naan but thicker and denser.
the condiments: chilli sauce [slightly sweetish], yoghurt and salad.
The set also came with rice studded with pomegranate seeds but the photo was so blurry so it's not in here. It was interesting trying something new, and walking alone the streets you can find many afghan clothing and grocery stores as well, so this is probably the cheapest [and perhaps, safest?] way to go on a "tour" of Kabul without actually going there.

I thought that Dandenong was a dangerous place but being there on a Saturday morning was quite alright, no druggies in sight but rather lots of families with their kids going out for a saturday shop at the market or a meal together.

typical at home dinner

This may be boring but I thought perhaps some non Chinese might find it interesting. A typical meal at home for us on a week night is this - plain rice, with stir fried vegetables[usually bok choy or choy sum, but it can be any green leafy vegetable. And some sort of protein - here, a steamed whole fish with fried garlic, onion and salty preserved bean paste on top as a seasoning[tau cheo]. it usually comes in a jar. Very simple but the hubby likes it :)